Mary Trump wrote that her uncle Donald should be sued for defamation. According to Mary, who did the former president defame?
2020 poll workers who he claims tampered with votes
A jury recently ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay a whopping $148 million to two election workers who sued him for defamation after he accused them of tampering with votes. Now, Mary Trump says the former president should also have to pay up for defaming the same workers at least 23 times.
A now-former aide of Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) allegedly appeared in a video showing him doing what in a Senate building hearing room?
Having gay intercourse
Last weekend, Sen. Cardin's now-former aide allegedly published a video of himself having gay sex in a Senate hearing room. Though the aide initially denied his involvement in a LinkedIn post, he later deleted his denial. “It’s a breach of trust. It’s a tragic situation, and it’s presented a lot of anger and frustration," Sen. Cardin said of the incident.
This week, LGBTQ Nation published a story on lesbian couples who cannot afford sperm banks but want to conceive. Where are these couples finding free sperm donors?
Facebook groups
As the cost of using sperm banks continues to rise, an increasing number of people are turning to Facebook groups to find their own donors without the middleman. While this way is a much bigger legal risk, couples who can't afford to become parents any other way say it's worth it.
Which one of Gov. Ron DeSantis's opponents in the Republican presidential primary recently caught up to him in three big national polls?
Nikki Haley
DeSantis's opponent, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, has finally caught up with him in at least three major U.S. polls: Quinnipiac, Morning Consult, and Reuters/Ipsos. All three show Haley and DeSantis receiving an equal 11% of voter support. But almost all major national polls show both of them trailing former President Donald Trump by 50% or more.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson was criticized this week after a recently resurfaced 2015 video showed him doing what with his daughter?
Attending a purity ball
Footage from a 2015 German TV news program showed Johnson attending a purity ball with his daughter. At the ball, a formal father-daughter dance popular among conservative Christians, Johnson had his daughter sign a pledge promising that she would not have sex until marriage. He has previously said that he and his son monitor one another’s pornography viewing habits.
Right-wing trolls recently called to boycott a streaming platform over a cartoon featuring gay dads and a boy in a tutu. Which cartoon was it?
CoComelon Lane
Right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ trolls are calling for a boycott of Netflix after an episode of CoComelon Lane shows the character of Nico trying on different outfits for his two dads. The outfits included a firefighter’s uniform, a chef’s coat, and the kicker, a tutu and tiara. Anti-LGBTQ+ commentator Matt Walsh compared Netflix to "any groomer" and called it "evil."
Which LGBTQ+ Trump supporter was surrounded by other conservatives chanting slurs at them last week?
Rob Smith
Rightwing podcaster Rob Smith was called the n-word and was then surrounded by conservatives chanting "fa***t" at last week's AmericaFest, a conservative conference.
Smith later appeared on CNN to discuss the incident, where he got defensively stood up for conservatives, insisting that this kind of incident happens on "both sides."
“If we want to have a conversation about white supremacy, let’s have a conversation about the white supremacy that happens on both sides, OK?” he said before telling the CNN host that he uses “gay and lesbian,” not “LGBT.”
What did Pope Francis do this week to increase inclusion of LGBTQ+ people?
He authorized clergy to bless same-sex couples
In a new rule declared this past Monday, Pope Francis allowed priests to bless same-sex couples for the first time.
The declaration does not amend “the traditional doctrine of the church about marriage,” according to Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the office of the Doctrine of the Faith, because there is no liturgical rite that could be confused with the marriage sacrament.
The Church still maintains that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
Which major LGBTQ+ organization left X (formerly Twitter) this week because of cyberbullying of queer youth?
GLSEN
This week GLSEN, the LGBTQ+ student rights advocacy organization, announced that it will no longer use X because of “increased cyberbullying and harassment against transgender and LGBTQ+ youth” on the platform. Specifically, the organization mentioned X’s quiet removal of a policy that protected transgender people from deliberate misgendering and deadnaming.
Which social media company made a reported $1.6 million for running ads promoting the Daily Wire's anti-trans film "Lady Ballers"?
Meta
A recent Media Matters analysis found that Meta has earned over $1.6 million from ads taken out by the far-right Daily Wire to promote its viciously anti-trans film Lady Ballers. The media watchdog group found that the Daily Wire ran 183 ads to promote the film on both Facebook and Instagram, with at least 150 of those ads including clips that violate Meta’s anti-hate speech policies.
