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Despite some positive electoral victories as 2023 ended, last year was largely a rough one for members of the LGBTQ community, who found themselves targeted by various pieces of legislation, executive orders, and a resurgent right-wing political movement opposed to what it sees as “woke” ideas or values.It was also the year that the nation’s top LGBTQ advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign, declared a national state of emergency, citing efforts to roll back LGBTQ rights or restrict LGBTQ visibility and various freedoms, with Republican-led state legislatures serving as the primary aggressors.The segment of the LGBTQ spectrum most under fire in 2023 was the transgender community, whose members saw legislation targeting them pushed into law, despite the intense lobbying of lawmakers and often over the advice of medical professionals and parents of transgender children. Even past battles once thought to have been won were reignited, as conservatives on Capitol Hill pledged to revive the now-defunct Trump-era ban prohibiting trans individuals from serving in the Armed Forces.

Florida Trident, the woman arranged to have another sexual encounter with the Zieglers on Oct. 2, but backed out after learning Bridget Ziegler had another engagement.The woman alleges that Christian Ziegler showed up at her residence, uninvited, bent her over a piece of furniture, and raped her.Ziegler, who has not been charged with a crime, has denied the rape allegations, insisting that the encounter was consensual. He reportedly told police he had recorded video of the encounter that proves his side of the story.Police obtained that video, as well as a second video, the latter of which allegedly depicted Bridget Ziegler engaged in sex with another woman, as part of their investigation.

The New York Times. “I think that if we find these kinds of people in Burundi, it is better to take them to a stadium and stone them.

Wicked movies, running her cosmetics business, and falling in love after her divorce. Somehow, in the middle of all that, she’s also found the time to write and record a new album. After weeks of teasing and hinting that something was coming, the pop superstar has officially announced her comeback single – and it’s set to arrive in just a few days.The Grammy winner took to social media to announce “Yes, And?,” posting the song’s cover to her Instagram, along with the track’s release date of Friday, January 12.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Manilow opened up about those days, clearing up some misconceptions about his time in the baths.“What do you think, they were fucking in front of us?” the singer asked the interviewer, perhaps joking. He went on to say that those in attendance were “just an audience. A great audience, too.”Why did Manilow decide to perform in such a sexualized venue? It’s simple – like so many other musicians trying to make it, he needed the money.

Meduza. However, reporting a homophobic attack to authorities, even as the victim, could be problematic in Russia, given the recent Supreme Court ruling that declared the international LGBTQ movement to be an “extremist” organization.Under Russian law, anyone who admits to being part of an extremist organization can be punished with up to 12 years in prison.According to RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty’s Russian Service, the Ministry of Justice for the Stavropol Territory recently responded to an inquiry about coming out by saying the act will be equated to “participation in the international extremist LGBT community” — showing how Russian authorities could potentially choose to prosecute LGBTQ people, even victims of hate-motivated crimes.

The Grammy winner shared both the song’s title and cover image on Monday, with the visual being quite striking. The artwork sees Lil Nas X impersonating Jesus Christ as he’s being crucified. He lies on the cross, covered in nothing but a small yellow cloth.

She captioned the picture, “ALL LOVE. This was hands down my favorite moment of 2023 ❤️. The Love.

Barbie soundtrack, which was met with widespread acclaim from fans and critics alike. As she continues to promote the tune and prepares for what may be a very exciting award season, the superstar is also hard at work on her next chapter.In an interview with Mr. Porter, Eilish’s brother Finneas shared some good news for fans of the Grammy and Oscar winner.

Seattle Times. Members of the LGBTQ community have said that Denny Blaine Park has been a safe haven for them for decades.Hundreds of people packed a public meeting last month, filling Seattle’s MLK FAME Community Center beyond capacity, with no attendees speaking in support of the plan.

Karsten Sollors all but grew up in the air.“My mother was a flight attendant, so I’ve been traveling since I was in her stomach,” as he puts it. Because of that, he didn’t think twice about effectively giving up his weekends to become a professional DJ, traveling to a different city, if not two, every weekend.“A lot of people, when I tell them my schedule, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, how do you do that? That’s got to be so difficult,’” he says.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Manilow opened up about those days, making sure to clear up some misconceptions up about his time in the baths. “What do you think, they were fucking in front of us?” the singer asked the interviewer, perhaps joking. He went on to say that those in attendance were, “just an audience.

$100,000 in damages after a jury decided that the men were entitled to $50,000 each for being denied a marriage license by Davis after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state-level bans on same-sex nuptials across the nation in mid-2015.Ermold and Moore sued Davis after she declined to issue the couple a marriage license three separate times, and refused to permit her deputies to issue a license bearing her official name or title.She argued that allowing the license to be issued would violate “God’s definition of marriage” and her personal beliefs opposing homosexuality as an Apostolic Christian.During the fall of 2015, Bunning sentenced Davis to five days in jail for contempt of court for refusing to allow marriage licenses to be issued — not only to Ermold and Moore, but to several other couples, gay and straight — lest she be accused of discriminating against same-sex couples.Following her release, she agreed not to block her deputy clerks from issuing licenses that had been edited to remove her name and title — although both she and her deputy raised concerns about the validity of such licenses.In a tacit show of support for Davis, Kentucky lawmakers later passed a law to change rules that removed county clerks’ names from marriage licenses.

