LGBT News

The Deseret News reports: Ed Smart, the father of kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart, shared in a Facebook message with family and friends Thursday that he is gay, divorcing his wife and doesn’t see a place for himself in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In “one of the hardest letters I have ever written,” Smart wrote that “I …

The BBC reports: Matt Healy, the frontman of Brit Award-winning band The 1975, has defied Dubai’s anti-LGBTQ laws by kissing a male audience member during a gig. Fan footage showed Healy venturing into the crowd and kissing a man on the lips, to loud cheers, on Wednesday. He is then seen returning to the stage and declaring: “I love you …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Trump administration on Wednesday formally proposed a new rule to let businesses with federal contracts cite religious objections as a valid reason to discriminate against their workers on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, LGBTQ status, and other characteristics — thereby skirting worker protections created by past presidents. But the Trump …

The BBC reports: A bus driver has been suspended after he allegedly refused to drive a bus supporting Pride events. He reportedly told passengers in Norwich: “This bus promotes homosexuality and I refuse to drive it.” Rainbow numbers were used on the bus in a nod to the Pride flag. Go East Anglia, which runs Konectbus, said the driver had …

France 24 reports: For the first time, an openly gay candidate has thrown his hat in the ring for a presidential election in Tunisia. Mounir Baatour heads the country’s main LGBT rights group. His bid marks a test for post-revolutionary Tunisia’s fledgling democracy. Baatour, a lawyer at Tunisia’s highest court and the president of Shams, a group seeking the decriminalisation …

The Associated Press reports: A Virginia restaurant operator has agreed to pay $40,000 to resolve a lawsuit that claims its employees routinely harassed a gay server with homophobic epithets and taunted him about his sexuality. A federal judge on Thursday signed off on the settlement between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Mejia Corp., which does business as El …

Just in from the ACLU: The U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled in favor of ACLU client Gavin Grimm, in his request for summary judgement in a sex discrimination lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board. Statement from Gavin Grimm: “It is such a relief to achieve this closure and vindication from the court after …

The Washington Post reports: Last summer, when gay nightclub Town Danceboutique shuttered its doors, its patrons packed in for one last sweaty, nostalgic dance party — mourning the closing as the loss of a mainstay for D.C.’s LGBTQ community. Now, the owners are planning a resurrection for the beloved club: “Town2.0.” Its potential new home? A former Baptist church. Speculation …

Haaretz reports: Advertising companies have to run the anti-gay campaign ads created by the ultra-Orthodox-Zionist Noam party, the acting chairman of the Central Elections Committee Neal Hendel [photo] ruled Tuesday. Hendel determined that in their decision not to run Noam ads, some billboard companies had derogated from equality and freedom of expression, and caused “effective harm to [Noam’s] ability to …

The Christian Post reports: Former pastor and evangelical author Joshua Harris demonstrated his support for the LGBT community by marching in Vancouver’s annual Pride Parade less than a month after announcing he no longer considers himself a Christian. On August 4, Harris, former pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, shared several Instagram photos of himself participating in the …

Reuters reports: Advertisements by Coca-Cola around a music festival in Hungary that promote gay acceptance have prompted a boycott call from a senior member of the conservative ruling party. The posters, in tandem with the week-long “Love Revolution” event starting on Wednesday in Budapest, show gay people and couples smiling with slogans like “zero sugar, zero prejudice”. On Sunday, Fidesz’s …

Reuters reports: Poland’s Catholic Church has doubled down on the anti-gay rhetoric that has become the nationalist ruling party’s dominant theme in recent weeks, drawing a rebuke from liberal politicians who compared an archbishop’s remarks to incitement to genocide. In a sermon given to mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising by Polish resistance fighters against Nazi occupation, the …

Charlotte’s ABC News affiliate reports: On Friday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law Executive Order No. 97, which directs the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services to ensure no state tax money is used for conversion therapy for LGBTQ children. The order prohibits any medical or mental health provider receiving state or federal funds allocated to the …

People Magazine reports: Mario Lopez is facing backlash over comments he made in a recent interview that suggested it was “dangerous” for parents to label their kids transgender. In a statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday, Lopez apologized for his remarks. “The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were,” …

Newsweek reports: Mario Lopez is being criticized for claiming it’s “dangerous” for parents to support children who identify as transgender. The 45-year-old television personality made his comments in June during an appearance on The Candace Owens Show, a video series on the PragerU YouTube channel, but they sparked blowback on social media this week. Owens compared a child expressing a …

Vancouver’s City News reports: It may have been the first time a sitting Prime Minister has visited a gay bar. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped in for a beer at the Fountainhead Pub in Vancouver’s West End early Monday evening. NEWS 1130’s Taran Parmar was there. “We’re kicking off pride week here in Vancouver — that’s definitely one way to …

The Roanoke Times reports: A small number of Republicans on a congressional district committee tried to censure Rep. Denver Riggleman because he officiated a same-sex marriage earlier this month. The 5th Congressional District Republican Committee went into a closed session for more than two hours to discuss the matter at a meeting on Saturday at Healing Strides horse riding center …

Director Oliver Stone writes on his Facebook page: As to gay/LGBTQ beliefs in Russia, again much misunderstood. Mr. Putin made himself clear in “The Putin Interviews” — he’s not anti-gay/LGBTQ. Nor am I. Have another look at “Alexander,” for which we took a beating in 2004. Beyond the Hephaestion story in the sexuality department, I prominently featured Alexander’s love for …

The New York Times reports: The marchers at the first gay pride parade here in the conservative Polish city of Bialystok expected that they would be met with resistance. But last week when Katarzyna Sztop-Rutkowska saw the angry mob of thousands that awaited the marchers, who numbered only a few hundred, she was shocked. “The most aggressive were the football …

Chattanooga’s ABC affiliate reports: A dying Tennessee man’s final wish will not be honored. A bereaved son in Sweetwater, Tennessee says his sexual orientation is standing in the way of his father’s funeral service. Jessie Goodman is engaged to Brandon Smitty. Goodman’s father is very ill and dying. His final wish is that his services be held at the church …