Latest news with #LGBTQ-related
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Six Wiregrass Methodist churches to close
DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN) — Six churches in the Wiregrass will close after a vote by members in the Alabama West-Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. The announcement to close a total of 27 churches came near the end of the conference's annual meeting on Tuesday at the Pensacola First United Methodist Church. Of those 27 churches, the six in the Wiregrass include: Sardis United Methodist Church in Hartford Center Ridge United Methodist Church in Coffee Springs Williams Chapel United Methodist Church in Brundidge Epworth United Methodist Church in Barbour County Memorial United Methodist Church in Covington County Williams Chapel United Methodist Church in Pike County The closures took effect on Tuesday, and all property held by these churches was transferred to the Board of Trustees of the Alabama-West Florida Conference. A speaker cited that most of the closures were due to declining membership, but also stated that some of the churches, including those in the Wiregrass, were closed because 'circumstances existed at these churches that required immediate protection of the local church property for the benefit of the denomination.' Many in the crowd were crying as the announcements were made. The other churches that were closed during the conference are: Friendship United Methodist Church in Jackson County, Florida Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church in Choctaw County Mt. Herman United Methodist Church in Hale County Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church in Hale County Ramsey's Chapel in Hale County Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church in Hale County China Grove United Methodist Church in Hale County Morris Chapel of Opelika in Lee County Irvington United Methodist Church in Mobile County Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Montgomery County Minerva United Methodist Church in Washington County Trinity Weoka United Methodist Church in Elmore County Epworth United Methodist Church in Barbour County Greenville First United Methodist Church in Butler County Trinity United Methodist Church in Russell County Guy's Chapel United Methodist Church in Baldwin County Fitzpatrick United Methodist Church in Bullock County Loachapoka United Methodist Church in Lee County Whitfield Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery County Butler First United Methodist Church in Choctaw County Flomaton United Methodist Church in Escambia County McRae Street of Atmore First United Methodist Church in Escambia County In March, the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church voted to close 20 churches. The closures come as the UMC faces several pending lawsuits, including one from Dothan's Harvest Church, over land and disafiliation disputes. Thousands of Methodist congregations split from the denomination over disputes involving the church's LGBTQ-related policies. United Methodist rules forbid same-sex marriage rites and the ordination of 'self-avowed practicing homosexuals,' but progressive Methodist churches and regional governing bodies in the U.S. have increasingly been defying these rules. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
08-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
White House dismisses Pride Month as WorldPride gathers in Washington
President Trump's administration has not formally recognized Pride Month this year, but has doubled down on LGBTQ-related actions some advocates deem hostile — even as one of the world's largest Pride celebrations takes place in the nation's capital. Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has 'no plans' to issue a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month. Trump declined to issue Pride Month proclamations throughout his first term but briefly acknowledged Pride in a 2019 social media post touting his administration's efforts to decriminalize homosexuality globally and recognizing the'outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great nation.' This year, Trump has not acknowledged Pride Month publicly. But the Education Department on Monday said it would instead recognize June as 'Title IX Month' in a nod to the administration's efforts to use the 1972 civil rights law to bar transgender students from girls' and women's school sports, restrooms and locker rooms. 'This is going to come as maybe tough news for the Trump administration to stomach, but June is Pride Month, whether they choose to acknowledge that or not,' said Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group. 