Table of Contents
This week: Jens Spahn resigns, the French UN resolution, Indonesia spirals, the battle for the Smithsonian, Sapphi, Rob Roth’s show, the strange tribulations of Sausalito City Manager, and much more…
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What struck me most about the Jens Spahn surrogacy saga in Germany this week was how many people told me they had no idea surrogacy is illegal across much of Europe—with Italy even advocating for a global ban (see my previous post). This is not about whether countries support or oppose surrogacy; people are entitled to hold different ethical views. It is about how public debates are often grounded in homophobia. These comments reminded me why newsletters like this one are important. Even within our own community, there is often a surprising lack of awareness of where LGBTQ+ rights stand, how differently they are protected across countries, and the risks we face. That knowledge gap can fuel complacency, erode transnational solidarity, and reinforce the individualism we discussed in the past.
This week: Jens Spahn resigns, the French UN resolution, Indonesia spirals, the battle for the Smithsonian, Sapphi, Rob Roth’s show, the strange tribulations of Sausalito City Manager, and much more…
Global News
Germany: Jens Spahn Resigns Over Surrogacy
German CDU parliamentary leader Jens Spahn stepped down after facing backlash for becoming a father via US surrogacy — legal abroad but banned in Germany — despite years of publicly opposing the practice, including as health minister in 2020. Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the resignation “inevitable.“ Read more in PinkNews.
I have realized that my personal happiness - founding a family together with my husband and becoming a father - is not compatible with my political office.
United Nations: Du Rififi On Decriminalization
Here is a definition of “rififi”: don’t ever say you don’t learn anything reading this newsletter. A French-led initiative for a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for the global decriminalization of same-sex relations is generating some pushback (the latest being this upcoming webinar). While countries including Cambodia have joined as sponsors, dozens of international organizations are urging France to slow down, arguing that the proposal has advanced without meaningful consultation with activists in the countries most affected. Their concern is not with the goal but with the strategy.
Indonesia: Our “National Threat” Label
President Subianto’s designation of “LGBTQ culture” as a nonmilitary threat to the state (as is often the case, the last of Indonesia’s worries are the gays) has emboldened vigilantes: Human Rights Watch reports that at least 10 universities have adopted discriminatory rules, and advocacy group Pelangi Nusantara documented at least 15 trans women beaten and doused in urine in the city of Bogor since the announcement. Read more in PinkNews.
Poland: President Vetoes Partnership Bill
President Nawrocki blocked legislation — already stripped of marriage or civil-partnership status — that would have let unmarried couples, including same-sex ones, register for hospital visitation and inheritance rights. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the veto “an expression of contempt,“ while state polling shows 62% of Poles now back some form of legal recognition anyway. Details in PinkNews.
Uganda: “Kissing in Public” Case Dropped
Prosecutors have permanently discontinued the case against Wendy Faith and Alesi Diana Denise, two women arrested in February under the Anti-Homosexuality Act after allegedly kissing in public — a charge that carried a potential life sentence. Advocates are calling it a rare win, though they warn the pair remain at risk. See in PinkNews.
Pakistan: Fatal Shooting of Trans Woman in Peshawar
A transgender woman, Mishi, was shot dead and another, Tara, wounded in an altercation in Peshawar’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region. Local trans-rights leader Arzoo Khan is demanding government action against what she calls “continuous targeting” of the community. Also in PinkNews.
France: Rural Pride
A village of 482 people in Vienne hosted its fifth annual Fiertés rurales on July 25, drawing roughly 4,000 people — ten times the population — with drag queens on tractors and hay bales. Organizers say most attendees are straight locals showing up in solidarity, though sponsors got skittish this year after a 2025 dust-up over a Carrefour boycott protest. See in Têtu.
Turkey/Egypt: More Post-Mortem on the Gay Cruise
You might remember how the cruise ship Aqua, sailing a seven-day gay-themed itinerary out of Athens, was denied docking in both Istanbul and then Alexandria before diverting to Ashdod, Israel — the company blaming “unforeseen events” while passengers pointed to undisclosed marketing about the trip’s nature. See in The New York Times.
