NOTE: This week’s column contains details of abuse.
A study concluded that bisexual, gay and lesbian medical students are more likely to leave school before graduation than their straight counterparts, according to HealthDay. Bisexual medical students were twice as likely to drop out or be dismissed from medical school, and gay and lesbian students were 47% more likely, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.
Hispanic queer people were at particularly high risk for leaving medical school, with their attrition rates being three-and-a-half times higher than other groups. “Members of both the LGB and Hispanic communities may encounter less supportive attitudes toward homosexuality, often more prevalent among recent immigrants or first-generation households, and traditional cultural values around notions of masculinity, authority, and gender roles, perpetuating rigid expectations around sexuality and gender expression and alienating Hispanic LGB students,” the research team stated.
Iowa’s Medicaid program is now banned from covering gender-affirming care for adults as well as youths, per The Advocate. House File 1049 prevents Medicaid from paying for hormone therapies or gender-affirming surgeries, although it does not ban coverage of mental health services for gender dysphoria; signed into law by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, the ban is set to go into effect on July 1. Iowa is now one of 11 states where Medicaid policy explicitly excludes transgender-related health care for all ages, according to the Movement Advancement Project; the other states are Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
A new biography called Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson tells the story of the Black transgender pioneer’s fight on the front lines of history as a leader in the early LGBTQ+-rights movement, Canvas revealed. In this new book—as well as her children’s book, One Day in June—Tourmaline tells Johnson’s story through her own words and those who knew her. Talking about Johnson’s middle initial (which she once said stood for “pay it no mind”), Tourmaline told Canvas, “It was really important for her to not get tangled up in the noise of it all. So she said, pay it no mind to the people who didn’t understand her beauty. She said, pay it no mind to people who could never see the value of her community, who didn’t understand the beauty of trans and gender non-conforming people, turning up the volume of their entire life.”
The body of Jax Gratton—a popular trans Denver hairdresser who was missing since April—was discovered recently in an alley in the city’s Lakewood district, LGBTQ Nation noted. Her mother, Cherilynne Gratton-Camis, told ABC 7, “That is comforting to me. She was gone the same night she left her house. She didn’t spend 6 to 7 weeks in horrible situations.” A service was held honoring Gratton; trans state Rep. Brianna Titone (D) read on Gratton-Camis’ behalf. Titone said of Gratton, “She was trans, and she was terrified, not because of who she was, but because of what the world is becoming… She was hurt by the slurs shouted at her, by the stares, the threats, the way society told her again and again that she didn’t belong. But she kept going, she kept loving, she kept dreaming of a better world.”
In Philadelphia, after a weeklong trial, Akhenaton T. Jones was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of trans woman Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, per Philadelphia Gay News. In June 2020, Jones stabbed Fells to death inside his Powelton Village residence, then dismembered her corpse and deposited her remains in the Schuylkill River. Jones was also found guilty of possessing an instrument that was intended for criminal use, a misdemeanor; other charges against Jones were dropped by prosecutors, including tampering with evidence. Jones’ sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 26 in Courtroom 607 of the Criminal Justice Center.
On June 12, Orlando was set to honor the 49 victims who were gunned down at the Pulse nightclub exactly nine years ago, per ABC News. It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time, although it was surpassed by the Las Vegas attack the following year. The ninth anniversary of the attack comes as Pulse—once a popular LGBTQ+ nightclub—is slated to be demolished so that the city can build a permanent memorial in its place. All of the furniture and the dance floor inside the building have been moved and the walls were painted black.
In Fort Worth, Texas, Mayor Mattie Parker, City Council members and LGBTQ community leaders recognized June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month, per the Fort Worth Report. “It is imperative we must embrace people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences to continue to build Fort Worth where every person is valued and truly free from discrimination,” Parker—a Republican—said before reading her Pride recognition out loud. “Our community’s strength lies in its diversity and its unity.” The mayor’s recognition spotlighted the contributions of queer residents to Fort Worth, stating that LGBTQ+ residents “strengthen the city’s cultural and economic fabric, creating an economic output of approximately $150 billion as part of the region’s total GDP of over $744 billion.”
