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Federal appeals court upholds trans rights in Indiana school bathroom case

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled in favor of three transgender students who were forbidden by their schools from using bathrooms matching their gender identities. The circuit court upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction that said the schools have to let trans students use facilities associated with their genders.  “Students who are denied access to the appropriate facilities are caused both serious emotional and physical harm as they are denied recognition of who they are,” said ACLU of Indiana lawyer Kenneth Falk. “They will often avoid using the restroom altogether while in school. Schools should […]

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In remission from HIV, a sixth person could join the club of those possibly cured

A European man has been in a state of remission from HIV infection for nearly two years after receiving a stem cell transplant to treat blood cancer. If enough time passes with no signs of viable virus, he could join the rarefied club of five people who are considered either definitely or possibly cured of HIV. All six people had HIV when they received stem cell transplants to treat blood cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma. But unlike the five other cases, this new one involves a person whose donor did not have a rare genetic abnormality that generates resistance […]

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Polling shows that knowing a trans person decreases transphobia

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Recent polling shows that Americans increasingly support transphobic bathroom bills, but social science research suggests that this trend could be reversed if more Americans simply came to personally know transgender people. In a poll released last October, approximately 52% of Americans said they support “bathroom bills” requiring trans people to use facilities matching the sex they were assigned at birth. This was 17% higher than the 35% who supported bathroom bills when the same question was asked in 2016, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) reported. This increase is most likely due to the recent wave of transphobic legislation and rhetoric […]

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Lambda Legal Sues Nashville Police Department for HIV Discrimination 

Lambda Legal, with partners McDermott Will & Emery and Merchant Gould P.C., filed a federal lawsuit against Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County late last week challenging the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department’s (MNPD) discriminatory policies and practices that reject all job applicants living with HIV.  The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of an anonymous plaintiff, John Doe, a 45-year-old Black man and decorated civil servant living with HIV who has worked as a Tennessee State Trooper and with the Memphis Police Department for several years. The plaintiff was […]

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Anti-abortion politics are threatening a vital HIV prevention program

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Anti-abortion advocates in the U.S. are threatening to kill one of the most successful public health programs in history over unsubstantiated facts, unwavering opposition to a woman’s right to choose, and blatant anti-LGBTQ+ bias. Conservative rganizations, including the Heritage Foundation and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, are threatening U.S. lawmakers with the withdrawal of their support if they grant a routine reauthorization to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the hugely successful HIV prevention initiative in Africa. The far-right Family Research Council describes the 20-year-old program as “a massive slush fund for abortion and LGBT advocacy.” PEPFAR, […]

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Transgender Floridians Seek Emergency Block on Adult Healthcare Restrictions in SB 254

Four Florida residents filed a motion in federal court yesterday seeking an emergency block on provisions in SB 254 that have created arbitrary, harmful and medically unjustified restrictions on medically-necessary healthcare for transgender adults. Olivia Noel, Kai Pope, Lucien Hamel, and Rebecca Cruz Evia, are all facing dangerous disruptions in their ongoing medical care due to the Florida law. The motion for preliminary injunction filed yesterday follows the filing of an amended complaint on July 21 expanding the case, Doe v. Ladapo, to challenge state law SB 254’s restrictions on medical care for transgender adults and seeking class-wide relief for […]

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Senate Democrats introduce legislation to help trans people get accurate credit scores

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Senate Democrats have introduced legislation that could help transgender and nonbinary people receive accurate credit scores. The Name Accuracy in Credit Reporting Act, introduced last week by Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Tina Smith (D-MN), would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require credit reporting agencies to only use a person’s current legal name in credit reports, according to The Hill. In March, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) marked Transgender Day of Visibility by introducing companion legislation in the House. As Fetterman’s office noted in a press release announcing the introduction of the legislation, people who legally change their names often face challenges obtaining […]

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A staggering 81% of trans adults have considered suicide

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An alarming 81% of transgender adults have considered suicide, according to a new studyfrom the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Comparatively, it found 35% of cisgender adults have considered suicide. The first-of-its-kind study, which appeared in this month’s edition of the journal Psychiatry Research, examined the prevalence of serious drug use, psychological distress, and suicidality among a nationally representative sample of trans and cisgender adults. The study took its data from the U.S. Transgender Population Health Survey (TransPop). The study found that 42% of trans adults have attempted suicide, compared to just 11% of cis adults. It also found that 56% of […]

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Trans men enter Miss Italy pageant in droves after trans women are told they can’t compete

More than 100 transgender men have entered the Miss Italy pageant this week, according to an activist leading a protest against recent comments by the pageant’s organizer, who said trans women wouldn’t be allowed to compete. The comments came after another European pageant, Miss Netherlands, crowned its first transgender winner, Rikkie Valerie Kollé, this month. About a week later, Patrizia Mirigliani, the official organizer of Miss Italy, told an Italian radio station that Miss Italy wouldn’t allow trans women to compete.  “Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news using strategies that I think are a bit absurd,” Mirigliani said, according […]

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Texas church firebombed weeks after visit from anti-LGBTQ YouTuber

Authorities in Plano, Texas, are investigating what they call “an intentionally set fire” at a Unitarian Universalist church Sunday, just weeks after it was targeted for criticism in a video by an anti-LGBTQ Christian YouTuber.  A passerby spotted flames coming from the Community Unitarian Universalist Church early Sunday, Plano Fire-Rescue said in a statement. The fire was around the front door and was extinguished quickly, causing no injuries, it said.  The department is leading the criminal investigation into the fire, with the city’s police department working on its own investigation, authorities told NBC News.  The church called the incident “a […]

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