Queer Southern Pride

08/26/2026

⚖️ Texas drag ban ruled unconstitutional again.

A federal judge has ruled Texas’ drag ban unconstitutional for the second time in three years, leaving the law unenforceable for now.

08/26/2026

The world said goodbye to Dolly Parton today. The Queen of Country Music died peacefully at her home in Nashville on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at the age of 80, her family confirmed in a video message from her nephew, who signed off the way only her family could: "Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly. Aunt, Granny, Gigi. She will always love you."

Among the countless words being shared in her memory, one quote is traveling further than the rest. Asked by The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 about the wave of anti-trans legislation in her beloved home state of Tennessee, Dolly answered the way she lived: "I've got transgender people. I've got g**s. I've got le****ns. I've got drunks. I've got drug addicts, all within my own family. I know and love them all, and I do not judge." And then, in the same breath: "If there's something to be judged, that is God's business. But we are all God's children and how we are is who we are."

It was never a one-off line. "If you're the fine Christian that you think you are, why are you judging people?" she told Larry King in 2017. "That's God's job."

Born the fourth of 12 children in a one-room Tennessee cabin, she sold more than 100 million records, wrote "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You," put 200 million books into children's hands through her Imagination Library, helped fund a COVID vaccine, and never once made anyone feel beneath her. She is reunited now with Carl, her husband of nearly 60 years, who passed last year.

The rhinestones were never the thing that made her shine. Rest easy, Dolly. You were always loved right back.

08/26/2026

Dolly Parton was an icon and incredible ally to the LGBTQI+ community. Through her music and fierce allyship, she taught us all that "not a one is turned away when it’s family.”

Our hearts are with her family, friends, loved ones, and fans today as we mourn her loss.

08/26/2026

08/25/2026

Francília Costa and Luiza Silvério met in a convent in 2019 and could not stand each other at first. Luiza has said she thought Francília was stuck up, and Francília thought the exact same thing about her. The dislike faded over the following years and turned into a close friendship.

Both women eventually left religious life for reasons tied to their mental health. To save money, they moved into an apartment together as roommates, and that is when their feelings for each other started to change. Francília says she worked up the courage to open up to Luiza after watching a romantic comedy about two people who start out hating each other and end up falling in love.

The couple married in an outdoor ceremony in October 2025. They still consider themselves practicing Catholics and are involved with a network for LGBTQIA+ Catholics, where they say they now hear from religious people questioning their own sexuality as well as LGBTQIA+ people who are afraid to get closer to their faith.

08/25/2026

BREAKING🚨🏳️‍🌈 Texas is forcibly DETRANSITIONING more than 1,100 trans prisoners after quietly ending their access to hormone therapy.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed by phone that Policy G-51.11, the rule that let trans people in its custody receive hormone therapy, had already been dead for "a few weeks." Officials said nothing is replacing it, and that state prison health services are no longer authorized to provide gender-affirming care at all. They declined to give any further details.

The policy had just been renewed in July.

Then the links started returning 404 errors. G-51.11 disappeared from the Correctional Managed Health Care manual, along with a 2014 revision explanation and two hormone therapy consent forms that had also been updated in July. The code that displayed all four on the site is still there, commented out line by line. The 2026 Disease Management Guidelines, published eleven days ago, made one major change from the 2025 version: the "Gender Dysphoria Hormone Monitoring Guideline" was cut, and the 34 sections after it were renumbered. The drug formulary that mentioned gender dysphoria is gone from the publications list too. Guidance explaining intersex conditions to staff went with it.

Texas runs the largest state prison system in the country, roughly 149,000 people. The 1,100-plus trans people held there are about one in five of all trans people in state prisons nationwide.

That makes Texas the sixth state to ban this care behind bars, the first to do it without passing legislation, and the first to do it with no warning at all. Bans in Georgia and Idaho are currently blocked by courts.

Stopping hormones abruptly can cause hot flashes, mood swings, insomnia and bone loss, leaving people vulnerable to fractures. For those who have had surgery as part of their transition, losing hormones can be far more dangerous.

Florida restricted the same care in its prisons, where LaTrisha Ramon's daughter, Sauge Smith, was incarcerated. "First, they made her cut her hair, then they took her bra away," Ramon said. Smith died by su***de in a Florida prison last year.

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08/23/2026