To use a down payment assistance program or not?

supports HTML5 videoLauren, a business coach, from Joshua Tree, California, US, said: ‘I was living a life that I was told would make me happy.‘I had the dream husband, house, dog and career but I started to realise something wasn’t right.‘I saw people on social media talking openly about their sexuality and something started to twig.‘I wanted to travel and work, and my husband wasn’t so keen.‘I went travelling in my van for a couple of weeks and it all clicked – I realised I was gay.’ Lauren had ‘experimented’ with women during her college years, but always dismissed this as ‘just a bit of fun’. It wasn’t until she started therapy that she realised she was suppressing her true self.

The life story of American Christian superstar Tammy Faye is going to become a musical, coming to London in October of this year, and it has a stellar cast of queer creatives behind it. The world premiere of the musical Tammy Faye will take place in October at the Almeida Theatre, a “small” theatre in […]

(CNN) — To take on the herculean task of challenging Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this fall, Florida Democrats are going with someone familiar over "something new."For the second time in eight years, Democratic voters will elect Charlie Crist as their nominee for governor, CNN projects, choosing the seasoned veteran over Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who was vying to become the state's first female governor.

Elton John’s musical with Scissor Sisters’ frontman Jake Shears about the life of gay icon Tammy Faye Messner is set to premiere at London’s Almeida Theater this October. The show, titled after the American religious televangelist, will capture her experience preaching Christianity while gaining the support of the LGBTQ+ community for her empathy toward people living with HIV during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. “Tammy just wants to put the fun back into faith. But a new wave of ministers wants you not to just feel God in your heart, but in your homes, in your schools, and in the law too,” reads the musical's synopsis. Directed by Almeida Artistic’s Rupert Goold, the show will feature music by John with lyrics written by Shears. “I think there’s quite a lot of faith music and church music influences in classic Elton John,” Goold told the Guardian.

A gay former marine is being hailed as a hero for his timely intervention that averted a tragedy after an agitated man brought a grenade into a popular gay bar in Florida. The tense moments were captured on the bar’s closed circuit camera TV videos. The incident occurred on Tuesday, August 16, 2022, around 9.26 pm, when a man walked into Corners Pub in Wilton Manors, Florida, and placed a grenade on the bar counter. Bartender Joseph Shakespeare told local news station  WPLG that the the man said he had guns in his car.  Darryl Darling, a gay former marine, overheard the conversation and stepped in to help.

Rebel News was Carlson’s guest and he said that Miller doesn’t use “any gasoline or any fertilizer.” He said that those two things “have become very expensive because of [President Joe] Biden’s policies in regards to the war in Ukraine and Russia” and the Biden administration is “coming after him for it.”“Maybe if he promises to put more chemicals in the milk that turn kids trans, they’ll lay off,” Carlson said. There is no evidence that food additives are turning anyone LGBTQ.Here's the full segment.

Dennis Rodman, the former NBA player, says he is traveling to Russia to seek the release of Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner.The out WNBA star has been detained in Moscow since February of this year when Russian authorities at the Sheremetyevo Airport discovered vape canisters with cannabis oil inside of her luggage. Earlier this month, Griner was convicted and sentenced to 9 years in prison over the charges."I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News.

As monkeypox, or MPV, continues to spread primarily among gay, bi, and queer men and men who have sex with men, local communities are implementing a new Biden administration pilot program to get MPV vaccines into at-risk peoples' arms at large gatherings. This weekend, the Mecklenburg Health Department was the first to roll out the new program as more than 275,000 people attended events during Charlotte Pride, and while many said information about the vaccine availability was lacking, officials are satisfied with the results.During a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Mecklenburg County Health Department director Dr.

“I need to have a conversation with you,” said Lee County sheriff Daniel Simon to Brian Alston-Carter, a candidate for the South Carolina House of Representatives, at a 2014 campaign event. “I need you to ride with me to see something.”Simon provided Alston-Carter with a police escort as the pair drove about five miles on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Highway to one of Alston-Carter’s campaign posters.

Editor’s note: Coronavirus cases remain in flux. Health officials advise delaying travel if you're not fully vaccinated and caught up on boosters.

issued a written injunction preventing the state from trying to enforce the law, which was approved by Republican lawmakers earlier this year, over the objections of Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, who initially vetoed the measure.In May, three transgender athletes and their families enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in their case.

