LGBTQ Breaking News Service

“It’s déjà vu all over again.”

For a second time, the Supreme Court was asked to resolve the tension between gay and lesbian rights and religious liberties and, for a second time, the Court — wait for it — resolved nothing.  

This conflict has been brewing ever since the Supreme Court, in 2015, declared that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. Writing for the majority in that case, Justice Anthony Kennedy tried to placate everyone. For the LBGTQ community, he insisted that gays and lesbians are entitled to be treated as equal members of society and that denying them the right to marry “demeans” them and “serves to disrespect and subordinate them.” For religious adherents, whose faith teaches that marriage is between a man and woman, Kennedy insisted that they could continue to advocate that “same-sex marriage should not be condoned” and assured them that the First Amendment would protect their right to teach the principles that are “so central to their lives and faiths.”

Conflict resolved! At least until a religious baker named Jack Phillips refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in violation of a Colorado anti-discrimination law. Phillips’ case traveled all the way to the Supreme Court which was asked to decide whose right should prevail: the same-sex couple’s right to be treated equally or Phillips’ right to stay true to his faith?

The answer never came. The Court instead focused on an eccentric factual aspect of the case and used that to dodge the thorny question of whose rights should prevail.   

Fast forward three years and the Court again took a case that pitted the rights of same-sex couples against religious adherents. Catholic Social Services, which, for decades, had helped Philadelphia place children into foster homes, was denied a new contract with the City because the agency refused to certify same-sex couples as foster parents.

Court watchers eagerly anticipated that this time the Court would decide whose rights should prevail. But, again, in an opinion issued last week, the Court punted. Relying on a quirk in Philadelphia’s proposed contract with CSS, the justices ruled in favor of CSS without addressing the most salient issue.    

The result was a short-term victory for CSS. But, as Justice Neil Gorsuch explained, lawyers for Philadelphia could fix the quirk in the contract “with a flick of a pen” and CSS would “find itself back where it started.”

Years of costly litigation in the Jack Phillips and Catholic Social Services cases have yielded no judicial guidance on the core issue. The justices, through their inaction, managed to avoid antagonizing either the LBGTQ community or the conservative religious community. But, as Justice Gorsuch rightfully noted, “[d]odging the question today guarantees it will recur tomorrow.”

So, what should the justices do when they finally get the gumption to rule on the core question?

Some of the more conservative justices, particularly Justice Samuel Alito, have already made it clear what they think. As Alito sees it, there was no reason for the government to coerce either CSS or Jack Phillips into violating their faith. In neither case, he says, was anyone harmed by the religious adherents’ actions. In the Philadelphia case, no same-sex couple was harmed by CSS because no same-sex couple had ever sought the agency’s services, and there were plenty of other foster care agencies willing to serve same-sex couples.  And, according to Alito, Jack Phillip’s refusal to serve the same-sex couple likewise did not harm the couple. He observed, “The couple that came to his shop was given a free cake by another bakery, and celebrity chefs have jumped to the couple’s defense.”

Do you agree? A good way to find out is to ask yourself these questions: If CSS or Jack Phillips had refused to serve you because of the color of your skin, your religion, your gender, or your ethnicity, would you nevertheless find their actions harmless so long as there was another foster care agency or bakery willing to serve you? Or would the stigma of being discriminated against hurt regardless of whether you could still receive services elsewhere?

May businesses or government contractors pick and choose whom they will serve based on whatever their faith happens to command? Or should our societal commitment to equality override their personal religious preferences?

The justices have not yet answered those questions. But you can.

Alan Garfield is a professor at Widener University Delaware Law School.

MILAN – The Vatican’s Secretary of State attempted to tamp down controversy Thursday over a Vatican diplomatic communication to Italy, saying the Holy See was not trying to block passage of a law that would extend additional protections from discrimination to the LGBT community.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s No. 2, told Vatican News that he personally approved the diplomatic communication, which was intended to express concerns over the proposed Italian legislation. The Vatican is against any “attitude or gesture of intolerance or hatred toward people motivated by sexual orientations,” he added.

The chief concern, Parolin said, is that “vagaries” in the text of the proposed law could expose anyone expressing an opinion about “any possible distinction between man and woman” to prosecution.

