Ohio State Republicans have introduced numerous anti-LGBTQ+ bills during this legislative session, including one that would out LGBTQ+ students to their parents if they receive any related counseling, a bill requiring transgender politicians to list their deadnames on public records, a law restricting trans students’ ability to use preferred names and pronouns in schools, and a ban on drag (even though federal courts have blocked similar laws for violating free speech rights).
State Democrats have also introduced legislation to enshrine LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections as well as a ban on so-called conversion therapy into law. None of the bills have received hearings so far. The Ohio legislature is currently on summer break and will reconvene in the fall.
Among the bills introduced by state GOP legislators are Ohio House Bill 190, which would require parents to submit school permission slips for educators to address students by different names or pronouns that differ from the names and gender listed on their birth certificates. Republicans nationwide have tried to claim that affirming students’ trans and nonbinary identities without parental disclosure is a form of “indoctrination” and “trans-ing” kids.
With that in mind, state Republicans have also introduced Ohio House Bill 172, which would ban kids 14 years and older from receiving mental health services without parental consent. This would include any child who receives school “counseling services or monitoring related to the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, or the school’s ability to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for the student,” the bill states.
The bill would force educators to forcibly out queer students who seek counseling for LGBTQ+ issues, including students who are bothered by psychological distress, anti-LGBTQ+ bullying, or are experiencing problems with academic performance.
Another bill, Ohio House Bill 196 would require trans and nonbinary political candidates to list their deadnames on candidacy petitions. The bill comes after a 2024 incident in which several trans candidates for elected office in Ohio were disqualified because they didn’t disclose their deadnames when filing campaign paperwork. One candidate said she didn’t even know about this requirement.
The following year, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) changed the candidate forms to require candidates to “include all prior names used in the past 5 years,” outside of those that resulted from marriage. This bill would essentially enshrine the form change into law. Currently, people in Ohio can change the gender marker on their state birth certificate, but it requires a court order.
Lastly, Ohio House Bill 249, would ban drag performers from performing any place not designated as an adult entertainment facility. The bill would designate as an “adult cabaret performance” any act that involves “performers or entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s biological sex using clothing, makeup, prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts, or other physical markers.”
The law ostensibly restricts any displays that are “obscene or harmful to juveniles,” and “wouldn’t prohibit or restrict a bona fide film, theatrical, or other artistic endeavor or performance that is not obscene or harmful to juveniles.”
But the state’s definition of obscenity refers to any content designed to “appeal to the prurient interest, depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and lack serious artistic, literary, or scientific value when taken as a whole.”
As such, the law would forbid any non-adult cabaret venue — such as a library, movie theatre, playhouse, or bar — from showing any media or performance that depicts cross-dressing or transgender individuals, if anyone considered them even remotely obscene. Courts have blocked similar drag bans from going into effect in Florida, Tennessee, and Texas, calling the laws vague, overbroad, and burdensome for businesses to follow without fear of persecution.
State Democrats have introduced Ohio Senate Bill 70 (aka. the Ohio Fairness Act), which would include sexual orientation and gender identity into pre-existing anti-discrimination laws. The bill has been introduced in every legislative session since 2011, and this is the first time since 2018 that it has received no Republican support. The Ohio Capital Journal reported.
Additionally, Ohio Senate Bill 71 would ban any licensed health professionals from providing conversion therapy as a mental health treatment to minors. Numerous studies (and all major American medical and psychological associations) disavow conversion therapy as an ineffective, needless, pseudoscientific form of psychological torture.
Nevertheless, over 1,320 conversion therapists remain active across the U.S., including in states with bans in place, according to a report from the LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention organization The Trevor Project.
The report found that licensed therapists, counselors, social workers, and unlicensed practitioners “advocate for and/or directly engage in” conversion therapy. Many discreetly advertise their services using terms like “sexual attraction fluidity exploration,” “rapid-onset gender dysphoria,” “sexual addiction,” “sexual wholeness,” “sexual integrity,” and claims to help clients “align their related behaviors with their faith.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ rights organization, is taking its LGBTQ equality message on the road with a multicity tour focused on changing more hearts and minds, particularly in red states.
The “American Dreams Tour” will kick off Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, and travel to cities in predominantly Republican-led states through November. The tour’s goal, according to HRC, is to amplify LGBTQ people’s stories “at a time of rising political attacks and cultural erasure” and “celebrate the communities pushing back against hate and fighting for a future of equality for all.”
