Happy mid-Pride month, y’all! Hope you have some fun plans for this weekend. Til then, take a break with the top five queer stories for this today.
1. White House bans trans activist Rose Montoya for topless video at Pride
2. Man accuses nine-year-old girl of being trans at track meet and leaves her “inconsolably crying”
3. Kristen Stewart and fiancée Dylan Meyer writing “stoner girl comedy”
4. Johns Hopkins criticized for glossary’s definition of “lesbian”
5. Starbucks denies removing Pride decorations
1. White House bans trans activist Rose Montoya for topless video at Pride
The White House banned trans activist Rose Montoya from future events after she released a video showing her topless at the White House’s Pride. The video featured her on the White House lawn, covering her nipples with her hand, and sparked transphobic backlash against her from right-wing media.
“My transmasculine friends were showing off their top surgery scars and living in joy, and I wanted to join them,” she said in a video on Instagram. “And because it is perfectly within the law in Washington, D.C., I decided to join them and cover my nipples just to play it safe. Because I wanted to be fully free and myself. I had zero intention of trying to be vulgar, or be profane in any way. I was simply living in joy, living my truth and existing in my body. Happy Pride. Free the nipple.”
2. Man accuses nine-year-old girl of being trans at Kelowna track meet, leaving her “inconsolably crying”
In another instance of transphobic rhetoric harming all women and girls who are even remotely gender nonconforming, a man at a track meet last week drove a nine-year-old girl with a pixie cut to tears after he started accusing her of being trans. Heidi Star, the girl’s mother, told LGBTQNation that the man yelled from the stands, “Hey, this is supposed to be a girls’ event, and why are you letting boys compete,” and called another student “obviously trans.” The event was halted because of his shouting, and the girl, (who is cis, by the way) was left “shaking and crying,” Star told iNFOnews.ca.
“She was inconsolably crying during this whole event and continued once it was over and we were leaving. Not to mention, she was unable to concentrate on her track-and-field finals and the shot-put throw for which she had qualified,” Kari Star, the girl’s other mother, told LGBTQNation.
3. Kristen Stewart and fiancée Dylan Meyer writing “stoner girl comedy”
A win for lesbian stoners everywhere: Kristen Stewart and her fiancée Dylan Meyer are writing a screenplay together. In a conversation with Rachel Sennott centred around Sennott’s upcoming (also gay) movie Bottoms, Stewart casually dropped that she and Meyer were working together.
“Me and Dylan are writing a movie. It’s a stoner girl comedy, and it’s really fucking stupid. I think you’ll like it,” Stewart told Sennott. We’re seated!
4. Johns Hopkins criticized for glossary’s definition of “lesbian”
In other lesbian news: Johns Hopkins University has received criticism for the definition of “lesbian” in its LGBTQ Glossary. The definition reads, in part, “a non-man attracted to non-men”—the definition for “gay man,” in contrast, states, “a man who is … attracted to other men.” Much of the criticism was transphobic, with transphobe-in-chief J.K. Rowling chiming in about this on Twitter. (For context, the Anti-Defamation League and Human Rights Campaign define a lesbian as a woman who is attracted to other women.)
“The LGBTQ Glossary serves as an introduction to the range of identities and terms that are used within LGBTQ2S+ communities, and is not intended to serve as the definitive answers as to how all people understand or use these terms,” Jill Rosen, the university’s director of media relations, said in a statement. “Upon becoming aware of the language in question, we have begun working to determine the origin and context of the glossary’s definitions. We have removed the page from our website while we gather more information.”
5. Starbucks denies removing Pride decorations
Starbucks is denying that it banned Pride-themed decorations in some stores after being accused of caving to right-wing furor by the company’s workers union on Tuesday. “For the last two weeks, Starbucks workers have taken to social media to report that the company is no longer allowing Pride decorations in-store,” the union account tweeted, noting that the move follows major retailer Target, which recently opted to remove its Pride merch line from many stores.
A spokesperson for the coffee chain denied the allegations, saying in a statement, “There has been no change to any policy on this matter and we continue to encourage our store leaders to celebrate with their communities including for U.S. Pride Month in June.”
However the union maintains that employees in stores in at least 21 states were told to take down Pride decorations. “True allyship with the LGBTQ2S+ community is negotiating a union contract that legally locks in our benefits, our freedom of expression and ways to hold management accountable,” the union tweeted.
🌈Bonus good news (because we need it)🌈
Those who have been eagerly awaiting the upcoming gay rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue can get a glimpse at the movie with the first photos released this week.
The R-rated rom-com, to be released Aug. 11, follows an enemies-to-lovers plotline between the son of the United States president and Britain’s prince, and is based on a book of the same name.
Why you can trust Xtra
