LGBT

Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin says his department has compassion for the transgender vets whom the President is kicking out of the military.

We got the Secretary Wednesday on Capitol Hill and he spoke with resolve ... if anyone -- transgender people included -- serves in the military, they will get medical and other care for life.

Lil Duval is doubling down on saying a transgender woman would be "dying" if he found out she'd deceived him -- but he also insists he has no problem with gay or transgender people.

The comedian was on "TMZ Live" Monday to address the protests against him and "The Breakfast Club" after he made the controversial and violent remark last week. Duval says his only issue with the LGBT community is the idea of someone lying about their sexuality to get into bed with him.

Charlamagne tha God is catching major heat from the transgender community after a guest on his radio show joked about killing transgender women -- and the backlash started during his appearance at Politicon.

Charlamagne was speaking Sunday at the event in Pasadena when advocates for transgender people began shouting at him ... "We are not a joke! Trans people are not a joke!"

The outrage began building last week when comedian Lil Duval was on "The Breakfast Club" ... and said if he ever discovered he'd unknowingly slept with a transgender woman, that woman would be "dying."

After Duval made the remark, Charlamagne, DJ Envy and Angela Yee seemed to condemn it, saying that would be a hate crime.

Richard Simmons' reputation wasn't destroyed after a story ran he was transitioning to a woman and that's why he can't sue ... so claims the National Enquirer.

The Enquirer's parent company -- American Media -- filed docs saying the fitness guru's reputation as someone willing to bend gender norms was cemented long before its stories ... which claimed Richard had a boob job and was living as a woman named Fiona.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, American Media says Richard's defamation suit shouldn't stand because there's nothing insulting about saying someone is transgender. On top of that, AM says for most of his 40-year career, Simmons created gender uncertainty by wearing flamboyant, feminine attire.

As we reported ... Simmons said the Enquirer gambled he wouldn't sue because it'd make it seem like he thinks there's something wrong with people who transition.

Montel Williams is PISSED that Donald Trump wants to ban transgender Americans from serving in the military ... and says they're getting stiffed with his "too expensive" argument.

We got Montel, famously a Navy veteran, Wednesday in L.A. and he absolutely unloaded on the Prez for what he sees as blatant discrimination against able-bodied Americans who want to protect their country.

He's beyond intense, and one of the biggest reasons he's so fired up has to do with military spending on erectile dysfunction drugs. Montel dropped some eye-opening numbers on us as he called BS on Trump claiming trans medical expenses are too costly.

Retired Navy SEAL Kristin Beck has 3 letters for President Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military ... "WTF!"

Beck, a transgender woman and former SEAL Team Six soldier, told us Trump pinning the ban on money woes is complete BS ... and a lame excuse from the Commander in Chief.

More importantly ... she sees this as a major step backward for the country. In particular, she took Trump's use of the word "disruption" as a strong hint this could be the start of more discrimination in the military.

Bottom line for Beck -- transgender Americans have every right to serve their country. The documentary, "Lady Valor," showed how she served with great honor.

President Trump says transgender recruits are too expensive for the U.S. military, and that's why he's banning them from serving their country ... in any capacity.

Trump dropped the announcement Wednesday morning on Twitter, of course, saying transgender individuals are banned from serving because it "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."

It's not the first time he's gone after the transgender community. Back in February ... the Trump administration withdrew federal protection for transgender students.

The Prez championed himself as a supporter of the LGBT community ... saying he would fight for them while "Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs."

WNBA star Sue Bird is going public with her sexuality for the first time ... revealing she's dating U.S. women's soccer player Megan Rapinoe!!

The 36-year-old All-Star opened up about her relationship with Rapinoe ... saying she's never purposely kept her relationship with the 32-year-old Seattle Reign star a secret to her close friends, but explains why it was time to finally go public.

"It's happening when it's happening because that's what feels right," Bird told ESPNW.

"So even though I understand there are people who think I should have done it sooner, it wasn't right for me at the time. I have to be true to that. It's my journey."

Caitlyn Jenner better reconsider making a run for the U.S. Senate ... at least according to her ex-wife, Linda Thompson.

We got Linda, who was married to Caitlyn for 5 years, outside their son Brandon's Tuesday night gig at L.A.'s Belasco Theater -- and asked her about the political buzz.

Caitlyn said this week she's been mulling over a Senate run, but it's clear Linda won't be voting for her if she does.

She'll happily give CJ a good hearty laugh though!