“For half a century, our movement has changed hearts and minds with our stories — Harvey Milk in the Castro, Pedro Zamora on the Real World, trans youth and parents coming forward in statehouses across the country. When people know who we really are, everything changes. This tour is about reclaiming that legacy,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “We’re traveling to the places where harm is happening—and where hope is rising. We’re showing up for communities who’ve been told they don’t belong and reminding them, and the country, that they arethe American dream.”
The tour will “anchor” in six major cities — Columbus; Las Vegas; Washington, D.C.; Dallas; Atlanta; and Nashville, Tennessee — with other stops to be announced in the coming weeks, according to HRC. Each stop will be tailored to the issues queer people are facing in those particular locales. The Columbus stop, for example, will be centered on “Ohio’s legacy of LGBTQ+ activism while confronting today’s political backslide and barriers to HIV care,” according to HRC, while Atlanta’s stop will be in partnership with Atlanta Pride and will zero in on “Black LGBTQ+ leadership and community-led care models.”
The “American Dreams Tour” comes at a precarious time for LGBTQ rights — and particularly transgender rights. So far this year, nearly 600 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in statehouses across the U.S., according to a tally by the American Civil Liberties Union. And a report published last week by LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD asserted that 300 anti-LGBTQ actions had come from the Trump administration since January. An NBC News analysis published in February found that lawmakers in at least nine states had recently introduced measures to try to chip away at same-sex couples’ right to marry.
“For the first time in decades, we’re actually seeing a backslide in LGBTQ+ rights across this country, and we’ve got to do something,” Robinson said Monday in an interview with MSNBC. “We’ve got to get back to basics in telling our stories and meeting people where they are, because we know that when we tell our stories, we not only change hearts and minds, we shift the way people behave, that they vote, that they advocate in their communities.”
The Florida woman who was thrown off a small-town city council by her colleagues for racist and homophobic tweets has been reinstated by a local judge.
Judi Fike was kicked off the Groveland City Council after her history of obscene and offensive social media posts was uncovered and published in a local paperahead of a city council primary. Fike was appointed to her seat last year and is running for a full term.
She called publication of the story a timed “political attack” just weeks ahead of her August primary.
Circuit Judge Dan Mosely issued a temporary injunction on the city, reinstating Fike to her seat.
Mosely agreed with Fike’s attorney, far-right former Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R), that Groveland’s City Charter and its code of ethics contain no provision for suspending a sitting member of the council, and that Fike’s case would likely succeed on the merits, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
“There is a likelihood of irreparable harm in that Petitioner is prohibited from voting at council meetings while suspended,” he wrote.
Fike and Sabatini celebrated the win online.
The collection of Fike’s offensive screeds extends back to at least 2015, and reveals deep-seated animus toward Black and LGBTQ+ people.
Just hours after the Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016 in nearby Orlando, Fike posted to Facebook, “Duh….why would the shooter target a gay club? My answer…Easier than marching them up steps to push off the roof..some sarcasm, some truth…”
In 2015, Fike posted to her “Widow Fike” account on Twitter (now X), “Can we divert our attention back to real news? The #LGBT freak show has had its run.”
Two weeks ago, the city council confronted Fike with the posts in an open meeting, displaying screenshots as Fike watched.
Groveland Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines, who is Black, said the posts included “racist” portrayals of then-President Barack Obama as a monkey.
“This is a picture of President Ronald Reagan babysitting Barack Obama, except it is an ape, a baboon, a monkey or whatever you call it,” Gaines said.
In 2022, Fike shared a meme that read, “What’s the magic word to get what you want? Racist!”
Groveland has a fraught history of racism against. In 1949, false allegations of rape against four black teenagers known as “The Groveland Four” led to the extrajudicial killing of two of the teens and the wrongful imprisonment of two others. All four were posthumously pardoned in 2019.
While Groveland’s city council election is officially non-partisan (Fike faces two opponents in the August primary), it’s clear based on her retention of Sabatini as counsel where Fike’s political allegiances lie.
The one-time Trump-loving Sabatini is currently a member of the Lake County Commission, a step down from his seat in Tallahassee after the president endorsed his opponent in 2022 and Sabatini lost.
A check of Sabatini’s social media reveals the terminally online former representative is demanding the release of the Epstein files “NOW!!!”; wants President Obama indicted and arrested over Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s latest “Russiagate” allegations; and wants an end to “ALL” immigration to the U.S.
“EVERY Republican state should have their own version of an Alligator Alcatraz,” Sabatini posted last week. “The fact that they don’t is just pathetic. South Carolina should have a Low Country Lockup, Georgia should have a Peach State Penitentiary. Shame on these fake Republican states.”
