Judge Dianne Hensley has filed a lawsuit asking courts to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, in the latest attack on gay marriage in the US.
Judge Hensley filed the lawsuit on Friday (19 December), according to The Texas Tribune. The document asks for an overturn of Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court decision that established same-sex marriage nationwide.
The lawsuit continues the ongoing legal dispute between Hensley and the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, an independent Texas state agency responsible for investigating allegations of judicial misconduct.
This all began when Hensley wanted to be allowed to perform marriages for opposite-sex couples, but not same-sex couples.
Who is Judge Dianne Hensley?
Judge Hensley, a justice of the peace in Waco, Texas, is leading the latest push to reverse same-sex marriage. Hensley has been a Waco-based judge since 2015 and is among about 800 justices of the peace in Texas.
In 2018, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct opened an inquiry into Hensley’s conduct.
In 2019, Hensley was publicly sanctioned for refusing to officiate at same-sex weddings. They alleged that Hensley violated a canon of judicial conduct, which prohibits judges from engaging in conduct outside their judicial role that could compromise their impartiality.
The judicial commission said in its warning that Hensley’s conduct cast doubt “on her capacity to act impartially to persons appearing before her as a judge due to the person’s sexual orientation.”
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As a result, Hensley began a lawsuit. She alleged that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct had violated her religious rights as a Christian.
Then, the Texas Supreme Court amended the judicial canon to note that “it is not a violation of these canons for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief.”
How is Judge Dianne Hensley trying to overturn same-sex marriage?
In her attempt to reverse same-sex marriage, Hensley has asserted that the original Obergefell v. Hodges ruling was “unconstitutional.”
Hensley’s case asserts it “subordinat[ed] state law to the policy preferences of unelected judges.”
Hensley is being represented by conservative attorney Jonathan Mitchell, known for building the 2021 abortion ban surrounding the legal protections of Roe v. Wade.
“The federal judiciary has no authority to recognize or invent ‘fundamental’ constitutional rights,” Mitchell wrote.
The attorney also acknowledged that “a lower court does not have the authority to overturn a Supreme Court precedent, [but] he indicated in the filing that he was introducing this argument now with the hopes of the case eventually reaching the high court.”
Furthermore, Michell wrote the court should throw Obergefell v. Hodges back to the states, as they did with the abortion case.
“The Commission’s bullying of Judge Hensley and its menacing behavior toward other Christian judges is the direct result of the Supreme Court’s pronouncement in Obergefell that homosexual marriage is a constitutional right,” Mitchell wrote. “There is nothing in the language of the Constitution that even remotely suggests that homosexual marriage is a constitutional right.”
In a moment of resistance and queer solidarity, a drag show went on despite patrons and performers being kicked out of a bar by about 20 police officers in bulletproof vests.
Police raided Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ venue P Town Bar on Friday in the middle of a drag event.
Drag artist Indica was performing alongside trans model and nightlife legend Amanda Lepore when police began to gather in the back of the establishment, QBurgh reported. When Indica finished her rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” police directed patrons to exit the bar but did not explain why beyond saying it was a “compliance check.”
“We waited 30 minutes outside for them to inspect every crevice,” Indica told QBurgh. But the patrons and performers refused to let the cops quash their spirit and instead created their own public performance space.
Video captured during the wait shows the crowd belting Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club while Indica dances up and down the sidewalk, collecting tips.
“Guess what, divas?” she said when the performance ended. “This is why queer people have gotta stick the f*ck together in 2025… Make some noise for the queer people in your life everybody.” The crowd cheered.
QBurgh described the moment as one of “resistance, solidarity, and improvisational beauty” and one that “reminded everyone there that drag isn’t just entertainment, it’s political. And when the music stops, the queens don’t.”
Police proceeded to allow 70 people to reenter the bar, saying it had been over capacity with the 130 people who were in attendance.
“The raid was a jarring experience in 2025,” one witness said. “Dozens of state police, geared up with bulletproof vests, flooded the bar and told us to get out. None of the officers would explain what was happening. We stood in the rain for maybe 30 minutes or so until most patrons were let back in. Fortunately the situation was calm and orderly, but they really just overtook this queer space with an entire fleet of police to ‘count heads’ or whatever their excuse was.”
Corey Dunbar, a security guard for P Town Bar, praised the way the staff handled the incident, saying they “ensured patrons’ safety and nerves during the process” since “many people were shaken up.”
State police told QBurgh the raid was instigated by the Allegheny County Nuisance Bar Task Force. It is not known who made the initial complaint that led the cops there.
Witnesses said officers would not look the queens in the eye and would not answer their questions about why things like this never happen at straight bars. Indica also said that some officers even asked to take selfies with Lepore.
Among 913,253 international users of the queer women’s and nonbinary dating app Zoe (71.1 percent of whom identify as female), 48.3 percent identify as lesbian, 39.8 percent as bisexual, 6.6 percent as pansexual, 3.4 percent as queer, 1.2 percent as gay, and 0.7 percent as asexual, according to a new report in Demographic Research.
Gen Z users — those born between 1997 and 2006 — were slightly more likely to identify as bisexual than lesbian, with 45 percent of users ages 20 to 29 using the bisexual label compared to 42.2 percent who used lesbian. Those identifying as queer also decreased with age, as older users were more likely to identify as gay.
“Younger generations are showing us that sexuality is not a fixed category — it’s a spectrum,” Francesco Rampazzo, lead author and Lecturer in Social Statistics at the University of Manchester, said in a statement. “Across the world, more young people are comfortable describing their identities in diverse and fluid ways.”
A separate survey from Gallup in 2024 found that out of the 9.3 percent of U.S. adults that identify as LGBTQ+, 56 percent said they were bisexual, 21 percent said they were gay, 15 percent said lesbian, 14 percent said transgender, and 6 percent said something else. The figures total more than 100 percent because the survey allowed respondents to report multiple LGBTQ+ identities.
