Here is Richard Burnett’s 30th annual column of the past year’s heroes and zeros.
HEROES Liechtenstein where on January 1 same-sex marriage became law of the land, also becoming the 21st European country with marriage equality. Also on January 1, same-sex civil unions became law in Czechia.
ZERO With the approval of Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, the Slovak parliament on September 26 voted 90 to 7 to change the constitution to recognize just two sexes, and ban surrogacy and adoption by same-sex couples. The amendments also give national law precedence over EU law.
ZERO Russia which, independent Russian news outlet Meduza reported on January 27, has created a sweeping electronic database to track LGBTQ people in Russia.
ZERO Russia for not preventing or treating HIV among Russian soldiers which –according to a July 23 report from Carnegie Politika – has soared 2,000% since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, because of unprotected sex and drug use among troops.
HEROES The 200,000 people who attended the Budapest Pride march on June 28, defying Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban after Hungary’s parliament on April 14 passed a constitutional amendment banning all public LGBTQ events; the 30,000 people who marched in Bucharest Pride in Romania on June 7, the same day Pride marches were held in the cities of Gdańsk and Wrocław in Poland. The marches come at a fraught moment in Eastern Europe where far-right parties have gained ground.
ZEROS Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who on January 13 launched Turkey’s “Year of the Family” with an attack on the LGBTQ community. Erdoğan said the LGBTQ movement is part of a foreign conspiracy aimed at undermining Turkey. Turkish police then arrested 53 people at Istanbul Pride on June 29.
ZERO Greece which on March 27 announced it will bar gay men from having children via surrogacy.
HERO Italy which on April 26 held its first Dyke March in Rome.
HERO Italy’s Constitutional Court which on May 22 ruled same-sex female couples who use in vitro fertilization abroad can both be legally recognized as parents in Italy, even if one is not the biological mother.
HERO Dutch centrist leader Rob Jetten who on October 29 became both the youngest prime minister – at age 38 – to ever be elected to the Netherlands parliament and the first openly gay Dutch prime minister.
HERO France which on May 17 unveiled their Paris memorial to LGBTQ victims of the Nazi regime, located in public gardens close to the Bastille Plaza.
HERO Britain which on October 27 unveiled its national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, in the National Memorial Arboretum in central England, 25 years after the UK ended its ban on homosexuality in the armed forces. King Charles III, ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument. In 2025 the UK also began paying compensation of up to £70,000 to LGBTQ veterans dismissed or discharged from the armed forces because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
ZERO The UK Supreme Court which on April 16 unanimously ruled the legal definition of a woman excludes trans women.
HERO Bishop Cherry Vann who on July 30 was elected archbishop of the Church in Wales, the first woman and LGBTQ cleric appointed to lead any of Britain’s Anglican churches.
ZERO + HERO The new Pope Leo XIV, who in his first address — delivered on May 16 — reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage, stating that the family should be “founded on the stable union between a man and a woman.” Nevertheless, he has continued in the direction set by Francis and allows blessings of same-sex unions. He has officially met with several LGBTQ delegations — a first in the Church’s history during a Jubilee — a holy year.
HERO Thailand which on January 23 became the first Southeast Asian country to hold legal same-sex weddings, with more than 2,000 marriage registrations in a single day, including a mass wedding at a luxury Bangkok retail mall where 200 couples got married.
HERO Japan’s Osaka High Court which on March 25 ruled Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
HERO Hong Kong High Court Judge Russell Coleman who on July 23 ruled trans women have the right to use women’s bathrooms. Then on September 9 Justice Coleman ruled in favour of parental recognition of a lesbian couple whose son was born through reciprocal in vitro fertilization.
ZERO Chinese film distributor Hishow which digitally changed a same-sex couple to a heterosexual couple in the Australian film Together which premiered in China on September 12.
ZERO China which banned popular gay dating apps Blued and Finka, Apple confirmed on November 11. Blued is one of the most widely-used gay dating apps in China, with tens of millions of downloads.
ZEROS Malaysian authorities who on July 17 said they arrested 20 men attending a “gay party” in a rental property in the state capital Kota Bharu.
ZERO Indonesia where police on June 22 arrested 75 people attending a “gay party” in the city of Bogor.
HERO Australia’s national blood donation service Lifeblood which lifted their blood and plasma donation ban for gay men, effective July 16.