A federal judge has temporarily paused enforcement of the state law that prohibits diversity, equity and inclusion programs from Mississippi public schools and universities. U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate approved the request for a temporary restraining order sought by a coalition of civil rights and legal organizations on behalf of students, parents and educators.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mississippi Center for Justice are representing the plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit alongside other groups on June 9 against the state’s education boards.
The order is in effect for 14 days, and allows Wingate to extend it for an additional 14 days. Next, the plaintiffs plan to seek a preliminary injunction — a longer-lasting court order that would continue to freeze the state law.
New HampshireRepublican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has gone against her party and vetoed two anti-LGBTQ+ bills and three other far-right ones.
Ayotte vetoed the bills Tuesday, while signing 101 others into law.
House Bill 324 would have barred schools from distributing books and other materials deemed “harmful to minors.” It was aimed primarily at sexual content and likely would have been used against books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes. It also would have required school districts to strengthen the process through which parents could challenge these materials.
“Current state law appears to provide a mechanism for parents through their local school district to exercise their rights to ensure their children are not exposed to inappropriate materials,” Ayotte said in her veto message. Under this law, “parents must be notified at least two weeks in advance of course materials that involve human sexuality, sexual education, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression,” she noted. “If a parent objects in writing, New Hampshire law further requires an alternative agreed upon between the school district and the parent.”
“Therefore, I do not believe the State of New Hampshire needs to, nor should it, engage in the role of addressing questions of literary value and appropriateness, particularly where the system created by House Bill 324 calls for monetary penalties based on subjective standards,” Ayotte added. Parents who were dissatisfied could have filed lawsuits.
House Bill 148 would have let businesses and correctional facilities to classify and segregate people by sex assigned at birth rather than gender identity, affecting restroom and locker room use. State law bans discrimination based on gender identity, but under the bill, these classifications would not have been considered a violation of the law.
“I believe there are important and legitimate privacy and safety concerns raised by biological males using places such as female locker rooms and being placed in female correctional facilities,” Ayotte wrote. “At the same time, I see that House Bill 148 is overly broad and impractical to enforce, potentially creating an exclusionary environment for some of our citizens.” It could have led to lawsuits as well, she said. Her immediate predecessor as governor, fellow Republican Chris Sununu, had vetoed a similar bill.
Additionally, Ayotte vetoed House Bill 358, “which would make it easier for parents to apply for religious exemptions to child vaccine requirements in school,” House Bill 446, “which would require schools to get explicit parental permission before giving students non-academic surveys,” and House Bill 667, “which would require sex education courses to include ‘a high quality computer generated animation or ultrasound video that shows the development of the heart, brain, and other vital organs in early fetal development,’” the New Hampshire Bulletin reports. She also vetoed two budget-related bills.
It would take a two-thirds majority in both the state House and Senate to override Ayotte’s vetoes. Republicans do not have a veto-proof majority in the House.
House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson issued a statement Tuesday praising the vetoes without mentioning Ayotte. “We’re grateful that today New Hampshire chose to protect the rights and dignity of our transgender neighbors — and House Democrats will keep fighting until every Granite Stater can live freely, openly, and safely, no matter who they are,” Simpson said, according to the Bulletin.
A gay Obama-appointed judge will preside over Donald Trump’s libel lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal over claims the president once sent an NSFW birthday card and doodle to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump is suing for $10 billion after denying he ever wrote the letter, and now Judge Darrin Gayles, who became the first out gay Black man appointed as a federal judge, has been assigned to the case.
The Senate unanimously confirmed Gayles after he was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2014. Politicopointed out he earned such widespread support for being relatively bipartisan. Two Republican governors – Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist — appointed him to Florida state judgeships before Obama appointed him to the federal bench.
The lawsuit stems from a July 17 article in TheWall Street Journal, whichallegedthat Trump contributed to a book of racy letters for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. The article described Trump’s letter as containing “several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.”
“A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts,” the description adds, “and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”
The Journal also reported that the letter said, “We have certain things in common, Jeffrey… A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump has ardently denied he wrote the letter, calling the story “fake” and claiming, “I don’t draw pictures of women.”
The president has found himself in hot water over his connections to Epstein and his administration’s recent refusal to release case files that it has long promised to share. MAGA conspiracy theorists have been chomping at the bit for the Epstein files, and many are turning on Trump as he doubles down on his administration’s decision.
Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. While the medical examiner determined that his death was a suicide, many people, especially on the right, do not believe that it was, instead asserting that he was killed to keep him silent about the clients for whom he found children to sexually abuse.
In February, Attorney General Bondi said that she was reviewing “a lot of names” related to the Epstein investigation and said that the Epstein list is “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
But last week, the Department of Justice released a memo that said there was no “secret client list” and reaffirmed the 2019 finding that Epstein died by suicide. Many Trump supporters were outraged that the rumored client list wouldn’t be released, while many on the left speculated that the reason Bondi wasn’t releasing it is because Trump himself – or at least high-ranking members of his administration – is on it.
Welcome to the latest edition of GLAAD’s Heroes of the Resistance, where we compile heartwarming news about leaders and changemakers who are paving a pathway towards acceptance and inclusion despite a hostile climate for LGBTQ people.
The legislative session has come to an end in most states across the country and the proposal of extreme, anti-LGBTQ bills has ended alongside it. In Florida, advocates defeated every standalone anti-LGBTQ bill introduced in the 2025 session, including an anti-DEI measure, a proposal to ban discussions of LGBTQ people and topics in the workplace, and more. In Georgia, the legislative session concluded with advocates successfully defeating multiple dangerous bills. In all, approximately 93% of all anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in 2025 in the states were defeated. To learn more and track movement in your state, check the ACLU’s interactive map of the proposed legislation.
Florida state legislature – News Service of Florida
Importantly in Utah, yet scantly covered so far by media including by the New York Times, a study commissioned by lawmakers shows the multiple benefits of health care for transgender youth, in contrast to a state ban passed in 2023. The Utah research is one of the most comprehensive studies to date, concluding that access to health care leads to “positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes,” and that policies restricting such care cannot be justified by scientific findings or concerns about possible regret. Utah lawmakers are now facing pressure to rescind the baseless ban. Federal judges have already struck down such bans in Arkansas, Florida, and Montana as unconstitutional. While a narrow ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban out of Tennessee at the end of June, it had no impact on the approximately 25 states that can continue providing health care for transgender Americans and youth.
Advocates received another positive outcome for health care in the Kennedy v. Braidwood Management Inc. ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of June, in which the Court upheld a critical piece of the Affordable Care Act that mandates insurance companies cover preventive healthcare services at no out-of-pocket cost, including access to HIV medication. According the the Advocate, a group of Texas employers who had brought the case forward had falsely argued that covering PrEP encourages “homosexual behavior” and allegedly violated their religious freedom. In response to the ruling, GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said: “The Supreme Court reaffirmed what so many Americans know and believe: preventive health care is a cornerstone of our health system and health decisions should be left to doctors and individuals. The fact that the Supreme Court considered derailing everyone’s access to preventive health care because of a small group of anti-LGBTQ voices reinforces how anti-LGBTQ bias is a danger to public health.”
In the heated New York City mayoral primary late last month, underdog candidate Zohran Mamdani pledged $65 million in health care for trans peopleand went on to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers in the most successful grassroots campaign in the city’s history, delivering an unexpected landslide victory despite being outspent by opponents. According to Conde Nast’s them, “Of the three mayoral candidates endorsed by the NYC Stonewall Democrats, Mamdani’s platform presented by far the most comprehensive and wide-ranging plan to protect and expand access to gender-affirming medical care to trans New Yorkers.” A few days later, Mamdani carried a trans flag in the New York City Pride March.
Everyday heroes continue making their voices heard on the federal and national levels as well. Hundreds of LGBTQ people and allies in support of the freedom to read and inclusive curriculums in schools gathered for a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on the day of oral arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor in April. The “Rally for Inclusive Education” featured a diverse array of more than a dozen speakers and performers. Despite a disappointing narrow ruling in Mahmoud on behalf of a small group of parents seeking to opt their students out of LGBTQ-inclusive books and curricula, the authors and illustrators named in the case released a joint statement as well as several individual statements reaffirming their personal commitment to continue writing stories that tell the stories of underrepresented communities, so all youth can see themselves in books.
