In Tennessee, a measure that would require all public and private educational institutions that house students overnight to separate bathrooms “by immutable biological sex” is headed to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk for his approval, NBC News reported. The GOP-dominant Senate easily passed the legislation, which is just the latest effort targeting the transgender community in Tennessee. Currently, five states have laws restricting which restrooms transgender people can use at colleges and universities: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Ohio and Utah, per the Movement Advancement Project. (Louisiana and North Dakota have measures that apply only to school dorms.) Two other states—West Virginia and Wyoming—have similar laws that will take effect later this year.
Teen Vogue talked about several topics with Vivian Jenna Wilson—the 20-year-old estranged teen daughter of Elon Musk. Wilson described the Trump administration as “terrifying. Every time I open my phone to read the news, I kind of just stare at the wall for 10 minutes. It’s horrifying what they’re doing, not only to the trans community, but also to migrants, to communities of color, to so many marginalized communities that are being systematically targeted by the new administration and having protections revoked. It’s cartoonishly evil.” As for her father and whether she’s fearful of him, Wilson stated, “He’s a pathetic man-child. Why would I feel scared of him? Ohhh, he has so much power. Nah, nah, nah. I don’t give a f**k. Why should I be scared of this man? Because he’s rich? Oh, no, I’m trembling.” Wilson also said that she feels “obligated to talk about trans issues. As someone who did transition as a minor, I feel like there’s so much villainization of that.”
NYC Pride/Heritage of Pride announced its official theme for 2025: “Rise Up: Pride in Protest,” a press release revealed. The theme “meets the moment before us and honors the legacy of the first Pride March in 1970, which commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots,” per the release. NYC Pride Co-Chair Kazz Alexander said, “This year, more than ever, we acknowledge that Pride can be celebrated in many ways, but at the heart of our mission, we recognize that we must also remain steadfast in protest. The challenges we face today, particularly in this political climate, require us to stand together in solidarity. We must support one another, because when the most marginalized among us are granted their rights, all of us benefit.” The NYC Pride 2025 calendar includes the annual NYC Pride March and PrideFest, the largest LGBTQIA+ street festival in New York, on Sunday, June 29.
Tyrell Brown—the current executive director of the pro-QTBIPOC organization Galaei and someone who spearheads efforts to organize the city’s biggest LGBTQ+ festivals with Philly Pride 365—will be Philadelphia’s new executive director of the city’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, according to Philadelphia Gay News. “I’m ready to do this work with our community, for our community, to make our community safer and more prosperous and more equitable,” Brown said. “And I can’t say enough about how proud I am to be here and how humbled I am by this moment.” The Executive Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs was previously tasked with advising the city’s leaders on policies related to the needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ people, educating the city’s workforce about how to best serve the queer community, and connecting queer people with resources and city services.
In Dallas, hundreds marched in the city’s historically LGBTQ+ neighborhood to protest anti-LGBTQ+ state and federal policies, KERA reported. Holding signs, waving Pride-focused flags and chanting slogans like “we’re here, we’re queer—get used to it,” demonstrators at the Queer and Trans Liberation March marched down Cedars Springs Road in the area of Oak Lawn. Among the almost 100 executive orders signed by President Donald Trump since he took office on Jan. 20 are directives to deny passport changes for trans and gender non-conforming people, move trans women into men’s prisons and ban trans military members—the latter which has been blocked by a federal judge for now.
Calling his signature an “act of love” in the face of “hate,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed House Bill 4—a measure banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in the state’s public schools and universities, per The Advocate. Republicans enjoy a veto-proof supermajority in both houses of the Kentucky legislature, however, and can easily override Beshear’s veto of the bill. In addition to prohibiting DEI efforts in public schools and universities in the state, House Bill 4 would also increase oversight to ensure compliance with the ban.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) announced Josh Rovenger as incoming legal director, per a press release. Rovenger—who, most recently, served under President Biden as associate counsel to the president—will join GLAD Law on April 7. Rovenger said, “For decades, GLAD Law has been at the forefront of our battle for liberation and justice, achieving lasting progress that has benefited all of us, my husband and myself included. Now, when it would be easy to let anxiety and fear take hold, GLAD Law is refusing to back down, challenging government overreach and working hard to push the arc of history [toward] LGBTQI+, racial, and economic justice.” Among other positions, Rovenger has been the supervising attorney of The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and a lecturer at the University of California-Irvine School of Law.
