Features

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Overwhelming number of trans people in UK pelted with verbal abuse, study finds

Nearly three quarters of trans people in the UK have faced verbal abuse in the last year, shocking new figures from a leading LGBTQ+ charity have revealed.  Just Like Us, the LGBT+ young people’s charity, has shared new data which highlights the raft of vile abuse both LGBTQ+, and non-LGBTQ+, young people face in the wake of rising homophobic and transphobic rhetoric.  The figures are part of a new report by the charity called Positive Futures, set to be published on 1 June, which examines the experiences of LGBTQ+ young adults in the UK.  The report will cover a range of […]

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Penguin Random House and Florida parents sue school district over book bans

Penguin Random House, authors, parents and a free speech group filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a Florida school district for removing 10 books related to race and the LGBTQ community after a high school teacher complained.  In addition to the publishing house, PEN America, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression in literature, five authors whose books have been removed from the district, and two parents whose children go to school in the district filed the suit against the Escambia County School District and the Escambia County School Board in Pensacola, Florida. The plaintiffs alleged that the district and the board […]

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Transgender Woman Not Guilty for Using Women’s Locker Room

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A transgender woman in Ohio has been found not guilty of indecent exposure charges stemming from her use of the women’s locker room at a local YMCA. Rachel Glines, 31, was found not guilty of three misdemeanor counts of public indecency by Judge David McNamee at Xenia Municipal Court on Monday. Glines was charged after multiple complaints were filed with police regarding her use of the women’s locker room at the Xenia YMCA in 2021 and 2022. McNamee found Glines not guilty because none of the accusers saw her genitalia and prosecutors could not establish an intent to commit a […]

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No Charges Against Police, Paramedics in Texas Trans Woman’s Death

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A Dallas grand jury has decided not to bring charges in the death of DeeDee Hall, a transgender woman who died after an encounter with police last year. Hall, 47, had been restrained by police who responded to a report that she was causing a disturbance at a business May 26, TV station WFAA reports. She “appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” according to the station. Paramedics were called as well. She “yelled at police and paramedics and began taking her clothes off,” WFAA reports, and police pinned her to the ground and handcuffed her. They also placed […]

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The American Medical Association’s first out gay president pledges to fight trans healthcare bans

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Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld is a U.S. Navy combat veteran who will be inaugurated as the American Medical Association’s (AMA) first out gay president on June 13 – and he says the organization “simply will not stand” for legislation targeting abortion and gender-affirming care. He has pledged to use “every avenue available” to oppose such laws. “We see the attack on reproductive care, reproductive access, and transgender healthcare as a continuum of government overreach into patient-physician decision making,” Ehrenfeld told The Washington Blade. The AMA, whose mission is to advocate “the art and science of medicine [for] the betterment of public health,” represents […]

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More gay and bisexual men can donate blood under new FDA rules

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it finalized a new rule that will allow more gay and bisexual men to donate blood.  Under the latest guidelines, all potential donors would need to complete individualized risk assessments — regardless of gender or sexual orientation. People who have had anal sex with new partners or more than one partner in the last three months would be asked to wait to donate blood. The updated guidelines mean most gay and bisexual men who are in monogamous relationships with other men will no longer need to abstain from sex to donate blood. Previously, the […]

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Texas lesbian bar denied insurance for hosting drag shows, owner says

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The owner of Houston’s only lesbian bar says her business is in jeopardy after it was denied insurance coverage, and she’s putting the blame, in part, on an anti-drag bill moving through the Texas Legislature. “They outright denied us, the underwriters, because we host drag shows,” Julie Mabry, the owner of Pearl Bar, said in an interview with NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston.  Mabry has insurance through December, but she decided to switch agents a few months ago and shop around for a new policy, she told KPRC. It was during that process that her agent received the denial email, which […]

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Most dating apps have zero tolerance for transphobia

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Most top dating apps are entirely inclusive of trans people, which will come as terrible news to transphobes who are still raging over lesbian dating app HER’s ongoing support of its transgender users. In recent weeks, HER has faced the vitriol of anti-trans bigots expressing outrage that the platform, which has been trans-inclusive “since day one”, welcomes trans and non-binary people. And it’s not just HER. Leading dating apps such as Tinder, OkCupid, Hinge and Grindr are all trans inclusive and have zero-tolerance policies when it comes to transphobia on their platforms. The pile-on faced by HER resulted in its Twitter account […]

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Transgender youth sue over Montana gender-affirming care ban

Two transgender children, their parents and two health care providers filed a lawsuit Tuesday arguing that a Montana law that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth is unconstitutional. The ban on puberty blockers, hormone treatment and surgical procedures applies only to transgender youth being treated for gender dysphoria, but that same care can be provided to cisgender adolescents for any other purpose, according to the complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Montana and Lambda Legal. The ban serves no purpose other than to “intentionally burden a transgender person’s ability to seek necessary care to […]

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Rise of mpox cases in Chicago raises concern about possible summer spread

A recent uptick in mpox diagnoses in Chicago, some of them in people vaccinated against the virus, has raised concerns about a possible increase in cases among gay and bisexual men during the summer.  On Monday, Howard Brown Health, an LGBTQ-focused clinic in Chicago, reported eight new cases of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, since April 17. By comparison, only one case, also diagnosed at Howard Brown, was reported to the Chicago Public Health Department in the previous three months.  Public health experts expressed measured concern that, similar to other cases of infections that are transmitted through sexual contact, mpox […]

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