Honoring Trans Lesbians During Lesbian Visibility Week

The Book of Queer, a five-episode docuseries that covers some of the gayest moments in history.“The series will pull back the curtain and take a deep dive telling the LGBTQ+ stories of the past through interviews with revered queer historians and experts who are as colorful as the rainbow flag. Blending comedy with social impact, The Book of Queer features witty recreations and original music videos to bring each of the stories to life with a modern tone,” according to a series description.The series is based on out 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist Eric Cervini’s Instagram videos.

Gemma Collins, 41, is determined to fulfil her musical dreams after a knee injury ruled out her planned appearance in Chicago.The former TOWIE star was due to play jail warden Matron “Mama” Morton in a UK tour which starts in Sunderland on May 31.However, a knee injury which first developed during her time on Dancing On Ice has been aggravated and forced Gemma to pull out.The 41-year-old has been undergoing ice-cold cryotherapy treatment to bring down the swelling on her knee after it ballooned during rehearsals. A friend of Gemma’s told The Mirror: “She had done so much work for so many months and the producers were really impressed."“But this old injury just keeps flaring up.

pansexual youth to highlight the need to support this young population.The group defines pansexuality as “an attraction to people of any gender or to people regardless of their gender.”A majority of youth who identify as pansexual say they’ve been discriminated against due to their sexual orientation (69 percent), the Trevor Project reported. In the organization’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, researchers found that 53 percent of pansexual youth reported that they seriously considered suicide and 21 percent reported they attempted suicide in the past year.Additionally, 66 percent reported symptoms of anxiety and 79 percent reported having symptoms of depression.“These rates were significantly higher than those reported by lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, and asexual youth,” Jonah DeChants, research scientist at the Trevor Project, said in an email to The Advocate.The organization even has a guide called “How to Support Bisexual Youth: Ways to Care for Bisexual, Pansexual, Fluid, and Queer Youth Who are Attracted to More than One Gender.”The guide offers best practices for people to better understand and also support youth who are attracted to more than a single gender, DeChants said.“We consistently see in our research that LGBTQ youth, across all identities, who feel supported and affirmed by the people in their lives report better mental health outcomes and lower rates of suicide risk,” he said.

Making history. The annual Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) was truly out of this world — but not for the out-of-this-world reasons anyone could predict.

A 35-year-old doctor, who has become the first Qatari to come out publicly as gay, has sought asylum in the United States. Nas Mohamed, who is currently living and working as a physician in San Francisco, said he no longer wished to remain “anonymous”. Mohamed said that it was not safe for him to return to Qatar and live his life as an out gay man. Qatar’s human rights record and its treatment of LGBTQI people have come under the spotlight after the country was selected to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Michael Gunning has announced his retirement from his swimming career, but his legacy in the Jamaican and UK swimming scenes has been thoroughly cemented.Raised and originally competing in the UK, Gunning has now swam representing Jamaica for years in events like the Manchester International Swim Meet and the World Aquatics Championships.After coming out as gay on Courtney Act’s queer dating show The Bi Life in 2018, Gunning has bravely battled both racism and homophobia from the countries he’s represented throughout his career. Now entering his retirement, it’s clear that his role as an advocate is just as meaningful to him going forward as his swimming has been.  A post shared by Michael Gunning (@michaelgunning1) In a recent interview with the Guardian, Gunning stated, “I’ve got so much more to give the world.

San Francisco police are investigating two recent telephoned bomb threats against queer youth organization LYRIC, located in the Castro LGBTQ neighborhood, as possible hate crimes.LYRIC received the first bomb threat April 29, forcing the organization's youth clients and staff members to leave the Purple House building in the Castro that serves as its offices. A second threat, 24 days later, followed at 3:30 p.m., May 23, as after-school programs were underway, said Adam Michael Royston, communications director for the nonprofit, in a telephone interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