The letter, which has been published by Italian media, claims specifically that the law would violate a landmark treaty establishing diplomatic ties between Italy and the Vatican by putting at risk the right of Roman Catholics to freely express themselves. It cited as an example a clause that would require Catholic schools, along with their public counterparts, to run activities on a designated day against homophobia and transphobia.

The law would add women, people who are homosexual, transsexual or with disabilities, to those protected by a law banning discrimination and punishing hate crimes. The lower house of parliament passed the legislation in November, but it has been stalled in the Senate by right-wing concerns that it would limit freedom of expression.

Right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, for example, has complained that anyone saying that a family is formed with a man and a woman would be exposed to possible prosecution.

Backers of the law have dismissed such concerns, saying that the threshold for prosecution is inciting hatred or violence against the protected classes.

Premier Mario Draghi on Wednesday rebuffed the Vatican’s attempt at influencing the legislative process, telling parliament: “Italy is a secular state.”

But the controversy has ignited outrage over Vatican meddling, with many calling for the cancellation of the so-called Lateran Treaty, originally established under fascism and revised in the 1980s, establishing diplomatic ties between the Vatican and predominantly Roman Catholic Italy.

LGBT activists have vowed to transform Gay Pride events in Rome and Milan on Saturday into protests against what they say is the Vatican’s unprecedented interference in the Italian legislative process.

In decades past, the Vatican objected to Italian laws legalizing abortion and divorce and backed unsuccessful referendums after the fact to try to repeal them.

Previous research has suggested that the stress of discrimination may play a role in the development of health problems that disproportionately affect lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. A study led by a George Washington University professor finds that when lesbian, gay and bisexual adults are exposed to even mild anti-gay prejudice, it triggers bodily changes such as increases in blood pressure that can contribute to heart disease.

“This study provides strong evidence that when LGB people experience anti-gay prejudice, their bodies respond with increases in heart rate and blood pressure and in the stress hormone cortisol,” said David M. Huebner, a professor of prevention and community health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “When the body responds like this repeatedly, it can contribute to cardiovascular disease and other illnesses that develop over time.”

Scientists know that the body’s fight or flight response is triggered in response to a physical danger or psychological threat. Previous studies have shown that self-reports of discrimination are correlated with various health problems. However, in the past, researchers could not show that discrimination actually caused bodily changes that lead to such health problems.

To help change that, Dr. Huebner and his colleagues designed a laboratory study in which 134 lesbian, gay and bisexual adults participated in a stressful task— an interview. Before the interview, participants were given a sheet of paper that purported to tell them about the person conducting the interview. People in the experimental group learned that the person supposedly interviewing them was opposed to same-sex marriage. In reality, the researchers drafted the anti-gay statement and showed it to the experimental group to expose them to discriminatory statements in the laboratory. Participants in the control group were not exposed to such statements.

The researchers prerecorded the interview questions so that there was no variability in the questions or in the tone of voice. The participants had to answer a series of standard questions while the researchers measured any changes in heart rate, blood pressure and other markers of the stress response.

Because interviews are generally stressful, the team found that all of the participants experienced signs of physiological reactivity when asked to take part. However, the experimental group, those who had been exposed to the anti-gay statement, showed an even stronger physiologic response:

• Blood pressure rose higher in the group exposed to anti-gay statements and recovered more slowly than the control group.

• Heart rates rose higher for the experimental group and went back to normal more slowly than the control group.

• Participants in the experimental group had higher levels of cortisol, a hormone released by the body in response to a dangerous or threatening situation.

“This work really begins to connect the dots between exposure to discrimination and physical health in a way that hasn’t been done before,” Dr. Huebner said. “For years, researchers have been showing correlations between reports of discrimination and poorer health. This study is one of the first to show how exposure to anti-gay prejudice really causes changes in physiological processes that can affect long-term health.”

One limitation to the study is that the sample consisted of mostly young, white lesbian, gay and bisexual participants. Future research will have to find out how the stress of anti-gay discrimination affects Black or other ethnic minorities who are also lesbian, gay or bisexual, as well as older and younger people, Dr. Huebner points out.