US News
FCC’s Unpopular Warning Labels Proposal
A new FCC proposal would flag family programming featuring LGBTQ+ characters or themes, explicitly naming “gender identity” content. GLAAD’s analysis of the 33,739 public comments found 80% opposed the plan, and a Morning Consult poll found two-thirds of Americans — including 69% of parents — object to government-mandated labels. See in PinkNews.
The Downfall of Fabian Basabe
The Republican Party has a paucity of openly gay men compared with other conservative parties globally, and the few it recruits tend to go down in flames (see our friend George Santos, whose TV career was in the news this week). A Tallahassee jury ordered Rep. Fabian Basabe — who campaigned as a “gay Republican” family man — to pay $450,000 to two former staffers after finding he battered, defamed, and sexually harassed them. See in The Advocate.
Wyoming: The Gay GOP Candidate Strikes Back
Reid Rasner, running for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat, has settled one defamation suit and filed several more against people who called him a pedophile online — a smear he traces to a poll testing whether voters would punish him for having “married his gay husband in New York.” See in Instinct Magazine.
Missouri Prisons Accused of Cutting Off Trans Inmates’ Care
LGBTQ+ groups, faith leaders and a state senator are pressuring the Missouri Department of Corrections after at least two transgender inmates were quietly taken off hormone therapy that had been ruled medically necessary — despite the corrections director privately calling the underlying budget rider “unenforceable and illegal.” See in PinkNews.
The Oldest Trick in the Book
The reactions this week to the Jarrett Vick incident from last February say as much about American culture as they do about the case itself. The widespread release of arrest videos—and, more broadly, the routine publication of mugshots—is a uniquely American practice, largely unthinkable across much of Europe, where privacy protections are far stronger, and people are less likely to be categorized as “good” or “bad.” More troubling, however, is the familiar rhetorical playbook it enables: a single, highly publicized incident is presented as evidence of an entire community’s character. It is an old tactic, used for centuries against minorities of every kind.
The Smithsonian Battle
The week’s showdown on Capitol Hill was about far more than museums. At a House hearing, Republicans grilled Smithsonian National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig, accusing the institution of promoting “woke ideology“ by highlighting the experiences of marginalized communities. Hartig firmly defended the museum’s mission, arguing that telling a fuller history is not rewriting America’s past but enriching it with voices long left out. Also, someone really needs to tell these conservatives about the disproportionate contribution of our community to the arts. See here.
Queering the Boardroom
Fortune 500’s Gay-CEO Bench Shrinks to One
When Dow’s Jim Fitterling steps down this month, and Apple’s Tim Cook moves to executive chairman on September 1, Land O’Lakes’ Beth Ford becomes the last openly LGBTQ+ chief executive left in the Fortune 500 — down from four just three years ago. This Fortune article implies there might be closeted leaders in the Fortune 500 CEO group. I am not certain that’s true, since we tend to know when people downplay their sexual orientation in that already small pool (think Barry Diller). The reality is that LGBTQ+ people are severely underrepresented in corporate America’s leadership.
Next in Line: Sam Altman, If OpenAI Goes Public
Fortune notes that OpenAI (whose marketing campaign this week was a bit outlandish) is widely expected to list shares later this year, which would make CEO Sam Altman — who is gay — the most plausible candidate to restore the Fortune 500’s gay-CEO count to two. Small mercies.
Royal Caribbean Adds Tara Bunch to the Boardroom
Royal Caribbean Group has appointed Tara Bunch — most recently Airbnb’s SVP and Global Head of Operations, and a longtime Pride ERG executive sponsor at Apple, HP, and Airbnb — to its Board of Directors, effective July 16. Bunch, a Fast Company Queer 50 honoree who has spoken openly about coming out to the tech industry’s gay community early in her career, also serves on Vanguard’s board and brings three decades of operations experience to a cruise line whose ships keep getting turned away from ports over LGBTQ+-themed sailings. Details in PRNewswire.
