Under Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican is continuing a friendlier approach to LGBTQ Catholics adopted during Pope Francis's papacy.
While the Church has no intention of changing its doctrine on marriage -- recognizing only unions between a man and a woman -- the Vatican has signaled that it intends to continue Francis's outreach to gay and lesbian Catholics rather than adopt a more condemnatory tone.
Catholic LGBTQ advocates were elated last week after a Vatican working group -- comprised of theologians, bishops, priests, a sister, and a layperson -- released a report featuring testimony from two gay married Catholics who spoke about their sexuality, faith, and the harm caused by the Church's negative teachings on homosexuality.
"I think we have an inherent human need to gather and form connections with people that are like us, particularly as a non-majority group," says Rachel Karp. "As long as queer people are not the majority, I think there will be a desire and a need for in-person queer spaces."
Karp, co-producer of the podcast Cruising, is the author of the forthcoming The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, which profiles many of the approximately thirty or so remaining lesbian bars in the United States. The 30-year-old recalls how the podcast and book were both inspired by news reports during the COVID pandemic about the closure of bars and restaurants that were unable to keep operating due to government-mandated lockdowns.
An 18-year-old man was arrested at Cedar Point, the storied, decades-old amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, for pulling down the skirt and underwear of a transgender woman.
The incident occurred around 8:30 p.m. on May 26. According to a Sandusky Police Department report, a security officer was flagged down by a Cedar Point guest, a transgender woman, who said she and a transgender friend were preparing to leave the park when a man approached her friend from behind, grabbed her skirt and underwear, and pulled them down, exposing her buttocks and genitals.
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