AI-assisted summary Over 300 people rallied in Montgomery, Alabama to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and challenge discriminatory legislation. Protesters marched from the Alabama Supreme Court to the Capitol, voicing their opposition to bills like HB 107, which aims to restrict...

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A Pride march in Serbia 's capital on Saturday condemned police violence against anti-government protesters while offering support to university students behind the monthslong demonstrations against populist President Aleksandar Vucic. Organizers said the event in Belgrade...

Jeri Hughes, a longtime D.C. transgender rights advocate who has worked closely with activists in support of the local LGBTQ community, died March 18 at her home after a seven-year battle with lung cancer. She was 73. Hughes, who has...

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President Donald Trump on Thursday withdrew U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)’s nomination to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. The Associated Press noted Trump in a Truth Social post said it was “essential to maintain every Republican seat...

A Russian court on Monday labeled the country's top LGBTQ+ rights group as "extremist," a move that outlaws the organization and paves the way to prosecute its supporters. Russia has for years targeted LGBTQ+ organizations but has become even more hostile since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, massively accelerating the country's hardline conservative turn. On Monday, a court in St. Petersburg ruled in favor of a case brought by the Russian Justice Ministry to brand the Russian LGBT Network — a top LGBTQ+ rights nonprofit — "extremist." "The public movement has been designated as an extremist organization, and its activities are banned in Russia," the court's press service said on Telegram. The hearing was held behind closed doors. The designation could mean anybody associated with the group risks years behind bars for supporting an extremist organization — akin to terrorism charges under Russia's Criminal Code. Amnesty International in February slammed the Justice Ministry's move to seek the label. "This move reflects a deliberate strategy by the Kremlin to legitimize and weaponize homophobia in its assault on dissent and equality," said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International's Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director. Russian President Vladimir Putin has for years...

When I was a teenager, I rarely heard about LGBTQ Pride — and I heard even less about Disability Pride. In the church my father attended, LGBTQ people were spoken of as sinful, and disability in the culture in which...

On June 13, at Qatar’s World Cup match in Santa Clara, California, Dr. Nas Mohamed — a physician and the first openly gay Qatari to seek asylum in the U.S. after fleeing state persecution –– stood in the stands alongside California State Sen. Scott Wiener. That day, the two posted a joint statement to Instagram, calling on FIFA and sponsors to “stop looking away” from the persecution of LGBTQ people around the globe. The statement did not name Qatar or a single sponsor, and did not include a concrete demand. Philosopher Judith Butler, whose foundational work on performativity underlies much of contemporary LGBTQIA2S theory, was direct when asked about the action, saying: “‘To address’ an issue is not the same as naming and condemning that issue: it is a non-committal obfuscation, but not a performative speech act, strictly speaking … What you are describing is a non-committal gesture, the agreement to talk about something in vague terms.” For six days after the match, U.S. and global media remained silent on the “gesture.” “The disconnect with the media is intense,” Mohamed told me. “Arabic coverage is none, like none of this ever happened.” Yet where the statement failed to land, the...

LGBTQ rights advocates reflected on D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s longstanding advocacy and support for LGBTQ rights in Congress following her decision last month not to run for re-election this year. Upon completing her current term in office in...

The United Nations voted to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) on Monday. The UN Human Rights Council adopted the resolution with 29 votes in...

The U.N. earlier this year urged Mongolia to bolster protections for LGBTQ and intersex people, warning that entrenched discrimination and gaps in legal recognition continue to undermine recent progress. In its Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of Mongolia,...

For decades, libraries served as a safe haven for many queer and marginalized youths in eastern Texas, says former county library director Rhea Young. Unlike the school cafeteria, the library was a space where they could explore and find acceptance...

Welcome to the latest edition of Heroes of the Resistance — GLAAD’s ongoing series highlighting positive changemakers for the LGBTQ community at a time of challenge and uncertainty. In a significant recent victory, Senate Democrats came together unanimously to halt...

Pylypenko recognises that whether action is taken against homophobia in the Ukrainian military still largely depends on the personal attitudes of the commanders. “But by being visible and working with international partners, we can cause trouble,” he said. “The [former]...

Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, a Republican who long championed LGBTQ rights, died on Friday at age 93. After serving in the Senate from 1979 to 1997, including a stint as the GOP whip from 1985 to 1995,...

There should be open public discussion about the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 11, in a rare reference to the topic. Zelensky's comment came during a cultural event in Kyiv, as legislative efforts to advance LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine continue to face slow progress, despite growing public support in recent years. Oleksandr Demenko, a veteran and head of an LGBTQ+ military and veterans NGO asked the president whether Ukraine needs cultural products that "normalize LGBTQ+ topic" and help increase public tolerance in the country. "I believe that everything should be discussed openly with society, and that is completely normal," Zelensky replied. "We are all here together, we are defending the state, we are the same and we have absolutely the same rights, regardless of any prejudices held by people from the 15th century. We are modern people," the president added. While public support for LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine has increased, the community continues to face frequent threats and violence, particularly from far-right groups. A 2024 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that over 70% of Ukrainians believe LGBTQ+ people should have the same rights as others. Since the beginning...