Currently, little research exists to show how people can lessen the specific impacts that discrimination might have on the body. Dr. Huebner suggests strategies for coping with other forms of stress, such as exercise, a healthy diet and increasing mindfulness, would likely be helpful. He also suggests that people who find themselves struggling in the face of discrimination might seek the support of a skilled therapist. Research suggests that talk therapy can help people more effectively manage stressful events and reduce their negative health effects.

Public policies aimed at banning discrimination toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, however, will go a long way toward creating a healthy environment for all, Dr. Huebner said. The recent executive order providing protection to transgender people in the United States military is an example of solutions that can be enacted now, he said.

The study, “Cardiovascular and Cortisol Responses to Experimentally-Induced Minority Stress,” was published June 21 in the journal Health Psychology.

JAMIE DEKLIN has a long history of booking short-term rentals. The actor learned the ins and outs while touring with a Broadway show. “I traveled with two dogs, so I’d check Vrbo for places allowing them,” she said. Later, after she and her husband had children, their priorities changed. They had no problem finding chic vacation homes to rent, but ones with highchairs, child-proofed rooms and unbreakable dinnerware were much tougher to come by. Seven years ago, Kid & Coe, a family-friendly travel platform based out of New York, began offering homes and hotels where parents and kids could unwind in comfortable, kid-appropriate accommodations. “They understand the reality of traveling with children,” said Ms. Deklin.

“ ‘We realized discrimination was a problem and wanted to offer a solution.’ ”

Kid & Coe is one of a new breed of short-term rental sites targeting travelers who have found that established sites like Airbnb don’t always reflect their needs. Niche rental companies such as Noirbnb (Black and ethnically diverse travelers), Golightly (women-only hosts) and Fabstayz (LGBT) each promise an open-arms welcome to those who fear a cool reception or even rejection because of skin color, gender identity or sexual orientation. While each company’s client focus differs, these platforms share a mission—to create comfortable house-sharing options for their respective communities.

“We realized discrimination was a problem…and wanted to offer a solution,” said Stefan Grant, who created Noirbnb in 2016 after neighbors called the police on him at an Atlanta Airbnb the year before and his social media posts about it went viral. Ultimately, he said, creating a community of like-minded hosts and guests “is what it is about.” He’s careful to be inclusive: “People of all walks of life come to us,” said Mr. Grant. “A misconception is that Noirbnb is…Black people only. We welcome people of all races, ethnicities and genders.”

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Hospitality is the bottom line, stressed Robert Geller, founder of FabStayz, an LGBT-focused travel platform based in Florida. “Safety looks different to an LGBT traveler,” he said. An experienced traveler and former Airbnb Superhost, Mr. Geller knows that being confronted with “a coming-out experience” upon arrival at a rental triggers stress. “We wanted to eliminate that—travel is nerve-racking enough.”

Like Noirbnb and FabStayz, the Austin, Texas-based Golightly has “a mission of safety” as its motto. “I discovered some people like me feel safer in a trusted network,” said founder Victoria O’Connell, a longtime short-term rental host whose London flat was vandalized by a man who created a fake profile to rent it for a party. As Ms. O’Connell sees it, the problem lies in renting from total strangers. “The whole system is anonymous; you’re searching through thousands of sites without really knowing who you’re renting from or to,” said Ms. O’Connell, who created the invitation-only, female home-sharing and rental travel club inspired by all-female co-working spaces. Those already in the network recommend new members, but applications are also accepted. Personal interactions are key. “I want people to know each other—that’s an element of protection,” said Ms. O’Connell. The formula seems to be working: After a slow start in January 2020 because of the pandemic, Golightly now has listings in 85 countries.

Kid & Coe—which offers toy-filled rentals around the world but has the lion’s share of its properties in the U.S. and Western Europe—also emphasizes due diligence. Potential hosts fill out an application and pay an initial fee of $100; Kid & Coe vets properties for kid-friendliness, and asks new guests to upload identification (passport, driver’s license). “Parents want to unplug from their lives, and comfort and safety are key,” said Kid & Coe managing director Caitlin Ramsdale. Ms. Deklin, the actor, finds peace of mind in how scrupulously Kid & Coe vets guests and hosts and insures each property lives up to its photos. “When you’re traveling with kids,” she said, “you want to know you’re getting into a situation that’s good for them.”