The organization Fight for the Future protested U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, saying that he “reintroduced the Kid’s Online Safety Act (KOSA), betraying the LGBTQ+ community,” per a press release. Both the Heritage Foundation and Senator Blumenthal’s co-sponsor, Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, have said KOSA is about “protecting minor children from the transgender [influence] in this culture.” A billboard truck—emblazoned with LGBTQ+ pride colors—circled Blumenthal’s offices in Hartford, Connecticut, with messages from people disappointed in his reintroduction of KOSA. Fight of the Future Campaigns and Communications Director Lia Holland (they/she) said, “You cannot say you support the queer community on one hand, and gut punch us with a censorship bill like KOSA using the other.” According to a statement from Blumenthal’s office, he, Blackburn (R-Tennessee), U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced the bill in May; last July, the Senate approved KOSA 91 to three.
Philadelphia’s William Way LGBT Community Center is going up for sale, Philadelphia Gay News noted. The announcement comes during another major transition for the organization, as Chris Bartlett recently resigned as executive director following 15 years in leadership. The center is actually the site of two pre-Civil War homes that were unified before becoming one building, and more than $3.5 million are needed for repairs to continue; An environmental assessment revealed the presence of mold, leading to a sudden closure in October 2024. The center reopened just six months ago.
The creator of the transgender pride flag and her spouse will be moving to Costa Rica later this year, The Bay Area Reporter noted. Creator Monica Helms said she and Darlene Wagner are concerned “because of the picture that is starting to affect trans people across this country. We live in a red state [Georgia] and are worried the nasty laws other states have passed may come here soon.” Regarding when the move will happen, “we’re thinking it’ll be [the] end of August or beginning of September,” Helms said. Helms got the idea for a transgender pride flag after talking with Michael Page, the creator of the bisexual pride flag, in 1999, she told the B.A.R. in 2015.
As President Trump attended a performance of Les Misérables at the D.C. venue the Kennedy Center, drag artists Tara Hoot, Ricky Rosé, Vagenesis and Mari Con Carne also attended the show—in full drag, The Advocate noted. “Knowing [Trump] would be there made my attendance more crucial,” Carne told The Advocate. “As a drag queen, I wanted it to be known that you can prevent us from performing on your stages, but you can’t erase us from your presence.” Rosé added, “Beyond politics, the Kennedy Center was founded more than 50 years ago as a place meant to celebrate the arts in its truest, most extraordinary form, after even President Kennedy, himself, argued that culture had great practical value in an age of conflict.” When the drag group entered the theater, the crowd greeted them with cheers and applause—a much warmer reception than that given to Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who were loudly booed.
Vivian Jenna Wilson—the 21-year-old trans daughter of Elon Musk and Justine Wilson—was part of the Pattie Gonia Presents SAVE HER!: An Environmental Drag Show, where she gave her debut drag performance as Vivllainous, People noted. The charity show was hosted at The Bellwether by Pattie Gonia to raise money for “legal defense funds supporting immigrants” in the L.A. area, and Vivian lip-synced to “Wasted Love” by Austrian singer JJ while dancing with a trans Pride flag. Vivian reposted several clips of her performance on her Instagram Stories, including one from an audience member who said she “slayed her drag debut” and another who called her hair flips “lethal.”
San Francisco police arrested a man after officers saw him vandalize the pink triangle atop Twin Peaks, per The Bay Area Reporter. Lester Bamacajeronimo, 19, of San Francisco, was taken into custody, the San Francisco Police Department stated. “This vandalism is unacceptable in our city and the San Francisco Police Department condemns this act,” a statement from the department read. “San Francisco’s pink triangle is a powerful symbol of our city’s commitment to supporting LGBT rights and commemorates the victims of the past. We stand united with our LGBT community this month and every month as we continue to fight for equality.”
The Los Angeles Chapter of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists announced the nominees for three inaugural journalism awards for Southern California journalists and newsrooms who championed LGBTQ+ stories in 2024, according to a press release. Regarding the The Troy Masters Legacy Award for Visionaries in Media, the nominees include Mariah Castañeda, co-founder of LA Public Press; veteran journalist LZ Granderson, an op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times and an ABC News contributor; and John Griffiths, founder of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and Dorian Awards. The awards will be presented at the 2025 Press Pride Prom at the Grand Central Air Terminal. The event will be hosted by veteran LA-based journalist Tracy Gilchrist, who recently became internet-famous with her “Wicked” “holding space” interview with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
In D.C., the headquarters of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently flew the “Appeal to Heaven” flag—which is associated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a movement that urges Christians to overtake the U.S. government, LGBTQ Nation noted. In a June 11 post on her X account, SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler posted an image of the flag, writing, “Today at SBA’s Flag Day Ceremony, we proudly raised a new AMERICAN MADE flag over our headquarters in Washington; one of the post’s images showed the “Appeal to Heaven” banner flying under a U.S. flag. Republicans have been banning any flag from flying at government buildings other than the U.S. flag in an effort to stop the Pride flag from being flown.