She went public with their four-year romance after years of speculation last week.Now Becca Tilley is opening up more about her relationship with singer Hayley Kiyoko.The reality star, 33, talked the decision to reveal their relationship, her sexuality, and attending several Bachelor Nation weddings with Hayley on herpodcast, Scrubbing In with Becca Tilley & Tanya Rad. 'Hayley has really made me feel brave': Becca Tilley is opening up more about her relationship with singer Hayley Kiyoko'So I was prepared for anything and everything, but I was not prepared for the amount of love and support that we got,' Becca said of going public with Hayley.'Hayley has really made me feel brave, and she was always like, "People love you and they want to see you happy."' Becca, who went public with Hayley by making an appearance in herqueer-Bachelorette themed music video For the Girls, also talked confirming their romance.'I've always said, "I'll go public — we can go public if I can be in one of your videos, like, be the video girl." And I'm not an actress and she always hires actors, like, legit actresses.

my record label won't let me," the singer captioned the video. As their unreleased song played in the background, they continued: "I've been in this industry for eight years and I've sold over 165 million records and my record company is saying I can't release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok."To sum it all up, she said: "Everything is marketing. And they do this to basically every artist these days. I just wanna release music, man.

“Full disclosure: In real life, of course, I support trans rights," he says. "I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. Live your best life.

Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of the exclusionary bill, according to multiple media outlets. Holcomb is a Republican as well, but he had opposed the measure authored by Rep.

as he did last year.The Louisiana Senate gave final approval to the bill Monday, going along with a House change that removed intramural sports from the legislation. It still covers interscholastic sports at the K-12 and college levels, affecting both public schools and any private ones that receive state funds.Edwards, a Democrat, has called the deletion of intramural sports significant but said he still believes the bill is unnecessary, the Associated Press reports.

The left these days gets a bad rap for policing language. It can be irritating to feel like you have to watch how you say things or keep up with the latest lingo when the old lingo still seems perfectly fine. This is especially the case with counterintuitive ideas such as referring not to “pregnant women” but to “people who are pregnant” — a phrase now used on Planned Parenthood’s website — or the even less intuitive “birthing people,” which we’re asked to embrace as inclusive, and therefore progressive, despite that both reduce women to being biological vessels.

Let’s be honest – modern dating can be rough. As people live further apart and more in isolation than ever before, connecting via in-person dates is more challenging than ever.

Kit Connor is not particularly interested in labeling others or himself.

Dylan Tippetts was elected to the Plymouth City Council in the 5 May election, making history as the first trans person to hold the position.

Christian Broadcasting Network.His comments come while Republican-led states are attempting to crack down on the school curriculum, as in Florida with its ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.Concerning the “transgender movement”, Trump called it, “a terrible thing”.“That’s not the way it should be, that’s for sure. It is a terrible thing.

CDC, one in four LGBTQ+ teens attempted suicide in the first half of 2021.Whether your child is queer, straight, cis or trans, all moms should be outraged at anyone, especially elected leaders, who stoop so low as to use children as cudgels for their own political gain.As these anti-LGBTQ+ politicians seek to normalize legislation that targets our kids' rights and safety, we cannot leave it up to the moms of queer and trans youth alone to fight back. Whether you are a part of the LGBTQ+ community or not, all moms have a stake in keeping childhood off-limits from nefarious politicking.

A survey of almost 34,000 LGBTQ+ youth in the US between the ages of 13 and 24 was released yesterday, May 4. It revealed an alarmingly high rate of suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, with Trans youth among the most affected. Specifically, the survey found that in 2021: Nearly 1 in 5 Trans young people […]

Dwayne Wade, former basketball star of the Miami Heat and father to trans daughter Zaya Wade, is now offering advice to new parents of trans children.“[Think of] the moment when you were in the hospital and you grabbed your daughter, and you looked at your daughter,” Wade told Variety on the Met Gala red carpet Monday night. “All the things that went through your mind and all the emotions that went through your mind. And how much love fills your heart at that moment.

The Hollywood Reporter.The comment was in reference to earlier in his set when he discussed feeling targeted by trans people as well as for comments made previously on his specials, according to NPR.In his October 2021 Netflix comedy special The Closer, Chappelle made several transphobic comments and jokes, including defending J.K. Rowling’s own transphobic comments.

who attacked him on stage during the now-viral assault Wednesday. The 48-year-old “Chappelle’s Show” creator had been performing at the “Netflix is a Joke” festival in Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl, when an unnamed spectator bum-rushed the stage and tackled the comedian to the ground, as seen in shocking footage.