HEROES Gilead whose drug Yeztugo, generic name lenacapavir, on June 18 was approved by the U.S. FDA after trials found it nearly eliminates the spread of the HIV virus among patients. The drug is injected every six months. While currently priced at $14,109 USD per injection, the Clinton Health Access Initiative in partnership with the Gates Foundation and other groups on September 24 announced they will slash that price to $40 in more than 100 low- and middle-income countries by 2027.
HERO The Andhra Pradesh High Court in India which on June 16 ruled Indian law cannot deny transgender women recognition as women solely because they cannot bear children.
HERO The world’s first out imam, 57-year-old cleric Muhsin Hendricks – whose mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, was a safe haven for gay Muslims – was ambushed and shot to death by two thugs on February 15.
ZERO The unelected 71-member transitional parliament of Burkina Faso which on September 1 unanimously passed the Persons and Family Code law which criminalizes all LGBTQ activity with a prison sentence ranging from two to five years.
HEROES & ZEROS The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, headquartered in Saint Lucia, on July 29 struck down a colonial-era law in Saint Lucia that criminalized gay sex. Only five Caribbean nations still penalize gay sex: Jamaica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as Trinidad and Tobago where the Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeal on March 26 overturned a 2018 ruling that struck down that Caribbean nation’s laws banning gay sex.
HERO & ZERO Puerto Rico whose Supreme Court on June 2 ruled that ‘X’ gender markers are permitted on birth certificates. Then Puerto Rico on July 16 banned hormone therapy and gender surgery for trans people under 21.
HERO The Cuban Parliament which on July 18 approved a new Civil Registry Law allowing people to self-declare their gender without requiring surgery, as well as change their gender on identity documents.
HERO The Superior Court of Justice in Brazil which on May 7 ruled a person can identify as gender neutral on official documents, such as their birth certificate.
HEROES Hinge dating app’s third annual LGBTQIA+ D.A.T.E. (Data, Advice, Trends, and Expertise) Report: Love Beyond Labels published on May 28 shows Gen Z is more open-minded about sexuality than millennials. The Hinge survey of 14,000 people uncovered a generational shift. There isa growing wave of “label fatigue” among Gen Z who are 21% more likely than millennials to date people with a variety of gender expressions; Gen Z LGBTQ users are 39% more likely than queer millennials to have reconsidered their sexuality label as a result of an unexpected attraction; and Gen Z LGBTQ daters are 22% more likely than their millennial counterparts to be open to a sexual encounter with someone outside their usual gender preference.
ZERO U.S. President Donald Trump who on October 7 mocked transgender people in front of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney – whose own child identifies as non-binary – during their meeting in the Oval Office.
ZERO The Trump administration whose April 11 directive signed by U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr. ruled that gender dysphoria is no longer a disability protected under U.S. federal law.
ZERO The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee which on July 21 barred trans women from competing in women’s sports, complying with an executive order from Donald Trump.
ZERO The World Athletics Council which on July 30 approved new eligibility regulations requiring all athletes competing in the female category at the World Championships must test for the SRY gene which World Athletics calls “a reliable proxy for determining biological sex.” The new regulations came into effect on September 1. Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee stopped SRY gene testing and mandatory sex verification in 1999. However, the IOC leaves it up to the governing bodies of individual sports to determine who can compete as a woman.
ZERO The UK Football Association which on June 1 updated its trans participation policy, requiring trans men who wish to play in male competitions to formally declare they are “biologically female”.
HEROES The Court of King’s Bench of Albertawhichon June 27 granted Egale Canada and Skipping Stone’s injunction request to block Alberta’s Bill 26 that denies gender-affirming care for gender-diverse young people in the province.
ZEROS After social-conservative activist groups Parents for Choice in Education and Action4Canada lobbied Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s governing United Conservative Party, Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides on May 26 announced a school book ban – including LGBTQ titles – that after making international headlines has been delayed to 2026.
ZERO The CAQ-appointedComité de sages sur l’identité de genre whose 280-page report released on May 30 recommends schools in Quebec maintain gendered bathrooms, but also add gender-neutral bathrooms. Aide aux Trans du Québec executive director Victoria Legault told the CBC the report is “steeped in misogyny” and singles out trans women and girls when in reality they are most likely to be victims of violence: “It is very heartbreaking that they kind of point a finger at us and portray trans women as being a menace or threat.”
