Photo by World of Wonder / Canva. Design by Sam DonndelingerSubscribe nowEditors note: This article includes mention of suicide. If you are having thoughts of suicide, or are concerned that someone you know may be, resources are available here.At five years old, Justin Andrew Honard remembers discovering the treasures of his grandmothers closet in Erie, Pennsylvania. He doused himself in her perfume, wrapped himself in her delicate furs, and twirled in her fancy skirts.I was very drawn to the clothes, Honard, better known by his drag queen stage name Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, told Uncloseted Media. They were more fun than what I was allowed to wear in my everyday life.But she says that sort of freedom of expression was short-lived. I quickly realized I can't be doing that because it's not safe.Courtesy of Justin Andrew Honard // DVSROSSThere was no representation [in Erie], says Alaska, who is currently starring in Drag: The Musical. Queer people were treated as other. You don't have to be told explicitly that you are being othered and you need to be careful. I knew that. Getting called a f*ggot, well that was just part of walking through life.Alaska says she found her sense of belonging when she discovered drag in college. It just made sense to me. I got to decide what kind of character I wanted to be and what kind of stories I wanted to tell.Alaska in Drag the Musical. Photo: Matthew MurphyThree decades after playing with her grandmas clothes, Alaska catapulted to drag superstardom when she appeared on season five of RuPauls Drag Race and leveraged her initial popularity as a fan favorite to return and win season two of RuPauls Drag Race: All Stars.Alaska is far from alone when it comes to finding superstardom on RPDR. After the Jan. 3 season 17 premiere, 224 queens will have appeared on the American reality competition show. The U.S. version of Drag Race has won 29 Emmys, more than any other reality show ever. And the franchise has spawned 15 international installments featuring hundreds of additional queens from Canada, Thailand, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Belgium and beyond.RPDR has not only moved the needle forward for representation on television; it has shattered the one-dimensional depiction of queer people that Americans had become accustomed to and has tackled tough LGBTQ-themed topics that had never been addressed on television. We had Will & Grace, we had Ellen, but RuPaul took it to another level, says Joe E. Jeffreys, a drag historian who teaches a course called RuPauls Drag Race and Its Impact at The New School.THE IMPACT OF QUEER REPRESENTATION ON MENTAL HEALTHIt presents a cornucopia of identities for people they may never have seen, Jeffreys told Uncloseted Media. All sorts of queer people in front of us, all sorts of body types, all sorts of gender identities.[The show] is about watching people live their authentic truth. Its a story of people who have lived through pain or trauma and legislation telling them that they shouldn't exist, expressing themselves joyfully and beautifully and hilariously. That is life-affirming for everybody, says Alaska, noting that there are more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills sweeping through state legislatures right now.It saved my life, says 27-year-old Jani Aldinor, a trans man who started watching Drag Race at 11 years old when the show first premiered.The show gives me an outlet to see LGBTQ people thriving not despite of but because of their queerness, Aldinor, who grew up in the 6,900-person town of Willis, Texas, told Uncloseted Media. It gives me so much joy. It was my comfort when I was going through my most depressive episodes and is a big contributor to how I deal with my depression.Subscribe for deep-dive LGBTQ storytellingLast year, Aldinors depression was at its worst. I just thought about taking my life a whole lot. But then I started thinking about all the things I loved. One of the things that would pull me out of it would be, But if I die, I can't go on Reddit and discuss the new season of RuPaul's Drag Race.It may seem hard to credit a reality show as a resource to help someone with their mental health, but a 2020 GLAAD study found that authentic representation affirms LGBTQ individuals, while a lack of media representation perpetuates harmful stereotypes, lowers self-esteem, hinders access to support, and increases risks of mental health challenges.These effects can be particularly meaningful for LGBTQ youth in America, 41% of whom considered suicide in the last yearthree times more than their heterosexual peers. [Seeing representation] can have an uplifting and hopeful effect. Seeing people who have survived, that means that they can do it, too, says Jeffreys.There's so many things against me, says Aldinor. I'm trans, I'm Black, Haitian, poor, disabled, I was set up to fail. Sometimes I would think, There's no way I'm going to make it. Seeing people on the show rise above those inherent disadvantages creates a sense that there's a chance that you're going to be okay. It gives me an enormous amount of hope.Aldinor says he saw himself in Love Masisi, a Haitian queen who appeared on Drag Race Holland. Seeing how she thrives as a drag queen opened my heart. Haitians don't get positive press at all. So seeing Haitians thrive and then adding on the aspect of being queer, being gender nonconforming, that was just so joyful to me.There are so many ways that the fans connect to the stories on the show, says Shea Coule, winner of RuPauls Drag Race: All Stars season five. Intersectionality is about how we combine all our lived experiences to contribute to who we are, Coule, who is Black and nonbinary, told Uncloseted Media.Photo Credit: Shea Coule Instagram, Eric MagnussenThe show offers enormous progress for the queer community, says Niall Brennan, media scholar and gender and sexuality researcher at Fairfield University. Without RuPaul's Drag Race, there would be a vacuum of voice and representation and identity and performance of queerness.TACKLING TOUGH TOPICSBeyond multiple representations of queerness in its cast members lies the themes that the show explores. In each episode, one queen typically talks about a trauma they went through or a hurdle they had to overcome. Memorable moments include Katya discussing her drug addiction and how she got clean; Trinity The Tuck talking about how she performed at Pulse Nightclub the week before the mass shooting that killed 49 people; and Shea Coule discussing their struggle with body image.Sometimes people dont understand that though we come across as these strong, beautiful creatures that sometimes were really struggling on the inside, Coule shared with their fellow contestants.Perhaps the most memorable moment came on season one, when Ongina, a Filipino-American queen, opened up about being HIV-positive. I didnt wanna say it on national TV because my parents dont know, Ongina told the judges through tears. You have to celebrate life. You keep going. And I keep going,RuPaul, known as MamaRu to the queens, responded by telling Ongina: You are an inspiration. You are a survivor. And baby, you are still in the race. I love you sweetheart.THE POLITICIZATION OF THE RUNWAYBeyond these conversations, the show is intensely political. In 2021, shortly after the murder of Geroge Floyd and in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, Symone, the season 13 winner, wore an all-white dress that constricted her body in a way she said "represent[ed] what it can sometimes feel like to be of color in our country. She designed red crystal-studded bullet holes across her back with the words "Say Their Names" painted in red to symbolize blood as she spoke the names of murdered Black Americans: Breonna Taylor, George Floyd Trayvon Martin, Tony McDade and Monika Diamond.On season 12, Jackie Cox became the first queen to don a Muslim-inspired outfit when she wore a star-spangled hijab that nodded to her American and Muslim identity in what became known as one of the most politically powerful fashion moments in the shows history.One year later, Gottmik, the first trans man to compete on the show, walked the runway nearly naked, with only nipple pasties and a miniature black dress covering their private areas. This was in part to show his body after top surgery, saying he wanted to pay homage to all of the trans women that have inspired me and showed me that drag is for everyone. The performance stoked controversy in conservative circles, with Megyn Kelly posting Gottmiks look on X and commenting: This whole ideology is sick.Coule, who was deeply inspired by Gottmiks performance, says everything they do in drag is political. Every time I put on my lashes. Being a Black, queer, gender nonconforming individual who has been on an international platform three times showcasing my identity is radical in and of itself, they say.There are so many politicians and people who paint us out to be perpetrators of harm toward children and its simply not true. So the fact that I get to show my authentic self, thats what feels radical to me because I am going up against the status quo every time I do drag.Coule is one of the many queens who has called out President-elect Donald Trump and the GOP for spending over $215 million on anti-trans ads this election cycle and for spewing anti-trans rhetoric like saying we need to get rid of transgender insanity.Anyone who would not support me because I dont like Donald Trump was not a fan to begin with and isnt someone I would want in my stratosphere, says Coule. I dont give a flying f*ck, excuse my language, about some insidious, insecure man who has nothing but ill will toward the community. Hes a baby. Hes a man child.Subscribe for accountability journalismDRAG QUEENS: THE AMBASSADORS OF BEING YOURSELFFor many viewers, and particularly those who grew up in rural areas or in states where queer rights are under attack, RPDR and the queens on it have helped them come to terms with their LGBTQ identity in life-saving ways.Just seeing people being happy and being who they are is life-affirming, Earle Ratcliffe, a 46-year-old from rural Canada, told Uncloseted Media. I figured out I was gay when I was 11, but I didnt want to be too gay. Seeing people on Drag Race that can unapologetically be themselves, well I started thinking, maybe I can be that too.Clint Martin, a 43-year-old software developer who grew up in a Mormon family in rural Alabama, felt like that gay community was foreign. After coming out in his thirties, he says the show helped him validate his identity and explore his expression of gender. It helped me with subtle things, like being okay with my voice going higher, or with sitting in chairs in a more relaxed way, he says. It gave me additional tools to rediscover parts of myself and realign parts of myself that I had locked away a long time ago.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support LGBTQ journalism, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.RPDR SASHAYS INTO AMERICAN LIVING ROOMSRuPauls Drag Race originally aired in 2009 on Logo TV, a niche LGBTQ broadcast channel. But as it exploded in popularity, it moved to VH1 in 2017, and eventually to MTV in 2023, where it now airs in primetime. According to Nielsen data, last seasons premiere was the top cable entertainment telecast of the day within the coveted 18-49 age demographic.It's important to make the distinction between representation that happens within the community and that happens in mainstream media, says Michael Bronski, professor of media and activism at Harvard University. What's amazing about RuPaul is that he brought representation of drag into the mainstream.Jeffreys says that a majority of the viewership is women, usually married and with kids. It can give [people who are not in the LGBTQ community] a way to understand.Studies show that when people are exposed to LGBTQ characters authentically, they are more accepting than those not exposed to LGBTQ media, leading to a deeper connection and comfort with queer people in their daily lives.RuPaul didn't want this to just be another reality show, says Alaska. She wanted it to be something that touches on the uncomfortable parts of life and the difficult parts of people's stories and I think she achieved that.The show speaks to the dreamer, Rupaul said in a 2019 CBS interview. Our show helps young people navigate some tricky waters. These kids on our show, they have been through everything ... There are dangerous things that come along with following your heart We wanted to include the full experience of being an outsider.RPDR returns to American screens for its 17th season on Jan. 3, and millions of viewers will be tuning in. Queer bars will be packed with hundreds of LGBTQ viewers (like the Superbowl, but make it queer) who will be watching the next generation of drag queens take to the stage for the first time.Aldinor, who never misses an episode, fondly recalls finding the show at 11 years old in his mothers bedroom in rural Texas.Ill never forget when I sat down and watched with my mom, he says. I saw Ongina speaking and I thought the name Ongina was so funny, and she looked so fabulous and that just took me. I didnt have anything LGBTQ in my life, and the colors, the makeup, the clothes, the people, it was a whole new world for me.As millions of LGBTQ kids across the country struggle with mental health and acceptance, RPDR has created a community of refuge for many of them trying to find identity. This includes one of the nearly one million members of the RuPauls Drag Race subreddit who wrote about how the show saved their life.Before coming to terms with my sexuality, I started watching Drag Race and I was in quite a dark place. I used to think, I would rather be dead than gay. But hearing the stories from the queens and how they came to terms with things gave me the strength to acknowledge who I was and slowly, I found peace Drag does truly save lives and for that, I will forever be thankful.Additional reporting by Sophie Holland. If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

Photo by Canva.Subscribe now2024 has proven to be another turbulent year for LGBTQ communities in the U.S. and around the globe. In the last 12 months, transgender Americans and queer kids have been the targets of relentless attacks that have come in the form of hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills, transphobic rhetoric by politicians, and threats from far-right influencers and average Joes on social media. Despite this, there was great progress: more young people are feeling confident enough to come out and more denominations of Christianity are allowing gay marriage. Here are the most noteworthy moments and events that shaped 2024.Jan. 23 Nearly 30% of Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQA report by the Public Religion Research Institute finds that more than 1 in 4 Gen Z adults in the U.S. identify as LGBTQ, dwarfing the percentages of queer-identifying Americans in older age groups.Feb. 8 Nex Benedict diesNex Benedict, a nonbinary 16-year-old from Oklahoma, dies the day after being beaten unconscious by fellow students in their high schools girls bathroom. A partial autopsy report by the states Chief Medical Examiner suggests the cause of their death was suicide.Later in 2024, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education that began after Benedicts death found that Owasso Public Schools had repeatedly failed to respond to sexual harassment allegations over three years.Benedict lived in Oklahoma, a state that introduced 55 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2024. March 22 Russia and the LGBT MovementRussia adds the LGBT movement to its list of terrorist and extremist organizations. This is the latest move in a years-long campaign of restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws spearheaded by the Putin Regime.April 3 Uganda upholds the Anti-Homosexuality ActScreenshot via NBC NewsUgandas Constitutional Court upholds the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act, which prohibits any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex as well as the promotion or recognition of sexual relations between persons of the same sex.April 8 Transgender rights and sportsThe National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) bans trans women from competing in womens sports at 241 colleges across the country. The NAIA, which oversees some 83,000 athletes competing in more than 25 sports, is believed to be the first college sports organization to take such a step.April 10 The Cass Review publishesThe United Kingdoms National Health Service publishes The Cass Review, which outlines recommendations for gender identity services for minors.The report, which is supported by both the Conservative and Labor Parties, calls for the holistic treatment for transgender youth and adults alike. Its findings say too little is known about hormones or puberty blockers to recommend them for trans youth.The reviews conclusions have been criticized by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and pediatric health organizations in the U.S. and Canada, which have raised concerns about bias in the reviews methodology and recommendations.April 19 - Biden-Harris Administration finalize the Pro-Equality Title IX RuleFollowing years of advocacy by the Human Rights Campaign to help LGBTQ students combat sexual assault and harassment, the U.S. Department of Education announces it has finalized a Title IX rule that clarifies nondiscrimination protections should apply to LGBTQ people throughout educational activities and programs.April 19 Eight LGBTQ activists and artists are featured on Times Most Influential list The coveted list includes actor Elliot Page, activist Nadine Smith and Apple CEO Tim Cook.April 23 Planet Fitness Bomb Threatsvia Wikimedia CommonsOver 50 Planet Fitness locations across the country report receiving bomb threats following a series of tweets by far-right account Libs of TikTok that targeted the gym franchise for its trans-inclusive policies.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.May 1 United Methodist Church ends anti-gay policiesPhoto by Joe MabelThe Methodist church ends its ban on officiating gay marriages and on gay people becoming clergy, the latter of which had been in place since 1984. "With the approvals and acceptance of the things today ... we're beginning to see the unwinding, unraveling, dismantling of the heterosexism, the homophobia, the hurt and the harm of the United Methodist Church," Rev. David Meredith said to United Methodist News.June 21 Braidwood v. Becerra: PrEP Access reported unconstitutionalA conservative federal appeals court in Texas finds a cornerstone of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurers to cover preventive health services like HIV prevention medication such as PrEP to be unconstitutional. The plaintiffs use religious objections to claim that providing coverage of PrEP facilitates and encourages homosexual behavior. The Supreme Court has not decided if it will take up the case. PrEP has been integral to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.June 28 Tractor Supply ends DEI, other companies followPhoto: Sherman40336Tractor Supply ends its efforts and programs aimed at diversity, equity, and inclusion. The company says it will stop sponsoring pride endorsements and stop sending data to the Human Rights Campaign. Other major companies like Ford, Walmart, John-Deere, Harley-Davidson, Brown-Foreman Corp, and Molson Coors follow suit.July 15 Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric plays a large role at the RNCPhoto: Gage SkidmoreOn the first night of the Republican National Convention, speakers lean into anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Let me state this clearly: There are only two genders, far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene says in her speech. Rep. John James criticizes trans womens participation in womens sports, and Sen. Ron Johnson remarks, [The Democrats] fringe agenda includes the sexualization and indoctrination of our children.July 22 HIV progressA new report by UNAIDS finds that HIV rates have fallen globally by 39% since 2010 and more than 75% of the 39.9 million people with HIV are receiving treatment. Global efforts to combat HIV and AIDS continue to make slow, steady progress. UNAIDS predicts AIDS could cease to be a public health threat by 2030.July 27 JD Vances political pivot Sofia Nelson, a former transgender classmate of Vice President-elect JD Vance, releases emails of past experiences between she and Vance that differ greatly from Vances embrace of Trump and the GOPs anti-trans rhetoric.I recognize now that this may not accurately reflect how you think of yourself, and for that I am really sorry, Vance wrote in an email, apologizing for calling her a lesbian instead of transgender in his book. I hope youre not offended, but if you are, Im sorry! Love you, JD.Nelson forgave him at the time, but released the email exchange to The New York Times in response to Vances conflicting policies toward the trans community.He achieved great success and became very rich by being a Never Trumper who explained the white working class to the liberal elite, Nelson said, referring to Mr. Vances successful 2016 book. Now hes amassing even more power by expressing the exact opposite.Aug. 1 New Title IX rulesAs Title IX rules which include explicit protections for transgender students go into effect, 26 states issue court orders that prevent these protections from being enforced.Aug. 2 Controversy at the OlympicsPhoto by Algeria Press ServiceAlgerian boxer Imane Khelif, who is a cisgender woman, becomes the center of a heated debate about her participation in the female boxing competition at the Paris Olympics. Trump, J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk complain that Khelif has higher levels of testosterone and they falsely say she is transgender. In response, Khelif, who took home a gold medal, files a criminal complaint against Musk and Rowling over alleged acts of aggravated cyber harassment.Subscribe nowSept. 4 Trump lies about trans youthTrump with Moms for Liberty Founder Tiffany Justice (C-SPAN)Trump falsely claims that schools in the U.S. are sending students to receive gender-affirming surgeries behind the backs of parents.Sept. 18 Beshear bans some conversion therapy practices in KentuckyPhoto: Office of Gov. Andy BeshearDemocratic Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky signs an executive order banning conversion therapy for minors. The ban is the result of an eight-year-long effort by the group Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky. However, the ban does not apply to religious pastors, who administer the majority of conversion therapy in the U.S. Sept. 19 CNN exposes Mark Robinsons comments on porn forumBy Citizen Media NewsCNN uncovers disturbing comments on a porn forum by Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson, who has described LGBTQ people as maggots and filth. Despite Robinsons history of anti-trans rhetoric, the investigation finds posts that indicate he has an affinity for transgender porn.Sept. 24 Thailand legalizes same-sex marriagePhoto by Tanson Si LomThailand becomes the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriage after its marriage equality bill is endorsed by the monarchy.Oct. 10 The CDC Releases Youth Risk ReportThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention releases a report that finds that roughly 40% of transgender and questioning students are bullied at school and approximately 26% of transgender and questioning students attempted suicide in the past year.Nov 1 JD Vance and Normal GaysOn Joe Rogans podcast, Vance says, I wouldnt be surprised if me and Trump won, just, the normal gay guy vote, because they just wanted to be left the hell alone.Nov. 5 Sarah McBride Elected to HouseBy Ted EytenDelaware State Senator Sarah McBride wins her election and becomes the first transgender member of Congress.Nov. 5 Trump Wins After Spending Big on Anti-Trans AdsDonald Trump wins the Presidential election after he and the GOP spend more than $215 million dollars on anti-trans attack ads.Nov. 6 Harris breaks records amongst LGBTQ VotersThe LGBTQ community overwhelmingly vote in favor of Kamala Harris at 86%, compared to the 13% of queer people who voted for Trump. This marks Trumps worst performance among the LGBTQ community.Nov. 17 FBI investigates wave of offensive anti-LGBTQ text messagesFollowing Donald Trumps election, a wave of texts are sent instructing LGBTQ recipients to report to a re-education camp. These texts come after a series of racist texts were sent to Black people and crisis calls from LGBTQ youth spiked by 700% after election day.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support LGBTQ-focused accountability journalism, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Nov. 18 Rep. Nancy Mace introduces trans bathroom ban in the CapitolWeeks before transgender Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride is set to arrive in Washington, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace introduces a resolution that would prohibit any lawmakers and House employees from using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.House Speaker Mike Johnson backs the bill, saying, A man is a man and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman.Nov. 22 First Openly Gay Treasury Secretary NomineePhoto by Senator Tim ScottTrump nominates hedge fund billionaire Scott Bessent to his cabinet as Treasury Secretary. If confirmed, Bessent will be the first openly gay man to hold that position and the fourth gay man to be elected to a cabinet position.Nov. 23 Khalid comes outPhoto by MTV UKGrammy-nominated singer Khalid comes out as gay. I got outted and the world still continues to turn, he wrote in a tweet. Lets get this straight (lmao) I am not ashamed of my sexuality! In reality it aint nobodies business! But I am okay with me.Nov. 25 Walmart pulls back on DEI effortsWalmart confirms that its ending some of its diversity initiatives, removing some LGBTQ-related merchandise from its website and winding down a nonprofit that funded programs for minorities.The nations largest big-box retailer joins a list of companies that caved to pressure from far-right influencers.Dec. 4th SCOTUS hears arguments on gender-affirming care for trans youthSCOTUS hears oral arguments related to U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case that looks at whether a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors under the age of 18 would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case looks at healthcare treatments, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers, for transgender minors and would impose civil penalties on doctors who violate the prohibitions. Some two dozen similar laws have been enacted in recent years in Republican-led states. Chase Strangio, an attorney for the ACLU who argued for the plaintiffs, makes history as the first openly transgender person to argue before the US Supreme Court.Dec. 11 UK hormone blocker ban made indefiniteThe UK government indefinitely extends a ban on prescribing puberty blockers to minors. They restrict care while claiming that all-around holistic support is the goal of the countrys National Health Service for childrens gender service.Dec. 12 Trump avoids trans bathroom discussion in TIME interviewAfter being named TIMEs Person of the Year, Trump says he does not want to focus on which bathroom trans people can use. I dont want to get into the bathroom issue. Because it's a very small number of people we're talking about, and it's ripped apart our country, so they'll have to settle whatever the law finally agrees, he said, after having aggressively attacked the trans community throughout his campaign.Dec. 18 U.S. Senate blocks healthcare for trans kids with parents in the militaryThe Senate passes the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act, including a provision to block healthcare coverage for the transgender children of service members seeking gender-affirming care. The bill has yet to be signed into law.Dec. 18 More than 570 Anti-LGBTQ BillsAs the year closes, the ACLU tallies 574 anti-LGBTQ bills across the U.S. from 2024 alone. 62 are advancing, 46 have passed into law, and 396 have been defeated.Dec. 22 Trump Speaks at AmericaFest Conference in ArizonaAt the far right rally, Trump says, "With the stroke of my pen on day one we are gonna stop the transgender lunacy, and I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools."If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

Queer author and researcher Jaime Grant quite clearly remembers the day she got fired by her doctor.Following a 2012 hysterectomy, Grant, then living in Kalamazoo, Michigan, told her physician that she wished to discuss new hormone replacement treatments therapies with her male doctor. She added that she had learned about these therapies from practitioners who had worked with trans people.He abruptly closed her medical file and left the exam room. Grant recalled that his last words were, I cant help you. He had fired Grant as his patient.Queer women on the whole face unique issues in their everyday lives, including how and when they access healthcare. The overt and covert discrimination that queer women like Grant experience makes it more difficult to navigate a healthcare system that was not built for their needs.I had already been involved with womens health advocacy for 25 years at that point in my life so I was accustomed to discussing my heath and healthcare options with my medical providers in the past, said Grant. This should never have happened to me or the many other queer women who have been ignored and dismissed by medical providers over the years.Grant took a key role in efforts to address disparities in medical practices, so queer women get the healthcare they need without the fear of being marginalized and dismissed by healthcare organizations and individual providers. She co-authored theUrvashi Vaid LGBTQ Womens Survey(named after the late LGBTQ+ activist, attorney and author who partnered with Grant to create the survey in 2018), which found that queer women face significant health disparities, mental illness issues and overall barriers to healthcare due to a variety of issues that are specific to that community.The 5000queer women survey respondentscited myriad access and cost issues and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in medical offices, healthcare facilities and hospitals as the reasons for why they put off or dont obtain medical care.With the surveys release, Grant and co-author Savy Elahian hope that the entire medical field will learn from these results and make the necessary improvements so queer women feel comfortable in healthcare settings. This includes eliminating the sexism, racism, anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and fatphobia from the institutions that are supposed to take care of all queer womens health.Elahian said, This is powerful data that people need to listen tofrom the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to doctors offices to medical universities.Grant added, We need health spaces that are driven and determined by LGBTQ+ women. We already know what works for us which is community-based solutions, peer-based counseling and support and transformative justices approaches that have been trailblazed by queer BIPOC women. We are saving each other.Rather than culturally competent care, Grant said, queer women must advocate for culturally congruent carecare for queer women as defined by queer women.AnApril 2024 JAMA investigationillustrated the grave consequences of ignoring these needs. The study, which focused on a cohort of nurses living with chronic conditions, found that those who identified as lesbian or bisexual died 26% sooner than straight women. The study further found that lesbian women died 20% sooner and bisexual women died 37% sooner.A March 2021 Williams Institute reportadditionally showed that over half of queer women fear negative judgement by their healthcare provider and that anti-LGBTQ+ bias may impact their care. The report also found that, among other issues, nearly 29% of LBQ women described their health as fair or poor, compared to 19% of straight women.A number of LGBTQ+ focused healthcare facilities in the U.S., among them Boston-basedFenway Healthand Chicago-basedHoward Brown Health(Howard Brown), are trying to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how they address these medical disparities as well as the facilitation of queer womens comprehensive healthcare access.Some queer women dont realize that their health care needs are different from other womens health care needs.Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., M.P.H Fenway HealthsFenway InstituteCo-Chair Jennifer Potter, MD, said that the institutes focus is on research to help improve outcomes and healthcare policy to change laws and education to teach healthcare professionals to do a better job.Potter spoke about the importance of queer women being their own healthcare advocates because, Your health is important and you can find healthcare that will meet your needsbut it may take a little bit of advocacy on your part.Fenway Institutes National LGBT Health Education Center provides a brochure calledDo Ask, Do Tell: Talking to Your Healthcare Provider About Being LGBT,which has resource links and answers to frequently asked questions. Potter also pointed to GLMAsFind a Provider LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directorywhich is a free, searchable database where patients can find doctors, medical professionals and healthcare providers who are knowledgeable and sensitive to the unique health needs of LGBTQ+ people inthe United StatesandCanada.Fenway Health has hosted the annual Audre Lorde Cancer Awareness Brunch fellowship gathering for over 25 years to raise awareness of cancer diagnoses among the BIPOC and queer women populations, as well as other regular health screenings and events for women.Howard Brown Medical Director of Preventive Health Kenya Thomas, MD, said, When youre uncomfortable with your medical provider, youre far less likely to approach sensitive topics like sexual health or feel like your concerns will be heard before they become severe. In LGBTQ+ women, this can result in issues like undiagnosed chronic illness, untreated STIs, late diagnoses for cervical cancer and much more.Howard Brown joined over 30 LGBTQ+ and multi-racial organizations as a collaborative group to create the Equality Healthcare Cultural Competency Coalition, which pushed for cultural competency training requirements for licensure. That coalition emerged in response toa bill signed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzkerrequiring that cultural competency is part of continuing medical education.According to American Medical Associations (AMA) immediate past President and Medical College of Wisconsin Professor of Anesthesiology Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., M.P.H (who is gay and the first out LGBTQ+ leader of that organization), The AMA has toolkits for physicians to enhance understanding of the unique health issues of the LGBTQ+ community, including queer women, such as access to reproductive healthcare, mental health support and screenings for conditions like breast and cervical cancer.The AMA also has established aNational LGBTQ+ Fellowship Programthrough its AMA Foundation to train physicians in LGBTQ+ health that has resulted in a network of culturally competent healthcare providers. In 2024, the AMA also created theLGBTQ+ Section,whose work advocates for best-care practices for the LGBTQ+ community that is, among other things, aimed at the improvement of access and health outcomes for queer women. Ehrenfeld noted that, since there is no unified curriculum in medical schools that focuses on queer/trans peoples health needs, the AMA began working with medical schools to ensure that all doctors receive training on LGBTQ+ patients health needs.Ehrenfeld advises that medical providers use intake forms allowing patients to self-identify their sexual orientation, gender identity (and sex assigned at birth), relationship status and the pronouns they use, thereby reducing the potential stigma that queer women and LGBTQ+ people on the whole feel when they access medical care. He added that the questions should be nonjudgemental about patients sexual behavior, contraception use, STI prevention and family planning.Some queer women dont realize that their health care needs are different from other womens health care needs, Ehrenfeld said.A lot of physicians are reluctant to ask about sexual orientationso queer women may not feel like they need to disclose that information or feel uncomfortable disclosing that information. The evidence is clearthe needs of LGBTQ+ individuals are unique. Patients do better when they are able to be honest about who they are and who they love.The post Removing barriers preventing many queer women from healthcare access appeared first on News Is Out.

