The Justice Department appealed a lower-court order allowing people to use the gender or “X” identification marker that lines up with their gender identity.
It’s the latest in a series of emergency appeals from the Trump administration, many of which have resulted in victories amid litigation, including one banning transgender people from the military.
The government argues it can’t be required to use sex designations it considers inaccurate on official documents. The plaintiffs, meanwhile, say the policy violates the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans.
The State Department changed its passport rules after Trump, a Republican, handed down an executive order in January declaring the United States would “recognize two sexes, male and female,” based on what it called “an individual’s immutable biological classification.”
Transgender actor Hunter Schafer, for example, said in February that her new passport had been issued with a male gender marker, even though she submitted the application with the female gender marker she’s used for years on her driver’s license and passport.
A judge blocked the Trump administration policy in June after a lawsuit from nonbinary and transgender people, some of whom said they were afraid to submit applications. An appeals court left the judge’s order in place.
The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to put the order on hold while the lawsuit plays out.
“The Constitution does not prohibit the government from defining sex in terms of an individual’s biological classification,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.
He pointed to the high court’s recent ruling upholding a ban on transition-related health care for transgender minors. The court’s conservative majority found that law doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sex, and Sauer argued that finding also supports the Trump administration’s decision to change passport rules issued in 2021.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, on the other hand, said the passport rules are discriminatory.
“This administration has taken escalating steps to limit transgender people’s health care, speech, and other rights under the Constitution, and we are committed to defending those rights,” said Jon Davidson, senior counsel for the LGBTQ & HIV Project at the American Civil Liberties Union.
A House Foreign Affairs committee hearing ended abruptly Tuesday after the committee chair, Republican Rep. Keith Self of Texas, misgendered Democrat Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, who is transgender.
You have a talent for getting under people’s skin, even when you aren’t trying to. We have to talk about you skewering the Beast.
[Cackling] I’m missing public beef. It feels like in the social circles of the young entertainment industry right now, everything’s very like, “You’re amazing, girl!” “God, I love you!” “I would do fucking anything to hang out with you!” And in the group chat, it’s like, “Why the fuck were they on this list with me?” I’m like, “Put it on main.” [Laughs]
I loved it. Also, he wasn’t wrong. He has 990 million followers. I just was like, “Whatever, dude.” I thought it was funny. No ill will toward him. Shout out to MrBeast, for real. Go nuts, brother.
What was the hardest joke for you to figure out?
It was the Holocaust material. Oh my God. Honey, I worked so hard on that fucking joke. I workshopped that for a long time, because there’s so many pieces. When you first start doing it, you’re trying to figure out, How much can I get out of this? Should I keep it short? Do I go longer? Is sequential the best way to tell the story? You also have to build a lot of credibility with the audience to prove that it’s okay that I’m even doing this. It really, really, really was tricky to craft. I never bombed with it, but I definitely lost the audience many times working on it. I would just get maybe 6 out of 10 components into the joke and be like, they don’t like this, and we are not going to get them back.
Comedy seems to be at a bit of a fork in the road. On one side you have alternative, inclusive left-leaning comedians like yourself, and on the other side you have right-leaning anti-woke comedians, like the Kill Tony crew. How do you feel about the broader comedy scene?
Well, it’s totally fractured. But I think I’ve always felt very in the middle of everything. I’m gay, but then I’m fat. So that creates a distance between me and a lot of gay guys. I love trans people and I’m very leftist, but I’m from small-town Missouri. And plenty of people who love Kill Tony for some reason also love me. I don’t like Tony Hinchcliffe at all; I don’t think he’s funny. I have very little respect for many of the people on that side of things. But then there’s some people that I do love. I love [new SNL hire and Kill Tony regular] Kam Patterson.
Those guys, some of them don’t have it. Then in the same circle, you’ve got Shane Gillis, who’s one of the most technically talented stand-ups living. He’s really fucking good. I like Shane a lot. You’ve got Theo Von, who will randomly exhibit so much heart and character, and then in the next moment won’t. It’s very confusing.
Last year, Pride Chorus Houston traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA Choruses) held its quadrennial festival, the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ choruses in the world.
There, they encountered their Mexico City-based counterpart, Coro Gay Ciudad de México LGBTIQPA+.
“We were blown away by them,” says David York, now in his third season as artistic director of Pride Chorus Houston, one of the nation’s oldest gay choruses in the United States. “And I’m happy to report that they were really pleased with what they saw in us as well.”
Casual conversations turned to friendship, and now, just over a year later, the two choruses will perform together for the first time during Mi Familia, a joint concert at the Wortham Theater Center on September 20 before the Houston chorus travels to Mexico City for two additional performances on November 28 and 29.
The concert marks the first time Pride Chorus Houston will perform with an international choir, and York says audiences are in for a treat when they see Coro Gay Ciudad de México LGBTIQPA+.
“They are a very extravagant and flamboyant chorus, so they’re bringing lots of energy, very colorful costumes, and their own brand of fabulous,” says York.
According to York, the Mexico City chorus is bringing their tried-and-true hits, with the current setlist including pieces with titles like “Pamela Anderson” – “The English translation to the first part of ‘Pamela Anderson’: ‘I love you so much / I watched your documentary yesterday’ and then it goes into details about that,” shares York – and “Muerte por Tetaso,” or “Death by Titslap.”
“Isn’t that fun?” adds York. “That’s very campy.”
When it came time to decide on the material Houston Pride Chorus would contribute to the show, York says popular Latin artists like Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Shakira, and Bad Bunny all came up.
“We started looking at these artists as being an accurate representation of what we wanted to say as a pride chorus in an international concert. In a way, we’re representing America and we’re representing Latin culture in our set,” says York.
Representation proved to be a bit trickier for his chorus, as York realized that the Mexico City chorus is more of a monoculture, meaning that almost all the members are Mexican by heritage.
“In the Houston Pride Chorus, we have a significant percentage, probably 15 percent of our chorus is Hispanic or Latino, and some of them are from Mexico, but a lot of them are not. They come from Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, El Salvador – all these different Spanish-speaking countries are represented by Pride Chorus, so our experience of Latin culture is different than theirs,” explains York.
The setlist Houston Pride Chorus decided on will also feature “tailor-made” arrangements from different Spanish-language icons, including “Color Esperanza” by Argentine Diego Torres and a medley of music by Mexican superstar Juan Gabriel.
“While Juan Gabriel never publicly came out as gay, it’s a well-known secret, so we claim him. We are representing him loud and proud at the end of our concert,” says York.
A highlight of the program will be the premiere of a new piece of music composed by York and the artistic director of Coro Gay Ciudad de México LGBTIQPA+, Enrique Dunn.
“There’s a fair amount of attention around immigration in our chorus, and why people came to the United States, and what their relationship with their family is like, and as we talked about that, that’s where we stumbled onto the idea of Mi Familia. That is a common theme for Mexico City Chorus to sing about and us as well,” says York.
