John Worthing, a carefree young gentleman, is the inventor of a fictitious brother, “Ernest,” whose wicked ways afford John an excuse to leave his country home from time to time and journey to London, where he stays with his close friend and confidant, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon has a cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax, with whom John is deeply in love. During his London sojourns, John, under the name Ernest, has won Gwendolen’s love, for she strongly desires to marry someone with the confidence-inspiring name of Ernest. But when he asks for Gwendolen’s hand from the formidable Lady Bracknell, John finds he must reveal he is a foundling who was left in a handbag at Victoria Station. This is very disturbing to Lady Bracknell, who insists that he produce at least one parent before she consents to the marriage.
Returning to the country home where he lives with his ward Cecily Cardew and her governess Miss Prism, John finds that Algernon has also arrived under the identity of the nonexistent brother Ernest. Algernon falls madly in love with the beautiful Cecily, who has long been enamored of the mysterious, fascinating brother Ernest.
With the arrival of Lady Bracknell and Gwendolen, chaos erupts. It is discovered that Miss Prism is the absent-minded nurse who twenty years ago misplaced the baby of Lady Bracknell’s brother in Victoria Station. Thus John, whose name is indeed Ernest, is Algernon’s elder brother, and the play ends with the two couples in a joyous embrace.
Equality California released the following statement from Executive Director Tony Hoang in response to two anti-transgender bills—AB 89 by Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) and AB 844 by Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Riverside)—failing to advance out of the Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism Committee on Tuesday by a 2-6 vote on each:
“Instead of tackling the real problems in our state like high inflation and rising healthcare costs, Assemblymembers Sanchez and Essayli continue to waste time and taxpayer money using transgender youth as political pawns in a shameful display of divisive politics and a thirst for attention.
AB 89 and AB 844 are part of the nationwide coordinated effort led by extremists in Washington D.C. to sow fear and misinformation about transgender people—in particular youth—and attempt to erase them from virtually all areas of public life.
Participation in sports provides kids with invaluable life skills such as teamwork, leadership, discipline, and cooperation—fundamental lessons that every young person deserves to experience. Beyond the field, sports also contribute significantly to students’ well-being, fostering better mental health, boosting academic performance, and enhancing self-esteem and confidence.
Local schools and athletic associations across California have policies in place that ensure a level playing field for all students while protecting transgender youth. These protections have existed for years without issue and have allowed the small number of transgender athletes in California to play school sports alongside their teammates – just like everyone else.
If these members and their counterparts were truly committed to addressing the inequities and safety concerns women face—in sports and everyday life—they would be joining the frontlines in the fight for equal pay, stronger protections against domestic violence and stalking, and expanded healthcare resources.
We are pleased these bills have failed and are thankful to those lawmakers who opposed this dangerous legislation in committee, particularly to the committee chair, Assemblymember Chris Ward, for his leadership.”
Equality California continues to partner with the Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and other legislative partners to ensure that the LGBTQ+ community is treated with the dignity and respect they are entitled to. We are committed to continuing the fight to build a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ+ people, and discriminatory bills such as this one have no place in California.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org
Wedding Banquet is a joyful comedy of errors about a chosen family navigating cultural identity and family expectations. It’s a remake of the original 1993 film with a new lesbian emphasis.
“The Wedding Banquet” centers two couples: Chris & Min and Angela & Lee. Angela and her partner Lee have been unlucky with their IVF treatments, but can’t afford to pay for another round. Meanwhile their friend Min, the closeted scion of a multinational corporate empire, has plenty of family money but a soon-to-expire student visa. Frustrated with his commitment-phobic boyfriend Chris (Bowen Yang) and running out of time, Min makes a proposal: a green-card marriage with their friend Angela in exchange for her partner Lee’s expensive IVF. Elopement plans are upended, however, when Min’s grandmother flies in from Korea unannounced and surprises them with an extravagant wedding banquet.
