LGBT News

Louisville’s ABC News affiliate reports: 12th District Republican Senator, Alice Forgy Kerr, is a member of the conservative majority, not necessarily someone you’d expect to be behind a movement like Senate Bill 85. SB 85 would ban conversion therapy in Kentucky. “I think it’s religion gone bad”, said Senator Kerr. That coming from a Sunday school teacher and mother of …

Via press release from GLAAD: Last night’s 62nd Annual Grammy Awards included wins for out LGBTQ artists including Lil Nas X, Brandi Carlile, Lady Gaga, DJ Tracy Young, and more. DJ Tracy Young picked up the Grammy in Best Remixed Recording for her track “I Rise (Tracy Young’s Pride Intro Radio Remix),” a remix of the Madonna track “I Rise.” …

The Tennessean reports: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a controversial measure Friday that would let religious adoption agencies deny service to same-sex couples. The move comes after several groups, including the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, urged Lee not to sign the legislation. The law allows adoption agencies to refuse to participate in a child placement if …

CBS News reports: The parent company of the Hallmark Channel said Thursday that CEO Bill Abbott is stepping down. The move comes about a month after the network became embroiled in controversy after pulling commercials featuring a same-sex couple, then reversing the decision after a consumer backlash. The statement on Wednesday from Crown Media didn’t give a reason for Abbott’s …

The Kansas City Star reports: Public libraries that display “age-inappropriate material” could lose state funding and even see their librarians fined or jailed, under a bill proposed by a Missouri lawmaker. The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Ben Baker, a southwest Missouri Republican, said Thursday that the “Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act” did not target books but was drafted in …

The Guardian reports: The Church of England has stated that sex belongs only within heterosexual marriage, and that Christians in gay or straight civil partnerships should be sexually abstinent. Bishops have issued pastoral guidance in response to the recent introduction to mixed-sex civil partnerships, which says: “For Christians, marriage – that is, the lifelong union between a man and a …

The New York Times reports: Pope Francis sought to shift the ideological balance of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States on Thursday, replacing one of his most prominent conservative critics as the archbishop of Philadelphia. Pope Francis announced in a statement that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia was retiring, and that Bishop Nelson J. Perez of Cleveland, …

NBC News reports: New Jersey on Tuesday became the ninth state to prohibit homicide defendants from claiming that panic brought on by a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity could be used a legal defense. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed the measure, saying it promotes “full equality for all our residents.” “Gay and trans panic defenses are rooted in homophobia …

The Washington Post reports: The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a host of LGBT rights bills as Democrats continued to flex their new power in the Capitol. The Senate voted to ban conversion therapy on children, repeal the state’s now-defunct ban on same-sex marriage and establish statewide policies for the treatment of transgender students. The chamber also voted to replace …

Ben Winslow reports at Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate: A rule banning conversion therapy on LGBTQ children has gone into effect, making Utah the 19th state to ban the practice. Governor Gary Herbert’s office confirmed to FOX 13 that the administrative rule went into effect on Tuesday night. The governor’s office declined to comment any further on it. Last year, …

Syracuse.com reports: A couple were leaving a Breaking Benjamin rock concert during the state fair in August when one man slung an arm over his boyfriend. That simple act triggered a hate-filled attack by a drunken stranger that included gay slurs, an unprovoked punch to the face of one victim and a shattered window to the car belonging to the …

From Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire: The leftist American mainstream media tried to cast Monday’s pro-Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Virginia, as a white supremacist event that only extremists were planning on attending. It turned out that entire narrative was widely false. There were approximately 22,000 pro-freedom activists that showed up; the event concluded with no reported incidents occurring and only …

Haaretz reports: The Jerusalem municipality has announced that it is embracing the position of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and will now allow signs sporting homophobic messages, which it had previously removed. The municipality stated its position at a hearing in the Jerusalem District Court over a petition filed by a religious Zionist group called Hazon (“vision” in Hebrew), which is …

Bloomberg Law News reports: Vimeo Inc. defeated a lawsuit by a self-described “former homosexual” who accused the video hosting website of discrimination after it removed his videos discussing sexual orientation conversion efforts, according to a Wednesday ruling by the Southern District of New York. James Domen’s lawsuit, which raised discrimination claims under New York and California law, is preempted by …

The Tennessean reports: The Tennessee state Senate started the 2020 legislative session passing its first bill of the year: a controversial measure that protects religious adoption agencies if they choose to discriminate against same-sex couples. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington, declares that no licensed adoption agency would be required to participate in a child placement if doing …

The New York Times reports: Popular dating services like Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder are spreading user information like dating choices and precise location to advertising and marketing companies in ways that may violate privacy laws, according to a new report that examined some of the world’s most downloaded Android apps. Grindr, the world’s most popular gay dating app, transmitted user-tracking …

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: A Christian school in Louisville expelled a student last week after her family said school officials discovered the girl had celebrated her birthday with a rainbow-themed cake. Kimberly Alford told The Courier Journal that until Jan. 6, her 15-year-old daughter had been a freshman at Whitefield Academy, a private school at 7711 Fegenbush Lane that serves …

The Detroit Free Press reports: Police now are seeking other men Mark Latunski met on Grindr. They know of two. A New York man born in 1973 fled Latunski’s home, jumped a fence and called police after becoming frightened during a consensual sexual encounter on Oct. 10. Then a 29-year-old Lansing man wearing only a kilt got “spooked” during a …

The Santa Monica Mirror reports: A man has pleaded guilty to using Craigslist, among other sites, to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from Santa Monica and Los Angeles men who responded to ads offering gay sex services. 28-year-old Tyler Buchanan pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal felony charges using an interstate facility to facilitate an unlawful activity, transmitting threatening communications …

Buzzfeed News reports: A young man has died in an apparent suicide the day after footage of him leading a protest against drag queens, alongside members of a right-wing student group, went viral. Wilson Gavin, who was president of the University of Queensland’s conservative Liberal National Club, was heavily criticised for his part in the protest after the footage was …