The idea resulted in a piece with four movements, with a melody and sweet refrain woven into each movement: “This is my family / just as we are / separated by distance / united by love.”
The members of each chorus were asked for interesting ways to express these thoughts using experiences from their personal lives or by creating fictionalized stories. The suggestions York and Dunn received were narrowed down to four, with each artistic director setting two for the piece.
The movements York set are titled “No Sabo,” a grammatically incorrect term used to refer to children from Spanish-speaking families who don’t speak Spanish, and “Lullaby.”
“One of the choristers is a no sabo kid, and he wrote this beautiful story about his relationship with his grandmother, who is from Peru,” explains York. “He’d come home from school. She talked to him in Spanish; he would talk to her in English. They had about 50 common words in their vocabulary, and it was the same conversation every day.”
Another chorister, who wrote “a really lovely, poignant lyric about what it is to be a parent,” inspired “Lullaby,” which is about two fathers, parents to three adopted children, two of whom are from Mexico.
“The current political situation is risky for them,” says York. “The children are citizens, but they aren’t American-born citizens, and so that created some fear in their family.”
York says the melody and lyrics will be altered in both movements to reflect each story. “In the ‘No Sabo’ lyric, it’s ‘This is my family / just as it is / separated by language / united by love.’ And in the one about the fathers, it’s ‘This is my family / just as we are / separated by fear / united by love.’”
Dunn set the last two stories, and York describes both movements as “very grand and epic.” One is titled “Fronteras,” or “Borders,” a non-narrative movement about two trans women who both receive the medical treatment they need in Mexico but find their ability to connect compromised by challenges at the border.
“It’s a very complex idea, and [Dunn] captures the emotion of it really powerfully,” says York. “And then the last one is called ‘Recuerdo,’ and it talks about connecting with loved ones of the departed, people who are not here anymore.”
Though the political climate has changed drastically since York and Dunn began discussing a potential collaboration last year, York says he wants to minimize political confrontation in every aspect of the concert.
“By and large, we’re all acutely aware of the oppression that is being thrown at, if not individually, then to people we love, people close to us, and people we care about,” says York. “We don’t need to frame that. We don’t need to resolve it. We don’t need to advocate for or against it. All we need to do is be family, to be a unified voice for the healing power of love and music, and just let that emotional experience be the tincture and the recipe for how we survive this incredibly complex and turbulent time.”
Mi Familia is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, September 20, at Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. The concert will be translated with English and Spanish surtitles. For more information, visit pridechorus.org. $28.75-$74.75.
Authorities released new information Tuesday indicating that the 22-year-old Utah man accused in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk did a fair amount of planning before the attack on a college campus.
Tyler Robinson is charged with aggravated murder and other crimes. He appeared briefly Tuesday before a judge by video from jail. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray earlier said he would file a notice to seek the death penalty and that Robinson would remain jailed without bond.
This page requires Javascript.
Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Elsewhere in the lawsuit, it apparently added that Ellen allegedly “negligently caused, or contributed to causing plantiff’s vehichle to be collided with by the defendants’ vehicle.”
The woman now suing Ellen for general negligence and an undisclosed amount of damages claimed that she suffered wage loss and accrued medical expenses.
‘I’m Your Venus’ screens part of Ballroom event in Orlando Credit: Courtesy photo
“Some of them say that we’re sick, we’re crazy. And some of them think that we are the most gorgeous, special things on Earth!” — Venus Xtravaganza
Even amongst the glittering constellation of performers featured in the epochal documentary of 1980s NYC ballroom culture Paris Is Burning, Venus Xtravaganza stood out. The film was a vibrant chronicle of the golden age of New York City drag balls and the Black, Latin, gay and transgender performers and communities who peopled them. In her early 20s at the time of filming, the trans Italian-American/Puerto Rican diva Xtravaganza lit up the screen every time she appeared, with quick wit, transcendent fashion and performance chops to spare.
The world, by all accounts, should have been hers for the taking. Which makes it even more of a cruel twist of fate that she was murdered in 1988 before the film’s release.
The doc is no period piece; it’s a moving portrait of a scene whose DNA can be found in so much of modern pop culture: slang, vogueing, pop stars stretching from Madonna to Lady Gaga, RuPaul’s Drag Race, fashion … we could go on for pages.
I’m Your Venus, a new documentary about Xtravaganza’s biological family and her chosen family in the House of Xtravaganza coming together to both get her cold case reopened and get her name changed posthumously, screens Saturday at the Mezz courtesy the Central Florida Ballroom Collective.
This We’re Your Venus event features a panel discussion and the Venus Mini Ball Deluxe, with local ballroom performers striking poses and serving face ferociously. Proceeds from the event go to the Gender Advancement Project.
“Initially, it was just going to be the screening and then the ball. But … I spoke with Jonovia [Chase, producer of the film and also a mother of the Legendary House of Xclusive Lanvin]. She said she would be interested in a panel to go over ballroom [history] and also Venus’ life,” JaQuaria “Egot” Wimberly, co-founder and board member of the Central Florida Ballroom Collective (also a singular and adventurous drag performer as Egot), tells Orlando Weekly. Wimberly adds that this is a night “not only for the ballroom community, but also the trans and nonbinary communities in general, period.”
Wimberly’s own journey in the ballroom world began during the pandemic lockdown, where repeated watchings of the YouTube show My House led to bingeing the HBO Max series Legendary. Once she saw Eyricka Lanvin effortlessly push the camera out of her way mid-performance, she knew ballroom was for her.
Wimberly, as Egot, has since performed at functions as part of the House of Ebony and teaches ballroom classes in the greater Central Florida area. We’re Your Venus is her and her fellow organizers’ attempt to combine that love for the art form with a clear activist intent, a point made crystal-clear with a Trans Lifeline panel happening post-screening. The panel features Chase, Jasmine McKenzie of the McKenzie Project, Mulan Williams of Divas in Dialogue, Legendary Dada Ebony, Brittany Acuff of CREW Health, Ashley Figueroa of the Gender Advancement Project, Stxph Vianna of Ripple Hauxs and Zamyah Esters of I’m Just a Girl.
“I really want it to touch on what does advocacy, true advocacy, look like as opposed to performative activism. … We’re also going to touch on mental health within the ballroom scene, as well as for trans and nonbinary individuals,” says Wimberly. “With the exception of Brittany — she had access to resources for healthcare so it just made sense to bring her on — this is an all-trans and nonbinary panel. I feel like our voices need to be heard now more than ever, and need to be amplified.”
Speaking of the Gender Advancement Project, 50 percent of the proceeds from the evening go to the organization and the work they do helping trans folks get accurate passports and their names changed on driver’s licenses and state IDs.
And then, of course, there’s the ball. Yes, there will be vogueing, but that’s only one part of a rich array of performances on offer.
