Defender declines to wear jacket supporting LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of his Muslim faith Manchester United shelved plans to wear pride-themed rainbow jackets supporting the LGBTQ+ community after a player refused to take part, citing his religious beliefs. Plans to wear the Adidas tops as they walked onto the pitch during last Sunday’s Premier League match against Everton were abandoned after defender Noussair Mazraoui said he would not be able to wear the jacket on the grounds of his Muslim faith, according to The Athletic ..read more

Second adapted rainbow armband worn by skipper will not lead to formal action from Football Association The Crystal Palace captain Marc Guéhi will face no formal action from the Football Association despite wearing an adapted rainbow armband for the second time. The player and the club had been reminded of FA kit regulations after he wore an armband saying “I love Jesus” in Saturday’s match against Newcastle ..read more

US v Skrmetti challenges Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical treatments for trans minors The US supreme court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in a case challenging Tennessee’s law that prevents transgender youth from accessing some gender-affirming medical treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The plaintiffs in US v Skrmetti, which was first brought by three trans youths and their parents last year, argue that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment because of sex-based discrimination. Elizabeth Prelogar, the US solicitor general ..read more

Charlie Plummer plays a local lad who joins a ranch run by an LGBTQ+ group in Luke Gilford’s debut feature that’s bathed in light but fails to catch fire Director Luke Gilford’s first feature-length work (after some shorts and music videos) shares aesthetic genetic material with his photographic book and exhibition of the same name. Both the photos and this drama unfurl in a queer rodeo subculture, and in the case of the film, mostly at a ranch somewhere in the American southwest where a gaggle of LGBTQ+ folks ride and train horses, ride bulls and put on drag shows. Young Dylan (Charlie Plumme ..read more

Player met with boos after coming on against England ‘Everybody is entitled to their opinions,’ says US coach The United States head coach, Emma Hayes, has said fans were entitled to boo her team’s midfielder Korbin Albert at Wembley and she understands why they feel so strongly. The Paris Saint-Germain player caused controversy in March when she shared an anti-LGBTQ+ post on social media and it also emerged that she had previously ‘liked’ a post that rejoiced at the former USA winger Megan Rapinoe suffering an injury. The 21-year-old later issued an apology ..read more

The author has been named winner of the LGBTQ book prize for his second novel, having won the Polari first book award in 2023. This year’s debut award goes to Nicola Dinan, with Sarah Hagger-Holt taking the children’s prize Jon Ransom has taken home a Polari prize for the second year running, with his second novel The Gallopers winning 2024’s overall prize for books that “push the boundaries of LGBTQ fiction.” Last year, the author’s debut novel The Whale Tattoo won the Polari first book prize, which has this year been won by Nicola Dinan for her novel Bellies. Meanwhile Sarah Hagger-Holt has ..read more

The LGBTQ+ community has been here before – and learned that real change happens when activists are front and center The ascendency of Donald Trump to his second presidency is fraught with anxiety and fear for many Americans, particularly gay Americans. Books with queer themes are already being removed from school and public libraries. Trans people are being denied the right to use bathrooms or be on sports teams that align with their gender. Trans medical care is under attack in many states. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that may help LGBTQ+ people as well as others are being ..read more

A magnetically vibrant keyboard prodigy who played on Let It Be and worked with George Harrison, Preston later lived through years of addiction. A new film aims to find ‘the dark and the light’ in his story In the 1960s and 70s, Billy Preston was the musician’s musician. A self-taught prodigy who grew up playing the organ in his Los Angeles church, he was accompanying Mahalia Jackson and appearing on The Nat King Cole Show before he was 11. By high school, he was travelling with Little Richard on his European tour, standing stageside every night to watch support band the Beatles. By 1969 he ha ..read more

From union banners to sewn sculptures, a major new exhibition in Adelaide celebrates the emotional and revolutionary force of textiles Get Guardian Australia’s weekend culture and lifestyle email Woven, threaded, stitched and sewn, textile practice predates all recorded history; in fact some anthropologists speculate that textiles – made for warmth and shelter – may have been humanity’s first technology. Manual textile-making has historically been a communal process, too, providing space for conversation, solidarity and, sometimes, resistance. Over the past decade, textile arts have been res ..read more

In the earnest press tour for the film, actor Cynthia Erivo was in tears at the idea that fans were ‘holding space’ for the song Defying Gravity. But is it more self-help jargon or something more powerful? The journalist Tracy E Gilchrist had just four minutes with the Wicked actors Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande – and she had to make them count. She just didn’t bargain on becoming part of one of the year’s most-used memes as a result of saying the phrase “holding space”. “I just went in and did my job, which was to try to get an authentic answer to a question in a very short amount of time ..read more