As Queer Kentuckians, staying informed about LGBTQ+ news worldwide is essential. Changes in policy, activism, and culture in other regions can impact our community and efforts locally. Our weekly global news roundup keeps you updated on important LGBTQ+ developments, ensuring we remain informed and connected.

• Textbook Publishers Refuse to Promote Trump Ideologies: Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, promoted damaging new curriculum standards such as banning LGBTQ+ books and writing U.S. history through a Christian Nationalist lens. Top publishers like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have ignored his demands. 

• Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Will Not Participate in Belfast Pride: The NIAS will not be permitted to attend pride events in uniform this year in Belfast, Ireland. Because the organizers of the event are protesting against anti-trans youth legislation, being in uniform is said to signal protest against departmental policy. 

• Non-biological Mothers in Same-Sex Unions Entitled to Paternity Leave in Italy: Italy’s top court has ruled that a mother in a same-sex union that is not the biological parent has the right to paternity leave for bonding time with new children. This comes after a ruling in May that decided that two women were allowed to register as the parents of a child on birth certificates. 

• The UN Renews LGBTQ+ Human Rights Expert Mandate: The UN’s Human Rights Council voted to renew the mandate for the sole expert in the UN system that specifically addresses violence and discrimination faced by LGBTQ people. South African scholar Graeme Reid holds the mandate currently, and the work will be able to continue for the next three years, 

• U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Complies With Anti-Trans Executive Order: The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has agreed to alter policies in obedience with Trump’s ban of transgender women performing in women’s sports. This change has been made under the claims that it will protect women’s opportunities in sports, despite the fact that there has never been an athlete out as a trans woman to win an Olympic medal.