First monkeypox case confirmed in Republic of Ireland

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are using the spread of monkeypox as an “excuse” to round up and detain LGBTQ+ people. Even though no officially recorded cases have emerged in the country, the Taliban are justifying their attacks on the LGBTQ+ community with the need to prevent the spread of the virus. Monkeypox is a rare […]

James O’Hagan and Cian Sullivan from Sissy That Pod just dropped a brand new podcast and here’s why you shouldn’t miss it. Queer Classified aims to revisit cult classics, forgotten gems and massive blockbusters through a “contemporary rainbow lens”. You might remember James O’Hagan and Cian Sullivan from Sissy That Pod, their Drag Race recap […]

The first trailer for Billy Porter’s directorial debut, Anything’s Possible, has finally arrived.

Chrishell Stause is celebrating her first Pride month since striking up her romance with nonbinary singer G Filp.The 40-year-old Selling Sunset bombshell flaunted her figure by slipping into a skintight orange dress for a dance video.She rang in the festivities by joyfully gyrating to the Lizzo song About Damn Time in a video she posted to her Instagram page. Having a ball:Chrishell Stause is celebrating her first Pride month since striking up her romance with nonbinary singer G FilpAvoiding any confusion about the message behind her post, she gave the video a rainbow border and gushed in the caption: '#HappyPrideMonth.'GFlip, whose Christian name is Georgia Claire Flipo, went public with Chrishell about a month ago when they were both seen stepping out together in Los Angeles.

The showstopping cast of Drag Race France has finally been unveiled ahead of its series premiere this month.

Orbital Assembly Corporation recently announced plans for the first habitable and privately-owned space facilities in orbit around the Earth, and the California-based company says its revolutionary design will ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for visitors. Their giant rotating ring design will even produce gravity, meaning no need for zero-gravity harnesses to aid in coupling with your partner while onboard.  The new Pioneer Station will house up to 28 people in five customizable pods configured on the ring of the station.

A new study from The Bottle Club has ranked Street 66 among the top 12 LGBTQ+ bars in the UK, a miraculous achievement for the establishment seen as it’s housed in Dublin. Venues were evaluated using online resources such as Hotels.com, DesignMyNight.com, Yelp and even Google Maps, although we’re not sure that the latter was […]

40 years on from the first clinical diagnosis of AIDS in Ireland, the Irish government has issued a call out to artists interested in creating a national HIV/AIDS memorial monument. The aim of the piece will be “to remember those who have died and mark their lives and contribution to society, while also showing solidarity […]

The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in Ireland continues to increase, as the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has identified two more, bringing the total up to four. The HPSC is monitoring all cases and close contacts, while no other information is provided on grounds of patient confidentiality. Since the international alert about the […]

Fire Island, Provincetown, and Saugatuck, others like to cocoon in an air-conditioned theatre and weep at an 11 o’clock number, then leap to our feet for a roaring standing ovation. We get it.

ASYLUM A Memoir & Manifesto By Edafe Okporo Many around the world were bewildered by the American actor Jussie Smollett’s rambling testimony during his 2021 trial for a hoax hate crime he staged in 2019, when he asked two Nigerian brothers, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, to attack and yell racist and homophobic slurs at him on the streets of Chicago. Some Nigerians wondered: By including in his testimony the irrelevant detail of having “made out” with Abimbola — the star witness who testified against him — was Smollett exacting revenge on a man from a country where homosexuality is punishable by not just social alienation, but jail? In his insightful memoir, “Asylum,” the Nigerian refugee and activist Edafe Okporo paints a disturbing picture of exactly how dangerous being gay in Nigeria can be.

Rosie O’Donnell is sharing her relationship with the world. The 60-year-old comedian took to Instagram on Wednesday, the first day of Pride month, to go Instagram official with her girlfriend, Aimee.

Local favorite Chris Chism took time out of his vacation to send a message from the beach in the Dominican Republic, inviting everyone to join him this Friday night, June 3, for MetroBall 15 at S4. Chris promises he will be back from vacation to introduce the other performers — Thea Austin, Martha Wash and Tiffany — and sing a few songs of his own!

Rosie O'Donnell is sharing her relationship with the world. The 60-year-old comedian took to Instagram on Wednesday, the first day of Pride month, to go Instagram official with her girlfriend, Aimee.Rosie reposted a photo of herself and Aimee from her girlfriend's Instagram account, which is private.

