New street art in Walker’s Point commemorates the neighorhood’s rich LGBTQ history. Crosswalks at the intersection of 2nd Street and National Avenue are now painted rainbow, in a design by street artist Jeremy Novy. The project was led by the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project, as a way to show the neighborhood’s pride and inclusiveness as a safe space for all.
The new artwork was unveiled at a dedication ceremony Oct. 6, with remarks from Milwaukee leaders including Mayor Cavalier Johnson.
“Today we’re here to celebrate legacy. For more than 80 years, the Walker’s Point neighborhood has been a safe haven for Milwaukee’s LGBTQ+ community,” Johnson said. “Now this place is where people could come as they find acceptance, as they find belonging, and where they really find joy in our city.”
Read the full article. The crosswalk was funded by private donations. Meanwhile, yesterday in Miami Beach a state crew jackhammered away the rainbow mosaic crosswalk leading to the city’s famed “gay beach.”
An anti-trans Republican running for Virginia lieutenant governor has been accused of having a Tumblr account filled with content fetishising white supremacy.
WARNING: This article contains deeply offensive, racist, and homophobic slurs, as well as descriptions of graphic sexual content. Reader discretion is advised.
GOP candidate John Reid has denied any association with an online blog which regularly shared sexual content fetishising Nazism and violence against non-white people.
The out gay WRVA radio host, who announced his candidacy for Virginia’s lieutenant governor in January, has vowed to “defend Virginia’s cultural heritage, promote civic education, and stand up for the values that make our Commonwealth strong.”
Deeply racist posts shared by the Tumblr account JRDeux, the same handle Reid uses on TikTok and Instagram, were uncovered by American Journal News in a Wednesday (1 October) report.
In 2015, the account shared an image of a male college-age student in underwear from user “obedientn****rdc,” whose bio reportedly reads: “subservient n****r who knows his place in society.”
Another post depicts shirtless men with swastika tattoos, captioned: “f**king nice WP ink M88.” WP is an acronym for “white power,” while the letters 88 are a coded term for “Heil Hitler.”
JRDeux also shared posts from user slaveandy, who calls themselves a “filthy f****t” and regularly shares graphic fetish content, including one image of a man’s anus spread with a speculum and used as an ashtray.
John Reid denies association with racist Tumblr account
The blog’s existence became known in April after it was shared under a GOPassessment on candidate vulnerabilities and reported by various news outlets. The account’s racist content was only uncovered after the Wednesday report.
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Reid denies the account is connected to him, claiming in a now-deleted X/Twitter post that its existence is a coordinated effort to smear him for being a gay Republican. The account’s posts date back to 2014, before Reid entered politics.
In April, when the blog’s specifically racist posts hadn’t yet been uncovered, governor Glenn Youngkin called Reid demanding he withdraw his candidacy over the controversy.
Speaking on his conservative radio talk show, Reid said he refused to withdraw, adding: “As long as I have been in the public space, I have been a target for malicious and salacious lies.”
Later that day, Reid posted a five-minute video addressing the account, saying: “What’s happened today was my worst fear. A total fabricated internet lie so basic that a middle-schooler could have constructed it.
“It’s predictable. But what I didn’t expect was the governor I have always supported to call and demand my resignation without even showing me the supposed evidence or offering me a chance to respond. I did not accept that, and I deeply resent it.”
The GOP candidate is a vocal opponent of trans rights and has reportedly taken several anti-LGBTQ+ positions. In June, he refused to cast a tie-breaking vote to protect same-sex marriage in Virginia.
The bodies of three trans women have been found dumped on the side of the road in Karachi, Pakistan.
The gruesome find was made in the Memon Goth area of the city, the largest in Pakistan, on Sunday (21 September). Police spokesman Javed Ahmed Abro told the AFP news agency that the bodies were “bullet-riddled”. All three victims were shot at close range.
Syed Murad Ali Shah, the provincial chief minister for Sindh, the province in which Karachi is located, said: “Transgender persons are a vulnerable segment of society and we must all give them dignity and respect.”
Meanwhile, activists in the region described the deaths as an attempt to “silence” trans voices.
Trans rights campaigner Bindiya Rana told The Associated Press that violence aimed at trans people in Pakistan “is not new and it is deeply embedded in our society”, adding: “If the police fail to identify the killers, we will announce a countrywide protest.”
