LGBTQ

The Boots Black Friday sale features beauty, fragrance and skincare products. (Boots.com) Boots has launched its Black Friday sale early, with deals on beauty, skincare and fragrances. Customers don’t have to wait until 26 November to get deals at Boots this Black Friday, as they’ve kicked off their discounts already. There’s up to 50 percent off on brands including Soap & Glory, Yves Saint Laurent, Oral B, No7, Dove, Philips and Lovehoney. The retailer’s sale is now live on the Boots website here and in-store, and new deals are expected...

Badr Baabou, a human rights defender, was battered by cops in Tunisia. (Damj Association for Justice and Equality) Two police officers brutally beat one of Tunisia’s top LGBT+ rights activists in an attack campaigners warn captures the country’s descent into “repression”. Badr Baabou, a human rights defender and head of the Damj Association for Justice and Equality, told Human Rights Watch how he was ambushed in Tunis, the nation’s capital, last week. He was taunted, robbed and senselessly beaten by the officers, he claimed. The thrashing left the activist concussed and...

Private user information from an Israeli LGBT+ dating site has been leaked online by hackers, who are threatening to release more data unless they receive a $1 million ransom. Geo-located dating service Atraf was among dozens of sites hit by the Black Shadow hacking group on Friday evening (29 October) after a break in at the servers of Israeli internet hosting company Cyberserve. The following day the group dumped tens of thousands of online records from the sites it penetrated, including 1,000 user profiles from Atraf. The information includes names...

Haaz Sleiman attends Marvel Studios' "Eternals" premiere in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/WireImage) It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally happening – the Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting its first-ever gay superhero in a movie. LGBT+ comic fans have been screaming out for more representation within the MCU for years, and with the upcoming blockbuster Eternals it seems Marvel Studios is finally delivering. The film, which is also the first Marvel film to be directed by an Oscar-winning director (Chloe Zhao, Nomadland), follows the adventures of...

Kal Penn. (Frazer Harrison/Getty) Actor Kal Penn has come out as gay and revealed that he is engaged to his partner of 11 years. The actor, who has had starring roles in House, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, opens up about his relationship with his fiancé Josh in his new memoir You Can’t Be Serious. Speaking to People about the book, Kal Penn revealed that he met Josh during his two-year hiatus from the television and film industries, which he spent working for Barack Obama in the White House. Penn, who...

A lesbian couple hold hands at Tel Aviv Pride. (David Silverman/Getty) A rabbi in Israel has called on a local mayor to ban gay lecturers and teachers from working in the city of Rishon LeZion. Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, a Rishon LeZion councillor and regional chairman of the Shas Party, wrote a letter to mayor Raz Kinstlich where he hit out at gay lecturers and teachers in the region, according to the Jerusalem Post. In the furious letter, which was posted online by LGBT+ rights group Israeli Gay Youth, Cohen complained that...

One of Lady Gaga’s biggest hits is actually an ode to bisexuality. At a recent performance of her Las Vegas residency, Jazz & Piano, Gaga revisited one of her favourite stories from her early career. “Poker Face”, the star has confirmed on multiple occasions, is about “poker facing with your sexuality”. Specifically, she told Jonathan Ross in 2009, she wrote the song because she would often “think about women” while “having sex with her boyfriend.” Gaga explained the song again on The Ellen Show in 2011, telling the host that she was inspired...

River Medway as Amy Childs. (BBC) Just in time for Halloween, this week’s Drag Race UK was as scary as it gets. If you thought RuPaul was harsh last week, well, this week would prove to be even more controversial.  For Snatch Game, the queens were joined by Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle and comedian Judi Love. There were hits: Kitty Scott-Claus’s Gemma Collins impersonation and Ella Vaday’s Nigella Lawson had everyone cackling with laughter. But there were also misses…  In a shock result, River Medway and Choriza May faced...

Jo Acker. (Facebook) A “heroic” woman who risked her life to save others in a deadly shooting in Boise, Idaho, has become the 42nd trans person violently killed in the US this year. Jo Acker, described by those who knew her as having an “enormous heart of gold”, was killed Monday morning (25 October) after she saw a man shooting Boise Towne Square patrons. Acker, a 26-year-old security guard at the mall, was working when Jacob Bergquist, 27, of Boise, reportedly opened fire inside the mall, injuring four civilians. At...

Britain's equalities minister Liz Truss leaves Downing Street. (BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images) The Conservative government has finally announced proposed plans for its conversion therapy ban – with religious forms of the discredited practice to remain legal. More than three years after ministers promised to outlaw conversion therapy in England and Wales, a public consultation is launching on Friday (28 October) that will focus on how – not when – ministers will outlaw the discredited and dehumanising practice for good. It will run for six weeks. In news that will ease initial...

Gwyneth Paltrow, snatched. (Instagram/Getty) Thanks to Kim Kardashian, Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow has finally learned what “snatched the house down” means. Paltrow was introduced to the word “snatched” by her daughter and videographer, Apple Martin, after Kardashian sent her items from her Skims x Fendi collab. In the video, Paltrow showed her fans the bright pink shapewear, including a bodysuit that Apple says is “so you can get nice and snatched.” Paltrow looked confused by the word, asking: “What is that?” Though the unboxing video was meant to be a revelation...

Dana Zzyym has been fighting for an X gender passport since 2015. (Twitter) The United States has issued the country’s first-ever passport with an X gender marker, allowing non-binary Americans to “live with greater dignity and respect”. On Wednesday, the US State Department announced that the first passport with an X gender marker has been issued, but did not confirm to whom because of privacy concerns. However it was later confirmed that the passport had been issued to intersex Colorado navy veteran Dana Zzyym, who has been fighting since 2015...

Willow Smith is headlining a one-off London show this December. (FilmMagic/FilmMagic for Life is Beautiful Music & Art Festival) Willow Smith has announced a one-off UK show – and it’s happening very soon. The artist will headline the show at the Electric Ballroom in London on 9 December. Fans will be able to get their hands on Willow Smith tickets on 29 October from Ticketmaster and See Tickets. This article contains affiliate links, PinkNews may earn revenue if you click through and purchase products through the links. The show is...

Some local families think the high school play was cancelled after pastor Jeff Lyle "complained about a gay character". (Facebook/ Jeff Lyle) An Ohio school play has been cancelled just one month before opening after a local pastor “complained about a gay character”. According to local news station WCPO, Hillsboro High School in Ohio was planning a fall production of She Kills Monsters, which follows a high school senior learning about the life of her late sister, who is implied to have been gay. But a month before the play was...