Category: From Washington Blade

New York LGBTQ+ Rangers fans were disappointed after the National Hockey League team forwent wearing the team’s special warm-up jerseys and using Pride stick tape during the team’s 7th annual Pride Night Friday. The Rangers had promoted Friday night’s Madison Square Garden home game against Vegas Golden Knights, saying players “will be showing their support Read More

Pope Francis on Tuesday said homosexuality is not a crime and laws that criminalize it are “unjust.” “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis told the Associated Press during an exclusive interview. Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in nearly 70 countries around the world, and Francis acknowledged some Catholic bishops support criminalization laws and other statutes that Read More

A Virginia Senate committee has approved a bill that would affirm marriage equality in state law. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 18 approved state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s Senate Bill 1096 by a 10-4 vote margin. State Sens. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), Ryan McDougle (R-Hanover County), Bill Stanley (R-Franklin County) and Mark Peake (R-Lynchburg) are Read More

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona announced plans to run for the Senate in 2024, setting up a possible three-way race if newly declared independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema decides to seek reelection for her seat representing the Grand Canyon State next year. Gallego disclosed his forthcoming bid on Monday, sharing a video on Twitter Read More

When the Washington Blade connected with activist and legislative researcher Erin Reed on Tuesday to discuss the new anti-LGBTQ bills that have been introduced in statehouses across the country, it was just as the news of an especially hateful proposal came across her desk. Senators in West Virginia had teed up an anti-trans law that Read More

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s 2018 inauguration was seen as a new dawn not only for the country’s political and economic elite, but for LGBTQ and intersex Zimbabweans and other groups. The LGBTQ and intersex community nevertheless continues to reel from intimidation, harassment and ostracization five years after the late-President Robert Mugabe, who ruled the country with Read More

In a tersely public statements to the media and on Twitter, Scottish First Minster Nicola Sturgeon castigated the conservative government of U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for announcing Monday that Westminster would block Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill from being signed into law by King Charles III. The Gender Recognition Reform Bill introduced by the Scottish Read More

We have all at some point questioned our identity. For some, particularly those at the intersection of multiple marganalized identities, the exploration of who you are or want to be can send you into a tailspin of exploration. Local playwright, choreographer, and producer, Sisi Reid is choosing to use dance to tell a story of Read More

A complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission Monday by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center alleges a wide scope of campaign finance law violations by openly gay freshman Congressman George Santos (R-N.Y.) and his 2022 campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress. Santos has been under fire for weeks after a series of exposés revealed the congressman Read More

Zach Coltrain lives in two worlds. In one, he traverses the serene landscapes of Appalachian State University in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains — studying the use of music as a therapeutic intervention. In the other, he navigates the thorny world of politics in the neighboring state of Virginia, which saw a conservative shift after Read More

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg pushed back on negative reporting this week by Fox News during an interview Thursday with Bret Baier, the network’s chief political anchor. Buttigieg was targeted for having traveled to The Hague in the Netherlands with his husband Chasten last spring aboard on a military aircraft to attend the Invictus Games; an Read More

The Irish government has committed to banning so-called conversion therapy in the country this year. The Irish Mirror newspaper reported Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Minister Roderic O’Gorman, who is openly gay, last month described conversion therapy as a”cruel process rooted in the promotion of shame.” O’Gorman also stressed “a process that seeks for somebody to change Read More

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week ruled, in a 7-4 vote, that a Florida school district did not violate the U.S. Constitution nor federal civil rights laws by requiring students to use bathrooms corresponding to their biological sex as listed on their birth records. All seven judges in the majority were appointed Read More

When the Washington Blade caught up with Gisele Barreto Fetterman this month, she was looking forward to some upcoming travel plans. First up is a trip to Washington in January to witness the swearing-in ceremony for her husband, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who was just elected to represent the Keystone State in the U.S. Read More

A controversial bill that would further limit access to comprehensive sexual education and anti-LGBTQ discrimination preventative classes in schools in Poland was vetoed last week by President Andrzej Duda. The measure, similar in nature to an earlier measure also vetoed by Duda, would have implemented restrictions on curriculum and school activities, giving the country’s central Read More

Lesbian, queer and transgender women across Africa are still forced into heterosexual marriages, and many of them have to keep their sexual orientation and/or gender identity a secret because they are afraid of being victimized or even killed. Guadalupe Dansokho, a lesbian woman from Senegal, was forced to marry a man. The couple divorced in Read More

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law. “Today’s a good day,” said Biden during a signing ceremony that took place on the White House’s South Lawn. “Today America takes a big step towards equality.” The ceremony took place five days after the Respect for Marriage Act passed in the Read More

The Barbados High Court on Monday struck down a colonial-era law that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations. The ruling specifically struck down Sections 9 and 12 of the Barbados Sexual Offenses Act. Men who were found guilty of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual relations under Section 9 could have faced up to life in prison. Read More

Survivors of last month’s mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., and a survivor of the 2016 massacre at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla., are set to testify before the House Oversight Committee this Wednesday. The hearing is slated to address the escalating violence and threats against LGBTQ people, which led to Read More

I have accomplished many goals in my life that fill me with pride. I am an international advocate for Aidsfonds in the Netherlands — promoting the work of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. I am active in politics, with a focus on advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and the destigmatization for people with Read More