🏳️‍🌈🚬 Research published last month identified two potential pathways driving a higher rate of e-cigarette use among LGBTQ+ youth compared to their cisgender, heterosexual peers: minority stress due to stigma and discrimination contributing to vaping as a coping mechanism, and vaping as a tool for identity formation and gaining a sense of belonging.

• More information:

  • "New study reveals LGBTQ+ youth are vaping to cope"

    • https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/05/new-study-reveals-lgbtq-youth-are-vaping-to-cope/

  • "Multi-level Risk and Protective Factors for Vaping Onset and Escalation Among Youth: a Focus on LGBTQ + Disparities"

    • https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-026-01902-6

🏳️‍🌈⚖️ On Wednesday, a claim of retaliation by a lesbian former Amazon employee in Michigan was approved to proceed by a federal court. The former employee sued the company after she was reassigned and later fired soon after reporting workplace harassment based on her sexual orientation.

• More information:

  • "Amazon supervisor fired lesbian after she complained about harassment. She’s suing for retaliation." 

    • https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/05/amazon-supervisor-fired-lesbian-after-she-complained-about-shes-suing-for-retaliation/

On Thursday, a bill to approve construction of the Smithsonian Women's History Museum failed to pass after the legislation was amended to bar transgender women from being featured in the museum as women, leading the Democratic Women's Caucus to pull their support.

• More information:

  • "Republicans derail women's history museum with anti-trans rule"

    • https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/republicans-derail-women-history-museaum

  • "Republicans tried to make a proposed women’s museum transphobic. Democrats put a stop to it."

    • https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/05/republicans-tried-to-make-a-proposed-womens-museum-transphobic-democrats-put-a-stop-to-it/

  • "House rejects Smithsonian women’s history museum bill after partisan split"

    • https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/05/21/congress/house-smithsonian-womens-museum-00932675

  • "Anti-trans amendment puts women’s history museum on pause "

    • https://www.19thnews.org/2026/05/smithsonian-american-womens-history-museum-bill

🏳️‍🌈🏛️🦠 On May 22, it was reported that the CDC web page with information about mpox safety for Pride events, festivals, parties, and intimate contact was removed from its website. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson stated that the page "does not align with Administration priorities."

• More information:

  • "'This is probably illegal': CDC quietly erases mpox guidance tied to Pride events"

    • https://www.advocate.com/health/sexual-health/cdc-mpox-information-erased

🏳️‍🌈🩸🪖⚖️ On May 18, a federal appeals court vacated a lower court ruling which had upheld policies banning people living with HIV from joining the military, and agreed to rehear a case against this longstanding ban.

• More information:

  • "Federal appeals court unexpectedly reverses itself, reviving challenge to Pentagon HIV policy"

    • https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/military-hiv-ban-case-reopened