LGBTQ Nation

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State bans against conversion therapy are ineffective, argues leading LGBTQ+ activist

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Even though the Supreme Court is currently considering Chiles v. Salazar, a case that could overturn the bans on conversion therapy for minors currently in place in 27 states, longtime LGBTQ+ activist Wayne Besen says these bans don’t stop a majority of those who actually offer services to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity: namely, unlicensed religious counselors and life coaches working with so-called ex-LGBTQ+ organizations. “The term ban is inaccurate,” Besen told LGBTQ Nation. “Show me: Show me one conversion therapist who has been put out of business because of these laws.” Besen is executive director of Truth Wins Out, an […]

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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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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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Two Dem Senate candidates stand up for trans athletes in the face of GOP attacks

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Graham Platner, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate who is trying to unseat Maine’s longtime Senator Susan Collins (R), recently said that Republicans have attacked transgender rights as part of an “invented culture-war scare” to distract from economic issues (namely, taxing billionaires). A similar point was recently made by state Rep. and U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico (D-TX). Platner – who has had several of his own scandals – made his comments last week while speaking to Slate’s Death, Sex, and Money podcast. The podcast hosts mentioned how Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) refused to comply with President Donald Trump’s demand that Maine ban all trans female athletes from competing in girls’ and […]

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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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Governor vetoes bill that would’ve funded Charlie Kirk’s anti-LGBTQ+ organizations

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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a bill to create a specialty license plate honoring slain MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk. Republican legislators are unlikely to override her veto, as they only have six- and four-seat majorities in the House and Senate, respectively. The bill would have donated $17 of the license plate’s $25 price to Turning Point USA (TPUSA), Kirk’s organization for young conservatives, which pushes anti-trans, anti-immigrant stances and encourages students to harass and report left-wing college professors. In her March 6 veto letter, Hobbs wrote that the bill (S.B. 1439) fell short of “working toward solutions that bring people together […]

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University sues federal gov’t for threatening federal funding over trans volleyball player

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San Jose State University (SJSU) and the California State University (CSU) system are suing the federal government in response to its determination that SJSU violated Title IX by allowing a transgender volleyball player to compete on the women’s team. The current administration launched an investigation into the university immediately following the president’s executive order, Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, issued soon after he took office. The school made headlines in the heat of the 2024 election campaign when the girls’ volleyball team co-captain, Brooke Slusser, joined a lawsuit led by anti-trans activist and swimmer Riley Gaines which challenged the NCAA’s […]

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Qatar’s only out gay citizen says seeking asylum in the US is a “rough” & “intrusive” process

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Dr. Nasser Mohamed is the first person from Qatar to publicly come out as gay, after being granted asylum in the U.S. based on the likely prospect he’d be persecuted for his sexual orientation at home. He’s currently a physician in San Francisco serving a primarily LGBTQ+ clientele. Mohamed, 38, went public in 2022 at the start of the World Cup in Qatar, to highlight LGBTQ+ rights abuses in the wealthy Gulf State. Many of those have been documented by the Alwan Foundation, an advocacy group founded by Mohamed to collect evidence-based data that “accurately reflects the circumstances and living […]

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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 entire generation of AIDS survivors is now struggling with a hidden epidemic

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Tez Anderson decided to get tested for HIV after he moved to San Francisco in 1986 at the age of 25 and began dating his new boyfriend. When the results came back positive two weeks later, the doctor told Anderson he had 18 to 24 months to live. It was two days after his 26th birthday. Devastated by the news, Anderson began planning his death. But decades later, he remained relatively healthy while watching many friends and acquaintances die of HIV-related illnesses. As he approached age 50, Anderson realized, “Oh, my God, I’m going to be an old man with […]

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