The Target Corporation has just launched a line of rainbow-studded t-shirts supporting gay pride season, aiming to donate up to $120,000 of the proceeds to the pro-gay Family Equality Council. 

This may come as a shock to many gay rights activists, who remember Target sadly for its past contributions to MN Forward, a group that supported anti-gay political candidate Tom Emmer. However, Target also gets consistently high rankings on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, and it’s a sponsor of Minneapolis-area Pride events. 

“Target is not anti-gay,” Michael Francis, Target’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told The Los Angeles Times. “It’s important to set the record straight and provide some context.”

The shirts are apparently only available online and through the month of June. Get yours here. And in the meantime, what do you think about this? Is it a change of heart, or has Target always been allied?

On Thursday, Burma will have its very first public LGBT pride event as part of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Writers, artists and other speakers will discuss international LGBT rights at the event, which will take place indoors rather than in a parade format because of the climate toward LGBT people. Still, organizers are confident the event will send a positive message.

Asked if he is concerned about conservative backlash, Min insists that the Pride events will not be political. “This is just a celebration of a historic event, when homosexuality was removed from the list of mental diseases,” he told Gay Star News. “It’s just about the dignity of the LGBT people.”

“Our message is just to end homophobia,” he added.

How exciting! 

Gay pride in Madison circa the late 90’s. History! 

Rainbow Pride in Tokyo drew roughly 1,000 people to celebrate on Sunday. More.

From a pride parade in India in 2010. Love this slogan.

Oh hell yeah.

The prestigious Los Angeles Gay Pride organization has announced that The Trevor Project will serve as Community Grand Marshal at its pride parade in June.

Every year LA Pride chooses one organization that has done an exceptional job of promoting and advancing LGBT equality to serve as Community Grand Marshal. As more and more cases of LGBT bullying and suicide make headlines, The Trevor Project has become more of a household name and is a well-known advocate for suicide prevention.

As Owen Ward of the CSW Board of Directors explains, “Forty-two years ago, when Christopher Street West held the world’s first Pride parade along Hollywood Boulevard, an organization with the sole mission of saving the lives of young LGBTQ people—such as Trevor—wasn’t even in the realm of possibility. Today, throughout our country, many parents, teachers, counselors, legislators, advocates and even the White House know that Trevor is the default when it comes to supporting kids struggling with their sexual orientation, gender identity, family acceptance and bullying.”

Way to go! They totally deserve it. Wish I could be in LA for this - if you’re in the area, it’s on June 10 in West Hollywood!

A court in Budapest has overturned a prior police decision to ban a gay pride march in July.

The police headquarters refused to grant permission for the pride march back in April, but march organizers challenged the decision. The court ruled the march could take place as long as it stayed on a certain route, saying the police had no legal foundation for banning it.

Amnesty International welcomed the court’s decision on Friday. In a statement sent to MTI, AI Hungary director Orsolya Jeney said the decision confirmed all Hungarians’ right to the freedom of assembly as well as signalling a victory for the LMBT community. After this, police will be expected to ensure that the participants can freely practice their rights and they are protected from harassment and violence by groups that oppose the march, the AI added. 

Woohoo! Victories all over the globe, I tell ya.

The oldest private military academy in the country is finally holding its first-ever gay pride week, six months after the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy has expired, starting today.

Norwich University’s gay-straight alliance club held its first meeting in September within hours of the end of DADT. The organization is now planning a gay pride week entailing six days of events at the Vermont school - one day for each color of the LGBT flag - which will feature lectures and presentations on topics from bullying to HIV. 

The week will culminate in the university’s first queer prom and alumni will likely come back to visit and join the festivities. 

Times have changed, said Norwich Vice President Michael Kelley, a 1974 Norwich graduate who spent 27 years in the military before returning to Norwich. The school was also among the first to admit women to its Corps of Cadets.

“It’s saying that we as a military community are looking to more to the future, that we’re not quibbling about the past, what was or what wasn’t, that we can take a leadership role to help move our students to a more enlightened future,” Kelley said.

Great for them. I hope more schools catch on; this is a brilliant way to embrace the changing times. 

A student at a Christian college in Michigan was told to tone down the gay pride on her Facebook or move off campus.

Kiah Zabel is a sophomore at Rochester College, a private Christian school, and she recently came out as a lesbian. She posted a cover photo reading “Out…Proud…Lesbian” only to have school administration ask her to take it down.

Dean of Students Brian Cole asked her to either take down the photo or be forced to move off campus:

“‘Out … Proud … Lesbian’ is not really consistent with the heritage of Rochester College and has proven to already be disruptive among fellow students who are really bothered by it,” he said in a letter to Zabel.

Rochester College’s student handbook says that intimate relationships were designed by God, and sex should only occur between a husband and wife.

My brain can’t even process this. A cover photo on Facebook is enough to force a student out of her home? Are you kidding me?