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Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Some global LGBTQ travelers are skipping America this Pride season
For many European gays, the festive Eurovision Song Contest each May marks the unofficial kickoff to the global Pride season. As usual, there were soaring highlights and scandalous lowlights among the competing Eurovision nations at the 2025 edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, this month. But another country was on the lips of many queer jet-setters this year: the United States, with its spate of new anti-trans and anti-immigrant policies that are causing some LGBTQ travelers to reconsider their upcoming American itineraries. Several European countries, including Denmark, Finland and Germany, have issued official cautions for LGBTQ travelers visiting the U.S., particularly those with an 'X' gender listed on their passport. Meanwhile, out of concerns for participant safety, Canada's leading LGBTQ rights group, Egale Canada, pulled out of participation in WorldPride DC, and the African Human Rights Coalition has called for a boycott of this edition of the international Pride event, coordinated by InterPride and usually held every two years. 'It doesn't feel right to at the moment,' Karl Krause told NBC News at Eurovision in Basel, referring to travel to the U.S. Krause, who is German by birth, lives in Amsterdam with his Dutch partner, Daan Colijn, and together they are travel-focused content creators known to their followers as Couple of Men. In 2021, Lonely Planet awarded them its first Best in Travel LGBTIQ Storyteller Award, a nod to their work for the LGBTQ community. 'As gay men traveling to the U.S., we are probably still the more privileged part of the community,' Krause said. 'But we had some interesting conversations recently in Bilbao with a trans person who was like, 'I cannot, I literally cannot travel to the U.S., because I have no idea how they would receive my diverse passport, if I would be put in detention or whatever. I have my little daughter — I'm not going to risk any of this.'' Krause said that was the moment he realized that while he and Colijn as gay men may not yet be feeling the full effects of the Trump administration's policies, they were already having an impact on other travelers within the LGBTQ community. 'So how can we in good feeling promote this destination?' he asked. 'How can I send a trans friend or nonbinary friend and try to inspire them to go to the U.S. when they are in what's supposed to be the best time of their year, to spend in a country where they don't feel safe?' Colijn added that he and Krause want to send their followers 'somewhere where they are safe, where they feel welcome.' 'At the moment, of course a lot of people will still feel very, very welcome in the majority of America — a lot of places are still the same, or maybe even trying to do better. But we just want to be careful in what we are supporting,' Colijn said. John Tanzella, president and CEO of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, or IGLTA, told NBC News that such concerns are commonplace this year. 'We've heard from travelers feeling uncertain about visiting the U.S., especially trans and gender-diverse individuals,' he said. 'These decisions are often driven by concerns about safety, treatment at the border and access to affirming health care. Some have canceled their trips. Many others are still coming, but they're being more selective about where they go.' Nicoló Manfredini, an Italian trans man living in Valencia, Spain, said he was recently able to enter the U.S. without incident thanks to having an 'M' marker on his passport, but the government's anti-trans policies currently make America a place he would rather not visit again. 'Originally I had planned to go to WorldPride, but not now,' he said. Given the current environment in the U.S., Manfredini added, he said he would only travel to the U.S. if he had to do so for work. Even American gender-diverse people are adjusting their travel plans because of Trump administration policies, according to a study released earlier this month by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Of the more than 300 transgender, nonbinary and other gender-diverse people surveyed, 70% said they are less likely to go on vacation to U.S. states they view as less trans-affirming. Krause said that despite usually attending at least one and sometimes several U.S. Pride events every year, this year will be different. 'We were actually planning to go to Washington, D.C., for WorldPride, but this is off the table for us … How safe can we be in Washington? Just saying that scares me a little bit,' he said, noting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was particularly concerning. 'I don't know what is going on there now and who is coming, and I don't feel safe with the idea that I'm going there and I'm walking and maybe there is a mob [coming] from whatever direction.' Capital Pride Alliance, the organizers behind WorldPride DC, which started earlier this month and continues through June 8, did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News, but the event's website details security protocols and includes a passport advisory for transgender and nonbinary travelers. Sahand Miraminy, director of operations for Capital Pride Alliance, told The Washington Post this week that security measures at WorldPride DC will include weapons screening at the entrance to the street festival June 7 and 8, which will also be fenced in. In addition to the local and federal "agency support that we have, we also hire private security and have many forms of safety measures and surveillance that we may not share at all times with the public,' he said, 'but there are certainly conversations that we're having with those agencies on a weekly basis.' Organizers at NYC Pride, arguably the most globally popular of U.S. Pride events each year and held like most big cities during Pride Month in June, are also stepping up security plans for 2025. 