One Richmond-area student’s fight reveals how Virginia’s 2020 reforms often died on arrival. When Lyn Jones transferred to Matoaca High School, just south of Richmond, she noticed something odd. Every girls’ restroom was outfitted with a metal dispenser—mounted to the...
The Department of Justice gave a grant from their anti-human trafficking program to Hookers For Jesus, which restricts what occupants of their safe houses are allowed to read and labels homosexuality immoral. According to an exclusive report from Reuters, internal complaints are emerging from the US Justice Department’s anti-human...
With Black Girl Magic, Melanin Monroe has created a series of drag shows exclusively featuring queens of color. The next edition, featuring The Vixen from RuPaul's Drag Race, comes to Fallout on Sunday. Richmond drag queen Melanin Monroe is preparing for the second show in her Black Girl Magic series, Black Girl Magic: Female Rappers, at Fallout...
For Lynchburg production company Pals Of Dorothy, it's important to bring LGBTQ stories beyond the big cities, and make clear that the LGBTQ community exists everywhere. Richmond is no stranger to LGBTQ film and theatre, but Lynchburg-based production company Pals of Dorothy is taking steps to bring LGBTQ media beyond the capital city to the...
In this excerpt from his book Pride Leadership, Dr. Steve Yacovelli tells us how to make 2020 "the year that being queer is your key to a courageous career." We all make New Year’s resolutions, from the daydreamingly ambitious to the practical to those that we only make subconsciously. For many, the start of a new year is a time to reflect on our...
After years of struggling, advocates for Virginia's LGBTQ community have received a clear victory, as the Virginia Values Act passes both houses of the General Assembly. Legislators wore rainbow, heart-shaped stickers Thursday as the House and Senate passed the Virginia Values Act. LGBTQ advocacy groups and lawmakers held a press conference in...
Equality Virginia and the Commonwealth's LGBTQ community continue to lobby state legislators for important LGBTQ protections. Now that Democrats control the General Assembly, they're having some success. The day after hundreds lobbied lawmakers on behalf of LGBTQ rights during Equality Virginia's Day of Action, two significant bills advanced in...
The General Assembly is currently considering bills that would create a statewide policy for the treatment of transgender students in Virginia's public schools. In this open letter, Side By Side and over a dozen other youth organizations explain how important it is to pass these bills. All students deserve an equal opportunity to thrive in our...
Virginia's as close as it's ever been to banning conversion therapy for minors. And it seems likely we'll get there before the end of the current General Assembly session. On January 24, Virginia Senator Scott Surovell's bill banning conversion therapy for minors passed the Senate. And on Monday, February 3, Delegate Patrick Hope's similar bill...
A small college in Ashland takes a big step forward by creating a haven for LGBTQ students, especially those who are transgender and non-binary. At Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, there is a relatively-small brick house shrouded from the world by trees. Outside on the front lawn, a sign says “Special Interest House,” but the house is formally...
