"If you can't lick 'em, join 'em," a conservative Indiana senator famously advised nearly a century ago. Today’s Republicans appear to have taken that lesson to heart, working overtime to create GOP-branded alternatives to Pride Month that celebrate traditional marriage, "nuclear families,” and what some governors are calling "fidelity."

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders became the latest…

Hours after the Progress Pride flag was raised over the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison to mark the start of Pride Month, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany, a congressman representing the state, renewed a campaign pledge to remove it if elected governor, saying only the American and Wisconsin flags should fly above the building.

Tiffany, a Republican congressman from northern…

After Jamie Miller underwent irreversible gender-affirming surgery and obtained a court order in 2014 recognizing her female gender, her driver’s license was invalidated under a new Kansas law.

But not all transgender Kansans’ driver’s licenses have been invalidated.

The Kansas Department of Revenue — the state agency that oversees driver’s licenses — sent out letters invalidating some, but…

_This story was originally reported by Orion Rummler of The 19th. Meet Orion and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy._

The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum has been years in the making — and now, transphobia is threatening to derail the whole thing.

A bill to approve construction of the museum failed to pass on a 204-216 vote, with House Democrats voting…

For years, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has built his political brand around grievance, confrontation, and attacks on LGBTQ+ people. On Tuesday night, moments after toppling Sen. John Cornyn in one of the most consequential Republican primary upsets of the Trump era, he returned to one of the movement’s favorite targets, transgender children.

Standing before supporters during his Senate…

Updated: Texas AG Ken Paxton calls James Talarico’s support for trans kids ‘weird’ in runoff victory speech

Texas Republicans on Tuesday chose Attorney General Ken Paxton, the embattled conservative firebrand who spent years under felony indictment while spearheading some of the nation’s most aggressive anti-LGBTQ+ legal campaigns, as their nominee for the United States…

By now, we know that the blasphemy brothers Donald Trump and Mike Johnson have completely done away with a cornerstone our founders established in the Constitution: the separation of church and state.

What little was left of that provision eroded completely on the National Mall last Sunday during a nine-hour, state-sponsored prayer service purportedly about patriotism that was really about…

For years, Missouri has been one of the country’s most aggressive testing grounds for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. It’s a Republican-controlled state where lawmakers have repeatedly introduced bills targeting transgender youth, drag performers, school policies, and gender expression as part of the broader national culture war over LGBTQ+ rights. This year was no exception.

Missouri Republicans…

FBI Director Kash Patel is facing fresh scrutiny after two new reports revealed he participated in a “VIP” snorkeling excursion in Hawaii and traveled aboard an FBI jet to attend a luxury country music concert outing with his girlfriend. The episodes are deepening concerns about his use of government resources and the increasingly celebrity-inflected culture surrounding his leadership of the…

Imagine driving home from work, opening your mail, and learning that your driver’s license is now invalid because it lists you as male, but the state believes you are female. Before you get behind the wheel again, even in an emergency, you must go to the motor vehicles office and get a new license with an “F” gender marker. If you don’t do this and are stopped by a police officer, you can be…

The 33-year-old son of Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul allegedly hurled antisemitic language at a non-Jewish member of Congress, then apologized for calling him Jewish. New York Rep. Mike Lawler, also a Republican and the lawmaker targeted in the exchange, later alleged that Paul also made homophobic remarks.

William Paul, in view of a reporter from NOTUS, allegedly accosted Lawler at a…

In September 1925, a month after some 30,000 hooded Klansmen paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in the largest Klan rally in Washington's history, the satirical weekly Judge declared the Ku Klux Klan effectively dead. What remained, the editorial argued, was a fraternal dress-up order, no more threatening than the Shriners. — Read the rest

The post How 1925 press dismissed the Klan at peak power…

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy appeared on __Fox News__ this week to mock Barack Obama’s interview with Stephen Colbert, suggesting the two should “get a motel room” because of their supposed mutual admiration.

Kennedy’s motel room quip came after Obama appeared on Colbert’s _Late Show_ , where the two discussed and joked about presidential powers, executive authority, and job searches,…

It’s hard to find good news in the United States right now, and even harder to notice it when it happens somewhere else. But some of the American evangelical right’s most hatefully aggressive anti-LGBTQ+ campaigns abroad are beginning to come undone. As their influence seems to increase here at home, they are losing ground elsewhere. Botswana has officially removed its anti-sodomy law from…

Florida Republicans approved a new congressional map Wednesday, designed to lock in GOP power in Washington and hand their party as many as 4 additional U.S. House seats.

