A pair of recent decisions from two of the southern federal Circuit Courts of Appeals should be alarming us all. Instead, they’re only alarming a handful of us – because, overall, our community still clings to the inexplicable belief that religion can be our friend or, at least, a friend that we will be able to use to defend ourselves from certain others who also claim religion to be their friend.

Of the two recent decisions, only one has a direct LGBTQ component. Even so, it is truly difficult to say which one is the more disturbing, though the non-LGBTQ one, United States v. Brown, probably deserves the nod.

The Brown in question is Corrine, a former member of Congress from Florida, convicted on a slew of counts, the specifics of which are strangely irrelevant for purposes of what makes one of the opinions in her case problematic.

What does matter is that she was convicted by a jury. On appeal she took issue with the trial court’s decision to not allow “Juror 13” to contribute to rendering a verdict.

Shortly after deliberations began, “Juror 8” informed the judge that “13” had said, “A Higher Being told me Corrine Brown was Not Guilty on all charges” and that he “trusted the Holy Ghost.”

Do those sound like the words of someone who is going to make a decision based on earthly evidence?

What the LGBTQ community has never learned is that, when religion merges with government and science is reduced to having no more standing than faith, our religions and faiths and beliefs (or lack thereof) will never be recognized when they conflict with the particular religion and faith and belief of those who have seized power – legitimately or otherwise.

Once religion enters the government picture, everyone loses – at least everyone not sitting at the table of power.

The LGBTQ dating app Grindr has been caught sharing users’ sensitive data with thousands of ad partners, reports Bloomberg. That’s according to a study from the Norwegian Consumer Council. The NCC’s report says Grindr uses Twitter’s ad subsidiary MoPub to funnel the personal information of Grindr users to ad partners.

The data includes a Grindr user’s location, age, gender, and sexual orientation, which malicious individuals or parties could then use to identify and target LGBTQ people. As a result of its findings, the NCC and European privacy advocate Max Schrems has filed no fewer than three complaints against Grindr and five ad-tech companies. Those complaints were filed with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, and they allege Grindr’s sharing of personal data breaches the EU’s GDPR privacy rules.

Rapper Kanye West announced he will appear at Awaken2020, a stadium-sized prayer rally hosted by some of the nation’s most anti-LGBTQ religious conservatives. After West’s announcement so many people rushed online to get free tickets to the event, the group’s website crashed.

West, who’s erratic behavior has seen him suddenly becoming a rightwing Christian and devout worshipper of Donald Trump, has been pushing his new gospel album recently. One of the songs is an ode to Chick-fil-A, the fast-food chain most frequently identified with religious controversy over LGBTQ rights.

A Christian school in Louisville expelled a student last week after her family said school officials discovered the girl had celebrated her birthday with a rainbow-themed cake.

Famed writer Stephen King has stirred up controversy after admitting he “would never consider diversity in matters of art,” a remark made in reference to his status as a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) voting on Oscar contenders. His remarks come a day after the 2020 Oscar nominations were announced, prompting complaints that women and people of color were largely overlooked. Many critics bemoaned the exclusion of women like Greta Gerwig from the Best Director category, while Harriet’s Cynthia Erivo spoke out about being the only person of color to be nominated across four acting categories.

“The culture war, better yet the war for the soul of man, is definitely heating up,” reads a message on the organization’s website. “1MM will keep fighting because souls are at stake. This LGBTQ spirit is the same spirit we read about in the Bible that confronted Lot. It's relentless but the good news is we serve the God who is King of kings, Lord of lords, and will not be mocked. Hallmark, Zola, etc. and all that make up those companies will ALL bow to the Lord.”

Parents of students at a St. Louis elementary school are calling for greater cultural sensitivity after a fifth-grade teacher handed out an assignment asking students to “set a price for your slave.”

The teacher at Blades Elementary School has been placed on paid administrative leave amid outrage over the assignment, which was meant to teach students about market practices, a spokeswoman for the Mehlville School District Superintendent confirms to PEOPLE.

The prompt went viral on Facebook after it was shared by Lee Hart, who said her friend’s child had brought the assignment home from school.

Jason Derulo can’t believe Instagram took down his steamy viral photo.