“What makes the film work is the underlying validity of thestory, the way the filmmakers don’t simply go for melodrama and laughs, but paythese characters their due.” RogerEbert.com
Resolution Calls Out Closures of CDC and NIH Programs, Loss of Grants, and Global Funding
The West Hollywood City Council has formally voiced opposition to reported cuts to HIV prevention and treatment programs by the second Trump administration, citing concern for the local and global impact of dismantling key public health efforts.
At its regular meeting on Monday, April 7, 2025, the Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the federal government’s rollback of HIV/AIDS research, prevention, and treatment initiatives and reaffirmed the city’s ongoing commitment to supporting vulnerable communities.
According to the resolution, the Trump administration has begun dismantling or defunding programs under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). These programs have historically played a central role in combating the HIV epidemic both domestically and abroad.
In early April, the HIV + Hepatitis Policy Institute issued a statement confirming that entire divisions within the CDC focused on HIV prevention had been shuttered, including offices responsible for public health campaigns, data modeling, and behavioral research. The NIH, according to the same release, terminated at least 20 research grants, many of which focused on high-risk populations such as transgender people, children, and BIPOC communities.
West Hollywood officials said these moves are especially damaging to the city and its history of HIV/AIDS activism. The city, incorporated in 1984 at the height of the AIDS crisis, has long been recognized as a leader in addressing the epidemic through community services, medical support, and public awareness campaigns.
“We are proud of the role that West Hollywood has played in addressing HIV/AIDS,” the Council stated in its resolution. “In the 1980s, as gay men in our community were getting sick and dying all around us, the City responded with resources, creativity, and most importantly, with compassion.”
Officials also cited the reversal of progress made under the federal “Ending the HIV Epidemic” (EHE) initiative, first introduced during Trump’s initial term in 2019. That initiative has led to notable progress, with CDC data showing a 21% decline in new infections in targeted jurisdictions between 2018 and 2022.
In contrast, the recent administrative shift has reportedly halted public data collection related to transgender populations and suspended HIV public awareness efforts while also threatening funding for organizations that include diversity, equity, or inclusion in their programming.
The resolution approved by West Hollywood City Council includes a formal letter to President Donald J. Trump, with copies sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, U.S. Representative Laura Friedman, and other federal and state leaders.
The city noted that HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately affect communities served by West Hollywood and reaffirmed its commitment to offering support through its Human Services Division, which funds HIV-related programs and services throughout the region.
For more information about local HIV and AIDS resources, residents are encouraged to visitwww.weho.org/humanservices or call (323) 848-6510.
Raiden Hung, of Jurassic Gymnastics in Boston, relaxes after competing on the uneven bars at the NAIGC national competition in Pittsburgh on Friday.Gene J. Puskar / AP
PITTSBURGH — Raiden Hung can’t imagine a life without gymnastics. And to be honest, he doesn’t want to.
There’s always been something about the sport that’s called to him. Something about flipping. Something about the discipline it requires. Something about the mixture of joy and calm he feels whenever he steps onto a mat.
“It keeps me sane, I guess,” the 21-year-old student at Northeastern University in Boston said. “Gymnastics is the love of my life basically.”
The hours in the gym have long served as a constant for Hung. The one thing he can always depend on. The one place where he can truly feel like himself.
Still, Hung feared he would be forced to give up gymnastics when he realized in his late teens that he was nonbinary. He had identified as female most of his life and competed in women’s events growing up. He says he now identifies as trans-masculine.
Part of Hung’s transition included beginning hormone replacement therapy, something he considered putting off over worries that it meant he would no longer be able to compete.
“It was sort of like, ‘Do I have to make a choice?’” Hung said. “And that would have probably been awful for my mental stability, like having to choose between the two.”
The National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs gave Hung safe harbor. The stated mission of the steadily growing organization that includes more than 2,500 athletes and 160 clubs across the country is to provide a place for college and adult gymnasts to continue competing while “pushing the boundaries of the sport.”
