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www.nbcnews.com
State Superintendent Ryan Walters is calling for a regulation that would allow educators to be fired for “acts that excessively promote sexuality” outside of work.
meduza.io
Russia’s federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, said Friday that it’s investigating the language-learning app Duolingo for possible “distribution of LGBT propaganda,” according to Russian state media.
[https://streamable.com/fzd3rd](https://streamable.com/fzd3rd) 🏳️⚧️ [\#femboy](https://kbin.social/tag/femboy) [#LGBT](https://kbin.social/tag/LGBT)
[\#lgbt](https://kbin.social/tag/lgbt) [#LGBT](https://kbin.social/tag/LGBT)
[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/twitter-files-whistleblower-death-threats\_n\_657a21ffe4b061b3c92dea1e?p\_id=147689](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/twitter-files-whistleblower-death-threats_n_657a21ffe4b061b3c92dea1e?p_id=147689)
www.reuters.com
> > > Russia's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the "LGBT movement" should be designated as extremist, in a move that representatives of gay and transgender people fear will lead to arrests and prosecutions. > > > > A Reuters reporter in court heard it announce that it had approved a request from the justice ministry to recognise what it called "the international LGBT social movement" as extremist and to ban its activities. > >
www.lgbtqnation.com
A flight attendant was celebrating his 32nd birthday in a Qatari hotel. Then the police came...
> > > Dwyane Wade has high praise for Marlon Wayans after the comedian opened up about supporting his transgender child. > > > > Wade is also the parent of a transgender child – something he has been very outspoken about since his daughter Zaya began her transition. > > > > The NBA legend and his wife Gabrielle Union are among the many celebrity parents who have used their platform to promote transgender rights after being inspired by their children. > > > > Now, Wade would like to welcome Wayans to the club, after the White Chicks actor spoke publicly about his son’s transition, and how he has dealt with that transition as a parent. > > > > Speaking to Variety during last week’s GQ Men of the Year party, Wade “saluted” Wayans, and any other father who can openly support their child, no matter what their gender identity may be. > > > > “I think unconditional love allows us to step in and listen and learn of what we do not know and what we were not taught, especially in the Black community,” he told the publication. > > > > “I salute Marlon for speaking out and speaking up about this experience with his child just the same way as I’ve done. > > > > “We’re just the voices that are speaking for our kids right now before they get an opportunity to grab that microphone and speak for themselves. I salute him.” > > > > The basketball star added: “This is his experience and what he’s dealing with. He’s coming out selling it from his point of view. It’s great for fathers especially to speak on them from their point of view and how they had to handle it and deal with it.” > > > > Dwyane Wade’s daughter Zaya was 12 when she came out to him as a transgender. > > > > Since then, he and Union have gone to great lengths to protect the now-16-year-old from anti-trans rhetoric, moving out of Florida and publicly speaking out against “hateful” political figures like Ron DeSantis. > > > > Thanks to their love and support, Zaya has been thriving, making her runway debut at Paris Fashion Week and working with brands like Tiffany & Co. and Puma. > > > > Meanwhile, Wayans is a little bit newer to the journey, admitting during a recent interview with The Breakfast Club that he’s still getting used to his son Kai’s transition. > > > > The Scary Movie actor explained that his next comedy special will centre around the transition. > > > > “Not his… their transition, but my transition as a parent, going from ignorance and denial to complete unconditional love and acceptance,” he clarified. > > > > “I think there’s a lot of parents out there that need that message and I know I’m dealing with it. It was a very painful situation for me but, man, it’s one of the best hours I could ever imagine.” > > > > Making it crystal clear that he’s doing everything in his power to support Kai on his journey, Wayans added: “I gotta respect their wishes and as a parent I just want my kids to be free – free in spirit, free in thought, free to be themselves. > > > > “The more you know yourself, the more you live your truth, the happier your existence. So if they can’t get that in a household with their father and their mother, how the f\*\*\* do I send them out into the world with that kind of confidence? > > > > “I’m just so proud of them for being them – but that don’t mean that I ain’t got jokes.” > >
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i739SyCu9I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i739SyCu9I) [\#LGBT](https://kbin.social/tag/LGBT)
www.lgbtqnation.com
Bye bye, hater...
