Donald Trump interrupted Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy during a press conference in which Duffy brought up his gay predecessor, Pete Buttigieg. Duffy was speaking about the administrations decision to significantly roll back fuel economy standards established by the Biden administration when he brought up Buttigieg, mispronouncing his last name as Boot-udge-udge. Related Pete Buttigieg dismantles Fox hosts claim about violent crime in just 7 words Trump then interjected to declare, Boot-EDGE-EDGE, which sent the GOP leaders flanking him into hysterics. While the president is technically correct about the pronunciation, he has long overemphasized the sounds in Buttigiegs name which he has called unpronounceable as a way to mock the Biden cabinet member. Many on social media found the moment disturbing, particularly the way the folks around Trump humored him by laughing at what most agreed was a very bad joke. Others also pointed out the disturbingly childlike nature of a moment, where the folks in charge of our country giggle and poke fun at others. This has Dr. Evil energy. Everyone laughing way too hard at something that isnt remotely funny. TheDeepThinker (@MoeKyleToronto) December 3, 2025Parents: Since theyve done away with the Department of Education, use this as a perfect example of telling your children, how NOT to act. The Resistor Sister (@the_resistor) December 3, 2025HA HA HA, his name is very hard to pronounce, HA HA HA, were all laughing for a very appropriate reason, HA HA HA. Chris Robinson (@ChrisRobinsonNJ) December 3, 2025Lets make sure we poke fun at the gay guy? This is like a circus. Denison Barb (@DenisonBarbs) December 3, 2025Their brains stopped maturing somewhere around 4th grade. Double_Anarchy (@Double_Anarchy3) December 3, 2025Ever worked for a boss where you had to laugh at everything he said, no matter how effed up it was. Rick Write (@RickWritesNow) December 3, 2025Why would you laugh at such a nothing joke? Embarrassing. Augustus; formerly Caesar. (@ExaltedOne7) December 3, 2025Republicans still thinking playground taunts of obviously forced mispronunciations are funny. Alex Hilke, MPA (@AlexHilke) December 4, 2025Its like live action emperors new clothes Theres Always Next Year (@ThatsTheFactZak) December 3, 2025The Clown Show is trying out new material Mike McGeachie (@McgeachieMike) December 3, 2025

We are entering an era of queer action movies, with projects like Love Lies Bleeding and Honey, Don't. Comedian Tig Notaro is throwing her hat into the ring with a movie of her own, and she's working with a notable director. Earlier this week, Notaro appeared as a guest on On Air with Kara Swisher, and in that episode, the multihyphenate creative revealed that she's working on a "hot lesbian action" movie with Zack Snyder, which Deadline later confirmed is in development.Notaro talked about how she started to gain more attention online for her big-screen prescence after she appeared in the 2021 movie, Army of the Dead, taking over the role from Chris D'Elia, who dropped out after sexual misconduct allegations. "I go viral for being sexy in this film," Notaro says on the episode. And it was so unexpected. My phones exploding. Im not walking around going Oh my God, you know, check me out. I was so confused. So I called Zack, and I said, Im hearing it from straight men, gay men, gay women, and straight women that they think I'm hot in this movie.'The comedian went on to explain that working with Snyder on that film helped her form a connection with the director, and that they came up with the idea for this new project. 'What if we just went for it and everyone's a hot lesbian? He was like, Oh my God, yes, let's make that movie,'" she explained. "And so who knows? Its a Hollywood project. We're in the process of putting the script together. Picture this poster: We have the name of the film, and then it says Hot Lesbian Action.' That's how I sold him on the Zoom.Notaro went on to reveal a few details about the film, saying, As of now, the movie is called Deviants, and takes place back in some old-timey days, like some closeted deviants.Notaro appeared on Swisher's show to discuss the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, on which she serves as a producer. The documentary centers around her late friend Andrea Gibson, an acclaimed queer poet who died earlier this year after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) denied shes resigning from Congress after theNew York Timesreported she is weighing the possibility in the wake of GOP anger over House Speaker Mike Johnsons (R-LA) leadership.Times reporter Annie Karni wrote that the vehemently anti-trans Mace who is currently running for governor of South Carolina has told people she is so frustrated with [Johnson] and sick of the way he has run the House particularly how women are treated there that she is planning to huddle with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia next week to discuss following her lead andretiring earlyfrom Congress. Related Nancy Mace confesses that she has no friends Greenes resignation, effective January 5, came after the one-time MAGA loyalist had a string of continued disagreements with the president, largely over government spending and the release of the Epstein Files. After the president started name-callingand promised to endorse a primary challenger against her, Greene stepped away, leaving a manifesto of an explanation.While lengthy, Greenes key message was that the Republicans arent following through on their priorities and are wasting what little majority they have in the House. In the aftermath, an anonymous senior House Republican toldPunchbowl News that more explosive early resignations are coming. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Its a tinder box. Morale has never been lower, the lawmaker warned. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out.Karnis report in the Times said that many Republicans have grown frustrated with Johnson, but Republican women are particularly angry. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) told Karni there is an unusually high level of discontent among House Republicans. The overriding issue is the House has not been at the forefront of driving policymaking, or the agenda in Washington, Kiley explained. That is naturally going to be frustrating to members who ran for Congress to make an impact on issues they care about.Johnson has reportedly angered his party by refusing to call the House into session for an eight-week period during and leading up to the shutdown, and also for, as Karni put it, the passive role the speaker has played in the redistricting arms race that has spread across the country.Others who are worried about their reelection campaigns are upset that hes dragging his feet on a vote to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.Some Republican women are also reportedly angry about the pressure Johnson put on them to remove their names from the discharge petition calling for the release of the Epstein files. Mace, Greene, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), refused to bend in their decision to sign the petition.Butt CNN correspondent Manu Raju said Nancy Mace had one word for him when he asked if she was considering resigning: No. Nancy Mace tells me no shes not going to resign from her House seat early. Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 4, 2025Despite positioning herself as a warrior for women, Mace has devoted her time in Congress to waging a vicious campaign against trans women.She has used transphobia to make herself a household name, elevating her profile with increasingly outrageous anti-trans outbursts. She has, in many ways, become the public face of the Republicans crusade to eradicate trans people from all aspects of civic life.She haslobbed transphobic slursat a student;shouted slursduring a speech anda House committee meeting;publicly bullieda trans influencer;was booed whendiscussing a trans activists genitalsat a public talk;targeted two universitiesin her state for offering more than two gender options on certain student forms; referred to Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE)as itanda manin a TV news appearance; and called trans people mentally ill (even though trans identity isnt considered a mental illness by any major medical or psychological association). Mace also persuaded Johnson tointroduce a rule banning all trans people from using Capitol restroomsthat match their gender identity. She alsovoted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Actbecause it would give some protections to trans inmates.Mace has alsowritten hundreds of posts on social media attacking trans people, some of which include slurs. Numerous members of Congress havecriticized Maces vile and disgusting rhetoric.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA), the national governing body for tennis in the U.S., has quietly banned transgender women from competing in womens events.According to independent journalist Marisa Kabas, who first reported the news in her newsletter The Handbasket this week, the policy change was made to comply with a February 5 executive order rescinding federal funding for educational programs that allow trans women and girls to participate in womens and girls athletics programs. Related Amateur tennis league boots trans woman & everyone who stood up for her Kabas reports that the change came in response to a directive from the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In July, the USOPC banned trans women from competing in womens Olympic sports, citing the current administrations anti-trans executive order. The IOC is expected to implement a blanket ban on trans women competing in womens events at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games.USTAs new policy notes that Failure to comply with this directive risks the USTAs status as the National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport of tennis in the United States, according to Kabas. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Kabas also notes that USTAs new policy comes on the heels of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) announcing an investigation into the organizations Texas league to determine if the organization has violated Texas law by allowing biological males to participate in womens matches.Among the internal documents Kabas reviewed was an unpublished FAQ intended to prepare the organizations Customer Care and Section/State District Personnel for pushback on the new policy. The document reportedly includes a suggested response addressing the fact that the ban only applies to trans women and not trans men. The purpose of Executive Order 14201 is to protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in sports, USTAs response reads. Transgender males are perceived as having no impact on the fairness or safety of the womens category, which is the sole focus of the order.The FAQ also confirms that USTA will not require players to provide birth certificates, but will reserve the right to request documentation to support attestations submitted during the event registration or membership purchase process, or in the event of an eligibility challenge. It also confirms that if a trans woman reregisters to compete in male events, her previous ranking and points will be zeroed out.While Kabas reports that both public and internal documents show that the policy went into effect on December 1, USTA has not made an official announcement about the change. According to Kabas, USTAs Head of Communications & Content did not respond to questions about why the organization had not publicized its new policy or whether they plan to formally notify their members. However, Kabas spoke to 61-year-old Valerie, a St. Louis-area USTA member at the recreational level, who said that regional leaders warned her in mid-November about the coming policy change.Everything would have just gone on as normal until someone maybe might have found that policy and filed a complaint because they didnt like it, and thats how I would become aware of it, she told Kabas. Soon after, Valerie told her team co-captains, who were unaware of the change, that she would be stepping away from USTA. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Lucas Schleusener, the CEO of Out In National Security, has warned that the current atmosphere around LGBTQ+ federal employees amounts to a return of the Lavender Scare and the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments of the 80s and 90s. Suggesting that this goes beyond the well-known executive orders, Schleusener claims that there are teams conducting anti-LGBTQ+ witch hunts in the federal government and that MAGA influencer and Trump confidante Laura Loomer is the new Joe McCarthy.Like the original Lavender Scare, this is a manufactured moral panic weaponized through bureaucracy, Schleusener told the Washington Blade. Back then, the State Department bragged about driving queer employees to suicide; now were seeing trans service members taking their lives under the pressure of these policies. The difference today is that social media makes the harassment instantaneous and far-reaching, even as queer visibility also makes it harder to shove an entire community back into the closet. Related It has been 70 years since the Lavender Scare & our political leaders are still after us There have been surface signs of the sort of harassment and discrimination that might be going on against federal employees. The temperature is clear from certain incidents that have been made public, like when an FBI agent was fired for having a Pride flag on his desk and the administrations decision not to commemorate World AIDS Day.However, Schleusener indicates that behind these already shocking headlines, the situation for federal employees is even more horrifying. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Schleusener, who was formally employed at the Pentagon and was a national security associate under President Obama, highlighted the harassment that LGBTQ+ workers are facing in the government. Theres an overwhelming bureaucratic trauma happening a destabilization that feels intentional. And underneath that, were seeing a return of different flavors of workplace harassment across national security agencies, from the CIA to the Import-Export Bank.This isnt a Dont Ask, Dont Tell situation, but a more active push to out LGBTQ+ federal employees, with Schleusener pointing to members of the Republican Party who are conducting digital witch-hunts. Theres an organization called STARRS that combs through Instagram and LinkedIn looking for minority service members who show any pride in their identity, Schleusener explained. If youre LGBTQ, a person of color, or even an ally who took your kids to Pride, they will tag and harass you and they have a direct line into the Pentagon. People have been removed from their posts because of this, including the Navys top West Coast endocrinologist, whose only offense was having a rainbow banner and pronouns on LinkedIn.Its not clearances being denied so much as it is targeted harassment, he continued. Laura Loomer has essentially declared herself the new Joe McCarthy, going through the Plum Book to identify anyone with LGBT, DEI, equity, or trans in their job titles and doxxing them.While this harassment is going on, theres less support for those being targeted as well, as the effects of Trumps executive order Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. One example Schleusener cites is an LGBTQ+ resource group for government workers of U.S. foreign affairs agencies, GLIFAA. After that order, the groups whole board resigned, and its website has since been stripped of most content and contact lists. This absolutely constitutes a second Lavender Scare, Schleusener said. The federal government is saying trans people dont belong in the military, even after spending billions training them for an all-volunteer force, which is both dangerous and absurd. Combined with attacks on ERGs, human rights reporting, and attempts to purge queer employees, it mirrors the patterns of the Cold War era.This Lavender Scare is escalating: the NDAA moving through Congress includes a ban on trans women at service academies, and the administration is using Cold War statutes like the Walter McCarran Act to bar trans foreign nationals from entering the country. Every opportunity theyve had to go further, they have taken and theres no indication they plan to stop at trans people.Schleusener says that theyre trying to legally document the harassment to file suits against it, but theyre finding sometime insurmountable hurdles in the process. Even when we find a legal path everything is designed to be slow, difficult, and demoralizing. And the frightening question is always whether fighting back could result in a bad Supreme Court precedent that hurts queer workers nationally.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Men who get top surgery often describe the medical procedure as life-changing.A recent New York Post article interviews just a few of the tens of thousands of people who have gotten gender-affirming top surgery to reduce breast tissue, and what they have to say is clear: This medical procedure is needed.According to a recent report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 26,430 breast reductions were performed on cis men in 2024, up from 20,955 in 2019. This makes it the most popular form of plastic surgery performed on males, surpassing liposuction.The firsthand accounts from men who have received this type of gender-affirming care should move anyone who reads them. Still, politicians and public figures on the right are regularly calling for gender-affirming surgeries to be banned, and often call procedures like top surgery "mutilation" or "abuse"."It changed my life," Lewis Gonzalez, who got the surgery in 2021, tells the New York Post. "I had to get used to walking with my chest out and having confidence. Before, it felt like I was carrying around a big bag of rocks that's what my gynecomastia was."Gynecomastia is breast development in males and is most often caused by hormone levels. It's wildly more popular than you'd think.According to the National Institute of Health, "up to 60 percent of boys have clinically detectable gynecomastia by age 14." Boys who develop gynecomastia typically have a decreased androgen-to-estrogen ratio.Pubertal gynecomastia usually resolves within three years, but for thousands of men, the problem never goes away. Elevated estrogen production, androgen overproduction, and decreased testosterone in adults can all contribute to gynecomastia.In 2024, over 26,000 American cis men received gender-affirming surgery in the form of breast removal. That number has been steadily growing and is up more than 10 percent from the previous year.Kelbin Ramirez, who had the surgery when he was 30, tells the Post that trying on clothes was torture as a young man, because he "would go into the fitting room and get so emotional and frustrated because no matter what I wore, they were still so prominent.""I tried to wear stuff that I really liked but at the end of the day, under the clothes, they were always there," he says. "And I always felt it."Cis men and trans people have a lot to empathize with each other on this issue. No one should be forced to live with that kind of pain day in and day out. If someone is suffering in this way, the compassionate thing to do, no matter what the person's genitals or chromosomes are, is to perform surgery.The high rate of male top surgery also does something else: It shows just how weak the Right's binarist, gender-essentialist foundation of their worldview is.Just the fact that higher estrogen levels are so typical in boys and men alone chips away at the anti-trans argument that sex is binary and unchangeable. It also shows the double standard conservatives have when it comes to people who were assigned male at birth and people who were assigned female at birth.Gynecomastia surgery is, by definition, gender-affirming care.If society treated boys with gynecomastia the same way it treats cis women who have elevated testosterone levels, we'd see them being banned from sports and single-sex facilities. Thankfully, that's not happening.Banning these surgeries for trans men and nonbinary people also endangers cis men's abilities to get the surgery. The NIH states that 1 in 600 to 700 males have Klinefelter syndrome, which means a man has an extra X chromosome, and often "prominent gynecomastia." If a male patient goes in for the surgery and finds out he's actually intersex, does that change his right to access this type of healthcare?The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that neither the United States nor any individual state has the right to "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."Denying adults who were assigned female at birth legal access to medical procedures that tens of thousands of cis men have access to goes against the very heart of American freedom.Banning trans people from getting top surgery isn't about "protecting girls," it's about controlling bodies. And as long as the government can control some people's bodies, it won't stop trying to control everyone's."If you do the surgery, do it for you," Gonzalez says at the end of the New York Post's article. "At the end of the day, it's all about how you feel about yourself."Unfortunately for trans people, that's not all it's about. It's also about what your government officials will allow you to do.It's clear to anyone with a brain or a heart that the people in the article needed this surgery and that it was worth the pain and fear. If only conservative politicians were included in that group, they'd understand.Mey Rude is a staff writer for Out. Find her on Instagram @Meyrude.Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit out.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of our stories. Email us at voices@equalpride.com. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of Out or our parent company, equalpride.

In a post on social media on Tuesday, the founder of the iconic underwear brand, Andrew Christian, announced that the company would be shutting down after two decades in business. He told Queerty in a recent interview that the fashion industry is facing new challenges amid the rise of fast fashion and the contentious current political landscape. "Theres been a clear shift in consumer behavior, with many people especially younger generations buying from fast fashion platforms like Shein and Temu, where you can get underwear for $3," he said. "Along with the dumping of Chinese fast fashion into our market, the political climate seems to have made it unpopular for large companies to invest in gay brands. Theres a reluctance to associate with LGBTQ+ focused businesses that simply wasn't there a few years ago.Christian wrote a heartfelt statement to his followers on X that reads, "Today, with tears, gratitude, and a heart full of memories, we close the Andrew Christian website. It's with a heavy but deeply grateful heart that we say goodbye." He goes on to write, "Thank you to every single person who wore our designs, shared our vision, and became part of this family you gave this brand its soul. The site may go dark, this chapter may end but the love, the stories, and the community we built together will stay with us forever." Now, when users visit the brand's website, they're met with a banner that reads: "Andrew Christian is now closed. Thank you for your loyalty and support over the years." See on Instagram Christian bowed out of the business with grace in a final Instagram post, accompanied by another statement. "As I take this final bow, I just want to say thank you to everyone who believed in me, my work, and the world we created together," his caption reads. "What began as a queer kid's survival turned into a movement of self-expression, visibility, and unapologetic joy. Together, we didn't just make clothes we made space. We built a community. We made people feel seen. Closing this chapter is emotional, but my heart is full because of you."He ended the post by thanking his supporters. "Thank you for standing with me. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for being part of this legacy."

