In Virginia, new and returning members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County School Board were inaugurated—with some school board members opting to use banned books on the topics of slavery and LGBTQ+ issues to take the oath of office, The Patch reported. Providence District representative Karl Frisch took the oath of office using five LGBTQ-themed books, according to Annandale Today. Frisch—the first LGBTQ+ person elected to local office in Fairfax County—is expected to become the school board chair in 2024.
A professor at Southern Utah University is suing after he was found to violate Title IX for discriminating against nonbinary students. Now, the former student, Finley Caciola, worries that, ultimately, the professor will be able to continue making gender-diverse students feel uncomfortable, The Advocate noted. Caciola came forward a few years ago with allegations of bias by Richard Bugg, a professor in the theater program. During a class activity, Bugg continuously misgendered Caciola, leading to an argument.
Three Florida teachers filed a federal lawsuit alleging a new state law restricting titles and pronouns at schools unconstitutionally discriminates against transgender and nonbinary educators, WFSU noted. The lawsuit is the latest challenge to a series of measures—championed by Republican Gov. (and presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis and passed by the Republican-controlled legislature—that have targeted transgender children and adults and other LGBTQ+ people. The lawsuit asks Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker to block the law from being enforced and award compensation to the teachers.
At least two LGBTQ+ women, including a lesbian and trans woman, were attacked and beaten by a group of men in Miami in what police believe could be a possible hate crime, PinkNews reported. A video of the Nov. 26 incident shows multiple men attacking the women on the streets of Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. "This group of guys, basically, they just started screaming stuff at us, anti-lesbian comments, like, 'You're only lesbians because you haven't received actual', and he used a profanity word," one of the victims told NBC6 South Florida.
Actor Elliot Page is one of 57 transgender adults to sign a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the judicial body to hear a case on Tennessee's gender-affirming care ban, per The Advocate. Page and the 56 others, including celebrities such as Nicole Maines and Lilly Wachowski, filed a brief with the nation's highest court last week imploring them to reject the state's restrictions on transgender healthcare for minors. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill into law in March. It bars people younger than 18 from accessing puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for the purpose of gender transition.
LGBTQ+ community members have called for federal help regarding the erosion of beaches at the gay enclave Fire Island Pines, Gay City News reported. The Army Corps of Engineers in 2019 began a project to restore the beaches along Long Island's southern coastline, including Fire Island, from damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Since then, the beaches on Fire Island have eroded, due in part to damage caused by storms such as Elliot in late 2021, and tropical storm Ophelia and hurricane Lee in September 2023. The Army Corps has so far not answered calls from elected officials, community advocates and state agencies regarding emergency funds. A Change.org petition directed to the Army Corps to "save Fire Island's beaches" has amassed more than 11,000 signatures.
In 2023, at least 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills became law across 23 states, including restrictions on gender-affirming care, school sports, school instruction, drag and more, according to NBC News. Twenty-one of those laws are restrictions on transition-related care for minors, while 11 of them bar transgender student-athletes from playing on school sports teams that align with their gender identities. Ten of the statutes limit classroom instruction on LGBTQ+ issues and/or the use of pronouns that don't align with a person's birth sex, and eight restrict which restrooms trans people can use in schools or other publicly owned buildings.
Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order that defunds diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and programs in state agencies, including public colleges, CNN noted. "In Oklahoma, we're going to encourage equal opportunity, rather than promising equal outcomes," Stitt said in a news release. There are nearly 50 public college campuses in Oklahoma, according to the state's official websites.
One-fourth of U.S. congregations in the United Methodist Church have received permission to leave the denomination during a five-year window that authorized departures for congregations over disputes involving the church's LGBTQ+-related policies, according to a WKYC item. In total, 7,658 congregations have received permission since 2019. The schism marks a historic shift in a denomination that was until recently the third largest in the United States. The first denomination-wide legislative gathering in eight years, slated for spring 2024, will consider calls to liberalize policies on marriage and ordination—and it may also result in overseas congregations receiving the same exit option that U.S. churches have had.
In NYC, Carlos Santana (not the musician) was arraigned for allegedly stabbing a woman while hurling anti-trans slurs in the Bronx last month after she tried to intervene in the man's argument with another woman, Gay City News reported. Santana, 28, faces assault, weapons-possession, harassment and hate-crime charges for his alleged role in the Nov. 9 incident. Tiffany Simmons was stabbed in the upper left thigh, around the back of the ear and in the upper back, causing some bleeding. The incident occurred just two days after a man was arrested for assaulting a woman and using anti-LGBTQ+ slurs on a train in Brooklyn on Aug. 25.