Human Rights Watch, Lumumba had been sexually assaulted, hit on the head with a blunt object, and stabbed in the chest, face, neck, and eyes.From the start of the investigation into Lumumba’s murder, their family was critical of police response, accusing investigators of dragging their feet due to anti-LGBTQ animus.Lumumba’s cousin, Brenda Akinyi, told Human Rights Watch that the family began investigating the murder themselves after police failed to update the family on case developments. Additionally, after police claimed to have searched the crime scene, family members found a knife and razor blade in Lumumba’s bedroom.

initially flagged 374 books for removal from shelves for possible violations, eventually reducing that number to 64.Similarly, the Norwalk Community School District also issued a list of 64 books for removal. Mason City banned 20 books from its schools, using artificial intelligence to help determine which ones should be banned — resulting in some classic novels, like The Handmaid’s Tale and Beloved, being banned.Republican Gov.

Making the “top five” list of “horniest countries” are the United Kingdom, followed by Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Mexico.The platform’s “Rookie of the Year,” based on growth compared to 2022, was London, which experienced a 475% surge in users over the past year.The “most discreet city,” measured by the highest number of discreet sessions, where users employ the platform’s “discreet mode,” was Vancouver, Canada. The “chattiest city,” where users sent the most messages, was Philadelphia, while users in Chicago were the least loquacious.Users in Seattle, Washington, sent the most photos of themselves, earning the distinction of “most photogenic city.” At the same time, Washington, D.C., lived up to its decades-old reputation of being closeted, with users sharing the fewest photos of themselves.According to the data, the Sniffies platform typically sees the most action on Mondays.

Click here to access the registration page.The Capital Pride 2024 celebration will run from May 31 through June 9. As the dates draw closer, updates and breaking news will be shared on the Capital Pride Alliance’s Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts.As it does every year, in the coming months, Capital Pride will issue a call for entertainers to perform at its annual Block Party and grace the stages at its annual Festival and Concert, held along Pennsylvania Avenue, in the shadow of the U.S.

After a steady, decade-long decline in the number of LGBTQ bars and clubs in Washington, D.C., the trend has finally reversed: 2023 saw the opening of several new venues, adding to a similar number that emerged in 2022.As a result, the D.C. area now counts at least 20 LGBTQ watering holes and safe spaces to call its own.

The Associated Press.“When I’m analyzing the governor’s motivation, what should I make of these statements?” Hinkle asked. “This seems to be more than just hyperbole.”The restrictions on gender-affirming care were first enacted in March after the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine — at the urging of DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and the state Department of Health — approved rules to limit the accessibility of hormonal and surgical interventions.

The Associated Press.“When I’m analyzing the governor’s motivation, what should I make of these statements?” Hinkle asked. “This seems to be more than just hyperbole.”The restrictions on gender-affirming care were first enacted in March after the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine — at the urging of DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and the state Department of Health — approved rules to limit the accessibility of hormonal and surgical interventions.

Desperately Seeking Susan.“I’ll never forget that first scene we did down in Battery Park,” he recalls. “We have that long kiss at the beginning.

1984, a gift from elder sister Megan. That also informed my thoughts about truth. Protagonist Winston was plagued by truth and untruth, spending his days erasing unpeople’s paper trails at the Ministry of Truth.

Florida Trident, the video was recovered by police as part of the ongoing criminal investigation of a rape allegation made against Bridget’s husband, Christian Ziegler, chairman of the Florida Republican Party.Police uncovered the video while executing a search warrant on Christian Ziegler’s cell phone and a Google account to recover evidence in connection with the alleged rape.The accuser, whose name is being kept confidential, claimed to have had a sexual tryst with the Zieglers over a year ago. Bridget Ziegler confirmed to investigators that she and her husband had engaged in a sexual encounter with the woman.On October 2, the woman claims that she arranged to have another sexual encounter with the Zieglers, only to have Bridget cancel at the last minute.

The Seafarer is just as powerfully a contemplation on what it is to knock along in a life pot-holed with bad luck and dysfunction. Indeed, almost all of the first act is a fly-on-the-wall immersion in a certain kind of seedy male domesticity.Amid peeling wallpaper and rising damp, the house buzzes with bark, banter, and potted philosophizing as mismatched cups, milk possibly past its sell-by date, and a lifetime’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol arrive and depart.

Associated Press, he did leave open the option of issuing a stay if petitions to appellate courts are granted. Groups of transgender youth and their parents have asked the U.S.

Gender Queer, a memoir by Maia Kobabe about her coming of age as a nonbinary person, available to students at the school.The complaining individual — who is reportedly a member of the school community — provided police with two images. The first was the book’s cover, in which a person is seen staring into a pool of water, looking at a shirtless reflection that does not match their physical appearance.The second was a scene from the book in which two illustrated characters are shown engaging in oral sex.

