Advocate NL 11/11/26

Hello and Happy Wednesday, folks!Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez here, back in your inbox with some late-breaking news out of Mississippi.Three years ago, Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith used her Senate power to block Scott Colom from becoming a federal judge, citing his supposed position on transgender athletes. Now, Mississippi voters have chosen him to take her seat.The Advocate's Christopher Wiggins has all the details here.Speaking of being anti-LGBTQ+: Years after the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” LGBTQ+ service members and veterans still face threats to their benefits, healthcare, and right to serve. For transgender Americans in particular, serving their country has offered no guarantee that their country will stand by them -- Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland is just one of many The Advocate has profiled.The fight for equality extends beyond the right to wear the uniform, Jacob Ogles writes. It includes finding safe housing after leaving the military, accessing healthcare, securing earned benefits, and building community with people who understand both military life and LGBTQ+ identity.Ogles put together a list of eight organizations that meet those needs through legal advocacy, emergency assistance, peer support, and other services, working to ensure that LGBTQ+ service members and veterans receive the support and recognition they deserve.Take care out there folks, we'll see you again next time!NEW! Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to The Advocate Journalism Project to directly support LGBTQ+ journalism. Help us expand our Washington, D.C., bureau to bring you more breaking news from the nation's capital and fund crucial investigative reporting, compelling video reports, and sustain our 60-year print archive, a history of the queer civil rights movement.After Trump’s military ban, this nonbinary 11-year Air Force veteran found a new mission at HarvardMasculinity-obsessed Pete Hegseth gets yelled at about discipline by Ar