If you own stocks in your retirement or investment accounts, annual meeting notices will fill your inbox each spring – and if you’re like most of us, you likely don’t pay them much attention. These notices or “proxy statements” are pretty dense documents, providing financial results and more but they are also your chance to vote as an owner on the policies and actions of these companies. Think of it as shareholder democracy. Each year, you have a say in who leads the company and in what direction.
As our corporations become bigger and more powerful, their actions have ever larger impacts on our lives – who gets hired and promoted, how our planet is treated and how representative corporate leadership is of our communities and concerns. And while we’ve been skipping those annual meeting votes, activists who oppose our rights have been paying attention.
Since the 1970s, when groups of shareholders pressed companies they had invested in to divest from South African apartheid, climate, human rights and workers rights advocates have followed their lead. Shareholders have the right to submit proposals to their companies asking for transparency and changes in policies that will lead to better practices and better profitability.
Recently, right wing groups have adopted similar methods to try to force companies to turn back progress. In our current chaotic political climate, they have put us all at risk. One of their tools have been these very same shareholder proposals combined with often vicious lobbying campaigns that can intimidate corporate managers into surrendering and bring harm to our communities.
The good news is that investors have already been pushing back this year at some early annual meetings such as Apple, Disney, Levi’s and Costco, voting in large majorities to protect employment equity and inclusion.
At John Deere & Co (NYSE:DE) where management has given in to anti-LGBTQ activists’ demands, investors sent a loud and clear message. 98.7% of shareholders voted down an anti-DEI proposal from a right wing organization.
Now it’s your chance to help.
It’s easy but powerful. If you own shares, your broker or bank will send you a notice in your mail or email announcing the annual meeting and including a ballot. The Proxy Bulletin they provide will include copies of the shareholder proposals and a company response to each. They’ll also list candidates for the Board of Directors. The ballot will give you instructions to safely cast your vote online or by mail. (The high drama of Succession style annual meetings are mostly a thing of the past.) Once you take a look at the candidates and the proposals, simply check off your preferences and submit your vote.
Among this year’s proposals, shareholders at Lowe’s, Tractor Supply and Best Buy are being asked to vote on an LGBTQ+ Nondiscrimination Report. These three proposals have been submitted by the AFL-CIO and “urge the Board of Directors to prepare a report on the Company’s efforts to prevent harassment and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.” The proposals note the documented benefits to companies that do not discriminate and on the Tractor Supply filing, they comment “Transgender people are as likely to live in rural areas as cisgender people, and face the same levels of discrimination as in non-rural areas. Public opinion survey research has found that rural identified respondents are broadly supportive of LGBTQ+ rights.”
Proposals such as these are one very effective way to counter the false claims that companies should back away from the concerns of the communities where they operate. As Andy Behar, CEO of As You Sow noted: “Shareholders understand that diversity and inclusion are material to profitable growth. Anyone who’s looking at the data, which the companies and shareholders are, comes to the conclusion that greater diversity leads to financial outperformance.”
There are a total of 354 such shareholder proposals this year addressing human rights, diversity and inclusion, climate change and good governance for publicly traded companies. Votes like the ones at Costco or Deere speak directly to the Board members where we invest. And on those ballots, we can also vote for or against the Board members themselves. Our votes may not always add up to the impressive totals we’ve seen above, but those Board members notice when investors’ votes show up.
Don’t own individual stocks? Have a mutual fund 401K or other pension? Email your fund manager and let them know you want your investments to support our rights and a better future. Remember as investors we are the owners and expect to be heard.
If you would like more information on this year’s shareholder proposals, you can download ICCR’s Proxy Resolutions And Voting Guide, which lists a large selection of companies. proposals and proposal filers. If you want to dig deeper, As You Sow and Proxy Impact publish a Proxy Preview each year with information on trends in proposals and this year, discusses the attempts by the new administration’s SEC to limit shareholder rights.
Southern states in the US are “facing a sexual health crisis”, according to a new study.
The study compared sexual health resources, STD prevalence, reproductive outcomes, abortion policy and reproductive rights by state.
A recent study by adult store Lion’s Den analysed and ranked US states based on their sexual risk factors, identifying “where residents may face higher dangers related to sexual activity and highlighting regional disparities in sexual safety across America”. It’s a timely study, given that relationship experts previously predicted the “politicisation of sex” prior to President Trump’s inauguration.
The riskiest state to have sex is Louisiana, according to the study, with the highest STI rates in the country at 795 per 100K people. Louisiana has a full abortion ban, as per the New York Times, and abortion is banned in almost every circumstance.
The second riskiest state is Mississippi, which leads in teen births at 26.4 per 1000 teenagers who were assigned female at birth. The state also has a full abortion ban. Meanwhile, the third riskiest state is Arkansas, which also has a full abortion ban.
The second-largest state in the US, Texas, is the sixth-riskiest state. The Lone Star State has the least sexual health clinics available, with just 0.4 for each 100K residents. As a result of the lack of medical support, the state also has high rates of teenage pregnancies, with 20.4 for every 1000 teenagers assigned female at birth.
Pete Potenzini, marketing director at Lion’s Den, said: “Southern states face a sexual health crisis where residents are three times more likely to contract an STD compared to New England states, with particularly alarming rates in Louisiana and Mississippi.
