Lou Chibbaro Jr.
Anti-LGBTQ Groups Seek to Overturn Virginia Trans Protections
Two Virginia-based organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights filed separate lawsuits on March 29 and March 30 challenging a state policy that requires public schools to allow transgender students to have access to "restrooms, locker rooms and changing [...]
DC Log Cabin Republicans 'Super Energized' After Officer Elections
The D.C. LGBTQ GOP group Log Cabin Republicans plans to increase its involvement in local and national politics this year after increasing its membership by 25 percent in 2020. And after its March 20 through 22 online election of officers, its [...]
Gay Ex-Liberal Leader Arrested on Capitol Riot Charges
Brandon Straka, a gay former hairdresser and aspiring actor in New York City who in 2018 launched a 'Walk Away from the Democrats' social media campaign that went viral, was arrested in Nebraska on Jan. 25 on civil disorder related charges in [...]
Biden, Harris Inauguration Events Mostly Virtual
The Presidential Inaugural Committee for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is calling on the LGBTQ community to participate in several planned virtual inaugural events that reflect the theme of "America United," an [...]
Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crimes Mostly Unchanged in 2019: FBI
The number of hate crime incidents targeting gays, lesbians and bisexuals in the U.S. decreased slightly from 17.0 percent of the total number of hate crime incidents reported to the FBI in 2018 to 16.7 percent of the total number reported in 2019, [...]
Pope Francis Names D.C. Archbishop as Cardinal
Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he has promoted Washington Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, who has expressed support for LGBTQ Catholics, to the rank of cardinal. The pope disclosed his decision to appoint Gregory and 12 other church leaders as [...]
Thousands Denied Cure for Blindness Due to Ban on Tissue Donation From Gay Men
A first-of-its-kind medical journal study published on Sept. 24 shows that as many as 3,217 intended donations of corneas from the eyes of gay and bisexual men in 2018 that could have restored the vision of blind people through cornea transplant [...]
Gay Games Announces 2022 'Contingency Planning Committee'
Officials with Gay Games Hong Kong 2022, the committee organizing the quadrennial international LGBTQ sports event scheduled to take place in Hong Kong in November 2022, announced at an online webinar on Aug. 27 that a "contingency planning [...]
New D.C. HIV Cases Decline by Widest Margin in 5 years: Report
The number of new HIV infections reported in D.C. in 2019 declined by 16 percent from 2018, the largest decline over the previous five years, indicating the city's HIV prevention efforts are moving closer to achieving Mayor Muriel Bowser's goal of [...]
FDA Approves Human Trial for Treatment to Cure HIV
American Gene Technologies, a Rockville, Maryland, based gene and cell therapy company, announced on Aug. 11 that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin its first human clinical trial for a unique cell altering [...]
Gay Former Catholic Official Charged with Stealing $2.1 Million in COVID-19 Relief Funds
Editor's Note: This piece has been updated to protect the identity of a person involved with this case. A gay former assistant superintendent and contracting liaison for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington has been charged with fraudulently [...]
Lewis Defended Gay Marriage in 2004 House Speech
Members of Congress and the public paid tribute to the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) this week at the U.S. Capitol in both a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, where his American flag-draped coffin was placed, and on the steps outside the East [...]