A transgender woman was removed from the women-only nude section of a popular open air bathing spot in Bern, Switzerland after people complained about her presence. When tensions rose on site, staff asked her to leave, and when she refused, police escorted her from the premises and allegedly detained her at a station for two […]
New Documentary Celebrates Sex-Positive Cable TV Pioneer
Bang My Box, a new HBO documentary produced by Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex & the City), chronicles the life of iconic New York City public access TV show creator and host Robin Byrd. The Robin Byrd Show first aired on public access in 1977 and ran for over 20 years. The late night call-in show […]
Sexual Newspeak: The Consequences of Semantics on Gender and Sexual Minorities
The Malaysian government has officially replaced the term “LGBT” with “deviant culture” (Malay: “budaya songsang”) in its public communications and educational materials, framing LGBTQ+ identities as out of sync with the country’s religious and cultural values. Human rights advocates argue that this new terminology further stigmatizes LGBTQ+ people and reinforces discrimination. And, as related to […]
Nepal’s Supreme Court Mandates Marriage Equality
In some good news for LGBTQ+ rights, the Supreme Court of Nepal has ruled in favor of marriage equality. They have issued a binding directive order ensuring equal marriage rights for gender and sexual minorities. The Supreme Court issued an interim ruling in 2023 recognizing same-sex marriage. However, the Nepali government has had a mixed […]
Climate Activism Can be a Drag
The drag queen, Pattie Gonia, has been an environmental and political activist for several years and has amassed an impressive following of over 2 million people across their social channels. They have raised millions of dollars for environmental and social justice non-profits, co-founded the environmental equity organization Outdoorist Oath, and was featured as one of TIME’s most […]
Weaponizing Accusations of Child Abuse: The Pete Buttigieg Case
Pete Buttigieg, former United States Secretary of Transportation and a very vocal member of the Democratic Party, is speaking out about what he considers to be “the ugliest thing that has happened to [him] since [his] career in service began.” He was recently temporarily separated from his four-year-old twins after an anonymous false report to […]
Facial Scan Technology in Gay Bars: Pros and Cons
Several bars in San Francisco’s Castro district have begun using technology that scans ID’s and photographs patrons’ faces. Allegedly, the technology is employed to blacklist bad patrons who engage in fighting, theft, or other disruptive activities, but some customers are uncomfortable with the threat to their privacy that such record-keeping poses. Supporters argue that the […]
David Hockney Radically Illuminated Queer Desire
Multi-media British queer artist David Hockney recently died at 88 years of age. His art collaged together an ordinary and beautiful gay existence at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in the United Kingdom, making his work quite transgressive. He avoided the usual cultural narratives that depicted gay men as tragic, deviant, and secretive, […]
Niger Criminalizes Same-Sex Practices
Niger joins the growing list of West African countries (including Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, and Burkina Faso) that have recently criminalized same-sex relations. Its anti-Western military government regards tolerance for homosexuality as a mark of Western cultural imperialism. Committing or attempting to commit “an indecent or unnatural act, or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual […]
Latest Gallup Poll: Support for LGBTQ Declining
In a poll conducted May 1-17 of this year, the Gallup survey found that only 62% of American respondents regard gay and lesbian relations as “morally acceptable,” down 9% from 2022; support for changing gender is at only 38%, down 8% since 2021. Support for same-sex marriage also declined 6% from its peak in 2022-23. […]