“Limited healthcare access compounds these risks, as exemplified by Texas, where residents must travel significantly farther to reach sexual health clinics than the national average. These geographical disparities create dangerous ‘sexual health deserts’ where education, prevention, and treatment remain critically out of reach for vulnerable populations.”
This week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed legislation allowing healthcare professionals in the state to deny care to patients if it conflicts with the providers’ personal morals, ethics, or religious beliefs.
That includes the use of pronouns in a medical setting.
The new law, which applies to doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and insurance companies, went into effect with the governor’s signature.
The legislation’s Republican sponsor is a physician who cited the threat of “moral injury” posed to healthcare professionals who may not share their patients’ personal or religious beliefs.
“Patients and providers have rights. Providers should not give up their rights to best serve their patients,” Terry said.
The law could result in women being denied medically necessary abortions and LGBTQ+ people being turned away for preventative care like pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.
Denying care for any reason is a clear violation of the Hippocratic Oath, which prioritizes patients’ well-being and mandates healthcare professionals “do no harm,” said Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, a primary care physician in Tennessee.
“When legislation is not patient-centered, it’s morally compromised to begin with,” Dr. Bono told WKRN News.
“Politicians need to stop dictating medical care, and this bill allows politicians to take their intrusive efforts even further to dictate medical conscience. In my opinion and the way I like to practice medicine is to honor the patient first. That’s where my conscience lies,” Bono said.
The so-called “conscience clause” does not apply in emergency situations or if an insurance provider is contractually obligated to cover the cost of a specific treatment.
But it could be used in the case of a healthcare professional asked by a patient to share their pronouns.
“I used the term ‘conscientious objection’ to describe my position on the practice of being forced to announce my own pronouns, but this was seen as a barrier to patient care,” said Dr. Jonathan Shaw, an OBGYN who testified before the House Health Committee as the bill made its way through the Tennessee Legislature.
“The ability to do my job was called into question, and human resources were consulted,” Dr. Shaw said. “The implication was clear: conscience needs to be limited — or consider an alternative career path. I decided to look for a job elsewhere.”
Tennessee became the ninth state to enshrine a “conscience clause” for medical professionals into law. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed similar legislation in April 2023.
The anti-LGBTQ+ organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has been an active proponent in the passage of those laws and several others moving through state houses.
How those laws affect insurance coverage is a question that’s currently under consideration at the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, the Court heard oral arguments in Kennedy v. Braidwood, a case to decide whether the plaintiff, Texas business Braidwood Management, must provide insurance coverage to employees for PrEP.
The company claims that doing so would conflict with their religious beliefs because the preventative care “encourages and facilitates homosexual behavior.”
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump to implement his ban on transgender people serving in the military.
The justices granted an emergency request from the Trump administration to lift a nationwide injunction blocking the policy while litigation continues.
The court’s brief order noted that the three liberal justices dissented.
“No more trans @ DoD,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X. In a separate Defense Department post earlier Tuesday, before the decision was issued, Hegseth said in a video: “No more dudes in dresses. We are done with that s—.”
Just over 4,000 transgender people currently serve in the military, according to Defense Department data, though some activists put the figure much higher. There are around 2.1 million active service members in total.
Among those affected with be the seven individual transgender service members, led by lead plaintiff Emily Shilling, a Navy commander, who had sued to block it.
“Transgender service members have served this nation with courage, skill, and selflessness for years,” Shilling said in a statement Tuesday. “We’ve flown combat missions, led sailors, commanded troops, and stood watch. We are not a theory. We are not a policy debate. We are real people, doing real jobs, in defense of a nation we still believe in, even when it struggles to believe in us.”
“I know this decision will cause fear and doubt in the ranks. To those feeling shaken, I say this: stand tall. You are not alone. You are part of a community that will fight for you, stand beside you, and never stop pushing forward,” she added.
Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, two groups representing the plaintiffs, said in a joint statement that the Supreme Court decision was a “devastating blow” to transgender service members.
The policy “has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice,” they added.
In a separate case, a judge in Washington, D.C., also blocked the policy nationwide, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit put that ruling on hold temporarily while it heard arguments on whether to block it more permanently.The court has yet to rule.
The policy, announced in February, is much more comprehensive ban than a similar proposal implemented during the first Trump term. It “generally disqualifies from military service individuals who have gender dysphoria or have undergone medical interventions for gender dysphoria,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in court papers.
In asking the Supreme Court to intervene, Sauer said that judges are required to show “substantial deference” to the Defense Department’s judgment on military issues.
In implementing the policy, the government relied on a Pentagon report from the first Trump term that said people with gender dysphoria are a threat to “military effectiveness and lethality.”
The challengers argued in court that the ban violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which requires that laws apply equally to everybody, as well as other constitutional provisions.
Transgender service members have shown in recent years that they can serve just as well as anyone else, their lawyers said in court papers. Then-President Joe Biden had rolled back Trump’s earlier restrictions.
“An unprecedented degree of animus towards transgender people animates and permeates the ban: it is based on the shocking proposition that transgender people do not exist,” the lawyers wrote.
A federal judge in Washington state blocked the policy March 27, saying “it is not an especially close question.” The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the ruling on hold, prompting the Trump administration to turn to the Supreme Court.
