This year's Women's World Cup in soccer is on track to become the most attended women's standalone sporting event ever. To be held in Australia and New Zealand starting July 20, so far 1,032,884 tickets have been sold.
Australia's opening match against Ireland had to be moved to an 83.500 seat stadium because of ticket demand.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/over-one-million-tickets-sold-for-womens-world-cup-fifa/articleshow/100867080.cms?from=mdr
Earlier this year, the Southern Baptist Convention expelled several congregations in which women serve as pastors. Now, the denomination has a strict rule - women cannot be senior or lead pastors. And that's because they believe that the Bible prohibits women from teaching men and having authority over them. And a few of the churches expelled do have senior pastors who are women, in violation of church rules.
A number of Southern Baptist congregations, in fact, employ women who perform all sorts of ministry, but they're not senior pastors. For instance, they could be the education pastor who oversees Sunday school - lots of women in that position. They may teach boys and girls and other women, but they may not teach men.
Last year the church's sexual abuse task force released a very strongly worded report that detailed how Southern Baptists had mishandled sex abuse claims and mistreated victims.
Southern Baptists are losing members. A recent study shows about half a million fewer members between 2021 and 2022, and it's lost 3 million members since the year 2006. It's still the largest Protestant denomination in the country, with just over 13 million people, but smaller than it used to be. The conservative beliefs and values of Southern Baptists still make up a huge part of the Republican political agenda.
https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-06-11/southern-baptist-leaders-will-decide-the-fate-of-congregations-with-women-pastors
Susan and her husband Brian, who asked that their last names not be used for safety reasons, decided the family needed to move out of Texas in light of the child abuse investigation threats. They say they weren’t sure how far the government would go to separate families like their own or affect Elsa’s access to care as she gets older.
When their daughter told them she did not want to leave Texas, and as long as they were together, they could handle anything, Susan told her: “I feel the same way. I think we could handle anything when we're together. But the reason that we have to go is that they could make it so we can't be together anymore.”
Debi Jackson has long been an advocate for her nonbinary child, testifying against anti-LGBTQ legislation in Missouri alongside them. “Because we don't know what's going to happen and because we don't trust them, it's time to go,” Jackson said. “I don't want my child to have to live through another one of the years of ‘what ifs.’”
https://abcnews.go.com/US/genocidal-transgender-people-begin-flee-states-anti-lgbtq/story?id=99909913