The local community has rallied around the grieving co-owner of a popular bagel shop in Washington whose husband was shot and killed while vacationing in New Orleans early Friday morning.
Jacob A. Carter, 32, and his husband, Daniel Blagovich, cofounded the popular Howdy Bagel café in Tacoma after both had lost their jobs during the global economic shutdown. The pair were in the city for the New Year’s celebrations and a break from work, according to NOLA.com.
Carter, who was from Texas, previously worked as a social worker and had worked with refugees before the pandemic hit, according to The News Tribune. He’d also worked as a documentary photographer around the Middle East.
He told the outlet in 2022, “I always wanted to do something in hospitality, and I particularly loved baking.”
Carter was walking on Bourbon and Kerlerec streets just after 1:30 a.m. on January 5 when he was approached by a man who shot him once and then fled from the scene, NOLA.com reported. Carter was left to die there.
News of the murder rocked the local community and patrons of Howdy Bagel.
“If you knew Jake, you know he was someone who exuded kindness, warmth, and genuine care to everyone he met,” Howdy Bagel posted to Instagram. “Jake was one of the brightest spots in the lives of everyone he loved. This loss is immeasurable for our community.”
Police currently have made no arrests. The family has asked for privacy while they process the loss.
A GoFundMe page has been created to ensure the Howdy Bagel staff and financial obligations are met while providing space to family and friends at this difficult time. The page has currently received nearly $150,000 above its $50,000 goal.
Five people have been murdered in New Orleans already this year, according to NOLA.com.
Those with information about Carter’s killing are asked to call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111 or homicide detectives at (504) 658-5300.
Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, the recently endorsed Democraticcandidate for auditor general in the state, is set in his vision and goals for the office. As the first openly gay Black man endorsed by a political party for a statewide office in Pennsylvania, Kenyatta’s candidacy has made state history.
During the interview, Kenyatta emphasized the role of the auditor general.
“The auditor general’s office, I think, can best be explained as really being the public advocate for the state,” he said. According to the state’s website, the auditor general leads an office that “is responsible for using audits to ensure that all state money is spent legally and properly.”
Kenyatta said the office is that of a problem solver. If he elected, he said that he has plans to bring back school audits and create a bureau of labor and worker protections. Kenyatta sees his role as pivotal in representing and advocating for underrepresented communities,
“It’s time that Pennsylvania’s watchdog be an underdog,” he said.
Focusing on current issues, Kenyatta criticized the proliferation of book bans and inadequate mental health support for youth, especially in the context of LGBTQ+ rights. He highlighted the Central Bucks School District’s controversial actions by the former school board, including a $700,000 severance payment to its superintendent, as an example of potential misuse of public funds.
In that district, after the conservative anti-government extremist group Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidates were crushed nationwide during November’s elections, the outgoing board voted to pay its exiting superintendent the astonishing severance.
“This is not just about recouping the dollars in this one school district, though,” Kenyatta said, explaining the need for broader systemic change.
Kenyatta’s personal experiences as a gay Black politician, which include facing death threats and security concerns, have profoundly shaped his approach to public service. “I am not going to be intimidated from fighting for my neighbors, my community,” he said.
Reflecting on his historic endorsement by the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania, Kenyatta noted the importance of his candidacy for future diverse candidates. “I recognize that I am [making history], and I don’t want to lose sight of that,” Kenyatta said.
He said that he believes this endorsement shows that consistent advocacy for working people and families pays off.
As the interview concluded, Kenyatta passionately articulated his belief in the power of diverse representation in government, asserting the importance of his candidacy not just for Pennsylvania but for the broader national political landscape.
“Every single time one of us runs, every single time we put a chip in that ceiling, it makes it easier for the next person to run,” he said.
A coalition of 17 Republican state attorneys general have filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to take up a case about a school’s policy allowing teachers to not out trans and gender-nonconforming students to their parents.
The brief, filed last week, opposes a lower court decision upholding the Montgomery County, Maryland, Board of Education’s guidelines on student gender identity. First adopted by the district during the 2020–2021 school year, the guidelines do not require school staff to inform parents if a student requests to socially transition at school. Instead, school staff must first “ascertain the level of support the student either receives or anticipates receiving from home” before determining whether to speak to their parents.
