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Sen. Nelson becomes latest to co-sponsor Equality Act

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Equality Act, Bill Nelson, gay news, Washington Blade

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is latest to announce support for the Equality Act. (Photo public domain)

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has become the latest member of Congress to co-sponsor comprehensive LGBT rights legislation known as the Equality Act.

The Florida senator, who’s generally considered a moderate, on Monday quietly became a co-sponsor of the bill, which would add prohibitions on anti-LGBT discrimination to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Jay Brown, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, commending the senator in a statement to the Washington Blade for supporting the Equality Act, citing the tragic mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Nelson’s home state.

“In the tragedy of Orlando, there were survivors who worried first for their lives and second for their jobs,” Brown said. “The reality is LGBTQ people still lack explicit federal non-discrimination protections when it comes to our jobs, our housing, our education and more. The Equality Act would change that and we’re grateful for Sen. Nelson’s support for the bill and LGBTQ Floridians.”

The legislation, introduced by gay Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) in the U.S. House and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in the U.S. Senate, now has 177 co-sponsors in the House and 43 in the Senate. The remaining four Democrats who don’t co-sponsor the legislation in the U.S. Senate are Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). In the U.S. House, 16 Democrats don’t co-sponsor the legislation.

Nelson has been a reliable vote in support for LGBT rights: His record includes votes for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal and against the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment. But the moderate has generally lagged behind others. In 2013, Nelson was among the last Democratic senators to declare support for same-sex marriage and become a co-sponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

The senator becomes a co-sponsor of the Equality Act on the heels of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s (R-Fla.) decision to become a co-sponsor of the legislation in the U.S. House. The new co-sponsorships come as the Human Rights Campaign is preparing ahead of Election Day its biennial congressional scorecard, which will likely dock lawmakers points for not co-sponsoring the Equality Act.

The Blade has placed a request in with Nelson’s office seeking comment on what issue regarding the Equality Act was resolved enabling him to co-sponsor the legislation at this time.

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Hungary

Hungarian authorities lift Budapest Pride ban

Country’s new government took office last month

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Budapest Pride participants march over the Erzsebet Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, on June 28, 2025, despite an official ban. The country's new government will allow this year's Budapest Pride march to take place without restrictions. (Courtesy photo)

Hungarian police on May 29 announced they will allow the annual Budapest Pride march to take place.

“The Budapest Metropolitan Police has approved the 2026 Budapest Pride Parade and also has issued restrictive orders in relation to three counter-demonstrations,” a Budapest Metropolitan Police spokesperson told Politico.

Budapest is Hungary’s capital and largest city.

Hungarian lawmakers last year passed a bill that banned Pride events and allowed authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. MPs later amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

More than 100,000 people defied the ban and participated in last year’s Budapest Pride parade. The event became one of the largest protests against then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government since he took office in 2010.

Prime Minister Péter Magyar took office last month after his center-right Tisza party ousted Orbán’s Fidesz-KDNP coalition in elections that took place on April 12. The European Union’s top court, the EU Court of Justice, days after Orbán’s ouster struck down Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that MPs approved in 2021.

The EU on May 29 announced it will release more than €16 billion ($18.59 billion) in funds to Hungary that it withheld while Orbán was in office.

The Budapest Pride march will take place on June 27.

“We will march freely in fresh air for our rights, for the democratic Hungary,” said Budapest Pride on its Facebook page.

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Colombia

Claudia López comes up short in Colombian presidential election

Former Bogotá mayor would have been country’s first lesbian head of government

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Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López speaks at the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in D.C. on Dec. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Former Bogotá Mayor Claudia López on Sunday finished fifth in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election.

López, a centrist who ran as an independent, received 225,517 votes. This figure is .95 percent of the total votes cast.

López was the Colombian capital’s mayor from 2020-2023. She was a member of the Colombian Senate from 2014-2018. López, whose wife is outgoing Colombian Sen. Angélica Lozano, would have become the country’s first female and first lesbian president if she would have won the election.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute honored López in D.C. in 2024.

“We need to listen to each other again, we need to have a coffee with each other again, we need to touch each other’s skin,” she told the Washington Blade during an interview. She hadn’t yet declared her candidacy, and did not specifically discuss her plans to run.

Runoff to take place June 21

Abrelardo de la Espriella, a far-right lawyer who has praised U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on Sunday finished first with 43.74 percent of the vote. Senator Iván Cepeda, a member of outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s Historic Pact party, came in second with 40.9 percent of the vote.

Neither men received a majority of votes. A runoff between them will take place on June 21.

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Ghana

Ghanaian lawmakers approve anti-LGBTQ bill

Measure that would criminalize allyship awaits president’s signature

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Ghanaian flag (Public domain photo from Pixabay)

Ghanaian lawmakers on Friday approved a bill that would, among other things, criminalize LGBTQ allyship.

Reuters reported MPs approved the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, in a voice vote after parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee backed it.

MPs in 2024 approved a similar bill, but it faced legal challenges and then-President Nana Akufo-Addo didn’t sign it. Lawmakers last year reintroduced the measure after President John Dramani Mahama took office.

The bill awaits his signature.

Rightify Ghana, a Ghanaian LGBTQ advocacy group, in a series of social media posts notes MPs passed the bill days before the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty will take place in Accra, the country’s capital.

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