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A bill that would have expanded Alabama’s “Don’t Say Gay” law died on the final day of the 2024 regular session, The Alabama Reflector reported. HB 130—with Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, as its main sponsor—would have extended Alabama’s ban on discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to fifth grade to kindergarten to eighth grade. It also would have barred Pride flags or other insignia. In 2021, the state legislature banned trans students playing high school sports and passed the original “Don’t Say Gay” law, tacked into a bill restricting trans bathroom use. The following year, the legislature banned puberty blockers and hormones for use in gender-affirming care for transgender youth; in 2023, it expanded the transgender sports ban to college athletics.
On a similar note, the Louisiana Senate passed legislation banning school staffers from talking to students in grades K-12 about sexual orientation or gender identity, NOLA.com reported. House Bill 122 passed 28 to seven, with all Senate Republicans and two Democrats backing it. It now heads to Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who is expected to sign it. Louisiana’s bill is broader than similar measures in other Republican-led states; Louisiana is the only state except Florida to restrict such discussion in high schools, and not just in elementary or middle schools.
The National Park Service (NPS) is, in essence, banning uniformed employees from marching in public events that “could be construed as agency support for a particular issue, position, or political party”—which could extend to Pride parades—according to internal memos and documents shared with NBC News. The NPS, which oversees the country’s national parks and monuments, has long permitted uniformed rangers to participate in Pride marches, including some of the country’s largest, in cities such as New York City and San Francisco.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has invested $15 million to help President Joe Biden versus former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, Philadelphia Gay News noted. The campaign will target the six key swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. HRC President Kelley Robinson said, “It’s not just about two candidates. It’s about two fundamentally different versions of our country that we could be looking at after November.” Trump previously said he will end various LGBTQ+ protections that the Biden administration established “on day one” of his presidency if he is re-elected in November.
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In Minnesota, local NBC anchor Jason Hackett came out as gay live on television—and the video went viral, The Advocate noted. In the video, Hackett—the newest anchor for Minneapolis NBC affiliate KARE’s Sunrise morning show—addressed viewers by saying, “I want to share this with you,” as he explained how he’d been approached to appear on the cover of the local LGBTQ+ publication Lavender Magazine. Hackett (who previously worked in Oklahoma, Florida and Iowa) added that while his friends, colleagues and some family members knew about his sexuality, he had never come out to the broader Minneapolis community.
GLAAD and the award-winning strategic storytelling studio GROUND Media announced the launch of “Here We Are—a video campaign that shares the real stories of transgender people, a press release noted. “Here We Are” combats unchecked misinformation about trans+ people and promotes trans+ visibility, accelerates acceptance, and affirms transgender people should have the freedom to live their lives without discrimination or prejudice. Their stories will debut in an immersive website, HereWeAreNow.com, that several national LGBTQ+ organizations support.
Drag artists have started a new coalition in response to attacks on drag expression, CNN noted.The artists—including Hysteria Brooks, a victim impacted by the Club Q shooting that left five people dead in Colorado in 2022—announced the launch of Qommittee, “an effort to organize drag artists and fans into a national organization to protect and promote drag.” Qommittee aims to provide legal aid, therapy and community support for drag artists. At least 510 anti-LGBTQ+ bills (a record) were introduced in state legislatures across the United States last year.
GLAAD has unveiled its latest Social Media Safety Index (SMSI)—which says that most platforms are failing the public. In the 2024 SMSI Platform Scorecard, while some platforms have shown improvements in their scores and others have fallen, overall the scores remain dismal, with all platforms other than TikTok (including Threads) receiving F grades. (TikTok reached a D+). LGBTQ+ safety, privacy and expression issues included inadequate content moderation and problems with policy development and enforcement; inadequate transparency and user controls around data privacy; and an overall lack of transparency and accountability across the industry, among other things. Being transparent and promoting civil discourse are among the proposed solutions.
In California, a measure that would have required schools to notify parents about their child’s gender identity and limited transgender youth medical care failed to get enough signatures in support to qualify for the November ballot, The L.A. Times reported. The proposal sought to notify parents if their child changes their name or pronouns at school or requests to use facilities or play sports that don’t match their gender on official records. The measure also would have barred California doctors from prescribing hormones or otherwise providing gender-affirming care to minors. For the measure to qualify for the ballot, proponents had to submit the signatures of more than half a million registered voters by May 28—the deadline that the California secretary of state set—but it fell just short.
The body of Richard Myers, who went by “Richie Josef,” was found in an Arizona lake a day after he was last seen at an LGBTQ+ camping event, The Sacramento Bee noted. Myers was at the lake for the Bartlett Bash, an LGBTQ+ campout that’s held every year in May and September. That day, he was “partying” from campsite to campsite, deputies said. He was last seen walking at Bartlett Lake (about 55 miles from Phoenix) near a “rock finger which protrudes out from the shore into the open water,” according to authorities, who speculated that Myers may have tried to walk along the rocks and fell.
