Develop policies protecting transgender-inclusion in women's sports

More than 400 current and former NCAA athletes—including longtime partners Rapinoe and Bird—signed an open letter urging the collegiate athletic association to develop policies protecting transgender inclusion in women's sports.

The NCAA’s current policy on trans athletes allows the national governing bodies for each sport to set their own standards. However, the open letter asked the NCAA to develop additional policies to ensure trans participation as many Republican-led states seek to ban trans women from competitive women's sports.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Thirty years after The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, swept the box office and award shows, the movie’s director has confirmed that a sequel is in the works.

The director of the Australian queer classic, Stephan Elliott, said that a sequel is definitely happening and that the original film's stars — Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce, and Hugo Weaving — are back “on board.”

Dominica

The High Court of Dominica has overturned a colonial-era law banning same-sex relations between consenting adults after a gay man filed a lawsuit claiming the ban was unconstitutional.

State auditor general

Kenyatta won his primary race against Mark Pinsley for the role of auditor general, an administrative position overseeing the state’s accounting and financial functions. Kenyatta’s victory makes him the first out gay man to be selected by a major party for a statewide office in Pennsylvania history. If Kenyatta wins in the November general election against Republican incumbent Tim DeFoor (the state’s first-ever Black auditor general) Kenyatta would become the first out LGBTQ+ statewide official in the state.

"As Auditor, on day one, I will rebuild the Bureau of School Audits and demand accountability from all schools," Kenyatta said. "I will also create the first-ever Bureau of Labor and Worker Protections to take on wage theft, employee misclassification, and union busting. Additionally, I will use the power of the office to measure and support efforts to make communities healthier and safer.”

Tennessee

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed the Tennessee Foster and Adoptive Parent Protection Act, which says that the Department of Children's Services cannot require a current or prospective foster or adoptive parent “to affirm, accept, or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the parent’s sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.”

Big Mama Thornton

Big Mama Thornton — a six-foot tall, 300-pound, Black, gender-nonconforming blues musician who wore men’s apparel and sang with a growl — has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her influence on the genre. Though Thornton didn’t personally identify as LGBTQ+, modern commenters have noted her “queer” influence on mid-20th-century music.

Antisemitism

The disgraced former congressman ended his independent run for Congress less than two months after announcing it, well before the major parties even had their primaries. He said that he was worried a Democrat might win in the district because his third party campaign, he said, may siphon votes from the Republican candidate.

And that would be bad because Democrats, according to Santos, are antisemitic.

"It is clear that with the rise of antisemitism in our country we cannot afford to hand the house to Dems as they have a very large issue with antisemitism in their ranks," he said.

Rep. Ritchie Torres

Mohamed Hadid has apologized after allegedly sending a series of racist and homophobic messages to Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) regarding his unwavering support of Israel. Hadid posted an apology to his Instagram account in which he expressed regret for the words he used but not for his anger. He echoed the sentiments of many Palestinian rights activists who are accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians as retaliation for the October 7th attack on Israel by the Hamas terrorist group.

The Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution canceled several planned drag events after Republicans accused the museum and research complex of “exposing children to overly sexual material” through its past drag events. The accusers never detailed what was “overly sexual” about the past events. The cancellation has led to concerns about censorship among Smithsonian employees.

Melania Trump

Melania Trump hosted the fundraiser on Saturday for the Log Cabin Republicans, a pro-Trump LGBTQ+ conservative organization. The event took place at Mar-a-Lago, though what the former first lady said at the event has not been publicized.