LGBT News

USA Today reports: The Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up the controversial issue of transgender rights, instantly transforming what had loomed as a holding-pattern term with only eight justices into one featuring another major social policy issue. The justices will consider a Virginia school district’s challenge to Obama administration regulations requiring that schools allow transgender students to use restrooms …

The BBC reports: Arlene Foster is “childish” and “disingenuous” for saying online abuse is partly why the DUP is unlikely to change its view on same-sex marriage, Alliance leader Naomi Long has said. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where gay marriage is not legal. Mrs Foster said the DUP would use a petition of concern to …

NBC News reports: The Equality House in Topeka, Kansas, which stands directly across the street from the notoriously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, has been a symbol of the LGBTQ rights movement since it was first painted Pride flag colors in March of 2013. This week, however, the colorful symbol of equality was subjected to hate when spray-painted slurs and bullet …

The BBC reports: Tourism agency VisitScotland has suspended the five-star status of an Aberdeen hotel following the owner’s homophobic comments. Stewart Spence used a derogatory term about homosexuals at The Marcliffe Hotel during a Hospitality Industry Trust (HIT) Scotland event last week. Mr Spence later said he wanted to “sincerely apologise”. VisitScotland said the Marcliffe had been removed it from …

Scientific American reports: HIV probably arrived in the U.S. around 1971—a decade before AIDS was recognized as a disease and a dozen years before scientists discovered the virus that causes it—according to a new analysis of viral genomes from New York City and San Francisco. The genetic evidence upends a longstanding myth that a French-Canadian flight attendant started the U.S. …

The Buffalo News reports: The Buffalo Public Schools have a new gender identity policy to dictate how transgender students are treated. The polarizing policy allows a transgender student to use the restroom and locker room that corresponds to the student’s consistently expressed gender identity at school. Students can access the alternate restrooms as soon as their parent or legal guardian …

From the Equal Rights Group of Gibraltar: Today is a happy and long-awaited day for many in Gibraltar. And Equality Rights Group extends a big thanks to all the LGBTI community and also to the very special people who have fought unfailingly alongside us. They are friends of Justice who, despite not being directly affected, have stayed by us in …

My latest column has been posted to the website of Britain’s Pride Life magazine, in which I discuss the blessedly final days of the presidential campaign, Trump’s threat to LGBT rights, and the theory that there are “hidden” Trump voters. Hit the link, kittens. DISCLOSURE: Pride Life is owned by the US company that also produces InterPride’s annual US pride …

Portland’s NBC affiliate reports: The only gay nightclub in Portland is closing. The owner calls it a bittersweet sign of the times. “We don’t have the crowd we used to,” said Joshua Moody, who has owned Styxx for 12 years. It’s in line with a nationwide trend: as more members of the gay community branch out and feel welcomed and …

Fusion reports: Everyone on The Bachelor is looking for love. The suitor, obviously, is searching for a mate among 25 women. And these contestants have left their jobs and friends for six weeks of slumber party hell to try and find someone to be with. The hope is that at the very first cocktail party, your eyes will lock and …

The BBC reports: The Scottish government is to move to pardon men who were convicted of same-sex offences before laws against homosexuality were scrapped. The UK government has announced plans for posthumous pardons for men who were convicted under laws now abolished. There was controversy after an SNP members’ bill on the topic was “talked out” at Westminster, with Theresa …

The Charlotte Observer reports: Over the last year, when companies announced plans to grow their footprints in North Carolina, state leaders have presented them with an unusual gift: An oak bowl carved from wood from the state capitol grounds. So when PayPal unceremoniously canceled its plans for an expansion in Charlotte over opposition to House Bill 2, state officials did …

The couple had been together for more than 50 years but never married. The New York Times reports: Bill Cornwell and Tom Doyle lived in a brownstone in the West Village for over five decades. They were artists, neighborhood fixtures and committed partners. Their enduring love never seemed to them to need codification — not to mention that for most …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has closed a significant gap between himself and Democratic challenger Roy Cooper in a Monmouth University Poll released Monday. While the latest polling from Monmouth shows McCrory with a mere 1-point lead, two months ago the incumbent Republican governor was 9 points behind in that poll. In that time, …

The Associated Press reports: Hundreds of women, girls and other supporters proudly donned their yoga pants Sunday as they peacefully paraded around the Rhode Island neighborhood of a man who derided the attire as tacky and ridiculous. Alan Sorrentino said the response to his letter to the editor, printed in The Barrington Times on Wednesday, has been “vicious” and that …

Yesterday the Russian embassy in Britain tweeted out the above cartoon which depicts Eurozone member nations as pigs cowering behind a barricade. The pigs are doubtlessly a reference to the acronym PIIGS, which was used by economists when EU members Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain began struggling to refinance government debt during the banking crisis that started in 2009. …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Equality Utah sued the state’s education office in federal court late Friday, challenging Utah’s curriculum laws that bar teachers and students from positive discussions about homosexuality in public schools. Filed in Salt Lake City’s U.S. District Court, the suit asks a federal judge to strike what it calls anti-lesbian, -gay, -bisexual and -transgender curriculum laws …

Rolling Stone reviews: Cher joined James Corden Thursday to perform “I Got You, Bae,” a modernized version of Sonny & Cher’s 1965 hit “I Got You Babe,” on The Late Late Show. “I’m going to do one of my favorite songs tonight,” the singer told the crowd. “But I want to do it in a different way.” Corden walked out …

The Sun reports: There was widespread anger in the House of Commons as the Government talked out the Turing bill, which would automatically pardon gay men convicted of now abolished sexual offences. MPs shouted ‘shame’ and ‘shameful’ as Justice Minister Sam Gyimah killed off SNP MP John Nicolson’s private members bill. The Government has announced plans for thousands of gay …

GLAAD reports: With a sea of staffers dressed in purple on the steps of the Old Executive Office Building in Washington DC on Thursday, The White House voiced its strong support for LGBTQ youth and took a powerful stand against bullying. But the White House team was just one of many among elected and public officials speaking out. Take a …