Today on Listen Up Girl: The Education Department formally rescinded the 2024 Title IX rule protecting LGBTQ+ students and restored the 2020 rules with no public comment period. The administration asked the Supreme Court to let the Bureau of Prisons cut off hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care for trans people in federal custody. Ana Brnabić became Serbia's acting president, the first out gay president in the Balkans. A federal appeals court reversed a ruling that let nonbinary Puerto Ricans get an "X" marker on their birth certificates. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Marcia Gay Harden, André De Shields, and Junior LaBeija took the stage at the HRC National Dinner. And a designer's lawsuit over Antoni Porowski's Queer Eye LEGO jacket moves forward.

Listen Up Girl is a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman. New episodes every day.
🌐 listenupgirl.com
📲 @TheRealZachRE

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ken Paxton spent a week attacking Drag Race star Alyssa Edwards to score points against James Talarico. She answered with an open letter and one line: Texas is big enough for all of us. Today on Listen Up Girl, Zach Randles-Friedman breaks down the exchange and what it says about the Texas Senate race.

Also today: FCC Chair Brendan Carr fires back at 68 House Democrats over TV warning labels for trans and nonbinary themes, citing a Muppet Babies episode where Gonzo dresses as a princess. Colombia withdraws from the Equal Rights Coalition it was co-chairing with Spain. A transgender man in Tokyo sues to be recognized as the legal father of his genetic child. Last Ditch, the lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, goes from a local mask fight to a national story. Charlottesville radio host Fievel Crane quits live on air. And the 43rd annual Folsom Street Fair takes over San Francisco's South of Market.

Listen Up Girl is a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast. Grounded, direct, and every single day.

🎙️ Subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts 🌐 listenupgirl.com 📱 @TheRealZachRE

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen Up Girl | Saturday, September 26, 2026

Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola, a former Anchorage Pride grand marshal, faces allegations from former staffers that she used anti-gay and ableist slurs. Her campaign denies the anti-gay slur and says she regrets the other language. Queer voters are debating what it means for a race that could decide the Senate.

The administration's FDA nominee, Dr. Heidi Overton, sidestepped basic questions at her confirmation hearing, from IUDs to the MMR vaccine. We also look at her record opposing gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Queer nightclubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, many serving Black and Latino communities, lost their Facebook and Instagram pages for months with no explanation. They only got them back after a lawmaker and reporters stepped in.

In Australia, 100 organizations are urging lawmakers to reject efforts to redefine "sex" in the Sex Discrimination Act. And in England, a Labour councillor responds to his leaked Grindr profile with humor and zero shame.

Your daily LGBTQ+ news briefing. New episodes every day.

🌐 listenupgirl.com
📱 @TheRealZachRE on all platforms

#ListenUpGirl #LGBTQNews #QueerNews

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Six stories today, two of them political. Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville spends twenty minutes on the Senate floor warning about "furry pilots" and calling trans people mentally ill. HIV and STI samples from the Seattle LGBTQ+ Center are now processed at a lab in Texas, raising privacy concerns given the state's pursuit of LGBTQ+ medical records. Two men face hate crime charges after an attack on a San Jose State University student. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten visits the Stonewall Inn during the UN General Assembly. We remember Harriet Hancock, founder of the Southeast's first PFLAG chapter and organizer of South Carolina's first Pride march, on what would have been her 90th birthday. And California celebrates its first official Dolly Parton Day.

Subscribe for daily LGBTQ+ news. Follow @TheRealZachRE on every platform. Visit listenupgirl.com.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

pisode: Listen Up Girl, Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Host: Zach Randles-Friedman

Today's episode is about visibility: who gets seen, who gets erased, and who decides.

Story 1: UNT pulls its LGBTQ archive page
The University of North Texas deleted the webpage for its LGBTQ archive, a collection of more than 15,000 items documenting queer life across the South and Southwest. It came down less than a day after Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison posted screenshots and called it "transgender indoctrination." GOP megadonor Monty Bennett amplified the attack, and Harrison celebrated the removal as a win. The collection appears to remain intact, but public access is now harder to find, with no vote or hearing involved.

Story 2: James Talarico shifts on trans athletes
In 2021, Talarico told fellow Texas lawmakers "you can't compromise with hate" while opposing a trans sports ban. Now the Democratic Senate nominee says he opposes trans athletes in girls' sports when safety or fairness is at stake. He also backs a national ban on gender-related surgeries for minors. Equality Texas CEO Brad Pritchett responded, "We expect better," but still co-hosted a Pride fundraiser for Talarico in his race against Ken Paxton.

