Kent sees surge in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime

Love Lies Bleeding on Saturday (April 13).During a screening of Rose Glass’ latest film, starring Kristen Stewart, a mass walkout occurred following a barrage of abusive comments.According to Variety, more than 60 people left the premiere, which took place at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), and screening organisers reported at least three instances of physical violence.The romantic thriller film, which was produced by A24, follows the relationship between a gym manager and an ambitious bodybuilder. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “Rose Glass, who co-wrote the film with Weronika Tofilska, has delivered a brilliant noir packed with those great pulp ingredients: sex, drugs and violence.”As reported by Variety, some attendees described how “homophobic heckles and jeers” during the films’s sex scenes, and a scene portraying sexual coercion reportedly “drew applause.”One attendee, Elina Fischer, told Variety: “Things spun wildly out of hand.” Describing their experience as “traumatic and horrible,” they added: “We were afraid for our lives, because the kinds of people who say such things during a film screening are the kinds of people who assault us.

criminalize librarians for putting certain books on the shelves. Nuisance lawsuits and fights over book bans are draining librarians' time, energy, and resources.Nobody becomes a librarian to become a pawn in the culture wars. But from book bans to bomb threats, we librarians are on the front lines of critical battles over who gets to control information.The pursuit of happiness goes hand in hand with the pursuit of knowledge and information, which, in turn, is central to what libraries are all about.

India Willoughby made history on Sunday, April 14, as she became the first trans patron of a professional sports club, the Keighley Cougars rugby league team. Willoughby, known for her work as a broadcaster for BBC Radio 4, is a trailblazer for the trans community.

Lesbian MMA fighter Jessica Andrade has set a new record as the woman with the most UFC wins after defeating Marina Rodriguez at UFC 300 on Saturday, April 14, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has joked she was forced to remove a scene from one of the books in the series because is was "too graphic."The popular books established Rowling as a household name and resulted in her being one of the wealthiest people in the United Kingdom. However, she has gained notoriety in more recent years for expressing her contentious opinions on transgender people, which some LGBTQ+ activists have labeled as "transphobic," a claim Rowling has always refuted.Now she has responded to a comment from someone who referred to her as "Voldemort," who is the main villain in the Harry Potter stories.Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Rowling shared a screenshot of a comment that read: "It all makes sense if you realize she's Voldemort not Harry Potter."The author added: "My editor actually made me cut a scene in which Voldemort misgendered a pixie.