April saw the federal election campaign get into full swing, the Pope died, and the race to host the 2030 Gay Games narrowed.
Take a look through everything that happened in the month of April.
The Good News
A new tool to help people experiencing homelessness was launched. The finalist of the 2025 LGBTIQA+ Inclusion Awards were announced.
In Sydney The Imperial Hotel was added to the heritage register. Conversion therapy laws came into effect in New South Wales (paging Roger Cook…) We got behind the idea of a Pride Shed in Perth, and local community radio station RTRFM won a huge award for their web presence.
News and Politics
As the federal election campaign fired up there were questions about Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s visit to a branch of Headspace – did his team remove all the Pride flags before he arrived? Later in the month he was asked to define what a woman is.
Labor pledged $250,000 to JOY Media if returned for a second term, and also made commitments to support OUTinPerth, QNews and Star Observer.
Heading into the election a poll showed one in five LGBTIQA+ voters remained undecided. Over 120 candidates showed their support for trans and gender diverse people. The Liberals dropped NSW candidate Benjamin Britten over his extreme views. He said he was the victim of a witch hunt.
Family First also dropped teen candidate Malachi Brogden Hearne over a series of highly offensive social media posts, the candidate responded with a torrent of offensive posts and live stream broadcasts. The Greens Stephen Bates got creative using Only Fans i his re-election campaign, he didn’t get the votes though. In the WA seat of Tangney billboards targeting transgender woman playing sport appeared.
Greens candidate Avery Howard spoke to us about the homophobic abuse he encountered on the campaign trail. Labor MP Julian Hill was also targeted over his sexuality.
The White House announced they would not answer any questions from journalists who listed pronouns in the email signatures. Also in the USA a religious leader expressed concerns that the security scanners in airports might be making people gay. Former congressman George Santos was sentenced to seven years behind bars.
A study found that LGBTIQA+ books remained the top of the list of titles that people wanted banned. Locally the book Gender Queer was reapproved for sale.
The young man dubbed ‘Senate Twink‘ over a video allegedly showing tow men having sex in part of the US senate building revealed he’d built a new life in Australia.
A date was set for former NSW Liberal MP Rory Amon to stand trial in 2026 for alleged child sex offences. Former NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham got a big legal bill in his defamation loss against Alex Greenwich.
Former Tasmanian Premier Tony Rundle passed away, Rundle was the Premier when Tasmania became the last Australian state to decriminalise homosexuality.
A Queensland mum filed a case against the state governments ban on young people experiencing gender dysphoria being treated with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. She would go on to win the case, but hours later the government would reintroduce the ban via a different pathway.
Anti-transgender campaigner Dr Jillian Spencer failed in her bid to become President of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. In the UK a major court decision changed the way the government could define a woman, leading to confusion over bathroom usage.
Police were searching for fraudster Dongqiao Li who allegedly robbed men he hooked up in hotels and then used their stolen credit cards to fund a luxurious lifestyle. We questioned why major newspapers were over-egging a supposed ‘scandal’ at a prestigious boys school?
The was a creative protest in Budapest where the government was attempting to ban Pride parades, thousands took to the streets dressed in grey. The government forged on with the ban.
Pope Francis died at there were calls for his successor to follow in his footsteps of allowing greater acceptance of LGBTIQA+ people. A councilor in Spain made international headlines after he was allegedly attacked in kebab shop.
In the UK Irish writer Graham Linehan was charged over an altercation with a young transgender woman. He was later found guilty of some of the charges.
On the Local Front
Football great Dani Laidley shared that she had been diagnosed with a rare brain tumour. Local legend Ivan King shared his recollections of a life in the theatre.
An inquiry into the state election was launched, after some polling booths appeared to be understaffed and there were reports of booths running out of ballot papers. Weeks after the election the results were finally known.
Screenwest announced funding of new documentaries including one on drag king of yesteryear Effie Fellows. WAAC look back over their 40 years history, Dean Misdale headed to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The amazing Colin Longworth was nominated for the Lifetime Contribution at the Volunteer of the Year. The amazing Jesse Oliver took over as the editor of arts publication See-Saw.
A local government councilor in Albany was in the spotlight after he suggested people who support The Greens should be used for target practice by the army.
With Auckland dropping out of the race for the 2030 Gay Games the field narrowed to just Perth and Denver.
Celebrity and Culture
Film star Val Kilmer died at the age of 65, as did Australian actor Paul Karo who played a trailblazing role in the 1970s, and Broadway composer William Finn. Drag star Jiggly Caliente also died at just 44 years of age.
Ricky Martin announced an Australian tour but left Perth off his itinerary, as did Lady Gaga. An Australian production of the Broadway musical Anastasia was announced, it’ll come to Perth in 2026. Comedian Jimmy Carr also announced he was heading our way in the new year.
A new series of Star Trek Strange New Worlds was teased, and we laughed at Smoggie Queens. The third season of Big Boys arrived. Actor Mario Cantone shared he was having some spicy scenes in the upcoming third season of And Just Like That… when the series arrived the whole thing was a snoozefest. We found out the Heartstopper would end with a movie rather than a fourth season.
After being dumped from radio there was speculation about Marty Sheargold‘s future on TV show Have You Being Paying Attention? It turned out he didn’t have a future on the show. Our obsession with The White Lotus continued, and also actor Arnas Fedaravicius. The Amazing Race Australia – Celebrity Edition dropped a team over a homophobic comment.
Actor Mikey Rourke has a short stay in the UK’s celebrity Big Brother house after making inappropriate comments to Jojo Siva.
The Eurovision hype was building. Courtney Act and Tony Armstrong were named as Australia’s broadcast hosts.
After a disappointing response to his first solo album, Olly Alexander parted ways with his record company. Elton John and Madonna made up and hinted at a future collaboration, is anyone desperately wanting this collaboration? Erasure’s Andy Bell teamed up with Debbie Harry. Darren Hayes shared news that he’d nearly died, and K-Pop star Bain came out.
