A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked key parts of an Iowa law that bans some books from school libraries and forbids teachers from raising LGBTQ+ issues.
Judge Stephen Locher’s preliminary injunction halts enforcement of the law, which was set to take effect Jan. 1 but already had resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from Iowa schools.
The law, which the Republican-led Legislature and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds approved early in 2023, bans books depicting sex acts from school libraries and classrooms and forbids teachers from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through the sixth grade. Locher blocked enforcement of those two provisions.
The judge said the ban on books is “incredibly broad” and has resulted in the removal of history volumes, classics, award-winning novels and “even books designed to help students avoid being victimized by sexual assault.” He said that part of the law is unlikely to satisfy the constitution’s requirements for free speech.
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In barring the provision barring any discussion of “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” in elementary school, Locher said the way it was written it was “wildly overbroad.”
Reynolds said in a statement that she was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling.
“Instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation has no place in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms,” Reynolds said. “And there should be no question that books containing sexually explicit content — as clearly defined in Iowa law — do not belong in a school library for children. The fact that we’re even arguing these issues is ridiculous.”
Educators lauded the decision, however.
“When education professionals return to work next week, they can do what they do best: take great care of all their students without fear of reprisal,” Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association, said in a statement.
The judge let stand a requirement that school administrators notify parents if their child asks to change their pronouns or name, saying the plaintiffs did not have standing.
Iowa’s measure is part of a wave of similar legislation across the country. Typically backed by Republican lawmakers, the laws seek to prohibit discussionof gender and sexual orientation issues, ban treatments such as puberty blockers for transgender children, and restrict the use of restrooms in schools. Many have prompted court challenges.
Opponents of the Iowa law filed two lawsuits. One is on behalf of the organization Iowa Safe Schools and seven students, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and Lambda Legal. The other is by the Iowa State Education Association, publisher Penguin Random House and four authors.
The first lawsuit argues the measure is unconstitutional because it violates students’ and teachers’ free speech and equal protection rights. The second, which focused more narrowly on the book bans, argues the law violates the First and 14th amendments.
Lawyers for both lawsuits said the law is broad and confusing.
At a Dec. 22 hearing, Daniel Johnston of the Iowa attorney general’s office argued that school officials were applying the book ban too broadly. When deciding whether to remove books, educators shouldn’t focus on the idea of a sex act but instead look for text or images that meet Iowa’s definition of a sex act, Johnston said.
The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday that the process of reviewing discharge papers of LGBTQ veterans who were kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation is now underway, pursuant to a directive from the Biden-Harris administration earlier this year.
The Defense Department told ABC News that “staff have begun identifying veterans eligible for review, but a spokesperson could not say how many personnel are involved with the outreach or when the process is expected to be completed.”
Some advocates contend that the federal government has moved too slowly to remedy the issues for thousands of veterans who were discharged other than honorably, or who do not enjoy full access to their benefits because of discriminatory policies like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) — who, last year, alongside Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, became the first lesbian woman elected governor — told ABC News, “I appreciate what the Biden administration is doing, but we want to make sure though that we are moving quickly.”
“The stigma that came from that discriminatory law — Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — is something that continues to live with our gay veterans to this day,” she said.
Healy explained that in Massachusetts, “We’re going to set up a board. We’re going to make sure that any veteran who served, who is discharged because they were gay, is going to be in line and receive state benefits.”
When a celebrity comes out publicly as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, it may no longer warrant a Time magazine cover or a prime-time television interview, but it’s nonetheless a meaningful revelation for the individual sharing their story and an important milestone for the community as a whole.
Psychologist Robert Eichberg, who co-founded National Coming Out Day with activist Jean O’Leary in 1988, spoke about the broader impact of a person coming out of the proverbial closet three decades ago: “Most people think they don’t know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes,” Eichberg said in a 1993 interview, according to his New York Times obituary.
National Coming Out Day is celebrated annually on Oct. 11, a date that was chosen to mark the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which drew hundreds of thousands of people to the nation’s capital. But lucky for us, LGBTQ people — celebrities or not — come out 365 days a year.