Fellow activist and Karachi councillor Shahzadi Rai said: “When hate speech and campaigns are carried out so openly, outcomes like this are inevitable. Even though the state and police are on our side, killings are still occurring, which indicates that deep-rooted hatred against transgender people persists in our society.”
Pakistan’s transgender community faces “deep-rooted hate”. (ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images)
According to the BBC, a report in the medical journal The Lancet in 2023 claimed that 90 per cent of transgender people in Pakistan have faced physical assaults.
A spokesperson for rights group Gender Interactive Alliance identified the women as “khawaja sira persons”, a term referring to the third-gender community in Pakistan, and cited an attack just days earlier.
“These back-to-back tragedies show that the khawaja sira community is being systematically targeted. This is not just about individual killings, it’s an attempt to terrorise and silence an entire community,” they said.
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Gender Interactive Alliance set out a series of demands, including calling on the police to conduct “immediate, transparent investigations and arrest all perpetrators”, the introduction of a specific protection unit for trans people, and new legislation to combat hate crime.
“The khawaja sira community will not remain silent, our lives are as valuable as every other citizens’,” the spokesperson added. “We demand justice. We demand protection.”
Despite being able to self-identify under the 2018 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, the transgender community continues to face discrimination, abuse and harassment in the South Asian country.
Two trans women living in Mardan, a city about 30 miles east of Peshawar, were killed in their home in 2024, and a year earlier, Marvia Malik, the country’s first trans newsreader, survived an assassination attempt when two gunmen opened fire while she was at home.
Trans woman Nikki Armstrong was violently assaulted in Renton, Washington in the US earlier this month.
She told PinkNews that the attack, which occurred on 15 September at around 8:20pm in the 200 block of Burnett Ave S, followed an argument between her and a group of teens who she said were harassing “everybody waiting on their bus.”
She says that she simply asked them, “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
According to Renton Police, later that evening, after walking back through the area to the bus station, Armstrong was then confronted by the teens.
She said she attempted to pepper spray them, but they called her the F-slur and began to chase her. She recalls tripping after about a block, at which point the attack began.
She told PinkNews she felt “scared and angry” at first, but those feelings have since “turned to sadness.”
“It bums me out that kids have nothing better to do with their lives,” she said of the suspects.
Nikki’s injuries were still visible three days after the attack. (Supplied)
Two teenage brothers, aged 15 and 17, have been released on electronic home monitoring on charges of second-degree assault after being accused of attacking Armstrong. Renton Police say they are still searching for two other teens who are believed to have been involved.
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Armstrong launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $20,000 to help cover costs while she is unable to work and to pay for surgery to repair her nose and possibly her eye socket. She has received 97 percent of her goal, thanks to more than 360 donations.
She said the donations have relieved her from the stress of rent and allowed her to focus on recovering.
“That anxiety has been lifted and I can’t begin to put into words what that means to me. I can focus on my recovery and I’m ever so grateful.”
Armstrong said she didn’t expect “at all” to raise the amount she has. She added: “I was hoping for some help but the way everyone has stepped up is incredible.”
But the attack has highlighted the concerning rise in anti-trans hate, spurred by the US administration’s orders. Sadly, Armstrong admits she no longer feels safe in the US.
Donald Trump has weaponised trans rights (Rebecca Droke/Getty)
She explained: “I want to be clear about this: it’s not because I’m worried about being randomly attacked by teenagers. It is because of the presidential Administration that we have and their policies that I feel less safe now as a trans person than I ever have.
“Trump has all but greenlit this type of violence and sadly I expect we will see more.”
In June, GLAAD’s third ALERT Desk Report – its Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker, which documents anti-LGBTQ incidents and trends in hate and extremism across the US – revealed a “dramatic rise” in anti-trans hate incidents.
Between 1 May 2024 and 1 May 2025, the ALERT Desk tracked 932 anti-LGBTQ incidents in 49 US states and the District of Columbia – the equivalent of 2.5 incidents every day. Fifty-two percent of all incidents specifically targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people.
Armstrong said, in a message to her attackers and others who target the trans community: “Find something better to do with your time. We are here. We’re not going anywhere. We will fight back. We protect us.”
A gay man was left needing hospital treatment after being head on the head with a baseball bat when he and his partner were attacked in Boston, in an incident that is being treated as a possible hate crime
The attack took place in the Mattapan neighbourhood of the Massachusetts city at about 7.45pm on 13 September when the couple were walking towards a convenience store.