The categories for the evening — for which winners will be handsomely rewarded with cash prizes — are Face, Best Dressed, Body, Runway, Realness and Performance. Categories will seamlessly flow into one another as the MC, Tabu 007, keeps the flow of the evening frenetic and energy levels high with staccato rhythms and intricate wordplay. The audience has an integral part to play too: You may get called on to strut your own stuff, but you definitely have to respond in kind to the energy of the performers.
“We feed off of the crowd. So if you all are enjoying it and you’re loving what you see, definitely make noise,” says Wimberly. “Make it be known that you are loving what you see, especially for the people who are in the barroom scene who don’t really feel like they get that recognition.”
And even if you haven’t personally experienced ballroom live, much of this will quickly be familiar in the way the looks and moves have been assimilated into popular culture for decades.
“Once you see it in action, you’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve seen that person do it.’ I’ve seen Janet Jackson do this move, and that’s because your superstars have been to these functions. They have dancers who have been in these functions,” explains Wimberly. “Prime example, Honey Balenciaga was on tour with Beyoncé. Everyone’s seen it.”
Despite the fierce roster of entertainers who will be in the house and doing their thing, Wimberly stresses that the entirety of the evening is as much about activism as it is aesthetics.
“We can’t just show a film and then go into a ball. We have to have people who are in these communities. There will be a lot of different trans and nonbinary organizations in the building,” says Wimberly. “Because it’s important, especially now.”
The goal is for We’re Your Venus to not be a one-off, but the beginning of more gatherings and collaborations.
I don’t want this to be the end. I want this to be the start, you know? This shouldn’t be something where it happens every blue moon. Just like we got support this time, we should get the same support every single time,” says WImberly. “Just so the access is still there for not only the trans community but also the ballroom community.”
DALLAS — One of the nation’s first doctors accused of illegally providing care to transgender youth under GOP-led bans was found to have not violated the law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office says, nearly a year after the state sued the physician.
Dr. Hector Granados, a pediatric endocrinologist in El Paso, was called a “scofflaw” last year by Paxton’s office in a lawsuit that accused him of falsifying medical records and violating a Texas ban that took effect in 2023. More than two dozen states have prohibitions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, but Texas was the first to bring cases against doctors, filing lawsuits against Granados and two other providers.
The cases against the other doctors, both in Dallas, remain ongoing. But Paxton’s office quietly withdrew its lawsuit last week against Granados, saying in a statement that “no legal violations were found” following a “review of the evidence and Granados’ complete medical records.”
Granados, who says Paxton’s office never reached out before suing him last October, said he wished the state had first let him show he had stopped providing gender-affirming care for youth before the law took effect.
“It was just out and then we had to do everything afterwards,” Granados said in an interview.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that states can ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and at least 27 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the care. Although those accused of violating bans face criminal charges in some states, they do not in Texas, where the punishments instead expose providers to steep fines and revocation of their medical licenses.
Paxton’s office said in a statement that Dr. May Lau and Dr. M. Brett Cooper, the other accused physicians, will “face justice for hurting Texas kids both physically and mentally.” Their attorneys didn’t offer comment Wednesday.
“Attorney General Paxton will continue to bring the full force of the law against the delusional, left-wing medical professionals guilty of forcing ‘gender’ insanity on our children,” Paxton’s office said.
Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has sought to position himself as a national leader among the GOP’s ascendant hard right and is running for the U.S. Senate.
Harper Seldin, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said that even when a lawsuit is dropped, it still takes “an enormous toll” on those who have to defend themselves.
“I think this continues to be best understood as part of the Texas AG’s campaign to intimidate medical providers,” he said.
Granados said he was meticulous in halting gender-affirming care for youth before Texas’ ban took effect. He said that before the ban, treating transgender youth was just an extension of his practice that treats youth with diabetes, growth problems and early puberty.
He said that after the ban, he did continue to prescribe puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy, but that those treatments were not for gender transition. Granados said they were for youth with endocrine disorders, which occur when hormone levels are too high or too low.
Texas’ lawsuit against Granados called him a “scofflaw who is harming the health and safety of Texas children.” It referenced a 2015 news article about transgender care that quoted Granados and medical articles he had written on the topic. Also listed in the lawsuit were details on unnamed patients, including their ages and what they had been prescribed, including testosterone.
In a court document filed in Cooper’s case, an attorney in Paxton’s office said they had subpoenaed provider reports for the doctor’s testosterone prescriptions from the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program.
Granados’ attorney, Mark Bracken, said that after entering into an agreed protective order with the state, they were able to confidentially produce patient records to show Granados had complied with the law.
Peter Salib, an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center, said that it’s “unusual” for a state to drop a case due to lack of violations after filing a lawsuit.
“They have a lot of opportunity to find out what is going on before they decide to bring a lawsuit,” he said.
Granados said he’s grateful to no longer have the lawsuit on the back of his mind.
“It always puts a toll on you and how you feel,” he said.
Do y’all hear that? The unmistakable sounds of autumn winds, crunchy leaves, and September audiobook releases. Last month had a few fresh new debuts, and this month, we decided to focus on fall romances. (Just in time for cuffing season at that!)
We opted for some cozy, small-town romances from all over the States. Spanning from Washington to Connecticut, here is our September Sweet Listens!
Content warning: The Honey POP encourages mindful listening and checking the author’s website for any additional content warnings.
Falling Like Leaves By Misty Wilson
Image Source: Simon & Schuster
Our first September audiobook recommendation is Misty Wilson’s new YA romance, Falling Like Leaves. Ellis reluctantly moves with her mom from New York City to Bramble Falls, Connecticut. Her parents’ separation throws off all her plans for senior year, and the only saving grace is the town’s annual Falling Leaves Festival. Between carving pumpkins and drinking seasonal lattes, Ellis also rekindles the flame with her former best friend and first kiss Cooper Barnett. They’ve grown apart since the last summer they spent together, and now he seems like he wants nothing to do with her. Or so she thinks.
Next up, we have a cozy, sapphic romance between a mortal and a witch in Everything She Does Is Magic by Bridget Morrissey! Set in the small town of Fableview where every day feels like Halloween, this audiobook has two alternating POVs between local sweetheart Darcy Keller and witchy new girl Anya Doyle. Darcy’s parents expect her to take over their Halloween empire when all she wants is to leave for college. Anya’s initiation into her coven depends on her ability to find a mortal ally. They agree to help each other out of their respective predicaments, only they weren’t expecting feelings to also get in the way.
Finally, our last September audiobook is You’ve Found Oliverby Dustin Thao. The companion novel to You’ve Reached Sam, this audiobook follows Sam’s best friend Oliver as he navigates grief, romance, and a bit of magical realism. A year after Sam dies, Oliver still can’t seem to move on. When Oliver calls Sam’s old phone number and someone picks up, he unintentionally sets off a fluffy yet angsty whirlwind of a romance with Ben, a fellow college student only a few hours away. Despite several strange occurrences and bizarre timelines, Oliver and Ben continue to believe in each other and their fateful romance.
