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AUSTIN, TXIn an effort to avoid humiliating themselves in front of their fellow conservatives, elected officials in Texas used a burner email to request funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency following last weeks devastating floods, sources reported Thursday. I set up an anonymous account, floodmoney@hotmail.com, and shamefully requested more than $70 million in disaster assistance for Texans, Gov. Greg Abbott admitted in a private conversation, saying he used a browser in Incognito mode and typed DISCREET in the subject line. Asking for handouts to assist grieving families is really embarrassing, so I looked over my shoulder constantly while writing the email and asked FEMA to put the money on prepaid cards that victims could easily cut up afterwards. Im confident no one will find out about our states disgraceful need for food and shelter, because I wrote delete after reading at the end of the message. Of course, I also destroyed my laptop once I was done. At press time, Texas officials reportedly remained too ashamed of the funds to distribute them to any of their constituents.The post Texas Politicians Used Burner Email To Request FEMA Funds appeared first on The Onion.

Following outrage by far-right Christian conservatives, Baylor University in Texas has returned a sizable grant for the study of women and LGBTQ+ Christians, intended, in Baylors words, to foster inclusion and belonging in the church.Through academic research, this grant will help us better understand the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change, the Baptist college said in a June 30 announcement, since removed from the universitys website. Related Administration sued for cutting funding for LGBTQ+ health research Researchers say that the abrupt funding cuts will set research on LGBTQ+ health back decades. Baylor has a history of tolerance when it comes to its LGBTQ+ student body. In 2015, the school dropped specific references to homosexual acts from its sexual conduct policy that bans adultery, fornication, incest, sexual abuse, harassment, and assault. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Last year, LGBTQ+ basketball player Brittney Griner was honored by Baylor, where she graduated in 2013, when they retired her No. 42 school jersey.The about-face comes after online conservative activists excoriated Baylor for accepting the $643,000 grant, questioning why a Baptist college would take money they said contradicts the Bibles teachings regarding sexuality, gender, and marriage.One senior pastor at a conservative Anglican church described Baylor as a wolf disguised as a shepherd that Christians should avoid.In aletter posted to the universitys website Wednesday, Baylor University President Linda Livingstone said returning the money, awarded by the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, is the appropriate course of action and in the best interests of the school. We remain committed to providing a loving and caring community for all including our LGBTQIA+ students because it is part and parcel of our Universitys mission that calls us to educate our students within a caring Christian community, Livingstones letter said.She added, As we reviewed the details and process surrounding this grant, our concerns did not center on the research itself, but rather on the activities that followed as part of the grant. Specifically, the work extended into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylors institutional policies, including ourStatement on Human Sexuality.Livingstone failed to address what that advocacy was. The universitys Statement on Human Sexuality says, in part: The University affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God. Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm. Temptations to deviate from this norm include both heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior.The Texas-based Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation describes their mission as supporting progressive, inclusive, nonprofit organizations that reflect the love of Christ, with a focus on faith-based post-secondary education, social justice and advocacy, and inclusivity initiatives.The returned grant isnt the first directed to Baylor. In 2021, English professor Greg Garrett, the schools Chair of Literature & Culture, who also teaches theology classes, was awarded a $488,000 grantto study racial mythology in politics and popular culture.Online conservatives latched on to the DEI award and Garretts celebration of the new grant in their attacks on Baylor.Baylor has become a haven of false teachers like Garrett, Megan Basham, a right-wing Christian author and Daily Wire contributor, posted to X. A @Baylor professor accused @ChristianPost and others of attacking [his] faith for covering his public comments affirming LGBT ideology.He also defended a controversial $643K grant the school got to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion in churches. https://t.co/T8FjrEWLAg Jon Brown (@JonBrownDC) July 9, 2025Garrett made headlines in Christian media last year after he went viral on social media when he and his students in his 300-level Harry Potter course discussed J.K. Rowlings transphobia. We decided novelist Rowling, who wrote with compassion about diversity, equity, and inclusion, is worth our attention. Twitter Rowling? Shame on her, Garrett posted at the time.A Christian Post story took pains to note that Garretts pinned tweet on his X profile is in support of Black Lives Matter.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

After years off the pitch with fans hoping shed return, soccer star Tobin Heath has officially announced her retirement. Happy official retirement @tobinheath, her long-time girlfriend and fellow USWNT player Christen Press wrote on Instagram today, shortly before the two went live on a special episode of their podcast The Recap Show.See on InstagramHeath spent her soccer career kicking butt at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she took home a bronze medal and in 2008 and 2012 where she won gold. She also managed to win two World Cup Championships while playing alongside Press.Over New Years I actually came to the full acceptance that I wasnt going to be playing, which was like a two year, some might say three year, process of acceptance and it was a very beautiful and personal experience for me, for you, for the people closets to me that I shared it with, Heath explained on the episode of her podcast on July 10, titled Tobin's Retirement.- YouTube

Olivia Smith is set to become the first player in the women's game to command a transfer fee of 1m as Arsenal seek to secure her signature from Liverpool, a source has told ESPN.