At first a group of men shouted gay slurs at them, some of which were in Haitian Creole, a French-based language, before a fight broke out, a witness told The Boston Globe.
One of the gay men was then hit with what appeared to a be a bat. Boston pofficers found him in a parking lot, bleeding from the back of his head.
He was assessed at the scene before being taken to hospital. His condition is unknown. His friend was interviewed by the officers, and the attack is being investigated by the Boston Police Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Hate is never tolerated in Boston,” a police spokesperson said. “Our thoughts go out to the two victims, and we ask anyone with information to contact [us].
Far-right Polish politician Dawid Szóstak has announced that he will leave his anti-LGBTQ+ Confederation political party after revealing his relationship with intersex model Michalina Manios, who was a finalist on the 2011 season of Poland’s Next Top Model.
During her appearance on the show, Manios explained that she was assigned a male identity at birth and was raised in that gender identity until she was 18 years old, something she said felt like being imprisoned. At that point, she then legally changed her gender to female.
“Functionally, I developed as a woman, but unfortunately, I was assigned a male identity, not any other,” Manios said, according to Euro News. “My body and mind developed toward femininity, but my genitals didn’t. I was ashamed to go to physical education classes because I was embarrassed.”
Intersex individuals have innate variations in physical traits that differ from typical expectations for male or female bodies, including variations in reproductive organs, hormones, or chromosome patterns. An estimated 1.7% of infants are born intersex — roughly the same number of people born with red hair.
In announcing their relationship, Szóstak said that he and Manios met online. “I liked the photos Michalina posted,” he said. “They radiated a lot of energy and femininity.” He also said they bonded over their shared Catholic faith and respect for traditions.
“Everything happened quite naturally. We became a couple,” he explained. “We have respect and understanding for each other.”
Szóstak remained in his political party during the start of their relationship. In 2019, Confederation party leader Sławomir Mentzen said, “We stand against Jews, homosexuals… taxes, and also the European Union!”
Szóstak mentioned his leaving of the party in a recent interview, saying of him and his partner, “We want to focus on what’s important,” meaning their relationship and well-being over political battles, Edge Media Network reported. He deleted his social media account after publicly discussing his relationship with Manios.
“Visibility is crucial,” said a spokesperson from Poland’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, the Campaign Against Homophobia, regarding the couple’s relationship. “When public figures share their truths, it chips away at stigma and ignorance.”
At the start of 2020, Poland’s anti-LGBTQ+ Law and Justice Party (PiS) began declaring regions across the country as “LGBT-free zones” in an attempt to remove LGBTQ+ “propaganda” from the public as a form of “Western decadence” that “threaten[s] our identity, threaten[s] our nation, threaten[s] the Polish state.” Both the U.S. and the European Union condemned the zones as violations of human rights.
By early 2020, roughly one-third of the country had established “LGBT-free zones.” However, the PiS party suffered defeat in the 2023 national elections. Then, in 2025, the party’s last of the state-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ+ zones was finally eliminated.
A journalist who was put on the late right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s “hit list” has spoken out on the abuse she received from his supporters.
US-based speaker, commentator, and college professor, Stacey Patton, posted a statement to Facebook, days after the 31-year-old right-wing pundit was shot dead in Utah, highlighting the “venom” she faced from his supporters in 2024.
The Turning Point USA co-founder, known for his extreme anti-LGBTQ+ views, was fatally shot in the neck during a crowded open-air debate on gun violence at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (10 September). A manhunt for the killer, whose identity is unknown, is ongoing.
Just seconds prior to the shooting, Kirk was asked about the epidemic of mass shootings in the US after he and many right-wing figureheads claimed “too many” mass shooters were trans. Of the 3,708 mass shooting incidents in the US since 2015, only an estimated 16 of the incidents were committed by trans people.
In her statement following his death, Patton claimed that Kirk, whom she called a “hateful racist,” was responsible for weeks of abuse and death threats she received in 2024 after he placed her on Turning Points’ so-called “Professor Watchlist.”
The website, created in 2016, lists academic staff, journalists, and activists which the right-wing organisation claimed “discriminate against conservative students” and promote “anti-American values” by advancing what it calls “leftist propaganda.“
Patton says she was placed on the list in 2024 after writing a column, which she said “inflamed the MAGA faithful,” adding: “Once my name went up, the harassment machine roared to life.
“For weeks, my inbox and voicemail were deluged,” Patton continued. “Mostly white men spat venom through the phone: ‘B***h,’ ‘c**t,’ ‘n****r.’ They threatened all manner of violence.