The Trump administration escalated its assault on transgender youth Thursday with the release of a controversial new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that promotes conversion therapy and discredits gender-affirming care. Advocates and experts have said the report is filled with misinformation about both.
Commissioned under President Donald Trump’s January Executive Order 14187, the 409-page report falsely claims medical transition is harmful and unproven, and promotes “exploratory therapy”—a rebranded version of conversion practices widely condemned by major medical associations.
The order directed HHS to attack WPATH’s standards of care, revoke federal funding for transition-related treatments, and reshape public health policy to align with Trump’s political agenda.
NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who has no background in gender-affirming care, introduced the report. Bhattacharya rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a co-author of the controversial Great Barrington Declaration, which pushed to lift lockdowns and allow widespread infection to build herd immunity—a position sharply rejected by public health experts.
The HHS report claims that gender-affirming care lacks evidence of benefit, but makes this argument by dismissing peer-reviewed research and reframing therapeutic approaches as medical risks. It labels the gender-affirming care model as experimental and portrays puberty blockers and hormone treatments as unethical interventions pushed by activists rather than doctors. While the document stops short of issuing policy mandates, critics say it lays the groundwork for future federal restrictions.
Notably, the report endorses what it calls “gender exploratory therapy,” which it positions as an alternative to what it derides as “affirmation-only” approaches. But experts say this is simply conversion therapy under a new name. “They can call it whatever they want,” said Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute. “The idea is the same—it is a practice with a predetermined goal: to try to change who someone is. That is the definition of conversion therapy.” Baker warned that the rebranding is a deliberate attempt to avoid the legal and political liabilities now associated with a discredited and widely banned practice.
In its press release, HHS emphasized that the report’s authors would remain anonymous. While unnamed authorship on agency reviews is not unprecedented, a former HHS official told The Advocate it is highly irregular for the department to spotlight the anonymity.
Medical and legal experts immediately denounced the report’s implications.
“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people.”
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called the document “discredited junk science.”
“A report in the suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”
Janna Barkin, author of He’s Always Been My Son and A Grand Love, has a 27-year-old transgender son who transitioned as a minor. In an interview with The Advocate, Barkin called the report “deeply troubling” and “extremely disappointing.”
“My child was struggling, depressed, and anxious until he received thoughtful, lifesaving care,” Barkin said. “We found medical professionals who helped guide our decisions, and after he got the care he needed, his light came back. He was able to live fully and happily as the man he is.”
She warned that this kind of government interference not only undermines science but endangers lives.
“I feel like trans people are being used to push an agenda that seeks to eliminate not just trans people, but other marginalized communities as well,” Barkin said. “It is terrifying. Trans kids are waking up afraid. Trans adults are afraid. This administration’s focus on erasing people is not about protecting children—it’s about control.”
The Trevor Project warned the report may further endanger trans youth, who already face high rates of suicide. Research consistently shows that gender-affirming care improves mental health outcomes, while conversion efforts increase the risk of depression and suicide.
“It is deeply troubling to see the country’s top authority on health publish a collection of recommendations that seemingly have no basis in following established health care best practices, science, or input from providers who actually administer the type of health care in question,” director of law and policy at The Trevor Project, Casey Pick, said in a statement. “This report not only rejects health care best practices for transgender people — it goes a step further by recommending conversion therapy, though under a new, rebranded name, ‘exploratory therapy’. Despite the report’s claims, this is, in fact, the same harmful practice of conversion therapy, just using friendlier language.”
Baker, a nationally recognized, Johns Hopkins-educated expert on health equity, told The Advocate the HHS report is “a political document pretending to be science.”
“This is conversion therapy under a different name,” Baker, who is trans, said. “It is a cynical, dangerous attempt to rebrand a practice that’s been proven to harm people and dress it up as ‘exploration.’ But the intent is the same: to deny trans youth the care they need.”
Baker emphasized that “every major U.S. medical association supports gender-affirming care because it saves lives and affirms dignity.”
“This document does the opposite,” he said. “It undermines trust, spreads misinformation, and leaves families and providers wondering if they’ll be prosecuted for doing the right thing.”
“It’s gaslighting, plain and simple,” said Barkin. “They’re trying to paint care as danger and danger as protection.”
The Endocrine Society, the world’s oldest and largest organization of hormone researchers and clinicians, also weighed in. “Representing 18,000 members who treat and research diabetes, obesity, fertility, bone health, hormone-related cancers, as well as gender dysphoria, the Endocrine Society believes in access to health care, and that medical decisions should be made by the clinician and the patient’s family based on scientific evidence,” the organization said in a statement to The Advocate. It is currently reviewing the report.
Adrian Shanker, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the Biden administration, criticized the administration’s approach: “Trans people, like all Americans, deserve the highest quality health care and deserve to know the science behind our health decisions, which is why this report is so concerning—it’s a compilation of junk science parading as a scientific report.”
Shanker also highlighted procedural issues, noting that the report’s conclusions were predetermined by the executive order: “This administration has missed no opportunities to remove the rights and health of trans people, and they’ve really proven just how far they will go for an anti-trans agenda.”
Shanker emphasized, “Efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity have been attempted for decades, and in every instance they’ve caused harm. Conversion therapy doesn’t convert anyone, and it’s not therapy; it’s just harm.”
Janice Goldberg still remembers the first moment she laid eyes on her partner Sue.
