LGBTQ

Edwin Poots said gay people are "probably" born gay. (BBC) The newly-elected leader of the DUP Edwin Poots, who has a long history of opposing LGBT+ rights, has insisted he’s definitely “had people who are gay in his house”. The former Northern Ireland health minister was declared winner of the DUP’s leadership race on Friday (14 May), succeeding Arlene Foster. Poots is a “young Earth creationist” who believes that the world is only between 6,000 and 10,000 years old, and has spent his political career pushing back against advancements in LGBT+ rights....

Twitter is slated to roll out a pronoun section on a brand new 'About' tab. (Twitter) Twitter is set to add the long-sought option to add pronouns to users’ profile pages. As part of a sprawling design shakeup, the social media platform that boasts some 192 million daily active users will introduce a new ‘About’ tab on accounts. Alongside options to add their date of birth, job title, current location and interests will be a dedicated section to list their pronouns. The ‘About’ tab will be to the left of...

Bethany Church leader Jonathan Stockstill has apologised for the "painful experiences" of the bootcamp's participants. (Facebook/ Jonathan Stockstill) A Christian bootcamp run by the Bethany Church megachurch allegedly used homophobic and racist slurs against teens, and forced them to fight each other until they were bleeding. The “220i” leadership programme was run Bethany Church, a megachurch based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 2005 to 2013. The bootcamp, which referred to participants as “interns”, marketed itself as a programme to turn young people into “ministerial material”, according to NBC News. But according...

Rae Rollins was moved to a men's prison after filing a lawsuit. (Envato Elements) An incarcerated trans woman from New Jersey was moved to a men’s prison after she filed a lawsuit claiming she faced abuse in her original women’s facility, her lawyer has said. Rae Rollins was moved from Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton to the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, which houses male inmates, despite the fact that she is a woman. The 25-year-old is now the only female inmate at the New Jersey State...

The first trailer for the star-studded film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen has just dropped. The Tony-award winning musical debuted on Broadway in 2016, soon becoming hugely popular and especially beloved by queer audiences. The film version of the musical, from Universal, is set for release in September, 2021, with Ben Platt reprising his award-winning turn as Evan Hansen. Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenager with a social anxiety disorder who yearns for connection with his peers, so much so that he pretends to have been the...

Bowser? Nooooo. (BMG/James Newman/Nintendo) Happy Eurovision week! It’s been two years since the last competition, but it’s finally that time of year again. It’s set to be a Eurovision like none before, thanks to the ongoing pandemic and need for constant COVID testing – by audience members, acts, and anyone else involved. But what if we were to judge each of this year’s acts not on their music but… by their gaming preferences? Could it give us a clue who might win? On the Eurovision site, each act has been...

Alireza Fazeli-Monfared was killed and beheaded by family after they found out he was gay. (Twitter) Human rights group Amnesty International has called for a full investigation into the brutal “honour killing” of young gay man in Iran. This month, Alireza Fazeli Monfared, 20, who identified as non-binary gay man, was killed and beheaded by his own family in Iran, when they discovered the military had exempted him from service because of “sexual depravities”. Amnesty International is now calling for a full investigation into his murder, fearing that the perpetrators will go...

Pride flag flies in front of the Historic Mormon Temple in protest to a change in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints policy towards married LGBT+ couples and their children in November 2015 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images) A professor at Brigham Young University’s religion department is under fire for labelling a gay student with a Mormon term associated with an anti-Christ. The Salt Lake Tribune reported Hank Smith, an assistant teaching professor, had been tweeting his thoughts on former parishioners being excommunicated from...

Resident Evil Village. (Capcom) Now that Resident Evil Village has been released, the world can finally experience in full the icon that is Lady Dimitrescu. The big tall vampire lady, as she’s colloquially known, has spearheaded the game’s promotion and sets the campy gothic tone for the rest of the game. That’s along with her three daughters, who collectively thirst for Ethan’s “man blood”. Honestly, almost every line Lady Dimitrescu speaks is iconic.  “Oh, so gauche,” she scoffs in one early scene, “the man thing’s suffering is assured.” Later she...

Christina Aguilera's Pride merch is now live and it all goes to a good cause (Instagram/@xtime) Christina Aguilera screamed trans rights with a new Pride collection in support of two pioneering transgender charities. The pop superstar launched the collection on Saturday (15 May), two weeks ahead of Pride month, and announced the news to her 7.3 million Instagram followers. She said she was “so excited” to share the Pride 2021 collection which includes rainbow sweatshirts, tank tops, masks and underwear featuring her moniker “XTINA”. “I am also proud to support...

Marsha P Johnson. (Netflix) The brand new design for the Marsha P Johnson State Park has been unveiled after initial plans were scrapped following complaints from the trans hero’s own family. New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced last year that Brooklyn’s East River State Park would be renamed for Johnson, making it “the first state park to honour an LGBT+ person”. But the tribute was halted in March when Black trans activists raised concerns about the “harsh thermoplastic colours and extended cement slabs”, while Johnson’s family accused the city of...

New York City Pride announced new policies to address the presence of law enforcement at its events (Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty) New York City Pride has banned police from the parade and associated events until 2025 to challenge them to “acknowledge their harm” to the LGBT+ community. Effective immediately, the New York Police Department will be asked to stay at least one block away from all Pride events, organisers announced on Saturday (15 May). An increased security budget will allow all aspects of first response and security to be reallocated to...

Pennsylvania representative Brian Sims revealed that donated a kidney to a neighbour, and then he took the recipient and his husband out to dinner with his family. (Instagram/@briansimspa) Democrat Brian Sims donated a kidney to a neighbour, and then he took the recipient and his husband out to dinner. Sims, who is a Democrat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, was the first openly gay legislator to be elected in the state. The lawmaker and LGBT+ activist in a heartwarming series of social media posts on Thursday (13 May) that...