www.lgbtqnation.com
France's legislature is considering the ban...
youtu.be
In a world where over a third of all languages use gender-specific grammar, non-binary people are looking for innovative solutions.00:09 - Being gender-neutr...
www.thepinknews.com
Only one in six asexual people have had a universally positive experience of being out, new research has shown.
truthout.org
The new policies go beyond even the state-level protections that Vermont offers trans students in the state.
www.lgbtqnation.com
The LGBTQ+ Afghan activists accuse the UN and the world of remaining silent as they face a "widespread and systematic crime against humanity...
www.lgbtqnation.com
Over 200,000 people showed up for Orlando Pride over the weekend, as an 11-year-old transgender girl led the parade as Grand Marshal. The event was seen as a way to push back against Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ (R) ongoing campaign of discrimination and persecution of the LGBTQ+ community.
www.lgbtqnation.com
In June, Arkansas became the first state to see its ban on gender-affirming care for minors blocked by the courts. In September, a district court judge temporarily blocked Montana’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, which was set to take effect on October 1. Those two victories have inspired plaintiffs in North Carolina and Montana to challenge anti-LGBTQ+ laws passed by Republican-led legislatures. In North Carolina last week, the family of a trans boy and a medical doctor filed suit with PFLAG and Lambda Legal against officials in the state, arguing the state’s law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors discriminates on the basis of gender identity and infringes on parental rights to make medical decisions on behalf of their own children. The next day, a group of intersex, Two-spirit, and trans plaintiffs filed suit in Montana, challenging a law that went into effect in May that amends the state code to declare “male” and “female” are the only two sexes. They assert the law is unconstitutional and amounts to sex-based discrimination. Plaintiffs in North Carolina say that House Bill 808, which Republicans passed with a super-majority after Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the legislation in August, violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The law prohibits doctors from prescribing hormone therapy or puberty blockers to minors and outlaws gender-affirming surgery for anyone under 18 (though such surgeries are rarely, if ever, performed on minors). “Gender-affirming medical care is safe and effective, it is evidence-based, and it is widely accepted,” said Lambda Legal counsel and health care strategist Omar Gonzalez-Pagan at a press conference announcing the suit. He called the plaintiffs “courageous” for taking their fight public. The challenge to Montana’s Senate Bill 458 is notable for including intersex people among the plaintiffs, with three trans people, two intersex people, and the Montana Two-Spirit Society named in the suit. The Montana plaintiffs challenge the idea that there are only two biological sexes, arguing that the gender binary classification is a form of “colonization” meant to “eradicate Two-Spirit culture.” The gender binary also perpetuates the mutilation of intersex children. Laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors in Texas and Florida carve out exceptions to their surgery bans that permit procedures on infants born with “ambiguous genitalia.” Those procedures are conducted more often in pursuit of “normalizing” children’s genitals than for any medically necessary reason. Intersex activists seek to make such surgeries illegal, preferring to wait until intersex individuals can provide informed consent before receiving any surgical procedures. “S.B. 458 is motivated by animus and a bare desire to harm,” the Montana lawsuit states, while it violates the 14th Amendment and the plaintiffs’ right to privacy and free speech. The plaintiffs also claim the law violates the Montana constitution’s “dignity clause,” an article that outlaws “treatment which deliberately reduces the value of persons.” That clause was cited in the decision blocking the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in September.
www.thepinknews.com
A new report has found that over 100,000 transgender minors aged 13 to 17 are living in states that have passed anti-trans legislation.
www.thepinknews.com
Comedian Sophie Duker delivered a powerful message against the haters after landing Entertainer of the Year at PinkNews Awards 2023. In an exclusive interview with PinkNews after picking up her award, Duker had a clear message to comedians such as Ricky Gervais and Dave Chappelle who have used their platform to mock and belittle vulnerable minority groups such as the trans community.
