As the world continues to learn more about coronavirus and its spread, it's vital to stay up-to-date on the latest developments. However, it's also important to make sure that the information being distributed is from credible sources. To that end, Between The Lines has compiled, [...]
Members of Congress Call Upon White House to Implement Bostock Ruling
More than 100 members of Congress on Thursday called upon President Trump to implement last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that says Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans anti-LGBTQ employment discrimination. [...]
Supreme Court Makes Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination Easier at Religious Schools
In a decision that undermines LGBTQ teachers at religious schools, the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed for Catholic schools an expansive ministerial exemption in hiring practices under civil rights law. In the 7-2 decision issued [...]
Wedding Photographer Files Federal Lawsuit Against Va. Nondiscrimination Law
A Norfolk wedding photographer has filed a federal lawsuit against Virginia’s new anti-LGBTQ discrimination law. The lawsuit, which the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ legal group, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of [...]
Virginia Nondiscrimination Bill Takes Effect
A bill that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to Virginia’s nondiscrimination law took effect on Wednesday. The Democrat-controlled General Assembly earlier this year approved the Virginia Values Act. Governor Ralph Northam signed it into [...]
House Approves Bill to Designate Pulse Nightclub a National Memorial
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved a bill that would designate the Pulse nightclub as a national memorial. A press release that U.S. Reps. Darren Soto, Val Demings, and Stephanie Murphy released notes [...]
Global Pride Amplifies Black Voices During 24-Hour Virtual Event
Celebrities, politicians and activists on Saturday united with Global Pride 2020, a 24-hour virtual event created in light of widespread cancellations of Pride events and festivals due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event celebrated LGBTQ [...]
D.C. Installs ‘Progress Pride’ Rainbow Flag Crosswalk
Representatives of the Office of the Mayor as well as the Director of the D.C. Department of Transportation looked on as a rainbow crosswalk was installed at 17th and P Streets, NW on Thursday. The [...]
Trump Admin Sued for Refusing to Back Down on Anti-Trans Health Care Rule
With the Trump administration refusing to take back its rule permitting anti-transgender discrimination in health care following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ rights effectively countermanding it, LGBTQ legal advocates are returning to the [...]
Fulfilling the Promise of Juneteenth
This Friday is the American holiday known as Juneteenth, although this holiday is largely unknown to many Americans — as it commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger announced federal orders in Galveston, [...]
Supreme Court Ruling may Force Trump Retreat on Anti-LGBTQ Policies
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling this week in terms of the immediate protections it granted LGBTQ people in the workplace, but the decision may soon provide more victories by forcing President Trump [...]
HISTORIC: Supreme Court Rules Firing Workers for Being LGBTQ is Illegal
In a historic development, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday federal law bars discrimination against workers for being LGBTQ, affirming long-sought federal protections for LGBTQ people in the workplace. The 6-3 decision, written by [...]
Trump Admin Makes Final Rule Allowing Anti-Trans Discrimination in Health Care
Disregarding pleas from transgender advocates, the Trump administration made final on Friday a rule enabling health care providers to refuse care to transgender people, including gender reassignment surgery. The rule change at the Department of [...]
Jerry Moore, Activist, Last Link to Detroit Mattachine, Dies at 92
Jerry Abraham “Jai” Moore, a tireless advocate for civil liberties and social justice, and the last surviving officer of the Detroit Area Council of the Mattachine Society of the late 1950s, died May 22 at [...]
LGBTQ Athletes Urge NCAA to Nix Events in Idaho Over Anti-Trans Sports Law
Lesbian athletes Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe are calling on the National Collegiate Athletics Association to move a major basketball competition from Idaho in the wake of the state enacting a law barring transgender [...]
Anger Over Racism, Police Brutality Directed at Trump in White House Protests
Protesters gathered outside the White House on Saturday to direct their anger at President Trump after days of demonstrations over police brutality against Black individuals, including George Floyd. The portion of 16th Street leading up [...]
‘It Means Giving Up Some Privilege’: Black Leaders on how LGBTQs Should Fight Racism
As anger over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis continues to rage — with protests, #BlackOut posts on social media and even violence — some are asking what action is needed from the LGBTQ [...]
