Lgbtq+

Did The Atlantic magazine publish an article titled, "At this weekend's Pride parade a man exposed his genitals to my 6 year old. She was horrified. Am I raising a bigot?"? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for the magazine told us that the article was "not a real article." There is no evidence on The Atlantic's website or on…

Is Target selling clothing with satanic imagery? No, that's not true: A search for clothes depicting satanism on Target's website did not result in the images seen in the Facebook post, or any relevant images that could back up this claim. A software developer from Pennsylvania confirmed to Lead Stories that he created the images seen in the Facebook post…

Did the Italian government announce "Family Pride Month" to celebrate heterosexual "mothers and fathers" instead of the LGBTQ+ community? No, that's not true: While Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been criticized domestically and internationally for her government's policies on LGBT+ issues, the country did not officially replace Pride Month with the celebration of heterosexual families. The claim appeared in…

Did the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus vow in a song to convert children to homosexuality? No, that's not true: The satirical song titled, "Message from the Gay Community," was sharing the specific and direct message that they wanted to convert children to be "tolerant and fair"; not to convince them to become homosexuals. The claim appeared in a video…

Did "leftist activists" loot a Target store in response to the 2023 Target boycott started by right-wingers? No, that's not true: In the tweet making that claim, the image is from 2020, three years before the protest over LGBTQ+ merchandise. The Minneapolis Target was ransacked in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. There are multiple articles from 2020…

Did Walt Disney World remove "all American flags" and replace them with "the Pride flag" to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights? No, that's not true: As of May 25, 2023, the Walt Disney Company had not announced such a change ahead of LGBTQ Pride Month, the annual June commemoration of the LGBTQ+ rights struggle. The claim…

Do three North Carolina hospitals offer gender transitions to children as young as 2, 3 and 4 years old? No, that's not true: Social media posts have misrepresented what treatments are available to patients of various ages, insinuating that these North Carolina hospitals start gender transitions on children as young as 2. However, hormone therapies and gender-affirming surgery are not…

Do gay men and gay women make up 2 percent of the world's population but commit 45 percent of all sexual assaults against children? No, that's not true: Experts in the field say there is not a greater risk that gay people will be child molesters. Also, 3 percent of people in the world identify as gay, not 2 percent,…

Did the LGBTQ+-focused dating app Grindr threaten to "reveal every Republican legislator and party official who secretly uses" it, if "Florida doesn't stop passing homophobic and transphobic laws"? No, that's not true: The original wording for the allegation comes from the Twitter account of a satirical website. Grindr also told Lead Stories that it values the privacy of its users.…

Does a video of a congressional hearing show a Democratic congresswoman from California saying she believes pedophilia is an identity and not a crime? No, that's not true: Katie Porter's remarks were about the use of false narratives on social media that label LGBTQ individuals as pedophiles because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. The claim appeared in a…