Florida ups the ante on ‘Don’t Say Gay’ just one week into the new school year

TAMMYE NASH | Managing EditorNash@dallasvoice.com It was Friday, Aug. 8, 1969 — less than two months after

Pride in Dallas brings the parade back to Cedar Springs at 1 p.m. Sunday

Activists in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv will hold a series of Pride events in the coming days.

(CNN) -- President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at the White House on Friday, marking his first time personally meeting with them since their loved ones were detained in Russia.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that Biden will meet with Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, and Whelan's sister, Elizabeth Whelan, to assure them his administration is committed to securing the release of their loved ones and that they remain "front of mind." Biden will meet with them separately, an official said."One of the things that the President wanted to make clear is, and one of the reasons he's meeting with the families, is that he wanted to let them know that they remain front of mind and that his team is working on this every day, on making sure that Brittney and Paul return home safely," Jean-Pierre said.The Biden administration has repeatedly said that working to secure Griner and Whelan's release, as well as that of Americans wrongfully detained abroad, is a top priority. In late July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US had put forward a "substantial proposal" to try to secure the release of Griner and Whelan.

CNN. Backers of the bill had previously hoped that it would receive an up-or-down vote prior to November’s elections, with Collins saying she hoped Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wouldn’t intentionally delay a vote on the measure to use as a cudgel against non-supportive senators in the midterms. Schumer had previously been expected to file for cloture on the bill this week, but the five senators lobbying Republicans — Baldwin, Collins, Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — said they had asked him for additional time. The five previously drafted a “consensus amendment” to add to the bill that protects religious liberty and the tax-exempt status of religious institutions, but getting Republicans to sign onto the bill has proven difficult.Due to Senate rules, and near-unanimous support from Democrats for the Respect for Marriage Act, backers need to garner at least 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster, as 60 votes are needed to start, and stop, debate on the legislation before it receives a final up-or-down vote.Collins told Axios that other Republicans have provided their own suggestions with language they’d like to see added to the bill.

The Ben and Dave Show on Here TV.However, since that time he has turned right-wing, writing books and espousing his views via The Rubin Report on YouTube (1.7m subscribers).A recent episode had him addressing a viewer’s concerns about what teachers can talk to kids about in schools. Rubin said that all states should enact laws similar to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill (the Parental Rights in Education bill).Dave Rubin: If I found out a teacher talked to my 6-year-old about gender or sexuality, “I might kill that person” https://t.co/KbqKk7RjHG pic.twitter.com/arOwsvtpC3— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) September 15, 2022“How can we put a stop to this kind of insanity? Should the parental rights in education bill in Florida be adopted into other states or is that still not enough?,” Rubin asked.“Look, that’s a start.

Although she’s been a major staple within the LGBTQ+ community for a number of years, Ts Madison is finally being recognised as a “voice and a global phenomenon”.

Happily, the two remain very close friends. Marshall is still Phoebe's drummer, and they continue to write music together.

A Transgender version of the popular Joker film titled The People’s Joker has been pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival lineup after Warner Brothers Studios reportedly issued a cease and desist order. The crowd-funded film was written by Trans filmmaker Vera Drew who also directs and stars in the feature.  In The People’s Joker, […]

Robert Emery

  DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer taffet@dallasvoice.com Two decades before the assault

The Texas Power Exchange contest, owned by Malcolm and Master John, began last year with Doctor Bubbles and Kit Kat Anne taking the title the first year. Pictured are, from left, Malcolm, Doctor Bubbles, Kit Kat Anne and Master John.

Boardwalk through the dunes

RuPaul DragCon

Mabo and Jimmy

Pop culture guru David Ferguson is back with a look at what promises to be an essential read – the queer romance anthology ‘Young Men In Love’. Reviewing an anthology is difficult as it is hard to fit in every individual story and every individual creator (so apologies in advance to creators I don’t mention) but […]

As reported last night by independent media in Serbia, the Serbian government has now promised that the EuroPride march will be allowed to take place in Belgrade tomorrow, Saturday 17. After a first announcement made by Serbian President Vučić earlier in August, the EuroPride Parade due to take place tomorrow had officially been banned by […]

Don’t expect Tayce to sashay back into the Drag Race werkroom just yet.

From releasing her debut single in 2020 to creating the soundtrack of a social media moment, Dréya Mac has quickly found her place in the expansive UK rap scene.

Regina “Mya” Allen, a Black transgender activist, was shot and killed in Milwaukee less than a month before her 36th birthday.

