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Italy and Sweden have become the latest countries to record cases of monkeypox amid the first ever global outbreak.

MILAN, May 19 (Reuters) - Italy has diagnosed its first case of the monkeypox infection at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome, the hospital said on Thursday, adding that the person, who arrived from a stay on the Canary Islands, was being kept in isolation. The hospital added there were two other suspected cases that had yet to be confirmed.

80 German churches conduct second round of rites for same-sex couplesBERLIN (ChurchMilitant.com) - Germany's Synodal Way will vote for same-sex blessings to be officially legitimized in the Catholic Church, Irme Stetter-Karp, president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), said Tuesday. A two-thirds majority of the bishops must vote for the bill to become legal, putting the German Church on a collision course with Rome. The ZdK is co-organizing the Synodal Way with the German Bishops' Conference. Mass DefianceEighty German churches are offering "gay blessings" this week, defying the Vatican's recent decree that categorically rules out rites for same-sex...

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) today confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in an adult male with recent travel to Canada. Initial testing was completed late Tuesday at the State Public Health Laboratory in Jamaica Plain and confirmatory testing was completed today at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). DPH is working closely with the CDC, relevant local boards of health, and the patient’s health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious. This contact tracing approach is the most appropriate...

It is just 24 hours later, and the number of confirmed cases in the UK has more than doubled. I told you that I would be keeping an eye on this story, and there have been some alarming new developments. When I wrote about the monkeypox outbreak in the UK yesterday, there were three confirmed cases. Now there are seven, and authorities can’t explain why it is spreading. This is a disease that is not supposed to spread from person to person easily, but apparently some human to human transmission has been happening in these new cases. According to UK...

A staggering 107 United Methodist congregations based in Florida plan to leave the mainline denomination for the newly launched conservative Global Methodist Church. The Florida chapter of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a theologically conservative Methodist group, announced Tuesday that 107 churches in the state had “chosen to initiate the process to depart the Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church.” The number of congregations planning to leave represents nearly 20% of the total number of churches belonging to the UMC Florida Conference. "This broad group of churches include both large and small congregations along with Anglo, African American, Latino, Korean,...

After a draft Supreme Court opinion seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has protected the constitutional right to abortion for nearly five decades, was leaked this week, activists said they began to worry that other landmark rulings – on which modern LGBTQ+ rights hinge – may be targeted next. Protections stemming from cases like Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated discriminatory sodomy laws, and Obergefell v. Hobbs, which legalized same-sex marriage in the U.S., will not immediately disappear with the overturning of Roe, but they may be weakened.

Disney parks are axing gendered language such as "boys and girls" in their park greetings to promote gender inclusivity, according to video of a company executive. "We’ve provided training for all of our cast members in relationship to that. So now they know it's ‘Hello, everyone,’ or ‘Hello, friends,'" Disney's diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware was heard saying in a video conference call recorded by City Journal's Christopher Rufo. Parkgoers will no longer hear "ladies and gentlemen" and "boys and girls" in park greetings, according to the video.

Headline: "DeSantis signs controversial bill restricting certain LGBTQ topics in Classroom." (CNN)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed legislation banning certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, approving the controversial measure that opponents have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law. HB 1557, titled the "Parental Rights in Education" bill, was given final passage by Florida's GOP-controlled legislature earlier this month. The law is set to take effect in July. The legislation set off a social and political firestorm in Florida when it was introduced by Republican lawmakers in January. Its passage comes as conservatives around the...

The former public school teacher and principal has been pushed out of her education policy roleNEW YORK CITY (LifeSiteNews) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams fired a recently appointed education advisor after the New York Daily News reported her views on homosexuality. Mayor Adams named Kathlyn Barrett-Layne on Tuesday to the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), along with eight other appointees. PEP is the governing body for the city’s education department. His administration asked her to resign hours after the announcement. The Daily News took credit for getting her removed from the board after it reported on several books...

