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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1xq5KMzUdk&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersfirstcdc.org%2F&embeds_origin=https%3A%2F%2Ffoundersfirstcdc.org&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo New LGBTQIA+ National Grant for LGBTQ+-owned small […]
Tag: LGBTQ+
Posted inCommunity
Improving connectivity for BIPOC LGBTQ+ youth in a digital world
In today’s digital age, connectivity has become essential to our daily lives. From engaging on social media, connecting with the community, finding a job, seeing a doctor, finding food or finding a home within your budget, the internet is a pivotal lifeline for people to connect, communicate, find opportunities and express themselves. However, not all […]
Posted inCommentary
Requiem for a drag queen
The New York Times obituary for Barry Humphries extolled the life and career of a beloved actor of stage, screen and television. You could be forgiven if you didn’t recognize his name, but surely not if you did not recognize his alter ego. Humphries made a seven-decades-long career in the United Kingdom, the U.S., and […]
Posted inArts and Entertainment
News is Good: Grand Haven, MI’s first Pride, a festival hit on VOD 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. Grand Haven, Michigan, to celebrate first ever Pride […]
Posted inArts and Entertainment
LGBTQ+ Changemaker: Author Ryan La Sala
The LGBTQ+ Changemakers series features LGBTQ+ people all over the country who are making a difference through visibility and ingenuity. Ryan La Sala’s star isn’t just on the rise–it’s surging into the stratosphere. The fantasy and young adult author, who uses he/they/pronouns, has written three acclaimed queer YA books with another coming out in October. […]
Posted inBIPOC LGBTQ+ Artist Spotlight
Young filmmaker Emerson Basco is coming for the status-quo
From GAP ad star to filmmaker, Emerson Basco, 13-years-old, has already directed her first short film and screened it at Outfest Fusion Film Festival this spring and the San Diego Filipino Film Festival in 2021. Basco directed her first film “Can We Play” when she was only 11-years-old. And it’s not just any film, it’s […]
Posted inCommentary
A right-wing threat to HIV prevention
Reducing, and ultimately eliminating, new HIV transmissions—even as health care providers, advocates and community members already have many components of the needed toolkit already available—remains a formidable challenge for communities across the nation. Even in states and municipalities, largely respectful of their LGBTQ+ populations, funding difficulties can result in diminished funds allocated for HIV prevention […]
Posted inArts and Entertainment
News is Good: “The L Word” at the White House, MN bans conversion therapy 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 L Word” cast celebrates Lesbian Visibility Week […]
Posted inArts and Entertainment
Art-felt: Chicago’s Pearl Dick helps young victims of trauma through glassblowing
Almost a decade ago, glass artist Pearl Dick and clinical psychologist Dr. Brad Stolbach co-founded Project FIRE (Fearless Initiative for Recovery and Empowerment)—an arts program that provides victims of trauma the chance to heal through glassblowing. Program components include mentoring, art and psychoeducation. Project FIRE (in partnership with Healing Hurt People-Chicago, a hospital-based violence-intervention program) […]
Posted inArts and Entertainment
Chef Marcu: Bridging the gap between Black trans people and the culinary industry
When Chef Marcu, also known as Marcuz James, first started his private catering business Palate Marcu: International Kitchen in 2019, he felt like he was thrown into a pool of cold water when he agreed to cater for 500 people at the Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference. “I had no idea what I was doing,” Marcu […]
Posted inCommentary
Moving beyond the biases in online LGBTQ+ dating
Since the start of the Covid-19 epidemic three years ago, social interactions have existed almost entirely on virtual platforms. We work virtually, we hang out with our friends virtually and, most importantly, we date virtually. Over the past three years, we have met people almost exclusively at face value, and while long-distance or chronically online […]
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 inLGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness Crisis
Thousands of LGBTQ+ youth need homes but foster parents need better vetting, training
About 30,000 children age out of foster care each year and 70% of those children wind up homeless. The majority of the homeless population under the age of 18 are LGBTQ+ youth, often who can’t find an inclusive home and enter group homes where more prevalent mental, sexual, and psychological abuse turns them to the streets.
Posted inCommentary
What’s “inappropriate” about LGBTQ+ book ban rulings
The dramatic rise in banning LGBTQ+ books for young people has been a concern in the U.S. for a couple of years now and shows no signs of slowing down. While local school districts can pull books from their classrooms and individual towns can take books out of their public libraries—as hundreds did in 2021 […]
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 inArts and Entertainment
Monica Palacios stands up and out
“Just comadres? I don’t think so,” is one of the many brilliant lines Monica Palacios has delivered onstage, commenting on Mexican women singing passionate mariachi songs together. Named one of the most influential Latinx performers ever, Monica Palacios was born to be a comedian. She was one of the first out Chicana lesbian comics to […]
Posted inBIPOC LGBTQ+ Artist Spotlight
Artist Kitoko Mai explores dissociative identity disorder through art
Meet Kitoko Mai. Mai is a Black, non-binary, disabled, emerging multidisciplinary performance artist, originally from Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mai’s pronouns are she/her and they/them. Also, meet Cheyenne, Niles, and Annie. They are three separate and distinct personalities, but they all exist within Kitoko Mai. As a multidisciplinary artist, Mai engages audiences in art […]
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 inCommunity
Latina lesbian Rosa Lopez honored with street sign toppers in West Dallas
Dallas’ gay Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez, who represents District 6 on the city council, unveiled ceremonial street sign toppers May 31, honoring Rosa Lopez.
Posted inCommentary
The news never stops
Those of us who report the news affecting the LGBTQ+ community can often feel whiplashed. In my 48 years in LGBTQ+ news, I can’t remember many moments when there weren’t many important and exhausting stories happening at once. It seems we never have a moment to process one issue when another comes along. For me, […]