1. At a meeting held with bipartisan lawmakers yesterday concerning gun violence, Donald Trump said, “Ninety-eight percent of all mass shootings in the United States, since 1950, have taken place in gun-free zones, where guns were not inside the school or, as an example, you take the Pulse Nightclub.” GLAAD noted that an armed police officer was working security at Pulse the night of the shooting there and tweeted in response: “@realDonaldTrump is continuing to spread lies about the Pulse nightclub shooting and spouting @NRA talking points instead of fighting for gun reform that would actually protect marginalized communities that are most targeted by gun violence.”
2. Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are investigating as homicide the death of Zakaria Fry, a transgender woman who had been missing since mid-January. Fry and her roommate Eugene Ray’s bodies were discovered 40 miles east of Albuquerque, in the town of Stanley, on February 19. Rancher Fidel Montoya found one body in a dumpster along the side of the road, and another body was recovered about two miles away. Police confirmed them to be Fry and Ray on Tuesday. Fry’s is the sixth reported anti-transgender homicide this year.
3. Jennifer Lee, the director of Disney’s “Frozen,” is being coy about whether the animated star Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) will have a girlfriend in the sequel to the Oscar-winning film, due out in November 2019. Fans have launched a campaign and Twitter hashtag, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend, in an effort to push for a lesbian love interest. “I love everything people are saying [and] people are thinking about with our film―that it’s creating dialogue, that Elsa is this wonderful character that speaks to so many people,” Lee told the Huffington Post. “It means the world to us that we’re part of these conversations. Where we’re going with it, we have tons of conversations about it, and we’re really conscientious about these things.”
4. According to a new study published in yesterday’s Journal of the American Medical Association, gender-affirming surgeries in the United States increased fourfold from 2000 to 2014. Researchers say some of the significant increase may be due to a rise in availability of insurance coverage for the procedures.
5. VIDEO OF THE DAY: Home-grown superstar RuPaul is getting his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with a ceremony to be held March 16, one week before the 10th season of “Drag Race” premieres. Watch the promo below.