On Tuesday, the “Talk Dirty” singer, 30, shared a screenshot of the notice he received from the social media platform, which claimed the content went against Instagram’s guidelines.

Derulo also took the opportunity to protest the removal by reposting the particular photo, which went viral last month after fans couldn’t help but notice the visible outline of the star’s crotch under his bottoms — a trending topic Derulo himself enjoyed participating in online.

The two Chinese men who were accused of acting suspiciously and triggered a panicked evacuation at Newark Liberty Airport last week are speaking out for the first time saying they were racially profiled by an Alaska Airlines employee.

The chaos unfolded at the New Jersey airport on September 3 around 8.30pm at Gate 30 of Terminal A when an Alaska Airlines approached Han Han Xue, 29, and Chunyi Luo, 20, and asked them pointed questions about their Asian heritage.

She asked assumed they knew each other and asked 'Why are you acting suspiciously' and 'What are they paying you?' before screaming 'Evacuate!', sending 200 panicked people running out of the gate amid fears of an active shooter.

'It was a very shocking experience...I couldn't believe this was happening,' Xue said on the incident to BuzzFeed News.

When someone dings your car or parks poorly in the parking lot, it can make you roll your eyes, curse, or even scrawl a hastily written note about parking etiquette. However, some people take the direct approach and wait to speak with the driver themselves. Amy Xu is one of those people, and when she came back to her car to discover that another car had actually come into contact with hers in the parking lot she stopped to speak with the other driver. Who is Carla Waldman? She's the woman who did the bad parking and Amy wasn't remotely prepared for the reaction she would have.

While working at a Billings, Montana, auto dealership in 2016, Kathleen O’Donnell said mechanics would frequently sling insults behind her back, calling her “faggot” and referring to her as “Bob” or “Joe” because of her closely cropped hair. A few days before her six-month probationary period at the dealership ended, O’Donnell recalled, her manager, with tears in his eyes, told her he had to fire her because she was gay. It was the first time O’Donnell had been fired from a job.

The American football star, who currently plays as the wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns, has faced a string of anti-gay comments on his latest Instagram post, which sees him posing in his underwear for a new Calvin Klein campaign.

“Boy look gay as hell,” wrote one Instagram user, while another added: “He low key gay tho.”

Responding to the comments and rumours about his sexuality – which have followed him for years now – Odell re-affirmed that he is indeed straight and said he shouldn’t need to keep addressing his sexuality.

“Yallll chilllll mann damnnnn! It be a lot of y’all sayin sus and alll the other comments that realllly be a direct reflection of who u are! Im straight! Like beyond it,” he wrote.

“If I sit here and defend myself y’all gon say im tryna defend myself, if I sit there and say nothin yalll gon say ‘seee he didn’t say anything.’ I’m good wit me. Which is dumb straightttt… Period.

Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson, who ordered the mass firing of any teachers at the diocese’s schools, also had no problem allowing school administrators to threaten a gay student with expulsion if he didn’t stop speaking out for social justice.

The archdiocese has admitted it instructed all schools under its umbrella to immediately enforce all employment contracts – effectively a blanket order to fire any LGBTQ staff members. Over 70 schools in central Indiana are under the archdiocese’s administration.

“To effectively bear witness to Christ, whether they teach religion or not, all ministers in their professional and private lives must convey and be supportive of Catholic Church teaching,” the archdiocese said in a statement sent last week.

One of the founders of elite women’s club The Wing publicly criticized New York City’s openly gay City Council Speaker for sharing a picture of a shirtless man on social media.

Audrey Gelman, who co-founded The Wing with Lauren Kassan in 2016, tweeted a screenshot of a recent Instagram post shared by Corey Johnson, who has served on New York’s City Council since 2014 and as City Council Speaker since 2018.

Johnson’s post, shared just after midnight on Friday, depicts an unidentified man who isn’t wearing a shirt. [UPDATE: Johnson is dating the man in the picture, his office confirms.] Gelman tweeted her screenshot of the photo approximately eight hours later, calling out what she perceived to be a sexist double standard.

“Corey Johnson, the NYC Council Speaker, posted this photo on social media at midnight,” Gelman wrote. “If a woman elected official did this, they wouldn’t have a job in the morning.”