Gay San Francisco District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio was recalled by voters in a special election, per The Bay Area Reporter. It would be up to Mayor Daniel Lurie to choose a replacement once the Board of Supervisors certifies the recall results, which could be as soon as Sept. 30; Engardio would be required to leave office within 10 days of the certification. “My time as a city supervisor will be shorter than expected. I accept the election results. But we can still celebrate. We are on the right side of history,” Engardio wrote, according to KRON.
The effort to recall Engardio centered around the closure of the Great Highway along the western edge of the city to private cars—a move made permanent with the passage of Proposition K last November.
The newly released Kantar-DIVA report shines a spotlight on the challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary people, Press Pass Q noted. The report, “Living bold, living proud: LGBTQIA+ parenthood in a changing world,” includes info gathered from 2,685 anonymous online surveys in India, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Curve Foundation facilitated the survey, with founder Franco Stevens saying, “Nearly half of our community is facing increased harassment online, and more of our community members are worried about their safety when traveling. That’s heartbreaking and infuriating. It also makes being visible, living our lives openly and proudly, an act of pure defiance.”
The dean of Texas A&M University’s College of Arts and Sciences and the head of the English department have been removed because of department professor Melissa McCoul’s trans-inclusive education, The Advocate reported. McCoul drew objections from a student over a discussion of gender and sexuality in a course about children’s literature. The student, whose name has not been made public, told McCoul she wasn’t sure it was legal to teach about this topic, due to President Trump’s executive order recognizing only two genders. Later, Republican Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison posted the exchange, which was recorded on a cell phone.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed former Palm Springs councilmember and ceremonial mayor Lisa Middleton—who was term-limited from running again for City Council again—to CalPERS (the California Public Employees Retirement System Board of Administration), per The Bay Area Reporter. Due to her stepping down from her council seat, Middleton also had to resign in February from CalPERS. On Instagram, Middleton wrote she was “honored” to have Newsom’s confidence in her ability to again provide oversight for CalPERS.
A jury convicted a West Philadelphia man on terrorism-related charges for building and making explosives and plotting to attack multiple targets in the Philadelphia area, per NBC 10 Philadelphia. In 2023, police arrested Muhyyee-ud-din Abdul-Rahman, who was 18 at the time, for having bomb-making materials in the trash at his home. It was later determined that Abdul-Rahman had communicated with a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda and had likely considered an attack on Philly’s LGBTQ+ community.
Judge Dan Aaron Polster of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division ruled that Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) violated free-speech rights by denying a driver a license plate reading “GAY,” according to LGBTQ Nation. While the BMV said the plate was “inappropriate/invalid,” it reportedly allowed plates that read,“NO GAYS,” “NO HOMOS” and “NO F**S.” William Saki and another plaintiff, Cyrus Mahdavi, filed a lawsuit against Ohio’s Department of Public Safety and the BMV last September.
The gay mecca of West Hollywood, California, flew its rainbow flags at half-mast for anti-LGBTQ+ figure Charlie Kirk, according to LGBTQ+ Nation. “The City’s action should not be interpreted as an expression of alignment with, or endorsement of, Mr. Kirk’s political views or actions. Rather, the action was undertaken in accordance with the City’s Policy for Recognitions and Memorials, which acknowledges that the City follows the direction of the President in determining when flags in the City are flown at half-staff,” city officials said in a statement quoted by WeHo Times. The city also said it would revisit the flag policy “in the coming weeks … to ensure that it appropriately reflects the values of the West Hollywood community.”
Also, in connection with Kirk, landmark Salt Lake City, Utah, LGBTQ+ bar The SunTrapp increased its security in light of the Kirk’s killing, per The Bay Area Reporter. (Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University in Orem, about a half hour south of the city.) SunTrapp owner Mary Peterson told the Bay Area Reporter on Sept. 16 that, following the Kirk shooting, the bar had received a couple calls from nervous people who had safety concerns. Peterson then added three additional security staff members to the bar on weekends and one additional person during the week.
Nine attorneys general have vowed to do “whatever it takes” to defend the rights of trans youths as the school year starts, per The Advocate. A new video campaign from the National Women’s Law Center features Rob Bonta (California), Anthony Brown (Maryland), Andrea Campbell (Massachusetts), Charity Clark (Vermont), Keith Ellison (Minnesota), Letitia James (New York), Kathy Jennings (Delaware), Dana Nessel (Michigan) and Dan Rayfield (Oregon) stating “I promise to fight for trans students.”
National Women’s Law Center President/CEO Fatima Goss Graves said, “There is broad support throughout the nation to resist the administration’s attacks on trans students. These young people—our children—continue to be bullied by the administration and other extremists in ways that threaten their education and even their existence.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton quietly dropped his lawsuit against an El Paso doctor accused of providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth, The Advocate noted. Regarding Dr. Hector Granados, Paxton sent a statement to The Texas Tribune saying that “no legal violations were found” following a “review of the evidence and Granados’ complete medical records.” Granados told the outlet that he stopped prescribing puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy to trans youth to comply with a 2023 state law; however, he continued to prescribe it for cisgender youth with other conditions, such as endocrine disorders.