'NYC Pride has contracted a private firm with vast experience managing LGBTQIA+ events to lead on-site security,' spokesperson Kevin Kilbride said. 'Given the size and visibility of our events, NYC Pride is monitored and secured by municipal agencies at every level of government to protect our freedom of expression and ensure a safe space for our community.' Tanzella said that since safety is unfortunately never guaranteed for the LGBTQ community, careful planning is more essential than ever for LGBTQ travelers coming to the U.S. this year. 'Research destinations with strong reputations for inclusion and visible LGBTQ+ support,' he advised. 'Connect with local LGBTQ+ organizations for on-the-ground insights, stay informed about local laws and current events, and have a plan for accessing affirming health care if needed. Most importantly, prioritize places where you feel respected and supported.' Cities and states with long-standing reputations for LGBTQ inclusivity are getting more attention, Tanzella added. 'In this climate, a destination's visible commitment to inclusion through its policies, community engagement, and public support truly matters,' he said. In October, the IGLTA will host its annual global convention in Palm Springs, California, a destination Colijn said he and Krause can and will enthusiastically visit. 'We were there just last year, and we felt how amazing and welcome and how much old queer culture is there,' he said. 'So of course we want to go there, and we can fully tell people to go there. Unless of course we might get in trouble at the border.' Krause, however, noted that he and Colijn still haven't booked their Palm Springs trip just yet, because they fear that under the Trump administration 'everything can change overnight.' 'There is no long-term planning,' he said. Kilbride said he understands the need global queer travelers feel to exhibit caution this year, but he said he believes Pride remains one of the most powerful tools in the collective struggle for equality. 'We stand with the international LGBTIA+ community, particularly our trans and nonbinary siblings,' he said. 'But we also believe the fight for our community is more important now than ever. We need to show up big to make it clear: We're here, we're queer, and we're not going anywhere.' This article was originally published on
CTV News
38 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Dykes on Bikes group at Pride
Winnipeg Watch CTV's Ainsley McPhail learns about Dykes on Bikes, and their involvement with Pride
USA Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, is the marriage equality ruling next?
Michael and Jacob clicked. They met online in 2020 (one lived in Pennsylvania, the other in Arizona), met in person in 2022 and by December they were a couple. They had talked of getting married in 2027, or 2028. There was no hurry. Then came Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. A few weeks later, Michael got a text from his partner: "We need to talk." The upshot: Michael Tribbey and Jacob Rainey flew to Los Angeles for a rush wedding on Jan. 3. "We realized we need to get married before the new administration comes in, because we don't know what kind of shenanigans are going to come in with marriage equality,' Tribbey told the which is a part of the USA TODAY Network Such concerns are on the minds of many as Pride Month 2025 gets underway. Could the federal recognition of gay marriage go away, just as the federal right to abortion did? Will protections against LGBTQ+ discriminations be lifted? Those things haven't happened yet. They may not happen. There are laws in place, both at the state and national levels, to make it harder for them to happen. But who could say, in light of the anti-DEI policies of the new administration, and the past actions of the Supreme Court, that they couldn't happen?' "Some of it is unlikely, but I don't think any of it is impossible," said Rick Kavin, a political science teacher whose courses "Law and Politics" and "LGBTQ+ Politics in America" are offered at Rutgers University. "It's way more likely than it was five years ago, that's for sure," he said. "I think anything's on the table at this point." Gay married couples, this year, are worried about things that might have seemed fanciful just a year ago. And not without reason, said Brielle Winslow-Majette, deputy director of Garden State Equality, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group based in Montclair and Asbury Park, New Jersey. "I think that's a valid concern," she said. "Based on things we've heard the Supreme Court say in the past, I think they're going after anything that's not traditional. I wouldn't be surprised if same-sex marriage was on the docket." Which is why, as Pride Month launches with the usual parades, celebrations, festivals and music events, it is also looking nervously over its shoulder. 'There are things percolating' The anti-DEI sentiments out of Washington are affecting Pride events on a national level. Mastercard, Pepsi, Nissan and PwC have pulled their sponsorship of NYC Pride. Anheuser-Busch, Comcast and Diageo pulled out of San Francisco Pride. Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte withdrew from WorldPride, Washington, D.C. It all begs the question: Could Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, be simply overturned by the court's current 6-3 conservative majority, as Roe v. Wade was in 2022? "I think there may be a try," Winslow-Majette said. "I don't think it is far-fetched to say that it could happen." There are rumblings. Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who was successfully sued in 2015 by a same-sex couple to whom she denied a marriage license, plans to fight the $100,000 judgment in court. But her lawyers plan to go further. They want to make the case a judgment on Obergefell itself. Such a test-case – that, or another like it – could end up, sooner or later, in the Supreme Court. Sounds unlikely? So did the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion. Until it happened. "There are things percolating," Kavin said. "You're probably going to see something just like that, where a county clerk refuses to issue a license, they're held in contempt and they sue, and it works its way up the courts." 'Scary, but real' Some LGBTQ+ households are starting to ask themselves: What's your plan of action? What's your escape route? (Some, Kavin said, are talking of Canada). Others aren't as concerned. And some couples, like Michael and Jacob, have rushed into matrimony while the door is still open. It would be easier, they reasoned, for the government to prevent their marriage than to un-marry them after the fact. Still it was hard, Tribbey said, to have to suddenly alter their life plans, and to stage a hurried wedding without the preferred trappings, and without most of their respective families. "I found a small chapel that does wedding ceremonies in L.A.," Tribbey said. "I wanted something that was a little nice. I didn't just want a shoebox to be married in." Perhaps, he said, they can have a more elaborate re-commitment ceremony in 2030 or so, when all of this has blown over. If it blows over. Meanwhile, already-married gay couples shouldn't be complacent, Kavin said. "For folks who are currently married, don't just rely on that marriage," he said. "Make sure your will is in order, that your health proxy is set up, that everything is clearly spelled out. What you would want if something happens to you, if you die, if you share children, particularly if they're adopted children? Have that in order. Have your documents in order. Which is scary, but real." If a worst-case scenario is barreling down on the LGBTQ+ community, it will encounter speed bumps. In New Jersey, for example, there is strong pro-equality language in the marriage statutes. "In 2022, they rewrote the marriage laws to be gender-neutral," Kavin said, "in anticipation that something might change on the federal level. New Jersey has very strong protections, but obviously many states don't." Federally, the Respect for Marriage Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden, also in 2022, requires federal and state governments to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages, according to the laws of the state where the marriage occurred. Until that is overturned, all existing marriages will have to be recognized, nationwide. But that wouldn't prevent new laws, forbidding new marriages. "While I don't think you would see existing marriages voided, it's very, very possible that you would see the end of the licensing of new marriages," Kavin said. Moreover, federal laws can be annulled. The Dobbs decision, reversing Roe v. Wade, was one example. The majority 2022 opinion on Dobbs pronounced that its legal argument was confined specifically to abortion. But in his separate, "concurrent" opinion, justice Clarence Thomas argued that, on the contrary, it ought to be applied more broadly. "He specifically singled out not only Obergefell, which is the marriage case, but also Lawrence v. Texas from 2003, which is the sodomy case," Kavin said. "So he's specifically citing these examples of cases that should be reexamined." Whether such a thing happens may depend not just on the vigor of conservatives in pursuing the case, but also, conversely, on the public's willingness to push back.
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- General
- Globe and Mail
Alberta Insider: New fronts in the culture wars
Good morning. Alberta is no stranger to some of the culture wars that have been fought in the United States and abroad in recent years. This week, two new fronts were opened in the province. First, on Monday, the Alberta government announced plans to hold public consultations so it can set new regulations for school libraries, creating rules around books that the province deems age-inappropriate because of what it qualifies as sexually explicit content. 'School libraries spark imagination and foster a lifelong love of learning within our children,' Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told reporters in Calgary. 'Yet, unfortunately, through investigations conducted by my office, we have found books in K-12 schools that show extremely age-inappropriate content.' The province said it found 'multiple books with explicit sexual content' as part of an investigation conducted by Nicolaides's office. Only four examples were provided on Monday, each of which are graphic novels and depict LGBTQ or coming-of-age subjects: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Blankets by Craig Thompson and Flamer by Mike Curato. The Globe's Temur Durrani reached out to the four authors, who all said they were not consulted after their books were flagged and that the content is being taken out of context. Thompson, an Oregon-based graphic novelist, said his book is a coming-of-age autobiography based on his own childhood in an evangelical Christian family. Curato, a Massachusetts-based illustrator, also defended his work. 'Protecting the right to read is protecting the right to exist,' he told The Globe. The issue of determining what books are age appropriate has led to numerous political disputes and legal challenges. The fight reached the U.S. Supreme Court last month, when a children's picture book by a Vancouver Island author about a puppy at a Pride parade was among several works at the centre of a court challenge over whether parents have the constitutional right to opt their children out of lessons involving works with LGBTQ characters. Alberta's new policies, when implemented, will apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools. The second battle of the week came on Wednesday, when the Canadian Medical Association filed a constitutional challenge alongside three Alberta doctors against the province's legislation that limits access to medical treatment for transgender youth. The CMA says it is compelled to step in to guard the relationship between patients, doctors and families in making treatment decisions. Alberta's Bill 26, which became law last December, prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapies for those under 16. It also bans doctors from performing gender-reassignment surgeries on minors (those under 18) – an already rare occurrence in the province. CMA president Joss Reimer said the law has created a 'moral crisis' for physicians, saying an 'ideological influence' does not help the patient. 