On June 13, at Qatar’s World Cup match in Santa Clara, California, Dr. Nas Mohamed — a physician and the first openly gay Qatari to seek asylum in the U.S. after fleeing state persecution –– stood in the stands alongside California State Sen. Scott Wiener. That day, the two posted a joint statement to Instagram, calling on FIFA and sponsors to “stop looking away” from the persecution of LGBTQ…
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This June, a Pride celebration organized by Alliances, a multi-generational and multiracial group of incarcerated queer and trans people, was held inside Washington State’s largest prison. Yet behind the skits and the celebration of queer joy expressed at the June 3 Pride event inside the Twin Rivers Unit at the Monroe Correctional Complex, the continued punishment of trans women and queer…
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This story originally appeared in The Progressive Magazine on June 18, 2026. It is shared here with permission.
Florida has a magic that only Floridians truly understand. The mix of whimsy, bravery, and devotion you find here is unique, as is the land itself: lush acres of forest and marshy wetlands, puppy like creatures found in springs and slow-moving rivers, beaches of white sand, and off-the-beaten-path trails.
It’s tough to be from here—we’re plagued with hurricane season, mocked with GIFs like Bugs Bunny sawing from the rest of the country, and absurd “Florida man” jokes reflecting the tired 2010s-era cliché that our state is a den of drug-addled chaos and bizarre misadventure. If you mention Florida in conversation, you’re often met with a disgusted or concerning gaze.
The state has also long served as the country’s playground—or, as scholar Julio Capó Jr. describes it in his history of queer Miami culture, a “fairyland” that lures in tourists with the promise of a quick getaway surrounded by Disney animatronics and dreamy beaches. It may be unrecognizable to visitors from outside of the state, but Florida has always been a little queer, even beyond the periphery of the gay club scene in Miami.
In the past several years, however, Florida has become increasingly known for being hostile to queer people. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis—whose term began in 2019, less than three years after the June 2016 mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub that killed forty-nine people—is fixated on decimating Florida’s queer population and crushing the morale of our indomitable spirit. In 2021, DeSantis signed into law a provision that redefined a public demonstration of more than three people who “commit a breach of
A federal judge in Manhattan has temporarily blocked the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using grand jury subpoenas to obtain medical records of patients who have received gender-affirming care as minors at NYU Langone, Mount Sinai, and other New York City hospitals. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla granted a temporary restraining order after several families and…
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On June 12, 2016, a man opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 queer people and injuring at least 58 others. An entire decade later, protections for LGBTQIA+ people in Florida and across the country continue to be stripped away under a government that insists on inflicting harm. Queer nightlife spaces, like Pulse, are designed to be deeper than DJ sets and drink specials…
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Organizers in several cities across the country say they were forced to cancel historic Pride celebrations this month. Groups in several cities, including Tampa, Florida; Arlington, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona, cited a political environment that has made supporting queer events nearly impossible, both politically and financially, and attending them potentially dangerous. In Florida…
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