“Black men loving Black men is the revolutionary act,” says the filmmaker Marlon Riggs in his 1989 documentary, “Tongues Untied.” For Riggs, who would die of complications from AIDS five years later, the film — made during the darkest days of the epidemic — had “a singular imperative: to shatter America’s brutalizing silence around matters of sexual and racial difference.” Just 55 minutes long, “Tongues Untied” is freewheeling yet frank, a mosaic of interviews and personal testimony by Riggs and readings of works by friends of his (the poet Essex Hemphill;¹ the writer Joseph Beam²) interspersed with other footage (of Eddie Murphy telling a homophobic joke;³ of Black gay men marching against AIDS). It’s funny about sex and romance in New York, unflinching about the rise of H.I.V.

On a hot day in early August, 24 people gathered in a studio space in Red Hook, Brooklyn. They all had something in common: All of them were artists.

Have an event coming up? Email your information to Managing Editor Tammye Nash at nash@dallasvoice.com or Senior Staff Writer David Taffet at taffet@dallasvoice.com by Wednesday at 5 p.m. for that week’s issue.

Luke Macfarlane, left, Billy Eichner star in Bros, directed by Nicholas Stoller. (Photo by Nicole Rivelli/Universal Pictures)

GREGG SHAPIRO | Contributing WriterGreggShapiro@aol.com Fox’s new musical nighttime soap opera Monarch is to country music as the network’s Emp

2022 Ford Maverick XLT

Jonathon McClellan

CHRIS AZZOPARDI | Contributing Writerqsyndicate@pridesource.com No matter what Republicans tell you, there’s never a bad time

Erin Brown, a teacher in St. Johns County, Fla., typically keeps a gay pride flag hanging up in her classroom. As the faculty sponsor of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at her high school, she wants her students to know they are safe with her.

Editor's note: Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat), a frequent contributor to CNN Opinion, is professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and the author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. She publishes the newsletter Lucid on threats to democracy. The views expressed here are her own. Read more opinion on CNN.(CNN) — "Florida is fighting back," Gov.

After months of political organizing on behalf of candidates running to replace two anti-LGBTQ members of the school board in deep red Flagler County, Fla., rising high school senior Cameron Driggers was ready to celebrate their improbable electoral wins this week.  

In Tuesday's election, a controversial Florida school board member lost her seat after student activists rallied to replace her. Her removal comes during a time when Florida has become a flash point for LGBTQ+ people.Flagler School Board member Jill Woolbright lost to challenger Sally Hunt in her first reelection bid.

Top Gun in his latest campaign video. DeSantis sports a bomber jacket and poses in the cockpit of a fighter jet, recreating scenes from the Tom Cruise-starring movies.In the ‘Top Gov’ ad, DeSantis (R) poses as a trainer of fresh recruits at ‘Freedom Headquarters’, informing them about “taking on the corporate media.”It’s intercut with footage of him verbally sparring with journalists during press conferences.

(CNN) — To take on the herculean task of challenging Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this fall, Florida Democrats are going with someone familiar over "something new."For the second time in eight years, Democratic voters will elect Charlie Crist as their nominee for governor, CNN projects, choosing the seasoned veteran over Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who was vying to become the state's first female governor.

Floridian mess Ron DeSantis and him administration have been targeting trans folks pretty intensely, but they may be poised to learn the true meaning of “f*ck around and find out”.This weekend, the Agency for Health Care Administration in Florida officially ended medicaid reimbursements for trans-affirming care.Several queer advocacy groups like Lambda Legal and the Florida Health Justice Project are set to file lawsuits to put a stop to this rule as quickly as it’s begun.Simone Chriss, director of the Trans Rights Initiative at Southern Legal Counsel, is among those intending to request that a federal judge block the rule.“There’s really no room to play around with something this awful,” she tells the Orlando Weekly.Related: Why Ron DeSantis could soon live to regret ever messing with the LGBTQ communityMeanwhile, Florida’s health agency regards itself fully in the right to pull coverage from trans people needing care.An AHCA spokesman says that the agency is “prepared to defend the integrity of our well-established rule-making process.”Even further, Communications Director Brock Juarez says, “The Agency will not comment further beyond stating that these attacks are clearly coming from unscientific and partisan-motivated organizations posturing for a lawsuit against the rule.”Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene introduces law banning gender affirming care for minorsIt should be noted that plenty of cosmetic and medical procedures that trans people undergo are also sought out by cis folks; cis men get top surgery to treat gynecomastia, cis women get various facial feminization surgeries, etc.The difference is that trans folks’ gender dysphoria creates an urgency for these interventions that agencies like the AHCA would

