Several transgender service members, an aspiring enlistee and Gender Justice League filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, challenging the constitutionality of Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to bar trans people from the military, The Advocate reported. The plaintiffs are represented by the LGBTQ+ organizations the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (the HRC’s educational and research arm) and Lambda Legal. Trump is named as a defendant, along with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other military officials. “There are currently thousands of transgender people selflessly and patriotically serving in our Nation’s armed services across myriad roles, and many others seek to follow the same noble path,” according to the suit. “Transgender service members take the same oath as every other service member to serve our Nation and place themselves in harm’s way—potentially paying the ultimate price—in service of our Country.”
Before the Super Bowl took place this year, the NFL hosted its fourth annual “A Night of Pride with GLAAD,” presented by Smirnoff, on Feb. 7, a press release noted. Touted as “an evening of music, cocktails, conversation and celebration with GLAAD, NFL friends and partners spotlighting the NFL’s commitment to the LGBTQ community,” the event (which took place at New Orleans’ Joy Theater) was headlined by global superstar Big Freedia and featured a special live performance by Grammy-nominated musical group Tank and the Bangas. NFL Brand Ambassador Ryan Mitchell hosted, while special guests included Don Lemon, NFL Chief Marketing Officer Tim Ellis, and GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, among others.
In Florida, Gerald Declan Radford—on trial for allegedly shooting and killing John “Walter” Lay in a gay-related hate crime at a Tampa dog park—was found not guilty on all counts, WTSP reported. Radford was charged with second-degree murder; had he been convicted, the state planned to seek a hate crime enhancement. However, defense attorneys argued that Radford acted in self-defense. Lay’s friends accused Radford of targeting Lay due to his sexual orientation, saying Radford often called their friend homophobic slurs. Radford could have faced life in prison, if convicted.
GLSEN—which is devoted to fostering safe and inclusive schools for LGBTQ+ students—has laid off 60 percent of its workforce, The Advocate reported. GLSEN Executive Director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers confirmed to The Advocate that 18 employees—more than half of the organization’s staff—were let go as part of a restructuring effort. Willingham-Jaggers cited a steep drop in revenue and a broader effort to “right-size” the organization for the challenges ahead, adding that Board Chair Wilson Cruz, the actor and activist, supported the difficult decision and personally thanked each departing staff member. The staff change came one day before the Human Rights Campaign announced it was laying off about 20 percent of its staff.
In Maryland, nine Salisbury University students have been sentenced in connection to an off-campus hate-crime attack that took place last October, per CBS News, citing WBOC. According to investigators, a suspect created an account on Grindr, a dating app used primarily by gay and bisexual men; on October 15, 2024, the suspect posed as a 16-year-old and lured the victim to an apartment near the university. When the victim arrived, he was attacked by “approximately 15 college-aged males” who yelled anti-gay slurs. Sean Antone, 19, and Logan Clark, 20, pled guilty to false imprisonment but both had their charge of second-degree assault indefinitely postponed; a third student, Dylan Pietuszka, 20, was sentenced to two years with all but 79 days suspended as well as 18 months of supervised probation. According to court documents, all the students will see jail time even though their initial sentences were reduced (from felony assault and hate crime charges to misdemeanor false imprisonment and second-degree assault); each student has also been sentenced to 18 months of probation.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, blocked current President Donald Trump’s executive order to forcibly de-transition and house transgender female inmates in male jails and prisons, according to LGBTQ Nation. Lamberth called Trump’s order a violation of Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The judge heard a lawsuit brought by three trans female inmates, represented by GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders), who were told they’d be transferred to a male detainment facility as a result of Trump’s order. Lamberth’s restraining order will remain in effect nationwide until the next stage of the women’s case.
Add global professional-services firm Accenture to the list of big companies scrapping DEI initiatives, according to Yahoo! Google, Meta, McDonald’s, John Deere and MolsonCoors are just a few of the companies that have partially or fully abandoned their DEI goals, mostly after Donald Trump became president. However, others—including Apple, Costco and Cisco—have reconfirmed their commitments. Accenture’s change is considered a stark U-turn for a company whose website touted a 360° value report that referred to “delivering (for)… our clients to achieve greater progress on inclusion and diversity, reskill and upskill our clients’ employees, help our clients achieve their sustainability goals.”