When Cedric Sturdevant, of Mississippi, was diagnosed with HIV in 2005, he tried to ignore his status.Sturdevant said he was concerned about what people would think of him for having HIV and afraid to talk openly about his diagnosis, which led him to avoiding addressing the condition and the kinds of care it required.Like many people, I thought I could just ignore it, Sturdevant said. So I didnt seek treatment or get on medication until a year later, and that was because I almost died with complications of HIV.With the support of his family, community and church, Sturdevant found the treatment he needed and overcame that fear of rejection due to his HIV status, he said. Now, hes made it his mission to help others like him living with HIV and affected by its stigma.A lot of people are too concerned about what people say to seek treatment or talk about their status, Sturdevant said. I was at first, but Ive learned to not be worried about what people say, and I hope that by sharing my story, other people can learn that, too.Sturdevant co-foundedCommunity Health-PIER(Prevention, Intervention, Education and Research), an organization based in Greenville, Mississippi, that focuses on raising awareness for the health disparities experienced within the Black community, primarily around HIV and AIDS.Not only is Sturdevant among an estimated 1.2 million people in the U.S. living with HIV and affected by its stigma, but hes also part of a network of organizations across the country working to overturn negative ways in which people think about the disease.While experts and research suggest these kinds of organizations are making progress in eliminating stigma around HIV, they also say that the negative attitudes and beliefs surrounding the disease are still a major issue.On Nov. 27, GLAAD released its2024 State of HIV Stigma Report, which is used to track Americans knowledge and attitudes around HIV and its stigma.The report found signs of progress, including a decrease in the belief that stigma around HIV still exists to 85% in 2024down from 89% in 2020. Additionally, nearly 90% of Americans reported knowing at least a little about HIV in 2024, and half said they felt knowledgeable about the disease.But GLAADs findings also showed areas where more work needs to be done. The report found a significant decrease in the belief that everyone should get tested for HIV from 77% in 2020 to 67% in 2024. This decline was seen in all regions of the country.Cedric Sturdevan, co-founder of Community Health-PIER. Photo: Cedric SturdevanAdditionally, there was a decrease in the belief that people living with HIV can experience long, healthy lives from 90% in 2020 to 85% in 2024, according to GLAAD.Despite the advances in treatment and prevention, GLAADs 2024 State of HIV Stigma showed that fewer Americans report knowing the fact that people living with HIV today, when on effective treatment, can live long and healthy lives and cannot transmit HIV, said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. Meaningful representation of HIV facts and people living with HIV is sorely needed in news and entertainment to increase education and decrease stigma.Aces Lira, manager of policy and advocacy for theAIDS Foundation of Chicago, said there are multiple factors influencing how HIV stigma manifests today, including its historical context, cultural attitudes toward the disease and how existing healthcare systems respond to it.The historical piece cannot be ignored, Lira said. Theres this initial tainted legacy in that the government was really slow to react to HIV and in fact leaving people that were impacted to die. That has consequences because people remember that.Additionally, receiving an HIV diagnosis can be isolating due to cultural attitudes toward the disease that need to be changed, Lira said.An HIV diagnosis can come with a really deep sense of shame because there are people trying to throw blame or a moral judgment on others for living with HIV, Lira said. You would think there would be more empathy and understanding, but some have these ideas that people living with HIV are seen as dirty or unclean, which only fuels this fire.And then healthcare systems can also contribute to exacerbating HIV stigma, Lira said.People dont always think of the systems and blame the individual first, but what if they didnt have access to insurance or healthcare? Lira said. Maybe they tried getting on PrEP but it fell through, or maybe it was someone who didnt know they were at risk because it wasnt something their primary care provider ever brought up.Dr. Bonnie Pete Thomas, a site medical director forHoward Brown Health, one of the countrys largest LGBTQ+-centered health providers, compared HIV stigma to a three-headed monster thats fueled by ignorance.And I say ignorance not in a way to place blame, Thomas said. Its in a sense that we didnt do our due diligence in educating the community around what HIV is, and that education is crucial to beating the stigma.One effective tactic to educate people about HIV is to partner with other organizations at the grassroots level, Thomas said.We can always work with our friends and allies, but its important that we get outside of our comfort zone and create partnerships with people who traditionally havent had partners like us, Thomas said.Many HIV organizations have found success partnering with churches and community groups who will let them go in and conduct HIV screenings, blood-pressure monitoring and education around the virus, Thomas said.Thats a big part of reducing the stigma and getting people to sit down and listen, Thomas said.Then there are the larger-scale efforts like partnering with news, television, radio and other forms of media to tell stories and share education about HIV, Thomas said. Leveraging social media is also crucial.HIV stigma is still a very persistent challenge in healthcare, and it has to be a part of every organizations strategy to invest robustly in our grassroots efforts, outreach teams and media to dismantle the stigma, Thomas said.The post Experts: HIV stigma still a persistent challenge despite signs of progress appeared first on News Is Out.

New York Times opinion writer David Brooks recently detailed how the confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Donald Trumps nominee for secretary of defense, made him sick to his stomach. Brooks opened by discussing the important questions senators would be expected to ask someone applying to lead the U.S. military, like how AI and drones will affect wars and how to shift our defense strategy to focus on nation-state warfare over counterterrorism. Related Elizabeth Warren eviscerates Pete Hegseth after he claims to suddenly support women in combat Elizabeth Warren brought the receipts. If youre a Democrat trying to sink a nomination, you would think youd want to ask substantive questions on life-or-death issues like these in order to expose the nominees ignorance and unpreparedness, Brooks wrote, adding that if you thought those kinds of questions would dominate the hearing, you must be living under the illusion that we live in a serious country. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today He went on to say we currently live in a soap opera country, where the main goal is to rile up voters and go viral rather than try to communicate actual information about policy. As Brooks put it, You dont win this game by engaging in serious thought; you win by mere attitudinizing by striking a pose.Hegseth, he said, is the living, breathing embodiment of this culture. The world is on fire and whats his obsession? Wokeness in the military.He criticized Democrats, too, for focusing on Hegseths views about women in combat. Like everybody in my social class, I support women in combat, he said, but I dont think its as important an issue as failure to deter World War III.He slammed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who he has enormous respect for, because her questions were focused on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, veterans benefits, allegations of sexual assault against Hegseth, and Hegseths alleged drinking problems. She didnt show much interest in topics like how to deter and fight a war which are kind of central to the purview of this committee, Brooks said. He praised certain Democratic senators for their lines of questioning, but said Republicans overall were the more serious party at the hearing. I finished watching the hearing sick to my stomach, he added, saying he came away thinking there needs to be a better way to think about expertise. Hegseths core populist conviction repeated ad nauseam is that the grunts on the ground know what they are doing and the pencil-necked geeks in air-conditioned offices just write nonsense regulations that get in the way We dont want to live in a populist paradise in which expertise is suspect and ignorance a sign of virtue. Nor do we want to live in an elitist world in which technocrats try to rule the world.For a healthy democracy, there must be a balance, he said, but so much of what this country needs has been corrupted by the war for short attention spans. For now, Brooks has made it very clear what he thinks based on the title of his op-ed: We Deserve Pete Hegseth. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

I have learned many lessons in my studies of authoritarian takeovers of once-thriving democratic nations, which often lead to genocides. Strong leaders employ dehumanizing stereotypes andscapegoat entire groups while other citizens or entire nations refuse to intervene and sometimes even contribute to the spread of authoritarianism.This is also apparent at the micro level, such as with schoolyard, community-based, and electronic forms of bullying. Many others, not only the direct perpetrators of the oppression, play a key role. Dan Olweus, international researcher and bullying prevention specialist, enumerates the distinctive and often overlapping roles assumed in these episodes:The person or persons who perpetrate bullyingThe active followers Dive deeper every day Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues Subscribe to our Newsletter today Those who passively support, condone, or collude in the aggressionThe onlookers (sometimes referred to as bystanders)The possible defenders of the targets of aggressionThose who actually defend the targets of aggressionThose who are exposed, attacked, targeted, victimized. Related Donald Trump is coming for our rights. Democratic governors need to join the fight. Blue state governors can help blunt the impact of the next administration. Heres what theyre working on and what more they could do. Coconspirators are those who either perpetuate the abuse or actively follow the perpetrators. Enabler is the term given to those who fail to act and instead aid the perpetrators of the abuse. Passive bystander or bad Samaritan is the name for onlookers who are conscious of bad actions developing around them but fail to intervene.Enabling and passively standing by takes many forms. Let us look at the case of those who are around an active addict, like an alcoholic. Enabling can include anything from offering an addict substances to conspiring with an addict in a plot to steal money for the substance to reinforcing the denial of addicts by asserting that they dont have a problem to downplaying the seriousness and making excuses for their behaviors to translating for others what the person really meant to downright lying.Let us now apply the roles to the case of national politics and, specifically, to actions leading to the decline of democratic institutions and democracy itself. I will do this by asking several critical questions.Following the second election of Donald Trump, I discovered that several of my acquaintances voted for the twice impeached convicted felon, who The Washington Postfound guilty of making 30,573 false or misleading statements (or an average of 21 per day) during his first term. Trumpwon77,303,568 votes, or 49.8% a plurality rather than a majority of the votes cast for president.Many political forecasters predicted members of the upper classes, who expected Trump to continue or enhance the corporate and income/wealth tax breaks from his first term, would vote for the former president. But many who voted for Trump were also blue-collar, working-class people who might have fared better voting for Kamala Harris and the Democrats whose policies under the Biden administration have led to significant improvement in the economy over the past four years and have made the U.S. one of the strongest and most resilient economies in the world.So why did people presumably vote against their own economic self-interests to elect a billionaire and his plutocratic enablers to the highest and most powerful office in the land?Were they simply low-information voters who were not knowledgeable about the issues and solutions the Democrats offered? Was the Democrats communication of the issues flawed, failing to reach voters on a deep level?Did they buy the propaganda and lies of the Republican party and right-wing media factory, like claims the Democrats stole the 2020 election through the deep state or that trans women are a threat to women athletes? Did they believe the GOP when they said the Democrats have ruined the economy and that illegal aliens are coming to commit crimes, steal our jobs, and drain our resources? Historians and political operatives will spend a long time investigating the actual reasons for the Democrats loss of the presidency and Senate in 2024, and undoubtedly they will find that many factors contributed. But how much should we hold the uninformed voter, the politically disengaged, accountable for the current state of affairs? Donald Trump has long embraced the term nationalism in his America First policies, which advocate for our nations reduced involvement in the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union, and withdrawal from our commitments to the Paris Climate Accords and the Iran Nuclear Deal, among other policies.During Trumps time in office, he conspicuously moved right-wing extremists from the margins to the center of his MAGA movement. At a Democratic fundraiser in advance of the 2022 midterm elections, President Joe Biden blasted the so-calledMake America Great Again philosophy,arguing that it is semi-fascism.Many top Republicans pushed back against Bidens assessment, but in August 2022, Threats to Democracy became the number one most important issue facing the country, according to a plurality of registered voters (21%) in anNBC News poll. 16% of respondents identified the biggest issue as cost of living, and 14% said the economy. This came on the heels of a survey conducted by theSouthern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with Tulchin Researchindicatingthat53% of Republicans and 39% ofDemocrats believe that the U.S. seems headed toward anothercivilwar.Speaking on this point, Republican South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham responded to Trey Gowdy, host of Fox NewssSunday Night in America: If theres a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle [referring to the four Americans killed in Benghazi while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State]therell be riots in the streets.Graham asserted this as a threat rather than a warning without even adding the obligatory, But I hope it doesnt come to that. The SPLC survey also found support for the Great Replacement Theory, which was referenced by the mass shooter who opened fire in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket in 2022.The theory has its origins in Europe, and its American iteration is a racist trope that dates back to Reconstruction in the United States. Replacement ideology holds that a hidden hand (often imagined as Jewish) is encouraging the invasion of nonwhite immigrants and the rise of nonwhite citizens to take power from white Christians of European stock.When white supremacists marched with torches in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, they charged, Jews will not replace us! Did the Civil War ever end?Most historians agree that the nearly 20 years and two trillion dollars spent in Afghanistan which resulted in 2,401 United States military deaths and another 20,752 wounded U.S. servicemembers embodied our countrys longestwar.This may be true, but one could also argue that title belongs to theWarBetween the States, also referred to as the AmericanCivilWar, which began on April 12, 1861, with the bombardment of the South Carolina militia against Fort Sumter, a military garrison in Charleston. While a treaty of surrender to Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant was signed by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865, no secession of hostilities or retreat from overt and covert combat have transpired.Civil war raged here even prior to the adoption of its official designation as the United States of America, from the first footprints of European explorers and colonialists who exploited the land and committed genocide and enslavement of indigenous populations to the increasing hordes of settlers who ceded indigenous peoples lands against their will to 1619 Virginia bringing the first enslaved Africans to toil and die as chattel in the fields.It continued through thewarof revolution against the British, up to the Southern attack on Fort Sumter, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, WorldWarsI and II, Korea, Vietnam, theCivilRights eras, 9/11,the warsin Iraq and Afghanistan, Tea Party politicians, and the fights between the economic haves and have not. It continued through Covid and the anti-vaxxers, Me Too, Black Lives Matter, March for Our Lives, and the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The United States has been anything but united. Instead, the countrys history encompasses a perennialcivilwarthat has been made more visible in the Trumpian age. This is democracys most challenging hour since Fort Sumter,historian John Meacham has argued.Meachams words may be true, but I dont think a second civilwaris imminent. I believe, instead, that we are seeing the ramping up of the warthat did not actually end in 1865.If we can keep it Benjamin Franklin was one of the nations founders who attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to draft our now-famous founding document. At the age of 81, though a perennial optimist, he had no illusions and thought it impossible to expect any group of people, no matter how wise or brilliant, to create a perfect production.Even with all its faults, however, Franklin believed that this Constitution was far superior to any alternative that could possibly emerge. He had a warning, though. As the story is told, when departing the Constitutional Convention, a group of citizens approached Franklin and asked him what kind of government the delegates had created.His response: A republic, if you can keep it.International security and defense analystMonica Duffy Toftfound that all civil wars share at least three common features. First, they come about after a prior conflict, like a previouscivilwar. Neither the issues nor the direct fighters need to be the same as the old, though. Very often, a charismatic leader arises and articulates a narrative about past glory or grievance that aligns with their ideology, political ambitions, or even flows from simple historical ignorance. Second is a severe rupture in national identity: National identity is divided along some critical axis, such as race, faith, or class. All countries have fracture lines and cleavages, wrote Toft, but some divides are deeper than others. Even initially minor cleavages may be exploited by domestic or foreign actors committed to redistributing wealth or power.Third is a shift from tribalism to sectarianism. In tribalism, groups question if other groups adhere to or project the best interests of the larger general community. In sectarian environments, the elites (economic, social, and political) and those they represent determine that anyone who disagrees with them is unpatriotic and evil and that they are actively attempting to undermine communities and the larger society.To equate this to religion, some denominations bifurcate the apostates from the evil infidels. Currently, members of the MAGA Republicans (the apostates) portray the more mainstream Republicans as RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), the evil infidels. The rise to sectarianism and authoritarianism develops by what Toft calls a severely damaged information space. With the rise of cable news programming and entire networks since the 1990s, there has been an ongoing shift from broadcasting to narrowcasting, from professional journalism with a shared agreement of facts versus fiction and propaganda to a new disconnected world with multiple competing versions of reality (alternative facts).In her 2022 bookHowCivilWarsStart, Barbara F. Walter suggested, We are closer tocivilwarthan any of us would like to believe No one wants to believe that their beloved democracy is in decline or headed towardwar [but] if you were an analyst in a foreign country looking at events in America you would go down a checklist, assessing each of the conditions that makecivilwarlikely. And what you would find is that the United States, a democracy founded more than two centuries ago, has entered very dangerous territory.Indeed, the United States has already gone through what the CIA identifies as the first two phases of insurgency: 1. The pre-insurgency phase, and 2. The incipient conflict phase. Only time will tell whether the final phase is fully activated: The open insurgency phase began with the sacking of the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. Things deteriorated so dramatically under Trump, in fact, that after his term ended the United States no longer technically qualified as a democracy. Citing the Center for Systemic Peaces Polity data set the one the CIA task force has found to be most reliable in predicting instability and violence Walter wrote that the United States had become an anocracy, somewhere between a democracy and an autocratic state.U.S. democracy had received the Polity Indexs top score of 10, or close to it, for much of its history. But in the first years of the Trump era, it tumbled precipitously into the anocracy zone.By the end of Trumps first term, the U.S. score had fallen to a 5, making the country a partial democracy for the first time since 1800. We are no longer the worlds oldest continuous democracy, Walter said. That honor is now held by Switzerland, followed by New Zealand, and then Canada. We are no longer a peer to nations like Canada, Costa Rica, and Japan, which are all rated a +10 on the Polity index.Dropping five points in five years greatly increases the risk ofcivilwar. A partial democracy is three times as likely to experiencecivilwaras a full democracy, Walter states.A country standing on this threshold as America is now, at +5 can easily be pushed toward conflict through a combination of bad governance and increasingly undemocratic measures that further weaken its institutions. Right now after Bidens term, the score is back up to an 8. Others have reached similar findings. The Stockholm-basedInternational Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistanceputs the United States on a list of backsliding democracies in a report in November 2021.The United States, the bastion of global democracy, fell victim to authoritarian tendencies itself, the report said.And a 2021 survey by the academic consortiumBright Line Watchfound that 17% of those who identify strongly as Republicans supported the use of violence to restore Trump to power, and 39% favored doing everything possible to prevent Democrats from governing effectively. We are on the doorstep of the open insurgency stage ofcivilconflict, and Walter wrote that once countries cross that threshold, there could be sustained violence as increasingly active extremists launch attacks that involve terrorism and guerrilla warfare including assassinations and ambushes.I wonder whether the United States would be experiencing an overt form ofcivilwarif Trump had lost to Kamala Harris. I wonder where assessment agencies like the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance will place the U.S. on its list of backsliding democracies at the conclusion of Trumps second term.And as Dan Olweus taught us through his work on bullying, there is no such thing as a passive or innocent bystander. The turns this country takes depend on us all.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

TikTok going dark in the U.S. for 14 hours revealed secrets about the people behind your fave viral videos, but for some BookTok girlies, the revelations sent them into full-blown bi-panic. Prior to the TikTok ban taking effect when the app temporarily shut down in America on Saturday night, some of the biggest TikTokers thinking the app might be gone for good divulged things they had been keeping from their audiences. From a fitness influencer announcing that she never did the workouts to a fancy ice cube maker saying she didnt use the ice to a beauty influencer admitting her viral foundation challenge was partially faked, the secrets had viewers shook.But for BookTok, the biggest reveal led to women questioning their sexuality!As dark romance fans have taken over the book-loving side of TikTok, men started making thirst traps wearing masks and motorcycle helmets to disguise their faces like the love interests in popular books like Lights Out by Navesssa Allen, Carnival Nightmare by Selena Winters, God of Malice by Rina Kent, and The Ritual by Shantel Tessier.Or at least everyone thought they were men!The masked TikToker Commander (@the99commander), who makes thirst traps wearing tactical gear and a helmet, made a face reveal video showing the world that she is, in fact, a green-haired, pierced woman, and the commenters went feral for her.@the99thcommanderFace Reveal. @ #facereveal #tacticalgear #masktok #theviridianpriestess #the99thcommander #booktok #katrinacalandra #maskedman #TheViridianPriestesscosplay #lgbtq #queer #pan #queerjoy #greenhairAnd theres that bi panic, one person wrote.I was pleasantly surprised with this face reveal. - Sincerely a bi girlie, someone else admitted.Running in circles squealing in panic, one commenter wrote, while another posted, Aaaand theres the bi-panic setting it. In all seriousness, I do love your content. And if anything, now I love it more.Another commenter pointed out that Commander being a woman actually makes a lot of sense because who would know what would turn women on more than another woman, Girlies know what the girlies wantand you know whatIM HERE FOR IT.And shes not the only masked man to pull their mask off and reveal that the person all of these women were lusting after was a woman the whole time.TikToker Callsign: Mystic (@callsign.mystic), who posts thirst traps wearing a skeleton mask to audio from dark romances, did a version of this video, revealing that she is also a woman in disguise.@callsign.mysticIt started out as just something different from my main co tent, but turns out, I enjoy being Mysic/Ghost! Maybe more in the future ? #ghostcosplay #maskedmen #mw2 #cod #codcosplay #callsign_mystic #maskedwomen #callofdutycosplay #simonghostriley #simonriley #ghost #ghostcallofduty #callofduty #maskedThis is why all the content was on point and just what the girls wanted, someone commented on the video.So youre telling me that all my fantasy crushes are female, another person wrote.Ive been bamboozled for the last 6 years..and Im ok with that, another swooning commenter said.So, while the majority of the masked-man dark romance novels BookTok obsesses over are about straight relationships, it turns out the girlies loving the masked cosplayers on TikTok may not be as straight as they thought!Keep scrolling to see more MaskTok reveals and response videos.@m_eagan#maskedcosplayer #codcosplay #thirsttrap praise the women on this app for doing the lords work @_maskedcosplays_Thank you all so much for watching and liking my content. In just over a year I, somehow, managed to gain over 4 thousand followers...Which is INSANE! I'm going to miss this silly little app and all of you guys #callofdutycosplay #maskedmen #masktok #keeganruss #facereveal@callsign.kodaFace reveal cause why the fuck not hi, Im Koda #c#codm#maskedm#maskedmenf#fypS#SimonRileyG#Ghostc#codcosplaym#maskedcosplayc#callofdutyK#Kodac#codmaskedg#ghostcosplayb#booktokmasktok@adultingandreading#masktok #mastokfacereveals #tiktokisback #tiktokban #booktokgirly

The Supreme Court has upheld a law banning TikTok in the United States. As of Jan. 19, U.S.-based users will no longer be able to download or use the popular short-form video platform, though TikTok and President-elect Donald Trump have stated they are currently discussing a solution to keep the app operational. Here's everything you need to know about the TikTok ban. And here's everything you need to know about finding an alternative. Why is TikTok being banned? The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a law that requires ByteDance, TikToks China-based parent company, to sell the app or face a nationwide ban. Passed in Congress with bipartisan support and signed by President Joe Biden, the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" requires ByteDance, TikToks China-based parent company, to sell the app or face a nationwide ban. ByteDance has said it will start the process of shutting down TikToks U.S. operations on Jan. 19. Lawmakers have argued that the app poses national security risks because of its foreign ownership, but opponents of the ban argue the move infringes on the First Amendment right to free speech.What did the Supreme Court say about the TikTok ban?The Supreme Court wrote in a unanimous decision that the ban does "not violate [TikTok's] First Amendment rights," as it "further[s] an important government interest unrelated to the suppression of free expression and do[es] not burden substantially more speech than necessary to further that interest.""There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary."Is TikTok really a national security threat? While lawmakers have claimed they cannot release much of their evidence proving TikTok's threat to security due to it being classified, experts say that the app isn't any more invasive than other social media platforms. A 2021 study by the University of Torontos Citizen Lab found that TikTok's data harvesting is nearly identical to that of Facebook or Instagram, and an investigation into the app by the C.I.A. found no concrete evidence of Chinese authorities using users' data, according to The New York Times. Notably, other China-based apps have not been subject to the same scrutiny, including Shein, Temu, and RedNote. Can TikTok be used after the ban? ByteDance plans to completely shut down TikTok in the U.S. once the ban takes effect on Jan. 19, Reuters reports, even though the app could have theoretically remained operational on personal devices that had already downloaded it. However, the app would not have been able to continue indefinitely without updates, which ByteDance would have no longer been able to deploy. What did Donald Trump say about the TikTok ban?Trump voiced support for the decision on Truth Social while simultaneously stating that he had not yet made a "decision on TikTok.""The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it," Trump wrote. "My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"President Joe Biden's administration said it would not be enforcing the ban for the one day it is in effect during his term, stating: "Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday."What did TikTok say about the ban?TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a video message posted to the platform that he and Trump were working on a solution to keep the platform operational in the U.S. On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States, Chew said. This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process," he continued.What do TikTokers think of the ban?Many TikTok creators have raised concerns about the effect such a ban has on their right to free speech. Others have highlighted the law's troubling legal journey. V Spehar, the nonbinary journalist behind Under the Desk News, recently told The Advocate that the ban "isnt just about TikTok, its about the government setting a precedent that platforms can be shut down without evidence or due process.The case relied on secret evidence documents that werent even shared during discovery, they said. And the court ruled, We dont even need to see the evidence because Congress says so. That kind of deference to government say-so over a trial or hard proof is terrifying.Losing TikTok isnt just losing an app; its losing a platform that amplifies voices traditional media often ignores, Spehar continued. Its a place where queer people, women, and people of color hold the most power right now.

Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki tips his batting helmet to fans after hitting a single against the Los Angeles Angels in the fourth inning during a baseball game, April 16, 2009, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file)2025-01-21T14:30:44Z NEW YORK (AP) Ichiro Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for baseballs Hall of Fame, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected Tuesday along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots and Wagner on 325, which was 29 more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.The trio will be inducted into the Hall at Cooperstown on July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in last month by the classic era committee.Mariano Rivera remained the only player to get 100% of the vote from the BBWAA, appearing on all 425 ballots in 2019. Derek Jeter was picked on 395 of 396 in 2020.Carlos Beltrn fell 19 votes short of election with 277 and was followed by Andruw Jones with 261.Suzuki came to Major League Baseball from Japan as a 27-year-old in 2001 and joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same season. He was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with Seattle (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami (2015-17).Hes perhaps the best contact hitter ever, with 1,278 hits in Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB, including a season-record 262 in 2004. His combined total of 4,367 exceeds Pete Roses MLB record of 4,256. Sabathia was a six-time All-Star, won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), Milwaukee (2008) and the New York Yankees (2009-19).Wagner received 284 votes and 73.8% in the 2024 balloting, five votes shy, when third baseman Adrian Beltr, catcher/first baseman Joe Mauer and first baseman Todd Helton were elected. On the ballot for the 10th and final time, Wagner received 10.5% support in his first appearance in 2016. Wagner became the ninth pitcher in the Hall who was primarily a reliever after Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith and Rivera. A seven-time All-Star, Wagner was 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and 422 saves for Houston (1995-2003), Philadelphia (2004-05), the New York Mets (2006-09), Boston (2009) and Atlanta (2010). His 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings are the most among pitchers with at least 900 innings.Beltrn received 46.5% in 2023 in his first ballot appearance and 57.1% last year. A nine-time All-Star, he had a .279 batting average, 435 home runs, 1,587 RBIs and 312 stolen bases for Kansas City (1998-2004), Houston (2004, 17), the Mets (2005-11), San Francisco (2011), St. Louis (2012-13), the Yankees (2014-16) and Texas (2016).He was hired as Mets manager on Nov. 1, 2019, then was fired the following Jan. 16 without having managed a game, three days after he was the only Astros player mentioned by name in a report by MLB regarding the teams illicit use of electronics to steal signs during Houstons run to the 2017 World Series title. Jones increased from 61.6% last year and 7.3% when he first appeared in 2018.Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramrez have lagged in voting, hurt by suspensions for performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez received 34.8% last year in his third appearance and Ramrez 32.5% in his ninth. Players joining the ballot in 2026 include Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Defense secretary, appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-01-21T22:38:41Z WASHINGTON (AP) Senators vetting the nomination of Pete Hegseth for defense secretary received an affidavit Tuesday from a former sister-in-law alleging that the onetime Fox News host was abusive to his second wife, to the point where she feared for her safety. Hegseth denies the allegations. The sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, was formerly married to the nominees brother, and in an affidavit obtained by The Associated Press she said she believes that Pete Hegseth is unfit to run the Defense Department based on what she witnessed and heard. She said she first relayed her allegations to the FBI in December but was concerned that the information was not shared with Congress as senators consider Hegseths nomination to lead the Pentagon.The affidavit describes Hegseths treatment of his second wife, Samantha, and alleges repeat drunkenness and a domestic situation where Samantha Hegseth had a safe word to indicate if she was in danger at home. Danielle Hegseth said Samantha texted that safe word to her sometime in 2015 or 2016, which prompted her to call a third party for help. I have chosen to come forward publicly, at significant personal sacrifice, because I am deeply concerned by what Hegseths confirmation would mean for our military and our country, she said. An attorney for Pete Hegseth vehemently denied the allegations. Tim Parlatore said the affidavit was filled with belated claims by an ex-relative with an axe to grind against the entire Hegseth family. Sam has never alleged that there was any abuse, she signed court documents acknowledging that there was no abuse and recently reaffirmed the same during her FBI interview, Parlatore said in a statement. Belated claims by Danielle Dietrich, an anti-Trump far left Democrat who is divorced from Mr. Hegseths brother and never got along with the Hegseth family, do nothing to change that. The affidavit was filed in response to a request from Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who said he was seeking her statement to gain personal knowledge about Mr. Hegseths fitness to occupy this important position.In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth says she believes Hegseths marriage to Samantha was abusive. She said Samantha in 2014 told her she once hid in her closet because she feared for her safety. She acknowledged she did not personally witness physical or sexual abuse by Pete Hegseth toward his wife. I believe what Samantha told me because what she told me is consistent with what I personally observed of Hegseths erratic and aggressive behavior over many years, she said.Neither Samantha Hegseth nor an attorney who represented her in divorce proceedings immediately responded to requests for comment. In a statement to NBC News, which first reported on the affidavit, Samantha Hegseth said there was no physical abuse in my marriage. This is the only further statement I will make to you, I have let you know that I am not speaking and will not speak on my marriage to Pete. Please respect this decision. Samantha Hegseth and Pete Hegseth both signed a Minnesota court document in 2021 during their divorce saying neither claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse.The sworn statement arrived just one day after Hegseths nomination was advanced out of the Senate Armed Services Committee despite initial skepticism from many Republicans. A final vote confirming him as defense secretary could come this week.Questions were raised before Hegseths hearing last week about the scope of the FBI background check, which some said failed to include interviews with those who had raised allegations against him. Democrats pushed for a deeper FBI review that could be more broadly shared with senators.During the hearing, Hegseth did not directly answer yes or no on questions about his drinking, instead saying the issue was part of an orchestrated smear campaign against him. At the time, it was left to the Trump transition team to decide how much more information to pursue and share on Hegseth. The information in the affidavit was not relayed to the leaders of the Armed Services Committee when FBI officials briefed them earlier this month on the results of Hegseths background check, according to a person familiar with the contents of the briefing who was granted anonymity to discuss it. As I have said for months, the reports of Mr. Hegseths history of alleged sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and public misconduct necessitate an exhaustive background investigation, Reed said in a statement Tuesday. I have been concerned that the background check process has been inadequate, and this affidavit confirms my fears.Hegseth was grilled by senators during his hearing about his behavior, including excessive drinking, extramarital affairs and allegations of sexual assault, which he has denied. Hegseth has promised not to drink on the job and has denied a 2017 sex assault allegation but acknowledged paying the woman a settlement. He was going through a divorce at the time after having a child with a Fox News producer who became his current wife, according to court records and his social media posts.In the affidavit, Danielle Hegseth also alleges that Pete Hegseth, while under the influence of alcohol and both were leaving a bar, repeatedly shouted no means yes! I took this to mean that, in his opinion, nonconsensual sex is ok, Danielle Hegseth said in the affidavit. In a letter to Hegseth last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another Democrat on the panel, asked that he answer several questions about his previous conduct. The Massachusetts Democrat said she was deeply concerned by the many ways in which your past behavior and rhetoric indicates that you are unfit to lead the Department of Defense.___AP reporters Eric Tucker and Lolita C. Baldor contributed from Washington. FARNOUSH AMIRI Amiri covers Congress for The Associated Press, with a focus on foreign policy and congressional investigations. She previously covered politics for AP as a statehouse reporter based in Columbus, Ohio. twitter mailto TARA COPP Copp covers the Pentagon and national security for the Associated Press. She has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia. twitter mailto

Subscribe nowAs 2024 comes to a close, we reflect on an incredible year filled with progress, challenges, and, above all, your unwavering support. Were humbled by the reception we've received from all of our readers. Since our September launch, we have published 75 stories, including dozens of originally reported rigorous pieces of journalism. Weve covered stories through the human lens of the folks impacted by systems of oppression and injustice:Why werent Dorian and Natalie able to access HIV-prevention medication before they contracted the virus? And why do LGBTQ people of color in the Bible Belt still struggle to access PrEP?Why was it legal for Charles to be spanked and whipped with tree branches just because he wanted to dress up in his grandmas clothes? And what happens to the millions of other queer kids being homeschooled by conservative Christian parents who believe homosexuality is a sin?Why does Elliot, a 17-year-old trans teen from South Carolina, feel that lawmakers see him as someone that shouldnt exist?Weve also acted as a check on power through accountability journalism: Why do at least six anti-LGBTQ hate groups have Special Consultative Status inside the United Nations? Why is Kristen Waggoner, the woman who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, coming for LGBTQ rights? Why did Trump spend five times more on anti-trans ads than on ads focused on the economy?If you are enjoying our work and would like to continue supporting us as we enter a new year and a new administration, consider upgrading to become a paid or founding sponsor. Or if youre in need of a last-minute holiday gift idea, why not send your loved ones a subscription to Uncloseted? :)Gift An Uncloseted Media SubscriptionSubscribe nowIn addition to our journalism, weve solidified a partnership with Gay Times, one of the biggest LGBTQ media brands on earth. Weve partnered with non-LGBTQ publications like The Nation, Fierce Healthcare and Votebeat. And weve appeared on MSNBC, in Axios, and in The Globe and Mail.In 2025, expect rigorous coverage of the Trump administrations positions, policies, and rhetoric surrounding LGBTQ issues. Expect partnerships with local/ state publications where we investigate whats happening with LGBTQ rights in state legislatures or undercovered regions (particularly in red/ rural states). And expect deep dives into how religion is being weaponized to undermine queer rights.Were ready to continue to act as a check on institutions, people, and other forms of power in the U.S. and beyond. Trust and believewere just getting started!From all of us at Uncloseted Media, thank you for making 2024 truly remarkable. Your engagement fuels our mission and drives us to dream even bigger for the year ahead.Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season and a hopeful start to 2025.Subscribe nowWhats Next?This weekend, be on the lookout for our year-end review. Think Spotify Wrapped, but make it key LGBTQ moments from 2024. Coming up in 2025Were kicking off the new year with our most fabulous deep dive yet! On January 3, we take an in-depth look at the cultural phenomenon of RuPauls Drag Race. From redefining mainstream perceptions of the community to sparking global conversations about identity and acceptance, RPDR has left an indelible mark on culture that has affected the mental health of many queer kids in America (one sourcea trans man who grew up in rural Texastold us the show literally saved his life). Featured in the article are interviews with drag superstars Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 and Shea Coule!Well also publish a look at the future of PrEP access and HIV prevention under Trump 2.0 and a GOP-led Congress. Dont miss this vital story from journalist Tim Murphy.Thanks for reading! And feel free to email me with questions, complaints, tips or story ideas!Spencer Macnaughton, Editor-In-Chiefspencer@unclosetedmedia.comIf objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

Photo: Canva. Design by Sam Donndelinger.Subscribe nowIn 2022, on the set of one of the many made-for-TV romance movies that are shot every year, the crew was producing a scene where the supporting casta lesbian couplehave their first dance at the wedding of their dreams. As the music swells, the couple shares a chaste kiss and their families erupt in applause.In the few holiday movies that feature queer characters, producers often avoid including moments that display same-sex intimacy. These networks typically like to dip their toe in the pond, a director of holiday romance films told Uncloseted Media. They want to check off a box in terms of including a queer storyline, but they don't want to go so far as to see characters kiss because that typically does not sell as well to the more Christian-based networks, he says, noting that production companies shoot the movies first and then pitch them to various networks.This director, who asked to remain on background to avoid jeopardizing future opportunities, had advocated to include the lesbian peck and felt it was wrong to omit it. It didn't make sense from a filmmaking standpoint, from a directorial standpoint, and it didn't make sense from a narrative standpoint. I made the argument that it's a bit strange to see a couple go through their first dance and then at the end they just pull away from each other. And so I convinced them to let me shoot the kiss.But after they shot the scene, the movie was packaged [without the peck] in order to sell it to as many domestic and international streaming services and networks as possible. The film was eventually sold to multiple vendors.The omission of any display of LGBTQ intimacy is far from surprising in the over $500 million holiday movie industry. While in recent years, there has been some queer representation on networks like The Hallmark Channel, made-for-TV holiday movies still overwhelmingly depict heterosexual romance.But even with these progressive steps, The Great American Family Channel (GAF)a new major player in the holiday movie industryis making bank by seemingly refusing to include any queer representation. Uncloseted Media was not able to find one openly LGBTQ character in any of their 71 holiday movies over the last four years.This year, GAF signed a multi-year deal with actor Mario Lopez with a focus to showcase diverse talent in front of the camera. Despite this, in the 18 original Christmas films they released this season, there is once again not a single queer storyline that Uncloseted was able to identify.They've carved out some real estate which is defined by some very old school notions of family values. And it's not being announced directly, says Robert Thompson, Director of The Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. Thompson says that the channels refusal to create inclusive stories is a silent declaration of a certain brand.Subscribe nowHow it BeganThe birth of GAF came shortly after a 2019 scandal at The Hallmark Channel, when the far-right group One Million Moms started a petition to keep Hallmark family-friendly after they aired a commercial featuring a lesbian couple. Hallmark decided to succumb to the pressure and discontinue the ad; a decision that was met with outrage from LGBTQ viewers.After this, Hallmark reversed its decision, put the ad back up and pledged to better represent the LGBTQ community. One month later, Hallmarks CEO Bill Abbott stepped down.After his departure, Hallmark started including more LGBTQ storylines in their holiday films, upsetting fans and spurring a wave of online backlash.As this outrage became widespread, Abbott co-founded Great American Media, the parent company of GAF. Over the next year, he would be joined by a swath of former Hallmark executives and actors.Abbott took what was a country music channel and rebranded it into a faith-based, family-friendly lifestyle channel. As part of this rebrand, Abbott decided to create original made-for-TV holiday films that, unlike Hallmark, would focus on a more traditional view of the holidays. There will always be a segment of the population that just wants to be able to not have to fast forward through something or feel uncomfortable when theyre watching with their kids, Abbott said in an interview this year.Since GAF officially launched in September 2021, its holiday programming has focused on the traditional and religious roots of Christmas and the family. But their definition of these sacred institutions seems to exist in an LGBTQ-free world. Abbott and GAF did not respond to Uncloseted Medias request for comment.Why Queer Representation MattersWhile the effect of holiday films on societal progress might feel minimal, research has shown that queer representation on TV has the ability to move the needle on the publics perception of LGBTQ people. A 2020 GLAAD Media study found that 48% of respondents who had been exposed to LGBTQ people in the media say they are more accepting of gay and lesbian people, when compared to the respondents who had not recently seen any queer people on their screens.I live in an extremely progressive and diverse and colorful place, says the director, who lives in Toronto, the most diverse city in the world. But I think there are many, many places in the states that are not that way, he says, noting that the majority of holiday movies are shot in Canada. I think that there are young men and women and trans folks who are terrified to speak about their own truth and it does nothing for those people if the living room that they inhabit is filled with that content.Where the Controversy BeganPhoto: Gage Skidmore via FlickrGAF captured attention and controversy in 2022 when Candace Cameron Bure, former Full House star, left Hallmark, and promised fans that their new programming would focus on traditional marriage instead of LGBTQ stories.Her comments received intense backlash from fans and the LGBTQ community and caused former GAF actor Neal Bledsoe to leave the channel, writing in a statement that the thought that my work could be used to deliberately discriminate against anyone horrifies and infuriates me.In response, CEO Abbott distanced GAF from Bures comments, stating that her views do not reflect the companys and that GAF [doesnt] have an agenda either way. Its not in the faith-and-family playbook to have agendas that are either pro or anti, he said in an interview with Variety.Still, total exclusion of LGBTQ characters has meant big business for Abbotts network. Many holiday movie fans were thrilled with this shift and turned to GAF to escape the queer representation on Hallmark and other similar channels. In the Great American Family Fan Community Facebook Group with over 150,000 members, fans voiced homophobia and expressed their gratitude for GAFs exclusion of queer characters.Forcing Hallmark into the alphabet group lifestyle programming is criminal, wrote one user. Time to take a stand and preserve the sanctity of the natural family order in as many areas of life that we can, the same user added. Another user wrote about their passion for GAFs movies: I love this channel and also I dont want to look at 2 men or 2 women kissing. Its just not Gods way. Each post garnered over 600 likes and over 200 comments.Uncloseted Media reached the users who posted in the community but did not receive a response.In addition, members of the community have criticized GAF when they aired a RuPauls Drag Race ad and an LGBTQ-themed commercial about PrEP, an HIV prevention drug that has been integral to ending the epidemic. One user commented asking if GAF has removed the very non-family friendly AIDS drug ad with 2 men kissing. GAF responded on Instagram, saying Unfortunately, we dont have any control over local commercials, and we sincerely apologize.Family ValuesWhile GAFs audience is still fractional to Hallmarks 737,000 primetime viewers, the Christian alternative still averages 173,000 viewers in the coveted slot and is the 41st most popular channel on TV.They have identified and carved out a core audience, says Thompson.They know that if they watch [holiday films] here, theyre not going to have to confront all of the kinds of stories that they're hearing elsewhere and that they're clutching their pearls over, Thompson told Uncloseted Media.The so-called family values brand that GAF has been capitalizing on is one that has been popular on TV for upwards of a century: the white picket fence, Leave it to Beaver, 2.5 children type.They were always nuclear families, a husband and wife, in their first marriage [with] a couple of kids Because it was such a predominant presence it became the mythical idea of what a family was, says Thompson. Great American Media markets itself heavily as a family-friendly organization. In its company blurb, the word family appears in nearly every single sentence, sometimes more than once.Jason Wrench, a professor of communication and media at the State University of New York, says the move toward family values is indicative of a bigger goal: national Christianity. They have this desire to go back to something that never actually existed, he says. They've created a fantasy of what the past was or even how this country was founded.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support LGBTQ-focused journalism, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.GAF movie scripts are flooded with Biblical language and the channel airs Bible quotes before many ad breaks. By doing this and by excluding queer characters, GAF has earned media and marketing. In the past few years, Focus on the Family, a powerful anti-LGBTQ lobbying group, has written in support of GAF in numerous articles. And earlier this year, Abbott spoke about GAF on a podcast by The Daily Signal, a conservative media organization founded by The Heritage Foundation, who wrote Project 2025.Holiday Movies and American PoliticsWhile holiday movies may ostensibly seem disconnected from politics, Wrench believes theyre linked. Since the legalization of gay marriage in 2015, far-right organizations have been collaborating to promote a narrative that excludes same-sex couples. They are moving the pieces on their chessboard, Wrench told Uncloseted Media. I think sometimes it's hard for us because we're seeing it in the moment and we don't see how this has been strategic.In todays political climate, the notion of returning to traditional families like the ones promoted on GAF has taken center stage. Project 2025, the 920-page document that was written by 140 former Trump administration officials, suggests that policies that support LGBTQ equity should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.Media Fragmentation and Echo ChambersThe popularity of GAF may be attributed to the fragmentation of media in recent years. It used to be that there were three television stations that had more actual control over what was shown to the public, says Wrench.The lack of TV options meant shows that aired on the three networks had serious impact. When All in the Familywhich was watched by over 20 million people each weekdecided to include the first-ever gay sitcom character in 1971, it had a seismic effect on Americas perception of gay people. And in 1997, when Ellen DeGeneres came out on her self-titled sitcom, it was watched by more than 42 million people and was the highest-rated episode of the show.Television and popular culture was very good at licking the envelope shut on progressive issues because once it happened on a television show in the network era, it wasn't an argument anymore, says Thompson.But today, people can look elsewhere when a channels programming doesnt match their beliefs. [There are] an infinity of places where people can go to find the claims of affirmations that they need, says Thompson.In this new media ecosystem, polarization has become profitable and media corporations have taken notice. Its not only the holiday film industry that is capitalizing off existing in an echo chamber. The news, pop culture, science and podcasts are often fragmented along partisan lines. Now, if you have a large enough population that doesnt want to expose themselves to anything queer oriented, if a company sees that as a business model to make more money, theyre going to do that, says Wrench.The director of the film with the lesbian peck that never made it to your screen says GAFs echo chamber only widens the gap between peoples varying beliefs about LGBTQ issues. It doesnt help parents develop any sort of understanding and it doesnt challenge their perspective on diversity and on queerness, he says, noting that less than 40% of LGBTQ youth consider their homes affirming.Queer Exclusion Becomes Big BusinessBut he says that the market of traditional values is too big for GAF to pass up on. It really does all come down to the money, he says.The audience for these films is a middle-aged Christian woman who just wants to pour herself a glass of Chardonnay and forget about all the pain in the world.The exclusion of queer characters from GAF movies is occurring in parallel with a recent shift of U.S. corporations abandoning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and LGBTQ initiatives under pressure from right-wing outrage. For months, big-name corporations like Harley-Davidson, Bud Light and Walmart have folded under pressure from conservative influencers who have started campaigns calling for divestment from inclusive practices. And even this month, Disney removed a transgender storyline from an animated streaming series prior to its release, with a spokesperson for the company telling The Hollywood Reporter that when it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline.There are definitely companies that have caught the rainbow and gone with it because it was socially appropriate, says Wrench. Those companies will become more hesitant as the pressure from these groups becomes louder. Its not that they represent the majority of America, its just that theyre really loud.In the last year, even Hallmark has pulled back in their LGBTQ programming. In the more than 30 original Hallmark holiday films airing in primetime this year, Uncloseted Media was not able to identify any that feature a main queer storyline. The channel has also fallen short of incorporating trans and gender nonconforming characters into their films. Hallmark did not respond to Uncloseted Medias request for comment.Whether GAF says it out loud, they have found a niche by creating a holiday story that is rooted in heteronormativity where viewers can enjoy a world where queer people dont exist. And its paying off: last year, GAF saw a 76% rise in viewership and announced it is TVs fastest-growing network.Additional reporting by Hope PisoniIf objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

Andy Bellomos art practice sparked from a place often filled with controversy in the queer communityChristian church.Bellomos love of art blossomed while observing stained glass windows in churches she attended with a friend growing up in Boston. Now an educator and artist in Chicago, she focuses much of her creative work on queer people and underrepresented experiences such as queer parenting.For her, there was a strong juxtaposition between how she discovered the medium she created with for a large portion of her career and who she was as a person.I was really into this art form, but at the same time, the space that was housing the art form was extremely homophobic, based on my experience in the church, she said. I didnt fully come out until I moved to Chicago, which was in 2008 so I was 28 and then I slowly picked [glass] back up, reconnected to it, rediscovered it in a way.Bellomo began taking classes and workshops about stained glass once she discovered the medium, since she loved the emotional feeling of the transcending light and color. This wasnt her first experience with art, howeverwhen she was a child, Bellomos mom supported her love of drawing and would buy her supplies and enter her in little contests.In addition to her expertise in glasswork, Bellomo also works with paints. Photo: Andy BellomoShe later took up painting and drawing and went on to work in the city as the director of a Boston art center. Bellomo knew she always wanted a career in art but didnt know if it was achievable, so she decided to study education.However, she found her way back to glass after moving to Chicago to study under a mosaic artist working with tile and ceramic murals.Now in the city for over 15 years, shes focused her work more deeply on the queer community and the queer experience. One of her projects includes a queer mural series highlighting Chicago queer activists and artists, which to date has highlighted 10 individuals.The idea is to create these larger-than-life portraits, Bellomo said. So that the work that these artists are doing gets a voice, it gets heard, it gets a platform.The project had to hit a pause during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which coincidentally was a year before Bellomo became a parent. The shift in her life moved her to begin focusing some of her work on the experience of having a queer family.Activism is a part of Bellomos life that seeps into all different sectors. With being an educator, a parent, a volunteer with HP Solidarity Network in Humboldt Park and more, she finds herself representing her community both in her activist work and her artwork.Im surrounded by an abundance of extremely talented, hardworking activists who are artists, she said. We do community events here at my house where we get together in community for food, but we also make it a donationso everyone will bring a coat or stuff that we can donate. Then were getting together, obviously, to talk and hang out and socialize and regain that energy from each other.Jenn Freeman, a Black queer choreographer in Chicago, met Bellomo when she came to take a burlesque class from Freeman. A self-proclaimed introvert, Freeman sees Bellomo as someone who takes them out of their shelloften initially in the form of a dance class.Bellomos current project is a series of textile paintings focusing on the queer birthing and family experience. Photo: Andy BellomoTheyve now been friends for about 15 years, where Freeman has seen firsthand how being a queer birthing parent has transformed Bellomos life. And when Freeman looks at Bellomos art, they said they can clearly see how important her community is to her.[One of] the things that come to mind when I think about Andys art practice is love, a deep love for not only the art, but the people that shes uplifting, Freeman said. I think especially now that shes a mom, I think a lot of her work is about understanding herself.Im surrounded by an abundance of extremely talented, hardworking activists who are artists.Andy BellomoRight now, one of Bellomos main focuses in art and in life is queer childbirth and family. Shes hosted events where shes provided free childcare and educated people on the experience of being a queer parent and artist. Shes also working on putting together a queer parenting coloring book filled with photos of 100 queer families in Chicago in order to create space to recognize these experiences.Shes also in the process of creating a series of textile paintingswith half embroidery, half paintingdepicting postpartum and childbirth trauma. Bellomo said she experienced highly homophobic environments while pregnant and giving birth, and the art will provide viewers the opportunity to engage with those experiences. One of the works is set to be displayed at the Woman Made Gallery group show in January.Its this interesting work to dig deep into and think about the world, the larger world, as well as the community and the people around you and people who are trying to give birth to create this radical new generation, she said. But you still have all these systems in place that are holding us down in many different avenues [in] many different ways.For her, her art and her queer experience are inseparable.I dont think I could ever separate that, she said. I feel like its so innately into me because Ive been practicing as an activist for so long and an educator, that what I build in an art practice, it is about the people around me always, and its about my community and its about whats happening in the community.This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab through News is Out. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBCUniversal.The post Chicago queer artist Andy Bellomo highlights underrepresented queer experiences in her work appeared first on News Is Out.

According to Statista, 59% of people aged 12-34 and 55% of people aged 35-55 listen to podcasts on a monthly basis. In fact, theres a good chance that as youre reading this, youre listening to a podcast in the background.While there are several popular LGBTQ+-focused podcasts out there, like Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness and Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, there are plenty of other amazing podcasts that deserve highlighting as well. Check out our list of queer and trans-led podcasts that you should add to your rotation.Cruising: A Queer Documentary PodcastWeve featured Cruising before and for good reason. In 2021, Sarah Gabrielli, Rachel Karp, and Jen McGinity hopped in a Honda SUV for a road trip to visit and document the remaining lesbian bars in the country. In season one, the team visited 25 lesbian bars, speaking with staff and patrons, digging into the history, and looking toward the future of these spaces for queer women. Season two explores the newest bars that have opened since the COVID-19 pandemic.Slayerfest 98While Slayerfest 98 is described as A Queer Latinx Buffy the Vampire Slayer Podcast that occasionally covers Marvel stuff, the podcast actually tackles queer pop culture better than most. Host Ian Carlos Crawford delves deep into the Buffyverse and other genre shows like Agatha All Along and X-Men 97, with a lineup of pop culture critics, journalists, and actors and writers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and more. Carlos Crawford also co-hosts a queer sex-positive podcast with Zachary Patton Garcia called My Nudie Judy.Queer Collective PodcastBased in Toronto, the Queer Collective is a nonprofit dedicated to positive LGBTQ+ representation and supporting queer and trans artists. The organizations podcast is hosted by founders and couple Karbon and Emily, who tackle LGBTQ+-related topics like being a trans woman in a mens prison, seeking asylum for being LGBTQ+, coming out at work, and more.Bad GaysThis podcast about evil and complicated queers in history is hosted by duo Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller. Lemmey and Miller explore the lives of historical figures like Franco Zeffirelli, Truman Capote and Violette Morris in this information-packed podcast. Theres even a book out now inspired by the podcast, Bad Gays: A Homosexual History.SubtextualMost movies are gay. Well prove it, is the tagline for the Subtextual podcast, hosted by Lizzie Guitreau and Samantha De La Fuente. Guitreau and De La Fuente examine movies through a queer lens, looking at subtextual elements that most viewers might miss in films like Practical Magic, Miss Congeniality, and Grease. Gone are the days when filmgoers had to search for scraps of queer subtext in mainstream movies, but subtext remains an important part of queer film criticism today.Lost SpacesHosted by K Anderson, Lost Spaces features lost queer venues and the impact they had on the people who drank, danced, and loved within them. Anderson is joined weekly by special guests to share their experiences with queer spaces in the past and how those spaces helped shape their lives. From discovering oneself at a small-town gay bar to Emo Gay Nights in Sydney, Australia, listeners will get a dose of history, heartache, and humor.TransLash Podcast with Imara JonesTranslash Media founder and and CEO Imara Jones is also the host of the official TransLash Podcast. On the pod, Jones and her guests cover critical trans-focused issues like how to prepare for the incoming Trump administration, environmental justice through a trans lens, and traveling while trans.Ghosted! By Roz HernandezComedian Roz Hernandez gets spooky in this humorous paranormal podcast produced by the Exactly Right podcast network. Joined by celebrity guests like Peppermint and Joel Kim Booster, Hernandez explores ghost stories, psychic experiences, and all things that go BUMP in the night with a serious side of laughs.The Queer Family PodcastOn The Queer Family Podcast, queer mom and host Jaimie Kelton asks the question, Whats it like to live as an LGBTQ family in a world built for the straights? The podcast celebrates LGBTQ+ families, whose stories and experiences arent often told. From sperm donation to co-parenting, C-sections, and fostering, the Queer Family Podcast shines a light on the experiences of queer and trans parents across the country.Have a favorite LGBTQ+ focused podcast you want us to know about? Email us at newsisout@localmedia.org.The post Queer and trans podcasts you may not know about yet but should put in your listening roster appeared first on News Is Out.