Democratic lawmakers from 16 states committed to helping transgender youth who have been affected by anti-LGBTQ+ laws in America.

Netflix Is A Joke festival, when a man made his way onstage and appeared to attempt to tackle him, per video footage shared on social media.After security apprehended the man in question, video clips showed Chappelle attempting to keep the laughs coming as he cracked jokes about the incident.In a move that has ignited criticism, video footage shows that Chappelle quipped as he spoke to the audience in the aftermath: "It was a trans man."Dave Chappelle got attacked on stage tonight and the attacker got his ass beat.Chapelle made a joke saying it was a "trans man" (no indication if it was) and probably going to get a lot of crap for it now.(no this video wasn't recorded by me) pic.twitter.com/NCoQBy4fwNHis joke has sparked outrage on Twitter, where a number of detractors spoke out against the star, who last year was criticized for his Netflix special The Closer, in which comments he made were characterized as transphobic.Weighing in on the tweets shared about the incident, one Twitter user wrote: "All these people leave out the fact Dave Chappelle joked that it was a 'trans man' that ran on stage to beat him when we don't know who it was. All we know is that things are about to get worse in this country and have been getting worse for trans people and Dave encourages it."All these people leave out the fact Dave Chappelle joked that it was a âtrans manâ that ran on stage to beat him when we donât know who it was.

Associated Press Monday. “We’re going on offense, we’re going to protect LGBQT kids and their families, and we’re going to build a rainbow wall to protect our community.”The states joining in the campaign are Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia, according to a joint announcement from Wiener, the LGBTQ Victory Institute, Equality California, and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.

LGBTQ lawmakers from 19 states have or will introduce laws to protect trans kids from civil and criminal penalties when seeking gender-affirming care.At a virtual press conference May 3 with representatives from several states, gay California Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced a coalition of LGBTQ legislators, health providers, and civil rights groups from throughout the United States was working to introduce legislation in the various statehouses that would provide refuge and support for trans kids and their families. New Hampshire State Representative Gerri Cannon (D), a trans woman, called for lawmakers across the country to support trans kids no matter where they reside."We should be giving children a chance at a normal life in a society that does not support people who are different," she said during the virtual meeting.The momentum is building from Wiener's March 17 announcement of his planned legislation that would provide protection to trans kids and their families if they come to California from states "criminalizing the parents of trans kids for allowing them to receive gender-affirming care." Written a short time later, his proposal is now encapsulated in Senate Bill 107, as the Bay Area Reporter previously reported.Last month, Wiener shared the bill language via Twitter in hopes of seeing other state legislatures also adopt it.

YEAR-LONG LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR TRANSGENDER, NONBINARY, AND GENDER-NONCONFORMING SEMINARIANS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 3, 2022) – For nine years, the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion, the Freedom Center for Social Justice and the National LGBTQ Task Forcehave sponsored a program for transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming seminarians in the United States. The program’s goal is to encourage trans students during their training for religious leadership to complete their degrees, follow their vocation, and embrace the fact that their impact as faith leaders can and should extend beyond their chosen settings for ministry and service to include the welfare of the broader communities in which they live. This is the only program that we are aware of that addresses the unique challenges and gifts of trans seminarians.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorRoyalty took the stand on Saturday night to advocate for LGBTQ+ equality.Golda Rosheuvel, the openly gay actor who plays the illustrious Queen Charlotte on “Bridgerton,” was presented the Equality Award at this year’s Human Rights Campaign gala in New York.“Being authentic and true to who I am has been something that I’ve championed in my own life, so to be able to get up there tonight and speak my journey is really important,” Rosheuvel told Variety before accepting her award. “That one person who’s struggling might hear it and be confident enough to step [up] in their own life.”The “Bridgerton” star later went on to tell the crowd, “nobody should have to choose between being publicly out and being a successful actor.” Rosheuvel recently opened up to Marc Malkin on the “Just for Variety” podcast about how a lesbian director once advised her to stay in the closet.