A recent report detailing the immense popularity of breast reduction surgery among cisgender men has got transgender advocates erupting over the fact that gender-affirming care has always been celebrated for cis folks but demonized for trans people.The New York Post published a story on December 3 that explained that breast reduction surgery is the most popular plastic surgery among cis men in the country. Related University punishes trans educator for discrimination after student calls her demonic At some point in their lives, almost half of men experience a condition called gynecomastia, which is an increase in breast gland growth often due to a hormonal imbalance. It is not harmful to a mans physical health and so must only be fixed if it is making someone feel self-conscious (or, as some might characterize it, dysphoric).oh so when cis men are getting their breasts removed its just popular surgery among guys? pic.twitter.com/RDluI9FO1a https://t.co/3Ww78A9VgB daphne (@endiive) December 3, 2025 Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The men interviewed for theNew York Postpiece called breast-reduction surgery life-changing. Their recountings of the dysphoria they experienced before surgery feel eerily similar to what trans people describe feeling before they begin to live as their true selves.There were summers that I would wear two shirts just to feel comfortable enough to go outside, even if it was 100 degrees, one man said, adding, When you have this condition, youre willing to go through anything and everything to overcome it.Meet the men getting gender affirming care Shannon Gregory (@princessshay013) December 4, 2025 Another man said he would go into the fitting room and get so emotional and frustrated because no matter what I wore, [my breasts] were still so prominent.I did try to embrace the wholebody positivity movement, said 32-year-old Kelbin Ramirez. I tried to wear stuff that I really liked but at the end of the day, under the clothes, they were always there. And I always felt it.So, gender affirming care The Saurus (@TheSaurus831) December 3, 2025 And just as their dysphoria sounds similar, so too, do the changes they experienced after they took steps to correct it.I never really understood confidence until this year post-surgery, Ramirez said. Now, I wear whatever I want. Im not crying in fitting rooms anymore. I go up to people and introduce myself. It has completely changed everything.The article concluded by saying the men interviewed for the piece all shared a similar sentiment: Your body is yours. If you need to make a change to feel good in it, do it. Soooo, kevin can get breast surgery becuase hes overweight but a trans person..ok Astro Lamont (@astrolamont) December 4, 2025It took almost no time for folks on social media to draw parallels between pretty much everything in the story and the experiences of trans folk who seek gender-affirming surgery. As cis men like those in this story are celebrated for their decision to honor what feels right for their bodies, trans people continue to lose that right across the country. Hold on. So when a man wants to make sure he doesnt look like a woman gets cosmetic surgery to cut off his breasts due to his body not developing how he would want it to, thats okay but when trans people do it they are the devil? Xachary (@XacharyGG) December 4, 2025Many laws banning gender-affirming care across the country (predominantly for youth) explicitly do so when it is related to gender transition, but still allow hormone treatments and other care that affirms the sex someone was assigned at birth.Puberty blockers, for example, are used safely and regularly for cisgender young people to alleviate the distress associated with early onset puberty. This unequal treatment was the crux of the argument in the Supreme Court Case United States v. Skrmetti, which ruled in favor of Tennessees gender-affirming care ban for trans youth. The states legislation allows for the same medications banned for use by trans people to continue being used by cisgender youth for other conditions. The bill doesnt ban any specific treatments for being too dangerous; rather, it bans a class of people from using them for a specific purpose (namely, to treat trans-related gender dysphoria).Many states are also trying to make it more difficult for trans and nonbinary adults to receive gender-affirming care with legislation to limit federal health insurance plans from covering it.The concept that cisgender people also regularly receive gender-affirming care is being spoken about moreso in the context of trans rights. In a recent interview, reality TV star Bronwyn Newportof the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City called on more members of the franchise to speak out in support of LGBTQ+ rights. Nobody gets more gender-affirming care than the Housewives, Newport told PRIDE, so if your favorite Housewife is not standing up for the community, especially the trans community, you need to DM them and push them to stand up for your rights, especially now.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

The new season of Vanderpump Rules dropped this week with a brand new cast.The long-running reality TV show may have left Scandoval behind when they decided to reboot the series and replace the old cast, but that doesnt mean there isnt juicy drama and hot stars creating chaos in West Hollywood. After just one episode, cast members and cousins Chris Hahn and Jason Cohen are currently going viral for both being OnlyFans stars, and Hahn is making waves on X after posting a shirtless pic alongside an unknown man.The two may be brand new to the Bravo universe, but theyve both appeared on reality TV shows before. Hahn and Cohen starred together on the first and only season of the Netflix dating show Dated & Related, and Hahn appeared on a season of Perfect Match. Not only are the two new hot VPR stars known for posting shirtless thirst traps on social media, but now the internet cant stop talking about them both having OnlyFans accounts, too. Hahn may be diving into reality TV stardom, but his OF account is still active, where he goes by Axel Stone, and his profile reads, Fitness and modeling! Always down for a good time and living life to the fullest. Let's have some fun and don't be shy!Newbie SUR-ver Cohen says he is both a model and an actor, but until recently, he also had an OnlyFans account. He seems to have scrubbed it from the internet now, but the link is still live in his linktree. Regardless, the cousins are making fans day by posting hot pics everyone can thirst over! (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) The comments are hilarious and extremely thirsty but after browsing their social media accounts we understand why. See on InstagramSee on InstagramSee on InstagramSee on Instagram

Straight men love posing with fish on dating app profiles so much that its become a cliche. Its boring and kind of gross, but it's become a frequently referenced joke because men refuse to stop posting them. But what is the queer equivalent of holding up a dead fish?One intrepid LGBTQ+ Threads user attempted to answer this question. Their theory? Photographs of gays on climbing walls.And now that we think about it, @cara_macb may be onto something!I mean, climbing does take grip strength and the use of carabiners which is basically as sapphic as you can get and the harness you have to wear does a great job of showing off everyones tush and makes us think of other kinds of harnesses you could be wearing. Just saying. Many Threads users agreed, though some thought of clever alternatives like queer women posing in front of a lesbian bar's neon sign.@aloinawhiteny wrote an impressive rundown of just about every letter in the alphabet. Our favorite? "Gays: exposed upper body doused in baby oil." They're not wrong!We love the idea that sapphics are using rock-climbing photos to show off their ability to finger you for hours without getting wrist cramps.Other people just gushed over how right OP was!Someone else suggested that the trans equivalent might be DJ pics which feels correct too.Apparently the climbing photo is multipurpose!If this includes getting to see queer people chopping wood, then we are definitely on board.

This story is part of History is Queer, an Advocate series examining key LGBTQ+ moments, events, and people in history and their ongoing impact. Is there a piece of LGBTQ+ history we should write about? Email us at history@advocate.com.Before Stonewall, before the Black Cat protests, there was the Comptons Cafeteria riot.In August 1966 the exact date is unknown drag queens and transgender women (then called transsexual or by some other term) who frequented Gene Comptons Cafeteria in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco rose up against police harassment. Here are the facts as we know them about the riot and its aftermath.Harassment and hot coffee: What happened?The restaurant, open 24 hours, was popular with trans women and drag queens; they were not welcome in many of the nearby gay bars. Some of them were sex workers, and they could be arrested not only for that but for cross-dressing. One night, a police officer tried to arrest one of Comptons trans patrons on some charge or other, and she responded by throwing hot coffee in his face. Others started tossing chairs, dishes, and sugar shakers around the cafeteria. Outside, they smashed squad cars windows and set fire to a newsstand.We were tired of being arrested for nothing, Felicia Flames Elizondo, a trans woman who lived in San Francisco at the time, told The Advocate in 2018. Arrested for being who we wanted to be. Thrown in jail for obstructing the sidewalk. Thrown in jail for dressing like a woman, because in those days it was illegal. Anything they could think of to make their quota or just to make our lives a living hell, they would do. Flames often visited Comptons, but given the fog of time, she couldnt remember if she was there that night.She did remember how difficult life was for LGBTQ+ people then, especially drag queens and trans women, even in supposedly liberal San Francisco. [LGBTQ+] people were thrown out of hotels, they were stabbed, they had their breasts cut, they were mutilated because of their genitalia, she said in the 2018 interview. We were something that could be thrown away in a trash can.Amanda St. Jaymes, who did participate in the uprising, was interviewed for the 2005 documentary Screaming Queens, written and directed by Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman. Oh, the sugar shakers went through the windows and the glass doors, she said in the film. I think I put a sugar shaker through one of those windows. Outside, the fighting continued, and many of the restaurants customers were taken away in police vehicles.Related: Beyond Stonewall: 9 Lesser-Known LGBT UprisingsNevertheless, there was a lot of joy after it happened, St. Jaymes told Stryker. A lot of them went to jail, but there was a lot of, I dont give a damn. This is what needs to happen.The owners of Comptons responded to the uprising by barring drag queens and trans women from the restaurant, a decision that immediately led to protests. But life got marginally better for this community, according to some sources.The developments in the Tenderloin following that night attest to its impact, Johnny Damm wrote in Guernica Magazine in 2020. After Comptons, the city could no longer claim not to see the Tenderloin trans community. Tenderloin residents also suggest police harassment lessened in those months following the riot, but the law forbidding dress not belonging to his or her sex continued as a basis for arrest until finally removed from the municipal code book in July, 1974.Preserving a legacy No local media outlet reported on the Comptons uprising; the subject was considered unworthy of attention. Police claim to have no arrest records from that night. But LGBTQ+ activists and historians wouldnt let it be forgotten.Stryker is chief among them. She found a scrap of information on the riot while going through some archives, then realized, Theres a story here that I need to tell, she told The Guardian in 2019.So she slowly built her own paper trail and learned how the corner of Turk and Taylor streets, where Comptons was located, was trans central, The Guardian noted. She met St. Jaymes and others, and the Screaming Queens documentary was the result.The Comptons riot has been memorialized in other sources. It figures prominently in the permanent collection of the Tenderloin Museum, which opened in 2015. The Comptons Cafeteria Riot, an interactive play, has been presented at the museums Larkin Street Cafe; its on hiatus now, but performances will resume Friday and Saturday nights beginning January 16.The overall history of the Tenderloin district is recounted in the book The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco by Randy Shaw. An updated edition came out this year, and the book is on sale through the museum.Six blocks in the Tenderloin have been designated as the Transgender District, the first legally recognized trans district in the world. It was founded in 2017 by three black trans women, Honey Mahogany, Janetta Johnson, and Aria Said, and originally named Comptons Transgender Cultural District. Transgender District staffers work to bring economic empowerment and stable housing to the community, promote cultural competency, and offer arts and culture programs.The current tenant is controversialComptons Cafeteria closed in 1972, and its site is now home to a halfway house for formerly incarcerated people, operated by the private prison firm Geo Group. Geo Group also runs Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. Many local activists say a private prison firm should not be involved with a site of resistance by marginalized people. They have sought to have the buildings zoning designation changed so that Geo Group could no longer operate there, without success. There have been allegations of mistreatment at the halfway house, and a resident was found dead on the sidewalk there last summer.Related: Preserving LGBT History Means Saving These SpacesActivists would like to reclaim the Comptons site as a community center or supportive housing. Janetta Johnson envisions studio apartments and one-bedroom apartments for people with mental health issues, with mental health providers on staff, not a prison, according to San Francisco public broadcaster KQED. Advocates have vowed to go on working for such a use of the site.

Missouri State Sen. Joe Nicola (R) introduced a bill that would ban social transition in schools and forcibly out any transgender and nonbinary students to their potentially unsupportive parents if the students ask a school staff member to address them by a name or gender identity different from the sex assigned to them at birth.The bill would also allow teachers to be fired and banned from teaching, as well as schools to be sued for affirming trans and nonbinary students gender identities, even if a parent approves of their child socially transitioning. Related House passes military funding bill with 6 anti-LGBTQ+ measures: dehumanizing S.B. 1085, one of 21 anti-LGBTQ+ bills recently introduced by Missouri State Republicans, requires school staff members to inform the principal or a designee within 24 hours if any student asks them to participate in or support their social transition by having them address them by a name or gender identity that differs from those they were assigned at birth. The principal or designee would then have 72 hours to inform the students parents.The bill would forbid school staffers and counselors from affirming a students trans or nonbinary gender identity or teaching about such identities. School districts would also be forced to fire teachers who violate the law and begin proceedings to revoke those teachers teaching licenses. Parents and the state attorney general may also pursue a civil lawsuit against any school or school district that violates the law. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The bill has no exception for parents who approve of their childs social transition. This essentially forces educators to continue misgendering trans students and invalidating their identities even if they personally support trans and nonbinary students. Studies have shown that social transitioning improves the overall health and well-being of trans children.Trans journalist Erin Reed wrote that the bill underscores a shift in how anti-trans legislation is being sold to the public. For years, supporters of bathroom bans, sports bans, and dont say gay policies framed their efforts as battles for parental rights. Increasingly, though, that language has fallen away as lawmakers move to strip supportive parents of any authority at all, mirroring the approach in medical transition bans that override parental consent entirely.Nicolas bill is just one of numerous anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in the state legislature. The other proposed bills would require the state to deny all legal recognition of non-cisgender identities; roll back nondiscrimination protections for transgender people; ban trans students from accessing school facilities or sports teams matching their gender identities; ban schools from displaying Pride flags; and allow anyone working with schools to misgender other employees trans/nonbinary gender identities.The other proposed bills would also forbid state agencies from allowing gender changes on government-issued identity documents; ban trans people from using public facilities matching their gender identities; ban teachers from being a member of any sports organizations that allow trans participation; ban all obscene content from schools (including LGBTQ+ educational materials); forbid all gender-affirming care for minors; and designate all drag performances as adult cabaret performances (whose viewing by children can be criminally charged). In April, Nicola voiced support for a state bill that would ban trans and nonbinary people from using bathrooms, locker rooms, sports facilities, various crisis centers, prisons, and other sex-segregated spaces that match their gender identity.When a doctor testified against the bill, noting that such bans negatively affect trans peoples well-being, Nicola replied, Im not going to listen to doctors that say one thing that disagrees with a God of creation. You want to kind of berate me a little bit by saying we should listen to what doctors have to say, what your schooling has to say, over what the scripture has to say its not happening with me.Nicola may not realize that the Bible has several scriptures that theologians interpret as being supportive of trans people and their identities.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Over the last school year, 6,870 book bans affected nearly 4,000 unique titles, with Florida, Texas, and Tennessee topping the list of states with the most book bans. While a majority of those books were targeted for their LGBTQ+ content, some were enduring queer titles that have been banned over and over again through the years, only to continually find their way back to library shelves.More modern titles like Gender Queer, Flamer, and All Boys Arent Blue have recently topped the lists of most banned books, becoming obvious quarry for book-banning scolds fortheir intersecting themes of sexual identity, gender, and race. But many books taken off shelves are classics of LGBTQ+ literature that have been challenged before (some, even over centuries). Related Democrats are taking back school boards as voters tire of Republican culture wars Thankfully, last months elections signaled good news for free speech advocates, queer authors, and parents fed up with the book-banning frenzy that has overtaken so many small towns and local school districts over the last few years. Slates of book-banning fanatics backed by Moms for Liberty and other right-wing groups on local school boards went down to defeat, in a reprieve for free expression.So, to celebrate free expression against anti-LGBTQ+ censorship, consider gifting your loved ones some of these influential classics: Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Symposium, Plato (c.385 370 BCE)Symposium by PlatoThe granddaddy of gay breakdowns is Symposium, Platos Greek classic featuring notable Athenian men like the philosopher Socrates and the comic playwright Aristophanes speaking at a banquet with dialogues in praise of Eros, the god of love and sex. Many of the personalities featured in this collection of competing extemporaneous speeches explore male love, revered in ancient Greece.Fast forward to the early 20th century, and Platos dialogue played an important role in gay writer E.M. Forsters coming-of-age novel Maurice. Symposiums inclusion in Forsters book was suggested by influential and idiosyncratic out English writer Edward Carpenter, who promoted the ideal spiritual, uranian homoerotic love mentioned in Symposium. Corydon, Andr Gide (1924)Corydon by Andr GideFrench author Gide strips the platonic veneer off male-male relationships layered for centuries over the work of writers and artists like Homer, Virgil, Titian, Shakespeare (and even Plato in his Symposium) to celebrate homosexuality as it was intended.Gide builds an argument, over four dialogues reminiscent of Plato, to say that homosexuality is a more fundamental and natural force than exclusive heterosexuality, which he depicts as a controlling imposition created by society. Orlando, Virginia Woolf (1928)Orlando by Virginia WoolfOrlando is an early and rare exploration of gender from well-known bisexual author and novelist Virgina Woolf. inspired by the wild family history of her own aristocratic lover, Vita Sackville-West, the gender-bending feminist classic follows the poet Orlando from life as a pretty teenage boy in the court of Elizabeth I through the following centuries among key figures of English literary history. At about age 100, Orlando magically changes sexes, leading to many eye-opening revelations and thrills. As such, Orlando has become a mainstay of transgender studies and scholarship. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein (1933)The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude SteinModern defined the lives of lovers Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein, who lived in Paris together among artists and writers like Picasso and Hemingway in the years between the world wars. Stein decided to tell the story of their relationship and the times through an autobiography that she penned in the name of Toklas, who served as her confidante, friend, and lover (but who had no claim to being an artist like Stein and others in their circle). The books modernist form has earned it praise as one of the greatest English-language nonfiction works of the 20th century. Giovannis Room, James Baldwin (1956)Giovannis Room by James BaldwinBaldwins Giovannis Room holds a special place in the hearts of gay men in particular who read it at a young age.While Baldwin is Black, and wrote about race in his semi-autobiographical novel Go Tell It on the Mountain three years earlier, Giovannis Room concerns a closeted young white American man living in Paris and his feelings for other men, in particular an Italian bartender named Giovanni whom he meets at a Parisian bar.The story surfaces self-loathing, internalized homophobia, and social alienation for the protagonist and readers alike, as well as the joys of erotic love and longing. The Front Runner, Patricia Nell Warren (1974)The Front Runner by Patricia Nell WarrenThis novel, published five years after the 1969 Stonewall uprising, is notable for being the first contemporary gay novel to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success.The soapy and page-turning love story chronicles an affair between a running coach and his star athlete,told with flashbacks to the coachs time as a closeted Marine, an unfaithful husband, a Greenwich Village hustler, and (ultimately) a living-out-loud gay man living with his gold medal-winning Olympic athlete lover and partner. Like its straight contemporary inspiration, Love Story, it ends in tragedy, but it endures as a modern gay classic. A Boys Own Story, Edmund White (1982)A Boys Own Story by Edmund WhiteThis autobiographical novel comes from the towering gay literary figure Edmund White, who died earlier this year, documenting a boys coming of age in the American Midwest during the 1950s. It was the first in a trilogy of books exploring the authors relationship to his sexuality, and it reigns as a classic among gay coming-of-age novels.White was probably the best known among a group of authors in the literary group the Violet Quill, a collection of gay writers in New York in the late 1970s and 80s who were instrumental in the development of contemporary LGBTQ+ literature.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Fox Business hostKatrina Campinssuggested that any women who want to be hotter should join the Republican Party.Speaking on the Wednesday installment of the Fox News programJesse Watters Primetime, Campins said of celebrity Sydney Sweeney (who is a registered Republican voter), Shes getting hotter, and [Democrats are] so jealous, right? Theyre like, Shes so Republican, she gets hotter by the minute, right? And so my advice to all the ladies: Our side is better, and you get hotter, right? All Republican women are hot! Tell me thats not true. Related Republicans introduce Womens Bill of Rights that includes only one right for women It is true, replied Watters. When you register Republican, you just get hotter.Campins made her comment in response to criticisms against Sweeney made by MSNBC host Krystal Ball on a recent installment of the Ive Had Itpodcast. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today [Sweeney] knows what shes doing, Ball said. She wants to appeal to these, like, right-wing, ethno-centric white nationalists, effectively. She thought this would be great for her career. Turns out, they dont want to see an artsy movie about, like, a female boxer whos a lesbian, like Christy this movie she just put out thattotally bombedat the box office. The 2025 movieChristywas a box office bomb,earning only $1.3 million in its opening weekenddespite having a $15 million production budget and a release in over 2,000 theaters. Sweeney was widely criticized for appearing in an American Eagle advertisement earlier this year, which declared that she has good jeans.Critics noted that the ads mention of jeans (which is a homophone of genes) reinforced eugenist, white supremacist views of white peoples genes being superior and preferable to those of other races. Fears of white supremacy have increased during the presidents very racist second term.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Wellness often gets marketed as fancy classes, expensive supplements, and pricey skincare, which makes many women feel that health only belongs to people with a big paycheck. Real daily wellness looks different. It lives in small, repeatable habits that protect energy, hormones, mood, and long-term health without draining a bank account.Money pressures already affect women more than many people realize. One national analysis found that 40.2 percent of women reported skipping recommended care because of cost, a much higher share than men. Thoughtful low-cost routines turn wellness from a luxury into something realistic and sustainable.Prioritize Affordable Everyday NutritionFood choices drive mood, energy, and hormone balance. A budget friendly plan focuses on stable blood sugar and steady nutrients instead of trendy products. Build meals around simple building blocks: protein, fiber, and color. Beans, lentils, eggs, frozen vegetables, oats, brown rice, and canned fish usually cost less per serving than takeout or snack bars and still deliver strong nutrition.Plan three to five default meals that use similar ingredients. One pot chili, veggie stir fry with rice, and lentil soup can share onions, carrots, canned tomatoes, and spices. A short list like this keeps shopping simple and reduces waste, since ingredients appear in several recipes. Buy store brands when quality matches name brands, and lean on frozen produce for nutrients without spoilage.Smart Supplement Strategies Without OverspendingSupplements can fill real gaps, yet they can also become a money sink when marketing replaces evidence. Surveys show that about 77 percent of adult women use dietary supplements, often for general health or energy support. Many women stretch each dollar by watching for sales, signing up for alerts, and using O Positiv Coupon Codes to lower the cost of products that truly fit their needs. A short list of well-chosen supplements usually beats a cabinet full of bottles that rarely get used.Start with food, then add only what a clinician or registered dietitian actually recommends. Iron, vitamin D, or omega-3 can matter for certain women, yet dosage and form work best when tailored. Use reputable brands that share third-party testing information. This approach protects both health and wallet, since unnecessary supplements quietly raise monthly spending without proven benefit.Movement That Fits Real Life And Real BudgetsExercise supports heart health, bone strength, and mood, and it does not require boutique studios. Walking remains one of the most powerful and accessible tools. A twenty to thirty-minute walk most days supports cardiovascular health and mental clarity, and a pair of decent shoes usually covers the main cost.Use free or low-cost resources for strength and mobility. Bodyweight routines, resistance band workouts, and beginner yoga all appear on reputable online platforms at no charge. Pick two or three short routines that you actually enjoy and rotate them during the week. Consistency matters more than complicated programming.Low-Cost Stress Care And Mental HealthStress shows up in digestion, sleep, skin, and cravings, so daily mental care counts as wellness, not indulgence. Many women delay formal support because of cost, and one large survey reported that half of women in the United States skipped or delayed care, including mental health services, with cost as a major factor. That reality makes free and low-fee tools even more important.Create a simple daily wind-down routine. Five minutes of slow breathing, a short gratitude list, or light stretching before bed can train the nervous system to leave fight or flight mode. Free meditation apps, local peer groups, and virtual support communities add more structure without heavy expense.Sleep, Hormones, And Gentle Cycle SupportSleep quality shapes hunger, mood, and hormonal rhythms. Short nights raise stress hormones and make blood sugar harder to manage, which often leads to cravings and irritability. Aim for a steady bedtime and wake time on most days, even on weekends. That rhythm stabilizes internal clocks and makes falling asleep easier.Limit caffeine in the late afternoon, and give screens a curfew at least thirty minutes before bed. Replace late scrolling with a light book, gentle stretching, or a warm shower. Small changes like dimming lights and lowering the noise tell your brain that sleep approaches.Build A Budget-Friendly Wellness ToolkitThink of wellness tools as a personal kit rather than a collection of random purchases. Start with a short list: a reliable water bottle, supportive shoes, one comfortable sports bra, a basic yoga mat or folded blanket, a journal, and one or two reusable food containers. Each item supports several habits and reduces reliance on single-use products or impulse buys.Use one page in your journal or notes app to track free resources. Include parks with safe walking paths, community centers, public libraries with workout DVDs or health books, and any local programs that offer free screening events. Knowledge of these options makes healthy choices feel easier during low-energy days, since decisions no longer require fresh research.Daily wellness on a budget grows from intention, not perfection. Simple meals, carefully chosen supplements, realistic movement, and basic stress care protect health even when funds feel tight. As these routines settle into place, they create a sense of stability and control that no expensive product can match. Step by step, small budget friendly actions build a foundation that supports present wellbeing and future health at the same time.The post Daily Wellness Essentials for Women on a Budget appeared first on LGBTQ and ALL.