Another 2023 poll from Business Insider and YouGov found that Gen Z is more likely to identify as queer than a specific label. Gen Z is also more likely to embrace the bisexual label, as opposed to “binary terms that suggest they like only one type of person,” with 13 percent of Gen Z identifying as bisexual compared to 7 percent of millennials, 4 percent of Gen X, and only 1 percent of Boomers.
The report in Demographic Research is among the first to examine identity on a global scale, collecting user data from over 122 countries across all continents (excluding Antarctica). Data from nations where same-sex sexual relations are criminalized were not included in the study to prevent potential risks to users in those countries.
“Our study is a reminder that technology isn’t just transforming how people meet — it is reshaping how we understand ourselves and each other,” Rampazzo said.
When Kishla Askins talks about why she is running for Congress in Nebraska, she does not begin with polling or party. She begins with the people she could not bring home.
Askins, a retired U.S. Navy veteran and former senior Pentagon and Veterans Affairs official, spent more than 30 years in uniform, first as an enlisted sailor, then as a Navy corpsman and emergency medicine physician assistant who deployed with the Marine Corps to combat zones. Some of the service members under her care died. That loss, she said, still guides her.
“I made a sacred promise,” Askins said in an interview with The Advocate. “For me, it’s about giving them a voice, and giving a voice to everyone who needs one in Congress.”
Now Askins is running as a Democrat in Nebraska’s Secnd Congressional District, a competitive Omaha-based seat, at a moment when the military — the institution that defined her adult life — is again being reshaped by exclusion. The Pentagon continues to enforce a renewed ban on transgender service members, even as legal challenges work their way through federal courts and critics warn the policy undermines readiness and morale.
Askins is not transgender. But as a gay woman, she knows what it means to serve under the threat of erasure.
She served before, during, and after “don’t ask, don’t tell,” surviving two investigations in the 1990s that nearly ended her career because she was gay. The first began after a command law enforcement officer overheard sailors discussing her relationship. The inquiry escalated to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service without her knowledge.
“I don’t know how many nights I cried,” Askins said, as she got choked up retelling the story. “The mental health aspect of this was almost unbearable. Here I was, this young sailor who just wanted to serve her country — and to be told you can’t because of who you love.
A commanding officer ultimately shut down the investigation, citing her work ethic and service record. A second investigation followed a year later and was again halted. Each time, Askins said, colleagues quietly risked their own careers to protect her.
Those years coincided with her wife’s rise through the ranks of the Marine Corps. Her wife, Alison, was a pioneering aviator and became the first woman selected to command a Marine aviation unit and later the only woman to command a Marine aircraft group, Askins said. Yet under “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Askins could not sit beside her at official ceremonies.
“I had to sit in the back because I was ‘the friend,’” she said.
Today, the two live a quieter life between campaign stops. They’ve been together for 16 years and got married in 2015, “in Virginia as soon as we could,” she said. When Askins is not fundraising or knocking on doors, she spends time with her wife and their four-and-a-half-pound Yorkiepoo, Bentley — “the real star of the family,” she joked, noting that the dog has his own Instagram account and sometimes gets more engagement than she does. The moments matter, she said, because they are reminders of the life she once had to keep hidden.
That experience helps shape Askins’s response to today’s policies barring transgender people from military service, rules she views as a replay of an era the armed forces have already outgrown.
As a clinician, Askins said the standard for service has never been ideological. It has been medical.
“Are you worldwide deployable? That’s it,” she said. “If you are medically ready, then you should be able to serve. This is a medical diagnosis for politicians not to weigh in on.”
The renewed ban, she warned, arrives at a time when fewer than 1 percent of Americans serve in uniform, and the military faces deep recruitment and retention challenges. Excluding qualified people, she said, is not just discriminatory — it is dangerous.
“We have a huge talent management issue,” Askins said. “That should be a national security flag.”
On the campaign trail in Nebraska, Askins said voters rarely raise transgender issues at all.
“Zero,” she said.
Instead, constituents talk about rising costs, housing affordability, health care, and economic instability. “There’s an overwhelming, chaotic uncertainty in our nation right now,” she said. “People wake up and don’t know what they’re going to find.”
Keishla Askins and her wife, Alison, each had remarkable military careers.Kishla for Congress
As a longtime health care provider, Askins has been particularly alarmed by the rollback of Affordable Care Act subsidies, which she said is already driving up premiums and discouraging preventive care.
“We’re going to see people not go to primary care until they’re in extremis,” she said. “And then now they have a chronic disease that costs far more than what we could have prevented.”
Even while campaigning, Askins is finishing a doctorate in public health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Her research focuses on biosecurity risks linked to thawing permafrost and a warming Arctic, examining how environmental instability can unleash infectious disease threats and strain already fragile systems.
Representation, Askins said, is not about symbolism. It is about lived experience and about ensuring Congress reflects the people it governs.
“Being investigated twice and almost kicked out of the military because I was gay was a challenge,” she said. “But it made me more resilient. And I refuse to allow anyone else to be attacked for something that is simply about who they are.”
Looking back on her career, from combat zones to the Pentagon to serving as a senior executive at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Askins said the lesson she hopes the country relearns is one the military once modeled at its best.
“The military is a family,” she said. “And families are stronger together. That’s what the United States is about.”
Massachusetts has removed state rules requiring that foster parents support LGBTQ+ youth in their care after lawsuits from families and threats from the Trump administration.
The state Department of Children and Families removed the policies Friday, replacing them with a general statement about parents supporting children’s “individual identity and needs.” The change comes in the wake of two lawsuits from families who lost or were denied their foster care licenses after refusing to sign an agreement to not discriminate against LGBTQ+ youth nor attempt to change their gender identity or sexual orientation.