ZERO The Bibliothèque Père-Ambroise public library in the Gay Village run by the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal, which refused former FUGUES coverboy and author Christopher DiRaddo’s LGBTQ Violet Hour Book Club to hold monthly meetings at their library, citing Quebec’s new language Law 14 (Bill 96). Violet Hour members read a mix of French- and English-language books, though discussions are held mainly in English. On January 29, the office of the Quebec Language Minister backtracked, saying Law 14 does not prohibit libraries from banning English. The City of Montreal then backtracked and apologized on January 31.
ZERO Québec French-language Minister Jean-François Roberge who on September 24 ended gender-inclusive writing in government communications for the public. Gender-neutrality presents challenges in French because many words used to describe groups of people have both masculine and feminine forms, while inclusive writing includes all gender identities to avoid defaulting to masculine forms. Roberge said similar rules will be introduced for schools, universities and the health-care system.
HERO The Canadian Museum for Human Rights whose pop‐up exhibitionLove in a Dangerous Time: Canada’s LGBT Purge opened on May 27 at the Canadian Embassy Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. during WorldPride. The exhibition chronicles the harassment and firing of LGBTQ members of the Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and federal public service workers from the 1950s to 1990s. This well‐documented but not well‐known piece of history became known as the LGBT Purge.
HERO Canada Post whose Places of Pride stamp series released May 29 recognizes four early LGBTQ meeting spots and safe spaces for community organizing in Canada: Calgary’s first gay bar Club Carousel; Montreal leather bar Truxx whose 1977 police raid led to legislation barring discrimination based on sexual orientation in Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms; Hanlan’s Point Beach in Toronto where the 1971 Gay Day Picnic is considered the first major gathering of queer people in Canada and an early example of what we now know as Pride; and the 3rd North American Native Gay & Lesbian Gathering in 1990 near Beausejour, Manitoba, where the term “Two-Spirit” was first introduced and adopted.
HERO Montreal’s Dawson College which in 2025 established the annual Joe Rose Queer Community Engagement Award which awards $1,000 “to a student who identifies as 2SLGBTQIA+ and does advocacy and/or organizing work within the queer community.” The award honours Dawson Nursing student and AIDS activist Joe Rose who was murdered aboard on STM bus on March 19, 1989, in a homophobic hate crime. While attending Dawson, Rose in 1985 founded the Etcetera Club, a safe space for LGBTQ students.
HEROES The hundreds of participants, volunteers and organizers like Evie Haugland who launched the inaugural Hudson Pride event on July 5. The West Island LGBTQ2+ Centre and other organizations were on-site to celebrate queer diversity.
HEROES Pride organizations who survived the withdrawal of corporate sponsors in 2025, a trend that affected LGBTQ Pride celebrations across North America and the UK. In Toronto, to help make up for the shortfall, the municipality on April 22 granted an additional $350,000 to Pride Toronto.
HEROES & ZEROS The long-simmering battle between Fierté Montréal and some LGBTQ organizations – like the Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec, Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel de l’Ouest-de-l’Île, the Centre de solidarité lesbienne, Helem Montréal, and the Sapphix Social Club – which went public with a May 16 story in La Presse ahead of the creation of Wild Pride which held their alternative Pride march the same day as Fierté Montréal, on August 10.
The controversy was further fueled when Fierté performer Safia Nolin in a July 30 Instagram post took issue with “the presence of Ga’ava, a Zionist LGBTQ+ group” prompting Fierté Montréal to issue a July 31 statement condemning genocide in Gaza and ousting Ga’ava and the Toronto-based Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) from the parade. Then Bernard Truong resigned as chair of the Fierté board of directors, two days after Fierté executive director Simon Gamache went on “sick leave” on July 29. Gamache then resigned on August 19.
Newly-appointed president of the Fierté Montréal board of directors Marlot Marleau promised to open dialogue with the community moving forward, though protestors and dissenters should now put their money where their mouth is and step up to the plate as Fierté looks for new leadership and to the future, while not losing sight of the original mission of Pride.
ZEROS The organizers and participants of the third annual Rad Pride “march” in the Gay Village on August 9 who threw objects at police officers who used tear gas to disperse the crowd. A trash can was set on fire, and several windows of the National Bank on the corner of Saint Hubert and Saint Catherine streets were smashed. There were no arrests.