What do you think of this month’s audiobook recommendations? Which of these September audiobooks are you most interested in listening to? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — A Detroit-area city that banned LGBTQ+ flags from publicly owned flagpoles did not violate the Constitution, a judge said.
U.S. District Judge David Lawson dismissed a lawsuit against Hamtramck, two years after the city council voted to allow only five flags, including the American flag, the Michigan flag and flags that “represent the international character” of residents. The city is known for welcoming immigrants.
A pride flag was flown in June 2021 and 2022 before some members of the all-Muslim council said it clashed with the beliefs of some members of their faith. Businesses and residents aren’t prohibited from displaying a pride flag on their own property in Hamtramck.
Critics of the new policy said Hamtramck was violating free speech. But Lawson said the city’s policy was OK because it bans all private flags not just some.
“Hamtramck’s refusal to display the Gay Pride flag did not violate the Constitution,” the judge said Monday.
Hamtramck, population 27,000, is an enclave surrounded by Detroit. More than 40% of residents were born in other countries, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and a significant share are of Yemeni or Bangladeshi descent.
President Donald Trump has nominated the city’s mayor, Amer Ghalib, a native of Yemen, to be U.S. ambassador to Kuwait.
If you’re looking for LGBTQ+ graphic novels, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got a little something for everyone. Shapeshifters who refuse conform to gender or moral norms. Sapphics who ride spaceships across the stars to find the ones they love. Gay teens experiencing high school romance for the very first time. Trans angels that teach martial arts to chaotic bisexual baristas. Whatever your fancy, you’ll find it here. These are the 10 best queer graphic novels, perfect to cozy up with on a rainy gay. I mean, day.
Nimona
( Quill Tree Books)
The novel that elevated author ND Stevenson to queer internet royalty, Nimona is the story of a shapeshifter who refuses to play by physical, societal, or moral rules. In a kingdom where science and magic intertwine, the teenage Nimona is a social outcast, ostracized for their ability to change the shape of their body in myriad way. In order to stick it to the man, which in this case is a government organization called The Institute, Nimona dedicates their life to crime – and seeks to become the sidekick of famous criminal Ballister Blackheart. Ballister was once a poster child of the Institute, but left it and his ex-lover behind after a disastrous falling out. Now he’s out for revenge, and Nimona is willing to help him get it. But on the quest for retribution, the pair uncover a conspiracy that the Institute would rather keep under wraps, and are determined to drag it kicking and screaming into the light.
The Magic Fish
(Random House Graphic)
Trung Le Nguyen’s The Magic Fish is a semi-autobiographical memoir about Tiến Phong, a second generation Vietnamese American attempting to teach his mother English through fairy tales. As Tiến recounts tales of runaway princesses, magical talking fish, and lovestruck mermaids, he begins to slowly get in touch with his own sexuality. Tiến soon discovers that he is gay, but is fearful that his mother will refuse to accept him. It’s the story of a young man attempting to bridge the divide between his family’s culture and the culture of the new nation they find themselves in – along with his struggle to find acceptance by his community and his peers. Through fantasy, we better understand reality. No one understands this better than Tiến.
Kill Six Billion Demons
(Image Comics)
Tom Parkinson Morgan’s Kill Six Billion Demons is many things: a progression manga, a spiritual text, and a sapphic fantasy. The plot revolves around Allison Ruth, a barista who was kidnapped from her dorm room by a runaway god and spirited away to Heaven – which is a seedy city at the center of the multiverse. Armed with newfound divine power, Allison is charged with liberating the multiverse from the grip of the Demiurges – seven divinities that carve up reality for their own gain. With the help of a trans angelic martial arts teacher and spell-slinging demon turned sapphic lover, Allison may just become the most powerful being in the entire universe: God themself.
Mooncakes
(Oni Press)
Mooncakes by Joamette Gil and Suzanne Walker is the story of teen witch Nova Huang, who works at her grandmother’s bookshop selling spells in her New England town. While rambling through the woods beyond, she discovers her old crush Tam Lang. There’s no time for love confessions here, Tam is busy locked in combat with a horrible demon! The forces of darkness are after werewolves like Tam for their magic, and Tam turns to Nova for help. The two teens must combine their arcane abilities in order to stamp out evil – with a little help from Nova’s badass grandma. As cozy and spooky as a black cat kitten, Mooncakes is a genre classic perfect for an October night.
On A Sunbeam
(First Second)
On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden is the epitome of soft sci-fi, a tender read similar to the work of genre stalwart Becky Chambers. Much like Chambers’ The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet, On A Sunbeam provides an introspective look at an interstellar crew. On the surface, the newest crew member of the Aktis may seem cool and withdrawn, but the young Mia’s chill demeanor hides an inner fire of devotion. Mia once loved and lost a girl named Grace in a whirlwind boarding school romance. Newly graduated, Mia has taken to the stars to find Grace again in the gulf of space. For a novel set in a frigid and barren void, it’s surprisingly warmhearted – a sunbeam that will shine straight into your shriveled up soul. You’re welcome.
Fun Home
(Mariner Books)
Before it was a groundbreaking Broadway musical, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a devastating and devastatingly funny graphic novel. It’s the story of the author’s relationship with her late father, an English teacher and funeral home director. Two weeks after coming out as gay, Bruce Bechdel died of apparent suicide, leaving his daughter Alison to pick up the pieces. Alison, who is gay herself, attempts to come to terms with the troubled relationship she had with her father – one defined by emotional distance and occasional outbursts of anger. It’s the story of what happens when a person denies their truth, and the day to day devastation that comes with living a lie. Even if we don’t fully know someone, we can still love them, as Alison comes to understand. Warning, this novel may make you ugly cry, and it will be worth it.
Blue Is The Warmest Color
(Arsenal Pulp Press)
Before it was an emotional gut punch disguised as a feature film, Jul Maroh’s Blue Is The Warmest Color was an equally devastating graphic novel. Drawn in a watercolor style that looks like paint mixed with human tears (soon to be your tears) the novel details the tragic romance between Clementine and Emma, two teenage French girls. After falling madly in love, the pair struggle with the social repercussions of their queer relationship – which compound upon the emotional difficulties that come with romance. Sweet as a first kiss and brutal as a goodbye, this novel is a devastating downward spiral of the heart. No, it doesn’t end well. Yes, your tears will wet the pages. Yes, it’s absolutely worth the read – and about ten boxes of tissues.
Heartstopper
(Graphix)
Before it was a Netflix smash, Heartstopper was an explosively popular graphic novel about two high school boys in love. Charlie is a quiet and reserved intellectual, Nick is an outgoing rugby player with a heart of gold. While the pair first begin their relationship as friends, these opposites soon attract. Navigating love in a hostile high school world, the two boys find solace in one another and a supporting cast of LGBTQ+ teens. It’s the ultimate cozy read, a tender narrative that doesn’t shy away from the harsh and confusing reality faced by many queer youth. Unlike lovers in many gay romances of yesteryear, these two lovers aren’t broken by the world around them. The hardships they overcome only bring them closer together, and deepen the roots of their blooming ardor.