“They overwhelmed the university’s PR lines and the [university] president’s office with calls demanding that I be fired. The flood was so relentless that the head of campus security reached out to offer me an escort, because they feared one of these keyboard soldiers might step out of his basement and come do me harm.”
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Professors faced threats of physical and sexual violence over Charlie Kirk’s ‘hit list’
Patton is far from the only professor to share similar stories after they were added to the watchlist. One professor told campus free speech rights group FIRE in 2023 that they were subjected to threats of physical and sexual violence after being added to the list.
One message, they said, featured a picture of their house and driveway, while another told them to “watch your step.”
“Kirk’s watchlist has terrorised legions of professors across this country,” Patton continued. “Women, Black faculty, queer scholars, basically anyone who challenged white supremacy, gun culture, or Christian nationalism, suddenly found themselves targets of coordinated abuse.
“That is the culture of violence Charlie Kirk built. He normalised violence. He curated it, monetised it, and sicced it on anyone who dared to puncture his movement’s lies.”
The journalist deplored depictions of Kirk as nothing more than a “civil debator,” saying that the “truth” was that “Kirk and his foot soldiers spent years terrorising educators, trying to silence us with harassment and fear.”
“Kirk spent years demonising LGBTQ+ people, mocking gun survivors, spewing racism about Black folks, and pushing policies that literally shorten lives,” she said. “It is so revolting to watch a bipartisan wave of grief sweep over this hateful racist as if he was a neutral community servant.”
A lawsuit has been filed by three California students over the inclusion of a transgender teammate on their high school track and volleyball teams.
Filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California on Tuesday (9 September), the lawsuit has been brought by Madison McPherson, a former student at Jurupa Valley High School who now plays volleyball at the collegiate level. She used to compete one the track, field, volleyball, and soccer teams.
The other defendants listed in the filing are referred to by their initials “A.M” and “H. H,” though CNN confirmed they were Alyssa McPherson, the younger sister of Madison, and Hadeel Hazameh. Both of their mothers, Maribel Munoz and Hanan Hazameh, are also named in the lawsuit. Like Madison, Alyssa and Hadeel are both multi-sport athletes.
The lawsuit has been brought against the California Department of Education, the Jurupa Unified School District, and the California Interscholastic Federation. The plaintiffs are claiming to have suffered violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments Act 1972, the free speech and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
While the trans student in question has not been named, they are referred to throughout the lawsuit as “A. H.” suggesting the student is none other than A.B. Hernandez, who studies at Jurupa Valley High School.
Hernandez has faced the scrutiny of Donald Trump and conservatives over her participation on the girls volleyball team claiming she has an unfair advantage. The US President has even threatened to hold back “large-scale” funding for Californian schools if the state refused to comply with his executive order to prevent trans women taking part in female sports.
“Defendants have knowingly permitted a male student to compete on the JVHS varsity girls’ track and field and volleyball teams, access female locker rooms and bathrooms, and engage in harassing conduct toward female athletes,” Tuesday’s filing reads.
“As a result of Defendants’ actions, Plaintiffs have suffered sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, unsafe and unfair athletic environments, viewpoint discrimination, and infringements on their religious liberty and safety. These actions have deprived them of equal opportunities and their civil rights guaranteed by Title IX, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the First Amendment,” it continues.
Trans teen athlete AB Hernandez. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
The plaintiffs claim that when they approached their coach to say that they were uncomfortable sharing a locker room with Hernandez they were kicked out of group chats.
One plaintiff was allegedly told, “If you want to be a captain and a member of our team, then be one.” They also argue they have been “bullied” into censoring their differing opinions on Hernandez’s inclusion.
The lawsuit alleges that Hernandez’s inclusion on the volleyball team led other school teams to forfeit matches “further depriving Plaintiffs of fair athletic opportunities.” It also says the plaintiffs abstained from events due to their own objections. They also had lower rankings in various events due to “biological advantages” the lawsuit claims.
People hold Save Girls Sports signs in protest of transgender athlete AB Hernandez. (Getty)
It also raises objections to the inclusion of a trans athlete on the team due to the McPherson’s Catholic faith, as well as the Hazameh’s Muslim faith. The document also alleges that Hernandez engaged in “unwelcome and offensive contact” by slapping female players’ buttocks during games.
