LGBT News

Seattle’s NBC affiliate reports: A Sammamish planning commissioner who made anti-LGBTQ+ remarks during a meeting last week has resigned. Sammamish Mayor Kali Clark accepted Wassim Fayed’s resignation immediately Monday. The city strongly condemned Fayed’s comments, but activists say there needs to be more accountability. During a June 1 meeting on the first day of Pride Month, Fayed spoke to his …

NBC News reports: A Pride flag was taken down and burned outside of a City Hall building in Tempe, Arizona, officials said Tuesday. The flag-burning comes months after a bomb threat was made to an LGBTQ-owned coffee shop in Tempe, a city of 186,000 people that’s about 10 miles east of Phoenix. The flag — which flew alongside the American, …

Just in via press release: Christian Internet filtering startup, FreeFiltering.org, is inviting parents nationwide to join the fight against efforts to groom their children into harmful LGBTQ lifestyles during so-called “Pride Month.” Parents are invited to use the company’s site-wide “Live Chat” button to report websites they’ve found targeting children with deviant sexual propaganda, transgender ideology, and other dangerous content. …

The Louisiana Illuminator reports: The Louisiana Senate gave final passage to two anti-LGBTQ+ bills Monday that target young transgender and queer students. House Bill 466 by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, prohibits discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools. House Bill 81 by Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, would prohibit school employees from using transgender students’ preferred names …

Politico reports: Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5, which has over 70 co-authors, would place a measure on the November 2024 ballot asking voters to undo Prop 8 and remove language from the California Constitution that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. In part, it’s an effort to correct language that would be unlikely to be adopted today in …

Newsweek reports: A brewery in California announced on Monday that it was cutting ties with a professional fisherman after he expressed support for a new anti-gay law in Uganda. “We learned of Mr Dyer’s view this morning and immediately severed our relationship with him. We could not disagree more strenuously with Mr. Dyer’s view and the abomination that is going …

The New York Times reports: A federal judge in Florida ruled on Tuesday that three transgender children can be prescribed puberty blockers, despite a new state law that prohibits gender transition care for minors and adds new hurdles for adults who seek similar care. Though the ruling applied narrowly only to the three families that requested it, the judge wrote …

Just in via press release: Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — officially declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States for the first time in its more than 40-year history, following an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping …

Gallup Polling reports: Seventy-one percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, matching the high Gallup recorded in 2022. Public support for legally recognizing gay marriages has been consistently above 50% since the early 2010s. When Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, barely a quarter of the public (27%) supported legalizing such unions. It would take another …

The Indianapolis Star reports: The city of Westfield deleted social media posts last week recognizing Pride Month on its Twitter account and Facebook page under the direction of Mayor Andy Cook. Cook said the city “should not engage in supporting a social agenda.” On Thursday, the start of Pride Month, Westfield posted a graphic on city social media accounts that …

Bloomberg News reports: Consulting firm Deloitte LLC will donate $1 million to The Trevor Project, a LGBTQ mental-health nonprofit that supports youth in the community in times of crisis. Financed by the Deloitte Health Equity Institute, the donation will be distributed over the course of two years and will help fund the Trevor Project’s crisis counseling services, a web-based chat …

Reuters reports: The frontrunner to be Thailand’s next prime minister joined a Pride parade in Bangkok on Sunday, promising to pass a law that would allow same-sex marriage and gender identity rights if he becomes premier. Thousands of LGBTQ+ people, their allies and political leaders marched through central Bangkok, marking Pride month and promoting gender equality in the second official …

The Washington Examiner reports: Dozens of protesters gathered outside Old Town Hall in Fairfax, Virginia, to protest the city’s pride celebration, where drag queens were scheduled to dance. The event was coordinated by Stacy Langton [photo], the Virginia mother who went viral in 2021 for speaking against phonographic books in front of the Fairfax County school board. Langton appeared in …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Friday a bill that bars transgender kids from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapies, though the new law could face legal challenges before it takes effect on Sept. 1. Senate Bill 14’s passage brings to the finish line a legislative priority for the Republican Party of Texas, which opposes any …

“I’m looking out tonight, I’m seeing so many incredible individuals who are living authentically and beautifully, and this is a safe space for you. “This is a celebratory space for you. One of the things that makes me feel so prideful is getting to be with you and watching you interact with each other, being so loving and so thoughtful …

Brody Levesque reports at the Los Angeles Blade: U. S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker of the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee declared Tennessee’s anti-drag Adult Entertainment Act to be unconstitutional. Parker’s ruling comes after a two-day trial last month. A Shelby County-Memphis based LGBTQ theatre company, Friends of George’s, had sued the state …

From Ipsos Polling: The Ipsos LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey finds that an average of 9% of adults in 30 countries identify as LGBT+, with sharp generational differences. The survey was conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform in February and March 2023 among more than 22,500 adults under the age of 75. On average, across the 30 countries …

The Hill reports: The Navy’s official Instagram and Twitter accounts have apparently taken down posts celebrating the start of Pride Month. The service’s Instagram account Thursday featured a post depicting a fighter jet with the LGBTQ flag colors in its wake, but by Friday morning the image was gone. In a statement to The Hill, a Navy spokesperson acknowledged the …

Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate reports: Governor Spencer Cox issued a proclamation Wednesday, marking June as Pride Month and calling on Utahns to be more welcoming and accepting of the LGBTQ community.  “This should not be controversial,” the governor told FOX 13 News in an interview about the proclamation. “There should be nothing controversial about supporting a group of people …

Bloomberg News reports: A top Walmart Inc. executive said the retailer remains committed to its Pride Month offerings, even after competitor Target Corp. became embroiled in a controversy over similar products. “We have merchandise that we sell all year that supports different groups,” Walmart Chief Merchandising Officer Latriece Watkins told reporters Wednesday. “In this particular case, we haven’t changed anything …