10/05/2024

Hi y'all,

🚨 Across the U.S. South people are still trying to process the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. That includes in Asheville, N.C., where the storm demolished a new LGBTQ+ bar called Day Trip. Now, after just 31 days in business, the space Brandon Davis and his husband worked so hard to curate looks "like a scene out of an apocalypse movie." The wreckage has left them wondering how they will repay the loans they took out to open this inclusive safe space.

📣 Pete Buttigieg is calling out Elon Musk over misinformation about disaster relief. Buttigieg took Musk to task on Friday, refuting false claims the tech billionaire made about the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene. Musk, who has over 200 million followers on his platform, X (formerly Twitter), accused federal agencies like FEMA of blocking aid deliveries and obstructing private relief flights to storm-hit areas in North Carolina.

⛪ Oklahoma's Superintendent of Public Instruction has put forth a contract that would put 55,000 Trump Bibles in public school classrooms. Ryan Walters recently asked the Oklahoma Legislature for $3 million in the state Department of Education's 2026 budget request to purchase Christian Bibles for schools. The catch? The requirements around those Bibles mean they would have to be ones that Trump has endorsed or ones that are more expensive than the Trump Bibles. That's normal, right? Hardly. Additionally, Walters asked for 55,000 Bibles so each classroom would have one. But that's 12,000 more than the number of classrooms.

Also in the news:

• Ariana DeBose on how her horror flick House of Spoils relates to identity and book bans
• Lauren Boebert forced to refund $67,000 in anti-trans donations for Olympic boxer
• Meet the transgender Lutheran pastor preaching acceptance: 'Nothing is wrong with you'
• Anti-LGBTQ+ Corey DeAngelis fired from conservative ‘school choice’ group after gay adult film past exposed
• Drag queen featured in anti-trans attack ad against Kamala Harris considers suing Trump campaign

Alex Cooper

An LGBTQ+ cocktail bar was open in Asheville for 31 days. Now it's in ruins (exclusive)

Courtesy of Brandon Davis

Pete Buttigieg confronts Elon Musk’s falsehoods about government’s Hurricane Helene relief: ‘Give me a call’

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images; SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

Ariana DeBose on how horror flick House of Spoils relates to identity, empowerment, and book bans

content.jwplatform.com

Meet the transgender Lutheran pastor preaching acceptance: 'Nothing is wrong with you'

Courtesy Hope Lutheran Church; ©2024 Google Maps Data

Anti-LGBTQ+ Corey DeAngelis fired from conservative ‘school choice’ group after gay adult film past exposed

Gage Skidmore via flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Oklahoma superintendent wants $3.3 million to put 55,000 Trump Bibles in classrooms

Office of Oklahoma State Superintendent; BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Lauren Boebert forced to refund $67,000 in anti-trans donations for Olympic boxer

Philip Yabut/Shutterstock

Drag queen featured in anti-trans attack ad against Kamala Harris considers suing Trump campaign

Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Monumental Call for Action; Prashantrajsingh/Shutterstock