“The Department of Children and Families’ top priority is providing a safe and supportive home for all children in foster care,” DCF Commissioner Staverne Miller told GBH News. “We are also committed to ensuring that no one is prevented from applying or reapplying to be a foster parent because of their religious beliefs.”
The previous DCF policies required that “employees, foster parents, interns, volunteers, and others who interact with children and families must be respectful of how individuals ask to be identified and use the terms an individual uses to describe themselves.” This included allowing foster youth to use restrooms or changing facilities that align with their gender identity, allowing them to dress in clothing or style their hair in ways that align with their gender identity, and allowing them to use their names and pronouns.
The policies also explicitly mandated that “foster parents and contracted service providers do not make attempts to convince LGBTQIA+ children/youth to reject or modify their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.” This included not contracting with “faith leaders who attempt to change a child/youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”
The department also supported youth seeking legal name and gender changes, as well as “medical care and mental health services for children/youth provided in a manner that is culturally responsive and affirming,” though none were required for their gender identity to be considered respected.
The lawsuits prompted an investigation by the Trump administration, which accused the state of violating parents’ religious freedoms. Donald Trump then issued an executive order in November that allowed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “take appropriate action to address State and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
The lawsuit was brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The conservative Christian legal advocacy group has been involved in several Supreme Court cases involving abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights, including Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the national right to abortion. It also represented website designer Lorie Smith in the 2023 case 303 Creative, Inc. v. Elenis and baker Jack Phillips in the 2018 case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado, which affirmed the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people on the basis of religion.
Over 30 percent of youth in foster care identify as LGBTQ+ and five percent as transgender, according to a 2019 study from Children’s Rights, compared to 11.2 percent and 1.17 percent of youth not in foster care.
If you’re a man who likes men but hates the LGBTQ+ community, then the Straight Acting Brotherhood might just be the community you’ve been looking for.
The Straight Acting Brotherhood is exactly what it says on the tin: It’s a members’ club for men who are sexually attracted to other men. Despite that, you won’t find the words “gay”, “LGBTQ+” or “queer” anywhere on their website. The brothers seem to believe they’re the black sheep of the LGBTQ+ community, as if there’s not a whole “masc 4 masc” community already out there.
“The Straight Acting Brotherhood is a highly exclusive members’ club for high-networth, masculine men who are into men. Its culture rises beyond the hollow LGBT culture, connecting the top one per cent of men who reject the gay scene and strive for personal greatness,” the description on its website reads.
From the website: “Who we are against: We don’t do hollow gay culture: hookups, partying, drinking. We don’t do LGBT labels, pronouns, or rainbow pride. Just men being men.”
The group claims to offer networking opportunities, dinner meetups, and access to a “highly private WhatsApp group for men who think and operate like you.”
Oh, and they’re also selling travel packages such as a five-day “Warrior Retreat” to Thailand. Yes, Thailand, home the world famous ladyboys.
Hit the first link above for a breakdown about the group’s extensive vetting process for butchness. And yes, there’s videos of performative masculinity…such as lying around shirtless with muscular twinks?
On Nov. 4, Erica Deuso made history when she became the first openly transgender mayor-elect of Pennsylvania, a milestone for inclusive political campaigns. Deuso won nearly 65% of the vote and was part of a great nightfor Democrats, with Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill all winning their races in New York City, Virginia and New Jersey, respectively.
Three days after she was elected, Uncloseted Media spoke with Deuso about how her political campaign strategies—which included focusing on “good neighbor” issues rather than on her gender identity—pushed her to win big.
Watch the full video above or read the transcript below.
Spencer Macnaughton: Hi everyone, I’m Spencer Macnaughton. I am joined today by Mayor-elect Erica Deuso. She is a scientist, advocate and community leader who was just elected as mayor of Downingtown, becoming the first openly transgender mayor in Pennsylvania. Mayor-elect, thank you so much for being here today.
Erica Deuso: Thank you for having me.
SM: So let’s get right into it. You won and you made history in Pennsylvania. How are you feeling?
ED: It was a very long day but we were very happy to see the results. It was a clean sweep here in Chester County. All of our statewide won, all of our countywide won, and very many of our local municipal offices won too. So we’re very pleased with that. As for me, I’m feeling a little bit overwhelmed. I looked at this as being “I’m running for mayor. I’m running to be the mayor of a small town in Pennsylvania,” and I looked at this as I knew the history, but I didn’t really know how big it was going to be. And then I took Wednesday off to sort of relax and recharge, and that’s when I started getting all the requests for interviews and talking points, phone interviews, in-person interviews, Zoom interviews. I underestimated how big this would be. So, I’m humbled by all the reactions and I’m ready to get to work.
SM: What do you mean you were surprised by how big this would be? What surprised you about the reaction?
ED: Well, you know, I’ve always looked at it like “I’m a scientist. I’m a business woman. I’m a sister, a daughter, a wife.” You know, my gender identity, myself, I don’t think about it. You know it’s been 16 years since I transitioned. So it’s not something that’s really front of mind for me anymore. And so, I came in this thinking I was gonna run on local issues: traffic, housing affordability, flooding mitigation, public safety. And that’s what I ran on. So coming into Tuesday, I knew the history, but I also knew that I didn’t run on my gender identity. And I was hoping that people around Downingtown would feel very much the same way. That they care about the kitchen table issues that face small towns all around this country. And so to see the outpouring of love and respect and just people calling from all over the country, people calling from all over the world, it’s very, very humbling to me. And I say that with as much gratitude as I can.
SM: Fantastic! And for those who don’t know, since we have a national audience, Downingtown is a small, predominantly white town of roughly 8,000 people, located in Chester County, west of Philadelphia. It typically swings Democratic, and its historical roots are in industrial and mill, as an industrial mill town, and it has a higher average household income than the national average, and typically swings Democrat. But I wanna know, what does Downingtown mean [to] you? How would you describe this town that just elected you as their mayor-elect?