'And Pride is, and always has been, a protest, whether they choose to acknowledge that or not.' Pride Month marches and celebrations began in June 1970, one year after demonstrators demanded equal rights for LGBTQ Americans at the Stonewall riots in New York. Three decades later, former President Clinton issued the first presidential proclamation designating June 'Gay and Lesbian Pride Month,' the scope of which was expanded under former President Obama to include bisexual and transgender people. Former President Biden issued Pride Month proclamations each of his four years in office. This year's Pride festivities are not only being brushed off by the White House, however. On Tuesday, Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.), whom Trump endorsed as a 'champion of our America First agenda' in her most recent re-election bid, introduced a resolution declaring June 'Family Month' in a rebuke of Pride. 'By recognizing June as Family Month, we reject the lie of 'Pride' and instead honor God's timeless and perfect design,' she told the conservative news outlet The Daily Wire. A group of Republican lawmakers, including Miller, also railed this week against a post by the children's television show 'Sesame Street' that acknowledged Pride Month. They accused the nonprofit TV network PBS, on which 'Sesame Street' has long aired, of 'grooming' children, an accusation that opponents of LGBTQ rights have long used to associate LGBTQ identity with predatory behavior. 'This hostile rhetoric, the lengths to which they've gone to punish people for existing as LGBTQ, all of it is a testament to just how much our power scares them,' said Wolf, noting that Washington's pushback against Pride comes as the city hosts WorldPride, an international LGBTQ Pride event that's expected to draw millions to D.C. Within the administration, Trump's Defense Department's actions have made perhaps the biggest splash during the first week of Pride Month. On Tuesday, reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Navy Secretary John Phelan to rename an oil tanker named for the assassinated gay rights activist Harvey Milk, with an official announcement expected next week and planned intentionally for Pride Month. Milk, a Navy lieutenant who served during the Korean War and in 1977 became the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, spearheaded an effort to mobilize California voters to oppose a 1978 ballot measure that would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. The proposal to strip the ship of Milk's name drew widespread media attention and criticism. 'I don't agree with it,' Retired Adm. James Stavridis, once floated as a possible candidate for Secretary of State during the first Trump administration, said Friday on 'The Michael Smerconish Program.' He questioned why 'we need to rename this ship' at 'this moment' during Pride Month. The Navy is also considering renaming other ships named after prominent civil rights leaders, according to CBS News, including Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall and Lucy Stone. This week, Senate Republicans blocked a Democrat-led resolution that would have expressed the upper chamber's belief 'that the Department of Defense should not seek to remove these names.' This week, the military also ordered transgender service members to self-identify and start a voluntary separation from the armed forces by Friday, also during Pride Month. In an email, Alex Wagner, an adjunct professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said Hegseth's recent actions targeting Pride Month and LGBTQ people at the Pentagon 'have made him look petty and silly.' Wagner, who served as assistant secretary of the Air Force under former President Biden, helped organize the Defense Department's first Pride event in 2012 while serving in the Obama administration. 'There is absolutely no question, in my mind and in my experience, that the greatest engine for social justice and civil rights in American history is the U.S. military, and it's provided opportunity for everyone, no matter where they come from and no matter what they look like, to succeed,' Wagner said in an interview. 'To denigrate the service of those who sought a career serving the country … is evidence of someone who has not the right experience, not the right insight.' Hegseth, a frequent critic of efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, has opposed recognizing or celebrating specific identities or differences in the military. 'I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, 'our diversity is our strength,'' Hegseth said in a February address at the Pentagon. The former Fox News personality and Army veteran also ended the Defense Department's recognition of cultural and heritage months, including Pride Month, Black History Month and Women's History Month, shortly after his Senate confirmation. In guidance titled 'Identity Months Dead at DoD,' Hegseth stated, 'Efforts to divide the force – to put one group ahead of another – erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution.'