Wellness often gets marketed as fancy classes, expensive supplements, and pricey skincare, which makes many women feel that health only belongs to people with a big paycheck. Real daily wellness looks different. It lives in small, repeatable habits that protect energy, hormones, mood, and long-term health without draining a bank account.Money pressures already affect women more than many people realize. One national analysis found that 40.2 percent of women reported skipping recommended care because of cost, a much higher share than men. Thoughtful low-cost routines turn wellness from a luxury into something realistic and sustainable.Prioritize Affordable Everyday NutritionFood choices drive mood, energy, and hormone balance. A budget friendly plan focuses on stable blood sugar and steady nutrients instead of trendy products. Build meals around simple building blocks: protein, fiber, and color. Beans, lentils, eggs, frozen vegetables, oats, brown rice, and canned fish usually cost less per serving than takeout or snack bars and still deliver strong nutrition.Plan three to five default meals that use similar ingredients. One pot chili, veggie stir fry with rice, and lentil soup can share onions, carrots, canned tomatoes, and spices. A short list like this keeps shopping simple and reduces waste, since ingredients appear in several recipes. Buy store brands when quality matches name brands, and lean on frozen produce for nutrients without spoilage.Smart Supplement Strategies Without OverspendingSupplements can fill real gaps, yet they can also become a money sink when marketing replaces evidence. Surveys show that about 77 percent of adult women use dietary supplements, often for general health or energy support. Many women stretch each dollar by watching for sales, signing up for alerts, and using O Positiv Coupon Codes to lower the cost of products that truly fit their needs. A short list of well-chosen supplements usually beats a cabinet full of bottles that rarely get used.Start with food, then add only what a clinician or registered dietitian actually recommends. Iron, vitamin D, or omega-3 can matter for certain women, yet dosage and form work best when tailored. Use reputable brands that share third-party testing information. This approach protects both health and wallet, since unnecessary supplements quietly raise monthly spending without proven benefit.Movement That Fits Real Life And Real BudgetsExercise supports heart health, bone strength, and mood, and it does not require boutique studios. Walking remains one of the most powerful and accessible tools. A twenty to thirty-minute walk most days supports cardiovascular health and mental clarity, and a pair of decent shoes usually covers the main cost.Use free or low-cost resources for strength and mobility. Bodyweight routines, resistance band workouts, and beginner yoga all appear on reputable online platforms at no charge. Pick two or three short routines that you actually enjoy and rotate them during the week. Consistency matters more than complicated programming.Low-Cost Stress Care And Mental HealthStress shows up in digestion, sleep, skin, and cravings, so daily mental care counts as wellness, not indulgence. Many women delay formal support because of cost, and one large survey reported that half of women in the United States skipped or delayed care, including mental health services, with cost as a major factor. That reality makes free and low-fee tools even more important.Create a simple daily wind-down routine. Five minutes of slow breathing, a short gratitude list, or light stretching before bed can train the nervous system to leave fight or flight mode. Free meditation apps, local peer groups, and virtual support communities add more structure without heavy expense.Sleep, Hormones, And Gentle Cycle SupportSleep quality shapes hunger, mood, and hormonal rhythms. Short nights raise stress hormones and make blood sugar harder to manage, which often leads to cravings and irritability. Aim for a steady bedtime and wake time on most days, even on weekends. That rhythm stabilizes internal clocks and makes falling asleep easier.Limit caffeine in the late afternoon, and give screens a curfew at least thirty minutes before bed. Replace late scrolling with a light book, gentle stretching, or a warm shower. Small changes like dimming lights and lowering the noise tell your brain that sleep approaches.Build A Budget-Friendly Wellness ToolkitThink of wellness tools as a personal kit rather than a collection of random purchases. Start with a short list: a reliable water bottle, supportive shoes, one comfortable sports bra, a basic yoga mat or folded blanket, a journal, and one or two reusable food containers. Each item supports several habits and reduces reliance on single-use products or impulse buys.Use one page in your journal or notes app to track free resources. Include parks with safe walking paths, community centers, public libraries with workout DVDs or health books, and any local programs that offer free screening events. Knowledge of these options makes healthy choices feel easier during low-energy days, since decisions no longer require fresh research.Daily wellness on a budget grows from intention, not perfection. Simple meals, carefully chosen supplements, realistic movement, and basic stress care protect health even when funds feel tight. As these routines settle into place, they create a sense of stability and control that no expensive product can match. Step by step, small budget friendly actions build a foundation that supports present wellbeing and future health at the same time.The post Daily Wellness Essentials for Women on a Budget appeared first on LGBTQ and ALL.

After two explosive and steamy episodes centering Connor Storrie (Ilya Rozanov) and Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander), Heated Rivalry episode 3 takes a sharp turn to focus on another couple from Rachel Reid's Game Changers series of novels. Specifically, this week's chapter serves as a one-episode arc to the main couple of Reid's first book in the saga, Game Changer: Scott Hunter (played by Franois Arnaud) and Kip Grady (played by Robbie G.K.).If you're worried about how horny episode 3 of Heated Rivalry is, fear not! Things move fast, and lessons are learned, but the battle of muscular asses lives on. There are also plenty of sex scenes to add to the show's total count, and there's even a little bit of hockey But just a little bit, really.So, without further ado, let us guide you through meeting these new characters, learning more about the actors who play them, and break down why Heated Rivalry episode 3 is important despite being somewhat of a tangent for the TV show to the overall story being told here.What time does Heated Rivalry come out?The Heated Rivalry episode 3 release time was set to 12 a.m. ET this Friday, December 5 which means that the episode is now streaming on HBO Max.A full Heated Rivalry episode guide, with release dates for each new episode, can be seen below.Episode 1, "Rookies": Friday, November 28Episode 2, "Olympians": Friday, November 28Episode 3, "Hunter": Friday, December 5Episode 4, "Rose": Friday, December 12Episode 5, "I'll Believe in Anything": Friday, December 19Episode 6, "The Cottage": Friday, December 26Besides the weekly release time and dates above, it's worth noting that Heated Rivalry is streaming on different streaming services around the world.What is the title for Heated Rivalry episode 3, and what does it mean?The title for Heated Rivalry episode 3 was hidden from fans ever since the series was first announced. All other episodes received a proper title, except for this mysterious third episode. Now that the episode has been released, official social media pages have revealed that Heated Rivalry episode 3 is titled "Hunter."In the lead-up to its release, fans speculated that the episode would shift focus away from the overall protagonists of the Heated Rivalry show Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) to explore the story of Rachel Reid's first book in the Game Changers series of novels. For context: The Heated Rivalry book is the second installment in Reid's series of novels, so paying homage to book 1, Game Changer, not only felt fair, but was also a cute idea.RELATED: Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams' nasty back arch is breaking the internetAnd the fans were right, as the title is a clear reference to Scott Hunter, another character who is a closeted hockey player in this universe. Even brand-view fans of Heated Rivalry will probably be familiar with the character given that actor Franois Arnaud had already been starring as Scott in the first two episodes of the show.Heated Rivalry episode 3 takes a complete turn to focus entirely on Scott and his love interest, Kip Grady, played by Robbie G.K. on the show.Meet Franois Arnaud, the actor who plays Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.Franois Arnaud plays Scott Hunter, a closeted hockey player who's the captain of the New York Admirals, on Heated Rivalry. Beyond a few casual appearances in the first two episodes, Scott is one of the two main characters in episode 3, which explores the events of Rachel Reid's first book, Game Changer, in her overall literary series of queer hockey players. The character of Scott, just like Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), is a closeted gay man. Arnaud, the actor, came out as bisexual in 2020 through a social media post shared on Bi Visibility Day.Born in Montral, Qubec, Arnaud delivered a breakout performance as Cesare Borgia on Showtime's The Borgias in all three seasons of the series. The actor, who spoke Spanish on the period drama along with costars Jeremy Irons (Rodrigo Borgia) and Holliday Grainer (Lucrezia Borgia), subsequently explained on Interview Magazine that he first learned Spanish in high school, picked it back up while having a Chilean girlfriend, and reconnected even deeper with the language while spending time in Argentina when he was 18. He also speaks English and French fluently.Arnaud displayed his casting chops even further after The Borgias, and truly demonstrated his range as an actor by playing wildly different characters. From the mysterious Oscar on NBC's Blindspot, David's (Dan Levy) eccentric ex-boyfriend Sebastien Raine on CBC's Schitt's Creek, the lead role of Manfred Bernardo on NBC's Midnight, Texas, and a cunning reality TV producer named Tommy Castelli in the fourth and final season of Hulu's UnREAL, this is an actor who always understands the assignment.In recent years, Arnaud was celebrated as an Out100 honoree and went on to play characters like Harrison on Surface, Patrick Landry on Plan B, Paul on Yellowjackets, Jean-Franois 'Jeff' Sauvageau on Mr. Big, and Sammy in Twinless. Now, he's officially entering the live-action canon of Heated Rivalry with his performance as Scott Hunter.Follow Franois Arnoud on Instagram.See on InstagramIt's also worth noting that, as seen in the teaser above, music fans will also remember that Arnaud as the love interest in between Orville Peck and Noah Cyrus in the music video for "How Far Will We Take It?" from May 2024.Fans can follow Franois Arnaud on Instagram at @francoisarnaud.Scott Hunter character overview.Scott Hunter is the protagonist of Game Changer, Rachel Reid's first book in her literary series that includes the Heated Rivalry novel. The latter, which has now been adapted into a live-action TV series, features Scott as a mainstay, recurring character.Overall, fans know Scott as a towering hockey star who's basked in the spotlight for several years. Throughout the books in the Game Changers series, Scott is the poster child of discipline and perfectionism as a well-known hockey player, team captain, and even sports celebrity in New York City.Unwavering routines are what Scott clings to, such as his pregame ritual of stopping at a smoothie shop, which becomes a turning point in his romance when a particularly well-prepared smoothie by barista named Kip Grady gets him out of a scoring slump.Meet Robbie G.K., the actor who plays Kip Grady on Heated Rivalry.The Heated Rivalry show also features an exciting appearance from Kip Grady, the main love interest in Game Changer (Reid's first book in the series) whose romance with Scott Hunter is the main focus. Here, the character is brought to life by actor Robbie G.K.Unlike Franois Arnaud's presence as Scott Hunter in the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, G.K. makes his debut as Kip Grady in this third episode of the show. G.K.'s character isn't a hockey player, nor is he in the closet, thus having no links to the story that had been told up until this moment.Previously credited as Robbie Graham-Kuntz in certain projects, G.K. grew up in Port Credit, Ontario and reportedly went to Etobicoke School of the Arts high school, "where his mentors fostered his singing, acting, and dancing talents." The same bio from G.K. notes that his passion for the craft and professional acting career started in a production of The Sound of Music when he was just 13 years old.Prior to starring as Kip on the Heated Rivalry show, G.K. was best known for his roles as Charlie in two seasons of The Next Step, Adam in the 2015 film Full Out, Tempo 3 on the TV show Utopia Falls, Simon Carpenter in Marry F*** Kill, and Riley on Overcompensating.Follow Robbie G.K. on Instagram.See on InstagramG.K. is actually quite active on social media and shares pretty regular updates on new projects that he's working on, as well as casual pictures traveling the world and spending time with his loved ones.Fans can follow Robbie G.K. on Instagram at @robsgk.Kip Grady character overview.Kip Grady is an underemployed college graduate working at a juice bar named Straw+Berry. Even though he has an undergraduate degree in history and dreams of working at museums in New York City, he's having a hard time finding employment in his field, which leads to his current job as a smoothie barista.RELATED: Heated Rivalry actors' sexuality questions? Not on Jacob Tierney's watchThe biggest difference between Kip and the other three lead characters introduced in the Heated Rivalry TV series so far is that Kip is an out and proud gay man. He is not a hockey player, nor is he closeted. He goes to gay bars, has a social life of a gay man in his mid-20s, and all of his friends know his sexual orientation. But then he meets Scott, who isn't out and cannot come out at this point in his life, prompting Kip to live a secluded, closeted life in the name of love.Do Scott and Kip end up together in Game Changer?Scott and Kip do not have a happy ending at the end of Game Changer, Rachel Reid's first novel in her series of books.While there are a few similarities between Kip and Shane in terms of being shier and less commanding than their love interests, it's worth noting that both Shane and Ilya are closeted hockey players with sponsorship deals and superstardom at their feet. Neither of them can or wants to come out of the closet even as they meet each other and fall in love. This is never a disagreement between the two main characters of Heated Rivalry: They both agree that they must both stay in the closet for the time being.However, that isn't the case for Scott and Kip. After spending so much time and effort in his life working to become the hockey player that he is today, Scott feels similarly to Shane and Ilya about staying in the closet. He isn't ready to give up his sports career and risk everything he's worked for, which could very much be the case if he were to come out when the story takes place.RELATED: Heated Rivalry's Hudson Williams thought Connor Storrie would 'pin me down and f me' in auditionUpon meeting Scott, having the hots for him, and falling in love, Kip seems willing to completely uproot his life and make things work for their relationship. And yet, Kip's friends, Kip himself, and even Scott start to question if that is a fair thing for Kip to do. Scott is very much still standing firmly inside his own closet A closet that Kip hasn't been in for several years. In fact, his life as an out and proud gay man doesn't affect him negatively in any way. Kip is a happy person, with lots of friends, goals, dreams, and ideas, but his life begins to feel rather claustrophobic as he tries to abide to Scott's limitations.It takes a while, but Kip eventually sees that his relationship with Scott is unsustainable.What does Scott and Kip's love story mean to the overall Heated Rivalry show?Some viewers of Heated Rivalry have questioned why Shane and Ilya's story had to be interrupted by this one-episode arc between Scott and Kip. In many ways, Scott being older than both Shane and Ilya spells out that this secret affair between the two star hockey players isn't anywhere close to being done.After two explosive and steamy episodes of Shane and Ilya as forbidden lovers who must meet in hotel rooms to live out their fantasies, Scott's story is a bucket of ice-cold water that establishes how actually difficult and risky it is for a hockey player to come out of the closet under this set of circumstances. It highlights to fans, more intensely than before, why the idea of coming out seems so distant from reality for both for Shane and Ilya.Where to watch Heated Rivalry online?Heated Rivalry is streaming weekly new episodes every Friday on HBO Max for U.S. viewers.Meanwhile, the gay hockey series will be available on different streaming services around the world, such as Crave in Canada, HBO Max in Australia, NEON in New Zealand, and Movistar Plus+ in Spain.

Last week, the show Heated Rivalry skated onto streaming, and within hours, it became one of the most widely discussed television series on social media. Viewers were shocked by the electric chemistry between the show's main characters, Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), professional hockey players who play on rival national teams, and engage in a steamy romance. The show, distributed by Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the United States, currently sits at number 5 on the latter's top U.S. series ranking right under It: Welcome to Derry, Smiling Friends, and Mad Men. But before the show was brought to life on the small screen, the creators worked with the source material: the Game Changer series by Rachel Reid. (Heated Rivalry, published in 2019, is Book 2 of the series.) Her books were popular and caught the attention of the show's eventual creator, Jacob Tierney, who DMed Reid on Instagram in 2023, saying he loved her books and was interested in adapting them into a filmed production the same week she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.The author wrote a blog post on her website in September about the experience, recounting that shortly after they connected, she and Tierney hopped on a Zoom call to discuss their idea for the show. Reid mentioned how well Tierney demonstrated how he understood her characters and their world. "When I read an early draft of the first episode of Heated Rivalry (which Jacob was so excited for me to read) I felt a lot of things (all good), but the thing that made me the most emotional was the respect I saw for my work throughout that script," she wrote in the blog post. "It was touchingly faithful, but also so thoughtful about the characters and the story. My writing had been taken seriously. I cant say this enough: I am so, so lucky to have Jacob at the helm of this project."Reid said she was kept in the loop on the entire casting and production process, but left it to Tierney, the producers, and the rest of the team. "When I heard the glowing reviews of Connor and Hudson's chemistry test, I was excited. More actors were cast, and I was thrilled by every single one. Just the idea that an actual professional actor was going to play a character that Id created felt unreal." She goes on to compliment the two actors on their commitment to playing the characters she created truthfully and accurately.The author visited the set during filming and wrote about her first time meeting the show's stars. She recalls the first time she met Williams, writing that she doesn't even remember what she said to him but feels she made a great first impression. When she met Storrie, she admits that she was nervous. "Its justhes playing Ilya, yknow? Fans have high expectations for that character, and so do I," she wrote. "While on set, Connor always spoke with a Russian accent. So I met Connor basically as Ilya. But not really because he was obviously speaking as himself, just with the accent. What Im saying is it was a LOT for my brain to deal with in the moment, since I was barely holding onto reality anyway."Reid continued, "Im trying to chat like a normal person, but hes wearing that orthodox cross necklace, and he looks and sounds like a character Ive been carrying around in my imagination for years. It was a lot. But he was so nice and so enthusiastic with lots of thoughtful questions. I really liked him right away."After the show wrapped its first season, she wrote about her excitement for fans to see the show. "The only thing that was hard for me was letting my characters go. I knew how well Jacob had written them, and I knew how well the actors had portrayed them, but still, the night before the show was officially announced, I was emotional," Reid wrote. "It was the last night the characters were just mine. But then, the next day, I saw the excitement from fans, and I saw the adorable TikToks that Connor and Hudson filmed for the official account, and I stopped worrying about anything."Now that the show is out, it has quickly found fans thanks to the genius of Reid, Tierney, Williams, and Storrie, who created this world for fans to enjoy in a visual format. After the first two episodes premiered on Friday, fans of the show began clamoring for more and their patience will be rewarded every Friday until the season finale on December 26.