A pizzeria that was host to a regular trans pizza party was lost to the fires that consumed the Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles last week, the owners announced on Instagram over the weekend.A photo accompanying the post from the restaurant, Pizza of Venice, shows the only remnants of the once-thriving pizza joint: two picnic tables that hosted customers out front, and the tottering remains of the restaurants pizza oven chimney. Related LA wildfires just made this lesbian bar close for good. The city only has 1 left. The bar is spending its last days as a drop-off center collecting items for the fires other victims. At least 24 people have died in the fires in Los Angeles, which destroyed over 12,000 structures in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena, and other areas along the coast and interior hills and valleys. More than 60 square miles have burned as winds continue to rage across Southern California. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Altadena was particularly hard hit as vast swaths of homes and business were reduced to ash in the fast-moving inferno. Only the occasional chimney and smoke-choked tree remain standing. Over time, both will fall.Pizza of Venice occupied a nondescript strip mall next to a liquor store on a commercial street called Fair Oaks Ave. The restaurant filled to capacity and often spilled into the parking lot with the biweekly trans pizza party gathering.We are so honored to host Trans Pizza party at Pizza of Venice, wrote the owners, Sean St. John and Jamie Woolnder, recently. This monthly event constantly clears us out of limeades and fills our restaurant with so much pride and joy. Were proud to be a safe space where folks can feel comfortable to express themselves and build community. Thanks for all the love View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pizza Of Venice (@pizzaofvenice) The sight of their restaurant in ruins left them speechless, the owners wrote on Saturday.As many of you know, Pizza of Venice was one of the many homes and businesses that burned in Altadena. What seemed unimaginable just a few days ago has now occurred, leaving our community devastated and displaced.Walking up to the restaurant last night and seeing what remained left us utterly speechless. The devastation is overwhelming, and our hearts go out to everyone affected by this disaster. We are deeply grateful to report that the entire Pizza of Venice team is safe and healthy, but tragically, multiple team members have lost their homes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pizza Of Venice (@pizzaofvenice)During our nearly 12 years in Altadena, weve been privileged to witness this neighborhood grow and thrive. From our beginnings as a farmers market booth to opening a small restaurant with just two tables, to expanding into our current space with beer and wine service, this community has always been the cornerstone of our success. We hope to grow together again in the future, but for now, our primary focus is the health and safety of everyone affected.Together, St. John and Woolnder wrote, we will rise from this tragedy.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Gay model Shaun Ross recently shared a hilarious and heartwarming story with his followers about coming out to his grandfather. I remember coming out to my grandpa a year before he passed, Ross wrote on Threads. I was shocked by how he embraced me. Related Pro handball athlete Villads Raahauge Jensen comes out as gay Danish handball player Villads Raahauge Jensen says he was terrified about the possible response, but now regrets not coming out sooner. I said, Grandad, Im gay, and he replied, Well, can you cook? I said, Not really. He laughed, How do you expect to keep a man?' Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Ross said after that remark, his grandpa told him about how much he learned from gay men in Harlem in the 1950s who hosted dinners, dressed sharp, and had beautiful homes. He said they taught him so much about how to carry himself. But the story didnt end there. He told me about gay men in 1950s Harlem who hosted dinners, dressed sharp, and had beautiful homes, Ross said. He said they taught him so much about how to carry himself. Users were moved by the interaction, and one asked if Ross is now hosting his own dinners. Absolutely! he responded. Im 33 this happened when I was 19 but yes I cook and happily engaged. In follow-up posts, he shared photos of his grandfather who he described as such a cool man and very honorable as well as one of him and his fianc embracing by the ocean. View on ThreadsHe also shared a video showing off his cooking skills, displaying a massive feast with a variety of high-quality-looking dishes. View on Threads The same day he shared about coming out to his grandfather, he also spoke wrote about getting outed to his mom at the age of 16: My mom was upset because I wasnt supposed to be on MySpace, and the way I was presenting myself online made it worse. She didnt talk to me for a week. Then, that Friday, we went shopping. In Dior, I was looking at these boots, and she asked if I liked them. I said yes. They were $875 on sale, and she bought them. Then she said, I dont care that youre gay, but if youre going to be gay, be the best gay. That was the icebreaker.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Continuing to post on TikTok right now feels a lot like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, but it may finally be time to abandon ship. This morning, the Supreme Court voted in favor of upholding the law banning TikTok unless Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance sells the site to American owners. At the very least, it's time to look into backups (and speaking of backups, you should download all your favorite content from TikTok while you still have the chance, here's how).Facebook and Instagram (and Threads, if for some reason you decided to use Threads) aren't much better. The apps aren't going anywhere, but Mark Zuckerberg has made it abundantly clear that Meta is growing more intolerant of LGBTQ+ people and content by the day. X (the artist formerly known as Twitter) is...I don't even know where to start with X. Let's just call it not an option.So where do we gays go now?How do we keep up with friends, disseminate information, or build communities? There's no replacement for IRL community building, and there's much to be said for knowing your neighbors and the people you share a real-life, in-person place with, but the internet and social media are a vital part of our social ecosystems too. We shouldn't have to give that up just because the people who own the most prominent social media websites are hateful, bigoted, billionaires or at the very least willing to carry water for them.Good news, there are alternatives. We will find ways to continue connecting and thriving. But it's hard to imagine going through the process of setting up a social media profile only to have the platform turn out to be a dud or a total pain to use. We have weighed all the options and compiled a list of the most LGBTQ+ friendly websites to start getting set up on.Instead of TikTok, try LoopsLoops is a part of the Fediverse. Brief intro on the Fediverse: the Fediverse isn't a social media platform, but a bunch of platforms all interconnecting, all existing on an open-source protocol called ActivityPub. It's very interesting, and really well explained in this article from The Verge. Many TikTok users have flocked to the Chinese app RedNote in anticipation of TikTok's ban. Joining RedNote may seem like an "eff you" to the fascist censorship of the ban, but here's the rub: Not only is the app nowhere near a 1:1 replacement for TikTok, but given its both from China but operated from there, is subject to censorship and/or removal of content and users who violate the countrys numerous laws on speech particularly anything anti-communism non-hetero gender expression, and, well, you get the idea. Whats more, the app falls squarely in the definition of the law being used to ban TikTok and could itself be blocked from U.S. users if and when lawmakers get around to it.So in lieu of, well, all that, Loops is a smart option to set yourself up with. It's still in development, but if you've got an iOS device, you can download the app on TestFlight. First, because as part of the Fediverse, you can host your account on an instance that is as pro-LGBTQ+ as you want. Second, Loops won't use your videos to train AI. Say no more, I'm in.Instead of Instagram, try PixelfedPixelfed is another Fediverse venture and is run as a part of Pixelfed. Pixelfed has a similar interface to Instagram, but instead of the whole website existing on one server like with all the big-name social media sites, each Fediverse account can be hosted on a server of the user's choosing, which the Fediverse calls "instances." You can even create your own if you're inclined to do so and a bit tech-savvy!Instagram is arguably my favorite social media platform and the one I've been most stressed out about finding a substitute for. I will personally be trying out Pixelfed because Pixelfed's feed is CHRONOLOGICAL. YEAH. I really buried the lead, didn't I?! Pixelfed's got the #1 thing that users have been begging Instagram to bring back for years. That alone makes the app worth trying out.Instead of X or Threads, try BlueskyOf all the big social media alternatives, you're probably most familiar with Bluesky. Bluesky is the clear frontrunner for an X substitute, which isn't surprising given that it started out as a research project under former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. In 2021, Bluesky went from a research project to a fully fledged, decentralized social media platform.It's not perfect, but it's incredibly promising. The big draws? It's a similar experience to X but with the distinction of not being owned by Elon Musk, not being infested with neonazis, and having community guidelines prohibiting harassment based on gender identity, sexuality, or race. That, and it seems to be the X alternative that adult content creators are choosing to use, should you like to keep it spicy on main. Instead of Facebook, try Trust CafeTrust Cafe is a new spin on what was once WT Social, a social media company from Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales. Pros: Trust Cafe's mission, according to their FAQs, is creating a social network "where honesty and authenticity are valued above all else." They're looking to create a "non-toxic social media platform" and are "against hate speech, harassment, and misinformation." It also has a somewhat old school interface, which is a welcome respite from the chaos and clutter of so many websites.Cons: There is a lot of AI generated content. There are entire sections dedicated to it. While it is at least clearly marked, one of the biggest issues with Facebook is how unescapable AI has become, and a movement against AI would make Trust Cafe a significantly better option. It is still way better than Facebook though, and worth trying and helping to work out the kinks.Instead of Facebook Messenger, try SignalIf you don't make any other swaps, even if you still use Meta-owned services like Facebook and Instagram, stop using Messenger. Messenger collects more of your data than any other messaging app and more than any of Meta's other apps. Messenger isn't just collecting a massive amount of information about your messages, or the device you have Messenger installed on, oh no. It's collecting that massive amount of data from every device that's on the same wifi network as the device you have Messenger installed on. And that's happening on every time you connect to a new wifi network. There's more, a lot more, but that's the factoid that got me to switch to Signal. While Signal is not explicitly LGBTQ+ friendly, privacy and data collection is undeniably a queer issue. It has a high level of encryption keeping your messages secure, and the only data it collects is the data you use to sign up with. If you were considering WhatsApp as an alternative to Messenger, now's a good time to remember that WhatsApp is also owned by Meta, and has had its own data collection issues. TL;DR Delete Messenger, get Signal. Please.

We had to crop the *ahem* full-length version of these buff and bulging bartenders here's how you can see everythingBoxers NYC, the ultimate LGBTQ+ sports bar, is ringing in the New Year with the release of its daring, artistic, and meaningful Boxers NYC Bartender Calendar for 2025.This calendar is so daring, artistic, and meaningful that we had to crop out the truly daring, artistic, and meaningful parts. But don't worry, we have the links to where you can see these bold and buff bartenders in their full glory.This is the 15th anniversary of the Boxers NYC Bartender Calendar, and this years edition benefits Out My Closet, a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the urgent needs of under-resourced and unhoused LGBTQIA+ youth and adults. You can learn more at www.outmycloset.org.At Boxers NYC, we are incredibly proud to partner once again with Out My Closet, says owner Bob Fluet, who opened the first Boxers NYC location in Chelsea in 2010 with Rob Hynds. This years calendar is a bold step forward, not only artistically but in its mission to raise awareness and funds for a cause we deeply care about. By leveraging the power of this provocative initiative, we hope to make a meaningful impact in the lives of LGBTQ+ youth.Billed as Americas Gay Sports Bar, Boxers NYC offers pool tables, beer on tap, 2-for-1 happy hours, large outdoor spaces, and sporting events broadcast on the big screen, but also shirtless bartenders, diverse theme and club nights, and some of the biggest stars from the LGBTQ+ community.Lucky for us, those shirtless bartenders were kind enough to drop their trousers and more for a good cause in the Boxers NYC Bartender Calendar for 2025, and we have the ultimate sneak peek.The Boxers NYC Bartender Calendar for 2025 is available for purchase at both New York City locations and online at boxersnyc.com, but keep scrolling to get those juices flowing with our sneak peek of the Boxers NYC Bartender Calendar for 2025.Learn how you can see the full calendar at boxersnyc.com.Follow Boxers NYC on X Twitter and Facebook @boxersnyc.Follow Boxers NYC on X Twitter and Facebook @boxersnyc. Purchase the Boxers NYC Bartender Calendar for 2025 and learn more at boxersnyc.com. And see more photography from @btscenesbody ahead.Learn how you can see the full calendar at boxersnyc.com.Follow Boxers NYC on X Twitter and Facebook @boxersnyc.

Video edited by E E OliverSubscribe nowLGBTQ Americans and their families and friends have been concerned with the legal implications of the incoming Trump administration. When Trump takes office on January 20th, what does he actually have the power to do to LGBTQ rights from a legal perspective? To help our audience better understand what is and isnt possible, we called fellow Substacker of . Geidner has 15 years of experience covering the Supreme Court and the American legal system. He also has extensive political reporting experience, having covered aspects of the past three presidential administrations from D.C. Watch the full interview above or read the transcript here:Spencer Macnaughton: So today we're here with Chris Geidner, fellow Substacker who founded Law Dork. Chris has covered the Supreme Court and the American legal system for nearly 15 years and is formerly the legal editor at BuzzFeed News. Chris, thanks so much for chatting with me and with Uncloseted Media today.Chris Geidner: Of course.Spencer Macnaughton: Fabulous. So what we want to talk about and really use your expertise with is what Trump and a Republican trifecta can and can't do when it comes to LGBTQ rights and the law in his second term. What do you have your eye on the most in terms of what the next Trump administration can and can't do as it relates to LGBTQ rights from a legal POV?Chris Geidner: Big picture, the first thing to think about when we are looking at what's going to happen in about a month is that the reality is that any action needs to actually be implemented. That might seem like it's a stupid statement, but that's probably one of the most important things that we learned from the first Trump administration is that you really need to watch beyond the vibes and see what's actually being proposed, what's actually being put in place, what's actually going to happen. And so because of that, I think one of the most important things going into January 20th is the reality that's always true in Washington, that personnel is policy. And that who gets in different positions matters a lot. And I think one of the most notable examples of that is that for all of his troubling positions in some ways, a lot of the concern from the right about RFK's nomination for HHS secretary is that he is not a right-winger, is that he's pro-choice and while he certainly had some right-wing positions on trans issues, on gay issues, on HIV/AIDS. He is also certainly not one of them. It's not like a Stephen Miller type being put into that position. And that's obviously, HHS is one of the areas where I mean, where gay people historically have had the most interactions since the AIDS crisis and where right now in this moment of dealing with efforts to restrict medical care for trans people where trans people are going to be very focused. And so the reality is that depending on who's in what position in what agency could dramatically change what sort of results we get. I think that another area where that is surprisingly true is basically everyone other than Pam Bondi in the leadership of the Justice Department. The number two and number three in the Justice Department are Trump's former defense lawyers, but they're that, they're criminal defense lawyers. They are not right-wing advocates, they are not far-right people. And that's also true for his pick for Solicitor General. There are certainly problems in DOJ picks. You've got Harmeet Dhillon, his pick for the Civil Rights Division, who does have a record of representing detransitioners, of attempting to challenge the woke agenda in court, and she certainlyif confirmedwould be open to prioritizing aspects of the civil rights division for their focus that are not going to be to the benefit of LGBTQ people. So that would be out. You have this question of what he's going to do on day one in the military with regards to transgender people, with regards to medical care.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Spencer Macnaughton: What do you think we can expect from the Supreme Court?Chris Geidner: We don't know. I mean, we don't know what's gonna happen with the Skrmetti, the transgender care case that oral arguments were held earlier in December and whether the Trump administration, because it was technically a request from the Justice Department to hear that case that the court took and whether or not the Trump administration will try to get that petition dismissed in January. There's all sorts of complications because there was also a request from the private plaintiffs so the justices could just replace the one petition with the other. But the point is that it could be confusing and confusion and chaos is not good for people who are dependent on healthcare whether it be trans care whether it be PrEP, whether it be cancer screenings, whether it be mental health screenings. For all of these things, the main concern that I have about the first six months of the Trump administration will be slipshod decisions that are poorly understood and poorly implemented that then lead to immediate litigation that then has everything up in the air and confused for six or seven months.Spencer Macnaughton: When we're talking about Trump's first day in office or Trump's first few months in office and, What is he gonna care about? I mean, if we looked at his campaign, he says we need to eradicate transgender insanity, get rid of left-wing gender insanity, all these kinds of promises, right? I mean, why wouldn't he push that Supreme Court case as far along as possible and take away trans rights? If you were, a trans kid, a trans person or a family member what would you be genuinely concerned about from a legal perspective right now?Chris Geidner: The first concern is if states taking anti-trans provisions are upheld. The second, even greater concern would be if there's an effort to stop pro-trans states from taking pro-trans actions. The equivalent of that that is something that's been discussed a lot, so it's easy to discuss is if there would be an effort to ban Mifepristone nationwide.Spencer Macnaughton: Like in super basic terms, if Trump comes in on day one and says, I want gender affirming care gone for trans kids, I don't want trans girls playing in sports, want gender affirming care gone for trans adults. How much power does he have, if he says do it to actually get it done?Chris Geidner: A lot of it would take legislation and as of now you would need 60 votes in the Senate for legislation but if they include it somehow in reconciliation, which is a budget process, so they tie like spending funding to it, that only takes a majority vote. And that's something that Democrats use successfully to get programs and the first Trump administration used successfully to get programs through is by tying them to spending somehow. And so the strongest way is to pass legislation, which then could be challenged and would be challenged in court, but that would be the strongest way. The second way would be to sort of do the opposite of what the Biden administration was trying to do. To do something like under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 that provides sex discrimination protection in education is to say that the Biden administration passed a rule that said that in accordance with the principles of the Supreme Court decision in Bostock that said that in employment discrimination, sex discrimination includes sexual orientation and gender identity. The Biden administration said sex discrimination in Title IX should be treated the same way. And what you could see from the Trump administration, they could withdraw the rule so you would get rid of the rule itself. But in order to propose an alternative role, they would need to go through another whole process of notice and comment that would take time. But when they do that, they could propose a rule that said that sex under Title IX is only referring to biological sex and basically take some of language from some of the different state sports bands and stuff like that.Subscribe nowSpencer Macnaughton: When you listen to the rhetoric though of Trump and of Mike Johnson and all these people, you would imagine that doing exactly what you just described would be top of mind for them, based on what they said.Chris Geidner: I don't think anything is top of mind of Trump. Donald Trump would say whatever he needed to to win the election. My bottom line take on Donald Trump is that he is going to do what he thinks is right at the moment, what he thinks will win him the most applause at the moment and often based on the last person in the room with him. I had literally written that one weekend after his election, and then like three days later, Matt Gaetz was announced as his attorney general pick. And then the day after that, we found out that the reason why he was Trump's pick was because he was on a flight back from Florida to DC with Gates. And so it was literally the last person in the room with him was why he made his decision. And so in that sense, there's almost in a Trump administration an even greater sense that the personnel is policy because sometimes literally the personnel who in the Oval Office will be the policy. And so to that extent, if you have certain far-right people who get into positions, that will potentially lead to some really bad policies for LGBTQ people. The bigger problem, I think, in a Trump era is from two groups. It's from the fact that no matter what, the Republicans writ large might decide is the right path forward, the most reasonable anti-abortion and most reasonable anti-LGBTQ positions. There will be a deep red state that has a far-right governor that has a strong right legislature where both houses are super-majority Republican and they will pass a much more extreme bill that will be signed into law that will then go to court that will then be challenged and or that will then become a model for other states that will then become a national problem, which then sometimes if those look too popular, Trump will then pick them up and start doing them himself. Mike Johnson believes it 100%. The fact that we have a house speaker who is following Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace is horrifying, but like what's even more horrifying is that that's not politics for him. That is his position. That is where he came from. That is the job he held before he was a member of Congress. So for him, it's real. And he will definitely try to do things. They will definitely implement the equivalent of a rule that says that education, federal education funding could be withheld if you do not adhere to a definition of sex that is based on biological sex in education. So that that could effectively ban trans kids from using restrooms in schools, locker rooms.Spencer Macnaughton: I mean, at this moment in time, Trump is super tight with Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. They were just at the football game together the other day, right? And, you know, Johnson has said that homosexuals are the dark harbinger of chaos. And has compared gay marriage to letting people marry their pets.Chris Geidner: Yeah, I mean, to be clear, if Donald Trump decides to like become Mike Johnson's toady, then LGBTQ people are in deep trouble. But I think there's a reality that that has not been the experience throughout the past 10 years of the Trump era in public life. Eventually Mike Johnson is going to make Donald Trump angry and Donald Trump is going to say, Why is this loon ruining my agenda? I do think that that is more protective right now of gay and lesbian people than it is of transgender people. If you just look functionally, I think the fact that we're going to have a gay married treasury secretary who has children, it makes it seem pretty likely that Donald Trump is not going to try to roll back Obergefell. Seeing that there won't be lower people, there won't be far-right red states with Republican trifectas who won't do it. And that won't mean that there's not interest in some lower courts in doing it.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our LGBTQ focused journalism, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Spencer Macnaughton: We report a lot on religion and a lot on religious exemptions and how people use religion, freedom of religion laws. What are your biggest concerns about if those religious exemption laws are expanded for LGBTQ folks?Chris Geidner: The fact of the matter is that a narrow religious exemption is generally pretty reasonable and protects everyone and keeps people safe, keeps people happy. When you have very broad exemptions, they can essentially eat the non-discrimination provision. And this was the concern out of 303 Creative last term, or two terms ago now at the Supreme Court about the woman who allegedly wanted to start making wedding websites, but hadn't, but might have, and might have someday gotten a gay couple who wanted her to make a website, but wouldn't. And the Supreme Court said that the non-discrimination law, that she should have a religious exemption to that. And while that might seem that it could be narrow, I don't know if you remember but in the immediate aftermath of that, there was like a hairdresser in Michigan that put up a sign saying, I don't do lesbian haircuts or something like that.Spencer Macnaughton: That's what I find really interesting. Is that the super red states that introduce these, perhaps, extremely anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures, if they bubble up and keep going up the courts and Trump thinks they're cool and in vogue and popular, that could be dangerous.Chris Geidner: Yeah, oh, that absolutely isit literally looks like an epidemic spread of the, what was in 2021, where the Arkansas ban passed over the governor's veto. And then in 2022, the Alabama one passed. And then in 2023, you had the explosion.Spencer Macnaughton: Do you think anything could be different from like the 2016 Trump administration to now? Do you imagine he'll approach LGBTQ at all differently? I mean, his rhetoric, this election cycle has been more aggressive.Chris Geidner: It's definitely been more aggressive. They went all in on the anti-trans ads. I definitely think that they will do something with at least trans sports. They're going to try to do something with sports. Thats clearly the thing that's polling best for them. The other thing that I would be concerned about that we're seeing already reports out of the UK on is that when you do ban gender-affirming care for minors that providers get concerned even about adult provision of care. That some providers just say, Why would I put myself in this position? Obviously there are some providers who are going to do it no matter what just like we're seeing with abortion care. But you certainly are going to have large providers where this is a business decision. We have 25 trans patients a year of our 5 ,000 patients and we have 250 employees.Spencer Macnaughton: We've seen a lot of headlines of same-sex couples running to get married out of fear of Trump 2 .0. Is that necessary? What are your thoughts on that?Chris Geidner: I mean, I don't think it's ever bad to protect your rights. Second, I am no one's lawyer listening to this. I think that there is a reality that there probably will be far-right efforts to push back and lay the groundwork for overturning Obergefell. I don't think they have the votes on these courts to do that. I don't know if there's an interest. You look at polling, if anything it continues improving. I'm more worried for individuals being targeted by far-right policies from far-right states trying to implement laws that sometimes will even be applied exterritorially and then litigation aimed at having nationwide effect.Spencer Macnaughton: What are examples of what you could see the more extreme cases being in those deep red states?Chris Geidner: We've seen examples out of Florida and Texas that could just get more extreme. Florida has already limited provision of adult gender-affirming care. They have put in place restrictions that make it more difficult, that require additional appointments, require fewer providers being able to actually provide the care. We have seen efforts by both Paxton and Andrew Bailey, the Attorney General of Missouri, to investigate nonprofits and media entities. Both are going after Media Matters for their reporting on Twitter, X, Elon, advertising Nazis, all of the above. You have seen Paxton has specifically gone after PFLAG trying to get lists of their members and donors. We have seen various versions of efforts to limit books in schools. That certainly could expand.Subscribe nowSpencer Macnaughton: A lot of people are really afraid in the LGBTQ community about Trump 2 .0, about the laws and I think you've given fantastic context to clarify a lot of things for them. Is there anything they can do proactively now that might help mitigate their rights in case Trump decides to do things that could strip them?Chris Geidner: I mean, certainly handling passport changes for trans people now is smart. Getting any trans documents that need to be changed in place as soon as you can is smart. I do think to the extent that same-sex couples want to feel protected. If you're already engaged, make your parents happy and just finish it and get it done. I don't think that is harmful and I think it is an added protection. It's no different than saying you should have a will. If there is a legal document that you could have to make your life more secure, you should have it. But stepping back, I think the most important thing to do is not to lose hope and to be engaged. The way that these changes happen are by people being engaged. We should have more trans people on school boards. We should have more trans people in legislatures. Having that presence matters. And so I think trans people, gay people, LGBTQ people, people being proactively, aggressively defensive, and transparent and supportive, and demanding of their right and our rights to exist is important. To the extent that there are places where there are already bad laws in place, to the extent that there are bad changes that are going to come, that is the first step in reversing that. People who are feeling safe right now, be there for the people who aren't feeling safe.Spencer Macnaughton: Amen. I was gonna say, you definitely are a law dork! Chris Geidner: I am.Spencer Macnaughton: This is such important and helpful context for our audience so super grateful for your time and thank you so much.Chris Geidner: Thank you.If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

Were a month and a day away from President-elect Donald Trumps inauguration. This past weekend, I appeared on MSNBCs Ayman Mohyeldin Reports to discuss Uncloseteds latest investigation into Kristen Waggoner.I popped up on the network shortly after ABC News agreed to pay Trump more than $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit. Trump sued the network after George Stephanopoulos falsely said in an interview that Trump had been found liable for rape (when he was actually found liable for sexual abuse).Since then, Trump has called the press corrupt and has threatened more lawsuits. And hes already taken action: In a news conference on Monday, Trump announced hed be suing the Des Moines Registeran Iowa paper that was founded in 1860, and that has lost 70% of its Sunday circulation since 2018 and now has just under 40,000 readers. He is suing them over a poll they released on November 2 that predicted Kamala Harris would win.I will admit, its very scary and intimidating stuff when you have someone with the power of the Presidents office threatening lawsuits and actually executing them against tiny and local news organizations. Lets be real: Trump could run Uncloseted into the ground if he really wanted to. With that said, we wont (and for the sake of our democracy, we cant) tweak our coverage or mission even a degree to the left or right to avoid retaliation. All we can do is present the truth and rely on the principles of journalism. Aymans final question was how Uncloseted Media plans to cover the Trump administration. I stand by my response:We plan on covering Trump just like we investigate any person, piece of power, piece of legislation, or amount of money that is important to scrutinize. We define balance not along partisan lines. Balance is not a Republican soundbite and a Democratic soundbite divided by two. Its following the money and the facts and giving a definition of balance thats rooted in methodologically sound, evidence-based research. So were gonna get the receipts, the timelines, the screenshots and tell it like it is. Were not gonna shy away from these stories Trump and the administration need to be checked more than ever.Subscribe nowYou may have noticed on our Instagram page or elsewhere that weve been collaborating with Gay Times, a leading global LGBTQ media brand. We are thrilled to announce that we are turning these collabs into an official partnership. The content partnership sees Uncloseted Medias investigative journalism broadcast across GAY TIMES media platforms that reach tens of millions of LGBTQ consumers each month, with GAY TIMES promoting Uncloseted Media to its existing audience. The organizations have already reached over a million consumers under the agreement during its pilot phase over the last four weeks. Check out the full press release here. Huge shoutout to our fantastic advisory board member, Angela Earl, who helped spearhead the partnership. We are looking forward to working with Gay Times CEO Tag Warner and his entire team as we get set for all our 2025 coverage. Rep. Nancy Mace's position on LGBTQ community appears to have changed (ABC News)Rep. Nancy Mace has faced significant backlash for her anti-transgender rhetoric, including efforts to ban transgender women from using women's restrooms at the U.S. Capitol and using a slur against protesters. Pete Hegseth, Trumps Defense pick, says allowing gay troops to serve openly reflects a Marxist agenda (CNN)He has expressed regret over the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," arguing that changes allowing LGBTQ+ individuals and women in combat roles undermine military effectiveness in favor of social justice. Gay Democrat is lone LGBTQ vote in Congress for anti-trans national defense bill (The Advocate)Rep. Chris Pappas, the only out LGBTQ lawmaker supporting the recently passed $895.2 billion National Defense Authorization Act, faces backlash for backing a bill that prohibits Tricare from covering gender-affirming care for transgender children of military service members. This weekend, be on the lookout for new Uncloseted reporting: This weekend, we dive into the story of The Great American Family channel, where holiday cheer appears to be crafted to exclude queer representation. What could Trump 2.0 mean for LGBTQ rights, public policy, and the future of equality in America? I interview fellow Substacker a renowned legal expert known as , to break down the potential legal and social implications of this pivotal political shift.Thanks for reading! And feel free to email me with questions, complaints, tips or story ideas! Spencer Macnaughton, Editor-In-Chiefspencer@unclosetedmedia.comIf objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

As director Jon M Chus first instalment of the mega-musical adaptation Wicked arrives in cinemas, a new audience of fans is connecting with Stephen Schwartzs memorable score. Featuring hits including Popular The Wizard and I and For Good, the musical is particularly loved for its celebration of female characters in song.Unlike many Broadway shows, Wickeds heroes Elphaba (played in the film by Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (by Ariana Grande), both women, dominate the song list. They frequently sing together, whereas other musicals typically feature duets that focus on a romance between a male and female lead.At the heart of Wicked is the anthem Defying Gravity which closes act one of the stage production and serves as the finale to Chus film. It begins as an argument between Elphaba and Glinda as they debate how to solve a mutual predicament. Elphaba explains her feelings to Glinda and asks her to leave Emerald City with her.They dream about becoming a united front but, in the end, the song climaxes with Elphaba breaking free and accepting the consequences of embracing her magic.Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.The journey of the song, which begins as a conversation and ends with a battle cry, epitomises a classic musical theatre finale, as it gains momentum and rises in key.Using similar values to Schwartzs lyrics to Go the Distance from Hercules (1997) and his song When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt (1998), Defying Gravity is particularly special because Elphaba goes on a journey with her best friend Glinda as her audience. Many musicals feature a rousing act one finale led by a female protagonist. For example, Mama Rose regathers her strength to make her daughter Louise a star during Everythings Coming Up Roses in Gypsy, which has just returned to Broadway. However, Defying Gravity transcends its context in Wicked by focusing on the theme of trusting yourself and believing in who you are without compromise.Wicked is an exploration of stigma (aimed at Elphaba in the show) and where it leads, and Defying Gravity is a watershed moment. Erivo described it as an important moment in which Elphaba resolves to not allow the things that have hurt her, that have stripped her of her humanity to keep her down.Friends of DorothyAs well as offering empowering representations of its female characters and of female friendship, Wicked is one of many queer-coded musicals. These are shows where LGBTQ+ identities or themes are unnamed but can be easily identified. Theatre professor Stacy Wolf has suggested that Wicked does more than portray women as powerful and as friends; it presents the story of a queer romance between Elphaba and Glinda.This places Defying Gravity alongside the queer anthem Somewhere Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, another musical adaptation based on L. Frank Baums 1900 childrens novel. In fact, in Defying Gravity Schwartz quotes The Wizard of Oz composer Harold Arlens melody in a motif set to the word unlimited, which can be heard several times throughout Wicked. Defying Gravity also uses a similar structure of escalation to another queer anthem, I Am What I Am from the musical La Cage Aux Folles. It also inspired Let It Go from Disneys Frozen (also sung by Idina Menzel, the first Broadway Elphaba), which has its own queer history.If Somewhere Over the Rainbow imagines whimsical escapism from an unfriendly world and I Am What I Am is fierce about being rejected by the people you love, Defying Gravity is about the power of choosing and forging your own path, with or without help.The stirring accompaniment and building vocal line connect Defying Gravity to a tradition of classic musical theatre showstoppers. Meanwhile, the musical style and message of self actualisation recognises more modern values.As Wicked arrives in cinemas, the message of Defying Gravity feels especially timely. Its core sentiment that everyone deserves the chance to fly speaks to so many people the centre piece of a powerful musical about embracing our differences.Hannah Thuraisingam Robbins, Associate Professor in Popular Music/Director of Black Studies, University of NottinghamThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.The post Wickeds Defying Gravity is a musical theatre anthem and a battle cry foroutsiders appeared first on News Is Out.

