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About Gary Carnivele

Posts by Gary Carnivele:

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Federal judge in Maryland blocks Trump’s anti-transgender health care order

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A federal judge in Maryland has issued a preliminary injunction against Donald Trump’s executive order threatening loss of federal funding for medical professionals and institutions that provide gender-affirming care to trans people under 19. That means the policy cannot be enforced while the lawsuit against it proceeds. This and Trump’s executive order denying recognition of transgender identity “threaten to disrupt treatment of patients, stall critical research, and gut numerous programs in medical institutions that rely on federal funding,” U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson wrote in his ruling, released Tuesday. “Accordingly, the Plaintiffs have shown that they are likely to succeed on the merits, that they would suffer irreparable harms absent an […]

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Senate Democrats block GOP-led bill to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports

Senate Democrats voted unanimously to block a Republican-led bill Monday evening that would prohibit federally funded schools from allowing transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.  In a party-line vote of 51-45, Democrats filibustered the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, introduced by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. It fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance as Democrats dismissed it as a distraction and a cynical political move. Four senators didn’t vote: Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.; and Peter Welch, D-Vt. The outcome means the legislation — which passed the House in January and […]

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Iowa governor signs bill removing gender identity from state civil rights protections

owa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill Friday that strikes gender identity from the state’s civil rights law, making Iowa the first state to remove civil rights from a previously protected class. The bill passed the Republican-majority state Senate, 33-15, along party lines Thursday. Less than an hour later, the House passed its version of the bill, 60-36, with five Republicans joining Democrats to vote against it.  Reynolds, a Republican, said in a statement Friday that the bill “safeguards the rights of women and girls.” She said the civil rights code’s protections against discrimination based on gender identity “blurred the biological lines […]

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Protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ families in the second Trump presidency

In the wake of election day, my office phone and email exploded with concerned clients desperate for answers. “Is my name on the birth certificate enough?” “Do I need a parentage order?” “Do I need to adopt my own child?” “Should I move my embryos?” “Should I move my home?” As a family formation attorney and reproductive rights advocate, most of my clients are LGBTQ+. Regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, my clients all have one shared characteristic: they have all had children through assisted reproduction, whether IVF, egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, surrogacy, or adoption. And now, they all share […]

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Bullies like Trump fall when good people act

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe.” -Holocaust survivor, social justice writer, and activist Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on Dec. 10, 1986. Elie Wiesel’s words are as true today as they were the day he delivered them, […]

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States with anti-LGBTQ+ laws ‘stand to lose economically’ as mental health declines: report

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As anti-LGBTQ+ laws take a toll on mental health, the queer community’s response could take a toll on local and state economies. In the face of over 1,000 anti-LGBTQ+ laws proposed by state legislatures across the U.S. in the past two years, and 126 passed into law, 44.3 percent of LGBTQ+ adults and 63.5 percent of transgender adults now report that the legislation has harmed their or their loved ones’ mental health, according to the Human Rights Campaign’s 2024 Climate Survey. Over 12 percent of LGBTQ+ adults experienced increased harassment, violence, and/or discrimination in the past year, as well as 22.9 percent of trans adults. […]

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LGBTQ CURRICULAR LAWS by State

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LGBTQ-related curricular laws are important for LGBTQ students’ health, well-being, and academic success. This map shows multiple distinct policies related to LGBTQ inclusion in—or exclusion from—school curricula or standards. First, LGBTQ-inclusive curricular laws explicitly require the state’s curricular standards to include LGBTQ people and history, such as in subjects like history, civics, or social studies. Harmful, exclusionary laws include older-style censorship laws that restrict how schools can discuss “homosexuality” in specific subjects; parental notification laws, which require parents to be notified in advance of any LGBTQ-related curricula and allow parents to opt their children out of those classes (or require […]

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Gay Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may have helped create a constitutional crisis

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Out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allowed Donald Trump donor Elon Musk and his team access to the payment system used by the federal government. Musk is threatening to illegally stop spending mandated by Congress and has ordered the shutdown of USAID, which delivers humanitarian aid on behalf of the United States, claiming that Donald Trump wants him to. Trump does not have the authority to end USAID. According to reporting from several media outlets, including CNN, The Washington Post, and the New York Times, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury David Lebryk has been put on leave because he tried to stop Musk […]

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It’s time to build a sustainable future for LGBTQ+ advocacy work. Here’s why

Pride may look different this year than those of recent memory.  With the return of the Trump presidency, companies abandoning DEI, and the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, the sociocultural wars in the U.S. are having many LGBTQ+-led nonprofits gasping for air. I see this moment as an opportunity, as hopeful as I am.  It’s time to rethink how our community interacts with the nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC). The relationship between governments and private philanthropy has gradually transformed nonprofit organizations into intermediaries that manage rather than solve social issues. Far too often, this structure has created a dependency on external funding, limiting the scope of radical change […]

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Indiana State University sued for blocking LGBTQ+ Pride festival

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Indiana State University is being sued for First Amendment violations by an LGBTQ+ group that claims the school is refusing to let them hold a Pride festival on campus. The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of The Pride Center of Terre Haute, claims that ISU officials have prohibited the group from hosting a 2025 Pride celebration on the university’s Quad, an outdoor student area explicitly designated for “expressive activity,” despite allowing and sponsoring the event in 2023 and 2024. The Pride Center, an LGBTQ+ advocacy nonprofit dedicated to creating a positive impact on the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals in Vigo County, […]

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