www.lgbtqnation.com
Vandals have drawn swastikas on the apartment building of Maryland State Del. Joe Vogel (D), an out gay and Jewish lawmaker. While it’s unclear whether the vandals have deliberately targeted him, the symbols have appeared at least three times on his Gaithersburg city apartment building over the past few months.
www.thepinknews.com
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has said she would prefer two years in jail over using a trans person’s correct pronouns.
www.gaytimes.co.uk
The Supreme Court of Mauritius has declared the country’s criminalisation and ban of same-sex intimacy ‘discriminatory’ in a landmark ruling.
www.wrestlinginc.com
Many of today's most popular wrestlers, both in major feds and on the indies, are LGBTQ+. Here are some of the most prominent wrestlers who are out and proud.
www.lgbtqnation.com
A local paper deemed it the first major case since the enactment of the "Kill the Gays" law.
www.them.us
Steroids have been popular among gay men for decades. For some, they're life changing — but for others, they can be debilitating.
www.thepinknews.com
Around a quarter of Grindr users say they're not just on the LGBTQ+ dating app for hookups – they're also using it to network.
www.i24news.tv
The man was spotted by a security guard when he was throwing a burning object at the memorial
www.jpost.com
The Hezbollah-backed minister said the film was found to "promote homosexuality and sexual transformation" and "contradicts values of faith and morality."
www.bbc.com
**Runaway Netflix hit Heartstopper was a huge hit with teenagers when the first series came out last year.** But while it may have been targeted at a younger audience - just like Alice Oseman's hugely popular graphic novels series of the same name - it ultimately had a much broader appeal. The series centred around the blossoming same sex relationship between school friends Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor). The storyline follows Nick's coming out journey as he realises he is bisexual and series two, which drops on Netflix on Thursday, will follow Charlie and Nick's deepening romance. For the young LGBTQ+ community, Heartstopper is about representation, identity and first love, while the show also tackles other teen issues such as bullying and friendship problems. Older viewers have also been drawn to the series with its universal themes and nostalgia for rose-tinted schooldays (even if they weren't always so rose-tinted). For some though, it's had a more profound effect. Fiona - not her real name - says the show helped her to open up about her sexuality for the first time, in her 40s. "Saying that Heartstopper made me realise I was bisexual is a bit of an oversimplification. There was probably a part of me that always knew but didn't really know how to label it because there weren't any people talking about bisexuality when I was growing up," she explains. More people identify as bisexual than gay or lesbian, a new study recently suggested. Fiona herself is married with a young child and her husband has been very supportive as she has begun to open up about her sexual orientation. But it was a very different landscape in the 1980s. She says that growing up through the Aids crisis and Section 28 was damaging, recalling once hearing Aids described by adults in hushed tones as the "gay plague". "There was a lot of trauma and horror associated with not being straight. "Because I liked boys as well, I just kind of pushed that side down. It [bisexuality] was always floating around in my head but I had those negative ideas of what it means to be bisexual." She also feels that there's been a lack of bisexual storylines on our screens, which hasn't helped. Last year's Glaad report, which charts LGBTQ representation on TV in the US, noted that there was a four per cent decrease in bisexual characters compared with the previous year. While there have been prominent bisexual characters in recent TV series, such as Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Darryl Whitefeather in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, it was Heartstopper's Nick Nelson that made everything click for Fiona. "When I saw his journey, the emotions he felt... the more I thought about it, the more I thought this is something I can relate a lot to the past. "It was like jigsaw pieces floating around and watching Heartstopper was the thing that finally... they all fit into place. She says that while the show has "been really important for young people... because it normalises those feelings... there is a generation of older people who are realising they are bisexual because Heartstopper is helping them to go through the things they went through as a teenager and recognise it". Heartstopper doesn't sugar-coat the issues that still exist today in coming out; Nick is part of a very macho school rugby team, for example, which includes some members who are openly homophobic. "The fear of coming out to friends is very relatable. That's something I'm still going through at the moment," says Fiona. But she notes that Heartstopper is also a "simple love story... that isn't drenched