ED: Well, very much like a lot of small towns, the town is defined by the people, you know? We have something very that we’re very proud of and that’s this good neighbor spirit where everybody comes out and helps everybody else. So when there’s a family in danger of poverty or housing issues, we come out as a community and support them. We had an individual who was abducted by ICE, and we’ve thrown rallies and raised money for the family, and we’re making sure that the family has what they need as far as money, food, housing, while the family patriarch is in ICE custody. When we had flooding, Hurricane Ida in 2021, historical flood, we started a program called Downingtown Strong. So we have this good neighbor spirit and that comes from the people, not the town itself. The town could be anywhere, but the people of Downingtown will always be what makes this town special.
Photos by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso. Erica Deuso, Pennsylvania’s first trans mayor, pictured in Downingtown, PA.
The Political Campaign Strategies Behind Deuso’s Win
SM: And I hear you say multiple times, “good neighbor,” and I know that almost has been the slogan of your campaign, right? Tell me more about the political strategy behind the idea of branding your campaign as somebody who looks out for the good neighbor.
ED: So when I first moved here in 2007, it was before I transitioned. It was back in the aughts and people were still being discriminated [against] probably more than today. It just wasn’t news. And I was very scared. I was scared of what my neighbors would think, scared of what the town in general would think. The outpouring of love and support when I went through my transition was just amazing. So I look at this as giving back to the people who made me feel at home, made me feel welcome, even through the toughest part of my life. And I think when it comes to building my campaign, that’s where it was centered, is that I was trying to give back. Trying to thank the town for being there for me by saying that I’m going to be there for you.
SM: That’s beautiful. And take me back to when you did come out publicly. Do you have any kind of concrete examples that you can point to of when you remember the community coming around for you?
ED: So,I had a neighbor who lived across the street from me. I had just come out. She didn’t know. She knew me, but she didn’t know me well. So as I’m starting to come out, my hair’s getting longer, I’m dressing differently, I’m trying out new names and things like that. And it was winter time. She came out, we helped shovel out her car because she needed to get to work. And she asked me, “Hey, you know, what’s going on? I’ve seen a bunch of changes, but I don’t know what’s going on.” So I told her. And she’s like, “If you need anything, if you need me to stick up for you in town, if you need me to take you to a doctor’s appointment, if you need anything, just let me know.” And it was maybe a week later, we were out together, we grabbed some coffee and somebody, when I went and gave them my name, they called out, they just said, “Eric.” My friend, my new friend, who had known me basically for a week, goes up to the counter and says, “It’s Erica, get the name right.” And they turned, you know, they blushed. They said, “Oh, we’re so sorry, we got the name wrong” and everything. And I’ve never had a problem with that coffee shop since. It’s those sort of things where it’s just, if somebody misgenders you, if somebody dead names you, my community has my back.
SM: Having those people who have your back and stand up for you, Downingtown community members, how does that make you feel on an emotional level? What does it do for your mental health?
ED: It makes me feel at ease, you know. It makes me feel less tense, less anxiety. When you’re first coming out, you’re taking those first steps with trepidation. You’re wondering, “Is today going to be the day that someone’s going to call me a man? Is today the day where somebody’s going to call me out for using the bathroom at the McDonald’s, or who’s going to laugh at the way that I’m dressed or my makeup or something?” And to know that people have my back, to know I have friends and community members who are there to support and understand and learn and grow with me, that means everything because it made transition so much easier.
SM: And, you know, obviously Downingtown sounds like they’ve been an amazing support, most of the members. But I’m sure not everyone is supportive. And I’m sure you’ve met some people and interacted with people who maybe have never met a trans person before while you were campaigning. What did you find through your campaign worked the best in accessing people who may be misinformed about trans people, who may have never met a trans person and who could never imagine a trans person as their elected leader? What were the kind of tools that worked the best from a communication strategy point of view?
ED: Humor. Humor always works the greatest. I remember going to somebody’s door and a woman came to the door. She said, “Oh, I’m not voting for him.” And I’m like, “Who are you—there’s no hims around here.” And she said, “Oh, I thought you were a man.” And I’m like, “Nope, no, I haven’t been a man for 16 years. You know? And even then that’s questionable.” And she started to laugh. And I said, “Right now, I’m just worried about our town. I’m worried about the traffic on our street here. You know, we have this new development up the street, it empties right onto your street here. What’s going on with that? How has that affected you?” And she said, “Well, to be honest, it’s been a pain because I need to get to work right around the time that the kids are getting picked up from school. And it’s tough because now I have to wait for all the traffic and then the school buses.” And just by using that little bit of humor at the beginning, it bridged that gap. It made me be able to have a conversation with this person who originally had just dismissed me out of hand.
Photo by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso.
SM: And it probably disarmed them and opened up a door for them to feel comfortable enough to ask you questions they might not be sure they can ask.
ED: All too often you see trans people being labeled as angry or upset or you’re going to trigger them by using a name or using a pronoun that they don’t agree with. And, to me, I just look at it from a point of humor and be able to disarm people through a little bit of humor, a little bit of good nature, and not taking things so seriously. Because at the end of the day, we’re all in this together. And if I can use a little bit of humor to disarm a situation and do some education, that’s far easier than coming at it from a place of anger or being upset.
SM: That’s so interesting. Any other strategies that you found worked?
