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Gay Men Refuse to Stop Partying during Pandemic that’s Killed 190,000

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For the attendees of a circuit party in Georgia, coronavirus was the last thing on their minds.

Across digital flyers and social media posts, the organisers of Peach Party Atlanta 2020 urged attendees to come wearing face coverings and practice social distancing.

Yet, as much as the four-day festival was billed as a dialled-down affair, video footage taken at the sold-out circuit parties showed a vastly different story.

At the August 28 “Peach Party Tea Dance” held at Atanta LGBT+ club Heretic, scores of partygoers stuffed into the 1,000 square foot-wide space across three patios, fans occasionally dotting the dancefloor.

Despite signs instructing partygoers to maintain a distance as well as wear masks, the dance area was rammed with countless men pressed up against one another, and barely anyone was wearing a mask.

Similar scenes took place at a second Peach Party event held in Heretic the following night, as well as another event at District Atlanta on August 30, according to social media videos uploaded by attendees.

Just one event was held outdoors – the other six were in nightclubs, spaces considered by health experts as petri dishes for the coronavirus.

(Screen captures via Instagram)

Scenes of shirtless, maskless men at gay circuit party spark fury online.

For nine years, Peach Party has been a highlight of the Georgia circuit party calendar and a crucial way for the city’s LGBT+ community to blow off steam.

The beloved festival, typically held in June, was thrown into jeopardy as the coronavirus began to gnaw on nearly every facet of modern life and was delayed earlier this year.

As quickly as Georgia shut down, it swung back open. Coronavirus cases in the state have been skyrocketing after Republican governor Brian Kemp began allowing businesses to reopen as early as late April, against public health recommendations.

Nightclubs reopened in June, though Heretic was forced to briefly re-close after partygoers tested positive for COVID-19, following reports hundreds of men had been dancing closely together without masks.

Peach Party announced it would be running in August, with its website saying it has “scaled all events back to a small group instead of the normal party”, and noted that masks were “required”.

Heretic’s general manager Alan Collins beamed with pride in an August 13 Facebook post as he showed off a revamped patio space outside the club, now splashed with the colours of the Pride flag, prepping for the outdoor party.

Heretic hosted a queer circuity outdoor party event where patrons appeared to rarely wear face masks or conduct social distancing, despite club operators saying it would be mandatory. (Screen captures via Instagram)

He urged club-goers to come wearing masks and said that staffers could provide free masks as needed.

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Moreover, Collins said, Heretic would operate at 35 per cent capacity and had installed hand sanitiser stations, in line with the Georgia Department of Health’s guidelines for bars operating amid the pandemic.

The code states that bars must “prevent activities that enable close human contact”, and that, for temporary outdoor events in which more than 50 people are attending, social distancing must be enforced. 

“If you are sick or think you may have been exposed to COVID-19, PLEASE STAY HOME,” Collins added.

As images of the Peach Party crowds radiated online, some Facebook users branded those in attendance as “reckless”, while others simply resigned to saying: “No one cares anymore.”

At the time of writing, there have been at least 256,544 cases and 5,604 deaths in Georgia since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. More than 187,000 people have died across the US.

PinkNews contacted Peach Party Atlanta, Heretic and District for comment.

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Dictionary.com Adds Raft of LGBT+ Words to ‘Eliminate Heterosexual Bias in Language’

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Dictionary.com has released its “biggest ever update”, revising definitions and adding 650 new words relating to race, mental health, climate and the LGBT+ community.

The dictionary has revised the definitions of many LGBT+ words to put “people first”, including replacing the word “homosexual” with the words “gay, gay man, or gay woman”.

The site explained: “For example, we now define gayness as ‘gay or lesbian sexual orientation or behavior’ compared to the outmoded gloss of ‘homosexuality’. These changes alone affect over 50 entries.

“The previously used terms, homosexual and homosexuality, originated as clinical language, and dictionaries have historically perceived such language as scientific and unbiased.

“But homosexual and homosexuality are now associated with pathology, mental illness, and criminality, and so imply that being gay – a normal way of being – is sick, diseased, or wrong.”

The online dictionary has also given Pride – with a capital P – its own entry “to better document the specific, widespread use of the term”.

