In addition to ending fact-checking, Meta is halting its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs as well, CNN reported. A company memo that CNN obtained stated that Meta is eliminating the company’s DEI team, ending “equity and inclusion programs and changing hiring and supplier diversity practices.” In doing so, Meta is joining companies like John Deere, Ford, MolsonCoors and McDonald’s (although the latter is only rolling back part of its initiatives). Also, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast that same day, criticizing outgoing President Joe Biden. Zuckerberg claimed that Meta was heavily pressured by the Biden administration to remove content that it saw as misinformation on the platform.
And Amazon has quietly removed several pro-Black and -LGBTQ+ policies from its public websites that were aimed at protecting workers, The Advocate noted. The pages were removed about a month ago, noted The Washington Post. The changes have been applied to policies as well as department titles. A section previously called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is now “Inclusive Experiences and Technology,” and the section “advance DEI through technology” is now a pledge to “advance the employee experience.” One of the removed policies includes an outline of the gender-affirming care benefits provided to employees under Amazon’s healthcare plan.
In NYC, Staten Island Pride Center Executive Director Carol Bullock (who has received such honors as the Louis R. Miller Business Leadership Award) is leaving the organization later this year following a seven-year run, Gay City News reported. Bullock’s tenure included a successful campaign to allow LGBTQ+ organizations to participate in the Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade. She will continue to lead the organization through the March 2 Staten Island St. Patrick’s Day Parade—marking the organization’s first official appearance in the borough-wide event—and will officially depart at the end of March.
Kentucky Fairness Campaign Executive Director Chris Hartman—the leader of the state’s largest LGBTQ+-rights advocacy group—said he’s disappointed but not surprised by the rejection of new protections for queer students, WEKU reported. “This is the type of thing we expect when we make progress forwards, there’s always going to be pushback, and it doesn’t mean that it’s going to last forever,” Hartman said. Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled that the Biden Administration’s changes to Title IX were unconstitutional.
Philadelphia’s William Way LGBT Community Center is having “a soft reopening” as a construction project to correct a mold problem is on hold, according to Philadelphia Gay News. More than 100 community groups—including LGBTQ+ sports, arts and culture, and recovery groups who otherwise cannot afford their own spaces—use William Way. “You might say we’re doing a soft reopening,” said Dave Huting, co-chair of the center’s board. Huting told the outlet that William Way’s leaders closed the building only as a precautionary measure—not because it was ordered by an official or required based on findings of the assessment. Huting added that leaders have now learned that the mold is isolated behind walls on only the top few floors and “isn’t at a level that’s significant enough to cause harm to anybody.”
Also in Philadelphia, the sister of a young woman killed in a 2023 vehicular accident is suing two LGBTQ+ bars, Voyeur and Woody’s, for allegedly serving too much alcohol to the driver of the vehicle, Philadelphia Gay News reported. Alyssa DiMatteo, the sister of Gabriella DiMatteo and administratrix of her estate, filed suit against the two venues, seeking in excess of $50,000 in damages. Jose M. Luismarcelo, 25, allegedly drank too much alcohol at the bars during Jan. 1, 2023 and drove his Honda sedan at a high rate of speed to southwest Philadelphia—where he rammed his vehicle into a parked tractor trailer. Gabriella, 22, was in the front seat of Luismarcelo’s vehicle and suffered a severe head injury; medics pronounced her dead before she was extracted from the vehicle.
Lawyers representing alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego criticized Pope Francis’ appointment of Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, bishop of San Diego, to become the new archbishop of D.C., according to NBC San Diego. Critics said that McElroy has been an institutional defender of sex abuse in the Catholic Church and that his appointment will only continue bringing scandal to the D.C. archdiocese. The attorneys said that unlike Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, who reached a settlement of 1,353 childhood sexual-abuse claims, McElroy eventually put the San Diego Archdiocese into bankruptcy last year “hoping to delay or deny compensation to more than 500 victims.” McElroy has been an outspoken critic of incoming President Donald Trump and has supported immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community, drawing criticism from conservative Catholics.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs plans to introduce a bill in an attempt to block Donald Trump from banning transgender people from serving in the military, LGBTQ Nation noted. In his first term, Trump banned trans people from serving in the military, which President Joe Biden’s administration repealed when he took office; however, Trump has promised to reinstate the trans military ban on his first day in office. Jacobs said, “Because to me it makes no sense in a recruitment- and retention-challenging environment to be letting almost 15,000 service members go. We’ve invested a lot of time and money in training.” But in the GOP-controlled House, it’s unlikely that her bill will come up for a vote at all.
Two Catholic universities in California—University of San Diego (USD) and Loyola Marymount University (LMU)—are providing free legal services to assist trans and nob-binary people in completing the lengthy and complicated process of legal name changes, according to New Ways Ministry. USD’s clinic started in 2018 and meets once a month virtually; LMU’’s project began in 2022 and had a brief hiatus, but has been revived over the past year. Sojourners noted that the schools are helping people deal with “documents like birth certificates, marriage licenses, driver’s licenses, passports, and social security cards.” Both clinics are run by students and volunteers. USD is a Catholic school while LMU is operated by Jesuits.
In Minnesota, despite objections from school librarians, Rochester Public Schools removed the queer-themed children’s book The Rainbow Parade from its shelves based on its depictions of public nudity, The Minnesota Star Tribune noted. A parent at Franklin Elementary School raised concerns about Emily Neilson’s book’s illustrations while reading it with their first-grader. The book tells of a child who attends a Pride parade with her two moms; two pages of the book show people in the parade who are nude or partially nude. Superintendent Kent Pekel said that while he strongly supports inclusion of books that celebrate lives and experiences of LGBTQ+ people—and he grew up with a gay father—the depictions of public nudity make it inappropriate for an elementary-school media center.