A Florida teen who made headlines this spring as the first openly gay president of his school and who is suing the DeSantis administration for its "don't say gay" law received some encouragement from a man in the Biden administration who is also known for his firsts.Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg sent a heartfelt thank you and message of inspiration to Zander Moricz, the Florida teen who went viral for his graduation speech in which he spoke of his curly hair instead of using the word gay, to highlight the ridiculousness of the state's anti-LGBTQ+ law."After Chasten and I saw your graduation speech earlier this year and heard about your appearance at the Department of Education, I wanted to be sure to personally thank you for your voice and advocacy. Your combination of wit and courage has reverberated across the country in ways that will benefit people you'll never even meet," Buttigieg wrote.Buttigieg says that he's aware that his position as the first out gay cabinet secretary rests upon the work of those who came before him, "and there is no doubt that your example will open doors for many others who now look up to you, even as you are just starting your path forward following your graduation."Moricz tweeted a photo of the letter with the caption, "Thank you@PeteButtigieg.

Following a complaint by a member of the State Board of Education, the Florida Education Commissioner ordered his staff to remove LGBTQ+ support documents from school districts.Some LGBTQ+ support guides that the district provided students, teachers, and school employees raised "grave concerns" to Ryan Petty, a board member. In Pensacola, Petty objected to a sentence in the Hillsborough County district guide during the meeting.

Following a complaint by a member of the State Board of Education, the Florida Education Commissioner ordered his staff to remove LGBTQ+ support documents from school districts.Some LGBTQ+ support guides that the district provided students, teachers, and school employees raised "grave concerns" to Ryan Petty, a board member. In Pensacola, Petty objected to a sentence in the Hillsborough County district guide during the meeting.

The Daily Show.In recent months, some on the far-right have gone to war on the issue of drag queens, especially when it comes to children. But do any of them actually know what drag’s all about and why family-friendly drag shows are nothing to fear?The Daily Show correspondent Dulcé Sloan and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Kerri Colby collaborated on a short segment this week in which they critiqued some of the leading anti-drag Republicans and highlighted how a drag makeover might improve them.“Conservatives have been acting like drag is some brand new thing that liberals dreamed up to turn your kids into glitter demons!” says Sloan.

Florida prosecutor Andrew Warren has sued Governor Ron DeSantis after he was suspended for voicing support for trans and abortion rights. 

A Democratic Florida prosecutor is suing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over his sudden removal from his elected position.In a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, Andrew Warren, who served as Hillsborough County state attorney, accused DeSantis of abusing his power by suspending him for not prosecuting women who violate the state’s new 15-week abortion ban.DeSantis suspended the prosecutor in Tampa, Andrew Warren, earlier this month with an executive order.

Twitter and Facebook are failing to enforce their own guidelines and have allowed a surge in LGBTQ+ hate on their platforms.

"Don't Say Gay" legislation, a school district far to the north is offering teachers an alternative.On Tuesday, a letter began circulating on social media which showed the Fargo Public Schools district in Fargo, North Dakota, offering Florida teachers a more welcoming alternative. Fargo is the largest city in North Dakota by population, and the district sending the letter is the third-largest in the state, with roughly 11,300 students."You don't know us, so we'll start with this important statement," the letter, addressed to teachers in Florida, began.

It seems that yelling at children to unmask and forcing trans students to be outed to their parents aren’t enough for this mess of a governor.Three years after signing a bill allowed public school teachers to be armed, DeSantis is putting forth a new push to militarize the classroom.He now wants to instate any and all underqualified veterans as full-time teachers:.@GovDeSantis on recruiting veterans to the teaching field: “Our veterans have a wealth of knowledge and experience they can bring to bear in the classroom.

A new report has found online hate targeted at the LGBTQ+ community has surged over 400% following the Parental Rights in Education bill.

ABOVE: How much is your Bill Cable?

(CNN) — After 15 years teaching second and third grade at Burney Elementary, a 350-student school 30 minutes outside Tampa, Emily Lee set up her classroom this month to welcome three- and four-year-olds for pre-K. It's a change she has embraced, she said, a chance to get kids on the right path in their educational journey from a young age.But as instruction began in most of Florida this past week, there are other changes that make Lee anxious about the new school year.

(Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a multi-part summer series of stories taking a closer look at how a group of diverse LGBTQ entrepreneurs survived and thrived during the pandemic. The series is sponsored by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. All installments in the series are available on our website.)