Queer figure and former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has left the Democratic Party and is urging Americans to “embrace life as Independents,” KATV noted. Jean-Pierre—who served under former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama—shares the message in her forthcoming book, Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines. A description of the book says Jean-Pierre details the three weeks that led to Biden dropping out of the presidential race and the “betrayal by the Democratic Party” that led to the decision. Jean-Pierre was the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ+ person to be press secretary when she became White House press secretary on May 13, 2022, after Jen Psaki left the role, ABC News noted. However, former Biden administration officials said Jean-Pierre was incompetent and was more interested in promoting herself, per Axios.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instructed transgender servicemembers to self-identify for separation by June 6—July 7 for reservists—or face “involuntary separation,” per a press release from GLAD Law. Once that happens, the official said, military services have 30 days to begin separation proceedings. “There’s nothing voluntary about forced separation,” said GLAD Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights Jennifer Levi. “Honorable and committed transgender servicemembers are being coerced into choreographing their own dismissal under a presidential edict that maligns their character with falsehoods, characterizations the government itself admitted in court are untrue. These are decorated veterans who served for decades and forcing them out simply for being transgender is a shameful betrayal of American values.”
At the two-day annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, representatives overwhelmingly endorsed a ban on same-sex marriage—including a call for a reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 10-year-old precedent legalizing it nationwide, the AP noted. A proposed resolution says legislators have a duty to “pass laws that reflect the truth of creation and natural law—about marriage, sex, human life, and family.” They also called for legislators to curtail sports betting and to support policies that promote childbearing.
Inspired by the Electric Literature series, BOTH/AND: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color will be published by HarperOne on Aug. 12, per a press release. BOTH/AND is an anthology that amplifies the voices of 17 acclaimed and emerging writers, including writer/trans-rights activist Raquel Willis, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Peppermint, Jonah Wu, MacDowell Fellowship recipient Meredith Talusan, Pet writer Akwaeke Emezi, artist/writer Addie Tsai and many others. The book was edited by Denne Michele Norris—the first Black and openly transgender editor in chief of a major literary publication.
And HarperCollins is promoting more books for Pride Month, a release noted. For example, The Art Spy (which is currently out) and is part of the HarperCollins Imprint HarperOne) chronicles Rose Valland’s bravery during World War II; working undercover in Nazi-occupied Paris, Valland risked everything to protect stolen art and preserve cultural history—and even shielded her long-time partner, Joyce Heer, whose arrest and internment by the Nazis added another layer of danger. Also, Michael Arceneaux’s most recent essay collection, I Finally Bought Some Jordans, invites readers on a thoughtful journey through themes of race, class, and sexuality. And No Tea, No Shade features essays by six iconic drag queens—Lagoona Bloo, Julie J., Olivia Lux, Alexis Michelle, Kennedy Ann Scott and Nina West; their stories explore topics like social activism, gender, relationships and equality while spotlighting the resilience of the drag community.
Lenacapavir, a new vaccine to prevent HIV, is expected to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later this month, UPI reported. If okayed, it would be given twice a year and could be a big step forward in the fight against HIV. Drugmaker Gilead Sciences tested the shot in a study of women and girls; none of the participants who received the injections got HIV. Right now, more than 400,000 people in the United States use pills to prevent HIV (PrEP), The Wall Street Journal added.
Lesbian U.S. Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont and ally U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon have introduced legislation to nullify Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders, per The Advocate. The No Place for LGBTQ+ Hate Act would ensure that Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ orders would have no force or effect and that no federal funds would be used to put them into effect. Merkley and Balint said their bill also takes aim at an executive order to reinstate a ban on transgender people entering the military, an order to prevent transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming health care along with an order banning transgender students from participating in school sports, according to KOIN.
To little surprise, President Trump’s administration has not formally recognized Pride Month this year—even as the LGBTQ+ event WorldPride takes place in D.C., The Hill noted. Speaking with reporters, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has “no plans” to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month. The Education Department said it would instead recognize June as “Title IX Month” in a nod to the administration’s efforts to use the 1972 civil-rights law to ban transgender students from girls’ and women’s school sports, restrooms and locker rooms.