“This egregious policy completely sidesteps parents’ rights and severs them from having involvement in their child’s physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) said in a January 4 statement.
Morrisey led the coalition, which also included attorneys general from Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
The district’s policy “disrupts ‘perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by the Court,’ the right of parents to direct the care and custody of their children,” the coalition wrote in the brief, quoting the Supreme Court’s 2000 decision in Troxel v. Granville.
In October 2021, three parents, identified in court filings as “John and Jane Parents,” sued the Montgomery County Board of Education over the guidelines, which they characterized as a “Parental Preclusion Policy,” claiming that they violated state law and the U.S. Constitution by encouraging school staff to keep a child’s gender identity hidden from their parents. In August 2022, a federal judge ruled against the parents, writing that the guidelines are, in fact, meant to be flexible and don’t necessarily instruct school staff to hide information from parents.
The parents appealed, and last August the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the earlier decision, ruling in a 2–1 decision that the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the district’s guidelines.
“Simply put, the parents may think the Parental Preclusion Policy is a horrible idea,” Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. wrote. “They may think it represents an overreach into areas that parents should handle. They may think that the board’s views on gender identity conflict with the values they wish to instill in their children. And in all those areas, they may be right. But even so, they have alleged neither a current injury, nor an impending injury or a substantial risk of future injury. As such, these parents have failed to establish an injury that permits this court to act.”
In their brief, the state AGs claimed that the Fourth Circuit’s decision presents a catch-22: “Parents can show standing only if they overcome Montgomery County’s secrecy efforts and discover their child is transitioning. That may be an impossibility, as schools have even been known to alter documentation to hide that information… But even if the parents do find out about enough information to show standing under the Fourth Circuit’s test, then their secrecy injury dissipates in the same moment, and they don’t need a claim at all anymore.”
LGBTQ+ youth are at a higher risk of homelessness than straight, cisgender youth, and outing them to their parents without their consent can increase their risk of harm.
“These high rates of familial rejection and abuse dramatically increase the risks of suicidality, substance abuse, and depression,” the ACLU argues. “Not every child can be their true selves at home without risking their physical or emotional well-being.”
The attorneys general of Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia signed the brief.
Right-wingers like Alex Jones and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have long accused LGBTQ+ people and allies of being “groomers” and pedophiles. But they’re making excuses now that former President Donald Trump may soon be unveiled as one of 200 people connected to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
A judge has recently unsealed and uncensored previously redacted court documents that name up to 200 associates of Epstein. The documents were unsealed in a lawsuit brought by Epstein victim Virginia Guiffre. Guiffre accused Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell of forcing her to have sex with Epstein’s powerful and wealthy friends, including Britain’s Prince Andrew — something Prince Andrew has denied.
Related:
Trump’s name is expected to appear alongside former President Bill Clinton’s in the un-redacted files since Epstein’s flight logs have already shown that they flew on Epstein’s private Boeing 727 plane. The plane was nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” after Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 pedophilia novel, due to the frequent delivery of apparently underage women to Epstein’s privately owned island of Little Saint James. Epstein pleaded guilty to sex with a 14-year-old girl in 2008 and was undergoing investigation for other possible sex crimes before his suspicious August 2019 suicide at a New York prison.
There’s no evidence that Clinton or Trump ever visited the island, and neither have been charged with a crime related to Epstein. Nevertheless, Jones and Greene are already pushing a conspiracy theory that any mention of Trump in the un-redacted files will be due to “deep state” federal operatives trying to smear the former president.
Jones, the host of InfoWars whose social media accounts and guests have repeatedly accused LGBTQ+ people and their allies of pedophilia, recently said, “If they put out a client list, and that’s possible that it could be fake, because Epstein’s dead. And that’s something very possible.” Jones said the CIA had previously committed similar actions in connection with the Israeli and British intelligence agencies.
Defending Trump, Jones added, “[Trump] gets devoted to one woman at a time, gets totally obsessed with them, totally nice to them.” Despite Jones’s claim, at least 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, including extra-marital affairs.