Lawyers and legal advocates continue checking off wins chipping away at the federal administration’s executive orders targeting LGBTQ Americans and other marginalized communities. In early June, a federal court granted a preliminary injunction in Lambda Legal’s lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order to defund LGBTQ and HIV nonprofits, allowing nine nonprofits named in the case, including the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the New York City LGBTQ Community Center – two of the largest such centers in the world, serving hundreds of thousands of people – to continue providing services.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth recently handed a win to LGBTQ advocates when he ruled that federal law mandates that more than 600 transgender inmates continue receiving medically necessary health care. The judge said that prisons cannot arbitrarily deprive incarcerated transgender people of medications and accommodations that the Bureau of Prisons own staff has deemed appropriate. The ruling is a blow to Trump’s executive order seeking to deny care to transgender people; and indicates that denying this care causes substantial harm. The case was brought forward by Transgender Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Additionally, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick recently granted a preliminary injunction indicating that, for now, the State Department cannot enforce President Trump’s attempt to deny gender marker changes on passports for transgender Americans or the X marker for nonbinary Americans. The win came after the ACLU sued the Trump administration over an executive order issued in January, arguing that it would ban transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans from obtaining necessary documentation that accurately reflects who they are and allows them to travel safely. The news means that transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans can immediately apply for and/or update their passports to accurately reflect who they are.
LGBTQ Americans and our allies continue to be visible and thrive despite absurd and obscene threats to basic freedoms. By elevating our wins and lifting up those who keep speaking out, we honor LGBTQ history and the truth of LGBTQ people’s right to authentic, safe, and free lives.
At least 1,334 LGBTQ+ people currently serve in elected office, but just a fraction, 63, identify as nonbinary, gender nonconforming or genderqueer. Eighteen of those representatives serve in state legislatures. That’s an achievement in growth over the past seven years, since the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute began tracking LGBTQ+ elected representation, but there’s still a long way to go.
According to the most recent data, nonbinary individuals represent around 11% of the LGBTQ+ community, making them heavily underrepresented among LGBTQ+ elected officials. Despite small numbers, their impact in politics is growing, especially at the state level, where their presence can shift narratives and policies.
As legislative bodies and our federal government work to restrict identity to the gender binary, our nonbinary elected officials are showing up and standing up for diversity and equality in politics.
These five out nonbinary LGBTQ+ elected officials are currently serving in state legislatures and will hopefully inspire others to follow in their path and serve their communities.
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Lorena Austin, Arizona
Arizona State Rep. Lorena Austin (D) | Campaign Photo
State Rep. Lorena Austin (D) made history as the first nonbinary Chicane legislator in the country and the first out nonbinary legislator in Arizona. Their deep roots in the Mesa, Arizona, community they serve make them a powerful voice in the Arizona legislature, not just for LGBTQ+ people but for all communities. Austin has advocated for issues on education, affordable housing, community resources, health care, immigration, and LGBTQ+ rights.
Izzy Smith-Wade-El, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania state Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El (D) | Campaign Photo
State Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El (D) made history when elected to become the first out nonbinary member of the Pennsylvania state legislature. The Lancaster, PA, native served at the city level before joining the state legislature, where he helped to secure more investments in affordable housing and fought for police accountability. He has also championed bills that would protect LGBTQ+ students from gender-based discrimination and bullying, including a bill that would require gender-neutral bathrooms and locker rooms in schools undergoing new construction or renovation.
SJ Howell, Montana
Montana State Rep. SJ Howell (D) | Campaign Photo
Montana State Rep. SJ Howell (D) was one of the first two transgender lawmakers and the first nonbinary person elected to the Montana state legislature. Their presence has already made an incredible impact on the rights of LGBTQ+ Montanans. Howell made an impact this year when they were able to speak passionately on a bill that sought to grant the government the right to take transgender children away from their families. Howell’s speech flipped multiple republicans to vote against the bill and strike it down. Their work is exactly why representation matters, as it can change hearts, minds, and policies.
Wick Thomas, Missouri
Missouri state Rep. Wick Thomas (D) | Campaign Photo
Missouri state Rep. Wick Thomas (D) is the first transgender nonbinary elected official in the Missouri legislature, and they use their platform and visibility to speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Thomas’ deep commitment to social justice, education, and community informs their legislative work to improve lives of all Missourians. They have also championed LGBTQ+ rights in their work, introducing a bill in the Missouri House to repeal the same-sex marriage ban.
Emily Dievendorf, Michigan
Michigan state Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D) | Campaign Photo
State Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D) is a second-term representative in Michigan and the first out nonbinary representative in the state. A longtime equality advocate, Dievendorf previously led Equality Michigan and was appointed to the Michigan Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Dievendorf uses her legislative platform to champion progressive policies on equality, racial justice, and domestic violence.