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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – This week, a professional football player made headlines by coming out during Pride Month.

Las Vegas Raiders player Carl Nassib said he agonized over the announcement for 15-years.

Nancy Allen, author of the book “From Bud to Blossom: Our Lesbian Journeys,” was on Daybreak Thursday.

Allen, who has had two husbands and two children, talked about how her family handled her announcement and why she decided to write her new book.

To watch the entire segment, click on the video.

A New Jersey high school valedictorian says his microphone was cut during his graduation speech for mentioning LGBTQ themes and was asked by school officials to remove a pride flag from his gown.

Bryce Dershem, who graduated from Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, New Jersey, on June 17, claims his speech was interrupted by a technical difficulty because it did not adhere to the school district’s guidelines.

Taking on stage during the ceremony, Dershem said, “After I came out as queer freshman year, I felt so alone. I didn’t know who to turn to.”

In a video of the speech, the school’s principal can be seen approaching the podium and bending down to grab something behind the stage before Dershem’s microphone is cut off.

The principal then walks up to the valedictorian, takes the microphone and a piece of paper off the podium before he looks for someone to swap in a working microphone.

“Dr. Tull came up to the stage he grabbed the paper I brought and crumpled it in front of me,” Dershem told WCAU. “He pointed to the speech he had written for me, effectively, and told me I was to say that and nothing else.”

After he was given a new microphone, Dershem picked up where he left off, reciting the speech about his mental health struggles and anorexia treatment from memory.

Robert Cloutier, Eastern Camden County Regional School District superintendent, told Newsweek that all student speeches are coordinated through the high school principal. Cloutier said the principal works with the student in “connecting their educational experiences to a meaningful and inclusive message about the future for all students in the class and the students’ invited guests.”

He said that all speeches are agreed upon and approved in advance and kept on stage for the principal to conduct the ceremony.

But Dershem said that he was forced to take out all mentions of his queerness and eating disorder treatment during the speech editing process.

“I did feel censored,” Dershem said. “I felt as though they were trying to regulate the message I was going to say and take away the parts of my identity that I’m really proud of.”

He said he decided to go off the book at graduation when he realized he would not be allowed to deliver the speech he wanted to. He also claimed that he was asked to take off the pride flag he had draped over his gown, but said he refused to do so.

Cloutier wrote in an email to Newsweek that “no student was asked to remove his or her personal identity from any speech at graduation.”

He added that the district is committed to the diversity and inclusion initiatives led by the state’s department of education.

“The Eastern Board of Education voted in April 2021 to restore the [Gay Straight Alliance] Network as an activity for students for the 2021-2022 school year, after decreased participation resulted in the activity being ended in 2009,” Cloutier said.

He did not explain why there was an interruption during Dershem’s speech. Dershem said there had not been any other technical issues for other presenters that afternoon.

Despite the pushback he received from administrators, the valedictorian said he was overwhelmingly supported by classmates and family at the event.

“Whether you are going off to college, enlisting in the military, joining the workforce, I hope you believe in how much you needed to overcome to simply be here today. It’s incredible and no simple feat,” Dershem said during his speech. “Part of our identity, our year, our struggle is 2021. We’re still here though. We adopted to something we never thought possible.”

Money managers have come together to support an initiative celebrating financial services executives who have shown leadership in diversity and inclusion.

The 2021 Global Top 100 Executive Allies initiative, launched by organization LGBT Great, spotlights 100 senior leaders worldwide who are influencing the diversity agenda, supporting the LGBT community and demonstrating a commitment to future action. Executives were nominated by industry employees.

The top 100 — launched ahead of postponed Pride events in New York and London — is sponsored by money managers including Fidelity International, Allianz Global Investors and T. Rowe Price.

The initiative comes as studies show that awareness of LGBT diversity among investment companies is low, with 70% of firms not considering this inclusion.

Allies in the money management industry include Paul Cove, senior vice president, investment product management and Natixis Investment Managers; Marie Dzanis, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Northern Trust Asset Management; and Lee Marshall, chief of staff, head of governance at the £3 billion (£4.2 billion) Church of England Pensions Board, London.