Dictionary.com added that the revisions will “help eliminate heterosexual bias in language, they also help better convey the diversity and richness of… human sexual experience and identity”.

Other new LGBT+ entries on Dictionary.com include the words “ace, ambisextrous, asexual, biromantic, deadname, gender-inclusive, gender diversity, and trans+”.

Another major update to the dictionary was the capitalisation of the word Black when used in reference to people.

“Capitalising Black confers the due dignity to the shared identity, culture, and history of Black people,” the site said.

“Dictionaries are not merely a linguistic exercise or academic enterprise.

“What are the effects of Black, referring to human beings, being grouped together with black, which can mean, among other things, ‘wicked’?

“The effects are social. They are psychological. They are personal. How words are entered into the dictionary – especially words concerning our personal identities – have real effects on real people in the real world.”

Dictionary.com added: “Change is constant, a principle that’s true in language as in life.

“No matter what is happening in the world, we’re committed to documenting and describing – and helping you stay informed on and, yes, sometimes entertained by – the English language as it evolves.”

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Man Who Fired Gun Outside a Bar Bar while Shouting Anti-gay Slurs Jailed

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A man who showed up to an LGBT+ bar with a rifle intent on shooting the patrons inside will serve less than four years in prison, but was not convicted of a hate crime.

Freddie Lee Doyle, 32, previously pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm, and has been held without bail for about 14 months.

According to Metro Weekly, Doyle drove to Rehab Bar & Grill in St Louis, Missouri on June 27, 2019, equipped with a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, bipod, scope, tactical light, four full rifle magazines and about 160 rifle rounds.

When he arrived in his car, he approached a man who was leaving another LGBT+ venue. Doyle asked him to get into the vehicle, before grabbing a rifle and aiming it at him.

When the man fled, Doyle got out of the car and chased him, aiming the rifle at Rehab patrons and screaming obscenities and homophobic slurs. He then started a verbal countdown before firing the gun into the air.

Assistant US attorney Janea Lamar said police rushed to the scene after hearing the gunshot, but Doyle hid his gun and told them the shooter had run down an alley, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

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Police discovered the rifle a short time later and arrested Doyle. When the victims of the attempted shooting came to identify him, he began yelling homophobic slurs again.

In charging documents, FBI special agent Jennifer Drews wrote that Doyle said if he’d had more time, he would “have killed those faggots”.

Stephen Williams, defending, said that he had been under the influence of methamphetamine and had struggled with depression, anxiety and ADHD.

Chief judge Rodney Sippel, of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, sentenced Doyle 46 months in prison, less than four years.

Shockingly, the motive for Doyle’s crime was not discussed in court and was reported by the media as “unclear”, however prosecutors agreed to not charge him with a hate crime in exchange for his previous guilty plea.

Assistant attorney General Eric Dreiband, of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, said in a statement after the sentencing: “All people in this nation have the right to enjoy themselves at a bar and grill without fearing that they will be threatened, shot, and seriously injured or killed by bigoted criminals.

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate this kind of hateful violence.

“The Civil Rights Division strives to protect all Americans from acts of aggression and violence based on their race, colour or sexual orientation.”

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Gay Ex-Trump official Joins Group that Fought to Keep Homosexuality Illegal

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Richard Grenell, the gay Republican who thinks Donald Trump is America’s “most pro-gay president”, has joined an anti-LGBT+ group that defended US ban on gay sex.

Grenell, who served previously as Trump’s interim director of national intelligence, has joined the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) as a special advisor for national security and foreign policy.

Described as “one of the main US religious-right legal powerhouses” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, ACLJ is a religious conservative legal organisation founded in 1990 by televangelist Pat Robertson, with a long history of fighting against LGBT+ rights and equality, and of spreading harmful homophobic and transphobic rhetoric.

Despite this, Grenell insists that the ACLJ “isn’t anti-gay” and that those who think so are “intolerant”.

The ACLJ helped draft the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, a law which explicitly defined marriage as the “legal union of one man and one woman” but was later struck down by the US Supreme Court.

In 2003, it filed amicus briefs defending US sodomy laws in the Lawrence v Texas Supreme Court case.

