Is This Our Future?

All around the world, right-wing conservatives are attacking us—the LGBTQ+ community! We see it everywhere, from Hungary under Viktor Orbán to right-wing movements globally.

Russian LGBT Network shuts down after ‘extremism’ ruling makes its work ‘impossible’

Pink News

by Jack Wetherill

August 19, 2026

The Russian LGBT Network has announced it is shutting down after a St Petersburg court designated the group an “extremist” organisation, saying the ruling makes public operations too risky for staff, supporters and people seeking help. The group confirmed the decision in a statement on Telegram.

A St Petersburg court in April declared the Russian LGBT Network “extremist” following a lawsuit by Russia’s Justice Ministry. The Russian LGBT Network said the label makes its previous public format of work impossible because “any connection to the organisation may create additional risks for the people we seek to support and protect”.

In a statement posted to its Facebook page statement, the organisation said: “For many years, Russian LGBT Network brought together initiatives and activists and supported queer people across the country,” adding that its “extremist” status had made continuing in the same way “impossible”.

Being LGBTQ+ is just the hook for conservatives. The real worry the right wing has for us is hidden right there in the title: "Russian LGBT Network," but more specifically, the word "Network." We are organized. And that is what they fear. Right-wing authoritarian and nationalist regimes also target independent civil rights networks and labor unions because they represent independent collective power.

Funding by corporations has been cut back out of fear that political retaliation could follow corporate DEI support. In some states, funding for Pride centers has been slashed by city governments. Pride celebrations, once seen as markers of civic prestige that brought business to local retail establishments are now shunned out of fear that they might provoke political wrath.

Despots fear organizations that unite people. They want to keep people off-balance and prevent them from assembling. They fear movements not just because of what they might do, but because they are organized.

Trump and authoritarianism thrive in isolation. There is a reason for all this DEI stuff, it keeps groups battling one another and keeps them from the real problems like the growing national debt. When a community builds a network, whether it's on a factory floor, LGBTQ+ centers, in a grassroots advocacy group, or around a shared identity, that is a threat to their power.

Turning Discrimination Laws On Their Heads!

This is so bigoted, and vindictive. It is a perversions of the non-discrimination laws!

Justice Department opens civil rights probe after Giants’ Pride protest

By Scooby Axson

USA TODAY

June 19, 2026

An investigation into Major League Baseball by the United States Department of Justice into possible discrimination against four San Francisco Giants players has been opened after they wrote Bible verses on their hats during the team's Pride Night.

On June 12, three Giants pitchers, Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker, broke MLB protocol by altering their uniforms with Bible verses on their Pride Night caps, which featured a rainbow Giants logo. And another pitcher, Sam Hentges, did not even wear his Pride Night hat. The players received a warning from MLB for violating the uniform policy. 

The DOJ said it was referring Major League Baseball to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a letter written to Commissioner Rob Manfred.

So let me get this straight! They say it is their religious right to discriminate against others... just like they did with in the Jim Crows are. They believed that the Bible said it is okay to hate their neighbors but on 

"The three players expressed their opposition to MLB's pro-Pride orthodoxy," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in the letter. "The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League's vehicle for pro-Pride messages.

So they are hiding the bigoty behind their religion! "Oh it's against my religion to treat everyone equal!"

How many times have you been to a game when it was some "night or other" for Oracle Park some of the other notable ones include:

• Mexican Heritage Night – June 23
• Irish Heritage Night – June 24
• Italian Heritage Night – July 28
• Native American Heritage Night – August 28
• Filipino Heritage Night – September 8
• Fiesta Gigantes (Latino-themed celebration) – multiple dates during the season

So the real question is: Is the DOJ going after all the other "special nights" or are they just going after Pride night, if so isn't that discriminatory? Just about all sports teams have "special nights" even the Hartford Yard Goats have a Pride night!

This is nothing more then an attempt to intimidates sports teams into not holding Pride events.

I am reminded the lyrics from the song "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)"

Go ahead and hate your neighbor

Go ahead and cheat a friend

Do it in the name of Heaven

You can justify it in the end

There won't be any trumpets blowin'

Come the Judgment Day

On the bloody morning after

One tin soldier rides away

It seems all these religious people forget this...

“He answered: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Luke 10:27

It seems to me, all these super Christians have failed that command. 

Fair Weather Friends!

Some say you can't blame them; I say you can.

In years past, businesses would shower us with their support. Now? Nothing. The political climate has changed. For true friends, that shouldn't matter.

These brands deserted Pride Month. It could cost them.

By Jessica Guynn

USA TODAY

June 10, 2026

Key points:

• Levi Strauss released a Pride collection honoring queer motorcycle clubs, while REI featured a rainbow camping chair designed by nonbinary artist Alva Skog.
• Apple offered a Pride‑themed sport loop watchband and iPhone/iPad wallpapers for the month.
  
• Abercrombie & Fitch’s “Made with Pride” line included a $400,000 donation to The Trevor Project.
• According to a Harris Poll of nearly 5,000 U.S. adults, 77% of LGBTQ+ shoppers and 86% of LGBTQ+ Gen Z respondents said they would pay more for brands that meaningfully support gay and trans people.
• The same poll found that 42% of LGBTQ+ respondents would trust a brand less and 38% would look for another brand if it pulled back on Pride support.

Levi Strauss & Co.’s Pride collection celebrates queer motorcycle clubs as “the community protectors who became symbols of strength, safety and solidarity.” Nonbinary artist Alva Skog created a collection of rainbow clothing and gear, including a camping chair for REI. 

Apple has a Pride-themed sport loop watchband and Pride wallpaper for the iPhone and iPad. Abercrombie & Fitch's “Made with Pride”  lineup is accompanied by a $400,000 donation to youth crisis intervention organization, The Trevor Project. 

But this year’s Pride Month still has far less rainbow bling and fewer corporate sponsorships.

Pride Month has suffered corporate defections since gay and transgender rights emerged as a culture-war flashpoint and the Trump administration cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

We see, we remember.

“LGBTQ+ consumers are telling us that they notice when brands pull back, they can tell when support feels performative and many change how they shop when support disappears,” he said. 

Do you know why they courted us? We have disposable income. You know they used to call us: DINKs (Double Income, No Kids).

Pride celebrations struggle as corporate sponsorships dry up

NPR

By Hannah Frances Johansson

May 30, 2026

Pride celebrations across the country continue to lose out on large sponsorships as corporations, a key source of funding, shrink their affiliation with diversity causes and LGBTQ+ events.