This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it on Wednesdays. On May 22, when President Biden described the global outbreak of monkeypox, a close but less lethal relative of smallpox, as a phenomenon that “everybody should be concerned about,” 109 cases had been confirmed in 14 countries outside those where the virus typically circulates, including the United States.

San Francisco's Excelsior district is one of the more conservative areas of the city — not always welcoming to LGBTQ residents But that is starting to change. This Saturday, the neighborhood will hold its inaugural PridExcelsior party to kick off Pride Month.It was the neighborhood of Dan White, who served on the Board of Supervisors at the time and represented the district until his resignation. It was after he sought his job back that November and was rebuffed by mayor George Moscone that White assassinated both the mayor and San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to office in California. (White died by suicide in 1985.)Today, the Excelsior district boasts some of the city's most diverse demographics, a place where Filipino markets, a Chinese hospital, and a tortilla shop are just some of the many eclectic businesses that dot a 2.2-mile commercial district. While some Excelsior business owners are eager to support the LGBTQ community, there's a tacit understanding that the neighborhood's first-ever official Pride event is a big step, no matter how much the neighborhood has changed.

The L.G.B.T.Q. community and its allies will celebrate Pride across the New York region this June on city streets and in parks, theaters, museums and clubs — in other words, events are almost back to normal this year. Venues might still require masks and proof of vaccination, and it’s not a bad idea to check websites ahead of time in case events change because of rising Covid rates.

ABOVE: Nice ass! But Pat Boone. But nice ass! But ... Pat Boone.

Red, White & Royal Blue, the across-the-pond LGBTQ rom-com that had audiences swooning when it hit shelves in 2019 and went on to become a New York Times best-seller.Now, Red, White & Royal Blue has us swooning all over again with the official casting announcement for its film adaptation, with hunky actors Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine stepping into the lead roles.Perez will star as Alex Claremont-Diaz, the charismatic “First Son” of the White House, making the most of his time in the public eye now that his mother is President. Galitzine steps into the role of U.K.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorBilly Porter is known for being in front of the camera — most famously as Pray Tell on “Pose” and recently delivering a gender-bending twist on everyone’s favorite fairy godmother in Amazon’s musical movie “Cinderella.”Now, the Emmy-winning actor is stepping behind the camera to make his feature film directorial debut with “Anything’s Possible,” a John Hughes-esque coming-of-age dramedy about trans high school senior Kelsa (trans newcomer Eva Reign), who is navigating her first boyfriend, Khal (“Katy Keene” actor Abubakr Ali), friendship and family life with her single mom (Renée Elise Goldsberry).“I ain’t Barbra Streisand yet,” Porter tells me, laughing. “It’s like, let me do one thing at a time. Let me direct something first.

After an incredibly successful tenure, James Frost has announced he is to step down from his position as Chairman of GAY TIMES, and negotiated a transfer of ownership of the business to the current senior leadership team, led by Chief Executive, Tag Warner.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterThe anticipated film adaptation of bestselling novel “Red, White & Royal Blue” has found its leading heartthrobs — Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine.The same-sex romantic comedy follows the shining heir to an American presidency and his whirlwind romance with a second-in-line British royal, as told in Casey McQuiston’s groundbreaking book.Set up at Amazon Studios, additional cast announced Wednesday includes Emmy nominee Clifton Collins Jr., Stephen Fry (“The Dropout”) and Sarah Shahi (“Sex/Life”). Tony Award winner Matthew López (“The Inheritance”) is directing and writing the script.

Ireland’s newest Music & Arts festival Beyond The Pale will kick off the summer season with a bang next week in the gorgeous surrounds of Glendalough Estate in Wicklow. They have just shared the details of their day-to-day breakdown and there is something in there for everyone. The folks behind Beyond The Pale explains: “Our […]

Brand new queer pop project Celestial Skies has released a music video for their whimsical electropop debut Forget Me Not. 

Naman Ramachandran “Trixie Motel,” starring drag legend and “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” winner Trixie Mattel, “Book of Queer,” “Generation Drag” and “Control” are among the new Discovery+ originals commemorating U.K. Pride Month in June. 2022 marks 50 years of Pride in the U.K.