Musicians, Politicians, Drag Queens Set to Headline Global Pride 2020
LGBTQ musical icons, drag queens and global human rights leaders are set to take part in Global Pride 2020 on June 27, a 24-hour virtual LGBTQ celebration that is estimated to attract 300 million viewers, [...]
Anti-LGBTQ Steve King Loses GOP Primary to Anti-LGBTQ Challenger
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who long before his remarks embracing white nationalism was known for his draconian anti-LGBTQ views, lost his primary race in Iowa, but to a challenger who also has an anti-LGBTQ record. [...]
LGBTQ Groups Call to Bring Into Movement Anti-Racism, End to White Supremacy
Amid the national horror following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, LGBTQ and civil rights groups have issued a joint statement declaring anti-racism and an end to white supremacy must be “integral to [...]
Trump Administration: Transgender Inclusion in School Sports violates Law
In a determination sending a nationwide message against transgender inclusion in sports, the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos has concluded the participation of two transgender athletes in the girls’ school track league in [...]
LGBT Lawmakers Lead Effort To Push Mail, Absentee Voting
Amid concerns the coronavirus pandemic could endanger voters seeking to cast their ballots in the 2020 election, LGBT members of Congress have launched an initiative with the Human Rights Campaign to call on states to [...]
Larry Kramer, Gay Rights Pioneer During AIDS Crisis, Dies at 84
Larry Kramer, a gay rights pioneer who led the way as an activist and author during the AIDS crisis, has died at age 84, according to a report in the New York Times. David Webster, [...]
Supreme Court Refuses to Block Transgender Surgery for Idaho Inmate
In a surprise order on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant the state of Idaho’s request to block gender reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate, which lower courts affirmed is her right to [...]
Barefoot Wine Creates Pride-Themed Packaging to Benefit Free Mom Hugs
As June draws closer, the LGBTQ community is still anticipating Pride month, but it's clear that novel coronavirus concerns have drastically altered what celebrations are going to look like across the globe. Still, that's not [...]
Melissa Etheridge’s 21-Year-Old Son Dead
By Washington Blade Staff Melissa Etheridge’s 21-year-old son Beckett Cypher died Wednesday. Etheridge tweeted that it was related to opioid addiction. “Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid [...]
Over 300,000 Transgender People at Heightened Risk for COVID-19
It's no secret that the health impacts of the new coronavirus are not yet fully understood. In fact, it's still uncertain what makes different populations more susceptible to the virus than others, but scientists do [...]
NOGLSTP Seeks LGBTQ Scholarship Applicants
The National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals is seeking applicants for the 2020/2021 school year to receive its Out to Innovate Scholarship. Any two undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a career [...]
Stonewall Riots Historian, Author David Carter Dies at 67
David Carter, an author and historian on LGBTQ civil rights who is credited with writing the definitive book about the 1969 Stonewall riots that he said triggered a worldwide “mass movement” for LGBTQ rights, died [...]
CDC Now has Data on HIV Infections for Trans People — and They’re Going Up
For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention is including data on transgender people in its reports on HIV infections — and the results show a gradual increase in new cases of [...]
Indigo Girls to Perform at PFLAG Virtual Mother’s Day Brunch Celebration
WASHINGTON — On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10, PFLAG National will air a celebration of motherly love, the “PFLAG Virtual Mother’s Day Brunch." This free, online special event raises awareness and funds for PFLAG National, [...]
Supreme Court Focuses in on Religion
While LGBTQ people nervously await the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions regarding two big employment discrimination cases, the court this month heard arguments in other cases that could have significant impact. On Wednesday, May 6, the [...]
Nat’l Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund Endorses Biden
Joseph Biden has obtained the official support from a leading transgender rights group, which has endorsed him in his bid to unseat President Trump from the White House. The National Center for Transgender Equality Action [...]
HRC Rolls Out Support for Biden on Anniversary of Marriage Endorsement
The nation’s leading LGBTQ group has officially thrown its support behind Joseph Biden in the presidential election, drawing on the anniversary of his famous words in support of same-sex marriage on “Meet the Press” to [...]