Corporate sponsorships of celebrations in several cities, including New York City, Salt Lake City, Louisville, St. Louis, Orlando, and Pittsburgh are down from previous years, organizers said.

Jordan Braxton, co-president of the United States Association of Prides, which supports Pride celebrations nationwide, said that while some smaller Prides have seen a growth in sponsorships, a majority have seen a reduction.

She said the Trump administration's dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, has scared corporations away from sponsoring Pride celebrations. "I think that's why some of the corporations have pulled back, because they don't want that government scrutiny," she said.

In a way, this is good! We can go back to our roots!

I guess you can say that the original Prides were Cooper's Donuts, the Black Cat Tavern, Dewey’s Lunch Counter, Compton's Cafeteria, and Stonewall. They were the original sites of Pride where we stood up and said... ENOUGH!

Then we started passing non-discrimination legislation... Marriage Equality! We grabbed the "brass ring" on the carousel, and the partying began!

Support for grassroots organizations like Love Makes a Family dried up, but then the corporate sponsors started coming—and a new phrase was coined: "Rainbow Capitalism."

Now we are in the third wave... the era of Trump.

Gay Inc. is still in full swing. But others who have to make their living off the streets are just scraping by, and the trans community has borne the brunt of Trump's attacks.

We remember our true friends, not the fair-weather friends.

We remember the politicians who stand beside us, not the ones who run away when a dark cloud passes by.

We remember the companies and businesses that stood by us in tough times.

And we have long memories.

What I have learned from history: is you don't want to be around us when we have a coffee in our hands.

---

Our struggles continues, this is from this month!

Tennessee congressman called ‘absolutely idiotic’ by fellow Republicans after vile antigay post

June 3, 2026

By Christopher Wiggins

The Advocate

Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee posted a message on X on Tuesday declaring that "homosexuality has no place in America" before deleting it amid criticism from Democrats, LGBTQ+ advocates, and fellow members of the GOP.

The Republican congressman published the message on Tuesday, the second day of Pride Month, adding, "Happy Nuclear Family Month." The post referred to a nonbinding resolution signed by Gov. Bill Lee in April that defines a nuclear family as "one husband, one wife" and their children.

Ogles later deleted the post and blamed a staff member, saying in a statement that he was working on his farm when his phone "began going crazy" over a post that he claimed was made by a member of his communications team.

"The post was stupid, hurtful and a complete distraction from my America First focus," Ogles wrote, adding that the employee had been reprimanded.

The explanation prompted skepticism from critics, who questioned how such a message could have been posted from the congressman's official account.

Congressman Mark Takano of California, who serves as the chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus and who is gay, sharply criticized Ogles.

“America is beautiful because every person, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, is welcome here. Republicans turn to posting hateful garbage online because they have no real plans to solve problems for American families,” Takano told The Advocate. “I think Rep. Ogles’ explanation raises more questions, like what kind of people is he hiring that would have thought that tweet was a good idea in the first place? Whoever that staffer was clearly thought the tweet would fit Mr. Ogles’ voice because of his extreme anti-LGBTQI+ record.”

Stonewall: Writing Us Out of History

We all know the story of Stonewall, of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson. But what about the following year, when the first Pride parade was held in 1970 and we were told… "Don’t attend!"

NYC Pride March

NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project

Overview

New York City’s first ever Pride March was held on Sunday, June 28, 1970 (the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising), and, much to the organizers’ surprise, attracted thousands of participants.

Known at the time as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, the route began on Washington Place between Sheridan Square and Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, moved north up Sixth Avenue, and ended with a “Gay-In” in Central Park’s Sheep Meadow.

But there were some who were not invited to march… trans people, butch lesbians, and flaming gays.

They only wanted those who could assimilate into society. They only wanted those who were "respectable" to mainstream America.

"Y'all better quiet down!... You all tell me, go and hide my tail between my legs, from the gay liberation, because you're tired of seeing drag queens and street people... I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation, and you all treat me this way? What the fuck's wrong with you all?"

— Sylvia Rivera, June 1973

They tried to shout her down… but she would have none of it. They tried to take the microphone back… but she held on tight. As the National Women’s History Museum notes:

The Stonewall Inn uprising was also a turning point in the visibility of the gay rights movement. The first pride parades started in 1970, but Rivera and other transgender people were discriminated against and discouraged from participating. In 1973, Rivera participated in the Gay Pride Parade but was not allowed to speak, despite the amount of work and advocacy she had done. She grabbed the microphone anyway, telling the spectators and other marchers, “If it wasn’t for the drag queen, there would be no gay liberation movement. We’re the front-liners.” She was booed off the stage.

And now, Trump has had us taken off the National Historical Landmark plaque at Stonewall.

Park Service erases 'transgender' on Stonewall website, uses the term 'LGB' movement

NPR News

Juliana Kim

February 14, 2025

The National Park Service website exploring the history and significance of the Stonewall Uprising has been stripped of any mention of transgender people.

The page was also updated to remove the "T" from the previously used acronym "LGBTQ+" — now, referring to the community as either "LGB" or "LGBQ." References to the word "queer" have also been removed.

When describing the Stonewall Uprising, the website now reads: "Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) person was illegal, but the events at the Stonewall Inn sparked fresh momentum for the LGB civil rights movement!"

Two steps forward, three steps backward.

 

---

 

Updated: 6/4

  

Pride Month Begins

Trump hates Pride month. Trump hates trans people. Trump hates gays. But I don't know if he hates lesbians... he probably wants to jump any woman and thinks that he can "cure" them.

But his hatred is having a profound effect on Pride. Companies are afraid of getting on the wrong side of Trump.

Pride celebrations struggle as corporate sponsorships dry up

May 30, 2026

Weekend Edition Saturday

By Hannah Frances Johansson

Pride celebrations across the country continue to lose out on large sponsorships as corporations, a key source of funding, shrink their affiliation with diversity causes and LGBTQ+ events.

Corporate sponsorships of celebrations in several cities, including New York City, Salt Lake City, Louisville, St. Louis, Orlando, and Pittsburgh are down from previous years, organizers said.

Jordan Braxton, co-president of the United States Association of Prides, which supports Pride celebrations nationwide, said that while some smaller Prides have seen a growth in sponsorships, a majority have seen a reduction.

