Welcome to our weekly column, News is Good, where we feature positive news about the LGBTQ+ community. Too much of what we see in mainstream media coverage focuses on the challenges we face and not the celebrations. Here are a few things we’re excited about this week.
Those seeking gender affirming care are now protected in Minnesota. Thanks to a Democratic-led House and Senate and executive order by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, trans and gender-nonconforming people in MN are free to pursue gender-confirming treatment. This also includes those traveling to MN for treatment from states where these types of treatments are being outlawed or restricted. The state cannot be forced to comply with investigations led by these other states. In response to the order, Walz said, “Minnesota … is a welcoming, loving, neighborly state where you are welcome and will be free from discrimination or anything else that we’re trying to see in some other states.”
LGBTQ+ Michiganders will soon be protected under the law thanks to bipartisan support. After passing the Senate and House, Senate Bill 4 is heading to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk to be signed into law. The bill will now “prohibit discriminatory practices, policies, and customs in the exercise of those rights based upon religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, familial status, or marital status.”
“Yellowjackets” Season 2 has a new trailer and even more questions about what happened in the woods. The Showtime smash-hit about a high school girl’s soccer team who crash land in the Canadian Rockies is returning March 24. Queer characters Taissa (played as a teen by Jasmin Savoy Brown and as an adult by Tawny Cypress) and Van (played as a teen by Liv Hewson and as an adult by Lauren Ambrose) return and so does the twisty mystery of the Antler Queen. The new trailer features a haunting cover of No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” sung by Florence and the Machine.
Rachel Weisz to star in queered up remake of “Dead Ringers.“ Speaking of twisty mysteries, Weisz stars in this Prime Video remake of David Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” about twin gynecologists who push the limits of what is medically and morally ethical. Weisz, who has often advocated for more LGBTQ+ roles in Hollywood, appears to play queer as at least one of the twins. Find out more when the series debuts April. 21.
The University of Pennsylvania reveals first-ever LGBTQ+ Scholar in Residence. The recipient of the new appointment is ALOK, the author of “Femme in Public” “Beyond the Gender Binary” and “Your Wound/My Garden.” Interested undergrad and graduate students can expect to have classes and workshops taught by ALOK. The university has a long history of supporting LGBTQ+ students, and its LGBT Center is the second oldest in the country.