While it would be impossible to honor them all, here are just a few of the countless queer people who came out in 2023.
Noah Schnapp
“Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp came out as gay in a TikTok video posted in January. In a written message that appeared on the video, the 19-year-old actor revealed that when he “finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years,” their response was simply: “We know.”
Bella Ramsey
“The Last of Us” star Bella Ramsey came out as gender-fluid in an interview published in The New York Times in January. The actor, who first rose to fame in HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones,” told the paper that her “gender has always been very fluid” and said if she sees “nonbinary” as an option on a form, she will tick it. However, she added, “Being gendered isn’t something that I particularly like, but in terms of pronouns, I really couldn’t care less.”
Jakub Jankto
Czech Republic soccer player Jakub Jankto came out as gay in a video shared on social media in February. “I am homosexual, and I no longer want to hide myself,” he said in the video, which has nearly 18 million views on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Sparta Prague, the professional club Jankto was playing for at the time, retweeted the video, saying, “You have our support. Live your life, Jakube. Nothing else matters.”
Alison Brie
“Freelance” and “GLOW” star Alison Brie came out as bisexual in a video for BuzzFeed News in February, where she and her husband, Dave Franco, were reading thirsty social media posts from fans about each other. At one point, Brie reads a tweet to her husband: “Listen, I am bisexual for a reason, and that reason is strictly to be used in a threesome by Dave Franco and Alison Brie.” Brie and Franco high-five, and then Brie says, “That’s also why I’m bisexual.” Franco responds, “You’ve been waiting for this tweet from someone you don’t know who they are or what they look like?” Brie shrugs and says, “Yeah.”
Mo’Nique
Comedian and actor Mo’Nique came out as queer in her Netflix comedy special, “My Name Is Mo’Nique,” which debuted in April. She told a tearful story about how she never came out to her grandmother due to her grandmother’s tense relationship with Mo’Nique’s Uncle Tina, who was assigned female at birth but presented masculine, according to the Gay Times. Later in the special, Mo’Nique revealed that she came out to her husband, Sidney Hicks: “I said, ‘Daddy, I want to be with another woman sexually.’ And he look at me, so beautifully and so patient and so loving, and said, ‘B—-, me too.’”
Chloe Veitch
Chloe Veitch, the star of Netflix’s reality series “Too Hot To Handle,” came out in April in an interview with The Sun. She said “doing breath work forced me to dig deeper.” She added, “I realized, ‘This is what’s bothering you — you’re bisexual and you haven’t told anyone.’ I’ve definitely been battling it, to be honest. I mean, being in and out of little flings with girls. I felt like it was my dirty little secret so it has taken the weight off my shoulders.”
Lauv
Lauv, the singer-songwriter known for his song “I Like Me Better,” came out in a TikTok in June. The video shows Lauv in what appears to be the back of a car under the text, “When ur dating a girl but ur also a little bit into men.” He added in the caption, “Does it have to be that big of a deal? i havent done much aside from kiss so tbh don’t wannna jump the gun but tbh i feel things and i dont wanna pretend i dont.” Many of his fans were supportive in comments, with one writing, “Lauv is lauv is lauv.”
Miss Benny
The lead of Netflix’s show “Glamorous,” which also stars Kim Cattrall, came out as a transgender woman in a June essay for Time magazine. Miss Benny revealed that her character, Marco, would also transition in the show. She said she was afraid to come out as herself on a show featuring a trans character at a time when dozens of states have considered bills to restrict trans rights. “But then I am reminded that this fear is exactly why I wanted to include my transition in the show: Because I know that when I was a terrified queer kid in Texas, it was the queer joy I found in droplets online that guided me to my happiness,” she said.
Adore Delano
Former “RuPaul’s Drag Race”contestant Adore Delano came out as transgenderin July. In a video shared with her millions of Instagram followers, Delano said she initially came out as trans when she was a teenager but went back in the closet when she competed on “American Idol” in 2008.
Shinjiro Atae
Japanese pop star Shinjiro Atae came out as gay at a fan event in Tokyo in July. “For years, I struggled to accept a part of myself … But now after all I have been through, I finally have the courage to open up to you about something,” he told his fans, according to the AP. “I am a gay man.” Atae, who is now based in Los Angeles, performed for 15 years in the popular group AAA before taking a break in 2020.
