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It’s Pride Month, y’all! We’re at the third Friday in June. Happy Pride Month!

I went into the office for the first time in 16 months this week. The place was almost completely deserted. The corporate overlords are limiting us to coming in no more than every other day. I’m a member of team "B" by the way. It was very strange to ride the bus for the first time in so long. My current plan is to go in about one day a week just to start getting used to being out and about. Before the pandemic I worked from home two days a week. I might eventually work back to that schedule. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, we have this week’s Friday Five. This week I bring you: one headline that brought tears to my eyes, the top five stories of the week, five stories of interest to queers and our allies, five stories about Pride Month, five stories about seditious traitors, five stories about deplorables, and five videos (plus some things I wrote plus a notable obituaries).

This Week’s Headline That Made Me Tear Up:

Single gay man who ‘always dreamed’ of a big family adopts six children with disabilities

Stories of the Week:

Supreme Court Rejects GOP Challenge to Affordable Care Act

Biden Signs Bill Making Juneteenth A Federal Holiday

Most top hospitals charge a more than 5x markup

Defiant male teachers wear skirts to school after student cruelly sent to psychologist for wearing a skirt

What the Supreme Court Ruling on Foster Care Means for LGBTQ+ Parents

Stories of Interest to Queers and Our Allies:

Biden administration extends Title IX protections to LGBTQ students – Experts warn that schools could just defy the federal government and discriminate against transgender student-athletes. Will the Biden administration take them to court?

Congresswoman is shredding companies celebrating “Pride” while supporting anti-LGBTQ politicians – Companies that change their logo to include a rainbow are finding out that isn’t good enough when they’re funding the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation we’ve faced over the past years Not just any Congresswoman, but my Congresswoman. I’m so proud.

Nearly 1 in 5 young adults say they’re not straight, global survey finds – The survey, conducted in 27 countries, also found that 4 percent of those in Generation Z identify as transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming or gender-fluid

Lesbian couple crowned prom queens after surprise win – The couple didn’t even think they’d make it on the ballot, let alone win, at their rural school in a small Pennsylvania town. Now they’ve made history

Charles M. Blow on Bi Visibility and the Debt We Owe as Queer People

This Week in Pride:

The very first rainbow Pride flags were thought to be gone. Until now – Gilbert Baker had saved one of his two original Pride flags. No one knew, even when it was used for another historic occasion. Now it’s on display in San Francisco

Opinion | Pride offers LGBTQ youth opportunities for community – Whether out or not, everyone benefits from annual celebrations

Before Stonewall, LGBTQ history was made at Bucks County Community College — and then forgotten. Until now – When the school abruptly cancelled a 1968 gay rights advocate’s talk at the school, up to 200 students protested. That history is now being celebrated

Kamala Harris Becomes First Sitting V.P. to March in Pride Event

‘The Colors of Pride’ Is a Celebration Beyond Parades and Parties

This Week in Seditious Traitors:

Capitol riot suspect used charity to promote violence, feds say – Alan Hostetter, a former California police chief, used his charity as a platform to protest that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, according to an indictment

Showing D.C. How It’s Done: Oregon Boots Lawmaker Who Aided State Capitol Incursion – State representative Mike Nearman was caught on video opening the door of the state capitol to an armed incursion, completing what he’d referred to as “Operation Hall Pass”

Watching Biden meet Putin was ‘the real moment’ Trump realized he wasn’t president anymore: NYT’s Haberman

Riot Suspect Collared After Boasting Post: I’m On TV

Ted Cruz Talks to Flag While Texans Don’t Have Air Conditioning

This Week in Deplorables, Haters, and Hate Crimes:

A gay couple endured years of anonymous hate mail. Then they found out who was sending it

High court rejects 2 Virginia white nationalist rally cases

‘Alito was just pissed’: Trump’s Supreme Court breaks down along surprising lines – Thursday’s decisions laid bare an emerging rift within the court’s conservative majority.

Muslim family in Canada killed in ‘premeditated’ truck attack

Leaked Messages Implicate White Nationalist Rep. Paul Gosar in Plot to Disrupt Biden Arizona Win Using Proud Boys

In Memoriam:

Seattle Loses Bill Kennedy, The Best Friend a Movie Lover Could Ever Have – Bill never found a movie, any movie, to be a waste of time

Things I Wrote:

Five years after the Pulse massacre, what can we do?

Loki Loses His “Glorious Purpose”

Videos

Click on the image to be taken to the video!

No One Knows How to Behave in Public Anymore | The Daily Show

460 Days Later, Stephen Colbert Returns To THE Late Show Stage With A Full Audience

Mitch McConnell Shamelessly Says ‘The Era of Bipartisanship Is Over’: A Closer Look

"They Are Going To Kill Us All’ – Jon Stewart Declares His Love For Scientists

DC’s Stargirl Season 2 Trailer – Brec Bassinger Superhero series