Advocate.com https://www.advocate.com/rss.xml en https://assets.rbl.ms/32874384/origin.png Advocate.com https://www.advocate.com Hate is still a public health emergency — and the epidemic we keep ignoring https://www.advocate.com/opinion/hate-public-health-emergency-trump I wrote in 2016 in The Advocate in response to the Pulse Nightclub shooting that hate behaves like an infectious agent — that violence is the epidemic, and hate is the pathogen driving it. Eight years later, I wish I could say that the outbreak has slowed. Instead, the data tells a different story. Hate has not only persisted; it has evolved. It has found new vectors, new reservoirs, and new opportunities to replicate. The recent Berlin Pride attack and the CDC shooting in Atlanta about a year ago that shattered a window in my office make one thing painfully clear: we, as a country, are still refusing to treat hate with the urgency of a public health emergency.]]> Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:01:12 EDT Dr. Demetre Daskalakis https://www.advocate.com/opinion/hate-public-health-emergency-trump A Black trans teen was shot and killed in Florida. Almost no one reported it https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/jayla-mcgee-florida-murder If a Black transgender teenager gets shot and killed in Florida and no one reports it, what does that say about the value of their life? It’s a question trans activists are struggling with after the scant attention paid to the killing of Jayla McGee, a 19-year-old whose death has been barely acknowledged by the media or authorities.]]> Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:35:38 EDT Jacob Ogles https://www.advocate.com/news/crime/jayla-mcgee-florida-murder Advocate NL 7/29/26 https://www.advocate.com/newsletter/advocate-nl-7-29-26 Hello folks, Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez here, back in your inbox on this Wednesday.]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:31:04 EDT Edgar Ramirez https://www.advocate.com/newsletter/advocate-nl-7-29-26 Dr. Anthony Fauci deserved gratitude, not Rand Paul’s Republican show trial https://www.advocate.com/opinion/rand-paul-anthony-fauci At today’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, which doubled as a character assassination of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio, dripping with contempt, said to Dr. Fauci, “Who the f**k- do you think you are?"]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:57:23 EDT John Casey https://www.advocate.com/opinion/rand-paul-anthony-fauci After Gov. Abigail Spanberger trounced her in Virginia, Winsome Earle-Sears targets marriage equality https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/winsome-earle-sears-marriage-equality Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is returning to the campaign trail less than a year after voters decisively rejected her bid for governor. She is not moderating the anti-LGBTQ+ positions that helped define her candidacy. She is building a new campaign around them.]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2026 14:36:35 EDT Christopher Wiggins https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/winsome-earle-sears-marriage-equality I survived the Berlin Pride terror attack. Don’t let the right weaponize our grief https://www.advocate.com/opinion/berlin-pride-attack-politics Last Saturday burned hot and beautiful in Berlin. I woke up late and joined hundreds of thousands of people marching through the city for Christopher Street Day, our biggest Pride event. Several Pride events happened that weekend, but I went to the big one because my boyfriend worked a shift that day at a shop in Schöneberg, Berlin’s classic gayborhood, near the start of the parade route, and I wanted to spend this holiest of days with him.]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:24:56 EDT Alexander Cheves https://www.advocate.com/opinion/berlin-pride-attack-politics Anti-trans rally flops as Seattle Storm player wears ‘trans rights are human rights’ shirt https://www.advocate.com/news/sophie-cunningham-rally-trans This story originally appeared on Them.]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:18:44 EDT James Factora https://www.advocate.com/news/sophie-cunningham-rally-trans Ohio’s Democratic candidate for governor loses top LGBTQ+ grade over anti-trans remarks https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/amy-acton-lgbtq-downgrade This story originally appeared on The Buckeye Flame.