She said the Trump administration's dismantling of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, has scared corporations away from sponsoring Pride celebrations. "I think that's why some of the corporations have pulled back, because they don't want that government scrutiny," she said.

The squeeze is on; companies are nervous to bring down the wrath of "The Don." When big money walks away, working-class solidarity and community roots can step in to fill the gap.

It was beginning to be felt last June, as Non-Profit Quarterly wrote back then,

Citi, Lowe’s, Mastercard, PepsiCo, Target, and Walmart.

These are but a handful of the major corporate sponsors who have backed out of supporting Pride celebrations across the country this year.

In a climate increasingly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, many corporations renounced their commitments to Pride festivals and events parallel to dissolving their DEI initiatives. According to The Advocate, even before President Trump renounced DEI through executive order, “dozens of major companies had already abandoned their practices. Many made their decisions after conservatives online specifically targeted them for their policies and threatened boycotts.”

And now companies are quaking in their boots and bowing to the Golden Idol.

NPR goes on to write:

"It takes a lot of money to do this," said Dena Stanley, director of Pittsburgh Pride. "Permittings costs, security costs, headliners costs, staging costs, cleaning crew costs, insurance costs, all of these are expenses."

Over on the other side of pond, British organizers have coupled with unions,

Bigger and better than ever’: how Durham Pride beat Reform’s funding axe with help from the miners

Solidarity between LGBTQ+ people and unions has saved an event denied ‘a single penny’ of council money

Guardian

Hannah Al-Othman

Sat 30 May 2026

As the annual Pride parade weaved its way through Durham, the rainbow flags, trans rights placards and sequined cowboy hats filled the medieval city’s cobbled streets with a huge splash of colour.

But this year, the rainbow flags were almost matched in number by trade union banners, as miners, postal workers, and train drivers swelled the parade’s ranks in solidarity, making it the biggest in Durham Pride’s history.

When Reform UK won control of Durham county council last year, one of the party’s first moves in power was to take down the rainbow flag that flew over its headquarters. Soon after, it announced it was axing funding for the city’s Pride event.

“Durham Pride won’t be getting a single penny from this council next year,” the deputy leader, Darren Grimes, said last summer. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be bankrolling it.”

Conservatives are the same world wide... picking on minorities as scapegoats.

Maybe we should get back to our roots since Trump is trying to take us back there?

The Rainbow Was Just a Rental: Why “Corporate Allyship” is Failing Us in 2026

Gay Tucson

By Tony Ray Baker

January 29, 2026

For years, we’ve seen it every June, all over the news: a downtown skyline glowing in neon pink and purple, the bank logos suddenly sporting six-stripe flourishes, and the aisles of retailers overflowing with “Love is Love” t-shirts. We’ve come to know this phenomenon as “Rainbow Washing” (or Rainbow Capitalism)—the practice where companies adopt LGBTQ+ branding for profit during Pride Month while fundamentally lacking a deep, long-term commitment to the community.

But as we navigate the landscape of 2026, the masks have finally slipped. It turns out that for many of these “allies,” our community wasn’t a cause to support—we were just a demographic to rent.

[...]

Returning to Our Roots

The era of “Rainbow Washing” is ending because the corporate world has realized that standing with us requires actual courage—a commodity many of them lack. This betrayal is leading many Pride organizations to pivot back to their “protest roots,” seeking community-led funding rather than relying on unreliable corporate partners.

Here in Tucson and beyond, it’s time to ask: If your support is only available when it’s profitable, why should we give you our business at all?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Why did the Stonewall Uprising happen?
• What has Pride turned into?
• Have hate crimes against our community increased?
• Are hate crimes on the rise?
•  Have we gone back to the 1950s?

Reported hate crimes have more than doubled in a decade, with anti-Black, anti-Jewish, and anti-LGBTQ+ crimes being the most prevalent.

USAFacts

Nationwide, the number of reported hate crimes have increased by about 100% since 2015, rising from 5,843 to 11,679.

[...]

Sexual orientation and gender identity

Together, sexual orientation and gender identity biased crimes accounted for 23% of total hate crimes in 2024. The primary biases were anti-gay male (49%), anti-transgender (17%), and anti-LBGTQ+ as a whole (34%).  

Anti-LBGTQ+ biases, as a whole, account for all but 1% of sexual orientation- and gender-identity-motivated hate crimes, and they’ve risen by 110% since 2015.  

The FBI first collected data on gender-identity motivated hate crimes in 2012. Anti-transgender crimes accounted for 378 of 521 reported gender identity hate crimes in 2024, up 55% since 2020. (Due to the newness of the category to FBI tracking, we're highlighting the 5-year change rather than a decade.)

 Are We Returning to the Era of the Lavender Scare?

When we ask if we have gone back to the 1950s—to the mid-century McCarthy era—we should remember that the United States government weaponized the state against our community in what became known as the "Lavender Scare." Today, we are watching history repeat itself with a modern twist.

The Trump administration's aggressive dismantling of protections for the LGBTQ+ community and attacks on laws and policies enacted since Stonewall are stripping away the very rights and safeguards we have spent decades fighting to secure. Just as we saw back then, with companies caving to government pressure and firing LGBTQ+ employees, we are now seeing corporations ditch their support for Pride the second things get tough.

 

With June we usually see a increase in acts of vandalism. Many time people do not want to report them to the police because they are afraid of their name coming out in the news. So Connecticut has set up tip line... 

Report a bias or hate incident

Have you experienced or witnessed a bias or hate incident in Connecticut? Tell us what happened.

If you have experienced or witnessed a bias or hate incident in Connecticut, you can report that information here. The State of Connecticut will use this information to determine when and where hate incidents occur, improve resource allocation, and develop community anti-bias programs.

Information may be shared with law enforcement. To ensure this incident is investigated by the police, please contact law enforcement directly.

This information will be kept private and confidential by the state agencies that receive it. However, it is not exempt from Freedom of Information requests. While state agencies will seek to protect your information from an FOI request, this cannot be guaranteed.

Important: If you fear for your safety or the safety of others, please call 911 immediately.

Violence Around The World!

All around the world violence against the LGBTQ+ community is increasing, sometimes it us tearing down Pride flags, and other times it results in death and destruction. In England that violence caused to canceling of Pride.

Pride event cancelled after banners torn down

BBC News

Amy Holmes

May 27, 2026

A Pride music event in Hertfordshire has been cancelled due to safety concerns after banners have been torn down twice.