Mpox cases are continuing to rise in New York City, according to Gay City News. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported 57 cases of mpox from Aug. 10 to Sept. 11—and the week ending on Sept. 6 saw the most cases in a one-week period so far this year. City health officials have said that it is a seasonal increase and encouraged individuals at risk to get vaccinated.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) will present its 2025 Spirit of Justice Award to Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang at the Annual Spirit of Justice Award Dinner in Boston Nov. 6, a press release announced. Hoang has dedicated his career to advancing LGBTQ+ rights and has served as executive director of Equality California since 2021. His tenure with the organization dates to 2009, when he began as a field intern; he then held multiple roles including database and volunteer manager, director of operations, chief of staff and managing director.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has left the ice-cream giant after Unilever, which owns the company, clamped down on any social activism, the BBC noted. Greenfield’s departure marks the latest move in a battle that started in 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s said it would stop selling its ice cream in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Ben & Jerry’s has long been known for taking a public stance on social issues since it was founded in 1978, often backing campaigns on issues like LGBTQ+ rights and climate change. However, a Unilever spokesperson disagreed with Greenfield’s position, saying Unilever had “sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world.”
In an exchange, President Trump said that he would consider banning Pride flags from streets in D.C., The Advocate reported. In saying this, he even told journalists that the banners could be treated as symbols of domestic terrorism. The remarks came during an exchange with Brian Glenn—a correspondent for the far-right Real America’s Voice network and the boyfriend of conservative U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. At one point, Glenn showed Trump an image of the Progress Pride flag hanging in front of a business but claimed it was a “trans flag.”
In North Dakota—about three months after Pride celebrations took place across the country—Grand Forks hosted its first-ever Pride Parade on Sept. 14, drawing hundreds of people downtown, according to InForum. “And as we got closer to downtown, and we started to see people in the streets on both sides, the tears just started coming down my eyes,” said Grand Marshal Bridget Brooks, who chairs the University of North Dakota’s LGBTQ+ Faculty and Staff Association. Among the local groups who took part in the event were the Sugar Beaters roller derby team, the UND Queer and Trans Alliance, and Grand Forks Target.
In a federal lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has claimed that Indiana State University violated the First Amendment rights of an LGBTQ+ community center after it revoked its ability to host work-study workers, per IndyStar. The university is engaging in “punishment and retaliation against the Pride Center [of Terre Haute] because of its constitutionally protected speech and association and because of the viewpoint that the Pride Center expresses,” the organization has said. The school pulled all federal funding for the center, citing a U.S. Department of Justice statement to avoid discriminatory practices, according to the complaint.
At Texas A&M University, an undergraduate student recently discovered a box containing hundreds of books about LGBTQ+ topics at the Surplus Property Office—a warehouse where university property is sent for sale and disposal, per Chron. The discarded books include The Meaning of Matthew, a memoir by Judy Shepard about her gay son, Matthew, who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998; The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature; and Unfinished Lives, a Stephen Sprinkle work about the victims of LGBTQ+ hate crimes. According to NBC News, the Surplus Property Office acknowledged the box of books was from its warehouse but disputed the student’s claim that the box was full of LGBTQ+ books.
Openly gay Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly threatened a colleague with violence during a private dinner, LGBTQ Nation noted, citing Politico. Several sources said that Bessent threatened to punch Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte “in the fu**ing face” after several people told Bessent that Pulte was speaking ill of him to the president. Bessent and Pulte have supposedly clashed over who has jurisdiction over certain economic issues.
Openly gay former NBA player Jason Collins’ family said that he is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, according to People. His family said, “NBA Ambassador and 13-year NBA veteran Jason Collins is currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.” Collins and his family “welcome your support and prayers and kindly ask for privacy as they dedicate their attention to Jason’s health and well-being.” The news comes months after he married his husband Brunson Greene—a film producer who earned a Best Picture nomination for The Help—on May 29.
Oregon state Rep. Cyrus Javadi is leaving the Republican Party and running for re-election as a Democrat because of his gay son and Republican book-banning efforts, LGBTQ Nation noted. Javadi said he is finished with the party he “once called home,” writing on Substack, “For months now, the Republican Party’s message has been simple: we don’t care what the problem is, just vote no, or else.”
The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) announced Richard Gray as the recipient of the 2025 Pinnacle Award, per a press release. This recognition is presented to an individual, business, or organization that has truly made a heroic journey in advancing LGBTQ+ travel worldwide. Gray—who retired in January as senior vice president for Visit Lauderdale overseeing inclusion and accessibility—spent more than three decades involved in LGBTQ+ tourism. The official presentation will take place Oct. 23 at IGLTA’s Global Convention in Palm Springs, California.
The runway show “HIV Unwrapped” made its U.S. debut at New York Fashion Week on Sept. 13 at the Nexus Club in Tribeca, Gay City News noted. The project paired leading HIV scientists with students at Parsons School of Design to create fashion pieces inspired by their research to tell the stories of the people fighting to end the pandemic. The New York debut was co-hosted by Karl Schmid—a broadcast journalist and the founder of +Life, a multimedia brand dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of living with HIV. The project was first presented in Australia at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.