A new documentary investigating Princess Diana’s tragic death nearly 25 years ago revisits the mystery surrounding the “Mishcon Note.”The princess voiced her fears of dying in a staged car accident to her lawyer, Lord Mishcon, in 1995, two years before the crash that took her life. Her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, were also killed.Lord Mishcon provided a contemporaneous typed account his conversation with Diana to senior Metropolitan Police officers after the princess’ death.Rather than pass it on to French authorities investigating the crash, Met Police locked it away in a safe.

At cruise travel’s peak in 2019, 30 million passengers hit the seas and rivers each year.Then the travel industry cratered in the face of the global pandemic and worldwide lockdowns. Cruise ships became viewed as one of the most dangerous places to be.

(CNN) — Inside President Joe Biden's tight-knit inner circle, few -- if any -- White House aides have spent more time by his side in the last three years than Stephen Goepfert. That will change at the end of this week.Goepfert, Biden's personal aide, is set to leave the White House for a role at the Transportation Department, marking the departure of a key cog on Biden's team who has been by the President's side at every major moment since the first months of his 2020 presidential campaign."From the campaign to the White House, Stephen Goepfert has been by my side," Biden said in a statement.

Sharing his truth. Sanjaya Malakar‘s sexuality faced scrutiny when he was a teenager on American Idol, but he can proudly share that he’s bisexual more than a decade later.

Maybelle Blair, the former professional baseball player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a game at Dodger Stadium on Sunday as part of the team’s Women’s Day celebration.The 95-year-old Blair, whose character was one of the inspirations for the 1992 movie and new Amazon series entitled A League of Their Own, later joined broadcasters Joe Davis and legendary Hall of Fame Dodger pitcher Oral Hershiser in the broadcasting booth to reminisce about the game.“I grew up loving baseball and I’ll die loving baseball,” Blair told Hershiser and Davis. She also revealed she became a fan of the Dodgers while growing up in her nearby Inglewood, Calif., even though the team played in Brooklyn, New York, at the time.

all 50 states of the US. The number of cases has topped 14,000.

(CNN) -- Dinosaur tracks from around 113 million years ago have been revealed at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas due to severe drought conditions that dried up a river, the park said Monday in a statement.“Most tracks that have recently been uncovered and discovered at different parts of the river in the park belong to Acrocanthosaurus. This was a dinosaur that would stand, as an adult, about 15 feet tall and (weigh) close to seven tons,” park spokesperson Stephanie Salinas Garcia told CNN in an email.Dinosaur tracks uncovered at Dinosaur Valley State Park The other species that left tracks behind at the park in Glen Rose, Texas, was Sauroposeidon, which would be about 60 feet tall and weigh about 44 tons as an adult, Garcia added.This summer’s excessive drought has caused a river in the park to dry out completely in most spots, revealing the tracks – the latest long-hidden secret recently exposed as bodies of water have dried up due to drought conditions across the globe.More than 60 percent of Texas was experiencing drought last week in two of the most intense categories, according to the US Drought Monitor.

mental health. With over 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced so far in 2022—including 137 aimed at the transgender community—it's more important than ever to get someone's pronouns right.A number of big names have come out as transgender or non-binary in the past few years, such as actor Elliot Page, The Crown star Emma Corrin, and Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness.Since transitioning from female to male in 2020, Page has used "he/him" and "they/them" pronouns.

Former “American Idol” star Sanjaya Malakar has come out as bisexual.

U.S. had 34 percent of all worldwide cases. Other countries that have been hit hard by the latest outbreak, such as the U.K.

Demi Lovato said that she is unbothered by the “ignorant people” angered by their recent pronoun update.

Nearly nine years ago, I befriended a woman at work who, as I learned over the years of our now strong friendship, is staunchly pro-life. For her, the argument is both scientific and religious: Life starts at conception, and abortion is murder (no exceptions). She is morally consistent, though, in also being against the death penalty and in seeking out stronger social programs for families, like paid parental leave.

The mum of a Scots transwoman who is competing in a women's professional golf tournament has hit out at Judy Murray after she criticised her daughter's place in the competition.