ZEROS The Queers for Palestine protesters who halted Ottawa’s Capital Pride parade on August 24, forcing organizers to cancel the parade.
HEROES & ZEROS WorldPride 2025 organizers who on April 9 warned transgender tourists to avoid travelling to D.C. because of the Trump administration’s anti-trans policies. WorldPride organizers relocated multiple events that the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center cancelled. On June 6, Donald Trump ordered Dupont Circle shut down. But the parade route was reopened by the parks department just hours before the parade began on June 7. In the end, WorldPride drew 1.2 million visitors, fewer than the 3 million originally expected.
HEROES The builders and supporters of the Espace + Village centre located at 929 Saint Catherine Street East, which the City of Montreal on August 9 announced will become the “first French-speaking LGBTQ community complex in Canada.” It apparently will not displace or compete with the Montreal LGBTQ Community Centre located at 2075 Plessis. The city’s total financial contribution so far is $1.025 million.
HERO The City of Montreal which on August 22announced its redevelopment project for Saint Catherine Street East between Berri Street and De Lorimier Avenue. Construction begins in 2026 and is scheduled to end in 2030. The project will redevelop the beleaguered Village portion of Saint Catherine Street East into a permanent year-round pedestrian mall to be covered with an illuminated rainbow-coloured canopy.
HERO LGBTQ bar Champs on Saint Laurent Boulevard which on October 6 received a dance permit from the Régie des Alcools 10 months after dancing was banned in December 2024 due to noise complaints. Following the ban, Champs invested in soundproofing, then embarked on a “long, frustrating and complicated” process to secure a dance permit which is only valid on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays.
ZEROS The Montreal thieves who on March 27 stole the $20,000 wardrobe of the hugely successful all-star Quebec production of La Cage Aux Folles, from a truck in Verdun on its way to a dry cleaner.
HERO The husband of renowned dancer Jose Navas, McGill University Faculty of Law Dean Robert Leckey on January 27 was appointed a judge to the Superior Court of Quebec, District of Montreal.
HERO Quebec actor Théodore Pellerin who on May 22 received the Newcomer Award at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, for his performance in Nino, the debut film by French director Pauline Loquès.
ZEROS The Canadian Screen Awards which on May 30 awarded Best Host to the insufferable Brooke Lynn Hytes, Brad Goreski and Traci Melchor for Canada’s Drag Race.
HERO Canada’s Drag Race S2 contestant Gia Metric – a.k.a. Giorgio Triberio – who on July 31 won a silver medal for artistic swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Masters Championships in Singapore.
HERO Quebec drag legend Mona de Grenoble who on March 23 won the Olivier de l’année, the most coveted prize at the 26th Olivier Gala.
HEROES Montreal drag artists Rita Baga, Mona de Grenoble, Barbada, Bobépine and Bambi Dextrous who, Crave television announced on July 2, are cast in the original bilingual Crave TV series BON COP, BAD COP, scheduled to premiere in 2026.
HERO Grammy-winning music producer, rapper, singer, DJ and Montrealer Kaytranada (born Louis Kevin Celestin) who on May 4 received SOCAN’s International Achievement Award, presented to a songwriter and artist whose influence has grown beyond Canada and is now global.
ZEROS The 50 famous stand-up comedians – including Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Montrealer Sugar Sammy and lesbian comic Jessica Kirson – who participated in the inaugural Riyadh Comedy Festival which ran from September 26 to October 9 in Saudi Arabia where women face systematic discrimination and same-sex relations are punishable by lashes, prison or death. Kirson on October 3 expressed “sincere regret” and will donate her entire fee to an undisclosed human rights organization. The backlash follows the participation of “gay icons” Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry and American stylist Law Roach at the Elie Saab fashion show in Riyadh in November 2024.
HERO Actor Jonathan Bailey who in the October 13 issue of TIME magazine was named one the world’s most influential rising stars, and who in the November 17 issue of PEOPLE magazine was named Sexiest Man Alive by in People’s 40th annual ranking. Bailey, 37, told TIME about founding The Shameless Fund: “I just felt so strongly about the elder members of the community, many of whom are much more likely to be single, less likely to have children, and they’re going into care homes and dealing with homophobia. The first five grants we’ve given, two are going to charities that look after elderly LGBTQ members. We have to look after them because they fought so hard.”