“In the last year, the financial services industry has intensified its focus on diversity and inclusion issues,” Matt Cameron, global managing director of LGBT Great, said in a news release. “However, much of the sector is still falling far short of the support needed for LGBT+ people at a time when this support is needed the most. The visibility of authentic executive allies is one of the most important factors for the community and we must continue engaging and role modelling support from those at the top.”

Three Texas men were sentenced yesterday for violent crimes.

Michael Atkinson, 28, Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon, 21, and Daryl Henry, 24, were sentenced to prison terms for their involvement in a scheme to target gay men for violent crimes. Atkinson was sentenced to over 11 years in prison, Ceniceros-Deleon was sentenced to 22 years in prison, and Henry was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

“These three men participated in and committed acts of violence against innocent victims because they believed the victims were gay men,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This type of bias-motivated violence runs contrary to our values and violates our federal civil rights laws. The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will aggressively investigate and prosecute those who target members of the LGBTQI community.”

“These defendants brutalized multiple victims, singling them out due to their sexual orientation. We cannot allow this sort of violence to fester unchecked,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah for the Northern District of Texas. “The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting hate crimes. In the meantime, we urge dating app users to remain vigilant. Unfortunately, predators often lurk online.”  

“One of the FBI’s top priorities is to defend the civil rights of the communities we serve. We actively work with our law enforcement partners to investigate hate crimes and achieve justice for the victims impacted by these violent crimes,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the FBI Dallas Field Office. “The victims in this case were specifically targeted because of their sexual orientation. The FBI wants to reassure the public that we will pursue individuals who commit violent hate acts against any member of our community.”

According to documents filed in connection with this case, these three defendants admitted that they conspired to and then targeted as many as nine men in and around Dallas, Texas for violent crimes including kidnapping, carjacking, and hate crimes. Beginning on or around Dec. 6, 2017, members of this conspiracy used Grindr, a social media dating platform used primarily by gay men, to lure men to an apartment complex in Dallas. When the men arrived, the conspirators held the men at gunpoint and forced them to drive to local ATMs to withdraw cash from their accounts.

Atkinson and Henry admitted to joining this conspiracy to target gay men for violent crimes. On Dec. 11, 2017, the conspirators used Grindr to lure five men to a vacant apartment in Dallas where they held the men at gunpoint, kidnapped, carjacked, and assaulted them. As part of his plea agreement, Henry admitted that he used violence and threats of violence to hold the victims in the backroom and closet of the vacant apartment while other conspirators used the victims’ vehicles to drive to local ATMs to steal cash from the victims’ accounts. Atkinson and Ceniceros-Deleon admitted that they traveled in the carjacked vehicles to take cash from the victims’ accounts. While the victims were held at gunpoint, some were physically assaulted, at least one victim was sexually assaulted, and all of the victims were taunted with gay slurs.

In 2019, Atkinson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit hate crimes, kidnapping and carjacking and one count of kidnapping. 

Ceniceros-Deleon pleaded guilty in 2019 to one hate crime count, one count of carjacking, and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. 

Henry pleaded guilty in 2019 to one hate crime count and one count of conspiracy to commit hate crimes, kidnapping and carjacking. 

A final member of the conspiracy will be sentenced on Oct. 6, 2021. This final conspirator, Daniel Jenkins, pleaded guilty on June 3 to a hate crime violation; conspiracy to commit hate crimes, kidnapping and carjacking; and use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Under the plea agreement, Jenkins faces a maximum sentence of 26 years in prison.

The FBI’s Dallas Field Office conducted the federal investigation; a separate criminal investigation is being conducted by the Dallas Police Department. Special Litigation Counsel Rose E. Gibson and Trial Attorney Kathryn Gilbert of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with Assistant United States Attorney Nicole Dana, are prosecuting the case.

Denise Rodgers said that, when the pandemic hit last year, she started sharing meals, water and toilet paper with her neighbors in Taylor. 

“The only way I was surviving it was because of my neighbors, and I started thinking about the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) who stay in the shadows and don’t connect with their neighbors,” she said. 

