LGBTQ Nation

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Five anti-LGBTQ+ Republican congressmembers announce early retirement amid GOP woes

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Five anti-LGBTQ+ House Republicans have announced their intentions to retire. While some of them blamed their GOP colleagues’ antics for their early departures, their announcements have coincided with recent Republican losses in an off-year election and the rise of former President Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary. The representatives — Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO), Kay Granger (R-TX), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), and Victoria Spartz (R-IN) — all voted against the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act, a law that requires the federal government to recognize legal same-sex marriages. “The Republican House is failing the American people again,” Spartz said. “[The House is] like […]

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Teacher fired because of Don’t Say Gay law for using a gender-neutral title

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A nonbinary teacher in Florida was fired for using the gender-neutral title “Mx.” Now they’ve filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could challenge the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. According to WMNF, AV Vary recently came out as nonbinary and began using the title Mx. They say they informed the principal at Florida Virtual School (FLVS), a statewide online public school where they taught physics, of the change. “I let him know that I was doing it. And he didn’t say anything at first, and then about a month later he told me he needed me to […]

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This activist built himself a website to track global LGBTQ+ laws

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In 2008, Dan Leveille, 35, was studying computer science at the Rochester Institute of Technology when California voters passed Proposition 8, eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state. It was a sucker punch to the queer community, including Leveille, who found himself wanting to bring order to how he thought about LGBTQ+ rights in the US. His solution was Equaldex, a passion project that visualizes the state of queer rights not only at home but around the world. The site has become a trusted resource for governments, the media, and LGBTQ+ travelers everywhere. Related: LGBTQ Nation spoke with […]

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Majority of non-binary youth now avoid joining sports teams, study finds

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A new study has determined that a vast majority of non-binary youths in Canada now avoid joining sports teams over discrimination fears. The study, conducted by Trans Connect and Simon Fraser University, surveyed queer, non-binary, and transgender youth ranging from ages 14 to 26. It determined that only 11 per cent of non-binary youth in Canada currently take part in an organised team sport. “The experiences of non-binary youth in organized team sports in Canada have been drastically understudied,” said researcher Martha Gumprich.  “Our report found that many youths avoid team sports due to abuse and discrimination but there are some solutions that would make sport more […]

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Pretty much everybody opposes everything Mike Johnson stands for

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New House Speaker Mike Johnson (R) holds extremist views on social issues and based his political and professional career on opposition to LGBTQ+ rights. He’s argued that gay sex should be illegal, opposes same-sex marriage, and is a proponent of debunked attempts to turn gay people straight. But when Americans were asked about their views on Johnson’s Christian Nationalist positions, the overwhelming majority opposed everything he stands for. Related: In a recently released Data for Progress poll, most respondents admitted that they didn’t know how to feel about him because they still had no idea who he was.  Get the Daily Brief The […]

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The Supreme Court is being asked to hear its first case on gender-affirming care

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The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Supreme Court to block a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors. On Wednesday, the ACLU, along with the ACLU of Tennessee and Lambda Legal, petitioned the court to review a Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowing the state’s anti-trans law to go into effect. As The Hill notes, if the court accepts the case, it would be the first time the Supreme Court hears a case involving gender-affirming care. Tennessee Republicans passed the state’s S.B. 1 in February, and it was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee (R) in early March. In addition […]

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Vermont’s largest school district unanimously approves strong protections for trans students

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Vermont’s largest school district, the Champlain Valley School District, has passed a set of policies that affirm transgender and nonbinary students’ identities. The policies require schools to let trans students access school facilities, play on sports teams, and use pronouns and names that match their gender identity without informing potentially unsupportive parents. The policies, which closely follow the trans- and nonbinary-inclusive guidelines issued by the state Agency of Education in 2017, were developed using “feedback from principals, school counselors, and nurses, students, and parents, along with staff from the Vermont Department of Health and Outright Vermont,” the independent state publication Seven Days reported. The school […]

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Queer Afghans cry for help under Taliban rule, citing private prisons, torture & death

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An LGBTQ+ rights group in Afghanistan is calling the international community’s acceptance of Taliban rule a “betrayal of humanity” and is demanding justice for queer people from the United Nations, human rights organizations, and countries that “claim to support human rights.” Rainbow Afghanistan details a litany of abuses against the queer community by the Taliban, which returned to power two years ago as American forces withdrew from the country 20 years after the 9/11/2001 attacks. “For homosexuals,” a Taliban judge said at the time, “there can only be two punishments: either stoning, or he must stand behind a wall that will fall […]

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18 GOP attorneys general file brief accusing doctors of lying to make money with needless trans care

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Eighteen state attorneys general signed a brief asking a federal judge in Florida to allow states to ban gender-affirming care for transgender people from being covered under state Medicaid programs, using inflammatory language to explain why trans people shouldn’t have equal access to health care. Last year, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) finalized a rule banning healthcare providers from billing the state’s Medicaid program for trans people’s gender-affirming care, a rule that covered puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgical procedures for adults. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program providing healthcare coverage for low-income people. Related: Four trans […]

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Unexpected allyship: How a California church became “the midwife of the modern LGBTQ movement”

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Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s, San Francisco’s Tenderloin District was changing fast. Gone were the young professionals, replaced instead by growing numbers of homeless queer and trans people, the street queens and hustlers turning tricks to ensure their survival. These communities were treated as disposable; the Tenderloin’s rundown streets were often strewn with trash thrown by yuppie businessmen, who worked just a stone’s throw away from the dilapidated district. When Reverend Cecil Williams started working at San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church in the early 1960s, he made it his mission to serve these communities. The church had always been rooted in philanthropy, but the congregation was […]

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