LGBTQ

Heaven, one of London's most well-known LGBT+ nightclubs, has struggled to remain open throughout the coronavirus pandemic. (PinkNews) Jeremy Joseph, the owner of the G-A-Y nightclubs in London, England, has said the beloved businesses are “in serious trouble” amid the third lockdown. Just a day after prime minister Boris Johnson paved nightclub owners a crucial pathway to reopening – through rapid-fire testing, he suggested – Joseph has said the coronavirus pandemic has pelted the G-A-Y group. Hard. Speaking to the i newspaper, Joseph, whose G-A-Y bar and club are well-known...

Amanda Cotton unveils 'Inexorable' a statue depicting Anne Bonny and Mary Read at Execution Docks, London. Their story is told in the new Audible podcast Hell Cats (Audible) An eight foot statue of lesbian pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read has sparked outrage among locals in Devon. The statue, created by artist Amanda Cotton, was previewed at London’s Execution Docks on 18 November 2020, and was due to be permanently homed on Burgh Island, a South Devon tidal retreat. But locals in Devon were apparently outraged by the application for...

Cara Dune (Gina Carano) in Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian. (Disney) A Hasbro toy of Gina Carano’s Mandalorian character Cara Dune has reportedly been scrapped in the wake of the actor’s firing from Disney. Carano, who played Cara Dune on the hit Disney Plus show The Mandalorian, was fired after what Disney’s Lucasfilm described as “abhorrent and unacceptable” social media posts dubbed antisemitic and anti-trans by some. A Lucasfilm spokesperson said Carano is “not currently employed by Lucasfilm, and there are no plans for her to be in the future”. Now apparently, toymaker Hasbro...

The local community rallied together to show their love for LGBT+ seniors with handmade Valentine's Day cards. (Danny Beers/Facebook) A group of drag queens in Chicago showed the power of the queer community when they came together to make sure local LGBT+ seniors received Valentine’s Day cards. The Chicago Black Drag Council partnered with nonprofit Our Art of Giving along with local businesses to help LGBT+ elders feel the love for the special occasion. The initiative, called the Valentine’s Day Senior Prize project, saw drag queens partner with several bars...

Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport with his boyfriend (Twitter/Luke Pollard) Labour MP Luke Pollard is facing homophobic trolling on social media after posting a photo of himself and his boyfriend to mark Valentine’s Day. Luke Pollard, an openly gay MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, took to social media on Sunday (14 February) to post a selfie with his partner. He wrote: “Happy Valentine’s Day to my lovely boyfriend! X” The post attracted dozens of homophobic responses from far-right trolls focussed on an apparent “age gap”...

Sir Patrick Moore - GamesMaster. (Channel 4) Remember GamesMaster? The cult gaming TV show from the 90s is rumoured to be making a comeback, according to a pitch on the Channel 4 sales website. The original was a magazine style show starring the late Sir Patrick Moore as the GamesMaster, who would provide hints and tips to players who competed in a number of challenges.  The reboot is rumoured to have Patrick Stewart in the title role, with a possible launch later this year. According to the website, it will...

A participant holds a sign that says "The "A" is for asexual" during the Glasgow Pride march on August 19, 2017 in Glasgow, Scotland.(Robert Perry/Getty) Pretty much everyone knows when Valentine’s Day is – February 14th – and that day is not short of loved-up couples having dinner together and eating as much chocolate as they can, if everyone’s stomachs can cope after Christmas. However, less is known about how asexual individuals celebrate Valentine’s Day. In fact, a 2019 survey revealed that 73 per cent of people are unable to even...

An anti-LGBT+ bishop from Nigeria has suggested that if Joe Biden wants the country to decriminalise homosexuality, he should take a Nigerian man as his “second wife”. The angry tirade comes after Biden vowed to advance the cause of LGBT+ rights around the world, threatening financial sanctions on regimes deemed to have infringed on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people. A memo signed by Biden on 4 February instructed US government agencies to “strengthen existing efforts to combat the criminalisation by foreign governments of LGBTQI+...

Phoebe Bridgers. (Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Tibet House) Queer indie-rock musician Phoebe Bridgers lit into the “performative activism” of Marilyn Manson’s label on Wednesday (10 February) amid abuse accusations. Amid allegations of abuse levelled against Manson, the pasty rock singer known off-stage as Brian Warner, Bridgers, 26, shared her own experiences as well as taking aim at his label. The “Garden Song” hitmaker later told CNN’S Christiane Amanpour : “I think it’s very funny that Marilyn Manson’s label decided to drop him right when the story went public, and people have just...

Gina Carano (L) and Ben Shapiro. (Getty) Gina Carano, who played combative shock trooper Cara Dune on The Mandalorian, is attempting to bounce back by… working with right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro. Carano, a 38-year-old actor and mixed martial artist, fuelled months-long fan backlash with her incendiary social media presence throughout her stint on the Disney+ show. One included putting “boop/bop/beep” as her Twitter pronouns – an act that users felt belittered trans rights, which she sought to deny. But for Lucasfilm, the production company behind the Star Wars show, the...

A woman with a QAnon shirt stands among an anti-vaccination protest. (Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images) In the latest conspiracy theory cranked out from the depths of QAnon, the view that COVID-19 vaccines will turn you gay or trans. And yes, it is time for us to all eject ourselves into the sun. Humanity is cancelled. BBC reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh uploaded screenshots from the right-wing social media platform Telegram of QAnon supporters spewing a debased, unscientific theory that, er, vaccines cause people to be...

Taylor Swift. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for MTV) Taylor Swift is dropping “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)”, a re-recorded take on her hit single, before an update to her 2008 album Fearless. Swift appeared on Good Morning America to make a special announcement Thursday (11 February), announcing that the new “Love Story” would be released at midnight that same day. “I’m so excited to share with you that tonight at midnight I’m putting out my version of my song ‘Love Story,’ which was originally on my album Fearless,” she said. In a follow-up statement,...

Alexus Braxton. (Facebook) Alexus ‘Kimmy Icon’ Braxton, a Black trans woman and “beloved daughter”, was found dead 4 February amid a surge of unrelenting violence that has left LGBT+ activists drained and alarmed. Braxton, 45, was killed in Miami, Florida, in an apartment complex in the northern Andover Lakes Estates neighbourhood. She was based in the Aventura suburbs, according to her social media profiles. The Miami-Dade Police Department confirmed to Gay City News that authorities are treating the case as a homicide but declined to provide specifics on the incident. Doing so...

London Green Party mayoral candidate Siân Berry. (NurPhoto via Getty/WIktor Szymanowicz) Siân Berry, the Green Party candidate for mayor of London, has said a commission and action plan on trans rights will be “one of the first things” she’ll do if elected. On Wednesday (10 February) the Green Party co-leader, who is vying to replace mayor Sadiq Khan in the May election, pledged that if elected she would set up a commission on the needs of trans Londoners and create an action plan to address barriers to healthcare, employment and...