Features

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Governor’s races have never been more important for trans rights than this year

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It can be easy to forget about gubernatorial races as we head towards the midterms. They are, ultimately, state-level elections at a time when we’re focused on national problems. The balance of power in the Senate and the House of Representatives is the focal point for many of us as we hunt for a way to stem the bleeding caused by Donald Trump. But governors wield a huge amount of power, especially when it comes to protecting trans rights. There’s a lot a governor can do to make a state safer for trans people (see Tim Walz’s work to make Minnesota […]

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With its efforts to placate Trump, business is proving once again that it is a fickle LGBTQ+ ally

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With so many frontal attacks on the LGBTQ+ community coming from the federal government, it’s easy to overlook the impact from the private sector. But according to a new report from Out Leadership, which describes itself as “the global LGBTQ+ network,” it finds that the red and blue state divide matters and affects the ability of businesses to thrive. According to the 2026 State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index, “the gap between inclusive and hostile states is wider than it has ever been, and it is still widening.” Indeed, the current index, the eighth that Out Leadership has released, expanded its methodology […]

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Federal judge declines to block DOJ efforts nationwide to obtain trans youth medical records

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Maryland U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin, a Biden-era appointee, rejected a first-of-its-kind bid from transgender advocates that would establish a national order preventing Trump’s Justice Department from strong-arming hospital systems and service providers into giving away sensitive patient information about trans minors who receive gender-affirming care, per Reuters.  Rubin heard arguments Tuesday from families of transgender children and LGBTQ+ legal advocates seeking certification of a class action lawsuit against the DOJ that would have blocked the department from pressuring hospitals to share private medical records. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. […]

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America’s Broken Pipeline of Mental Healthcare for Trans Youth

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The first panic attack Quinn Pulsipher remembers having was at 8 years old. They describe it as “a pitch-black ghost that hugs them all over and tries to control their mind.” At the beach on vacation with their family, the wind suddenly picked up, and Quinn began hyperventilating, screaming and crying uncontrollably. Nothing could calm them down. After that first episode, the panic attacks occurred whenever there was a storm, sometimes even when there was just a light breeze. By the time Quinn was 14, they were “spiraling down.” They began failing most of their classes. They rarely left their […]

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Trump admin eliminates health care programs for LGBTQ+ veterans

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The Department of Veterans Affairs has ordered health facilities nationwide to eliminate gender identity-based initiatives and strip the LGBTQ+ designation from a network of medical coordinators created to help LGBTQ+ veterans navigate care, according to an internal memorandum obtained by The Advocate. The June 12 directive, signed by Veterans Health Administration Under Secretary for Health John J. Bartrum, the VA official who oversees the nation’s largest integrated health care system, is the latest move by the Trump administration to remove references to LGBTQ+ and transgender identities from federal programs. It also raises new questions about the future of a specialized support network the VA […]

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Maine judge upholds block of anti-trans initiative on November ballot

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On Thursday, a Superior Court judge upheld the block of a referendum on transgender athletes from its November ballot, according to Maine Public. The proposal, launched by Protect Girls’ Sports in Maine, aimed to restrict transgender school athletes to compete only on teams that match their gender assigned at birth, or on co-ed teams. Further, it would enforce the use of separate “male” and “female” locker rooms, restrooms, and showers. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The campaign gained momentum in February, when the group submitted a […]

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Microsoft Celebrates Pride While Allowing Hate Speech and Dropping DEI

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Julius Shan remembers sitting at his desk last August and opening an email that caught him by surprise: “Please find attached the memo terminating your employment with Microsoft, effective immediately.” “It was kind of a shock, but it was also kind of a relief to be fired,” he told Uncloseted Media. Shan, a 28-year-old gay man, had been on the outs with his employer for over a year. When he joined Microsoft in 2020, it felt like a good environment for LGBTQ employees. But over time, he grew disillusioned as he watched the company ignore criticisms from him and his […]

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Republicans derail women’s history museum with anti-trans rule

The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum has been years in the making — and now, transphobia is threatening to derail the whole thing.  A bill to approve construction of the museum failed to pass on a 204-216 vote, with House Democrats voting in opposition. The Democratic Women’s Caucus pulled support after Republicans amended the legislation to require that the museum exclude transgender women.  That rule would exclude trans women like Lynn Conway, an American computer scientist who guided the microchip design revolution of the 1980s, and Rachel Levine, former assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, who helped coordinate the national COVID-19 pandemic response — not […]

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Senators clash over whether parents or politicians should decide on trans youth care

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A Senate hearing on gender-affirming care for minors on Wednesday became a fight over who gets to make decisions for transgender children, whether politicians should override doctors and parents, and whether the Trump administration’s escalating campaign against gender-affirming care is rooted in concern for children or hostility toward transgender people. The hearing, convened by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, came as the administration has intensified efforts to restrict care, including Justice Department subpoenas seeking records from providers that treat transgender minors. The committee listed three witnesses, including Dr. Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer of anti-trans and anti-diversity activist group […]

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Trans teens who receive hormone therapy are less likely to run away from home

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Transgender teens who received hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are less likely to run away from home, according to a new study. Researchers at Southern Oregon University and Rutgers University examined data from about 1,101 respondents to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey who began receiving HRT between the ages of 14 and 18. The survey asked respondents whether they had ever received HRT and whether they had run away from home because of their trans identity. The survey asked respondents who answered yes to either question their ages when both incidents occurred. Researchers then compared the answers of those who received HRT […]

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