Category: From Washington Blade

The State Department’s annual human rights report that was released on Monday details the prevalence of so-called conversion therapy and the treatment of intersex people around the world. The report notes LGBTQ and intersex rights groups in Kenya have “reported an increase in so-called conversion therapy and ‘corrective rape’ practices, including forced marriages, exorcisms, physical Read More

The Maryland House of Delegates on Saturday approved a bill that would require the state’s Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming treatment for transgender people. House Bill 283, or the Trans Health Equity Act, passed by a 93-37 vote margin. The measure now goes before the Maryland Senate. “Proud that the MD House of Delegates passed the Read More

A Christian school that chose to forfeit a girls’ basketball tournament game rather than play against a team with a transgender player has been banned from Vermont school sporting events, VTDigger reports. The Vermont Principals’ Association, which oversees school athletics in the state, said the Mid Vermont Christian School in Quechee will no longer be Read More

Former Vice President Mike Pence made homophobic remarks about U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C. Saturday night, a source familiar with the matter told The Washington Blade. Per tradition, headliners from both parties deliver remarks meant to be humorous during the dinner. Pence represented the Republicans while Read More

Across America, the conservative backlash escalates. Now they are systematically forcing towns and school districts to ban the Rainbow Flag, our global symbol of LGBTQ+ liberation and diversity. Since last summer, they’ve already claimed anti-queer victories in more than twenty towns and school districts across America by successfully prohibiting display of the Rainbow Flag on Read More

In a letter sent Friday to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a coalition of attorneys general from 15 states and D.C. notified the governor that it is their belief that he and his administration are violating the privacy and rights of university age transgender students. The letter’s lead signatory, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Read More

A standing ovation greeted the WNBA’s Brittney Griner over the weekend when the basketball star and her wife, Cherelle, stunned the audience by walking out onto the stage at the NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena, Calif.  As Deadline reported, Queen Latifah was speaking about the resilience of Black people Saturday night, when she said, “We Read More

A South Korean high court ruled this past week that partners in a same-sex relationship are eligible for national health insurance coverage overturning a ruling last year by a lower court that denied the benefits.  The Korea Herald reported the Seoul High Court’s ruling is the first that recognizes the status of a same-sex partner Read More

For the first time since 2021, Brittney Griner will be back on the hardwood for the Phoenix Mercury when the WNBA season kicks off in May. But it won’t be at home. Her first game is on the road, facing the Los Angeles Sparks.  Griner, who regained her freedom in December 2022 in a prisoner Read More

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and U.S. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced a proposal on Thursday to ban Americans who have a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. The lawmakers’ “Ensuring Military Readiness Act” would go further than the transgender military ban enacted in 2017 under former President Read More

The body of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey was discovered this past Saturday afternoon in the Linear Park in Culcheth, a small community located between the port city of Liverpool and metropolitan Manchester. She had been repeatedly stabbed and was pronounced dead at the scene by police and paramedics who responded. Ghey, who lived in Birchwood, Cheshire, Read More

Howard Bragman died Saturday, 13 days before his 67th birthday. With the media focused on the Super Bowl, the horrific earthquake in Turkey, and UFOs in American airspace, Howard’s death has been mostly noted in the entertainment trades with little attention paid to the significant decades-long behind-the-scenes impact he had on his beloved LGBTQ movement. Read More

The government of Sri Lanka on Thursday said it supports a bill that would decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country. “There is a private member bill initiated by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Government MP and attorney Premnath C. Dolawatte,” Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry told the Daily Morning, a Sri Lankan newspaper. “The government Read More

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) spoke with the Washington Blade by phone on Thursday about his run for the U.S. Senate, the Republican party’s crusade against transgender Americans and a new bill he plans to introduce that would protect vulnerable youth in schools. Necessitated by Republican legislators’ invasion of students’ privacy to enforce anti-trans and Read More

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union address late Tuesday night, beginning by asking her audience to “forgive me for not believing much of anything I heard tonight from President Biden.” “I’m the first woman to lead my state,” Sanders said, while Biden is “the first man to Read More

President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address on Tuesday focused on building upon recent accomplishments, especially legislative milestones that were reached with bipartisan cooperation. Nevertheless, the speech was met with vocal objections from Republican lawmakers over Biden’s comments about the debt ceiling, the Southern border and his mention of some GOP members’ plans Read More

All 13 members of the D.C. City Council have signed on as co-introducers of a ceremonial resolution honoring the life of the late D.C. drag performer Dustin Michael Schaad, who performed at many of the city’s gay bars and LGBTQ events under the name Ba’Naka. The resolution, introduced by D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), Read More

Activists around the world say Pope Francis’ comments against criminalization laws are a milestone for the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement. Toni Reis, president of Aliança Nacional LGBTI+, a Brazilian LGBTQ and intersex advocacy group, told the Washington Blade that Francis’ comments are “a message that needs to be assimilated by at least 70 countries that Read More

Republican Rep. George Santos (N.Y.) told House GOP colleagues on Tuesday that he will step down from his two committee assignments pending the resolution of investigations and possible law enforcement activity over his alleged financial crimes and violations of campaign finance laws. Santos, who was appointed to the House Small Business and Science, Space and Read More

Two anti-transgender bills advanced in the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday. A House Education Subcommittee by a 5-3 margin voted to advance state Del. Dave LaRock (R-Loudoun County)’s House Bill 2432, which Equality Virginia notes “would require public school personnel to contact a student’s parent if they believe that the student’s self-identified gender does not Read More