LGBT News

“My beautiful, now-22 year old child told me last year that they were gender non-conforming. And over the last year, I have come to understand from a deeply personal mother’s perspective. I came to understand what their newfound freedom—it is the only way I can describe what has happened to my beautiful child — what their newfound freedom to wear …

The Associated Press reports: Tennessee lawmakers are working to become the latest state to ensure faith-based adoption agencies can refuse to place children with gay parents and other families because of their religious beliefs without facing any penalties. The GOP-dominant House overwhelmingly voted 67-22 in support of the proposal after a brief but tense debate. The bill must now pass …

Via press release: The first-ever hearing on the Equality Act set to take place this morning in the House Judiciary Committee. The crucially important, bipartisan legislation will finally provide clear, comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across the country. The Equality Act has unprecedented support and is backed by nearly 70% of Americans, hundreds of members of Congress, more than …

The Buffalo News reports: Air travelers hungry for a chicken sandwich can stop at a Chick-fil-A restaurant inside 28 airports around the United States, but not at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Nor will they any time soon. Delaware North Cos. on Friday apparently scuttled plans for the area’s second Chick-fil-A announced not even 24 hours previously by the Niagara Frontier …

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: One of two men accused of using Grindr to lure gay men to a vacant apartment in Dallas where they’d be beaten, robbed and sexually assaulted has pleaded guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Michael Atkinson, 24, pleaded guilty on Thursday to kidnapping and conspiracy charges in connection …

The Washington Examiner reports: Sen. Ted Cruz is making common cause with actor George Clooney, known for his liberal brand of politics, in calling for an economic boycott of Brunei after the Southeast Asian country approved a measure that would make gay sex and adultery punishable by stoning. In an op-ed published on Deadline Friday, the actor condemned the Bruneian …

The Daily Beast reports: Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state, and the State Department have declined to directly condemn a new law in Brunei stipulating the stoning to death of LGBT people. In follow-up questions, The Daily Beast then asked if Pompeo and the State Department specifically objected to the violently anti-LGBT law, set to take effect on April …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: The Florida man who was caught on video asking a Utah man if he is gay and then punching him failed to show up for a court date on Friday, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Carlo Alazo, 22, faces three misdemeanors — one count of threatening to use a weapon in a …

The Cayman Compass reports: Same-sex marriage is legal in the Cayman Islands after a landmark judgment in Grand Court this morning. Chief Justice Anthony Smellie ruled that the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman was unconstitutional and violated multiple rights. He ordered that the local law be changed to reflect that same-sex couples are allowed equal …

Australia’s News Corp outlet reports: A gay couple that had booked flights to a tiny Asian nation before it introduced laws allowing it to stone people to death for gay sex received shocking advice from the federal government’s Smart Traveller hotline. Adultery and gay sex in Brunei will be subject to death by stoning and thieves will have their limbs …

The New Jersey Advance reports: A nonprofit organization that was found guilty of consumer fraud in New Jersey and ordered to disband for promoting gay-to-straight conversion therapy is operating under a new name and continues to make money from the discredited treatment, according to a new lawsuit. The SPLC filed an injunction in state Superior Court in Hudson County Wednesday …

The Sacramento Bee reports: More than 200 protesters rallied Thursday outside of the state Capitol to protest the state’s push for comprehensive sex education and lessons on gender fluidity in California public schools. The rally, organized by Informed Parents of California, called for a rejection of California Board of Education’s proposed Health Education Framework, which they said teaches students too …

USA Today reports: Beyonce got emotional Thursday night as she and husband Jay Z were honored for being allies to the LGBTQ community. “We’re here to promote love for every human being,” said Beyonce, taking the stage at the GLAAD Media Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with Jay Z. Presented with GLAAD’s Vanguard Award, Beyonce paid tribute to her …

The Arizona Republic reports: Two gay-rights organizations are suing Arizona over its so-called “No Promo Homo” law, which bans public district and charter school HIV/AIDS instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle.” The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court on behalf of Equality Arizona, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBT residents. An …

Axios reports: Google is pulling a controversial app that LGBTQ rights groups say engages in a form of conversion therapy, joining Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, all of which banned the app months ago. Google had refused to ban the app from Living Hope Ministries, saying it didn’t clearly violate its Play Store terms of service. The change comes less than …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating the city of San Antonio for potential First Amendment violations after the City Council voted to prevent Chick-fil-A — a franchise known for opposing same-sex marriage — from opening a location in the city’s airport. “The Constitution’s protection of religious liberty is somehow even better than Chick-fil-A’s chicken,” Paxton, …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Justice Department has grown increasingly hostile toward its own LGBT workers, causing top talent to quit as they experience discrimination and “declining morale,” according to a group of LGBT employees who confronted Attorney General Bill Barr in a letter this week. Other workers cited in the letter said the FBI academy discriminates against …

George Clooney writes for Deadline Hollywood: The nation of Brunei will begin stoning and whipping to death any of its citizens that are proved to be gay. Let that sink in. In the onslaught of news where we see the world backsliding into authoritarianism this stands alone. At the head of it all is the Sultan of Brunei who is …

NBC News reports: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., a co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, on Thursday introduced a bill that would ban the use of Medicaid funding for conversion therapy by cracking down on “misleading billing tactics.” Maloney, who is gay, introduced the Prohibition of Medicaid Funding for Conversion Therapy Act with 63 co-sponsors. According to a press …

The Washington Blade reports: The U.S. House voted Tuesday morning to rebuke President Trump’s transgender military ban by approving a non-binding resolution with bipartisan support. The resolution, which was introduced by Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.), was approved by a vote of 238-185 after an hour of debate on the House floor in which lawmakers denounced the Trump administration’s policy …