LGBT AA Ireland have shared details of their Open Pride AA Meeting which will take place on Friday June 24th at 8 PM. They shared with GCN the following: “We all love Pride and for many of us it is the highlight of the LGBTQIA+ year. Pride events showcase the joy, history, and progress made […]

Five Rivers Fostering is run as a Non-Profit/Social Enterprise, established in 2002 and they have Foster Families based throughout the country. They are urgently seeking foster carers for children and young perople.  Five Rivers Fostering operates under the same regulations and standards required of all Foster Care providers in Ireland.  Providing emergency care, respite, short, medium, […]

Chase Strangio, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, is “the face of the whole legal battle for trans rights in the U.S.” At least, that’s how a friend of mine recently described him. And from what I can tell, he never seems to sleep, never seems to stop.

In a press briefing on Monday, Andy Seale, a strategies adviser in the WHO Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes addressed concerns over Pride events in light of the rise in monkeypox cases saying, “It’s important that people who want to go out and celebrate gay pride, LGBTQ+ pride, to continue […]

Chelsea flop Michy Batshuayi has made a startling impression after arriving for training with the Belgium national team in a £64,000 BMW painted in rainbow camouflage.Batshuayi has barely played for the Blues since joining from Marseille in a £33million deal in 2016. He has spent the past year on loan at Beskitas, scoring 14 goals in 41 appearances in all competitions as they secured a top six finish in the Turkish Super Lig.That form saw him called up to the Belgium squad for their upcoming Nations League campaign.

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian glowed with pride as their daughter Olympia, four, reached a new milestone on Monday.Alexis, who co-founded Reddit, posted a heartwarming family photo to Instagram and gushed: 'First ballet recital for @olympiaohanian in the books.'The sweet snap showed Alexis beaming as Serena cradled their little girl, who was still wearing her tutu from her big performance. 'Proud of you, Junior!':Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian glowed with pride as their daughter Olympia, four, reached a new milestone MondayOlympia's parents apparently showered her with praise after the recital, as both of them were carrying bouquets in her honor.The little tyke, whose full name isAlexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., was celebrating her latest achievement with a ring pop.

Gemma Collins has shared a video of her happily dancing with her nephew Hayden after recently sustaining a knee injury. The former TOWIE star, 41, donned a pink striped pair of pyjamas as she danced to Soul Control’s Chocolate song. Gemma captioned the clip: “I love [praising hands emoji] CHOCA LACHE [chocolate emoji] @Hayden Collins”.

Married at First Sight UK is expected to be welcoming its first-ever lesbian couple in the upcoming seventh season of the show.

Related: Is Walmart really selling “twink-flavored” ice cream for Pride?“It’s important that people who want to go out and celebrate gay pride, LGBTQ+ pride, to continue to go and plan to do so,” said Andy Seale, a strategies adviser in the WHO Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes, at a press briefing.“There is no specific transmission route that we need to be worried about,” he said. “It really is connected to the fact there have been a couple of events that have perhaps amplified the current outbreak.”Seale also wanted to downplay reporting that framed the monkeypox outbreak as a disease impacting just gay men.“Given this is not a gay disease, the transmission routes are common to everybody,” Seale said.

Orange Is The New Black star Laverne Cox has called it ‘a dream’ to be honoured with her very own Barbie, the first doll modelled after a trans person by the iconic toy’s creators.Toy brand Mattel is celebrating the trans actress, producer, writer and activist by launching a doll in her likeness, to mark her impact as an advocate for LGBTQ rights.Cox, who turns 50 on May 29, shared: ‘It’s been a dream for years to work with Barbie to create my own doll.‘I can’t wait for fans to find my doll on shelves and have the opportunity to add a Barbie doll modelled after a transgender person to their collection. I hope that people can look at this Barbie and dream big like I have in my career.‘The space of dreaming and manifesting is such a powerful source and leads you to achieve more than what you originally thought was possible.’The actress, who was also the first-ever transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award, revealed she was ‘very involved’ in every step of the design process as Mattel brought her Barbie to life.The Barbie doll’s fierce fashion look involves a burgandy bustier and skirt which can be removed to reveal a silver catsuit underneath after Cox said she wanted to do more than one outfit.‘I was like, “What if we did a look that peeled?”‘ she told E! News.‘She gives you a catsuit fantasy, honey.