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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled 15-2 in partial favor of queer cisgender Olympic gold medalist runner Caster Semenya in her appeal against the Swiss Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) 2019 decision upholding a World Athletics policy banning her from competing in womens events unless she took medication or received surgery to reduce her naturally high testosterone levels.While the ECHR said the Swiss courts ruling lacked rigorous judicial review and awarded her 80,000 euros ($94,000) from Switzerland for costs and expenses, the ECHR didnt rule on whether World Athletics policy is discriminatory. Semenyas case which she has been fighting for over seven years and which effectively ended her running career will now return to the Swiss federal court in the western city of Lausanne. Related Runner Caster Semenya rejects intersex label & forced medical interventions That identity doesnt fit me; it doesnt fit my soul. Today, my patience in this journey has been rewarded with a result that will pave the way for all athletes human rights to be protected, she said in a statement following the ECHRs ruling. She also celebrated her partial victory in an Instagram photo showing herself standing in the ECHR. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today In 2019, the CAS issued a 2-1 ruling that World Athletics policy banning Semenya wasnecessary, reasonable and proportionate to maintain fairness in womens track events, the Associated Press reported.World Athletics, the body that regulates international track and field competitions (formerly known as the IAAF), issued a rule in 2019 requiring participants in the womens 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1500-meter races to have a low level of testosterone in their bodies and to undergo six months of hormone therapy if their natural testosterone levels are high. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Caster Semenya (@castersemenya800m)Semenyas high testosterone levels are the result of her having XY chromosomes, rather than the typically female XX pairing, and undescended gonads that she didnt know she had until 2009, she said. In order to continue racing as a woman, I was told, I needed to have surgery to remove them, she said. [But] I was healthy, I loved my body, and it had made me a champion. Why must I go and mutilate it to conform to someone elses rules?Instead, she opted to take medication to artificially lower her bodys natural testosterone levels in order to meet World Athletics requirements for female athletes. She said she began to feel sick almost as soon as she started taking the medication. A 2020 Human Rights Watch report found that female athletes from Africa and Asia have disproportionately been subjected to sex testing, gender verification, or femininity testing. Meanwhile, Semenya has rejected the intersex label to describe her bodily condition.[Ive] been called a hermaphrodite. I had to walk back out into the world with this thing hanging around my neck. I wasnt oblivious to the stares and whispers from other runners, she writes. I wasnt going to take on an identity that did not fit my soul because some doctors had taken my blood and images of my organs. I was not a hermaphrodite or anything other than a woman.Semenya is now 34 years old and has been coaching womens track.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Nature, Published online: 10 July 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02184-8Genomic data sheds light on how populations of sledge dogs and their human handlers have shifted over past 800 years.

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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will reportedly resume considering discrimination cases brought by transgender people after a months-long pause in which staffers were ordered to automatically classify such complaints as meritless.In a July 1 email, EEOC field operations director Thomas Colclough said that the agency will resume processing complaints that fall squarely under legal precedent set by the Supreme Courts decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, according to the Washington Post. The 2020 ruling established that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Related EEOC is burying discrimination cases brought by transgender people Staffers says theyve been directed to essentially classify all new gender identity discrimination cases as meritless. Colclough wrote that cases involving discrimination against trans employees in hiring, discharge, and promotion would once again be considered, though he said nothing about investigations of workplace harassment, the Post noted. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today However, cases involving anti-trans workplace discrimination will now receive a heightened level of review, including by a senior attorney and the office of acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas.The president named Lucas the agencys acting chair in January, after he fired two Democratic EEOC commissioners as well as the agencys general counsel. Lucas opposes both DEI initiatives and federal civil rights protections for transgender people and has said that her priorities includerooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.Following a January 20 executive order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize an individuals sex as determined by their immutable biological classification as either male or female, Lucas stated that while the agency would continue accepting all discrimination charges filed by workers, complaints that implicate the anti-trans executive order would be elevated to headquarters for review. Since February, the EEOC has moved to drop at least six lawsuits involving discrimination against trans and nonbinary workers. In April, staffers at the EEOC were reportedly instructed to classify new gender identity discrimination cases as code C, the agencys lowest priority and one that staffers said is generally reserved for meritless complaints.According to the Post, its unclear why the EEOC has reversed course. But critics like Equal Rights Advocates executive director Noreen Farrell have pointed out that the agencys position on cases of gender identity discrimination was at odds with Bostock.Adam Harrison, an attorney representing plaintiffs in two of the cases dropped by the EEOC this year, told the Post that while its good news that the agency is once again considering anti-trans discrimination cases, the pause had real consequences.Make no mistake, transgender and nonbinary people whose civil rights were violated were turned away during these last five months, Harrison said. And as long as thats been happening, these peoples rights have been expiring.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

On July 9, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a workshop with the inaccurate and inflammatory title: The Dangers of Gender-Affirming Care for Minors. The title, event, and invited speakers ignore the consensus of every major medical association and leading world health authority, which all support health care for transgender adults and youth. Intentional [...]The post Fact Sheet: Speakers Invited by Trump Administration Spread Disinformation at National Hearing On Medical Care for Transgender People first appeared on GLAAD.

