Celebrities are every day people just like the rest of us. They too have felt the need to either flee a red state or even flee the country altogether.
Rosie O’Donnell announced she has moved to Ireland and is working on obtaining Irish citizenship. She and her 12 year old moved just before Trump was sworn into office. O’Donnell said she would consider returning to America when “it’s safe” and all citizens have “equal rights.”
In a Facebook post yesterday, drag queen Trinity “The Tuck” Taylor has fled Florida for Los Angeles. She stated “Just sold my house in Orlando and making the move at the end of the month! Time to get out of a red state. Too much anxiety in Fl.”
While many celebrities have the privilege to come and go as they please with little effect on their finances, there are still options for every day citizens to make that move to another state or leave the country. You can find some helpful resources at FleeRedStates.com.
*The Hill is reporting the unpopular Texas Congressman Keith Self has no sense of decorum on his own committee. Read below.
A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing ended abruptly Tuesday after Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) referred to Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first transgender person elected to Congress, as “mister.”
Self, who chairs the subcommittee on Europe, introduced McBride as “the congressman from Delaware” during a hearing on arms control and U.S. assistance to Europe. McBride responded by calling Self “Madam Chair.”
As McBride delivered her remarks, ranking member Bill Keating (D-Mass.) interjected, asking Self to repeat his introduction.
“Mr. Chairman, you are out of order,” Keating said. “Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I’ve come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.”
“We will continue this hearing,” Self responded.
“You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way,” Keating said.
Spokespeople for Keating and McBride did not immediately return requests for comment.
Self’s intentional misgendering of McBride is not the first time the first-term lawmaker has faced jabs from her Republican colleagues over her identity. On Feb. 7, ahead of McBride’s first floor speech, Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) introduced McBride as “the gentleman from Delaware.”
McBride brushed off Miller’s introduction. “FWIW, there’s an entire speech after I’m recognized by the acting speaker that’s worth a watch much more than the 15 second video of me being called on,” she wrote on X after a video of the introduction went viral.
Other House GOP members have referred to McBride as “a man” on social media and moved to bar her from women’s restrooms on Capitol grounds. In interviews and social media posts, McBride has called Republicans’ targeting of her and the trans community “an attempt to distract” from issues like the rising cost of living.
“I think we are all united that attempts to attack a vulnerable community are not only mean-spirited, but really an attempt to misdirect,” McBride told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” in a November interview.
Still, McBride has signaled a willingness to work with Republicans in Congress. She introduced her first bill, legislation to tackle fraudulent practices in the credit repair industry, with Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican.
Check out this slideshow put together and posted to MSN.
While some places still make same-sex marriage complicated (or even illegal), others celebrate it fully, offering welcoming venues and stunning locations for your big day. If you’re looking for somewhere unique, safe, and unforgettable to say “I do,” these destinations offer the perfect mix of charm, romance, and friendliness toward the queer community.
The cities mentioned in the slideshow are:
Amsterdam Netherlands
Queenstown New Zealand
Toronto Canada
Cape Town South Africa
Reykjavik Iceland
Barcelona Spain
Valleta Malta
Sydney Australia
Mexico City Mexico
Copenhagen Denmark
Each town on the slide deck has a short excerpt about why the author included them. Be sure to read it.
Trump posted an article to his Truth Social account this weekend featuring a deeply troubling image: a pink triangle—the Nazi-era symbol used to identify and persecute gay men in concentration camps—covered with a red prohibited sign. Historically, the LGBTQ+ rights movement reclaimed the pink triangle as a symbol of resistance, pride, and remembrance.
The article itself titled, “Army recruitment ads look quite different under Trump,” published by the Washington Times praises Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for refocusing the military on “lethality” and reversing Biden-era policies that embraced diversity, including ads featuring LGBTQ+ soldiers.
The image, placed in the context of military recruitment, strongly suggests a rejection of LGBTQ+ service members, at least in the terms of recruitment, under Trump’s leadership.
He has long opposed LGBTQ+ inclusion in the military, previously criticizing the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Now, under his leadership, Trump appears to be reinforcing the idea that LGBTQ+ individuals are unwelcome in the armed forces—not just through policy but through amplifying symbolic messaging with disturbing historical roots.
Trump’s amplification of a Nazi-era symbol to promote this shift sends a message signaling a return to exclusionary policies that many believed were left in the past.
