Hundreds of LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families took part in a Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome, celebrating a new level of acceptance in the Catholic Church and crediting the late Pope Francis with the change, NBC News noted. The main organizer of the pilgrimage was the Italian LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Jonathan’s Tent, but other groups participated, including U.S. organizations DignityUSA and Outreach. Bishop Francesco Savino, the vice president of the Italian bishops conference, celebrated Mass for the pilgrims in the Chiesa del Gesu, the main Jesuit church in Rome. “I was here 25 years ago at the last Holy Year with a contingent of LGBTQ people from the U.S. and we were actually detained as a threat to the Holy Year programs,” said DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke.
The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) announced that the Palm Springs, California-based LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert will receive the 2025 Pathfinder Award, a press release noted. This recognition honors the center’s work supporting trans and gender diverse people and their families through safe, affirming spaces and essential services. The official presentation will take place Oct. 24 at IGLTA’s Global Convention in Palm Springs.
On Aug. 29, the UK’s Football v. Homophobia campaign held the event Football Pride, per Outsports. Now in its third year, the LGBTQ+ conference (held in Leicester) blended conversations with arts and culture. Out football (soccer) player Josh Cavallo, co-host Jack Murley, women’s football athlete El Finneran, researcher Dr. Beth Burgess and Player Care Group founder Hugo Scheckter were part of the “Life’s A Pitch?” panel; at one point, Cavallo said that coming out to his Australian team “was a life-changing moment for me, but it soon went back to normal. They ask about your partner, or about your dates, and they want to know a little more about you.”
A British study conducted by researchers at King’s College London, Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Leeds (who looked at 9,000 previous studies) found that women and trans men who use their female partner’s eggs for in vitro fertilization may face a higher risk of preeclampsia and other pregnancy-related complications, according to The Advocate. Reciprocal IVF, or co-IVF, usually involves taking an egg from one partner, fertilizing it with donor sperm and then implanting it in the other partner—allowing both partners to participate in the pregnancy experience. “These worrying preliminary findings need to be investigated in a much larger-scale study to determine the precise additional risks when women opt to undertake a pregnancy with a donated egg,” Anglia Ruskin University researcher Catherine Meads said to The Telegraph.
Shahanur Islam, founder and president of the human-rights organization JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF), recently talked about how bad things are for the LGBTQ+ community in Bangladesh, per Erasing 76 Crimes.
At a feminist queer-rights event, Islam said, in part, “In Bangladesh, LGBTQI+ people have long been marginalized, but under the interim government [which took power in August 2024], the situation has reached a new level of crisis. Cases of intimidation, violence and persecution are escalating, leaving people with no protection and no recourse to justice.” JMBF Secretary General Mohammad Alamgir, added, “Bangladesh lacks any legal safeguards for LGBTQI+ individuals. On the contrary, outdated colonial-era laws are still used to criminalize their existence.”
In Germany, the Archdiocese of Cologne criticized the local newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and its chief correspondent, Joachim Frank, because of issues involving LGBTQ+ symbols, per New Ways Ministry. However, the official church lay organization the Central Committee of German Catholics is supporting Frank. According to Katholisch.de, the dispute started because of Frank’s report on the ceremonial opening of the new Archbishop’s Education Campus in Cologne-Kalk; he stated that the archdiocese allegedly asked employees to not wear rainbow symbols or display rainbow flags at the event. In a separate incident, which Frank also covered, a teacher at another school, the Kardinal-Frings-Gymnasium, was criticized by the archdiocese after wearing a rainbow-colored sweater at the school’s anniversary celebration.
In Ukraine, police protected Pride celebrations in the city of Kharkiv on Aug. 30, Erasing 76 Crimes noted, citing local news outlets. At the start of the festival, people from right-wing, nationalist and Christian organizations tried to disrupt the event. A few hours later, after conversing with KharkivPride co-organizer Anna Sharyhina, they left. KharkivPride—which had the theme of “Together, towards equality and victory” this year—has been held in Kharkiv since 2019; its program includes lectures, open discussions and a peaceful Pride march.
The White Lotus will use France as location for the upcoming fourth season of the hit murder mystery comedy-drama anthology, per Deadline. The White Lotus works exclusively with the Four Seasons hotel chain that doubles as White Lotus hotels. Rumors have focused on the famous Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, on the tip of the Cap-Ferrat peninsula on the French Riviera, which has strong Hollywood ties with its nearness to Cannes.
Advocacy group Film Workers for Palestine said that more than 1,000 high-profile industry professionals have signed a pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” per Deadline. Queer actresses Ayo Edebiri, Hannah Einbinder and Cynthia Nixon are on the list alongside celebrities such as Ava DuVernay, Olivia Colman, Gael García Bernal, Susan Sarandon, director Yorgos Lanthimos and Tilda Swinton.