In its brief, organisation argued there is “an extensively documented health risk of same-sex sodomy” and said that a ban on gay sex “permissibly furthers public morality”. Ultimately it was unsuccessful, as the court ruled prohibiting private same-sex activity between consenting adults was unconstitutional.

The legal organisation is now led by father-son team Jay Sekulow and Jordan Sekulow, and under their leadership the ACLJ has doggedly worked through their offices in Zimbabwe and Kenya to make sure that “perversions” such as being gay are criminalised in African countries, according to Political Research Associates.

Robertson, the founder of the ACLJ who remains chairman of its board, has claimed that the US will face a nuclear attack if it passes an LGBT+ anti-discrimination law and insisted that gay people are willing to destroy societyto protect “their weird way of doing sex”. He has also suggested LGBT+ inclusion in the Boy Scouts of America would open the organisation to “predators” and “pedophiles” and said that same-sex weddings were to blamefor the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Richard Grenell nicknamed “Gaslight Grenell” by Human Rights Campaign.

On August 20, Richard Grenell starred in a video released by the Log Cabin Republicans, the largest group of LGBT+ conservatives in the US, which claimed that Donald Trump was the “most pro-gay president in American history”.

Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has nicknamed the the former-Trump official “Gaslight Grenell” over the “absurd” claim and his latest actions.

HRC president Alphonso David said in a statement: “‘Gaslight Grenell’ strikes again.

“From ridiculously and errantly calling Trump the ‘most pro-gay president in history’ to now joining the anti-LGBTQ American Center for Law and Justice, it’s clear ‘Gaslight Grenell’ has absolutely no backbone and no regard for the rights of LGBTQ people.”

Alphonso added: “‘Gaslight Grenell’ has no basis in reality to claim himself a ‘spokesperson’ for any segment of our community.

“Voters will not be fooled by his role as a Trump messenger. ‘Gaslight Grenell’, like Trump, is divorced from reality. It’s no wonder they seem to get along so well.”

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Bill Passes that Fixes Legal Disparity Between Straight and Gay Sex Offenses

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California lawmakers have passed a bill intended to fix a legal disparity that treats gay sex offences more severely than straight ones, despite far-right anger and death threats.

Gay Democratic lawmaker Scott Wiener was threatened with “public execution” after far-right conspiracy theorists latched onto his bill, SB 145, which seeks to close a loophole in California’s sexual offence laws.

Under current state law it is a crime to have sex with someone under the age of 18, but judges have a discretionary power to keep teenagers off the sex offenders’ register for having sex with people of a similar age, such as a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old.

However, the powers only apply to “penile-vaginal intercourse”, which means that LGBT+ teens are liable to be added to the sex offenders’ registry for having consensual sex, where straight teens are not.

Wiener’s bill to fix the issue has led to him being smeared a a “paedophile” by followers of QAnon – the far-reaching but unfounded conspiracy theory that, among other things, claims Donald Trump is at war with an elite, international ring of Satan-worshipping child sex traffickers.

California lawmakers pass bill to end sex offence disparity.

Despite attacks for simply trying to ensure existing laws apply equally to everyone, the bill cleared the California legislature on Monday (August 31), the last day of the legislative session.

It passed the California assembly by a vote of 41 to 18, before being approved by a vote of 23 to 10 in the state senate.

Despite merely seeking to apply the existing law for straight people to gay people, the bill faced opposition in the legislature, including from some Democrats.

It will now head to the desk of the state’s governor Gavin Newsom, who has until the end of September to sign it.

California state lawmaker Scott Wiener
California state lawmaker Scott Wiener

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In a Facebook post, Wiener said the bill would “end discrimination against LGBTQ young people on the sex offender registry”.

He added: “Currently, these youth are forced onto the registry for consensual sex — even if a judge doesn’t think it’s appropriate — in situations where straight youth are not. This discrimination destroys lives.”

Scott Wiener faced ‘violent, homophobic, antisemitic attacks’ from far-right QAnon trolls.

Ahead of the vote, an online pile-on against Wiener, which disturbingly mirrors far-right smear tactics against other gay politicians worldwide, saw to a stream of death threats and harassment towards the lawmaker.

