SCOTUS went low, the ballot box went gay, and fall TV's stacked
SCOTUS went low, the ballot box went gay, and fall TV's stacked.
Welcome back to the Watering Hole. A real mixed bag this week: the Supreme Court let the trans sports bans stand, but queer candidates swept a wave of primaries, a candidate who campaigned on executing us got humiliated at the polls, Bulgaria did right by four trans people, and fall TV is about to be genuinely unhinged. Pour something (we have suggestions). Let's get into it.
Fall TV is loaded. Abbott Elementary returns for season 5 on Aug 22 (with out actor Chris Perfetti), and all three seasons of The Sex Lives of College Girls — Reneé Rapp's launchpad — hit streaming Aug 31. Add Ted Lasso S4 and Adults S2 on the way, and your calendar is officially booked.
On the big screen: Anne Hathaway is a haunted, Gaga-esque pop star in David Lowery's dreamy psychodrama Mother Mary — a sentence so specifically engineered for us it should come with a warning label.
The come-out club keeps growing: Airyn De Niro, Jack Haven, and a steady stream of others added their names this year. No timelines, no wrong way — welcome, every time.
The Supreme Court upheld the trans sports bans, 6–3. Idaho's and West Virginia's laws barring trans girls from girls' teams stand — a ruling advocates warn reaches far beyond the field and lands on trans kids. We're not dressing it up: it's a bad one. (Pride in Progress below: where to put this rage.)
And a call coming from inside the house: Rep. Haley Stevens caught heat for a campaign ad featuring a pastor with a long anti-LGBTQ+ record. Allyship isn't a logo you dust off in June — read the room, vet your surrogates.
The ballot box had other plans. Queer and progressive candidates dominated Tuesday's primaries — big LGBTQ+ wins across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, and Connecticut, including a trans candidate in Michigan who put it plainly: "people were ready for change, and they voted for it."
Nikki Hiltz keeps winning anyway. The out trans, nonbinary runner just landed on the TIME100 in Sports and stacked up a 10th national title — the loudest possible rebuttal to a court that would rather they disappear. Run, don't walk.
And a quiet, real one: Bulgaria's top court affirmed four trans people's right to legally change their name and gender marker — a genuine win in a tough region. Progress doesn't always parade; sometimes it files the paperwork and changes a life.
A GOP candidate who is on record supporting the execution of LGBTQ+ people just got humiliated at the polls. He ran on, essentially, "kill the gays," and the voters handed him a landslide loss. Turns out advocating for the state murder of your own neighbors is a tough sell — even in a primary. Cunt behavior, correctly buried. Don't come back.
Turn the rage into receipts. After the SCOTUS ruling, the fight moves to the lower courts and the states — and the people doing that work need fuel. Lambda Legal is in court right now on LGBTQ+ and trans-youth cases. Chip in, or just know their name.
Prefer direct aid? The Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund routes money straight to groups serving trans kids in the states being targeted right now. Small amounts, real impact.
📖 the lexicon — the group chat updated the dictionary
fruit fly (n.) — the new fag hag. the straight girl who earned her seat in the group chat.
cake topper (n.) — the new tramp stamp. a tattoo right above the… cake. 🍑
also overheard this week: mother (a genuine icon, a serve), delulu (delusional, but make it hope), and the ick (that instant, unexplainable turn-off). class dismissed.
P.S. — Gay Water partners with and donates to LGBTQ+ orgs year-round, not Pride-month cosplay. Reply and tell us who we should support next.
and we'll see you next week.
— The Watering Hole × Gay Water