Greene, whose anti-LGBTQ+ tweets about grooming and pedophilia have spread far on social media, has tried to deflect any association between Epstein and Trump by focusing on Clinton instead.
“For some us, it’s no surprise at all that Bill Clinton will be named in the Jeffrey Epstein files,” she wrote in a January 3 X post. “We said it a long time ago but they labeled us conspiracy theorists. There will be lots of names you’ve never heard of and the IC collected info on them. Pedophiles belong in jail not on secret government lists.”
Several X commenters asked if she’ll hold Trump to the same standard if he’s named in the un-redacted documents.
In a 2002 interview with New York Magazine, Trump said “I’ve known Jeff[rey Epstein] for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
However, in 2019, soon after Epstein was taken into custody by New York authorities, Trump said he had a “falling-out” with Epstein about 15 years ago, adding, “I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.” Trump allegedly banned Epstein from his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida in the early 2000s after Epstein expressed interest in a club member’s teenage daughter.
Five trans youth and their families have joined a group of LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations in suing the state of Louisiana over its gender-affirming care ban.
The ban took effect on January 1st after the state legislature overrode a veto by former Gov. John Bel Edwards (D).
H.B. 648 bans doctors and nurses from providing safe and medically necessary gender-affirming care like puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender youth. It prevents trans youth from receiving both gender-affirming medications and surgery (though surgery is almost never performed on trans youth). It would also punish doctors for providing this care by taking away their licenses for at least two years.
The lawsuit alleges the bill violates parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children, according to a press release from Lambda Legal. It also claims the law violates the state constitution by denying trans kids equal protection by discriminating based on gender identity and sex. It also says the law violates the kids’ constitutional right to accept or reject medical care based on the support of their parents and doctors.
The plaintiffs in the case range from ages 9 to 16 and have all used pseudonyms. In a statement, one called the law “so upsetting.”
“Growing up, I was intensely self-conscious of my body, which led to a near-constant state of discomfort,” he continued. “Oftentimes I was incredibly uncomfortable and anxious and even found it hard to talk. However, being able to access gender-affirming hormones and be my true self has been a lifesaver. I am now far more comfortable and confident and feel less distress. This health care has allowed me to be happy, healthy, and my true authentic self – the boy I know I am. I am terrified of what the Health Care Ban will do and worry about how my mental health might deteriorate.”
The Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School, as well as a state law firm, have joined Lambda Legal to represent the plaintiffs.
“The Health Care Ban prohibits the only safe and effective treatment available for trans youth, putting their health and well-being at great risk,” Suzanne Davies, Senior Clinical Fellow at the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, said in a statement. “By selectively banning such treatments for trans youth, this law deprives Louisiana adolescents of equal access to medically necessary, and often life-saving care that is effective in treating gender dysphoria and addressing other serious health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and even suicidal ideation that can occur when gender dysphoria is left untreated.”
Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Counsel and Health Care Strategist for Lambda Legal, added, “Denying medical care to youth just because they are transgender is both unlawful and inhumane – especially when the same treatments remain available to all other minors. The Health Care Ban represents broad government overreach into the relationship between parents, their children, and their health care providers.”
In June, former Gov. Edwards vowed to veto any anti-LGBTQ+ legislation sent to his desk, comparing the Republican attempts to target the LGBTQ+ community with opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. But in July, The House voted 75 to 23 to override the gender-affirming care veto, and the Senate voted 28 to 11 to do the same.
In a statement, Edwards pointed out that he has issued 319 vetoes in his eight years acting as a Democratic governor with a Republican legislature, and that more than 99% of the vetoes have held.
“Just two of my vetoes have been overridden,” he wrote. “Today, I was overridden for the second time, on my veto of a bill that needlessly harms a very small population of vulnerable children, their families, and their healthcare professionals. I expect the courts to throw out this unconstitutional bill.”
Edwards’ original veto letter was six single-spaced pages, and blasted the GOP leaders for trying to “generate concern and outrage where none was warranted.”