Despite challenges faced by queer media like cancellations and corporations backing away from DEI, 2025 was a great year for queer TV.LGBTQ+ creators are getting more and more creative, and new types of stories are being told in productions like Wayward, Overcompensating, and Boots, and shows like The Traitors, Hacks, and The Last of Us are back with terrific new seasons.These are the Out's staff's picks for the 14 best TV shows of 2025, ranked.14. 'Yellowjackets'Fans still can't get enough of the toxic lesbians and bloody twists of Yellowjackets! The penultimate season aired this year, with the teens getting closer and closer to escaping the wilderness and even more of the adults dying off. The show also got even gayer this season with Shauna's teen storyline and the addition of Hillary Swank as the adult version of Melissa.Streaming on Netflix13. 'Wayward'Mae Martin created and starred in this twisty limited series for Netflix, set in a small Vermont town in 2003. The inciting incident occurs when Alex Dempsey (Martin) and his wife, Laura (Sarah Gadon), move to Tall Pines, where Laura spent her teen years in a camp for troubled teens run by the charismatic and enigmatic Evelyn Wade (Toni Collette). The show also follows two teen girls, Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind) and Abbie (Sydney Topliffe), who are sent to the camp. The teens team up with Alex to uncover the town and the academy's dark secrets.Streaming on Netflix12. 'I Love LA'Rachel Sennott's newest show follows a young, codependent friend group as they try to live out their dreams in Los Angeles. Sennott stars as Maia, a talent manager who takes on her longtime influencer friend Tallulah (Odessa A'zion) as a client and tries to hustle her way to the top. Jordan Firstman and True Whitaker also star as their hilarious, high-maintenance friend group, instantly recognizable to any 20- or 30-something.Streaming on HBO Max11. 'The Hunting Wives'One of the spiciest lesbian shows of 2025 was this Netflix limited series starring Brittany Snow as Sophie O'Neil, who moves from Massachusetts to Texas with her husband. There, she meets Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), the captivating leader of a group of wealthy wives. The show has many of 2025's steamiest sapphic moments and had the whole country wrapped around its perfectly manicured finger.Streaming on Netflix10. 'Adults'There's been a heated debate over whether Adults on Hulu is an accurate depiction of Gen Z today, but its popularity suggests young people are definitely embracing it. The show starring Owen Thiele, Jack Innanen, Amita Rao, Lucy Freyer, and Malik Elassal centers on a group of 20-somethings living together under one roof in New York City and the shenanigans they get into. Their antics are a bit over the top, but one of the most electrifying storylines in the show is a friends-to-lovers moment that gets left on a cliffhanger at the end of the first season. Thankfully, the series just got renewed for season 2.Streaming on Hulu9. 'Mid-Century Modern'This classic-style sitcom starred gay legends Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham as a group of friends who move into a Palm Springs house together after the fourth member of their friend group died. The show was hilarious, heartfelt, and packed a big, gay punch. Sadly, it was canceled after just one season.Streaming on Hulu8. 'The Last of Us'The second season of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation shifted away from the beloved Joel (Pedro Pascal) and toward Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and her new girlfriend Dina (Isabela Merced) as the two of them explore Seattle to find revenge. This show just keeps getting better as it explores life in a post-apocalyptic America.Streaming on HBO Max7. 'Heated Rivalry'Who knew hockey could be so hot and heavy? Heated Rivalry a Canadian gay sports romance from Crave that was released by HBO Max in the U.S. became the seasons hottest show for its portrayal of a clandestine relationship between closeted professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). Created by Jacob Tierney and based on Rachel Reids Game Changers novels, the show depicts the Canadian and Russian routinely squaring off on the ice before melting in the sheets. In between matches, the players must reckon with the homophobia of the sports world and Putins Russia, which provides added heat to the undeniable chemistry of its leads.Streaming on HBO Max6. 'The Traitors'Audiences can't resist Alan Cumming as the host of this reality competition where he gathers a group of celebs and public figures in a Scottish castle to trick each other, stab each other in the back, and win fabulous prizes. The most recent season featured some of our favorite contestants, including Chrishell Stause, Bob the Drag Queen, Dylan Efron, and Gabby Windey.Streaming on Peacock5. 'Boots'Boots, based on the memoir The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White, had LGBTQ+ audiences at attention this year for its moving (and often funny) portrayal of a closeted teen, Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer), who decides to join the Marines in the early 1990s. In this Netflix series, Heizer is compelling as a young man grappling with his sexuality (and hiding it) as he struggles with the physical and mental rigors of boot camp. But high honors go to the ensemble troop Jack Cameron Kay, Angus O'Brien, Dominic Goodman, Sachin Bhatt, Kieron Moore, Liam Oh, Johnathan Nieves, Rico Paris, Blake Burt, Brandon Tyler Moore, Cedrick Cooper, Nicholas Logan, and particularly Max Parker, who plays a closeted drill sergeant for bringing heart to this (unfortunately) timely show about the obstacles of being queer in the military.Streaming on Netflix4. 'Pee-wee as Himself'Beloved comedian and actor Paul Reubens sadly passed away in 2023, but his legacy lived on this year in the two-part docuseries Pee-wee as Himself. The docuseries, filmed largely over Reubens' final years as he was dealing with the cancer that would take his life. In the documentary, Reubens opens up about his fame, his private life, and his sexuality.Streaming on HBO Max3. 'Pluribus'Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, is back with another show, this time about jaded lesbian author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), who is left as one of the last people left on Earth when an alien virus creates a giant hivemind from most of the human population. Carol is a classic lesbian (reluctant) hero who wants to be left alone and complain, but instead has to try to save the world.Streaming on Apple TV+2. 'Overcompensating'Benito Skinner created and starred in this hilarious series based on his own life about a closeted college freshman navigating sex, relationships, and Charli Xcx concerts. Costars Wally Baram, Mary Beth Barone, Adam DiMarco, Owen Thiele, and Holmes shine, and the series has some of the best pop culture references on TV. Check out this show if you haven't. It's the future of TV comedies.Streaming on Prime Video1. 'Hacks'The best show on television since it started airing, Hacks reached new heights this season, with Ava and Deborah starting season 4 as enemies, having to work together now that they've accomplished their goal of getting Deborah her own late-night show. Hacks is more incisive, hilarious, and out-of-pocket than ever, and Ava and Deborah's relationship is at its messiest in the latest season.Streaming on HBO Max

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has instructed inspectors to stop evaluating prison standards for stopping sexual violence against transgender, intersex, and gender-nonconforming people, NPR reported.A newly unveiled DOJ memo revises the standards of the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in light of the presidents January executive order denying any federal recognition of non-cisgender identities. During this revision, the memo says, PREA audits will no longer evaluate jail, prison, and detention center standards to protect LGBTQ+ and intersex people. Related Donald Trump orders trans women inmates to be housed with men: There will be rapes As a result, auditors will no longer review whether trans inmates get housed according to their gender identity nor will they consider whether instances of sexual violence were motivated by victims LGBTQ+ identities.The PREA audits are some of the only federal tools for ensuring that detention facilities follow laws meant to stop rape, harassment, and retaliation, NPR reported. Such audits involve a review of current procedures, a tour of the facilities, and interviews with prison staff and inmates. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Usually, revisions to federal legislation must go through a formal rule-making process to enact changes, and until that process is completed, federal agents must comply with current federal law. However, the DOJ memo instructs PREA auditors to mark trans-related standards as not applicable during the revision process (possibly violating federal law).However, in a statement, the National Association of PREA Coordinators said that staff at detention centers can continue following the [trans-inclusive] regulation[s] or, if they choose, to ignore [them]. Whether a system adopts a binary sex approach or one that recognizes a spectrum of gender, we cannot forsake our primary responsibility to keep the most vulnerable individuals in our care safe from those who present a threat of sexual abuse or sexual harassment, the association said in a statement.Linda McFarlane, executive director of Just Detention International, said the revised policy will immediately put peoplein danger.Studies have shown that LGBTQ+ and non-cisgender people experience higher rates of sexual violence in prisons, jails, and detention centers. Near the start of his second term, the president ended federal policies allowing trans female inmatesto be housed in facilities matching their gender identity. The ending of these policies increases the risk of sexual violence against trans female inmates. Earlier this year, the Trump administration ended funding for the National PREA Resource Center, a federally funded training and technical assistance to states and localities which serves as a single-stop resource for research and tools for all those in the field working to come into compliance with the federal standards, according to the centers website.The National PREA Resource Center also tracks the outcomes of investigations and provides rape-prevention resources to victims and inspectors.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

An elderly Christian nationalist televangelist has said there will be no more rainbow flags now that Donald Trump has won re-election. In a recording of his Sunday sermon following Election Day, 87-year-old Kenneth Copeland said, I believe its here right now, the [Christian spiritual] awakening weve been waiting for. Now the atmosphere has been cleansed. No more rainbow flags. No more. An audience member can be heard exclaiming, Thank you, Jesus! in response. Related To understand JD Vance, you need to meet the TheoBros Copeland continues, And the spirit of Margaret Sanger is gone. Sanger is an American birth control activist and sex educator who opened the first birth control clinic in the nation, and established other organizations that evolved into Planned Parenthood, local clinics that offer reproductive and womens health, especially to low-income individuals. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Televangelist Kenneth Copeland used his Sunday service to declare that Trump's election will unleash a "spiritual awakening" in America because "the atmosphere has been cleansed": "No more rainbow flags. No more. And the spirit of Margaret Sanger is gone." pic.twitter.com/W6vTbzdlsT Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 12, 2024The televangelists comments arent surprising. He wasa member of former Trumps Faith Advisory Council. Before Trumps election, he led a prayer asking God to break the power of the homosexual lesbian spirits that are trying to ruin our children and ruin this nation.Copelands prayer made during a broadcast of the Rescue America Tour hosted by FlashPoint Live, a Christian evangelical political program began by asking the Christian God to oversee in school board elections, judges, sheriffs, mayors, city managers [and] college presidents.Those that refuse to hold to your will and do it, remove them and put someone in there that will, Copeland said, before continuing, We pray that your will be done on this Earth as it is in Heaven. We pray for the people that devils are fighting in and trying to ruin their lives with perverted ideas and perverted ways. Copeland, who has been twice divorced despite the Bibles prohibitions on divorce, continued, The people that are addicted to pornography and addicted to the things of the flesh in this world, and we break the power we break the power of the homosexual lesbian spirits that are trying to ruin our children and ruin this nation. Get down from there! We sit by the throne. You are under our feet.Copeland has previously made headlines for advocating for in-person worship services during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. He claimed thatJesus made Trump immune from COVID-19(even though Trump conducted the deadly virus during his presidency). He also told his followers thathe could cure them of COVID-19 through the TV.Copeland and his wife have earned millions throughout their careers and living in a $6.3 million mansion paid for by the church and using its$20 million private jet for vacations. In 2015, they were criticized by comedian John Oliver onLast Week Tonightfor their luxurious, tax-exempt lifestyle.In 2021, Copeland was also one of several mega-pastorsaccused of sexual abuseby former adult film actor Madyson Marquette.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

A San Diego school teacher has won a major settlement in a lawsuit that accused her superiors of labeling her a lesbian witch.Rose Tagnesi was head of her school districts Special Education Department for over a decade when she was suddenly demoted to a class teaching role at the direction of what she described as an anti-LGBTQ+ majority on the school board. Related Cherished teacher fired for calling student by preferred name. The community is rallying for her. Her demotion followed an unrelated sex-trafficking case at the school that Tagnesi wasnt named in, and a subsequent investigation targeting her.The hostile climate created by the earlier inquiry set the stage for a broader discriminatory campaign by the board majority, she alleged in her suit, which included her demotion, LGBTQ+ book bans, and cutting ties with an LGBTQ+ mental health care provider previously contracted by the district. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Ms. Tagnesi, a proud member of the LGBTQ community who served GUHSD [Grossmont Union High School District] for over 28 years in exemplary fashion, was one of the many victims of the anti-LGBTQ majority boards discriminatory campaign, her lawsuit said.Tagnesi also alleged that the investigations lead attorney wrote in reference to her, one down, one to go, in a text message.Ive never been told what I did. Ive never been told what I was accused of doing. Ive never been even asked a question, Tagnesi told ABC affiliateKGTV last year about the investigation and her lawsuit.Tagnesi alleged that her supervisor advised her to keep a low profile about her sexuality, citing hostility among board members for gay people.Tagnesi accused one board trustee of referring to her and another female staffer as witches who were part of an LGBTQ coven. The board member also claimed that the same second female staffer was only hired because Tagnesi thought, she is hot. The Grossmont Union High School District will pay Tagnesi $700,000 over the next 20 years under terms of the settlement, theSan Diego Union Tribunereported on Tuesday. Theyll also cover nearly $500,000 in attorneys fees as part of the deal. A spokesperson for the district made clear that Tagnesis employers didnt admit wrongdoing in relation to her claims. The district said it agreed to settle to allow all parties to move forward in the most productive way possible.In the future, Im hopeful the district will take decisive action toward creating the culture of inclusivity its students and teachers deserve, Tagnesi said in a statement following the settlement.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Russias federal media regulator has blocked access to U.S. childrens online gaming platform Roblox for allegedly violating the countrys infamous law against LGBTQ+ propaganda.Reuters reports that Roskomnadzor, Russias Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, announced the ban on December 3, claiming that Roblox is rife with inappropriate content that can negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children. Related Gay Russians are fleeing to Argentina to escape Putins harsh anti-LGBTQ+ regime Under Russian law, so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda has been banned in the presence of minors since 2013. In late 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation expanding the 2013 law to effectively outlaw any public expression of LGBTQ+ life in the country. And in 2023, Russias Supreme Court declared the international LGBT social movement an extremist organization.As Them notes, Roskomnadzors press service said that Roblox had, at the request of the agency, previously removed in-game material that depicted LGBT characters and attributes of the LGBT community in July, specifically citing the countrys 2023 Supreme Court decision upholding the law. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today But on Wednesday, Roskomnadzors press service told reporters that it had restricted access to the platform over registered facts of massive and repeated dissemination of materials with propaganda and justification of extremist and terrorist activities, calls for committing illegal violent actions and LGBT propaganda, according to Russian news agency Interfax.We respect the local laws and regulations in the countries where we operate and believe Roblox provides a positive space for learning, creation and meaningful connection for everyone, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters, adding that Roblox has a deep commitment to safety and we have a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to catch and prevent harmful content on our platform. However, the platform, which allows its 151.5 million average daily users to create games and play games created by others, has faced widespread criticism recently. As Them notes, the platform announced last month that it would implement facial recognition technology to prevent young children from interacting with adults. The move comes in the wake of several lawsuits against Roblox Corporation alleging systemic predation of minors on the platform. According to Reuters, Roblox has also been banned in Iraq, Turkey, and other countries over similar concerns.Roblox is just the latest tech company to be targeted by Russias Roskomnadzor for violating its anti-LGBTQ+ laws. In 2022, the Russian government fined Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for refusing to remove LGBTQ+ content. Following a Roskomnadzor investigation of Duolingo, the language learning app removed LGBTQ+ inclusive content from its Russian version last year. And in May, Russia fined Apple in three separate cases for violating the countrys anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda law.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Hello Out readers!What was your favorite queer show of 2025? Here at Out.com we've just released our list of the 14 best queer shows of the year! Did your favorite make our list? You'll have to click through the link to see the whole list, but here's a small sample of our favorites.Coming in at number 11 on our list is the spicy sapphic series The Hunting Wives! Fans went wild for Brittany Snow and Malin Akerman in this series, and we understand why! Check out nine of the sexiest moments from the series!Our number seven series is hockey drama Heated Rivalry, which is only a few episodes in, but continues to wow us with each new episode! Read our guide to the latest episode and find out how the show went from book to screen!Coming in at number five is the Netflix show Boots, starring Out100 honoree Miles Heizer! We're all crossing our fingers that the show gets renewed for a second season!At number two on our list is Benito Skinner's comedy Overcompensating. We've loved the series and its large queer cast since it first aired. We can't wait for season two! To find out our number one show, you'll have to check out the list. What series do you hope gets the top spot?Keep reading for the gayest song of the week and all the best pop culture news!- Mey RudeCis men love top surgeryit should be available for allHow 'Heated Rivalry' went from the page to the screenHeated Rivalry episode 3 guide: Actors, characters, and gay storylines'Vanderpump Rules' new SUR-vers go viral for their OnlyFans accounts & hot shirtless picsAndrew Christian closes iconic gay underwear brand: 'We made people feel seen'Tig Notaro is working on a 'hot lesbian action' movie with Zack Snyder'Blue Film' director Elliot Tuttle on 'breaking down' archetypes and confronting audiencesQueer dating app cliches and why we're as predictable as straight peopleYears before Stonewall, a cafeteria riot became a breakthrough for trans rightsGayest Song of the WeekPop singer Mika is back with an all-new song this week titled "Immortal Love"! The new single was released alongside an announcement that Mika is releasing his first new English-language album, titled Hyperlove, since 2019!Get Out / The Advocate for just $6 a year!With this special holiday season deal, you can get an entire year of Out Magazine / The Advocate for just $6!

