Molly Sprayregen

Two major LGBTQ+ organizations – GLSEN and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – both recently announced major layoffs, with HRC planning to lose 20 percent of its workforce and GLSEN losing a whopping 60 percent of its staff. Both organizations claim the layoffs will not affect their strong resistance to the Trump administration.  GLSEN executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers said the organization has experienced a sharp revenue loss and the layoffs are part of plans to “right-size” the educational advocacy organization. “We are not an injured version of the GLSEN we were before Monday. We are a new organization,” they told Advocate, confirming […]

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signed a bill adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s hate crime law, along with a companion billamending sentencing guidelines for hate crimes.  The 1988 ethnic intimidation law initially applied only to religion, ethnicity, and race. The new law adds LGBTQ+ identities, as well as sex, age, disability, national origin, and affiliation with these groups.  The bill was originally proposed in 2023 but faced controversy after conservatives spread false claims that it would criminalize the act of misgendering someone. Lawmakers introduced a new version of the bill this year.  “As a Jew in a time of rampant […]

The 119th Congress officially began on January 3 and included among the new members are three history-making LGBTQ+ legislators: Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA), and Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX).  McBride, the first out transgender member of Congress, received a slew of support from the Democratic Party and national LGBTQ+ rights organizations. A major part of her platform was protecting transgender rights in the United States. At only 34, McBride has already worked for the Human Rights Campaign and interned in the Obama-Biden White House. She was the first trans person to speak at the Democratic National Convention […]

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced this week that the Boulder County Courthouse in Colorado has been designated a National Historic Landmark for being the site of the first issuing of a same-sex marriage license in the United States.  On March 26, 1975, Boulder County Clerk Clela Rorex issued the license after confirming with the assistant district attorney that state law did not ban marriage between two people of the same sex.  “This act of courage ignited a nationwide conversation about marriage equality and cemented the courthouse’s role as a symbol of hope and progress for the LGBTQ+ community,” […]

A new study has found that LGBTQ+ higher education students are more than three times as likely to have depression than their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts. Published in the Journal of American College Health, the study examined data from almost 500,000 respondents to the annual Healthy Minds Study, which tracked mental health in full-time students ages 18 to 35 from 2007 to 2022. “Our findings highlight a growing mental health crisis among LGBTQIA+ students that demands immediate attention,” says David Pagliaccio of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. “Academic institutions need to take urgent and proactive steps to address these alarming rises in depression that […]

A Drag Queen Story Hour at the public library in Somerville, Massachusetts was canceled last weekend after someone called in a bomb threat.  While police had been prepared for anti-LGBTQ+ protesters, they didn’t anticipate a bomb threat, which reportedly came through right as the event was about to begin. As such, officials had to evacuate and sweep the building, the Boston Globe reported.  The right-wing group Super Happy Fun America — which has thrown “straight pride parades” in the past — appears to have taken credit for the protest, though not the bomb threat.  “I am thrilled to announce that the Drag Queen Story Hour […]