It was over 45 years ago in the small beach town of Ocean City, Maryland. Janice had gotten a job waiting tables at an upscale restaurant after spending the first part of her summer in Europe. She wasn’t quite sure what the future had in store for her – then “there she was.”
Sue, who lived in Florida at the time, had travelled up the coast to spend the summer in Ocean City with her then-boyfriend. The two decided one day to treat themselves to a meal at a fancier restaurant, and happened to walk into the one where Janice worked. “The rest is, as they say, history.”
Janice started as Sue’s waiter, but it wasn’t long before she became her lover. Today, she’s her caregiver.
Sue began showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease about ten years ago. Since then, Janice has had to balance her work as both a theater director and a tour guide with caring for the love of her life. She recently agreed to take part in the upcoming PBS documentary Mind Over Matter: My Alzheimer’s to shed a light on her experience – and hopefully help end the “stigma” surrounding it.
“I want people to recognize that it’s a journey. I want people to recognize the difficulty of it, and I want to take away some of the fear that’s involved,” Janice tells The Advocate. “I also think that it’s important for people to see how caregivers and their loved ones can deal with it and what they do to make things manageable for themselves.”
The documentary is the third in a series from award-winning co-directors Anna Moot-Levin and Laura Green that focuses on neurodegenerative diseases. The film follows Janice and Sue’s journey alongside two other pairs of parent and child as they all navigate life with the conditions.
One of the film’s central themes is “how people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia continue to lead meaningful lives where they’re connected to others and connected to activities and things that they enjoy and love,” Moot-Levin says. This doesn’t just mean patients, as “there’s an impact on the immediate family, there’s an impact on the person’s community, and there’s a real loss in the experience of the people who are surrounding the person with that illness.”
“Each of them have such a deeply loving relationship and they find a way to maintain that relationship even as one person changes with dementia,” Green adds. “I think that people are very dismissive of the sort of personhood of people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and they don’t always see and interact with them. There’s a lot more recognizing the humanity of people living with Alzheimer’s that we need to do.”
Including Janice and Sue’s relationship also showcases “what an LGBTQrelationship is like in aging,” Green says, which there unfortunately aren’t many examples of in media. The filmmakers wanted to examine the “differences” that arise in later stages of life for queer people, to which Janice asserts, “We’re older. That’s the difference.”
The directors initially connected with Janice and Sue over two years ago through SAGE, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ elders that offers support groups for people with neurodegenerative diseases. While Janice greatly appreciates having a group of queer people she can relate to, she says that she never pictured herself ending up in such a group.
“I thought I’d get through my whole life without ‘therapy,’” Janice says. “Turns out you don’t.”
While Janice notes that “the battle is the same for everybody, and it’s vastly different for everybody all at the same time,” all the caregivers she knows have experienced a similar feeling of loss. This isn’t just from the changes in their loved ones, but the changes in themselves that Moot-Levin has dubbed a “transformation of identity.”
“For this particular disease, it’s hard as hell on the caregiver because the person who has the disease oftentimes does not know they have the disease. They think they’re fine, so they can live a peaceful, happy life,” Janice says. “I don’t know any caregiver who lives a peaceful, happy life.”
While Janice knew that the film was an “important project,” she says she mainly wanted to participate because it seemed “fun” – and it was “something good to do with Sue since she needs some engagement.”
Sue was a gracious host even when she didn’t remember that a documentary team was in her home, as Green says that she would frequently offer the crew snacks and refreshments. “She would sometimes forget that we were there and then be surprised that we were there, but still be a consummate hostess with the revelation that there was a camera crew in her apartment,” Green recalls.
What was “remarkable” for Janice about the process was being able to watch the documentary once it was finished and see Sue’s progression. When filming began, Sue was still verbal. Now, Janice says “words are difficult for her,” and that she mostly speaks in “gibberish.”
“To have to watch that, I found very moving and sad, but I was grateful that I saw it so there’s a documentation of that,” Janice says.
Through the film, Janice hopes to draw attention to what people caring for loved ones with neurodegenerative diseases go through. The process is “draining on families,” she says, especially if “you’re under a certain income” or if “ people have to quit jobs to care for people and then there’s no income.”
The filmmakers also hope to erase some of the stigma surrounding such conditions, as Moot-Levin emphasizes “we need to support people through that sense of loss.”
“People often want to hide themselves as they begin to get dementia. People feel shame and embarrassment,” Green says. “Being more accepting so that we can have a society that people are more fully integrated in and less lonely and less isolated really would be wonderful.”Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s will debut as part of the Independent Lens series on PBS May 5.
A trans woman says that a hotel in Atlanta turned her away after seeing that the gender marker on her ID didn’t match her appearance, with the front desk worker telling her that “people like you can’t stay here,” despite her having booked in advance. Now she’s speaking out about the potential housing discrimination she faced.
Alabama native Sadie Vice traveled to Atlanta on March 3, 2025, to visit friends and take part in a charity show to raise funds for a friend with cancer. She booked a room with Extended Stay America Atlanta-Northlake via Expedia.
She traveled all day that day, getting a ride with her father from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham, where she took a Greyhound bus from Birmingham to Atlanta. After hours on the bus, she took a Lyft from the bus station to the Extended Stay.
After that day of traveling, Vice was ready to relax in a hotel room. But instead of relaxation, she faced discrimination.
