It’s Friday! Hurrah! Welcome to the weekend, queers—as always, we’re glad that you’re here. Wishing you a few days full of sweet summer sun, lounging and patio drinks. But before you indulge, don’t miss our roundup of the five essential queer and trans stories that we’ll be keeping our eye on.
1. Peaky Blinders denounces Ron DeSantis’s bizarre transphobic campaign video that stole clips from the show
2. Republican attorneys general threaten Target over kids’ Pride merch
3. Queer advocates in Canada are calling for a standardized approach to sex and gender information in healthcare
4. A Georgia judge decided not to block the state’s trans healthcare ban
5. The trailer for steamy gay rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue dropped this week
1. Peaky Blinders denounces Ron DeSantis’s homophobic trailer that stole clips from the show
The trailer that Ron DeSantis’s campaign posted on Twitter last week was not only transphobic but also … extremely bizarre. Let’s just say, not everyone can handle the responsibility of operating the iMovie app. In just over a minute of spliced-together clips and quick-motion flying headlines, DeSantis attempted to paint Donald Trump as a queer ally (??) while portraying himself as a tough-guy bigot. On purpose! Clips of DeSantis are interspersed with clips featuring muscle men and Christian Bale’s character from American Psycho (a literal serial killer), seemingly intended to make DeSantis seem macho.
But, not surprisingly, it turns out that DeSantis’s team pulled those images off the internet without asking anyone’s permission. Now, the British crime drama Peaky Blinders, clips of which appear twice in the video, is speaking out. In a tweet, the team behind the show confirmed that the footage was “obtained without permission or official licence” and said that they “do not support or endorse the video’s narrative and strongly disapprove of the use of the content.” Same, guys. Same.
2. Republican attorneys general threaten Target over kids’ Pride merch
Pride Month may be over—but somehow the controversy continues: Republican attorneys general from seven states are threatening Target over its Pride merchandise line. In a Wednesday letter, the AGs of Indiana, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina claim that the superstore’s children’s Pride clothing items might violate the states’ “child protection laws.” The letter does not include any direct demands.
The company previously pulled some of its Pride merch line from stores after employees were threatened.
3. Queer advocates in Canada are calling for a standardized approach to sex and gender information in healthcare
On Wednesday, the Community-Based Research Centre, a Vancouver-based organization that advocates for the health needs of LGBTQ2S+ people, released a report that called for the streamlined addition of information about patients’ gender and sexuality in Canada’s electronic health records system. “Health Canada should encourage the adoption of precise, inclusive, appropriate and evolving terminology to more accurately capture gender, sex and sexual orientation information,” says the report.
Michael Kwag, the centre’s executive director, told Global News that crucial information about queer people is often not collected or misrepresented, making it difficult to create care plans that align with LGBTQ2S+ people’s needs. For example, says the report, keeping precise records could prevent patients from being deadnamed. Ensuring that sex and gender are not conflated could also prevent trans patients from getting overlooked for cervical cancer screenings and other important care. The report also emphasized that any such change would have to occur alongside community consultation, strong information security and training for healthcare practitioners.
4. A Georgia judge decided not to block the state’s trans healthcare ban
We were on a bit of a roll with judges in multiple states blocking trans healthcare bans. But this week, a judge in Georgia declined a request to block one such law. It’s disappointing, but luckily there’s reason to believe it may be temporary.
Four families with trans children, with the help of organizations like TransParent, filed an emergency request last week in an attempt to prevent Georgia’s trans healthcare ban, Senate Bill 140, from going into effect. The law bans any surgery and hormone treatment for the purpose of gender transition for minors, but does not ban puberty blockers. On Wednesday, Judge Sarah E. Geraghty denied their request, saying it came in too late and did not allow the state enough time to prepare their defence.
The state says it needs months to prepare, all time in which trans youth would be blocked from receiving often life-saving care. However, the case against the law is proceeding, which gives us reason to hope that the law might still be destined for the garbage heap.
5. The trailer for steamy rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue dropped this week
We love to see novels by queer writers get turned into raunchy queer rom-coms, and Red, White & Royal Blue certainly delivers on that front. This week, we got the first trailer for the movie, which is based on a 2019 novel by non-binary author Casey McQuiston. It’s giving Heartstopper meets Bridgerton meets Hallmark Christmas movie realness, and we’re here for it.
Our hilariously high-profile main characters are Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the president of the United States, and Prince Henry of Britain, played by Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine respectively. They start out as bitter rivals, but their relationship evolves into what just might be *love*. The trailer features a full-on physical fight on top of a massive cake, lots of deep convos and a few very sultry clips of the two men making out, etc.—and the movie is rated R, so it’s unlikely it stops there. Oh, and did I mention that Uma Thurman plays the first woman president of the United States??
🌈Bonus good news (because we need it)🌈
Okay, well, maybe this isn’t news—but it’s summer, and we all deserve a break! It’s hot out, so we’ve gone in search of the gayest drink—whether that’s a Bud Light, a Negroni Sbagliato or one of those fruity little sparkling seltzers everyone loves. What’s your gay drink of choice?
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