5 THINGS TO KNOW

Sponsors line up behind this Olympic hopeful.

Coming out as an openly gay Olympic freestyle skier has been great for Gus Kenworthy as a person, since he can be his true self. It’s also been great for Kenworthy in terms of visibility and endorsements, as Sports Business Journal found.

HEROES

Transgender senator a first in Uruguay.

Michelle Suarez became Uruguay’s first transgender senator on Tuesday, October 10. The 34-year-old lawmaker, who was sworn in as a senator for the Communist party, hopes to pass an anti-discrimination law that would expand and protect the rights of transgender people. In 2013, Suarez helped draft a same-sex marriage bill that later legalized gay marriage.

DESTINATIONS

While not illegal, Indonesian police are still cracking down on LGBT communities.

In Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, homosexuality is legal and the state largely stays out of issues of private morality. But as conservative religious groups become more prominent in political life here, police are increasingly finding other ways to crack down on LGBT communities.

HEROES

St. Louis celebrates its LGBT history.

On a map of the city, researchers at Washington University have placed 800 dots. They represent pieces of gay history, stitching together a story arc that has been told only in snippets. There on the interactive map are the nightclubs, the bookstores, the places of worship where those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer came together, safe harbors in a Midwest city resisting what was not considered normal.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

October 11th is National Coming Out day.

‘Coming out and living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or supportive straight person is an act of bravery and authenticity.’ This is what the Human Rights Campaign says to people in their guide to coming out. Donald Trump ‘will visit the UK in early 2018 but will not meet the Queen’ National Coming Out Day is happening, as it does every year, on Wednesday, October 11.