Gender Queer: A Memoir
(Lion Forge Comics/Oni Press)
Gender Queer is the autobiographical story of Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, detailing eir self-discovery journey as someone who is non-binary and asexual. It’s an unflinching account of Maia’s childhood growing up as gender non-conforming, and the euphoria and dysphoria that comes with it. While Maia originally wrote the novel as a way for eir family to better understand eir identity, Gender Queer has since become an emotional roadmap for many young queer people. It’s also one of the most challenged books in American libraries, and holds the Guiness World Record for “most banned book of the year” – so you know it’s good. At its core, Gender Queer is a novel that allows queer people and allies to better understand their own struggles and the struggles faced by loved ones – a great stride on the road towards acceptance and understanding.
Our Dreams At Dusk
(Seven Seas)
Our Dreams At Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani is a no punches pulled look into the harsh reality faced by many queer teens. It’s the story of Tasuku Kaname, a teen who is outed by his classmates and is considering suicide. Just as he’s about to take his life, he witnesses a mysterious figure standing at the window of a building. This figure, who calls themself “Someone” runs a drop-in center for queer youth, a safe space for kids of all walks of life to find acceptance and community. As Tasuku listens to the stories of his peers, he begins gain a better understanding of his own life – realizing that it is worth living after all. Our Dreams At Dusk is not a cozy read, and that’s its power. It’s a story about the inner strength that queer people must cultivate in order to live in this world, a trait that will be necessary until the world better understands us. The novel is ultimately a story of hope – while widespread social acceptance may elude queer people, we can find it in pockets – found families spreading light and joy right under our noses. Just like the one Tasuku finds.
Sarah Fimm (they/them) is actually nine choirs of biblically accurate angels crammed into one pair of $10 overalls. They have been writing articles for nerds on the internet for less than a year now. They really like anime. Like… REALLY like it. Like you know those annoying little kids that will only eat hotdogs and chicken fingers? They’re like that… but with anime. It’s starting to get sad.
Except nothing came of it. In 2022, The Daily Beast reported that Harris had been let go from the show “after having trouble meeting script deadlines.” HBO said Harris was “not fired from The Vanishing Half,” citing creative differences that were “part of the normal development process,” and called Harris “a valued collaborator.” He’s since worked with the network on a documentary about Slave Play called Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.
Harris, who calls the The Daily Beast “a gossip rag,” stands by his work. He fondly remembers a staff research trip to New Orleans that he organized and blames the show’s fate on systemic issues at the network. (The Daily Beast did not respond to a request for comment.)
“The reason the show didn’t happen is because the book was bought at a very specific time, in June of 2020,” Harris says. “HBO changed leadership within that time period. The Black woman who advocated for our show to be bought, and was our executive, left.” That woman, Kalia Booker King, departed to work for Sinners director Ryan Coogler’s production company, Proximity Media. But King’s departure wasn’t the only factor. “I don’t think that the pairing of our producers and me and Aziza as writers was necessarily fully a fit. I think that Issa Rae would’ve made an amazing version of the show in her own way. I don’t think she would’ve made the version that me and Aziza were making.” (Rae did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment. HBO and King declined to comment.)
Harris has been accused of caring more about his public persona than his written work. Several people I’ve spoken to—including a film and television actor and theater professionals—suggest he has been known to be unreliable, a natural consequence of being overcommitted and overextended. Harris’s talent, they agree, is undeniable. But there are concerns about his follow-through, according to these sources, none of whom were willing to go on the record for fear of alienating Harris, who has a penchant for responding publicly and ferociously to his critics. (See: Jesse Green, Young Jean Lee.) Fear of retaliation notwithstanding, a question hangs over this gifted writer’s head: Is he self-obsessed, or are people just obsessed with him?
“He loves to take on more than he should,” says his former CAA agent, Ross Weiner, reflecting on the roughly eight years he spent representing Harris before he left the industry. “But it was always a good thing.” As of this story’s publication, Harris has no less than six projects in various states of development on IMDb Pro, including The Wives and the seemingly abandoned The Vanishing Half.
Some past collaborators praise him even when the project doesn’t work out. Sydney Baloue, a writer on The Vanishing Half, calls Harris “the creative genius of our time” and said he had an “incredible” experience working on the show. “Jeremy is a brilliant writer,” says Allain. “He and Aziza put together an incredible room of writers who delivered several knockout scripts. Sadly, not everything in development gets made.”
On December 15, 2024, Barnes died by suicide. “I was the person that had to call everyone from the writers room and tell them,” Harris remembers. “The thing that got me through was thinking about the fact that there are so many parties Aziza just didn’t want to be at. No matter how social I tried to ask them to be….” He takes a beat. “Life is sort of a party that none of us asked to be invited to. I don’t know that it’s my place to demand that someone stay, while also having a lot of sadness that they’re gone.”
You’re going to go to this play with me now,” Harris commands as we finish our meal at Dimes. It’s called Trophy Boys, an off-Broadway production directed by Tony winner Danya Taymor and starring The Gilded Age’s Louisa Jacobson—another close friend of Harris’s from his Yale days. Though this wasn’t the plan, one doesn’t say no to Harris. I get the check.
On the way, he rolls calls—putting out more theatrical fires while texting Gerber. There’s a controversial big-time producer who wants to see Prince Faggot. “I’m going to get him in tomorrow,” Harris tells one of his agents over the phone. “I have reached out to the man many times. I’m telling you right now: If this man loved me, if he was obsessed with me, if he needed me, he would call me every hour on the hour till I answer.”
Why ‘Love Thy Nader’ Is TV’s Most Addictive Reality Show
Brooks Nader is no stranger to fame, having graced the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2023 and appearing on Season 33 of Dancing with the Stars. But now she’s taking her popularity to new heights in her family’s new reality series streaming on Hulu, Love Thy Nader.
The four sisters, who are all in their twenties, don’t hold back while cameras are documenting their balance of silly and serious shenanigans. The show is reminiscent of the early days of reality TV, specifically the OG days of Keeping Up With the Kardashians; the Nader sisters seem to be following the blueprint created by the Kardashians, showcasing their family drama as well as the honest specifics of their personal lives in a refreshingly candid way. At a time when reality TV cast members have become increasingly curated and self-tailored for viewers’ perceptions, Love Thy Nader and the women who star in it are a welcomed change of pace.
Brooks, 28, shares the details of her divorce from her first husband, delves into her unexpected breakup with her former Dancing With the Stars partner, Gleb Savchenko, who appears in the first episode of the season, and even gets real about her struggle with beauty standards in the modeling industry and how she uses Ozempic.
Mary Holland, 26, opens up about her decision to leave her corporate, Wall Street job and opt into “micro-retirement.” Throughout the season she pursues an alternative career trajectory as an entrepreneur and we watch as she plans to launch her own financial platform, Mary and Pip. Viewers also get a glimpse into her love life with her boyfriend Julian Isaacs (a British Lourd!) and their debate about whether she should move in with him in Los Angeles or stay in New York City with her sisters.