Edwards, who was term-limited, completed his tenure as governor on Monday. He has been replaced by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who reportedly supportsthe anti-trans health care ban.
Out Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has proposed legislation to grant LGBTQ+ military veterans coverage for in-vitro fertilization (IVF), something the federal Veterans Administration (VA) only allows for heterosexual couples.
Healey first introduced the legislation – dubbed the HERO Act – in November, and according toThe Boston Business Journal a hearing on the proposal is set to be held this month before the Joint Committee on Veteran and Federal Affairs.
Related:
“Our veterans have sacrificed so much for our country, and this transformative legislation marks an important step toward ensuring that Massachusetts supports them in return,” Healey said in a press release after introducing the legislation.
Calling the bill “historic,” she added, “From day one, our administration has been committed to revitalizing veterans’ services in Massachusetts and ensuring that every one of these heroes receives the benefits, resources, and support that they deserve.”
The bill would no doubt have a massive impact, as veterans in same-sex marriages have made it clear the current policies affect them deeply. In August, Massachusetts veteran Ashley Sheffield filed a class action lawsuit against the VA arguing that the denial of fertility coverage to LGBTQ+ couples is unconstitutional.
“We are entitled to equal treatment and we should no longer be treated as second-class citizens,” Sheffield reportedly said when she filed the suit.
In addition to granting IVF coverage to same-sex couples, the HERO Act proposes a myriad of other benefits, including expanded access to mental health care treatment, an increase in the tax credits small businesses receive for hiring low-income and chronically unemployed veterans, an increase in flexibility for veteran property tax exemptions, and an expanded definition of a veteran dependent.
In November 2022, Healey became the first out lesbian governor in the country, as well as the first woman elected governor in her state. Before that, she was the country’s first out lesbian state attorney general.
As AG, she championed non-discrimination protections for trans people in Massachusetts and pushed for gender-neutral markers both federally and for the state. And as civil rights chief in the AG’s office, Healey brought the first successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, helping to lay the groundwork for marriage equality nationwide.
After she won the Democratic primary, she stood before a raucous crowd of supporters and told them, “I am so proud to be able to stand before you tonight as your Democratic nominee for governor of Massachusetts.” She nodded to the sound of her latest title and added, “That sounds good.”
The former professional basketball player and captain of her team at Harvard describes herself as a “baller” and was clear-eyed about the work ahead in her remarks that night: “I ask you, as a former point guard, to leave it all with me on the court.”
A Norwegian man who called himself “The Eunuch Maker” pleaded guilty to multiple charges relating to the underground castration and extreme genital modification surgeries he performed on numerous willing participants over six years, according to the Daily Mail and other media outlets.
Maruis Gustavson, 46, appeared in the Old Bailey Central Criminal Courthouse in London on December 19 last year where he admitted his role as the ringleader of a castration cartel that made hundreds of thousands of dollars by posting videos and live-streaming the underground surgical procedures to a paying audience on the dark web.
Gustavson appeared in court via a video link from the HMP Belmarsh prison. The wheelchair-bound Gustavson suffers from limited mobility resulting from his decision to have his leg frozen and amputated. He also choose to have his penis and a nipple surgically removed.
The three men responsible for the three surgical procedures performed on Gustavson earlier pleaded guilty to the crimes, as reported by the BBC.
In April, Nathan Arnold, 48, pleaded guilty to charges related to the removal of Gustavson’s nipple. Damian Byrnes, 35, pleaded guilty to charges related to the surgical removal of Gustavson’s penis. And Peter Wates, 66, pleaded guilty to charges related to the freezing and amputation of Gustavson’s leg.
Another man, Ian Ciucur, 29, pleaded guilty on December 14 to charges related to what prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC called “castration by clamping” on two separate occasions in July 2019.
These and other surgical procedures were live-streamed or recorded on videos which were later posted to a dark website for paying customers. The men were part of a larger subculture known as “nullos” who glorify and find gratification in the removal or nullification of one’s genitals.
Police in the case believe they have identified at least 13 victims and 29 separate offenses involving castration and genital mutilation, the trade and sale of genitals and body parts, and the sale of videos and live-streams of the procedures on a since-deleted dark website.