The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides crisis support for LGBTQ young people, surveyed almost 1,000 young LGBTQ Floridians about their mental health, and 48% felt the community they live in was accepting of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
But more than two-thirds, or 69%, say they or their family members have considered moving out of Florida because of LGBTQ-related politics and laws. It wasn’t clear where they considered moving.
“Florida might be free, but Florida is not welcoming,” said Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens.
Since 2022, the Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis have pushed multiple anti-LGBTQ laws in what they call the “Free State of Florida,” including banning “gender ideology” from K-12 schools, criminalizing trans people for using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity and restricting health care for trans people.
Florida’s Log Cabin Republicans, an organization of LGBTQ+ conservatives and allies within the Republican Party, did not respond to the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s request for comment in time for publication.
The Trevor Project also reported the following data about Florida’s LGBTQ youth. In the past year:
37% contemplated suicide
11% attempted suicide
67% reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety
54% reported experiencing symptoms of depression
24% were physically threatened or harmed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity
63% experiences discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity
Jones said the passage of the Parental Rights in Education Act, called “Don’t Say Gay” by critics, and the “Stop WOKE Act” created a hostile environment for minorities in Florida. “Don’t Say Gay” prohibits the teaching of classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, and the “Stop WOKE Act” restricts how race is discussed in schools, colleges and workplaces.
The legislation also prohibits any teaching that could make students feel they bear personal responsibility for historic wrongs because of their race, color, sex or national origin.
DeSantis inveighed against ‘oppressive ideologies’
“We believe an important component of freedom in the state of Florida is the freedom from having oppressive ideologies imposed upon you without your consent,” DeSantis said when he signed the bill in 2022. “Whether it be in the classroom or in the workplace. And we decided to do something about it.”
On Tuesday in DeSantis’ State of the State speech, he made fun of Canada’s travel boycott of the U.S. and of Canadians who say they are canceling their vacations over President Trump’s tariffs and policies.
“We continue to set tourism records; 2024 saw more than 142 million visitors come to the state of Florida. This includes 3.3 million visitors from Canada,” DeSantis said. “That’s not much of a boycott in my book.”
Staff and patients at the Department of Veterans Affairs say impacts of Trump administration changes to the agency go beyond erasing diversity programs and affect care for LGBTQ patients.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to cut as many as 80,000 employees, which it says won’t affect healthcare or benefits. Still, VA staff and patients are concerned that a policy ending diversity programs will affect care for LGBTQ veterans. Here’s Steve Walsh with WHRO in Norfolk, Virginia.
STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Mary Brinkmeyer put in her resignation after receiving emails from management in the wake of President Trump signing executive orders targeting DEI.
MARY BRINKMEYER: It was just a really upsetting and shocking change for me from feeling as if the program was supported to suddenly having people being told they have to take every Pride magnet out of their office. And it felt like that happened just overnight and without a lot of thought.
WALSH: Until recently, the psychologist was the LGBTQ+ veteran care coordinator for the Hampton VA. A few days after the inauguration, employees at her VA were told to take down any outward signs referencing LGBTQ veterans, including flyers printed by the VA.
BRINKMEYER: Less than 24 hours after everything had been taken out of the main hospital, I was speaking to a gay veteran who said, oh, I heard about how y’all took everything down. I guess that shows what they think of us.
WALSH: Rainbow-colored Pride lanyards, which say the VA serves all who serve, had been a strategy to make veterans feel safe. They were banned from the building, she says.
BRINKMEYER: A lot of LGBTQ veterans don’t feel safe coming to the VA because their experiences in the military were so unsafe.
WALSH: Brinkmeyer says she decided to resign when she said she was told to stop attending employee orientation. A large part of her job had been training other providers in ways to ask the right questions. A transformation is underway at the VA, but it’s unclear how large the change will be. VA Secretary Doug Collins announced the change to the VA’s flag policy.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DOUG COLLINS: For all of us who served in uniform, that American flag is on our uniform. It’s what unites us. So we’ve changed the policy. At the VA, you’re only going to see the American flag and the POW flag. That’s what’s going to be flying in front of our facilities.
WALSH: John Rogers with the Hampton VA says they are working to execute the executive order, and there will be no changes to services and benefits for veterans and VA beneficiaries until a formal order is issued. Banners and posters advertising the VA’s outreach for LGBTQ+ veterans came down very quickly at the Hampton VA in Virginia. Amanda Volk is a patient at the Hampton VA. She served under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 1995 and got out 18 months later after a sexual assault.
