LGBTQ WAR ZONE - Gabir, a 26-year-old gay man living in Afghanistan, was dining at a restaurant with his boyfriend of eight months.

LGBTQ SPORTS - Although they’re taking place more than a year after they were initially planned and amidst an ongoing pandemic affecting millions around the world, the 2020 Olympics were still held, and just like that, they’ve come to an end.

LGBTQ POLITICS-A federal court rejected a Florida megachurch’s defamation and religious discrimination lawsuit over how the SPLC labeled them a hate group for their anti-LGBTQ statements.

SAY WHAT? - After earning the adoration of the world at four straight Olympic Games, decorated champion diver Tom Daley has finally collected Olympic Gold. He and his partner, Matty Lee, won the 10-meter synchronized platform diving competition this morning in Tokyo.

“I feel incredibly proud to say I am a gay man and also an Olympic champion,” the out Briton said at a press conference after.

Daley, 27, has represented the U.K. at the Olympics since 2008, when he was 14. He is married to Oscar-winning filmmaker and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and they have a son, Robbie, together.

Daley already had six World Champion medals, including three gold, eight European Champion medals, including five gold, four Commonwealth Games gold medals, and one silver. He also won three Olympic bronze medals, but until now the gold had eluded him.

These were Lee’s first Olympics, but he has won a gold medal in 10-meter platform at the 2015 European Games as well as the mixed 10-meter synchronized platform at the 2017 European Diving Championships. Lee was also the European junior champion on the three-meter springboard twice before.

LGBTQ POLITICS-Trump instituted a policy to block refugees during the pandemic. The Biden administration is considering revisions to the policy, but not the part that singles out LGBTQ people.

LGBTQ POLITICS-A consumer group allied with anti-LGBTQ hate groups told supporters to avoid Burger King and McDonald's "whenever possible" and instead go to Wendy's, although they also don't like their "progressive" company culture. 

LGBTQNation-The iconic Stonewall Inn is banning beers manufactured by Anheuser-Busch after it was revealed the company has donated over $35,000 to anti-LGBTQ state-level politicians.

RIGHTS RULING-The Supreme Court today decided unanimously that religion supersedes the law, at least when it comes to LGBTQ rights.

MEDIA WATCH--The United States Supreme Court is taking unusual steps that could start the unraveling of marriage equality.

MEDIA WATCH-Senate Republicans have prioritized the judicial extremist’s confirmation over COVID relief negotiations in a bid to ensconce her in the seat before the upcoming election.

Fear has spread through the queer community about what Coney Barrett’s perch on the Court will mean for LGBTQ rights, but Lot’s Wife Pastor Tori Jameson struggled with how to respond. (Photo above: LGBTQ couples in Missouri flocked to the St. Louis City Hall last week to get married before far-right Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed.) 

“She is notoriously anti-LGBTQ,” Jameson told them. “She has made statements against Roe, against immigration. I worry about our rights being rolled back if she gets in. But I don’t have a lot of political power. I’m just a community pastor.”

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING--Chick-fil-A says it’s going to stop donating to anti-LGBTQ organizations as it tries to expand its business into more liberal parts of the country and abroad.

The fast food chain got headlines a decade ago when they were caught donating to anti-LGBTQ organizations. At the time, the company’s CEO defended the donations and made anti-LGBTQ comments himself. After media attention, Chick-fil-A said that they would stop.

INTEL REPORT--Two Supreme Court justices are being urged to recuse themselves from upcoming LGBTQ rights cases after a picture of them with the president of an anti-LGBTQ organization.

Last week, Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh – both conservatives nominated by Republican presidents – appeared in a picture with Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which Brown shared on Twitter. Now the liberal organization Take Back the Court is calling on Alito and Kavanaugh to recuse themselves from upcoming LGBTQ cases.

LGBTQ JUSTICE-As a newly out lesbian, I couldn’t help but watch the recent Supreme Court hearings on employment rights for LGBTQ people, and a recent Democratic presidential candidate town hall on LTBTQ issues, and think: “I’m sorry, what?” 

BCK FILE--In 1970, Christopher Street West organized the first Los Angeles parade advocating for gay rights.

OTHERWORDS--Our country has made significant strides in advancing LGBTQ+ rights over the last 15 years.

CIVIL RIGHTS--Just hours after President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that transgender people would no longer be permitted to serve in the armed forces, the Department of Justice on Wednesday launched what is being characterized as a separate attack on the LGBTQ community, this time by arguing in a legal brief that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect gay workers from discrimination.