Blackshear, GA, native LaVonnia Moore found her purpose working in the Okefenokee and Three Rivers Regional Library Systems (TRRLS), quickly advancing from 10 hours a week as a part-time employee in 2010 to running her own branch as the Pierce County Library manager until she was unexpectedly ousted from her position on June 18, following an online campaign by the anti-LGBTQ conservative group Alliance for Faith and Family over a library book display that included “When Aidan Became A Brother,” a picture book by author Kyle Lukoff featuring a transgender character.
The library patron-led display aligned with Georgia’s summer reading theme:“Color Our World.” Young library patrons, along with their parents, were encouraged to find colorful books illustrating the state-approved theme for the display.
“I knew the theme would be an issue,” Moore said. “How are you going to color your world without the rainbow? I asked TRRLS, “Are you sure we want to stick with this theme? They said, “Go ahead, we don’t get controversy.”
Moore tells GLAAD that she was summoned to the Pierce County Library on her day off by Three Rivers Library System Director Jeremy Snell, who informed her that she was being terminated over the inclusion of the transgender-inclusive book in the summer reading display.
Snell told the Blackshear Times that the display of the book was the reason for the decision.
In an interview with reporter Ross Williams at The Georgia Recorder, one of several local news outlets working in tandem with GLAAD to amplify this story, Moore acknowledges the request of a young child accompanied by their parents to include “When Aidan Became A Brother” in the book display. Moore also said she didn’t know it at the time, but the book is about a young transgender boy whose family is expecting a new baby.
The book is written for young children and discusses Aidan’s gender identity not matching his sex at birth. It doesn’t contain anything graphic or explicit. The cover features Aidan with his family, wearing a shirt with a rainbow design.
“All I saw was Aidan becoming a big brother,” Moore said. “I saw a family with a kid wearing a rainbow sweater, and the mom was pregnant. It was a mixed family. I was like, ‘OK, sure, put it on the table.’”
The book cover of “When Aidan Became A Brother” by author Kyle Lukoff. (Image: Lee and Low Books)
Moore said she had no intention of promoting any ideology but kept books relevant to all kinds of people in the community, including LGBTQ people, immigrants, and people who speak various languages, according to The Georgia Recorder.
“We’re a public library. We need to have all items available for everyone in the community,” Moore tells GLAAD. “And just because you don’t want that community to exist, they still exist. It’s my job to serve everybody. No matter who or what they are. I grew up with the library not being [safe], and I’m like, not on my watch.”
Moore says she was living “paycheck to paycheck” before her abrupt termination and has since established a GoFundMe to help cover daily expenses, raising over $27,000 of her $30,000 goal to date, which will also go towards covering legal costs to fight what she and her attorney are describing as an unlawful firing.
Attorney Wade Herring, who represents Moore, told The Advocate that the firing was unlawful and politically driven.
“It may be a First Amendment issue. It may be a Title VII issue, which protects employment,” Herring said. “I think it was content-based censorship and politically motivated, and she lost her job.”
Herring insists Moore followed library policy and simply facilitated community participation. “She had a local family and a local child who was enthusiastic about the library and the summer reading program,” Herring said. “What was she supposed to do, tell the child, ‘No, your book doesn’t belong?’ She was encouraging and supporting a child.”
GLAAD highlighted how Moore’s service helps all in the community, and how the unjust termination is harmful.
“No one should lose their job for doing their job,” GLAAD told The Advocate. “Librarians and other educators are professionals and public servants who work for every child and family in the community, offering materials that help children learn about themselves, their peers, and the world around them. The world is a far more interesting and colorful place than book banners ever want to see. Book banners and other opponents of LGBTQ people and equality shouldn’t get to censor, dim, or dictate what is available to other families and readers. Libraries should always be a place where everyone in the community can feel safe to explore, learn, and grow.”
Creating a safe space for all Pierce County residents is why the 15-year library professional views her work as an investment not only in the current patrons but also the younger Moore, who never felt welcome in her home library as a teen.
“I would go there, pick up my book, and leave,” Moore said. “It just wasn’t a place that felt like it was welcoming to young people. They didn’t have programs [for youth]. I want everybody that walks through the library to feel like it’s there for them,” and that includes LGBTQ families, Moore said.
LaVonnia Moore (center) pictured with young library patrons in her previous role as Pierce County Library manager. (Image: LaVonnia Moore)
Community Pressure to Reverse Termination
In recent days, Moore has experienced an avalanche of community support following the revelation of electronic communications between library and county officials directly involved in her firing, which journalists uncovered through an open records request by The Georgia Recorder and The Advocate.