The Florida Legislature passed the mid-decade redraw during a special session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis, advancing a plan that could shift the state’s congressional delegation from a 20-8 Republican advantage to as much…

After Saturday’s traumatic event at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton, Senator Lindsey Graham was quick with a balm and a solution.

Many attendees are no doubt enduring a harsh case of PTSD. Mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was on the dais with the Trumps, said it was “likely the scariest moment of my life.”

So what does lascivious Lindsey do? He doesn’t respond with…

US Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Wesley Hunt of Texas, and John James of Michigan all decided to run for statewide office – although Hunt lost in the Texas Senate primary. US Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah is retiring after his state redrew district lines, making it difficult for him to retain his seat. Some Republicans, notably former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy , have…

_This story appeared first in_ The Buckeye Flame.

Kim Burroughs was not planning on testifying in front of the Ohio House Judiciary Committee on March 18.

She had a full week of depositions and legal work as an attorney at a Columbus-based law firm, and a nursery to assemble as she and her wife were soon expecting a baby.

But when Burroughs received a call from an Equality Ohio staff…

Andy Cohen had some choice words for podcast host-turned conservative political influencer Joe Rogan.

On Tuesday’s episode of _Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen_ , Rogan’s name came up when he was speaking with reality TV star Kristin Cavallari about her fellow _The Hills_ alum Spencer Pratt’s bid for mayor of Los Angeles.

Cavallari admitted that she initially thought he was joking…

In recent days, Tennessee Republicans have moved a cluster of bills affecting transgender people across multiple areas of public life, from schools and government policy to health care and access to shared facilities.

The pace is part of a larger pattern. The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 36 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Tennessee in 2026, spanning categories that include health care…

If there was one place that was free of MAGA politics, you’d think it would be a gay hookup app, but you’d be wrong.

Not only are there frequent reports that spikes in Grindr usage during large conservative events like the Republican National Convention cause the app to crash, but Grindr now has a Republican in a major leadership role and has been wading into politics more and more during…

There’s a large man at my gym I’ve been quietly dreading for the better part of a year. White-haired, beer-bellied — at least that’s what we used to call it — with the self-satisfied bearing of someone who clearly imbibes in martinis while arrogantly bragging about how much Trump is saving them on their taxes.

He is, in every visible way, the archetypal country club Trump supporter. And he…

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed a resolution designating June 2026 as “Nuclear Family Month” in the state, defining the family unit as consisting of “one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children.” Critics say it is a direct rebuke of LGBTQ+ families during Pride Month.

Lee signed House Joint Resolution 182 on April 9, two days after it was transmitted to his…

The Tennessee Senate on Monday passed an amended version of SB676, a bill that would require the state to collect detailed data on transgender patients. The legislation now returns to the Tennessee House of Representatives, where lawmakers must decide whether to accept the Senate’s changes before sending it to Republican Gov. Bill Lee.

The bill requires clinics and insurers to submit…

The White House set out on Monday to showcase a working American benefiting from President Donald Trump’s tax policy. What unfolded instead was a small, revealing collision between political messaging and lived reality — and a moment that did not go the president’s way.

The photo-op was designed to highlight a “no tax on tips” initiative, with Arkansas DoorDash driver Sharon Simmons cast as…

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is facing growing public scrutiny after a new Friday report added fresh allegations about her husband, Bryon Noem’s secret life, and deepened a controversy that critics say highlights a stark contradiction between her political record and her family’s private life.

The latest report, published Friday by the _Daily Mail,_ claims Bryon Noem told…

A Nebraska lawmaker’s latest attempt to revive anti-trans legislation collapsed on the chamber floor this week, but not before exposing the precarious political arithmetic that has made the state one of the country’s closely watched battlegrounds over LGBTQ+ rights.

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According to the Omaha…

When Congress returns to session next week, Republicans in the House of Representatives are expected to move forward on a bill that would give the federal government unprecedented power to pressure public schools into removing books and materials that acknowledge the existence of transgender people.

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Two anti-LGBTQ+ politicians who have been critical of transgender people and “woke” ideology have themselves played with their gender presentation, _The Advocate_ has learned.

Newly unearthed photos show U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins dressed in drag while they were in high school. Both politicians are staunchly anti-trans and support President Donald Trump’s aggressive policies…

A gay journalist says he was briefly detained by security after he booed President Donald Trump during the opening night of the musical Chicago at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, according to the Washington Blade.

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Eugene Ramirez, a former national…