The first Loud & Proud event was due to take place at Shirley's Roadhouse in London Colney on 20 June, featuring live music from Christina Aguilera, Elton John and Britney Spears tribute acts, but organisers said banners advertising it had been removed from outside the venue.

Local Liberal Democrat councillor Liz Needham said: "I thought we were living in 2026 and had moved on from this kind of discrimination and was really hoping we could have a nice family-run event that would celebrate the LGBTQ+ community."

They are just like gnats... one little bite here, one bite there and they hope that it will drive us back into the closet.

Here in Connecticut, thee Connecticut State Police Hate Crimes Investigative Unit has a tip line, where you can report it...

Report Anonymously or Share Information

We encourage the public to report hate crimes and bias-related incidents. Your input helps improve understanding, tracking, and response efforts statewide. All reported information is collected and analyzed by the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy at UConn.

If you need immediate law enforcement assistance, call 911

Thumbing Their Nose

In Florida they banned rainbow crosswalks... in St. Petersburg they laughed in Ron DeSantis face. He banned rainbow crosswalks how about a 60 miles laser rainbow!

Defiant St. Pete lights up the sky as Winter Pride Saint Pete shines 60 miles strong

WMNF

February 20, 2026

Chris Gorman

Winter Pride Saint Pete had its grand pride laser light ceremony, sending rainbow lasers into the evening sky in a display that organizers say can be seen from as far as 60 miles away.

The show didn’t explode into full brightness right away. Instead, it started off subtle… a slow, gradual process as the lasers warmed up. At first, the colors were faint and easy to miss against the glow of the streets, but as the minutes passed, the beams sharpened, brightened, and became dramatically more vivid.

By the time the display reached its peak, the transformation was undeniable. What began as a low-key start built steadily into a striking, intensely colorful rainbow stretching above St. Pete.

Even though the ceremony took place in the heart of St. Petersburg, the lasers didn’t feel like a local-only moment. People throughout the area reported seeing the glow from a distance, turning the launch into something bigger than a single gathering and giving Winter Pride a skyline-sized presence.

LGBTQ Nation reports that,

City sticks it to Ron DeSantis with massive rainbow laser display

This is not the first act of rebellion the city has taken since DeSantis removed its rainbow crosswalks.

Molly Sprayregen (She/Her)

February 23, 2026

The city of St. Petersburg, Florida, has continued to find ways to support its LGBTQ+ community amid Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) crusade to eradicate rainbow crosswalks from the state.

Most recently, the organizers of Winter Pride St. Pete lit up the night sky with an impressive rainbow laser display visible from more than 60 miles away.

Winter Pride St. Pete executive director Rob Hall called the light show “a remarkable moment,” confirming it was a direct response to the LGBTQ+ erasure taking place in the state.

He told Fox 13 that he knew he should come to St. Petersburg after he came out as an adult. He said the rainbow crosswalk he saw when he got there, which has since been removed by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), was “life-changing.”

“When it was removed, it had a significant impact on my heart,” he said.

The light display was designed by laser artist Yvette Mattern, who said she was “so proud to be able to do this where that rainbow crosswalk was taken away.”

Two thumbs up!

Mini-Post: A New Low

As more and more cities and towns ban the Pride flag. The feds are right behind them!

NYC officials plan to reraise pride flag at Manhattan’s Stonewall monument after Trump administration removed it

The Trump administration in January issued guidance drastically limiting the types of flags that could be displayed at NPS-managed sites.

Politico

By Gregory Svirnovskiy

02/10/2026

New York City officials plan to reraise a pride flag at the federal monument at Stonewall in Manhattan, setting up a potential fight with the White House at the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement nearly 60 years ago.

Federal officials quietly took the flag down after the Trump administration in January issued guidance drastically limiting the types of flags that could be displayed at sites managed by the National Park Service. But Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said in an interview Tuesday that he and other New York City-area politicians would reraise the flag at the federal monument Thursday.

“I think it’s important that we speak out and stand up for the community, frankly, just as our forebearers, who exhibited much more courage back in 1969,” he said. “This is not a moment for our community to stand by idly as attempts to undermine our history are put forward by Trump and the federal administration.”

Mark my words... marriage is next on their radar.

Well It Happened!

Pride has been canceled down in Florida. In Orlando.

Gay Days Orlando canceled, citing sponsor losses and mounting pressures on LGBTQ+ gatherings

It was supposed to be the event's 35th anniversary in June.

The Advocate

Christopher Wiggins

Feb 10, 2026

For more than three decades, Gay Days Orlando has functioned as both pilgrimage and proof of concept: a rolling, red-shirted demonstration that queer visibility could be festive, that tourism could be political, and that a loosely organized day at the theme parks could grow into one of the largest LGBTQ+ travel events in the country. This week, its organizers said they are pressing pause.

In a statement posted online Sunday, Gay Days announced it would not hold its June 4-7, 2026 event. The annual event usually sees thousands of queer people gather in Orlando to enjoy the city's many theme parks and attractions. Organizers cited the current political climate. They specified that changes to its host hotel agreement, the loss of key sponsorship support, and what they described as broader challenges facing LGBTQ+ events nationwide led them to cancel the 35th anniversary event. The group said the decision made it “impossible to deliver the experience our community deserves.”

I really am proud of those who have stayed in Florida.

Pride events and Pride centers are on the ropes; they are hurting from cooperate donations drying up.

Phoenix Pride faces $350,000 shortfall as sponsors cave to Trump’s anti-DEI attacks

KJZZ

By Lauren Gilger

December 4, 2025

Phoenix Pride is facing a major budget deficit — to the tune of $350,000. This comes after they saw pretty significant losses at this year’s annual Pride festival in attendance and sponsorships, and as they’re seeing donor support drop significantly.

And they’re not the only Pride organization across the country that’s facing these challenges. In August, Boise Pride had a $250,000 deficit a month before their festival. And in May, NYC Pride saw a $750,000 shortfall because of corporate sponsors pulling back.

It comes as the Trump administration has attacked diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the country; many companies have dropped their programs in response.

And Gay Sonoma writes,

Pride organizers say sponsors are pulling back amid DEI rollbacks, economic fears

Jo Yurcaba

April 15, 2025

The organizers of several of the country’s premier Pride celebrations told NBC News they have also lost funding from corporate sponsors this year, to the tune of $200,000 to $350,000 each. For some larger organizations — like those in New York City and San Francisco — the shortage makes up about 10% of their total Pride event budget, while for others, like St. Pete Pride in Florida, it could be about half.

