Tag: California

Lawyers for Starbucks are arguing that repeatedly and intentionally misgendering a transgender employee don’t constitute actionable harassment under the law. Starbucks has a reputation for being LGBTQ-friendly. The coffee corporation has earned a perfect score of 100 on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index for years. It even has a policy on transgender workers that says, “A refusal to respect a partner’s request to be identified by the pronouns of choice is considered disrespectful (e.g., intentionally referring to a partner by a pronoun...

A picture of a bisexual man has gone viral on Twitter because of his awesome rainbow turban. Over the weekend, Jiwandeep Kohli posted a picture of a rainbow turban he made for Pride Month. “I’m proud to be a bisexual bearded baking brain scientist,” wrote Kohli, who is a grad student in clinical psychology. “I feel fortunate to be able to express all these aspects of my identity, and will continue to work toward ensuring the same freedom for others.” I’m proud to...

City Councilman Shawn Kumagi asked City Hall to fly rainbow flag during Pride month (photo courtesy – Kumagi)You might think the city of Dublin, California, would be pretty inclusive in regard to LGBTQ issues being just 35 miles east of San Francisco. But at a City Council meeting Tuesday night, a request for flying the LGBTQ rainbow flag at City Hall for Pride month was voted down, according to local Fox affiliate KTVU. ...

A town rejected a request to fly the rainbow flag during Pride Month because of hateful public comments. Shawn Kumagai is gay and a member of the City Council in Dublin, California. He initiated a request to fly the rainbow flag over City Hall. Members of the public were outraged by the idea of flying a rainbow flag in their town. Two people during the ensuing debate said that “P” is being added to the initialism “LGBTQ” to stand for “pedophilia.” “At the...

Laverne Cox said that trans men need to be included in the discussion of abortion bans at a commencement address. The Orange is the New Black actress talked about how she was at first defensive when she was reminded to think about trans men’s reproductive rights, and how she came around to realize that she should be more inclusive. Speaking at Pitzer College in California this weekend, Cox said that she, as an Alabama native, was upset by her home state...

Amer Alhaggagi was a young, aspiring terrorist in Oakland, California with dreams of blowing up a San Francisco gay bar, selling cocaine mixed with strychnine (rat poison), starting a massive hill fire to destroy homes and blowing up the UC Berkley dorms with backpack bombs. “I’d like to kill the students,” he says to an undercover FBI agent on a recently released tape. “I’ve been so excited about it. I’ve been hyped up.” Then he laughs. In July, the 23-year-old pleaded...

Mother and her boyfriend allegedly tortured son to death for five straight days when he announced he liked boys The sister of a 10-year-old boy allegedly killed for liking boys has revealed what she remembers of his horrifying final hours. Anthony Avalos, 10, died on 20 June. He was malnourished, covered in bruises and burn marks, and had a series of head injuries. His mother, Heather Barron, called 911 in Lancaster, California to say he had fallen down the stairs. But the boy’s...

“God is burning down California” because the citizens of the state “legitimize the sin of homosexuality” according to controversial conservative Pastor Kevin Swanson. Swanson is a radical anti-LGBTQ radio host and conservative darling beloved by such GOP politicians as Ted Cruz. Commenting on the wildfires raging in California, Swanson, speaking on his “Generations” radio program, claimed that the wildfires are God’s punishment on the state for its years of attempting to “legitimize the sin of homosexuality.” The angry, gay-hating pastor declared: If...

They were one number away from a $348 million payout. John Scroggs and his husband, Paul Robles, of Richmond, California, recently claimed $307,406 with a winning Powerball ticket. The East Bay couple matched five of the six numbers in the drawing—missing the red Powerball number—which meant they were just one number shy of winning the $348 million jackpot available at the time. Scroggs discovered their good fortune when checking the results on a Check-A-Ticket machine. “I immediately went kind of pale,” Scroggs...

An Australian couple got married in the cutest, weirdest, and most creative way. Australians Logan Stojcevski and John Woods got married this past Thursday while riding a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California. The two from Wollongong, New South Wales got engaged in 2015 even before marriage equality was made legal in Australia. As soon as that happened, the two flew to Southern California because they knew they wanted to get married in a fun and exciting way. “I’ve...

We have your daily dose of fun and coming out stories in this one post. In the age of promposals and viral videos, a California girl named Gina thought of an interesting way to come out to her mother. She decided to leave a surprise message for her mother to find after enjoying the ride on Disneyland’s Splash Mountain. https://twitter.com/westonnrae/status/744939874784993280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Finstinctmagazine.com%2Fpost%2Fteen-came-out-mom-through-splash-mountain-playback We only wish the daughter had documented the moment when her mother saw the picture after the ride. We’re sure that was a...

Two men from Orange County, California are currently in custody and undergoing pre-trials for harassing a gay couple. 18-year-old Samuel Blake Wickwire (seen above) is facing two felony counts. According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, one of those counts is for criminal threats and the other for violation of civil rights. On top of that, these crimes have been counted as hate crimes, which has extended his possible sentencing time to a potential six years in prison. In addition,...

Gabriel Fernandez was allegedly beaten, burned, bitten and starved before his death. A man accused of torturing his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son to death did so because he through the child was gay, a prosecutor has said. 32-year-old Isauro Aguirre, of Palmdale, California, has been charged with the murder of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez with a special circumstance of torture. The boy’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, also faces trial. During opening statements on Monday (October 16), Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor on Jon...