The Journal
05-06-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Hungary's infamous ban on LGBTQ+ content deemed to be violation of EU law
A HUNGARIAN LAW that harshly restricts access to LGBTQ-related content is a violation of European Union law, according to the Advocate General of the EU's Court of Justice. By banning content about LGBTQ+ sexualities and gender identities from being available to under-18s, Hungary is infringing on the treaty that sets out the EU's fundamental principles, the Advocate General's formal legal opinion stated. The Treaty of the European Union outlines that the EU is 'founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities'. By calling into question the equality of LGBTQ+ people, Hungary has 'negated' several of the EU's fundamental values, Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta said. It has also 'significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy'. In 2021, Hungary's parliament passed a bill that effectively banned communicating with children and teenagers about sexual orientations and gender identities . The impacts affected education programmes, meaning students could not be educated about LGBTQ+ identities, and media like books and movies, including movies that depict LGBTQ+ being classified as 18+. The European Commission brought an infringement action before the Court of Justice against Hungary over the law and Ćapeta has now set out her legal opinion that the Court rule the action is well-founded. She said the legislation infringed on the freedom enshrined in EU law to provide and receive services. Advertisement It also interferes with fundamental rights protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, namely the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation; respect for private and family life; freedom of expression and information; and the right to human dignity. Capéta said these interferences cannot be justified by the reasons put forward by Hungary, which tried to argue for the law on the basis of protection of the 'healthy development of minors' and the 'right of parents to raise their children according to their personal convictions'. The Advocate General said the Hungarian legislation is not limited to shielding minors from pornographic content, which was already prohibited by the law in Hungary prior to the 2021 legislation, and goes as far as prohibiting the portrayal of ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people. She said that Hungary has not offered any proof of a potential risk of harm of content that portrays ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people to the healthy development of minors and that consequently, its legislation is 'based on a value judgment that homosexual and non-cisgender life is not of equal value or status as heterosexual and cisgender life'. The EU legal system recognises that there can be different visions among member states about how common values should be implemented in practice, and that disagreements about fundamental rights should not result in a finding of an infringement of the Treaty of the European Union. However, Hungary's actions in this case are not a matter of a 'disagreement', Capéta said. She said that LGBTQ+ people being deserving of equal respect in member states is 'not open to contestation through dialogue'. She said: Disrespect and marginalisation of a group in a society are the 'red lines' imposed by the values of equality, human dignity and respect for human rights. As such, 'by calling into question the equality of LGBTI persons, Hungary is not demonstrating a disagreement or a divergence about the content of the values of the European Union'. 'Instead, that Member State has negated several of those fundamental values and, thus, has significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy, reflected in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union.' An Advocate General's opinion is not binding on the Court of Justice but gives the Court a proposed legal solution to cases it is responsible for. Related Reads 'Weeping for this country': Struggle continues in Hungary as Ireland joins Europe in stance against anti-LGBT+ bill The judges of the court are now beginning deliberations on the case. If the Court of Justice finds a member state has failed to fulfil obligations of EU law, the the country must comply with the Court's judgment 'without delay' or face further action like financial penalties. 'No place in the EU' Dávid Vig, director of Amnesty International Hungary, said the Advocate General's opinion 'made it clear the [anti-LGBTQ+] law has no place in Hungary and the European Union'. 'The discriminatory law violates several human rights and promotes the idea that the life of LGBTI people is not of equal value,' Vig said. In March of this year, the Hungarian parliament passed legislation that restricts freedom of assembly and consequently prohibited LGBTQ+ Pride marches . LGBTQ+ rights organisation ILGA-Europe said the today's opinion from the Advocate General should mean the anti-Pride legislation is also considered to be violating EU law. 'The AG's opinion is very clear in that Hungary breaches EU law and the Treaties by enacting the anti-LGBTI legislation from 2021,' said ILGA-Europe's advocacy director Katrin Hugendubel. 'The new package of amendments adopted this year to criminalise Pride marches and their organisers builds directly on that unlawful legislation and must therefore also be considered a violation of EU law.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scared advertisers, flag bans and Trump: the US is in for a troubled Pride 2025