Some organizers said past sponsors that are not returning or are reducing their sponsorship amounts this year have cited the political climate and the Trump administration’s hostility toward DEI and the LGBTQ community, while others have cited fear of an economic recession. Some didn’t provide any reasons at all, organizers said.

Bob Witeck, president of Witeck Communications, a firm specializing in LGBTQ marketing, said he isn’t surprised that corporations are reducing or withdrawing Pride sponsorships this year, because many of them are feeling vulnerable to “unfair and uninvited attacks.” He said publicly regulated businesses and those that work directly with federal agencies and under contracts “are more vulnerable to possible litigation as well as facing potential losses.”

They are running scared! The corporations are scared of Trump & Company giving them the "Target" treatment of boycotts!

I have always said about getting back to our pride roots, once you take corporate funding you are beholding to them, but being cut off cold turkey is going to force many centers to close and Pride events canceled. How does that saying go about lying down with dogs and getting fleas?

Corporations only care about one thing... their bottom line. They give to LGBT centers because they believed it would help their bottom line... but now they think that it will their shareholders. They gave not because they believe in us but they thought that they could make a buck off of us.

Connecticut Pride Centers are hurting, not as bad as in Red states but still they are feeling the pinch. And the CT legislature gave funding to help them:

• Bridgeport Pride Center, Inc.
• Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective, Inc.
• New Haven Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Inc.
• OutCT, Inc.
• PFLAG Enfield, Inc.
• Queer Youth Program of Connecticut, Inc.
• Triangle Community Center, Inc.
• New Haven Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Inc.

Hmm... I wonder if any Republican states gave funding to Pride centers?

I guess we have to get back to our roots when Pride was a rally, a statement that "We are here, we are queer, and we are in your face" 

Back to when Pride was a protest, not just a party!

Back to when Pride was powered by people, not corporations

Singing "Kumbaya"

We are not one big homogeneous community! No matter how the Republicans portray us , we are L, G, B, T, Q. community. What binds us together is oppression and the Republicans think we are all "gay."

The Republicans paint us with a broad brush but  many times within our community there is friction.

Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras condemned for refusing to highlight trans rights

Pink News

by Amelia Hansford

January 21, 2026

Sydney Mardi Gras is one of the biggest Pride events in Australia. (Getty)

Organisers of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras have been condemned for refusing to support a motion to make trans rights the focus of 2026’s event.

The Australian Pride celebration’s Board members announced it would not uphold a set of operational resolutions brought by members of the public during its annual general meeting in November last year.

One of the member resolutions, dubbed “embrace trans rights, not Trump”, called for the 2026 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras to focus specifically on the rights of trans and non-binary people by “encouraging parade floats to show support for the trans community”, while also condemning US president Donald Trump.

We have our right-wingers which I call Gay Inc. because they tend to be wealthy conservatives. They only think of themselves.

“Mardi Gras stands proudly with trans and gender-diverse communities. We are, and always will be, a visible, active ally,” a spokesperson said. “This decision reflects [the Board’s] responsibility to … respect the independence and diversity of Parade participants. Ensure Parade participation is not used to leverage political outcomes, [and to] act in line with responsible governance and our Ethical Charter.”

Trans women spoke out against being thrown under the bus. 

I seen this here! I seen it in Provincetown! All they care about is marriage, they don't care bout us, only their pocketbook.

Pride Centers

The big squeeze by Trump & Company is spelling the death of Pride Centers! The latest,

Pride Center of Vermont pauses operations, lays off staff

WCAX

By Laura Ullman

Oct. 9, 2025

The Pride Center of Vermont says it’s shutting its doors. Sources tell WCAX it’s a “pause,” but staff are being let go, a significant blow to Vermont’s LGBTQ community.

In a letter obtained by WCAX, the Pride Center says it will pause operations effective Friday. That’s when sources say most staff will be laid off. They were given just one day’s notice. But a couple of administrators will stay on a little longer.

The pause, as it’s being called, includes the Transgender Program, Safe Space Anti-Violence hotline, Health and Wellness HIV testing, and Harm Reduction Services. The Pride Center says in the letter that they’re exploring every opportunity to support participants of those programs.

Like many LGBTQ organizations across the country, officials say they’ve been hit hard by a wave of funding losses and shifting priorities at the state and federal levels. “These changes have made it increasingly difficult for community-based nonprofits like ours to keep doing the work we love, even as more people than ever are turning to us for support,” They said.

Thanks to Trump's transphobia and homophobia!

This has been happening all around the country since Trump took office... LGBTQ+ center are scrambling for funding as sources dry up.

Local LGBTQ resource center closing due to funding issues, increasing threats

ABC4 Utah

by: Connor Comeau

Sep 27, 2025

An LGBTQ+ bookstore and resource center in American Fork is closing its doors for good.

The Mosaics Bookstore and Resource Center says they’ve been forced to close their physical location in Utah County after a loss in federal funding. They’ve also faced increased challenges such as repeated bomb threats and continued harassment.

Despite the closing of their physical location, they are still planning to support other LGBTQ+ events in the state, attend pride celebrations and participate in other outreach efforts in the community.

Somehow I don't think that it is what Trump calls the Radical-left who are making the bomb threats.

Politics and economic uncertainty put Pa. LGBTQ+ centers at risk of closing

Federal funds, corporate donations, and individual giving all down, says LGBT Center of Central Pa. leader.

JORDAN WILKIE | Regional Democracy Reporter 

Oct 7, 2025

After opening what it called a permanent location on Harrisburg’s Front Street in spring 2024, the LGBT Center of Central PA is struggling to stay afloat. Amber Barnes, the center’s executive director, said it has been a close call to make payroll in recent months. 

The center and partner organization GLO Harrisburg are heavily reliant on federal grants, Barnes said, something she’s been trying to pivot away from since she took the job last year. But at the same time, corporate and individual donors are also pulling back, she said, both due to general economic uncertainty and to fear of political blowback for supporting organizations that serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. 

Resources offered by Barnes’ center include a food bank, sexual health education and resources, and an array of social programs for similarly aged participants, from teen groups to an “aging with pride” group for older adults. While she tries to find more money, Barnes and her board of directors put the center’s housing program on hold for the rest of the year.

Trump is cutting the purse strings the LGBTQ+ centers which they have become dependent upon...