In January 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States concluded oral arguments in two closely watched cases — West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Hecox v. Little — with judgments expected in the coming months. At issue in both cases was whether state laws that barred transgender athletes from participating on girls’ and women’s sports teams violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Together, these cases are poised to have far-reaching consequences for the future of girls’ and women’s sports in the United States. Both these cases also come in the heels of a more recent Supreme Court decision that upheld a Tennessee law that banned puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. In that case (United States v. Skrmetti, 2025), the Court held that the law did not violate the Equal Protection Clause and followed a now-familiar pattern: the verdict was delivered along a six–three ideological split, with all three Democratic appointees in dissent and the Court’s six Republican appointees forming the majority. The Court’s ideological divide Much has already been said about the Supreme Court’s ideological divide — a divide that long predates the present moment...

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services released a 20-page pseudoscientific report entitled, “Where the Clinic Meets the Movement: Does Gender Ideology Arm Left-Wing Authoritarian Psychology?” The report concludes that “gender ideology is associated with left-wing authoritarianism and willingness to justify political violence,” but its methodology and creation both align with the Trump administration’s general anti-trans crusade. Right-wing media outlets — like The New York Post, The Daily Caller, Blaze Media, and The Washington Examiner — are already citing the report to paint trans people and their allies as potentially violent. The report is just the administration’s latest move in creating justifications to surveil and prosecute LGBTQ+ and allied groups that regularly challenge the president’s relentlessly anti-democratic and unconstitutional actions. The report surveyed 1,208 US adults, only 1.1% of whom identified as transgender/nonbinary and 55% of whom identified as Democrat-leaning. Seeing as other recent surveys showed an estimated 29% of US adults self-identifying as Democratic, the small pool of respondents in this recent report isn’t a nationally representative sample. The report’s authors invented a “Clinical Gender Affirmation Scale” (CGAS) to measure respondents’ support of trans people. The CGAS asked respondents whether they agreed with five statements affirming the importance...

A Turkish port denied entry to an LGBTQI+-focused cruise ship following pressure from local media an...

Public speaker urges Cathedral City Council to address community safety concerns and visibility.

After many years, Ukraine’s Supreme Court did what the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) has failed to do. On Feb. 25, it recognised two men in a long-term relationship as a “family” in the eyes of the law. Two months later, on April 28, the parliament voted 254 to 2 to advance a civil code that could make future judicial recognition of same-sex couples impossible. That tension defines the current legal status of LGBTQ+ Ukrainians. The courts are slowly catching up to the lives of the country’s citizens, but the legislature seems determined to push those citizens back outside the law. The legislature is putting Ukraine at odds with its European Union accession commitments, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Ukrainian public itself. Article 51 of the 1996 Constitution defines marriage as between “a woman and a man.” It does not recognise civil partnership or any registered union for same-sex couples. The only path to recognition is through the courts. “If we talk about a heterosexual couple, they may meet, immediately apply to register their marriage, and they are considered married,” Vasyl Malikov, a Kharkiv-based LGBTQ+ activist and head of the NGO Spectrum, explained in an interview with...

More than three-quarters of Hungarians who voted for Péter Magyar in last month’s election want his government to do more to address the climate crisis, and more than 70% want him to protect LGBTQ+ rights, a poll has found. Magyar’s opposition Tisza party won a supermajority in the vote, bringing an end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power. The new prime minister will be sworn in on Saturday, weeks after the results set off celebrations in Budapest and Brussels. Magyar, a former member of Orbán’s populist rightwing Fidesz party, has a conservative background and avoided any pronouncements on progressive issues on the campaign trail, possibly for fear of providing fodder for the estimated 80% of Hungary’s media that is controlled by Fidesz loyalists. However, a poll carried out in the days after the election and published on Thursday suggests that Tisza’s voter base leans progressive, hinting at the conflicting pressures facing the new government. About 77% of Tisza voters polled said they supported an ambitious climate policy, while 71% supported, or somewhat supported, the new government protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people, an area that experienced dramatic rollbacks under Orbán. Pawel Zerka of the European Council on Foreign Relations,...

The US supreme court will consider state bans on transgender athletes on Tuesday in a major LGBTQ+ rights legal battle that could have far-reaching consequences beyond youth sports. The court is hearing oral arguments in two cases brought by trans...

The loss of US support has not only wiped out programmes that helped people access healthcare, education and jobs, but also hit initiatives seeking to change laws that still criminalise LGBTQ+ individuals in 65 countries. In the Pacific region, where...