AMANDA VOLK: For those of us that lived through Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, we were there. We saw it. We marched. We fought. We thought we had our rights. And now it’s – you know, we’re back to the ’80s with people being scared.
WALSH: In New York state, one mental health practitioner says posters remain up at his VA, but he’s still seeing a chilling effect among veterans. NPR agreed to withhold his name as he fears retaliation.
UNIDENTIFIED HEALTH PRACTITIONER: I think, you know, veterans are kind of hesitant, and some veterans I know have decided they’re not willing to come in person. It’s more on the veteran side of things that there’s this uncertainty of kind of what care actually is going to look like.
WALSH: Adding to the tension, in late January, a transgender veteran killed themselves in the parking garage of the Syracuse VA Medical Center, wrapped in the transgender flag – an indication, he says, that this shift has a high potential to impact patient care at the VA.
For NPR News, I’m Steve Walsh.
MARTÍNEZ: If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Two public school districts and several parents have sued the state in a bid to undo anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people in Pennsylvania, saying that the two-year-old regulation is illegal because it goes beyond what lawmakers intended or allowed.
The lawsuit, filed in the statewide Commonwealth Court late Thursday, comes amid a debate in Pennsylvania and nationally over the rights of transgender high school athletes to compete in women’s sports.
If the lawsuit is successful, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission would no longer be able to investigate complaints about discrimination involving sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The plaintiffs’ lawyers also say a favorable ruling in court would bar transgender student athletes from competing in women’s high school sports in Pennsylvania.
The plaintiffs include two districts — South Side Area and Knoch, both in western Pennsylvania — and two Republican state lawmakers, Reps. Aaron Bernstine and Barbara Gleim, as well as three parents and seven students.
The lawsuit names Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, which investigates complaints about discrimination because of someone’s race, sex, religion, age or disability in housing, employment and public accommodations.
Shapiro’s office said it had no immediate comment Friday and the commission did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the lawsuit Friday.
The lawsuit is aimed at the definition of sex discrimination that the commission expanded by regulation to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
The regulation was approved in late 2022 by a separate regulatory gatekeeper agency, and it took effect in 2023.
The plaintiffs contend that the state Supreme Court has interpreted the term “sex” as used in the Pennsylvania Constitution to mean either male or female.
They also contend that the state Legislature never gave permission to the Human Relations Commission to write regulations expanding the legal definition of sex discrimination, making the regulation a violation of the Legislature’s constitutional authority over lawmaking.
The commission has justified the expanded definition by saying that state courts have held that Pennsylvania’s anti-discrimination laws are to be interpreted consistently with federal anti-discrimination law. The commission can negotiate settlements between parties or impose civil penalties, such as back pay or damages.
For years, Democratic lawmakers tried to change the law to add the terms sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the portfolio of complaints that the Human Relations Commission could investigate. Every time, Republican lawmakers blocked the effort.
If you have a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of your sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity or other membership in a certain social group, you may be a refugee and have the right to protection in Sweden. This is stated in the Refugee Convention, Swedish law and EU rules.
Asylum application and rules
Persecution can be threats or violence against your life or health. It can also be about laws and regulations or people’s views that mean that you are subjected to serious violations because of your sexual orientation. It can be, for example, punishment or extensive discrimination such as not being able to go to school, choose a job or receive healthcare.
The right to express yourself and engage politically without fear of persecution regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation are also examples of what can give you the right to stay in Sweden.
It does not matter whether the persecution comes from the authorities of your home country or if your family or other people threaten you. The Swedish Migration Board will then investigate what could happen to you if you return to your home country in the future and whether the authorities there are unable or unwilling to protect you against the persecution that you say you are at risk of.
The Swedish Migration Board will register you as an asylum seeker with the name, date of birth and legal gender that appears on your identity documents. Swedish law does not allow us to register you with a different name, but if you wish to use a different address or pronoun, you should tell us so that we can make a note of this.
Investigation
When the Swedish Migration Board decides whether you need protection and can therefore be granted a residence permit in Sweden, an investigation will be carried out with you to understand what your life has been like and why you are afraid of returning to your home country. If the reason is your sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity, it is important that you tell us as early as possible.
