🐘 The denial of MAGA gays

Hi there,

🐘 As election season peaks, conservative LGBTQ+ supporters of former President Donald Trump are hosting “Trump UNITY” events across battleground states despite the former president’s lengthy record of anti-LGBTQ+ policies — no, we don't understand it either. Organized by the Log Cabin Republicans, the UNITY tour held a rally in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, where gay conservative attendees emphasized economic issues over LGBTQ+ rights and downplayed the need for further protections.

🫠 Republican Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is under fire for using unauthorized images of two cisgender teenage girls in several campaign ads targeting transgender athletes. The students aren't even from Texas. They're from Oregon.

🌈 The slate of LGBTQ+ people running for political office in the U.S. in 2024 is far more diverse than in the last presidential election year, 2020, according to a new report from the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. The proportion of candidates who are transgender, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming grew by more than seven percentage points between 2020 and 2024 — 7.9 percent to 15.2 percent.

✨ The Advocate just launched our first reader-revenue program, which allows you to contribute directly to The Advocate's LGBTQ+ journalism. Find out how to invest in our work here. ✨

Onward and upward,

Alex Cooper