When Utah brought in its pride flag ban, organizer Chad Call was hardly surprised. On 7 May the US state became the first to explicitly prohibit the flying of LGBTQ+ flags at government buildings and schools; anyone who does so could face fines of $500 a day. 'We live in an incredibly conservative state,' says Call, executive director of Utah Pride. 'It's disappointing that this is such an important issue to our lawmakers. Unfortunately, we lead the nation in anti-LGBTQ legislation.' Similar Pride month flag bans have been signed into law in Idaho and Montana. 'Bigotry is nothing new,' says Donald Williamson, executive director of Idaho's Boise Pride. 'This community has been dealing with targeted legislation for several years now – flags are just the latest. All it does is bond us more closely together and emphasize how important festivals like Pride are.' In Salt Lake City and Boise, which are both Democrat-run, people are already resisting the bans. Salt Lake City has introduced three newly designed flags featuring the city's traditional sego lily design imposed over a pride flag, the transgender flag and the Juneteenth flag. Meanwhile, Boise's mayor issued a proclamation retroactively making the pride flag an official city flag. About 31 flag-related bills have been introduced across 17 states, says Logan Casey, policy director of independent LGBTQ+ thinktank the Movement Advancement Project (MAP). 'Some bills apply to all government property, while some apply to school settings only,' says Casey. 'Some specifically name and prohibit LGBTQ-related flags, while others only allow certain flags like the national, state, or other governmental flags – and so LGBTQ-related ones are prohibited implicitly. Ushering in a Pride month that is sure to be tumultuous, these flag bans are among a raft of fresh anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. At the time of writing, the ACLU was tracking the progress of 588 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across the country. MAP puts the figure at about 700 bills, while pointing out that in recent years most anti-LGBTQ+ bills have ultimately been defeated. Related: This doctor calls LGBTQ+ rights 'satanic'. He could now undo healthcare for millions Pride 2025 already has an acutely political focus due to the sheer scale of these legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ people, alongside the Trump administration's targeting of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and trans rights. In this precarious landscape, a swath of big-name corporate sponsors have withdrawn from Pride events, leaving organizers to urgently re-evaluate both their size and security costs. The exodus of sponsors from US Pride events, large and small, have made headlines: the loss of the likes of Anheuser-Busch, Comcast and Diageo from San Francisco Pride has accounted for – at the time of writing – a $200,000 shortfall for a $3.2m event last year attended by an estimated 1.5 million people. (La Crema and Benefit Cosmetics have recently returned as sponsors, a spokesperson said.) Some organizers say that companies retreating from Pride have been spooked by Trump's anti-DEI crusade. (The White House did not respond to requests for comment about its plans for any Pride month messaging.) Utah Pride, for instance, is short $400,000 – or close to half – of its typical sponsorship total. 'It's primarily due to the anti-DEI rhetoric happening on a federal and state level,' says Call, declining to name the companies that have withdrawn. 'We definitely have a target on our backs. But there is nothing they can do to prevent us from having Pride, unless more legislation is coming down, and that would be probably unconstitutional.' Yet some companies have said they are pulling their financial support because of the jittery economic climate. We had Pride before corporate sponsors paid us any attention Eve Keller, USA Prides 'Businesses are struggling for a lot of different reasons, like uncertainty around future tariffs,' says Elizabeth Michael, executive director of the non-profit group SoMA 501, which is organizing a Pride event in Little Rock, Arkansas. 'Putting on this event costs a lot of money, around $20,000-$40,000, and we're doing our best to scrape it together the best we can.' SF Pride had also been struggling to regain its stability after the pandemic, even before this year's turmoil. 'We are by no means financially safe,' Suzanne Ford, its executive director, says. 