A New York City education official was forced to resign from her position hours after being appointed following reports she had previously labeled homosexuality as a sinful behavior alongside adultery, pedophilia, and fornication. New York City Mayor Eric Adams requested the resignation of the Rev. Kathlyn Barrett-Layne from the city's Panel for Education Policy Tuesday afternoon after reporting from the New York Daily News highlighted writings by Barrett-Layne saying homosexuality was sinful. In an interview with the New York Times, Barrett-Layne claimed her comments were taken out of context. "I feel bullied. I believe that the city is being bullied,”...

A groveling Disney CEO Bob Chapek on Monday told employees the company should have condemned Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill that blocked the teaching of sexuality and transgender ideology to students in kindergarten through third grade, speaking 24-hours hours before mutinous staff planned to walk out during a day-long strike. A virtual town hall for employees was used by management to stem internal strife at Disney, as the company’s chief executive continued to apologize and shifted its public statements about the legislation, which critics falsely call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. “We know the moment requires urgency — and...

Disney has been facing both internal and external backlash for CEO Bob Chapek not doing enough to fight Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which blocks educators from discussing gender identity or sexual orientation with students in third grade or below. On Monday, Chapek told employees about the company’s plan for the task force. “We know the moment requires urgency – and words are not enough,” said Chapek, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by Reuters. “So we are taking some actions right now.” According to Reuters, “The company said the task force will enlist the help of...

Friday, two ESPN broadcasters took a moment of silence during the NCAA Women’s Tournament in protest of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, known as “Don’t Say Gay.”

Jesuit Cardinal Hollerich of Luxembourg and Bishop Bätzing of Limburg have both called for changes to the Church’s teaching on homosexuality in recent interviews.VATICAN CITY — Cardinal George Pell has called on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to publicly reprimand two of Europe’s most senior bishops for what he said was their “wholesale and explicit rejection” of the Church’s teaching on sexual ethics. In a statement released March 15, Cardinal Pell asked the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation to “intervene and pronounce judgment” on comments made by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator general of the Vatican Synod on...

On March 9, LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar Animation Studios sent a joint statement to Walt Disney Company leadership claiming that Disney executives had actively censored “overtly gay affection” in its feature films. The stunning allegation — made as part of a larger protest over the company’s lack of public response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — did not include which Pixar films had weathered the censorship, nor which specific creative decisions were cut or altered. But in at least one case, the statement appears to have made a significant difference. According to a source close to the...

After the controversy surrounding Disney’s response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Pixar has added a same-sex kiss back into the upcoming film “Lightyear.” On March 9, Pixar employees released a statement directed at Disney leadership stating they had been forced to cut “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection… regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.” Variety now reports that a moment of gay affection has been added back into “Lightyear.” The character of Hawthorne, voiced by Uzo Aduba, is seen in a meaningful relationship with another woman. According to...

Officials from the Biden administration met with Florida LGBTQ students and their families in a virtual roundtable concerning the now-dubbed "Don't Say Gay" bill and other legislative efforts advocates deem anti-LGBTQ. U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Rachel L. Levine, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, listened to the students and their family members discuss concerns and fears about the impact of such bills. The two were advised on what resources could be provided to support the Florida LGBTQ community. "Laws around the country, including in Florida, have targeted and sought to...

Sarah Longwell serves on the Leadership Council for Conservatives Against Discrimination and is the chief executive of Longwell Partners. Last week, when I picked up my 3- and 5-year-old from school, I found myself drawn to the family pictures that adorn their classroom walls. The teachers asked us to send these photographs along with our children on the first day of school, as both a comfort measure as well as to help the kids get to know each other better. There’s me and my wife, smiling along with our two boys — all of us wearing helmets as we paused...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given several explanations for his country's war on Ukraine, and some are more plausible than others. They include stopping NATO's advance towards Russia's borders, protecting fellow Russians from "genocide" or the baseless claim of "de-Nazifying" Ukraine. The top-ranking priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, meanwhile, has offered a very different reason for the invasion: gay pride parades. Patriarch Kirill said last week that the conflict is an extension of a fundamental culture clash between the wider Russian world and Western liberal values, exemplified by expressions of gay pride. Yet experts say that Kirill's comments offer...