One message received by Wiener reads: “You’re dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. I’ll publicly execute you. I’m gonna embarrass you. Paedophile.” Another threatens: “I’ll come cut your head off and deliver it to your mom if you even considering introducing your ‘bill’. Got it?”

In a Facebook post in August, Wiener wrote: “I’ve been the target of violent, homophobic, antisemitic attacks from the QAnon/anti-vax right, including death threats.

“I have thick skin — politics has a way of giving you that — but this has been scary, particularly with the assassination of a federal judge’s son last week.

“There is so much misinformation about SB 145 — similar to misinformation about COVID, vaccines, masks, and the like — and it’s hard to track where it starts. Those who think homophobia and antisemitism are over are not paying attention.”

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Same-sex Couples finally Able to Marry in Churches in Northern Ireland

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Same-sex couples can apply to have religious weddings in Northern Ireland from today (1 September), with ceremonies set to begin later this month.

Gay weddings began in Northern Ireland in February, but so far couples have only been allowed to undergo civil weddings – with a further wait for regulations to be amended to allow religious weddings and for the conversion of existing civil partnerships into marriages.

From 1 September, however, couples in Northern Ireland can also register for a religious wedding ceremony, bringing the region in line with Scotland, England and Wales.

Religious bodies can also choose to opt in to provide same-sex weddings from Tuesday. With a statutory 28-day waiting period, the earliest date for a same-sex religious wedding will be 29 September.

Northern Ireland gay couples ‘can have the church wedding they have longed for’.

The reverend Chris Hudson, minister of All Souls Church in Belfast – a member of the Non-Subscribing Church of Ireland – welcomed the law change.

He said: “This is great news for couples who wish to celebrate their marriage in church, embraced by family, friends and the love of God.

“I have already been speaking to a number of couples who have been waiting for this day so they can finally have the church wedding that they have longed for.”

Robyn Peoples and Sharni Edwards kiss after they became the first legally married same sex couple in Northern Ireland on February 11, 2020 in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland.
Robyn Peoples and Sharni Edwards kiss after they became the first legally married same sex couple in Northern Ireland on February 11, 2020. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Patrick Corrigan of Love Equality said: “Today is a milestone for equality in Northern Ireland. After years of campaigning, same-sex couples of faith can finally register to marry in a church or other religious setting.

“In line with our campaign, we are pleased that the law will protect religious freedom, and that churches will neither be compelled nor prevented from offering wedding ceremonies to same-sex couples.

“This is an important issue for many couples in Northern Ireland, who have previously been prevented by law from marrying in their own church.”

Calls to ‘finish the job’ by permitting civil partnership conversions.

Corrigan added: “We now urge the government to finish the job of marriage equality in Northern Ireland, by allowing couples in civil partnerships to convert to married status if they so wish.”

Couples in the rest of the UK are already permitted to convert civil partnerships into marriages, but the Northern Ireland Office has been slow to bring in the measure – meaning the 1,200 couples who had already entered civil partnerships before the introduction of same-sex marriage are currently unable to marry.

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Gay Black ‘Literary Genius’ Randall Kenan Has Died at 57

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Acclaimed author Randall Kenan, whose work reflected on being Black and gay in the South of the United States, has died aged 57.

Keenan’s celebrated works, including A Visitation of Spirits, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, and The Fire This Time, netted him a string of prestigious awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the North Carolina Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Rome Prize, and a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.

He also penned an influential biography of gay novelist James Baldwin, and Walking on Water, an oral history of Black American life.

Tributes paid to ‘literary giant’.

Kenan was found dead Friday at his home in Hillsborough, North Carolina. His death was confirmed by the University of North Carolina, where Kenan taught as an English professor. No cause of death has been announced.

The UNC English and Comparative Literature department said: “[We are] saddened beyond words to give this news. We lost an incredible friend, colleague, mentor, professor and literary giant.

“Our collective hearts are aching with grief at the loss of professor Randall Kenan. We are beginning to prepare a tribute celebrating professor Kenan’s life, work, and the lasting impact he has left in the hearts and minds of our ECL community.”

Acclaimed author Randall Kenan
Acclaimed author Randall Kenan (UNC Chapel Hill)

In a tribute to the author, Lambda Literary wrote: “Randall Kenan’s contribution to the canon of contemporary gay literature is unparalleled.