HERO Pop icon Elton John who on March 20 was announced the recipient of the 2025 Glenn Gould Prize. The Canadian $100,000 biennial award goes to an artist who has “enriched the human condition.” Said Elton, “I am awestruck and honoured.”
HERO Four-time Tony-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein who on June 8 received the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.
HEROES The creative team behind the La Messe Basse and Théatre Duceppe co-production Corps fantômes that ran at Duceppe from October 22 to November 22. The March 1989 murder of Joe Rose and the July 1990 Montreal police raid on Sex Garage are at the core of the landmark play which blends fictional characters with Montreal’s legendary queer brain trust — LGBTQ activists Roger Le Clerc, Michael Hendricks, Claudine Metcalfe, René Leboeuf and Douglas Buckley-Couvrette — during the crucible years of Montreal queer activism from 1990 to 1995.
HERO Montreal playwright Éric Noël who on May 6 received the $10,000 Prix Michel-Tremblay by the Fondation du Centre des auteurs dramatiques and Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec his play L’Amoure looks something like you. Then on November 6 Noël won the 2025 Governor General’s Award for French-language Drama for Ces regards amoureux de garçons altérés.
HEROES Filmmaker Bruce LaBruce and visual artist Kent Monkman who each received a 2025 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts on March 5.
HERO Classically-trained out Austrian singer JJ – a.k.a. Johannes Pietsch – who on May 17 won the 69th Eurovision Song Contest with his pop-opera song Wasted Love.
HERO Out pop music legend Johnny Mathis who on May 18 performed his final live concert, at Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey. The 90-year-old Mathis has released 70 albums and sold more than 350 million records worldwide.
ZERO Disco diva and “gay icon” Gloria Gaynor who betrayed the LGBTQ communities that helped her career survive, when she accepted her Trump-approved 2025 Kennedy Center Honor for her lifetime of achievement in the arts. To add insult to injury, The Independent newspaper on August 27 reported that Gaynor donated nearly $22,000 USD to right-wing politicians and organizations since 2023 – including to Texas senator Ted Cruz, disgraced former U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and to Trump’s National Security Advisor Marco Rubio.
ZERO Disco icons Village People – lead by founding member Victor Willis – who performed at Trump inauguration events without any of the other former originalmembers.Willis said he hopes the band’s disco hit Y.M.C.A. “helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign.”
HERO Boxer Oscar Bonifacino, 21, who on February 22 won his first professional match, defeating Matías Gabrielli via a second-round TKO in his hometown of Maldonado, Uruguay. In the ring after the match, Bonifacino told the crowd, “I am a free person, I am a gay man.”
HERO Brazilian tennis player Joao Lucas Reis who on August 19 became the first publicly out gay man to compete in a qualifying at the U.S. Open or at any Grand Slam event.
ZERO Trans Olympian Caitlyn Jenner who on January 17 posted on Instagram that she was “just as happy, actually more happy, than the first time, to be celebrating the inauguration of President Trump.”
ZEROS Iran whose June 16 missile launch destroyed Mash Central, the only gay bar in Tel Aviv, three days after Israel launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military facilities. Israeli authorities also cancelled Tel Aviv’s June 13 Pride parade, so participants were spared the event’s polarizing guest of honour, Caitlyn Jenner.
ZEROS Gay former Republican New York U.S. Rep. George Santos who on April 25 was sentenced to 87 months in prison for fraud and identity theft. Then on October 17, President Donald Trump commuted his sentence.
ZEROS Gay billionaire and Trump fundraiser Scott Bessent, 62, appointed U.S. Treasury Secretary on January 27; out gay Vince Micone – who previously served on the board of directors of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance – appointed Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor on January 20; and prominent gay tech executive Jacob Helberg who on October 16 was sworn in as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
HERO The U.S. Supreme Court which on November 10 announced it will not hear the appeal of former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, the onetime county official who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the landmark 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.
HERO Lambda Legal which on June 5 announced that its “Unstoppable Future” campaign raised $285 million USD that will enable the LGBTQ legal advocacy organization to challenge legal and political attacks on the LGBTQ communities in the USA.