Grace Ann, 25, gets candid about wanting to take her modeling career more seriously despite having prioritized spending time with her boyfriend where he lives in Florida. She also shares her experience coming to terms with her own struggles with alcohol in the past, which shaped how she wanted to help Brooks confront her own issues taking Ozempic.
Sarah Jane, 22, reveals the difficulties she’s experienced finding her place in the LGBTQ+ community as a woman who is attracted to other women as well as men, plus the bumps in the road she’s dealt with when opening up about her sexuality to her traditional, conservative family in Louisiana. Viewers even meet some of her love interests on camera, even though some of them are apparently just casually dating one another.
“The second the camera started rolling, it was like nobody was even there. I was just completely raw and myself. And I feel like in this age of Instagram, and me coming from a modeling background, I think that this was a great outlet to show personality and raw and realness and be authentic,” Nader told the Hollywood Reporter about her experience filming this season.
The Nader sisters have certainly already achieved some levels of fame, but if Love They Nader shows us anything it’s that they’re just getting started; the four sisters are at the precipice of their time in the spotlight.
Have you heard of the Nader sisters? Will you check out Love Thy Naderon Hulu? Let us know in the comments!
U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson said the city’s flagpoles are reserved for government speech, not a public forum for residents.
In his 12-page opinion, Lawson ruled against Hamtramck Human Relations Commission members Russ Gordon and Cathy Stackpoole, both of whom filed the lawsuit in November 2023. In an act of defiance, Gordon and Stackpoole displayed a Pride flag on public property on Joseph Campau Avenue on July 9. Two days later, the city council removed the pair from the commission.
As a matter of law, the plaintiffs’ claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments fail, the judge ruled, saying the “well-settled rule that government speech in a nonpublic forum is not subject to First Amendment regulation.”
The ruling is a victory for mayor Amer Ghalib and Hamtramck’s all-Muslim city council, which in June 2023 unanimously adopted a “flag neutrality” ordinance allowing only government and national flags to be displayed on public poles. Although the resolution barred religious, political, and ethnic flags, it was widely understood to target the Pride flag after months of heated debate in the city, where more than half of the residents are believed to be Muslim.
In their lawsuit, Gordon and Stackpoole argued the flag ban violated their free speech and equal protection rights.
“It is unconstitutional for the government to select what speech will be permitted, and what speech will be prohibited, based on the content or viewpoint of the message conveyed by the speech,” the lawsuit alleged.
But Lawson rejected that argument, holding that Hamtramck was entitled to close the flagpoles to private expression and reclaim them “for government speech.”
“The First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause does not prevent the government from declining to express a view,” the judge wrote.
Lawson also dismissed claims that the ordinance favored religion or discriminated against LGBTQ+ residents, noting that the resolution only authorized American, Michigan, Hamtramck, and Prisoner of War flags, along with flags of nations reflecting the city’s international character.
Viola Klocko
Police remove an LGBTQ+ Pride flag in Hamtramck.
“No such transparent motive to advance religiosity is patent in the resolution entered here, which did not endorse the flying of any banner representing any religious sect or creed, and where the roster of flags prescribed consists exclusively of secular standards of local, state, national, and international entities,” Lawson wrote.
City attorney Odey K. Meroueh said the decision vindicated the city’s policy.
“Today’s ruling confirms that Hamtramck has the right to decide what it communicates on its own property,” Meroueh said in a written statement. “The Court’s decision vindicates Mayor Amer Ghalib and the City Council for adopting a neutral policy that treats every group and every viewpoint the same. The plaintiffs were removed from their appointed seats on the Human Relations Commission because they knowingly violated a valid rule while acting in their official roles. This case was about neutral rules, fair enforcement, and responsible city governance, not about suppressing anyone’s speech.”
The ordinance reversed a 2021 council vote that allowed the Pride flag to fly outside City Hall. That decision was one of the final acts of then-Mayor Karen Majewski, who lost reelection after Ghalib campaigned against the flag policy.
Denver Public Schools has not complied with the Trump administration’s request that the district convert all multi-stall, all-gender bathrooms in its schools into separate facilities for female and male students by the agency’s Monday deadline.
In a five-page response dated Sunday, DPS general counsel Kristin Bailey accused the U.S. Department of Education’sOffice of Civil Rights of “intransigence,” a failure to adequately communicate and a “startling” lack of clarity surrounding the alleged Title IX violation levied against the school district.
“We write to rebut the stated presumption that the District and the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) are at an impasse,” Bailey wrote. “We are not. In fact, as the District has shared throughout this Directed Investigation, we want to discuss resolution options with OCR, and at this stage, the District remains interested in doing so.”
Education Department representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Denver Post on Monday.
DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero issued a statement the following day, vowing to protect Denver students and families from an administration hostile to the LGBTQ community.
The department’s Office of Civil Rights said DPS’s all-gender restrooms violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, enacted to allow girls and women to participate in educational activities in school, including sports, without sexual harassment.
The office gave the district 10 days to agree to a proposed resolution — which included converting all-gender restrooms back to single-sex facilities — or “risk imminent enforcement action.”
The findings come after the Education Department announced in January that it was investigating DPS over the East High’s conversion of a girls restroom into a bathroom for all genders last academic year.
The Denver high school created the gender-neutral bathroom at the request of students who wanted another facility, choosing to convert a girls bathroom because it was more cost-effective, district officials said.
The all-gender bathroom has stalls that offer more privacy than other facilities, with 12-foot walls that nearly reach the ceiling and metal blocks that prevent people from seeing through.
In response to the January investigation, East High recently renovated a boys bathroom into a second all-gender restroom — a move the district said it made to address any disparity. The district has two other all-gender facilities, at the Denver School of the Arts and the Career Education Center Early College.
In the federal agency’s letter alleging DPS violated Title IX, the Education Department also said the Denver district created “a hostile environment for its students by endangering their safety, privacy and dignity” through its use of all-gender restrooms.
The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to cut K-12 and higher education funding from schools with policies that the federal government calls discriminatory, particularly those that relate to gender identity, the LGBTQ community and race.
Bailey argued in Sunday’s response that the Office of Civil Rights failed to articulate what about the gender-neutral restrooms constituted a Title IX violation and what possible remedies existed despite multiple requests by the district for further discussion.
The accusation of a “hostile environment,” Bailey wrote, was new.
“This new and different allegation has never been discussed and raises a host of new questions in addition to those that have been unanswered throughout the process thus far,” Bailey wrote. “If OCR can provide a more precise articulation, based in fact, of the reasons it purports to have sufficient evidence to support a legal conclusion that the bathroom created a hostile environment, it may prompt an appropriate resolution to this matter.”
The district requested to engage in a 90-day resolution negotiation period.