'I don't think any Pride in the United States is financially safe at this moment.' New York City Pride, the US's largest Pride festival attended last year by an estimated 2.5 million people, has seen the withdrawal of Mastercard, PepsiCo, Nissan, Citi and PricewaterhouseCoopers as corporate sponsors. The New York Times reported that 25% of New York's corporate Pride donors had 'canceled or scaled back their support, citing economic uncertainty and fear of retribution from the Trump administration'. Organizers Heritage of Pride now face an estimated $750,000 shortfall. Technology company Booz Allen Hamilton withdrew their backing from WorldPride, the biannual, global-themed event this year happening in Washington DC. Two corporate sponsors have withdrawn from Pridefest, Virginia's largest LGBTQ+ festival, Axios reported (organizers declined to name them). Anheuser-Busch, Lowe's, Nissan and Walmart have withdrawn from Columbus Pride in Ohio, costing the organization about $125,000 in lost donations, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Many Pride organizers say that the impact of sponsors' withdrawal will not just be felt at Pride events, but in the losses to funding, and potential scaling back, of LGBTQ+ advocacy programs throughout the rest of the year. Not all companies have turned their back on Pride. Citi still plans to have an employee presence in the New York march, and contribute to other events. Ford says that while some large businesses were still funding SF Pride events, they had requested they receive no public recognition for doing so; she declined to name them. Other event organizers said the same, claiming that companies still wanted to support Pride but privately, with their names unspoken and invisible. In Boise, Williamson says: 'so far, knock on wood,' no sponsors had withdrawn their support for the September festival, now in its 36th year. Last year, 60,000 people attended the largest Pride event in Idaho, backed by 77 corporate sponsors and 35 small business sponsors. Williamson says that so far, there are only 40 corporate and small business sponsors signed up for the festival's 2025 edition. He declined to name names. 'I don't want to jinx anything at this stage in the process.' Despite the monetary perils and anti-DEI headwinds, Pride organizers who spoke to the Guardian insisted the show will go on, especially in light of the political hostility LGBTQ+ people are facing in the US and globally. There was a certain irony to the brouhaha around the sponsor withdrawal headlines, many US organizers note. Some LGBTQ+ activists have long criticized Pride events for being too corporatist and beholden to big businesses seeking to cash in on the queer community and 'pinkwash' their reputations. 'Big sponsors supported Pride because they knew LGBTQ people had money in our wallets,' says Eve Keller, co-president of USA Prides, a national network of about 200 LGBTQ+ Pride festival organizations across the country. 'They weren't making lasting change, they were just rainbow-washing their logos for the month of June. We had Pride before corporate sponsors paid us any attention. We're getting back to our community roots, with people wanting to connect and collaborate with each another. Pride started as a protest. We're here to show up and be heard as who we are. Pride creates joy, and queer joy is an act of resistance.' In red states, Pride marches and festivals take on an added depth and importance, says Densil R Porteous, executive director of Stonewall Columbus, which organizes the Ohio city's event, 'so people do not feel alone, especially if they're living in smaller rural communities'. Columbus's event goes under the moniker United in Pride and was attended by approximately 700,000 people last year. Porteous says the gathering helps combat 'feelings of defeat many people are feeling, and to remind us of the joy in our community and the history we're upholding. We are determined to come together and not be hidden and diminished any more.' Williamson in Boise agrees: 'It's incredibly rewarding to see tens of thousands of attenders. It's very easy to feel isolated and alone in deep red states like Idaho with people living in relatively isolated areas and incredibly regressive legislatures targeting the LGBTQ community.' We can't afford people to stay home, it's a revolutionary act to go to your Pride Suzanne Ford, SF Pride SF Pride's Ford, who is originally from the 'very red' Owensboro, Kentucky, says the scale of larger Pride festivals can also encourage LGBTQ+ people from small towns. 'The size and importance of an event like SF Pride is to say to LGBTQ people everywhere: 'You're not alone, and here in San Francisco you can be who you are. We don't tolerate you. We celebrate you.'' Ford cites Harvey Milk, the San Francisco gay rights crusader who advocated coming out as the most potent expression of LGBTQ+ strength, as a guiding light. 'I knew I was trans when I was five years old. I didn't come out till I was 46. Trans people have to be visible. We are confident, capable, loving people, and we deserve the same rights as everybody else. We don't need special favors, just a chance to exist.' Keeping attenders safe is another prime expense and focus for Pride organizers. There have been Pride security scares before, most notably at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in 2022 when police foiled plans of a white nationalist group to riot at a Pride event. Ahead of World Pride in DC, two LGBTQ+ organizations, Egale Canada and the African Human Rights Coalition, issued warnings against traveling to the US – principally down to concern that trans and non-binary people would not be allowed to enter the country. 'People are scared to leave America in case they're not allowed back in, and scared to come here in case they're not allowed in,' said Keller. 