The internal communications paint a picture of officials responding directly to political pressure rather than to any professional misconduct,” according to a review by The Advocate. “Moore, for her part, said she was told she was terminated solely for “poor decision in the line of performance duty.”
The county produced 77 files showing about four times as many people contacted the government in favor of reinstating Moore than did in favor of firing her, reports The Georgia Recorder.
“The emails, text messages, and voicemail reveal more about the decision to let Moore go and the resulting backlash. That correspondence also shows that local officials are considering reinstating Moore but have not yet done so,” The Georgia Recorder also reports.
“It is within the power of this board to make action calling for reinstatement if that is a desired result of the executive session discussion,” Snell wrote. “At this point, I have received more communication regarding reinstatement (than) I did regarding the original issue earlier this week.”
Moore’s firing has already exacted a steep personal price. She said her reputation has been damaged, and she now faces the prospect of leaving her hometown of 46 years because no other library jobs are available nearby.
As for “When Aidan Became A Brother,” Moore said the book is still on the shelf inside Pierce County Library.
“That book still exists in the collection — because it belongs there. It reflects real families. Real kids. Real love,” Moore wrote on her GoFundMe page. “Although I did not choose the book myself, I stand ten toes down on this truth: The library is a public space. All community members should feel welcome inside it and have equal access to its resources.”
When Arden was 16, they called a suicide crisis hotline “thinking their life was over.”
They were in an abusive relationship, regularly self-harming, and felt that nothing was helping. “It was terrifying,” they told Uncloseted Media.
“If it weren’t for the hotline, I would have killed myself.”
Since that day, Arden, now 24 years old and living in Brooklyn, has used various crisis helplines. When the 988 national suicide prevention hotline launched a “Press 3” option in 2022 for LGBTQ youth, they immediately started using the resource.
Arden, who identifies as nonbinary, says the LGBTQ hotline workers “respected their identity” and were understanding that they are not a woman. “It was really affirming for a very troubling time in my life.”
Since then, Arden has “Pressed 3” more times than they can remember, seeking help for everything from dealing with the loss of their friend, who died by suicide, to “stupid cliquey gay people stuff.”
“I remember when my friend had killed himself and I was dealing with a lot. I called them and they talked to me for over an hour because I was really upset,” they say. “When I called the hotline, it was a last resort. I was really at my wits’ end.”
Arden—whose last call to the lifeline was two weeks ago—is one of 1.3 million callers and chatters the LGBTQ youth hotline has served since it launched, according to federal data. The legislation that greenlit the national program, signed by Trump in 2020 during his first term, explicitly recognized that LGBTQ youth are more than “4 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers, with 1 in 5 LGBTQ youth and more than 1 in 3 transgender youth reporting attempting suicide.”
Photo by Kaoly Gutierrez for Uncloseted Media.
This new option to “Press 3” allowed queer youth in crisis the ability to directly connect with counselors from a set of specialized LGBTQ crisis centers. These counselors are trained in cultural competency and often bring lived experience, providing identity‑affirming, empathetic support for challenges like coming out, discrimination or mental health crises.
Despite the hotline’s success, the Trump administration announced last month that they would be shutting it down on July 17, claiming that the service had run out of congressionally directed funding. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said in an email to Uncloseted Media that “continued funding of the Press 3 option threatened to put the entire 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in danger of massive reductions in service.”
“This is absolutely a mistake,” a suicide prevention call center director told Uncloseted Media. “We are concerned that this will result in increased suicide rates for LGBTQ youth.”
Why We Need Option 3
The director’s concern is supported by a 2022 research brief that found that queer college students with access to LGBTQ-specific services were 44% less likely to attempt suicide than those without it. Research also shows that a hotline specific to LGBTQ services increases the likelihood of queer youth calling.
“It’s true for any direct service,” Harmony Rhoades, associate research professor of sociology at Washington University, told Uncloseted Media. “People who are in substance use recovery want to work with people who’ve gone through recovery themselves because they understand what that experience is. Culturally, there is not a lot of understanding of the specific experiences of someone who is LGBTQ and without specific training, a crisis counselor isn’t going to be able to know the language that’s going to feel affirming.”
Gemma Brown near High Point, North Carolina. Photo by Kaoly Gutierrez for Uncloseted Media.
“Connecting with someone who gets it was really helpful. … Because at home, I was so isolated and I didn’t really interact with other queer people,” says Gemma Brown, who used the Trevor Project’s chat function at 10 years old.