Australia Softens Board Diversity Push
Australia’s ASX Corporate Governance Council has backed away from proposed tougher board diversity rules, dropping plans to recommend a 40% target for women directors and abandoning proposals for listed companies to disclose board members’ sexual orientation, gender identity, Indigenous status, and disability. The retreat follows months of pushback from business groups but has drawn criticism from major investors, who argue it weakens corporate accountability and risks stalling progress on board diversity. See here.
The Gay Business
Madison Square Garden Sues WIRED Over Celebrity Database Claims
MSG is suing WIRED, Condé Nast and two reporters for defamation after a story alleged the venue kept an internal database flagging celebrities’ sexual orientation alongside “risk” levels. MSG says the data existed to route LGBTQ+ public figures toward inclusion invitations and sponsorships, not exclusion; WIRED says it stands by the reporting. See in Attitude.
YouTube Demonetization
British YouTubers and real-life partners Dan Howell and Phil Lester say their content keeps getting demonetized over keywords like “gay,“ reviving a complaint LGBTQ+ creators first sued YouTube over in 2019 — a suit that was dismissed, with YouTube maintaining it has no such policy. Read more in PinkNews.
Sapphi Wants to Be the Anti-Dating-App for Queer Women
A new social platform called Sapphi is betting that lesbian, queer, and trans people are tired of swiping. Rather than a match-based feed, Sapphi is built as a feed-and-map social platform where users can browse who’s nearby and see what’s happening in real time, with venues able to upload their own event calendars and host 24-hour chats where the community makes plans together. The app leans hard into “built by us, for us” positioning — every user is verified through a waitlist and invite-code system, with moderation and reporting tools designed to keep the space safe — and its early growth has been driven almost entirely by word of mouth rather than paid marketing.
The Semi-Cultural Desk
Rob Roth: A Queer Time Capsule Worth Collecting
New York is the greatest in the summer. If you’re in town between now and August 30, make time for Happy Accidents, Rob Roth’s exhibition at the Wild Project Gallery (195 E. 3rd St). A longtime fixture of New York’s underground queer art scene, Rob transforms a decade’s worth of Polaroids—of friends, lovers, queer icons, and fleeting moments—into glittering reliquaries that celebrate memory, intimacy, and chosen family. The exhibition includes portraits of everyone from Debbie Harry and Ruth Negga to Parker Posey (whose portrait I bought because my life is narrated by quotes from “House of Yes”). See here.
Proud on HBO Max
I tried to find HBO Max’s Polish series Proud in English, and it was challenging, so below is the teaser. The show follows Filip, a hard-partying gay model who suddenly becomes the guardian of his late sister’s toddler — grief, chosen family, and everyday homophobia in a country that still won’t recognize his relationships. The eight-episode series wraps its finale July 31.
My Lunch with Library of Congress Music Division Chief
Talking about queer disproportionate contributions to the arts, America’s performing arts heritage is preserved throughout the collections of the Library of Congress. The Music Division, which collects music, theater and dance archives, holds more than 30 million items spanning 1,000 years of history. Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres, chief of the Music Division, was at the Cosmos Club yesterday to discuss some of the major collections and commissioned works that are preserved at the Library.
Gay Times & MUBI Launch Queer Short Film Prize
Emerging UK/Irish directors have until August 14 to submit 10-20 minute shorts on the theme “Queer Life: The Beauty and the Chaos,” with three winners getting a London showcase, £1,000, and industry mentorship. See in Gay Times.
Laverne Cox’s “Transcendent” Doesn’t Flinch
Cox’s new memoir traces childhood abuse and a failed conversion-therapy attempt through to her transition, and reviewers are calling it a difficult but necessary read for anyone who’s transitioned — or loves someone who has. Read more in the Washington Blade.
Chase Anderson on Being Queer
Chase Anderson penned an article for the Advocate titled “Why I’m queer, not gay — and why it matters,” offering a response to the editorial a few weeks ago (see Wild Opinions), which also prompted many letters to the editor. See it in the Advocate.