Gabby Windey
Former “Bachelorette” star and Denver Broncos cheerleader Gabby Windeyrevealed that she’s in a relationship with writer and comedian Robby Hoffman. In an Instagram post shared in August, Windey included several photos of herself and Hoffman and cheekily wrote, “Told you I’m a girls girl!!”
Wayne Brady
“Let’s Make a Deal” host Wayne Brady came out as pansexual in an interview with People magazine that was published in August. LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD defines pansexual as a descriptor for someone “who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to any person, regardless of gender identity.”
Ncuti Gatwa
“Sex Education” star Ncuti Gatwa came out publicly as queer in an interview with Elle UK published in August. Gatwa, who played one of the Kens in this summer’s wildly popular “Barbie” blockbuster, shared a touching story about meeting “another queer Rwandan person” at Manchester Pride several years ago. At the time, he told the magazine, “I thought I was the only one in the world.”
Joe Locke
“Heartstopper” star Joe Locke plays an openly gay teenager who faces bullying for who he is in the popular coming-of-age series based on Alice Oseman’s graphic novels, but Locke didn’t publicly discuss his sexuality until August.
“People have assumed and written it,” he told Teen Vogue of his sexuality, “and I haven’t ever corrected anyone because I haven’t felt the need to. But I’ve never specifically stated my sexuality.”
He told the magazine that he can’t recall when he first knew he was gay, but that he’s been openly gay since he was about 12.
Sufjan Stevens
Singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens seemingly came out in an Instagram post in October about his late partner, Evans Richardson, to whom he dedicated his latest album, “Javelin.” Stevens wrote that Richardson, who died in April, “was one of those rare and beautiful ones you find only once in a lifetime — precious, impeccable, and absolutely exceptional in every way.”
Jade Jolie
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 5 contestant Jade Jolie came out as transgender in a short post on X in October, writing, “Deciding to choose myself and move forward with my transition.”
Che Flores
Che Flores became the NBA’s first out nonbinary and transgender referee after coming out in October. Flores, who uses they/them pronouns, told GQ being misgendered as she/her “felt like a little jab in the gut,” and that after coming out they could be more comfortable in the world and at work. “I just think of having younger queer kids look at somebody who’s on a high-profile stage and not using it,” Flores told GQ. “And I’m not using the league to an advantage in any way. This is just to let young kids know that we can exist, we can be successful in all different ways.”
Karan Brar
Karan Brar, who starred in the comedy “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and the Disney Channel’s “Jessie,” penned an emotional essay for Teen Vogue in November in which he came out as bisexual. He wrote that his yearslong struggle with his sexuality and grief over the loss of his friend and fellow Disney star Cameron Boyce led him to develop a “deeply unhealthy relationship with alcohol” until he checked himself in to an inpatient treatment center in 2020. “I still keep things close to the vest online, but the gap between who I am and who I appear to be is shrinking,” Brar wrote. “It’s not closed yet, and it may never be.”
Billie Eilish
Singer-songwriter Billie Eilish said she was surprised when she found out people didn’t know she isn’t straight. The 22-year-old described being attracted to women in a November interview with Variety, saying of women, “I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real.” Earlier this month, she told Variety at an event that she didn’t intend for her comment to be major news. “But I kind of thought, ‘Wasn’t it obvious?’ I didn’t realize people didn’t know,” she said. “I just don’t really believe in it. I’m just like, ‘Why can’t we just exist?’ I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops.”
“We have to take him at his word,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson told the Washington Blade Wednesday morning during a discussion about how LGBTQ Americans would be impacted if former President Donald Trump is reelected next year.
“They’re saying exactly what his plans are, out loud: Not only is he talking about a federal ban on gender affirming care, he’s talking about federal ‘don’t say gay or trans’ bills; he’s reigniting his work to stack the courts and federal agencies with anti-LGBTQ+ extremists,” she said. “I think we have to listen carefully to what he says.”
