While GOP-led state legislatures are advancing a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills in 2023, the Pennsylvania Assembly’s LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus seeks to make significant pro-LGBTQ changes to state law. With two new bills, state lawmakers hope to formally codify marriage equality as well as expand anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community. The intent by several Read More
Author Archives: Victoria A. Brownworth
Editor of News is Out
Posted inFrom Washington Blade
Biden criticizes GOP-led efforts to ban books
President Joe Biden criticized elected Republican officials for the increasingly widespread practice of banning books from America’s schools and libraries in prepared remarks delivered from the White House on Monday. Addressing an audience gathered in the Rose Garden for the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Teachers of the Year event, the president said, “Empty Read More
Posted inFrom Windy City Times
CDC: Almost 90% of mpox-associated deaths involved Black men
A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that almost 90% of pox-related deaths in the United States were among Black men, CNN noted. Moreover, nearly all of the victims
Posted inFrom Washington Blade
House Republicans pass legislation to ban transgender students from competing in sports
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act (HR 734), a bill that would prohibit transgender women and girls from competing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Members voted 219-203 along party lines for passage of the bill, which was introduced by U.S. […]
Posted inFrom Bay Area Reporter
LGBTQ Agenda: HRC, Equality Florida hold online forum as DeSantis administration issues new anti-LGBTQ policies
The Human Rights Campaign joined Equality Florida Wednesday in a forum Wednesday about the unprecedented assault on LGBTQ rights in the Sunshine State
Posted inArts and Entertainment
News is Good: Queer dating shows, 40 years of gay softball and more
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. The City of Brotherly Love Softball League has […]
Posted inNews
What to expect from Disney’s first “Pride Nite”
If you’ve been following the DeSantis vs. Disney news, you may have seen that on the same day that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posed the idea of building a prison complex near Disney, the megacorporation announced its first-ever “Pride Nite” on social media. The DeSantis administration has been in a very public battle with Disney […]
Posted inNews
Reponses to the expansion of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill
The Florida Board of Education has voted to expand “The Parental Rights in Education Bill” (CS/CS/HB 1557), also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, to extend to all grades, kindergarten through twelfth grade. The bill “prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity.” Failing to comply with this law could cause teachers to […]
Posted inFrom Philadelphia Gay News
The Attic launches new arts program to foster young LGBTQ performers
The Attic Youth Center (The Attic), Philadelphia’s only organization exclusively serving LGBTQ youth, announced the formation of the Jake Snipes Performing Arts Program, an initiative that will prioritize arts-based programming to provide LGBTQ+ youth with tools to build self-confidence, self- esteem, and growth. The program will also foster opportunities for creative expression to help LGBTQ+ Read More
Posted inFrom Bay Area Reporter
SF City Hall to be lit up for Lesbian Visibility Week
San Francisco City Hall will join a handful of cities around the world lighting up select buildings for Lesbian Visibility Week from April 24-30.
Posted inFrom Washington Blade
LGBTQ, intersex Gambians continue to suffer persecution
LGBTQ and intersex Gambians continue to face persecution, even though President Adama Barrow ousted Yahya Jammeh in 2016 after 22 years in power. Jammeh during his rule enacted several laws that specifically targeted LGBTQ and intersex Gambians. The former president who is currently in exile in Equatorial Guinea introduced the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2014 Read More
Posted inFrom Washington Blade
Hungarian parliament passes ‘snitch on your gay neighbor’ law
The National Assembly of Hungary last week approved legislation that included a provision for citizens to anonymously report on same-sex couples who are raising children. The wording of the provision specifies that Hungarians may report those who contest the “constitutionally recognized role of marriage and the family” and those who contest children’s rights “to an identity Read More
Posted inArts and Entertainment
News is Good: TRANSlations film festival, a book for allies and more
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. The Seattle Trans Film Festival kicks off May […]
Posted inFrom Tagg Magazine
Danielle Moné Truitt on Playing a Queer Character on Law & Order: Organized Crime
Actress Danielle Moné Truitt is the woman behind Law & Order: Organized Crime’s Sergeant Ayanna Bell—aka, the Law & Order franchise’s most groundbreaking co-lead character yet, for being both a Black woman and queer. And while Truitt herself is straight, within her journey to this role—a personal breakthrough, too—there is a peripherally queer theme: It Read More
Posted inFrom Philadelphia Gay News
Ada Bello, LGBTQ pioneer who made Philadelphia home, dies at 89
Living a life spanning nearly nine decades means you see many welcome and unwelcome changes that shape the life you know. Philadelphia resident, academic, and LGBTQ-activist Ada Bello, who passed away March 31 at Chestnut Hill Hospital after battling COVID and pneumonia, saw those changes firsthand. Born on November 6, 1933 in Havana, Cuba, Bello Read More
Posted inTravel
Byron Bay, Australia: A queer-welcoming coastal vacation oasis
While driving from the Ballina airport to Byron Bay, New South Wales, I came across two things I’d never seen before. The first was a “Watch Out: Koalas Spotted” sign. The second was a police station covered with rainbow banners and flying a Progress flag. While in Sydney for WorldPride, I, a few fellow journalists […]
Posted inFrom Windy City Times
Supreme Court, Biden weigh in on trans athletes
Transgender athletes saw two significant victories last week: one from the conservative U.S. Supreme Court and the other from the LGBTQ-friendly White House of President Joe Biden. The events triggered a flood of national media attention,
Posted inArts and Entertainment
News is Good: 365 days of gay, Jinkx Monsoon to join “Doctor Who” and more
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. New book celebrates 365 days of LGBTQ+ icons […]
Posted inFrom Windy City Times
Record number of LGBTQ+ candidates elected to Chicago City Council; LGBTQ+ representation increases from seven to nine
Washington, DC — Tonight three LGBTQ+ Chicago City Council candidates won runoff elections: Timmy Knudsen, Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth and Lamont Robinson all three of whom Victory Fund endorsed. Manaa-Hoppenworth is now
Posted inFrom Washington Blade
N.J. governor declares ‘safe haven’ for transgender, nonbinary people
By Sophie Nieto-Munoz While other states pass bans on transgender health care, New Jersey will be a “safe haven” for those seeking gender-affirming care, Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday. Murphy signed an executive order Tuesday directing all state departments and agencies to protect those providing or receiving gender-affirming health care services. Under the order, state officials will […]