HERO Germany’s iconic gay dance club SchwuZ which on July 31 declared bankruptcy after falling victim to inflation and an evolving party culture threatening Berlin’s nightlife. Since its founding in 1977, SchwuZ played an integral role in Berlin’s LGBTQ scene, helping launch the Christopher Street Day Parade and the queer magazine Siegessäule.
HERO Drag Race legend Trixie Mattel who on March 9 closed their bar This Is It – the oldest gay bar in Milwaukee – just shy of its 57th anniversary, and another reminder we must support our essential local gay bars in the age of Grindr.
ZERO The last gay bar in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Velvet Club & Lounge which closed on February 8 after drag queen Tara Nova (a.k.a. Lukus Oram-Feltham) on an episode of Canada’s Drag Race disclosed the bar’s low pay for drag artists (reportedly $37.50 per performance).
HERO British pub retailer and brewer Greene King who on June 26 reopened London’s “oldest LGBTQ venue” The City of Quebec – an Art Deco pub in the heart of Marylebone – following a six-figure investment. The pub has been a hub for the LGBTQ community since its establishment in 1946, when it was originally frequented by RAF pilots.
HERO Toronto’s Glad Day Bookshop which on July 1 left its 499 Church Street locale in the Village due to skyrocketing costs, and moving to smaller and cheaper 32 Lisgar Street in the Queen West neighbourhood. The move followed a fundraising campaign that raised $200,000 from some 2,400 donors to help the cash-strapped Glad Day stay afloat. The new location is not a permanent home, the store continues to work with the City of Toronto to secure a sustainable, long-term location. Glad Day opened in 1970 and is the world’s oldest surviving LGBTQ bookshop.
HERO Montreal-based Lez Spread The Word magazine which on June 13 won National Magazine Awards in three categories: Editorial Package (Gold medal); Publisher Grand Prix (Gold medal); and Best Magazine: Special Interest (Gold medal).
HERO Association québécoise des journalistes 2LGBTQI+ (AJQ+) founding president and Canadian Press journalist Quentin Dufranne who launched the AJQ+ at Bar Le Cocktail on September 4. Former Radio-Canada journalist Denis-Martin Chabot is AJQ+ treasurer, and journalist Charline Caro joins them on the board of directors.
HERO Canada’s oldest HIV service agency, the AIDS Committee of Toronto, which on September 12 announced it will close in 2026 after 42 years. ACT cited groundbreaking medical advances that have reduced the need for its services.
HEROES who came out in 2025:
Three-time Olympian and U.S. men’s national volleyball team captain Erik Shoji came out as queer; former Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps announced she is “in a same-sex relationship”; Brazilian pro tennis player João Lucas Reis, USA Olympic medalist Yared Nuguse, Irish football player Mark Shields of the Gaelic Players Association, Polish elite ski jumper Andrzej Stekala, Team USA gymnast Paul Ruggeri and Norwegian decathlete Jonathan Hertwig-Ødegaard all came out as gay; and former Australian Football League player Mitch Brown came out as bisexual, the first out queer man in the league’s 129-year history.
Former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Trinity K. Bonet came out as trans and Jinkx Monsoon as pansexual; RuPaul’s Drag Race S9 and All-Stars S4 superstar Valentina, Canada’s Drag Race S4 contestant Aimee Yoncé Shennel and Robert DeNiro’s daughter Airyn all came out as a trans women; R&B star Khalid, K-pop star and JUST B member Bain (a.k.a. Song Byeong-hee), and Star Académie contestant Marc-Antoine Delage came out as gay; pop star Kesha as omnisexual; Modern Family child star Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, 18, came out as bisexual; Coronation Street legend Shobna Gulati as non-binary; Scottish-Italian actor Ruaridh Silvio as bisexual and queer; actress Julia Fox and country music singer Tanner Adell as pansexual; actress Anna Camp revealed on TikTok she is dating a woman; and Hollywood mogul Barry Diller, 83, came out (without specifying a label) in his 2025 memoir Who Knew.