Robinson said this includes Trump’s remarks to Sean Hannity during an Iowa town hall last week in which he denied, to the Fox News host, the charge that he would return to the White House as a dictator, “except for day one.”
Trump is testing the waters to gauge Americans’ appetite for extremism, Robinson said. “This is dangerous, I think, when it comes to our issues — but also when it comes to the broader experiment of democracy,” she said, adding, “That is not a joking matter any way, shape or form to have someone in office that is willing to abuse their power for their own personal gain.”
If reelected, he would pose a fundamental threat to the safety and security of LGBTQ people, Robinson said, as evidenced, for example, by his actions during his first term in office and the officials with whom he would surround himself in a second term.
“This is the guy that supported an insurrection on the United States Capitol and is now facing 91 indictments; this is the guy that in Charlottesville, when there was a racist riot taking place, said that there were good people on both sides; this is the guy that has unabashedly supported the kind of violence — and actually, to be honest with you, unleashed so much of it on our community, due to his violent rhetoric and the rhetoric of his supporters and the people around him,” she said.
“He has unearthed an openness around bias, hate, and discrimination that we haven’t seen in a generation; he’s unearthed folks that are willing to go to Target with an AR-15 because they disagree with a T-shirt; he’s unearthed folks that are willing to call into places and threaten the lives of the people there; he’s unearthed folks who are showing up with guns to drag shows and to libraries because of some brunch and some books,” she said.
Robinson continued, “Because the other thing you’ve got to be clear about is, sure, Donald Trump is a scary, scary person to think of having as president of the United States once again, and the people that he surrounds himself with are equally terrifying.” Names like “Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller; folks that have a history of supporting the the very types of violence that you’re talking about are front of the line.”
“I can’t underscore how dangerous the administration he is contemplating could be,” she said.
Robinson also outlined some of the threats posed by Trump’s potential reelection to the work of government and to the federal judiciary.
Much of this would be perhaps an extension of his efforts during the first term to gut “these federal agencies then put in place extremists at the helm of them to either do nothing and dismantle their ability to be effective in supporting the people of this nation, or to actually do active harm,” she said.
Meanwhile, “he was able to stack the Supreme Court with basically anti-democracy justices that are starting to carry out their will,” Robinson said. “We saw the Dobbs decision come out of the court that he created, [which] overturned Roe v. Wade. We saw the 303 Creative decision that created a legal loophole for discrimination against LGBTQ+ community. We saw them come after affirmative action and student debt relief. They are showing us what they are planning to do.”
Robinson added, “You don’t have to look much further than the words of these very justices,” noting conservative Justice Clarence Thomas’s stated interest in revisiting the court’s protections for same-sex marriage and revocation of sodomy laws. “This is very serious,” she said.
The importance of strengthening democracy
Robinson highlighted multiple ways in which the collective power of the pro-equality majority can — and must — be leveraged in the face of these challenges, and repeatedly stressed the underlying need to strengthen American democracy moving forward.
She pointed to gerrymandered district maps that have awarded disproportionate power to far-right extremists in state legislatures, who are responsible for passing legislation targeting vulnerable communities like trans youth.
“The landscape ahead is rough, because we’ve got to do work to course-correct what’s happening at the state level,” Robinson said, while also doing “work to course-correct what’s happening in the federal government by ensuring that we keep a pro-equality majority.”
“We’ve also got to be thinking about the judiciary branch in a meaningful way,” she added.
Robinson stressed that “The people are on our side. Fundamentally, there are more folks that support human rights, common progressive values than there are that do not.”
“Every day, 2,200 LGBTQ+ Americans are turning 18,” Robinson said. “We’re living in a country where we are going to be a huge voting bloc, a huge constituency, politically — and at the same time, where the practices of a representative democracy might be impaired to the point where our numbers no longer influence our political power,” so, “We have to fix that to actually ensure that this is a representative democracy.”
In some ways, it seems anti-LGBTQ conservative Christian organizations are more powerful than ever. The Alliance Defending Freedom, for example, has close ties with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and backed cases like Dobbs and 303 Creative that delivered major victories for the religious right.
