United States: 2016 winner of The Voice comes out as Bi
The Advocate reported on February 7 that singer-songwriter and The Voice winner Sawyer Fredericks has come out as Bisexual on Instagram. "Hey everyone. It is time for my #Truthfultuesday," he said. "Since I have not publicly said this in a post, I wanted [to] say that I am Bisexual."

"When I was younger I thought I was straight, because I was more attracted to women," he went on, "and I didn't know there were more options beside Gay and Straight."

Although The Advocate called the feedback so far positive and supportive, Fredericks's post also said that he would "probably lose some fans over this point, but that's fine with me."

Fredericks won his season of The Voice at age 16, and now, six years later, he's living with a partner, according to an interview with The Daily Gazette.

Washington, DC: Fired director sues Human Rights Campaign
Reuters reported on February 3 that the former president of the Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, has sued the organization for racial discrimination. David, who was the organization's first Black president, alleges that his firing last year was racially motivated, as opposed to the HRC board's statement that he was fired for advising former Gov. Andrew Cuomo about sexual harassment allegations.

David tweeted on the subject, "Today, I am filing a lawsuit for the millions of Black and Brown people who face discrimination every day but fear retaliation or lack the resources to challenge it." A copy of David's complaint, also on Twitter, said that the HRC's own employees had described it as a "white men's club" that marginalizes, tokenizes, and denies promotions to nonwhite staff.

HRC interim president Joni Madison said the board's reasons for David's firing remained the same as before, and that David's complaint was "riddled with untruths." "We are confident through the legal process that it will be apparent that Mr. David's termination was based on clear violations of his contract and the HRC's mission, and as president of the HRC, he was treated fairly and equally," Madison said.