Features

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DOJ denies existence of transgender people in stunning court filing defending Trump’s military ban

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In a stunning 44-page court filing Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice denied the gender identities of every transgender plaintiff challenging the Trump administration’s military ban and went further, misgendering each of them and casting doubt on their military service records. Filed in Washington, D.C., federal district court, Talbott v. United States, the government’s response refers to the 32 plaintiffs only as “trans-identifying individuals.” It explicitly rejects their genders, stating, “Defendants deny that Plaintiff [Second Lieutenant Nicolas] Talbott is a man. Plaintiff Talbott is a female who identifies as a male.” In one section, the filing even questions whether some plaintiffs served “with distinction.” The challenged […]

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New Hampshire Republican governor signs gender-affirming care ban into law

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New Hampshire has become the first New England state to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 377 into law Friday, The Boston Globe reports. It bars health care providers from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone treatment to people under 18 if the medications are used for gender transition. It allows young people already receiving these treatments to continue past the law’s effective date, January 1, 2026. The law calls for disciplinary action by New Hampshire’s medical board for providers who violate it, but not criminal charges. It also lets anyone claiming to be harmed by a violation file suit. Additionally, she signed House Bill 712, which “limits […]

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Aging Mindfully: Zen-Inspired Senior Living Takes Shape in Simi Valley

Two Zen-inspired senior living communities are embracing the reality of aging — consciously. Ensō Village, open since 2023 in Sonoma County, and Ensō Verde, now taking shape in a hidden corner of Simi Valley. These communities — a collaboration of the renowned San Francisco Zen Center and Kendal, a visionary provider of communities, programs and services founded on Quaker values — focus on mindful aging, the joys of nature, environmental stewardship, contemplative care and healthy life choices for adults aged 60 and higher. Former actor and film producer Susan O’Connell spent a lifetime living, creatively in the film industry, and then intentionally as […]

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Britain Rolls Out “World-First” Gonorrhea Vaccine

The BBC reports: Gonorrhoea vaccines will be widely available from Monday in sexual health clinics across the UK, in a bid to tackle record-breaking levels of infections. The jabs will first be offered to those at highest risk – mostly gay and bisexual men who have a history of multiple sexual partners or sexually transmitted infections. NHS England say the roll out is a world-first, and predict it could prevent as many as 100,000 cases, potentially saving the NHS almost £8m over the next decade. The Terrence Higgins Trust, who campaigned for the vaccine to be introduced in the UK, told […]

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Cherry Vann becomes first woman and LGBTQ cleric named archbishop in Britain

Bishop Cherry Vann has been elected as archbishop of the Church in Wales, becoming the first woman and LGBTQ cleric appointed to lead any of Britain’s Anglican churches. While the broader, international Anglican Communion has had openly gay bishops before, most notably Gene Robinson in the United States, Vann will be the first lesbian to serve as archbishop globally. The Church in Wales, which broke away from the Church of England in 1920, elected Vann to the post on Wednesday. Vann was among the first women ordained as priests in the Church of England in 1994 and later served as […]

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More than a dozen states sue Trump administration to block trans care investigations

Officials in 16 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit Friday to block the Trump administration’s investigations into hospitals and doctors who provide transition-related care to minors. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that the administration, by threatening to prosecute providers, is trying to institute a national ban on puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for transgender minors even though Congress has enacted no such federal ban. “The federal government is running a cruel and targeted harassment campaign against providers who offer lawful, lifesaving care to children,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, […]

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Over 100,000 people march in biggest trans Pride event in history

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Over 100,000 people marched in London’s Trans+ Pride event on Saturday, making it the biggest trans Pride march in the world, according to The Guardian. The event’s theme, “Existence and Resistance,” was developed in response to the recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling that the legal definition of a woman in non-discrimination law is based on biological sex rather than gender identity. “It was an emotional and powerful day,” the event’s co-founder Lewis G. Burton told the aforementioned publication. “At a time when the Supreme Court is making sweeping decisions about trans people without consulting a single trans person or organisation, and when a […]

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New study ranks U.S. states with highest STI rates

Summertime means more sunshine, more socializing, and, according to medical researchers, more sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A new study by telehealth company Invigor Medical analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine how infection rates have evolved across the United States, and which states and cities have the highest rates of reported STIs. Examining the four most commonly tested STIs — chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV, — the study tracked how rates have changed over time, and where the infections are most concentrated in the U.S. According to the study, the overall number of reported STIs has […]

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More than 1 in 4 trans people live in states with ‘bathroom bans’

Nineteen states have laws that prohibit trans people from using the bathrooms that align with their gender identities in K-12 schools.Tilde Oyster / NBC News Nearly a decade after North Carolina passed its controversial “bathroom ban,” sparking nationwide backlash and corporate boycotts of the state, transgender bathroom restrictions have made a resurgence. Nineteen states have laws that prohibit trans people from using the bathrooms that align with their gender identities in K-12 schools, and in many of those states the restrictions apply to other government-owned buildings as well. As a result, more than 1 in 4 trans people live in states with […]

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How the Black AIDS Institute continues to fill in the gaps

Grazell Howard is a living embodiment of the Black AIDS Institute’s motto of “Our People. Our Problem. Our Solution.” Clear-eyed about the failures of a movement to truly address the needs of those most impacted by the virus, her assessment of this moment in which Black and brown communities are still disproportionately affected by HIV is simple.  “I think what we did, unintentionally, is we went to the largest disease-burdened group, which were men who have sex with men — and that’s fine, that’s what you’re supposed to do,” she said. “However, we never then came back and said, ‘It impacts all of us. We […]

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