NOTE: This week’s column mentions details of an assault.
In Florida, the city of West Palm Beach plans to comply with updated FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) regulations and will soon power-wash the rainbow crosswalk at Spruce Avenue and Northwood Road, WPBF noted.
The city will also relocate its LGBTQ+ monument to Serenity Park in Northwood Village. Mayor Keith A. James said, “While we comply with state regulations, we remain fully committed to preserving that spirit through a monument that will continue to honor and celebrate our LGBTQ+ residents and their contributions to the fabric of West Palm Beach.”
A Latinx lesbian who ministers with the LGBTQ+ community in Southern California recently discussed her personal journey of integrating sexuality and spirituality, and of taking her rightful place in the church, New Ways Ministry noted. Immigration attorney Yunuen Trujillo was featured on the Just Politics podcast, produced by NETWORK and U.S. Catholic, revealing that she was raised as a non-practicing Catholic—but when she came out to her mother she was sent to a Catholic parish to “cure her.” Asked how the Catholic Church can rebuild trust and create a sense of belonging for groups that have previously been excluded, Trujillo responded that mistakes must be acknowledged, adding, “When it comes to the church, in a lot of circles we see rhetoric like ‘We have to defend the church, we have to defend the faith.’”
Netflix recently premiered a new true crime docuseries entitled Amy Bradley Is Missing, and it focuses on a lesbian cruise ship passenger who mysteriously went missing in 1998—and has still not been located, Out noted. Bradley was a passenger on a Royal Caribbean International’s Rhapsody of the Seas cruise that was headed for Curaçao; before the boat docked, she was nowhere to be found. The docuseries features interviews with friends, authorities and relatives as they try to investigate what happened to her.
A former Boston Public Schools building has become New England’s first LGBTQ+-affirming affordable senior housing community, WROR noted. According to a report by Affordable Housing Finance, the Pryde, developed by the firm Pennrose in collaboration with the Boston nonprofit LGBTQ Senior Housing, features 74 units of income- and rent-restricted housing for older adults who earn from less than 30% to 100% of the area median income in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The $37 million adaptive reuse project has also transformed the former William Barton Rogers Middle School. This structure was built as a high school in 1902, closing its doors in 2016.
Out gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-California) is sounding the alarm over a recent statement by Education Secretary Linda McMahon implying that Holocaust denialism is a valid viewpoint for a university professor to hold, per LGBTQ Nation. In an op-ed for The Hill, Takano recalled his “deeply disturbing” exchange with McMahon in which he stated that she said at one point (in reference to deniers), “I believe that there should be diversity of viewpoints relative to teachings and opinions on campuses.” Takano also listed questions that McMahon has not addressed, such as “If a candidate for a position in the government department has a sincere political belief that the 2020 election was stolen, should they be hired in the interest of ‘viewpoint diversity’ although they would not meet the academic standards required for a serious candidate in political science?”
Texas resident William Wilson is facing several hate-crime charges following the assault of two queer couples in front of the MGM Casino in Detroit, ClickOnDetroit.com noted. Chelsi Way and her wife Celia, along with Celia’s brother David and his fiancée Zach, parked at the MGM to go to a concert; after returning to pick the car up from the valet, they were approached by two intoxicated men. After asking the men to leave them alone, one of the men, now identified as Wilson, started to repeatedly punch Way’s wife. David and Zach tried helping, but ended up being assaulted themselves. Wilson was due back in court on July 24.
In Utah, two men who police say yelled a homophobic slur at a gay man while robbing him of his phone in Murray have been charged with committing a hate crime, KSL noted. Brian Steven Platt, of Salt Lake City, and Monte Eugene Luker, of South Salt Lake, were each charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; and causing property damage, a class A misdemeanor. Both charges come with hate crime penalty enhancements if convicted. Both Platt and Luker have long criminal histories, according to court records.
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings is not the biggest fan of California Gov. Gavin Newsom—because of a trans-related stance, Out noted. Jennings recently spoke out on the social-media platform Bluesky, agreeing with trans journalist Parker Molloy that he will “never, ever” vote for Newsom due to the politician’s stances on issues surrounding transgender youth. Jennings posted, “Any candidate cynically ‘triangulating’ on trans kids is a non-starter, and now is the time to say so. There’s still so much time to advance candidates that DON’T suck.”
In Florida, GOP Groveland Councilmember Judi Fike has been reinstated to her seat after fellow council members suspended her over offensive social media posts targeting Black and LGBTQ+ communities, per Metro Weekly. District 4 rep Fike, who was appointed in October 2024, has filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension. Fike’s attorney, Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini—a two-time congressional candidate with a history of pushing anti-queer legislation—told the Orlando Sentinel that Fike was reinstated following a preliminary hearing on July 16.
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer recently announced the members of a new LGBTQ+ commission, per The Washington Blade. The members include representatives from all three counties—Chair Cora Castle, Dwayne Bensing, Noah Duckett and Mark Purpura of New Castle County; Vice Chair Vienna Cavazos, Leslie Ledogar and John Kane of Sussex County; and Daniel Lopez of Kent County. They will serve three-year terms without monetary compensation. The commission was created as the result of an executive order from previous Gov. Bethany Hall-Long in January.
The organizers of an LGBTQ+ film festival in Phoenix canceled the annual event (first held in 2009) “in direct response” to President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs at publicly funded institutions, per NBC News. The nonprofit Desperado LGBTQ+ Film Festival is hosted by a student organization at Paradise Valley Community College, which receives federal funds. “As a publicly funded institution, we must comply with these orders,” the festival’s organizers said in a statement.
Gay Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Capehart confirmed that he accepted a buyout from The Washington Post, ending an 18-year tenure, per The Advocate. His exit comes as The Post undergoes a major editorial shift. In February, owner Jeff Bezos announced on X that the opinion section would now publish “in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” and that “viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.” Capehart remains co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend—the first national news show anchored by two out gay Black men, alongside Eugene Daniels and Jackie Alemany.
In San Francisco, the famed drag club Oasis will be closing its doors on Jan. 1, 2026, according to D’Arcy Drollinger—owner and artistic director of Oasis and the City of San Francisco’s first drag laureate, per KGO. The nightclub—located at 11th and Folsom in San Francisco’s SOMA District—has been a cultural hub for drag, cabaret and live theater since opening on New Year’s Eve in 2014. Drollinger said the business has faced increasing operational costs and a declining post-pandemic attendance, resulting in a financial loss.
LGBTQ+ WNBA star Breanna Stewart talked about two variants of her “Stewie” shoe line that features designs and symbols from Harry Potter—a brand synergy deal that immediately led to fan backlash in light of Harry Potter creator JK Rowling’s anti-trans views, according to Them. Along with the sneakers, Puma also released a full collection of matching Harry Potter athleisure wear, with individual items priced between $40 and $95; Stewart herself appears in marketing photos to promote the line. Talking with The Next, Stewart acknowledged Rowling’s anti-trans views as well as the backlash, and stated that she and her agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas planned to donate Stewart’s royalties from the Potter Stewie 4s to local organizations that support trans rights—although those plans had not yet been finalized. “I want to have a way to be able to love both [the trans community and Harry Potter], and to counterbalance [Rowling],” Stewart said.
U.S. House Republicans are moving forward with a plan to rename the Kennedy Center opera house after First Lady Melania Trump, The New York Daily News noted. Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson added an amendment to the Interior-Environment spending bill that most of the center’s funding for the 2026 fiscal year would be contingent on changing the name to the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.” The Appropriations Committee voted 33-25 to approve; the bill will still need to go to a vote in the House and pass in the Senate before a Sept. 30 deadline.