Florida LGBTQ+ Festival Thrives in Wake of Don’t Say Gay

shared his story to the r/AmITheA**hole subreddit, asking if he was wrong for "ruining" his sister's wedding by coming out after a torrent of goading comments, earning over 6,500 upvotes and 1,000 comments in 10 hours.The original poster (OP), says he's 29, and hadn't come out to his family yet—saying he feels they suspected, but never asked him outright due to his family's homophobia. He has three sisters, "Michelle," 36, "Julia," 35 and "Annie," 22.

It’s a well-documented fact that baseball pants are ideal for showing off a player’s assets, but it’s rare to see those assets perform at the very highest level of athletic achievement.In a clip from a recent Oakland A’s vs.

Topics: Aaon, Health, Sports, Supreme Court, Trans Rights More Posts About: child abuse, Transgender

Already finished binging Season 1 of Heartstopper? Need something else to watch? You have to check out Big Boys.Queer writer Jack Rooke’s new British comedy series follows two mismatched lads who strike up an unlikely friendship after being thrown together at university.

Kristen Stewart is working on a new unexpected project! The Hollywood star is looking for LGBTQ ghost hunters for her new television show, which seems to be all about paranormal activity with a twist, as she has described it as a “gay ghost hunting adventure.”The 32-year-old actress who previously revealed she had been working with her fiancée Dylan Meyer in a new TV series, is now partnering with the team behind Netflix’s Queer Eye and HBO’s Legendary, as a executive prodcer for the upcoming series.Kristen will be working with Romero and Scout Productions in what will be “the most gayest, most fun-est, most titillating ghost hunting show ever.”“We need to find the most incredible LGBTQ+ ghost hunters, paranormal specialists, mediums, psychics, investigators who will lead the pack on this super gay ghost hunting adventure,” the actress shared, revealing that they are currently in the casting process and “have been working really hard.”“Are you a medium, historian, ghost hunting expert…and also a member of the LGBTQIA+ community?? Well if so, please go to the link in my bio and apply today!!!! Can’t wait to see what you ghouls bring us!” Romero wrote on Instagram, encouraging ghost hunters to participate in the show.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorChristina Aguilera is going all out for her upcoming performance at L.A. Pride.The vocal powerhouse is set to take the stage on June 11 at L.A. State Historic Park.

Anyone who’s attended a big Pride event is familiar with the pests that are homophobic protesters. They grab their little speakers and megaphones to go yell about hell or children or whatever at people who are just out trying to have a nice time.This week, two men decided to handle a homophobic street preacher in a way that we can only hope becomes the blueprint for Prides to come.Justin M.

Gemma Collins has posted a stunning swimsuit snap to Instagram as she told her 2.2million Instagram followers “own who you are”. The 41 year old former The Only Way is Essex star shared a look at her her three stone weight loss in the image, as she posed in a white strapless swimsuit. On her head she donned a white fedora hat with a black ribbon around it, and she further accessorised with a huge pair of silver hooped earrings.

Madonna Bootcamp has officially come to a close and it looks like we’ve finally met our new Material Girl: Julia Garner!As reported by Variety, Universal Pictures has offered the lead role of its new Madonna biopic to the Emmy award-winning Ozark and Inventing Anna star. This comes after months and months of speculation—and an apparently rigorous audition process—over who could possibly fill the heels of The Queen Of Pop, a search made all the more intense by the fact that the film is set to be directed by Madame X herself.But now that that’s out of the way, we can move on to even more rampant speculation! Madonna’s stratospheric rise to icon status is one littered with colorful characters, which sounds like an opportunity to give this yet-to-be-titled biopic an eclectic cast with big names and up-and-coming talent.

So proud! JoJo Siwa, Cara Delevingne and more celebrities are going all out in honor of this month’s Pride celebrations.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU of Texas along with the Texas-based law firm Baker Botts LLP today (Wednesday, June 8)  filed a new lawsuit in Texas state court on behalf of PFLAG National and three Texas families demanding the court block state investigations of PFLAG families in Texas who are supporting their transgender children with medically necessary health care.

Nearly 3,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt will be displayed this weekend, June 11-12, in Robin Williams Meadow in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. On Monday, June 6, five of the panels were temporarily hung from the Mayor's balcony at City Hall, and Kory Powell-McCoy took a selfie joined by volunteers and supporters, including quilt co-founder Gert McMullin, second from right, and gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, right.

