Latest news with #PrideWeek
Daily Mail
16-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Trinity Grammar sparks outrage after guest lecturer Basem Kerbage is pictured shoving a dildo down his throat
A prestigious Melbourne grammar school has sparked outrage after students widely re-shared a suggestive video involving a dildo from a guest speaker's social media account. Trinity Grammar in Kew hosted Queer Arab Australia founder Basem Kerbage at an assembly last Friday under Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria's Pride Round. The queer, pro-Palestine human rights activist addressed students from years seven to ten at the school, talking about different forms of love as part of the Pride Week event. Students from the school found a video on Mr Kerbage's Instagram shortly after the speech and widely reshared it. The video on his now-locked-down Instagram page appeared to depict Mr Kerbage pushing a dildo down his throat. Pupil's parents were reportedly upset by the content of the video and private messaging groups were flooded with complaints. Parents said they didn't 'like the direction the school is heading' and were appalled by the choice of presenter, according to the Herald Sun. A parent claimed that students were told to search for 'visualise your goals' by Mr Kerbage, which led them to the controversial Instagram post and a task titled 'dildo hand job challenge.' Another said the school had angered fee-paying parents with their lack of due diligence. 'Many parents are furious that the school failed to undertake due diligence in this young, gay man's extreme sex content digital footprint,' she said. In response, the school informed parents they had sourced Mr Kerbage through a reputable, government-funded organisation. 'It has since been brought to our attention that the speakers' social media accounts included inappropriate material including one since-deleted video which we understand the students have circulated among themselves,' they wrote in an email. The school said they had registered their concern with the organisation. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Trinity Grammar for an official response. Tuition fees for year seven students at the school begin at just more than $40,000 per year. For years 11 and 12, the school charges $42,944 per year. Other parents registered their disapproval of the speaker's stance on the war in the Middle East. Mr Kerbage reportedly attended the event wearing a Palestinian, black and white keffiyeh. The scarf is traditionally worn as a protector from the sun, before also serving as a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. Parents of Jewish students at the Anglican school told local media they were dismayed by the move.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
City Council decides not to issue Pride Month proclamation
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Colorado Springs City Council is not issuing a formal proclamation for Pride Month. While Pride Month proclamations had been issued in previous years, the City Council has decided not to issue a formal one for Pride Month in 2025. When asked why, the City Council gave various reasons. >>Pikes Peak Pride returns to Downtown Colorado Springs 'As a non-partisan legislative body, we believe our role is not to engage in identity-based or political gestures, but to focus on governance that benefits all residents. We want to be clear: we welcome everyone to Colorado Springs. We support the rights of every individual to live safely, freely, and with dignity. We extend our best wishes for a safe, respectful, and successful event, and we remain committed to ensuring our city is a place where all people feel valued and secure. Our decision is rooted in a desire to avoid divisive or performative politics. Instead, we aim to serve every citizen equally, without favor or pandering, and focus on the issues that unite us—such as public safety, infrastructure, economic vitality, and quality of life.' City Council Leadership The City Council noted that although they are not issuing a proclamation, they supported Pikes Peak Pride with money from the LART fund. 'We are sad to learn of the City Council's decision not to proclaim for Pride Month this year, as they've done for the last several years,' Pikes Peak Pride said. 'We're thankful to Mayor Yemi and his office for coming to the Pride Festival and issuing a Mayoral Proclamation again this year. We believe that repeals to diversity, equity, and inclusion from the federal level down are hurting minority groups across the board. Pikes Peak Pride exists to represent and provide visibility for our LGBTQIA+ community, and we thank those who show up and speak up for Pride Week. We see you. We hear you.' The Pride crosswalk will also not be installed. 'Due to accessibility and safety concerns, the City is not allowing crosswalks to be modified for any events,' said a City of Colorado Springs spokesperson. 'The City is providing outdoor space at the Pioneers Museum, where Pride is being held, for decoration by event organizers.' Pikes Peak Pride will celebrate Pride Month, love, identity, and community in Downtown Colorado Springs on Saturday and Sunday, June 14 and 15. The Pride Parade is also set to occur on Sunday at 11 a.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cut the Cord: Defund NPR and PBS Now
The freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment protect speech from government interference. They do not compel taxpayers to fund partisan propaganda. Yet every year, hard-earned tax dollars are funneled into outlets like NPR and PBS, which have increasingly used their platforms to promote radical left-wing agendas. Just last week, even PBS's Sesame Street introduced Pride Week to impressionable children–a clear example of ideological messaging disguised as children's programming. When Congress moves to end this funding, these outlets cry foul, claiming violations of free speech and free press. But the real offense is forcing Americans to subsidize content they fundamentally disagree with. That's why the White House's rescissions package rightly targets wasteful and politically charged programs like NPR and PBS for permanent defunding. These media organizations no longer resemble neutral public broadcasters. Instead, these outlets siphon public funds to push divisive, far-left agendas. Let's be clear: NPR and PBS are well-established media giants with robust donor networks, corporate sponsorships, and expansive digital platforms. NPR alone has reported hundreds of millions in revenue in recent years, while PBS benefits from expansive support networks that include major companies like Google and Amazon. With lucrative advertising deals and brand visibility that rivals commercial networks, these outlets are more than capable of standing on their own. In fact, only 1% of NPR's budget comes directly from the CPB funding the House will vote to rescind this week. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes federal dollars to NPR and PBS member stations, receives around $500 million in taxpayer funding annually. That may seem like a small figure in the context of Washington's massive budget, but it represents a larger issue—one of misplaced priorities. In an era where we are borrowing trillions and paying a staggering interest on our national debt, every dollar matters. Right now, our grandchildren are on track to become indentured servants to a debt that will dwarf our current $37 trillion liability. It's our responsibility now to do government differently by having the courage to make sweeping reforms, and cutting unnecessary spending is how we begin to preserve the fiscal health of our nation for future generations. We certainly should not be borrowing a billion dollars every two years to fund wildly pro-transgender stories and other left-wing content. Moreover, the question isn't whether NPR or PBS should exist. It's whether they should continue to do so on the public dime. When PBS and NPR were founded, there were real concerns about access to content on the public airwaves. But the media landscape has changed. Today, Americans have access to limitless content—educational, cultural, and otherwise—on demand, for free, or through voluntary subscription. Public broadcasting is one of many choices, not the only one. If viewers value the content, they can and do support it voluntarily, as millions already do through local fundraising drives and memberships. There is nothing stopping NPR or PBS from thriving in a competitive media environment. But there is something fundamentally wrong with forcing all taxpayers, regardless of political views or media preferences, to fund it. If we are serious about reducing waste, protecting taxpayers, and restoring trust in government, we must be willing to make choices that reflect both fiscal discipline and fairness. Republicans have campaigned on making these choices for decades with little to show for it, but circumstances have changed. With President Trump committed to draining the swamp and refocusing our government's priorities, Congress has a concrete opportunity to back up its words with action. This first rescissions package should be a softball pitch for Republicans. We can't miss it.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sioux City Pride Alliance starts celebrating Pride Month
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Rain didn't dampen spirits for the start of Pride Week in Sioux City. We took a live look at the Pride Parade, which started at 6:00 p.m. On Historic Fourth Street, at 4th and Iowa streets. The parade ended at 4th and Nebraska streets. This is the 4th year the Siouxland Pride Alliance has organized the event. However, this year's pride parade on Historic 4th Street drew just 12 entries. The parade was the 1st of multiple free, family-friendly events to celebrate Pride Month. Other Pride events that the alliance is holding include the Sioux City Pride Festival on Saturday, June 7, an interfaith pride service on Sunday, June 8, and a Pride Prom on Friday, June 13. Story continues below Top Story: McCook Lake residents in need of more dirt to rebuild homes Lights & Sirens: Traffic violation scam alarms Siouxlanders; police issue alert Sports: Bishop Heelan girls soccer drops 1A State semifinal match to Davenport Assumption in 1-0 defeat Weather: Get the latest weather forecast here The Sioux City Pride Festival is set to take place on June 7th from 11:00 a.m. To 4:00 p.m. on Historic 4th Street between Nebraska and Jones streets. The festival will include a community resource fair, games, face painting, and a free meal. An interfaith pride service and brunch will take place on June 8th at 11:00 a.m. at the Mayflower Congregational Church located on 1407 West 18th Street. An awards ceremony is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Followed by a concert, as well as other events. Organizers say everyone is welcome. 'It's ok to be who you are. You need to celebrate yourself and celebrate your friends, and this is just a month to celebrate who you are, regardless of who that is,' said organizer Karen Mackey. On June 13th, a Pride prom for LGBTQ+ teens and their allies is set to happen from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Masonic Temple on 820 Nebraska Street. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
National Geographic
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- National Geographic
Is this shopping mall the gayest place on Earth?
