1. Laurel Hubbard, a trans woman from New Zealand, will compete against American weightlifting Olympian Sarah Robles in the World Weightlifting Championships today in Anaheim, California. Some athletes say it’s unfair to have Hubbard — who formerly competed as Gavin Hubbard in the men’s division — compete in the women’s sport because she may have an unfair advantage having the physicality of a former male.
2. Same-sex marriage opponents scored a win yesterday in a Texas courtroom. The U.S. Supreme Court declined the city of Houston’s request to intervene in a case concerning benefits and to review a puzzling ruling by the Texas Supreme Court earlier this year that found that same-sex spouses of government employees aren’t guaranteed marriage benefits in the state.
3. As the U.S. Supreme Court begins proceedings in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, a lesbian couple in Bakersfield, California, has filed suit against the Tastries Bakery because the owners refused to design them a cake for their nuptials. Just as in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the bakery claims that to serve the same-sex couple would violate their religious freedom as Christians.
4. Director Bryan Singer has been terminated from the upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” starring Rami Malek. The out director, who was rumored to have behaved erratically and gone AWOL from the set after having creative differences with Malek, contends that Fox would not grant him leave to care for his ill mother and that he had made peace with Malek prior to his dismissal.
5. VIDEO OF THE DAY: Catch the premiere episode of Showtime’s new critically acclaimed Rosie O’Donnell starrer “SMILF.”