From Queer Icon to MAGA Ally: Nicki Minaj’s Political Turn
Nicki Minaj built a career alongside an audience that included some of her loudest and most devoted supporters: LGBTQ+ fans who treated her music, aesthetics, and larger-than-life persona as part of the queer cultural landscape. She leaned into that relationship for years, from Pride performances to moments where she publicly framed herself as someone paying…
Trump admin agrees to drop anti-DEI criteria for stalled health research grants
The Trump administration will review frozen grants to universities without using its controversial standards that discouraged gender, race and sexual orientation initiatives and vaccine research. In a settlement agreement filed in Massachusetts federal court December 29, the National Institutes of Health and a group of Democratic attorneys general who challenged the new criteria for grant funding said…
 Multiple states have banned gender-affirming care, now there’s a move to create a national ban
Some states – including both North and South Carolina – have moved to ban gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth under 18, which has drawn criticism from LGBTQ+ folks and allies alike. Now, under the direction of Donald Trump and fellow Republicans, the federal government is moving to ban that same care on a national level.…
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local news
Year in Review: 2025
In 2025 we saw a decided increase in disturbing and frightening activity aimed at our community. Despite warnings about a second Trump presidency armed with a MAGA guide book, few of us expected so much. Here’s our look back at the good, bad and ugly. JANUARY LGBTQ+ marriages surge before Trump inauguration day In a…
politics
Charlotte’s Log Cabin Republicans
Ever wonder how many people in the LGBTQ+ community identify as a conservative, a Republican or maybe even a Trump supporter? Given the long history of intolerance, discrimination and even violence lobbed at us from that part of of our population, ever wonder how anyone in the LGBTQ+ community could fall in line as a…
health & wellness
Why are so many people sick?
Respiratory illness season is here in North Carolina, and one virus is already spreading at a rapid pace. We spoke with Dr. David Weber, an infectious disease expert at the UNC School of Medicine, to break down which illnesses are circulating in North Carolina and how to stay protected this holiday season. Which respiratory illnesses…