Not many 28-year-olds can say they were a professional athlete, top of their class at an elite university, an investment bank analyst, and a global business development lead and now have their own company. But Indy Sanders, founder and CEO of the tech startup Lucid, can.I dont think there are any barriers within someones being or within the world that can prevent anyone from reaching the top of anything they want to achieve. I think the only prevention or blockage is your ability to push through, Sanders, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, said during a Google Meet interview with the Bay Area Reporter.Lucid is an artificial intelligence-driven wellness and media platform featuring works by an array of creatives, artists, and filmmakers. The company seeks to turn the current entertainment-streaming model of Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and similar subscriptions on its head with its offering of tailored, advertisement-free content based on users personality, mood, and other relevant data.Headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, Lucids MVP (minimal viable product) beta launch took off in July 2023. Ever since, Sanders has been steadfastly promoting their companys concept, iOS app, and intelligence-streaming model.For Sanders, its all about perseverance and an unwavering drive to succeed.If you find a way, then theres always a next move. Thats the mentality that I brought into the company, they said.Setting the stage for entrepreneurshipWhile most 13-year-olds were enrolled in school and living at home with parents or caregivers, Sanders, who hails from the United Kingdom, was playing tennis at the professional level and traveling internationally on their own for matches and tournaments. Their days consisted of training for eight to nine hours and then heading to wherever they were staying, making themself something for dinner, and getting in some study time before falling asleep and doing the same routine all over again.In terms of what Sanders gleaned from the experience, they said, I basically was taken out of the systems that other people were in, which gave me a very different perspective on life, and I was very much trained as an athlete into this obsessive, hard-working behavior where you feel so deeply that whatever you put in you get out, and you know that mistakes are just part of the positive learning experience.For them, those formative years yielded two key benefits. It was a combination of not being tied to the main structures of our world that constrain people particularly constrain their own belief in what they can achieve and do for the world and my ability to not feel deterred by problems and [instead] be like, OK, lets go. What can we do next? Sanders said.A spinal injury ended their tennis career, but it didnt lessen their ambition or self-discipline. Sanders pivoted from being a professional athlete to a conscientious student, enrolling in Loughborough University, a major sports university in England.I went there because I didnt know how to engage with normal people that didnt do sports, to be quite honest. So it was a nice transition, Sanders said.After graduating top of their class and with a first degree (the U.S. equivalent to graduating summa cum laude) in politics, they gave law school a try, only to find it wasnt the right fit.Law was too much about reading and less about practical innovation using my mind, Sanders commented.For Sanders, realizing that the career wasnt for them didnt result in giving up; instead, it prompted them to try something new: the financial-centered world of banking. Their work in the industry included joining Houlihan Lokeys mergers and acquisitions team as an investment banking analyst, going from legal books and trial practice to sourcing and making deals.They shared, I was looking at cool businesses across Europe and finding acquisition targets for our clients, and then starting off those M&A deals. So that was really good insight into looking at the later stage of a startup and going, What is an acquirable startup? What does it look like? What are the patterns of growth?The analyst job was followed by work at a small tech consulting company, State of Flux, with Fortune 100 clients but, at the time, an indiscernible sales process.I went in as their first-ever dedicated sales person, and I basically ripped their system to sh*t and built a proper global growth structure, selling into Microsoft, Google, Chevron [with] deals up to the millions, said Sanders.Their efforts resulted in the companys interest in moving Sanders from the U.K. to New York, as head of strategic growth, to run operations globally; after a few years of driving sales and business development, they were ready to branch out on their own, with the idea of Lucid in mind.Pushing the boundaries of streamingOnce downloading the free Lucid app via the Apple Store and opening it, a soon-to-be-user sees the wording Enter Lucid and registers via an email address and password. From there, the approximately 5-minute onboarding involves a personality assessment, featuring nine prompts, including If you were an emoji and selecting one of a dozen featured emoji (e.g., peach, fire, crying yellow face); You move into a new apartment Whats the first thing you buy? with paint, lights, speakers, sofa, or plants as one of the possible responses; and You have more than 30 with the five options being books, tattoos, shoes, succulents, and bottles of alcohol.We really started honing in on exactly what people wanted, and then we uncovered, Oh, its not just a content play here. Its how do you connect people to content in a more meaningful way, and how do you integrate it into their lives in a habitual way that they dont have to make an effort towards, which is where all of our AI came in, explained Sanders about the apps development.Post-personality assessment, Lucids AI ghost depicted as the traditional white bed sheet figure appears on the screen, putting together curated content based on the users selected answers to the prompts. The user can also have a conversation with the ghost, with the interactions serving as a means to further personalize their experience.You can say, Hey, Im feeling pretty low. Im a Pisces. My partner just broke up with me. Help me elevate myself this evening, and lift my mood up and show me that theres a reason to have faith in the universe today. And it will give you conversational reasoning as to what its curating for you and why, and then it presents it to you, Sanders said.Feelings such as love, calmness, and joy drive the film collections, with titles like Kinetic Motion and Quiet Contemplation, that Lucids AI ghost selects and recommends.We curate, not by genre, but by emotive. Like, Does this content deliver some kind of emotive impact? And if it does, then we like it. We typically are doing the stuff other people arent doing, and we like that. We dont want to be copycats of Netflix were very different from them, Sanders explained.The curated content art-oriented films of varying lengths comes from numerous creatives, sourced by Sanders and their team, including Asia Stewart, Lucids founding artistic director and Sanders spouse.As Indys life and business partner, I see how committed they are to Lucid firsthand, Stewart, a Black queer woman, wrote in an email to the B.A.R. It is not an exaggeration to say that from the second Indy wakes up to the moment their head hits their pillow twenty hours later, they are thinking about Lucid. On many occasions, theyve woken up during the middle of the night to do research or jot down notes for a new idea or feature. They are constantly assessing how they can refine Lucids apps to be reflective of the needs of filmmakers, artists, and audiences.Films on the Lucid app include The Man of My Dreams, written and directed by Tristan Scott-Behrends, a queer filmmaker who divides his time between New York City and Los Angeles.Scott-Behrends nearly 6-minute film centers on a romance, with two lovers eating pizza slices together at a restaurant, spending time in a laundromat, and holding and kissing each other on a subway train. How quickly strangers stares turned into smiles as they recognized the radiating love between us, the films narrator says.Scott-Behrends, whose works Only Trumpets, Suckmeoff, Princess! and Lilac Lips, Dutchess County are also part of Lucids film collection, described the platform as filling a much-needed gap for those in the film and performance industries.Curation is such an important part of any artists discovery, and Lucid is proving to be a trusted visionary connecting their audiences to compelling and provocative work that they may not otherwise be able to access. So many of the other platforms that artists working within performance or experimental film (use) have such strict censorship that work particularly work from queer artists often gets banned or pushed out of the algorithm, he wrote in an email to the B.A.R.Scott-Behrends appreciates not only Lucids hand- (or AI ghost-) picked content based on an individuals interests and preferences but also the companys willingness to pay filmmakers and other creatives for their contributions.I am really honored to be a part of this new venture, and with their financial model I anticipate that the money Lucid pays out to artists will allow us to continue to finance our work, he commented.Getting the word and content outAt the time of Sanders interview with the B.A.R., they were in Miami for Miami Art Week 2024; they had attended last year as well. The event draws myriad exhibitors and attendees and features various fairs and shows. For Sanders and their team, its an opportunity to get a firsthand look at peoples responses to Lucids content.Last year, we were in a really cool alternative show and fair where we were in this warehouse. We had projections all over the ceiling, big chairs, and I was in there 12 hours a day with my team, and it was really interesting to see people walking in and absorbing our space and our content specifically. It was like the best customer discovery experience you could possibly have, they said.Miami Art Week is also a means for Sanders and the Lucid team whose core members are Stewart; Millie Gibbons, founding AI engineer; and Max Roman, lead adviser and investor to establish cultural partnerships with those in the art world, such as with the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), a nonprofit arts organization and one of the biggest shows at the event.Sanders commented, We dont necessarily position ourselves as an art company; were culture[-themed], obviously, but whats really exciting, I think, is being able to literally rub our shoulders in this event next to some of the top galleries in the world.And then theres the palpable interest in Lucid from hotel groups, social clubs, and venues looking to amp up their spaces visual displays.People watch Lucid content at Lucids NADA Miami showcase 2024; featured still from smet Krolus Gate29 (2021). Photo: Dylan MekhiAs Sanders shared, They were saying, We love your content. It actually has some kind of depth and meaning and has a draw to it. The other content that weve showcased, printed artwork, or anything thats an alternative to elevate a space just hasnt hit in the same way. Are you guys going to do a corporate deal?Sanders built out the tech to deliver in that regard, adding consumer market to Lucids growing list of customers, including art museums, film festivals, and other cultural organizations, as well as a future partnership with The Donum Estate, a Sonoma, California-based vineyard.The positive reception to Lucid extends to recognitions such as a South by Southwest (SXSW) 2024 conference award that Sanders nabbed for best speed pitch in media and entertainment. Sanders and Stewart were also selected for Forbes 30 under 30 North America 2025 Art & Style list, which recognizes the business achievements of individuals under age 30. The right mentality goes a long wayThough millions of people are using Lucids app, cultural partnerships abound, and accolades are mounting up, building a business from scratch hasnt been without its challenges, noted Sanders.Its definitely harder being queer as a founder fundamentally, ridiculously harder. I thought I could beat the odds, and in some ways I do. But I like to say, if I was a cis straight white man and I had my background, I would be getting $20 million checks dropped in my lap by VCs all the time. And that, sadly, is not the case. I dont have $20 million to play with right now, but I will, said Sanders.Lucid does, however, have certain major venture capital investors including Antler, based in Singapore, and New York City-headquartered Techstars. According to Sanders, they raised $400,000 from these VCs, as well as from angel investors, including Roman, an ex-product lead at Netflix. Theyre currently involved in a fundraising round to fuel scaled growth that will carry over into 2025.Lucids investors are not only financially backing the company but also articulating support for Sanders ideas and work ethic.Indy is one of the most focused entrepreneurs Ive ever encountered in my career. That, combined with their ability to learn incredibly fast, makes them just outrageously effective and able to execute quickly, said Roman, a self-described frequent and enthusiastic ally, in an email to the B.A.R.Roman, who lives in the Bay Area, is a guest lecturer at Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business and was elected to the Piedmont Unified School District Board of Education in November, per Alameda County election results. His sentiments about Sanders skill set and leadership qualities parallel that of Antlers general partner, Jeff Becker:Indy is a force. They are maniacal about the details that matter, an exceptional operator, and someone with top 1% resilience. This is the type of founder you always back, wrote Becker in a comment Sanders shared with the B.A.R.Lucid team members conveyed views of Sanders along the same lines as Lucids investors.As CEO Indy strikes the perfect balance. Theyve built an inclusive, energetic workplace culture where exploration and spontaneity are encouraged, while also modeling really incredible work ethic, drive, adaptability and creativity, Gibbons, who identifies as cis and straight, wrote in an Instagram message to the B.A.R.I think Indys unconventional path into this industry has made them a particularly resilient and driven founder, who also really cares about unlocking the potential of every member of their team, she added.Stewart described Sanders, her partner, as incredibly strategic, assessing it as a way of being derived from Sanders years on the court, racket in hand. They can distill any problem affecting any area of the business into simple facts and quickly outline an efficient and effective solution that aligns with wider business goals. They push the team to be nimble and always embrace continuous innovation, Stewart said.Early in the new year, Sanders plans on scheduling a trip to Mexico with the Lucid team, where they can collectively work in mild weather and also celebrate the success of Lucid thus far.For Sanders, the life lessons learned from sports carry over to their approach to running a company.Your odds of winning a race are not defined by where you start in the race and what your odds are at the starting line. The odds are going to change at every single point along the way because other people are going to drop out. So the one thing you know for certain is, if you continue and you are one of the final people, your odds are going to be better, and you will have a much higher chance of succeeding, they said.I think that that mentality kind of pulls you through every moment, Sanders added.This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab through News is Out. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBCUniversal.The post Lucid, with AI, aims to push the boundaries on streaming appeared first on News Is Out.

Isreals war on Gaza has made finding medication nearly impossible for people trying to survive in the region, and Palestinians living with HIV have been hit particularly hard.According to The Intercept, aid groups like Glia say that HIV medication has specifically been blocked from entering Gaza, though Isreals agency for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories denies the allegation. Israel neither blocks nor limits the entry of medications, including those for HIV, which can be brought in without quantitative restrictions, the agency told the outlet. Related Benjamin Netanyahu claims Iran paid gay people to protest against Israel In his speech to a joint session of Congress yesterday, the Prime Minister of Israel compared queers for Palestine to Chickens for KFC. But Dr. Tarek Loubani, a Palestinian Canadian emergency physician with Glia told The Intercept that Israel has treated caches of medication basically like weapons depots. He alleges that the Israeli military has burned medication warehouses and posted snipers outside others. Global perspectives delivered right to your inbox Our newsletter bridges borders to bring you LGBTQ+ news from around the world. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Earlier this week, prior to news that Isreal and Hamas were close to a ceasefire agreement, The Intercept published a long piece detailing one queer HIV-positive Palestinian mans struggle to get vital medication amid the ongoing horrors in the region over the past year.The 27-year-old, identified as E.S., uses a walker for mobility so was forced to remain in Gaza City rather than fleeing south to Rafah like many of his neighbors. Hes also been diagnosed with neurosyphilis and requires not only common antiretrovirals used to treat HIV, but also the more rarely prescribed lopinavir/ritonavir. The violence in the region since October 2023 has caused food as well as medication shortages, exacerbating E.S.s mobility issues.E.S. was able to obtain a three-month supply of his medication in November 2023. The following March, as his supply dwindled, he began reaching out on social media hoping to find a way to access more medication. In July, his brother made a dangerous trip to E.S.s doctors home and secured enough pills to last until October 2024. E.S. began rationing his medication, fearing that there would be none left in Northern Gaza when his supply ran out. In August, he lost contact with his doctor. For the past ten months, I was lucky, he wrote the following month. I had access to my HIV medication because I stayed in the north of Gaza. But now, Im running out. I took the last doses in the north.By early October, E.S. was in touch with Loubani from Glia, who had procured three bottles of lopinavar/ritonavir pills in Canada. But Loubanis team was first denied entry into neighboring Jordan. Then a three-month supply of meds that Glia was able to get to the Gaza border was later confiscated, and Israel reportedly banned the organization, along with five other medical NGOs, from entering Gaza. (In an October 30 press release, Glia announced that Israel had lifted the ban.)E.S. and his family were forced to relocate to another part of Gaza City in mid-October, after a missile struck their home. Later that month, however, E.S. reconnected with his doctor, who managed to get him more of his medication albeit in doses produced for children. And early last month Loubani told him he had finally gotten a three-month supply of lopinavar/ritonavir into Gaza. E.S. currently has enough medication to last him a few months.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

The mayor of a small town in Spain has blasted his local Catholic Church for denying him communion because he is gay and living with his partner.On January 12, Rubn Garca de Andrs, the Socialist mayor of Torrecaballeros and a practicing Catholic, took to social media to call out his local parish priest who he says banned him from receiving holy communion. Related Pope Francis says gay men can train for priesthood However, he did have some bad news for sexually active gay men looking to become priests. Garca de Andrs wrote that hes spoken to his priest, who told him he would consult with the bishop of Segovia, the Spanish province in which Torrecaballeros is located. Garca de Andrs said that he later received a written response from the bishop in which he was told that church doctrine is clear and he would continue to be denied communion. Global perspectives delivered right to your inbox Our newsletter bridges borders to bring you LGBTQ+ news from around the world. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The mayor also wrote that he was pressured to step away from his role as a lay preacher in Torrecaballeros two years ago for similar reasons.Garca de Andrs said that the Churchs decision has caused him, his family, and his people pain, and that while he can forgive the pain it has caused him, he cannot forgive the pain it has caused his family.According to U.K. outlet The Telegraph, Segovias Socialist party leader Jos Luis Aceves has asked incoming bishop Jess Vidal Chamorro to reverse the decision, as well as a similar one affecting another gay couple in the area. The Telegraph reports that Garca de Andrs was only denied communion after he tried to intercede on the other couples behalf.If Chamorro declines to allow Garca de Andrs and the other couple to receive communion, the party has threatened to bring charges of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, which constitutes a hate crime in Spain. Nobody wants to go down that road, Aceves said.In a statement, the bishopric of Segovia said that its decision stemmed not from homophobia, but from Catholic doctrine that denies communion to any couple living out of wedlock.This is not homophobia or discrimination, since communion is not denied on the basis of homosexuality, but rather to defend the sacred character of the Eucharist, the statement read, according to The Telegraph.In his January 12 post, Garca de Andrs wrote that he was told the Churchs decision may have been different if I was just gay and followed a path of conversion.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)2025-01-21T22:50:43Z WASHINGTON (AP) Officers enforcing immigration laws will now be able to arrest migrants at sensitive locations like schools and churches after the Trump administration threw out policies limiting where those arrests could happen as the new president seeks to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations. The move announced Tuesday reverses guidance that for over a decade has restricted two key federal immigration agencies Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection from carrying out immigration enforcement in sensitive locations.This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens including murderers and rapists who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in Americas schools and churches to avoid arrest, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Tuesday. The department said Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued the directive Monday. The ICE guidance dates back to 2011. Customs and Border Protection issued similar guidance in 2013. Trump has made cracking down on immigration a top priority, just as he did during his first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021. On Monday he signed a slew of executive actions that included cutting off access to an app that facilitated the entry of hundreds of thousands of migrants; suspending the refugee system; and promoting greater cooperation between ICE and local and state governments. He has often portrayed his efforts as unleashing the ability of ICE agents and others in immigration enforcement from Biden-era guidelines that he said restricted their efforts to find and remove people who no longer have the authority to remain in the country.The announcement Tuesday had been expected as Trump works to deliver on his campaign promise to carry out mass deportations of anyone in the country illegally. But it was still jarring for advocates who have argued that raising the prospect of deportation at churches, schools or hospitals can prevent migrants from getting medical attention or allowing their children to attend school. This action could have devastating consequences for immigrant families and their children, including U.S. citizen children, deterring them from receiving medical attention, seeking out disaster relief, attending school, and carrying out everyday activities, Olivia Golden, interim executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy, said in a statement. Should ICE presence near such locations become more common, the likelihood also increases that children could witness a parents detention, arrest, or other encounters with ICE agents, Golden said.Under the sensitive locations guidance, officers were generally required to get approval for any enforcement operations at those locations, although exceptions were allowed for things like national security. Trump kept the guidance on sensitive locations in place during his first administration although he did remove similar guidance that restricted immigration enforcement at courthouses. That courthouse guidance was put in place once again during the Biden administration, which also issued its own update to the sensitive locations guidance limiting where ICE and CBP officers could carry out immigration enforcement. Many schools around the country have been preparing for just this eventuality by reaching out to immigrant families and local law enforcement.In California, officials have offered guidance to schools on state law limiting local participation in immigration enforcement.Our policy is clear and strong that immigration enforcement is not allowed on our campuses unless forced through a valid court order, said Diana Diaz, spokeswoman for the Fresno Unified School District, one of the largest in California. Weve been in communication with local law enforcement who has assured us that they will not be supporting immigration enforcement across any of our schools. A resolution passed by Chicago Public Schools Board of Education in November said schools would not assist ICE in enforcing immigration law. Agents would not be allowed into schools without a criminal warrant, it said.Over the years dozens of migrants have sought sanctuary in churches for immigration-related reasons, sometimes staying for weeks at a time to evade ICE capture.A 2018 story by The Associated Press detailed how since 2014, at least 70 publicly known cases have emerged of people seeking sanctuary in churches for immigration-related reasons, according to Church World Service, a New York organization that supports the sanctuary efforts. Of those, 51 came up since Trump took office in January 2017 and pledged a harder line on immigration.Rev. K Karper, senior pastor of St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City, said he felt it was important several days ago to put up a sign informing ICE and Homeland Security they were not permitted inside the church. Its something that weve been involved with for a long time, he said. Its part of our religious mission to reach out and provide a place of safety to new arrivals and other people, regardless of their status.Given the administrations policy change, Karper said his church will make it clear to officers that without a warrant, they dont have any business on church property. Were a peaceful people. You know, what are we going to do? he asked. But were going to make it clear to anybody whos in the building, who feels threatened by this that they have rights, that theyre not required to answer questions, that theyre not required without a warrant to produce ID. You know, theres still a rule of law in this country and were not Germany in the 30s. Were just not.__Associated Press Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut, contributed to this report. REBECCA SANTANA Santana covers the Department of Homeland Security for The Associated Press. She has extensive experience reporting in such places as Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. twitter mailto

