Politics

Dr Rachel Levine is the nation’s first transgender four-star officer when she was sworn in as an admiral of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps on 19 October 2021. (Twitter/@HHS_ASH) Trailblazing Biden appointee Dr Rachel Levine has become the first openly trans four-star officer across any of the nation’s eight uniformed services. Levine, the
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Boris Johnson leaving the House of Commons. (Peter Summers/Getty) Boris Johnson is facing criticism after he mixed up HIV and AIDS while speaking about vaccines and advances in medical research. The prime minister made his remarks during an address to 200 business leaders at a Global Investment Summit held at the Science Museum on Tuesday
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Labour’s shadow minister for women and equalities, Taiwo Owatemi, said she is “highly critical” of anti-trans charity LGB Alliance. (Official portrait) Labour’s new shadow minister for women and equalities, Taiwo Owatemi, has issued a damning letter against the LGB Alliance. Owatemi, who was appointed to the shadow equalities brief three weeks ago, wrote a letter
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Angela Rayner. (Ian Forsyth/Getty) Labour’s Angela Rayner has refused to apologise for calling the Tories “homophobic scum” during an appearance at her party’s annual conference. Rayner, who is deputy leader of the Labour Party, reportedly told the conference on Saturday night (25 September): “We cannot get any worse than a bunch of scum, homophobic, racist,
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Irish Tánaiste Leo Varadkar. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty) Figures from across the political spectrum have condemned the far-right mob who unleashed a tirade of homophobic abuse outside Leo Varadkar’s home. There was widespread shock and outrage in Dublin, Ireland on Sunday (19 September) when footage was shared on social media showing a far-right, anti-vaccine mob
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Marsha De Cordova. (Dave Benett/Getty Images) British Labour Party politician Marsha de Cordova has quit her role on the opposition frontbench as shadow women and equalities minister. Her abrupt departure from the shadow cabinet was announced by the Battersea MP Tuesday afternoon (14 September) on Twitter, a decision made with “much sadness”. Now taking to
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Stonewall has said it is “proud” of its diversity champions programme after a police commissioner said the charity poses “a threat to women”. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Conservative Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend accused the trailblazing LGBT+ rights charity of pushing a “dangerous ideology” because it supports trans rights. Among
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Former president Donald Trump brands US women’s football team ‘leftist maniacs’ and targets Megan Rapinoe’s purple hair in a rant. (Getty/Brandon Bell/Laurence Griffiths) Former president Donald Trump tried to burn Megan Rapinoe and the “wokesters” on the US women’s soccer team after they won bronze at the Olympics – and it failed so bad. Trump
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Close-up of sign for an All Gender restroom against a wooden wall with yellow doorframe visible, San Ramon, California, 28 November 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) A federal judge has blocked a Tennessee law requiring businesses to post a notice if they allow trans people to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. The
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki roasts former president Donald Trump for the time he spent “obsessing over social media” at 8 July 2021 press conference. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images/Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) White House press secretary Jen Psaki has epically burned former president Donald Trump over his troubling ‘obsession’ with social media. During a
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Sarah Teather has apologised for voting against same-sex marriage. (Dan Kitwood/Getty) Former Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather has apologised for voting against same-sex marriage in 2013. Parliament voted in favour of the same-sex marriage bill in 2013, paving the way for queer people to marry their partners in March of the following year. While the
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Kim Leadbeater is campaigning the Batley and Spen once held by her sister Jo Cox MP, who was murdered by a far-right extremist in 2016. (Christopher Furlong/Getty) Jo Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater was aggressively interrogated by an anti-LGBT+ campaigner over her support for equality. Leadbeater – who is running as a Labour candidate in the
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Kamala Harris speaks to marchers, as her husband Doug Emhoff looks on, during the Capitol Pride Parade on June 12, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty) Kamala Harris delivered a rallying cry for trans and queer rights after becoming the first sitting vice-president to march at a Pride event. Harris marched at Capitol Pride in Washington DC on
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A $16.1 billion federal program set up to provide emergency relief to distressed movie theaters and live venues has started distributing funds, but venue operators say the process has been slow and a key deadline has been missed. On Thursday, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, the League of Historic American Theatres, the National Association
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Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot addressing crowds in April 2019. (Kamil Krzacyzynski/AFP/ Getty) Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot has said she will only give interviews to journalists of colour in an effort to combat the “overwhelming whiteness” of the the city’s media. Lightfoot – who became Chicago’s first Black female mayor and first openly gay mayor when
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Capacity restrictions on New York City movie theaters – now at 33% — will be lifted on May 19 but six-foot social distancing rules won’t — a somewhat confusing edict set out earlier Monday by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Break out the measuring sticks. Cuomo rarely mentions movie theaters and didn’t specifically today but it seems
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North Dakota governor Doug Burgum speaks at a press conference announcing plans for the clean up of the Oceti Sakowin protest camp on 22 February 2017 in Mandan, North Dakota. (Photo by Stephen Yang/Getty Images) North Dakota governor Doug Burgum vetoed an anti-trans sports ban, but signed a “free speech” bill that critics warn allows
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Jim Wells had the DUP whip withdrawn in 2018. (Getty) Former DUP minister Jim Wells doesn’t want conversion therapy to be banned in Northern Ireland in case he “struggles with same-sex attraction” and needs his pastor. Wells, who has a long history of making anti-LGBT+ remarks, made his comments during a Stormont debate on the
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The closure of Pacific Theatres and ArcLight may have sounded alarm bells over the dire state of exhibition due to the coronavirus pandemic, but theater owners are especially frustrated, anxious and unnerved that a signature government lifeline so far has struggled to get up and running. The Shuttered Venues Operators Grant (SVOG), as the Small Business
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