Plus, the queer Asheville bar healing after Helene

Hi all,

🪩 An LGBTQ+ bar and event space in Asheville, North Carolina that was destroyed by Hurricane Helene is reopening, and its owners are promising to be "bigger, gayer, and louder" than ever.

🏛️ The federal government no longer opposes Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. President Joe Biden’s administration had joined a court case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, originally known as L.W. v. Skrmetti, in opposition to the ban. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case in December. But under Donald Trump, the government has done an about-face.

🏈 Super Bowl 59 marked the third year in a row the NFL has put on its free pride clinic as a part of pre-game festivities.This year’s lineup also boasted other events, including a party with queer rapper Big Freedia. It’s part of the league’s growing effort to combat decades of homophobia that has kept many queer youth away from the sport. Read our story from New Orleans.

Onwards and upwards,

Alex Cooper

Editor-in-chief, Advocate.com

P.S. Support The Advocate's journalism. Find out how to contribute here.

🌈 Look, the answer! 🌈

Each week, The Advocate newsletter has a little bit of LGBTQ+ trivia. Today, you'll get the answer.

This week's question is: What U.S. Supreme Court case decision made marriage equality the law of the land?

This week's answer is: Obergefell v. Hodges. It was the ruling that established marriage equality nationwide. was the ruling that established marriage equality nationwide. Same-sex couples had been suing to strike down state marriage bans around the country, and they won at federal district courts in several states, including in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee, the states covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. However, the Sixth Circuit reversed that ruling, and the couples appealed to the Supreme Court. The named plaintiff was James Obergefell, an Ohio man who married his dying partner, John Arthur, in Maryland in 2013 because their home state didn’t allow same-sex couples to marry — and then Ohio didn’t recognize their marriage and wouldn’t list Obergefell as the surviving spouse on Arthur’s death certificate.

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