Twenty-four-year-old Latina trans woman and makeup artist Meraxes Medina was fatally shot in Los Angeles, according to the website them, citing The Los Angeles Times. Authorities told the Times they found Medina's broken fingernail and a can of Mace lying nearby, implying there may have been a struggle. On April 2, police arrested 29-year-old Bryan Blackmon as a suspect in Medina's killing, according to KTLA (which identified the victim as Meraxes Medina-Garcia in its story). Blackmon—previously arrested in 2014 on burglary charges—was jailed with bail set at more than $3 million.
Tennessee passed a bill that will allow potential parents who hold anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs to adopt and foster LGBTQ+ children, The Hill reported. The bill, Senate Bill 1738, passed 73-20. The bill will ban the Department of Children's Services (DCS) from requiring prospective or current adoptive and foster parents to agree with government policy regarding "sexual orientation or gender identity" that conflicts with their own beliefs. If signed into law, the bill would conflict with federal rules that place safeguards on LGBTQ+ children. After passing the Senate, the bill now heads to Republican Gov. Bill Lee. Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones said the bill is discriminatory and "cloaked under the guise of religion."
During the recent women's Final Four college basketball tournament, right-wing reporter Dan Zaksheske (who's with Outkick) asked South Carolina coach Dawn Staley about trans participation in women's sports, Queerty noted. She said, "If you consider yourself a woman, and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play. Do you want me to go deeper?" Staley later added, "So, now the barnstorm of people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me in one of the biggest days of our game—and I'm OK with that." South Carolina defeated Iowa (and Caitlin Clark) 87-75 for the national championship.
And in a related matter, Republican South Carolina U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace—rumored to be a running mate for former President Donald Trump in this year's election—took to X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the national-championship game to question Staley's views, The Advocate noted. Mace posted, ""Wonder how she'd feel if her team got beat with a man playing on the opposing team. Absolute lunacy. Men DO NOT belong in the locker room or on the court with our women and girls." Mace's anti-trans remarks resulted in widespread criticism from LGBTQ+-rights advocates and supporters of transgender inclusion.
California Assemblymember Evan Low advanced in the March 5 primary election to fill U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo's seat in Congress, an LGBTQ+ Victory Fund press release noted. California's 16th Congressional District includes much of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Low was the mayor of Campbell before winning the election to represent District 26 in the California State Assembly in 2014. With a victory in November, he'll be the third out LGBTQ+ official representing California in Congress, alongside U.S. Reps. Robert Garcia and Mark Takano.
Idaho school districts soon will have to remove any requirements that teachers use trans students' preferred pronouns, according to Idaho Education News. Republican Gov. Brad Little quietly signed House Bill 538; the legislation—sponsored by Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle—broadly enacts protections for public employees, including teachers, who are unwilling to use someone's preferred name and pronouns. The bill bans teachers from referring to a student by a name or pronoun that doesn't align with their birth sex, unless the teacher has parental consent. The measure also gives teachers the right to sue their district if they're disciplined for refusing to use a transgender student's preferred name or pronoun.
The American Library Association (ALA) released its list of the 10 most challenged books of 2023, and seven of the 10 were challenged at least in part for LGBTQ+ content, The Advocate noted. Those seven included Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, George M. Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue, Juno Dawson's This Book Is Gay, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Mike Curato's Flamer, Ellen Hopkins' Tricks, and Erika Coen and Matthew Nolan's Let Talk About It. The other three—challenged on the grounds of being sexually explicit—were Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Patricia McCormick's Sold and Jesse Andrews' Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. "These are books that contain the ideas, the opinions, and the voices that censors want to silence—stories by and about LGBTQ+ persons and people of color," ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom Director Deborah Caldwell-Stone said in a release. "Each challenge, each demand to censor these books is an attack on our freedom to read, our right to live the life we choose, and an attack on libraries as community institutions that reflect the rich diversity of our nation."
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists announced that NBCUniversal News Group Executive Vice President Yvette Miley is the recipient of the 2024 NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists Leadership Award, per a press release. The award will be presented at NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists' fundraising event, Headlines & Headliners, in New York City on April 18. Miley—a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Press Club, among other organizations—has received three Emmy Awards, including an Emmy for the MSNBC and NBC News coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage in 2016; ten Edward R. Murrow Awards; a DuPont-Columbia University Award; a George Foster Peabody Award; and four Associated Press Awards.
In California, a "War on Children" event that was scheduled to take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Torrance-South Bay sparked controversy for featuring right-wing extremists Chaya Raichik, the figure behind the anti-LGBTQ+ account Libs of TikTok; and Christopher Rufo, who spreads anti-LGBTQ+ content and conspiracy theories, The Advocate reported. The hotel refused to comment about the event although a spokesperson added, "Hilton properties serve as places of public accommodation and do not adopt, share, or endorse the views of any individuals or groups to which we provide accommodations and services."
And speaking of Raichik, the Southern Poverty Law Center added her to its list of individual extremists and extremist movements, The Oklahoman noted. The Extremist Files database contains profiles of various groups and individuals, such as Fred Phelps, of Westboro Baptist Church; and David Duke, founder of the Knights of the Klu Klux Klan. Raichik created the @LibsofTikTok handle on X/Twitter in April 2021. "Libs of TikTok" has almost 3 million followers and reposts TikTok videos of users sharing liberal views while adding derisive conservative commentary.
