Massachusetts has removed state rules requiring that foster parents support queer youth in their care after lawsuits from families and threats from the Trump administration, The Advocate reported. In so doing, the state Department of Children and Families replaced the policies with a general statement about parents supporting children’s “individual identity and needs.” The change happened in the wake of two lawsuits from families who lost or were denied their foster care licenses after refusing to sign an agreement to not discriminate against LGBTQ+ youth and to not attempt to change their gender identity or sexual orientation.
The pro-Israel LGBTQ+ organization A Wider Bridge, which was founded in 2010, announced that it will shut down at the end of the year, according to a press release. The San Francisco–based nonprofit said it will wind down operations as of Dec. 31, citing financial strain, according to a statement from Board Chair Daniel Hernandez, adding, “This work would also not have been possible without the vision of founder Arthur Slepian and the dedication of the incredible staff of A Wider Bridge.” The group’s closure also follows a period of internal turmoil, per The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. In late 2024, then-Executive Director Ethan Felson was charged with sexual misconduct; he pleaded not guilty and the organization installed interim leadership.
In North Carolina, the Randolph County Board of Commissioners voted three to two to dismiss all members of the county library board, The Advocate noted. This development happened weeks after trustees declined to move or remove Call Me Max, a picture book about a transgender boy who asks his teacher to use his chosen name. Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read program at PEN America, told The Washington Post that Randolph County’s decision is among the harshest penalties she has seen imposed over a single book.
The City Council of Culver City, California unanimously voted Freddy Puza to be mayor, making him the first openly LGBTQ+ person to hold the office in the city’s 108-year history, Instinct noted. Joining him is Bryan “Bubba” Fish, who also received a unanimous appointment as vice mayor. Together, Puza and Fish are Culver City’s inaugural openly LGBTQ+ mayoral/vice-mayoral duo.
In the Humphrey Building in D.C., the official portrait of Adm. Rachel Levine—a transgender woman who served for four years as President Biden’s assistant secretary for health—has been altered, per NPR. A digital photograph of the portrait in the hallway obtained by NPR revealed that Levine’s previous name is now typed below the portrait, under the glass of the frame. Levine told NPR that it was an honor to serve the American people as the assistant secretary for health “and I’m not going to comment on this type of petty action.”
After months of increasing numbers, cases of mpox decreased in New York City last month, bringing the caseload down to its lowest point since the early summer, Gay City News reported. New York City saw 38 cases of mpox in November after seeing 34 cases in May, 33 in June, 44 in July, 59 in August and 61 in September. In addition to getting the two-dose vaccine, health officials also encourage individuals to get tested if they may be experiencing symptoms.
Rachel Maddow was among a group of figures, including Jon Stewart, who recently received the 2025 Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Political Journalism at the National Press Club in D.C., per The Advocate. Maddow received one of the afternoon’s top honors for MS NOW’s (formerly MSNBC) The Rachel Maddow Show episode “Everyone, Everywhere, All at Once,” a broadcast that captured more than 1,400 “Hands Off” protests that erupted nationwide on April 7. Talking with The Advocate, Maddow—who attended the ceremony with longtime partner Susan Mikula—said, in part, “Our fate is not going to be determined by what happens in Washington and by what the administration wants to do. What’s going to determine what happens to us is the reaction—how the country deals with it and the sort of institutional response.”
Texas judge Dianne Hensley—who refused to perform weddings for same-sex couples—has filed a lawsuit asking federal courts to overturn marriage equality, The Advocate noted. Hensley filed the suit against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, claiming that the 2015 ruling that established marriage equality nationally, Obergefell v. Hodges, is unconstitutional. Hensley’s case is similar to that of Kim Davis—the former Kentucky county clerk who was sued by a same-sex couple for refusing to issue them a marriage license; in November, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Davis’ case.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill expanding a state law protecting gender-affirming and reproductive care from out-of-state legal proceedings—but she also vetoed legislation intended to improve access to medication to treat or prevent HIV, per Gay City News. The governor approved the so-called “Shield Law 2.0,” which bolsters the state’s 2023 Trans Safe Haven Act. However, “We are deeply disappointed by Governor Hochul’s decision to veto our legislation expanding access to HIV treatment and prevention drugs,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, that bill’s two lead sponsors, said in a joint statement.