Of the 49 brand execs who responded to Gravity Research’s 2025 Pride Pulse Poll, 39% said they planned to reduce their Pride-related spending—compared to 9% last year, when corporate support was already on the decline, according to Queerty. Also, no execs said their companies planned to increase Pride spending this year. In addition, 61% of executives cite the Trump administration as the top reason for rethinking Pride plans, with conservative activists and GOP policymakers close behind; employee pressure, once a key influence, has waned. And 65% of respondents said they are actively preparing for backlash, crafting reactive communication strategies and training HR teams to manage internal sentiment. GLAAD President/CEO Sarah Kate Ellis stated, “They don’t want to be caught in the crosshairs of this presidency, and they don’t want to become the headline like Target or Bud Light.”
The 93-minute documentary State of Firsts—which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City—follows Delaware Democratic Congresswoman Sarah McBride’s unprecedented run to become the first out transgender member of the U.S. House as well as the backlash that followed, according to The Advocate. According to the outlet, “Filmed with immersive access as McBride navigated the 2024 campaign and took office under a renewed Trump administration, State of Firsts reveals the contradictions and compromises of power, particularly for a lawmaker who is both an avatar for progress and a magnet for attack.” The Advocate’s Christopher Wiggins will moderate a panel discussion following a screening of the film at the DC/DOX film festival in D.C., on June 15.
Jeremy Goldbach—a nationally recognized scholar on LGBTQ+ mental health and the inaugural Masters & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Sexual Health and Education at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis—died June 7 of cancer at age 42, per the school’s website. Goldbach was also associate dean for faculty affairs at the Brown School. Goldbach’s work received support from numerous organizations, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Department of Defense and several foundations. In 2010, he co-developed Proud & Empowered, a program designed to help empower LGBTQ+ youth and improve school climate. Goldbach is survived by his husband, Evan; and their children, Ellias and Holland.
A family member of Miranda Corsette—a 16-year-old Florida girl who police say was kidnapped, tortured and killed—is suing Grindr, saying the dating app played a role in the teen’s death, according to NBC News. Corsette was the victim of a man and his girlfriend she had met in February via the app, the suit claims. The lawsuit accuses Grindr of nine counts, including wrongful death, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and participation in a sex trafficking venture. Per the court document, Grindr provides exact coordinates of users’ location, has a “minimal, unverified signup process,” and an “illusory self-reporting age verification,” exposing children to sexual predators. In January, Grindr explained on its website the multipronged approach it uses to keep minors and predators off the app, including age-restrictive settings, a mandatory age gate, reporting tools and a content support team.
People fled from Dupont Circle in D.C. on June 7 as WorldPride’s parade celebration ended after violent incidents occurred less than two miles away from where the procession ended, The Advocate reported. One incident involved a shooting and another was a stabbing. Throughout the week, buzz surrounded Dupont Circle after criticism erupted over city officials’ plans to close off the circle’s park—which has been an important location for local queer organizing for decades—during Pride. Fences were taken down the morning of June 7.
In D.C., Walker Memorial Baptist Church had one of its workers remove Pride flags and banners displayed on the front fence of a townhouse the church owns that were put up by a gay couple who rent an apartment in the house, The Washington Blade noted. Jay Richards (half of the couple) said the rental company, EJF Real Estate Services, cited a provision in his apartment’s rental lease that does not allow exterior decorations to be placed on or in front of the house. In a statement to the online publication DC News Now, EJF said it was proud to support the LGBTQ+ community and let the tenants keep the decorations up six days after the original takedown date, as requested by Richards.
Fashion designer Andrew Christian is shutting down his eponymous underwear brand, Queerty noted. Before ending things, Christian will release a final collection entitled Bespoke. “After more than 25 years, my hands will soon lay down the needle that has guided me through this calling,” Christian wrote on his website. “My final words as a designer won’t be spoken aloud, but sewn into Bespoke—Fall/Winter 2025 (October), my final collection.” He added, “I began this journey as a scared gay kid from Fresno with nothing but a sketchbook and a dream. Fashion became my sanctuary—a place to exist, survive, and celebrate who we are.” He admitted to Queerty, though, “Before making the decision to close, I actually reached out to all the major apparel companies, offering them the opportunity to acquire Andrew Christian. Unfortunately, none showed interest. … There’s a reluctance to associate with LGBTQ+ focused businesses that simply wasn’t there a few years ago.”
