Top Stories
Kansas AG Demands Cities Repeal Ex-Gay Torture Bans
The Kansas Reflector reports: The Kansas attorney general demanded three cities repeal their bans on conversion therapy for minors following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that found such bans violate the First Amendment. Attorney General Kris Kobach sent letters Thursday to city officials in Lawrence, Prairie Village and Roeland Park, requesting they respond within 60 days to indicate whether they nullified their bans on conversion therapy. The collection of practices known as conversion therapy were designed to attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It is banned in 27 states and more than a dozen other countries, and it […]
The people who called AIDS God’s punishment for gays are helping measles make a comeback
MAGA, MAHA, or whatever we’re calling a cult of people determined to drag America back to 1830, is having another banner year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last Friday that the U.S. currently has the largest number of measles cases we’ve seen in 35 years, and it comes amid a dramatic slide in childhood vaccination rates. Maybe it’s time to bring back the covered wagons and live in simpler times when 40 percent of all children failed to reach adulthood. We’re well on our way. Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, it was impossible to escape the hatred and hostility hurled […]
University of Alabama quietly abandons sexual orientation & gender identity nondiscrimination policy
The University of Alabama system quietly erased explicit protections for LGBTQ+ people from its nondiscrimination policy. The change, first reported by The Crimson White, appears to have been made sometime in November 2025, according to archived versions of the Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Program pages for the system and its campuses in Birmingham and Huntsville. The pages previously listed “sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression” as protected categories, language that remains visible in documents hosted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a […]
Local News
Positive Images Social Saturday Happened August 8 at Healdsburg Beach
Join Positive Images and Sonoma County Regional Parks for a Rainbow River day at Healdsburg Veterans Memorial Beach for swimming, and some fun in the sun on August 8th from 12-2pm This is an all ages, family focused event. For questions, please reach out to joy@posimages.org
Wake Up Sonoma Meets with Sonoma Valley High School Superintendent About Pride Flag Removal
On July 22, Board members, David, Josette and Lisa met with Superintendent Jason Sutter, who continues to be invested in listening to the community, hearing us out, and working within his role and capacity. Below is a summary of our meeting.He has scheduled the presentation of two possible flag policies for September. This will give the Superintendent time to work with administrators, staff, and students to develop the draft policies. He would also be surprised if the issue is fully resolved in September. Board policies often require multiple revisions, and because two drafts will be presented to the Board, the […]
Arts & Entertainment
Now at Rialto Cinemas in Sebastopol: “Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World”
Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the WorldOne Week Only Starts Friday July 24 3:50 pm & 5:45 pm If poetry had a pop icon, Mary Oliver would be it. Celebrated best-selling poet, Pulitzer Prize-winner, lover of dogs and long walks in the woods, openly queer but intensely private, Oliver was America’s unlikely contemporary mystic, stalking the ponds and forests of Cape Cod for nearly fifty years in order to open herself – and her readers – to the known and unknowable world. From a lonely childhood to literary fame, Oliver’s life was shaped by devotion to nature, paying attention, and the […]
State News
When San Francisco “went absolutely bonkers” over a gay vigilante group
“Nothing disgusts me more than a f**got on the sideline.” So said the Rev. Ray Broshears, the collar-clad leader of the Lavender Panthers, a gay vigilante group enlisted by Broshears to combat attacks on gay and trans people in San Francisco during the 1970s. Broshears aggressive tactics and publicity-seeking gained the group some mainstream headlines and probably account for its prominent place in the history of the “Gay Liberation” movement today, when other community-based responses to police harassment and gay-bashing have been lost. The controversial and self-styled gay “reverend” was a master at provocation. “I believe in confrontation politics,” Broshears […]
California budgets $26 million to protect access to gender-affirming care from federal attacks
In a win for trans people, their families, and healthcare providers in the state, California has passed a new budget that includes funds to protect gender-affirming and reproductive healthcare from federal funding interference. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed the budget, which was the result of extensive lobbying from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, including TransFamily Support Services. “This historic investment will help keep care accessible, support the providers doing this lifesaving work, and remind trans young people that California will not abandon them,” said Kathy Moehlig, director of TransFamily Support Services. The 2026-27 budget sets aside $26 million to support gender-affirming care access […]