The plaintiffs have also expressed discomfort sharing a locker room with Hernandez arguing that using the nurse’s office “deprived them of the comradely, instruction, and discussion” of the locker room. The plaintiffs allege that school staff ignored or dismissed any of their concerns.
As far as relief, the lawsuit states the plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages and preventing the Jurupa Unified School District from “allowing any male student to participate or compete in any female sports.” They have also demanded a jury trial on the matter.
A.B. Hernandez. (Getty)
As reported by CNN, the defendants have declined to comment. Julianne Fleischer, an attorney for the plaintiffs has said, “California continues to ignore the rights and protections federal law affords female athletes, sidelining them in the name of ‘inclusion’. But the rights of female athletes are not second-class. This is not about politics—it is about protecting fairness, safety, opportunity, and the hard-won rights of young women in sports.”
AB Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda, sent a statement reminding people “there is a real child at the center of this issue.” She added, “Regardless of personal opinions, no child should be subjected to public scrutiny, targeted, or used as a political symbol.”
AB Hernandez recently spoke out against the vitriol aimed at them. “I’m just a normal kid,” she said. She then said, “People just see one thing and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s what you are’. They don’t take the time to get to know me. So, it’s just a little frustrating.”
In the north-east of Ukraine, a mere 18 miles from the Russian border, sits the city of Kharkiv, home to Kharkiv Pride.
Since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the country’s second-largest city has faced relentless strikes by Russian forces with more than 8,000 of its buildings – including schools and homes – destroyed, thousands of people killed and injured whilst countless more have fled westward to Kyiv or abroad for safety.
But despite the on-going war, the destruction, the uncertainty, Pride persists.
Pride continues in Kharkiv, despite the war (Christina Pashkina)
When the conflict began, Kharkiv was quickly identified as one of Russia’s main targets given its proximity to the border, history and infrastructure.
A traditionally Russian-speaking city, Kharkiv was a major centre during the Russian Empire and once served as the capital of Soviet Ukraine between 1919 and 1934.
The city and the wider region of Kharkiv Oblast, which has become increasingly known for its agricultural production and also holds Ukraine’s largest natural gas reserves, unsurprisingly contribute significantly to Ukraine’s economy.
Capturing the Kharkiv – home to 1.4 million before the start of conflict – would be both a strategic and symbolic victory for Putin.
When Russian forces crossed the border in February they captured several towns and villages across Kharkiv Oblast as they made their way towards Kharkiv – but were unable to take the city.
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In those early days of the war, Kharkiv became a powerful symbol of Ukrainian resistance and was one of several cities declared as a Hero City of Ukraine by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite Kharkiv remaining firmly in Ukrainian control the city has been continuously bombarded with shelling, with residents attempting to live their day-to-day lives amongst air sirens, blackouts and ruins.
For LGBTQ+ people living in Kharkiv, there is a further dimension to the fear residents feel at the prospect of the city falling to Putin: Russia’s deeply queerphobic national policies.
Volunteers at KharkivPride are supporting both the LGBTQ+ community and the war effort (Christina Pashkina)
“It is my biggest fear,” Anna Sharyhina, the co-organiser of KharkivPride and president of the Sphere Women`s Association, told PinkNews when asked about a list Russia allegedly has of LGBTQ+ activists, “because I know that it means sexual violence. It means physical violence. They just beat people for hours.
“We have, for instance, a colleague from the LGBT+ Military who was in captivity for 20 months. I have no idea what I should do in that case, it makes me so scared. I feel frozen when I think about that.”
In 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court said that the “international public LGBT movement” – which is not a specific organisation but rather a descriptor for LGBTQ+ activism in general – had been using “signs and manifestations” of an “extremist nature” which included what it describes as “incitement of social and religious discord”.
In 2022, after Russia invaded, KharkivPride held a MetroPride on the city’s subway (Christina Pashkina)
Sharyhina admitted she tries not to think about the threats she and others face from Russia, instead focusing her work for her community – LGBTQ+ and Ukrainian alike.
“We continue our fight and I continue that fight, even if I burn out,” she said, adding that it is not just that she does not want to be in the closet, she “can’t, anymore”.
“The only way I have is to fight. I am really tired but Ukraine, it is my home, and I really need our country to [be its own], not Russian because we are not Russian.”
“Our partners advised us to go from Kharkiv to other cities,” she said, “but we stay here and we continue our work.”
“It was important to continue our fight”
When the war came, KharkivPride, which began in 2019, was unable to go ahead with its usual activities.