The US Department of Justice filed a motion to block Alabama from enforcing a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

CAITLYN Jenner had "clear the air" talks with Piers Morgan before she appeared on his Uncensored show last night. And the former athlete, 72, began their live chat by explaining exactly why she cancelled on him over his Donald Trump interview.

"It was getting to a point where when I met people from the trans community, and I introduced myself as a lesbian, they were looking at me suspiciously, thinking that I might be one of the transphobic brigade, and I began to realize that cis-lesbians in particular were getting stigmatized as being maybe transphobic when absolutely the majority is not."So, I wanted to showcase that although there are points that I agree with that lesbians need more visibility, it doesn't mean that we are somehow transphobic. And that's the message that we're really getting out through Lesbian Visibility. You know, the joy of celebrating with the whole community is wonderful.""What I would ideally like to see is a global organization where we are all kind of one love and working together.

Megan Fox bought her children LGBTQ-inclusive books so they could learn about the “full spectrum” of gender identity.

To celebrate International Family Equality Day, Equality Texas, Trans Kids and Families of Texas, Family Equality, and the North Texas Gay and Lesbian Alliance are getting together for a picnic.

Piers Morgan Uncensored in an episode that aired last night.In the interview, Trump told Morgan that he wasn’t “a fan” of Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and that he recently shot a hole-in-one while playing golf. He also dove into transphobic remarks related to trans athletes, bringing up trans swimmer and swimming champion Lia Thomas.“I think it’s grotesquely unfair,” Morgan told Trump.

lesbianvisibilityweek.com for more info.We want you to get involved too and post your pics on social media, using the hashtag #LVW22. Seeing #LesbianVisibiltyWeek trending, the word lesbian being used with such positivity and the support shown by our allies always gives me such great joy.Over the last few years of Lesbian Visibility Week, one of the most surprising aspects for me personally has been discovering that there are still so many people in our community who do not know what the lesbian flag looks like. This needs to change.

The Matrix creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski have announced a movie memorabilia auction to raise money for a trans youth charity.The filmmakers confirmed on social media that they will be auctioning off props and concept art from The Matrix but also Sense8 and V For Vendetta.“Hi youse! so me and Lana have been doing some spring cleaning at our Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse and have happily decided to pass on some of the best treasures we’ve been collecting over the years!!” Lilly told fans on Twitter.hi youse! so me and Lana have been doing some spring cleaning at our Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse and have happily decided to pass on some of the best treasures we've been collecting over the years!! no ark of the covenants but some pretty major and magical artifacts!— Lilly Wachowski (@lilly_wachowski) April 23, 2022“No ark of the covenants but some pretty major and magical [artefacts]!”The Wachowskis will be raising money for Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund, with their event titled Enter the Matrix: The Wachowski Collection.Most recently, Lana Wachowski directed The Matrix: Resurrections without her sister Lilly, and explained how writing the film helped her grieve her parents.“I didn’t ever wanna make another Matrix movie,” she said. “I told everyone for 18 years I didn’t wanna make another Matrix movie.

Kelly and Crowder continuously delegitimize and questioned the experiences of trans people, especially the experiences of trans youth.Speaking about trans athletes, Crowder said, “We're looking at men beating the hell out of women … in their own sports.”Kelly then claimed that there are “crazy trans activists” that are trying to make young gay men trans.“The crazy trans activists are so vicious and they're basically kind of doing conversion therapy on young gay men — instead of you're not gay, you're trans, you're secretly a girl,” Kelly said.In a segment of the transphobic conversation, posted on Twitter by Media Matters’ Senior Researcher Jason Campbell, Kelly and Crowder also questioned the “T” in LGBTQ+. “The interests aren’t necessarily aligned,” Kelly said while attacking the LGBTQ+ rights group GLAAD, asking if the organization has “lost the real scope of its original mission.” Throughout Kelly’s show, she and Crowder also criticize the medical associations that support trans children, while making false assertions about gender-affirming care over and over again.  Kelly went on to attack White House Press Secretary Jenn Psaki for her comments about state legislatures going after the rights of trans children.Last week, Jen Psaki shed some tears during a recent interview on the News Not Noise podcast when the subject of the latest barrage of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being proposed and passed by the GOP came up. Podcast host Jessica Yellin asked Psaki for her thoughts on the recent legislation and whether its motivation was sincere or an “organized political attempt to create a wedge issue ahead of the midterms,” to which Psaki said, “Ding.