LOCAL HEROES who passed away in 2025:
Poet and Éditions de l’Écrou co-founder Jean-Sébastien Larouche; trans author and poet José Claer; beloved bartender Larry Lepage of legendary West Village gay dive Le Mystique on Stanley Street; Quebec City business legend and Sauna Hippocampe founder Yvon Pépin; former Le Campus strip club owner Gary Blanchard; author, actor and director Claude Poissant; trailblazing Montreal drag icon Madame Simone, a.k.a. Eugene Fortin; Montreal actor and social-media personality Gianni Falcone after a long battle with cancer; radio host and film critic René Homier-Roy; and former Fugues magazine sales rep Alain Ménard who also managed the Campus strip joint and club Le Caché located in Station C.
HEROES who passed away in 2025:
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK first season winner and West End star The Vivienne, a.k.a. James Lee Williams; RuPaul’s Drag Race UK S1 Brit Crew member and London Knights Basketball Club player AJ Bediako; RuPaul’s Drag Race star Jiggly Caliente – a.k.a. Bianca Castro – at age 44, days after her right leg was amputated; legendary Rock and Roll and Broadway poster artist David Edward Byrd who created posters for the Fillmore East and the Broadway productions Follies and Godspell; and musician Dave Ball of queer British synth-pop pioneers Soft Cell.
Joffrey Ballet dance icon and Tina Turner fashion designer Christian Holder; gay Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani; literary icon and Godfather of Gay Lit Felice Picano; Picano’s old friend and Violet Quill colleague, literary icon Edmund White whose 1982 novel A Boy’s Own Story is credited as the first coming-out novel; Britain’s oldest drag queen and cabaret legend, Maisie Trollette – a.k.a. David Raven – at age 91; multi-instrumentalist Kevan Staples who with Carole Pope co-founded Canada’s legendary New Wave rock band Rough Trade, at age 74; and Dr. Kildare, Shogun and The Thorn Birds star Richard Chamberlain, at age 90.
Don Wilson, owner of Vancouver’s iconic Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium; Keith St Clare, editor and publisher of groundbreaking San Francisco LGBTQ magazine Vanguard from 1966 to 1978; and gay CBS and ABC news producer Joseph Lovett, 80, who made one of the first long-form network television segments on the AIDS crisis for 20/20 in May 1983, and produced news segments destigmatizing gay life in North America at a time when that subject was largely overlooked by mainstream news organizations.
Philadelphia writer, film festival organizer and 1960s American Bandstand dancer Thom Cardwell; theatre director and visual artist Robert Wilson; King of the Hill voice actor Jonathan Joss, fatally shot outside his Texas home; singer-songwriter Jill Sobule whose 1995 hit I Kissed a Girl cracked the Billboard Top 20, died in a Minneapolis house fire; Barbie fashion designers and married couple Mario Paglino and Gianni Grossi died in an accidental car crash in Italy; Project Runway S18 competitor and fashion designer Sha’Vi Lewis; queer poet Andrea Gibson of ovarian cancer at age 49; gay adult film stars Tim Kruger, Roman Mercury, Damien Stone and Koby Falks; and legendary porn star Colton Ford – a.k.a. Glenn Soukesian – who died in a tragic hiking accident at age 62.
Oscar-nominated British actor Terence Stamp who portrayed trans character Bernadette in the 1993 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Swedish actor Björn Andrésen who was nicknamed “the most beautiful boy in the world” at age 15 when he starred in the 1971 movie Death in Venice – a title he struggled with all his life; virtuoso singer-pianist, pop icon and LGBTQ ally Roberta Flack; crossdressing New York Dolls frontman David Johansen; Keeping Up Appearances star and gay icon Patricia Routledge at age 96; and Maria Riva, daughter of LGBTQ icon Marlene Dietrich, at age 100.
Italian fashion photographer Oliviero Toscani whose controversial 1992 Benetton ad campaign at the peak of the AIDS crisis used an image of activist David Kirby on his deathbed surrounded by family; lesbian philanthropist Wallis Annenberg who co-chaired the landmark 1985 AIDS Project Los Angeles’ black-tie Commitment to Life Dinner with co-chairs Betty Ford and Elizabeth Taylor, raising $1.3 million; Ballroom icon Mo’Dayvia LaBeija, a.k.a. Samson Mo’Dayvia Labeija Masters; pioneering lesbian businesswoman Jewel Thais-Williams, owner of legendary Los Angeles Black queer disco Jewel’s Catch One where Sylvester and Madonna used to hang out; and Stonewall veteran, trans activist and 2018 Fierté Montréal parade Grand Marshall Miss Major Griffin-Gracy at age 78.
