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Mayor Pete Buttigieg doesn’t believe he’ll be the first gay president if elected in 2020. “I would imagine we’ve probably had excellent presidents who were gay — we just didn’t know which ones,” he told “Axios on HBO.” “I mean, statistically, it’s almost certain.” Asked if he possibly knew which commander-in-chief was playing for the other team, the Democratic hopeful said: “My gaydar even doesn’t work that well in the present, let alone retroactively. But one can only assume that’s the case.”

The Rays saluted the LGTBQ community with Pride Night Friday, but unlike some franchises, the team’s commemorative night did not represent a new endeavor for the Rays. SB Nation reports that this is the first year every MLB team will feature a special recognition of the community, but it’s been a regular staple in Tampa Bay for many years.

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said on Saturday that there were so many Democrats in the race, they “might as well carpool.” Buttigieg was speaking at an education-focused meet-and-greet on the back porch of a home in Des Moines, Iowa, as he and much of the nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates swarmed the state, whose caucuses top the 2020 primary calendar. Buttigieg offered a unifying tone at the event, saying he did not view the massive field “as having opponents so much as competitors.” “You would be surprised how often we are in dialogue with each other,” Buttigieg...

As an Irishman, I’m embarrassed at the treatment of the President of the United States on his recent visit to Ireland. His shabby reception in Ireland contrasts sharply with the red carpet treatment in London. Media reports that the Leo Varadkar (the Irish Prime Minister/Taoiseach) refused to meet at the Trump resort at Doonbeg. The hostile media is having a field day with this. Vox reported President Trump will meet the Irish prime minister -- at the airport. Trump reportedly wanted to go to his golf course in Ireland. The Irish government said no. So they’re meeting at the airport...

Fifty years after patrons at the Stonewall Inn refused to be silent and sparked a civil rights movement for gay Americans, Pride events are a familiar tradition in many states. Parades, teach-ins and panel discussions throughout June affirm the dignity of people who have been historically marginalized and continue to face discrimination. While religious leaders take part in LGBT Pride Month celebrations, a Catholic bishop’s tweet this week provoked contentious social media debates about whether faithful Catholics should attend such events, given the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage and teachings about homosexuality.

A Georgia man convicted of throwing scalding water on a sleeping same-sex couple told one of them to “get out of my house with all that gay,” a victim testified, yet he couldn’t be charged with a hate crime because the state has no such law. Victim Anthony Gooden said in a recent interview that he still can’t use his left arm, which was severely burned in the 2016 attack, and wears a brace. He can’t tie his shoelaces or work. Martin Blackwell was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the crime. “Forty years is not enough to have...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared Saturday that the Equality Act would be his top legislative priority, an effort to enshrine LGBTQ protections into the nation’s labor and civil rights laws.

Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, in an interview that aired Sunday, said President Trump had slandered American troops by considering pardoning servicemen accused of war crimes -- and said the proposal threatened to undermine the country’s “legal and moral” foundations. “When you serve, you are agreeing to serve the Constitution and uphold the law and, frankly, his idea that being sent to fight makes you automatically into some kind of war criminal is a slander against veterans that could come only from somebody who never served,” the South Bend, Ind., mayor said on ABC News’ “This Week.” Buttigieg, an...

In recent remarks, Pete Buttigieg, Democratic presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, remarked that his same-sex “marriage” to Chasten Glezman has brought him closer to God. His remarks were directed toward Vice President Mike Pence, who is on record as opposing such “marriages.” Buttigieg said: Being married to Chasten has made me a better human being because it has made me more compassionate, more understanding, more self-aware and more decent. My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man. And yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God. This raises a question: To what...

New York (AFP) - One of the large digital billboards dotting New York's iconic Times Square briefly caught fire Saturday, before the blaze was extinguished with no reported injuries, officials said. Flames started bursting out of the billboard around 3:00 pm (1900 GMT). Social media users posted images and video showing the blaze burning on one side of the sign as it displayed an ad for SKYY vodka as sponsor of New York's WorldPride celebrations next month, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall gay rights uprising. The ad featured drag queen Trixie Mattel. Other ads were also displayed on...

In middle school, it's hard to be different. It's even harder if a student identifies as LGBTQ. This week, a couple of teachers at Central Park School for Children in Durham, North Carolina, decided to enlist the help of some local drag queens to celebrate the unique differences between the school's students. Taylor Schmidt, an eighth-grade teacher at the school, and his colleague, Schara Brooks, saw the impact bullying and other negative behavior was having on students in their school who identify as LGBTQ. They said students were even leaving the school because of some of their experiences. In December,...