When she started a private Facebook group to help the LGBTQ community in Taylor, she said she was surprised by the response. 

“We had 300 people join in two weeks time,” said Rodgers,who is bisexual and has a lesbian daughter and a transgender daughter. “Many had lived in town for decades and had never met another gay couple or another gay person. We decided in that moment that we wanted to celebrate pride in June,” she said.

READ: Here’s your guide to celebrating Pride month in Austin in June

Rodgers, who is a regional diversity and inclusivity director for Trane Technologies, said she helped organize a virtual Pride event in Taylor last year during the pandemic that it drew more than 4,000 viewers.

This Saturday. the event is going live with music, education, drag queen shows, speeches by local officials, a drag queen story hour and dances at four venues in downtown Taylor starting at 2 p.m.

“Williamson County has never had a gay Pride festival before like this,” said Rodgers. “We have the full support of our City Council and mayor as well,” she said. “I think part of it being held in Taylor has to do with the tremendous amount of growth and people migrating from Austin and more progressive cities.”

Taylor is in eastern Williamson County and had a population of more than 17,000 people in 2019, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census.

What is Gay Pride Month all about anyway?

Gay Pride Month commemorates the Stonewall Riots in June 1969 in which people protested against a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City.  

FROM 2019: LGBTQ event at Leander library draws 200 protestors, supporters

Mayor Brandt Rydell said this week that he plans to speak at the event. “I think the message of inclusivity and acceptance is important,” he said. 

“When people come to Taylor and they haven’t been to our town before, a couple of things stand out to them,” he said. “The words they use are authenticity and diversity. That’s what strikes them about our community and I think that carries over into Taylor Pride.”

Kate LeClair, the founder of a Leander grassroots group called Inclusive, Diversity and Equity for All Leander, said it has made a donation to the Taylor Pride festival. 

“I think that’s amazing that the festival is going to be in Taylor,” she said. “It says a lot that a little small town would be the first to step up and make such an impact with representation. It’s a model for all of us.” 

LeClair said the Leander grassroots LGBT group, which now has 578 members, plans to hold a Pride event in Leander next year. She said she founded IDEAL after a drag queen story hour scheduled at the Leander library in June 2019 drew more than 200 supporters and protesters. 

From prayer to a pre-teen drag show, Taylor community reacts

The Taylor Pridefestival has drawn criticism from a local assistant pastor who is calling on church groups to pray during the event, which includes a pre-teen drag show featuring a sixth-grader whose stage name is Kween Kee Kee.

“Promoting a child to perform in this way is clearly sexualizing and we believe that it’s exploiting children and is inappropriate,” said Caleb Ripple, a pastoral assistant at Christ Fellowship Church in Taylor.   

Ripple said he has encouraged churches to organize prayer groups all over the city during the Taylor Pride event. “This is not a protest,” said Ripple.

Rogers disagreed that having a sixth grader do a performance in drag was wrong.

“Her performance will be age-appropriate and will be no different than a dance recital or theatrical performance,” said Rogers. “Her parents will be in attendance and are very supportive of her.” 

Rogers also said the the sixth grader will be reading a children’s book during a drag queen story hour, which is open to all ages. 

Round Rock Pride festival in the works

Megyn Scott-Hintz, a Round Rock resident who said she plans to organize a Pride festival in her city next year, also disagreed with Ripple.

“Caleb Ripple clearly doesn’t understand what sexual exploitation is if he thinks a kid dressed up performing a simple dance routine and lip syncing, or reading a book, all things very typical of children to do, is inherently sexual in nature,” said Scott-Hintz.

Jose Orta, a gay resident of Taylor who will speak Saturday on the history of the LGBTQ movement, said the hundreds of signs of support for the Pride event posted in  residents’ yards show that Taylor is a progressive community.

The signs feature six ducks in rainbow colors. The Taylor High School mascot is a duck.

“It warms my heart to see change happen. … There’s a huge Pride flag in downtown Taylor,” Orta said. “Who would have thunk this would be happening in Williamson County in 2021?”

For a full schedule of Taylor Prideevents, visit bit.ly/3wTrMTc.

People attend the “Equality Parade” rally in support of the LGBT community, in Warsaw, Poland June 19, 2021. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel