Fabrice Houdart | A weekly newsletter on LGBTQ+ Equality
This week: U.S. erases World AIDS Day, things go downhill in Indonesia AND Malaysia, Victory Institute honors Biden, Et tu, AT&T?, my upcoming visit to CO, hot Hockey players on TV, Davos 2026, & more
The U.S. State Department’s decision to ignore World AIDS Day falls squarely into the realm of “petty moves we will remember”, alongside other shady stunts like renaming the USNS Harvey Milk or destroying the rainbow crosswalk at the Pulse nightclub site. Our community has endured profound injustice, and refusing to acknowledge the HIV epidemic only adds insult to injury. These gestures seem to be intended to taunt us: What are you going to do about it? Perhaps they assume LGBTQ+ people are powerless. That’s misremembering our capacity to mobilize and organize; we have done it before. After the initial shock of 2025, our community is already beginning to regroup and reorganize, often out of the spotlight. As 2026 approaches, I feel more confident and hopeful in our capacity to turn this moment into the eve of a new era for our community.
This week: U.S. erases World AIDS Day, things go downhill in Indonesia AND Malaysia, Victory Institute honors Biden, Et tu, AT&T?, my upcoming visit to CO, hot Hockey players on TV, Davos 2026, & more
Global News
World AIDS Day: Trump’s Silence Sparks Global Outrage
This World AIDS Day, as millions around the world gathered in remembrance and resistance, the U.S. Government disrespected the day. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services were reportedly instructed not to promote or acknowledge it. Iconic activist Peter Staley likened the silence to Reagan-era indifference. At the same time, writer and long-term survivor Mark S. King labeled the administration’s policies a “willful HIV catastrophe“ in a post on his fabulous blog. This comes on the heels of cuts to PEPFAR, attacks on global health institutions, and an apparent disdain for affected communities. Details in Gay45.
Indonesia: Morality Law to Criminalize All Non-Marital Sex in 2026
Indonesia’s new criminal code provision, set to take effect in January 2026, will criminalize any sexual relations except between husband and wife. My friend, LGBTQ+ advocate Dédé Oetomo, reports in an interview with Kyle Knight that youth in the community are “truly afraid“ as no national politicians will defend them. Check out this interview in Human Rights Watch.
Malaysia: 200+ Arrested in Kuala Lumpur Sauna Raids
Malaysian police arrested 201 patrons and seven employees during raids of two gay saunas under Section 377, which carries prison sentences of up to 20 years and corporal punishment. Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail stated Malaysia “does not recognize any LGBTQ+ lifestyle.” All detainees, including teachers, doctors, deputy public prosecutors, other government officials, and foreigners (South Koreans apparently), were released within 48 hours after a magistrate ruled on Nov 30 that police could not prove anyone had been exploited or coerced into “prostitution, or abnormal sexual activity”. And yet, as usual, the damage is done. Read more in the South China Morning Post.
Brazil: Journalist Comes Out to Challenge Homophobia in Football
ESPN Brazil journalist Ricardo Spinelli came out as gay while directly confronting homophobic remarks made by veteran football coach Abel Braga. Braga, recently reappointed at Internacional, had mocked his players’ pink training shirts using a gay slur. Spinelli responded the next day on Puxeta, wearing pink and declaring, “There’s a f**got in pink here.” See here.
US News
Illinois Federal Worker Challenges Trans Executive Order
LeAnne Withrow, a civilian federal employee for the Illinois National Guard, is leading resistance against Trump’s gender executive order. See her profile in The Advocate.
What Happens When You Are Under Anesthesia At Sloan?
When Jennifer Capasso hit “record” before undergoing cancer surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering, she wanted to know what happened while she was under. She discovered medical staff questioning her gender identity, joking about her anatomy, and debating whether to change her medical file from “female” to “male.” That change followed her in subsequent visits. Now, Capasso is suing the hospital, which denies wrongdoing. Read the NYTimes piece.
The Anti-Trans Playbook
In the New York Review, Paisley Currah shows how conservatives are rewriting the legal meaning of “sex” to push trans people out of the law and weaken protections for women at the same time. He starts with Kansas’s 2023 “Women’s Bill of Rights,” which defines male and female only by whether a body can make or fertilize eggs, and has inspired similar bills and executive orders across red states. Currah links these efforts to a broader network of right-wing and “gender critical” groups and to Trump’s new executive order, which demands that this rigid biology-at-conception rule be used everywhere from prisons to school sports and federal civil rights enforcement. The core warning: if these definitions win, sex discrimination law stops being about power and inequality, making it harder for both trans people and cis women to challenge violence, exclusion, and loss of basic rights.
Why You ‘Bother’ Conservatives
PinkNews has a sharp little dispatch from the culture wars: a Reddit user asked self-identified conservatives why LGBTQ+ people seem to bother them so much, and many answered that they actually do not care—and that queer people are being used as political fodder. Several respondents describe anti-LGBTQ+ panic as a “convenient demonisation” to distract voters. Rank-and-file conservatives on Reddit insist their real priorities are economics and limiting government power rather than policing anyone’s gender or sexuality.
Queering the Boardroom
A Year Without Nasdaq’s Diversity Rule
December 11 marks one year since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down the SEC-approved Nasdaq board diversity rules. The rule had required Nasdaq-listed firms to disclose board composition by gender, race, and LGBTQ+ status. In the aftermath of the ruling—and Nasdaq’s decision not to appeal—diversity disclosures have plummeted: from over 95% compliance in 2024 to just 17.1% of companies voluntarily sharing their board diversity matrices in 2025. According to data from Professor Wouter Torsin, companies simultaneously erased LGBTQ+ terminology in corporate filings—down from 50% of S&P 500 companies referencing LGBTQ+ topics in 2020 to just over 10% when he last checked.
December 10: How to Land Your First Board Seat
On December 10 at 3 p.m. ET, the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors is hosting its last webinar of 2015 with Securing Your First Board Seat webinar, featuring Jennifer Knight of Orient Point Strategic Advisors (and now a Board member of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors) and Brian Ellner of APCO. Both landed board seats recently and will share their journeys. Register here.
Latest Appointments
As part of the Mesa Air Group and Republic Airways merger, Glenn S. Johnson has joined Mesa Air Group's board.
The Gay Business
Grindr Take-Private Deal Collapses Amid Doubts
Grindr’s two largest shareholders, Ray Zage and James Lu, have withdrawn their $3.46 billion bid to take the company private after its board ended talks over financing concerns. The $18-per-share offer, which marked a 51% premium, collapsed despite reported lender interest. Zage now plans to buy more stock and push for expanded buybacks and possible dividends. With shares down 29% this year and the dating app sector facing “swiping fatigue,” Grindr remains public—for now. Source: Reuters.
AT&T Drops DEI to Appease Trump-Era FCC
AT&T confirmed this week that it has eliminated all roles focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion —a move aimed at securing regulatory approval for its $1.02 billion purchase of wireless spectrum from U.S. Cellular. The letter, addressed to the Trump-appointed FCC, explicitly states that AT&T “does not and will not have any roles focused on DEI.” The FCC has made scrapping DEI programs an informal prerequisite for deal approvals. T-Mobile and Verizon have already made similar concessions this year. Read more on CNN.
U.S. MBAs Are A Harder Sell for LGBTQ+ Students
I liked this item because my strategy for coming out when I was 22 years old was to tell my father I needed to pursue an MBA at American University, as I believed America would be a safer and more promising place to come out. As featured in Pigments this week and initially reported by the Financial Times, the war on DEI in the U.S. is reshaping global business education—and not in America’s favor. MBA applications in the U.S. dropped this year, while European schools experienced an 11% increase. This shift is especially clear for LGBTQ+ students like Luis Dominguez, who described the U.S. climate as “frightening,” citing hostility toward diversity and increasing visa insecurity. See in the FT.
Semi-Cultural Desk
Heated Rivalry: Steamy Gay Hockey Players
That’s all the gays were talking about this week. I haven’t watched it yet, as I spent the holidays with my wondrous children, who got a private tour of the National Gallery led by the very knowledgeable Chad Dobson. After the year we’ve had, HBO Max seems to have delivered exactly what no one asked for, but everyone secretly needed: a tender, unapologetically thirsty queer hockey romance. Heated Rivalry, adapted from the hit novel, pits rivals Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov against each other in competition and—let’s be honest—softcore emotional therapy on skates. It’s over the top, but I am giving you a pass for the holidays. I plan to watch it tonight after the PDA Holiday Party. Trailer below:
Night in West Texas
Peabody-winning filmmaker and investigative journalist Deborah S. Esquenazi, best known for Southwest of Salem, returns to the Texas carceral imagination with Night in West Texas, a new documentary about the wrongful conviction of James Reyos, a gay Apache man blamed for the brutal murder of a closeted priest in an oil town in the early 1980s. Forty years after Reyos was sent to prison, long-buried evidence resurfaces, forcing a small-town police department—and a state that has made a cottage industry out of criminalizing queer and Native people—to reckon with how easily he slipped through the cracks of the justice system. See here.
