Hi, y'all!

✨ As if we didn't love our aunts enough, here's another reason: They provide a vital source of support for LGBTQ+ young folks. A recent study looked at aunts who were relatives or chosen family and their relationship with queer youth. Researchers found that "aunts of all racial backgrounds brought an ethic of care and social responsibility toward the well-being of their LGBTQ niblings [a gender-neutral term for the child of a sibling]. Aunts acted as a buffer between the youth and other family members, especially parents, and provided consistent loving and affirming support.” Here's to all the aunties out there! 💕💕💕

Conservative influencers seem excited that the 17-year-old who police say killed a child and injured five others in a school shooting in Iowa may have been LGBTQ+. The shooter was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. While authorities haven't commented about the shooter’s gender identity or sexual orientation, right-wing social media users have focused on the appearance of a Pride flag on an account allegedly linked to the shooter and have run with it.

🚨 Fact: Most mass shooters aren't trans or nonbinary people. The predominant demographic of mass shooters remains cisgender men. “Extremists often try to muddy the waters by blaming our gun violence crisis on mental health or gender identity, when often people with these lived realities are most likely to be victims of gun violence, rather than perpetrators of it," Angela Ferell-Zaballa, executive director of Moms Demand Action, said in a statement to The Advocate.🚨

💅🏽 Dolly Parton is being the wonderful person she is again. This time, the icon gifted a signed bejeweled guitar to Texas-based drag queen Brigitte Bandit. The drag performer has been a vocal advocate fighting against the state's anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. “To Brigitte. Love, Dolly Parton,” the guitar's message read. 🪕

In other news:

• A Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist is recovering after a knife attack. It comes after the country passed a new anti-homosexuality bill that includes the death penalty in some cases.
• A school district settled with a former student who was disciplined for wearing a shirt that read "Homosexuality is a sin." The former student happens to be the daughter of a preacher of an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled as a hate group.
• Two Colorado Catholic preschools are suing to discriminate against LGBTQ+ couples. We're not kidding.
• Out Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is working to make IVF easier for queer Veterans.
• A Virginia community is remembering the life of advocate Shelby "Lexus" Riddick-Walker.
• We're also remembering trans woman Amber Minor who was killed in Missouri.

Alex