“Brooklyn born and North Carolina raised, he was a writer who explored how desire, community, and generational trauma can both uplift and warp the Black gay rural experience.

“With a heightened lyricism and a nod to the fantastical, Kenan centred characters who often struggled against the thicket of their personal wants and histories.

“May Kenan’s writing be a long testament to his genius.”

Daniel Wallace, a friend and university colleague of Kenan, said:” He was just an immense talent. His best years were ahead of him… and he was a gentleman of the old school.”

Randall Kenan warned of ‘coming war’ over race relations.

Only two weeks ago, Kenan had published a reflective essay about recent unrest in the US and the “righteous destruction” of Confederate monuments.

Reflecting on what he might have though about the issue as a Black student at the university in the 1980s, Kenan wrote: “What I most would have struggled to imagine, is that certain people would be up-in arms were it to ever happen.

“That they would quite literally take over a state capital building, bearing arms, in anger to keep monuments up. That we might have another civil war over the matter.

“For me – a poor Black boy from the swamps of Eastern North Carolina – the Civil War was far from a lost cause, let alone a done war. I had underestimated how unfinished.”

Kenan warned of a “coming war” that “will not be about the monuments, but the mentalities”.

He added: “It is hard to imagine we have come to this moment in the early years of the 21st century. As a life-long fan of Star Trek, who lived to see the first Black Vulcan elected to the presidency of the United States, this entire situation feels very like something out of the back of Gene Roddenbery’s mind.

“Roddenbery might could have imagined such a 2020, but I never might have imagined it. Today is impossible. The convergence of Donald J Trump, the coronavirus pandemic, the unrest over police abuse and the tumbling of Confederate monuments were all unimaginable decades back. Can we seize the moment? We all must now readjust our thinking. The war has only just begun.”

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JK Rowling Insists She’s not Transphobic while Returning Human Rights Award over Criticism

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JK Rowling refuted allegations that she is transphobic while returning a Ripple of Hope award to the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights organisation.

Rowling announced she is giving back the honour after Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late senator and president of the human rights nonprofit, shared her “profound disappointment” in the author’s remarks on trans rights.

Kerry Kennedy released a statement on August 3, eight months after Rowling received the award for her work on behalf of children. She joined previous honourees including Barack Obama, Desmond Tutu and Hillary Clinton.

“I have spoken with JK Rowling to express my profound disappointment that she has chosen to use her remarkable gifts to create a narrative that diminishes the identity of trans and non-binary people, undermining the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community,” she wrote, citing Rowling’s tweets and essay on trans lives, as well her liking a tweet “that opposed a bill to ban conversion therapy”.

Kennedy rejected what she understands Rowling’s position to be: that sex as assigned at birth “is the primary and determinative factor of one’s gender, regardless of one’s gender identity”.

“The science is clear and conclusive: Sex is not binary,” she continued.

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“Trans rights are human rights. JK Rowling’s attacks upon the transgender community are inconsistent with the fundamental beliefs and values of RFK Human Rights and represent a repudiation of my father’s vision.”ADVERTISING

JK Rowling can’t keep Robert Kennedy award in good conscience.

In response, Rowling wrote Thursday (August 27): “The statement incorrectly implied that I was transphobic, and that I am responsible for harm to trans people.

“As a longstanding donor to LGBT charities and a supporter of trans people’s right to live free of persecution, I absolutely refute the accusation that I hate trans people or wish them ill, or that standing up for the rights of women is wrong, discriminatory, or incites harm or violence to the trans community.”

She continued by repeating her claim that she “feels nothing but sympathy towards those with gender dysphoria”, and her baseless allegation that “an ethical and medical scandal is brewing” regarding gender-affirming therapies.

Rowling ended her statement by disagreeing with the Kennedy organisation’s stance on trans rights: that they do not clash with women’s rights.

“The thousands of women who’ve got in touch with me disagree, and, like me, believe this clash of rights can only be resolved if more nuance is permitted in the debate.”

She concluded: “I am deeply saddened that RFKHR has felt compelled to adopt this stance, but no award or honour, no matter my admiration for the person for whom it was named, means so much to me that I would forfeit the right to follow the dictates of my own conscience.”

