Category: LGBTQ+ / Gay / Trans / Gender

Family

Marlon Wayans Says He Went From “Denial to Complete Acceptance” of His Trans Son Kai

In a revealing podcast interview, the comedian said the process “took me a week.”

By Abby Monteil

Marlon Wayans is opening up about his 24-year-old trans son Kai, and the importance of parenting with “complete acceptance.”

The comedian appeared alongside his brother Damon Wayans on the April 30 episode of the IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson podcast. While discussing parenting advice, Marlon said that Kai’s transition “taught me what real, unconditional love was.”

“When they went through the transition, I actually went through the transition,” he said. “I went from denial to complete acceptance, and it took me a week to get there.”

Wayans joked that although he believes “only God can judge… If that’s a mistake and we get to heaven and God don’t let my child in, I’m going to shave a beard and sneak them in through the back.”

“I’m going to love my baby… I’m a father, and I’m always going to defend them,” he continued. “I’m always going to protect them. I’m always going to respect them. And there’s nothing anybody could ever tell me.”

The White Chicks star added that when it comes to the public’s reaction to him supporting Kai, he could care less about losing fans in the process.

“I lost people that are small-minded, small-hearted, and self-loathing,” he said. “So, goodbye… For every one I lose, I gain 150 more.”

This isn’t the first time that Wayans has used his platform to support Kai and other trans youth. Back in February, the actor defended his son after Soulja Boy called him a transphobic slur while publicly feuding with Wayans.

“You know you can get cancelled for transphobic slander like this,” he tweeted at the time. “Fortunately for you that you don’t have a career. Apparently, You BEEN cancelled for the last 17 years. Crank that was 2007. We waiting.”

Wayans previously opened up about supporting Kai during a September 2024 appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show, explaining that after his son came out, “I went through the five stages of grief to get to the beautiful, magical place called acceptance.”

“I learned that my family, my brothers, my sisters, have prepared me to be a rock in our family,” he said. “[Kai is] the same child they was before, they’ve just got a beard now. Okay. Same baby.”

it is the same … so get over it.

#trans from Liberals Are Cool

AAP Statement on HHS Report Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria

https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-releases/aap/2025/aap-statement-on-hhs-report-treatment-for-pediatric-gender-dysphoria/

By: Susan J. Kressly, MD, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics

“The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is deeply alarmed by the report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today on medical care for transgender and gender-diverse individuals and the process that informed its development. For such an analysis to carry credibility, it must consider the totality of available data and the full spectrum of clinical outcomes rather than relying on select perspectives and a narrow set of data.  

This report misrepresents the current medical consensus and fails to reflect the realities of pediatric care.   

As we have seen with immunizations, bypassing medical expertise and scientific evidence has real consequences for the health of America’s children. AAP was not consulted in the development of this report, yet our policy and intentions behind our recommendations were cited throughout in inaccurate and misleading ways. The report prioritizes opinions over dispassionate reviews of evidence. 

Patients, their families, and their physicians—not politicians or government officials —should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them based on evidence-based, age-appropriate care.  

We urge government officials and policymakers to approach these conversations with care, humility, and a commitment to considering the full breadth of peer-reviewed research. The AAP remains focused on supporting pediatricians in delivering the best possible care to every child, informed by science and the lived experiences of patients and families. We will continue to support the well-being of all children and access to high-quality care that meets their needs.” 

Comment… “Does it bother you devil worshippers want more christians like you?”

LGBTQ+ news

Poland finally repealed the country’s last “LGBT-free” zone

The zones backfired, drawing widespread condemnation and economic consequences for the east European country.

Ten years after the far-right Law and Justice Party was elected to power in Poland, and two years after their defeat in national elections, a last vestige of the party’s state-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ+ policies has finally been eliminated.

On Thursday, a council in the southeastern Polish town of Łańcut officially abolished the country’s last remaining ‘LGBT-free’ resolution.

UK

Gay, lesbian and bi people at greater risk of self-harm and suicide, new figures show

https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/04/10/suicide-ideation-gay-lesbian-bisexual/

Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are twice as likely as their straight peers to attempt suicide or have thoughts of taking their own life, new figures have revealed.

Requests to remove books from library shelves are on the rise in the UK, as the influence of pressure groups behind book bans in the US crosses the Atlantic, according to those working in the sector.

Most of the UK challenges appear to come from individuals or small groups, unlike in the US, where 72% of demands to censor books last year were brought forward by organised groups, according to the American Library Association earlier this week.

