NOTE: This week’s column contains themes of suicide.
Dr. Rachel Levine—who made history in 2021 as the highest-ranking out transgender federal official ever confirmed by the U.S. Senate—recently spoke out on the damage the Trump administration is doing to the LGBTQ+ demographic, The Advocate noted. Since returning to power, the Trump administration has rolled back many of the inclusive, data-driven policies Levine championed, replacing them with erasure, distortion and overt discrimination. Many of the staff who built that infrastructure are now gone, with Levine telling the outlet, “They’ve been criticized, castigated, and DOGE’d,” referring to the wave of forced departures under Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Levine also said that anti-trans disclaimers send a chilling message: “Basically, they’re saying that we don’t exist—and it does challenge the scientific veracity of information coming out of HHS.”
U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr. has been urged to stop the “lethal” closure of an LGBTQ+ youth suicide lifeline, Deadline noted. President Donald Trump has threatened to close the life-saving 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides emergency support for LGBTQ+ minors by connecting them to suicide-prevention organizations. More than 100 members of Congress have asked Kennedy to reconsider the closure, saying that it would “devastate” a community that statistically includes “some of our nation’s most vulnerable young people.”
The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art postponed an exhibition of works by LGBTQ+ African artists that was originally scheduled to open in late May to coincide with WorldPride, being held in D.C. this year, per The Advocate. Museum officials said the rescheduling was because of budget constraints and not because of President Donald Trump’s orders banning federal funding for so-called “woke content,” The Washington Post noted. However, a former museum researcher, speaking anonymously, told the Post that preparations for the show were under way, with artwork on loan and the space being readied. The exhibition is titled “Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art,” featuring artists such as Toyin Ojih Odutola, Zanele Muholi, Paul Emmanuel, Sabelo Mlangeni and Meriem Bennani.
The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10 chatted with out gay NYC Councilmember Erik Bottcher of Manhattan at The Stonewall Inn to discuss the rise in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and the importance of drag in today’s political climate, Gay City News noted. “I’d love for trans children to know that we have been here for all of time in all different sorts of cultures and nations. We’re not going anywhere. They can take away our medications. They can take away our therapy. They can take away all of our resources, but we’re still going to exist,” Aja told Gay City News. Ginger Minj said that many of her patrons in Orlando are actually “Republican Debbies”—women from the far right who revel in hatred of the queer community—and added, “I’ll take your dollar, and I’ll also take a moment to educate.” However, castmate and out transgender queen Bosco countered, “I’m a little past meeting in the middle with government officials, and I think we just need to vote these assholes out.”
On May 16, the National Black Justice Collective (NBJC) virtually hosted the fifth annual Audre Lorde Wisdom Awards, honoring the late icon and writer as well as commemorating National LGBTQ+ Elders Day, a press release noted. This annual event is an opportunity to recognize Black lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+/same-gender-loving (LBTQ+/SGL) women and femme elders. This year’s honorees included There’s Still Hope founder Rev. Debra Hopkins; filmmaker/activist Michelle Parkerson; HarlemYES Inc. Executive Director Pat Martin; Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman; author/speaker Rosalyn Taylor O’Neale; educator Ruby Sales; social-justice advocate Sonya Shields; and activist/filmmaker Dr. Sylvia Rhue.
Iowa has joined other states in which Republican lawmakers are introducing resolutions asking the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that made marriage equality the law of the land, LGBTQ Nation noted. Iowa state Sen. Sandy Salmon (R) introduced S.C.R. 3, which says that court rulings are “not laws” and, therefore, the Obergefell decision is “an illegitimate overreach”; it claims that Obergefell runs counter to the idea that “human dignity is innate” and specifically comes from God. Interestingly, Obergefell actually didn’t legalize marriage equality in Iowa, as the state started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2009 after the state supreme court upheld a lower court ruling in favor of LGBTQ+ rights. An anti-marriage equality resolution has been introduced in at least six other states: Michigan, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
The New York State Senate’s Education Committee approved an anti-trans sports bill that would stop the state education commissioner from implementing trans-inclusive sports policies—and that move received immediate criticism from LGBTQ+-rights advocates, per Gay City News. Senate Bill S460 drew five “aye” votes—including from Democrats—and six “nay” votes; however, three others voted “aye WR,” or “aye with reservations,” which suggests that those three lawmakers had issues with the bill but voted for it to move forward nonetheless. The “aye” votes came from Republicans Stephen Chan of Brooklyn, James Tedisco of Saratoga County and Schenectady, Daniel Stec of North Country, Bill Weber of Rockland County, and Alexis Weik, whose Long Island district includes parts of the LGBTQ+ haven of Fire Island; Democrats Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. of Queens, Siela A. Bynoe of Long Island’s Nassau County and Monica R. Martinez of Suffolk County voted “aye WR.”