Yesterday, May 30, the second case of monkeypox was confirmed in the Republic of Ireland after being investigated in the past few days. The first case of monkeypox was notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on May 28, and now this second case in comes as no surprise. It “was not unexpected following the […]

weddings.She said: ‘There will be colleagues who will decide not to conduct these ceremonies and I respect that.‘But for me, irrespective of gender, if people love one another and want to show commitment, I want to help them do that.’You could get paid £61,000 a year to move to a remote island and teach four pupilsMan vows to do bungee jump every 200 seconds for 24 hours to break world recordBig screens to show Platinum Jubilee events in Britain's capital citiesThe Covenant Fellowship Scotland, a think tank of evangelicals within the Church, said: ‘This decision contradicts everything the Bible has to say about the complementary nature of men and women, and of the character and purposes of marriage.’Meanwhile, new figures show the Church of Scotland now has 280,000 members – a fall of 34 per cent in the past decade.Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.For more stories like this, check our news page.

A brand new £2.4million centre in Manchester aimed at providing LGBTQ+ people with community groups and support workers has opened.

There are many people across Ireland seeking gender-affirming treatment, aftercare, and general aid. Unfortunately, Ireland does not offer most of the treatment and aid these individuals are seeking, forcing them to travel abroad. With the prices of treatment already very expensive, adding on the cost of travel expenses makes it nearly impossible for many. We […]

The Independent, the Qatari gay doctor said he was done remaining “anonymous” and that it was time for him to share his journey to accepting his sexuality, which was not an easy one.Homosexuality in Qatar is illegal and punishable by fines, jail time and, in regions where the Sharia law is applied more severely, queer people could actually face a death sentence.Moreover, growing up in a place where being queer is rejected so strongly has a profound impact on Qatari LGBTQ+ people, who have to face marginalisation, ostracisation from friends and family, and threats of violence. As Mohamed explained, growing up in Qatar means growing up in a country where “male, macho, righteous and misogynistic culture” is the norm.A post shared by Nas Mohamed (@dr._nass)During the interview, Mohamed spoke about growing up in Qatar and how he feared he would be killed if anyone found out about his LGBTQ+ identity.

When Covid-19 cases were exploding across the United States in early 2020, public health officials remained in the dark, in large part because of major errors in developing a test for the illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was the manufacturer of the only Covid-19 test then available in the United States, and there were blunders in the design and manufacture of the test that the agency mailed out in February 2020. This, coupled with the Food and Drug Administration’s initial refusal to allow qualified laboratories to develop or use their own Covid-19 tests, meant that testing was all but impossible to access in the United States in the early weeks of the pandemic.

CHICAGO — As drag brunch came to a close at a Mexican restaurant here last Sunday, the performers conga-lined their way through the crowd of about 40 party people who were just this side of tipsy on Brunch Punch. But this was no standard drag brunch; it was a Taco Bell Drag Brunch. And that wasn’t a microphone in the lead queen’s hand; it was a Grande Toasted Breakfast Burrito.

Jussie Smollett has launched his directorial debut with BET+ "B-Boy Blues." The LGBTQ+ centered show will debut on the streaming network June 9, just in time for Pride Month. This project marks the first for Smollett since he was found guilty of making false reports on what he alleged to be a hate crime.

Married At First Sight UK will feature a lesbian couple. They will be one of the pairings to appear on the new series this summer, in a first for the E4 show.

GEMMA Collins' replacement in the musical version of Chicago has been revealed as Brenda Edwards. The Loose Women star, 53, will step into the role of Mama Morton after the GC was ruled out with an injury.

Gemma Collins is now selling personalised clips as she gets herself ready for six months away from the Showbiz world.The 41-year-old bombshell who found fame on The Only Way Is Essex in 2011, is now flogging messages for her adoring fans for any special occasions.For a hefty fee of £95, fans could bag the GC's services for birthday shoutouts to remember.According to the feedback from paying customers, Gemma's videos are well worth almost £100 as the reality star has received glowing five-star feedback on the Memmo.me webiste.One online user wrote: "This message was more than expected! This felt so personal and so much content! Thank you for doing this it made my daughters birthday! Xx"Another echoed: "Thank you so so much, what a peach you are! The absolute perfect gift, much love xx"A third person penned: "This message from Gemma literally made my mums birthday..the 'OMG! ITS THE GC' was heard down the street.. so personal and sweet..

Loose Women panellist Brenda Edwards has been officially announced as the replacement for Gemma Collins in the musical Chicago. Edwards will be playing prison guard Mama Morton, the same character she played in her West End debut back in 2007.

Talented Irish artist Niamh Barry is re-launching her No Queer Apologies exhibition at the new Hen’s Teeth studio on Mill Street today, May 26. The exhibition will remain open to the public until May 28 and it has also been made into a beautiful photobook. The original exhibition of No Queer Apologies happened in February […]