LGBTQ Nation

/ /

Oklahoma Gov. signs executive order defining male & female as sex assigned at birth

,

Oklahoma’s Republican governor signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at limiting the rights of transgender people in the state, and trans women in particular. Known as “The Women’s Bill of Rights” by supporters, the order requires state agencies to define the words “female” and “male” based on a person’s sex assigned at birth. Specifically, it defines a female as a “person whose biological reproductive system is designed to produce ova” and a male as a “person whose biological reproductive system is designed to fertilize the ova of a female,” the Associated Press reports. It also defines the words “man,” “boy,” Oklahoma’s […]

/ /

Judge rules in favor of trans students after parents’ rights group sues for the right to misgender

,

A federal judge has ruled on the side of trans rights after a conservative group tried to overturn an Ohio school district’s anti-bullying policy.  The national conservative group Parents Defending Education (PDE) tried to get a preliminary injunction passed on the Olentangy Local School District’s prohibition on misgendering trans students. The policy includes students, teachers, and parents and it applies to out-of-school hours and social media as well.  PDE’s lawsuit claimed the policy is unconstitutional because “they compel speech, discriminate based on content and viewpoint, and are unconstitutionally overbroad.”  U.S. District Chief Judge Algenon L. Marbley disagreed, writing in his opinion that “ultimately, […]

/ /

Federal appeals court upholds trans rights in Indiana school bathroom case

,

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in favor of three transgender students who were forbidden by their schools from using bathrooms matching their gender identities. The circuit court upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction that said the schools have to let trans students use facilities associated with their genders.  “Students who are denied access to the appropriate facilities are caused both serious emotional and physical harm as they are denied recognition of who they are,” said ACLU of Indiana lawyer Kenneth Falk. “They will often avoid using the restroom altogether while in school. Schools should […]

/ /

This drag performer is running to unseat a Florida state Republican

,

A Key West drag performer is running to unseat a Republican in the Florida state legislature, where GOP lawmakers have spent the last couple of years pushing their blatantly anti-LGBTQ+ agenda under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).   As Florida Politics reports, Michael Elgin Travis has filed to challenge incumbent state Rep. Jim Mooney, a two-term Republican who represents Florida House District 120. A ghost tour guide and bartender at Key West’s 801 Bourbon Bar, Travis also performs two nights each week in drag as Erika Rose at the Duval Street LGBTQ+ bar. If elected, Travis would be the first professional drag queen in the […]

/ /

Polling shows that knowing a trans person decreases transphobia

,

Recent polling shows that Americans increasingly support transphobic bathroom bills, but social science research suggests that this trend could be reversed if more Americans simply came to personally know transgender people. In a poll released last October, approximately 52% of Americans said they support “bathroom bills” requiring trans people to use facilities matching the sex they were assigned at birth. This was 17% higher than the 35% who supported bathroom bills when the same question was asked in 2016, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) reported. This increase is most likely due to the recent wave of transphobic legislation and rhetoric […]

/ /

Anti-abortion politics are threatening a vital HIV prevention program

,

Anti-abortion advocates in the U.S. are threatening to kill one of the most successful public health programs in history over unsubstantiated facts, unwavering opposition to a woman’s right to choose, and blatant anti-LGBTQ+ bias. Conservative rganizations, including the Heritage Foundation and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, are threatening U.S. lawmakers with the withdrawal of their support if they grant a routine reauthorization to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the hugely successful HIV prevention initiative in Africa. The far-right Family Research Council describes the 20-year-old program as “a massive slush fund for abortion and LGBT advocacy.” PEPFAR, […]

/ /

Senate Democrats introduce legislation to help trans people get accurate credit scores

,

Senate Democrats have introduced legislation that could help transgender and nonbinary people receive accurate credit scores. The Name Accuracy in Credit Reporting Act, introduced last week by Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Tina Smith (D-MN), would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require credit reporting agencies to only use a person’s current legal name in credit reports, according to The Hill. In March, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) marked Transgender Day of Visibility by introducing companion legislation in the House. As Fetterman’s office noted in a press release announcing the introduction of the legislation, people who legally change their names often face challenges obtaining […]

/ /

A staggering 81% of trans adults have considered suicide

,

An alarming 81% of transgender adults have considered suicide, according to a new studyfrom the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Comparatively, it found 35% of cisgender adults have considered suicide. The first-of-its-kind study, which appeared in this month’s edition of the journal Psychiatry Research, examined the prevalence of serious drug use, psychological distress, and suicidality among a nationally representative sample of trans and cisgender adults. The study took its data from the U.S. Transgender Population Health Survey (TransPop). The study found that 42% of trans adults have attempted suicide, compared to just 11% of cis adults. It also found that 56% of […]

/ /

Turkish police arrest & jail tourist for 3 weeks because he “looked gay”

,

A Portuguese man says he was arrested and jailed in Turkey for 20 days because he “looked gay.” During a visit to Istanbul last month, Miguel Alvaro says he was on his way to meet a friend for lunch when he asked police officers for directions. According to LBC, Alvaro was unaware that an unsanctioned LGBTQ+ march was happening nearby. Alvaro says that one of the Turkish police officers order his arrest. “They grabbed my arms and I tried to free myself. One of them hit me in the ribs, they pushed me against a van, they hit me on the shoulder, […]

/

Conservatives threatened to hold LGBTQ+ library books hostage. The plan blew up in their faces.

,

When Amy Vance and Martha Martin checked out nearly all of the books from the Rancho Peñasquitos branch of the San Diego Public Library, they had a nefarious plan. The incompetent duo emailed the administrator that they would not return the “inappropriate” books. The duo thought they had the upper hand with the plan to hold the books hostage, but instead, their plan backfired spectacularly. They inadvertently raised $45,000 for the library to expand its LGBTQ+-themed programming and materials. “Minor children have the right to belong to a community that respects their innocence and allows families to have conversations about sex […]

«‹ 41 42 43 44›»