Two women—Emma Aalto of Finland and Millie Colling of England—are set to become Finland’s first same-sex ice-dancing team after a groundbreaking rule change by the country’s skating federation, Reuters noted. They will compete together in Finnish domestic competitions following a change to the federation’s rules that now refer to ice dancers as “Skater A” and “Skater B” instead of “man” and “woman.” The move was inspired by Skate Canada’s 2022 decision to eliminate gender requirements for national-level ice dance teams; however, no international rule change is currently planned.
Non-binary Australian DJ G Flip released their third studio album, Dream Ride, a media release announced. To accompany the release, they’ve shared an official music video for the previously unreleased track “Bed on Fire.” According to the release, the album “finds the Melbourne-born, LA-based musical polymath playing every instrument and teaming back up with co-writer/producer Aidan Hogg to create an album that both unpacks their experience as a queer, non-binary artist and is unabashedly inspired by Bruce Springsteen, late-night drives around Los Angeles, ‘80s reverb, and maximalist drums.”
UK singer Morrissey said that he “has no choice” but to put up for sale the entirety of his business interests in his former band the Smiths “to any interested party/investor,” The Guardian noted. The offer was made in apparent seriousness on his website, Morrissey Solo, in a post titled “A Soul for Sale.” “I have had enough of malicious associations,” he stated, in part. “With my entire life I have paid my rightful dues to these songs and these images. I would now like to live disassociated from those who wish me nothing but ill will and destruction, and this is the only resolution.”
Dozens of LGBTQ+ films premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, Gay City News noted. These included new features by acclaimed queer filmmakers Gus Van Sant, whose Dead Man’s Wire details a 1977 kidnapping in 1977; and Lucrecia Martel, who presented the documentary Nuestra Tierra, which examines the killing of an indigenous community leader in Argentina. Another film was Blue Moon, in which the celebrated and closeted lyricist Lorenz Hart (played by Ethan Hawke) delivers a series of monologues; Hart is bitter that Richard Rodgers’ (Andrew Scott) new show, Oklahoma!—the first time he collaborated with someone other than Hart—is having its premiere and is going to be a smash hit.
The recent passing of Italian designer Giorgio Armani ended one of fashion’s most storied lives and careers—but it also marks the start of a pivotal transition period for his multibillion-dollar empire, according to a LinkedIn item that cited The Wall Street Journal. As opposed to most of his peers, Armani rejected acquisition overtures from luxury conglomerates, and one analyst expects “significant industry interest” now. However, Armani left behind stipulations that dictate “a cautious approach to acquisitions and debt,” and the new leadership structure of the company is currently an unknown quantity.
The celebrity guest judges have been revealed for the upcoming season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, a press release noted. Some of them include Derry Girls actor Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, original Ab Fab actress Jane Horrocks, TV presenter/comedian Joel Dommett, singer/Sugarbabe Mutya Buena and singer/actor/West End maestro Mazz Murray.
Also, World of Wonder announced the 12 queens competing in the fifth and newest season of Drag Race España that is premiering Sunday, Sept. 28, on WOW Presents Plus in the United States and select territories worldwide. The competitors are Alexandra del Raval, Dafne Mugler, Denébola Murnau, Eva Harrington, Ferrxn, Krystal Forever, Laca Udilla, La Escándalo, Margarita Kalifata, NIX, Nori and Satín Greco. Supremme de Luxe returns to host, joined by returning judges Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi and Ana Locking.
A film is in the works that will tell the story of the early life and career of the iconic Irish musician Sinead O’Connor, who died in 2023 at the age of 56, per Variety. Behind the project is Irish production company ie: entertainment, which executive-produced the critically acclaimed O’Connor documentary Nothing Compares. O’Connor became one of the most legendary figures in Irish cultural history and a trailblazer for women across the world. At 23, she won a Grammy for her sophomore album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, which spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard chart in 1990 and had the hit single “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
Italian Olympic swimmer Alex di Giorgio spoke about his rumored relationship with gay Italian media personality Tommaso Zorzi, Queerty noted. The Italian outlet Chi shared snaps of Di Giorgio and Zorzi frolicking (and kissing) on the beach while on vacation on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria. “I’m happy, I’m fine and I’ve found a balance. I believe you have to find a balance within yourself before you can be happy with other people,” he told the Italian outlet SuperGuida TV. “It’s not easy, especially given the hectic lifestyle we lead nowadays. The important thing is to be able to find an internal balance.”
British producer, songwriter and DJ SG Lewis released his third studio album, Anemoia, via his own label, Forever Days, in collaboration with Astralwerks, per a press release. The album—which takes its name from the word describing nostalgia for a time never personally experienced—arrives alongside lead single “Baby Blue,” a disco-tinged collaboration with Oliver Sim of The xx. A North American tour will hit stops such as Dallas, Chicago and Vancouver before Lewis joins Rüfüs Du Sol on their stadium tour across Australia; he will then return to the UK for headline dates including a major night at O2 Academy Brixton. Last year, Lewis helped light up the dance floors with HEAT, his project with Tove Lo, per Yahoo!