In ‘Pluribus,’ a Lesbian Anti-Hero
In Pluribus, the new Apple TV series that's also on my to-watch list, we finally get the gloriously messy, morally ambiguous queer lead lesbians that lesbians have long deserved. Played with sharp wit by Rhea Seehorn, Carol is the last woman standing—literally—after an alien virus fuses humanity into a hive mind of enforced optimism. Refusing to join the collective, grieving her partner, and armed with a toxic attitude that might save us all, Carol embodies a bold shift in prestige TV’s character canon. As Out Magazine’s Mey Rude writes, she’s “as no-nonsense as lesbians get”—a deeply flawed, deeply relatable icon whose queerness shapes not just her backstory, but the very plot itself. Check out the review here.
Coming and Going
Tennis Player Mika Brunold Comes Out
At just 21, Swiss tennis player Mika Brunold has made a powerful statement by coming out publicly this week. See on Tennis.com
Rob Jetten Receives Dutch Award for LGBTQ+ Advocacy
Former Dutch climate minister Rob Jetten was honored for his advocacy work advancing LGBTQ+ rights in the Netherlands, particularly his efforts on trans rights and anti-discrimination legislation. See in Gay45.
Demetre Daskalakis Returns to NYC
The very charming Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is back where he belongs—serving the LGBTQ+ community on the frontlines of healthcare. After a headline-making resignation from the CDC over political interference in science, Daskalakis has joined Callen-Lorde as Chief Medical Officer, returning to the grassroots clinic where his career began. See here.
Nominations Open: 2026 David Norr Youth Activist Award
Nominations are now open for the 2026 David Norr Youth Activist Award, honoring young changemakers fighting for inclusive religious freedom and the separation of church and state—often at the intersection of LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive justice, and racial equity. The award comes with a $1,000 prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2026 Summit for Religious Freedom in D.C. Submit your nomination by January 26. Nominate here.
Abby Stein Joins Mamdani’s Transition Team
Trans rabbi, author, and activist Abby Stein has been appointed to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team in New York City, a move that underscores his administration’s commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion—even as it sparks predictable outrage from the far right. Stein, a former Hasidic Jew and longtime advocate for trans rights, will help shape a progressive vision for the city under Mamdani, as PinkNews reports.
The Gay Agenda
December 4-6: Victory Institute Conference
LGBTQ+ Victory Institute hosts its annual conference at JW Marriott Washington D.C., bringing together 700+ elected officials and leaders for the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ political leaders worldwide. Joe Biden will be honored at the gala. See here: Victory Institute.
Têtu· Awards 2025: 30 Years of LGBTQIA+ Visibility
Paris is getting ready to celebrate queer excellence: the Têtu· Awards 2025 will take place on December 10 at Le Trianon, with Mahaut Drama and Mami Watta as hosts. Now in its third edition, the ceremony honors artists, activists, and initiatives advancing LGBTQIA+ rights and visibility in France. See here.
January 12-19: Aspen Gay Ski Week
A bit early, but I’ll spend the holidays in Basalt, CO, with my godson, hoping my knees still know how to ski. Basalt is a small town downvalley from Aspen, which means I will technically be warming up the slopes before Aspen Gay Ski Week kicks off—one of North America’s signature queer ski gatherings, with its mix of parties, panels, and highly committed après. See here.
January 19–23: Davos, The Ice Palace Reopens
Mark your calendars and polish your snow boots—Davos 2026 is coming. From January 19–23, the World Economic Forum will once again convene the global elite to ponder “stakeholder capitalism” while dodging actual stakeholders. Klaus may finally get his long-awaited opportunity to dial back the very marginal queer content imposed on him by a handful of member companies at Davos, given the current mood of the guests. Find out here where the perfunctory “rainbow panel” will be this year. Or don’t.
Well, that’s it for this week’s sarcasm. I have to leave you for lunch in Midtown. This weekend, I am heading to Paris for a short trip to the semi-annual L’Oréal Global Diversity and Inclusion Board, which I have been a part of for the past five years. It will be an opportunity to check out the exhibition “De toutes beautés!” that the company sponsors at the Louvre.
This captures the chilling effect that gets missed in legal summaries: fear travels faster than enforcement. Even “limited” complaint-based provisions can reshape daily life—especially for LGBTQ people and anyone already targeted by local authorities.
-Noble