Sitting on his living room couch, a 16-year-old high school student described all the reasons he’s fighting to change his gender identity on official documents.
He doesn’t want his classmates to know he’s trans. He worries about the disrespectful comments he hears from people who don’t realize he transitioned years ago, the ugly rhetoric on social media that prompts him to put down his phone, and the alarming data and stories about harassment and violence.
But mostly, J. Doe — as the teen is referred to in a lawsuit his family filed last month against the Oklahoma State Board of Education — just wants to be seen as a boy, not a transgender boy.
“Because there is a big difference,” he said in an interview at his Oklahoma City home. “There shouldn’t be, but there is.”
Last fall, a few weeks after the state’s education department learned that J. Doe had obtained a court order to update his gender to male on all of his official records, the Board of Education created an emergency rule requiring school districts to get state approval before changing gender markers on students’ private files. Then the board decided unanimously — without notifying his family to give them a chance to weigh in — that J. Doe’s student records should continue to list him as female.
The new rule effectively gives the Oklahoma Department of Education notice every time a student has transitioned to a point where they want their records updated to reflect their gender identity. And it gives the board the opportunity to reject that request, as it did to J. Doe and another student in October.
“It’s hard enough to get supportive parents; once you achieve that, you are lucky enough,” said J. Doe, whose parents have backed his transition since he was a young child. “It shouldn’t be a challenge with the government, too.”
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent, voted to restrict schools from changing gender identifications on private student records.Christopher Creese for NBC News
Oklahoma has become one of the least accepting states for transgender children under a Republican-led state government that includes Ryan Walters, the combative state superintendent who has attacked what he and far-right activists label “transgender ideology.”
“We’re going to stand against this,” Walters said in October after the state board voted to prevent J. Doe’s records from being updated. “We’re not going to do the transgender game of back and forth, back and forth.”
The Oklahoma Department of Education offered a different explanation, saying it created the policy because officials learned school districts had received requests like J. Doe’s, and the state wanted to protect “the accuracy of historic records for future use.” The board is set to vote on whether to make the emergency rule permanent later this month.
J. Doe and his mother are now suing Walters and the rest of the board, arguing that the new rule is discriminatory and violated the family’s due process rights as well as a parents’ rights law. They are asking a state court to invalidate the rule and for $75,000 in damages.
Joshua Payton, an attorney for J. Doe’s family, said he believes the new rule is an abuse of the state government’s power, intended to “attack the most vulnerable students.”
The Oklahoma Department of Education declined to make Walters or anyone else available for an interview, and did not directly respond to written questions. The department previously called the lawsuit “frivolous” and sent a statement to NBC News in which Walters said he is fighting against “woke indoctrination” in the classrooms. “It is time to end gender wars and get back to the basics in education,” the statement concluded.
The five other state Board of Education members did not respond to requests for comment.
In Oklahoma, the American Civil Liberties Union is suing, asking courts to invalidate laws that limit what teachers can say about gender in schools, restrict which restrooms LGBTQ students can use and ban gender-affirming health carefor adolescents. Student athletes in the state are supposed to submit affidavitssigned by their parents that attest to their sex assigned at birth.
During his first year in office, Walters has added to those laws with policies forbidding the use of textbooks that include so-called gender ideology, and criticizing school districts that offer support services for LGBTQ students. He wants to make it easier to fire school staff members who engage in what he called “sexually provocative behaviors” outside of work, after he objected to a principal moonlighting as a drag queen. He has said his positions are meant to protect parental rights.
“Parents absolutely know what’s best for kids, and anyone who doesn’t understand has no business being involved in education whatsoever,” Walters recently said on Real America’s Voice, a far-right streaming network whose hosts are known for pushing conspiracy theories. Walters added that parents should be involved in all decision-making in schools.
But J. Doe’s parents said Walters’ policies have interfered with their rights, rather than protecting them.
“You’re telling me what I can and can’t do with my child,” Jane Doe, as J. Doe’s mother is referred to in the lawsuit, said in an interview. “And you know what, you didn’t raise this child; I raised this child.”