She went from the Lyft to the check-in desk with her reservation information, but she was turned away when she tried to check-in. Vice says that the agent at the desk first claimed that they didn’t have any rooms. Confused, Vice said there must have been a mistake because she made a reservation and nobody had contacted her to cancel it. When she produced her reservation number, the agent looked at it and asked to see her ID. Sadie says that the agent, who wasn’t wearing a name badge, then told her, “Your reservation was canceled because people like you can’t stay here.”
Sadie Vice | Sadie Vice
The desk agent then noted that Vice had another reservation at the same Extended Stay America later in that month, from March 25 to 28. The agent told her that she needed to cancel that reservation because, as Sadie puts it, “people like me couldn’t stay there.”
By the time she was turned away, Vice had traveled over 200 miles. She was told that there was no manager available and that she needed to find a new place to stay. While she considered pushing the issue at the time, she told LGBTQ Nation, “They were not going to let me stay there, period.”
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Vice completed her full medical transition back in 2010. She moved around the Southeast, spending time in Florida and Georgia, and earned the title of Miss Trans Atlanta in 2017. In 2020, she became extremely ill, first with COVID-19 and then with cancer. Vice has since returned to Tuscaloosa, and after battling her illnesses, she went on to become Miss Trans Alabama in 2024.
While she was able to have her correct gender listed on her state ID cards during her time in Georgia and Florida, Alabama’s restrictive ID laws require gender markers to match the one assigned at birth. This, of course, creates a mismatch between Vice’s ID and her gender presentation.
A few days after being turned away from the Extended Stay America in Atlanta and after multiple of Vice’s friends left complaints about the discrimination through Google reviews and the company’s contact page, a man identifying himself as Edward, the assistant general manager for the Extended Stay America, Atlanta-Northlake location, called and left a voicemail for Sadie on March 5.
In the message, Edward said that the hotel was contacted by their corporate office about Vice being denied service. While Sadie talked to a woman at the front desk, Edward claimed that he was working at the front desk that day and that the staff didn’t remember any guests checking in with any reservations. He also said that he remembered her name because it was a reservation “that I canceled because we didn’t have any rooms available.”
Vice had made her reservations with Extended Stay America, Atlanta-Northlake on February 15 through Expedia. That booking was confirmed, and she says she never received any notice of cancellation prior to her arrival. Moreover, it would be strange if no one checked in to the Extended Stay that day, especially considering that Edward claimed that they were fully booked.
Edward said that he checked their security camera footage but that nobody had tried to check in during that time window. He suggested that she might not have had the right location or that he might have been on a break when she showed up.
In a separate voicemail left on March 23, Edward suggested Vice spoke with another guest rather than an employee of Extended Stay America, pointing out that an employee should have been wearing a name badge.
Some of these explanations offered by the assistant manager seem contradictory. He suggested Vice went to the wrong location, but he also said in the first voicemail that he remembered canceling her reservation. Vice’s Lyft receipt, which LGBTQ Nation has viewed, shows that she was taken to the address of Extended Stay America Atlanta-Northlake.
Also, if she had talked to a guest and not an employee like Edward suggested, it’s not clear how they would have been able to pull up her information and see that she had a second reservation for late March.
Fortunately, after being turned away by Extended Stay America despite booking in advance, she was able to get a room at the nearby Days Inn and performed at the charity show as planned. But moving to a different hotel was a stressful experience that meant spending more on a last-minute room, and nobody should have to suffer being rejected over bigotry.
“It is terrible anyone can have their hotel reservation canceled without notice over what body part may or may not be in between their legs,” Vice said.
While some of the fault in this situation appears to fall with individuals at the hotel, there’s also a growing systemic problem that has resulted from recent political changes. People are feeling emboldened to speak their anti-trans thoughts out loud.
Moreover, the situation shows how anti-trans laws – including those that restrict trans people’s ability to get correct IDs – lead to real-world discrimination. Vice says that the agent only confirmed she was being turned away after looking at her Alabama ID, which lists her as male. Vice only moved back to Alabama to deal with health issues resulting from her cancer treatment, and the tradeoff for caring for her health is living in a state that won’t let her gender marker match her gender presentation. Those rules put trans people at risk for discrimination and violence by having their IDs out them to strangers.
“This is the world we live in now,” Vice said, citing the current presidential administration.
LGBTQ Nation contacted Extended Stay America for comment but got no response. This article will be updated if they respond.
t’s well documented that LGBTQ+ young people are at greater risk of mental health problems and suicidal ideation or attempts than their straight and cisgender peers. Now a new research brief from the Trevor Project shows how economic insecurity correlates with that.
“Overall, economic insecurity was associated with worse mental health for LGBTQ+ young people, even after adjusting for age, sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity, and census region,” the report notes.
Experiencing food insecurity was associated with 69 percent higher odds of experiencing depression, 68 percent higher odds of experiencing anxiety, 60 percent higher odds of having considered suicide in the past year, and 71 percent higher odds of attempting suicide in the past year.
Ever experiencing houselessness was associated with 47 percent higher odds of experiencing depression, 67 percent higher odds of having considered suicide in the past year, and over twice the odds of attempting suicide in the past year.
Being unable to meet basic economic needs was associated with 50 percent higher odds of experiencing depression, 41 percent higher odds of experiencing anxiety, 42 percent higher odds of having considered suicide in the past year, and 52 percent higher odds of attempting suicide in the past year.