Kirralie Smith, an Australian anti-trans campaigner, has been fined and ordered to issue a public apology after she was found guilty in August for targeting online harassment of two transgender women who play football. Smith posted about the two women from 2022 through 2024, including pictures of them, their names, and where they and their teams could be found.These women were subjected to horrendous harassment online, including being publicly identified, outed and misgendered, said Heather Corkhill, Legal Director of Equality Australia, in an August statement. People who target vulnerable minorities to incite hatred and fear need to be called out and stopped.Smith and her supporters are out of step with the law, out of step with community values, and out of step with modern Australia. Related These performers defied their local governments drag story hour ban & held one anyway Smith is the spokeswoman for the anti-trans group Binary Australia, which claims that there is a biological reality that there are two complementary sexes. Equal, but different. She has previously pushed for a pause to gender-affirming healthcare and a federal inquiry into trans healthcare in general.In January 2023, after finding pictures of the women at their football clubs, Smith posted on social media asking for men to help with the bloke playing on the womens team. She also took a group of men dressed as women to the area and filmed them playing football as part of her harassment. She claimed that one of the women had injured and hospitalized two female players in a match, but later revealed in court that she had no evidence to substantiate her claim. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Earlier this year, one of the women involved received an Apprehended Personal Violence Order (APVO) Australias version of a restraining order against Smith, ruling that Smith could not assault, threaten, stalk, harass, intimidate, approach, or contact her or the football clubs in question. The APVO was approved with the justice saying that Smiths actions were ongoing behaviors which were objectively threatening.Smith appealed the APVO at the New South Wales Supreme Court and lost. In August, a court ruling found that Smith had unlawfully vilified the two women, with the magistrate saying that Smiths posts were capable of inciting serious contempt.While Smith tried to argue that her posts and comments were protected as political speech, that claim was ignored, with the magistrate saying that that they were disproportionate and not made in good faith.The decision on Smiths penalties this week comes after a failed appeal, and includes paying $55,000 in Australian dollars ($36,505 in U.S. dollars) to one of the women and $40,000 ($26,548) to the other. She is also required to post an apology to all social media pages that she controls, pinning it to the top where possible.Smith has made it clear that she will once again appeal the decision and has shown contempt for the ruling on social media. She has added Guilty of unlawful vilification for identifying males in female sport to her X bio likea badge of honor, and has posted about the decisions, suggesting they are impinging her free speech. She has shown no remorse in her recent posts. My penalty for being guilty of "unlawful vilification" has been handed down.In summary $95,000 in fines which will double if I don't pay in 28 days. The orders also state I need to issue a public apology.I will be appealing the decision. Your support, your voice and your pic.twitter.com/oFI45dNGAh Kirralie Smith (@KirralieS) December 5, 2025It is unclear whether the fine will have much impact on Smith. A previous crowdfunding campaign raised $250,000 for her legal fees, and commenters on her social media posts have pledged to support her financially.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Asexuality as a sexual orientation reaches back to the first humans. But as an area of scientific study, its relatively new. And its orientation cousin, aromanticism, is even newer on the scene: The first documented references to asexual-related behaviors appeared in the mid-19th century.One such reference came from Prussian human rights activist and journalist Karl Maria Kertbeny, in a 1869 pamphlet in which he coined the terms homosexual and heterosexual. He referred to people who pleasure themselves primarily as monosexuals. Related Long before Ron DeSantis, Charley Johns terrorized queer Floridians. We can learn from his downfall. In 1884, American sexologist William Alexander Hammond published Sexual Impotence in the Male, writing of two longtime male patients with a condition he described as original absence of all sexual desire.And in 1896, Magnus Hirschfeld, the German sexologist responsible for groundbreaking research on transgender identity, linked people without any sexual desire to the concept anesthesia sexual (or absence of sexual sensation). Hirschfelds contemporary, German activist Emma Trosse, came close around the same time to the term we use today when she described a contrary-sexual as asensual. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today It wasnt until 1907, however, that the term asexual was recorded, when the Rev. Carl Schlegel, a German immigrant living in New Orleans, was found guilty by church elders of homosexualism, so-do-my, or Uranism. Schlegel was quoted in church minutes as advocating in his defense for the same laws for homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals.What stands in the way of many ace and aro people having positive experiences of their own identities is when the world doesnt recognise that experience exists, or sees it only as some kind of brokenness. asexual author Cody Daigle-OriansOther terms followed: In the 1920s there was anaphrodites, from American author Jennie June, and in 1948, a simple X, denoting males who reported no socio-sexual contacts or reactions on the groundbreaking Kinsey Scale from American sexologist Alfred Kinsey.The term asexual, along with widespread acknowledgement of the orientation, really caught on in the 1970s, with an explosion of identity movements.Writing for the Asexual Caucus of the New York Radical Feminists in 1972, author Lisa Orlando publishedThe Asexual Manifesto,describing asexuality as relating sexually to no one, and rejecting normative sexual behavior.Sex, she asserted, would be totally incidental and unimportant to our relationships.Academic and cultural touchstones for asexuality soon followed.In 1973, the long-running radical feminist zine Off Our Backs at Barnard College featured asexual as an option for a choose your own label photo feature.In 1974, David Bowie discussed asexuality with William S. Burroughs in Rolling Stone.By 2001, David Jay had founded the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), the best known of a profusion of online asexual communities made possible with the advent of the internet. The groups advocacy in 2007 resulted in language acknowledging self-identification as asexual' for the first time in the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.AVEN came out as the first asexual entry in the San Francisco Pride parade in 2009.But while it may be in the zeitgeist even SpongeBob SquarePants has come out as asexual navigating asexuality can be a challenge in a popular culture that prizes overt sexual displays (gay and straight), and relies on traditional conceptions of sex in forming intimate, loving relationships.Whats an asexual to do when the culture constantly tells them that sex is where its at? Dont apologise, for starters.Thats just one piece of advice from Cody Daigle-Orians, author of The Ace and Aro Relationship Guide: Making It Work in Friendship, Love and Sex, who shared his take on the ace and aromantic experience with LGBTQ Nation,along with tips for living a best life as either.The cover of The Ace and Aro Relationship Guiide by Cody Daigle-OriansLGBTQ Nation: For our readers unfamiliar with asexuality and aromanticism, how do you define them?Cody Daigle-Orians: So, asexuality is a sexual orientation that describes people who dont or rarely experience sexual attraction. That includes a spectrum of experiences and expressions, and includes several different attitudes and practices around sex and relationships.Aromanticism is a separate sort of experience. Aromanticism describes people who dont or rarely experience romantic attraction. Similar in spectrum, there are many ways to be aromantic and many ways to express it. Aromantic people have a whole range of different attitudes and practices around relationships.How does somebody aromantic express their sexual desire?Well, that depends on how they identify sexually. Aromanticism and asexuality have similar constructs, but theyre entirely separate experiences. One can be aromantic and be gay, be straight, or be asexual. Those two experiences are not necessarily connected.So somebody whos aromantic could have a high sex drive.Yeah, absolutely.I didnt relate to sex in the same way that my peers did. It didnt matter to me in the same way, and it didnt seem like I was experiencing it in the same way. So I just thought I was bad at it.How are asexual and aromantic relationships similar or different from platonic relationships?Asexual people have sexual relationships sometimes, sometimes they dont. Aromantic people do engage in romantic partnerships; sometimes, they dont. There isnt something that is, in its essence, an ace or aro relationship. Ace and aro people exist in those relationships, in their bodies and in their experience.Where does sex figure into an asexual or aromantic relationship?That depends on the person. Some asexual people do include sex in their relationships. Those folks are called sex favorable ace folks, so they have sex just like other people have sex. Some, a larger number of asexual people, do not include sex in their relationships. It really depends on the person, what they are comfortable with, how they relate to sex in their own bodies and minds.Theres no hard and fast rule to sort of say, This is how ace people relate to sex, or, This is how arrow [aro] people relate to sex. These arent monolithic experiences. Theyre a spectrum of experiences and expressions. What does intimacy look like in an asexual or aromantic relationship?It looks like whatever they would like it to look like, just like in any other relationship. People decide for themselves what kinds of intimacy make them happy and what types of intimacy feel pleasurable, and they share that with their partner. If the partners agree, then thats what that looks like in their relationship.Asexuals march in Torontos LGBTQ pride parade in 2017. | ShutterstockIs there something in our chemical makeup that affects where we sit on the ace or aro spectrum? For example, does a high or low level of testosterone predict sex drive or sexual attraction?In the same way that we would not search for a cause of homosexuality, theres no cause of asexuality or aromanticism. It is just how a person exists in the world. Its one of a spectrum of experiences that are possible in relation to human sexuality.Whats the relationship between sex drive and sexual attraction when it comes to aceness? Can you have one without the other? And how does that manifest itself?Yeah, so a lot of people think that when we say sexual attraction, it is one thing that contains a lot of different elements, but it really is a little more complicated than that. I break it into three parts.Theres arousal, which is the physical thing thats happening in your body right now. So that thing that youre feeling, that desire in the moment, the things that are happening in your body, thats arousal. Asexual people can experience arousal just like anybody else.Asexual people may feel arousal, or they may have a high libido. It just isnt directed at any particular place.Theres libido. You can think about libido as the frequency and intensity of ones experience of arousal. People with a high libido experience arousal frequently and with intensity. People with low libido would not really experience it frequently or would not experience it at all. I often sort of talk about libido as the volume level of ones experiences of arousal.And then theres attraction, which is the thing that defines asexuality. Thats about direction. Where is that feeling and experience and that pattern of experience going? Who is it directed toward?So, for straight people, thats someone of a different gender. For gay people, thats someone of the same gender. For bi people, thats more than one gender. For asexual people, that experience is generally not directed toward other people, and that non-direction can look like a lot of different things.Asexual people may feel arousal, or they may have a high libido. It just isnt directed at any particular place, so that puts them on the ace spectrum.How have the internet and social media affected the lives of ace and aro people in finding community and building relationships? Well, its really been instrumental in a lot of ways. The asexual community has been forming online as a community, really, since the early 90s. The internet has been a way for asexual and aromantic people to find each other in the world. There arent ace and aro bars for us to meet each other. So the internet has provided a space for ace and aro people to connect, share their experiences, and build community.Its also been a potent education tool. So when people who are having ace and aro experiences dont see any of that reflected in the world around them, the internet has provided a useful place to find meaning, give their experiences meaning, and give their experiences language.A lot of ace and aro folks credit the internet for helping them figure themselves out. The internet is an enormously important space, not just for community, but also for our personal intelligibility. | Shutterstock How did it figure into your own asexual experience of finding yourself?Oh yeah, I mean, it was Tumblr for me. I encountered asexuality on Tumblr, and I was in my 40s, and started to recognise lots of elements and pieces of my own experience, which I had for most of my life, just understood as being a bad gay person. And it was transformative. That gave me a language for myself that was affirming and positive and made sense for the first time.How do you define being a bad gay person?Oh, well, I had a really complicated relationship to sex, and I didnt relate to sex in the same way that my peers did. It didnt matter to me in the same way, and it didnt seem like I was experiencing it in the same way. So I just thought I was bad at it. I came out as gay when I was 18, because that was the thing that fit the best. It just led me to conceive of myself as not being good at being gay.How do you describe your identity now? Now, mostly I use the word queer because that is easier. To be specific, I identify as asexual, but I date men, so I still see myself within the gay community, although queer is the word I tend to use. I have two partners, so Im polyamorous, as well. I have been married to my husband for 11 years, and I have another romantic partner that Ive been with for four.You talk a lot about normativity in the book. Is it really news that relationships and sexual desire come in all shapes and sizes and have for millennia? And are you really talking about a white Christian fundamentalist vision of whats normal?No. I mean, allonormativity [the societal assumption that all people experience sexual and/or romantic attraction] is not necessarily connected to any white or Christian nationalism. Indeed, white supremacy and religious cultural dogma appear in a lot of American cultural ideas. The basic normativities that sex is an intrinsic part of human experience, that romance is something everyone will feel these are not necessarily connected to white supremacy or religious ideas. These are just common cultural ideas that we hold that ace and aro people exist in opposition to.It is also helpful to learn and understand how ace and aro people live their lives and what these experiences are made of, because it helps non-ace and aro people better understand the reality of sex and relationships that its more expansive.Any cultural norm exists because, over time, the culture decides that these things are most beneficial to the perpetuation and success of the culture. So, for sex and reproduction, marriage all of those things that are useful for the Western culture we live in to continue we create stories and norms around those things, to make those things seem good and to make not following and pursuing those things disadvantaged.In the book, you compare your own experience building your asexual construct to Mary Shelleys Dr. Frankenstein, obsessed with your creation. The great philosophers of Shelleys time, like Schopenhauer and Kant, gave rise to thinkers like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. How did asexuality and aromanticism figure into their work?Well, it really didnt. Even the early sort of mentions of asexuality in work like Kinseys or the German sexologists, they werent really talking about asexuality as we understand it. Thats a much more modern concept. I think its fair to say that historically, broadly, it was mostly pathologized. But to say, like, this is what they thought about it, they just didnt. How does the history of asexuality the acknowledgement of its existence, its study, its place in the culture compare to the evolution of homosexuality and trans identity?They do follow similar trajectories. Its at first marginalized, criminalized or pathologized. Although no asexual or aromantic experience has ever been criminalized, with a pronatalist policy, that broaches the idea.Asexuals march, holding an I am asexual and I exist sign at Torontos 2017 Pride Parade. | ShutterstockAre there any cultural benefits to being asexual or aromantic when it comes to happiness and well-being?I dont know that I would say being ace or aro has any particular advantage. Its just an experience that some people have. I think what stands in the way of many ace and aro people having positive experiences of their own identities is when the world doesnt recognise that experience exists, or sees it only as some kind of brokenness. I dont think theres any inherent bonus to it.One advantage could be that ace or aro people may be less likely to let their sexual desires and attractions get the best of them, because that happens a lot in heteronormative relationships.I would never frame it that way. I think, just like I would say about any other sort of queer experience, ace and aro people have every potential to be a**holes like anyone else, and ultimately, relationships dont succeed or fail based on the identities that people hold within them. Its their relationship skills. Its how you manage communication, how you deal with commitment. Do you keep your commitments? Are you good at compromise? Those things make relationships successful. I dont think having a different relationship to sex or romance makes an ace and aro person more pure or more innocent or more good.Is one of the intentions for your book to educate the broader population and normalise asexuality and aromanticism? Oh yeah. I mean, education is the core of all the work that I do about these identities.For ace and aro people, that education work is essential because it helps them understand their lives more fully and read their own experience in an affirming way, and thats what everyone should have access to.But I think for people who arent ace and aro, it is also helpful to learn and understand how ace and aro people live their lives and what these experiences are made of, because it helps non-ace and aro people better understand the reality of sex and relationships that its more expansive. There are more possibilities. There are more ways of expressing connection to another human being than sex and romance. Theres a wide range of relationship possibilities that exist out there that non-ace and aro folks can learn from.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Denver police have made an arrest in the burglary of an LGBTQ+ youth center earlier this week, which saw thousands of dollars in cash, electronic equipment, and an SUV stolen from its campus.The suspect, 58-year-old Stephen Guerra, was found by cops driving a stolen Toyota RAV4 with two empty cash boxes from a safe taken from the YouthSeen offices. Executive Director Dr. Tara Jae said the burglar made off with nearly $10,000 in cash. Related LGBTQ+ business owners stand strong amid wave of vandalism: Broken windows never break community It was our entire emergency fund, she told Fox 31 News.On Tuesday, YouthSeen announced it was closing its offices indefinitely. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today This is really just like the straw that breaks the camels back, Jae said, while adding that the group will continue to operate online while they seek funding to cover their loss. View this post on Instagram A post shared by YouthSeen (@youth_seen)LGBTQ+ organizations in Denver were already on edge after a series of vandal attacks at an advocacy group headquarters and several businesses.The burglary at YouthSeen was a gut punch for the group serving primarily BIPoC LGBTQ+ youth, with support services like after-school programs, a community hangout, and peer-group counseling.He knew exactly what he was going after, Jae said. There were only a few people that knew that I had a safe in the office.Police say the burglar jimmied a side door lock to make his way into the building. Video shows the grizzled suspect in Jaes office heading directly for the safes location, even looking right at the surveillance camera that was recording him.A background check on Guerra shows he has a lengthy criminal history of drug offenses, felony menacing, and sexual assault convictions. His arrest affidavit states the suspect took a second cash box, an iPad, and the keys and registration to a vehicle in addition to the safe.Cops say hes being held for investigation of second-degree burglary. Now YouthSeens director says theyre in recovery mode.Not only are we an LGBTQ organization, but we also focus on LGBTQ youth of color, and we dont have a lot of resources within our state and within the nation, she toldCBS News Colorado.So if people can give, that is awesome. Anything helps at this point.Donations for the group can be made on their website.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

After school sports, the Olympics, and British women's soccer banned trans women, esports is coming for them next.After learning that trans women are banned from competing in an upcoming tournament for the video game Dead by Daylight, many female professional gamers have announced they will drop out of the event scheduled to take place in 2026. Streamer and artist Julia Canda was the first to draw attention to the story. She posted on X on December 3 that she is withdrawing from Team USA in the tournament, officially known as the Dead by Daylight Women's World Cup. (@) "I love the idea of a fem tourney but one run by a male Kick streamer who has a history of using AI graphics doesn't sit right at all & if a percentage of women aren't allowed to participate (these being mostly trans women), I certainly won't be either," she writes."None of the women participating were aware of any of this when signing up (including myself), so please do not fault any of the players," she continues. "If the tourney changes the rule regarding trans women, great. I'm hoping that bringing some attention to this can change that faster. I will still be leaving but good luck to everyone involved."Canda also shared alleged screenshots from a Discord conversation with tournament organizer Fishcadito. In the conversation, Canda asks whether trans women are allowed to participate, whether AI will be used, and whether any women will be staffing the event."For the World Cup, we've decided not to allow transgender women to participate, but we hope to include them in future tournaments," Fishcadito responded.Soon, others joined Canda in the boycott. (@) Twitch streamer Jiggledeath, who recently announced that she was going to be captain for the U.K.'s team in the DBD Women's World Cup, announced she will withdraw from the event on December 4."Unfortunately, I've been made aware that Trans Women are not allowed to participate, so I am withdrawing myself from this tournament," she wrote on X. "I stick by my community, and I don't want to take part in something which excludes some incredible women." (@) That same day, Squish, the captain for Team Canada in the tournament, announced that her team will be withdrawing from the competition as well."Trans women are women and we as a team do not stand with excluding trans women," Squish stated. (@) Team USA's captain also announced that her team will withdraw because "I do believe trans women aer women.""Even if the host did not have bad intentions. The message itself is not good for women as we should be uplifting each other," she wrote. "Always stand w/Women." (@) Now, an X profile under the name @FishcaditoTv has issued an apology.The statement says that organizers "deeply appreciate the community for expressing their concerns" and says they "value every message received, regardless of its position.""We recognize, respect, and value the diversity of identities within the Dead by Daylight community and within gaming as a whole," the statement continues. "Trans women are an important part of the scene and have participated in our previous tournaments, where they have always been welcomed and respected. Their presence and contributions have never been questioned, nor has there ever been any discriminatory stance against them."The statement says the decision to ban trans women "was based solely on technical and operational limitations.""In a global online tournament, we do not have reliable tools to ensure transparency and verification for every participant. For this reason, we had to make decisions under uncertainty, relying instead on the trust we place in team leaders and their players," it says. "... This situation does not reflect a lack of willingness to be inclusive, but rather the absence of adequate mechanisms to manage verification in a fair, safe, and respectful manner for all participants."In the statement, the organizers also apologize "if this situation has caused discomfort for any player" and say that their "commitment is to continue working, engaging in dialogue with the community, and exploring solutions that may allow future editions to become more inclusive, expansive, and equitable - without compromising safety or competitive integrity."

In the column Straight Nonsense, columnist Moises Mendez II takes a queer eye to the insanity of straight culture.We are living in an age of extreme individualism, and it's infiltrating every facet of our lives. We've seen it through the dumbest discourses taking place online most recently, the "Stuffie" discourse, where someone posted a photo of them hanging out with their friends and was met with thousands of comments calling them capitalist freaks and evil all for uploading a picture of a group of friends just hanging out in a lovely apartment. It's a product of the "Bean Soup" or "I love having coffee with my husband" discourse that happened a few years ago, where harmless scenes of contentment were met with digital rage.But we've also seen the harms of extreme individualism manifest IRL at movies and Broadway shows two places I've been to recently and had less-than-optimal experiences because of theatergoers who thought their experience was more important than anyone else's. I know what you're thinking: Moises, Broadway is the gayest form of entertainment there is. To that, I say you're wrong, and comedian Aaron Jackson's thoughts on the matter support my idea that musical theater is straight. He points out that the people who introduced him to theater (and a common entry point for most people) are straight parents. Personally, my parents took me to see my first ever Broadway show, The Lion King, as a child, and it made me gay. But straight people love live theater, and therefore it qualifies for this week's topic of Straight Nonsense. @straightiolab Today we are once again joined by our friend and STAR of the new off-broadway play "Messy White Gays" Aaron Jackson. We talk about our run-in with the often misunderstood James Corden, what it could mean from a medical standpoint to sweat too much, and how there are only fifteen guys in the world who "get us." Plus, is musical theater straight? Can gay guys sexualize the Wicked soundtrack? And is theater training akin to a military background? Probably! #straightiolab #aaronjackson #messywhitegays #broadway #musicals I've been saying this for years, and I'm definitely not the first one to say it: Ever since the pandemic, people have forgotten how to be outside and in crowds. More often than not, people are talking and texting during Broadway shows, reacting loudly and trying to get the attention of the person onstage, coming late, or disrupting other people's experiences by getting up to use the restroom in the middle of a scene. And that's just Broadway; the movie theater patrons and concertgoers are so much worse.I understand that complaining about people not acting a certain way in a theater makes me (a 28-year-old gay man) sound like a wannabe Fran Lebowitz. But every interruption big or small is a distraction from the production and a nuisance to the people around them trying to enjoy it. It's disrespectful not only to your fellow audience members but also to the art that people work tirelessly to create.Last night, I saw Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway for the second time a fantastic show I would see over and over again but a few people negatively impacted my experience. About two rows in front of me, a woman sat with three older men who were obviously very excited to see the show and reacted with undeniably electric energy during the incredible live music. I took issue with the fact that during the quieter moments the more emotionally heavy scenes I could hear them talking in every scene, without fail. You're welcome to cheer for the musicians as they leave their hearts on stage after they finish an emotional number or during a particularly impressive moment. The energy around them was tense from the jump because they were recording the opening number after being told (in English and Spanish) that recording was not allowed.Don't even get me started on being in a crowd of older people who don't turn their ringer off, so phones keep going off in the middle of shows. I saw Purpose on Broadway earlier this year (a fabulous play) with a friend, and I kid you not, six phones went off during the show one person's ringtone was a Billy Joel song, and they couldn't find their phone, so it just played loudly during a tense exchange between characters. That is the type of stuff that grinds my gears!It was just an uncomfortable experience because you never knew when they would be disruptive or how other people around them would react. The same thing happened last week when I saw Wicked: For Good with a group of friends. We sat in front of a group of young people who were basically talking throughout the entire movie making comments, giggling, kicking their feet, and, loudest of all, sobbing. Yes, the movie is sad, and people cried, but it felt like they wanted everyone to hear how loud they were crying, even when they were heaving during moments that weren't even sad (the waterworks started before the door scene).The movie is by no means a Good Movie, and that's not to say that some people won't be emotionally affected by it, but their open-mouthed sobs were a cry for attention because, again, while yes, it's a sad movie, very few films have inspired that big of a reaction out of anyone I've ever watched a movie with. On top of that, my friends and I could hear them talking throughout the entire film.I'm not one to be confrontational, and some may argue that if you see (or hear) something, you should say something but that's not me, especially as a brown person. But there comes a point of disrespect that warrants a reaction from your fellow patrons, and it almost got to that point.This sense of entitlement the conviction that your experience at an entertainment event is more important than others' is plaguing these theaters, where people are spending what little money they have on a night out during this economic downturn. But because some people forget decorum or don't care enough, they do whatever they want. Sometimes it's best to let the ushers handle it, but if the moment feels right, you may be able to take matters into your own hands and politely ask them to stop talking. It's not monstrous to expect a positive communal theater experience; that's why we go to the theater! It is awful to disrupt other people's experience and get upset when you get called out. If that's the case, maybe wait until whatever you decided to pay for becomes available on streaming.Moises Mendez II is a staff writer at Out magazine. Follow him on Instagram @moisesfenty.Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit out.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on any of our stories. Email us at voices@equalpride.com. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of Out or our parent company, equalpride.

