John Russell

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Puerto Rico quietly passed an anti-trans bathroom ban & used trans swimmer Lia Thomas to justify it

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Earlier this year, Puerto Rico became the first U.S. territory to pass an anti-trans bathroom ban into law. Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón (R) signed H.B. 165 in late February, after it was passed by the Puerto Rican Legislative Assembly with votes of 37–11 in the House and 21–5 in the Senate, as reported by independent journalist Aleksandra Vaca. The “Public Government Restroom Facilities Regulation Act” requires all government buildings, including the University of Puerto Rico, to maintain sex-segregated multi-occupancy restrooms, and bans transgender and nonbinary people from accessing bathrooms that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. It […]

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University system chancellor orders schools to end academic programs “centered on” LGBTQ+ identities

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The Texas Tech University System is shutting down all its academic programs “centered on” sexual orientation and gender identity. In an April 9 memo, Chancellor Brandon Creighton, a former Republican state lawmaker, gave provosts at the system’s five universities until June 15 to conduct reviews “to identify specific degree programs, official tracks, majors, minors, and certificates that meet the ‘centered on’ threshold” and to submit their lists of programs to the Office of the Chancellor, the Texas Tribune reports. The memo defines “centered on” as “when sexual orientation or gender identity serves as the primary subject, main theoretical framework, central narrative, or driving […]

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United Nations rejects U.S. effort to erase trans women: “It stops here”

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Delegates at the United Nations 70th annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) overwhelmingly voted against considering a proposal by the U.S. to adopt an anti-trans definition of “gender.” On March 19, the final day of the nine-day conference, the U.S. introduced a resolution calling on U.N. member states to officially define “gender” as referring only to men and women. The resolution claimed that the landmark Beijing Declaration on women’s rights, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, already defined gender as “referring to men and women.” But a letter from the progressive Women’s Rights Caucus […]

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Prominent LGBTQ+ activist just became Nepal’s first out trans lawmaker

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Nepal has elected its first out transgender lawmaker. On Monday, Nepal’s Election Commission confirmed that Bhumika Shrestha will serve as a Member of Parliament, taking one of 182 seats in the country’s House of Representatives that the centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party secured in this month’s elections. “I am very excited but also feel the responsibility on my shoulders,” Shrestha told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Our constitution has provisions for our community, but they have not translated to laws and policies. Our community expects me to raise our issues.” The 37-year-old activist and actress has been a leading figure in Nepal’s LGBTQ+ rights movement. […]

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EU court tells member states: gender marker changes are the law

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European Union member states must allow transgender citizens to update their names and gender markers on identification documents, according to the EU’s highest court. On Thursday, the EU Court of Justice (COJ) ruled that member state Bulgaria’s ban on trans people updating their names and gender markers on birth certificates — established in 2023 with a Bulgarian Supreme Court decision — violates the right to “freedom of movement” between EU countries guaranteed by the European Commission. All EU citizens’ right to freedom of movement supersedes any member country’s laws, the court said. The decision came in a case brought by ILGA-Europe, Trans […]

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“Terrifying”: GOP unleashes wave of anti-trans bills nationwide. Here’s what they’re planning…

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Nearly a dozen bills targeting transgender rights have been introduced or passed in state legislatures across the U.S. in the first week of March. In seven states, Republican lawmakers are pushing legislation to ban trans residents from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, ban trans women and girls from participating in women’s and girls’ sports, and even ban trans people from teaching. Missouri could ban trans people from public facilities of all sorts As Erin in the Morning reports, March 2 saw the Missouri state House of Representatives’ Emerging Issues committee hear three anti-trans bathroom bills. H.B. 2536 would not only […]

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17 states consider cutting assistance for HIV meds as prices increase

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States across the U.S. have either implemented or are considering measures that limit access to life-saving medications for tens of thousands of low-income people living with HIV. The moves, experts warn, are likely to lead to economic and public health crises. According to new data published this week by the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), 17 states and D.C. have already taken steps to cut costs for their AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP), while five others are considering similar measures. Since 1996, federally funded ADAPs have helped low-income, uninsured, and underinsured people afford HIV and AIDS medication, primarily […]

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“An absolute travesty”: GOP bill seeks to legalize so-called conversion therapy for trans minors

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Republican lawmakers in Ohio have introduced a sweeping bill aimed at preventing schools and local governments from supporting transgender children and also at overturning bans on so-called “conversion therapy.” “State institutions, government institutions cannot promote that woke ideology,” state Rep. Gary Click (R) told local ABC affiliate News 5 Cleveland this week. “We’re going to say in Ohio, it is not a danger to treat your child normally and to affirm your son is your son and your daughter is your daughter.” Click and state Rep. Josh Williams (R) introduced H.B. 693. Among numerous other anti-trans provisions, it would redefine “conversion therapy” as not […]

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Dems skewer anti-trans sports bill that would allow invasive genital exams: “I’m deeply concerned”

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Lawmakers in Maryland sparred last week over proposed legislation that would ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports at the varsity and junior varsity high school levels. During a February 5 hearing on HB 63 before the state General Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee, several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed the bill’s sponsor, Del. Kathy Szeliga (R), on how the law would be enforced. In her opening remarks, Szeliga seemed to anticipate that line of questioning. “There’s some people who are concerned about the enforcement of this. Well, we enforce all kinds of things in high school sports, as you […]

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Trans sports ban that could require genital exams will appear on the ballot in Washington

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A far-right political action committee says it has collected enough signatures to potentially get a trans sports ban onto Washington state’s ballot in November, and that ban would require girls to undergo physical examinations to participate in school sports. As the Washington State Standard reports, Let’s Go Washington collected 445,187 signatures in support of Initiative Measure No. IL26-638, exceeding the 386,000 needed to advance the measure. The initiative would ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ school sports statewide. IL26-638 interprets existing state law as requiring students “to undergo a routine physical examination prior to participation in interscholastic sports, which includes documentation of […]

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