The Daily Queer
July 16, 2026
Have a Tiger Beat moment and remember these teen idols who turned out to be queer. Should queer people shame Lindsey Graham? And who are making the queer films you’ll be seeing in years to come..
NEWS & CULTURE
Teen Heartthrobs Who Turned Out To Be Gay
Yahoo Entertainment
A nostalgic video roundup revisits the Tiger Beat-era idols — think Ricky Martin, Lance Bass, Neil Patrick Harris, and George Michael — who set millions of teenage hearts aflutter before coming out as gay years or even decades later. It’s a breezy reminder of how far the closet door has swung open since the heyday of the teen-magazine pin-up.
Physical Attacks Against Transgender Adults in the United States
Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law
A new Williams Institute report drawing on the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey finds that 5.4 percent of trans adults experienced a physical attack in a single year, and half of those attacked were victimized more than once. Visibility emerged as a central risk factor — respondents seen as trans most or all of the time were far more likely to be attacked — along with living in urban areas, low income, and noncitizen status.
Lindsey Graham has passed away. Do LGBTQ people have a right to celebrate his death?
Washington Blade / Uncloseted Media
Spencer Macnaughton wrestles with the wave of celebration that greeted Lindsey Graham’s death, fueled by longstanding allegations — most recently from author Jesse James Rose — that the senator paid male sex workers even as he voted against LGBTQ+ rights. With any alleged NDAs likely voided by his death, Macnaughton concludes it is fair game to speak candidly about the hypocrisy Graham may have worked hard to muzzle in life.
LGBTQ Groups Vow to Keep Fighting After Supreme Court Sports Ruling
OutSFL
Organizations from the Human Rights Campaign to Equality Florida and the National Black Justice Collective are vowing to keep fighting after the Supreme Court’s ruling that states may bar transgender students from school teams matching their gender identity. Advocates call the 6-3 decision a setback rather than the final word, warning it invites invasive scrutiny of all girls’ bodies while affecting only a small number of trans athletes.
Hegseth announces testosterone initiative as trans troop ban continues
Washington Blade
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced a testosterone initiative for service members even as the administration’s ban on transgender troops remains firmly in place. Critics were quick to seize on the contradiction: trans people taking the very same hormone therapy are barred from serving at all.
LGBTQ cruise to stop in Saudi Arabia ahead of kingdom hosting 2034 World Cup
Mothership
LGBTQ+ travel company Vacaya has announced an “Arabian Nights” cruise sailing from Jeddah in spring 2027, as Saudi Arabia works to soften its international image ahead of hosting the 2034 World Cup — the kingdom’s official tourism site now answers the question of whether LGBT visitors are welcome with “Everyone is welcome.” Saudi activists call it a glaring double standard, noting that homosexuality remains a potential capital offense for the kingdom’s own citizens.
Sex, Clubs and the Politics of Being Seen
ArtReview
Bex Wade reviews Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife, Amelia Abraham’s new photo anthology from MACK, which ranges from a lesbian strip club in late-1970s São Paulo to contemporary drag-king documentation. Both book and review probe an uneasy question: what happens when forms of queer life once sustained by obscurity become part of a widely circulated visual record?
Idina Menzel and Jonathan Van Ness speak out against anti-LGBTQ legislation
WRAL / CNN
Speaking with CNN around the GLAAD Media Awards, Idina Menzel and Jonathan Van Ness pushed back on the record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills moving through state legislatures, with Van Ness arguing that child poverty, abuse, and gun violence pose far greater threats to children than what anyone chooses to wear. Menzel, mother to a teenage son, asked why lawmakers are scapegoating “this incredible community” when so much else needs fixing.
The queer Asian comics building collective joy in D.C.
Washington Blade
At a Pride Comedy Special in Washington, queer Asian comics including Kevin Chen, Tarunika Anand, and Brooklyn-based headliner Alex Kim spun family expectations, interracial romance, and identity into an evening of collective joy. Though they describe themselves as a scattered handful rather than a scene, the performers are building their own spaces — from Kim’s Boba Gays collective, which has gone from a WhatsApp chat to Lincoln Center, to Anand’s weekly Funny Side Up showcase.
San Francisco’s Castro business leader tells the Giants: Apologize, or lose us forever
Outsports
A longtime gay Giants fan and Castro business leader has published an open letter to the team’s leadership demanding a genuine apology for last month’s Pride Night, when several pitchers wrote a Bible verse on their Pride caps in protest. He warns that without real accountability — beyond CEO Larry Baer’s carefully worded statements — the franchise risks permanently losing the LGBTQ+ community’s loyalty and its business.
Gay soccer star Josh Cavallo just signed with ‘The Puritans.’ Yes, really.
Outsports
Josh Cavallo, who in 2021 became the world’s only openly gay male top-flight footballer, has signed with English non-league side Banbury United for the 2026-27 season — a club affectionately nicknamed, of all things, The Puritans. The 26-year-old Australian arrives from Stamford AFC, continuing the UK chapter he began after alleging that homophobia drove his exit from Adelaide United.
Jason Collins Honored by Twin Brother in Emotional 2026 ESPYS Acceptance Speech 2 Months After His Death
People
Jarron Collins accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage on behalf of his twin brother Jason — the NBA’s first openly gay active player, who died of glioblastoma in May at age 47 — at Wednesday night’s ESPYS at Lincoln Center. Calling Jason the bravest man he has ever known, Jarron pledged that the night marks not the end of his brother’s legacy but the beginning.
Meet All of the Out Queer Players of the WPBL
GO Magazine
As the Women’s Pro Baseball League prepares for its August debut — the first professional women’s baseball league in more than 70 years — GO Magazine profiles the out queer players suiting up for Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Familiar names include first overall draft pick Kelsie Whitmore and Team Canada pitcher Liz Gilder, part of rosters where LGBTQ+ athletes are strikingly well represented.
‘Heartstopper’ is helping LGBTQ+ fans find hope and community across time and space
The Conversation
Researchers interviewing adult Heartstopper fans — including a 74-year-old gay man who came out late in life — find the series serving as a source of healing, community, and hope across generations, not just for the teens it depicts. The piece arrives just ahead of “Heartstopper Forever,” the feature-length finale to the Netflix series, which premieres July 17.
The Future of Queer Cinema: What These LGBTQ Filmmakers Are Making and Who They’re Watching
GLAAD
With studio representation at a low, GLAAD checks in with filmmakers including Lilly Wachowski, Elegance Bratton, Cheryl Dunye, Isabel Sandoval, and Sav Rodgers about what they’re making next and which emerging artists excite them. The takeaway is that the most vital queer storytelling is thriving in the mid-budget and independent space, where festival-circuit acquisitions are generating both buzz and box office.