Ten Harder, of Boston University Gymnastics Club in Boston, dismounts the balance beam at the NAIGC national competition .Gene J. Puskar / AP
That includes, but is hardly limited to, being as gender-inclusive as possible.
During local NAIGC meets, for example, there are no gender categories. Athletes compete against every other athlete at their designated skill level, which can run from novice/developmental routines to ones that wouldn’t look out of place at an NCAA Division I meet.
Gymnasts can also hop on whatever apparatus they want. Women on parallel bars. Men on the balance beam. Just about anything goes. At its annual national meet, the NAIGC even offers the “decathlon,” which allows athletes of all gender identities to compete against each other across all 10 disciplines — six in men’s, four in women’s — of artistic gymnastics.
“(We want) people to be able to continue doing gymnastics into adulthood in a way that feels comfortable and safe and supportive for them,” said Ilana Shushanky, NAIGC’s director of operations.
A challenging climate
The approach comes as transgender athletes find themselves the target of increasingly heated rhetoric.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February that gave federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth. A day later, the NCAA said it would limit competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth.
The message to the transgender community at large was clear: You do not belong here. Several trans and/or nonbinary members of the NAIGC, which is independently run and volunteer-led and does not rely on federal money to operate, felt it.
Multiple trans or nonbinary athletes who spoke to The Associated Press said they pondered quitting following last fall’s election, despondent over what at times feels like an increasingly hostile environment toward their community.
None did. One viewed stepping away as ceding power over a part of who they are to someone else. Another pointed to the social aspect of gymnastics and how vital the feeling of acceptance in their home gym was to maintaining proper mental and emotional health.
“Part of my identity is as an athlete and to see myself as strong and able to do hard things,” said Wes Weske, who is nonbinary and previously competed in the decathlon before recently graduating from medical school. “I think (gymnastics) really helped my self-image and was just an important part of understanding myself.”
A sense of normalcy
That sense of belonging was everywhere at the NAIGC’s national competition in early April. For three days, more than 1,700 athletes, including a dozen who registered their gender as “other,” turned a convention center hall in downtown Pittsburgh into what could best be described as a celebration.
Not just of gymnastics. But of diversity. And inclusion. It all looked and felt and sounded like any other large-scale meet. Cheers from one corner following a stuck dismount. Roars from another corner encouraging a competitor to hop back up after a fall.
Raiden Hung, of Jurassic Gymnastics in Boston, center left, celebrates with teammate Fay Malay after competing in the floor exercise.Gene J. Puskar / AP
For Hung and the 11 “other” competitors allowed to choose whether to compete in the men’s or women’s divisions, nationals provided the opportunity to salute the judges and stand alongside their teammates while being seen for who they really are.
When Hung dismounted from his uneven bars routine, several members of Jurassic Gymnastics, the all-adult competitive team based in Boston that Hung joined, came over to offer a hug, pep talk or both.
The group included Eric Petersen, a 49-year-old married father of two teenagers who competed on the men’s team at the Air Force Academy 30 years ago. He now dabbles in women’s artistic gymnastics alongside Hung at Jurassic.
“Certain people want to convince people that this is a big issue and people are losing their (minds),” Petersen said. “But it’s not like that. Other groups can be uptight about that if they want. But in this group, it’s about the love of the sport. If you love the sport, then do the sport and have fun, no matter who you are.”
Finding their way
Ten Harder got into gymnastics after being inspired by watching Gabby Douglas win gold at the 2012 Olympics. They spent their childhood competing as a woman but became increasingly uncomfortable at meets as they grew older.
Ten Harder, of Boston University Gymnastics Club in Boston, waits to compete on the balance beam.Gene J. Puskar / AP
Harder, 22, now a Ph. D. student at Boston University who identifies as nonbinary/trans masculine, felt like they had to make their own path. They connected on TikTok with a nonbinary gymnast from the Netherlands and started competing in a uniform that felt more natural, a practice leotard similar to a tank top and shorts. Over the last couple of years, they have run across other nonbinary or queer athletes, easing their sense of loneliness.