Womens sports are full of heartwarming love stories between players, and while there are plenty of couples who are lucky enough to play for the same team, there are some who end up as rivals.You may think that playing against each other in professional sports and for teams with fierce rivalries would be hard on a relationship, but these sapphics manage to make it work and are thriving in spite of having to compete against each other. Maybe competition even adds a little spice to their relationships!There are players who were once teammates before being traded to different teams, athletes who have always played against each other, and multiple couples who are currently going head-to-head, but no matter what, their love for one another outweighs their competitive spirit.NaLyssa Smith (Las Vegas Aces) and DiJonai Carrington (Dallas Wings)See on InstagramNaLyssa Smith and Dijonai Carrington are college sweethearts that played together on the Dallas Wings until Smith was traded earlier this month to the Las Vegas Aces. After years of playing on opposing teams, the WNBA power couple were finally playing together for the first time since they were both Baylor star athletes, until that all came crashing down, and now the happy couple will be rivals once again. Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride) and Racheal Kundananji (Bay FC)See on InstagramSoccer stars Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji are currently playing for Zambia at the Womens Africa Cup of Nations, where they both scored in the opening match. But when they are not representing Zambia, these partners in life play on rival teams in the National Womens Soccer League. Banda is a striker for the Orlando Pride, while Kundananji is a forward for the Bay FC.Beth Mead (Englands Lionesses) and Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands national team)See on InstagramBeth Mead and Vivianne Miedema started dating back in 2022 when they both played soccer for Arsenal, but that only lasted until Miedema moved onto play for Manchester. Now, the lovers are facing their biggest hurdle yet as they play against each other in the UEFA European Women's Championship (AKA Euro 2025). Mead is playing for Englands Lionesses where shes currently going head to head with Miedema who is representing the Netherlandss national team.Kristie Mewis (Chelsea) and Sam Kerr (West Ham United)See on InstagramAfter going viral in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics when they were caught hugging on camera, and then subsequently announcing their engagement in 2023, soccer power couple Kristie Mewis and Sam Kerr have been rivals on the pitch for years. They may have collaborated when they had a baby in May 2025, but Mewis is currently playing for Chelsea while her fianc plays for rival team West Ham United. Celia Quansah (Trailfinders) and Meg Jones (Leicester Tigers)See on InstagramRugby stars Celia Quansah and Meg Jones competed together on the same rugby team in the Tokyo Olympics and were once both playing for the Leicester Tigers together, but this year Quansah was traded to the Trailfinders and now the happy couple will be competing against each other for the first time.

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Mean Girls star Rene Rapp is doubling down on her reputation as a queer icon and this time with suggestions that are equal parts hilarious and devilishly subversive.The Broadway alum and Saturday Night Live musical guest famously came out as a lesbian during her 2024 SNL appearance, after initially identifying as bisexual publicly. On Wednesday (July 9), a TikTok fan account reshared a clip from one of Rapps recent livestream Q&As. In it, she responds to a viewers question believed to be, How do I convince my homophobic mom to come to your show?Her reply? Pure queer gold: I dont know if I want her there, Ive got to be honest. I feel like you should just run.Rapp pauses for effect, then continues: But if youre trying to open up the doors and you want it to be its us altogether and not us versus them, that I respect, and you absolutely can bring her.Then she ascends to peak comedic drama: Im not sure shell like it, Im not sure shell leave being a changed woman, but you could try sedating her and maybe dragging her against her will, perhaps.As if giving the performance of the century, she adds: Knocking her out cold, and then she wakes up in the middle of GA (general admission) at one of my shows, and shes surrounded by a bunch of gay people, that might help.From Bisexual to Lesbian and BeyondRapps path to living openly began when she first publicly identified as bisexual. But as her music career and public profile evolvedsparked in part by her dazzling performance and candid coming-out moment on SNL she found joy in finally labeling herself exactly as she felt.That clarity wasnt always easy. Rapp has spoken openly about wading through internalized homophobia and the family expectations that can weigh heavily on queer kids. Now, shes spinning those experiences into community-building humor and, in some cases, mildly outrageous hypotheticals involving narcoleptic parental units.Queer Counsel with a Side of SassRapps guidance may not make for a typical conflict-avoidance strategy.And besides, shes right: Sometimes immersion is the best teacher. She quipped, Surrounded by a bunch of gay people that might help.The Cost of Queer Joy and The Power of LaughterRapps Q&A response carries a subtext deeply rooted in queer survival: humor can be radical. When the stakes include parental disapproval or rejection, comedy cuts tension but also sets boundaries. Her satirical suggestion essentially says: If you want to bring her, go aheadbut only if youre ready for the full queer experience.Source