American Idol Sanjaya Malakar said he's bisexual, and was not aware of such when he became a national sensation appearing on the talent competition in 2007.Malakar, 32, appearing on the podcast The Adam Sank Show Monday, chat about his time on the show and the years since, as well as his sexuality.'I identify as bisexual,' Malakar told Sank, adding that 'at the time' he was a contestant on the show - when there was speculation over his sexuality - he 'did not know, which was why it was so weird.' The latest: American Idol Sanjaya Malakar, 32, said he's bisexual, and was not aware of such when he became a national sensation appearing on the talent competition in 2007The Seattle native was 17 when he initially tried out for the show in 2006 with his sister Shyamali, and made it into the show's top 10 in an unlikely ascent - as judge Simon Cowell had criticized his vocals as 'utterly horrendous' - but was popular with viewers who continued to vote for him.He was eventually eliminated in the top seven, after performing songs such as Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's Ain't No Mountain High Enough, No Doubt's Bathwater and Irving Berlin's Cheek to Cheek. Malakar, who currently works as a bartender and pastry chef, said that he was 'raised by women' and eventually got involved with theater.'I had a hard time figuring out how to interact with young boys because my dad's from India and grew up in a temple, so there was never like, "This is how you are a boy,"' he said.

Courtney Charles is a New York-based artist and photographer whose goal is to “infuse the world with color and visions of the future.”His new “Sexy Ken” series is all about breaking down gay stereotypes and traditional notions of masculinity.“With the Ken series, I hope to show that there isn’t just one common ideal for the modern man,” Charles tells Out. “Regardless of who you are, you can still be the ‘plastic-perfect’ version of yourself.”Related: That time Mattel made a gay Ken doll then freaked out when everyone else freaked outFor the series, Charles took pictures of men then airbrushed away their nipples, crotches, and any imperfections to give them a glossy, glass-like doll appearance.“Breaking down stereotypes has been a major factor in choosing the proper Ken theme,” he explains. “A black astronaut, an Asian cowboy, etc. For other Ken models, it has been a matter of embracing what one may consider a stereotype.”Scroll down for a sampling of the “Sexy Ken” series… Olympic Gymnast Ken (@jackm589) got TENS, TENS, TENS ACROSS THE BOARD! ? .

The U.S. on Monday discouraged former NBA star Dennis Rodman from traveling to Russia in order to help secure Brittney Griner’s release.

Sanjaya Malakar, who shot to fame as a Top 10 finalist on American Idol season six, is opening up about his sexuality.

Remember Sanjaya? Of course you do! We all watched American Idol back then.

The Bookshop Darlinghurst, Australia’s oldest LGBTQI bookstore, turns 40 this month.In recent years, The Bookshop has weathered the impacts of COVID, economic and political uncertainty and inclement weather, and for a while its future was precarious.

LOVE Island’s Dami Hope has finally addressed rumours of a romance with Paige, and the accusations he bullied Tasha. The Irish reality star came third in the show this summer with his now-girlfriend Indiyah Polack.  And despite Paige Thorne now dating Adam Collard, and the pair never coupling up on the show, fans have wondered if there was more to Dami’s friendship with her.  Dami said: “With Paige, you know when you say someone is your girl best friend, they’re so platonic.

During the final season of MTV’s Teen Wolf, Andrew Matarazzo played Gabe, a lacrosse player at Beacon Hills High School who tried to expose Liam as a werewolf to the entire school.In the five years since the show last aired, the Brazilian-American actor has also shown a knack for exposing some skin to his 250k+ Instagram followers.

Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, a liberal critic of Vatican orthodoxy who led the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee for 25 years but resigned on the eve of retirement in a scandal over a long-secret love affair with a man, died on Monday at his home in Clement Manot, a retirement community in Greenfield, Wis. He was 95.

Anthony Fauci, who’s as leading epidemiologist advised seven presidents and had a major role in the HIV/AIDS and COVID epidemics, has confirmed his plan to step down for his role in the U.S. government.

Dr. Anthony S.

ABOVE: What else is there to say?

Singer Sanjaya Malakar has just revealed he’s bisexual.The 32-year-old American Idol alum spoke about his sexuality in a recent appearance on the Adam Sank Show podcast.“I identify as bisexual,” Sanjaya, who appeared on the reality singing competition in 2007 when he was just 16, said.“At the time, I did not know, which was why it was so weird for me… I was raised by women, I was in theater, I had a hard time figuring out how to interact with young boys.”He added, “Everyone [kept] telling me that I’m gay, and I’m, like, seven. I’m ,like, I don’t even have any attraction to anyone, so why are you telling me this?”Sanjaya went on to explain that, at the time of his Idol season, he was actually dating a teenage girl.

Sex Education and the gays are over the moon. The Schitt’s Creek star will be playing Thomas Molloy, a famous author and writing mentor to Maeve in the United States.The plotline for Sex Education’s fourth season goes as follows: “Maeve is living her dream at prestigious Wallace University, being taught by cult author Thomas Molloy.

Harry Styles says his upcoming film My Policeman highlights what sex is really like between two men.

The Hill.The bill would also prohibit medical schools and colleges from providing instruction on gender-affirming care and bar doctors who have provided gender-affirming care to a minor from receiving visas or being admitted to the United States.“When it comes to ‘gender-affirming care,’ which is really child abuse, this is actually an assault and it’s child abuse,” Greene said during a Thursday evening appearance on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight.“This practice should never happen,” Greene said. “It’s so disgusting and appalling…this needs to be illegal.”Greene’s bill is similar to bills passed in a handful of states, including Arkansas, where a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors has currently been blocked by a federal judge, and Alabama, which passed a law earlier this year penalizing doctors who prescribe or perform treatments to transgender youth under the age of 19, or assist them in obtaining such treatments, with up to 10 years in prison.In May, a federal judge partially blocked Alabama officials from trying to enforce the law, ruling that the state had not produced any credible evidence that gender-affirming health care is “experimental,” as the law’s proponents claim.

Lesbian activist and diversity consultant Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera has announced she is a candidate for the Hyattsville, Md., City Council in an Oct. 4 special election to fill a vacant seat.

At long last, HBO has finally offered a glimpse of its highly anticipated live-action adaptation of the queer videogame series The Last of Us, and it has us craving more.A “more coming to HBO Max” preview outlining a handful of the streamer’s upcoming series — which include White Lotus season two, The Idol, House of the Dragon, Los Espookys season two and more — closed out the showcase with its first-ever footage of The Last of Us.“Everybody I have cared for has either died or left me,” says Ellie (Bella Ramsey). “You have no idea what loss is,” answers Joel (Pedro Pascal).For fans of the games, this exchange is meaningful and speaks to the emotional core of their relationship.

Drag Race Down Under star Minnie Cooper claimed there was intense conflict between her and the other cast members on the series.

study, at least 11.9 percent of characters on primetime broadcasting in the US were LGBTQ+, an increase of 2.8 percent from the previous year.But that jump doesn’t even compare to the increase in LGBTQ+ literature.In 2021, around 5 million LGBTQ+ novels were sold in the US, doubling the previous year’s sales, according to NPD BookScan.To mark this landmark achievement, here is a list of book recommendations from the last five years that centre on the LGBTQ+ community, and that would make ideal summer reading.A post shared by Alexis Hall (@quicunquevult)'A Lady for a Duke' by Alexis Hall is about a trans woman who faked her death while fighting Napoleon in Waterloo.After she returns to England, she meets her long-lost friend, who doesn’t recognize her.They, of course, fall in love, and have to decide if it's worth fighting society to be together.That is why this book is a great beach read. It will restore some of your faith in humanity, at least for the 480 pages until you get to the end.A post shared by Everina Maxwell (@everina_maxwell)'Winter’s Orbit' by Everina Maxwell is a space opera, meets murder mystery novel, with an arranged marriage thrown into the mix.It has a unique origin story, starting life as a self-published original story on Archive of our Own (A03), a fanfiction website.And maybe because of that, this book feels like it was written for the author's friends, in the best possible way.Much of the worldbuilding is beautifully utopian.

For me, finding employment is difficult and can be an uncomfortable experience. Pulling up my laptop on a daily basis and surfing job sites for work is my full-time job at the moment. I come across several applications every day, and I find myself getting frustrated when I’m filling them out.

The gay school pupil was allegedly discriminated against by his teacher (Image: Pixabay)

(CNN) — At first it was Covid. Now it's monkeypox.

English rock band Peter Hook & The Light will perform at The Fillmore in Silver Spring on Thursday, Aug. 25 as part of their “Joy Division: A Celebration” North American tour.