5 LGBT things you need to know today, Dec. 18

1. Kathryn Knott, the Philadelphia woman at the center of a gay bashing incident from last year, was convicted of assault Friday but acquitted of the most serious charges.

2. The first openly gay politician to lead Massachusetts’ upper chamber says recent media scrutiny of his private life is “offensive.”

3. “Star Wars became a safe space for me, a fantasy world that was acceptable to visit on the playground or at home — one that never brought the ridicule that accompanied playing with Barbie dolls or skipping down the sidewalk singing, ‘Follow the yellow brick road.’” The Advocate’s entertainment editor Jase Peeples on how “Star Wars” boosted his self-esteem as a gay kid and why “The Force Awakens” will do the same for a new generation.

4. A Russian distributor has picked up the rights to lesbian drama “Carol” despite the country’s “gay propaganda” law.

5. VIDEO OF THE DAY: Out actor Jonathan Groff (“Looking”) teaches Stephen Colbert his King George walk from the musical “Hamilton.”