The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas (all red states) have joined forces to sue the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), alleging that it made deceptive claims about the safety and effectiveness of pediatric gender-affirming medical treatments. The lawsuit argues that WPATH overstated evidence that supports interventions such as […]
UK Tries to Achieve Balance in Conversion Therapy Bill
We have reported before the muddled legal situation around attempts to ban “conversion therapy” in the US. The UK government has proposed to put forward to Parliament a bill that would criminalize “abusive” conversion therapy aimed at changing someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. As in the US, some religious groups and therapists worry that […]
Teen Vigilantes Target Sex Offenders
A 17-year old high school student from Walnut Creek, an affluent San Francisco/Oakland suburb, was arrested for harassing several local sex offenders he found on the public registry and shooting at them with his BB gun. Later investigation showed that he was also dealing drugs to his fellow students, and one girl was hospitalized after […]
Sexual Health of Bi-Sexual Men Needs Attention
New studies out of Australia and Kenya focus on the special health challenges of bi-sexual men, who are often neglected due to their relative invisibility. Bi men often conceal their identity from partners, fearing rejection, and are stigmatized as the vectors of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections to women, who are especially vulnerable. Using […]
Scotland to Remove Trans Women from Women’s Prisons
Following an April 2025 Supreme Court ruling that inmates must be assigned to prisons based on biological sex rather than gender identity, Scotland’s ruling party has determined that it will not contest the issue further and will transfer trans women into men’s prisons. Since 2014, Scotland has housed trans women in women’s prisons, but this […]
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, […]
How Many Gay Subcultures Are There?
It has long been known that there is no one type of gay man and that generalizations about their appearance or behavior are hazardous. A newly published “scoping review” (i.e. a search of published scholarship) in the journal Psychology & Sexuality identifies a range of different subcultures that have been the object of scholarly interest. […]
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 […]
Skin Disease Among Gay Men in Europe
Doctors in France and Spain are investigating clusters of dermatophilosis spreading among men who have sex with men. These clusters are reminiscent of the early stages of the 2022 mpox outbreak. The infection typically affects cattle, sheep, goats, and horses, primarily in tropical and subtropical climates. Infections in humans have generally occurred among individuals who […]
“Stand Your Ground” in Wyoming…Unless You’re Trans
Rihanna Kelver, a trans activist, was preparing for her bartending shift at the Crowbar & Grill in Laramie, Wyoming when she was assaulted outside the bar by several men in September 2025. One of them was shouting several homophobic and transphobic slurs as he began approaching her. Kelver responded by drawing a pistol from her […]