'When governments get involved and start restricting medical decisions, that means that doctors are then put into a position where they have to choose between following their ethical standards, following what they feel is best for their patients or following the law,' Dr. Reimer told The Globe. At the time of the filing, the Alberta government had not commented on the CMA's legal challenge. The United Conservative government has previously declined to comment on legal action launched against the bill last year by advocacy groups Egale Canada and Skipping Stone Foundation, citing it was before the courts. This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you're reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pine City Pride 20 years later: a proclamation about being yourself in rural Minnesota
(Photos courtesy of themncolumn, from "Pine City Pride 2012," Flickr.) Two decades ago, a quiet but radical act took place in Pine City, Minnesota. It didn't involve picket signs, marches or sweeping legislative change. It was a picnic. In a park. With a rainbow flag fluttering from a folding table, a handful of brave souls gathered near the Snake River to celebrate who they were — out loud — for the first time in their rural town. That picnic was the beginning of East Central Minnesota Pride. And, unbeknownst to many at the time, it was the first rural LGBTQ Pride event in the United States. This June, Pine City — population 4,200 and growing — will celebrate the 20th anniversary of that event. In doing so, we celebrate more than a milestone. We honor the legacy of a place that chose community over conformity, compassion over silence, and inclusion over fear. The story of rural Pride didn't begin in a metro center with corporate floats or glitter bombs. It started in a town known more for fishing derbies and Friday fish fries than for progressive firsts. Back in 2005, when rural queerness was still mostly whispered or erased, a small group of LGBTQ locals and allies chose to be visible. Their gathering was met with curiosity, quiet resistance, and eventually, something even more powerful: acceptance. In fact, the event drew enough attention that by 2007, the Star Tribune ran a headline that captured both the controversy and the charm of it all: 'Hot-button issues with potato salad.' The picnic may have seemed simple on the surface, but it challenged deeply held assumptions about who belongs in rural spaces — and how loudly they're allowed to exist. Over time, East Central Minnesota Pride became an anchor — both for LGBTQ residents, and for the whole region. Today, the event features live music, drag performances, speakers and families pushing strollers past booths staffed by churches, businesses and nonprofits. The small town where it began now hosts crowd sizes that crack the thousand mark each year, including people from towns that still don't have a Pride of their own. What Pine City proved is that Pride doesn't require a skyline. It requires courage. And community. And a willingness to believe that small towns can be big-hearted. Don Quaintance, one of the event's founding members, put it best: 'Small-town Pride events are the ones that create the change. It's easy to blend in with 500,000 of your friends at the Twin Cities Pride festival — and another to be one of 500 in Pine City. That takes a good deal of courage.' In many ways, Pine City's embrace of Pride helped shape its evolution. Last year, the town elected Minnesota's only openly gay mayor, Kent Bombard — a lifelong resident who volunteered for the other big event in town, the Pine County Fair — long before running for office. The city continues to grow, becoming more diverse, inclusive and welcoming with each passing year. Of course, it hasn't always been easy. There have been critics, letters to the editor, even threats. But each year the rainbow returns to the town square at Robinson Park, each year families attend together, and each year more younger people see a future for themselves here — without needing to leave home to live authentically. That matters. Because for every rural LGBTQ person who finds support in their hometown, we chip away at the idea that queerness belongs only in cities. We push back against the false choice between authenticity and belonging. And we remind the world that rural America is not a monolith. As someone who grew up in Pine City and has watched this transformation firsthand, I can tell you that the real success of rural Pride isn't measured in crowd size or media mentions. It's measured in conversations between neighbors. In rainbow stickers on truck bumpers. In the kid who doesn't flinch before saying 'my boyfriend' at Walmart. That's where the revolution lives. There are now more than 20 rural and small-town Pride celebrations across Minnesota, and dozens more nationally. Some have grown big and bold; others remain intimate. All of them owe a quiet debt to Pine City. As we gather again on June 7 to celebrate 20 years of rural Pride, we do so with gratitude — for the founders who risked being seen, for the allies who showed up, and for the small-town queers who keep choosing visibility. Because visibility in rural America is powerful. It's political. And it's deeply personal. Pride in Pine City may have started as a picnic, but it became a proclamation: We are here. We've been your neighbors. And we're not going anywhere. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