ED: Just focusing on the issues has been the biggest thing. The other side of the aisle, people who want to bring hate and division into this town, came at me trying to make this campaign about my identity. They tried to find anything that I would post, like when I was endorsed by groups like Advocates for Trans Equality or the Victory Fund or LPAC. I would post things on social media saying, “Hey, I’m really proud to have been endorsed by these groups.” And they would take that as, you know, I’m trying to shove gender ideology on them. When in fact, it’s really just [that] we have a robust LGBTQ community in Chester County. And here in Pennsylvania, we have about 71,000 trans people. I want to make sure that they’re represented. And the rabble rousers, the people trying to push against me, tried to make this divisive about my gender. But it didn’t really work when all I’m talking about is public safety, traffic and flooding.
Photo by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso. Erica Deuso engaging in political outreach on National Day of Action.
What Political Outreach Means for Deuso
SM: I think what you just said is kind of a micro representation of the strategies that worked in many other elections this week, right? Where you found, you know, Mayor-elect Mamdani of New York City focusing on affordability, but at the same time not ditching trans and queer people along the way. At the same time, we have the federal government winning from being hateful toward trans people. In my opinion, as somebody who looks at this all day, we’re reaching a precipice among the American populace where they’re starting to realize the BS of all of this misinformation and starting to recognize that “I don’t have to vote for a politician just because they’re against a group. I can actually care about the issues” kind of thing. Does that track?
ED: It does. I mean, if you look at the campaigns of Mayor-elect Mamdani, Governor-elect Spanberger, Governor-elect Sherrill in New Jersey, the anti-trans ads did nothing. I had somebody circulate a letter a couple days before the election saying that the flooding issues that I had were garbage, saying that I was misleading people with my gender identity. And they brought it around town through our local Turning Point Action group here in Chester County. They had middle schoolers running these letters and putting them on people’s doors and under placemats. The reaction to that was, “This is awful to a person around town.” I heard literally hundreds of people at the polls tell me, “You know, I wasn’t going to come out and vote today but getting that letter brought me out and not for what they thought it was going to do.” Um, I think people are just starting to see LGBTQ people, immigrants, people of other races, ethnic backgrounds, that didn’t scare people off the way that the opposition thought it was going to scare people off. We’re moving to a place where if a person is the most qualified person, I think people want that. And it starts up at the top. People are seeing that maybe we didn’t elect the most qualified person to be president right now. All these things that the current administration wants to do just to make some people’s lives harder is turning a lot of other people off. So if we focus on the things that really matter to the American people, to the people of Downingtown, the people of Pennsylvania, I think that’s what’s really gonna win people. If you compare somebody’s health care premiums to whether or not someone’s transgender, I think they’re gonna be more worried about the health care premiums at this point.
Pennsylvania Governor Election: The Bigger Picture
SM: So fascinating, and I think all of that resonates. And I think a lot of Americans are ready to just care about the issues and tackle the issues specifically. With that said, you are making history, right? As Pennsylvania’s first openly transgender mayor, what does that mean for you? How are you gonna balance focusing on the issues while also honoring this history that you’ve made?
ED: So it means a lot to me, my own gender identity. I’m so happy to be able to represent our community in this situation, but there’s a lot to do. The mayor of Downingtown’s major responsibility is working with the police, to make sure the police have what they need to do the job that they need to do. Working as mayor, I’m gonna make myself accountable, I’m going to make myself available. We’ve never had office hours here for a mayor, so I’m gonna set up office hours. I will be there to talk to you, listen to you, understand what the problems are—sorry, there’s a little bug—understand where the problems are in town.
SM: Obviously you’re courageous, but are you afraid in any ways being in this elected position, given how much animus there is towards the trans community right now in America?
ED: I was. At the very beginning of this, right after the primary, and it was a landslide. So that made a lot of people happy, but at the same time it really made some people unhappy. And there was some chatter, there were some potentials for violence. And we made sure that when we had some events this summer and this fall that we were doing our best to make sure we were protected. And we had two security people at a Fall Fest that we had here where people knew where I was going to be at every minute of the day, that day, and this was weeks after the Charlie Kirk assassination. And just because of the use of firearms, it was such an open place, I did invest personally in some protective armor underneath my clothes for that. Thankfully, we didn’t need it. So, we were safe with that. But still, we kept security in mind. Thankfully, there was no violence to speak of. Just a lot of people speaking out of a place of ignorance and misunderstanding.
SM: You’re saying armor, you wore a bulletproof vest?
ED: Yes.
SM: Wow, and I’m guessing you wouldn’t have done that and you wouldn’t have hired security if you weren’t transgender, is that fair?
ED: That is fair. This town leans Democratic. I’m not worried about a lot of the majority of the people of this town. And really the people of this town who could vote in the borough were not the problem. It was people from the outlying areas of this town, the townships that surround us. That’s where a lot of the divisiveness and people trying to force this campaign to be about my gender. That’s where they came from. We couldn’t really control them very well. So we just need to prepare for every eventuality.
SM: Obviously, there’s been transphobic comments on social media as there always are. Sometimes you’ve been responding and sometimes you haven’t. What’s kind of behind the decisions of when to engage and when to leave it?
ED: So I think when some of these comments come from a place of ignorance, there’s an opportunity for education. I remember one comment where somebody said, “You wanna just chop off your genitals” and things like that. And I said, “Look, if you follow the WPATH guidelines, everything starts with mental health,” and they came back and said, “I had no clue that there was this much involved with it.” To know that, yeah, they may disagree with it still, but at least they have a better understanding of the process and it isn’t just, somebody wakes up tomorrow and decides that they wanna go have surgery. It doesn’t work that way. And for other reasons, I don’t want a kid [or] another trans person to see my posts, see all the hate, and then not see me push back against it, you know? I don’t want them to think that I’m just gonna sit back and take it when other people in power are telling me, “You can’t use this bathroom,” or “You have to change your passport or your driver’s license or something that you have to change it back.” No, I’m not going to just stay silent because that trans kid is looking at me. They’re looking at me for leadership. And if I just stay silent on those sort of things, that person’s thinking, “Well, there’s no one standing up for me.”