Robinson argued that while these groups “still hold an immense amount of institutional power,” which, for sure, presents major challenges, “when you look at our collective power, they are, in fact, on the decline.”
For example, she said, “the number and proportion of evangelical voters is actually declining, year over year” while “our collective power is increasing, which I think is what’s creating this very crisis that we’re in — you’re up against folks who have held power in this country for the last 400 years.”
Chile has experienced a crucial turn in its political landscape with the results of Sunday’s referendum in which voters rejected a proposed constitution that generated concern among LGBTQ activists.
Chileans rejected the draft constitution with 55.8 percent of voters supporting the “against” option. Turnout was 84.5 percent.
The Republican Party, founded by the far right-wing former presidential candidate José Antonio Kast, led the effort behind the proposed constitution. Sunday marked the second time that Chileans went to the polls to decide on a new constitution — the process began after social protests rocked the country in October 2019.
A year after the unrest, more than 80 percent of voters were in favor of replacing the constitution, but the first attempt that independents and left wing sectors led, failed in September 2022, when 62 percent of Chileans voted “rejection.”
With the second rejection on Sunday, voters punished the right wing after opposing independents and the left wing. This result ended a cycle of euphoria after the social unrest with a high initial percentage for change. The current constitution, which took effect in 1980 during Augusto Pinochet’s regime and has undergone several changes, remains in force.
María José Cumplido, executive director of Fundación Iguales, expressed relief, noting the proposed constitution posed a significant risk to the rights of women and sexual diversities.
“We are very relieved,” Cumplido told the Washington Blade.
As to how she perceives these results will affect the LGBTQ community in terms of rights and protections, Cumplido noted more voters consciously objected to the proposed constitution that could have resulted in constitutionalized discrimination. Cumplido, however, pointed out the 1980 constitution does not ensure real protections against discrimination, which means Fundación Iguales will continue to work in this area.
Cumplido highlighted the broad conscientious objection could allow discrimination on religious grounds. She further noted the lack of a sufficiently robust non-discrimination principle and expressed concerns about the weakness of the rights of children and adolescents.
“Conscientious objection has been used to reopen debates that had already been democratically resolved, usually in relation to specific groups, such as LGBTIQ+ (people), whose rights were only recently recognized and whose implementation is sought to be avoided, even if this significantly affects the holders of those rights,” said Cumplido.
Ignacia Oyarzun, president and coordinator of legislation and public policy of Organizando Trans Diversidades, expressed relief over the referendum’s results. Oyarzun emphasized the proposed constitution would have limited the possibility of advancing transgender rights.
“It basically boils down to a sense of tranquility,” Oyarzun pointed out to the Blade. “Understanding that for particularly communities like ours, who are socially vulnerable, who have historically been excluded from political, social spaces, it implied the possibility of being able to suffer, let’s say, even more social and political vexations in relation to a constitution guaranteeing certain possibilities of discrimination directly towards our communities.”
Oyarzun affirmed the results guarantee the continuity of the advances in trans rights and for the broader LGBTQ community. Oyarzun also pointed out the proposed constitution threatened rights that the trans community has won, such as the recognition of gender identity.
“It gave the possibility of going backwards in rights that we have already currently managed to achieve, such as for example identity recognition or for example circulars, in this case of Infancia Circular de Educación 0812, which enables the respect of the gender identity of girls and boys (and their ability to) use (their) social name, (their) use of (a) bathroom, (a) uniform,” Oyarzun emphasized. “All this would have been under the possibility of being eventually repealed or even not respected without any type of sanction for the educational establishments.”
Oyarzun added that “then, particularly these results, what guarantees us in a certain way is not to see a backward step basically in the rights we have acquired and to the continuity, let us say, of the advances we have achieved and the possibility of being able to continue advancing in terms of human and protection rights for our communities.”
In relation to the risk posed by conscientious objection and the lack of protection against discrimination for trans people, Oyarzun highlighted the concern about overt discrimination in educational establishments and stressed it could have led to a worse quality of life and an increase in violence that would directly affecting the life expectancy of trans people.