The cities of Salt Lake City and Boise recently devised an inventive workaround regarding Utah’s and Idaho’s Republican-controlled legislatures passing bans on flying the rainbow pride flags and other “unofficial flags” on government property: changing their official flags, The Guardian reported. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall proposed the adoption of three new city flags—a move that the city council unanimously approved. Boise Mayor Lauren McLean issued a proclamation in response to Idaho’s House Bill 96, retroactively making the pride banner an official city flag.
The Japan Foundation announced that Los Angeles–based performance artist Ei Arakawa-Nash will represent Japan at the 2026 Venice Biennale, according to ARTnews. For the Pavilion, Arakawa-Nash will create a new installation that, according to the announcement, will explore his perspective as a queer parent of newborn twins in order to “dissect nationalism and patriarchy.” “I thought I would never have a chance to represent Japan at the Venice Biennale after I gave up my Japanese nationality a few years ago. … Now, my husband and I busily raise two children who are new parts of the Asian diasporic community in Los Angeles,” Arakawa-Nash said in the announcement. Active since the early 2000s, Arakawa-Nash has created performance works that draw on the 1950s and ’60s avant-garde, particularly drawing on movements such as post-war Japanese Gutai, Tokyo Fluxus, Viennese Actionism and Happenings.
Ten out of the 12 actors in a Les Misérables tour group planned to boycott the Kennedy Center performance that President Donald Trump plans to attend—and Kennedy Center director Richard Grenell responded to the performers’ plan, Variety noted. “We haven’t heard this rumor,” read a statement from Grenell (who happens to be openly gay) to Entertainment Weekly. “But the Kennedy Center will no longer fund intolerance. “Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed.” In February, when he first announced his takeover of the organization, the president wrote on Truth Social, “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA—ONLY THE BEST.”
GLAAD announced that its Communities of Color and Media Department has opened applications for the 2025 Black Queer Creative Summit (BQCS), a press release noted. This event, which returns to Los Angeles this September, is a fully-funded initiative designed to empower, educate and train emerging Black LGBTQ+ creatives across five key sectors of the entertainment industry: executives, creators, behind-the-scenes professionals, on-screen talent and music supervision. The inaugural summit brought together more than 150 participants and featured over 60 industry leaders, including Kalen Allen, Tre’vell Anderson, Michelle Buteau, Jordan E. Cooper, Scott Evans, Victor Jackson, David Johns, Obio Jones, Isis King, Kidd Kenn, Ts Madison, Mariah Moore, Peppermint, Patrik-Ian Polk, Angelica Ross, Kendrick Sampson, Sidra Smith and more. Applications are available here and are open through May 23; selected applicants will be notified in July.
Yeshiva University revoked its recognition of a campus LGBTQ+ club after approving it in March, per the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The Modern Orthodox flagship is claiming that the club, Hareni, breached the terms of the settlement agreement that allowed for its formation. Hareni’s lawyers say the school may be the one committing the breach, adding that statements by school leaders “threaten” LGBTQ+ students’ safety. Yeshiva’s decision to recognize Hareni in March and settle related legal battles marked a turning point; for years, the school had fought in court to avoid recognition of the Pride Alliance.
The drag-themed eatery Hamburger Mary’s made news in Florida, where a federal appeals panel sided with the drag-themed eatery and rejected a state law aimed at keeping children out of drag shows, saying it was overly broad and likely unconstitutional, per the Orlando Sentinel. After the law was initially issued, Hamburger Mary’s was forced to ban children from what the restaurant called its family-friendly shows, resulting in a 20% drop in Sunday bookings. “The Constitution demands specificity when the state restricts speech,” said the 81-page majority opinion, written by Judge Robin Rosenbaum and joined by Judge Nancy Abudu. “Requiring clarity in speech regulations shields us from the whims of government censors,” per the Tampa Bay Times. However, Judge Gerald Tjoflat, in a 45-page dissent, said the majority “reads the statute in the broadest possible way, maximizes constitutional conflict and strikes the law down wholesale.”