HRC Lays Off 22 Employees Due to Coronavirus
The Human Rights Campaign on Tuesday laid off 22 employees because of the coronavirus pandemic. HRC told the Washington Blade that Alphonso David, the organization’s president, “personally reached out to every single person affected to [...]
Corktown, Unified, 170+ Organizations Call on Legislators to Address LGBTQ COVID-19 Concerns
Along with over 170 state, local and national organizations across the U.S., Corktown Health Center and Unified HIV Health and Beyond have signed two open letters to policymakers to address LGBTQ-specific new coronavirus concerns. These [...]
As Sex Toy Sales Spike Globally, LGBTQ-Friendly Retailer Offers #StayHome Sale
A Rising Need Almost everyone's staying home. People are bored. And they're getting intimate. Or at least, that's what global sex toy sales show. Around the world, sex toy sales are rising sky high as [...]
LGBTQ Groups Seek Safeguards Against COVID-19 Discrimination
At least 170 national, state, and local LGBTQ and allied organizations on April 21 released a joint open letter to health care and public policy leaders calling for measures to prohibit discrimination in the treatment [...]
GLAAD to Present Livestream Highlighting LGBTQ COVID-19 Response, Benefiting CenterLink
GLAAD announced that it will host “Together in Pride: You are Not Alone,” a livestream event on Sunday, April 26 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on GLAAD’s YouTube channel and Facebook Live. The event will highlight the LGBTQ response to COVID-19 [...]
Trump Executive Order to Suspend US Immigration for 60 Days
Advocacy groups on Tuesday sharply criticized President Trump over his executive order that will effectively stop immigration into the U.S. “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to [...]
State AGs to FDA: Drop Gay Blood Ban and Use Risk-Based Policy
In the aftermath of the Food & Drug Administration easing the ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is leading a group of 19 states in calling for [...]
CenterLink Calls on Congress to Take Note of LGBTQ Centers
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers is asking Congress to take note of the work LGBTQ community centers do across the country and to remember them for funding in future stimulus packages. CenterLink represents more [...]
Fewer Americans Oppose Religious-Based Refusal of Service to LGBTQ People: Poll
A new study on LGBTQ issues made public Tuesday has found a modest — but noticeable and sustained — drop over time in opposition to business owners being allowed to refuse services to LGBTQ people. The study, [...]
Obituary: Phyllis Ann Lyon
Nov. 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020 Phyllis Lyon, who along with her late wife Del Martin, became the first to wed in San Francisco in 2004 when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom instructed the city clerk [...]
Fauci: Gay People Lifted Stigma With ‘Incredible Courage’ in HIV/AIDS Epidemic
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday the visibility LGBTQ people brought to themselves during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic helped change the tide for public perception. Fauci made the remarks during the daily White House [...]
White House: ICE to Consider Release of Vulnerable Detainees on ‘Case-By-Case’ Basis
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf on Wednesday did not specifically say whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would consider releasing detainees who are at heightened risk for the coronavirus. “In some cases, we [...]
Idaho Governor Quietly Signs Anti-Trans Bills Amid Coronavirus Crisis
As the nation’s focus has become fixated on the coronavirus, Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed into law Monday, on the eve of the Transgender Day of Visibility, two pieces of anti-transgender legislation. One measure, [...]
Transgender Legal Group Releases Coronavirus Guide
By Michelle Siegel The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund has prepared a free online guide, available in both English and Spanish, for transgender and non-binary individuals attempting to navigate life during the coronavirus pandemic. “A Know Your [...]
PrEP Manufacturer to Test Drug Against COVID-19 — Has Low Expectations
Gilead Sciences, the manufacturer of Truvada, is set to test components of the HIV prevention drug against COVID-19 as the pandemic continues to rage across the globe — but has low expectations for the results, [...]
International AIDS Conference to Be Held Virtually Because of Coronavirus
Organizers of the 2020 International AIDS Conference on Friday announced the event will be held virtually because of the coronavirus. The conference was scheduled to take place in San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., from July [...]
Senators Renew Call to Lift Ban on Gay Blood Donations Amid Coronavirus Crisis
A cadre of 17 senators — including six former presidential hopefuls and one current candidate — are calling on the Food & Drug Administration to take another look at the ban prohibiting gay and bisexual [...]