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families participated in a Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome on Saturday, celebrating a new level of acceptance in the Catholic Church after long feeling shunned and crediting Pope Francis with the change.
The vice president of the Italian bishops conference, Bishop Franceseco Savino, celebrated Mass for the pilgrims in a packed Chiesa del Gesu, the main Jesuit church in Rome. He received a sustained standing ovation in the middle of his homily when he recalled that Jubilee celebrations historically were meant to restore hope to those on the margins.
“The Jubilee was the time to free the oppressed and restore dignity to those who had been denied it,” he said. “Brothers and sisters, I say this with emotion: It is time to restore dignity to everyone, especially to those who have been denied it.”
Several LGBTQ+ groups participated in the pilgrimage, which was listed in the Vatican’s official calendar of events for the Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. Vatican organizers stressed that the listing in the calendar didn’t signal endorsement or sponsorship.
The main organizer of the pilgrimage was an Italian LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, “Jonathan’s Tent,” but other groups participated, including DignityUSA and Outreach, another U.S. group.
“I was here 25 years ago at the last Holy Year with a contingent of LGBTQ people from the U.S. and we were actually detained as a threat to the Holy Year programs,” said DignityUSA’s Marianne Duddy Burke.
To now be invited to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica “fully recognized as who we are and the gifts we bring to the church, and that we have both our faith and our identities combined, is a day of great celebration and hope,” she said.
A 2020 study from UCLA’s Williams Institute discovered that there were about 11.3 million LGBTQ adults in the U.S., and about 5.3 million of them are religious, including about 1.3 million who are Roman Catholics.
Pope Leo XIV celebrated a special Jubilee audience Saturday at the Vatican for all pilgrim groups in Rome this weekend, but made no special mention of the LGBTQ+ Catholics.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community, who’s t-shirts read “God does not reject anyone” in Spanish, arrive to attend a vigil prayer in the Church of the Gesu’ in central Rome, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.
Andrew Medichini / AP
A legacy of LGBTQ+ acceptance
Many of the pilgrims attributed their feeling of welcome to Francis. More than any of his predecessors, Francis distinguished himself with a message of welcome. Four months after Francis became pope in 2013, he sparked controversy when, during a July in-flight press conference, he responded to a journalist’s question about gay clergy members, saying, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis’ answer went against years of Catholic precedent.
His words set a very different tone from the previous relationship the Church had with gay clergy and members. His predecessors — John Paul II and Benedict XVI — were far less accepting of LGBTQ people. In 1986, Benedict XVI published the first modern formal statement denouncing homosexuality.
He never changed church teaching, saying homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” But during his 12-year papacy from 2013 to 2025, Francis met with LGBTQ advocates, ministered to a community of trans women and, in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, declared that “being homosexual is not a crime.”
Francis, who died at 88 earlier this year, didn’t change doctrine, but he altered the conversation by voicing support for legal civil unions, personally meeting with LGBTQ groups and extending blessings to individuals in same-sex unions.
John Capozzi of Washington, D.C., who was participating in the pilgrimage with his husband, Justin del Rosario, said Francis’ attitude brought him back to the church after he left it in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis. Then, he said, he felt shunned by his fellow Catholics.
“There was that feeling like I wasn’t welcome in the church,” he said. “Not because I was doing anything, just because I was who I was,” he said. “It was this fear of going back in because of the judgment.”
But Francis, who insisted that the Catholic Church was open to everyone, “todos, todos, todos,” changed all that, he said.
“I was a closeted Catholic,” Capozzi said. “With Pope Francis, I was able to come out and say, ‘Hey, you know, I am Catholic and I’m proud of it and I want to be part of the church.”
“Tears of hope”
Capozzi spoke during a standing room-only vigil service for the pilgrims on Friday night at the Jesuit church. The service featured testimonies from gay couples, the mother of a trans child and a moving reflection by an Italian priest, the Rev. Fausto Focosi.
“Our eyes have known the tears of rejection, of hiding. They have known the tears of shame. And perhaps sometimes those tears still spring from our eyes,” Focosi said. “Today, however, there are other tears, new tears. They wash away the old ones.”
“And so today these tears are tears of hope,” he said.
Leo’s position becomes more clear
Leo’s position on LGBTQ+ Catholics had been something of a question. Soon after he was elected in May, remarks surfaced from 2012 in which the future pope, then known as the Rev. Robert Prevost, criticized the “homosexual lifestyle” and the role of mass media in promoting acceptance of same-sex relationships that conflicted with Catholic doctrine.
When he became a cardinal in 2023, Catholic News Service asked Prevost if his views had changed. He acknowledged Francis’ call for a more inclusive church, saying Francis “made it very clear that he doesn’t want people to be excluded simply on the basis of choices that they make, whether it be lifestyle, work, way to dress, or whatever.”
Leo met on Monday with the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit who has advocated for a greater welcome for LGBTQ+ Catholics. Martin emerged, saying Leo told him he intended to continue Francis’ policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.
“I heard the same message from Pope Leo that I heard from Pope Francis, which is the desire to welcome all people, including LGBTQ people,” Martin told The Associated Press after the audience.
Savino said he, too, had received Leo’s blessing to celebrate the Mass for the LGBTQ+ pilgrims.
Del Rosario, Capozzi’s husband, said he now felt welcome after long staying away from the faith he was raised in.
“Pope Francis influenced me to return back to church. Pope Leo only strengthened my faith,” he said.
This opinion piece lists the difficulty of getting voters to the polls for an off-year election, but this is one very special election. For one thing, voting for redistricting is almost as critical as voting for a president. It impacts the entire nation, not just Californians.
Donald Trump’s control of Congress inflicts incredible horrors upon the values of rational citizens. It is not just any off-year election, but the difference between another two years of unfettered Trump rule and the hope of lessening his influence to protect our freedoms.
The most rational threat to the passage of redistricting is the moral question of supporting gerrymandering to achieve neutrality in the congressional districts after the Texas redistricting debacle.
Support the redistricting because it is a prime example of the ends justifying the means. Vote “yes” as a big step toward controlling Trump.
Those on the left in California who support Gov. Newsom’s gerrymander proposal in Proposition 50 apparently don’t care about minorities if the minority is Republican voters.
The left will oppose voter ID, claiming it suppresses minority voters, but it will support Proposition 50 even though it actually disenfranchises voters who are Republicans and in the minority. Hypocrisy.
Nick Waranoff Orinda
Newsom’s theatrics a sign of desperation
I think Gavin Newsom is acting desperate, seeing his lifelong dream of the presidency being vaporized by President Trump.
Being a Democrat politician in California is easy. Being a lifelong California Democrat politician running for president is much more difficult because the lifelong Democrat politician must now run on their record of accomplishments to lure the small percentage of swing and independent voters who will decide who will become our next president to vote for them. It seems to me that this is why Newsom is acting out with his arm-waving, ranting speeches and Trump-like tweets because he doesn’t have much in the way of accomplishments to sell.