An LGBT group is firing back at Floyd Mayweather for using a homophobic slur at Friday's press conference in London ... saying his reason behind using the word is complete B.S.

Floyd ripped into Conor McGregor at the final stop on the superfight's world tour ... calling him a string of names, including a gay slur.

Hudson Taylor, executive director of Athlete Ally -- an org. that promotes LGBT acceptance in sports -- took notice and denounced Floyd's actions, telling TMZ Sports: "Athlete Ally strongly condemns the homophobic slur used by Floyd Mayweather."

"The response given by Mayweather's representative is equally troubling. If Mayweather truly has the utmost respect for the LGBT community, he wouldn't resort to using slurs that perpetuate anti-LGBT stigma and hate."

Taylor goes on to address McGregor's alleged involvement, saying, "Resorting to homophobic and racial epithets is shameful no matter how or why one uses them."

The President of Chechnya says the people who are accusing his regime of torturing and killing gays are "devils" because he says it can't be true because "We don't have these kinds of people here."

President Ramzan Kadyrov sat for an interview with David Scott from 'Real Sports' and it's shocking. There are reports 27 people were recently murdered by the government ... killed because they were gay, something the government has denied because the party line is that there are no gays in the country.

Kadyrov says, "To purify our blood, if there are any here take them," and he goes on, "If there are any take them to Canada."

And there's more ... Kadyrov challenges America, saying "Even if our government were completely destroyed, our nuclear missiles would be automatically deployed. We will put the whole world on its knees and screw it from behind."

Bob the Drag Queen is calling out LL Cool J and Chrissy Teigen -- insisting their show, "Lip Sync Battle," copied "RuPaul's Drag Race," and not the other way around.

Bob, who won season 8 of 'Drag Race,' ... wants to shut up the haters who claim the recent season 9 finale ripped off the 'LSB' format. Bob says his show's always featured a sudden death lip sync battle between the show's lowest scoring drag queens.

Not to mention, 'Drag Race' was already on its 7th season when 'LSB' premiered.

Bottom line -- don't come for Bob, 'Lip Sync' fans, and she won't come for you.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver didn't just attend NYC's gay pride parade this weekend -- he was waivin' the rainbow flag and dancing his face off ... and it was AWESOME!!

Silver -- one of the most powerful figures in all of sports -- rode on the NBA float alongside the league's first openly gay player, Jason Collins.

Golden State Warriors president Rick Welts -- who is openly gay -- also rode on the float with his partner, Todd Gage.

It's the second time the NBA has entered a float into the event. Last year, Silver started off walking beside the float until Collins convinced him to get on. Silver said he had so much fun last year, he couldn't wait to do it again!

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did what Donald Trump has refused to do for all of June ... walk among his LGBT citizens to honor Pride Month.

Trudeau joined in on Canada's largest Pride parade in Toronto Sunday, where he took to the streets to march with members of the LGBT community. He made many stops along the way ... shaking hands and talking to reporters.

President Trump has failed to formally acknowledge June as Pride Month -- unlike President Obama, who did so almost every year over his 8-year term.

Looks like the PM is keeping up with the tradition up north.

Here he is ... the KC Chiefs trainer who helped save a closeted gay NFL player from killing himself, David Price, tells TMZ Sports he was "elated" to find out he had such a positive impact.

The player is ex-offensive lineman Ryan O'Callaghan -- who recently came out publicly on Outsports.com after keeping his sexuality a secret during his entire football career.

O'Callaghan -- who played for the Patriots and the Chiefs -- says he was in a dark place toward the end of his career and was on the verge of suicide ... until Price stepped in.

O'Callaghan says Price simply cared enough to talk to him and realized something was wrong -- and convinced him to get help from a team psychologist. That got the ball rolling for O'Callaghan who says he's now in a MUCH healthier mental state and loves life.

We spoke with Price who says he was unaware how important he was to O'Callaghan until he read the Outsports article this week ... but couldn't be more proud of his former player.

"I was just elated, I mean on Cloud 9 that I had that much impact on somebody's life in a positive way."

Milan Christopher pulled a Kim Kardashian by going full frontal in the next Paper Magazine, and it begs the question ... how does he walk around naked without getting rug burn?

The openly gay ex-"Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood" star landed the spread for the mag, and we got the goods before they hit the paper. They're ... well, big.

Milan tells Paper ... "You know as a male music artist or man in general showing your male genitalia is so taboo in our culture -- but it's ok for Amber Rose, Kim Kardashian, or Rihanna to do it as females."

So, is he bigger than Kim? The black bar points to yes.