LGBTQ officers broke barriersI have an issue with SF Pride not letting San Francisco Police Department LGBTQ officers wear their uniforms while marching as a contingent in the parade. These are LGBTQ officers who are not only gay but have consciously chosen their profession as a SFPD officer. We, as a community, have fought for decades to be able to be open and proud within departments of government like the police, firefighters, sheriffs, and other government agencies as well as elected officials.

LGBTQ representation on Bay Area county supervisor boards could increase dramatically now that three out candidates are headed to November runoffs in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties as no candidate received more than 50% of the vote.Meanwhile, a gay man's effort to be elected Contra Costa County clerk-recorder fell short.In Alameda County, lesbian Rebecca Kaplan finished first for the open District 3 seat that that includes the cities of Alameda, San Leandro, a portion of Oakland, and the unincorporated communities of San Lorenzo, Hayward Acres, and a portion of Ashland. If elected this fall, she would be the first out member of the Board of Supervisors.Kaplan has served on the Oakland City Council since 2008 representing the at-large seat and is its only out member.

It was a good night Tuesday for out male legislative candidates in California. Of the dozen LGBTQ contenders who survived their primary contests, just three were female.Two more female candidates are hoping the counting of additional ballots will lead to their advancing to the November general election, while the campaigns of three male and one nonbinary candidate are now over.

The pink triangle atop Twin Peaks was lit June 1 to kick off Pride Month. Ben Davis, left, founder and chief visionary officer of the arts nonprofit Illuminate, joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Mayor London Breed, and Patrick Carney, co-founder of the installation that is now in its 27th year.

The museum at San Francisco International Airport is showing several Pride-themed short films during June, and passengers can check them out while waiting for their flights or watch some of them online."Join us in celebrating Pride Month at SFO," a description on the SFO Museum website stated. The films are all 20 minutes or less and the website gives a brief synopsis."Unity Mosque" is a 2021 film by Nicole Teeny.

The Progress Pride flag was raised in Japantown's Peace Plaza in San Francisco last weekend. During a program June 4, drag artist Kristi Yummykochi performed and remarks were made by District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston and others.

Purged from their home country of Ethiopia following a Marxist takeover of the east African country in 1974, the parents of Honey Mahogany found refuge in San Francisco. Unable to continue his medical school studies, her father became a taxi driver to make ends meet and afford sending Mahogany and her siblings to local Catholic schools.The St.

Transit advocates were disappointed Wednesday after Proposition A, a $400 million general obligation bond for San Francisco's beleaguered public transit agency, was narrowly rejected by voters, while most other ballot measures appeared to be passing, according to unofficial returns.Prop A, the Muni Reliability and Street Safety Bond, required a two-thirds majority to pass. Unofficial returns showed it falling short by 3%, garnering only 63.3% of votes.After plummeting from a high of more than 700,000 riders per weekday in February 2020 to a low of just over 100,000 in April that year, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has struggled since the start of the COVID pandemic to lure riders back.

A gay man running to be the first out person of color on the San Jose City Council and a gay married mother seeking to become the first female Sonoma County superintendent of schools are one step closer to being elected.Omar Torres placed first in his race for San Jose's 3rd council district seat on Tuesday's primary ballot. He received 40.66% of the vote, according to the unofficial returns Wednesday.Since he did not surpass the 50% threshold to clinch the seat outright, Torres will face off on the November general election ballot against the second-place finisher, Irene Smith.

Gay California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara survived an intraparty challenge in his primary race Tuesday to advance to the general election in November where he could be running against a Republican opponent. Because several other out candidates did not fare as well in their primary races, Lara is expected to remain California's lone LGBTQ statewide leader should he win reelection.His election four years ago marked the first time an LGBTQ person had been elected to statewide office in the Golden State.

We're glad that San Francisco Pride officials and the San Francisco Police Officers Pride Alliance reached a compromise that will allow LGBTQ peace officers and other first responders to proudly march in the June 26 parade, albeit with only the leaders and command staff in uniform. At a time when so much of the country is polarized it was heartening to see the two sides come together, apparently largely with the help of gay small business owner Manny Yekutiel, who met with SF Pride leaders and SF Pride Alliance members at his eponymous cafe in the Mission district.

