Despite the disproportionate number of Trans people, specifically Black Trans women, that are murdered in the United States every year, justice is few and far between. When cis Black and Indigenous women, children and Two-Spirit go missing they barely get media attention. When Black Trans women are murdered and discarded, they are typically misgendered by police and media, their cases are barely investigated and cases go cold. There is no equity in life or justice in death. Tiny spots of lights sometime appear among a blanket of darkness when the precious life of a victim is honored by catching a killer.

It has been less than 3wks since Blaque/OUT reported the death of Persia Conway in Houston, Texas. Today we bring you another devastating loss of Marlow Trottie (as reported by KALB5 Louisiana) in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Blaque/OUT’s Victoria Von Blaque caught up with Qween Jean at the NYC Mayor’s Office Pride Party this week as she celebrated both Pride and her historic Tony win for musical costuming design on Broadway’s “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” Qween Jean becomes the first openly transgender person to win a Tony.

Dmitriy Popov, 20, was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime on Monday in the death of dancer O’Shae Sibley, who was killed in 2023 at a Brooklyn gas station when Popov and friends shouted racist and homophobic slurs to Sibley’s group while they vogued to a Beyoncé song.

One of the seven defendants awaiting trial for the 2025 torture and murder of Sam Nordquist in upstate/central New York reached a guilty plea today with the Ontario County Court. The youngest defendant at just 19 years of age has been the only one of the seven to accept responsibility or express remorse per Ontario County District Attorney Jason MacBride.

A woman and her little brother were walking in Southwest Houston and discovered the body of a Trans woman, naked and deceased by the Bray’s Bayou River on Memorial Day. Police reported the victim as being Trans “by their outward appearance.” The cause of death and official identity of the victim have not been released by authorities but Los Angelos advocates and social media posts have indicated that she may be a woman named Persia that had recently relocated from LA to the Houston area.

Blaque/OUT Magazine recently reported the alarming statistic that 7 individuals of the Trans experience had lost their lives to violence in the US in the last 45 days. Terrifyingly, we were mistaken, it was 8. Our investigative team just learned that Lanessa Rodriguez was murdered in a robbery attempt of her Gold and Silver Pawn shop in Fort Pierce, Florida in April.

Eryka Caldwell’s, 41, live-in boyfriend, Jonathan Fernandez, 38, was arraigned in court Monday on charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Police say he fatally slit Caldwell’s throat and stabbed her multiple times inside their Brooklyn apartment early Sunday morning. He was found sitting on the couch calmly waiting for authorities to arrive before being taken into custody.

The first openly gay NBA player, Jason Collins passed away this week after a battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. He was 47 years old.

Collins played college ball at Stanford and went on to play for 13 seasons in the NBA playing 2001 until his retirement in 2014. Jason played for the Celtics, Nets, Grizzles, Timberwolves, Wizards and Hawks throughout his career.

Blaque/OUT Magazine is a media outlet that our community trusts to bring them the news and people to watch. We don’t engage in gossip but it’s our duty to report on the things affecting our community. When a well-known community serving org accuses a well-known community figure of harm- that’s a story we can’t ignore. Currently social media is buzzing about what may or may not be happening with @thedominiquemorgan .

Seven individuals appeared in Ontario County Court this week to prepare for their upcoming trials in connection with the murder and torture of 24-year-old Sam Nordquist, a transgender man from Minnesota. The defendants—Precious Arzuaga, Kyle Sage, Patrick Goodwin, Emily Motyka, Jennifer Quijano, Kimberly Sochia, and Thomas Eaves—are each accused of participating in the kidnapping, sexual assault, and killing of Nordquist in late 2024.

Nordquist had traveled to Canandaigua, New York, in the fall of 2024 to meet Arzuaga, whom he considered a romantic interest. What began as a short visit extended unexpectedly, prompting concern from his family when they lost contact with him after several months. Authorities questioned Arzuaga about Nordquist’s whereabouts, but she denied any knowledge of his location.

On February 13, 2025, Nordquist’s body was discovered in a field in Yates County.

Blaque/OUT Magazine first began following the story of Davonta Curtis, 31, on April 9th. Due to widespread misgendering by both police and media outlets, her identity confirmation was delayed until this afternoon, when local Chicago news outlet WGN verified that Davonta was a Black woman of transgender experience.