Chad Spodick, a real estate agent known for starring in the gay reality series Finding Prince Charming, has passed away at the age of 42, according to a fundraiser on GoFundMe."Our hearts are shattered as we share the devastating news of the loss of our beautiful, kind, and generous son, brother, and friend Chad," the fundraiser, organized by his friend Kate Webowski, states. "His passing was sudden and heartbreaking, and we are still struggling to comprehend a world without his light.""Chad was the type of person who poured himself into others. He lifted up his friends, encouraged everyone around him to grow, to advocate for themselves, and to believe in their own worth," it continues. "His love for animals was unmatchedhe cared deeply for every creature, especially his four beloved dogs and his bird, Cosmo. The world was brighter with Chad in it, and those who were lucky enough to know him felt the warmth of his heart every day.The fundraiser, which is raising money for funeral and memorial costs, his mother's living expenses, and care for Spodick's pets, has raised over $14k at the time of this writing.Spodick was one of 13 contestants of Logo TV's 2016 reality dating show, Finding Prince Charming. The show, hosted by *NSYNC's Lance Bass in the mold of The Bachelor, featured model Robert Seplveda Jr. courting 13 men, giving them a black tie when he chose them to continue on.Spodick lasted until the final five contestants on the groundbreaking gay dating series, and left it of his own accord after week 6.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarded Donald Trump his organizations newly created FIFA Peace Prize at a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Friday during the 2026 World Cup Draw.This is your peace prize, Infantino told the president during the presentation. It is also a beautiful medal that you can wear everywhere you want to go. Related Trump threatens to kill 6 Democrats for telling soldiers not to commit war crimes During the ceremony Trump said, We saved millions and millions of lives The fact that we could do that, in India, Pakistan, so many different wars that we were able to end, in some cases, a little bit before they started, just right before they started but we got them done.Its unclear which different wars Trump was taking credit for resolving, though he has previously claimed that he ended eight wars in just 8 months. One of the wars he claimed to have ended was a nonexistent conflict between Cambodia and Armenia, two countries that are 4,150 miles apart. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today In May, Trump announced that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire at their border. Pakistan thanked Trump, but India said the ceasefire agreement resulted from its direct military talks with Pakistan rather than U.S. involvement.The award is meant to reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world [and] championed the unifying power of football on the world stage, FIFA said in a statement.This is your peace prize. It is also a beautiful medal that you can wear everywhere you want to go. pic.twitter.com/fvKsRAYQ4U Acyn (@Acyn) December 5, 2025 One social media user commenting on the award said, This is pathetic. Another wrote, FIFA is so corrupted man, they actually made a peace award for Trump because he got upset about not getting the Nobel peace prize. Yet another wrote, Its like [giving] the child a sweetie to keep him amused, The Independent reported.The U.S. military under Trump has been bombed at least 20 fishermens boats in the Carribean (killing 80 people) under the pretense of them being drug smugglers. The U.S. has provided no proof to back up this claim, making their deaths so-called extrajudicial killings that violate laws and international agreements against war crimes.Trump has been ramping up a possible military conflict with Venezuela under the pretense that the country is smuggling the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States. However, most fentanyl actually comes into the U.S. through Mexico, the BBC reported.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Actor Brandon Sklenar has been giving fans smoldering looks and endless sex appeal on shows like Yellowstone prequel 1923, but now hes serving up the ultimate thirst trap.Fans have been watching him act his pants off for years, but now theyre seeing a whole new and very shirtless side of the 35-year-old hunk. (@) Sklenar posed for photos for Flaunt magazine and he was definitely flaunting his goods. The photoshoot shows Sklenar shirtless and showcasing his endless abs, in a soaking wet tank top, and taking a dip at the beach. The internet quickly went feral over the hot photos, so check out the highlights below! (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@) (@)

The Hennepin County Sheriffs Office in Minnesota recently agreed to update its policies to ensure respect of trans inmates gender identities after an LGBTQ+-inclusive legal group filed a complaint over jailers housing a transgender male inmate in a womens unit.The group Gender Justice filed a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) in 2023 on behalf of a trans man who had transitioned 10 years before he was wrongly detained in a womens detention unit based on the sex assigned to him at birth. Related Trump just told inspectors to stop tracking anti-LGBTQ+ prison rapes Before reclassifying the man as female and moving him from a mens unit, a correctional officer allegedly asked him invasive questions about his genitalia and disregarded his stated preference to be detained with other men, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported.MDHR found the jail officials had committed unlawful discrimination. Subsequently, Gender Justice and the Hennepin County Sheriffs Office entered conciliation, which resulted in the recent settlement. Though the office hasnt necessarily admitted to any wrongdoing, it agreed to update its trans-inclusive policies and agreed to pay the wronged man an undisclosed amount for damages. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The agreed-upon policy changes include housing inmates based on their gender identity; making good faith attempts to identify them with their chosen names, pronouns, and honorifics; and training jail workers on correct inmate classification policies.Trans people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in every setting, including when theyre in custody, Sara Jane Baldwin, senior staff attorney at Gender Justice, said in a Wednesday statement. People, not the government, get to say who they are, Baldwin added. Failing to honor that is discrimination. I hope other Minnesota counties will take notice of this settlement and ensure that their policies and practices follow the law.While the current presidential administration has instructed federal detention facilities to house detainees based on their sex assigned at birth, state, city, and county detention facilities can decide how to classify trans inmates. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Franois Arnaud starred in the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry as Scott Hunter who, despite being the protagonist of book 1, Game Changer, in the series of novels written by Rachel Reid, is mostly a supporting character in the Crave original TV show streaming on HBO Max. Under showrunner Jacob Tierney, the main focus of Heated Rivalry is on the love story between Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie)... except for the third episode, titled "Hunter," that takes a detour to explore Scott's love story with Kip Grady (Robbie G.K.).Episode 3 is not only a tribute to the book that started this entire saga about pro hockey players who must live closeted personal lives, but also serves as a cautionary tale illustrating how hard it can be for athletes to come out of the closet under these circumstances.In an interview with Out, Arnaud opens up about his first impressions of the Heated Rivalry show after reading the initial scripts, explains why discussing his bisexuality can welcome conversations about a personal life he'd rather keep private, and praises not only the performances of his costars Williams, Storrie, and G.K, but also the writing and directing of Tierney, who he's now known as a friend and industry peer for nearly two decades.Trust us: This isn't an interview to skip. Pun intended! Franois Arnaud as Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave CanadaOut: Fans have been obsessed with the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, and it's excited to see them now watching your episode. When did you first get attached to the series?Franois Arnaud: Not very long before the starting date, actually. Maybe like a month or so, or like six weeks before. Jacob [Tierney], we've been friends for like 17 years now. I've admired his work since The Trotsky, which I saw in theaters when I was 17. And then he had directed two episodes of a show that I was on, called The Moodys, and we've just been in touch.So he reached out and said, "We sent this to your agent last night; there's six episodes. Do you want to just read them all?" He didn't say, "I wrote this for you," but he did say, "I wrote this and I can't hear anybody else do it. I keep hearing your voice." I read it that day. The first episode, I was like, "What the fuck?" [Laughs.]RELATED: A guide to the 'Heated Rivalry' characters, actors, and gay storylinesIt was enjoyable, but I was like, "I don't know where this is going. I don't know if this is for me." And then, not only because of Scott's bottle episode, but I also knew I could trust Jacob to turn it on its head, and use "smut" as like a hook. Not that there's anything wrong with smut or these horny hockey players, but there is definitely something more to it. The layers just peel away, and it becomes more humanly impressive, and majestic, than I think people were expecting.The books do a good job at that, and the show certainly elevates it even further. Episode 3 really goes to show that this is what actual hockey players, or athletes in general, go through. Some people can lose everything if they come out, and that is Scott Hunter's entire story. He doesn't get a happy ending in this episode. So we watch the yearning, the banter, the flirting, the falling in love, and then how it all comes to an end. What was it like to portray that spectrum of emotions and so many phases in a relationship, in just one episode?The way I saw it, it's just like a tonal shift from the other two episodes, and there was something a bit scary about that. You know I hope people are along for the ride, because it's a bit different. For me, it's more like a sad Notting Hill story. Franois Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave CanadaA sad Notting Hill sounds so funny.There's something very bittersweet about it, and moments that are clearly rom-com-coded. Like the flirtation [between Scott and Kip] at first, it's not like this macho, locker room, pent-up horny thing that we've seen in the first two episodes.What appealed to me about Scott which is what I discussed with Jacob is that he's tired. He gave his whole life to hockey, and hockey gave him back so much. But he's not necessarily ready, socially, to embrace his true self As in, you know, willing to give up everything that he invested in hockey. He is emotionally available, and that's something we kept saying. He's just like not [ready to fully come out].And that's why, you know, at first, it was like, "Why Kip? Why this guy? Has he had sex before?" But there was something that he says: He's never brought anyone back home. Jacob and I had a whole backstory for Scott in terms of how he dealt with his sexuality, but it doesn't really matter in the window of this episode. There's just something that happens when this guy shows up in his life at a moment when he's ready; he's exhausted of pretending and ready for joy. Or he thinks he is.That's how I felt, too. That he initially thought he was ready. But thenWell, I do think he is. It's just that it comes with a boatload of other things that he's not really willing to surmount. Franois Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave CanadaEpisode 3 flash-forwards to Scott Hunter at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. It's interesting to see the show's real-world parallels given that anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Russia did encourage athletes to come out after competing in those Winter Olympics. Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy made waves with their own stories. Of course, this is a parallel world, but it's interesting to think about it.I think that's all like incredibly important, but sports teams are a bit different than individual sports, and especially for the captain of a team. And Scott is that. There's this kind of pressure that isn't invisible, you know? Like, these people spent decades hearing so much stuff in locker rooms.Even though, I think that we're elsewhere, societally. People can surprise us. I've known people who were incredibly, vocally homophobic when I was in high school, and who I saw later in life, and did sort of, like, a mea culpa. They owned up to it, and understood the power of that language, the power of those jokes. The word "gay" was used all the time to not even mean gay, but to just mean "weak" and "bad."Yup. "That's so gay" meant that something was terrible.And it's also misogyny. I think, ultimately, it's rooted in misogyny. I think homophobia and misogyny are incredibly close. Francois Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave CanadaIncredibly close. I was thinking since you are We have these two leads and I don't care to discuss anyone's sexuality but you are an out bisexual person.Franois Arnaud: Oh, yeah. I, I have thoughts about that. Because I know likeOh? Do you have any updates? Yeah, go ahead.I don't care to discuss anybody else's sexuality. For me, even, you know, it's not something I'm particularly interested in discussing about myself, either. At one point in my life, I felt like in order to not disclose that, I had to actively lie, or hide. And that's not what I want to do because I'm not actually, like, I don't think it's something shameful at all. And I didn't think that then, so I was like, "I want my life to reflect this lack of shame. I want my public life to" You know, I love movies, I've given my whole life to it, but I love feeling like my life is my own even more. And that's ultimately not something I'm willing to compromise on. Even though, yeah, something's a bit scary about that.What I don't like, and what I feared when talking about this, was that it would It might give people the idea that I'm inviting this conversation about my private life, which I'm not. I don't really want and I think, you know, everybody does it in their own time, and I completely agree with what Jacob [Tierney] said [in an interview with Xtra]. I think it's certainly in Canada, I don't know about the U.S. it's illegal in Canada to ask people in a casting room, or when they are applying for a job, what their sexuality is. And I think that's just common sense.RELATED: Heated Rivalry actors' sexuality questions? Not on Jacob Tierney's watchThen again, you know, representation does matter, and it's important that people who are part of minorities to see themselves in the public eye. People [who] they can look up to, and who are successful. But I think the goal, ultimately, of that, is that actors who are not hiding that part of themselves are not discriminated against. They don't have to be.I don't think gay people Ultimately, I don't think gay people should play just gay or gay characters should be played by gay people, straight characters should be played by straight people. Like, that's not what it is. We have to get to a place where it doesn't matter. And I think it is happening. There are like out gay actors who are getting great heterosexual parts. Like it was, always, you know? You're an actor, you want to transform, you want to diversify. And I think I've made it a point to do that myself, and I still do. Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady and Franois Arnaud as Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave CanadaI was about to say: You've done it. Jonathan Bailey's doing it right now.Yeah, Bailey is doing it. Jonathan Bailey, I mean, what a journey. And he's completely, you know, he's more comfortable than most like, talking about it all the time. And it doesn't seem to have hindered his career, and that's amazing. Now, I don't I think it's very dangerous, especially when people are first coming on to the scene, like what happened to that kid, Kit Connor, you know?100 percent.I think it's really fucking shameful to be forced to do this out of Before you're ready, under pressure. I think everybody's proud to be a part of this show, proud to be telling these stories. And, you know, I think it'll do. Hopefully hockey bros start watching. Let's see.Yeah. I brought up that topic to contrast how the relationship between Ilya and Shane is, to varying degrees, similar: They're both in the closet. In this storyline, however, Scott is deep inside a walk-in closet, and his love interest is completely out. They are, in many ways, complete opposites.Yeah, completely different. He sees someone else going back in the closet. Franois Arnaud as Scott Hunter and Robbie G.K. as Kip Grady on Heated Rivalry.HBO Max/Crave CanadaFor Scott and Kip, they can't even be seen together, but Scott also interacts with Shane and Ilya on the show. What was it like playing those dynamics with your costars and just bouncing off each other?Well, I love so many actors on this show. Hudson has like an emotional depth and interiority that I love. Connor is fearless, and amazing, and inspiring. Robbie is so gifted at playing these rom-com beats, but grounding them. And all of these quips, and lines, and witty moments, he just makes it sound like they're like, I forget the page, you know? So it's still playing with those tropes, but in a completely natural, integrated way.And just to say one more thing about the relationship between Scott with Shane and Ilya, is that Scott's story can serve, eventually, maybe, as an inspiration for those two. But also, particularly in this episode, as a cautionary tale. If 10 years later, you're still hiding, this is the toll it takes, you know? This is the emotional weight.RELATED: Heated Rivalry: Hudson thought Connor would 'pin me down and f me' in auditionIt's like... it's not the same. It's kind of cute when you're younger. I think they start at 20 and it goes from them being 20 to 25 in the show, or 27. But Scott is like well into his 30s, so it's very different, and there's something sad about it, you know? He's had to put a whole part of his life, like fulfillment, and joy, aside. And that's really moving to me.That last scene, Scott looking at Kip's birthday party from outside. I was like, "Ugh, that sucks." It was really sad. One thing that's been hilarious, and I hope you've seen these, are the memes with Scott clocking Shane and Ilya. The looks he gives, they just read like, "I think you're gay." The internet is having a blast.But it's so weird because I didn't plan for that. [Laughs.] Like I didn't really play that. (@) Wait... What?!I actually did not hear, on that day, the room number that [Ilya] tells [Shane]. Like, I actually couldn't hear it.So the fans who have been sharing these memes around They're technically wrong?I think it's just like a feeling. It's like a gut feeling that he has. And I think there's some sort of like curiosity. It's not attraction it doesn't have anything to do with that. (@) Oh, yeah, that much is very clear. It's not flirtatious at all.It's sort of, I don't know, like"I see what's going on here."Yeah, maybe. But I'm actually not making those calls. [Laughs.] And also, even Scott subscribes to this kind of like "straight hockey bro humor" where you're like, "Oh, is he your buddy? Oh, you two seem close." But it's the kind of thing that players would say to one another even if they weren't gay.Heated Rivalry is streaming on HBO Max. See on Instagram

The 2020s have been a fantastic decade for queer films so far, with instant classics like Challengers, Love Lies Bleeding, I Saw the TV Glow, Bottoms, Monica, All of Us Strangers, and Nope, as well as stunning films from emerging filmmakers like Mutt, Problemista, and The Stroll.Now, with 2025 coming to an end, it's time to take a look at the best comedies, dramas, documentaries, and musicals that we loved this year. If you're looking for LGBTQ+ excellence in film, watch these 11 movies.'Wicked: For Good'While Wicked: For Good didn't fly as high as the first Wicked film, there's no denying the power of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda. After the first film focused mainly on Elphaba, the second shifts its focus to Glinda as she struggles with her decision to stay in Oz now that her best friend has left. Come for the beloved story and characters, stay for the Oscar-worthy leading ladies.Read our reviewStreaming on Prime Video'The Wedding Banquet'Andrew Ahn (Fire Island) reimagines Ang Lee's classic gay rom-com, adding a lesbian couple in this hilarious and heartwarming film starring Bowen Yang, Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, and Han Gi-chan. When Min's (Gi-chan) grandparents say he has to get married, he proposes a lavender marriage to his lesbian friend in exchange for paying for her IVF procedure. The cast has great chemistry, and the story will make you cry and cheer.Read our reviewStreaming on Paramount+'The History of Sound'Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor star in this quiet and beautiful historical drama from Oliver Harmanus. Lionel (Mescal) meets fellow music student David (O'Connor) while studying at the Boston Conservatory in 1917, only to have their blossoming romance interrupted by David being drafted into World War I. After he returns from the war, David invites Lionel to go on a trip across New England to collect folk songs and try to reconnect.Read our reviewStreaming on Mubi'Kiss of the Spider Woman'When Bill Condon's musical Kiss of the Spider Woman premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Out's Mey Rude said the film is "one of the most beautiful musicals in years," and that star Jennifer Lopez "was born to play" her role and "may have found her Oscar role."A tribute to classic Hollywood musicals, Kiss of the Spider Woman follows political prisoner Valentin as he gets to know his new cellmate, the gender-ambigious Molina. Molina entertains Valentin with the plot of his favorite musical, giving the stars a chance to play two roles each. A must-see for musical fans.Read our reviewAvailable to rent on YouTube'Ponyboi'This drama about an intersex sex worker named Ponyboi (played by the brilliant River Gallo) premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, but wasn't released until this year. It follows Ponyboi over a single Valentine's Day night when she must go on the run after some bad meth kills a member of the mob. Gallo is an instant star, and Dylan O'Brien, Victoria Pedretti, and Murray Bartlett are terrific.Read our reviewAvailable to rent on Amazon'Come See Me in the Good Light'After watching Come See Me in the Good Light once, it's impossible to finish the film without feeling changed. The documentary follows the late Colorado poet laureate Andrea Gibson alongside their wife, Megan Falley, as they navigate Gibson's medical journey with an incurable ovarian cancer. But as everyone who had a hand in making the film has said, it's not a film about dying it's a film about living. Gibson was known for their exquisite musings on life, death, and everything in between, and the audience gets to see them ruminate on their existence in this richly shot documentary.Streaming on Apple TV'Peter Hujar's Day'Ira Sachs's intimate and tactile film presents exactly what its title promises: a day-long conversation between photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and his friend, writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall). The film only has the two characters, and there's not much action, but the performances and dialogue will grab hold of your heart and never let go. Some films are like time machines, where you feel like a fly on the wall in a specific moment in the past; this is one of them.Currently in select theaters'Plainclothes'Debut filmmaker Carmen Emmi has a gem on his hands with Plainclothes, a drama starring Tom Blyth as a young police officer in the 1990s named Lucas who is tasked with going to gay cruising spots, luring men, and then arresting them. Then he meets a kind older man named Andrew (Russell Tovey) and starts falling in love. It's an excellent exploration of the suffocating stress and paranoia of the closet and being true to yourself.Read our reviewAvailable to rent on Prime Video'Enigma'Zackary Drucker's latest documentary is one part chronicle of European trans history and one part examination of celebrity and life in the public eye. By exploring the lives of two models and cabaret performers, April Ashly and Amanda Lear, Drucker shows two very different versions of what a great trans life can be. With more and more people trying to erase trans people from history, movies like Enigma are more crucial than ever.Read our reviewStreaming on HBO Max'Twinless'Writer/director and star James Sweeney introduced the world to the next great gay scammer, following in the footsteps of Tom Ripley and George Santos, as Dennis in this film. Twinless focuses on the members of a twin bereavement group, where Dennis meets and instantly befriends Roman (Dylan O'Brien) and entangles himself completely in his life, all while keeping huge secrets from him. This movie is darkly hilarious, deeply sexy, and disturbingly strange.Available to rent or buy on Prime Video'Hedda'Tessa Thompson is divine in Nia DaCosta's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's novel, Hedda Gabler, as the titular 1950s British wife and socialite. On the night she convinces her academic husband, George, to throw a lavish party to help him get a professorship, her former lover and George's academic rival Eileen (Nina Hoss) decides to show up. Hedda is a brilliant addition to the list of problematic queer women we love to hate and just plain love.Streaming on Prime Video

