LGBT News

Spectrum News reports: Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday signed a bill that will expand a program for older New Yorkers to provide funding and services based on “greatest social need” that includes barriers or isolation created by racial and ethnic status, as well as sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and HIV status. Under the current federal law, the state …

The Associated Press reports: Slovakia’s president joined a rally of thousands on Friday to honor two gay men who were shot dead in the capital earlier this week and demonstrate support for the LGBTQ community. People lit candles at the site of the shooting before marching to a central Bratislava square. Police said Friday they are investigating the killings as …

Agence France-Presse reports: A “radicalised teenager” shot dead two men at a gay bar in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Thursday. The shooting happened on Wednesday outside the Teplaren bar and police said they found the gunman dead at another location on Thursday. “Two people were murdered just because they were part of the LGBTI community,” …

Gothamist reports: New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said on Wednesday that significant progress had been made in containing the spread of monkeypox, as cases have continued to drop since late this summer. “We have turned a corner that I hope indicates that we now have the upper hand on this outbreak,” Vasan said in a briefing on COVID-19, …

Bloomberg News reports: Mexico’s Senate voted to prohibit and criminally punish so-called conversion therapy, which is used to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The legislative reforms ban any therapy or treatment used to “impede, restrict, diminish, annul or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, identity or gender expression,” the Citizens Movement political party said in a …

ABC News reports: Video of a landmark 2010 trial that cleared the way for gay marriage in California can be made public, the culmination of a years-long legal fight. The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would not intervene in the dispute over the recordings, leaving in place lower court rulings permitting the video’s release. The trial more than a …

The Gainesville Sun reports: In his first visit to campus as the sole finalist to be University of Florida president, U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse faced questions Monday on his conservative political positions — along with a protest that disrupted a question-and-answer session and ended with him speeding off in a police vehicle. UF announced last week that a presidential search …

NBC News reports: After weeks of criticism, online threats from far-right groups and a legal complaint, the Jackson Pride Committee and the city of Jackson, which sits about 70 miles northeast of Memphis in Madison County, reached a compromise with state Republican representatives and community members who had complained about the pride festival’s drag show. The annual pride festival was …

The Associated Press reports: Several hundred people on Saturday joined an LGBTQ pride march in Montenegro, held amid strong opposition from the influential Serbian Orthodox Church in the small conservative Balkan country. Montenegro’s 10th pride event was dubbed “No more buts,” reflecting demands that more be done to stem hate speech and harassment of LGBTQ community despite huge steps that …

Variety reports: Popular stand-up comic Judy Tenuta, known to her fans as “The Love Goddess” and “Aphrodite of the Accordion,” died of ovarian cancer on Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles. She was 72. Known for her acerbic humor, expletive-laden jokes, raspy voice and accordion, she was among the performers who fueled the popularity of live comedy in clubs, including the …

Changing America reports: Senators that don’t support the Respect for Marriage Act or are undecided on the bill could find themselves in a tough spot come November, with voters in key battleground states more likely to support candidates that have backed the measure to codify same-sex and interracial marriage. Majorities of voters in nine states – Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, …

The Texas Tribune reports: A federal judge has ruled that Biden administration guidelines requiring employers to provide protections for LGBTQ employees go too far, in a win for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who brought suit against the rules last fall. The rules were first issued after the landmark ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County in 2020, in which the …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: A federal judge has rejected — at least for now — a lawsuit challenging a controversial new law that restricts instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools. U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor issued a 25-page order dismissing the case, finding that plaintiffs did not show they had legal standing. Winsor, however, said …

Changing America reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday signed into law a bill to make the state a refuge for transgender youth and their families. The measure, effective Jan. 1, is designed to shield families with transgender youth under 18 from being criminally prosecuted if they travel to California to obtain gender-affirming health care for their children from …

The Deseret News reports: As the Senate considers legislation to protect same-sex marriage, a new poll shows nearly three-fourths of Utahns support legal same-sex marriage. The new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey found 72% of residents agree that marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The poll …

From the Justice Department: Chance Seneca, 21, of Lafayette, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays to one count of kidnapping. According to his plea agreement, Seneca admitted that on June 20, 2020, he used Grindr, a dating application for gay and bisexual men, to kidnap and attempt to murder H.W., a gay man. Specifically, Seneca acknowledged …

The New York Times reports: Americans who received a single dose of the monkeypox vaccine were significantly less likely to be infected by the virus over the summer than those who did not, according to an analysis published on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that offered a limited glimpse of the shot’s protectiveness. The findings, gleaned …

The Military Times reports: A decade after the services first allowed gay and lesbian troops to serve openly, a report from the Joint Staff found that concerns about combat effectiveness and unit cohesion were basically unfounded. That’s the conclusion of a 196-page document published in 2021 by the Joint History and Research Office, recently brought to light by the Palm …

Reuters reports: The LGBT community has “very real fears” after a conservative bloc dominated by the far-right won Italy’s general election, a leading gay rights campaigner told Reuters. The nationalist Brothers of Italy group, led by Giorgia Meloni, emerged as the largest party in the ballot and will lead the most right-wing government in Rome since World War Two. Meloni, …

The BBC reports: Cuba has voted to legalise same-sex marriage in a national referendum. About two-thirds of the population voted to approve reforms in a new Family Code, which will also allow surrogate pregnancies and give gay couples the right to adopt children. It marks a big moment for Cuba, which saw gay people persecuted and sent to work camps …