Transgender troops have been banned from joining the military and existing service members are no longer able to receive gender-affirming care, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated in a Feb. 7 memo, per Gay City News. “Effective immediately, all new accessions for individuals with a history of gender dysphoria are paused, and all unscheduled, scheduled, or planned medical procedures associated with affirming or facilitating a gender transition for Service members are paused,” read the memo, which was addressed to senior Pentagon leaders. Hegseth’s memo aligns the military with President Donald Trump’s anti-trans executive order, known as “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which was signed on Jan. 27.
Google Calendar has removed dates for Black History Month, Pride Month and Women’s History Month, PinkNews reported. A spokesperson told CNBC, “Some years ago, the calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world. We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing, and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn’t sustainable.” In addition, Google has companies such as Amazon and Meta in ending diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.
With seven new members, the Wisconsin Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus has more than doubled in size, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. LGBTQ+ lawmakers who do “not vote for, or support, or co-sponsor legislation that would harm the LGBTQ+ community” can join the caucus, said state Rep. and Caucus Vice Chair Christian Phelps, D-Eau Claire—one of the younger members, at 31. The new members joined joined incumbent caucus members Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit; Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee; Sen. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison; Rep. Greta Neubauer, D-Racine; and Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton.
After President Donald Trump took office for the second time, he signed an executive order making it U.S. government policy to only recognize male and female sex, with the U.S. State Department suspending the processing of passports for applicants who selected “X” as their preferred gender. Now, the State Department has also removed the letters “TQ” from its official travel website, which now reads, “LGB,” Travel + Leisure noted. “I recently had my passport change completed late last year and had my marker updated from male to female. With the removal of trans from the State Department website, it’s clear that they are trying all they can to erase the trans community,” Christina (not the person’s real name) told the outlet.
New York resident Daniel Sikkema was arrested and charged in the Southern District of New York for allegedly hiring someone to kill his estranged husband, who was murdered in Rio de Janeiro in January 2024, according to a Department of Justice press release. Sikkema, 54, allegedly offered another individual (CC-1) money in exchange for CC-1 killing Sikkema’s estranged husband, with whom Sikkema was involved in acrimonious divorce proceedings. The victim, a U.S. citizen, had amassed a multi-million-dollar estate and often traveled to Rio de Janeiro where he maintained property.
The remains of a gay University of Mississippi student believed to have been lured to his death in 2022 by a man he allegedly had sex with have been recovered, according to People. Remains found in Carroll County, Mississippi on Feb. 1 were positively identified by the Mississippi State Crime Lab as those of Jimmie “Jay” Lee, 20, a popular student. Sheldon “Timothy” Herrington Jr., 24, was tried on a capital murder charge in connection with Lee’s death, but a mistrial was declared last December after jurors couldn’t reach a verdict. Prosecutors believed that Lee and Herrington, who was not openly gay, had a sexual encounter before Lee’s death; after this, they alleged, Herrington messaged Lee and invited him back to his apartment, where the killing supposedly took place.
New York State has reported its first case of a new mpox strain, Clade Ib, Gay City News reported. New York joins California, Georgia and New Hampshire among states that have confirmed cases of the strain. There are two different “genetic clades” of mpox, clade I and clade II, and both have subdivisions; the World Health Organization has stated that Clade IIb was responsible for the 2022 outbreak. The case in New York involves a symptomatic individual who recently traveled to some part of Africa.
A gay former aide to recalled Oakland mayor Sheng Thao settled his restraining order against an Oakland man accused of harassing him, per The Bay Area Reporter. The workplace violence restraining order was filed by the city in December against recall proponent Seneca Scott on behalf of Brandon Harami. The settlement followed a cease-and-desist and a temporary restraining order that Scott made false and extremely homophobic accusations against Harami and his family “as well as posting my address and phone number while encouraging his supporters to harass me,” Harami wrote in a statement. Under the settlement, Harami stated, Scott will not post Harami’s private contact information or location; will not accuse Harami of being or supporting pedophiles or MAPs (minor attracted persons); and will stop accusing Harami’s fathers of abusing him. Scott, who ran for mayor against Thao in 2022, has a history of anti-LGBTQ+ statements.