On April 8th, Davonta’s sister discovered her badly beaten body inside her West Side Chicago apartment after being unable to reach her since Easter Sunday. That day, Davonta had visited her sister with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Deandre Bell, 24, when they brought groceries and gifts for the holiday.

According to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Davonta died from blunt force trauma. Her injuries were so severe that responding officers initially believed she had been shot. Surveillance footage reportedly shows the couple returning to her apartment on Easter; later, Davonta re-entered alone, and around 1 a.m., Bell was seen leaving by himself.

Authorities later apprehended Bell while he was driving Davonta’s car.

In February, Blaque/OUT Magazine reported the removal of the Pride flag that flew outside of the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City. The Trump Administration removed the flag quietly but subsequently there were protests and outrage from community members and allies. At one such protest, community leaders joined to raise the flag in defiance.

However, the Pride flag will once again be displayed at New York's Stonewall monument after the Trump administration settled a lawsuit brought on by LGBTQIA+ advocacy orgs over its removal. Although there were uprising all over the country, the 1969 Stonewall riot sparked the accepted beginning of the LGBTQ rights movement and the week long protest was the inspiration for what we now know as Pride and Pride parades all around the world. The flag and monument in question stands directly across from the Stonewall Inn where a police raid on a gay bar sparked the riot and started it all.

In 3 months, the city of Orlando and community from around the world will mark the 10 Year Anniversary that claimed 49 innocent lives and countless casualties to trauma and time at the hands of a mass shooter. The onePULSE Foundation was formed in 2016 by former club owner, Barbara Poma and collected nearly $20 million in donations for a Pulse memorial that never came to be until the organization was accused of mismanagement of funds in 2023. The City of Orlando went on to purchase the site of the club and began the process of planning the creation of a structure to memorialize the tragedy.

This week’s news out of California, Tennessee and Kansas as legislation continues to challenge Trans rights.

Creating Change carries a legacy of bringing together LGBTQIA+ leadership from all over the nation to one city- to teach, learn and experience each other for the last 38 years. Stepping into a space that holds 2-3000 people who have embraced their Queerness and often made it an extension or the centerpiece of their work isn’t an experience that is easy to adequately verbalize. Breaking the 4th wall a bit to speak in 1st person as an individual who has shared that space, opposed to just a journalist that is reporting on it, feels important. Creating Change and the hotel it lives inside of each year feels like a living, breathing thing. After so many days together, you almost feel like you live there. Each day full of activities from sunrise to nearly sunrise again makes every day feel like three. All of those people that climb out of your email, DMs, and zoom calls- to standing in front of you, arms outstretched to embrace you is more beautiful and overwhelming than I know how to put words to. Creating Change feels more like a city than a conference. It is an ecosystem that only includes community and that is both refreshing and staggering. There are co-workers, friends, enemies and exes. There are lovers, strangers, former business associates, allies, accomplices, entities with competing goals, shared dreams and shared fears. There are endless possibilities and endless work to be done. There is a space to teach and endless things to learn. 

For many people, church is the house of God and the ideal of it is supposed to be where God resides. It’s been a while since I’ve been in Sunday school, but I do remember that the term ‘church’ can refer to a physical building as well as the “believers” that occupy a space. If I make no mistake, both are supposed to be a place where you go for comfort, seek guidance, and a place of healing for both those seeking and receiving, but sadly that’s not usually the reality for most of us of Trans or queer experience.

On November 22, the NYC homecoming ceremony for the icon, activist and matriarch Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was held. The service took place at The Riverside Church in Manhattan, a church that’s supposed to have a long standing history of being inclusive and supportive of the LGBTQIA community. They even have a Maranatha ministry, a ministry dedicated to being the first LGBTQIA parish-based ministry within the United Church of Christ. With advertising like that, you can imagine the shock and confusion when attendees of Miss Major‘s home going service were asked to leave abruptly with no explanation given to the mourners.

Around an hour and twenty-five minutes into the live-streamed program, the atmosphere shifted. A visibly hurt and frustrated Doroshow announced that despite what she had been told and what she had paid for, she had been informed that they would not be receiving their full time and the program would be cut short. Mariah Moore was the next to speak, and although forced into brevity, started with,

“How cliche, we are here celebrating someone who lived such a full life and we are told that we have limited time.”