Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. has been hit with a suit claiming it fired a New Jersey drug sales rep for holding a Bible-based view on sexual morality, according to Law.com. Jonathan Samaniego claims he was terminated based on his religious views, in violation of Title VII and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination. In Samaniego v. Eli Lilly & Co., he began posting scripture passages during a discussion of Pride Month on the company’s in-house employee communication system, Yammer. This past June, Samaniego’s manager, Jacqueline Porter, posted a lengthy message supporting Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ community on Yammer, according to the lawsuit. He responded to Yammer from the book of Leviticus, quoting, “You shall not sleep with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” After his message was allegedly deleted, Samaniego said he was asked to sign a document stating he would accept the directive to change his behavior—and was terminated when he refused.
Openly gay Apple CEO Tim Cook will personally donate $1 million to Donald Trump‘s inaugural fund—the latest contribution from the tech industry going to the president-elect’s Jan. 20 festivities, according to Deadline. (Axios originally reported it.) Amazon, Meta and OpenAI’s Sam Altman (who’s also gay) also have reportedly each given $1 million to the inaugural fund. It is traditional for corporations in general to donate to inaugurations of incoming administrations, but tech companies have sought to establish friendlier ties with Trump than in his first term.
Philadelphia Gay News chose groundbreaking Congressperson Sarah McBride (D-Delaware) as its person of the year. Last year, she became the country’s first openly trans member of Congress. In 2012, she made history by becoming the first openly trans person to work at the White House when she interned in President Barack Obama’s administration and, in 2020, she was elected to the Delaware State Senate in 2020, becoming the first openly trans person to hold office in a state legislature. “Today in America, LGBTQ+ people are still targeted by hate that lives in both laws and in hearts. Many still struggle just to get by,” McBride said at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. “But I believe that tomorrow can be different. Tomorrow, we can be respected and protected.”
The journal Scientific Reports ran the results of a study involving long COVID in transgender and gender nonbinary people in the United States, per Nature.com. Participants were surveyed between June 14, 2021 and May 1, 2022. Data were restricted to 817 participants who reported confirmed or suspected COVID-19 to estimate the prevalence of long COVID, defined as symptoms persisting for at least three months. Ten percent of participants with a history of COVID-19 reported symptom duration consistent with long COVID, ranging from 4.8% to 12.9% across gender identities. Among the conclusions was that there was no evidence of an association with reported hormone therapy—buttressing current recommendations that prioritize gender-affirming care during treatment for long COVID.
Social-media users are calling out Meta’s “disturbing” use of fake AI profiles on its sites, including several claiming to be women, people of color and/or LGBTQ+, according to The Advocate. Meta—which is behind Instagram and Facebook—said it is launching several chatbots generated by AI via fake profiles (called “characters”), aiming to facilitate engagement with users. Commenters have called the profiles “disturbing.” One user noted that “several of the fake profiles are POC,” as another called it a development similar to cultural appropriation.
Ed Sedarbaum—who founded the activist group Queens Gays and Lesbians United, and was a leader in the fight against hate crimes—died on Nov. 20, 2024 at age 78 in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Gay City News reported. At the dedication of the “Coming Out in Queens” exhibit at the Queens Museum in 2017, gay activist and former Councilmember Danny Dromm called Sedarbaum “the grandfather of the Queens movement.” At one point, Sedarbaum was associate director of the Anti-Defamation League working against hate violence and harassment.
AIDS United held a fireside chat, “The Future of HIV Advocacy: Visionary Pathways for the Next Administration,” featuring AIDS United Vice President for Public Affairs and Chief Policy Officer Carl Baloney Jr. and activist Robert Suttle, per a press release. According to the release, “the conversation offered an in-depth exploration of the evolving landscape of HIV advocacy, actionable strategies for driving change in 2025, and the importance of cultivating a new generation of leaders committed to equity, justice and unity in the fight to end the HIV epidemic.” Also, AIDS United featured resources and opportunities for continued engagement, including participation in AIDSWatch 2025, which will take place March 31-April 2, 2025 in D.C.
Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey—who is running for Jersey City mayor—said the city “cannot simply ‘spend’ out of a staffing problem for the fire department, per the Hudson County View. In a statement, McGreevey said, “Unfortunately, again and again, holiday firefighter staffing has become a ‘last-minute scramble’ to address gaps in scheduling that should have long been addressed, agreed upon, and outlined in practice. We need sound management to address organizational and staffing demands.” The non-partisan Jersey City mayoral race isn’t until Nov. 4; with Council President Joyce Watterman, Ward E Councilman James Solomon, Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea and former Board of Education President Mussab Ali are also running for the post. In 2004, McGreevey resigned as governor after admitting to a same-sex extramarital affair; his announcement made him the first openly gay state governor in the country’s history.
In November, Kent Bombard made history when he was elected as the first openly gay mayor in the history of Pine City, Minnesota, Fox 9 noted. “It was a big relief. Incredibly excited, and I’m honored that the people of the community have put their faith in me to continue leading our city forward,” Bombard said. Last summer, Bombard became the first openly gay mayor in the city’s history when he was appointed to the position after the previous mayor stepped down for personal reasons. Interestingly, he was elected in a county that voted overwhelmingly for Republicans Donald Trump and Royce White over Democrats Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar for president and U.S. senator, respectively. (Klobuchar won her race statewide, though.)
Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson quietly announced a rule restricting bathroom usage in the 119th Congress, The Advocate reported. The policy, initiated by GOP U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, is in the Congressional Record and mandates that single-sex facilities—restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms—be used solely based on a person’s gender assigned at birth. The rule was not included in the high-profile House rules package but it relies on authority delegated to Johnson under the House rules, which gives him “general control” over House-controlled facilities. Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson criticized the rule, saying, “It targets not just [trans] Congresswoman [Sarah] McBride, but all trans and nonbinary people who work and visit the Capitol—public servants who have been working in the Capitol for years but are now the subject of cynical political games.”
In Texas, the United Methodist Church (UMC) and Dallas-based Southern Methodist University (SMU) have been battling for almost six year about how the school should be governed—culminating in a regional conference of the UMC and the university delivering oral arguments before the Texas Supreme Court on Jan. 15, Chron noted. In 2019, SMU president R. Gerald Turner told The Dallas Morning News that the university was trying to break away from the denomination before churches began leaving, saying, “We do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. We don’t discriminate against anybody. That can’t change.” The UMC has lost progressive and conservative factions after a 2019 decision to tighten restrictions on gay clergy and same-sex marriage, followed by a 2024 reversal in both areas.
More than three years have passed since federal health officials visited central Appalachia (including West Virginia) to assess an outbreak of HIV spread mostly between people who inject opioids or meth, according to KFF Health News. However, those who’ve spent years trying to protect people who use drugs from overdose and illness say the situation likely hasn’t improved—in part because of politicians who say that initiatives such as syringe service programs actually encourage illegal drug use. Research indicates that syringe service programs are associated with an estimated 50% reduction in HIV and hepatitis C; however, local officials have ignored or rejected the advice as, in April 2021, when the state legislature passed a bill limiting the number of syringes people could exchange and making it mandatory to present a West Virginia ID.
At least eight deputies with the Los Angeles sheriff’s department have been dismissed for their roles in the arrest and beating of transgender man Emmett Brock in February 2023, The Guardian noted, citing The Los Angeles Times. Joseph Benza—the main officer involved in the incident—recently pled guilty in federal court to one felony count of deprivation of rights under the color of law, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. In a statement, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said that the deputy’s conduct “undermine[s] the integrity of our department, the trust of our community, and the safety of those we are sworn to protect.”
In Florida, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor—a Donald Trump appointee—declined to issue a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of a state policy aimed at withholding gender-affirming care from incarcerated transgender people, The Advocate reported. Winsor ruled that the policy limiting hormone treatment does not amount to a “blanket ban” and that rules against social transition do not deny medically necessary care. The American Civil Liberties Union—representing trans inmate Reiyn Keohane in her lawsuit against the policy—argued that the policy violates the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.
On Dec. 21, 2024, former Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims recently tied the knot with his partner of more than two years, Alex Drakos, Instinct Magazine noted. Their respective parents were legal witnesses and one of their best friends was the legal officiant. In October 2023, Sims proposed on a beach in Bali at sunset. In 2012, Sims made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Fox host and former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisconsin) to be secretary of transportation in his second administration, LGBTQ Nation noted. If confirmed, Duffy, currently a co-host of The Bottom Line on Fox Business, will succeed openly gay Secretary Pete Buttigieg. During his time in Congress (2011-19), Duffy earned a score of zero in two out of the three terms he served, and his voting history reflected a consistent alignment with anti-queer conservative policies. Duffy has been married since 1999 to Rachel Campos, who first appeared on television in 1994 as a cast member on the MTV reality television series The Real World: San Francisco.