And in yet another item involving Libs of TikTok, Planet Fitness founder/CEO Mike Grondahl detailed a history of rampant abuse at the company and alleged it misrepresented its financials during a recent interview with the organization, per Yahoo! Finance. This comes after weeks of calls for boycotts of the brand after the company canceled the membership of a Planet Fitness member who chastised a trans person for being in the women's locker room. Planet Fitness' policy allows gym members to use the locker room associated with their gender identity; however, this policy has led to a high-profile cases of women feeling uncomfortable in the gym's locker rooms, and some women and children have reported abuse and sexual harassment at the facilities. And after the gym sided with the trans member, at least 17 locations throughout the country have reported receiving bomb threats, per them, citing Media Matters for America.
The State Bar of Wisconsin altered the parameters of a diversity program for law students after conservative legal advocacy group The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty sued in December, claiming the program discriminates based on race, Reuters reported. That change will open the program to all first-year law students in good standing at Wisconsin's two law schools and focus on "merit and diversity of viewpoint," the group noted. The program previously defined diversity as "an inclusive concept that encompasses, among other things, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation and disability." Under the new definition, diversity means "including people with differing characteristics, beliefs, experiences, interests and viewpoints."
Hundreds of mourners filled New York City's Church of St. Paul of the Apostle to pay tribute to gay political advisor and activist David Mixner, Gay City News reported. Mixner died at his Midtown Manhattan home at age 77; he had complications of long-term COVID. President Joe Biden was unable to attend Mixner's funeral. He sent two top gay aides—Gautam Raghavan, assistant to the president and director of presidential personnel, and Jamie Citron, deputy assistant to the president and principal deputy director of the White House office of public engagement.
Milton Hamlin—a Bronx resident and registered sex offender accused of making homophobic slurs at a 27-year-old gay man and slashing him while riding a Midtown subway—has been indicted on hate crimes charges, per The Villager. Hamlin is being charged in New York State Supreme Court with one count each of first-degree attempted assault and second- and third-degree assault—with each count elevated as hate crimes, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Hours after Arizona's supreme court declared that a 160-year-old abortion ban is now enforceable, Republicans in the state, surprisingly, criticized the decision, The Guardian reported. "I oppose [the] ruling," added Kari Lake, a Republican running to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate and a Donald Trump loyalist; she called on the state legislature to "come up with an immediate common-sense solution that Arizonans can support." First passed when Arizona was still a territory, the ban only permits abortions to save a patient's life and does not have exceptions for rape or incest. However, in the state House, Republican lawmakers quickly shut down discussion on a proposed repeal of the law, the AP noted. Abortion-rights activists in the state have now collected more than half a million signatures in favor of giving residents a chance to vote on a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution.
GLAAD announced that "Bytes & Bylines"—the annual gathering of technology, media and political leaders on the eve of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner weekend—will be held on Thursday, April 25, at the Residence of Ireland in Washington, D.C., per a press release. Susanna Quinn, Eric Kuhn, Stephanie Cutler, Sarah Kate Ellis, Adrienne Elrod, Karen Finney and Adam Rathe, with the Ambassador of Ireland, H.E. Geraldine Byrne Nason, are co-hosting the event. Previous attendees have included actors Kevin McHale (Glee), Sophia Bush and Jennifer Beals; Colorado Gov. Jared Polis; CBS News' Major Garrett; Rolls Royce CEO Marion Blakely; Chef Jose Andres; and many others.
A suspect was arrested in connection with a fire at U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' Vermont office that is being investigated as arson, NBC News noted. A Department of Justice press release stated that Shant Soghomonian (also known as Michael Soghomonian), 35, previously of Northridge, California, was arrested pursuant to a federal criminal complaint charging him with using fire to damage the building at One Church Street in Burlington, Vermont. The United States Attorney emphasized that the charges in the complaint are merely accusations, and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty. If convicted, Soghomonian faces a maximum possible penalty of not less than five years and not more than 20 years in prison as well as a fine of up to $250,000.
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon—who now has his own streaming program, The Don Lemon Show—wed longtime partner Tim Malone, Page Six noted, citing People. Lemon and the real-estate broker exchanged vows during a ceremony at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in midtown Manhattan in front of approximately 140 guests, including former Today show host Matt Lauer; The View co-hosts Sunny Hostin, Joy Behar and Ana Navarro; Alec Baldwin and wife Hilaria Baldwin; Tamron Hall; music mogul Clive Davis; and Real Housewives of New York City alum Luann de Lesseps. The ceremony was reportedly followed by a reception at Ralph Lauren's Polo bar, per the Daily Mail.
Former First Lady Melania Trump is throwing a fundraiser for the LGBTQ+ group the Log Cabin Republicans, per Politico. The event will take place on April 20 at Mar-a-Lago—the Palm Beach, Florida, club where she and former president Donald Trump live and where a same-sex couple (one of whom has ties to the Log Cabins) recently married. In 2021, she was the special guest at a dinner the organization hosted at Mar-a-Lago, where she received an award. The former president himself spoke at an event the organization hosted at the club in 2022.