in trauma", which she feels is significant. "There was a big phase where every gay storyline involved HIV... you couldn't just have simple love stories like straight people." Watching Heartstopper led to Fiona tentatively begin to explore her newly uncovered identity. "I just subconsciously started using the [bisexuality] label for myself to see how felt. It's like unlocking a part of your identity that's always been hidden. "Everything just clicked and I was crying at the end when Nick comes out to his mum." Fiona recently attended her first Pride event but while her husband has been an ally, she isn't ready to come out to her wider family yet. "My family are very heteronormative. I'm a bit of a misfit because they do (traditional) gender roles, women do this and men do that, and I've always kicked against that." While Fiona's coming out journey is at her own pace, Connor revealed on Twitter last year that he was bisexual, but suggested he was forced to come out after pressure on social media. "No-one should be forced to come out when they're not ready, they should be able to do that in their own time. He was pushed into a corner where he felt he had to do that, it was completely unacceptable," Fiona says. Connor himself said recently: "One of the really powerful things about Heartstopper is that it's a voice for a lot of people. "We do try and teach people that no matter what, it's OK. It's okay not to know, and it's OK to explore and it's okay to work things out. You'll get there. It's going to be the best thing ever when you do." Series two will see the relationship between Charlie and Nick grow and mature. The pair are "super, super optimistic and hopeful about their relationship," Connor says. "But it's maybe not as easy as they thought it would be, to suddenly be as out and proud as they want to be." Dr Julia Shaw, a psychologist and author of the book, Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, says bisexual people face "double discrimination, expressed to them by both homosexual and heterosexual people". "There's an assumption that for bisexual women, it's probably a phase, whereas for bisexual men, it's kind of the opposite... the assumption will be that you're actually gay but just not willing or brave enough to come out yet. "Often bisexual people are seen as not queer enough to be fully part of the queer and homosexual community," she adds. Dr Shaw also recognises the importance of representation on screen. "Parasocial relationships are when we have relationships with... or get to know people on screen, or in other media contexts," she explains. For example, the viewer may feel a genuine connection with Connor's character through shared experiences. "We know that parasocial relationships are important for changing people's hearts and minds when it comes to queer issues. "So if you feel like you know someone [who is gay or bisexual] in your real life, or through the media, you're much more likely to accept that that's a sexuality that really exists." She adds: "I think that bisexual representation in the last five years has shot up massively, although it's still not proportionate. "I think Heartstopper is one of the first representations of a delicate portrayal of bisexuality in boys in a way that we haven't seen before." Oseman herself, who identifies as asexual and aromantic and uses both she and they pronouns, says: "We want to see our struggles represented accurately in the media, but we also often want media that makes us feel hopeful, comforted, and happy, and I like to think Heartstopper does both those things." So what would Fiona say to Oseman if she met her now? "Thank you for giving my generation the representation that we didn't have. I don't know if she will ever realise what impact she's really had."
piped.video
Chloe Cole, a detransitioner and activist against gender affirming care for minors, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee.
dallasvoice.com
The front doors of Community Unitarian Universalist Church of Plano, 2875 E. Parker Road, which church officials say has been targeted by a hate group since at least June 25, were damaged early Sunday, July 23, in a firebomb attack, according to reports in the Dallas Morning News. The church went ahead with Sunday services […]
www.jpost.com
The law also bans post-surgery transgender people from adopting children and annuls the marriages of post-surgery transgender people.
youtube.com
Hannah Barnes is an award-winning analytical and investigative journalist at the BBC, and an author.Finding your place in the world can be hard. However, som...
www.thepinknews.com
A Hungarian bookstore chain has been fined for not concealing Heartstopper, breaching a law prohibiting sharing LGBTQ+ content with minors.
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that an Indianapolis Catholic high school was allowed to fire its guidance counselor because she is in a same-sex marriage. Shelly Fitzgerald was fired from R…
www.politico.eu
Georgian officials are capitalizing on homophobia to boost their chances in 2024 elections. But that won’t help win EU membership candidate status this year.