As COVID-19 cases are back on the rise, California and the U.S. continue to face another public health epidemic that is going in the wrong direction — sexually transmitted infections.

In business for 22 years, Candace Combs moved her In-Symmetry Spa to San Francisco's Mission Creek neighborhood 11 years ago. One of the first merchants to open in the then-emerging residential neighborhood, Combs found a ground-floor space in a new mixed-use housing development on Florida Street to lease and transform into a tranquil setting for massage services and other treatments.As additional businesses opened in the area between the Mission district and Potrero Hill, Combs founded the Mission Creek Merchants Association to help foster connections among the new shop owners and advocate for their needs with various city officials and departments."We were among the first things here.

study, carried out by the University of Ottawa, reveals that suicide is the second-leading cause of death of adolescents and young adults aged between 15 and 24 in Canada.The research also shows that sexual-minority youth are at increased risk of mental health issues, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.Cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. The word "cisgender" is the antonym of "transgender.""Sexual minorities" mean individuals attracted to the same gender or multiple genders and people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer.The scientists pointed out that the association between suicidality and being a sexual- or gender-minority could be partially explained by bullying or cyberbullying experienced by those teens."The transition from adolescence to adulthood is a very stressful time for all young people, but particularly for gender and sexual minority teens," said Dr.

said. "You don't like it? You don't like God's word, because that is what God says."In a statement sent to Newsweek, the church's main pastor Johnathan Shelley said that Awes, who preaches when Shelley is out of town, was referring to Leviticus 20:13, which reads: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."Shelley said that even though homosexuality is no longer illegal in the state of Texas, "The Bible teaches that God's laws have not changed on this issue.""The Bible also teaches Christians should not kill, murder, or take the law into their own hands," he said.

Riverdale star Cole Sprouse went full augmented reality on Tuesday when he shared a cheeky nude photo of himself on Instagram.The selfie, posted to his main feed, was captured with a strategic mirror angle before it was edited.“Good morning to my publicity team,” the 29-year-old joked in the caption.Several of Sprouse’s famous friends popped into the comments section.“Hate to see you go, love to watch you leave

Within 45 minutes of the polls closing, progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who spent half of his two years in office battling recall efforts, had lost his effort to keep his job. Proposition H, which aimed to recall the district attorney, passed with 60% of the vote, according to unofficial returns.In a related matter, Proposition C, which would have changed the rules for recalls in San Francisco and affected whom Mayor London Breed appoints to replace Boudin, fell by the same percentage, 60%, early results showed.The Prop H results were pretty much in step with polls before the election routinely showing that more than 60% of San Franciscans wanted Boudin out of office.Fourteen months after Boudin became the city's top prosecutor in January 2020, he was targeted with the first of what would be two efforts to recall him.

Four gay Southern California House candidates survived their primary contests Tuesday and are headed to the fall ballot. Both Congressmember Mark Takano (D-Riverside) and gay Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia are now expected to easily win their races come November.Former federal prosecutor Will Rollins is now seen as having a strong road to victory, based on the results of his primary race against Congressmember Ken Calvert (R-Corona). Meanwhile, Derek Marshall is facing an uphill climb to defeat Congressmember Jay Obernolte (R-Hesperia).Garcia, a Democrat, had been the odds-on favorite to finish first in his primary contest for the new, open 42nd Congressional District along the coast of Los Angeles County. And he didn't disappoint, landing in the top spot with 44.7% of the vote Tuesday, according to unofficial returns.Capturing the second spot to advance to the November 8 general election ballot was Republican John Briscoe with 28.7% of the vote. Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) was in a distant third place with 12.7% of the vote.Since the district is heavily Democratic, with the six Democrats on Tuesday's ballot receiving a combined 69.2% of the vote, Garcia should easily win the seat in the fall. He will become the first openly gay immigrant to serve in Congress, having been born in Lima, Peru and moving to the U.S. at age 5."Honored and proud to be your Democratic nominee for Congress tonight. Thank you!" Garcia tweeted.