In Maine, Regional School Unit (RSU) 24—which provides education to children in Hancock and Washington counties—revoked a policy aimed at providing protections for transgender students, WGME reported. The policy, which the RSU 24 board adopted in 2019, allowed students to use restrooms of genders they identified with and discouraged administrators from adopting or engaging in gender-specific policies, practices or activities unless it is for “an important education purpose,” according to information posted on Facebook by state Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham. He added that the policy—which he said also included recognizing a student’s gender regardless of whether their parents approved—was repealed by a 7-1 vote.
Politico ran an article about how NYC mayoral candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not courting queer votes during his campaign although counts same-sex marriage among his top accomplishments when he led the state. Cuomo, the frontrunner in the Democratic primary, has been talking with Black churchgoers and Jewish centrists for whom public safety and antisemitism are main concerns. Most notably, Cuomo skipped a mayoral forum co-hosted by the Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn and other LGBTQ+ clubs in March; he also declined to answer the clubs’ candidate questionnaires. Cuomo’s decision to appeal to a broader group of Democrats through law-and-order and economic messaging—with little focus on LGBTQ+ rights— reflects a shift among establishment Democrats away from culture war issues after last year’s election.
In NYC, Brighton Beach Pride kicked off its ninth annual march on May 10 along the Riegelmann Boardwalk, per Gay City News. Brighton Beach Pride had been organized by RUSA LGBTQ+, a non-profit advocacy group for queer Eurasian identities—but, this year, the organization has been renamed Qaravan in order to better represent all identities in the community and to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the event, Qaravan national coordinator Maxim Ibadov declared that this year’s theme was the defense of immigrants’ rights. “Unless you are Native American and indigenous to this land, we are ALL immigrants!,” they said.
A gay California man had his face “peeled off” in a knife attack by an Uber driver in Arizona last year—but police have refused to press charges, The Advocate noted, citing Lookout News. Rene Almaraz was visiting Phoenix with three friends when they entered an Uber driven by Arnold Lawton outside a gay nightclub on May 5, 2024; Almaraz said Lawton appeared annoyed by the “gay lingo” and increased the radio’s volume in the car—and then an argument ensued. As Almaraz tried to exit the vehicle, he said, Lawton uttered a homophobic slur before slashing the gay man’s face and hands, while Lawton claimed he acted to defend himself from assault by Almaraz and his friends. After investigating, prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to obtain a conviction. Lawton parted ways with Uber shortly after the attack.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter—a Republican who became a dependable liberal vote during his nearly 20 years on the bench—died at age 85 at his New Hampshire home, the AP reported. He retired from the court in June 2009 (after Republican President George H.W. Bush appointed him in 1990), giving President Barack Obama his first Supreme Court vacancy to fill; the then-president chose Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina justice. During his time on the bench, Souter was a reliably liberal vote on such issues as abortion, church-state relations, freedom of expression and the accessibility of federal courts.
In Illinois, downtown Springfield will once host the 15th iteration of its annual PrideFest on Saturday, May 17, per the Illinois Eagle. The event starts with the Pride Parade at 11:30 a.m. CT, stepping off from Fifth and Allen streets to Fifth and American Legion Drive; the ribbon-cutting for the festival is at noon. Organizers said almost 30,000 attended last year’s event; there will be entertainment, food trucks and more than 100 vendors lining Capitol and Fifth streets near the Illinois Statehouse. Springfield’s Mahogany Knight will emcee the day’s events on the CORAL Main Stage.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic reduced the life sentences of Erik and Lyle Menendez, giving the brothers hope for freedom after serving 35 years in prison for murdering their parents in 1989, Variety noted. Jesic moved to reduce the brothers’ original sentences of life without parole to 50 years to life. Because they were under the age of 26 at the time of their crime, they now have a chance at parole under California’s Youthful Offender law—although the state parole board must still approve their release.
Camryn Kinsey, a former Trump administration staffer and far-right media personality, collapsed live on air on Fox News—moments after ranting about the Biden-Harris administration and transgender Americans, per The Advocate. Kinsey, 24, was echoing one of President Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ slogans, “Kamala is for they/them, Trump is for you”—a line lifted directly from a 2024 campaign ad. After the commercial break, Fox News @ Night host Jonathan Hunt told viewers that Kinsey was “up and moving” and was being evaluated by paramedics.