Conservative Christians—including the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Family Research Council (FRC)—are outraged that an Orem, Utah Chick-fil-A franchisee celebrated the marriage of a gay couple, per LGBTQ Nation. “CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HAPPY COUPLE!,” the Dec. 3 post read. “Dougie & Toby recently got married and we are so beyond happy for them!” However, an article on the FRC’s Washington Stand website said the restaurant “waffles on wokeness” for “condoning a message that is radically at odds with the biblical values that most people associate them with.”
In Texas, an Episcopalian priest who was the center of an uproar over a Keller-Southlake Pride festival in October had his invitation to pray at the Keller City Council meeting withdrawn—with Mayor Armin Mizani saying the faith leader’s values don’t align with the community’s, per The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The Rev. Alan Bentrup, of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, said he had been scheduled to give the invocation at the Dec. 16 council meeting for weeks. According to Bentrup, just before the meeting, a city official told him the prayer spot had been “double-booked.” Bentrup wondered about the move given his past dispute with Mizani and the council over Bentrup letting a group called Pride Kel-So to host an LGBTQ+ Pride festival on the grounds of his church.
Appleton, Wisconsin resident Matthew Huebschman has been charged with felony stalking after engaging in what police describe as “a yearlong pattern of disturbing and intrusive behavior” on Grindr, per LGBTQ Nation. Huebschman reportedly sent multiple unknown men to a victim’s home by posing as the victim on the app and instructing men to visit his residence and enter when they arrived. Authorities said Huebschman was arrested after being caught watching the men arrive at the house from a spot nearby.
A U.S. Department of Education official has allegedly been keeping a controversial flag linked to Christian nationalism and the Jan. 6 insurrection hung outside his office, USA Today reported. It’s the latest in a series of instances in which the flag—which depicts a pine tree and the words “An Appeal to Heaven”—has been associated with agencies and figures connected to the highest levels of the federal government. Although it’s been long tied to the American Revolution, the banner “has been adopted primarily by evangelical Christian nationalist groups” as well as the Proud Boys and certain neo-Nazi groups, according to the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.
Retired Congressman Barney Frank and singer/songwriter/writer Janis Ian will be inducted alongside previously announced philanthropist Jon Stryker into the Stonewall National Museum, Archives and Library’s traveling “Standing on the Shoulders of Heroes” Exhibition on Feb. 21, per a press release. Stonewall President/CEO Robert Kesten said, “It will be an incredible experience to unveil their exhibition pieces, and celebrate their achievements with guests at our fourth annual gala.” In 1987, Frank publicly came out as gay, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily; Grammy winner Ian—best known for her ‘60s and ‘70s hits “Society’s Child” and “At Seventeen”—was one of SNL’s first musical guests.
Members of the MAGA faithful gathered to kick off Turning Point USA’s America Fest—the event quickly devolved into a spectacle of MAGA infighting, Politico noted. Ben Shapiro, the first speaker after widow Erika Kirk, ripped into conservative commentators, criticizing Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon as “frauds and grifters.” “That guy is pompous,” Carlson said, saying he “laughed” while watching clips of Shapiro’s speech backstage. “Calls to deplatform at a Charlie Kirk event? That’s hilarious.”
On a related note, rapper Nicki Minaj sat for a conversation with Erika Kirk at the Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix, Variety noted. Minaj—who has made recent anti-trans posts—called conservative activists “the cool kids” in the midst of extolling her growing admiration for the current administration. The most unfortunately memorable moment came when the superstar rapper praised “the assassin JD Vance,” leading to some awkward silence; Kirk’s husband, Charlie, was killed by a sniper three and a half months ago. Asked about backlash she has faced for her right-leaning views, Minaj drew cheers by saying, “I didn’t notice. I don’t think about them. … We’re the cool kids. The other people—they’re the ones who are disgruntled, but really they’re just disgruntled with themselves.”MAGA pastor and self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman of One Voice Ministries faced backlash for claiming that Jesus would approve of using the anti-gay slur “f—ot,” per LGBTQ Nation. In a video shared by Right Wing Watch, Kunneman said, in part, “I’ve heard some people use the word ‘fa***t,’ that it literally meant to call out Herod’s sexual immorality and lifestyle as a bisexual human being. Jesus involved himself. He was not afraid to speak up!” Biblical scholar Randall Buth, however, said that Jesus may have been calling Herod either weak or unimportant.