Glamour editors’ favorites. Scroll to see our honest reviews. I've recently become obsessed with pencil eyeliners, thanks to the kitten eyeliner trend. I've always found liquid formulas to be too severe for my eye shape, but pencils give me just the right amount of definition.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is trying to use LGBTQ+ people during Pride Month as pawns in his political game.Critics say that a last-minute Pride Month reception hosted by Youngkin, to be held Wednesday evening and only announced 48 hours prior, is offensive and opportunistic, and people ought to boycott it.Monday afternoon, Erik Conyers, an assistant in Youngkin's office, sent an email to 33 recipients."You are invited to join Governor Youngkin on Wednesday, June 8th from 5–6 pm at the Virginia State Capitol Rotunda to celebrate our LGBTQ+ residents during Pride month," Conyers wrote.The email concludes with a request for RSVP, instructions on security procedures, and a note that the invitation is nontransferable.Youngkin has been far from kind to the LGBTQ+ community and openly opposes marriage equality, something 71 percent of Americans support, according to a recent Gallup survey.As Equality Virginia notes, he does not support same-sex marriage, despite it being legal nationwide since 2015.

March 30 post on her Instagram. While the NFL doesn’t keep records of cheerleaders’ gender identity, Lindsay is believed to be the first transgender cheerleader in the league, and is certainly the first “out” one.“Cats Out the Bag you are looking at the newest member of the Carolina Panthers TopCats Cheerleader’s @topcats as the first Transgender female,” she wrote.

Marina and Azealia Banks are ready to party for Pride!

Political nobody Bryan Slaton has finally gotten a crumb of attention for his insane proposal to ban drag from minors, and now he plans to ride those sequined coattails all the way to the top.Related: Forget assault weapons, this gun-loving Texas lawmaker wants to ban drag queensA quick scroll of his Twitter feed will show that drag is nearly the only thing Slaton has talked about since releasing his proposal. Just weeks after the shooting of 38 people and murder of 17 children in Uvalde, Texas–the state Slaton legislates for–this gun-loving clown has decided to shift his entire focus to drag performers.At a drag show in Dallas this past weekend, sick adults enticed kids to put dollar bills the underwear of men dressed as women.This is disgusting and dangerous.

Related: 16 Queer Photos of the L.A. Dodgers Celebrating 9th Annual Pride NightIn the video accompanying the post, Sherman and his father go out on the field to place the bases.

City of New Orleans, Amtrak’s superliner route between Chicago, Memphis, and New Orleans. The journey covers more than 900 miles of America’s heartland through three of America’s great music cities.This year train travel is a smart choice for attending Pride events and other summer festivals.

Montero, the rapper received zero nominations whatsoever for this year’s BET Awards, which were announced last week.The snub had previously caused Lil Nas to tweet and delete his frustrations, rightfully noting that he had “3 of the biggest songs of last year & a critically acclaimed album,” before sharing concern that the oversight had some tinges of homophobia.“Doesn’t even have to be me nominated,” he wrote. “i just feel like black gay ppl have to fight to be seen in this world and even when we make it to the top mfs try to pretend we are invisible.”Despite deleting those tweets, something not uncommon for his social media presence, it’s obvious that Lil Nas is still feeling the same way.

vetoed such a bill last year. Legislators passed one again this year with a veto-proof majority, and Edwards said Monday that since any veto would be overridden, he would neither veto nor sign the bill. So it will become law and will go into effect August 1.The governor said at a news conference that he was reluctantly letting the legislation pass.

After going to Baloney, San Francisco’s “only all gay-male” burlesque show, you might think you’ve seen every inch of these guys—but they have so much more story to tell.In the new documentary Baloney, filmmaker Joshua Guerci goes behind the scenes and under the covers of one of the Bay Area’s premier queer revues, chronicling 18 months in the lives of the artists who bring the show together, night after night, with theater, dance, and striptease.Through interviews, rehearsal footage, and uncensored looks at the live Baloney performances, Guerci strips these guys bare, taking a compassionate look at the highs and lows of being a queer entertainer in “the most expensive city in North America.”Following their lives in the lead up to their big New Year’s Eve performance, Baloney offers a candid look at the hustle and drive it takes to make it as an artist in this day and age.But it’s not all serious.Even the show’s tagline—”San Francisco’s only all gay male revue”—is a bunch of baloney: There’s a woman in the cast, too! The documentary keeps things engaging and fun, bringing audiences into the colorful world of this “mostly male, mostly naked, very erotic” burlesque troupe.And they don’t hold back either.As one of the performers says, the ethos of Baloney is that everything is sexy to someone: “I can see from the stage, if somebody is maybe completely disgusted by something, then the person next to them is completely into it.”“We’re definitely all about the smut in Baloney—you know, that’s what you came for, that’s what we’re going to give you,” says another of the show’s artists.