Anti-LGBTQ+ Houston Democratic Texas House of Representatives incumbent Shawn Thierry lost to queer opponent Lauren Ashley Simmons in a primary election, The Washington Blade noted. Thierry was one of a few Democrats across the country who broke ranks with her party and voted for a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. In trouncing Thierry 65 percent to 35 percent, Simmons secured many major endorsements from groups such as the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO, Equality Texas and Planned Parenthood.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is reportedly proposing to slash more than $5 million in funding for HIV/AIDS services in the next fiscal year, Gay City News noted. This move prompted criticism from the City Council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus and HIV/AIDS non-profit organizations. City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan told city lawmakers during a City Council hearing that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is looking to cut $75 million—including $5.3 million in HIV/AIDS funding—when the new fiscal year starts in July. The HIV/AIDS Services Administration’s (HASA) workforce development program is also facing reductions.
Pro-LGBTQ+ organizations have filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to issue a ruling protecting a lesbian mother’s parental status and affirming the recognition of legal parentage for children born through assisted reproduction, according to a joint release from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). The case, Glover v. Junior, concerns Nicole Junior—a married, non-genetic, non-gestational mother who planned with her now-former spouse to conceive and raise a child via assisted reproduction. In a December 2023 ruling overturning a prior panel decision, the Pennsylvania Superior Court found Junior had established legal parentage of her child.
In Philadelphia, the Philly Dyke March will once again host its own protest rally on Saturday, June 1, after a pause of several years, per PGN. The event will begin in Kahn Park; later, attendees will take to the streets in a non-permitted march. Philly Dyke March last hosted its annual pre-Pride march in 2019; in 2020, it collaborated with Philly Queer March for Black Lives. Last year, the group was a human blockade between anti-Pride protesters and participants during the Pride March, which took place before the city’s festival.
In Maryland, the City of Salisbury decided not to fly the Pride banner on its downtown flagpole on June 1—breaking a five-year tradition, WMDT noted. Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor said that the planned flag-raising will not go forward, adding that using city assets to promote any one group over the other is inappropriate. However, he said he’s always in favor of “public discourse or speech.” However, Salisbury PFLAG Executive Director Mark DeLancey said he feels the group’s voice is being limited with the decision to not let the Pride flag fly.
The Anthony Bobrow Trust donated more than $300,000 to Dallas nonprofits serving the local LGBTQ+ community, The Dallas Voice noted. Donations included $75,000 each to AIN and Legacy Cares; $50,000 each to AIDS Services of Dallas and Taste of Hope; $27,500 to the Family Place; $10,000 to DFW Sisters; and $5,000, via the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Dallas, to CASA Summer Camp Project.
The Hyatt Regency New Orleans recently hosted a Pride Prom, WGNO noted. The event was open to people ages 16 to 20 and was seen as an opportunity for LGBTQ+ youth to get a second, or even first, chance at attending prom. “We decided to open it up to those that didn’t have the chance to attend their own high school prom, and they can still come and be a part of the celebration with us,” said Associate Director of Commercial Service at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans Caitlin Crumbo.
San Francisco’s OMG nightclub will soon close, The Bay Area Reporter noted. Its owner, Rakesh Modi, announced via Facebook on May 22 the club’s last day will be Sunday, June 9. The venue had been struggling first because of the COVID pandemic and then because of the decline in foot traffic in downtown San Francisco. Modi had told the Reporter that the nightclub—which opened a dozen years ago—catered primarily to the Latino and transgender communities.
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Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wants a state investigation of Starbucks for its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, saying the coffee chain may be violating the state’s anti-discrimination laws, CBS News noted. Moody and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a complaint against Starbucks as the governor filled in for Fox News’ Sean Hannity as a guest host on Hannity’s conservative radio show. The matter is being referred to the Florida Commission on Human Relations, which Black clergy recently slammed for halting inductions into its Civil Rights Hall of Fame during the governor’s first term.
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag—which is associated with far-right Christian nationalist movements and the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection—was displayed outside the office of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, The Advocate noted. The flag has historical roots dating back to the Revolutionary War; however, Christian nationalist groups advocating for a theocratic vision of the country have co-opted it. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito—who was criticized for blaming his wife for flying an upside-down U.S. flag—flew the same banner at his New Jersey vacation home.
Anti-LGBTQ+ former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has acquired a 7.7% stake in BuzzFeed—and said he plans to launch a campaign to shake up the struggling digital-media company, Variety noted. Ramaswamy—who has promoted the racist “replacement theory” that alleges Democrats want to allow immigrants of color to into the U.S. to “replace” white voters—dropped out of the 2024 GOP presidential contest in January and endorsed Donald Trump, saying he would support Trump even if the former president was convicted of felonies. A BuzzFeed spokesperson said, “BuzzFeed is purposely structured to protect its editorial integrity. We are always open to hearing ideas from our shareholders.”
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