Forty percent of LGBTQ+ young people reported a history of food insecurity, houselessness, or unmet basic needs. Transgender and nonbinary youth had 77 percent greater odds of experiencing food insecurity, 73 percent greater odds of ever having been houseless, and 67 percent greater odds of having unmet basic needs compared to cisgender LGB young people.
The high rates of economic insecurity the researchers saw weren’t surprising, says Derrick Matthews, director of research science at the Trevor Project, but their correlation with mental health issues and suicidal ideation or attempts was. “That was pretty alarming to me,” he says.
There’s a common misconception that LGBTQ+ people are better off financially than their cisgender and straight counterparts, but research has shown that’s not true, “and being transgender, a person of color, or bisexual are all factors found to be associated with higher rates of poverty,” according to the report. But this research has often excluded youth, and the chief measure of economic security for adults, income level, doesn’t work with young people, Matthews says. So the staff decided to use the factors of food insecurity, houselessness, and inability to meet economic needs to tell the stories of LGBTQ+ youth. “We looked at stories we didn’t have a chance to tell yet,” he notes.
The 2024 survey reflects data was collected at the end of 2023, and now, with cuts to social programs and LGBTQ+ services by Donald Trump’s administration, plus the economic instability caused by Trump’s back-and-forth on tariffs, the situation may well become worse. “I think it’s concerning, to say the least,” Matthews says. He points out the spikes in calls and texts the Trevor Project saw after Trump’s election and then his inauguration.
“Any reduction in support [for LGBTQ+ youth] at the state or federal level is going to have really scary consequences for a lot of young people out there,” he says.
Also, homophobic and transphobic forces are pushing the narrative that LGBTQ+ identity itself causes mental health problems rather than the true cause, “the way society treats us,” says Matthews, a Black gay man.
“There is no 13-year-old in the world who’s responsible for these things,” he says. “This is a failure of society and how we structure policy.”
This atmosphere, however, doesn’t negate the need to push for policies that affirm LGBTQ+ people and alleviate economic insecurity, he adds. “The services that we still do have need our investment and support,” he says. And he notes that research has shown that for LGBTQ+ youth, having even one supportive adult in their life can reduce the risk of suicide. “Show up for young people, and advocate for resources to be restored,” he urges. The report points out the beneficial effect of food and nutrition assistance, housing assistance, and basic cash assistance for both young people and adults. Resources for LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness are available here.
“It’s easy to lose hope,” Matthews says, “but I’m a prisoner of hope.”
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678.
Since June 1, 2022, GLAAD’s ALERT Desk has tracked 150+ anti-LGBTQ incidents targeting affirming faith-based communities in the US. These include 54 cases of vandalism, 38 cases of threats and harassment, 37 protests, 7 attempted arsons, 3 assaults, and 2 bomb threats.
For the access to the full dataset, please contact press@glaad.org.
This is an update to GLAAD’s original reporting in early 2024, showing 60+ anti-LGBTQ+ incidents targeting religious institutions. Since then, more than 90 incidents have come to light.
Nearly half of all LGBTQ Americans (48%) are religiously affiliated, according to a 2023 PRRI poll. This same study found that strong majorities of all Americans, including most people of faith, support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals.
Notable Anti-LGBTQ Incidents Targeting Affirming Religious Communities
3/9/25: Multiple people made death threats against the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Park Ridge, New Jersey, after the local Moms for Liberty chapter posted about the church’s Pride flag and falsely claimed it supported “pedophilia.” One of the threats claimed that the church must be punished “with gasoline and a match.”
1/22/25: Multiple people sent death threats to Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde at the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C., following her sermon during President Trump’s inauguration where she called for mercy on LGBTQ and immigrant people.
9/7/24: A person vandalized the Pride-themed walkway leading to the Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut. The graffiti read: “Fuck f****ts,” and occurred a week prior to the church’s Pride event.
8/17/24: A person tore down a Pride flag at the home of a local rabbi in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, and blew it up with fireworks. They then x’d out the word “gay” on the flag with spray paint.
7/28/24: A person stole Pride flags and left anti-LGBTQ letters at two churches in Natick, Massachusetts. At First Congregational Church and Christ Lutheran Church, multiple Pride flags were damaged and replaced with a banner that read: “Jesus is King.”
6/17/24: A person was arrested for planning a mass murder targeting LGBTQ people, religious institutions, hospitals, schools, and supermarkets in Owosso, Michigan. Police reported that they found an Israeli flag in the suspect’s home with the words “anti-Jew f****t killer” and “death to you all.”
Despite the fear these incidents aim to inspire, they instead shed light on the heroic figures at the head of these groundbreaking and affirming faith-based communities. The ALERT Desk sat down with leaders from across the religious spectrum to speak about their experiences with anti-LGBTQ hate and how they overcome it to serve all people.
Photo by Rev. Mark Suriano, First Congregation United Church of Christ in Park Ridge, NJ
“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
These are the words that Rev. Mark Suriano used to open his sermon at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, the Sunday after his church received death threats regarding their Pride flag.