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Teacher ‘Put on Leave’ for Supporting LGBT+ Rights; Black Lives Matter

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A teacher in Texas has reportedly been placed on administrative leave after she allowed students to submit their pronouns and posted LGBT+ rights and Black Lives Matter images on her virtual classroom.

An image of Roma High School English teacher Taylor Lifka’s remote learning site was posted online Friday (August 21) by Marian Knowlton, a Republican candidate for Texas’ 31st district who took offence at her efforts to include trans students, women, students of colour and queer kids.

It shows an avatar of the teacher standing infront of posters advocating for Black Lives Matter and LGBT+ rights, among other human rights causes.

“Many of you know that I am concerned about what the children of Texas are learning in our schools,” Knowlton wrote.

The Republican said she had received the screenshot from a “concerned educator” shown it by a parent who had removed their child from Lifka’s English class.

Knowlton continued: “This is the virtual classroom that each student visits every day. They are welcomed by an LGBT  ‘diversity is welcomed’ poster, a feminism poster that translates to ‘Girlfriend, your struggle is my struggle’, a photo of radical protesters (one of whom looks like an ANTIFA member) and propaganda that promotes the radical marxist movement ‘Black Lives Matter’.

“In addition, this teacher asks which pronoun they prefer! This is from a public school in one of the counties in House District 31!”

The Republican further sought to stir tensions by claiming: “Our education system has been radicalising our children for years and it continues to do so, from elementary through higher education. This is not an isolated occurrence, it is a national pattern.

“A concerted effort to teach children what to think, not how to think. Leftist indoctrination.”

According to The Monitor, Roma Independent School District (ISD) did not name Lifka, but said in a statement Tuesday (August 25): “After reviewing the complaints, the district is working closely with the teacher to find a resolution that will ensure all parties involved reach an outcome that best benefits the expectations of our parents and needs of our students.

“The teacher is not being reprimanded in any way for her work or decisions.”

However, a Change.org petition, which has now been signed by more than 15,000 people, is calling for the LGBT-inclusive Texas teacher to be reinstated.

The petition reads: “Please sign this petition to let the school district know that inclusivity and acceptance are not taboo ideas that deserve censorship; that high school students can and should be allowed to discuss the realities of the world instead of being sheltered inside a sanitised bubble; and that by reprimanding the teacher for trying to create a safe space for her students, the school is not being neutral, but is actively taking a stance that is antithetical to justice.”

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Hungary’s Viktor Orbán Launches New Attack on LGBT+ Folks

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Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has used an event commemorating the end of WWI as an opportunity to launch yet another barb at LGBT+ people.

The far-right leader made the comments at a national event to inaugurate a monument commemorating the Treaty of Trianon, which was signed after the end of the war.

He called upon Hungary’s neighbouring countries to unite to preserve their Christian roots as western Europe “experiments” with same-sex families, immigration and atheism.

“Western Europe had given up on … a Christian Europe, and instead experiments with a godless cosmos, rainbow families, migration and open societies,” Orbán said in a speech.

He declared that the new monument, a 100-metre long and 4-metre wide ramp carved into a street near Budapest’s parliament building, was a call to central European nations to strengthen their alliance and rally around what he called the “Polish flagship”.

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His speech will have reaffirmed the country’s close relationship with Poland, Hungary’s main ally in central Europe and equally conservative in its opposition to LGBT+ people.

In parallel with Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), Orbán’s administration has pursued policies that persistently erode LGBT+ rights and freedoms.

One of his very first acts after his pandemic power grab was to strip away the ability for trans people to legally change gender, an act that drew fierce condemnation from international human rights groups.

The move had the effect of legally erasing the Hungarian trans people, and it is already driving them to suicide.

Unfortunately the homophobic sentiment has shown no sign of improving as the lockdown eases; Last weekend, two rainbow flags were torn down from municipal buildings in Budapest.

Among the culprits was a Hungarian politician, who was seen using a ladder to climb Budapest City Hall to reach the flag.

He was filmed by the far-right Our Homeland Movement, which proudly shared the video online declaring that “this anti-family symbol has no place on the street, especially on the facade of the capital’s local government”.

It prompted a warning from the US Embassy that neo-Nazi groups should not be tolerated.

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