Oklahoma’s top culture warrior
Ryan Walters has called the teachers union a “terrorist organization” and pushed for prayer in public schools, calling the separation of church and state a “myth.”
A Tulsa-area school district faced weeks of bomb threats after Walters shared a Libs of TikTok post about a school librarian on social media.
He has also become an outspoken proponent of PragerU, a right-wing nonprofit that’s seeking to get its videos played in public school classrooms.
LGBTQ advocates in the state said the new laws and regulations have spurred some families they know to flee for Colorado and New Mexico, which have more accepting policies for transgender children.
“Honestly, there is a lot of fear,” said state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, an Oklahoma City Democrat who has a transgender child. “It’s heavy — you can cut it with a knife.”
Rosecrants said when he worked as a teacher, making accommodations for transgender students took little effort beyond brief conversations with parents to ask if their child wanted to be called something different or needed extra time for restroom breaks.
Oklahoma’s regulation requiring state permission for schools to change students’ gender on records is unusual, said Sarah Warbelow, legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, but it follows a pattern of restrictions nationally.
“I think there’s this misconception on behalf of some politicians that if you take away the support system, then young people will simply stop being transgender,” Warbelow said. “When we know the reality is they continue to be transgender. They simply will live a more isolated and sometimes miserable young adulthood or adolescence.”
Surveys and research show that LGBTQ youth whose community affirms their identity and uses their chosen pronouns are less likely to be suicidal.
J. Doe was upset about being identified as a girl long before he realized he was transgender.
As a 5-year-old, he argued with other children that he was a boy. His mother remembers him coming to her in tears, asking why God didn’t make him a boy. He cried when he received the girls toy from McDonald’s Happy Meals. When he discovered what pronouns were at around age 9, he began insisting on being called “he” and “him.”
His parents — a churchgoing mother who leans liberal and a father who voted for Donald Trump — supported him at every step. His mother had a feeling he’d one day identify as gay or transgender.
“I sat back and had to wait for him to figure it out, because that’s not my job to tell him or put that in his head,” Jane Doe said. “He needed to figure that out on his own, and that’s what he did.”
He went on puberty blockers in seventh grade, and started taking testosterone two years later. Recently, facial hair came in, causing him to become preoccupied with how often he should shave, and whether it’s true that shaving causes the hair to grow back quicker and fuller.
Trans-rights activists protest at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, in Feb. 2023, as lawmakers advanced a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors. Sue Ogrocki / AP
J. Doe’s parents found Payton, their lawyer, when they searched online a year ago for help updating J. Doe’s gender on official records, trying to head off problems at school. He had already legally changed his name in middle school to ensure that a substitute teacher never misgendered him by accident.
Payton started the Oklahoma Equality Law Center in late 2020 to provide legal services to LGBTQ people.
A governor’s order in Oklahoma bars changing the gender on birth certificates, but Payton has worked around this by asking judges to approve orders to update gender markers on other records. He has seen how significant it is for people to have their official identification affirm who they are, as well as help them pass at school or work, access proper health care and feel safer.
“It’s transformative — I’ve seen it turn lives over instantaneously,” he said.
In the past three years, Payton has gotten these orders approved for 172 people, including 25 minors, in the state, he said.
Last February, a judge approved Payton’s petition to update J. Doe’s gender to male on official records maintained by “all political subdivisions,” such as his school district, Moore Public Schools, just south of Oklahoma City. J. Doe’s driver’s permit now lists him as male, and his parents assumed everything would be taken care of at school once they gave administrators a copy of the court order.
But on the first day of school in August, J. Doe saw an “F” next to gender on his class schedule. He worried people would see it. His parents called the school administrators, who said they wanted to ask the Oklahoma Department of Education for advice, according to the family and the suit.
Moore Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.
The following month, the state Board of Education passed its emergency rule, and then the month after that, the board voted to deny the request to change J. Doe’s records. Payton and J. Doe’s family said they learned of the Oct. 26 vote as it was happening.
“It really shows where the state board’s priorities are, especially when Oklahoma is one of the worst states for education,” said J. Doe, referring to multipleanalyses that rank the state at or near the bottom for education quality. “And they’re focusing on transgender kids. I just really don’t get it.”
