LGBTQ

Fifty Bands. (Twitter/@fiftybandzzz) Fifty Bandz, a 21-year-old Black trans woman, has become the latest victim of a wave of violence against trans people in the US that activists and physicians have dubbed an “epidemic”. Bandz was shot to death in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on 28 January by her former partner, Michael Joshua Brooks, 20, according to The Advocate. Brooks told law enforcement that he pulled the trigger during an argument at the 5000 block of McClelland Drive in the Brookstown neighbourhood. The pair had been in a one-year-long relationship, Baton Rouge...

The Arcwave Ion is the world’s first Pleasure Air™ stroker. (Arcwave) Want to make your Valentine’s Day the hottest yet? PinkNews and premium pleasure brand Arcwave have teamed up to give some simple but mind-blowing tips on switching things up. Of course, you’d like to please your lover 365 days a year. But there’s no harm in renewing your commitment to a partner’s pleasure on Valentine’s Day. Looking to make this one toe-curlingly good? Well, when it comes to sexy ideas for Valentine’s Day 2021, you’ve got a few solid options....

JoJo Siwa introduced to the world her girlfriend. (Instagram/@itsjojosiwa) JoJo Siwa reminded the world that, no, love is in fact not dead after all as she shared adorable photographs of her and her girlfriend. The Masked Singer US star, who announced she is queer last month, introduced to the world her girlfriend as they celebrated their one-month anniversary. The 17-year-old said she’s never been happier as she showed snaps of the pair wearing onesies, singing and cuddling in an Instagram post uploaded Monday night (8 February). “After being my best...

A lesbian said she was forced out of her church after coming out. (Envato Elements) A lesbian was left needing counselling after she was pushed out of the Church of England for daring to be openly gay. Rachel Gillingham, a primary school teacher, said she was pushed out of St Luke’s Church in Oseney Crescent, London, after she came out to reverend Jon March in 2019. Gillingham had been heavily involved with the church, even leading Bible study groups, but she told the Camden New Journal that March tried to forbid her from...

Parkland survivor David Hogg plans to launch his own LGBT-inclusive pillow company with the specific goal of driving Mike “MyPillow Guy” Lindell out of business. Hogg, now a 20-year-old gun control advocate, announced on Thursday (4 February) that he and progressive tech entrepreneur William LeGate would be teaming up for a new bedding venture challenging MyPillow. “This pillow fight just got very real,” he declared on Twitter. It appears that the business idea started as a joke between the pair, but Hogg later confirmed they’d decided to go all in....

SOPHIE fans are urging NASA to rename this planet in her honour. (SOPHIE/NASA) SOPHIE died trying to watch the moon, so the trans community is trying to give her a planet. SOPHIE was trying to see the first full moon of the year when she fell from a ladder and tragically died in the early hours of 30 January. She was just 34. After the death of the artist, Christian Arroyo created a petition asking NASA to rename the planet TOI 1338 b in her honour. He explained how she was...

The high school has postponed its Spirit Week after complaints from parents. (Envato) A Christian mother has written to her daughter’s school insisted that celebrating an “LGBT+ Support Day” would “incite hostility” among students. The “LGBT+ Support Day” was intended to be part of Spirit Week at Billings West High School in Montana, but one self-described “mama bear” wrote to the school’s principal, Kelly Hornby, to express her concern. According to local conservative radio station NewsTalk, she wrote: “I am writing to express my concern over the issues that will...

Amber Heard has spoken out on the abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson. (Getty) Amber Heard has accused the entertainment industry of turning a blind eye to sexual assault allegations against Marilyn Manson. Heard came out in support of Evan Rachel Woods after she and a number of other women claimed they had been sexually and physically assaulted by Manson. The musician has denied all accusations, calling them “horrible distortions of reality”. Heard shared an article from The New Yorker that referenced old interviews with Manson. “In a 2009 interview with Spin —...

Kemi Badenoch, minister for equalities and Samuel Kasumu. (Chris McAndrew/Official portrait of Kemi Badenoch/Twitter) A government advisor on ethnic minorities tried to quit after Conservative equalities minister Kemi Badenoch publicly lambasted a young journalist for asking a question. Samuel Kasumu, a senior advisor to Boris Johnson, sent a letter of resignation to the prime minister over the furore – but he changed his mind after last-minute talks with vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi, according to the BBC. In his letter, seen by BBC News, Kasumu said he believed Badenoch had broken...

Marlo's daughter is almost 13. She started taking puberty blockers in December 2020. (Marlo Mack) Seattle-based Marlo Mack is the producer of the award-winning podcast How to Be a Girl and author of an audio book of the same name. Weeks before the court ruling against puberty blockers sent shockwaves around the world, Marlo’s trans kid began taking them. This is her family’s experience with the life-saving medical intervention. I have known this day was coming for nearly 10 years, ever since my three-year-old child first began to tell me...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Getty) Turkey’s fiercely anti-gay president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has claimed that there is “no such thing” as LGBT+ people. Erdoğan has positioned himself as an ardent opponent to LGBT+ rights, with tensions rising in recent days following student protests in Istanbul. The president doubled down on his anti-LGBT+ views on Wednesday (3 January), according to SBS. “The LGBT, there is no such thing,” Erdoğan reportedly said. “This country is… moral, and it will walk to the future with these values.” Erdoğan’s comments come after protests erupted...

Kamala Harris has paid tribute to the "boundary-breaking" Pete Buttigieg (Twitter/Pete Buttigieg) Kamala Harris has paid tribute to the “boundary-breaking” Pete Buttigieg, as he is sworn in as Joe Biden’s secretary of transportation. With his husband Chasten at his side on Wednesday (3 February, Pete Buttigieg was officially sworn in on his family Bible by Kamala Harris, officially making him the first openly gay person to hold a full-time, Senate-confirmed cabinet position. The vice president, no stranger to breaking barriers herself, took a moment to acknowledge the historic nature of...

The US state department’s official spokesperson Ned Price has spoken about the importance of LGBT+ representation. The Biden administration official, who is the first ever openly gay man to be named spokesperson for the US department of state, led his first televised press briefing on Tuesday (2 February). LGBT+ activists say the appointment of the 38-year-old gay former CIA official to serve as the country’s voice on international issues sends a clear message to the 70 countries where homosexuality remains criminalized. Innanoshe Richard Akuson, a Nigerian LGBT rights activist, told...

Former Labour MP Maureen Colquhoun, the first out lesbian to sit in the House of Commons, has passed away at the age of 92. The vocal LGBT+ and women’s rights campaigner, who served as Member of Parliament for Northampton North from 1974 to 1979, passed away on Tuesday (2 February). Labour MP Angela Eagle, who followed in Colquhoun’s footsteps as only the second out lesbian MP, was among those to pay tribute, saying: “This is very sad news. Maureen Colquhoun was a feminist pioneer and paved the way for all...