Happy Thursday,

👏🏼 A gay single dad in New York, José Rolón, took to social media this week to call out a far-right creep who attacked him and his family. The homophobic pundit Stew Peters accused Rolón of sex crimes. “In our community, we're often faced with this question of do we ignore it so that we don't give this person a voice, or make it so that people are aware of the kind of people that are out there spreading misinformation about our community, especially in an election year,” Rolón explained to The Advocate. “I made the decision to talk about it because I think it's important.” 🌈

📚 California Sen. Laphonza Butler took to the Senate floor today to read from Audre Lorde's Sister Outsider. She did so as a protest against book bans that have cropped up across the country. “Right now extremist politicians are working overtime to strip our nation’s bookshelves of essential literature that helps to tell the complete story of America, including the stories of great sacrifice, contribution, and pain of Black Americans,” she said. 🎤

✨ Erick Russell is the first Black gay elected statewide official. The treasure of Connecticut gave some advice to other would-be politicians running for office: “We need more people stepping up and serving, particularly folks who are underrepresented in government right now,” he said. “Be confident in yourself and understand that you’re right where you’re supposed to be, and don’t hesitate to take up space, and don’t feel like you need to make yourself small to fit in somebody else’s.” Read the interview here. ✨

See you Saturday,

Alex Cooper