After years of refusal, Yeshiva University—a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City—stated that it would recognize an LGBTQ+ student club on campus, according to LGBTQ Nation. The decision ends a legal and moral dispute with the Yeshiva University Pride Alliance that was litigated in multiple jurisdictions and even reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The school said a new club formed with student and university input “will seek to support [LGBTQ]+] students and their allies, and will operate in accordance with the approved guidelines of Yeshiva University’s senior rabbis.” Pride Alliance Co-President Hayley told The New York Times, “I think this will really show to other people that there is no separation between being queer and being a Jew and that you are allowed to be a queer Jew on campus at Yeshiva University.”
NYC’s Education Department revived LGBTQ+-history videos after PBS recently erased them, according to Chalkbeat. PBS deleted the videos, made in partnership with New York City Public Schools, in response to President Trump’s executive orders. The short films sourced material from the city’s queer-focused curriculum—part of a series called “Hidden Voices” that seeks to elevate a broad range of underrepresented groups students learn about in their social studies classrooms. The videos profile prominent LGBTQ+ people such as the feminist thinker Audre Lorde and civil-rights leader Bayard Rustin; they also survey key historical moments, including the mass dismissal of queer government employees during the Lavender Scare of the 1940s-’60s and the 1969 Stonewall uprising in Greenwich Village.
In Iowa, more than 60 Iowa City-area businesses—including The Wedge Pizza, Prairie Lights Books, Trumpet Blossom Cafe and Acupuncture of Iowa—pledged their commitment to queer equality because of the efforts by OneIowa, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported. OneIowa recently issued a call to businesses in all 99 counties to stand in solidarity with LGBTQ+ Iowans, especially transgender Iowans, by reaffirming their commitment to inclusivity; the organization has published a list of more than 1,000 Iowa businesses that signed a pledge to “maintain welcoming and inclusive spaces for all.” The effort gained urgency after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill removing gender identity as a protected class from the state’s Civil Rights Act. The bill is the first in the country to take away civil rights from a group it has previously protected, and the new law takes effect on July 1. OneIowa’s list can be found here.
Disney may be abandoning some of its DEI initiatives but the company recently strongly rejected some MAGA efforts to gain control of corporate governance, Deadline noted. At the Bob Iger-run media giant’s virtual annual shareholders meetings, Disney investors voted down an effort to cut ties with a respected equality study from a top LGBTQ+ group. Following unanimous recommendations from the James Gorman chaired board, the shareholders also said no to an Elon Musk-inclined measure to probe Disney’s alleged moves in recent years “to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and others for expressing disfavored political and religious viewpoints.”
Dozens of people attended a rally for trans rights in downtown Indianapolis, WTHR reported. Attendees discussed several anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the Indiana Statehouse. “Trans people have always existed. They’ve always been here. They will continue to be here and they are not foe. They are friends and they’re part of our community,” Indy Liberation Center’s Brook Fronterhouse told the outlet.
A teacher said she’s received numerous death threats after she was targeted on social media by Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina—just because the educator is transgender, according to Them. In a series of posts on her official and personal accounts on X, Mace reshared a transition timeline posted by a trans woman, Sabre, nearly a month ago. In her original caption, Sabre had written “God, I love estrogen”; Mace, on her official government account, responded, “Estrogen doesn’t love you.” Mace then reposted Sabre’s photos again—this time on her personal account, tagging Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “I cannot share where I work or live for my own personal safety, as I currently have people who wish to kill me for the sole reason of being trans,” Sabre told The Advocate. “I am adamantly supported in what I do and my identity in my professional environment.
The legal community has been shaken, as the powerful law firm Paul Weiss agreed to give President Donald Trump’s administration $40 million in free legal work for causes the president supports and, according to a social media post from Trump, get rid of any internal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, per NBC News. In response, Trump rescinded his executive orders that targeted the firm and could have cost it significant business; they revoked the security clearance of lawyers at Paul Weiss and called for the review of the firm’s government contracts, Business Insider noted. The firm is associated with Trump’s political rivals, including attorney Mark Pomerantz, who left the firm to join the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into Trump’s finances.
In Pennsylvania, Dover Area school officials—while adopting new restrictions regarding which bathrooms and pronouns LGBTQ+ students can use,—allowed school staff to investigate the gender of anyone suspected of using the wrong facilities, per the York Dispatch. By defining gender as “biological sex,” the district’s school board now requires non-binary, transgender and intersex students to use facilities that correspond with their birth certificates. Several other public school districts have adopted similar policies, many of which were drafted by the Independence Law Center—a far-right, Christian law firm based in Harrisburg.