“So whatever we do now will decide not just what the next four years looks like, but what like but the next 40 years will look like,” Buttigieg told more than 500 people at the Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon. “That’s why we’ve just not got to win an election, but win the era for our values.” Republicans have made claims on those values and Buttigieg is reclaiming them, said Sarah Prineas, who introduced him. Buttigieg “doesn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the giant, orange elephant in the room,” she said. “He is a uniter. He makes us feel...

All they had to do was make average tasting cookies at competitive prices. Instead, Chips Ahoy decided it’d be a good idea to do this. What in the… I’m not even sure what this is supposed to mean. Even if someone believes being a drag queen makes a man suddenly become a woman, they don’t become suddenly become a mother in the process. That’s kind of separate aspect of feminism that you can’t just appropriate. Also, aren’t drag queens a different thing than transgenders, i.e. they don’t claim to be the opposite sex? None of this makes any sense. There’s...

Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg drew a sold-out crowd to a fundraiser at an iconic West Hollywood gay bar on Thursday. Attendees at The Abbey each paid about $25 to attend the grassroots event for Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was introduced by his husband, Chasten. “If anybody tells you whether they’re not sure if America is capable in these twisted and dark times of delivering or vindicating our hopes,” Buttigieg told the crowd, “tell them you saw at The Abbey in West Hollywood the top tier presidential candidate on his way to the White House, moments after...

Tonight, Billy Porter shut down the Met Gala red carpet when he arrived on a litter—carried by six shirtless men!—in a theatrical nod to Ancient Egypt. The Pose star’s custom “Sun God” ensemble, by The Blonds, included a bejeweled catsuit outfitted with 10-foot wings, a 24-karat gold headpiece, as well as custom gold-leaf Giuseppe Zanotti shoes and fine jewels by Andreoli and Oscar Heyman. The mic-drop served as half fashion moment, half performance art—perfectly executed on an evening when stars were asked to unleash their utmost creativity. Ahead of his red carpet appearance, Porter spoke exclusively with Vogue about how...

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj) and his husband, Chasten Glezman, joined the large crowd at former President Jimmy Carter’s Sunday school class in rural South Georgia. At Carter’s invitation Buttigieg stood and read from the Bible as part of the lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. “You know him?” Carter had said earlier in reference to Buttigieg, drawing a laugh from the crowd. Carter told the audience that two other Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, had previously attended his classes. Scores of people arrived before dawn for a chance...

Rachel Held Evans, a best-selling Christian author who was unafraid to wade into fierce theological battles over issues such as the role of women, science, LGBT issues and politics on her blog and social media, died Saturday, after spending weeks in the hospital for an infection. She was 37. Her husband Dan, who has been writing health updates, wrote on her blog on Saturday that she had been weaned from an induced coma, but swelling in her brain was not survivable. The hashtag #PrayforRHE became a trending topic on Twitter for Evans, who had two young children, ages 3 and...

Zoë Saldana and her husband are raising their three boys in a gender-neutral household with things like 'female and male toys' in order to discourage their kids from buying into gender stereotypes. The Guardian's of the Galaxy actress, 40, opened up about what exactly it means to create a gender-neutral household when speaking to US Weekly this week. But she admitted it has its challenges when raising young boys. 'I'm always gonna be honest and that is always the best way to welcome healthy and truthful discourse, especially around parenthood. … [The twins] made a comment two weeks ago like,...

Former police Chief Jane Castor was elected mayor of Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, becoming the first out lesbian mayor of a major city in the state. Castor said that her win “sends a resounding message to our community — no, it sends a resounding message to the nation, that Tampa celebrates its diversity and lifts everyone... [An activist] 2019 the “Year of the Lesbian Mayor” because the number of lesbians elected mayor of a big city rose from two to seven, and could end up at eight later this year if Jolie Justus is elected mayor of Kansas City. According...

There’s at least one area of agreement among conservative, centrist and liberal leaders in the United Methodist Church: America’s largest mainline Protestant denomination is on a path toward likely breakup over differences on same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBT pastors. The differences have simmered for years, and came to a head in February at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 for a proposal called the Traditional Plan, which strengthens bans on LGBT-inclusive practices. A majority of U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBT-friendly options, but they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the...