Christina Aguilera is paying tribute to her LGBTQ fans. 

Returning to Hulu for its third and final season “Love, Victor” brings the story of Victor Salazar’s (Michael Cimino) queer coming-of-age full circle. While at its heart the show remains a romantic comedy, it also finally embraces the artistic freedom to truly explore his sexuality.

Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley were found guilty of bank fraud and tax evasion on Tuesday. As part of the trial, longstanding gay rumors about Todd were once again given oxygen.The stars of the USA show “Chrisley Knows Best,” which has run for ten seasons, were indicted by federal prosecutors in 2019, who alleged the couple “swindled” upwards of $30 million from community banks from 2007 to 2012 by inflating their net worth to secure loans, and specifically targeted smaller banks they knew did less due diligence than larger ones.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett has been the subject of quite a bit of online chatter this week after The Guardian published a bombshell report on Monday about People of Praise, a Christian cult where she once served as a handmaid female leader.People of Praise was founded in South Bend, Indiana in 1971 by Kevin Ranaghan and purports to be “a charismatic Christian community” that “provides a natural support for marriages and families.” In reality, it’s an anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ, anti-anything-not-Christian cult that has been psychologically torturing people for the last 50+ years.We did a little digging and found a creepy video of Ranaghan speaking at the 1977 Kansas City Charismatic Renewal Conference that was uploaded to YouTube three years ago.According to the video’s description:In 1977, 50,000 Charismatics came together from different denominations in one of the largest interdenominational conferences ever held. One of the significant things about this event is that 25,000 of those in attendance were Catholic.Ranaghan, who can be heard beginning around the 2:30 mark, was one of a dozen or so religious leaders who spoke at the gathering.The then-37-year-old gave a sermon about how Christians of all dominations must band together so that “the whole church, in every corner, in every congregation, in every assembly may be thoroughly and totally filled with the spirit and equipped with every spiritual grace and gift needed to be the body of Christ in an effective, world-changing way.”Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to change the world for the better.

Alex Borstein was ready to take a break from Hollywood — literally, to relocate with her two children to Barcelona — when longtime friend Amy Sherman-Palladino sent her a script for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”“I almost throttled her because it was so good,” Borstein says.

Cameron: "Wow you did it."Mitchell: "What?"Cameron: "You made figure skating sound even gayer."Mitchell: "Tonight is the magnificent Lyrid meteor shower."Cameron: "It's where the planet geek passes through the nerdy way." Mitchell: "To us, alone at last."Cameron: "We both look very handsome tonight."Mitchell: "You know, if you- If you'd just said that I looked handsome, I would have said, So do you."Cameron: I couldn't take that chance. I wanted to get off on the right foot.  Mitchell: "Aren't you going to change into a working man's outfit?"Cameron: "I don't think workmen really call them outfits."Mitchell: "She wants us to buy Lily a Blackberry."Cam: "She doesn't have the dexterity for that!"Mitchell: "No, the lengths that we're going to for a stuffed animal.

trans cheerleader in NFL history. A post shared by Justine Simone Lindsay (@jus_lindsay_)The 29-year-old is one of the newest members of the Panthers’ TopCats cheerleading squad. She shared the announcement on her Instagram as the league prepares for its 2022-2023 season.  “I’m paving the way for those under me who are scared and afraid to take that step because it is not easy to do…” she shared in a post.

Virginia, citing that the school division’s inclusive policy on gender identity and transgender students violates their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and speech.The lawsuit was filed in Rockingham County Circuit Court by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Ariz., on behalf of Deborah Figliola, Kristine Marsh, Timothy and Laura Nelson, and John and Nicole Stephens, according to local TV station WHSV.ADF has been deemed an extremist anti-LGBTQ+ group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).The policy that the plaintiffs take issue with was adopted last year by the Virginia Department of Education, which issued a model policy regarding the treatment of trans students and required that schools throughout the Commonwealth adopt commiserate policies. HCPS’ policy laid out that teachers ask students for their preferred names and pronouns and use them.