Princess, a Houston trans woman missing since April 18, currently has bright blonde hair, friends said.

The cast of Queer Eye can’t speak enough about Angel Flores.

Today, April 22, marks Earth Day, a day when we celebrate the Earth and also rally around finding solutions to climate change and environmental injustice. Started in the 1970s partly in response to Silent Spring, a book written by lesbian author and marine biologist Rachel Carson, the day has been part of a movement that has grown more aptly in tune with today’s intersectional movements. At first glance, environmental injustice may not seem like an LGBTQ issue, but in fact, queer folks have a real stake in the future of a livable climate. 

A social media post promoting a transgender and gender diverse swim night hosted by Inner West Council has received a deluge of abusive and transphobic comments, causing the post to be removed from . Earlier this month, Council announced that Ashfield Aquatic Centre would be hosting a free, exclusive swim night for the local trans and gender diverse community, as well as allies, friends, partners and families.

Slightly Offensive, mentioned last week that someone had told him “there’s this mass genocide happening to trans kids by fascists” in Texas. In the state, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered that parents who allow their children to receive gender-affirming health care be investigated for child abuse.

Mayor London Breed has made it official and appointed Pau Crego as the permanent executive director of the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives.Crego, a trans and nonbinary Spanish immigrant, had been serving as acting executive director since Clair Farley, a trans woman who headed the department since 2017, stepped down last September after leading the office for four years.Breed and City Administrator Carmen Chu made the announcement April 21.The office was established by the late mayor Ed Lee in June 2016 with Theresa Sparks as its inaugural director. It marked the first time a mayor in the nation had a senior director of trans initiatives, Lee's office stated at the time.

Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, has called on teachers to “involve parents” when children come out as transgender.

Twitter, Tumblr and now TikTok. Which is how, suddenly, we have a massive uptick in trans- and "non-binary"-identifying youth.

California legislators are once again pushing forward on a number of bills aimed at improving the lives of the state's transgender and nonbinary residents. And due to the legislative attacks on trans children in several other states, lawmakers in Sacramento are also focused on assisting those youth and their parents who are trying to access gender-affirming health care.In addition to improving transgender medical care in the Golden State, lawmakers have introduced bills that will require California community colleges not to deadname their trans and nonbinary students, faculty or staff; require the governor to annually proclaim November 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance; and create an advisory body for a statewide pool of funds for trans services that would be renamed the Transgender, Gender-Variant, and Intersex (TGI) Wellness and Equity Fund.Other bills would protect LGBTQ people who want to become foster parents, establish a pilot project to assist LGBTQ youth receiving child welfare services, and require affordable housing builders to contract with LGBTQ-owned businesses.Tuesday, April 19, gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released the language for the bill he plans to officially introduce this month that will make California a refuge for trans kids and their families persecuted by their own governments in states such as Texas and Idaho.The Idaho House of Representatives passed legislation last week to make it a felony for parents to allow their children to receive gender-affirming care, while similar policy is under consideration by lawmakers in Louisiana and Arizona.

The Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive in Vallejo was damaged last month after a driver plowed into the converted garage that houses it and reportedly fled, while the founder is expressing support as she works to have the building repaired.Ms. Bob Davis, a trans woman who founded the archive in 2017 — it opened in September 2018 — told the Bay Area Reporter in a phone interview that no one was injured during the incident, which occurred on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility."I was rushing to events in San Francisco and ran into the archive to get some brochures," Davis wrote in an email to supporters. "Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by an SUV parked in the middle of the office.

The petition calling for trans people to be protected in a ban on ‘conversion therapy’ in the UK is less than 14,000 signatures away from 150,000.