By: Anne Marshall-ChalmersThis story was originally published by The War Horse, a nonprofit newsroom educating the public on the military.Photo illustration by Hrisanthi PickettSubscribe nowOn weekends, Staff Sgt. Todd VanCantfort, an armed forces police officer in San Antonio, Texas, targeted gay bars in search of anyone in the military. One time, at the direction of his supervisor, he ditched his light blue and navy uniform to dress gay. He chose tight jeans, cowboy boots, and an open button-down shirt, advertising a burst of chest hair.It was 1985. San Antonio was dotted with several military installations and even more bars, many of them rowdy dance clubs where VanCantfort would break up fights or drive slurring servicemembers back to base.At the gay clubs, though, his orders were clearround up anyone in the military and turn them in, so leadership could kick them out.Victimizing the people for no reason, is how VanCantfort now describes it.Todd VanCantfort was a member of the San Antonio Armed Forces Police Department in the mid-80s. (Photo courtesy of Todd VanCantfort)Forty years later, those witch hunts sound archaic. But they cast a long shadow over a military still struggling to make amendsand now serve as a reminder of a disturbing legacy as Donald Trump returns to the White House next year. His now-embattled choice to lead the defense department, Fox News host and former National Guard soldier Pete Hegseth, has declared a war on woke.Hes railed against women in combat, transgender rights, and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts that he insists have demoralized troops and weakened our fighting forces. Whether the controversial Hegseth is confirmed or not, his nomination has rekindled the question of who is welcome to serve in the United States military. And Trumps ties to the authors of Project 2025, a conservative and controversial blueprint for his second term, adds to the uncertainty.For those caught up in the witch hunts that rooted out LGBTQ service members, the disgrace is everlasting.I dont know how to explain to somebody what it feels like when your own military that you volunteered to fight for your country doesnt want you, says Elaine Rodriguez, who was outed as a lesbian and kicked out of the Navy in 1991. She still mourns the military career taken from her and the self-worth that never fully rebounded.Elaine Rodriguezpictured with her mother, Maria,was 23 when she left their Florida home for Navy boot camp. (Photo courtesy of Elaine Rodriguez)Stories like Rodriguezs have recently inspired pardons and other actions by the White House and the Defense Department. But, as The War Horse has reported, those efforts have benefitted only a fraction of the tens of thousands of gay and lesbian veterans who were kicked out. Still, advocates hoped that the small gains made under President Biden would lead to more sweeping action. That now seems unlikely.Its not exactly deja vu, said Rodriguez, now 58 and living in Jacksonville, Florida, but it is scary that once again people who want to serve may be forbidden from doing so, much like in the 1980s.She and VanCantfort are sharing their stories with The War Horsefrom opposite sides of the witch huntsto shed light on a painful and calculating discriminatory past that they say must not be forgotten.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.How The Raids Went DownVanCantfort, now retired and living outside Washington, D.C., was among a cadre of police officers, criminal investigators, commanders, and JAGs across the globe who executed the militarys anti-gay policies that stretched from the 1950s through the repeal of dont ask, dont tell in 2011 and resulted in the dismissal of about 100,000 servicemembers.In those days, when the staff sergeant pulled up to a gay club, it often would unfold like this:Intimidate the crowd just by walking in, ask for the military IDs of people they recognized or suspected were in the military, and haul those folks back to their base, outing them to their commander. License plates with military decals in the parking lot were jotted down and reported.On occasion, though, things went sideways. One night, he remembers arriving with two or three other officers at a smoke-filled country western lesbian bar on the outskirts of San Antonio. When they entered, the twangy band stopped playing. The lights popped on.Someonethe bar ownerbarked into the mic, telling her patrons to protect their friends in uniform.The women stood shoulder to shoulder, forming a wall, allowing any scared service member to flee through a back exit. Because most of the women in the bar were civilians, they knew the armed forces police wouldnt arrest them. They inched so close to VanCantfort, he could feel their anger and their message was clearget the fuck out; leave us alone.Making Her Family ProudIn December 1989, Elaine Rodriguez joined the Navy, following in the footsteps of her Navy veteran father and her older brother, a Marine.Elaine Rodriguez appears serious and focused in her official boot camp photo. (Photo courtesy of Elaine Rodriguez)She was 23 when she left her hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, to begin boot camp in Orlando, Florida.In her official boot camp photo, she appears so serious that she almost scowls. The militarys strict rules, she says, were a shock to the system. But she enduredIm not a quitteronly landing in trouble once for giggling with a friend during physical training.When boot camp graduation day finally arrived, her family came to Orlando to celebrate. Rodriguezs father beamed in the family photos. It was the proudest Rodriguez had ever seen him. From Orlando, Rodriguez went to Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois to train as an electricians mate.Having grown up in a protective, Catholic, Puerto Rican family, Rodriguez was on her own in the Navy for the first time and loved the independence. I was doing my own thing, she says. I was happy. I guess I could compare it to going to college but getting paid.The Rodriguez family celebrated with Elaine during her boot camp graduation in Orlando. Left photo, Elaine, center, with her dad, Pablo, and older brother, Paul. It was the proudest shed ever seen her father, she said. Right photo, from left to right, her younger brother, Philip, their mother, Maria, and her older brother, Paul. (Photos courtesy of Elaine Rodriguez)She made friends easily. She studied when she had to and stayed out late at bars when she wanted. Before the military, she had imagined that at some point, shed find a husband and have kids.In Great Lakes, away from her home state of Florida, unexpected feelings found the space to emerge. Am I gay? shed wonder.Origins of the Militarys Witch HuntsWhen VanCantfort gets going on his military career, hes a fast talker, and on a humid September day in Washington, D.C., hes a conveyor belt of memories. He starts in the early 80s when he was a military dog handler (13 dogs, many bites) and winds up in Germany and then Greece during the first Gulf War when hes helping secure military facilities and receiving slaps on the wrist for his hard-charging, eff-the-bureaucracy-and-get-it-done attitude.Staff Sgt. Todd VanCantfort sometime in the late 80s. (Photo courtesy of Todd VanCantfort)His tales, however, lose color and momentum when the era of anti-gay stuff in San Antonio surfaces. His manner becomes careful, even procedural. The 80s were the era of the new AIDS epidemic and a conservative, Reagan-era Defense Department. In 1981, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger made discharge mandatory for gay service members, solidifying a practice that had already been established but was inconsistent among the branches.The militarys anti-gay policy dates back to World War Is Articles of War, which implemented a ban that prohibited gay sex. And in 1951, the Uniform Code of Military Justice outlawed sodomy with Article 125a ban on oral and anal sexwhich resulted in gay and lesbian service members being pushed out and occasionally prosecuted. Its unclear how many gay service members were court-martialed, and in September, The War Horse filed a lawsuit to compel the branches to turn over those records.In the years after World War II, the military sought to expel some of the hundreds of thousands of women who had enlisted as part of The Womens Army Corps or WAC (originally the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps or WAAC) and the term witch hunt emerged.Wartime posters promoted the role of women in the Army Auxiliary Corps (Courtesy of U.S. Army)Details of a few of those witch hunts are spelled out in formerly classified documents from 1950-1951 that The War Horse learned had been anonymously surrendered to a museum in Hawaii.In a December 1950 memo, for instance, a military investigator focuses on an insidious female ring that military leaders believed was introducing homosexuality to new WAC trainees at Fort Lee, Virginia. The homosexual road is not only down, it is always a continuous road from the first homosexual act to the end of the roadthe brutal sex crime, a different investigator later wrote.A modus operandi document described how investigators compiled allegations and rumors, secured and maintained an informant system, inspected mail, and interrogated and polygraph-tested women in the ranks.Women soldiers admitted under interrogation to letting loose just like their male counterpartsdrunken nights, parties. A few reported suspicions of certain women being that way. Others reported that they had witnessed women petting or kissing or involved in a lovers quarrel.Nobody got off easy. In a document that included notes from a meeting between an Army colonel and a general, a colonel wrote: The Army would build a case against the guilty that will STICK.Once classified documents spell out the examples of witch hunts in the early 1950s with the Armys Womens Auxiliary Corps. (Courtesy of Honokaa Heritage Center)Sticky Note Waiting on Her DoorWithin a year of enlisting, Rodriguez was on track to become an electricians mate. One afternoon, right before Labor Day weekend in 1990, she was heading to a night class when a lieutenant commander came into a common area of the barracks with an order: If the women knew of any homosexual activity, they better report it.This visit came a few years after a notorious witch hunt involving Marines at Parris Island. Almost half of the 246 women in a unit were questioned. Sixty-five of them subsequently were pushed out of the Marines.Elaine Rodriguez studies in the barracks at Naval Station Great Lakes. (Photo courtesy of Elaine Rodriguez)But Rodriguez wasnt too worried. She wasnt going to narc on anyone. A few weeks passed and she assumed the whole thing would blow over.However, one night, when she returned from a class, she was told she had to go to the Navys on-base legal department. A stern superior in uniform was waiting for her. He grilled her about alleged homosexual activity that he had heard about.He said, This isnt a witch hunt, Rodriguez recalls. And in my mind, I said, Well, I didnt say it was. So it must be. It was the first time she had ever even heard that phrase.Rodriguez denied going out to gay bars and being attracted to women, and he let her go. She put the ordeal behind her and looked forward to shipping out to her first duty station in Hawaii.A few weeks later, though, a sticky note on her door told her to go to the Naval Investigative Service. She headed to the NIS building. The walk was short, but dread warped time into a long and withering few minutes.When she got there, two Naval investigators knew everything. Her girlfriend? A civilian named Marty. Her favorite gay bar? Rivers Edge. Overwhelmed and crying, Rodriguez confessed.I was in shock. The only thing that had ever happened to me prior to this was a speeding ticket, she says. I literally felt like a criminal.The Navy kicked her out with an other than honorable dischargea common practice that not only marred the records of thousands of service members but denied them access to veterans benefits such as health care and the G.I. Bill. Rodriguezs commander wrote in her exit paperwork that her behavior is not compatible with the lifestyle of a service member and will not be tolerated. The governing body that determines whether a servicemember deserves being kicked out, decided she had committed a serious offense. And with that, the Navy emptied out her plan for the future.Silence Proves the Safest BetRodriguez isnt sure how investigators gathered intimate details about her. This was before cell phones and social media. She suspects either someone in her unit ratted her out or someone spotted her at Rivers Edge, the gay club outside Chicago.VanCantfort knows that both scenarios are probable. In the early 1980s, in San Antonio, the Armed Forces disciplinary control board would create the list of bars he and his fellow officers had to scope out on weekends.He also remembers times when service members who were in trouble would offer intel (with or without evidence) on gays and lesbians in uniform in exchange for a lighter punishment.It creates a whole class of people that are victimized with no way to get help, he says, because the system is so secured against them.Its why gay people in the military lived quiet, closeted lives, the sword of Damocles hanging above them should they share the truth even with close friends. In a system built entirely on power imbalance, silence proved the safest bet.VanCantfort said he learned all of this a few months into his enlistment at 19 years old.One night after a barracks party, with a few beers in him, he crawled into bed. At some point, he stirred awake and found someone standing in the dark beside his bed. The man, who VanCantfort recognized as living in the barracks, was naked.Shocked, VanCantfort recalls stammeringHow did you get in my room? Get the fuck out.He had honed scrappy fighting skills as a kid growing up poor in Texas and Massachusetts. He attended a dozen schools and didnt flinch at throwing a punch or insult to defend himself.As the man moved toward the bed, VanCantfort said he fought him off. For weeks, though, the man taunted VanCantfort, daring him to report the attempted assault. Making sure I understood, he would flip the story and claim I was a fag and was trying to hit on him, VanCantfort recalls. So he stayed quiet.A couple of years later, as an armed forces police officer engaging in witch hunts, VanCantfort stepped into a role that gave him all the power.Little Changes Under Dont Ask, Dont TellAfter Rodriguez learned in late 1990 that she was getting kicked out with an other than honorable discharge, the news spread around Great Lakes. Stares and slurs followed her for the 45 days it took to process her discharge. Sailors taunted her with catcalls. Take her out back, theyd say. She was assigned to clean the barracks.One day, a female sailor in the barracks called outRodriguez!and demanded that she repair something in her room. Rodriguez walked in, and the woman shut the door and sexually assaulted her.Rodriguez never told anyone. Who would believe her?Homophobia was rampant in the early 90s and continued into the dont ask, dont tell era, which ended in 2011. President Obama repealed the policy, which was intended as a compromise to an outright ban on gays in uniform, allowing them to serve as long as they kept it hidden. Witch hunts slowed, but did not disappear.Flanked by members of Congress and then-Vice President Joe Biden, President Obama signs the act repealing dont ask, dont tell. (Photo by Chuck Kennedy of the White House)Since then, the Pentagon has invited gay and lesbian service members who were discriminated against to apply for a discharge upgrade, an often cumbersome process that only about 1,700 service members have pursued, according to the Defense Department. Most have received an upgrade.In October, the Pentagon announced that it had identified 820 veterans who were kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation under dont ask, dont tell, and that those veterans would now receive honorable discharges.And over the summer, President Biden announced pardons for gay and lesbian veterans who were convicted in a military court for consensual sex. But as The War Horse has reported, the narrow confines of the pardon exclude thousands of gay and lesbian veterans who were forced out of the military but didnt wind up in court. As of November, only 14 veterans had applied.Dixon Osburn, an attorney who helped orchestrate the repeal of dont ask, dont tell in 2011 supports all this federal action, but says gay service members who were kicked out in the 90s and earlier, like Rodriguez, often dont have records that clearly indicate the true nature of their dismissal from the military.This leaves the Department of Defense with a tricky choice. Are you just going to carte blanche, get rid of all the derogatory records, because the system is so flawed? Osburn says. That might be the easiest thing to do, but the military, I think, is trying to be exacting and making sure that they dont overturn appropriately recorded bad conduct.Osburn and other advocates dont know what to expect from President-elect Trump when it comes to reparations for veterans kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation.Hegseth provided some clues during an interview that aired just two days after the election on The Shawn Ryan Show, a podcast hosted by a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor. The dumbest phrase on planet Earth in the military is our diversity is our strength, Hegseth said, pumping his book The War on Warriors.He lamented the militarys slide into wokeness, beginning, he said, under President Clinton with the tinkering of dont ask, dont tell and really accelerating, he said, under President Obama. He talked about frequent conversations with veterans and active-duty service members complaining that standards are dropping, the woke stuff is everywhere, and telling him, I feel like Im walking on eggshells.About a week later, Trump announced he was tapping Hegseth to lead the military. But as controversy swirled around Hegseths character, reports surfaced Wednesday that Trump is considering another veteran with a well-established track record of policies decried by the LGBTQ communities: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.Didnt Want to Be GayAccording to Department of Defense statistics, a majority of gay and lesbian servicemembers who were kicked out before 2011 were quietly discharged with an honorable or general discharge.Rodriguez wasnt as lucky.After the Navy booted her with an other than honorable discharge, she returned home to Jacksonville and lied to her family, telling them a fistfight led to her dismissal. I didnt want to be gay, she says. I started dating a guy. I would hide my paperwork, my DD 214, and everything, I would hide it under my mattress.She tried to become a detective. But a police academy wouldnt accept her because of the commission of a serious offense on her record. She eventually got work at a medical supply company, which shes grateful for, but its not the career she wanted. She also, eventually, confessed to her family that she was gay, and thats the reason the Navy disposed of her.For three decades she largely kept her past military service to herself, ashamed of her short time in uniform and her unceremonious exit. About 21 years ago, though, at the urging of her family, she decided shed try to get her discharge upgraded. Military review boards denied her upgrade application three times for various reasons, including her admission of lying all those years ago. But with the help of a lawyer, earlier this year Rodriguez finally received an honorable discharge.Its bittersweet, she says.Her parents have died, and she cant share her victory with them. Rodriguez turned 58 in November. Her childhood dream of becoming a cop after religiously watching the tough New York female officers on Cagney and Lacey is long gone.In the last two years, her fight to get that honorable discharge has revived old memories she thought she had wiped away, like the sexual assault. In the last year, she has had trouble falling asleep. She started relying on alcohol to doze off and is now on medication to cut that craving.In the middle of the night, her wife will occasionally find her in the fetal position with blankets over her head.I dont like to say they screwed up my life, Rodriguez says, referring to the Navy. But they screwed up my life.Whats Next After Trumps Victory?Rodriguez and VanCantfort have never met. But when The War Horse told her about the former military police officer who participated in witch hunts, she was taken aback. Why would he do it? She wondered.I just cant even imagine having that type of job, Rodriguez said. I actually feel bad for him.At the time, VanCantfort was young and following orders. Even back then, he said, he disagreed, but disobeying was not an option.Thats insubordination, he says. And thats grounds for getting kicked out of AFPD [Armed Forces Police Department] as well as not getting any other good assignments.After a year with the San Antonio Armed Forces Police, VanCantfort left the witch hunts behind for a new assignment. He ascended in the military, eventually retiring as a master sergeant. His license plate reads USAF 23, honoring the 23 years he spent in the Air Force. And outside of the military, he compiled nearly two decades as a cop and intelligence expert.After retiring from the Department of Homeland Security in 2018, VanCantfort now volunteers his time with organizations to build safe neighborhoods and investigate cold cases. (Photo courtesy of Todd VanCantfort)VanCantfort, 61, is not a big feelings guy and speaks matter-of-factly. When asked how he believes a Trump presidency will impact a woke, more inclusive service, he offers a belief he repeats often: Anyone who is mentally and physically fit to commit themselves to their country should have the chance. And the military should stick to being nonpartisan.The Trump transition team did not respond to questions about whether the new administration plans to keep Bidens pardons for convicted gay veterans intact, or eliminate policies it considers woke. It also failed to respond on whether the Trump White House will reinstate a ban on trans servicemembers enlisting. According to a recent Newsweek article no decision has been made on a potential trans ban.On the day after Trumps victory, Rodriguez decided to display her honorable discharge for the first time on Facebook. In the post, she congratulated Trump voters while thanking Presidents Biden and Obama for trying to right the wrongs of the past. If it werent for them, I would not be getting what I deserve as well as many others, she wrote.Elaine Rodriguez shared her Honorable Discharge on Facebook the day after the election. (Facebook)Some of her Trump-voting friends liked the post, and perhaps that shouldve heartened her that the chorus of anti-woke talk will soften now that the election is over.She cant help but worry, though, for one of her male cousins who is in the Army and married to a man. And when her wife wants to hold her hand or kiss in public, she still looks around, paranoid, worried that the affection is somehow wrong. Something to be punished.This War Horse investigation was reported by Anne Marshall-Chalmers, edited by Mike Frankel, fact-checked by Jess Rohan, and copy-edited by Mitchell Hansen-Dewar. Hrisanthi Pickett wrote the headlines.If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

Photo courtesy of U.P. Nguyen. Design by Sam DonndelingerEditors note: This article includes mention of suicide and contains details about those who have attempted to take their own lives. If you are having thoughts of suicide, or are concerned that someone you know may be, resources are available here.In 2020, U.P. Nguyen called her mom in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a secret she had kept for 23 years.Mom, Im gay.Her mom responded in Vietnamese, Nguyens native language.[She] said I was going to hell and that she wasnt sure what they did to deserve a daughter like me, Nguyen, a 26-year-old running coach and data engineer living in Boston and New York, told Uncloseted Media. Just thinking about it makes me tear up.Before the end of the call, Nguyens mother told her she was cut out of the will.Subscribe nowNguyen usually goes home to celebrate Christmas with her deeply religious parents, who have voted for President-elect Donald Trump three consecutive times, but she wont return this year.Photo courtesy of U.P. NguyenI don't really want to spend the holidays moping by myself, she told Uncloseted Media. I'm heartbroken. Ill miss a lot of things about being home. Ill miss my siblings. But I feel like I need to not go.Nguyens parents did not respond to Uncloseted Medias request for comment.Nguyens experience highlights a broader issue many LGBTQ people face: the struggle for family acceptance during the holidays. In the U.S., less than 40% of LGBTQ youth consider their homes affirming and over a quarter report daily tensions.Family rejection takes a significant mental health toll: LGBTQ people who experience high levels of rejection from their families are eight times more likely to attempt suicide.The pervasive familial rejection of queer people is a public health crisis and the severity of it is often downplayed. The lack of support from the family is contributing to despair, lack of hope, thoughts of taking their lives, substance abuse, and various other kinds of risks, says Caitlin Ryan, director of the Family Acceptance Project, a research and education initiative aimed at spreading awareness for LGBTQ family acceptance and mental health.Ryan, who co-founded the project in 2002, says that until her organization started this research, no one knew that there were a whole set of behaviors that were related to family acceptance and mental health [for LGBTQ people]. And even today, research is limited.For Nguyen, her parents rejection often makes her feel angry. Im pissed off, she says. A lot of my friends have it simpler.She says this rejection manifests in the everyday interactions that others take for granted. I was FaceTiming my mom and I was trying to show her that I was at my girlfriend's house I handed the phone over to her, and then my mom immediately hung up. It felt awful.Photo Credit: Family Acceptance ProjectWhile many LGBTQ folks feel this rejection daily, the holidays often amplify feelings of loneliness for those estranged from their families. Sixty-six percent of people report feeling lonely during the holidays, and 64% of individuals with mental health conditions say the season worsens their state, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.LGBTQ people throughout time have lived in a world that wasn't supportive, that often discriminated against them and was rejecting and victimizing. And so support is essential, says Ryan.Robin, who grew up in Southern California, says their upbringing was full of rejection because of their fathers treatment of them, their past partners and the LGBTQ community at large.The expectation has generally been that for the holiday seasons, everyone who has moved away from our hometown will come back and spend a few days there, says Robin, 26, who moved to northern California and asked to use a pseudonym out of a fear of blowback from their dad. I've done that once in the past five years and was very reluctant to do so.Robin, who is not going home this holiday, says that their father was harsh towards their transgender partner when they both visited him.My dad took that opportunity to interrogate her about her identity and ask what kind of hormones she was on and what kind of surgeries she had gotten, they told Uncloseted Media. He does not use my correct name unless I specifically insist, which I have to do every sentence. I have not heard him gender me correctly once.According to Ryan, the tactics used by Robins father contribute to mental health deterioration. Rejection behaviors all focus on trying to change, prevent, deny or minimize someone's LGBTQ identity, Ryan says. That includes behaviors like blaming your child when others mistreat them because of their LGBTQ identity, not talking about their identity, pressuring them to be more or less masculine or feminine, not using their appropriate name, misgendering them, and so on.Research has found that when trans youth could have their chosen name used, there was a more than 70% decrease in severe depressive symptoms and a 65% decrease in suicide attempts. This is startling when you think that this is just about using someone's name, says Ryan.I want to be speaking up against these things, and I often do. And my impression is that that disturbs the peace of the holidays, Robin says. There is this unspoken agreement that we will tolerate it, but I am no longer afraid of ruining a relationship by bringing these things up because I see that relationship as being over already.Since Nguyen came out four years ago, she says going home for the holidays is difficult. Im gay, Im the only one who moved away from home, and so Im definitely the topic of gossip when I visit, she says. Its often like, Whoa. I feel pretty scrutinized.What Robin and Nguyen are describing is the conflict that many LGBTQ children feel towards their parents: the pull to be themselves authentically, clashing with a desire to keep relationships with their parents intact, with silence as the glue.Uncloseted Media is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.When we're in environments where we don't feel like ourselves, it creates a sense of avoidance, says Rebecca Schlegal, professor of psychology at Texas University, whose research focuses on authenticity and well-being. But when you're talking about family, what a conflict, right? Our impulse is going to be to approach family. But when you're getting signals that you don't fit, you're going to feel like you need to avoid. And so that's going to arouse a sense of conflict within the self.According to Schlegels research, when people are allowed to be themselves and feel accepted, their well-being skyrockets. Authenticity is associated with every mental health outcome that we've ever looked at. It's bigger than a typical effect that we see in social psychology, she says.Photo courtesy of U.P. NguyenFor Nguyen, the rejection manifests in acute mental health struggles. It feels like deep sadness, she says. Like, Man, Why is this happening to me? Why cant good things happen to me? And I feel lethargic and its hard for me to move, like literally move and get off the couch or out of bed.She says the worst experience was in 2022, shortly after she and her girlfriend broke up and she chose to go home to her family for Christmas. My ex had hosted me for the holidays for the [three] years we were dating and I didnt have to go back home. I was like, Wow, this is really nice. Like, this is what it's like to have a family that is supportive. So the double gut punch of losing my [girlfriend] and then needing to deal with all the homophobia and toughness of home was terrible for my mental health.In an advisory released last year by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, isolation and loneliness are as bad for your health as smoking every day. It can also increase your risk of mental health conditions, stroke, heart disease and even premature death.Theres often a perception that people are always the answer to not feeling alone. [But] sometimes they're the cause, Sam Carr, loneliness researcher at the University of Bath, told Uncloseted Media. If you have to be somebody else with your family, that means the real you is hidden. So even when you do go back home, you feel lonely because your family requires you to be something different. If you live your whole life that way, you've essentially lived a very lonely existence. The world hasn't seen you.Somewhere in between my high school self and now I've tasted freedom and what its like to be fully myself, fully out, fully existing, Nguyen says. When I'm at home, I feel like I have to put on a mask or I have to censor myself because my parents and I have very differing opinions, and I dont want to spend the whole time I visit fighting, so I just don't say a lot of things. Even though Im out, it feels very closeted.Research has found that more than a quarter of Americans are estranged from family members and that differences over political views are among the leading causes of those estrangements.Many queer people are profoundly distressed and even feel betrayed by their family members this election, says Linda Hsieh, a life coach and psychotherapist who works with LGBTQ clients. Individuals may be thinking, How could you not vote to support me? I'm part of the family.Mary, a 26-year-old trans woman originally from Hawaii who wished to remain anonymous to not further fracture her relationship with her parents, spent this Thanksgiving at home in Oregon with her conservative evangelical family.I don't want to go back any time soon, she says. My father is a Trump supporter, and we've had lots of fights about it.Mary knew she was trans from the age of 12 but kept it to herself for over a decade before coming out to her family in 2022. Since then, her family avoids addressing her name and tries to act as though nothing happened and nothing changed.Her aunt has refused to let her see her niece and nephew, citing concerns about confusing the children because of her identity. I dont think its right to treat my identity as another potential source of conflict. I miss them deeply.Subscribe nowDuring Thanksgiving dinner, it was tense. My grandparents wouldn't look at me, and they would talk around my name so they didnt have to say it, she says. When politics came up, she felt outnumbered. I felt like I couldn't speak. Mary says it has impacted her mental health. Whenever I visit Oregon, I feel an old depression set back in and it makes me antsy to return home to Los Angeles where I don't often feel that same caged animal sadness.Nguyen, who is the first-born daughter of her Vietnamese refugee family, says that she understands where her parents are coming from, but she disagrees. They think that I'm going into battle because they are very religious, and it was tough to be queer in their world growing up. But I think they don't quite understand that it's different now.Research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine insists that there must be a change. The study reveals a powerful intervention to suicide prevention among LGBTQ people: love. According to the longitudinal study on suicide ideation, social support from family and friends is the most protective factor for at-risk youth.We found that when there were high levels of these supportive behaviors, there were extremely low levels of suicidality, depression, substance abuse, very high levels of self-esteem, high levels of overall health and well-being, positive social connections, and having people who care about you and support you overall, Ryan says.She emphasizes that solutions to family rejection dont require parents to abandon their religious beliefs or political values but instead focus on practical behavioral changes. They just need to modify their behaviors in ways that show love.Ryan's approach involves guiding families through small, actionable steps, such as using their childs chosen name and pronouns. She also encourages families to take part in educational programs that explain the impact of rejecting behaviors.Its about meeting the family where they are at, says Ryan. Most of these families want their kids to be happy and healthy. When they see the data about how much pain the rejection is causing them, they change. They want to keep their families together.Photo courtesy of U.P. NyguenThis holiday, Nyguyen is feeling conflicted about not going home. Sometimes I get lonely, she says. Ive been quite lucky to have had an incredible support network around me. When I came out and was rejected by my parents, I was immediately embraced by other loved ones. I had a stable tech job and a roof over my head, far from family, so the damage was mostly limited to feeling cast out by the ones who were supposed to love me the most.Nguyen has been in therapy for years and says that it has done wonders for how she processes her familial relationships. Theyre not the easiest, but theyre mine, and I get to choose whether or not I want them. I will always love my family and want to honor what they gave me, and I'm still deciding how to do that in a way that doesn't make me go crazy.If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Hotline. Other support hotlines.If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

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News Is Out, a queer media collaborative, has received $250,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to launch a research project to document the status of LGBTQ+ media in the U.S.The LGBTQ+ Media Mapping Project is in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, City University of New Yorks Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Center for Community Media, and Local Media Foundation, which hosts News Is Out.This funding is part of MacArthursLocal News Program, with $20 million in grants announced this week. MacArthur launched theprogramlast year with a commitment of at least $150 million in new grantmaking to local news over five years, and the potential of $25 million in additional impact investments. This latest round of grants brings the total committed to date to more than $90 million.Our grantmaking supports a range of organizations working to strengthen nascent and emerging local news ecosystems and their leaders, who innovate in these spaces, with tools, resources, and funding. This includes a cohort of legacy newsrooms pioneering new paths, said Silvia Rivera, MacArthurs director of local news. These investments are part of a collective effort to ensure that local communities have steady access to reliable and trustworthy information.LGBTQ+ media have often been left behind when it comes to new types of funding, in part because its difficult to quantify who and where we are, said Tracy Baim, research lead and co-founder of Windy City Times, a member of the News is Out collaborative. Baim wrote a history of LGBTQ+ media, Gay Press, Gay Power, a decade ago. Since that time, many outlets have closed, but many new digital-first outlets have been launched.LGBTQ+-owned news organizations are essential to a healthy media ecosystem. The seven members of News Is Out are: Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco); Dallas Voice; Los Angeles Blade; Philadelphia Gay News; Tagg Magazine; Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.); and Windy City Times. News Is Out will be adding affiliate members in early 2025.A survey will go out soon to more than 150 local and national LGBTQ+ media. Focus groups and other research will continue through spring 2025. A final report and map will be out in summer 2025 and will be distributed to interested stakeholdersfunders, advertisers, donors, readers, academics, and more.Hanna Siemaszko is the research associate on the project. Penny Riordan, Local Media Associations director of business strategy and partnerships, is overseeing the project. LGBTQ+ media outlets should contact newsisout@localmedia.org if they want to participate in the project.About Local Media Association / Local Media FoundationLocal Media Association brings all media together to share, network, collaborate and more. More than 3,000 newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, digital news organizations, and research and development partners engage with LMA as members or constituents of our programs. As a 501(c)(6) trade association, LMA is focused on the business side of local media. Its programs and labs focus on revenue growth and new business models. LMA helps local media companies develop their strategies via cutting-edge programs, conferences, webinars, research and training.Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable trust, serves as the innovation and transformation affiliate of LMA. Incorporating our four strategic pillars business transformation, journalism funded by philanthropy, industry collaboration, and sustainability for publishers of color LMF helps provide local media companies the strategies and resources for meaningful innovation and impactful journalism projects.The post MacArthur-funded research project documents status of LGBTQ+ media in U.S. appeared first on News Is Out.