However, evidence suggests that the work of US action groups is reaching UK libraries too. Alison Hicks, an associate professor in library and information studies at UCL, interviewed 10 UK-based school librarians who had experienced book challenges. One “spoke of finding propaganda from one of these groups left on her desk”, while another “was directly targeted by one of these groups”. Respondents “also spoke of being trolled by US pressure groups on social media, for example when responding to free book giveaways”.

The types of books targeted may also differ. “Almost all the UK attacks reported in my study centred on LGBTQ+ materials, while US attacks appear to target material related to race, ethnicity and social justice as well as LGBTQ+ issues,” said Hicks.

This supports the findings of an Index on Censorship survey last year, in which 28 of 53 librarians polled reported that they had been asked to remove books from library shelves, many of which were LGBTQ+ titles. In more than half of those cases, books were taken off shelves.

Tennessee county sued for banning books without even reading them

They’re accused of just using an anti-LGBTQ+ organization’s book ban list to deny students access to tomes like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”

The plaintiffs in this case are three families, who wish to remain anonymous, of two freshmen and a senior who will attend a Rutherford County school next year. Joining in on the lawsuit is PEN America, a nonprofit freedom of expression advocacy group for writers. Thirty-two writers in the organization have seen 53 of their books included in the ban.

Trump DOJ Ordered ICE to Invade Homes Without Search Warrant

The Justice Department quietly authorized immigration agents to seize power in arresting people under the Alien Enemies Act—no warrant required.

https://newrepublic.com/post/194440/donald-trump-restores-foreign-students-visas-legal-losses

The Justice Department quietly invoked the Alien Enemies act last month to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the power to conduct warrantless searches of people’s homes as long as they suspect them to be an “alien enemy.” USA Today obtained the memo that contained this order on Friday.

In the memo, the Justice Department defined an “alien enemy” as anyone who is 14 years of age or older, not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, a citizen of Venezuela, and “a member of the hostile enemy Tren de Aragua,” per the Alien Enemy Validation Guide, a document that has already been slammed by immigration experts.

The broad definition has already resulted in the apprehension and deportation of more than 200 men to El Salvador who just happened to have tattoos, like gay makeup artist Andry José Hernández Romero.

This type of order will likely lead to more indiscriminate arrests and wanton racial profiling. The memo, which is from March 14, is another massive departure from the U.S. immigration norms.

White House Confirms Trump Is Exploring Ways To ‘Deport’ U.S. Citizens

The administration could try removing American citizens if it identifies a pathway it can claim to be legal.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that President Donald Trump is exploring legal pathways to “deport” U.S. citizens to El Salvador, where the administration has already arranged to house deported immigrants in a prison known for its human rights abuses. (Watch the video, above.)

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he “love[s]” the idea of removing U.S. citizens, adding that it would be an “honor” to send them to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele — an eager partner in Trump’s schemes.

“I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,” Trump wrote. “Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!”

Shocking report reveals HIV deaths will explode due to Trump’s foreign aid cuts

Nearly 500,000 children could die from AIDS by 2030 without PEPFAR funding.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/04/shocking-report-reveals-hiv-deaths-will-explode-due-to-trumps-foreign-aid-cuts/

Nearly half a million children could die from AIDS-related causes by 2030 without restoration of PEPFAR programs cut by the Trump administration, a new study published in the Lancet reveals.

The new health policy analysis estimates that one million children could become infected with HIV and nearly half a million could die from AIDS by 2030. Additionally, 2.8 million children could experience orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa (because their parents died from preventable HIV-related illnesses) if the PEPFAR funding isn’t restored.

A study released by UNAIDS in March showed an uptick in new HIV infections has already started as local HIV prevention programs funded by PEPFAR have been thrown into chaos.

Men who have sex with men, girls, and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 not pregnant or breastfeeding, and sex workers and people who inject drugs “can not” be offered PrEP during the pause or “until further notice,” Trump administration officials wrote.

 

Kennedy Center’s events scheduled for LGBTQ+ pride celebration canceled, organizers say

https://apnews.com/article/world-pride-kennedy-center-trump-lgbtq-69fbf0ca20c2f9c36f49f8311f8bf1b6

The Kennedy Center is seen Aug. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The Kennedy Center is seen Aug. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

 

By  ASHRAF KHALIL
Updated 7:47 PM EDT, April 25, 2025

 Organizers and the Kennedy Center have canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., amid a shift in priorities and the ousting of leadership at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.

Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues. And in the wake of the cancellations, Washington’s Capital Pride Alliance has disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center.

“We are a resilient community, and we have found other avenues to celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the alliance. “We are finding another path to the celebration … but the fact that we have to maneuver in this way is disappointing.”

The Kennedy Center’s website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website with a general description and a link to the World Pride site. There are no other details.

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request from the AP for comment.

The move comes on the heels of massive changes at the Kennedy Center, with President Donald Trump firing both the president and chairman in early February. Trump replaced most of the board with loyalists, who then elected him the new Kennedy Center chairman.

The World Pride event, held every two years, starts in just under a month — running from May 17 through June 8 with performances and celebrations planned across the capital city. But Trump administration policies on transgender rights and comments about Kennedy Center drag performances have sparked concern about what kind of reception attendees will receive.

“I know that D.C. as a community will be very excited to be hosting World Pride, but I know the community is a little bit different than the government,” said Michael Roest, founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, which had its June 5 performance at the Kennedy Center abruptly canceled within days of Trump’s takeover.

Roest told the AP he was in the final stages of planning the Kennedy Center performance after months of emails and Zoom calls. He was waiting on a final contract when Trump posted on social media Feb. 7 of the leadership changes and his intention to transform the Kennedy Center’s programming.

Immediately the Kennedy Center became nonresponsive, Roest said. On Feb. 12, he said, he received a one-sentence email from a Kennedy Center staffer stating, “We are no longer able to advance your contract at this time.”

“They went from very eager to host to nothing,” he said. “We have not since heard a word from anybody at the Kennedy Center, but that’s not going to stop us.”

In the wake of the cancellation, Roest said he managed to move the International Pride Orchestra performance to the Strathmore theater in nearby Bethesda, Maryland.

Crenshaw said some other events, including a drag story time and a display of parts of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, would be moved to the World Pride welcome center in Chinatown.

Monica Alford, a veteran arts and culture journalist and event planner, was scheduled to organize an event June 8 as part of Tapestry of Pride, but said she also saw communication abruptly end within days of Trump’s takeover.

Alford has a long history with the Kennedy Center and organized the first-ever drag brunch on the Kennedy Center rooftop in 2024, and said she regarded the institution — and its recent expansion known as The Reach — as “my home base” and “a safe space for the queer community”

She said she was still finalizing the details of her event, which she described as “meant to be family-friendly, just like the drag brunch was family-friendly and classy and sophisticated.”

She said she mourns the loss of the partnership she nurtured with the Kennedy Center.

“We’re doing our community a disservice — not just the queer community but the entire community,” she said.

Roest said he never received an explanation as to why the performance was canceled so late in the planning stages. He said his orchestra would no longer consider performing at the Kennedy Center, and he believes most queer artists would make the same choice.

“There would need to be a very, very public statement of inclusivity from the administration, from that board, for us to consider that,” he said. “Otherwise it is a hostile performance space.”

ASHRAF KHALIL
ASHRAF KHALIL
Khalil writes about local issues in Washington, D.C., for The Associated Press and covers the social safety net around the country.

 

What was the sin of Sodom?

Recent Yet Historic Marches, & More, in Peace & Justice History for 4/25

April 25, 1945
Delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco for the United Nations Conference on International Organization. Over the next two months they would negotiate the principles and structure of the United Nations.
Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt had just died and had been working on his speech to the conference: “The work, my friends, is peace; more than an end of this war—an end to the beginning of all wars . . . As we go forward toward the greatest contribution that any generation of human beings can make in this world—the contribution of lasting peace—I ask you to keep up your faith . . . .”
April 25, 1969

The Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and 100 others were arrested while picketing a Charleston, South Carolina, hospital to support unionization by its workers.
Read more about Reverend Ralph David Abernathy 
April 25, 1974
A peaceful uprising by both the army and civilians, known as the Carnation Revolution (Revolução dos Cravos), ended 48 years of fascism in Portugal. People holding red carnations urged soldiers not to resist the overthrow and many placed the flowers in the muzzles of their rifles. The regime killed four before giving in to the popular resistance.
 
Lisbon demonstration ’74
Read more about the Carnation Revolution 
April 25, 1983
Women in Canberra, Australia, laid a wreath to remember women of all countries raped during wartime.
April 25, 1987
Tens of thousands marched on Washington, D.C. to demand an end to U.S.-sponsored and -supported wars in Central America.
April 25, 1993
Nearly one million marched for homosexual rights and liberation in Washington, D.C.