Coming and Going
Canadian Marriage-Equality Pioneer Michael Hendricks Dies at 84
Hendricks, who, with husband René Leboeuf, became the first same-sex couple legally married in Quebec in 2004 after a six-year, $300,000 court fight, has died of a degenerative lung disease. The couple also helped build Montreal’s AIDS memorial, Parc de l’Espoir. See in Attitude.
D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation Mourns Founding Director
Watson, whose advocacy for homeless LGBTQ+ youth helped launch the D.C. foundation that bears the late Wanda Alston’s name, has died after a long illness. See in the Washington Blade.
Sausalito’s New City Manager Arrested After Alleged Yacht Break-In
I am not exactly sure why it got so much coverage. Elaine Forbes — three weeks into her job as Sausalito city manager, and previously director of the Port of San Francisco for nine years — was arrested after boarding a 66-foot yacht she’s accused of trying to start, with her family citing a mental health crisis and a divorce from her longtime partner, San Francisco Board of Supervisors clerk Angela Calvillo, as context. Forbes faces prowling, unauthorized lodging, and petty theft charges and remains in custody pending arraignment. See here.
Ben Platt: ‘Being American Feels Helpless and Scary’
Fresh off the opening of Midnight at the Never Get in London, Ben Platt spoke candidly to The Guardian about anxiety, queer storytelling, and the political climate in the United States.
A survey
Help Map the Global Reality for LGBTQI+ People
The 2026 F&M Global Barometers LGBTQI+ Perception Index (GBPI) survey is now open and available in 24 languages. The anonymous survey takes just 2–5 minutes, and the data help activists, policymakers, researchers, and advocates better understand how LGBTQI+ people experience human rights worldwide. More than 12,800 people have already participated. Take the survey here.
The Gay Agenda
August 5: International Pride Awards. UNDP and ILGA World hand out this year’s global equality honors during the WorldPride Human Rights Conference, with Deutsche Bank and OUTtv newly on board as supporters. Livestreamed globally on YouTube at 15:45 CEST. Details in ILGA World.
July 25 – August 8. World Pride with an Economic Lens. Amsterdam hosts WorldPride and EuroPride together — the largest dedicated LGBTQI+ event in the world, with the Canal Parade on August 1 and the WorldPride March on August 8; organizers expect over a million visitors. While Koppa will not be present, Outright, Open for Business and Deutsche Bank will host an event.
September 22. UNGA. The 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will convene in New York in September. The first day of the high-level General Debate will be Tuesday, 22 September.
October 12–18. World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings, Bangkok, Thailand. For the first time in more than three decades, the Annual Meetings will take place in Southeast Asia, and activists want the Bank to report on its progress on LGBTQ+ inclusion,. Before the pandemic, Thailand was the focus of groundbreaking World Bank research documenting persistent LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination, while a recent World Bank study in Brazil quantified the economic cost of anti-LGBTQI+ exclusion at nearly 1% of GDP. See here.
October 29–30. The second annual Koppa Global Inclusive Finance Forum will bring together investors, banks, policymakers, foundations, entrepreneurs, and advocates to move beyond conversations about inclusion toward measurable capital allocation. Hosted at the Deutsche Bank Center in NYC, the invitation-only gathering will focus on practical strategies for building more inclusive financial systems across sectors. Following a successful inaugural forum in 2025, this year’s event will focus on key economic sectors that are either strategic or offer traction for LGBTQI+ people.
Well, that’s it for this week. I was in Washington, D.C., yesterday for a whirlwind trip to celebrate a dear friend’s 50th birthday, so I’m writing this from the train home. The city feels oddly different these days—half-unrecognizable amid all the construction, with military personnel casually patrolling the streets. I can’t say I find that reassuring, especially now that they are going to be pumped with Testosterone (see the Queer Power Of Doubt). Still, catching up with old friends made the trip entirely worthwhile. Tonight, I’m taking my son Eitan to see The Odyssey because, deep down, I am a follower. See you next week and thanks for reading.