J. Doe became depressed after the state board’s vote, he said. He feared that people who have only known him as a boy would find out he’s transgender and ostracize him, or worse. He stayed home from school for nearly two weeks.
“If the world was safer towards trans people, it would probably be a different story of who I was comfortable with knowing that I was trans,” J. Doe said, “but really I just don’t know what could happen with people knowing that.”
He did not want his identity revealed, in this article or in the lawsuit, because he does not want to become a poster child for the transgender community. He said he wants to play video games and figure out what he wants to do after high school.
“He’s never wanted to be ‘the transgender kid,’” Jane Doe said. “He just wants to be him.”
The family decided to file the suit, with help from Payton and the nonprofit advocacy group Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, because they realized that J. Doe was not going to be the last one in this situation.
“Someone needs to stand up for kids coming up behind him,” his mother said. “It’s gotten to a point where you can’t be quiet anymore. You’ve got to do something.”
Same-sex couples can now legally marry in Estonia, in a landmark moment for the Baltic states.
LGBTQ+ people in Estonia have been able to register civil unions since 2016, but the country became the first former Soviet republic to legalise same-sex marriage in June 2023 after a vote of 55 to 34 in the country’s 101-seat parliament.
The legislation officially came into force on New Year’s Day (1 January) and same-sex couples in the country can now register their marriage applications online.
It is believed the first applications will be processed and certified by early February.
Estonia is the first former Soviet republic to legalise equal marriage. (Getty)
Estonia’s minister of social protection, Signe Riisalo, said: “Laws provide clarity and influence our attitudes. I hope that unfounded fears will recede and that critics of this decision will realise that what is being taken away is not something that is being taken away, but something very important that is being added for many of us.”
Keio Soomelt, the project manager for the Baltic Pride festival, described the move as an “important” moment for Estonia.
“For the LGBT+ community, it is a very important message from the government that says, finally, we are as equal as other couples, that we are valuable and entitled to the same services and have the same options,” he said, according to The Guardian.
Estonian president Lauri Hussar (third from left) at Baltic Pride 2023, which was held in Tallinn, Estonia (Facebook)
Also speaking to The Guardian, Marielle Tuum, a teacher from the capital, Tallinn, who will register her marriage to her German girlfriend in the spring, said: “Ten years ago, I didn’t see as many same-sex couples holding hands in public. People are more open now in Estonia.
“I’m really happy that I can do a proper wedding at home and not elsewhere, that has less meaning.”
After the vote in June, prime minister Kaja Kallas sent a message to other central European nations, saying: “It’s a difficult fight, but marriage and love is something that you have to promote.”
Writing on social media, she went on to say: “We’re building a society where everyone’s rights are respected and people can love freely.”
Florida Republicans’ book bans have resulted in thousands of books being yanked from school libraries statewide. The Duval County Public Schools system alone pulled more than 22,000 titles from circulation.
Over half of those books centered around LGBTQ+ history or characters and a contractor was hired to dispose of them. Instead of burning the books, they donated them to a radical anarchist bookstore that is going to redistribute them to any kids in Florida who ask for them.
Firestorm Books in Asheville, North Carolina, was offered the books after Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ (R) radical agenda went into effect in the Sunshine State. But instead of letting the sun go down on the titles, the store has announced plans to ship them to Florida youth for free.
The Banned Books Back project will redistribute 22,500 titles to kids or parents who fill out an encrypted online form. They can choose picture books (grades 4-8) or chapter books (grades 8-12). Each shipment will include five or six books, stickers, and zines.
While the project is only currently welcoming Florida youth, they hope to expand to other states. The store is trying to raise $30,000 to help them cover the cost of shipping all the books to young readers.
“We understand book bans as a symptom of authoritarian power, so it isn’t effective to focus solely on access to individual titles without addressing the underlying power relations,” staff told Autostraddle. “Yes, we want kids in Florida to have these 22,500 books, but we also want to live in a world where there aren’t powerful adults imposing their worldviews through bans, punishment, and policing.”
