12/14/24

Hi there,

🏛️ California Democrat Laphonza Butler, the first Black lesbian senator, stepped down this week to allow Adam Schiff to assume the office. California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her last year to fill the remainder of the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s term. Butler didn't run for the seat in November. Schiff, a prominent Democrat and LGBTQ+ ally who represented a California district in the U.S. House for several years, won the Senate seat in November. Newsom approved Schiff’s early appointment to the Senate before he was sworn into his six-year term in January. Watch Butler's empowering final speech below at the link. ⬇️

🪖 Rep. Chris Pappas, an out gay co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Congressional Equality Caucus, was among the bipartisan group of 281 members of Congress who voted in favor of the $895.2 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Wednesday. The legislation includes provisions restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Pappas is the sole out LGBTQ+ member of Congress to back the legislation. More than 40 U.S. senators have signed on to a letter opposing the inclusion of anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion provisions in must-pass spending bills.

🏈 Carl Nassib, the first out gay active player in the NFL, has joined the board of directors for The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ young people. The announcement, made Friday, comes amid a challenging time for LGBTQ+ youth in the U.S.

Onward and upward,

Alex Cooper

Editor-in-chief, Advocate.com

P.S. Support The Advocate's journalism. Find out how here.

🗞️ In other news

Laphonza Butler, first Black lesbian U.S. senator, steps down from office for Adam Schiff

Tom Williams/Getty Images

Gay former NFL player Carl Nassib joins board of LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention nonprofit The Trevor Project

Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images

Moms For Liberty co-founder elevated as vice chair for Florida Ethics Commission

Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

Who is Scott Presler? The gay conservative even the RNC won't employ

JEFF KOWALSKY/Getty Images

40+ senators oppose anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion provisions in spending bills

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The former Marine who helped end DADT predicts the road ahead for LGBTQ+ service members

Cameron Whitman/Shutterstock

Teenagers are behind a rash of antigay crimes that have been tied to dating apps

Taras Vyshnya/Shutterstock; Travelling.About/Shutterstock

Gay Democrat is lone LGBTQ+ vote in Congress for anti-trans national defense bill

Bill Clark/Getty Images

Nancy Pelosi recovering after major surgery in Germany following fall in Luxembourg

Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock

Texas City Council that targeted LGBTQ+ people gets voted out — and replaced with first gay member

Craig Stoker for Council Website

Pete Hegseth flip-flops on women & LGBTQ+ service members amid bruising confirmation battle

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

🌈 Look, the answer! 🌈

Each week, The Advocate newsletter has a little bit of LGBTQ+ trivia. Tuesday, you'll get a question. Thursday, you'll get a hint. And today, you'll get the answer.

This week's question: What was the first known LGBTQ+ rights group in the U.S.?

This week's answer: The Society for Human Rights. The founder was Henry Gerber, a German immigrant and postal worker. He immigrated to the U.S. with his family at 13. After time in the U.S. Army and being stationed back in Germany, Gerber became motivated by the German gay rights movement of the early 20th century. He and his friends in Chicago incorporated the nonprofit Society for Human Rights in 1924. The group published a newsletter, Friendship and Freedom. The group was short-lived but inspired the creation of future LGBTQ+ rights groups in the U.S. including the Mattachine Society.