Ohio LGBTQ+ advocacy and legal aid organization Equality Ohio has changed its grade of Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton from an “A” to “Pending” on its 2026 Candidate Scorecard.]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:34:41 EDT Ken Schneck - The Buckeye Flame https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/amy-acton-lgbtq-downgrade The closet was once the law. Without an LGBTQ+ Bill of Rights, it could be again https://www.advocate.com/opinion/lambda-legal-lgbtq-bill-rights “Homosexual Rights? You’ve got to be kidding me.”]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:14:39 EDT Kevin Jennings https://www.advocate.com/opinion/lambda-legal-lgbtq-bill-rights Layoff threat ignites labor fight at major transgender rights group https://www.advocate.com/politics/advocacy/a4te-layoff-union-threat Less than a month after workers at Advocates for Trans Equality ratified a contract designed to protect their jobs, one of the nation’s most prominent transgender rights organizations warned that some of those jobs may disappear. Now, employees are accusing A4TE’s leadership of financial mismanagement, withholding essential information and violating the collective bargaining agreement the two sides spent more than a year negotiating.]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:15:33 EDT Christopher Wiggins https://www.advocate.com/politics/advocacy/a4te-layoff-union-threat Advocate NL 7/28/27 https://www.advocate.com/newsletter/advocate-nl-7-28-27 Hello and Happy Tuesday folks! Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez here, back in your inbox with an exclusive from The Advocate's Christopher Wiggins.]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:15:32 EDT Edgar Ramirez https://www.advocate.com/newsletter/advocate-nl-7-28-27 How a mean, disrespectful tweet about Rachel Levine shaped the X platform Elon Musk bought and broke https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/elon-musk-rachel-levine-twitter Before Twitter became X, before Elon Musk stripped away protections for transgender users and before the platform earned the lowest LGBTQ+ safety score among major social networks, there was Adm. Rachel Levine, the trailblazing doctor and public health official from the Biden administration.]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:12:32 EDT Christopher Wiggins https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/elon-musk-rachel-levine-twitter LGBTQ+ advocates are building a political pipeline, one D.C. neighborhood at a time https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/queering-dc-local-government In Washington, D.C., where more than one in seven adults identifies as LGBTQ+, the most local layer of elected government still does not reliably reflect the people it represents. Capital Stonewall Democrats is trying to change that, beginning block by block.]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:43:31 EDT Christopher Wiggins https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/queering-dc-local-government <![CDATA[Kaitlan Collins on how Trump’s Dylan Mulvaney WHCD bit bombed: 'It was so quiet in the room']]> https://www.advocate.com/politics/kaitlin-collins-trump This story originally appeared on Them.

After President Donald Trump compared Kaitlan Collins to Dylan Mulvaney, the CNN anchor has responded, all while keeping it classy in the face of what was, frankly, playground bully behavior. ]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:03:22 EDT James Factora https://www.advocate.com/politics/kaitlin-collins-trump Josh Shapiro repeals HIV law that made a diagnosis a felony enhancement in Pennsylvania https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/pennsylvania-hiv-decriminilization Pennsylvania just became a safer state for people living with HIV.]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 11:51:45 EDT Jacob Ogles https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/pennsylvania-hiv-decriminilization Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson’s greatest political asset may be that he’s boring https://www.advocate.com/opinion/troy-jackson-maine-boring I didn’t sleep well Monday night, but in the couple of hours I did, I dreamed I was in Portland, Maine, riding around in a car I could fold up while I searched inside of a mall for a bathroom to use. Needless to say, when I woke up, I had no trouble finding my own bathroom.]]> Tue, 28 Jul 2026 09:30:13 EDT John Casey https://www.advocate.com/opinion/troy-jackson-maine-boring Advocate NL 7/27/26 https://www.advocate.com/newsletter/advocate-nl-7-27-26 Hello and welcome to new week after what turned out to be a newsy weekend! Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez back in your inbox here with an update on former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's case that shook us all.]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2026 17:15:59 EDT Edgar Ramirez https://www.advocate.com/newsletter/advocate-nl-7-27-26 Michigan AG investigates how an unvetted, false allegation separated Pete Buttigieg from his children https://www.advocate.com/news/michigan-buttigieg-false-report-investigation Michigan’s attorney general is investigating how an unsubstantiated tip led authorities to keep the former transportation secretary from being alone with his 4-year-old twins.]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2026 16:15:31 EDT Christopher Wiggins https://www.advocate.com/news/michigan-buttigieg-false-report-investigation Trump’s education secretary claims schools are secretly transitioning children. They aren’t https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/linda-mcmahon-secret-school-transitions Education Secretary Linda McMahon claimed that federal investigations in three states found public school officials helping children socially transition at school while keeping that information from their parents.]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:32:54 EDT Jacob Ogles https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/linda-mcmahon-secret-school-transitions After Trump meltdown, Cracker Barrel bends the knee and replaces CEO https://www.advocate.com/news/cracker-barrel-ceo-steps-down This story originally appeared on Them.

After a completely nonsensical MAGA meltdown over a supposedly “woke” rebrand last year, the current CEO of Cracker Barrel is being replaced.]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:11:34 EDT James Factora https://www.advocate.com/news/cracker-barrel-ceo-steps-down