Here's what you need to know this week for lesbian, queer, and trans news!
Lesbian – Uber driver threatens lesbian couple
An Australian lesbian couple was allegedly subjected to homophobic abuse, as well as physical threats, by their Uber driver on their way home over the weekend. According to PinkNews.
Lucy Thomas and her girlfriend were discussing an upcoming football game in an Uber when their driver started calling them “faggots.”
“The driver said he hated football because it was a bunch of faggots jumping around and touching each other,” Thomas said.
“I told him that I understood the spirit of what he was saying but that the word was deeply offensive to me and a lot of other people,” she said. “He then asked us – why are you worried, are you gay?”
Thomas’ partner immediately said yes, and the driver made a number of homophobic remarks for the rest of the trip.
When they got home the driver, named John, told the couple to “get out of the car … if you don’t I’ll get out and drag you out.”
Thomas said that Uber has since fired the driver after she reported his behavior to the police.
Queer – ‘The Sims’ now allows players to choose any gender expression they want
An update to “The Sims 4,” which came out Thursday, expanded user options when it comes to gender expression, allowing them to customize characters’ gender as well as gender presentation.
Electronic Arts and developer Maxis announced that the update removes barriers on a characters’ voices, physical make up and style of walking, the AP notes.
Pink News added that the life simulation game previously forced players to choose between male and female characters.
The studio wanted to “make sure players can create characters they can identify with or relate to through powerful tools that give them influence over a Sim’s gender, age, ethnicity, body type and more … female Sims can wear sharp men’s suits like Ellen [DeGeneres] and male sims can wear heels like Prince.”
Transgender – Trump claims trans equality is ‘too expensive,’ still plans to build giant wall
Republican candidate Donald Trump has voiced support for transgender rights in the past, but changed that stance earlier this month in response to the barrage of Republican-backed bathroom bills.
He stated last week that states like North Carolina should be able to keep their anti-trans laws.
“The party generally believes that whatever you’re born, that’s the bathroom you use,” Trump said. “I say let the states decide.”
Trump also had this to say about trans equality on the O’Reilly Factor: “It would be unbelievably expensive nationwide … it would be hundreds of billions of dollars. I think our country really wants to spend money on other things. Let’s build more buildings, let’s create more jobs.”
He claimed that while states should “protect everybody,” it would be too expensive to make trans-friendly bathrooms.
Trump still supports building a giant wall on the Mexico border, an endeavor that experts have price tagged at $25 billion plus maintenance.
