
Nearly 1,000 US elected officials identify as LGBTQ, but equitable representation is still a ways off, report finds
CNN
There are nearly 1,000 known LGBTQ elected officials in the US, according to a new report -- a significant increase from just four years ago, when fewer than 450 elected officials in the US were known to identify as LGBTQ.
All but one state -- Mississippi -- has elected an LGBTQ official, according to the LGBTQ Victory Institute, a group that identifies and trains potential LGBTQ candidates. Still, LGBTQ elected officials make up less than 0.2% of all US elected officials, and to reach equitable representation, another 28,000-plus LGBTQ people must be elected, the organization said. "We need a moonshot effort to catch up, and that requires LGBTQ people to run for office in much greater numbers," said Elliot Imse, vice president of communications at the LGBTQ Victory Fund.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









