News :: News Columns

Out in the World: Japan's PM apologizes for anti-same-sex marriage comments, fires top aide

Out in the World: Japan's PM apologizes for anti-same-sex marriage comments, fires top aide

  • by Heather Cassell
  • Feb 10, 2023

Rather than roses and chocolates to start the month that celebrates love, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and one of his top aides faced criticism within parliament and from the public for comments seen as being anti-same-sex marriage.

Political Notes: Additional queer female icons to be featured on US quarters

Political Notes: Additional queer female icons to be featured on US quarters

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Feb 10, 2023

The female namesake of an LGBTQ health clinic in the nation's capital and a lesbian poet and activist are among the latest American women chosen to be featured on U.S. quarters.

Political Notebook: Lesbian CA Senator Menjivar settles into Sacramento

Political Notebook: Lesbian CA Senator Menjivar settles into Sacramento

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Feb 8, 2023

Providing a video tour of her Sacramento office via Twitter in early January, lesbian state Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-San Fernando Valley) showed off the entry area and shared workspace for her staff.

Business Briefing: Spice shop shakes up couple's wedding plans

Business Briefing: Spice shop shakes up couple's wedding plans

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Feb 8, 2023

Four days shy of Christmas in 2021, Matthew Green and Phuong Mai got engaged and began making wedding plans. Together nearly six years, the San Francisco couple had expected to set a date sometime in 2023.

Transmissions: Being dragged into a culture war

Transmissions: Being dragged into a culture war

  • Feb 8, 2023

Decades before the upper floors of a three-story building at the corner of Broadway and Kearny in San Francisco became a co-working office space, it was home to a nightclub called Finocchio's.

LGBTQ Agenda: Artists and others speak out as bills advance in 3 states that would criminalize drag

LGBTQ Agenda: Artists and others speak out as bills advance in 3 states that would criminalize drag

  • by John Ferrannini
  • Feb 7, 2023

LGBTQ civil rights groups and drag artists are sounding the alarm about bills in three states that if they became law would restrict drag performances.

Political Notes: US senators call for LGBTQ data about scientific workforce

Political Notes: US senators call for LGBTQ data about scientific workforce

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Feb 6, 2023

A group of Democratic U.S. senators is calling for better data about the number of LGBTQ people employed among the country's scientific workforce.

News Briefs: Project Open Hand gets $1.4M in federal funds

News Briefs: Project Open Hand gets $1.4M in federal funds

  • by Cynthia Laird
  • Feb 1, 2023

Project Open Hand has announced that it will receive over $1.4 million in federal funding to support its efforts to provide life-saving, nutrition intervention services to its clients.

Out in the World: OutRight launches humanitarian and global development program

Out in the World: OutRight launches humanitarian and global development program

  • by Heather Cassell
  • Feb 1, 2023

OutRight Action International is launching a new humanitarian and global development initiative.

Political Notebook: Transgender Orange County candidate Wade falls short

Political Notebook: Transgender Orange County candidate Wade falls short

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Feb 1, 2023

A transgender veteran has fallen short in her bid for a city council seat in the seaside town of Seal Beach, California.

LGBTQ Agenda: MCC minister takes helm of LGBTQ religious studies center this year

LGBTQ Agenda: MCC minister takes helm of LGBTQ religious studies center this year

  • by John Ferrannini
  • Jan 31, 2023

The Reverend Dr. Roland Stringfellow was already in Baptist ministry when he came out of the closet as a gay man in 2003.

Political Notes: Transit, safety, budget issues top focuses of out Bay Area politicians

Political Notes: Transit, safety, budget issues top focuses of out Bay Area politicians

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Jan 30, 2023

Budgetary matters, public safety policies, and assisting transit agencies will be top focuses in 2023 for San Francisco's trio of gay supervisors.

Out in the World: Pope Francis calls for decriminalization of homosexuality

Out in the World: Pope Francis calls for decriminalization of homosexuality

  • by Heather Cassell
  • Jan 27, 2023

Pope Francis this week called for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide and said "being homosexual isn't a crime."

Transmissions: Our history, and what it tells us

Transmissions: Our history, and what it tells us

  • by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
  • Jan 25, 2023

Legislative sessions have started in statehouses across the country, and with them, scores of new anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans bills.