Trump’s impact on funding

The day Donald Trump was sworn in as president a second time, he signed 26 executive orders. One of those was “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” in which he directed the executive branch to no longer fund organizations that “promote gender ideology.” 

The next day, he signed another executive order directed at stripping federal funding from “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs, again with language targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and especially transgender people and the organizations that serve them.

What Trump is focused on destroying anything LGBTQ+ and doesn't care about any collateral damage.

Citing President Donald Trump’s executive orders, Barnes said her center was preparing to lose another federal grant through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

But last week, Barnes learned SAMHSA renewed a $250,000 per year program to reduce substance misuse along with HIV and viral hepatitis transmission. It is part of a years-long grant scheduled to end in 2027.

As part of the annual grant renewal request, grantwriters asked Barnes to remove all references to LGBTQ+ people or services, she said. The programs are now described as serving "individuals," without ever mentioning their sexual or gender identity. The funding was secured as a “passthrough” grant, which first goes to UPMC and then is redistributed to local partners like GLO.

“Our doors are open to everyone, but the fact that we couldn’t say that we were specifically here to serve the most vulnerable and marginalized under the LGBTQ rainbow feels really, really gross,” Barnes said. 

It is community health. Not just LGBTQ+ people.

When I volunteers at the local LGBTQ+ center we had everyone walk through their doors for medical and dental treatment. They did not discriminate unlike Trump.

Some may blame businesses for the cuts but they are afraid they know Trump is crazy enough to go after them with all types of legal problems and cuts to contracts  

The Squeeze Is On

They are afraid of the White shirts and red hats.

Looking back over the summer and Pride season we see that businesses are afraid! They are really afraid after what they did to Target! They turned off the tap. Bigotry won.

At least two Florida cities will not hold their annual LGBTQ Pride events

Pride organizers in Fort Myers cited funding issues, while those in Tampa also cited the political environment.

NBC News

By Jo Yurcaba

Sept. 26, 2025

Pride organizers in the Florida cities of Tampa and Fort Myers will not hold their annual Pride events this year, citing funding issues.

There will be no Pride Southwest Florida in Fort Myers in November, according to Michael Hange, a board member for Pride-SWFL, the nonprofit that has historically organized the event. Pride Southwest Florida debuted in 2009 and returned last year after a multiyear Covid-19 hiatus, according to organizers.

This is the part where fear comes in...

Adam Larivee, the president of LGBTQ nonprofit Visuality, which has had a longstanding relationship with Pride Southwest Florida, said the annual event will not happen because of a lack of sponsorship dollars. He said his organization recently agreed to combine with Pride-SWFL and take over the event going forward.

The are running scared!

“Our goal in this environment is exposure, education and experience,” he said, adding that he believes negative backlash to the LGBTQ community is often rooted in a lack of knowledge. “Our goal is not necessarily to ruffle feathers, but to say, we’re here, that Fort Myers is a safe place for the LGBTQ+ community.”

You see that is how "Don't Say Gay" works, "rooted in a lack of knowledge" when you pull book from library shelves, 

Pride events face budget shortfalls as US corporations pull support ahead of summer festivities

AP News

By  OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ

May 31, 2025

Many U.S. corporations this year stopped supporting Pride events that celebrate LGBTQ+ culture and rights, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in budget shortfalls ahead of the summer festivities and raising questions about corporate America’s commitment to the cause.

The moves come as President Donald Trump has shown antipathy for trans protections and has attempted to roll back some LGBTQ+ friendly federal policies. Experts also note that a growing slice of the public has grown tired of companies taking a stance on social and political issues.

But you know what? Pride began without sponsors, Pride was just a bunch of people in the streets. Pride came about because of oppression. Pride came about because of the roots not the tops!

Pride is being reshaped. I have noticed a trend, I won't say new because it is where we began... with a group of people coming together in unity. Not with streets lined with vendors trying to make a buck off of us. It was with people coming together handing out flyers and spreading love.

More churches are holding Pride event as counterpoint to the non-affirming churches,  they are coming together with love and not hate.

We are learning who our fair-weather friends are. Who throws whom off the bus. We see who stands by us. We see what companies stand by us and we see those who were out just to make a buck.

It is time for people's pride again. We cannot be silenced, we have found our voices.

Mini-Post: Have Pride Will Travel

There are Pride's held around the world! And in some pretty strange places!

‘I went to a Pride march above the Arctic Circle – it changed my perspective on what Pride means’

Timing is everything on Senja, Norway’s second largest – but still relatively untouched – island.

Pink News

Sep 10

by Marcus Wratten

Come in winter, and the only light you’ll see is that which reflects off the blankets of snow covering every surface, or the Northern Lights, which are then at their most vibrant. Arrive during the island’s summertime (basically, just July), and you won’t find consistent Mediterranean heat, but you’ll still get beach lounging: Ersforden beach, lined by cloud-scraping mountains, is one the island’s hotspots. 

Or, come in late August like me, and you might just stumble upon the local Pride march, one of the world’s only Pride events to take place above the Arctic Circle. If you’re used to Pride in London or Brighton Pride, Senja Pride will come as a culture shock. There’s no Mariah Carey performance or gaggle of corporate sponsors, but there is a sweet community spirit, and a heartwarming reminder of why Pride is needed everywhere, but more crucially in small, rural areas.

[...]

One of the first Pride events above the Arctic Circle, Barents Pride, took place in 2017 in Kirkenes, along the Norwegian-Russian border. The ground-breaking event, which featured Russian LGBTQ+ activists, was in defiance of Russia’s 2013 anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda law which still prohibits promotion of “non-traditional sexual relations”.

Norway is typically seen as one of the world’s most LGBTQ-friendly countries but, like in much of Europe, its right-wing parties are increasingly popular, as evidenced by the country’s recent election, and opposition to Pride flags in child-friendly settings is getting louder. 

Anyone up for a trip next year to cross-off an item on the Bucket List... attend the farthest north Pride event?

Mini-Post: Just Another Case Of Trump S*****ing Us

The queerphobe in the oval office did it again!

D.C.’s youth deserve support and resources, not criminalization

Safety comes from housing, healthcare, education, community

Washington Blade

August 26, 2025

By Erin Whelan

As D.C.’s LGBTQ+ youth center, SMYAL has witnessed firsthand the resilience, brilliance, and struggles of Washington, D.C.’s young people. At SMYAL, we believe in the power of young people and actively work to build a world— and a city— where they thrive.

