LGBTQ

A man identified by social media sleuths as police officer Rick Fitzgerald attending a Proud Boys event. (Facebook) A police officer in Fresno, California, has been placed on paid administrative leave after being photographed attending a Proud Boys protest Sunday (14 March). Rick Fitzgerald allegedly attended the demonstration organised by the far-right nationalist group which has long traded in political violence and being among Donald Trump’s most high-decibel supporters. Fitzgerald was thought to have been spied among the crowds that crammed into the Tower District as part of the weeks-long...

Bill Burr presenting at the Grammys. (Rich Fury/Getty) Bill Burr is facing backlash on social media for his tone-deaf jokes about suicide and feminism at the Grammys. The controversial comedian came under fire after he made several offensive quips while presenting a number of awards at the Grammys 2021 premiere ceremony on Sunday night (14 March). Burr began his routine by mocking a piano performance he walked on stage to, saying: “Was I the only one who wanted to kill himself during that piano solo?” He went on to joke...

Andrea Jenkins vice president of the Minneapolis City Council spoke to community members at "The Path Forward" meeting at Powderhorn Park, a meeting between Minneapolis City Council and community members. (Photo by Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images) Andrea Jenkins, the first Black openly trans woman to hold office in the US, talked about the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and her experience of being outed in a new interview. Jenkins, who is a city councillor for Minneapolis, Minnesota, was elected to office in 2017 after attracting more than 73...

The European Parliament rolls out a banner to mark EU becoming an "LGBT+ Freedom Zone" (John Thys/AFP) Polish MEPs were up in arms after the European Union proclaimed itself an “LGBT+ freedom zone” in response to Poland‘s heinous “LGBT-free zones”. All 27 representatives from Poland’s homophobic ruling party PiS voted against the EU’s proclamation on Friday (12 March), which was passed by 492 votes to 141. The move came two years after the first Polish authority signed a pledge against LGBT+ “ideology”, sparking a wave that now covers around a...

Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, at a press conference in February (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/ Getty) Hungary’s top court has thrown out Viktor Orbán’s attempt to implement a retroactive ban on trans people’s gender identity being recognised in official documents. Launched last year, the devastating law known as Section 33 legally erases trans people by forcing them to use deadnames and the gender they were assigned at birth on all ID documents. It effectively outlawed legal status for all transgender people, including those who had already changed – but on Friday...

Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have introduced a bill that would allow cisgender students to sue a school if they are ‘forced’ to share school facilities with trans students. Jason Zachary, a Republican congressman from Knoxville, introduced House Bill 1233 at the same time Mike Ball, a Republican senator from Riceville, introduced its sister bill in the Senate, SB 1367. The bills would effectively allow students the ability to refuse to share facilities – such as bathrooms, locker rooms and dorms – with trans students. Cisgender students could then sue publicly-funded...

Queer as Folk ran for two seasons, the first episode airing on February 23, 1999. (Channel 4) Russell T Davies has said he is hopeful for a reboot of his iconic series Queer as Folk, even if he won’t be the one to write it. Following the runaway success of It’s a Sin, which was so popular it broke All 4 streaming records and drove a 91 per cent increase in viewership, Davies has spoken about the possibility of reviving the 1990s queer classic. Asked by The Hollywood Reporter whether he would...

The gay couple's home was defaced with vile messages calling them "paedophiles". (Envato Elements) Vandals who spray painted vile homophobic messages on a gay couple’s house in Leuven, Belgium, have been condemned for their “hateful” actions. The couple, who have not been named, had their home spray painted with messages such as “I like young boys” and “paedophile”. “The police have been on the scene and made the findings,” Mathieu Caudron, a police spokesman, told HLN of the vile attack. “We take these facts very seriously and an official report has been...

The DC Comics Pride anthology will be released on 8 June. (DC Comics) DC Comics will be releasing a huge queer anthology this summer in celebration of Pride, and introducing trans superhero Dreamer into the DC universe. Announced on Thursday (11 March), DC Pride #1 will feature queer characters from across the DC Comics universe, and will also spotlight LGBT+ artists and writers. The 80-page anthology, to be released on 8 June, will celebrate queer favourites like Batwoman, couple Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, Midnighter and the non-binary version of the...

Niecy Nash spoke to Ellen DeGeneres about falling in love with 'hersband' Jessica Betts. (EllenTube) Niecy Nash has opened up about the moment she realised she had feelings for her “hersband” Jessica Betts. The Claws star revealed that she had married Betts in a beautiful, heartfelt ceremony on Instagram in September 2020. Some fans were surprised by the announcement as Niecy Nash had never spoken publicly about her sexuality in the past, and she was previously married to two men. During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday (10 March), Nash explained...

Marsha P Johnson. (Netflix) Plans for a gaudy rainbow mural in the Marsha P Johnson state park in New York have been scrapped, after complaints from the trans hero’s family. In August, 2020, New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Brooklyn’s East River State Park was being renamed Marsha P Johnson State Park, making it “the first state park to honour an LGBT+ person”. But since then, plans have been made for the design of the park, with little input from the LGBT+ community or Johnson’s own family. At a...

Naya Rivera (L) and Ryan Murphy. (Getty Images) Ryan Murphy has denied “breaking his promise” of setting up a college fund for Naya Rivera’s son. Murphy spoke after Naya’s father George Rivera, a retired actor, suggested he had failed to live up to his promise to financially support the late Glee star’s son Josey Hollis after her death last year. “Everyone needs to know what Ryan Murphy really did,” the 63-year-old wrote.  “Or didn’t do! I’m about to blow up this story and make sure knows that I know.” He...

Former Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas announced he is HIV positive after "evils" threatened to out him. (Clemens Bilan/AFP/Getty) Welsh rugby star and TV personality Gareth Thomas has described being “petrified” each time someone knocked on his door, while he was blackmailed over being HIV-positive. In 2019, Thomas was forced to publicly reveal his HIV status after a publication threatened to do it for him, but was met with praise from fans and HIV advocates across the UK. The gay athlete told the Chris Evans Breakfast Show that he was blackmailed...

David P. (Supplied) Belgium and its LGBT+ community are reeling from the country’s first homophobic murder in nine years. The victim, a 42-year-old man, was lured to a park before being brutally beaten to death by three youths using Grindr to snare the victim, according to the police. He has been named by Belgian media as “David P”. David’s body was found by a cyclist in the early hours of Sunday at a park just outside the northern port of Antwerp, East Flanders. Local police are still in the early...