While there are times Harder admits they still grapple with feeling self-conscious about their gender identity even around teammates who have become friends and allies, there is also something greater at play.
“I think it’s important to remember that trans athletes are just people, too,” he said. “We deserve to be in the sports that we love. And we deserve to get a chance to compete and do everything just as other people do.”
A Florida school district said it won’t renew the contract of a teacher who used a student’s preferred name, instead of legal name, without parental permission, in violation of state law.
Melissa Calhoun is a literature teacher at Satellite High School in the coastal city of Satellite Beach, Florida. According to her LinkedIn profile, she’s worked for the Brevard County Public Schools district for the past 12 years.
Unless the state intervenes, Calhoun, who did not immediately return requests for comment, could be one of the first educators to lose a job under Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, or what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Brevard County Public Schools conducted an investigation after receiving a complaint from a parentwho said Calhoun had used a name other than their child’s legal name without the parent’s permission, according to a statement shared by Janet R. Murnaghan, a spokesperson for the district.
“This directly violates state law and the district’s standardized process for written parental consent,” the statement said. “Based on the teacher’s own admission that she knowingly did not comply with state statute she received a letter of reprimand. Teachers, like all employees, are expected to follow the law.”
Satellite High School in Brevard County, Fla.Google Maps
Since the state will be reviewing Calhoun’s teacher certificate based on the complaint, the district said it will not renew her annual contract, which expires in May, until the issue is resolved.
“We’re here to really show support for Ms. Calhoun and to show that we are not OK with what is going on,” sophomore Brianna Knight told WESH. “We truly are upset that we are losing such a positive teacher.”
Calhoun’s supporters also started a petition asking the Brevard County School Board to reinstate her. As of Friday afternoon, it had garnered more than 22,000 signatures.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law in March 2022. At that time, it prohibited “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade “or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
A year later, he signed an expanded version of the measure that prohibits sexual orientation or gender identity instruction in prekindergarten through eighth grade, restricts reproductive health education in sixth through 12th grade, and bars schools from requiring students or employees to refer to each other with pronouns that do not align with their assigned sex at birth. It also prohibits transgender school employees from sharing their pronouns with students, among other restrictions.
In July 2023, a few months after DeSantis signed the expanded measure, the Florida Board of Education passed new rules to ensure schools were following the law and to “strengthen and enhance the safety and welfare of students in K-12 public schools and protect parental rights.”
Among those rules was a requirement that school districts receive parental permission before staffers can call a student by anything other than their legal name, including a nickname, even at the student’s request.
At a school board meeting this week, several parents spoke both in favor of and against the district’s decision not to renew Calhoun’s contract.
“There was no harm, no threat to safety, no malicious intent,” one parent of a student in the district who also said she was one of Calhoun’s colleagues said during the meeting, WESH reported. “Just a teacher trying to connect with a student, and for that, her contract was not renewed despite her strong dedication and years of service. I ask you, how can we justify this?”
School board member Katye Campbell said during the meeting that people might think the rule is “silly,” but that it’s important.
“The parents are the number one decision-makers for their children,” Campbell said, The Washington Post reported. In response to a question about students’ rights, she said the district shouldn’t interfere in families’ decisions “unless we legally have a reason to.”
The organizers of WorldPride in Washington, D.C., may issue a warning to transgender people from other countries about traveling to the capital for the event as the Trump administration targets the trans community with policies like the military ban on transgender servicemembers and requiring passports to match a person’s sex at birth.
“It’s possible that we may actually issue a statement telling trans folks internationally not to come, or if they come, they come at their own risk,” Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said.
The Trump administration said it only recognizes two unchangeable sexes: male and female.
Pride in Washington, D.C., on June 8, 2024. Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file
“This is something that my community faces every day, is worrying whether or not this space is gonna be safe for them,” Advocates for Trans Equality Senior National Organizer Devon Ojeda said.