Rev. Suriano continued: “I have always loved [this] quote from Martin Luther King Jr., in theory. When he speaks of ‘an inescapable network of mutuality’ and ‘a single garment of destiny,’ my heart has always warmed. But this past week, I, for the first time, had the most palpable sense of these ideas in action… It was a weekend of terror, grief, and [exhaustion.] But, in the midst of all that, the outpouring of support far surpassed the hateful and violent rhetoric against us.”
“I remain emotional about this physical manifestation of the ‘inescapable network of mutuality’ and the ‘seamless garment of destiny’ of which Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke. I also am overwhelmed by the beautiful truth that what affects one of us directly affects all of us indirectly.”
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA) echoed Rev. Suriano’s sentiments. “Bullying and discrimination have no place in the body of Christ, but, sadly, reminders are still needed. Jesus’ command that we love one another does not come with a caveat about who we are to love. Recent acts of violence at churches that affirm the LGBTQIA+ community and the congregations’ supportive ministries must not be tolerated. As a church, we must be even more committed to lifting up the dignity, safety and humanity of our LGBTQIA+ siblings or we will be worse off as a church and as a nation.”
Rev. Terri Steed Pierce, an out pastor at the Joy Metropolitan Community Church in Orlando, Florida, has faced her fair share of hate, including demonstrators trying to disrupt her Sunday service in recent weeks. She summed it up neatly: “We say ‘all people are welcome here,’ but all behaviors aren’t and that means those that come with hate… Those who have a problem with that can take it up with Jesus.”
Photo by the Sikh LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project,“Becoming Boundless: How LGBTQIA+ Sikhs Negotiate Duality through Sikhi in an Ego-driven, Binary World”
prabhdeep singh kehal leads the Sikh LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project and has seen firsthand the power of having religious leaders condemn anti-LGBTQ hate. “Working with LGBTQIA+ Sikh voices is an honor and one of the most rewarding experiences I have had in my life,” says kehal. “In a time when governments are using LGBTQIA+ communities as fodder to consolidate their own conservative, theocratic agendas, it is queer and trans affirming spaces that keep the energy to fight back going. And that is why politicians and conservatives target the places of safety for which we have fought to create – within and outside faith-based spaces.”
“Faith leaders are at an important position in challenging these pathologizing, theocratic interpretations of LGBTQIA+ lives because ‘God’ is being used again to turn an entire group of people into a target for those already in power… Their voices and positions are needed and that is why they are being targeted, because affirming and supporting faith leaders are able to speak back against claims that the Divine advocates for harming LGBTQIA+ beings.”
Ravjot Mehek Singh, a queer Sikh activist and award-winning filmmaker, added on: “As a Sikh in post 9/11 America, the racist attacks I experienced growing up in a predominantly White community left me traumatized and in doubt of my own identity. With my queerness, I get attacked oftentimes by my own community of conservative Sikhs, especially online where I am constantly doxxed and my videos collect thousands of hateful, violent comments. Because of my intersectional identity, I switch between facing threats from Americans and my own community – creating an often endless loop of hate… But Sikhi was founded to include all people regardless of gender or social standing, and I hope that the work I do alongside other brilliant advocates helps push for that equality to be acknowledged in its truest form.”
“There is no right way to be queer, there is no right way to be Sikh, there is no right way to be American, and anyone who tries to silence the way you exist in this world is a victim that is unable to comprehend the incredible multitudes that you contain. There is no rulebook to existing as oneself, so pursue all the things that make you feel whole.”
Photo by Michael Currie/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
As President & CEO of Keshet, a national LGBTQ Jewish organization, Idit Klein knows all too well what it’s like to be at the intersection of communities under attack. “It has been an especially painful and complex time for American Jews in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks, the ensuing bloodshed and suffering in Israel and Gaza, and rising antisemitism here in the U.S. It also is an increasingly dangerous time for LGBTQ+ people as we face growing attacks on our rights and protections across the country. Against this backdrop, Keshet believes that remaining connected to each other across identities and movements is more important than ever.”
“As an organization committed to the full equality of LGBTQ+ Jews, we know that we cannot ever separate these parts of ourselves,” said Klein. “We work for a world free of homophobia, transphobia, and antisemitism. We work to find meaning and strength in this painful moment as many of us navigate rupture, uncertainty, and fear, whether in political spaces in our Jewish communities, and/or LGBTQ+ spaces.”
Keshet’s Bay Area Education and Training Manager Rabbi Eliana Kayelle spoke powerfully to how LGBTQ Jews can find hope in these challenging times. “As a trans queer Jew this moment has me feeling the legacy of resilience deep in my bones. I’m thinking about Jewish ancestors. Miriam who, while under Pharaoh’s rule, held onto hope, planning for liberation by crafting instruments she would eventually use to dance out of Mitzrayim. Emma Goldman and Hannah Arendt, who remind me of the importance of action even when circumstances look bleak. These ancestors remind me that hope is not false optimism — it’s the desperate and powerful force that lives in our guts, the feeling that can move us to fight to repair a broken world.”
“I’m holding onto queer and trans ancestors and changemakers, especially trans women of color, drag queens and butches, who laid the groundwork for the queer liberation movement. The ones who became leaders because they had to. It is because of their work that I can shout: ‘I am here and I’m not going anywhere no matter how hard you try!’ I think of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy saying: ‘I don’t need their permission to exist; I exist in spite of them…we have a history, we have a reason to be here. We have a purpose.’ And I think: Yes.”
