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Palm Springs Pride has designated the theme for 2023 Pride Week as “Drag Now. Drag Forever.” Organizers said the move is a way to take a stand against anti-drag bills that have been proposed or passed around the country and the increase in anti-LGBTQ+ extremism as well as an effort to support the historic form of artistic expression and advocacy. Photo: City of Palm Springs

Chuck Williams, the founder and namesake of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, died on Wednesday, the LGBTQ+ think tank said Tuesday.

Two gay husbands are getting a lot of attention for creating AI versions of prominent right-wingers dressed in drag on their RuPublicans Instagram page. Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Pence are three politicians who got the AI drag treatment. Photos: RuPublicans Instagram page

Republican Assembly member Bill Essayli, who represents the 63rd District in western Riverside County, introduced Assembly Bill 1314. The bill would give school districts three days to notify parents, in writing, once a school employee learns a student identifies as a gender that doesn’t align with their birth certificate or other official records. For example, asking to be identified by a different gender or participating in sports of the opposite gender. The bill died in the education committee after the chair refused to give the legislation a hearing. Photo: Office of Bill Essayli

Republican Assembly member Bill Essayli, who represents the 63rd District in western Riverside County, introduced Assembly Bill 1314. The bill would give school districts three days to notify parents, in writing, once a school employee learns a student identifies as a gender that doesn’t align with their birth certificate or other official records. For example, asking to be identified by a different gender or participating in sports of the opposite gender. The bill is stuck in the education committee after the chair refused to give the legislation a hearing. Photo: Office of Bill Essayli

Drag March LA will take place Sunday in West Hollywood to protest the more than 400 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation lawmakers have proposed or passed in 2023. Photo: Provided

Famed drag performer Heklina has died.

A federal judge in Tennessee has blocked the state’s anti-drag law from going into effect for 14 days. Photo: United States District Court, Western District of Tennessee.

According to a Texas federal judge Reed O’Connor, insuring against HIV transmission violates the religious freedom of businesses that object to LGBTQ+ people, meaning insurance companies cannot be forced to cover the medicines. As a result of his ruling, a host of preventative services required to be covered by insurance providers under the Affordable Care Act are in doubt. Photo: Screen grab from Administrative Office of the United States Courts’ video.

In what could be a historic election, Palm Springs City Councilmember Lisa Middleton has entered the California Senate District 19 race, a little less than a year before the primary election. Photo: Screengrab

For years, Orville Peck has been forging his own path within the country music genre as a gay musician from South Africa. Now, the singer is ready to showcase everything he’s learned on Apple TV+’s new singing competition, “My Kind of Country.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill into law that bans most gender-affirming care for transgender minors, making that state the latest to target trans youth in legislation. Photo: Office of Gov. Brian Kemp

Kentucky Gov. Any Beshear, at a bill signing on Wednesday, vetoed a sweeping GOP bill on Friday that would have regulated the lives of trans youths, including banning access to gender-affirming health care and restricting the bathrooms they can use. The bill also would have also banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools with students of any age and allowed teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. Photo: Gov. Andy Beshear Flickr page

Legendary drag queen Darcelle has died at age 92.

Kentucky Gov. Any Beshear, at a bill signing on Wednesday, vetoed a sweeping GOP bill on Friday that would have regulated the lives of trans youths, including banning access to gender-affirming health care and restricting the bathrooms they can use. The bill also would have also banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools with students of any age and allowed teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. Photo: Gov. Andy Beshear Flickr page

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill Wednesday that bans licensed professionals from subjecting minors to conversion therapy, the discredited practice that attempts to turn LGBTQ+ people heterosexual. Conversion therapy has been denounced as unnecessary, ineffective, and harmful by major medical and mental health organizations. Photo: Officer of Gov. Spencer Cox

Ronnie Woo had an unconventional path to becoming a chef and TV food personality. A former model, he went on to earn a master’s in marriage and family therapy and an MBA before launching a private chef company, the Delicious Cook, which prepares delicious dishes for some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

Republican Assembly member Bill Essayli, who represents the 63rd District in western Riverside County, has introduced AB 1314. The bill would give school districts three days to notify parents, in writing, once a school employee learns a student identifies as a gender that doesn’t align with their birth certificate or other official records. For example, asking to be identified by a different gender or participating in sports of the opposite gender. Photo: Office of Bill Essayli

Brendan Fraser is the sixth heterosexual man to win a best actor Oscar for portraying a gay man.

Florida Republican Congressman Greg Steube, wants to amend Title IX — the civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex — to carve out an exception and discriminate by recognizing one’s sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Photo: Office of Greg Steube

On Billy Eichner’s rom-com “Bros,” production designer Lisa Myers helped create Eichner’s character’s apartment, utilizing art as a storytelling tool to represent Bobby and his importance within the queer community. Myers also designed the LGBTQ art museum that Bobby builds throughout the film. Myers says her role as production designer is to create a film’s overall aesthetic and help tell the film’s story through visuals. Photo: Provided by Universal

The Bed Race is a highlight of Cathedral City Pride. Photo: Cathedral City LGBT Days.

On Oct. 29, 1990, the severed head and feet of 25-year-old gay porn actor Billy London, aka William “Bill” Newton, were found inside a Hollywood dumpster. The gruesome cold case has haunted West Hollywood for more than 32 years. It was the gay community’s version of the Black Dahlia murder. But it seems that a group of amateur sleuths has helped solve the case, according to the Los Angeles Times. Photos: ONE Archives and Rachel Mason.

Grace Jones and Carly Rae Jepsen will headline WeHo Pride 2023 in June.

Activists Robin Tyler, left, and Diane Olson, right, (seen in a July 2008 photo) helped win the battle for marriage equality in California. Photo: Rex Wockner.

Planning or scheduling an annual physical, here’s what to ask or expect from the doctor, according to leading gay gastroenterologist Dr. Carlton. Photo: Carlos Guillén Apezteguía

Howard Bragman, the powerhouse publicist who specialized in crisis communications and guiding celebrities in coming out of the closet, died Saturday night after a battle with leukemia. He was 66. Photo: Instagram

William Dorsey Swann was known to his friends as “the Queen.”

Charles Silverstein, who helped remove homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental illnesses and coauthored “The Joy of Gay Sex,” has died at age 87.

Huntington Beach banned flying the Pride flag at City Hall during a sometimes heated City Council meeting earlier this week. It’s an abrupt about face from 2021 when the City Council voted 6-0 to hoist the Pride flag for six weeks to coincide with LGBTQ Pride Month in June. Photo: City of Huntington Beach

The FDA is proposing changes to its gay blood ban. The agency has recommended changing its blood donation guidelines for gay and bisexual men and women who have sex with gay — They would focus on sexual behaviors instead of gender or sexual orientation, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday. Photo: FDA

Utah has banned most gender-affirming care for minors.Gov. Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 16 into law Saturday.

Kim Petras won her first Grammy award Sunday for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance alongside Sam Smith for their platinum hit “Unholy,” which Petras cowrote with Smith.

There’s no way Omar Apollo knew what was in store for him at the top of last year.

The lesbian wine bar The Ruby Fruit is scheduled to open later this month in Silver Lake. It will be the first full-time lesbian establishment in Los Angeles since 2017 when the Oxwood Inn closed. The Ruby Fruit will take over the space once occupied by the popular restaurant Eszett, which closed Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Photo: Eszett Facebook page

In connection with the release of blockbuster queer drama “Tar,” Tracy E. Gilchrist of Advocate Today sat down with film stars Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss to discuss the significance of narratives that feature LGBTQ+ women.