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Florence, AZ – Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Tupac, and John Lennon will be the featured entertainment at Donald Trump’s Florence, Arizona, mass rally on January 15. Yes, they are all dead, but no, that’s not a typo. That’s the apparently sincere claim of QAnon boss Michael Brian Protzman. The idea that dead entertainers would be resurrected to perform “live” is not a new one for Protzman. In November he claimed that the Rolling Stones were replaced by Jackson, Prince, and JFK Jr., at their Dallas concert, with Aaliyah providing backup vocals. Protzman was also the source of […]

Washington, D.C. – Alex Bollinger writes in LGBTQ Nation that Out Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) discussed with The Hill what it was like working in Congress during the Capitol Insurrection and how the violence inspired him to help lead the second impeachment of Donald Trump. Cicilline said that his colleague Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) “came into my office because he had been evacuated from his office building, and asked whether he could stay in our office, and we of course said yes.” “And as we were watching the events unfold [on TV]… and as the day went on and there […]

Philadelphia, PA – The Philadelphia 76ers celebrated their annual Pride Night on January 3 at the Wells Fargo Center, along with a victory over the Houston Rockets 133-113. The Sixers recognized Philadelphia Gay News and publisher Mark Segal during a halftime celebration on center court. The first issue of PGN was released on January 3, 1976. “When we host Pride Night each year, we use it as an opportunity to tie the event to a moment in history or a local influencer in the LGBTQ+ community,” Mike Goings, Vice President of Social Responsibility & Fan Development, told PGN. “Mark Segal […]

Dallas, Tx – Officials with Black Tie Dinner distributed a record $1,450,000 to its 17 beneficiaries during its 2021 Wrap Party, hosted December 16 by 2021 Presenting Sponsor PNC Bank and distribution event underwriter Lexus, at Gilley’s South Side Music Hall. Co-chairs Brad Pritchett and Terry Loftis noted that 2021’s record fundraising pushed Black Tie Dinner’s total distribution since its inception in 1982 to more than $27 million. Pritchett, who completed his two years at the head of Black Tie and his tenure on the board with the distribution event said, “After the challenges of 2020, we are excited to […]

Washington, D.C. – Some 20 million US adults identify as LGBT, according to a new Human Rights Campaign analysis of government data. That figure represents nearly 8% of the total adult population of the country, and is two times higher than previous statistical estimates. The HRC added that millions more may identify as something “more expansive,” like pansexual. For this estimate, the HRC took data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, an experimental household probability survey released in biweekly phases during the pandemic. The HRC said that previous attempts to document the size and demographics of America’s LGBTQ+ […]

Evansville, IN – A Methodist pastor in Indiana has been fired by his church after appearing in drag on the HBO series We’re Here. Pastor Craig Duke had served as head pastor at Newburgh United Methodist Church since 2018. He is married and the father of a Pansexual daughter. While the United Methodist Church—a mainstream Protestant denomination—does not condemn same-sex attractions, it does not endorse marriage equality or allow partnered Gay or Lesbian people to be ordained as clergy. Nevertheless, Duke earned a reputation as an ally of the LGBTQ community in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana, and when We’re […]

Long Beach, CA – At the core of service organization, Gay for Good is the idea that acts of kindness bring people together. Founded in California in 2008 by Steve Gratwick, Tony Biel, and Frank Roller, the now national nonprofit mobilizes LGBTQ and ally volunteers to participate in service projects in their communities. Gratwick, Biel, and Roller established the organization in response to the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California by public vote. The Gay for Good founders believed the way to change people’s hearts and minds was to build relationships in the community through service. […]

San Francisco, CA – At the beginning of December each year, people united in the fight against HIV/AIDS come together to observe World AIDS Day. The National AIDS Memorial remembers, honors, and supports stories of the pandemic to ensure they are never forgotten. On November 30 and December 1, the memorial hosted events in San Francisco and online to “offer inspiration, hope, remembrance, and reflection,” as 2021 marks the 40th year of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the US, with over 700,000 lives lost in the past four decades. “Today, while much progress has been made, HIV rates continue to rise […]

Roxbury, CN – The news on November 26 that Stephen Sondheim had died was sudden and surprising. Although he was 91, Sondheim was not reported to be in ill health and had just spent Thanksgiving with friends. The breadth of Sondheim’s musical oeuvre and concomitant genius will be written about extensively in the coming days and weeks — and for years to come — by music critics, musicologists and academics. I shall leave it to them to deconstruct his genius in those contexts, noting his many awards from Tonys to the Pulitzer Prize to Grammys. But for some of us […]

Hartford, WI – Veteran progressive activist and TV-film-stage producer Scott Robbe died on Sunday, Nov. 21, according to a statement by Paul Algiers, a longtime friend and the executor of Scott Robbe’s estate. Robbe was in hospice care at the home of his sister, Angela, in Hartford, Wisc. He was 66. Robbe died of complications from Myelodysplastic Anemia, a blood cancer he had battled for more than a year. Robbe was a prominent member in the founding of two direct-action groups in New York City: ACT UP and Queer Nation. Robbe was a member of an ACT UP undercover team, […]