Good Grief. The Dan Levy-helmed movie isn’t set to arrive until just before the end of the year, but it already has quite a few fans of the Schitt’s Creek actor, writer, director, and producer titillated to see what he’s come up with now.Ahead of Good Grief arriving in theaters — and then a short while later on Netflix — read on about the new movie and learn all about Levy’s latest project.

The Celebration Tour, which is playing to packed crowds. The concert was delayed earlier this year after the singer fell ill and was hospitalized.

The Color Purple often succeeds as a thoughtful fusion of two other adaptations of Alice Walker’s landmark novel that still confidently hums its own tune.In shakier moments, though, confidence gives way to nostalgia, when the film hammers home its reinterpretations of quotable scenes and dialogue from the Quincy Jones-produced, Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 adaptation with an insistence that borders on flashing “Hey, remember this?” in bold type onscreen.Creating and saying something new with such proven material, while also purposely coaxing audience sentiment for a beloved original, surely posed a formidable challenge for Bazawule and company. And having Jones, Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey — the big guns and big breakout from the 1985 film — onboard as producers must have eased and complicated the gig in unfathomable ways.Oprah and Jones also had a hand in the original Broadway musical adaptation, which has spun off its own lore and legacy, and adds another meta layer of pop-lit gloss to what this film aims to freshly reinterpret.The stage musical — with a book by Marsha Norman, and lyrics and music by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray — has amassed its own roster of breakout stars, including American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, who made her 2007 Broadway debut stepping into the lead role of Celie, and Orange Is the New Black‘s Danielle Brooks, Tony-nominated for playing Sofia opposite Cynthia Erivo in the 2015 Broadway revival.Barrino and Brooks reprise their respective roles here with a lived-in grace and fortitude that does freshly illuminate Walker’s moving narrative, the lifeblood that courses through every iteration.

Saltburn alongside Barry Keoghan. The movie might not have been a box office smash, but critics had a lot to say about director and writer Emerald Fennell’s follow-up to her Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman.It’s slightly gay, all the way crazy, and both stars are able to demonstrate what they can do on screen.Around the same time, Elordi can also be seen in Priscilla, the biopic that focuses on Elvis Presley’s wife.

NBC affiliate KSDK-TV. “I jumped up thinking it was an accident with a vehicle, and then, I saw it, and it was a St.

Forbes.Prosecutors had claimed that the YouTube videos “spread LGBT values” and sought to convince “minors to commit illegal actions,” according to Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.It is unclear what is meant by the “illegal actions” that the videos are encouraging minors to engage in, although similar language has been used to rail against transgender visibility on the grounds that it will encourage minors to identify as transgender or pursue gender transitions.The fine is the steepest one levied against the search engine in Russia for violating its law prohibiting the spread of “LGBT propaganda.”Last month, the country’s Supreme Court deemed the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an “extremist” organization, prompting crackdowns by local police on LGBTQ venues or advocacy organizations. Under Russian law, anyone participating in or financing an “extremist” organization, including any LGBTQ advocacy groups, can be prosecuted and jailed for up to 12 years.The Russian government, led by President Vladimir Putin, adopted a law in 2013 that prohibits the spread of “propaganda” related to “nontraditional sexual relations,” or any information that paints LGBTQ identity in a positive or neutral light, among minors.

Agence France-Presse that they are moving due to the far-right government’s crackdown on LGBTQ rights, especially the parental rights of same-sex couples.Civil unions were legalized in Italy in 2016, but the law concerning the parental rights of same-sex couples, particularly non-biological parents, is muddy. Encouraged by several court rulings, local mayors had begun registering biological and non-biological parents on birth certificates over the past few years.However, that was before Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni‘s government — led by the populist, neo-fascist party Brothers of Italy — began cracking down on the practice.Earlier this year, Meloni’s interior minister ordered local governments to stop transcribing certificates of children born abroad through surrogacy, citing a recent court ruling.In response, prosecutors across Italy began contesting the birth certificates of children born to same-sex parents — regardless of whether they were conceived through surrogacy or not.

The Color Purple. This highly anticipated release promises to captivate audiences with its powerful storytelling, exceptional cast, and a vibrant celebration of the human spirit.The Color Purple started as an incredibly important book, and back in the ’80s, it was turned into an equally-as-meaningful movie. Then, years later, it found its way to Broadway as a musical.

WTVJ.The men turned aggressive and began assaulting the women while hurling anti-gay slurs at them.The newly released video footage shows two men in white shirts throwing punches at a man who tried to intercede. In the video, the victims are heard pleading to stop the fighting and say they have called police. One of the women, who asked not to be identified, is seen on video getting punched three times before losing consciousness.

attached several conservative amendments targeting access to abortion and LGBTQ rights to the National Defense Authorization Act.Among those amendments were a measure to prohibit the health insurance program for active-duty service members and their dependents, and a program that covers military dependents who have special needs, from covering the cost of gender-affirming treatments, including hormones and surgical interventions.Another anti-LGBTQ amendment, introduced by U.S. Rep.