LGBT News

How about some fabulously gay show tunes to close out your week? Via press release: Equality, solidarity and warmth filled the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on March 13, 2017, when the biggest stars on Broadway proved gender doesn’t matter, but love does as they explored and embraced the great songs of musical theatre at the 12th annual Broadway Backwards. This year’s …

The Dallas Morning News reports: David Taffet came home last week to find his husband, Brian Cross, a little disoriented. Cross hadn’t eaten yet, so Taffet made him some dinner. But after he ate, Cross lay down, went to sleep and started snoring. Then Cross suddenly stopped snoring. The 52-year-old, whom Taffet met at a protest against the Defense of …

Via press release: Congressman Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) today called the attack on the Pride flag outside his Capitol Hill office “a shocking demonstration of hate” and yet another example of a wave of intolerance that has spiked across the nation over the past several months. Yesterday, a visitor to the Cannon House Office Building entered the Congressman’s office and angrily …

The Birmingham News reports: The Alabama House passed a bill Thursday that would protect faith-based adoption and foster care agencies from placing children into homes that go against their religious beliefs. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Rich Wingo, [photo], was among a package of pro-life legislation considered Thursday in the House. It passed 60-14 with one abstention. Wingo said he …

The Daily Beast reports: “Not today motherf**ker!” That’s what Kelly Herron says she kept screaming while fighting off the man who allegedly assaulted her in a public restroom at a Seattle park during an afternoon run on Sunday, March 5. Now the 36-year-old marathon runner has revived that phrase—her “battle cry,” as she calls it—to slam an anti-transgender group in …

Mediaite reports: On Fox’s Hollywood Today this afternoon, RuPaul made a big announcement in a decidedly understated way. While hosts Ross Mathews and Ali Landry asked about his nearly-quarter-century relationship with boyfriend Georges LeBar, he gamely gave answers about spending time on the other man’s massive ranch in Wyoming. As one would assume, he said he wears Western-themed outfits on …

Via press release from the South Florida LGBT rights group SAVE: On Tuesday night, North Bay Village voted to enact its own local ban on so-called conversion therapy. At the urging of SAVE, the Village, located just outside of Miami, became the latest jurisdiction in South Florida to adopt such a ban. “This year we’re hitting the ground running in …

Horrible. The New York Daily News reports: NYPD Officer Michael Hance, who raised eyebrows and made headlines in 2015 for twerking with a reveler at the city’s Gay Pride parade, has died of 9/11-related cancer. He was 44. The 17-year veteran of the NYPD, who worked the bucket brigade in the aftermath of the terror attack on the World Trade …

Reuters reports: The victims of a mass shooting at a Florida nightclub in June 2016 will receive nearly $8.5 million for emotional and financial support for victims’ families, those wounded in the attack and responders, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday. In a statement, the department’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) said the funds would be granted …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: Former Gov. Pat McCrory says the backlash against House Bill 2 is making some employers reluctant to hire him but he’s currently doing consulting and advisory board work. McCrory has been appearing frequently in interviews with national media outlets to defend the controversial LGBT law, but he hasn’t announced what’s next for his career. …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: Democrats in Congress plan to reintroduce legislation this month that would ban LGBT discrimination nationwide, despite facing a conservative majority that’s been generally hostile toward the issue. While the bill has little shot of passage, progressives hope inaction by Republicans can illustrate a chasm between the major political parties as they approach the 2018 mid-term …

The New York Times reports: The National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park here is a somber glen of plants, trees, walks, grass and cairn, with thousands of names etched in stones and pavement. Visitors’ emotions run high, but the details of exactly how AIDS devastated and transformed the world are not found here. “The story of AIDS is …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has signed into law a measure allowing taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to deny services and child placement to LGBT families out of religious objections, making him the first governor in 2017 to sign an anti-LGBT law. Daaugard signed the measure, Senate Bill 149, with little fanfare Friday after the …

Boston’s Fox affiliate reports: After several days of back and forth, organizers of the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade have decided to allow LGBT veterans group OUTVETS to participate. The decision was announced in a tweet from parade organizers just before 4:30 p.m. Friday. “This is something that had to be fixed. This is something that I needed to …

This morning ABC previewed a segment from tonight’s 20/20 ex-gay torture exposé. Afterwards, Good Morning America host Robin Roberts choked back tears, saying, “No one was more religious than my parents. And I’m so grateful, especially after seeing this, of how supportive they were of me as a gay woman and (of) my family and friends.” Watch below.

The Daily Beast reports: Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a co-founder of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and a prominent figure in the ex-gay movement, has passed away, the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic, where he served as clinical director, confirmed to The Daily Beast. Nicolosi, 70, was a practitioner of conversion or reparative therapy, treatments intended to …

Little Rock’s CBS affiliate reports: A bill has been proposed to make marriage only between a man and a woman. Twenty Representatives and one Senator introduced House Bill 2098. Representative Stephen Meeks [photo] is the lead sponsor of the bill. HB2098 would not recognize marriages between two people of the same sex, even if the marriage happened in a different …

The Associated Press reports: The organizers of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade have scheduled an emergency meeting to reconsider their vote to bar a gay veterans group from participating. The vote Tuesday to bar OutVets drew immediate condemnation from high-profile politicians. Ed Flynn, a member of the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which organizes the parade scheduled for March …

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos today met with three LGBT rights groups to discuss the Trump administration’s revocation of Obama’s guidelines on transgender student protections. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Stephanie White, executive director of Equality Michigan, said her organization sought out the meeting to convey the “profound negative consequences” of the withdrawal of the guidance protecting transgender students. …

The Texas Tribune reports: After 13-plus hours of emotional testimony, largely in opposition, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to advance the so-called Texas “bathroom bill” to the full chamber. The vote was 7-1; Sen. Judith Zaffirini voted against, and Sen. Charles Schwertner was not present at the meeting but asked to be shown as voting yes. The vote …