A major tenet of liberation is having the freedom to define oneself and not be defined by others. This includes the ability to live freely, unencumbered by a societys hegemonic attitudes of who deserves to be accorded rights and privileges based primarily on social identities or adherence to dominant ideologies.Societies construct isolated and often dangerous places referred to as closets in some cases for those who are marginalized because they do not conform to social mandates. Related The modern presidency includes being Consoler-in-Chief. Donald Trump cant handle that. Trump is more interested in pitting people against each other than uniting the nation in hard times. Individuals and organizations have employed religion to justify the marginalization, harassment, denial of rights, persecution, oppression, and murder of entire groups of people based on their social identities. Dive deeper every day Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues Subscribe to our Newsletter today At various historical periods, people have applied religious texts to establish and maintain hierarchical positions of power, domination, and privilege over certain individuals and groups.We have seen this throughout the Christian world, from Roman Emperors Constantine I and Theodosius to the Spanish Inquisition to Queen Elizabeth I of England to Colonial America to Nazi Germany to the present.Living openly and proudly as a queer Ashkenazi Jew (one of eastern European heritage), I am aware of my minoritized social status in the United States both from personal experience and from my understanding of history and also through what authorShelby Steelerefers to as enemy memory or oppression mentality, an intense awareness by traditionally marginalized peoples that this oppression can surface again at any time, regardless of how good conditions may appear at any given moment in history. Each year for a series of eight nights, as Ilightthe candles on my Hanukkah menorah, an image of another time comes to mind: a photo of a menorah at a window with a view of a Nazi flag waving across the road. Taken by Rachel Posner, wife of Rabbi Akiva Posner, in Kiel, Germany in 1931, the picture portends the eventual destruction of European Jewry.According to Jewish tradition, we place our menorahs in the window to share publicly thelightand hope of the holiday and to symbolically reenact the miracle of light. It shows a declaration of our faith to wider communities.The menorah holds significant historical roots dating back to ancient times. Deriving from the Temple in Jerusalem, the menorah is a multi-branched candelabrum used for ceremonial purposes and not only during Hanukkah. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival ofLights, celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days. During this joyous remembrance, families gather tolightthe menorah, adding one candle each night for eight consecutive nights.Just over one year after Rachel Posner snapped her iconic picture, the Nazi Party won a majority of seats in the German Reichstag (Parliament) by a plurality of votes, and Adolf Hitler became Chancellor. He then took the title ofFhrer und Reichskanzlerin 1934.Increasingly throughout Germany, and eventually within its conquered occupied territories, the Nazi regime took many rights from Jews, including the right to safely display their faith through their cherished symbols like menorahs. The Nazis extinguished this traditional beacon of resilience, hope, faith, and the triumph oflightover darkness. Looking over the enormously expansive history of anti-Jewish oppression the longest hatred, as writer Robert S. Wistrich calls it a recurring pattern emerges from conversion (you cannot live among us as Jews), to expulsion (you cannot live among us), to extermination (you cannot live).We see this cycle clearly in Medieval Spain. The Catholic Church forced all Jews to convert in 1391 c.e. These converted baptized Jews were referred to as Marranos (meaning swine). The Church accused them of secretly remaining true to their Jewish faith and practicing their traditions underground, including lighting their sacred menorahs.Spanish Christian theologians devised the doctrine ofLimpieza de Sangre(purity of the blood), whereby baptized Jews remained Jewish in the view of the Church and therefore were considered a danger to society. Thereafter, the Church forbade baptized Jews from practicing medicine, surgery, or pharmacy because they believed they would attempt to murder Christians.In 1412 in Spain, Bishop Pablo de Santa Maria introduced theLaws of Valladolid, where he decreed that Jewish districts were to be enclosed and placed under strict control. Jews were forced to wear certain patches on their clothing distinguishing them as Jews.The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicin) was established in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Thomas de Torquemada was the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. The Church saw theMarranosas a problem, and it burned many to death in what the Church justified as anauto da f.Theauto da f (in Medieval Spanish, act of faith) represented the ritual of public penance of condemned heretics and apostates during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella drove the last Jews from Spain and Portugal since Jews were no longer needed for the economic roles they once filled. Jews were expelled from Spain on July 31, 1492, when the Alhambra Decree took effect.Christopher Columbus departed from the port of Palos rather than the port of Cadiz, which was filled with ships evacuating Jews from Spain. Much of the funding for his voyage was money the Spanish monarchy confiscated from the Jews. In Spanish-controlled Mexico, historians found 61 volumes of manuscript records on Inquisition trials. One trial involved Miguel Hernandez de Almeida on the charge of Judaising Heresy in 1590. Another involvedMariana de Carabejal, who was accused and convicted of Judaising Heresy, and burned in anauto da f.Historians have located more than 9,000 trials of Judaising Heresy brought against so-called Marranos between 1500 and 1700. Many of the accused were found guilty and burned.As a side note: the term heresy is taken from the Greek, , (hairesis)meaning choice. It was used in the early Roman Christian Church as a crime against the empire, and aheretic was a person who opposed established beliefs or customs. Today, I have the privilege of safety to forthrightly and proudly display my menorah at my windows edge. I know that the Jewish people have not always had this right and privilege, as many may still not have today.I hope, however, that we all join together to uphold andextendthelightduring these times of eclipse attempted by the political and theocratic right by working to empty and dismantle all remaining closets where religious minorities, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, seniors, and so many other socially marginalized people are often forced to hide.Let the sun return fully to our lives and to our countries.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Three Unitarian churches in Rochester, New York, came together last weekend to host the Big Gay Wedding event, a free opportunity for LGBTQ+ couples, many of whom are fearful that marriage equality will be in jeopardy under the next administration and are rushing to get married before inauguration day. The event was hosted by the First Universalist Church of Rochester, the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canandaigua and bolstered by donations of cake, photography, and flowers from local vendors. Related Gay couple dressed as Disney princes get engaged in heartwarming fairy tale proposal Sorry Belle and Jasmine, these boys are taken. Headlines and state legislatures are looking to repeal same-sex marriage and marriage equality, Unitarian Church of Rochester lead minister Shari Halliday-Quan told Spectrum News. We thought, great. One of the things churches do really well is rites of passage like weddings. And so thats the thing that we, the Unitarian Universalist congregations, can offer. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Rev. Lane-Mairead Campbell, Minister of the First Universalist Church of Rochester, told WXXI that the event was a way that we could provide some certainty for our community and be able to provide some space to be able to get married legally, safely, quickly, inexpensively.Caliana and Angeles Rolon Torres are one couple who were married at the event. Caliana said being able to marry without financial burden means the world. The fact that we can do something like this, and theres any organization doing something like this that enables people to get married, not only for free, but also before people are worried about it and things like that, is incredible. Like, outside of the marriage itself, the fact that this is happening is an amazing concept.Halliday-Quan told WXXI that creating safe and affirming spaces matters deeply. Were helping couples secure rights that theyre worried will be taken away. We all hope that that wont be the case. But what I want folks to know, and what I think today really celebrates and uplifts, is that queer and trans people have a place in our community, that you are loved and worthy.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took the GOP to task for passing a bill that would effectively ban transgender women and girls from school sports and told Democrats they will only start winning on LGBTQ+ issues if theyll throw a damn punch.On Tuesday, despite Democrats presenting a fairly unified front with only two members, Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar both of Texas, voting in favor of the anti-trans sports bill, the bill passed with widespread Republican support, something that AOC said liberals needed to counter if they were going to support marginalized communities.When we tell the truth about what Republicans are doing, and when were unafraid to do that, it generates momentum, AOC told Semafor political correspondent Dave Weigel at a press briefing after the vote, Them reported. When we lean into that momentum that we generate, and when Democrats arent afraid to throw a damn punch, then we can see that we can yield results.If Democrats want to push back against Republicans, the party cant cower in the face of tough issues, she said.The reason why I think some folks in the Democratic Party have felt like trans issues are hot water, or immigration issues are hot water, is because they havent felt confident or the ability to confidently throw a punch on solid ground that is persuasive and uniting people, AOC explained.The so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports bill passed with a vote of 218-206 and threatens to withhold federal funding from schools that dont comply with keeping trans girls from participating in school sports. The bill is one of several that the GOP has pushed forward that would amend Title IX the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in government-funded schools and education programs to enforce rules impacting trans peoples access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and protection from discrimination, based on biological sex without ever defining it. The Congressional Equality Caucus said the bill could force any student to answer invasive personal questions about their bodies & face humiliating physical inspections to prove that theyre a girl because it defines sex as based solely on a persons reproductive biology and genetics at birth.AOC pointed out that to stand up against this kind of discrimination, Democrats have to be strong if they want to garner support and create change.I think people smell blood in the water. They can understand weakness. And where they see weakness, thats when everything kind of falls apart, the congresswoman explained. So we have to be strong about these things. And I think projecting strength attracts support.

Warning: The following post contains spoilers through Episode 4 of Traitors US season 3 The third season of The Traitors: US is underway, and we have already had many goops, gags, a live murder, and an unexpected new obsession for the gays in the form of Zac Efron's younger brother, Dylan.For those unfamiliar with the Emmy-award-winning show hosted by the legendary Alan Cumming, it goes a little something like this: The contestants are split into two groups, the Faithfuls, and the Traitors. Every night, the Traitors -- which usually number between one to four -- gather together to decide who they'll "murder" to eliminate from the show. The following day, the entire group embarks on a mission to add to an overall prize fund, and following the mission, they sit together at a round table and decide who they think is the traitor. Whoever receives the most group votes is "banished" from the game. In the end, if any traitors remain standing, they take it all, while any remaining faithful split the money.Efron started relatively quiet in his season, but he was (rightfully) immediately onto Bob the Drag Queen. During a confrontation at the round table between Efron and Bob in the fourth episode, Bob made a comment about how Efron's brother wasn't "a good actor," which collectively sent the internet into a spin.It also wound up getting Bob eliminated. (@) Bob was iconic for this moment. (@) That, however, isn't what has the internet so interested in Efron. It also has nothing to do with the newfound obsession the gays have to protect him at all costs and somehow get him to the finale of The Traitors, even though filming has already wrapped.The reason Efron's getting so much attention is because of his ability to post an incredible thirst trap.Take, for example, this:See on InstagramOr this, which, you're welcome, shows his bum:See on InstagramIn fact, a selection of photos have started to circulate involving this cutie, including a photo of him lying on the beach and arching his back with his butt up in the air from a photo dump he posted last August.See on InstagramThe discovery of these photos, for better or worse, have very much captured our attention. (@) For once, people focused less on the six back and more on the backline body: (@) To be fair, as of now, Efron hasn't fully addressed his sexuality and has mostly lived his life as a recluse prior to the show. In the past, he was rumored to have dated Stella Hudgens (Vanessa's sister) and model Courtney King, but no one has ever confirmed or denied these rumors.Even if he has dated women, there's always hope he's bisexual, but one can dream.Take a look at some of the other reactions to these sexy photos: (@) "dylan efron knows EXACTLY what he's doing" (@) "the third pic" (@) "THAT ARCH IS NASTY" (@) "And we all know what we exactly would do" (@) "Happy Friday to my newest bf, Dylan Efron!" (@) "hird photo is giving this" (@) " would be faithful to Dylan Efron" (@) "emme start rooting for Dylan Efron, hold up." (@) "Kim K or Dylan E?" (@) (@) "Now, Dylan Efron. What is going on here sir?" (@) "I am in love with Dylan Efron. Whoever cast him gets an A+++" (@) "Zac who??? DYLAN EFRON is the new sexual awakening." (@) "Ive decided that from this point on I will be an unapologetic Dylan Efron stan for the bit" (@) "I dunno but count me IN!" (@) "dunno but I keep trying to press play to see how this clip ends" (@) " have so many questions about this one And btw these dimples tho" (@) "The ass pic always gonna kill me"

While the real world feels chaotic, Lady Gaga seems ready to bring salvation to the pop world. Mother Monster is teasing something big, and fans are convinced its all about her highly anticipated new album.Fans noticed a mysterious update to Gagas website, which now features a countdown clock ticking toward 4 p.m. GMT (11 a.m. ET, 8 a.m. PT) on Monday, Jan. 27. The clock is surrounded by a black and white interactive background. In addition, users can drag their curser across the screen to reveal LG2. Its likely the background is made to represent the cover art of The Fame Monster. Hours before, the site had a background of icy blue crystals, resembling the ones adorning Gagas glasses on the cover of her debut album, The Fame.Let the countdown beginThe website update comes after a quiet stretch from Gaga, leaving fans eager for news. In October, she released the albums first single, Disease, and announced the record would drop in February. However, details like the release date, title, and cover art remain under wraps, and a second single hasnt been announced.Fans are praising the timing of Gagas teaserHer cheering up the gays today of all daysyeah, thats MOTHER, a fan wrote on social media. Another added, Finally some good news in 2025.As the countdown ticks on, one things certain: all eyes are on Gaga and what promises to be an unforgettable moment in pop history.More Stories: Lady Gagas Cryptic Countdown Sparks Frenzy Over New Album RevealNonbinary Star Jack Haven Embraces New Name with Powerful MeaningLGBTQ+ Mental Health Crisis Hotline Sees Surge in Calls Following Trumps Inauguration and Anti-LGBTQ+ Policy MovesThailand to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, Marking Historic Step for LGBTQ+ RightsBishop Delivers Heated Sermon to President Trump on Inauguration Day, Calls for Mercy on Immigrants, Transgender ChildrenThe post Lady Gagas Cryptic Countdown Sparks Frenzy Over New Album Reveal appeared first on Gayety.

Jack Haven, formerly known as Brigette Lundy-Paine, has shared a heartfelt name change announcement on social media. The Atypical star revealed that their new name is a tribute to a family member and reflects their journey toward self-discovery.Related | Omar Apollo Shares Full Frontal Queer Scene Shuts Down HomophobesHaven is after my great-great-uncle, Haven Gillespie, who was a songwriter known for the Xmas hit Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, which he wrote on the subway in 15 minutes. And first name Jack has stuck, Haven wrote on Instagram. Two years ago in a workshop led by @saman_arastoo, I began using this name. I said I was using it in safe spaces. Saman said use it in dangerous spaces. So I use it in the mens bathroom.The announcement comes just one day after former President Donald Trump reiterated a divisive stance on gender identity in a speech. During his address, Trump declared, As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female, and signed an executive order enforcing this view.Haven, who came out as nonbinary and began using they/them pronouns in 2019, continues to defy societal expectations with grace and authenticity. Their breakout year in 2024 included a standout performance in the trans horror film I Saw the TV Glow. The role earned them nominations from the Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Dorian Awards, and more, cementing their place as a rising star.Jack Havens name change is more than a personal shiftits a statement of empowerment, resilience, and the importance of claiming ones identity in every space.More Stories: Lady Gagas Cryptic Countdown Sparks Frenzy Over New Album RevealNonbinary Star Jack Haven Embraces New Name with Powerful MeaningLGBTQ+ Mental Health Crisis Hotline Sees Surge in Calls Following Trumps Inauguration and Anti-LGBTQ+ Policy MovesThailand to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, Marking Historic Step for LGBTQ+ RightsBishop Delivers Heated Sermon to President Trump on Inauguration Day, Calls for Mercy on Immigrants, Transgender ChildrenThe post Nonbinary Star Jack Haven Embraces New Name with Powerful Meaning appeared first on Gayety.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-01-21T20:53:41Z President Donald Trump has directed his Justice Department to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban until early April, but a host of questions remain - including whether Trump has the authority to issue such an order and if TikToks China-based parent would be amenable to selling the popular social media platform. In an executive order signed on Monday, Trump instructed the U.S. attorney general to not enforce the ban for 75 days while his administration determines the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of TikTok.Under a federal law that was upheld by the Supreme Court last week, TikToks parent company ByteDance was required to sell the platform to an approved buyer by Sunday or face a nationwide ban. On Saturday evening, a few hours before the ban took effect, TikTok became unusable for U.S. users. But it came back online on Sunday, with TikTok crediting Trump for helping the platform after he vowed on social media to stall the ban. The federal law, passed with bipartisan support in Congress last year, provides a 90-day extension if progress has been made toward a sale. But Trumps executive order now complicates matters for companies who could be liable for delivering TikToks service to U.S. users. Some at least as of now appear to be taking a cautious approach. On Tuesday, Apple and Google, which operate the two most prominent app stores, did not offer TikTok or any other ByteDance-affiliated apps, such as Lemon8 or the video editing app CapCut, on their digital marketplaces. Heres what we know: Can Trump put a pause on the TikTok ban?The Justice Department is generally tasked with enforcing the laws of the federal government. But Trump does not have the power to overturn a law that Congress passed and subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court. The law does give the sitting president latitude on certain details, such as what would count as a qualified divesture of TikTok. But since an extension on a ban can only occur if significant progress has been made towards a sale of TikToks U.S. platform, its possible that Trumps order could face legal challenges. On Tuesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization that filed amicus briefs in support of TikToks legal challenge against the statute, said it believed it would be unconstitutional to ignore the law. There are no winners here, unless Congress repeals this law, David Greene, the organizations Civil Liberties Director, said in a statement. On Sunday, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas posted a message on X listing a number of state and federal agencies, and private entities, that might be willing to go to court to get the ban enforced. However, its unclear if anyone is planning to challenge Trumps order. The order also warns possible challengers that because of the national security interests at stake, attempts by parties to enforce the law represents an encroachment on the powers of the executive branch. Is TikTok going to be sold?Even if an extension faces and fails to withstand legal scrutiny, it will buy time for ByteDance and TikTok to figure out their next move.Trump on Monday said he is looking to have the U.S. government broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok, adding that every rich person has called him about acquiring the social media platform. A day prior, he proposed terms in which the U.S. would have a 50% stake in a joint venture that would be set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose. But the details remain murky, and it was unclear whether Trump was proposing control of the app by the government or another U.S. entity.According to TikTok, roughly 60% of the privately-held ByteDance is owned by global investors, such as General Atlantic and Susquehanna International Group. ByteDance employees and the companys founder, Zhang Yiming, also each have a 20% stake. The technology company has not disclosed financial details for its subsidiaries, including TikToks global or U.S. operation. Even if an American company can acquire a 50% stake in TikTok, its unclear how a Trump-orchestrated transaction would address some of the national security concerns that led lawmakers and the Biden administration to push for a divestment. For example, Trump has not addressed whether he will allow ByteDance to keep controlling the TikTok algorithm that fuels what users see on the platform. The algorithm, which is updated and maintained by ByteDance engineers in China, has been one of the main concerns among supporters of the law. Trumps executive order notes the administration must have a review period to assess government intelligence and the steps TikTok has taken to address Washingtons concerns. What happens next?Most likely, lots of negotiations about the future of TikTok. Last year, Beijing called the push in Washington to require a divestment of TikTok a robbers act. But on Monday, China signaled a possible softening of its stance.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that business operations and acquisitions should be independently decided by companies in accordance with market principles. If it involves Chinese companies, Chinas laws and regulations should be observed, Mao said on Monday. Trump has threatened to slap tariffs as high as 100% on Chinese goods if Beijing refuses to allow a sale of TikTok. If China doesnt approve the deal, Trump said on Monday he would consider it somewhat of a hostile act. After the law was passed last year, ByteDance said it did not have any plans to sell TikTok and then fought a legal battle against the statute for months. Representatives for the company and TikTok did not immediately respond Tuesday on whether they are willing to cut ties with each other within the new 75-day extension period.In a note, Gabriel Wildau, a managing director of the Teneo consultancy, wrote that if amicable negotiations happen, Beijing might ultimately approve the export of TikToks algorithm. However, a sale that excludes that technology might be more feasible legally and technically, Wildau wrote. Previously, Teneo had made a case that Beijing would not allow ByteDance to sell TikTok because of its concern for national dignity.This is all a game of high-stakes poker, said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. TikTok is a chip on the table in broader U.S.-China negotiations. On Tuesday, Trump was asked whether hes installed the app on his phone. The U.S. government has banned it from federal devices due to concerns it could lead to spying by Chinese intelligence agencies.No but I think I might put it there, said Trump, who credits the platform with helping him win more youth votes during last years presidential election. During his first term, he tried to ban TikTok, calling it a national security threat. _________________________Associated Press writer Didi Tang contributed to this story. HALELUYA HADERO Haleluya covers Amazon, retail and technology. twitter mailto

Deforestation is visible near the areas of several wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri)2025-01-22T02:00:08Z JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) The South Korean government will reduce subsidies for biomass energy after rising domestic and international criticism of its link to deforestation. Environmental activists generally applauded the reforms but criticized loopholes and slow timelines for phasing out the subsidies.While not without caveats, (the) decision by the South Korean government demonstrates that large-scale biomass power has no place in a renewable energy future, Hansae Song, program lead at South Korea-based nongovernmental organization Solutions for Our Climate, said in an email to The Associated Press.Biomass power, predominantly generated by burning wood, is growing globally as countries accelerate their transition to use cleaner energy even though many scientists and environmentalists see it as problematic. In South Korea, its the second-largest source of renewable energy. Logs sit on the back of a truck parked on the side of a road leading to the area of several wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri) Logs sit on the back of a truck parked on the side of a road leading to the area of several wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More South Korea has subsidized biomass energy with millions of dollars for more than a decade via their renewable energy certificates program. In a single recent the government gave approximately $688 million to support power plants using biomass, according to a press release from South Koreas Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Faced with limited domestic forest resources, South Koreas biomass power industry has structured its business model around importing large volumes of wood pellets at lower prices from forest-rich nations. In 2023, imports accounted for 82% of the countrys wood pellet demand, making South Korea the worlds third-largest importer of biomass fuels, after the United Kingdom and Japan. An AP report found that biomass imported from Indonesia was linked to deforestation of natural, intact forest. As the (biomass) market expanded, various issues emerged, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in their press release. Criticisms regarding forest degradation and carbon emissions associated with biomass power generation persist. Under the revised policy, South Korea will not support any new biomass power plants. Subsidies for six existing state-owned plants co-firing coal and biomass will end this year, while the value of renewable energy certificates for three state-owned dedicated biomass plants will be phased down by 2027. At privately owned plants, subsidies for co-fired biomass from six plants will be phased out over the next decade, while subsidy weightings will be reduced for 12 dedicated biomass plants over the next 15 years.But environmental activists are critical of loopholes in the new policy. A machine operates near a road leading to the area of wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri) A machine operates near a road leading to the area of wood pellet production companies in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Domestically produced wood pellets and chips will still have the same level of support as before, including those co-fired with coal which experts say could pose a threat to South Koreas forests. Power plants under construction or in planning with approved business permits are exempt from the new policy and subject to the phased reduction timelines for existing facilities. State-owned co-firing facilities which will lose their renewable energy certificates currently account for only 10% of South Koreas biomass power fleet, while the phase-out of most private co-firing will take over a decade to complete under the new policy, said Solutions for Our Climate. This extends the life of thermal power plants many with emissions per unit of energy higher than coal beyond the Paris Agreement-aligned coal phase-out deadlines, Song wrote in an email to AP.The South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Korea Forest Service and Ministry of Environment did not respond to requests for comment from AP. Experts said South Koreas policy change could signal a shift in how countries consider and incorporate biomass as part of their own energy transitions. There has been a positive shift in terms of discourse around biomass subsidies, said Claire Squire, a research associate at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy Center for Global Sustainability. Cutting subsidies wont necessarily fix everything, but potentially if theyre constructed differently than they have in the past, that might be an improvement. Workers load sacks of wood pellets onto barges at a port in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri) Workers load sacks of wood pellets onto barges at a port in Pohuwato, Gorontalo province, Indonesia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Yegar Sahaduta Mangiri) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More As countries accelerate their energy transitions, demand for biomass is growing: The use of bioenergy has increased an average of about 3% per year between 2010 and 2022, the International Energy Agency said.Experts including the IEA say its important for that demand to happen in a sustainable way, such as using waste and crop residue rather than converting forest land to grow bioenergy crops. Deforestation contributes to erosion, damages biodiverse areas, threatens wildlife and humans who rely on the forest and intensifies disasters from extreme weather.Many scientists and environmentalists have rejected the use of biomass altogether. They say burning wood-based biomass can emit more carbon than coal and tree-cutting greatly reduces forests ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Critics also say that using biomass to co-fire, instead of transitioning directly to clean energy, simply prolongs the use of coal. ___The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. VICTORIA MILKO Milko is an Associated Press multimedia reporter covering the nexus of the energy transition, climate change and human rights across Asia-Pacific. twitter mailto

