Also, Green Day made it clear it wasn't part of the "Maga agenda"
Welcome to 2024!
🎉 Hello, new beginnings, new stories, and new experiences! I hope your new year has been off to a wonderful start. We know one gay couple is having an excellent 2024 so far after getting Kelly Clarkson to help marry them at her residency on New Year's Eve. Clarkson, who just recently won two Emmy awards for her talk show, has been an ally for queer folks everywhere for some time now. Back in a 2021 interview, she even opened up about her allyship. "I get thanked for stuff sometimes in my career. It's the oddest thing to be told 'thank you' for something that's so obvious [embracing LGBTQ+ people]," she said at the time. 👨❤️💋👨
We're taking time to remember Jean Butchart, a trans man who was killed in Michigan. He was 26. A suspect, Matthew Torrey Tiggs Jr., 22, allegedly shot Butchart during a crime spree. Butchart is one of more than 30 trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming people who died by violence in 2023. We're sending our comfort and warmth to his friends and family. ❤️
🎸 Green Day caused conservatives to lose it after replacing some lyrics in their hit song "American Idiot" to reflect their distaste for former President Donald Trump and his supporters. "I'm not part of the MAGA agenda," out singer Billie Joe Armstrong belted, replacing the original version of "I'm not part of the redneck agenda." The song, already politically charged, upset the MAGA crowd, who seems to have never listened to the song or have followed Green Day's politics. As one Twitter user wrote, maybe the people who are just learning about the band's political leanings are, in fact, the American idiots the song is about...maybe...just maybe.
Each week, The Advocate newsletter has a little bit of LGBTQ+ trivia. Today, you'll get the question. Thursday, you'll get a hint. And Saturday, you'll get the answer.
This week's question is: What was the first state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation?
Reply to this email with your answer, and you may get a shout-out in a future newsletter!
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