Also regarding Trump, he has selected out lesbian Tammy Bruce to be the U.S. Department of State’s spokesperson, per The Advocate. Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, in which he cited Bruce’s background as a “liberal activist in the 1990s” who supposedly “saw the lies and fraud of the Radical Left, and quickly became one of the strongest Conservative voices on Radio and Television.” Bruce—a contributor at Fox since 2019—has claimed that she regretted getting the COVID-19 vaccine and has gone on several bizarre rants against gender-neutral language.
The Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who had been at the outlet for 16 years, announced via Substack that she was quitting after the brass killed her latest illustration featuring Trump, per Deadline. “The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump,” she wrote. Before the 2024 presidential election, three Post journalists stepped down from the editorial board in protest over the publication’s controversial decision not to endorse a presidential candidate, with concerns that it was a way for Bezos to appease Trump; more than 200,000 readers also canceled their digital subscriptions.
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists is accepting nominations for its Excellence in Journalism Awards, which celebrate outstanding reporting on LGBTQ+ issues. The Excellence in Journalism Awards are open to anyone, including non-members and journalists who do not identify as LGBTQ+. Award presentations will take place at the National Convention in Atlanta this September. (All submissions must feature work published or broadcast in 2024.) The final deadline is April 1, although early-bird registration (saving $25) ends Feb. 17.
Accused murderer Luigi Mangione’s cultural impact has apparently inspired a viral drag performance sparking serious chatter online, according to TMZ. A performer named August Ryder shared video on X of his set from a “So You Think You Can Twink” pageant at the Precinct DTLA nightclub in Los Angeles—in which he dressed as the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer and lip-synced to the Wicked anthem “Defying Gravity.” Before Ryder even took to the stage, footage of Mangione’s high-profile arrest played for the crowd—to thunderous applause. Ryder’s number, unsurprisingly, has polarized users, with some calling it “art” and one person blasting it as “cringe as f***.”
Darek Tanner—who owned the Nashville gay bar Canvas—has died, according to Nashville Scene. “Darek Tanner was a beacon of kindness and love and will forever remain in our hearts,” an Instagram post read. “His legacy, Canvas Lounge, will continue to be a safe haven for all. As we try to process the loss of his physical presence, we find solace in knowing that his spirit lives through Canvas.” The bar hosted a memorial service and celebration of Tanner’s life. Tanner opened Canvas Lounge in 2010 at 1707 Church St., moving it in 2022 to a building managed by Music City PrEP.
Political Pattie’s—a D.C. spot that took over the space formerly occupied by the iconic gay bar The Dirty Goose—has apparently already closed after only a month and a half of business, per GayCities. People hated the decision to paint over the former bar’s rainbow decor and replace it with a red elephant and blue donkey—with the elephant replacing a rainbow flag. “We realized that the representation of the red elephant was hurtful to the community,” they later said in a statement. “When you know better, you do better.” And after the owners removed the donkey and elephant, both liberals and conservatives said they would boycott the space.
Out former GOP Congressman George Santos wants more time to record enough episodes of his new podcast, Pants on Fire with George Santos, to pay off his forfeiture obligations, and he wants his Feb. 7 fraud sentencing delayed for six months, according to The New York Daily News. Santos has leveraged his criminal notoriety as a con man and serial liar into a lucrative cottage industry with a nearly million-dollar windfall—including more than $400,000 in Cameo appearances and another $400,000 to participate in a documentary, according to court filings. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert only allowed the sentencing to be postponed until April 25, saying that he hasn’t made any payments toward the amount he owes “despite his promises and predictions” since pleading guilty, LGBTQ Nation noted.
Pornhub is now banned in 16 U.S. states, including almost all of the South, due to age-verification laws, according to Them. The most recent laws to go into effect, on Jan. 1, were those in Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee, according to Free Speech Coalition. Pornhub representative confirmed to Mashable that users currently cannot access the site in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Louisiana was the first state to pass an age-verification law; it went into effect in 2023.
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