Features

/ /

Parents of bullied trans teen who died by suicide sue Alabama school district

,

The parents of a transgender teen who died by suicide after persistent bullyingin school have sued a school district in Alabama. Carmeisha and Cory Williams filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama against the Elba City Board of Education and two past principals of Elba High School, Wynn Grimes and Warren Weeks. The Williamses are represented by Artur Davis at HKM Employment Attorneys and Matthew Billips, Constance Cooper, and Ben Stark at Barrett and Farahany. Their child, S.W., came out as gay and gender-neutral in seventh grade, according to the suit. They requested to be called Shane and use they/them pronouns. S.W. […]

/ /

‘Girl Scouts but Indoctrination’: A Christian Extremist Alternative

,

Growing up, Kenzie remembers dragging her feet as her mom sent her to American Heritage Girls (AHG) programs. “I describe it as Girl Scouts but indoctrination,” says Kenzie, a 20-year-old dance major from Oklahoma.  “Ever since I was little, I always knew I was queer; different from the people around me. … [In the eyes of AHG staff] it felt wrong to be feminine, but also wrong to be masculine.” AHG and Trail Life USA—a similar organization for boys—have troops in all 50 states and more than 110,000 members. They teach kids that homosexuality is sinful and that anything outside the gender […]

/ /

NYC opens first publicly funded homeless shelter for transgender people

Ace’s Place, which opened in Queens this week, will offer 150 beds, services like counseling and a work-study program.Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images New York City opened the country’s first city-funded shelter for transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness. Ace’s Place, which opened this week in Queens and will offer 150 beds, is a collaboration between the NYC Department of Social Services and Destination Tomorrow, an LGBTQ nonprofit in the Bronx. Ace’s Place will provide transitional housing as well as other services including individual and group counseling, planning and assistance for permanent housing, referrals to medical and mental health services, […]

/ /

A Supplementary Resource to “Identity Document Guidance for Transgender, Nonbinary, Gender-Nonconforming, and Intersex People”

In the wake of recent federal policy changes, many transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and intersex (TGNCNBI) people are asking: What practical steps can I take to protect myself, minimize risks, and prepare for what’s ahead? This guide offers practical strategies for travel, documentation, and safety planning in 2025. Whether you’re renewing a passport, preparing for a trip, or deciding how and when to update your documents, this resource is here to support your decisions—with tools to help you stay informed, prepared, and empowered. Note: This document is for informational purposes only and not legal advice. Consult an attorney licensed in your state for […]

/ /

LinkedIn exposes transgender users to targeted harassment after company quietly changes hate speech policy

,

LinkedIn, the popular professional networking platform, has quietly stripped explicit protections for transgender and nonwhite users from its English-language hate speech rules, repeating a playbook now familiar to LGBTQ+ advocates tracking the rollback of content safeguards across major social mediaplatforms. The changes, first flagged by the nonprofit Open Terms Archive and independently confirmed by The Advocate, involve edits to LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies, specifically the “Hateful and Derogatory Content” and “Harassment and Abusive Content” sections. In both, references to protections for transgender people and people of color were either weakened or removed entirely. Before Monday, the site’s “Hateful and Derogatory Content” page included a line explicitly prohibiting the “misgendering […]

/ /

U.K. to begin major study on health of transgender youth

,

A major study of the health of transgender and gender-nonconforming young people in the United Kingdom will begin later this year. The study will include up to 3,000 children and teens whose gender identity differs from the gender they were assigned at birth and have turned to the country’s National Health Service for treatment, The New York Times reports. Researchers will look at participants’ physical, mental, and social health. It will be funded by the NHS and the U.K. government’s clinical research agency and will be conducted by King’s College London as part of a larger King’s College project to determine how the NHS can best […]

/ /

Why are Visa and Mastercard banning ‘adult’ purchases? Here’s everything you need to know

,

Earlier this month, a set of payment processors, including Visa and Mastercard, forced video game marketplaces to remove thousands of adult video games from their storefronts. The financial companies forced gaming marketplaces Steam and Itch.io to remove their library of Not Safe For Work (NSFW) video games, or else customers would be prevented from using their credit cards to make purchases on the platforms. Itch.io was forced to “deindex” its entire NSFW library, saying it was vital to “ensure we can continue to operate and provide a marketplace for all developers.” “This is a time critical moment for itch.io. The situation developed […]

/ /

Kansas police severely damage ‘Transgender House’ in standoff with murder suspect

,

A famed “Transgender House” in Kansas suffered massive damage during a police standoff with a murder suspect. Images captured by local news show the landmark with shattered windows and broken entryways. The Topeka Police Department said the building, called the Mott House, was damaged after Carlos Slaughter, a homicide suspect, barricaded himself inside the house. The 51-year-old was wanted in connection to his wife’s death. Slaughter’s wife died after a house fire in Oklahoma City. Authorities found Kellie Slaughter with critical “injuries consistent with homicide,” and she was pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Topeka Police were informed Carlos […]

/ /

Inclusive church turns hateful graffiti into Pride mural: “We make beautiful things out of the dust”

,

After an LGBTQ+-inclusive church in Austin, Texas, was vandalized on Thursday, the community came together to transform the act of hate into something beautiful. The vandals tore down the Pride flag at Life in the City UMC and graffitied “Pride was the 1st sin” on the front of the building. Afterward, volunteers joined the church for a “creative restoration project” to transform the graffiti into a mural featuring two Progress Pride flags flanking the church doorway. “At Life in the City, we strive to welcome those on the outside to the inside of the circle because Jesus’ greatest commandment was […]

/ /

Court blocks termination of LGBTQ-related NIH health research grants

,

A U.S. District Court judge in Maryland Friday blocked the National Institutes of Health from terminating grants that fund research addressing the health of sexual and gender minorities, including HIV research. The ruling came in GLMA v. NIH, a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal and law firms Crowell & Moring LLP and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP on behalf of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality and 16 individual health researchers whose funding was eliminated or whose grant applications have been unlawfully withheld from review. The judge issued the ruling orally after two hearings in the case, and a written order is forthcoming, according to a Lambda Legal press release. The suit was filed in […]

«‹ 34 35 36 37›»