The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed President Trump’s “rescission” bill—a measure that would claw back nearly $1.1 billion in funding already approved for PBS and NPR, according to Variety. The package passed by a 214-212 in the House, largely along party lines; four House GOP members voted against the bill, which will next move to the Senate for consideration. PBS, in a statement after the House vote, said in part, “The fight to protect public media does not end with this vote, and we will continue to make the case for our essential service in the days and weeks to come. If these cuts are finalized by the Senate, it will have a devastating impact on PBS and local member stations.”
The largest-ever survey of trans Americans reaffirms what the trans community has been saying—that trans people who go back to living as their sex assigned at birth do so because of transphobia, not because of doubts about gender or transition, according to Them. Approximately 92,329 binary and non-binary trans Americans 16 and older participated in the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey (USTS), spearheaded by the trans-rights organization Advocates for Trans Equality. Only 9% of respondents said that they had gone back to living as their sex assigned at birth at some point in their lives; of that group, 41% said the most common reason for doing so was that it was “just too hard to be trans in my community.”
DOGE recently cancelled an Ohio grant worth nearly $250,000 to install LGBTQ+ historical markers, WCMH noted. Ohio History Connection received the $249,810 federal grant three years ago to fund the Marking Diverse Ohio project, aimed at commemorating stories and places reflecting the impact of LGBTQ+ Ohio residents in shaping the state’s history. The governmental agency announced it canceled the grant—among $25 million worth of funds awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services that have been cut.
On a related note, in Texas, Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare stymied a year-long effort to install an official historical marker recognizing the LGBTQ+ community at the Rainbow Lounge—a gay bar in Fort Worth that was targeted in an infamous 2009 police raid, LGBTQ Nation noted. The raid, which occurred on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, mobilized the Dallas-Fort Worth area LGBTQ+ community and garnered national publicity. Todd Camp, who runs the Fort Worth LGBTQ+ history group Yesterqueer, told The Fort Worth Report that the city approved of a historical marker after Camp gave a presentation on local queer history to city staff. However, O’Hare sent a letter to the historic commission, claiming the application for the marker was improperly submitted and did not go through the Tarrant County Historical Commission’s “thorough approval process.”
In Arizona, the Sedona Arts Center (SAC) is presenting the “Big Gay Art Show” through July 25, per the Camp Verde Bugle. The “Big Gay Art Show” features artistic and cultural expressions from LGBTQ+ communities and their allies, and spotlights work by emerging, mid-career and established artists across the country. Originally conceptualized in 2012 by a small group of artists and supporters linked to SAC and Sedona Pride, the exhibition has grown into a popular annual event, welcoming hundreds of artists and allies to Sedona. Just a few of this year’s artists are Gerald Kaplan, Xinyi Yu, CJ Henderson, Brandin Barón, Simone Beach, Andres Juarez-Troncoso and Jason Kiss.
The Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project announced the launch of a new community service award program, the BeSeen Awards, as well as its inaugural honorees, according to Urban Milwaukee. Said honorees include Sharon Dixon (Milwaukee), who founded the Sugar Shack, Wisconsin’s first lesbian bar for women by women, in March 1975; Ricardo Gonzalez (Madison), who made history as the first openly gay Latino elected official in the United States; and Mark Mariucci (Green Bay), who, among other things, was a DJ and publisher of Quest Magazine—the longest-running LGBTQ+ print publication in Wisconsin history. The public can meet these individuals Saturday, Aug. 16, at the historic Cardinal Bar in Madison.
Gay-porn star Austin Wolf (real name: Justin Heath Smith) is expected to plead guilty to at least one charge after being arrested on suspicion of distributing and receiving “hundreds” of images of child abuse, PinkNews noted. Smith was arrested a year ago following an FBI investigation. A plea hearing is slated for June 20 at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. If convicted, Smith, 44, faces up to 20 years in prison for distributing and receiving images of child and up to 10 years for possession of images of child abuse.