LGBTQ+-rights activist Kendall Stephens appeared in a Philadelphia court after she was arrested and charged with the rape of two boys, The Advocate noted, citing The Philadelphia Gay News. Stephens, 37, was actually charged with several offenses, including rape, corruption of minors, indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and unlawful contact with minors, among others. The Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General (instead of the local district attorney) is prosecuting Stephens, as there is a conflict of interest—Stephens had worked in the past with District Attorney of Philadelphia Larry Krasner on developing local LGBTQ+ policy.
A video recently started circulating on social media showing a Senate staffer and another man allegedly having sex in a U.S. Senate hearing room—and that staffer has been fired, according to Out. Out's sister publication The Advocate was the first to confirm that the U.S. Capitol police investigated the claim that two men filmed themselves having public sex with each other on Capitol grounds. The office of Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin released a statement saying, "Aidan Maese-Czeropski [the person in the video] is no longer employed by the U.S. Senate. We will have no further comment on this personnel matter." Maese-Czeropski wrote in a LinkedIn post, "This has been a difficult time for me, as I have been attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda. While some of my actions in the past have shown poor judgement, I love my job and would never disrespect my workplace."
The iconic gay restaurant, bar and nightclub Micky's West Hollywood—which has a predominantly gay clientele—has officially been listed for sale, WeHo Times reported. Commercial real estate agency The Brandon Michaels Group of Marcus & Millichap has been selected to exclusively market the 9,200-square-foot, two-story space in the heart of West Hollywood's LGBT Rainbow District. Micky's opened in 1989, and is considered the go-to WeHo spot. The listing for Micky's—the only gay nightclub in West Hollywood that's able to stay open after 2 a.m.—was made public weeks after The Abbey Food & Bar, and The Chapel at The Abbey announced it had been sold to MISTR founder/CEO Tristan Schukraft.
Trans model Frances Coombe is suing a New York City-based agency in federal court for allegedly refusing to respect his gender identity in the workplace and pushing him to work as a woman, Gay City News reported. Coombe, who came out as a gay trans man last year, said in the suit that he has worked as a model for more than a decade and, until recently, worked for Muse Model Management. In October 2021, Coombe told Muse and agency CEO Conor Kennedy that he identified as non-binary at the time; from that point on, Coombe described a hostile work environment that included resistance from his bosses, who allegedly told him non-binary models "are not sought after in the casting process."
A lawsuit claims that those behind what used to be the biggest event of the year for the conservative movement, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), knew about several instances of chairman Matt Schlapp sexually abusing younger men but did nothing about it, according to LGBTQ Nation. The suit was filed by Carlton Huffman, a Republican campaign staffer who claims to be one of Schlapp's victims. The lawsuit alleges that the American Conservative Union (ACU), which runs CPAC, knew about Schlapp's behavior and did nothing to stop him or remove him from power.
After a brutal 108-14 loss to North Dakota State University (NDSU), sympathy for Oak Hills Christian College's men's basketball team quickly evaporated when the internet discovered the school's anti-LGBTQ+ policies, according to Mediaite. The Minnesota school's policies regarding LGBTQ+ issues and states that homosexuality is forbidden. After Oak Hills' policy was publicized, one user on X (formerly Twitter) said, "Quite frankly, NDSU should've scored more."
Justice Gennari is resigning as president and CEO of the Tampa Bay LGBT Chamber, according to BizJournals.com . Gennari has headed the Chamber since 2017; among other accomplishments, the organization hosted the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce International Business and Leadership Conference in 2019. The change will become effective on Jan. 1.
Seattle officials abandoned plans to build a children's playground near an LGBTQ+ nude beach following complaints from some residents, The Center Square reported. The Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation held a community feedback meeting regarding the proposed playground, which was expected to cost $550,000. Members of the LGBTQ+ community spoke out against the project, saying Denny Blaine Park's nude beach is a place for queer and trans people to feel confident in their bodies and feel safe.
Just two days after updating its policy to allow for more nudity, Twitch announced that it's immediately "rolling back the artistic nudity changes," according to Ars Technica. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy explained the new decision, writing that the policy was updated in response to user requests that Twitch "allow the thriving artist community on Twitch to utilize the human form in their art." However, soon after the policy was changed, Clancy said that some streamers "created content that was in violation of our new policy."