Opened in 1982, the Yumbo Centrum in Spain's Canary Island bills itself as the world's only LGBTQ+ mall. With four floors and 200 venues across 200,000 square feet, the Yumbo anchors a queer community remaking travel as a double-down embrace of their true selves. Photograph by Thomas Rabsch, laif/Redux At the Yumbo Centrum in Spain's Canary Islands, Pride never ends Dario Villalba, 29, a shirtless actuary from Milan, roars into the night, jumping in a sweaty briar patch of men on a far-flung Spanish island. 'Sempre! Sempre!' he cheers. 'Sempre di più! Yumbo per sempre!' ('Always and always! More and more! Yumbo forever!') As a Bruno Mars remix blares, Villalba revamps the chorus: 'Sleep tomorrow, but tonight go crazy. All you gotta do is just meet me at the—'Yumbooooo.'' Opened in 1982 with the hope of 'if you build it, they will come,' Yumbo Centrum now bills itself as the world's only LGBTQ+ mall: four floors and 200 venues across 200,000 square feet of open-air Brutalist bedlam. Those numbers shape the dimensions of a surprising truth about this obscure locale: it just might be the gayest place on Earth. Yumbo anchors the resort town of Maspalomas, on the southern tip of Gran Canaria, part of Spain's Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. But it also anchors a LGTBQ+ community for whom Yumbo is a place where they can become themselves. 'It feels like family. Even strangers feel familiar,' says Huw Davies, 73, a Welsh retiree who first came to Yumbo in 2005. 'I've never been anxious when I'm here. That's real freedom. That's real love.' Yumbo's official Pride Week celebration is in May, but at Yumbo, Pride never really ends, buoyed by LGTBQ+-focused parties and events almost every month. Year-round, the polyglot crowds gravitate to the world's universal languages: dance, laughter, music, and rizz. Yumberos—that's the locals' name for visitors—come for round-the-clock sex positivity, and all the accompanying pleasures. Everyone at Yumbo is living their best main character life. The open relationships, the ride-or-die friend squads, the dads burping their babies at midnight; they all radiate Yumbo's gestalt glow. A Grace Jones double performs at a disco in Yumbo. The mall is covered with camp surprises, including clubs and bars for every interest, drag shows and European-themed bars. Photographs by Tobias Kruse, Ostkreuz/Redux 'Yumbo breaks all the rules—the patterns—and you find a new kind of gay life here,' says Leo De La Rosa, 39, a model from Madrid, as he strolled the mall. Even Yumbo's workers share the vibe. Take Jean-François 'Jeff' Renard and Thierry Fontaine, elderly husbands from Toulouse who dress up like burlesque twins and gadfly about before working together at a bar where they hold court. Or shy Osman, the locally born-and-raised 22-year-old who mans a tiny grill in the parking lot, selling $5 bratwursts from 9pm to 6am and, as he put it, 'learning that things can also grow in moonlight.' Or Gonzalo Benabu, 37, Yumbo's Argentine magojista ('massage wizard') who fills his downtime with whispered prayers as he holds the dog tag necklace his mother got him inscribed with one word: sagrado ('sacred'). Croatia's oldest coastal town Yumbo can be anything, from campy to earnest, or romantic, sometimes all at once. Simple people in a simple place For all its hype of diversity, queerness often suffers from an aesthetic sameness derided as 'clones'—an ironic homogeneity in fashion, music, physiques, and other aesthetics. Yumbo challenges clones, beginning with its labyrinthine layout of aggressively unstylish concrete and extending to its unexplained dinosaur mascot—a green brontosaurus with red stegosaurus plates—who wears a red bow tie. It's not shabby chic, just plain shabby. It's all decidedly counter-American (not opposed to Americans who are plentiful) rejecting the habit of turning gay havens into luxury real estate. The only freestanding structure in Yumbo's massive central courtyard is a Burger King where workers wear Pride t-shirts instead of corporate uniforms; it somehow has a rooftop 'secret garden' bar sponsored by Absolut. Yumbo also has a pyramidal mosque, an on-site doctor, a Wall of Love for sentimental scribblers, an AIDS memorial cactus garden, casinos and arcades, a park dedicated to a local gay rights hero, and an 18-hole rooftop mini-golf course. It has bars and clubs for every legal passion and proclivity. There are rainbow benches and staircases. A massive central courtyard full of men dancing to a Lady Gaga tribute band or remixed versions of a Journey medley from the television show Glee or the Brokeback Mountain theme. There