The Matrix director and trans icon Lilly Wachowski was funny and philosophical last week when asked by comedian Caleb Hearon about the loser freaks twisting her message in the classic trilogy to their own red-America ideological ends.The label got a big laugh from the writer/director, 57, who came out as trans in 2008, nine years after the first film in the series debuted in 1999. Related Begin Transmission: Tilly Bridges examines the trans allegories of The Matrix in new book Like, why are members of the Trump administration talking aboutThe Matrixlike it was made for them and their ideology when it came from you, and thats not you at all? Hearon asked on the Thanksgiving edition of his podcast So True with Caleb Hearon.Her answer? Shes basically over it, with some caveats. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Of course, thats going to happen, she said. They do it with absolutely everything.This is what fascism does, she said.You have to let go of your work, she counseled. People are gonna interpret it however they interpret it. Top of the list of most repurposed Matrix iconography: MAGAs version of red-pilling.Faced with a choice in the film of taking the red pill or the blue pill, Keanu Reeves Neo chooses the red pill to escape The Matrixs simulation and wake up to reality.MAGA co-opted that idea complete with the perfect color scheme to popularize red-pilling as waking up to the fact that modern society is run by a global (read Jewish) cabal of pedophiles thats emasculating men, pushing LGBTQ+ ideology, and promoting a Great Replacement of white Christians for Black and Brown rapists and killers, among other theories.Wachowski threw up her arms.I look at all of the crazy, mutant theories aroundThe Matrixfilms and the crazy ideologies that those films helped create, and I just go, What are you doing? No! Thats wrong! But I have to let it go to some extent, she said.Wachowski cited Trumps executive order declaring the existence of only two sexes, male and female, as another example of MAGA and fascist propaganda. Theyre calling it science, but it is not science. And that is what fascism does. It takes these things, these ideas, and they turn them into something else.Right-wing ideology appropriates absolutely everything, she said. They appropriate left-wing points of view, and they mutate them for their own propaganda to obfuscate what the real message is.In The Matrixs case, its just not possible to make absolutely every person believe what she and her sister and collaborator Lana Wachowski intended when they made the films. Ironically enough, that message was one about the trans experience, though the sisters knew the world wasnt quite ready to hear it explicitly at the time. Lana Wachowski came out as trans in 2016.Once a film is finished, Wachowski said, its out of the artists hands, for better or worse.In other words, MAGA is going to MAGA, and thats not her problem.I dont make stuff anymore with the idea that I want it to reach as many people as possible, she added. I make to make, right?When I think about The Matrix and this success that it had, I mean, that is something that I think that artists or filmmakers, or any artist really, they place too much emphasis on those kinds of successes. And I dont think thats necessarily a success, she said.The beauty of filmmaking is that you get to come together in this community, all these different artists, and bring this thing that is in your brain into this new form. That new form is a collective art piece.As an artist, I try to be as present as possible now, she said. I want to be present and relish every single day of the making that I have.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Swiss tennis star Mika Brunold had big news for fans and fellow players over the weekend: Hes gay.The 21-year-old, 63 player, whos climbing the ranks of the mens singles circuit, came out on Instagram with a heartfelt message. Related Russian tennis champ Daria Kasatkina worries about going home after coming out Today I want to share something personal with you, he began.As a professional tennis player, Ive spent countless hours working on my game, my body, and my mindset. Through all of this, one of the most important things Ive learned is that success on the court isnt just about physical skill its about discovering your personality and staying true to yourself.Ive been thinking a lot about how to talk about this. And while it hasnt always been easy, hiding it and pretending to be someone Im not was never an option, he wrote. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Thats why I feel its time for me to open up, he added, and share with you that Im gay.Game, set, match. View this post on Instagram A post shared by (@mika_brunold) The lanky native of Winterthur, near Zurich, may be best known for the shock of curly blonde hair he wears atop a signature white headband.Brunold is a right-hander with a two-handed backhand and a 3-1 record on clay. Hes currently the Swiss No. 6.Hes also only the second active professional mens tennis player to come out as gay. 24-year-old Brazilian player, Joo Lucas Reis da Silva, came out last year.I believe that in an ideal world, we wouldnt even need to come out at all,Brunold wrote. Im sharing this with you to take a step for myself, but also because I think its not talked about enough in sports.Being gay doesnt just mean loving the same gender, the 20-something shared, imparting wisdom rare for someone just out of his teens.It also means dealing with things most people never have to think about. The fear of not being accepted, the pressure to stay quiet, the feeling of being different.But Ive grown, he added. And Im proud of who I am today.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Here are this weeks most popular positive stories, with some fun social media posts tossed in too. Like seeing uplifting content like this?Sign up for our Good News email.Apologies to those who wanted an extra helping of Good News last Thanksgiving weekend we all took off for the holiday, and so we didnt do our weekly roundup last week. However, we have lots of Good News to dish out this week, so we hope youre still hungry!Some tasty bits you mightve missed: Did you hear that Los Angeles unveiled a special surprise for transit users during Transgender Awareness Month? Did you see parents who once struggled to accept their trans kids sharing what changed their minds? And how do you feel about these models who flaunt looks made from wool of gay sheep in an epic I Wool Survive show in Paris? Related An unexpected love story and all it took was one kiss. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today View this post on Instagram A post shared by Granny Flat (@grannyflatcomedy)Swiss tennis star becomes second active player ever to come out as gay: Im proud of who I amThe 21-year-old, 63 player, whos climbing the ranks of the mens singles circuit, came out on Instagram with a heartfelt message. Censors have targeted LGBTQ+ books for decades. Here are 7 to add to your holiday gift list.Stuff your loved ones stockings with these influential LGBTQ+ classics. Pastor comes out to congregation in spellbinding sermon: Im giving up pretending to be a manIf you felt Gods Holy Spirit surrounding you in ways you havent felt in years, would you have a sense that might be something God was okay with?Randy Rainbow goes to the Pink Pony Club with the pres View this post on Instagram A post shared by Carmen Teresa Gonzalez (@ctgthatisme) Courts deals out justice for a trans inmate who fought for his own dignityTrans people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in every setting, including when theyre in custody. Court grants big victory for same-sex marriage rights in European UnionThe court declared that EU citizens have a right to a normal family life regardless of borders.These parents couldnt find a space that centered Black trans kids. So they made one.For parents of color, advocating for their kids means fighting both transphobia & racism. Rainbow in Black wants to help families through it all. Enjoy a fashion moment with scruffy dogs in bad wigs! View this post on Instagram A post shared by EXP TV (@exp.tv) Ariana Grande shares hilarious story of brother Frankie coming out to their grandparentsI wish that for all the kids, Grande said of her grandparents instant acceptance.Genderfluid comedian Cameron Esposito is over the moon about her new babyShe has been sharing bits about her pregnancy over the past year. A new home named after a trans icon is bringing much-needed hope to queer people in needCasa Cecilia in New York is a house built for queer people, by queer people. And lets go out on a rainbow cloud! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Giuseppe Savoni (@disco_bambino)From our sibling sites:GAYCITIES: A new sapphic spot in history is born: Sarah Paulson gets star on Hollywood Walk of FameINTO: Queer doulas make childbirth safer for Black, brown, and LGBTQ+ peopleQUEERTY: Chasten Buttigieg just dropped the most heart-melting pics of him & Petes kids going full Christmas modeOUTSPORTS: College athletes are doing cheesy, campy Instagram photo shoots

Individuals and groups who put their lives on the line to defend the country are true patriots.True patriots are also those who speak out, stand up, and challenge our leaders, those who put their lives on the line by actively advocating for justice, freedom, and liberty through peaceful means. Related Were still fighting on World AIDS Day because Trump is still murdering people with HIV From the stars upon the CIA Memorial Wall; to the Tomb of the Unknowns; to the graves of our patriots across the world; to all the burials at sea; to our wounded warriors and our brave veterans; to our current troops who are placing their bodies on the front lines; and to the peacemakers, negotiators, and activists who have also put their lives on the line, I salute you all.I wish I could find a way to apologize to all of you for the callous disregard to your honor and safety by your so-called Commander-In-Chief and his henchman, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, both of whom have violated the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice. They have also abandoned the Geneva Convention rules of war, which explicitly outline the parameters for the humanitarian treatment of individuals who are unable to participate in hostilities during armed conflict. Dive deeper every day Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues Subscribe to our Newsletter today Our Constitution, however, specifically grants Congress the power to declare War notthe President, andnotthe Judiciary.If Congress had officially declared war on Venezuela and its president, Nicols Maduro, whom the Trump administration has charged with sponsoring these alleged drug cartel trafficking small boats, then Hegseth would be charged with war crimes for allegedly ordering a second strike to kill two survivors clinging to the debris of a bombed boat.Since Congress has not made an official declaration of war and the administration has not provided any credible evidence that these boats have been carrying illegal drugs anywhere, including to the United States, the over 80 deaths by US bombs could be considered murder. But lets be honest: Donald Trump does not care whether illegal, dangerous drugs enter the United States. He does not care that thousands of people have died after taking these drugs.If he cared about human life, he would have expanded, rather than eliminated, funding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to end hunger and disease abroad.If he cared, he would have expanded, rather than reduced, funding to the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program, developed in 2003 under the George W. Bush administration to limit the number of AIDS-related deaths around the globe. If he cared, he would have advocated for the expansion, rather than reduction, of funding to SNAP nutritional benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and other safety net programs.And if he cared about dangerous drugs entering the United States, why did he recently pardon the former ultra-conservative National Party president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in the United States of a drug charge, thereby releasing him from a 45-year prison sentence? Trump has also threatened to cut off all US aid to Honduras if his preferred presidential candidate, another member of the ultra-right National Party, Nasry Asfura, does not win.Trumps extremist actions over the Caribbean follow the classic Wag the Dog tactics. The 1997 film of the same name is a political satire starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, loosely adapted from Barry Beinharts 1993 novel, American Hero. The film portrays a political spin doctor and a Hollywood movie producer who concoct a war in Albania to distract voters from a sex scandal in which the President of the United States was caught making advances on an underage girl in the Oval Office weeks before the election.As it turned out, the war helped the president get reelected.Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has been throwing spaghetti at the wall to find anything that will stick, anything that will divert attention away from his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. His conspiracy with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was ultimately unsuccessful, though it shut down the government for over a month all seemingly so Johnson could justify delaying the swearing in of a newly elected Democratic House member, whose signature was needed to pass a discharge petition for the release of the complete Epstein Files.Even prior to the Republican shutdown, the Trump administration had been bombing small boats in the Caribbean on the pretext of stopping drug trafficking to Wag the Dog away from Epstein.Ultimately, no amount of diversionary tactics will cover the truth. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams recently declared that transphobes, among others with bigoted beliefs, should not feel welcome at her concerts. Ive always said, all are welcome at our shows, Williams told Clash. But I dont want racists around, and I dont want sexist people around, and I dont want people there who think that trans people are a burden. Related Ariana Grande shares hilarious story of brother Frankie coming out to their grandparents Williams said that boundary is a hard line for me now. I hope it naturally happens that people who do harbour those harmful ideologies arent going to feel welcome, because theyre going to walk in the door and realize that the gangs all here, all banded together around something positive. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today She added, All are welcome if you believe all should be welcome If you dont believe that, youre not welcome! Williams who will begin touring in March after the launch of her solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party has long spoken out for progressive causes and has made it clear she has no qualms with alienating fans who push hateful agendas.While performing at the Adjacent Music Festival in Atlantic City in 2023, she told fans she is very f**king comfortable talking politics. She then brought up anti-LGBTQ+ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who was running for president at the time. If you vote for Ron DeSantis, youre f**king dead to me, she told the crowd. Is that comfortable enough for anyone? According to Twitter user @pmore_bb, who posted the clip at the time, Williams was responding to reports she said shed seen online claiming that she isafraid to talk about politicswhile on tour with her band.She supported Beto ORourkes 2022 Texas gubernatorial campaign, and Paramore donated a portion of the proceeds from their fall 2022 tour to organizations providing reproductive care and access to abortion services following the Supreme Courts decision to overturnRoe v. Wadein June 2022. Williams has appeared onstage wearing Abort The Supreme Court t-shirts.She has also been an outspoken LGBTQ+ ally. In March, she performed at theLove Rising concertin Nashville, Tennessee, which benefited the Tennessee Equality Project, Inclusion Tennessee, Out Memphis, and the Tennessee Pride Chamber in Partnership with the Looking Out Foundation, following the passage of several anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the state, including the nations first statewide law banning drag performances. I cant imagine being a person who spends their time thinking about how to limit anyone. I dont understand that mindset, shetold GLAADat the event. My heart swells and it breaks for this community.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Early childhood educator and YouTube phenomenon Rachel Accurso known to her tiny fans as Ms. Rachel posted a sweet message on Instagram this week to say that everyone is welcome in her classroom, including LGBTQ+ people. Accurso specifically names trans, gay, and nonbinary people, as well as people of varying political parties, religions, and immigration status. She ended the list of folks she welcomes with people who hate me. Related Pastor comes out to congregation in spellbinding sermon: Im giving up pretending to be a man She then added a comment about her own religion. Also Im Christian, she said, and I feel in my soul and my prayers (and Jesuss example) no one is to be excluded.The post has garnered thousands of likes and comments. How could we love you even more every day? one person wrote. Another called her a shining example of true love and kindness, and a third said she was a perfect example of what Christianity should be. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ms Rachel (@msrachelforlittles)Accurso has spoken up for LGBTQ+ people many times, which has earned her hatred from some on the right. The late far-right activist Charlie Kirk once slammed her on his podcast for using the Bibles love your neighbor message to support Pride, even comparing her to Satan at one point during the episode.While criticizing YouTuber Ms. Rachel for quoting love your neighbor to defend celebrating pride month, Charlie Kirk quoted a Bible verse used to justify stoning gay people to death.Kirk called the stoning verse, Gods perfect law when it comes to sexual matters. pic.twitter.com/2b5oHQLmy3 PatriotTakes (@patriottakes) June 11, 2024 In her 2024 Pride message, Accurso also said good riddance to anyone who no longer wanted to watch her show due to her support for LGBTQ+ people. Im so glad youre here, she said to LGBTQ+ viewers. Im so glad youre exactly who you are. She then added that she knew folks would comment that they would no longer watch the show.No worries and much love your way, God bless. I am not chasing fame or views, she said. I am standing strong in love. @msrachelforlittles Happy Pride! Love you! original sound Ms Rachel One of Accursos recurring cast members on her YouTube Songs for Littles show is also a nonbinary performer, Jules Hoffman, who earned the ire of some conservative moms when they were first brought on. While Hoffman addressed the controversy head-on, Accurso did so indirectly with a message about her goal to serve children and their families every day and to share the love and kindness that we want to see reflected in the world. @julessingsforlittles I didnt know how to respond to everything that is going on. I want to address the in the room in the best way I know how- by teaching kids about love and acceptance. Kids around us, they are absorbing and ing to us for our responses, how we react, how we treat others. They remember what we say and what we believe and it can either bring them closer to us, to share their truest selves with us or push them away. Take care of yourselves and each other. Reach down deep inside you when things get icky, take some deep breaths, sure- be a crabby for a bit, remember its ok to cry and then respond with and kindness. Lets do this fam #itsoktocry #lovewins #lgbtq #love #julestok #julessingsforlittles #blessed #songsforlittles @msrachelforlittles original sound Jules! Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

A trans pastor who recently came out to her congregation in a spellbinding sermon has spoken out about the national attention she has received in the aftermath.This is not what I was expecting to happen, Rev. Dr.Phillippa Pastor Phil Phaneuf, told Advocate of the incredible response to her impassioned speech, during which she assured congregants she was still the same person and that shes not becoming a woman but rather, giving up pretending to be a man. Related Gregory Maguire says he never expected Wicked to reflect Americas slide toward authoritarianism Since then, she said she has received far more messages of love than hate. Im surrounded by loving kindness, she said. The affirmations have been amazing.Among the many powerful moments in her announcement was her explanation of what would change and what would stay the same. While her appearance, voice, clothes, andpronounswill change, she said she deeply, deeply believes that what brought us together and has kept us together are all the things found in the stays the same category. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today What will stay the same, she said, is my commitment to the good news of Jesus Christ, our togetherness in ministry, (unfortunately for all of you) my personality, my style of teaching, my style of preaching, my adhd brain type (youre welcome), my sense of humor none of that is changing.She said congregants have since told her that moment helped ground them and make the news feel less overwhelming. She also said she is being patient with those who may take longer to come to terms with her transition. Change, she said, is hard, even when people have the capacity for acceptance. There are some people youre still holding out hope for, she said. When you do it in this sort of way, theres not a lot of angst or anger that you have to then work through when it comes time for reconciliation.She hopes her courage contributed to making her church a safer space.If someone can see even a glimpse of themselves in me, she said, maybe theyll feel theres a place for them too. Thats what church is supposed to be.Phaneuf came out to her congregation at the North Chili United Methodist Church in Rochester, New York on November 23.She explained that she already has the support of the United Methodist Church (UMC), the district superintendent, the bishop, and even the scripture itself.Did you know that there are eight different Hebrew words for different gender types? she said, re-emphasizing, In the ancient Hebrew they recognized at least eight different gender types.Phaneufalso praised the UMCs May 2024vote to end its banon LGBTQ+ clergy. On Wednesday, the Upper New York Conference issued a statement of support for Phaneuf, calling her coming out a significant step in her journey of authenticity and faith. I give thanks forRev. Dr.Phil Phaneufscourage and honesty in embracing the fullness of who God created her to be, said Bishop Burgos-Nez. Her gifts in preaching, pastoral care, and service continue to enrich our connection. We stand together in love and prayer as she walks thispath.In her announcement, Phaneuf asked congregants to imagine if their doctor told them their quality and outlook on life could transform exponentially to the positive.Would you listen to that doctor? she asked. If you felt Gods Holy Spirit surrounding you in ways that you havent felt in years, would you have a sense that that might be something that God was okay with?She expressed complete faith in her congregants that even those who might be hesitant will come to accept her with time, especially once they see how happy she is.Thats what we want for the people in our lives, she said. Isnt it? Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

