MTV confirmed Saturday that transgender members of the U.S. military will be in attendance at Sunday’s Video Music Awards. Four active duty members have been confirmed, as well as at least one military veteran. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military, the cable network extended an invitation on Thursday to those transgender individuals already serving to attend the ceremony.
Chelsea Manning, the U.S. military’s most famous transgender service member, accused President Trump of “normalizing hate” by issuing a directive banning trans recruits. The former Army intelligence analyst took aim at the policy change from her widely-followed Twitter account Friday shortly after it was reported that Mr. Trump signed a directive banning the Department of Defense from recruiting transgender individuals into the armed forces on the heels of announcing his intentions in a tweet of his own last month.
This year’s Burning Man — the wild, weeklong, annual festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert — will start on August 27. Tens of thousands of people are expected to venture to the desert and follow a 31-year tradition of creating a temporary city, making art, throwing nonstop parties, and burning “the man” (a 100-foot flammable structure that resembles a stick figure).
Just over one in five schools in Northern Ireland have said they cover lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) issues with pupils. That is one of the findings of a Department of Education (DE) survey of more than 420 schools. Schools were asked whether they covered LGB issues in relationship and sex education (RSE) or other parts of the curriculum.
Last year, an elementary school classmate came out as a transgender boy to Dean Inserra’s fourth-grade son. So, the Southern Baptist pastor turned it into a teachable moment. Inserra, who leads City Church in Tallahassee, Florida, said he told his son that nothing changes about their friendship, and the loving thing to do was to use the name his classmate preferred. However, at home, the Inserra family would make clear his friend is biologically a girl.
President Trump signed a long-awaited directive on Friday that precludes transgender individuals from joining the military but gives Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wide discretion in determining whether those already in the armed forces can continue to serve. Mr. Mattis’s decisions will be based on several criteria, including military effectiveness and budgetary concerns, a senior White House official said in briefing reporters.
Copyright © 2025 | compassQ Media