SM: You must feel like you have a duty to engage.
ED: Exactly, that’s how I feel about it, is that, you know, when there’s something, you have to push back against it because there’s always people watching.
PA Governor Election and National Political Trends
SM: What would you say to politicians at the highest level of government in America right now who are stoking this fire of transphobia and anti-trans animus?
ED: Let’s have a conversation. I think if we can find 5% of an issue where we can agree on, I think we can build on that. Let’s bring the temperature down on LGBTQ issues. Let’s stop worrying about whether or not someone can change the letter on their passport. And let’s have a conversation about how best we can treat everybody as Americans. And as equals.
SM: And you would sit down with the Donald Trumps and the other people to talk about that? You would be open to that?
ED: If there was somebody who was willing to have an actual conversation where we could find common ground and build on it, I would sit down with anybody. That said, if I know that it’s not turning into a good-faith argument, that conversation is going to be over, and we’ll find somebody else who will have a good-faith conversation.
Photo by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso. Erica Deuso connecting with families of Downingtown during her political campaign.
What It Means to Be a Trans Politician in Today’s Climate
SM: I want to go back to little Erica. At what age do you think you realized you were trans, and tell me a little bit about those early realizations.
ED: So, I believe I was 4. It was very early on, but that was 1984, at a time when people didn’t know anything about this. My parents obviously didn’t know anything about it. I lived with that for six years, knowing that I didn’t have the language, I didn’t have the verbiage, I didn’t understand what was going on. It was a time when kids didn’t go to therapists. And so I waited until I was 10 to tell my parents. And, obviously, it was 1990, and things didn’t go over well at that point. It wasn’t something they knew anything about and they came at it from a place of fear, not understanding. So I sort of shoved it down a little bit, and then college came around and I tried to do something about it again in college when I was 19. And I met my ex on the way to therapy. So put it on the shelf again. And it wasn’t until I was 29 that I realized, “Hey, I don’t wanna turn 30 and not know who I really am.” So I went to a therapist who specializes in gender identity and gender dysphoria here in the area. And by the end of the first session, she said, “I don’t think I’ve met another person who fits as many criteria for this as you do.” So we started on the path. I did get amicably divorced from my ex. Still friendly. I’m very happy for her. She has a very cute little girl, happily married again. I’m happily married now again. And life is good. And very, very happy with the way things happen. And everything happens for a reason. And I firmly believe that I’m living this life for a reason. Maybe it’s to be the mayor. Maybe it’s for something greater. Who knows? But right now I’m focused on being the best mayor Downingtown has ever had.
SM: What would your message to young kids be who might have dreams of being mayor or other, you know, amazing career paths, but aren’t sure if they can be out and proud and do these and achieve these ambitions?
ED: You will surprise yourself with what you’re capable of once you say that “I’m going to just be myself, no matter what anybody else says.” There will always be people who push you to be different, whether you’re trans or not, but you have to persevere and say, “This is who I am. This is what I’m going to do with my life,” and just keep pushing because you only have one life, and you need to live it in the way that’s going to bring you the most joy and the most happiness and be the best for yourself.
SM: What are you most excited [about] when it comes to getting to work?
ED: Well, I want everybody to know, who voted me in, that I’m eternally grateful for the responsibility that you have given me. I’m not gonna let you down.
SM: Fabulous. Well Mayor-elect Deuso, I think you should be very proud. You’re a role model overnight, kind of, which might have even surprised you. And I wish you the best of luck as Mayor of Downingtown. Thank you so much for speaking with me and Uncloseted Media today.
ED: Thank you so much for having me, and my door’s always open.
Since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term, Uncloseted Media has been checking in every 100 days to document each move in the administration’s ongoing and relentless attack on the LGBTQ community. These last few months have continued the trend of each 100 days being worse than the last. Trump has weaponized the assassination of Charlie Kirk to put an even bigger target on trans Americans, and he has been testing out new rhetoric, claiming that Democrats want “transgender for everybody,” a line he’s now used so many times that we couldn’t include every reference. With that in mind, here’s the administration’s complete track record on LGBTQ issues from days 201-300.
Aug. 9, 2025
Trump announces that he is nominating Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy ambassador to the United Nations. Bruce, an out lesbian, opposes transgender health care for minors and claims LGBTQ Pride commercials “really do damage to the gay and lesbian community.”
Aug. 11, 2025
During a public safety press conference, Trump orders the National Guardto deploy in Washington, D.C., claiming it will curb crime despite it being down. While doing so, he attacks the LGBTQ community, saying, “That’s why [Democrats] want men playing in women’s sports, that’s why they want transgender for everybody. Everybody, transgender.”
Aug. 12, 2025
Trump orders a review of the Smithsonian Institution to determine whether it aligns with his administration’s standards. He targets the museum’s exhibits on transgender athletes, ballroom drag and the evolution of LGBTQ identities, as well as a painting of a Black trans statue of Liberty—that was later withdrawn by the artist—in the National Portrait Library.
The same day, the State Department releases a revised 2024 Human Rights Report that omits references to LGBTQ people and erases mentions of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The report also removes critiques of governments for mistreating LGBTQ communities. For example, it removes information about Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ laws that encourage citizens to report their LGBTQ neighbors and that ban depictions of homosexuality or gender transition in schools or the media.
Aug. 14, 2025
The Department of Education (DOE) launches an investigation into four Kansas school districts, accusing them of violating Title IX as they “permit students to participate in sports and access intimate facilities based on ’gender identity’ rather than biological sex.”
Aug. 15, 2025
Budget cuts stemming from Trump’s federal workforce reductions eliminate $600,000 in funding for the D.C. Office of LGBTQ Affairs for 2026.
The same day, the administration announces plans to eliminate gender-affirming care from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program starting in 2026, cutting coverage for over 8 million people. The policy would block access to hormones and surgeries for federal workers and their families.