In Arlington, Virginia, the gay venue Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant was one of at least three restaurants to be hit with small fires on the same block on Jan. 9, The Washington Blade reported. Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s, told the Blade that someone set the front door of his bar and restaurant on fire. Lutz added that a small fire at Freddie’s took place the day before and the day after Freddie’s received a threatening phone call from what sounded like the same unidentified male caller. Capt. Nathaniel Hiner, a Fire Department spokesperson, said that the fires have now been classified as arson.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has been chosen to fill Marco Rubio’s seat in the U.S. Senate, the AP noted. Along with DeSantis, Moody—who was elected in 2018—boosted her political profile during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on the federal government to “hold China responsible” for the outbreak. Also, Moody was among attorneys general who challenged President Joe Biden’s Title IX proposals that would have protected transgender students, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Donald Trump picked Rubio, a three-term senator, to be his next secretary of state.
Sheldon ‘Turner’ Freeman—a gay librarian who worked for 39 years in the D.C. Public Library system and is credited with launching a Black History Month film series and LGBTQ+-inclusive programming within the system—died Dec. 23, 2024, at age 64, reportedly of a heart attack, The Washington Blade reported. A Team Rayceen Productions statement said that Freeman was a co-founder of the group Book Reading Uplifts His Spirit (BRUHS), which focused on issues of interest to Black gay and bisexual men; some of the group’s events, held at the MLK Library, included talks by authors, film screenings and play readings.
On the opening day of Texas’ 89th Legislative Session, state Rep. Venton Jones—who was recently elected as Texas House Democratic Caucus Whip and vice-chair of the Texas LGBTQ Caucus—marked the beginning of a new legislative term by proposing to his longtime partner, Gregory Scott Jr., in the Texas State Capitol, a press release noted. “Today, I took a renewed oath to serve my community with courage, conviction, and love. I made a promise to the person who has stood beside me through every step of this journey,” Jones said. “In a time when our love and our very existence are challenged, often in the halls of this very building, this moment is a reminder that love conquers all. Gregory and I stand as proof that progress is unstoppable, and no amount of hate can erase the truth of who we are.” Surrounded by family, friends, colleagues and supporters, Jones (the minority party whip) got down on one knee and asked Scott to marry him.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama will not attend the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, Politico noted. The news follows the former first lady declining to attend former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral—an event that would have her sitting next to Trump. Former President Barack Obama does plan on attending, however. In a statement, he said, “In a country as big and diverse as ours, we won’t always see eye-to-eye on everything. But progress requires us to extend good faith and grace – even to people with whom we deeply disagree.”
Women’s basketball teams will be paid for playing games in the NCAA tournament each March—just like the men have for years, according to ESPN. The unanimous vote by NCAA membership, which was met by a round of applause, was the final step toward a pay structure for women playing in March Madness; the Division I Board of Governors voted unanimously for the proposal in August. A team that reaches the Final Four could bring its conference roughly $1.26 million over the next three years in financial performance rewards. “This continues our fight to lift women’s basketball to historic levels,” South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said. “I appreciate the decision by the Kaplan Hecker and Fink law firm to include the lack of units in their report as a key issue holding women’s basketball back from capitalizing on the historic viewership and quality of the product on the court.”
Lesbian MSNBC pundit/host Rachel Maddow will return to a five-night-a-week schedule for the first 100 days of Donald Trump‘s administration, Deadline noted. Maddow has hosted the network’s top-rated show on one night each week, on Mondays, since 2022. Maddow’s return to a weeknight schedule may give the network a needed boost following a viewership tune-out after Election Day, a drop that also has beset CNN.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that World Wrestling Entertainment co-founder Vince McMahon will pay more than $1.7 million related to charges that he didn’t disclose payment agreements related to sexual-assault charges, according to NBC News. The SEC said McMahon circumvented WWE internal accounting controls and caused misstatements in the company’s 2018 and 2021 financial statements. Vince and his wife, former WWE CEO Linda McMahon—President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of education—are still dealing with a separate lawsuit in which they’re accused of turning a blind eye to child sexual abuse by a former ringside announcer at the wrestling company, CBS News noted. The suit claims McMahon, husband Vince and others at the WWE were aware of misconduct by Melvin Phillips against “ring boys” and failed to prevent it.
In Pennsylvania, the Indiana Borough Council, by a vote of six to two, approved a Pride festival for the third consecutive year, the Indiana Gazette reported. It’s the third annual request for the festival, meaning organizers will not have to seek such permission in future years—or, as one opponent put it, “your vote will make it retroactive.” One of the “no” votes, Councilwoman Tamara Collazzo, said that while she values the pride event on many levels, she said she had been ignored and even lied to about what’s taken place at the last two festivals. On the flip side, Council Vice President Kaycee Newell said she had full faith in the Indiana Borough Police Department to keep order.
Adirondack Winter Pride (AWP) Weekend is taking place March 7-9, with activities planned throughout New York’s Lake Placid and Wilmington for queer residents, visitors, and their allies, according to Sun Community News. Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance (ANCGA) Executive Director Kelly Metzgar said the event will bring many people to the Lake Placid region some for the first time. A special Lake Placid Legacy Sites winter passport will serve as participants’ credentials, allowing access to Adirondack Winter Pride events, Olympic venues and attractions, among other things. AWP Weekend is a collaboration with the Lake Placid Region, Whiteface Mountain, the Olympic Regional Development Authority, ROOST, I Love NY and ANCGA.