LGBTQ

Romeo and Juliet. (Jane Hobson) A harsh, industrial scaffold set suggests a backdrop of urban war for this dark, modern take on Romeo and Juliet at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The gravel covered ground is severed with a crack along the centre, the stage front sloping off like a trench. It’s a literal

The rainbow bottle from Absolut Vodka celebrates Pride all-year long. (Absolut Vodka) Absolut Vodka is once again supporting and celebrating the LGBT+ community with its Pride edition vodka bottle. The Absolut Rainbow bottle features the Pride flag colours created by Gilbert Baker. The bottle is available to buy from thebottleclub.com. This article contains affiliate links,

Joe Biden delivered an empowering message of hope to LGBT+ youth in a message for the It Gets better Project. (YouTube) Joe Biden has delivered a powerful, urgent message of positivity and hope to America’s embattled LGBT+ youth. The president of the United States recorded a message for the It Gets Better Project, which shared

Pope Francis. (Christopher Furlong/Getty) Italy’s prime minister Mario Draghi has rejected Vatican efforts to interfere with the passage of an anti-discrimination law. There was widespread outrage among LGBT+ groups in Italy when it emerged that the Vatican had stated its opposition to the proposed law, which would extend anti-discrimination protections to women, LGBT+ people and

The new trans pets are part of the MMO game’s Pride Month celebration (Cryptic Studios) New pets have been added to Star Trek Online to celebrate the trans community. The additions come as part of the annual Lohlunat Festival that brings extra content to the MMORPG game. The Transcendent Caracal and Transcendent Tribble pets both

Britney Spears attends the 4th Hollywood Beauty Awards on 25 February 2018 in Hollywood, California.(Photo by JB Lacroix/WireImage) Britney Spears in an incendiary, impassioned and exactingly prepared speech to the courts Wednesday afternoon (23 June) has called for an end to her “abusive” conservatorship for good. Shattering her years-long silence regarding the complex legal arrangement that

Parents turned up to protest at the school board meeting. (Drew Wilder/Twitter) A school board meeting on transgender policies descended into chaos, with members of the public screaming abuse and chanting “shame on you” – and it was all caught on camera. One person was arrested and another was injured at the Loudon County School

Season five of Rick and Morty confirmed that Jerry is queer. (YouTube/Screenshot) Rick and Morty has revealed that a central character is queer in a surprising season five storyline. The hugely-popular animated series, created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, follows the adventures of cynical scientist Rick and his grandson Morty. Rick and Morty has always had

The Pride flag was removed from the church in Ballyfermot after the diocese intervened. (Facebook) People in Dublin are preparing to hold a solidarity vigil after a church in Ballyfermot was ordered to take down a Pride flag by Catholic leaders. Ballyfermot Assumption Parish Church put up the Pride flag and an Irish flag last

Billie Eilish. (Getty) Singer Billie Eilish has apologised and said she is “appalled and embarrassed” after a video surfaced of her mouthing to an anti-Asian slur. The Grammy-winning pop star, 19, addressed a tidal wave of backlash she has weathered for lip-syncing to Tyler The Creator’s 2011 song “Fish” when she was “13 or 14”.

Queer|Art is a New York-based nonprofit. (Queer|Art) For the queer community, “art helps us see that we are not alone and that there are others who understand what it is to feel the way we do”. That’s according to Travis Chamberlain, executive director of the New York-based Queer|Art. “Art, in this way, truly does have

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has received an outpouring of support from prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Hubbard, 43, became the first openly trans athlete to be selected for the Olympics when she was picked for the New Zealand women’s weightlifting team for Toyko 2020. Ardern offered Hubbard her full support. “All parties here have simply

An Emmy statuette pictured at the 71st Emmy Awards in 2019 (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty) Emmy nominees will now have the option to use the gender-neutral term “performer”, the TV Academy has announced. Starting with the Daytime Emmy Awards next month, nominees in any category will be able to choose the non-gendered description on their nomination certificate

Laurel Hubbard. (Dan Mullan/Getty Images) New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is set to make history as she becomes the first openly trans athlete picked to compete at the Olympic Games. Officials have selected the 43-year-old, one of the top-ranking athletes in her category, for the New Zealand women’s weightlifting team for Toyko 2020 after the

The equality parade marches through Warsaw on 19 June 2021. (Piotr Lapinski/NurPhoto/Getty) Thousands rallied in Warsaw for the largest Pride parade in central Europe, taking a defiant stand against the rising tide of homophobia in Poland. Marchers gathered amid a sea of rainbow flags for the Warsaw equality parade on Saturday (19 June), with the