Aug. 20, 2025
The media reports on court filings that reveal that the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued subpoenas to hospitals for private medical records of LGBTQ patients 18 and younger. The DOJ requests billing data, communication with drug manufacturers, Social Security numbers and recordings from providers who treat gender non-conforming minors. Doctors across the country report threats and fear government retaliation.
“The subpoena is a breathtakingly invasive government overreach. … It’s specifically and strategically designed to intimidate health care providers and health care institutions into abandoning their patients,” says Jennifer L. Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD law, an LGBTQ legal group and civil rights organization.
Aug. 21, 2025
The White House publishes a list of 20 Smithsonian exhibits deemed “objectionable,” including many that highlight LGBTQ and non-white artists. Targeted works include the American History Museum’s LGBTQ+ exhibit that explores queer and disabled identities, as well as a Title IX anniversary display featuring transgender athletes.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cuts $12 million of federal funding for California’s “Personal Responsibility Education Program,” which provides sex education to teens. HHS officials cite the state’s refusal to remove lessons on so-called “radical gender ideology.”
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) upholds an executive order which directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cut more than 1,700 grants, nearly 200 of which provide funding for HIV/AIDS.
The New York Times reports that the Trump administration will withhold more than half of the congressionally appropriated $6 billion for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Experts say the cuts threaten HIV/AIDS services worldwide, as the Kenyan HIV/AIDs network NEPHAK announces layoffs and closures of health centers.
Aug. 23, 2025
ICE violently detains Brazilian trans woman Alice Correia Barbosa, later announcing plans to deport her.
Aug. 26, 2025
The administration warns U.S. states and territories that they will lose federal funding for sex education unless they “remove all references to gender ideology.” Forty-six states and D.C. receive letters ordering the purge of all “gender ideology” content within 60 days.
Aug. 28, 2025
The DOE orders Denver Public Schools to replace gender-neutral restrooms with sex-designated facilities within 10 days. If they don’t comply, the DOE suggests they will lose federal funding.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells Fox News that the HHS is studying whether gender-transition medications or antidepressants cause violence, citing a church shooting in Minneapolis by a transgender woman. Research shows no such connection, and nearly all mass shootings are committed by cisgender men.
Aug. 29, 2025
In an interview with the Daily Caller, a right-wing opinion website, Trump baselessly claims that banning transgender troops improves military readiness. He falsely links transgender identities to violence and repeats debunked claims about gender-affirming care.
The Harvard Crimson posts Dean David J. Deming’s announcement that the university will no longer host programming for specific races or identity groups, signaling deeper cuts to diversity efforts. The move follows Trump’s demands that Harvard dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs or lose billions in federal research funding. Since Trump took office, Harvard has removed DEI language, closed identity-based offices and folded LGBTQ, women’s and minority programs into a single “Harvard Foundation.”
On a podcast with former George W. Bush special assistant Scott Jennings, Trump conflates crime with support for transgender people, saying Democrats are “fighting for criminals, just like they fought for transgender for everybody … all these crazy things.”
Sept. 3, 2025
After a settlement requiring the administration to restore health and science information to federal websites, HHS officials tell the Associated Press that they remain “committed to its mission of removing radical gender and DEI ideology from federal programs.” The reversal follows an executive order meant to eliminate the term “gender” from policies and delete public health pages about pregnancy risks, opioid addiction and AIDS.
During an Oval Office meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, Trump once again says Democrats “gave us things like men playing in women’s sports, open borders for everybody, transgender for everybody.”
In response to the Minneapolis mass shooting, CNN reports that the DOJ is considering restricting transgender Americans’ Second Amendment rights by building off of Trump’s trans military ban and using it as justification for a firearm ban—something that would only be possible by declaring them mentally “defective.” The proposal sparks backlash from the National Rifle Association, who says in a statement that they “will not support … sweeping gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process.”
A Maine principals’ group challenges a subpoena from the DOJ that seeks athletic rosters statewide as part of the administration’s effort to ban transgender students from sports. The group argues the request would expose private student information unrelated to the case.
A federal appeals panel upholds an injunction blocking the Trump administration’s plan to deny accurate passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans. Judges rule the government failed to show how inclusive passports violate federal law. In its decision, the court writes:
“Based on the named plaintiffs’ affidavits and the expert declarations submitted by the plaintiffs, the district court made factual findings that the plaintiffs will suffer a variety of immediate and irreparable harms from the present enforcement of the challenged policy, including ‘a greater risk of experiencing harassment and violence’ while traveling abroad.”
Sept. 5, 2025
CNN uncovers years of homophobic and misogynistic posts by E.J. Antoni, Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, contributor to Project 2025 and a “bystander” on Jan. 6, has repeatedly mocked LGBTQ people and journalists and appears to have been running an X account where he posted that “there is only one sexual orientation – everything else is a disorientation.” The administration would withdraw his nomination Sept. 30.
Sept. 8, 2025
Three military families sue the Department of Defense after the Trump administration’s ban on transgender health care. “This is a sweeping reversal of military health policy and a betrayal of military families who have sacrificed for our country,” says Sarah Austin, staff attorney at GLAD Law.
Speaking to the Religious Liberty Commission, Trump rambles, “On day one of my administration, I signed an executive order to slash federal funding for any school that pushes transgender insanity on our youth.” He goes on to falsely claim that some states can force children to transition without the parents knowing.
Sept. 9, 2025
A federal judge blocks the administration’s attempt to subpoena medical records of transgender minors at Boston Children’s Hospital. The court finds that:
“The Administration has been explicit about its disapproval of the transgender community and its aim to end GAC [gender-affirming care]. … It is abundantly clear that the true purpose of issuing the subpoena is to interfere with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ right to protect GAC within its borders, to harass and intimidate BCH to stop providing such care, and to dissuade patients from seeking such care.”