If one were to fact check all of Donald Trumps misstatements, exaggerations, lies, and redefinitions of established traditions before, during, and between his two terms as President of the United States, one would not have enough time to sleep more than two or three hours in a 24-hour period.From his hyperbolic claim, through his first term Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, on January 21, 2017, that That was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period, even after aerial views showed far fewer people upon the Washington Mall in attendance at Trumps inaugural ceremony compared with those of Barack Obama. Related Trump doesnt care about drug trafficking. All he cares about is distracting us. Then to what has come to be referred to as Sharpiegate arising from Trumps attempt to cover up his misstatement in September 2019 that the approaching storm, Hurricane Dorian, would hit several Southern states while incorrectly including Alabama. Local weather bureaus had previously reassured Alabama residents that the hurricane would not affect their state. Rather than admit his mistake, Trump showed reporters a weather map, which he altered with a black Sharpie pen, by expanding the possible path of the hurricane to include Alabama.Most of us have read by now that theWashington Posthad recorded 30,573 untruths during his first term, which averaged approximately 21 invalid claims a day. The most egregious claim, which had deadly consequences, was the Big Lie that he had been swindled out of beating Joe Biden for the presidency in November 2020, which resulted in an insurrection by his staunch supporters upon the Capitol of the United States. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Trumpssecondterm is no different for this Misstater-(Lier)-in-Chief. As the lies continue piling up, as he attempts to grab more power and his wealth through grifting soars, he again has attempted to redraw the maps and redefine the definition of professional.He issuedan executive orderon the day of his second inauguration (January 20) directing U.S. federal agencies to officially change what is called the Gulf of Mexico tothe Gulf of America. This body of water was given the name Gulf of Mexico in the 1550s, derived fromMexica, theNahuatlterm of theAztecs. This name became internationally recognized. As part of Donald Trumps attempts to dismantle the Department of Education and its funding to the states in particular, for special education programs and student college loans. A key provision of Trumps so-called One Big Beautiful Law is reducing or eliminating loans to students who are not enrolled in degree programs classified as professional. This change has major implications for students as tuition costs continue to increase and family income has either remained static or has decreased.The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations states that a professional degree signifies the completion of academic requirements needed to begin practice in a profession. This requires skills beyond a bachelors degree with some involving a masters degree or a multi-year Doctoral degree and generally involve professional licensure.Under the Trump administration, several former professional college and university degree programs have been downgraded to non-professional. Even though they generally require advanced training or degrees past a bachelors degree, and they also require licensure, by entering these academic programs, students risk significantly reducing their loan caps or forfeiting entirely their ability to obtain government loans or grants. Alistof programs no longer defined as professional include, but are not limited to the following:Healthcare: Nursing, Physician Assistant, Public Health, Dental Hygiene, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Audiology, Speech PathologyArchitecture AccountingEducationSocial Work, Counseling EngineeringBusiness Masters ProgramsIt is no mere coincidence that women comprise the majority of practitioners in many of these fields and especially in healthcare, education, and social services. What we truth-tellers and realism-seekers here on Earth 1 refer to as Healthcare, Food and Shelter Assistance, Climate Control Regulations, and Education, the Republicans over on Earth 2 in Congress, in the Oval Office, and on right-wing media define as Waste, Fraud, and Abuse.The so-called One Big Beautiful Law the Republicans recently passed in both houses of Congress (and signed by President Trump) not only redefines and limits student loan programs, it also cuts essential services like the SNAP program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), formerly called Food Stamps for people in need of food assistance. Approximatelyone in eight Americansreceives nutrition assistance through SNAP, and most of them are children.Though the president and most congressional Republicans promisedad nauseamnot to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in the current budget surprise of all surprises the House Republicans cut $600 billion from Medicaid and from the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The bill makes significant reductionsto Medicaidby imposingwork requirements, mostly unreasonable and unrealistic, on many of those receiving benefits. While taking from the poorest and most needy, the bill provides amulti trillion-dollar tax breaks packagewith the majority going to the richest among us. The bill makes permanent the $4.5 trillion in enormous tax breaks for the rich, which was passed in Trumps first regime.The Big Lie so far in Trumps second term relates to his misrepresentation of how his priorities and policies are raising the economic fortunes of all U.S.-Americans.You know, I just might add, this is also the golden age of America, because we are doing better than weve ever done as a country. Prices are coming down and all of that stuff, Trump said during a speech at the McDonalds Impact Summit in Washington, DC on November 17.I wonder how many misstatements and lies theWashington Postwill accumulate during Trumps second regime.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Outgoing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has revealed the first things hes looking forward to doing as a civilian now that President-elect Donald Trump will soon install his replacement. While Buttigieg is proud of the things he accomplished as the first out gay cabinet member ever to serve throughout a full presidential administration, he also shared some of his regrets in a recent exit interview with Politico.Buttigieg said he has spoken with his incoming replacement, Sean Duffy, and believes he can do a good job; though he adds that his positions effectiveness was largely put in the hands of state or local or tribal or regional authorities who are overseeing projects funded by President Joe Bidens $1.2 trillion infrastructure law. Many of these authorities arent necessarily Republican, Buttigieg notes, and the secretary is expected to deal with them equally. Related 10 times Pete Buttigieg proved he is a great Transportation Secretary Im absolutely convinced that we are leaving Americas transportation system in much better condition than we found it, Buttigieg told the aforementioned publication, noting that the infrastructure law helped get 72,000 projects underway, 22,000 of which are now complete. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Biden recently complained to USA Today, We wouldve been a hell of a lot better off had we been able to go much harder at getting some of these projects in the ground quicker.Buttigieg said he thought Biden was getting at is an impatience we all feel about the recognition and credit that this work deserves, adding, The nature of the beast with this infrastructure work is that it takes longer than a political cycle to get it done.He noted that one the biggest transportation projects that hes responsible for, the tunnels between New York and New Jersey, wont be completed for anywhere from three to five presidential terms (roughly 12 to 20 years). He compared the benefits of the infrastructure bill to those of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the massive health insurance overhaul spearheaded by President Barack Obama in 2010. Think about the political life of the ACA, to go from being an albatross to being our winning issue in eight years, Buttigieg said, mentioning how the ACA is now touted as a Democratic achievement and used against Republicans who have repeatedly sought to repeal it (even though millions of GOP constituents and voters depend on it). And even then you have to do all the finessing for folks who dont think of the ACA and Obamacare as the same thing. Theres a lot of that here with this stuff.Buttigieg also said that news of his departments accomplishments rarely ever made headlines or viral waves on sociala media because we were competing with a lot of other things for attention and, Good news is no news: That [is,] unambiguously and uncontroversially good things command less attention.After lamenting the problem of viral disinformation on social media something he called a massive challenge, noting that it makes governance, conversations, and good decision-making much harder he mentioned his pride at helping reduce roadways deaths by over 5.6% since 2021. Buttigieg then discussed his next plans now that hell be out of his old job. He said hes looking at possibly enrolling into Northwestern Michigan College, a local community college, to get his pilots lisence under its flight program.I got what I asked for for Christmas, which is a splitting maul and a new axe. So Ill be chopping a lot of wood and being outside a little more, he said. I want to spend more time engaged with ideas and with students. Im looking at ways to make that possible. The biggest thing, obviously, the family pays a pretty big price when youre involved in politics and public life. Looking forward to making up for some lost time.He said he hopes that, in the future, hell be able to point out different pieces of infastructure to his children that resulted from his work, that his children will benefit from their construction and that hell tell them, I worked on that, and thats one of the reasons why I was working so hard back when you were really little and we were getting to know each other.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

This week in Washington, hundreds of LGBTQ+ power players gathered to flex their political muscles and assess the state of LGBTQ+ rights in America at the annual LGBTQ+ Victory Institute International Leaders Conference.As leaders strategize how to navigate a second Trump reign erasing LGBTQ+ rights, they also celebrated the achievements of the Biden administration, giving the former president the Chris Abele Impact Award. Related Lesbian Fox host melts down as Joe Biden says Donald Trump could learn about decency President Biden has shown unwavering commitment to ensuring LGBTQ+ people can participate fully and openly in our democracy, said Evan Low, the new president and CEO of the Victory Institute in the groups announcement of the award.The groups board cited Bidens historic leadership on LGBTQ+ equality as reason for the honor. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today From appointing a record number of LGBTQ+ leaders to reversing harmful policies and expanding civil rights protections, his administration set a new and necessary standard for what inclusive governance looks like, Low said. This award honors not only his achievements, but also the real impact these changes have had on LGBTQ+ Americans across the country.The former congressman also cited Bidens influence in recruiting a wave of new LGBTQ+ leaders to stand up to the Trump administrations attacks and provide good governance in general. Its one more achievement in a long list logged by Biden in support of gay people and the trans community, including high-visibility appointments like Pete Buttigieg heading up the Transportation Department and Admiral Rachel Levine serving as Assistant Health Secretary at HHS.At the White House, Biden installed the first gay press secretary to serve an administration, Karine Jean-Pierre. While overseas, he publicly provoked anti-LGBTQ+ nationalist Viktor Orbn in Hungary by appointing an out ambassador to the country; David Pressman took up residence at the American Embassy in Hungary with his husband and two children in 2022.The Victory Institute conference kicked off Thursday and attracted more than 700 LGBTQ+ elected officials, advocates, and global human-rights leaders for the countrys largest LGBTQ+ political gathering. Leaders expected to attend include Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy (D), Senate candidate and current Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D), Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, and Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones of San Antonio, Texas. Among attendees were the unflagging and always entertaining Trump critic and niece of the president, Mary Trump, along with Stuart Milk, nephew of fallen gay civil rights leader Harvey Milk.But Friday night belonged to Biden.Not only did Biden overturn Trumps first ban on transgender troops in the military while reinstating employment, healthcare, and other protections for LGBTQ+ people stripped by President Trump in his first term Biden left office with 15% of his appointees identifying as LGBTQ+.Its also, sadly, a reminder of the severe damage and exclusion committed during Trumps second administration.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mocked former President Donald Trump for repeatedly claiming that his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, lied about working for the fast food restaurant McDonalds when she was a college student. Trump even said that he would get a job at McDonalds to prove that its not hard to work there.Harris has often mentions working at McDonalds as a vignette into her working-class origins and understanding of the economic needs of lower- and middle-class Americans. She has said she cooked French fries and served ice cream while working there. Related Pete Buttigieg is playing JD Vance in Tim Walzs debate prep Kamala said she worked at McDonalds She never did. Lie! Trump wrote in a September 1 post on Truth Social. He has repeatedly accused her of lying about the job as part of his larger effort to cast her as someone who changes her story, identities and policies to suit her ever-changing purposes. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today She said she worked, and grew up in terrible conditions, she worked at McDonalds, it was suchSHE NEVER WORKED THERE! Trump wrote. And these FAKE news reporters will never report it. They dont want to report it because theyre FAKE! Theyre FAKE! They dont want to report it.Trump brought it up again at a rally yesterday, saying that he would get a French fry job at McDonalds and work about a half an hour to prove that such work isnt that hard. Trump: I'm going to go to a McDonald's next week. I'm going to go to a McDonald's and I'm going to work the french fry job for about a half an hour. I want to see how it is.. pic.twitter.com/5EXIqDdMz4 Acyn (@Acyn) September 24, 2024Frustrated that Trump was making light of wage labor, Buttigieg responded to Trump later that same day, bringing up Trumps policy proposals: If were really going to have to talk about McDonalds for a couple online news cycles, then let it be about how and why Trump and the GOP oppose increasing the minimum wage, but made sure to cut taxes for McDonalds Corporation.If were really going to have to talk about McDonalds for a couple online news cycles, then let it be about how and why Trump and the GOP oppose increasing the minimum wage, but made sure to cut taxes for McDonalds Corporation. Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) September 24, 2024 The federal minimum wage in the United States has been $7.25 per hour since July 2009, the last time that the U.S. Congress raised it. That amount isnt enough to buy most of the value menu meals on McDonalds menu.During his presidency, Trump signed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a tax overhaul which was largely passed by Republicans in a party-line vote. The law cut the federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, saving Americas largest corporations billions in taxes. Harris has repeatedly said that Trumps policies for a second term would continue to favor the wealthy and hurt working-class people. While this small McScandal might seem like a nothingburger to some, to Buttigieg, it points to larger issues of economic fairness thats hard for most working Americans to swallow.McDonalds hasnt confirmed Harris claim of being employed there in the 80s, and its unclear if the company keeps employment records from three decades ago from all of its thousands of nationwide locations, which arent owned by the corporation itself but by individual franchisees. The fact-checking site Snopes.com has said theres no evidence (such as a photo, employment record, or confirmation from a friend or family member) to verify Harris claim. Harris also didnt list the job on past resumes, but this alone doesnt disprove her claim since post-college job-seekers dont always list every single position theyve ever had on resumes.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has altered the official portrait of Adm. Rachel Levine, the out transgender former assistant secretary for health under President Joe Biden, to display Levines deadname a needless act of transphobia that Levine has called petty. Her portrait hangs in the HHS office alongside those of other federal officials who have led the U.S. Public Health Corps.During the federal shutdown, the current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed Admiral Levines photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name, Levines spokesperson Adrian Shanker, former deputy assistant secretary for health policy under Biden, told NPR. Shanker called the move an unprecedented act of bigotry against her. Though Levine said, Im not going to comment on this type of petty action. Related Adm. Rachel Levine is optimistic about the future of trans Americans. Im not convinced. When asked about the alteration, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the aforementioned news outlet, Our priority is ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold standard science. We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health.An anonymous HHS staffer told NPR that they considered the change disrespectful, adding that it exemplifies the erasure of transgender individuals by this administration. Upon taking office, the president issued numerous executive orders denying all federal recognition of trans people and kicking trans people out of the military for being selfish, dishonorable, deceitful, and undisciplined. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Levine was the first out trans person to receive Senate confirmation. On October 19, 2021, became the first out transfour-star officerin the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a noncombatant service of the nationseight uniformed services which promotes public health and safety. She resigned on the current presidents first day in office.The current assistant secretary for health is Adm. Brian Christine, MD, who was appointed in November.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Donald Trump is being brutally mocked for his flippant Truth Social post about attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who died Monday at 88. Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome, Trump wrote on Monday afternoon. We look forward to being there! Related Gay governor mocks Trump with April Fools joke about presidents unflattering portrait Folks sneered at the presidents seemingly jovial attitude toward a somber event, with one influencer lamenting, This is why the world laughs at us.This motherfucker treats Pope funeral like its a Mar-a-Lago gala. Popes not cold dead yet and Trumps already RSVPing with a smile. We look forward to being there! bro, its not a fucking barbecue. This is why the world laughs at us. pic.twitter.com/5Bgbd9vHJc Mario (@PawlowskiMario) April 21, 2025Dr. David I. Ramadan, a former Republican state delegate in Virginia, blasted the message, stating, We look forward to being there is not the sentiment you express about a funeralespecially for a revered figure like the Pope. Stop at confirming attendance or, better yet, offer a tribute to his legacy. Its not about being seen, its about showing respect but this is Donald TrumpWe look forward to being there is not the sentiment you express about a funeralespecially for a revered figure like the Pope. Stop at confirming attendance or, better yet, offer a tribute to his legacy. Its not about being seen, its about showing respect but this is https://t.co/bvhmCln4IU Dr. David I. Ramadan (@DavidIRamadan) April 21, 2025Others called him a dope and true psychopath and berated him for treating a funeral like a wine tasting. Mr. President, is English your first language? Is look forward to being here an appropriate way to express your condolences in English? https://t.co/kEqu45AdQx LW (@HKW32145) April 21, 2025Looking forward to being at a funeral is on brand I guess https://t.co/IKOJkDFQy6 joey (@joeynardick) April 22, 2025Look forward to being there??? I mean.. what the fuck he does actually know what a funeral is, right? That its not a party? https://t.co/0IuMUaga4T Robert Rea (@robertrea) April 21, 2025Look forward to being there? Its just another PR event for him. https://t.co/9NcHv9uL9X MiMi (@MiMi____KAAB) April 21, 2025Look Forward .what a dope https://t.co/iFgxyBARgg M A N (@mneely27) April 21, 2025Is Trump going to try to deport the dead Pope for supporting the Palestinians and migrants???Oh wait, he's just going there to pretend he's Christian so he can cling on to his religious voters now that his trade war has gone to hell. https://t.co/9BallETa0q Queequeg's Capital (@QueequegCapital) April 21, 2025We look forward to being thereBold choice of words for a funeral. Most people mourn the Pope, not pencil it in like its a wine tasting in Vatican City Logical Luminary (@ReasonUnchains) April 21, 2025Spoke like a true psycopath that can't understand emotions. Olle Ramsberg (@ollra) April 22, 2025

The University of Oklahoma (OU) recently dismissed a professor for telling students that they wouldnt be counted absent from her class if they attended an on-campus protest in support of a transgender teaching assistant (TA) who was placed on administrative leave after she failed a students essay that referred to trans people as demonic. The newly dismissed professor reportedly didnt give the same option to students who wanted to protest against the trans TAs reinstatement, OU said.OU composition professor Kelli Alvarez was accused of viewpoint discrimination for her alleged actions, OU said in an official statement cited by KFOR. OUs director of first-year composition emailed Alvarezs students, calling Alvarezs actions inappropriate and wrong, adding, The university classroom exists to teach students how to think, not what to think. Related University cancels Shakespeare play citing DEI. Students rallied the community & put it on anyway. The director informed students that they could miss the Friday class to attend either the protest or the counterprotest. The director also noted that Alvarez has been replaced for the remainder of the term, which ends on December 19. OU said it agrees with the directors actions.Classroom instructors have a special obligation to ensure that the classroom is never used to grant preferential treatment based on personal political beliefs, nor to pressure students to adopt particular political or ideological views, OU wrote in its statement. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today At the Friday protest, hundreds of students rallied in support of Mel Curth, a trans TA who OU placed on administrative leave after she gave a student a grade of zero on an essay about a study on gender roles in which the student called trans people demonic. The student, Samantha Fulnecky, filed a religious discrimination complaint with OU in November, and the university put Curth on administrative leave.Students at the protest chanted, OU shame on you, Protect our professors, and Justice for Mel, KOKH-TV reported. Even students who didnt agree with Curths failing grade for the student agreed that Fulneckys essay was poorly written and that Curth didnt need to be put on leave.WATCH: protest underway at the University of Oklahoma rallying in support of the instructor who was put on leave after giving a student a zero on a psychology paper. @OKCFOX pic.twitter.com/AOoVtwmbXb Grant Palmer FOX 25 (@grantpalmertv) December 5, 2025 At one point in the protest, a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) supporter got in front of the crowd and began counterprotesting.The OU Chapter of the right-wing young conservatives group published a transphobic tweetsaying, We should not be letting mentally ill professors around students. Clearly this professor lacks the intellectual maturity to set her own bias aside and take grading seriously. Professors like this are the very reason conservatives cant voice their beliefs in the classroom.Inher paper, Fulnecky wrote that people arent pressured to be more masculine or feminine, that she doesnt see it as a problem when peers use teasing to enforce gender norms, and that eliminating gender in our society pulls us farther from Gods original plan. She also said trans identities are demonic and severely [harm] American youth. Inher response, Curth to whom the OU Department of Psychology recently gave its Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award wrote that her grade wasnt because Fulnecky had certain beliefs, but rather because the paper does not answer the questions for this assigment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive.Ina statement, OU wrote that it takes First Amendment rights and religious freedoms seriously and began a full review of the situation to swiftly address the matter, including a formal grade appeals process and a review of the students claim of illegal discrimination based on religious beliefs.The university also said that Curth had been placed on administrative leave during the finalization of the discrimination review, leaving a full-time professor to serve as the courses instructor for the rest of the semester.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.