A mystery surrounds photos of a same-sex wedding—in the 1950s, per CBS News. Questions include who are the people in the photos, and why didn’t they get their photos back after dropping off the film at a drug store in Philadelphia? Documentary filmmaker P.J. Palmer came across the photos a few years back at an LGBTQ+ archive library in California. Half of the collection was housed in the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries in Los Angeles, and the other half was donated to the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia. Palmer’s research (which is ongoing) included talks with South Philadelphia native Mel Heifetz, who, at the time of these photos, he was out as a gay twentysomething in Philadelphia in the 1950; Heifetz said that, although, he attended two weddings at the time, he doesn’t remember the subjects of the photos.
Investigators are looking into whether the sexual orientation of King of the Hill voice actor Jonathan Joss played a role in his fatal shooting in Texas, per The Guardian. Joss’s husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, has said the person who killed the actor yelled “violent homophobic slurs” before opening fire outside his home in San Antonio. Recently, the San Antonio police chief said the department’s initial statement that the killing might not have been a hate crime was “premature.”
Robert Kesten—president/CEO of Fort Lauderdale’s Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library—will be joining Legacy, a Florida-based nonprofit organization for the Legacy Talk in Hollywood, Florida, at the The Center for the Arts & Culture on June 19 (Juneteenth), per a press release. Some of the other individuals on the panel will include Fruitful Fundraising Team, LLC founder Natalie Tyler; Ujima Men’s Collective Executive Director Lorenzo Robertson; and Transinclusive Group Executive Director Tatiana Williams.
Conservative anti-trans activist/former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines went really low in her ongoing online spat with gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, per The New York Post. Biles criticized Gaines on X for criticizing a Minnesota softball team that included transgender player Marissa Rothenberger. “All the horrific sexual abuse @Simone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet [she] believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man’s feelings,” Gaines posted to X, adding, “You know how many gold medals you’d have if your ‘inclusive’ dream came true? Zero.” Rothenberger, a pitcher, threw a shutout and helped Champlin Park High School win a state championship. Biles later apologized for not showing “empathy and respect”; Gaines accepted the apology, adding, “I accept Simone’s apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me. I know she knows what this feels like. She’s still the greatest female gymnast of all time.”
And on a related note, openly gay University of Illinois gymnast Sam Phillips came to Simone Biles’ defense, per Outsports. “This whole fight between Riley and Simone is NULL & VOID because the basis of the right’s attack is that she would lose medals in the men’s gym category when in reality, she would actually STEAL GOLDS from LOTS of the best Male floor and vault workers. So their base is FLAWED,” Phillips posted on X, adding, “And yes….also Null and Void because Riley G.B. is in fact an evil spirited, loser mentality, unreliable, misinformed, hateful person.”
Also involving Riley Gaines, she and the right-wing sports website OutKick claim that the WNBA denied them press credentials to cover two recent Atlanta Dream games, shortly after Gaines and OutKick made unsubstantiated allegations against lesbian Dream star center Brittney Griner, according to Them. In an Instagram post with OutKick (on which she hosts a podcast), Gaines claimed that the WNBA denied OutKick press credentials to cover a June 6 Dream game against the Connecticut Sun, alleging that the league was “self-imploding” and wanted to “suppress any uncomfortable inquiries” regarding Griner. OutKick writer Dan Zaksheske also claimed that the WNBA had denied the website access to a May 27 Dream game as well.
Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia—a Miami Republican who co-founded the group Latinas for Trump—criticized President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign and blasted recent immigration enforcement actions as harmful, The Miami Herald noted. The public remarks from one of Trump’s longtime supporters came as the president’s immigration policies have caused stress and uncertainty in South Florida. Trump’s executive orders and the Department of Homeland Security’s actions have targeted hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the region, including Cubans and Venezuelans—communities that threw their support behind Trump during the November election, helping him win Miami-Dade County.