Ojeda said he and his trans friends often worry about being targeted or harassed, and he understands if people decide not to attend WorldPride out of safety concerns. But, he added, it’s also important for the community to come together.
“I also am in the mindset of always continuing to be in these spaces — to say I am trans, I am visible. You’re not going to take that away from me,” he said.
Organizers of this year’s WorldPride — an international celebration that is held in a new location about every two years — expect about 2 million people to attend this year’s event in D.C., which will run from May 17 to June 8.
Extensive safety measures for the event include fencing, security checks, police officers and web surveillance to monitor for online threats.
Russia’s General Prosecutor on Thursday banned the Elton John AIDS Foundation from operating in the country, claiming it’s part of an effort “by the ‘collective West’ to discredit traditional values and escalate social tensions” in Russia.
The ban stopped short of deeming the foundation an “extremist” group under the umbrella of a 2023 order by Russia’s Supreme Court designating the so-called “international LGBT social movement” as an “extremist organization.”
That declaration paved the way for increased persecution of LGBTQ+ activists throughout the country and abroad, adding to “gay propaganda” laws that were already erasing LGBTQ+ identity from public life in Russia.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation is registered in both the U.S. and Britain as non-governmental organizations. Both NGOs are now officially designated as “undesirable organizations” in Russia. The designation exposes foundation staff and partners to potential criminal prosecution.
John established his namesake foundation in 1992 to increase access to health care related to HIV/AIDS and address anti-LGBTQ+ stigma associated with the disease. The foundation has raised more than $600 million to support over 3,100 projects in 95 countries, including Russia.
According to Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian federal agency for public health and consumer rights, more than 1.2 million people in the country carry the HIV virus, the highest per capita rate in Europe.
John has a large fan base in Russia, where he’s performed multiple sold-out concerts. He’s also been outspoken about what he calls unacceptable discrimination against gay people by Russian authorities.
In 2014, John published an open letter condemning Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, enacted the year before and expanded in successive legislation.
“When a musician plays along with the promoters of democracy, you get propaganda,” the General Prosecutor’s office said in an overtly political statement announcing the ban of the NGOs, posted to its official Telegram channel and reported by Reuters. “And if Elton John is at the piano, it is not just anti-Russian propaganda.”
In a separate statement on its website, the prosecutor’s office pointed to the foundation’s promotion of “non-traditional sexual relationships, Western family models, and gender reassignment.”
The statement also accused the foundation of taking part in what it called a coordinated Western campaign to “denigrate Russia” over its war in Ukraine, referred to by its official designation as a “special military operation.”
President Vladimir Putin has portrayed the battles against both Ukraine and the “international LGBT social movement” as twin fronts in an existential struggle with a decadent West.
The report, “Understanding the Role of Gender Congruence and Affirming Care in Trans Men’s Body Image and Quality of Life” published in the International Journal of Transgender Health, surveyed 166 trans men, measuring their physiological, psychological, social, and environmental quality of life.
“Most research involving TGD [trans and gender diverse] populations has focused on clinical mental health outcomes such as suicidality,” the report states. “While such outcomes are crucial to explore, it is equally important to examine the broader well-being of TGD people, including factors that contribute to their overall quality of life (QoL).”
The report found that improving trans men’s gender congruence — the sense of alignment between one’s gender identity, body, and others’ perceptions of them — “can have cascading benefits for other dimensions of well-being, including body satisfaction and [quality of life], by reducing dysphoria and promoting a more cohesive sense of self.” The report concluded that gender congruence can be improved through gender-affirming care.
Gender-affirming care encompasses several forms of therapies that are meant to validate a person’s gender identity, including talk therapy, hormone therapy, or surgical procedures. The report found that chest surgery was “associated with improved physiological, psychological, and environmental QoL,” while hormone replacement therapy “improved psychological and environmental QoL.”
The report noted that while “gender-affirming care may not directly alter how individuals perceive their bodies,” it instead “fosters a sense of alignment between physical appearance and gender identity, a key driver of body satisfaction.”