Jeanne Hoff, a trailblazing transgender psychiatrist, died at her home in San Francisco at the age of 85 this past October.
Born to a working-class St. Louis family in 1938, Hoff received a master’s in science from Yale and a medical degree from Columbia University, the Advocatenotes. A doctorate in solid state chemistry at University College in London and training and residency as a psychiatrist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis followed, according to Gay City News.
Hoff had already begun her own transition in 1976 when she took over the New York practice of Dr. Harry Benjamin, the German-American endocrinologist and sexologist who coined the term “transvestite” in 1910 and later began referring to patients as “transsexuals.”
Hoff is considered the first openly transgender psychiatrist to treat trans patients—including punk rock singer Jayne County. She was a member of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which later became the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
In 1978, she was the subject of an NBC documentary, Becoming Jeanne: A Search for Sexual Identity, which documented her own gender-confirmation surgery.
In a remembrance published by Gay City News earlier this month, Andy Humm, who knew Hoff personally, wrote that she “was a very serious person — though with a great sense of humor and warmth.”
Hoff, Humm wrote, was adamant that a person’s gender did not determine their sexuality and “took other psychiatrists to task when they would help a man transition to be a woman and then insist that as a woman, the patient had to form intimate relationships with men and not be ‘gay.’”
“Dr Hoff knew that erotic attraction was independent of gender identity and that there are, of course, trans women who are lesbians,” Humm wrote.
Humm knew Hoff through the Catholic LGBTQ+ group Dignity/New York. “Her fierce courage was unique at a time and in a Church institution that was and still can be so homophobic,” Rev. Bernárd Lynch, who also knew Hoff through the group, told Humm. “Yet she found warmth, companionship, and support from many. Jeanne inspired us by being herself — sparing no price and counting no cost in her integrity.”
In her 2018 book, Histories of the Transgender Child, historian Jules Gill-Peterson wrote that “Hoff cared deeply about the well-being of her clients.”
“Her work demonstrates a level of empathy entirely absent from transsexual medicine since its advent—not to mention its predecessors in the early twentieth century—an ethic of care that, although greatly constrained by the material circumstances and history of psychiatry and endocrinology, was also entangled with her situated perspective as a trans woman,” Peterson wrote. “It is important to underline that Hoff represents yet another trans person who took an active and complicated role in medicine, rather than being its object.”
During one poignant moment in Becoming Jeanne, Hoff was asked by Dr. Frank Field, who cohosted the film with Lynn Redgrave, how she wanted people to accept her.
“Well, it may not be necessary for you to go to a lot of trouble to learn about accepting transsexuals if you have a general principle, and that is: mind your own business, I suppose,” she responded. “If you are meddling in the life and freedom of someone else, you ought to do so very cautiously and make sure that you’re entitled to do so and that they’ll be better off for your having been there.”
“So if you take the position that people are all right until they have proved that they’re not, you’re not likely to harm them,” she added. “I’ll do my best to justify that confidence.”
Three LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in western North Carolina have fired an opening salvo in their effort to overturn the state’s discriminatory Don’t Say Gay law.
The Campaign for Southern Equality, Youth OUTright WNC, and PFLAG Asheville have joined forces to challenge the Buncombe County School District (near Asheville) over SB49, enacted in August after North Carolina Republicans overrode a veto by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
The Don’t Say Gay legislation, also known as the Parent’s Bill of Rights, bans instruction on “gender identity, sexual activity, or sexuality” in kindergarten through fourth grade and requires parents to be notified “prior to any changes in the name or pronoun used for a student in school records or by school personnel,” with some discretion accorded to school administrators.
The law went into effect immediately with its passage, and in the months since, school districts across the state have been grappling with how to implement it.
In a complaint addressed to the Title IX Coordinator for Buncombe County Schools, the three groups allege SB49 violates the education provisions of Title IX.
“The policies passed by the Buncombe County Board of Education to comply with the state law SB49 (alternately called the ‘Don’t Say LGBTQ’ law and the ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’) create a hostile educational environment for LGBTQIA+ students, families, staff and faculty,” the complainants write, “and in doing so violate Title IX and Buncombe County Schools’ obligation to provide every student with a safe and non-discriminatory school environment.”