Yet, the Trump administration’s alarming authoritarian takeover of Washington, D.C., frames young people as criminals rather than as community members deserving of resources and opportunity.

The real emergency facing D.C. isn’t what headlines suggest; the real crisis is the lack of investment in resources that support and uplift the people who live here. One in five D.C. youth face housing insecurity, and more than 21,000 children live below the poverty line, as funding for critical supports, like housing and healthcare, is threatened at a local and national level.

[...]

Imagine a D.C. where every young person is celebrated, resourced, and seen—where investments flow into the community rather than jails and police budgets. SMYAL has long stood with D.C.’s youth, and today, in the face of federal overreach and authoritarian threats, we renew that commitment. We will not be silent while our young people are scapegoated, punished for surviving, or denied their humanity. D.C.’s young people deserve more than survival—they deserve to thrive.

We must choose compassion over criminalization, investment over punishment, and community over fear. This is our home. Our youth are joyful, our voices are powerful, and together we can build the D.C. they deserve.

The Trump administration cur funding to Pride Center, suicide hotlines, and Free Clinics, but a judge ordered the funding reinstates but in the 2026 Trump slashed funding for HIV/AIDS programs including for PrEP. Viruses are non-political, they're an equal opportunity infector.

Mini-Post: It Is Illegal But When Did That Stop Them?

For a very, very, long time there has been tremendous legal precedence... you cannot ban and event or protest because there will be opposition to it or it is controversial, you cannot charge them extra for protect to protect them!

Despite protests and threats, this rural community hosted its first Pride festival

WFYI

By Zak Cassel

August 18, 2025

A thousand people crowded Decatur’s Madison Street Plaza in late June for the town’s first Pride festival, defying weeks of opposition, online threats, and efforts to cancel the event. For organizers, it was a powerful show of support in a place where some feared they were alone.

But the success of the event was far from guaranteed.

A month earlier, Nikki Ausland and the board of the newly formed Decatur Pride nonprofit walked into a city council meeting. The room was packed — not just with neighbors, but with people from outside the northeast Indiana town of 10,000, many eager to speak out against the festival.

But then word got out about the Pride event and the opposition crawled out of the swamp.

A drag show planned for the event was particularly controversial. Residents and out-of-town pastors said they believed drag performances expose children to sex.

[...]

“It was hard to sit there and listen to what people had to say,” she said. “That we’re evil, that we’re pedophiles, that we’re groomers, that we’re abominations, that we’re un-Christian, we’re unholy — all of those things… That’s hard to hear. On a human level, it’s just hard to hear.”

This time, the town was caught in a legal predicament because they had already issued the permit...

At the meeting, the city attorney said that state law prevented officials from revoking the permit.

But next time?

[/Editorial]

How Many Times Do I Have To Say

Banning Pride is unconstitutional! The Supreme Courts has said it so many, many times including the current court.

Bartlesville Equality Board postpones Pride, bans drag shows

Bartlesville Equality Board postpones Pride event, bans public drag performances. What this means for local drag performers and the future of Pride in the city.

News On 6

Eden Jones

August 1st 2025

A decision by the Bartlesville Equality Board to postpone this year's Pride event is raising questions. The board voted during a special meeting to ban public drag performances at the celebration.

[...]

Drag in Bartlesville has had its series of conflicts. At past events, there have been several protesters, and in response, the Bartlesville City Council passed a resolution in 2024 to ensure police presence for safety and the First Amendment rights of all those who attend and participate.

STOP RIGHT THERE!

"...police presence for safety and the First Amendment rights of all those who attend and participate."

From 2022...

Small crowd protests Bartlesville Pride event over drag show

Fox News 23

Sep 10, 2022 Updated Jul 25, 2023

The Price Tower in Bartlesville was lit up in rainbow colors as hundreds of people turned out for what organizers said was the biggest Pride event in Bartlesville. But despite the message of love, some people came out to express their dislike of the drag show.

The Price Tower in Bartlesville was lit up in rainbow colors as hundreds of people turned out for what organizers said was the biggest Pride event in Bartlesville. But despite the message of love, some people came out to express their dislike of the drag show.

Counter-protesters does not justify banning peaceful events or charging them for protection*.  

What do all of these court cases have in common?

• NAACP v. City of Birmingham, 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• National Lawyers Guild v. City of Berkeley (N.D. Cal. 2019)
• Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement, 505 U.S. 123 (1992)
• People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran v. Department of State, 182 F.3d 17 (D.C. Cir. 1999)
• Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. City of Gary, 334 F.3d 676 (7th Cir. 2003)
• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee v. City of Dearborn, 418 F.3d 600 (6th Cir. 2005)
• Staley v. City of New York, 22 F.4th 68 (2d Cir. 2021)

They are all court cases where the protesters were being charged for counter-protesters! But somehow, cities and towns still think that they can stop Pride events by charging them exorbitant fee to protect them.

---

*They can charge for routine protection like at carnivals, St. Patrick's Day parade, etc. but not because of counter protesters.

Mini-Post: Discrimination!

Bigotry and discrimination is running rampant around the country... the First Amendment and the Sixteenth Amendment means nothing to the Republicans. The courts over and over said we have a right to hold Prides, here are just s few.

• Olivieri v. Ward (S.D.N.Y., 1985)
• Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride, Inc. v. City of Long Beach (Cal. Ct. App., 1993)
• Pride v. City of Aurora (7th Cir. challenge, 2023)
• Naples Pride v. City of Naples (M.D. Fla., 2025)
• Naples Pride v. City of Naples (Appeals U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit)
• Central Alabama Pride, Inc. v. Larry Langford (UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, 2009)

This list goes on and on, but the Republicans don't care about the courts and the Consitution!

Bartlesville Equality Board postpones Pride, bans drag shows

Bartlesville Equality Board postpones Pride event, bans public drag performances. What this means for local drag performers and the future of Pride in the city.

Ch 6 Tulsa, OK

By: Eden Jones

August 1, 2025

A decision by the Bartlesville Equality Board to postpone this year's Pride event is raising questions. The board voted during a special meeting to ban public drag performances at the celebration.

Bartlesville Pride in Year's Past

For Tulsa drag queen Cheri Bomb Lekohl, last year’s Pride event in Bartlesville was a day of joy and acceptance.

“It definitely felt like a welcoming environment…everyone was super friendly,” she said.

But this year, she and other performers won't be invited back. 

