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Trump Political Appointee Sues Biden After Refusing to Resign

Roger Severino, the anti-LGBTQ right-wing Christian activist who made things difficult for LGBTQ Americans during his time running HHS's Office Of Civil Rights for Trump, is suing the Biden administration for firing him. Roger Severino, a former Trump appointee at the...

Virginia Senate Committee Rejects Hate Crime Expansion Bill

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi's bill to expand hate crimes to include crimes based on perception -- which would have had the effect of protecting gender expression, not covered under current hate crime statutes -- failed in the Virginia state Senate after backlash from both...

Who Was Behind Trump’s Transgender Military Ban the Most?

Who led the original push for the now-repealed transgender military ban? Suspects include a Congressman, a Vice President, the head of a hate group, and the wife of a Supreme Court justice. It was July 26, 2017. Three and a half years ago, almost to the day, when...

Biden Just Reversed Trump’s Transgender Military Ban

The Biden Executive Order allows "all qualified persons to serve in the military." President Joe Biden has just signed an executive order reversing President Trump’s total ban on transgender service members. The order “sets the policy that all Americans who are...

Disappearing Memories Of Home

In his new solo show at Reynolds Gallery, sculptor Raul De Lara takes a playful approach to images of his homeland in Mexico -- a place that, as a DACA recipient, he cannot return to. “I came to the desert to play with my homeland. No longer do I remember how she looks, feels, sounds, smells, or tastes. I came here because I miss her, and because...

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A Safer Place For Recovery

For LGBTQ and BIPOC folks seeking recovery from addiction in the Richmond area, there have traditionally not been many good options. Peter's Place hopes to change that, centering the experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQ people. When Shauntelle Hammonds was looking for place in the Richmond area to begin her long-term recovery from substance dependency,...

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The Amazon Trail: Nah, We Ain’t No Sissies

Lee Lynch returns from a long rest with a new edition of The Amazon Trail about work, aging, and finding ways to survive the hard times we're all faced with. I have been resting. A strange activity for me, but I had no choice. I was so worn out, I remember promising myself that I would never hurry again as long as I lived. The first two of six...

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The Future of Thrift

As the coronavirus pandemic reaches its sixth month in the United States, local boutiques and thrift store owners have been reevaluating their long-term business model, with some moving their operations online. When Bill Harrison first heard news of COVID-19 cases popping up in Virginia back in March, he made the tough decision to close Diversity...

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Dayum Jam Raises Funds For Local Transgender Youth

Dayum Jam owner Andy Waller was able to fund their own top surgery through jam sales. Now they're working with Side By Side to offer similar help to a local transgender youth with similar needs. Andy Waller’s gender-affirming top surgery was funded by a homegrown business selling lots and lots of jars of mango jam. Now, on the one-year...

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McEnany: Trump Trying to Ban Citizenship of Same-Sex Couples’ Kids Has ‘Nothing to Do’ With Sexual Orientation

Despite the fact that the Trump administration has only tried to block citizenship for children of same-sex parents, Trump's press secretary claims the policy has nothing to do with anti-LGBTQ discrimination. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany says the Trump administration’s attempts to ban U.S. citizenship from same-sex couples’...

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