The complaint cites Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding, which includes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
In October, the Campaign for Southern Equality addressed their allegations over Title IX to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which responded, “Absent a determination by USED Office of Civil Rights or a court order affirming your position, neither the State Board nor DPI can knowingly fail to comply with a duly enacted state law.”
The groups’ strategy then moved to obtain just such a determination from a local official entrusted with enforcing Title IX. In Buncombe County, that responsibility falls to Shanon Martin, Title IX Coordinator for Buncombe County Schools.
“We request that, should these allegations of a Title IX violation be confirmed, the Buncombe County Schools Title IX Coordinator instruct the Superintendent to delay all implementation of the SB49-related policies passed on December 7, 2023, until such time as the federal complaint against DPI and SBE has been resolved,” the complaint to Martin reads.
Craig White, supportive schools director at Campaign For Southern Equality, told Blue Ridge Public Radio that his team expects to file a federal complaint in January.
Rob Elliot, chairman of the policy committee for the Buncombe County Board of Education, said figuring out how to enforce SB49 has been “very stressful” and a “noisy, big, complex legal discussion.”
“We don’t exist just under the confines of this one new law, Elliot said. “This doesn’t define our entire world. We exist under a whole universe of federal law and state law, all of which we have to abide by as well.”
Kentucky’s version of a “don’t say gay” law is creating many problems for LGBTQ+ students — and the parents and teachers who want to support them.
In March, the state’s Republican-majority legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto to pass one of the nation’s farthest-reaching anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Senate Bill 150 includes a ban on all gender-affirming care for minors plus a prohibition on public school instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity at all grade levels. It also requires school districts to “at a minimum” bar trans students from using the restrooms comporting with their gender identity and mandates that school personnel tell parents about confidential discussions with students about sexual orientation or gender identity, essentially forcing the outing of these students. It further lets teachers ignore students’ chosen pronouns.
“What started out as really a bill focused on pronouns and bathroom use morphed into this very broad anti-LGBTQIA+ piece of legislation that outlawed discussions of gender and sexuality, through all grades and all subject matters,” Jason Glass, the former Kentucky commissioner of education, recently told the Kentucky Lantern. Glass left his post in September for a job at Western Michigan University amid Republicans’ criticism of his support for LGBTQ+ students, with some even calling for him to be fired.
Other supportive teachers and administrators are finding there’s no place for them in the state anymore. Willie Carver, a gay man who was Kentucky’s Teacher of the Year in 2022, has now left teaching because of the hostility he faced — something students still have to deal with, he said. “We’ve ripped all of the school support away from the students, so they’re consistently miserable and hopeless,” he told the Lantern.
The new law means it’s harder for gay-straight alliances, sometimes called gender and sexuality alliances, to operate in schools, even though they’re sorely needed now. In the small rural community of Owenton, the GSA, known as PRISM (People Respecting Individuality and Sexuality Meeting), has shut down because of students’ fears. Owen County High School Principal Renee Boots told the Lantern the club has simply broadened its focus, but parent Rachelle Ketron said students were afraid to continue meeting.
Ketron helped the club get started after her transgender daughter, Meryl, died by suicide in 2020. It first met at the local public library, then got approval as a school club in 2022. Ketron has been trying to revive the group outside of the school, but students are reluctant because many of them aren’t out to their parents, she said.
This year, Ketron lost another trans child, a foster daughter, to suicide. She and her wife, Marsha Newell, have made a major effort to foster LGBTQ+ kids. “Just because I’m uncomfortable or this is a foreign place for a queer kid to be doesn’t mean there aren’t queer kids born here every day,” she said. Ketron, who was married to a man when she moved to Owenton from Cincinnati in 2014, said her children have been bullied for their LGBTQ+ identity and for having two mothers.
Queer kids and GSAs are having trouble even in larger, more progressive communities, the Lantern reports. In Lexington, home to the University of Kentucky, a high school GSA has lowered its profile — for instance, no longer announcing its meetings over the school’s public address system, for fear that administrators would shut it down, a trans and nonbinary student told the publication.