Drag in Bartlesville has had its series of conflicts. At past events, there have been several protesters, and in response, the Bartlesville City Council passed a resolution in 2024 to ensure police presence for safety and the First Amendment rights of all those who attend and participate.

In 2022, a public drag performance controversy sparked calls to ban drag shows. These efforts failed but resulted in the Bartlesville City Council narrowly passing a one-year agreement to allow drag shows to continue indoors or on private property.

No Drag Performers Allowed

At the city's Pride event in 2023, drag performers were invited, but not to perform. In 2024, they did perform.

This year, the Bartlesville Equality Board voted to ban drag performances at the upcoming pride festival. Members worried about safety concerns and losing sponsorships.

Following the vote, five members of the Equality Board, including the president, resigned. Lekohl believes many caved to political pressure.

“You’re just bending the knee to that and you’re not fighting back, which is what all Pride is all about,” she said. 

They just keep on, keeping on ignoring the laws and the Constitution to discriminate against us!

Gay Inc.?

Like every community and by 'community,' I’m referring to an anthropological concept: a group united by a shared characteristic. There are people who will vote against their best interests, in our LGBT we have who will vote for their interests before that of the community.

Andrew Sullivan represents everything wrong with the gay rights movement

Cultural critic Marcie Bianco excavates Sullivan's anti-trans, anti-left assertions in The New York Times that people are being forced to transition to erase gay people and that the Progress Flag excludes anyone not on the far left.

The Advocate

By Marcie Bianco

July 02 2025

[...]

But even I was not prepared for the gobsmacking monstrosity of Sullivan’s latest opinion piece in The New York Times. Cue the Winona Ryder looking confused meme. And then I got furious, both because of the authority he exacts as a respected gay spokesperson in the mainstream, and also because he is bestowed this authority by endorsing the worst kind of politics that is the antithesis of the politics we need for our collective liberation and care.

In “How the Gay Rights Movement Radicalized, and Lost Its Way” (appearing in the Sunday print issue under the less inflammatory headline,“Gay People Won. So Why Does It Feel As if We’re Losing?”), Sullivan argues that the gay rights movement should focus on fortifying civil rights won and “winding down as a movement that had achieved its core objectives.”

It is all gay male focused...

That those of us in the LGBTQ+ community aren’t content with these gains is ungracious, in Sullivan’s eyes. Even worse is our willful “liberal shift to the ‘social justice’ left.” And if the scare quotes fail to scare you, Sullivan emphasizes that this social justice agenda includes “a new and radical gender revolution,” consisting of the eradication of the gender binary and, in his absolutely batshit estimation, the end of homosexuality by forcing children to transition.

Thump, thump.

It gets worst,

Should we be surprised by Sullivan’s take? No. We know that assimilation is not liberation. We know that gay marriage has not prevented gender-based discrimination and violence and that its glorified 1,138 rights and benefits mostly serve wealthy home-owning parents and not most of the LGBTQ+ community — one in five of whom are living in poverty. Gay marriage, furthermore, hasn’t stopped queer folks from being abducted by ICE agents and deported. We know, as Audre Lorde told us, that none of us live single-issue lives (meaning, in this context, that not all LGBTQ+ people are upper-middle-class cisgender white men living in the protective gay mecca of Provincetown). And we know, as bell hooks told us, that none of us are “equals in the white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal class structure,” and that equality-mindset gays crave just enough change for their societal inclusion and benefit but perceive any more capacious social justice effort as a threat to their newfound acceptance and status in the social order. As I argued in Breaking Free and elsewhere, the equality so deeply cherished by Sullivan and his ilk of Mattachine Society-revering assimilationist gays isn’t getting the job done. Equality will not free us.

Back after the Stonewall Uprising the upper crust of Gay Inc. didn't want any flaming gays, no trans people. They only wanted gays and lesbian who can "pass" in society, listen to Sylvia Rivera speech from the first post-Stonewall Pride event (Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally, June 24, 1973) ...

It appears they don't allow me to embed the video.

 It was those in the audience who wrote us off, who booed us off the stage so that they could control the narrative.

Mini-Post: They Always Blame Someone Else

There was a Pride parade that was against the law in Hungary and it set the dictator there into a tizzy!

Hungary's Orban accuses EU of orchestrating 'repulsive' Pride march

By Reuters

June 29, 2025

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called Saturday's Pride "repulsive and shameful", accusing the EU of directing opposition politicians to organise the event, which turned into an anti-government protest, local media reported in Sunday.

The march in Budapest for LGBTQ+ swelled into one of the largest displays of opposition to Orban in recent years, as an estimated 100,000 participants defied a police ban and threats of fines to join the demonstration.

Have you noticed that Strongmen dictators always blame someone else. For example Trump blames the protester on paid protester with no evidence! The New York Times wrote...

“These people are agitators, they’re paid, they’re professionals, they’re insurrectionists, they’re troublemakers. They’re all of those things. But I believe they’re paid.”

— at a bill signing on Thursday

This lacks evidence. For years, Mr. Trump has accused those protesting his political candidacy and aims as “paid” and their demonstrations as inorganic. But he and his allies have provided scant evidence.

I Have Noticed...

That more and more churches are holding Pride celebrations. I hear some trans people complain that it should be run by only LGBT organizations and not by a church but I disagree. We need all the allies we can get.

LGBTQ teens wanted a Pride festival in their town. How five churches made it happen.

Five churches organized the event out of a conviction of their faith, but as an invisible network.

by Religion News Service

June 12, 2025

In February 2024, the Rev. Carol Hill of Park Ridge Community Church got news that a group of LGBTQ teens who met at Hill’s church wanted to do something for Pride month in June.

Shelley Flener-O’Brien, who had created the group, called Connections, to give LGBTQ teens a safe space to gather and feel supported by adults in the community, reached out to Hill asking if the church could help put on a Pride event. Hill said yes, but added, “It needs to be bigger than just cookies on the lawn.”

I think it is fantastic that they are holding Pride celebration, we have seen it in churches like MCC, Unitarian, and Episcopal churches but we welcome all affirming churches!

The first year, in June of 2024, Flener-O’Brien figured that between the Connections teens, their families and friends and the people she invited, it was reasonable to hope 20 people would come. Instead, despite a torrential downpour, more than 200 people came to Park Ridge Community Church’s lawn, where food trucks were stationed, and the mayor and another local politician spoke. The festival’s organizers were thrilled.

Stop and think about for awhile. 200 people! That is 200 people who affirm us! Those are 200 people who could be voters in the next election.