The Advocate reported that an ex-New Jersey lieutenant was awarded $750,000 in her lawsuit against her former boss, who she accused of sexual harassment and sexual orientation-based bias. Now-retired Lt. Constance Crea—who was hired in 1996 and promoted to lieutenant in 2019—filed the suit against the town of Piscataway and former Police Chief Thomas Mosier. Among other things, Crea claimed that Mosier once “grabbed his genitals and rubbed them while making sexual moaning sounds in self-gratification” while alone in his office with her, and that he would make the noises whenever a heterosexual woman employee or civilian would walk past. Crea agreed to retire from the department on Aug. 1 as part of the settlement; Mosier had already retired on Oct. 1, 2022.
A Brown Daily Herald investigation found that several Brown University officers said they faced harassment by colleagues based on their gender and sexual orientation. Disrespecting female officers became widespread in the Department of Public Safety, five sources said; male employees often made sexual comments that undermined the female officers’ standing. Officers also told The Herald that they feared retaliation from supervisors when raising concerns about the department. “Brown takes any reports of harassment and discrimination very seriously,” university spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald. One of the officers named was Sgt. Kevin Pepere, who was still employed at the school at the time this article was published.
Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina—known for proposing a bill that banned trans individuals from using Capitol facilities in line with their gender identity—used a nearly hour-long speech on the U.S. House floor to accuse her ex-fiancé of physically abusing her, recording sex acts with her and others without their consent, and conspiring with business associates in acts of rape and sexual misconduct, the AP reported. Mace said she was speaking out because her home state’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Alan Wilson—who might be Mace’s 2026 gubernatorial opponent if she decides to jump in those political waters—didn’t take action even after she alerted investigators. Wilson’s office called Mace’s comments concerning the prosecutor’s conduct “categorically false.” The ex-fiance, Patrick Bryant, has also denied the allegations.
In New Mexico, pro-LGBTQ+ group Equality New Mexico is backing a state legislature proposal designed to protect New Mexicans’ data from federal scrutiny, according to Source NM. State Reps. Pamelya Herndon (D-Albuquerque) and Angelica Rubio (D-Las Cruces) introduced House Bill 307—the Internet Privacy and Safety Act—with the support of Equality New Mexico. The bill would regulate which entities can collect personal data from internet users, the type of data they can collect, and with whom they can share or sell the data. This would mean apps or websites could not be forced to provide the federal government with a person’s info (including immigration status, racial identity, gender identity and sexual orientation), according to EQNM Executive Director Marshall Martinez.
Queer actress Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) spoke out for trans rights at a recent protest after NYU-Langone Hospital stopped offering gender-affirming care following the president’s executive order, according to Queerty. She said, in part, “Most importantly, I am here today as the mother of a proud trans man [28-year-old Seph]. I am here today as the aunt of a proud trans man. My best friend’s kid is trans and my kid’s best friend is trans. My wife and I, our lives are filled with the most amazing, beautiful, brave trans people—young and old, but especially young. … The idea that this city is filled with young people who thought they had a place to go where they can receive the highest care – and that place has now been shut to them, sickens me. Sickens me to my core.”
NYC’s Caribbean Equality Project—which supports Afro and Indo-Caribbean LGBTQ+ immigrants in the city—is hosting “Black Future Tings: Honoring Black Queer Excellence” on Feb. 22 in observance of Black History Month, per Gay City News. This year’s theme is “Honoring Black Queer Excellence”; in conjunction with Caribbean Equality Project’s Trans Justice Unit, the event’s theme aims to highlight uplifting stories of joy, struggle and transformation.
The owner of Houston’s only lesbian bar, Pearl, opened the city’s first women’s sports bar on February 5, coinciding with National Women’s Day, according to GO MAG. Side Peace Sports Bar welcomed customers on opening night with seven TVs playing seven different women’s sports games. Founded in 2013 by Julie Mabry, Pearl is one of fewer than three dozen remaining lesbian bars in the United States.
And in North Carolina, Asheville queer space Day Trip—owned by Brandon Davis and husband Davie— had to close after just 31 days into business after being hit by Hurricane Helene, leaving the two with over $200,000 in loans and no source of income, The Advocate noted, However, just four months later, the couple is preparing to reopen at a new location “twice as big as what we had before,” thanks to the business’ GoFundMe page. Donations came pouring in, including a large share from LGBTQ+ people who expressed their solidarity.
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