“Our results highlight that fostering positive gender congruence, which enhances body satisfaction, significantly improves physical and psychological functioning,” it concluded. “This finding underscores the critical role of addressing body satisfaction within gender-affirming care.”
Voters in Wisconsin have elected two candidates who support LGBTQ equality in the state’s hotly contested Spring Election. Susan Crawford was elevated to the state Supreme Court and Jill Underly will return as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Both candidates defeated opponents and campaign ads that targeted LGBTQ people, including a late surge of ads and text messages that baselessly spread fear about transgender people.
The Grio also reports that voters in La Crosse, Wisconsin, made history on Tuesday when they elected the city’s first Black and first out gay mayor, Shaundel Washington-Spivey.
La Crosse Mayor-elect Shaundel Washington-Spivey via WXOW
A high number of voters turned out, with reports that polling places needed to print more ballots to accommodate. The race was billed as a “litmus test,” ABC News reported, for voters to “get the chance to weigh in on President Donald Trump’s agenda,” and express their opinion on the actions of Trump’s billionaire donor and “DOGE” leader Elon Musk.
Musk and related political action committees contributed more than $20million to Brad Schimel’s campaign, making this the most expensive judicial race in history. Musk personally campaigned in Wisconsin to offer two voters one million dollars each.
Crawford’s election secures a pro-equality majority on the court, which could decide on abortion access, voting rights, and accurately representative voting districts for the state legislature.
Crawford defeated Brad Schimel by 10 percent (55% and over 1,300,000 votes / 45% and over 1,050,000 votes). Crawford spoke out against Musk’s attempts to influence the election. “I’ve got to tell you, as a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I’d be taking on the richest man in the world,” Crawford said. “And we won.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly beat Brittany Kinser by five percent (52.9% and over 1,100,000 votes / 47.1% and over 1,000,000 votes). Underly spoke in support of LGBTQ students during the campaign: “Schools should be inclusive spaces where all students feel safe, supported and able to fully participate in extracurricular activities. Excluding transgender students from sports not only harms their mental health and well-being but also goes against the principles of fairness and equal opportunity in education.” Kinser had campaigned to exclude trans students from school sports, and advocated for private school vouchers that compete for funding with public schools.
Jill Underly; photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner
“These results are a victory for LGBTQ+ rights in Wisconsin, and a victory for every Wisconsinite as we build a more fair, more inclusive state,” said Abigail Swetz, Executive Director of Fair Wisconsin.
“They show a strong commitment to a Wisconsin that lives up to our state motto “Forward.” Thank you, Wisconsin, for voting for equality and against the cynical use of our LGBTQ+ community as political pawns.”
“Wisconsin voters spoke out on behalf of LGBTQ people and for future elections to be fair and free of interference from self-serving billionaires,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said.
“Lies and fearmongering about transgender people do not win elections. Wisconsin sent a message of support for the health and safety of each person, and reaffirmed that every vote and every voter matters.”
“Susan Crawford’s victory is a rejection of extremism and a clear message that Wisconsinites want to protect our civil liberties, reproductive rights, and environment,” said Milwaukee LGBTQ activist and GLAAD Media Institute Alumni Kat Klawes.
Kat Klawes
“Voters turned out in historic numbers, so many that some polling places ran out of ballots because they know what’s at stake: the right to control our own bodies, breathe clean air and live in a democracy where every vote truly counts.”
Approximately 207,000 LGBTQ people live in Wisconsin. Due to a varying patchwork of local laws, only 21% of Wisconsin’s population is protected from discrimination based on gender identity, with 12% partially protected in limited areas such as employment, housing, or public accommodations.
“The identities we hold matter, and while race is a social construct, at the end of the day, who we are in our lived existence needs to be understood, appreciated and respected for what it is,” LaCrosse’s newly elected mayor said.
“I just look forward to making sure that we bring this community together across difference, across socio-economic status, across race, gender, sexual orientation, all of those things to ensure that we truly build a community that’s for everybody.”