Here are this weeks most popular positive stories, with some fun social media posts tossed in too. Like seeing uplifting content like this?Sign up for our Good News email.Wedding bells and love songs are playing in this weeks good news round-up as we see politicians proposing, the pope opening up the priesthood, and some powerful expressions of queer solidarity! Why prolong the pause? Lets stop alliterating and jump right in!All aboard at the slay station! View this post on Instagram A post shared by PARALLEL (@parallel.fbx) Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Pete Buttigieg reveals first thing hell do now that hes out of a jobMayor Pete, the outgoing transportation secretary, will be hitting the friendly skies, using his Christmas gift and making up for some lost time.And talking about queer people who have tried to better the community, rememberthe activist who has spent his life making sure the Black LGBTQ+ community gets their due? How aboutthe hometown heroconnecting LGBTQ+ elders with younger people? And do you recall whenthePaw Patrol introduced its first non-binary character? Democrat introduces bill to block Donald Trumps trans military banRep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) has a trans sibling, and is trying to protect the estimated 15,000 trans people in the military. Brian Sims marries his partner of four years at incredible weddingHe got married in a historic building and had a warm reception, despite the chilly weather.We havent seen a gay gang like this since West Side Story View this post on Instagram A post shared by Diego Badaracco. (@diebadaracco) Karine Jean-Pierre shows her daughter love at final White House briefingShe made history as the first out, Black press secretary ever to serve a U.S. president. Gay lawmaker surprises everyone by proposing to boyfriend after taking oath of officeEveryone cheered as he got down on one knee.A lesbian princess just helped end a bad Lithuanian lawThe stunning high court decision all began with a story about a magical princess and a shoemakers daughter. If you feel like your goose is already cooked this year, be like this wise bird View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hipsters Of New York (@hipsters_of_ny) Pope Francis gives blessing, allowing gay men to train for the priesthoodTheres just one BIG catchAmericas first gay rights group formed a century ago this yearBefore Stonewall and before the Mattachine Society, there was this groundbreaking group that youve probably never heard of. Oregons first LGBTQ+ treasurer sworn in by nations first lesbian governorElizabeth Steiner wants to double the percentage of kids in the state with college savings plans. Treat yourself to some golden-age quality Neopolitan ice cream! View this post on Instagram A post shared by (@1920aesthetic)From our sibling sites:OUTSPORTS:83% of NBA teams are hosting a Pride NightQUEERTY:This queer shepherd & his gay sheep are spinning gold on social mediaINTO:This 60-year-old photo of a lesbian near-kiss is part of Beatles historyGAYCITIES:Pittsburgh activists seek historic designation for former gay barSubscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Facing a financial deficit and a shortage of dues owed by local chapters, theNational Stonewall Democratic Federation, founded by retired out Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) in 1998 to unite StonewallDemocratic clubs across the U.S., closed the doors at its Washington office in 2013 to go on an indefinite hiatus. They never reopened.Now, in the face of an openly anti-LGBTQ+ second Trump administration, the group has been revived under a new banner, the National Federation of Stonewall Democrats. Related Democrats are at each others throats over the role of trans issues in Trumps victory But experts say we can find our way through. The challenges facing LGBTQ+ Americans today underscore the need for a bold and unapologetically progressive action, especially given the uncertainty we face with the incoming Trump administration, said President Jeremy Comeau in an announcement of the new groups formation on Friday, just days before Trumps inauguration. We are united in our mission and we are unapologetically committed to that work. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The new federation aims to amplify the voices of the 19 million LGBTQ+ Americans and drive progress within the Democratic Party and across the nation, the statement read.Founding organizations include local Stonewall Democratic clubs and LGBTQ+ Democratic Party caucuses from 21 states. Out members of Congress Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Sarah McBride (D-DE) praised the groups mission.Together, were going to build on our work to create a Democracy big enough for all of us, said McBride.Comeau told Politico the federations priority will be holding Democratic electeds and candidates accountable for their votes and advocacy for LGBTQ+ people.Our job is to continue to push for the Democrats who are elected to make sure that theyre speaking up, said Comeau, a Democratic activist from Massachusetts. If they just let the Republicans steamroll these issues through the Congress without providing the words of support for the community were doomed. Democrats face a Republican trifecta in the White House and Congress thats outwardly hostile to LGBTQ+ rights. After a Republican campaign that spent $215 million attacking transgender people, Trump reiterated his commitment to undermining those rights in a speech in December.With the stroke of my pen on Day One, were going to stop the transgender lunacy, Trump told an audience of MAGA faithful in Phoenix. And I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military, and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools.Trump also claimed he would make it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders male and female through executive orders. Keeping Democrats united in the face of those challenges includes addressing those who have blamed the partys losses in November on its support for LGBTQ+ rights, among them Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA).Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face, Moulton said after Democrats lost control of the White House and Congress. The rep said he didnt want his own daughters getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat Im supposed to be afraid to say that.The congressman is absolutely out of his mind if he thinks that thats the reason why we lost the election, said Comeau. The new group will call out Democrats when they are using our community as a reason that we lose elections, he added.One way theyll do that is by taking a page from the MAGA playbook, primarying candidates they believe are backsliding on LGBTQ+ rights. The group has formed an independent political action committee dedicated to recruiting and raising money to field a new generation of out Democratic leaders.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Sure, its still 2024, but we can't help but already be looking forward to 2025, and especially all the amazing queer stories that will be heading to our screens, big and small.What do we have to look forward to? Honestly, a lot! From major blockbusters like Jurassic World Rebirth, to queer romances like Swift Horses and The Wedding Banquet, and even some spooky thrillers and horror like Mother Mary and Queens of the Dead. Oh yes, this year is already stacking up to be a very entertaining one. So, with that in mind, here is everything currently on our radar! All film descriptions are courtesy of their respective studios and networks.Lady Like - January 3The pages of RuPaul's Drag Race season 14 runner-up, Lady Camden's fairytale story are filled with growth, discovery, and a passion for performance in this vivid personal portrait. A student of dance, Camden performed ballet across many international stages before lip syncing on the Drag Race catwalk. When Camdens professional ballet career unexpectedly ends, she discovers drag as a way to find joy and community. It catapults her to stardom - and the glittering highs and challenging lows of life as an international drag celebrity. Born in the UK, Camden (aka Rex Wheeler) recounts a difficult childhood, and explores how Lady Camden helped Rex deal with his past traumas and embrace the joys of life. Narrated by fellow Drag Race star, Nina West. Where to watch: On VODEat the Night - January 10 (Limited)The queer French romance-thriller follows Pablo (Tho Cholbi), a small-time drug dealer, and his teenage sister Apolline (Lila Gueneau) have forged an unbreakable bond through their shared obsession with the online video game Darknoon. When Pablo falls for the mysterious Night (Erwan Kepoa Fal), he gets swept up in their liaison, abandoning his sister to deal with the impending shutdown of their digital haven alone. As Pablos reckless choices provoke the wrath of a dangerous rival gang, the end of their virtual life draws near, upending their reality.Where to watch: In theaters limited Peter Pans Neverland Nightmare - January 13 (Limited)The newest entry into the Poohniverse follows Wendy Darling as she strikes out in an attempt to rescue her brother Michael from the clutches of the evil Peter Pan who intends to send him to Neverland. Along the way she meets a twisted Tinkerbell, who is hooked on what she thinks is fairy dust.Where to watch: In theaters limitedOne of Them Days - January 17Best friends and roommates Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) are about to have One of Them Days. When they discover Alyssas boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a comical race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact. Where to watch: In theatersJimpa - January 23 (Sundance premiere)Hannah takes her nonbinary teenager, Frances, to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather, Jim lovingly known as Jimpa. But Frances desire to stay abroad with Jimpa for a year means Hannah is forced to reconsider her beliefs about parenting and finally confront old stories about the past.Where to watch: Sundance Film Festival, further release details TBA Twinless - January 23 (Sundance premiere)Two young men meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely bromance.Where to watch: Sundance Film Festival, further release details TBA Presence - January 24A family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they're not alone. Starring newly out Julia Fox! Where to watch: In theatersStar Trek: Section 31 - January 24In this new original movie, Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh reprises her Star Trek: Discovery role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who joins a secret division of Starfleet. Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, she also must face the sins of her past.Where to watch: Paramount+Kiss Of The Spider Woman - January 26 (Sundance premiere)Valentn, a political prisoner, shares a cell with Molina, a window dresser convicted of public indecency. The two form an unlikely bond as Molina recounts the plot of a Hollywood musical starring his favorite silver-screen diva, Ingrid Luna.Where to watch: Sundance Film Festival, further release details TBA Plainclothes - January 26 (Sundance premiere)A promising undercover officer assigned to lure and arrest gay men defies orders when he falls in love with a target.Where to watch: Sundance Film Festival, further release details TBAPeter Hujars Day - January 27 (Sundance premiere)A recently discovered conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz in 1974 reveals a glimpse into New York Citys downtown art scene and the personal struggles and epiphanies that define an artists life.Where to watch: Sundance Film Festival, further release details TBA Touch Me - Janurary 28 (Sundance premiere)Two codependent best friends become addicted to the heroin-like touch of an alien narcissist who may or may not be trying to take over the world.Where to watch: Sundance Film Festival, further release details TBA Companion - January 31New Line Cinemathe studio that brought you The Notebookand the unhinged creators of Barbarian cordially invite you to experience a new kind of love storyWhere to watch: In theatersLove Me - January 31Long after humanitys extinction, a buoy and a satellite meet online and fall in love. K-Stew, so we are seated. Where to watch: In theatersStockade - February 21 (theaters) & February 15 (Digital)Stockade tells the story of Ahlam, a struggling Lebanese artist in New York City who takes a job delivering a package upstate, only to open a Pandoras box. In this updated meditation on the pursuit of the American dream, Ahlam finds herself in dire financial straits and desperate to come by the funds to extend her artists visa. When she is offered a job to deliver a mysterious package upstate, Ahlam believes she has found a solution. Upon her arrival in the Hudson Valley, Ahlam encounters shady characters and quirky neighbors as she is unwittingly drawn into the world of ancient artifact trafficking. Where to watch: On VOD A Nice Indian Boy - April 4Self-effacing doctor Naveen Gavaskar meets Jay Kurundkar, a white man adopted by two Indian parents, when Jay takes his picture at the hospital. Despite initial skepticism on Naveens part, the two quickly fall in love. Naveen avoids telling his traditional familyparents Megha & Archit and sister Arundhathiwho accepted his sexuality years earlier and are close to him but increasingly dont know much about his life. Eventually, inevitably, Jay, with no family of his own, has to meet the Gavaskars, who have never met a boyfriend of Naveen's. What follows is the comedic & heartfelt collision between the family, Jay and Naveen, caught between the versions of himself his family and Jay know.Where to watch: In theatersMickey 17 - April 18The unlikely hero, Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) has found himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job to die, for a living.Where to watch: In theatersLilies Not For Me - AprilIn 1920s England, a young novelist (Fionn OShea) has been institutionalized because of his sexuality. As he tells his story to a sensitive nurse, he reveals the love he shared with a handsome doctor who became convinced their shared condition could be cured. Writer/director Will Seefrieds bleedingly romantic debut feature shines an unflinching light on a dark and mostly unknown period of gay history. Evoking a handsome Merchant Ivory-esque production with a dash of gothic flair, Lilies Are Not For Me is a reminder that despite the many attempts throughout history to change queer folks at their very core, passion and love have always persevered.Where to watch: TBALilo & Stitch - May 23A live-action reimagining of Disneys 2002 animated classic, Lilo & Stitch is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family. Where to watch: In theatersM3GAN 2.0 - June 27The next installment in the "M3GAN" franchise.Where to watch: In theatersJurassic World Rebirth - July 2Five years post-Jurassic World Dominion, an expedition braves isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures for a groundbreaking medical breakthrough.Where to watch: In theatersFantastic Four: First Steps - July 25Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvels First FamilyReed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet.Where to watch: In theatersFreakier Friday - August 8Years after Tess and Anna endured an identity crisis, Anna now has a daughter and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might strike twice.Where to watch: In theatersOn Swift Horses - Sept 7Muriel and her husband Lee are about to begin a bright new life, which is upended by the arrival of Lee's brother. Muriel embarks on a secret life, gambling on racehorses and discovering a love she never thought possible. Starring Jacob Elordi, Diego Calva, and Will Poulter.Where to watch: In theatersAn untitled sequel to Downton Abbey: A New Era - September 12No plot details have been released. Where to watch: In theatersThe Running Man - November 21The futuristic United States of 2025 when the world has become a dystopia.Where to watch: In theatersWicked: For Good- November 21Follows Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West and her relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. The second of a two-part feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical.Where to watch: In theatersDead Mail - TBDOn a desolate, Midwestern county road, a bound man crawls towards a remote postal box, managing to slide a blood-stained plea-for-help message into the slot before a panicking figure closes in behind him. The note makes its way to the county post office and onto the desk of Jasper, a seasoned and skilled "dead letter" investigator, responsible for investigating lost mail and returning it to its sender. As he investigates further, Jasper meets Trent, a strange yet unassuming man who has taken up residence at the mens home where Jasper lives. When Trent unexpectedly shows up at Jaspers office, it becomes clear he has a vested interest in the note, and will stop at nothing to retrieve it...Dope Queens TBAAn action-packed romantic thriller where three remarkable friends navigate San Franciscos fluorescent Tenderloin District and quickly find themselves trapped in a prison of their own making.Fear Street: Prom Queen - TBDIn this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the schools wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of 88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.Where to watch: Netflix The History of Sound - TBDTwo young men during World War I set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen.The Housekeeper - TBADanni, a housekeeper at Manderville Halla house owned by the wealthy and widowed Lord DeWithersfalls prey to the glance of a young and beautiful visitor, the novelist Daphne Du Maurier. For one, their affair is an all-consuming love, for the other, an intoxicating realization of her secret longingWhere to watch: TBAHowdy, Neighbor! TBAWhen former child actor, Benjamin Caldwell, is recognized by his new neighbor, the lines between friend and fan are blurred, turning his number one fan into his number one nightmare.I Dont Understand You - TBD 2025I Dont Understand You is a pitch-black horror comedy featuring Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells as a couple on the verge of adopting their first child. The two set off to Italy to celebrate their babymoon/anniversary, but the language barrier soon leads to a series of very unfortunate events, plunging them into a waking nightmare.I Want Your Sex - TBAWhen fresh-faced Elliot lands an exciting job for renowned artist, icon and provocateur Erika Tracy (Wilde), his fantasies come true as Erika taps him to become her sexual muse. But Elliot soon finds himself out of his depth as Erika takes him on a journey more profound than he ever could have imagined, into a world of sex, obsession, power, betrayal, and murder.Where to watch: TBAI Wish You All The Best - TBDBased on Mason Deaver's novel, the film follows Ben DeBacker, a non-binary teen who is thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas. Struggling with anxiety, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their art teacher, Ms. Lyons, while trying to keep a low profile at their new school. Ben's attempts to survive junior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. With the help of Nathan, and his friends Sophie and Mel, Ben discovers themselves and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.Lesbian Space Princess - TBAA space princess is thrust out of her sheltered life and into a galactic quest to save her bounty hunter ex-girlfriend from the Straight White Maliens.Where to watch: TBAMother Mary - TBDFollows the relationship between a fictional musician and a famous fashion designer. Starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel as lovers. Hunter Schafer costars and David Lowrey directs.Where to watch: In theatersThe Parenting - TBAA couple rents a countryside house for a weekend with their parents and then discovers its inhabited by a 400-year-old poltergeist.Where to watch: TBAPonyboi - TBDUnfolding over the course of Valentines Day in New Jersey, a young intersex sex worker must run from the mob after a drug deal goes sideways, forcing him to confront his past.Queens of the Dead - TBDDrag queens and club kids battle zombies craving brains during a zombie outbreak at their drag show in Brooklyn, putting personal conflicts aside to utilize their distinct abilities against the undead threat.The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo - TBDFollows Hollywood legend Evelyn Hugo, who chooses an unknown reporter to tell her life story. Evelyn recounts her time in the Golden Age of Hollywood and her seven marriages. Directed by Leslye Headland.Untitled Christy Martin Biopic - TBDSee on InstagramTells the story of Christy Martin, the most successful female boxer of the 90s.Where to watch: In theatersWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery - TBD (@) No plot details have been released. The Wedding Banquet - TBDWai-Tung, a gay Taiwanese-American, agrees to marry Wei-Wei for a green card. When their parents visit for the wedding, Wai-Tung's homosexuality is revealed, leading to eventual acceptance. Wai-Tung, a gay Taiwanese-American, agrees to marry Wei-Wei for a green card.

Earlier this week Villads Raahauge Jensen, a professional handballer and host of the Hndbold - mere end bare en sport (Handball - more than just a sport) podcast from Denmark took the brave step of coming out in a post on Instagram.I am gay. Three words that should, in reality, be easy to say, but for many years, Ive been afraid to be open about it, he began in the emotional posts, he began in the caption. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)His decision was a long one in coming, and one that Jensen, who plays for Lugi HF in the second-tier Swedish Allsvenskan league, once feared was at odds with his role as an athlete. Those who know me also know that handball has always been my first priority in all aspects of my life. But the thought that the entire narrative about who I am as a person would change solely because of my sexuality has been something I didnt dare take a chance on, he continued. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)n part, his struggle to come out was against the culture of professional sports itself. Being gay in sports is, in many ways, still a taboo, without me really knowing why. I just know that, for me, it has been very difficult to be open about who I am, he wrote. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)Thankfully when he did decide to share his truth with his teammates he was met with positivity and acceptance. When I told the club and my teammates last week, it was, of course, received entirely positively, he recounted. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)While this is news to the world and his team, there have been some in his life who have previously known his truth. And even though my closest friends have known for some time and my family has always known, it is still scary to share something youve kept secret for so long, he wrote. Hiding a big part of who you are from almost everyone makes it so that you can never truly be 100% yourself. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)Hiding a big part of who you are from almost everyone makes it so that you can never truly be 100% yourself. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)ltimately, Jensen writes that he hopes by being open and and honest with who he is, he can make space for others who are struggling to following his footsteps. I hope that with this post, I can help others, and perhaps be a role model that shows that it is okay to be gay in the world of sports, he wrote. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)He adds, At the same time, I sincerely hope that you will all still see me exactly as the person I have always been. Because yes I am gay, but also so much more than that. I'm still just Villads, he concludes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)Welcome to the family Villads, were glad youre here. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Villads Raahauge Jensen (@villads_raahauge)You can read the full post here (if you speak Danish).

Bruce Swartz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Counselor for International Affairs, listens to a speaker during the International Justice Minister's Conference in London, March 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)2025-01-21T23:16:14Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Justice Department has reassigned key senior officials across multiple divisions as part of a leadership shakeup ahead of the expected confirmation of President Donald Trumps pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, multiple people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.Among those moved to other positions inside the department is Bruce Swartz, the longtime head of the Justice Departments office of international affairs, which handles extradition matters, according to two people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss personnel moves. As many as 20 or so officials in all have been reassigned.Another affected official is George Toscas, a veteran deputy assistant attorney general in the departments national security division who, in addition to helping oversee major terrorism and espionage investigations, has also been a key supervisor in politically charged probes over the last decade including into Hillary Clintons handling of classified information and Trumps hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The reasons for the moves were not immediately known. Though it is common for a new administration to appoint its own political hires at the top of the Justice Department, it is not standard for career lawyers to be reassigned. They serve the department across administrations and typically retain their positions even when control of the department changes hands. The moves could foreshadow additional changes given Trumps keen interest in the Justice Department, which investigated him in his first term through a special counsel and then indicted him twice last year in separate cases that never reached trial and were withdrawn after Trumps November election win. A key veteran prosecutor in the classified documents case, Jay Bratt, retired earlier this month. Trumps fury over the investigations has raised alarms that he could seek to use the law enforcement powers of the department to pursue retaliation against his adversaries. On his first day in office Monday, he pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers. The reassignments were first reported by the Washington Post. ERIC TUCKER Tucker covers national security in Washington for The Associated Press, with a focus on the FBI and Justice Department and the special counsel cases against former President Donald Trump. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump signs an executive order as he attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-01-21T23:03:53Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump s administration is directing that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave, and that agencies develop plans to lay them off, according to a memo Tuesday from the Office of Personnel Management.The memo follows an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal governments diversity and inclusion programs that could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners. Yet another executive order Tuesday rolls back affirmative action in federal contracting, revoking an order issued by President Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. Its using one of the key tools utilized by the Biden administration to promote DEI programs across the private sector pushing their use by federal contractors to now eradicate them. The Office of Personnel Management memo directs agencies to place DEI office staffers on paid leave by 5 p.m. Wednesday and take down all public DEI-focused webpages by the same deadline. Several federal departments had removed the webpages even before the memorandum. Agencies must also cancel any DEI-related training and end any related contracts, and federal workers are being asked to report to Trumps Office of Personnel Management if they suspect any DEI-related program has been renamed to obfuscate its purpose within 10 days or face adverse consequences. By Thursday, federal agencies are directed to compile a list of federal DEI offices and workers as of Election Day. By next Friday, they are expected to develop a plan to execute a reduction-in-force action against those federal workers. The memo was first reported by CBS News.The move comes after Mondays executive order accused former President Joe Biden of forcing discrimination programs into virtually all aspects of the federal government through diversity, equity and inclusion programs, known as DEI. That step is the first salvo in an aggressive campaign to upend DEI efforts nationwide, including leveraging the Justice Department and other agencies to investigate private companies pursuing training and hiring practices that conservative critics consider discriminatory against non-minority groups such as white men. The executive order picks up where Trumps first administration left off: One of Trumps final acts during his first term was an executive order banning federal agency contractors and recipients of federal funding from conducting anti-bias training that addressed concepts like systemic racism. Biden promptly rescinded that order on his first day in office and issued a pair of executive orders now rescinded outlining a plan to promote DEI throughout the federal government.While many changes may take months or even years to implement, Trumps new anti-DEI agenda is more aggressive than his first and comes amid far more amenable terrain in the corporate world. Prominent companies from Walmart to Facebook have already scaled back or ended some of their diversity practices in response to Trumps election and conservative-backed lawsuits against them. Heres a look at some of the policies and programs that Trump will aim to dismantle: Diversity offices, training and accountability Trumps order will immediately gut Bidens wide-ranging effort to embed diversity and inclusion practices in the federal workforce, the nations largest at about 2.4 million people. Biden had mandated all agencies to develop a diversity plan, issue yearly progress reports, and contribute data for a government-wide dashboard to track demographic trends in hiring and promotions. The administration also set up a Chief Diversity Officers Council to oversee the implementation of the DEI plan. The government released its first DEI progress report in 2022 that included demographic data for the federal workforce, which is about 60% white and 55% male overall, and more than 75% white and more than 60% male at the senior executive level.Trumps executive order will toss out equity plans developed by federal agencies and terminate any roles or offices dedicated to promoting diversity. It will include eliminating initiatives such as DEI-related training or diversity goals in performance reviews. Federal grant and benefits programsTrumps order paves the way for an aggressive but bureaucratically complicated overhaul of billions of dollars in federal spending that conservative activists claim unfairly carve out preference for racial minorities and women. The order does not specify which programs it will target but mandates a government-wide review to ensure that contracts and grants are compliant with the Trump administrations anti-DEI stance. It also proposes that the federal government settle ongoing lawsuits against federal programs that benefit historically underserved communities, including some that date back decades. Trumps executive order is a seismic shift and a complete change in the focus and direction of the federal government, said Dan Lennington, deputy council for the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which has pursued several lawsuits against federal programs. The institute recently released an influential report listing dozens of programs the Trump administration should consider dismantling, such as credits for minority farmers or emergency relief assistance for majority-Black neighborhoods.He acknowledged that unwinding some entrenched programs may be difficult. For example, the Treasury Department implements housing and other assistance programs through block grants to states that have their own methods for implementing diversity criteria. Pay equity and hiring practicesIts not clear whether the Trump administration will target every initiative that stemmed from Bidens DEI executive order. For example, the Biden administration banned federal agencies from asking about an applicants salary history when setting compensation, a practice many civil rights activists say perpetuates pay disparities for women and people of color. It took three years for the Biden administration to issue the final regulations, and Trump would have to embark on a similar rule-making process, including a notice and comment period, to rescind it, said Chiraag Bains, former deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Biden and now a nonresident senior fellow with Brookings Metro. Noreen Farrell, executive director of gender rights group Equal Rights Advocates, said that she was hopeful that the Trump administration will not go out of its way to undo the rule, which she said has proved popular in some state and cities that have enacted similar policies.And Bidens DEI plan encompassed some initiatives with bipartisan support, said Bains. For example, he tasked the Chief Diversity Officers Executive Council with expanding federal employment opportunities for those with criminal records. That initiative stems from the Fair Chance Act, which Trump signed into law in 2019 and bans federal agencies and contractors from asking about an applicants criminal history before a conditional job offer is made.Bains said thats what Bidens DEI policies were about: ensuring that the federal government was structured to include historically marginalized communities, not institute reverse discrimination against white men. Despite the sweeping language of Trumps order, Farrell said, the reality of implementing such massive structural changes is far more complex. Federal agencies have deeply embedded policies and procedures that cant simply be switched off overnight, she added. ALEXANDRA OLSON Olson is a business reporter for The Associated Press, focusing on women in the workplace. She has spent many years as a correspondent in Latin America. twitter mailto ZEKE MILLER Zeke is APs chief White House correspondent twitter mailto

The Department of Health and Human Services has released a first-of-its-kind report on health equity for intersex individuals, citing the lasting harm surgical interventions inflict on infants and others subjected to nonconsensual procedures.Titled Advancing Health Equity for Intersex Individuals, the groundbreaking paper was issued by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, led by Adm. Rachel Levine, the first out transofficial confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Related Queer intersex youth at heightened risk of conversion therapy & suicide attempts, new study finds Forced genital surgeries on intersex youth lead to an increased risk of suicide. There is growing evidence that surgical interventions on intersex infants can cause lasting harm, including stigma and medical mistrust, the report details. Historic and current medical practices have often focused on surgical interventions on infants to change their sex characteristics to conform with a single sex, rather than the health care needs of the intersex individual. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Research and advocacy from intersex individuals has documented that non-consensual, medically unnecessary interventions for intersex infants can cause lifelong harm. These interventions impact people into adolescence and adulthood, and intersex adults face significant barriers in accessing high-quality care that affirms and meets their needs.The report defines intersex as an umbrella term to refer to people born with differences or variations in their sex characteristics or reproductive anatomy. An estimated 5 million people in the U.S., or about 1.7% of the population, fall within the definition, displaying 40 identified variations.Those variations are most commonly identified at birth or during puberty, but it is also not uncommon for adults to discover they have intersex traits while seeking fertility care or through unrelated medical procedures, the report states. While many intersex individuals may require specialized health care, for many intersex people, their variations in sex characteristics are a healthy part of human diversity and do not pose any threats to overall health. Nevertheless, many intersex individuals report facing medical interventions because their variations in sex characteristics have been treated as a medical disorder. Surgical interventions can lead to a host of negative physical and mental effects for intersex individuals, including significant scarring, loss of sexual function, urinary or vaginal complications, chronic pain, and early-onset osteoporosis. Intersex people suffer disproportionate rates of trauma and mental health issues due to lack of affirming care, the report noted.Despite those risks, medical practitioners still encourage parents to have surgeries on intersex infants, citing potential stigma for the natural differences in sexual anatomy a child may display.The report recommends a set of guiding principles to address intersex health equity, including protecting the civil rights of intersex people, affirming the role of parents in supporting their intersex children, and promoting bodily autonomy and informed consent. The report also notes the importance of self-acceptance among the intersex population. Discussions about intersex variations can also enable many intersex adolescents and adults to appreciate their body, improving overall self-acceptance and mental health.Over the past decades, a growing body of evidence and advocacy by intersex people has demonstrated that current medical practices for intersex patients, especially children, can cause lifelong harm and must be reevaluated, the report states. Even as this report acknowledges the pervasive barriers intersex people face in our society and health care system, it makes clear that, when intersex people are affirmed and receive high-quality care, they can thrive.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

This articlefirst appeared on Mother Jones. It has been republished with the publications permission.The Supreme Courton Friday allowed a ban on TikTok to take effect. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a law that would ban the platform unless its Chinese parent-company, ByteDance, sold it. In handing down its ruling, the court rebuffed an effort by the platform, some of its users,numerousfree-speechadvocates, and President-elect Donald Trump to halt the ban from taking effect.The casepittedCongress national security concerns against the free speech rights of TikTok and its users. The court released an unsigned majority opinion, along with two separate concurring opinions but no dissents. Related Users rush to RedNote as TikTok ban looms. But is it LGBTQ+ friendly? TikTok refugees have flocked to Chinese-owned Red Note out of spite while expressing dissatisfaction with Metas Reels. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The majority held the ban passes constitutional muster because any potential free speech implications would be overridden by serious threats tonational security. There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community, the court held. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikToks data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary. It concluded that the law does not violate petitioners First Amendment rights.The court took the case on an expedited basis, with just nine days between last weeks oral arguments and the deadline for the ban to take effect. As a result, the justices stressed their decision is narrow and declined to reach significant questions such as whether the First Amendment was indeed implicated and, if so, how much.In spring 2024, Congresspassedthe law requiring ByteDance to sell US-based TikTok, or else the platform would go dark. TikTok sued to halt it, as did several content creators. The federal government has warned that ByteDances ownership puts the Chinese government in a position to use the app to spy on Americans by vacuuming up their personal data, and that it could enable China to manipulate the algorithm to further geopolitical goals. The court found TikToks data collection activities to be a significant national security concern that alone justified the law. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a concurring opinion, stressed that social media algorithms, as the court recently held in a separate case, are a form of protected speech. TikTok engages in expressive activity by compiling and curating material on its platform, she wrote.Along with TikTok and some users, Trump mounted his own campaign to keep the platform online,askingthe justices to halt the law until after his inauguration, on the premise that he alone could broker a deal to preserve the app while alleviating the governments national security concerns. This was not exactly a legal request, but more of a request for an extralegal action.The courts decision to let the law take effect does not preclude Trump from trying to negotiate a sale of TikTok that would allow the platform to remain online, including by brokering a deal involving a political supporter. Trump is also reportedly mulling an executive action to halt the lawalthough legally, that is unlikely to succeed because presidents cannot overturn laws by fiat. During his first term, Trump sought to ban TikTok, but he made an about-face, apparently after determining that the appand his newfound vocal support for itwould help his 2024 presidential campaign. While the sell-or-ban law was passed on a bipartisan basis, a number of Republicans have recently followed Trumps lead in walking back support for the measure. Democrats, too, have begun to change course. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)saidyesterday that he would work with the new administration to find a solution, and the Biden administrationannouncedthat it would defer implementation to the next president. It seems that without bipartisan support, there is little political will to implement what Congress said it neededand what the Supreme Court just green-lighted.Whatever happens, the platforms future is no longer in the courts hands, but back in the realm of politics.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Chrishell Stause just confirmed a suspicion fans have had for months about her feelings towards fellow reality star Tom Sandoval, and she did so in the most hilarious way.Back in November, Stause shared a series of promotional images for season three of The Traitors to her Instagram. The main photo was of her, the second slide in the carousel was a trailer for the show, and the remaining three entries showcased all this season's cast members' individual promo pics.All of the cast, that is, except for Sandoval.In the spot where Sandoval could have been, Stause instead superimposed an image of the castle where The Traitors takes place.See on InstagramWe live in a world where everything on celeb social media is picked apart and analyzed for our own entertainment, so obviously her exclusion of Sandoval didn't go unnoticed."omg if you blocked off Sandoval's face in the last slide... ICONIC BEHAVIOR," one person commented at the time.During a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, a fan finally had the opportunity to ask Stause if she left Sandoval out on purpose, and the Selling Sunset star did not pull her punches with her response."Yes, I did," she confirmed without hesitation. "I don't want him on my page. I hate him.""Hate's a strong word," fellow guest Lisa Barlow replied."Exactly," Stause said.While she didn't elaborate on her reasons for hating Sandoval, the general assumption has been that it stems from her friendship with his ex, Ariana Madix. The two were together for nine years before calling it quits in 2023after Madix discovered Sandoval was cheating on her with his Vanderpump Rules costar, Raquel Leviss.Stause admitted she wasn't sure what interactions between her and Sandoval made the final edit, but we already know she wasn't playing nice with him for the cameras, either."The Traitors have to be able to lie and cheat and deceive easily," she said during a recent episode, addressing Sandoval. "And since I know that you possess all of those skills, I voted for you."

Donald Trump's second term as U.S. president is about to begin and a list of music stars are scheduled not only to attend his inauguration ceremony, but also celebrate the occasion and perform a few songs.During the election, most celebrity endorsements went to Vice President Kamala Harris, with big names like Beyonce and Taylor Swift endorsing her over Trump. Still, there are some music stars who support Trump.With Trump's numerous pledges to curtail trans and gay rights, many queer fans have called for artists with queer fanbases to boycott the inauguration. However, some artists have still decided to participate.Keep scrolling to see the full list of musicians who will be performing at different events during Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony.Carrie UnderwoodAmerican Idol winner and country music star Carrie Underwood is probably the biggest name to be performing, and the announcement that she would perform was met with the biggest pushback.Underwood has long had a large contingent of LGBTQ+ fans and was considered an ally to the community. Back in 2012, she even spoke out in favor of gay marriage, saying, "as a married person myself, I don't know what it's like to be told I can't marry somebody I love, and want to marry," she said at the time. "I can't imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love."She is set to perform "America, the Beautiful" at the ceremony."I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event," Underwood said in a statement, per NPR. "I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future."Village PeopleTo many, Village People are considered queer icons with their flamboyant, hyper-masculine personas and costumes and songs like "YMCA," "Macho Man," and "In the Navy." However, the group has distanced themselves from that image, with Victor Willis, who plays the cop in the band, saying, "I will sue the next media organization, or anyone else, that falsely suggests Y.M.C.A. is somehow about illicit gay sex."During the 2024 election, Willis also defended Trump's usage of the song in his campaign."Our song Y.M.C.A. is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost," the band posted in a statement shared on Facebook. "Therefore, we believe it's now time to bring the country together with music which is why VILLAGE PEOPLE will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J. Trump."Jim Newman, a former member of the band, made a video on Threads saying that the version of the band performing "is a new and entirely separate entity than the long-storied Village People I had the honor of being in for 8 years.""The Village People that were around for about 40 years had a strong, loyal gay following," he said. "There was a lawsuit about four years ago, they took away the name Village People from our band, the band that had been around forever, a lot of originals still in the band, and they gave it to an ex-member who was fired a couple years in. And he started a new group, and that is the Village People that performs. Or Village People would never ever perform at a Trump rally, we would never give him the right to use those songs, and we would never slap the face of the strong, especially gay audience that made us who we are today."Kid RockKid Rock has been one of Trump's most vocal celebrity supporters and will once again lend his support at the Make America Great Again Victory Rally.Billy Ray CyrusWhile Cyrus' daughter Miley Cyrus has been critical of Trump, the singer known for his song "Achy Breaky Heart" and his feature on the remix of Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" will be performing at the Make America Great Again Victory Rally.Jason AldeanCountry singer Jason Aldean is most recently best known for political controversies surrounding his song "Try that in a Small Town" (which was called a "modern lynching song") and his wife, Brittany Aldean, who made a transphobic comment on social media, thanking her parents "for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase." Aldean will perform at the Liberty Ball.Rascal FlattsCountry Trio Rascal Flatts, known for their cover of "Life is a Highway" from the Cars soundtrack, will perform at the Commander in Chief Ball.Gavin DeGrawSinger-songwriter Gavin DeGraw is most known for his song "I Don't Want to Be," which was used as the theme song for One Tree Hill. He will perform at the Starlight Ball.Lee GreenwoodCountry singer Lee Greenwood will be performing his popular patriotic song "God Bless The U.S.A." at the swearing-in ceremony and the Make America Great Again Victory Rally."I am humbled and honored to be asked to perform for our 47th President Donald J. Trump during his inaugural events," Greenwood said in a statement (via NPR). "The President has been a friend of [my wife] Kim [Payne] and I's for many years and this is one of the most historical moments in our lifetime. I look forward to celebrating this special day with proud Americans everywhere."Parker McCollumParker McCollum is another country singer who will perform at the Commander in Chief Ball.Liberty Univesity's Praise ChoirThe Praise Choir from private evangelical Christian college Liberty University founded by conservative stalwart Jerry Falwell Sr. will be performing at the Make America Great Again Victory Rally.Christopher MacchioChristopher Macchio is a classical Tenor who will perform the national anthem at the swearing-in ceremony.