Months after the invasion though, the Pride organisation instead held a MetroPride where LGBTQ+ people powerfully and resiliently marched through the city’s subway – protected from both the Russian airstrikes and the far-right groups who would normally seek to violently counter-protest.
That Pride, amidst the harrowing, early days of the conflict, was about still being in the public eye, with Sharyhina explaining “it was really important to continue our fight, continue to be visible in that situation”.
She told PinkNews initially the LGBTQ+ community chose to keep silent about its fight for equal rights when the invasion happened and focused instead on securing Ukrainian independence. But, after they were accused by certain quarters of not fighting for Ukraine, Sharyhina concluded LGBTQ+ people“can’t be silent again”.
This year’s KharkivPride celebrations are taking place between 30 August and 6 September, under the slogan: “Together for equality and victory”.
AutoPride will see a fleet of rainbow coloured cars travel through the city (Christina Pashkina)
On 30 and 31 August the group hosted a PrideFest, followed by a commemoration of fallen LGBTQ+ military personnel on 5 September and will conclude with an AutoPride on 6 September – which will see a convoy of cars decked out in rainbows travel through the city.
More than half a decade on from the first KharkivPride, when the group “collected people from zero” because the queer community was not publicly active, organisers continue to mobilise the community.
“Our community centre is a safe space for LGBT people. When people come to the community centre they feel freedom and like they can be themselves and proud of it. They don’t feel scared about coming out.
“When you have a place and know people like you – homosexual, queer or trans people – you can feel yourself,” Sharyhina said, adding LGBTQ+ residents feel “inspired” by that space.
“After that, they come to Pride because they are ready to say something about their rights.”
The US government has been ordered to restore dozens of webpages on gender identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as part of a court settlement.
District Court judge Lauren King ordered the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to restore hundreds of webpages removed from government sites under orders from president Donald Trump.
Nine medical organisations and public health nonprofits sued the US government after Trump issued an executive order in January directing the health department to remove pages containing vital information and data on gender identity, HIV prevention, and health advice for marginalised groups.
Affected websites included the National Institute of Health’s HIV risk reduction tool, an FAQ page on Mpox treatment and hundreds of sites on health issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community.
As part of an agreed settlement finalised on Tuesday (2 September), the government must restore the data and cease the deletion of further resources.
The Washington State Medical Association (WSMA), Washington state’s largest medical association and lead plaintiff in the case, said it was “thrilled” at the settlement result.
It is expected to restore webpages on pregnancy risk, opioid-use disorder, HIV data, and much more.
Dr John Bramhall, WSMA president, said following the judgement that he was “extremely proud” of the healthcare community for “pushing back on this egregious example of government overreach.”
“This was not a partisan issue,” he continued. “Open data benefits everyone, and ensuring its availability should be a bipartisan priority.”
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Co-plaintiffs include Washington State Nurses Association, the Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Paediatrics, AcademyHealth, the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society.
Vital health and DEI webpages vanished ‘in the blink of an eye’
The organisation, which represents more than 13,000 physicians, emphasised the importance of readily available health data and information for the general public on all topics.
Condemning the sudden removal of “trusted health information,” Dr Bramhall said many resources which physicians rely on to monitor a patient’s health “vanished in [the] blink of an eye.”
“Not only was our ability to provide care to our patients compromised, but our trust in our federal health institutions has also been badly shaken,” he continued. “The WSMA engaged in this legal effort to resist interference into the physician-patient relationship and to show patients and communities that, regardless of the whims of governments or politics, physicians are committed to providing accurate, evidence-based care.”
A spokesperson for HHS said to Fox News Digital it remains “committed to its mission of removing radical gender and DEI ideology from federal programs, subject to applicable law, to ensure taxpayer dollars deliver meaningful results for the American people.”
The settlement comes as health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr was grilled in a Senate hearing over his vaccine policies and notorious views on public health.
The 71-year-old, who is infamous for his conspiratorial scepticism on vaccines, was accused of a “reckless disregard for science” during the Thursday (4 September) hearing after firing the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head over his vaccine policies.
Democratic senator Ron Wyden, who sat on the committee, accused Kennedy of trying to “[take] vaccines away from Americans,” adding: “I hope at the very least, Robert Kennedy has the decency to tell the truth this morning.”
Justifying the CDC firings, Kennedy said they were “absolutely necessary,” called the US the “sickest country in the world,” and claimed “that’s why we need to fire people at the CDC.”