It seems to me Newsom would be better served by keeping his hands in his pockets, keeping his mouth shut and spending the next 12 months actually building a résumé of real California accomplishments to sell to the rest of the country.
I am really concerned about school shootings, especially after the latest one in Minneapolis. I am also concerned about the shooter identifying as trans and receiving gender-affirming care as a minor.
I have no problem with adults receiving gender-affirming care. In fact, I know transgender people, and some are my friends. However, I worry about underage people with developing bodies receiving hormone blockers and other gender-affirming drugs.
I feel we should study the effects of those drugs more before giving them to underage people.
Marianne Haas Berkeley
Stop Trump’s attacks on US Indigenous students
It is shameful when Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, threatens to strip the state of New York’s school funding over its ban on mascots that are degrading toward American Indian students. They make the students feel less than human.
I urge McMahon and her boss, President Trump, to stop defending school mascots that are degrading toward American Indian students.
How much longer can we ignore women in Gaza watching their children starving to death while Israel bleeds our coffers dry?
Israel is not a poor country. It has subsidized education and health care while we have neither and are shouldering a debt of over $37 trillion. Yet, we continue to unquestionably fund its unrelenting slaughter of innocent women and children — a disgraceful crime against humanity. At the same time, we are stripping ourselves of our First Amendment rights at the behest of this rogue nation.
Israel is not a valuable ally; it is an albatross around our neck. We need more honest public discussion.
Snoop Dogg seemingly apologized for saying he’s “scared” to go to the movies because of LGBTQ+ representation, but honestly, it might’ve just made it worse.
If you didn’t know, Season 28 of The Voice airs on Sept. 22 and Snoop is returning as a coach alongside Reba McEntire, Niall Horan, and Michael Bublé. So, of course, Snoop is appearing on shows and podcasts leading up to the premiere. Unfortunately, he might’ve recently used his voice to say the wrong thing.
Snoop appeared on the It’s Giving podcast to share a story about when he took his grandson to see the 2022 Disney film Lightyear, which featured same-sex parents and their child.
“It fucked me up,” Snoop complained, adding that he “didn’t come in for this shit” and he’s “scared to go to movies,” now.
Snoop’s comments were met with backlash, including a comment from actor and media personality Ts Madison. She first spoke with TMZ Live, saying, “Snoop Dogg has historically been an advocate against censoring, and his fame is based on expression. So my question is, Snoop. You have music videos with women dancing and kissing other women, dancing naked. So why is displaying lesbian behavior in your music videos appropriate? And you are afraid to answer the questions from your grandchildren?”
But, when Ts followed up on her X account, it prompted Snoop to respond after Hollywood Unlocked reshared the post. She wrote, “ANNND ANOTHER Thing!…….. It’s too many Black men creating broken families and Homes that all of a sudden have HIGH family morals and Values when it comes to the Topic of the Queer community and Our Visibility!”
“I was just caught off guard and had no answer for my grandsons,” Snoop commented. “all my gay friends no what’s up they been calling me with love 💗 my bad for not knowing the answers for a 6 yr old 😳,” before adding, “teach me how to learn I’m not perfect 🙌🏿🙏🏾🐾”
I give the apology a 6 out of 10. Ts Madison makes a fair point, and before someone says that Snoop’s music is for adults and Lightyear is for children, I was only 5–6 years old when I first became interested in Snoop’s debut album Doggystyle.
The album was covered in cartoons, so how was I supposed to know it wasn’t for me? Unfortunately for my parents, I could read pretty well and asked why the album was called Doggystyle. It 100% threw my parents “for a loop” and put them “in the middle of shit” they didn’t have an answer for, using Snoop’s words.
Nearly five months after announcing a “pause” of on-campus drag performances, UNT has rescinded its ban. Earlier this year, the school joined other Texas universities in halting drag performances at state-run campuses…
PORTLAND, Ore. — The men’s LGBTQ undergarment store Under U4Men is undergoing a major makeover as founder Steve Lien is retiring. But, the business is being bought by one of his longtime employees Wesley Bateman.
Bateman plans to move the shop from its location since 2006 at SW Washington & SW Park to SW 10th & Morrison. It is a smaller location but will remain downtown. Bateman hopes to open the store in October.
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — An emergency city meeting is set for Wednesday evening in the south Florida city of Fort Lauderdale as a battle to save so-called rainbow crosswalks from being sandblasted or painted over enters the 11th hour with removal deadlines looming.
Communities across Florida are being ordered to remove them by early next month by the state, which is threatening to withhold millions of dollars in state funding if the cities don’t comply. Many of the brightly colored street crossings are meant to celebrate gay rights and LGBTQ pride, while others are tributes to Black people and police.
Miami Beach has been given a Sept. 4 deadline to remove its rainbow crosswalk on Ocean Drive — a deadline similar to those given to communities across Florida.
“They can’t strip away our pride and they can’t strip away our values of inclusivity,” Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez told The Associated Press in an interview this week.
Fernandez plans to raise the possibility of an appeal at a Sept. 3 city meeting, one day before the state’s deadline. He sees the crosswalk as a symbol of safety for not only the LGBTQ community, but other residents as well.
“When the gay community is safe, the broader community is safe as well,” he said.
Among the first crossings to be removed was a rainbow-colored crossing marking the 2016 massacre outside the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, where 49 people were gunned down. It was painted over in the middle of the night by work crews, angering community members.
Removal of the Pulse crossing put the dispute in a spotlight. It happened several weeks after a July 1 directive from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who gave U.S. governors 60 days to identify what he called safety improvements.
“Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork,” Duffy has said.
Duffy “has made every state receiving federal dollars responsible for identifying hazards on their roads,” the Federal Highway Administration said in a statement to The Associated Press.
So far, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been the first U.S. governor to aggressively carry out the federal guidance.
“We will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes,” DeSantis said recently on X.
A statement from the Florida Department of Transportation said the agency has a duty “to ensure the safety and consistency of public roadways and transportation systems.”
“That means ensuring our roadways are not utilized for social, political, or ideological interests,” it said.
Efforts to remove the artwork are “clearly an anti-LGBTQ push on behalf of both the federal government and the copycat version from the state government,” said Rand Hoch, founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.
“They’re basically blackmailing municipalities, counties and states by saying ‘if you don’t do this, we’re going to withhold funding,’” Hoch said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Despite the directive from the U.S. transportation secretary, there’s no indication of any widespread actions to remove rainbow crossings outside of Florida. The Sunshine State is often the vanguard nationwide in fights over what some call the culture wars of politics. Those include battles over the removal of library books deemed inappropriate by DeSantis and other Republicans.
In Key West, state transportation officials said that if pavement markings in its historic downtown are not removed by Sept. 3, “the Florida Department of Transportation will remove them by any appropriate method necessary without further notice.” In a letter to Key West’s city manager, federal authorities also threatened the “immediate withholding” of state funds if it finds “additional violations.”
