Racing driver Daniel Dye has been indefinitely suspended from NASCAR after making homophobic remarks about a rival driver.
According to ESPN, Dye was penalized for mocking IndyCar driver David Malukas during a recent livestream. In a video that circulated on social media, Dye used exaggerated voices — including an imitation of Malukas — in a way that suggested Malukas might be gay.
Malukas, 24, drives for Team Penske and frequently posts photos with his girlfriend on social media. There is no indication that he is gay.
Dye, who competes in the Truck Series for Kaulig Racing, was also suspended by his team after it became aware of the comments on March 17.
He later apologized in a social media post, calling his remarks “careless.”
“I chose my words poorly, and I understand why it upset people,” he wrote. “I’m sorry to anyone who was offended. That’s not how I want to represent myself. I have some close friends in the LBGTQ+ community who I would never want to feel less of themselves because of what I said, and that’s exactly why I should hold myself to a higher standard.”
Dye added that conversations with those friends made him realize “a true friend would know better than to act the way I did.”
“I didn’t think enough before I spoke, and I in no way meant any harm,” he continued. “I know that intention does not erase impact and I need to do better.”
In announcing the suspension, NASCAR said the 22-year-old violated a section of its rulebook prohibiting members from making public statements that “criticize, ridicule, or otherwise disparage another person” based on characteristics including sexual orientation.
The suspension is indefinite, and Dye must complete sensitivity training before returning to competition.
It marks the second suspension of his career. At 18, while racing in the ARCA series, Dye was arrested at a high school in Daytona Beach, Florida, and charged with felony battery after punching a classmate in the groin, according to ESPN. The victim was treated for a possible ruptured testicle.
Dye claimed the incident occurred during a game and said he would be exonerated. He was suspended by ARCA — which is owned by NASCAR — and later reinstated after the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.
Nepal has elected its first-ever transgender woman to parliament, with the election commission confirming last week that 37-year-old LGBTQ rights advocate Bhumika Shrestha will serve as a lawmaker from the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party, which secured 182 of 275 seats earlier this month.
In Nepal, voters cast two ballots in parliamentary elections: one elects 165 members from single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting, while the other fills 110 seats from party lists distributed proportionally based on the overall vote.
The District of Columbia has settled a lawsuit brought by a veteran D.C. Department of Corrections officer who alleged anti-gay discrimination, agreeing to pay him $500,000.
Sgt. Deon Jones, a 28-year veteran of the Department of Corrections, filed the lawsuit in 2021 alleging violations of the D.C. Human Rights Act after supervisors and co-workers subjected him to discrimination because he is a gay man, including harassment and homophobic slurs while he was performing his duties inside the jail.
"I've been called a , a sissy, and I've been called other names. I would call for assistance, and no assistance would arrive," Jones told D.C. FOX affiliate WTTG shortly after filing the lawsuit.
President Donald Trump reportedly laughed aloud after being briefed by U.S. intelligence that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, may be gay -- and that his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, allegedly considered him unfit to rule for that reason.
According to the New York Post, Trump was stunned by the news, while others in the room reportedly found the intelligence “hilarious” and joined him in laughing at the irony -- particularly given Iran’s harsh laws criminalizing homosexuality.
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