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FORD responds to web troll, presents a ‘very gay F-150’ for ColognePride

The company rather than clap-back at a commenter with a standardized corporate response decided to turn the tables.

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Ford Ranger Raptor aka Very Gay Raptor im Kölner CSD Foto: Courtesy of Ford Motor Company

COLOGNE, Germany – As this 2,000-year-old city spanning the Rhine River in western Germany celebrated its annual LGBTQ+ Christopher Street Day this past weekend, the German Division of American car manufacturer Ford debuted its answer to a troll who complained on its social media about one of the car company’s paint schemes.

For the ColognePride event, which ran from from Thursday, August 26 through to the main parade on Sunday, August 29, the company, a long time ally of the event presented a 2021 ‘Very Gay Raptor’ model of its best selling F-150 pickup truck.

Ford Ranger Raptor aka Very Gay Raptor im Kölner CSD Foto: Courtesy of Ford Motor Company

A spokesperson for Ford said that the idea for the truck was two-fold. The company rather than clap-back at a commenter on the company’s social media with a standardized corporate response decided to turn the tables.

In a statement Ford said; “The “Very Gay Raptor”, a Ford Ranger Raptor in originally Performance Blue, was created in response to a discriminatory comment on social media. One user described the color performance blue as “very gay”. We responded spontaneously with an animation in which a blue Ford Ranger Raptor was painted in gold dust and rainbow colors, making our position on discriminatory language very clear.”

The car company said that it was a 60-hour makeover of the truck, which was wrapped in 30 square metres of rainbow colored and gold glittered Alphafoil.

The secondary reason was to mark the 25th anniversary of sponsoring and allyship with Christopher Street Day/ ColognePride as well as celebrate the Ford employee network GLOBE (Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees) which also celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The network has been advocating the interests of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees since 1996 and actively helping to implement the Ford “Diversity” corporate philosophy in everyday working life.

Although parade participation was limited this year due to the coronavirus restrictions, Ford was able to field a small group of its employees and an homage to its original contribution to the event from 25 years ago, a conversion of a small Ford KA pick-up in rainbow colors built in 1998.

Ford Ka Pick-up und sein großer Bruder Ford Very Gay Raptor Foto: Courtesy of Ford Motor Company

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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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