Texas A&M announced on Friday (30 January) that it will be eliminating its women’s and gender studies academic courses.

In a letter sent to faculty and staff obtained by KBTX, Provost and Executive Vice President Dr. Alan Sams said the decision was made “as part of the broader implementation of the recently updated Systems policy”.

He claimed that the Texas university “made the difficult decision to begin winding down the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGST) academic programs, including the BA, BS, Graduate Certificate and the Minor”, claiming it was due to “enrolment over the past several years”.

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The program currently has 25 students seeking a major and 31 seeking a minor. Students already enrolled will be allowed to complete their programs over the next six semesters, but no new students will be accepted.

This comes after Texas A&M University System Board of Regents passed a policy last autumn restricting how race and gender could be discussed in class and ordered a sweeping review of course offerings.

It outlined that faculty may not advocate “race or gender ideology” or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity unless a campus president grants a written exception for certain non-core or graduate-level courses that serve a necessary or educational purpose.

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Netflix’s hit period drama Bridgerton returned to screens last week, as the first four episodes of Season 4 were released 29 January.

This season details LGBTQ+ character Benedict Bridgerton, played by Luke Thompson, and a mysterious woman known as the Lady in Silver, with whom he gets caught up in a love affair with. Viewers know that she is actually a maid, Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).

As Season 3 of Bridgerton highlighted Benedict’s relationships with both men and women, some fans were surprised to see this new pairing. However, his bisexuality was hinted at in the first episode of season four, which left fans branding Benedict an “icon”.

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Speaking in an interview with Variety on 29 January, showrunner Jess Brownell addressed Benedict’s bisexuality and how the show has navigated his character ending up with a woman.

“It’s really important that just because someone might end up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship, that does not negate their queerness.

“I think Benedict’s queerness will always be a piece of his identity.

“And when we were talking about representation, I don’t think there’s a lot of representation that I’ve seen of bisexual men,” Brownell said.

Bridgerton is available to stream on Netflix.

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.

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A new data analysis report from the Office for National Statistics has shown that gay, lesbian and bisexual people typically have shorter life expectancies than heterosexual people.

The results found that gay and bisexual men lived on average 1.2 years less than straight men, while lesbian and bisexual women lived 0.9 years less than straight women.

This marks the first time the ONS has estimated life expectancy by sexual orientation for England and Wales, following orientation being included in the national census in 2021.

READ MORE: Drug and alcohol deaths significantly higher among queer people, study finds

The ONS has confirmed that it cannot determine if sexual orientation is the driver of the difference in life expectancy at this time.

It follows worrying data released this week which found that one in six children who died by suicide in England between April 2019 and March 2025 were LGBTQ+.

The figures, obtained by QueerAF via a Freedom of Information request to the National Child Mortality Database, showed that 107 out of the 647 children who died by suicide during that time were LGBTQ+, with 46 being transgender.

Readers affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans free on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.

The post New data shows gay and bi folk have shorter life expectancies than straight people appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news.