Health Care Rally at April 25, 1993

The AIDS quilt on display as part of the event.

April 25, 2004

The March for Women’s Lives drew a record 1.15 million people to Washington, D.C. The marchers wanted to protect legal and safe access to reproductive services including abortion, birth control and emergency contraception.
Organized by a coalition that included the National Organization for Women (NOW), Black Women’s Health Imperative, Feminist Majority, National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, and Planned Parenthood, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The March for Women’s Lives was the largest protest in U.S. history.
Read more 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryapril.htm#april25

Pentagon to resume medical care for transgender troops

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/transgender-troops-military-care-00306827

The move is another setback for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has made culture war issues a major part of his role.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gives the thumbs-up.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has faced pressure from Democrats to follow the court order, suggesting he was undermining military recruitment needs. | Kevin Wolf/AP

By Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary and Kyle Cheney

Updated: 

The Pentagon will resume gender-affirming care for transgender service members, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO, an embarrassing setback to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s efforts to restrict their participation.

The memo says the Defense Department is returning to the Biden-era medical policy for transgender service members due to a court order that struck down Hegseth’s restrictions as unconstitutional. The administration is appealing the move, but a federal appeals court in California denied the department’s effort to halt the policy while its challenge is pending.

As a result, the administration is barred from removing transgender service members or restricting their medical care, a priority of President Donald Trump and Hegseth. The administration insisted its restrictions were geared toward people experiencing medical challenges related to “gender dysphoria,” but two federal judges said in March that the policy was a thinly veiled ban on transgender people that violated the Constitution.

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow the Pentagon to ban transgender servicemembers while legal battles continue to play out.

Both judges ordered the military to refrain from forcing out more than 1,000 transgender troops and to resume providing for their medical care, including surgical procedures and voice and hormone therapy. The memo is the latest move by the Pentagon to comply with those orders.

But it presents another headache for Hegseth, who has made culture war issues — such as changing recruitment standards and reinstating the ban — a key piece of his effort to make the military more lethal. Hegseth has emphasized this theme as he’s sought to defend himself amid multiple scandals, including texting sensitive details of military operations in Yemen to multiple Signal group chats and a vicious brawl between his top advisers.

“Service members and all other covered beneficiaries 19 years of age or older may receive appropriate care for their diagnosis of [gender dysphoria], including mental health care and counseling and newly initiated or ongoing cross-sex hormone therapy,” Dr. Stephen Ferrara, the Pentagon’s acting assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said in a memo dated April 21.

President Donald Trump signed a long-expected order banning transgender people from serving in the military at the outset of the administration, just as he had done in 2017. But LGBTQ advocacy groups quickly pounced, calling the order discriminatory.

So far, the courts have rejected the Pentagon’s arguments that including transgender troops reduces the military’s ability to fight. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled in March that there is no evidence that transgender troops harm military readiness, and ordered the Pentagon to return to the status quo.

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday became the first appellate court to hear arguments on Trump’s transgender military policy but gave little indication of how it might rule.

Defense officials acknowledged in a March memo sent to Pentagon leadership that the agency would comply with the court order, but did not detail the steps the department would take to follow it. Hegseth has openly attacked one of the judges, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, for her order, labeling her “Commander Reyes” in a pejorative post on X.

Hegseth has faced pressure from Democrats to follow the court order, suggesting he was undermining military recruitment needs.

“Given the unwillingness or inability of 99.6 percent of the U.S. population to serve in our military, the last thing our nation should be doing is rejecting patriotic Americans who are ready and willing to serve our country,” a group of 14 Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq veteran, wrote Tuesday to Hegseth. “The Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the transgender community reveal an ideological obsession rooted in a poor understanding of science.”

The Pentagon referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A February memo signed by then-acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness Darin Selnick — who was fired by Hegseth last week — said service members or potential recruits interested in the military who have “a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria” are “incompatible” with U.S. military service.

Some officials saw the move as a capitulation by the administration, which was settling for a loss in court while continuing to wage a public relations war to keep transgender service members out of the military.

“They’ve scared all of the trans people off,” said one person close to the Pentagon familiar with the conversations, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. “What’s to be gained by continuing to fight with the courts? It seems pretty easy to stop getting crazy with it. You won. You got what you wanted.”

Is “Being Gay” an Unforgivable Sin? – Questions from the Audience with Colby Martin

Roger suggested I look up this person and see what they had to say.  I have read snippets of what he wrote and I like his message.  He seems sincere and genuine.  Hugs