Andre Butts has been sentenced to eight years behind bars after admitting his role in a drugging and robbery scheme that turned deadly in Manhattan in 2022, according to amNY. Butts worked alongside Robert DeMaio, Jayqwan Hamilton and Jacob Barroso—all of whom were convicted following a trial—to befriend men at bars and clubs before lacing their drinks with fentanyl, leaving them unconscious. Victims included Julio Ramirez and John Umberger; regarding Ramirez, the perpetrators took Ramirez’s phone after his death and transferred money to different bank accounts to make purchases, including a pair of sneakers.
In Texas, Waco resident Donnell Jetters was arrested after he fired a gun at a relative who came out as gay, Metro Weekly noted. The victim in the case called 9-1-1 after escaping from the home but returned to the scene shortly after officers arrived; investigators discovered that Jetters and the victim, a family member, had an argument after the latter came out as gay. According to KWTX, officers located a bullet hole from a round that struck the trunk of the relative’s car. Authorities said in the affidavit that the round “would have struck the victim if the round had not been stopped by the metal between the trunk and the driver’s side seat.”
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), a players’ association and two teams (the Orlando Pride and Gotham FC) condemned fans’ transphobic and racist abuse of Orlando Pride striker Barbra Banda during a recent match at the Sports Illustrated Stadium, in Harrison, New Jersey, PinkNews noted. The league will work with Gotham FC to investigate the incident and take action, the NWSL added: “Barbra Banda is an exceptional player and person, and the NWSL is immensely proud to support her as a member of our league.” Banda, a cisgender woman, faced similar abuse last year after being named the BBC women’s soccer player of the year. She was left out of Zambia’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations team in 2022 after she was allegedly found to have high testosterone levels.
The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) is accepting speaker proposals for its 2025 Global Convention, taking place Oct. 21-25 in Palm Springs, California, per a separate press release. Key areas of interest include AI in travel; intersectionality in LGBTQ+ tourism; strategies to navigate DEI challenges; innovative LGBTQ+ marketing; and support for travel advisors. The deadline for submissions is May 12. The IGLTA Convention Committee will review all proposals and announce selected speakers in June. Apply here.
As part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives, the Department of Defense (DoD) deleted actress Bea Arthur’s (Golden Girls; Maude) trailblazing contributions to the Marine Corps, The Advocate noted, citing PinkNews. Along with the accomplishments of other female veterans, the webpage dedicated to Arthur was deleted, with only her enlistment photo remaining on the site and a “404 page not found” warning connected to the former link. Arthur was a typist at the Marine Corps headquarters in D.C. before becoming a truck driver and dispatcher at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, between 1944 and 1945; she left the military at the rank of staff sergeant. And because anything with the word “gay” in it apparently can’t be allowed to stay on the DoD website, photos of the Enola Gay airplane that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan are also marked for deletion by the administration,
Openly gay former CNN figure Don Lemon recently alleged that he was sexually harassed by multiple women and men while working for the network, according to LGBTQ Nation. “Now look, there are some things that are really egregious, but not everything is Harvey Weinstein-level,” Lemon said on HBO host Bill Maher’s podcast, Club Random. Lemon added that he never felt the need to go to HR because he knew, as a man, he had more power than he would have otherwise. CNN fired Lemon in 2023 after he was widely criticized for sexist remarks about Nikki Haley.
In NYC, queer Chelsea bar Barracuda shut down March 23 after three decades of business, Gay City News noted. Barracuda was known as a community bar and a springboard for performers who would launch their entertainment careers—especially with regular events such as “Star Search,” the long-running drag show in the city. According to the bar’s owner, Bob Pontarelli—who opened Barracuda alongside the late Stephen Heighton in 1995—the bar is closing because adjacent buildings are undergoing disruptive renovations. The changes have already affected parts of the bar and will eventually make it “impossible to conduct business as usual,” Pontarelli said.
In California, Sacramento LGBTQ+ nightclub Badlands has banned patrons who wear MAGA-related attire from entering the establishment, per Metro Weekly. “At Badlands Sacramento, we are committed to creating a space where the LGBTQ+ community and our allies feel safe, welcomed, and respected,” TJ Bruce, the bar’s owner, wrote in a social-media post. “Recently, a guest entered the bar wearing MAGA attire, which led to some discomfort among patrons.” He added, “This is not about banning political beliefs—it is about ensuring that Badlands remains a space where our community feels comfortable and supported.”
MAGA influencer/anti-crime activist Ricci Wynne (also known as Raw Ricci on social media) was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with using minors to produce child pornography, per Yahoo! News. In the indictment, prosecutors claimed that in April and October of 2022, Wynne induced or enticed two minors to “engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.” Wynne, who previously served time for drug dealing, made a social-media splash during 2022-2024 by using his cellphone’s camera to expose horrible street conditions and open-air drug markets around the city.
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