Photo by Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images
As President of Inter-Intra Community, Malik Johnson ministers to incarcerated Muslims, including those who identify as LGBTQ. “Someone might write in and say, ‘I’m a gay man who wants to be a part of the Muslim community in my [prison] facility, but I cannot because the others said that you cannot be gay and Muslim, and they will not let me pray with them. I feel very isolated from people and from the religion itself.’ Another might ask me, ‘What does it say in the Quran about me being trans?’”
“The beautiful thing is that the Quran doesn’t mention how queer a person has to be or not be to be sentenced to a heaven or a hell,” Johnson stated. “Instead the Quran relays [its message] in terms of action. What are your actions? What are you doing with your life? How are you treating other people?”
“Everyone has their own interpretation of what the Quran could mean. So I instead respond [to these questions] by addressing the heart. The first thing I say is ‘you matter.’ I say, ‘Thank you so much for calling or writing in. You are the most important part of this community. You mean so much. You’re very special. You’re worth something. If for no one else, you mean something to me. I love you and your Creator loves you. Because if your Creator didn’t love you, then they would not have created you and they would not have brought us together.’”
“You’re giving authority back to that person when you ask questions of them. Take someone who is trans. They have their dead name, that they used pre-transition, and they have their living name or preferred name. If that person is incarcerated, their dead name is continuously said to them. But if someone were to say, ‘What’s the name that you would like to be called?,’ it gives a symbol of hope and understanding and compassion. It gives back to that person so now that person is the authority in themselves. And that’s powerful. The best way to have autonomy is to name yourself.”
As we enter the holy season for those of so many faiths – from the end of Ramadan and Passover, to the start of Easter and Vaisakhi – let us remember these courageous leaders, who recognize our shared humanity and advocate for the importance of our diverse identities in fighting hate for all. In the words of the Interfaith Alliance, “While there are a variety of theological understandings of human sexuality and gender, we can all unite around the belief that nobody should fear for their safety or face discrimination based on who they love or who they are.”
Reality TV star and former gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner is now asking her supporters to send her money to support her legal defense fund in response to a lawsuit against her for alleged financial malfeasance.
“I have been named a defendant in a lawsuit re: the $Jenner memecoins, alleging ‘securities’ violations,” she posted to X, linking a crowdfunding campaign. “Let’s all be freedom maximalist.”
Jenner was sued in November, months after she released her $Jenner meme coin on the Ethereum blockchain. Two people – Nazeem Azad of the United Kingdom and Nihai Caluseru of Romania — alleged that they would not have bought the meme coin if not for Jenner’s actions, which included that she “fraudulently solicited financially unsophisticated investors throughout the United States and abroad to purchase the unregistered securities.”
They also accused her of not registering the financial asset with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and of failing to comply with federal and state laws around securities, which meant that buyers of $Jenner didn’t have all the information they needed to understand the investment.
Jenner promoted the memecoin widely last year, encouraging people to buy it, possibly to increase its value so she could sell her own holdings of it at a high price and then abandon it. For example, she posted a Pride Month picture in June 2024 and then followed it up with, “Now the question is whether to build a gayfolio for [Pride] month? …I mean is any gayfolio actually complete without $Jenner on $ETH …?”
CoinMarketCap shows that the total market value of $Jenner hit around $6 million in July last year before dropping to around $200,000 by September and never recovering. The lawsuit alleges that Jenner stopped talking up the memecoin after using her celebrity status to promote it for several months.
Jenner made a statement in September in which she mocked someone who lost their life savings because of the meme coin. “Why would you put your life savings into a meme coin? Sorry you don’t believe in me anymore 🙁 but it’s all good! We aren’t going anywhere.”
Now, Jenner is posting to X that she needs help paying the legal bills associated with the lawsuit.
“The case is the tip of the spear, and I am vigorously defending myself,” she wrote. “A motion to dismiss the case, filed by my attorneys at Winston & Strawn, explaining many of the reasons the case fails, is attached. Unfortunately, fighting against such claims is very expensive and time-consuming. Given the larger implications of the case, I have set up a legal defense fund and I ask that the community please support us.”
“Lawsuits like this are not the way to grow crypto.”
She set up a campaign on GoGetFunding.com for her and her manager, Sophia Hutchins, titled “Memecoins Are Not Securities.” On the site, she writes: “We love crypto and digital assets. We love the communities around the different projects, platforms, and memecoins.”
In a section that has since be deleted, she added, “I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE PROGRESS AND THE NEW INDIVIDUALS AT THE SEC. UNFORTUNATELY, LITIGATION AND RED TAPE ONLY STIFLE GROWTH. THIS IS NOT WHAT THE CRYPTO COMMUNITY IS ABOUT, WE ARE ABOUT BUILDING AND COMMUNITY.” [sic]
So far, her campaign has earned $7 from a total of two donors.
For example, Hannity asked her why she’s running for governor, and she responded with a story about how the person who owns the hangar next to her hangar doesn’t like to see homeless people: “My hangar… the guy right across, he was packing up his hangar and I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I’m moving to Sedona, Arizona, I can’t take it anymore. I can’t walk down the streets and see the homeless.’”
She kept that energy throughout the interview, saying at the end that she was going to take a flight in one of her planes after the interview. Hannity seemed at a loss for how to respond.
