The Advocate

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Doctors warn of ‘terrifying’ effects as Trump creates snitch line to report gender-affirming care patients

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The Trump administration has cleared the way for people to report doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors — and now says they can do so without violating federal medical privacy laws. In new guidance issued Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that health care workers, clinic staff, and even third parties may file complaints against providers offering gender-affirming care and, in many cases, even disclose protected patient information under HIPAA’s whistleblower provisions. Under HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, medical professionals must keep a patient’s health information confidential. The guidance, issued under President Donald Trump’s January 28 executive order titled “Protecting Children […]

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Chicago Teachers Union ratifies groundbreaking contract cementing LGBTQ+ protections

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As school boards ban LGBTQ+ books, conservative lawmakers target trans youth, and federal officials threaten funding for inclusive schools, Chicagoeducators are doing something few others can: fighting back — and winning. On Monday, the Chicago Teachers Union ratified a sweeping new contract with Chicago Public Schools that goes beyond traditional labor demands. The agreement includes meaningful raises, smaller class sizes, and more classroom resources, but it also codifies some of the most comprehensive LGBTQ+ protections ever included in a public school labor deal. Among the new provisions are gender-affirming health care for staff, a trained Gender Support Coordinator in every school, codified protections for chosen names and pronouns, and a mandate […]

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What to know about the Supreme Court case that could take away your access to PrEP and other care

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Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, a case which The Advocatefirst broke news of in 2022, that could dismantle one of the most widely used and life-saving provisions of the Affordable Care Act: the guarantee that insurers must cover preventive services—like HIV prevention medication, cancer screenings, and maternal health care—at no cost to patients. While the case began as a religious objection to PrEP coverage by a group of conservative Christian business owners in Texas, it’s evolved into a full-blown challenge to the ACA’s preventive care mandate. A ruling against the government could jeopardize no-cost access to cancer screenings, STI testing, contraception, diabetes care, […]

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Federal judge blocks Trump admin’s gender-restrictive passport policy

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A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked the Trump administration’s move to cease offering the X gender marker on U.S. passports or allowing passport holders to change their gender marker. U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, an appointee of President Joe Biden, granted a motion Friday for a preliminary injunction, which keeps the policy from being enforced while a lawsuit against it is heard, the Associated Press reports. The State Department implemented the policy, which affects transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people, in January in keeping with Donald Trump’sexecutive order recognizing only male and female sexes and denying that one’s gender can ever change — something that is at odds with the view of every major medical group. The […]

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Right-wing extremists threaten LGBTQ-affirming religious communities: report

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More than 150 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents have targeted affirming religiouscommunities across the United States since June 2022, according to new data released Tuesday by GLAAD’s ALERT Desk — a stark reflection of how extremists are targeting not only LGBTQ+ people but also the faith-based spaces that welcome them. The report documents a wave of violence and harassment against churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples that openly support LGBTQ+ inclusion. The incidents include death threats, vandalism, harassment, attempted arson, physical assaults, and bomb threats. GLAAD first reported in early 2024 that it had tracked more than 60 such incidents. Since then, more than 90 additional attacks have come to light, bringing the […]

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Publisher Keith St Clare who published the San Francisco-based magazine Vanguard Has Died

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Keith St Clare, editor and publisher of the groundbreaking LGBTQ+ magazine Vanguard, has died at age 79. He died March 25 in Richmond, Texas, where he was in an assisted living facility, according to The Bay Area Reporter. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease several years ago, his family said. Vanguard, based in San Francisco, was originally published by an organization of the same name, beginning in 1965. The Vanguard group assisted young people, LGBTQ+ and otherwise, in the city’s Tenderloin district. St Clare took over the magazine in 1966, and the organization ceased operations the following year. St Clare published Vanguard for 12 years. The magazine […]

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Southern LGBTQ+ history group to establish permanent archive, expand reach

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At a time when LGBTQ+ history is being erased, one group devoted to this history is expanding. Invisible Histories, a nonprofit with the mission to preserve and share the history of LGBTQ+ communities in the U.S. South, is establishing a permanent archive in Charlotte, North Carolina. “In a time when our histories are at risk of being erased, we are doubling down on our commitment to safeguarding and amplifying the voices of Southern LGBTQ people,” Dr. Maigen Sullivan, co-executive director of Invisible Histories, said in a press release. “By establishing a permanent archive in Charlotte, we are creating a lasting space where our communities can […]

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Out gay Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs law repealing marriage equality ban

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Marriage equality is officially the law of the land in Colorado after Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a law repealing a provision in the state constitution that banned marriage between same-sex couples.  Polis, an out gay man, signed SB25-014 into law Monday, also known as the Protecting the Freedom to Marry act. The bill repeals the provision in Colorado statute that states that marriage is valid only if it is between a man and a woman, which has been unenforceable since the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges. “Colorado is for everyone, no matter who you are or who you love. Last November, the voters got rid of […]

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Veterans Affairs clinicians sign letter against Trump’s ban on trans vets’ care: ‘There is resistance’

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Inside the Department of Veterans Affairs — the nation’s most extensive health care system — a quiet rebellion seems to be growing. Dozens of VA clinicians are breaking their silence, accusing the Trumpadministration of abandoning the very veterans they swore to serve. In a searing letter asking VA staff to sign on to an editorial circulating this week — and obtained by The Advocate — they describe a workplace transformed by fear, censorship, and cruelty. When The Advocate became aware of the document Friday afternoon, more than 50 clinicians whose details are being kept confidential out of fear of retaliation had signed it, according to a person […]

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Trump quietly purges presidential HIV advisory council, sparking public health fears

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HIV advocates and public health experts are raising alarms after the Trumpadministration moved to remove all members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS — a group that for three decades has provided critical guidance on federal HIV prevention, treatment, and care policy. The decision, first reported by Reuters, comes amid sweeping cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including layoffs of 10,000 federal health employees and the closure of half of HHS’s regional offices. The Trump administration eliminated several offices within HHS dedicated to infectious disease prevention, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has […]

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