Advocate NL 8/24/26

Happy Monday, folks! Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez here, back in your inbox, starting off with news from Colorado.

Christopher Wiggins reports the Congressional Equality Caucus said Monday that 179 members of Congress, including 13 senators, had signed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve Colorado’s power to prevent publicly funded preschools from denying admission to children because they or their parents are LGBTQ+.

The brief in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy is led by U.S. Rep. Mark Takano of California, the caucus chair (with a history of putting the LGBTQ+ first!) , with Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. Its signers include Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, Pete Aguilar, Nancy Pelosi (who is on the cover of our September/October issue!), and every Equality Caucus co-chair.

“St. Mary wants public money to turn a four-year-old away based on who their parents are. I know what that message does to a child,” Joseph Wright, an adult child of a lesbian mother, said.

Check out Christopher's full reporting on how the preschool case reached the Supreme Court in the first place and consider becoming an Advocate supporter at this critical time in our history as the Trump administration launches repeated attacks against our community.

179 lawmakers tell SCOTUS not to let taxpayer money-accepting religious preschools reject LGBTQ+ families

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

Macho man JD Vance says he hates ‘good-looking guys with beards’ during weird manufacturing speech

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

What trans women over 50 should know about their sexual health

oneinchpunchphotos/Envato

Gay New Jersey detective says supervisor groped him — and bosses did nothing

Sam Smith opens up about coming out as nonbinary and falling in love

Apple Music

Gay adult performer Christian Styles dies at 29

@christianstyles1/Instagram

Trans band teacher accepted an Iowa school job offer. Days before classes, the board blocked his hiring

KMTV

Mike Pence stumbles through response to his transgender CIA briefer’s praise: ‘heartened’ she felt respected

Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

Trump wildly claims hospitals are performing ‘reverse surgery’ on trans patients ’at my order'

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Meet 3 transgender student-athletes fighting for the right to play

John Nacion/Getty Images; Kirby Lee/Getty Images; courtesy Sara Tirrell