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The White House has postponed a Pride event set to take place on the South Lawn because of the smoke from the wildfires in Canada enveloping the nation’s capital. The event that was scheduled for Thursday is now planned for Saturday. It’s set to be the largest Pride Month celebration in White House history as the Biden administration attempts to push back against the Republican Party’s measures to restrict the rights of the LGBT+ community on the state level. If the hope that the air quality in Washington, DC improves, the event will see thousands of attendees for a celebration of LGBT+ families featuring singer Betty Who and DJ Queen HD from Baltimore, according to Reuters. “Today’s Pride event on the White House South Lawn will be postponed until Saturday based on the projected air quality in the region,” the White House said. Ahead of the planned event on Thursday, the administration announced new measures to protect LGBT+ communities. “Over a dozen states have enacted anti-LGBTQI+ laws that violate our most basic values and freedoms as Americans, and are cruel and callous to our kids, our neighbors, and those in our community,” the White House said. The measures include the launch of an “LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership,” including that the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division will be the liaison to the community. The administration is also working to strengthen “mental health resources for LGBTQI+ youth, launching a new federal initiative to address LGBTQI+ youth homelessness, releasing federal funding to support programs that help parents affirm their LGBTQI+ kids, and advancing new regulations to protect LGBTQI+ youth in foster care”. “The Department of Education will appoint a new coordinator to address the growing threat that book bans pose for the civil rights of students,” the administration said. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments tweeted on Thursday that “current air quality in the DC region is Code Purple, very unhealthy for all due to ongoing smoke from fires in Canada”. The council added that the region “has not previously recorded a Code Purple day for fine particle pollution, the type of air pollution we are currently experiencing,” and urged residents to reschedule outdoor activities or move them indoors. The smoke settled over the US capital after moving down from the more than 100 wildfires in eastern Canada, with a low-pressure area off the east coast moving the winds in the direction of DC, according to WUSA9. The Capital Weather Gang tweeted: “How long will the wildfire smoke last? Unfortunately, may hang around into this evening and be bad again on Friday morning in the DC area.” The office of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the issue “is likely to continue or worsen through Friday”. The city’s Major League Baseball team, the Washington Nationals, cancelled their game on Thursday and the National Zoo closed its doors for the day. Some residents wore masks for their outdoor errands and families who may walk to school organized carpools to limit their time outside. At the Walmart on Georgia Avenue in DC, the shelves for air purifiers were almost empty on Wednesday evening, according to The Washington Post. Read More ‘It’s like being on Mars’: The smoke in the air in New York is so thick you can feel it in your lungs Air quality – live: New York pollution to remain hazardous as no end in sight for Canada wildfire smoke Biden invites thousands of LGBTQ+ individuals, singer Betty Who, to Pride Month celebration Brawl breaks out at LA school discussing Pride month celebrations David Furnish slams Ron DeSantis for ‘diabolical’ ant-LGBTQ+ policies The Independent Pride List: These are the top 50 LGBT+ change-makers of 2023

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A former aide to Rudolph Giuliani says he told her the ex-New York City mayor and then-president Donald Trump were offering to sell presidential pardons for $2 million apiece, according to court documents. The bombshell allegation was levied in a complaint filed against Mr Giuliani by Noelle Dunphy, a New York-based public relations professional who is suing him for “unlawful abuses of power, wide-ranging sexual assault and harassment, wage theft, and other misconduct” committed while she worked for him in 2019 and 2020. Mr Giuliani has strongly denied the claims in the lawsuit. Earlier it it was reported that Mr Trump was shown tweets from Democrats blasting CNN for hosting the town hall with him to psyche him up during the live broadcast. During the initial commercial break, Trump adviser Jason Miller showed the former president recent tweets backstage at the New Hampshire college where the event was hosted, according to Axios. Mr Trump grew more bellicose as the night went on after being shown posts by several people slamming CNN, including New York progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted 23 minutes into the event: “CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.” “The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host,” she added. Meanwhile, Mr Trump posted an oddly phrased Mother’s Day message attacking the parents of his main foes on Sunday, as he rushed to stick it to the “Radical Left Fascists”. Read More Trump news – live: Aides showed Trump tweets by AOC and Andrew Yang to psyche him up during break in town hall Jason Sudeikis reveals his Ted Lasso character was changed because of Donald Trump Prosecutor ends probe of FBI's Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges One of far-right Rep Paul Gosar’s top aides pledged his loyalty to white supremacist Nick Fuentes, report finds Rick Perry teases possible 2024 run against Trump