“The school felt so much safer knowing that [a GSA] existed because there were students like you elsewhere,” said the student, identified only as Anna. “You could go in and say, ‘Hey, I’m trying out this set of pronouns. I’m trying to learn more about myself. Can you all, like, call me this for a couple of weeks?’ It just allowed for a place where students like me could go.”
Nationwide, the number of GSAs is the lowest it’s been in 20 years, according to GLSEN. That could be partly because students have found other resources and schools have become more accepting — or, conversely, because an anti-LGBTQ+ climate has made it harder for them to operate.
Ketron told the Lantern she intends to keep on fighting for GSAs and is also organizing a summit for queer young people. “At its core,” a GSA is “a protective factor and so very needed, especially in a rural community,” she said.
If you are having thoughts of suicide or are concerned that someone you know may be, resources are available to help. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 is for people of all ages and identities. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, announced the endorsements of 16 pro-equality candidates, including three out LGBTQ+ candidates, running for election at the federal, state, and local level in 2024 — the organization’s latest round of endorsements in its largest electoral effort in history.
“We are thrilled to endorse these pro-equality candidates running for elected offices at all levels of government across California,” said Executive Director Tony Hoang. “The challenges we continue to face in creating a world that is just and fully equal for all LGBTQ+ people demand that we elect pro-equality lawmakers and leaders that will work to defend our community’s hard-fought gains, as well as continue to pave new ground in the ongoing fight for full, lived equality.”
The full list of new endorsements can be found below:
U.S. House of Representatives:
Congressional District 3: Jessica Morse
Congressional District 12: Lateefah Simon
Congressional District 31: Susan Rubio
Congressional District 45: Kim Nguyen-Penaloza
California State Assembly:
Assembly District 5: Neva Parker
Assembly District 15: Monica Wilson
Assembly District 22: Jessica Self
Assembly District 34: Ricardo Ortega
Assembly District 47: Christy Holstege
Assembly District 59: Dave Obrand
Assembly District 74: Chris Duncan
Assembly District 75: Kevin Juza
California State Senate:
Senate District 9: Tim Grayson
Senate District 35: Michelle Chambers
Local Offices:
San Bernardino City Council, District 3: Christian Shaughnessy
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, District 3: Graham Smith
Bold names indicate out LGBTQ+ candidates.
For a complete list of Equality California’s endorsements, please visit eqca.org/elections.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org
Effective January 1, 2024, this move increases the Center’s physical space by approximately 30%, allowing for designated program areas for the food pantry, community support gatherings, case management, harm reduction, and mental health services.
Located in the heart of San Rafael’s Canal District, the new building positions the Center to better serve the priority population of LGBTQ+ Latinx youth and families. “The Spahr Center is prioritizing mental and behavioral health support for LGBTQ+ LatinX youth and families,” said Renato Talhadas (he/him), Chief Programs Officer. “Similarly, we are increasing our efforts around HIV prevention and education in the Canal District because the LatinX community has the greatest need for these services in Marin. We have a lot to accomplish, and moving to this new building in San Rafael will effectively increase the work we do for this community.”
The Center will be closed and all programs cancelled from December 25-January 1 in observance of Christmas and New Year’s. The Center will be physically closed from January 2-January 5 and the entire staff working online as they prepare the new space. The Center will open at the new space on January 8 with limited programs. The Center will be fully open at the new space and all programs on normal schedule beginning January 15. Community members can learn more about the schedule at TheSpahrCenter.org.
“This move is a part of our strategic plan,” said Joe Tuohy (he/him), Executive Director. “Our center is expanding and so we need more space and more staff. We are thrilled for this move and we look forward to sharing our new and improved space with our community.”
The Spahr Center’s new address effective January 1, 2024 is 1575 Francisco Blvd E, San Rafael, 94901.
The Spahr CenterThe Spahr Center is a 501c3 nonprofit organization in Marin County which celebrates and supports the LGBTQ+ and HIV communities of Marin. The center provides direct services for People Living With HIV, health and community programs, mental health services, harm reduction, trainings, and youth, family, and senior programs.