Elizabeth Rondón. (Twitter) A trans woman was reportedly beaten and brutally dismembered by her friends after going for drinks in an attack that has fuelled fear in Miranda, Venezuela. Elizabeth Rondón, a 33-year-old vegetable seller, was slain Monday morning (13 June) after at least three people beat her, according to activists and witnesses. Loved ones

Sesame Street is breaking new ground with its first same-sex couple (Facebook/Alan Muraoka) Sesame Street is celebrating Pride month with an adorable special episode introducing its first ever same-sex couple. The milestone episode, titled “Family Day,” debuted on HBO Max and YouTube on Thursday (17 June) and sees characters welcome their family members to the famous

Brontez Purnell, author of 100 Boyfriends. (Stephanie Lister) When Brontez Purnell sat down to write 100 Boyfriends, he knew he wasn’t going to have to try hard. “Given the queer sex that we’ve been handed over the years, how hard is it to do something radically different?” he laughs. “I don’t think I tried very hard, I

Father Paulo Antônio Mueller hurling homophobic slurs from the pulpit (YouTube/Jacques Gosh) A Brazilian priest is under investigation after he was filmed delivering a homophobic slur-filled homily about a gay reporter. Father Paulo Antônio Mueller, a preacher in the city of Tapurah, is being investigated by Mato Grosso State prosecutors for a vile anti-gay sermon

A USA Pride flag. (Getty/ ISI photos/ Brad Smith) The most dangerous states for LGBT+ people in the whole of the United States have been ranked. A research team at home security and personal safety company Safe Home used data from over a dozen sources, including the FBI, the UCLA School of Law and the US

YouTube has been slammed for completely deleting Australian gay comedy channel Ding Dong I’m Gay during Pride month. The gay, sex-positive comedy web series follows Cameron, a gay man who came out six years ago and moved to Sydney, trying to prove to his newly-out cousin that his is “an all-knowing gay guru”. Released last year,

LGBT+ activists rally in support of trans people on the steps of New York City Hall in 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty) The US Department of Justice has filed court documents arguing that recently passed anti-trans laws are unconstitutional. On Thursday (17 June) the department filed statements of interests in two lawsuits that aim to overturn laws

Artist Jess de Wahls. (AFP via Getty/ TOLGA AKMEN) Royal Academy of Arts has pulled the work of artist Jess de Wahls from its gift shop after backlash over her “transphobic views”. Until this week, the gallery stocked embroidered patched designed by de Wahls, but social media users alerted the Royal Academy of Arts to

Police seized a “f**k the police” tote bag as evidence. (Twitter/ dirozevepave) Cops in Glasgow seized a “f**k the police” tote bag as “evidence” from the window of queer, anarchist Jewish café, and its founders are now facing criminal charges. Pink Peacock is ‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏a queer, Jewish, anarchist, pay-what-you-can café on Glasgow’s Victoria Road, which declares

Conservative Christian baker Jack Phillips. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty) A Colorado baker has been fined by a district judge after he refused to bake a blue and pink birthday cake celebrating a trans customer’s transition. Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop – which in 2018 won a narrow Supreme Court victory over its refusal to bake a cake for a

On 14 June, 2021, thousands protested outside Hungary’s parliament against a bill which has now passed, banning the mention of LGBT+ people in schools and in the media. (AFP via Getty/ GERGELY BESENYEI) Friends and Harry Potter could be banned in Hungary for “promoting homosexuality” under the country’s new anti-LGBT+ law. On Tuesday (15 June),

A woman holds a banner reading “ICE stop attacking our community” during a protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland, Oregon. (Getty/ Anadolu Agency/ Alex Milan Tracy) US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tried to wish everyone a happy Pride Month, but the LGBT+ community was having none of it. On Wednesday

Bryan Furze and LeeMichael McLean were the target of a bizarre homophobic campaign (Facebook/LeeMichael McLean) A gay couple who were harassed with homophobic magazine subscriptions found a way to put the abuse to good use with the help of their local community. For five years, Massachusetts couple Bryan Furze and LeeMichael McLean endured a bizarre

Across the UK, LGBT+ youth are twice as likely as non-LGBT+ youth to have considered suicide. (Envato) LGBT+ youth in Northern Ireland are the most likely to have considered taking their own lives, heartbreaking new research has shown. The LGBT+ youth charity Just Like Us surveyed 2,934 secondary school students across the whole of the

Because of a military ban on gay sex, the two male solders were considered by the court to have “molested” each other by having consensual oral sex.  (AFP via Getty/ Jung Yeon-je) A military court in South Korea has prosecuted two male soldiers, insisting that their consensual sex “bordered on rape”. The two men were