are competing drag comedy shows, sports bars where the sport is Eurovision (a pan-European song competition known for its over-the-top kitsch), and drink specials so extreme that beer can be cheaper than water. Every inch of Yumbo is lathered in camp surprises: a spa where fish can nibble customers' feet, bars themed around gladiators or pirates, a bar that raised $68,000 to train seeing-eye dogs, restaurant menus with as many as 229 dishes and a dizzying array of chaotic bric-a-brac including an inspirational Beyoncé mug, rainbow mankinis, bobbleheads of Princess Diana, a Palestinian fútbol jersey, fur coats, a $850 crystalline Hulk beside a $570 crystalline Chewbacca, homoerotic sculptures, suggestive chefs' aprons, and rainbow sunglasses that read 'I LOVE MY GAY.' But yumberos can still buy on-trend clothes including good boy shirts, letterman jackets, neckerchiefs, and rompers. Plus, vending machines sell adult unmentionables as casually as bags of potato chips. Its eclecticism reminds yumberos that queerness is free to be whatever queer people want it to be. Cloning curdles gay travel too, homogenizing destinations into the same bougie beach blur. Yumbo, by sharp contrast, sticks out like a sore thumb. And yet its chiefly European crowds are choosing Yumbo over continental queer hubs like Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Madrid, and Mykonos. 'I can't stand gay people who think they're richer than everyone else,' says Mohamed Drifel, 36, a hammam manager from Marseilles. 'I like simple people in a simple place. The people here are simple. We're all the same, and I like that.' Most yumberos arrive by bus; it costs $3.95 from the nearest airport. Last year, 60 percent of the island's tourists made between $28,000 and $85,000. They even win over the locals. 'From the moment I enter Yumbo, I put on my shirt so no one will think I am for anything strange,' laughs Luis Paredes, 45, a local nurse. 'I associate it with something grotesque, a little decadent, and quite tacky.' He pauses. 'But it can be fun.' His pause breaks into a smile, remembering his second-ever boyfriend, who he met in Yumbo. 'In general,' he says, 'yumberos are respectful—even if they are uninhibited. That's a rare combination.' A shared paradise Yumbo's bars are themed with a European candor: Eiffel bar for Francophiles, Bärenhöhle for Germans, Club Mykonos for Greeks, Ola Nordmann for Norwegians. Corey Vuhlo, 37, a supply chain worker from Berlin, recalled working in lederhosen in the German section of Disney's Epcot Center, where he defied tourists' expectations as a Black German. 'Similar people come here, of course,' he says over a Burger King lunch, 'but more chill. Friendlier.' His friend Mucho ('he's a lot') piped up: 'The only thing better than smooth talkers are the rough ones.' Vuhlo laughed and continued: 'It's nice to see gay life as more open-minded. Not so fussy. It's kinda trashy here in a fun way. It's so '80s.' That '80s vibe might be intentional, guesses Alonso Santa Cruz, 32, an anthropologist from Seville, over beers. Any sanctuary Yumbo offered after its 1982 debut was immediately dimmed by the early, merciless years of the AIDS epidemic.'It's a bit of a theme park for older generations that couldn't have possibly had this in the '80s or '90s,' he says. 'It's really harmonious. Not peace exactly, but truce. It's like a shared paradise. Every group has their own heaven but here is a heaven for all.' Of course, Yumbo is not immune to criticism, as a French lesbian couple attested while passing Tom's Bar, a Yumbo hub that bans women and drag queens but welcomes dogs. 'Yumbo is a physical manifestation of the LGBT community,' says Cristina Agüimes, 29, a physical therapist from Lyon. 'Tell me. Where do lesbians go?' she asks. 'We have almost nothing. This is better than nothing. It's not paradise. But it's a start.' For all its camp distractions, Yumbo is a reminder that while the straight world defines travel as a fantasy, pilgrimage or escape, queer people have remade travel as a double-down embrace of their true selves, the adventure within, free from the pervasive anxiety of navigating the infinite obstacle course for otherness. 'As gay people, we're always coming out,' says Alan Thompson, 44, a personal trainer from Glasgow. He moved to the Yumbo area last year with his husband, Derec. They got engaged at Yumbo in 2018, sharing the stage with drag queens Michael Marouli and The Vivienne. 'In Yumbo,' he continues, 'you can stop coming out. It's so freeing. We're so happy to live in the Yumbo bubble as we see gay rights go backwards back home and around the world.'