Sept. 11, 2025
The Wall Street Journal publishes a leaked Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives memo which falsely claims that shell casings found near the scene of Kirk’s murder were engraved with expressions of“transgender and anti-fascist ideology.”
Sept. 12, 2025
The DOJ removes a study from its website showing that far-right extremists have killed more Americans than any other domestic terrorist group. The archived report disappears two days after anti-LGBTQconservative Charlie Kirk is assassinated.
Sept. 15, 2025
In a press conference, Trump says he would “have no problem” removing Pride flags from Washington, D.C. streets after Brian Glenn, a far-right content creator, says that “a lot of people are very threatened by this flag.” Glenn attempts to paint the Progress Pride flag as the “transtifa” flag and suggests that “if you can label them a domestic terrorist group, in all reality, you could take that flag down.”
Trump acknowledges legal limits under free speech law but adds, “I think you probably could. Again, you’ll be sued, and it’s okay. I’ve been sued before a couple of times.”
LGBTQ+ people are significantly more likely to report being stopped, detained, and falsely accused by law enforcement compared to non-LGBTQ+ people, and it’s keeping them from calling for help.
A recent review of more than 25 years of research on interactions between LGBTQ+ people and law enforcement by the Williams Institute found that LGBTQ+ people were more likely than non-LGBTQ+ people to face mistreatment from police. LGBTQ+ people were more likely have been stopped (51 percent vs. 42 percent), searched (27 percent vs. 16 percent), arrested (20 percent vs. 14 percent), and held in custody (19 percent vs. 14 percent) over the course of their lives.
“Experiences of police mistreatment may discourage LGBTQ people from reporting crimes or engaging with law enforcement,” Joshua Arrayales, lead author and Law Fellow at the Williams Institute, said in a statement. “Reporting crimes is essential for accurate crime statistics, proper allocation of crime prevention resources, and support services that address the unique needs of LGBTQ survivors.”
Police still engage in tactics such as raids and entrapment, the report notes, leading to distrust between the community and law enforcement. Over one-fifth (21 percent) of LGBTQ+ people reported at least one police-initiated contact in the prior 12 months, compared to 15 percent of non-LGBTQ+ people. LGBQ people were nearly six times as likely as the general population (6 percent vs. 1 percent) to have been stopped by police in a public space.
Bisexual and transgender respondents were even more likely to report being stopped or detained by police, causing nearly half (46 percent) of trans people saying they would be reluctant to contact the police if they needed help, compared to one-third (33 percent) who would feel comfortable doing so.
LGBQ people felt similarly, with around 13 percent saying they did not call the police when they needed help. Almost one-fourth (22 percent) of LGBQ people said that they would not contact the police again, compared to 6 percent of the general population.
“Negative interactions with police affect LGBTQ people beyond the immediate incident,” said Christy Mallory, study author and Interim Executive Director and Legal Director at the Williams Institute. “Research has found associations between police violence and harassment and binge drinking, stress, depression, and other negative health outcomes.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to enforce a policy aimed at limiting transgender rights that would restrict sex designations on passports to “male” and “female” based on sex assigned at birth.
The justices granted an emergency request filed by the administration, which is seeking to reverse a policy introduced during the Biden administration that allowed people to put “X” as a gender marker or self-select male or female.
“Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the court said in the unsigned order.
The three liberal justices on the conservative-majority court dissented.
“The Government seeks to enforce a questionably legal new policy immediately, but it offers no evidence that it will suffer any harm if it is temporarily enjoined from doing so, while the plaintiffs will be subject to imminent, concrete injury if the policy goes into effect,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in a dissenting opinion.
Since 1992, the State Department has, in certain circumstances, allowed people to choose a male or female marker that does not correspond to their genders at birth. The Biden administration introduced the “X” option in 2021 and made it easier for transgender applicants by removing the need for medical proof of gender transition.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that the decision reflects the administration’s view that “there are two sexes, and our attorneys will continue fighting for that simple truth.”
The Trump policy effectively means that transgender people, even those who have fully transitioned and have medical records to prove it, will not be able to have gender markers that correspond with their identities.
“This is a heartbreaking setback for the freedom of all people to be themselves, and fuel on the fire the Trump administration is stoking against transgender people and their constitutional rights,” Jon Davidson, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union representing transgender people who challenged the policy, said in a statement.
President Donald Trump announced on his first day in office, Jan. 20, a rollback of the Biden rule and also said people must have passports that reflect their genders at birth.
The Trump policy was challenged by several transgender people, who alleged that it violated their right to equal protection under the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, as well as a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act.
Ashton Orr, a transgender man from West Virginia, is the named plaintiff in the case. He applied for a passport with a male sex marker in January and, in February, was told by the State Department that he could have only a female sex marker.
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled against the administration, saying people should be able to choose their own markers or “X” as an alternative. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the ruling on hold while litigation continued.
The new Trump policy is “eminently lawful,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in court papers. “The Constitution does not prohibit the government from defining sex in terms of an individual’s biological classification,” he argued.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs — Orr and six other transgender people — say the Trump policy bucks a 30-year trend of giving applicants a choice over how they are identified.
“This new policy puts transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people in potential danger whenever they use a passport,” the lawyers wrote in court papers.
The Trump administration this year has regularly rushed to the Supreme Court when its policies are blocked by lower courts.
The passport case marks the 22nd time the court has granted an emergency request filed by the administration via what has been dubbed the “shadow docket,” according to an NBC News tally. The administration has, so far, lost only two of those cases.
It is not a final ruling and litigation will continue, but it signals how the case will ultimately be decided.
The Supreme Court’s frequent interventions early in litigation, often with little or no explanation, have prompted some federal judges to express frustration with how the justices are managing the situation.
