HEROES

New program in Hartford supports LGBT children.

By the time she was 13, Robin McHaelen knew she was a lesbian, but she didn’t come out until she was in her early 30s. In the meantime she attempted suicide more than once, used drugs heavily through high school and college and felt continually depressed.

HEROES

Pakistani transgender community fights inaccurate data.

The transgender community has rejected the count of transgender population revealed in the latest census carried out earlier this year by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistic (PBS) , and called the data inaccurate and misleading. As per the provisional summary of the results of the 6th Population and Housing Census released by the PBS, the country’s transgender population stands at 10,418 — 0.005% of the total population of over 207 million.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Will and Grace’s return brings much needed LGBT visibility to TV.

US television is set to welcome back two flag-bearers of LGBTQ representation as NBC returns to a series that made history for the network in 1998: Will & Grace. The cast of Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes, Debra Messing and Megan Mullally have reunited to bring back a series that didn’t just devote one episode or designate a minor character as LGBTQ, but featured two gay main characters (McCormack, who plays Will, and Hayes, as his flamboyant friend Jack).

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Burning Man, where no body cares if you’re gay.

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).

5 THINGS TO KNOW

A shelter for Britain’s LGBT homeless.

A fundraising campaign has been launched to open Britain’s first homeless shelter for LGBT people. The shelter, based in London, will comprise a former tour bus previously owned by the rock band Status Quo remodelled to temporarily house those most at risk from the dangers of rough-sleeping – many of whom also face compound problems resulting from hate crimes, domestic abuse, family rejection, and poor mental health.

HEROES

LGBT athletes in college sports more than ever before.

On Sept. 2, Kansas State lineman Scott Frantz is likely to become the first out LGBT athlete to compete in a Football Bowl Subdivision game. The Wildcats open the season at home against Central Arkansas at 7 p.m. ET. He will likely beat defensive end My-King Johnson by just a few hours for that distinction. Johnson’s Arizona team kicks off its season against Northern Arizona at 10 p.m. ET that same Saturday. (As of this writing, it’s possible Johnson will redshirt this season.) In the last six months, Frantz and Johnson have received significant attention for coming out publicly, and they are part of a massive increase in publicly out LGBT Division I athletes.

HEROES

Escaping ISIS – a gay man’s story.

Fadi Salim was terrified he wouldn’t make it out of Syria alive. Salim was freezing cold, filled with dread and thought he could be captured and sent back to Syria or shot by Turkish soldiers patrolling the inhospitable terrain on the border. His friend had been hurled off a rooftop in Syria’s ISIS-controlled Raqqa. His chances for survival –  after deserting the army and fleeing Syria – were slim.