The Swedish Migration Board knows that it can be difficult to tell someone you have never met about such things. It may even be the first time you have talked about it with someone and the boundaries of what feels personal and private are different for everyone. It is important that you still tell us as much as possible about all your reasons for asylum. The more details you can talk about, the better basis the Swedish Migration Board has for its decision. The investigator will also ask questions about your sexual orientation, your gender expression or gender identity, the thoughts and feelings you have had about it and your relationships with family, friends and the society you have lived in. We are bound by confidentiality and do not tell people who are not working on your case about what you tell us.
If you feel that the officer conducting your investigation does not understand what you are saying, or if you have information that the officer does not ask for, you must tell them as soon as possible. Do not wait until you have received a decision on your case.
You have the opportunity to express your gender preferences for the interpreter, caseworker and assistant so that you feel safe during the asylum process, and the Swedish Migration Board will then try to help you with your preferences. If you are over 18 years of age, you will meet your assistant and your caseworker alone without other co-applicants. You can request an assistant with special knowledge of the situation of LGBTQ people if you know of, or receive help in finding, such an assistant.
If you are under 18 years old
The Swedish Migration Board must listen to all children seeking asylum and find out whether the children need protection here. It is therefore important that you tell the Swedish Migration Board about your life in your home country and what you think would happen to you if you went back there. If you are under 18 and have guardians with you in Sweden, the Swedish Migration Board must ask them if we can talk to you without them being in the room. If you do not have your parents with you in Sweden, it is your guardian who decides whether we can talk to you alone. If you want to talk to your case officer without your parents or guardian, it is important that you say so.
The interpreter
Words and concepts in Swedish and your own language can mean different things. The most important thing is that you describe your own feelings and experiences and explain how they relate to why you are afraid.
If you do not understand the interpreter or if you think the interpreter may not be translating everything you say impartially, you should speak up. Also, keep in mind that the interpreter may not always know the specific words used to talk about sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. It may therefore be a good idea to also explain to the interpreter what the words you are using mean to you.
Accommodation
In most of the Swedish Migration Board’s accommodation, two or more people of the same gender share a room. The wait during the asylum process can make the accommodation situation stressful and conflicts can arise in the accommodation.
It is important that you tell us as soon as possible about what you need or if you feel unsafe where you live. If there are problems in the accommodation that you need help solving, you must tell us. Speak to the caseworker at the reception unit or the staff at the accommodation where you are registered.
Health
In some cities there are clinics for, for example, sexual health and counselling for specific target groups. Examples of target groups could be women, young people or LGBTQ people. Ask your caseworker for more information.
Voluntary organizations
You always have the right to contact voluntary organisations during the asylum process for advice and support. The more information you have about your rights and possible options, the better prepared you are for the different stages of the asylum process. RFSL is one such voluntary organisation that works for LGBTQ rights, providing special support and social meeting places for LGBTQ asylum seekers.
The City of Richmond has issued a joint statement standing in solidarity with a number of LGBTQ+ organizations. The statement, posted to the City’s official Instagram on Tuesday, is in response to a political climate that has challenged the protections of members of these communities.
This safe haven has since been disrupted by measures targeting the LGBTQ+ community, prompting the city to amplify their voices.
“They [the city] actually reached out to us and said, ‘How can we help?’” said James Millner, Pride Director of Diversity Richmond — the organization featured in the shared Instagram post. “We invited them to participate in the work that we’re doing to send a strong message to the community that Richmond is a welcoming and inclusive space for LGBTQ people, and it will remain so regardless of what is happening at other levels.”
While the statement does not name any specific legislation, it acknowledges that a coalition of LGBTQ+ organizations is working alongside the City of Richmond to advocate against “harmful policies.”
Recently, sweeping legislation has targeted LGBTQ+ protections — from an executive order banning transgender people from serving in the military to the suspension of certain gender affirming care.
“It’s no secret that the LGBTQ community is under attack,” said Millner.
The statement sets expectations for policymakers and highlights organizations that are taking action. Millner says the city’s bold stance and support are a step in the right direction.
“We are incredibly fortunate that we have a city government that recognizes us, sees the LGBTQ community, celebrates the LGBTQ community — that, in this particular environment, is an anomaly right now,” Millner said.
The statement did not mention any specific action, but Millner said there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes and that this is just the first step of their efforts.
The post ends with a call to action, encouraging people to stay engaged by advocating for LGBTQ+ protections and donating or volunteering with local LGBTQ+ organizations.
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