Story 3: The UN warns of a "comprehensive onslaught"
At the U.N. LGBTI Core Group event on the sidelines of the General Assembly, High Commissioner Volker Türk said persecution of LGBTQ and intersex people is escalating and coordinated. He cited Turkey, Senegal, and politicians using anti-LGBTQ bigotry in campaigns. The Netherlands pledged €50 million and the U.K. £21 million for LGBTQ groups worldwide. The U.S., which left the Core Group in 2025, sent no representatives.

Story 4: DignityUSA's Marianne Duddy-Burke retires
The executive director of the world's oldest LGBTQ Catholic organization is stepping down after more than four decades with the group and nearly two decades as its leader. She pushed the Vatican toward inclusion, championed marriage equality, met Pope Francis in 2023, and traveled to Rome for the 2025 conclave. She'll stay on until a successor is named.

Story 5: Team USA wins wheelchair basketball gold
The U.S. women's wheelchair basketball team beat host Canada 77–76 in Ottawa for its first world title since 2010. Lindsey Zurbrugg scored 26. Courtney Ryan, one of the team's out players, added 17 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. The team now heads toward the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics as reigning world champions.

Follow the show: listenupgirl.com | @TheRealZachRE

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: VP JD Vance falsely calls the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence "devil-worshipping" at a Kansas rally — and gets their name wrong in the process. A Duluth, Minnesota man faces hate crime charges after allegedly stabbing a man in a bar bathroom over his perceived sexual orientation. Seattle's City Council votes unanimously to extend civil rights protections to polyamorous and other nontraditional families. A Portland synagogue's weekly Torah study group reads the Rosh Hashanah texts through a queer lens. And Ekurhuleni Pride marches through Springs, South Africa, with the city's executive mayor walking alongside organizers. Your daily dose of LGBTQ+ news.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: a sworn ethics complaint accuses Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert of affairs with two female staffers and one male aide, Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur runs anti-trans ads ahead of Election Day, India's Allahabad High Court orders police protection for a Hindu-Muslim lesbian couple, students win their fight against a school that banned every club to avoid allowing a gay-straight alliance, a gay couple's surrogacy fight becomes a family and a children's book, Milwaukee's All Saints' Cathedral names the Episcopal Church's first transgender dean, and George Takei celebrates 18 years of marriage to husband Brad Altman. Your daily dose of LGBTQ+ news, every weekday.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride, the nation's first transgender member of Congress, is misgendered twice by a Republican congressional candidate at a public forum — and he gets removed from the stage. Michigan state Senator Jeremy Moss talks to the Washington Blade about his run for Congress and why the Equality Act is his top priority. Indonesia's top Islamic clerical body pushes a bill that would criminalize LGBTQ people and their advocates. Aid for AIDS of Nevada celebrates 40 years of its Black & White Party fundraiser in Las Vegas. Madonna is announced as the opening performer for the 2026 VMAs, her first live performance at the show in 23 years. And "Strictly Come Dancing" returns for season 24 with its first openly gay contestant of the year.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

YouTube Description:
Today on Listen Up Girl: The Trump administration's proposed 2030 Census rules could effectively force transgender Americans to disclose their status just by filling out a mandatory form. The Pentagon's mandatory testosterone screening policy for troops faces a public FDA expert meeting today, even as trans service members remain barred from the same hormone therapy. Cuba's new Civil Registry Law takes effect, making legal gender change unrestricted for adults. Hungary's new government under PM Peter Magyar moves to repeal Orban-era anti-LGBTQ+ laws on both adoption and "promotion" to minors. Bisexual Awareness Week kicks off. And "The Traitors: New Blood," hosted by Alan Cumming, premieres tonight on NBC. Your daily dose of LGBTQ+ news, every weekday.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: Baltimore's LGBTQ+ community mourns Sophie Lee, a 27-year-old trans woman shot and killed in the Barclay neighborhood. New Hampshire Congressman Chris Pappas wins his state's Democratic Senate primary, putting him one win away from becoming the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate. A federal judge dismisses the DOJ's lawsuit against California's trans-inclusive school sports policy. And Switzerland's government backs a nationwide ban on conversion therapy. Your daily dose of LGBTQ+ news, every weekday.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.