'People do not feel safe coming to America.' It is unknown if these worsening perceptions of the US will tangibly dent its share of the LGBTQ+ tourism market, currently estimated at around $300bn, including those traveling to the US for Pride events. Due to concerns that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security had not yet issued safety advisories ahead of this year's Pride month, Porteous in Ohio recently published a call 'for heightened collective safety and public solidarity'. In the statement he wrote: 'In a time marked by increasing visibility and vulnerability, our shared responsibility is clear: we must protect the spaces we've fought to create, together.' (The FBI did not respond to repeated requests for comment about any threats to Pride events it was monitoring this year.) The difficulties facing Pride this year has led to organizers rethinking how future gatherings will be financed, perhaps involving more community donations and crowdfunding. 'Ultimately, SoMa Pride is about community,' says Michael in Little Rock. 'It's about ensuring everyone has a place to feel safe and welcome. We're optimistic about closing the funding gap. We know money is tight right now, but if a progressive, welcoming south is important to you, consider giving $5.' The LGBTQ+ community and its allies need to show up and pay up, adds Ford in San Francisco. 'If every person who came through the gates of SF Pride gave us $20 we'd be in fine shape for 2026.' If the sponsors who have withdrawn from SF Pride wish to return in the future, 'we would have to discuss with them what happened,' Ford says. 'It can't be swept under the rug. We always have to entertain the idea of rehabilitation, but we can't forget.' In Ohio, Pride organizer Porteous says they had paused relationships with some organizations, 'but if they come back to common sense we'll have a conversation. It can be about healing and reconciliation, but also just because someone says sorry, it doesn't mean you have to accept their sorry.' However vexed the current moment, 'it is vital that Pride events across the country are well-attended this year,' Ford says, in order to send a strong message of collective presence and power to all those attacking LGBTQ+ rights. 'We can't afford people to stay home, it's a revolutionary act to go to your Pride.' In Idaho, Williamson remains determined to put on a celebratory Boise Pride. 'The queer community has been here forever, and Pride is the best time to show the world that the community will still be here when all this shit is done.' • This article was amended on 29 May 2025 to correct the first name of Suzanne Ford, the executive director of SF Pride.
Time of India
25-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Take-Two removes DEI references from 2025 annual report
Source: Rockstar Games Take-Two Interactive, the gaming company publisher of successful titles such as Grand Theft Auto, has removed all mention of "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" (DEI) from its just-released 2025 annual report in a low-key move. The new version of the report no longer speaks of previous DEI efforts or awards for LGBTQ support. Instead, it adds a more generic section on "Community and Engagement," which marks a significant shift in company messaging. Company focuses on community rather than identity-based initiatives — GTAVI_Countdown (@GTAVI_Countdown) In its 2025 report, Take-Two replaced the former "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" section with one called "Community & Engagement." The new section deletes former highlights of underrepresented group programs and has deleted mention of LGBTQ-related awards or DEI milestones. Rather, the report brings in a more general term: "diversity of thought." Language now centers on innovation and teamwork from diverse points of view, instead of demographic or identity-based inclusion. A sentence in the new report states, "We firmly believe that diversity of thought drives the innovation that is integral to our success." This change departs from identity-driven initiatives previously typical in reports, indicating a shift in the way that the company presents its corporate values internally to the public and investors. Growing corporate trend and quiet implementation There has been no formal release from Take-Two clarifying the change. The change was implemented silently, and when contacted by the media, the company refrained from comment. This revision is not isolated to Take-Two. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Tukarkan Bitcoin dan Ethereum - Tanpa Dompet Diperlukan! IC Markets MULAI SEKARANG Undo A number of major corporations in various sectors have recently made changes to their public filings to more broadly reference employee engagement and workplace culture. But unlike some others, Take-Two's revision stands out for the elimination of all DEI language and successes. The company continues to describe efforts to build a cooperative work environment but does so in more general terms than previously. Whether this represents an actual change in internal strategy or merely a restatement to use in public documents is uncertain. Take-Two's 2025 annual report shows a distinct change in tone, substituting its previous DEI language with more abstract messaging around community and diversity of thought. Although the company has not given a reason, the shift is part of a greater trend found in other major corporations. Take-Two's dedication to inclusion seems redefined and not abandoned for the time being. Also Read: GTA 6 story mode to last 45–50 hours, leaks suggest Get IPL 2025 match schedules , squads , points table , and live scores for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