“I was an extremely self-loathing, suicidal kid who was under the impression that God hated me and I was gonna burn in hell for eternity,” Brown, now 15 and living in High Point, North Carolina, told Uncloseted Media.
“I only used the chat feature because I was scared my parents would hear me. We shared a wall,” she says. “I was spiraling really bad. I’d just realized I was crushing on girls, and I thought I was going to burn in hell for all eternity because that is what we are taught.”
Raised in a Southern Baptist Church, Brown never felt safe at home, where her father would regularly spit slurs like “faggots” and “queers.” At church, every sermon was about Sodom and Gomorrah or about how “real love” only existed between a man and a woman.
“I grew up knowing the number one thing not to be was one of the ‘dirty queers,’” she says. “I kept thinking, I can kill myself now and go to hell, or live longer and still go to hell. I used to have panic attacks at 9, 10 years old, just thinking about burning in hell perpetually.”
Brown remembers Caitlin, the chat counselor who helped her, being the first ever to tell her that queer love was valid.
“She told me she’d been with her girlfriend for seven years. I didn’t even believe queer people could be happy. … It broke my brain in the best possible way,” says Brown, who is now out and proud to her parents, who have come around, and to most of her friends on social media.
Gemma and her Mom, Melanie. Photo by Kaoly Guttierez for Uncloseted Media.
Arden had a similar experience. “The queer line is better than the regular line,” they say. “I feel like it’s less like going through a checklist on the queer line.”
As a survivor of sexual assault, Arden says knowing that the counselors on the other line were trained in LGBTQ-specific trauma made it easier to reach out for help. “My voice doesn’t pass per se but they still respected my identity,” they say.
LGBTQ-specific resources for youth are critical, with 41% seriously considering suicide in 2024. In addition, queer youth are disproportionately affected by a litany of mental health issues and trauma, including physical and sexual assault, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, bullying and addiction.
“It’s not like we’re cherry-picking some random group,” says Rhoades. “If we are going to fund [suicide prevention], there is no reason we should do it inefficiently by not effectively targeting the people who need it most. So yes, they need specific suicide prevention services.”
While the hotline focuses on LGBTQ youth, they don’t turn away adults who need help. Joshua Dial, 36, says that when he called 988, he was often connected to the LGBTQ youth hotline after mentioning that he’s gay.
“I always walked away feeling better after I called,” he says. “There have been times when I spoke to the regular 988 crisis people, and they helped too. But they didn’t understand quite as much.”
Dial, a Lutheran who lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma, says he wasn’t always comfortable being open about his sexual orientation to his religious community and that the only way to meet other gay people was on hook-up and dating apps, which he notes are “not for emotional support.”
“I wouldn’t be talking to my pastor about getting on Grindr. I can’t go to my pastor and tell them what I did last weekend,” he says.
Photo courtesy of Dial.
Dial, who was raised to believe that homosexuality is a sin, has experienced depression since the age of 16 and has also struggled with bipolar disorder, addiction and PTSD. “My addiction was getting worse, and the only constant was that the line was always available,” he says. “I didn’t have any other options, but I knew that if I called the hotline, I would get help.”
Dial says the emotional support he received through these phone calls kept him from self-harm and suicide. “There are times when I called that number and was this close to taking a handful of pills, this close to slitting my wrist, this close to buying a gun to shoot myself. And I talked to those people, and they not only understood, but they gave me the empowerment of knowing that someone had my back.”
How Cutting Option 3 Affects the Whole System
While the cuts are only meant to affect the hotline’s support for LGBTQ youth, crisis center employees say they’ll impact the entire 988 network.
“This being rifted does very much mean less capacity for 988 as a whole,” says the suicide prevention call center director. “Everyone will be affected.”
“When the LGBTQ hotline opened up, it really lowered the volume on the mainstream counselors,” a 988 hotline counselor in Washington state told Uncloseted Media. “It seemed really helpful, and I didn’t get a lot of LGBTQ chats after that point.”
The counselor at the Washington state center says they are about to lay off 42 counselors from their LGBTQ hotline. They say these roles won’t be replaced on the main 988 line due to a hiring freeze. Because of this, counselors expect the number of calls they receive to double, which could dramatically increase wait times. The Washington state center did not respond to a request for comment.
Even without the cuts, wait times are an issue. A 17-year-old caller from Virginia says that even the 10 minutes they had to wait for their call to be answered were painful. “I was worried that nobody would want to talk to me. I was just feeling hopeless,” they say. “There’s this one resource that I’m supposed to be able to have access to 24/7, but it just isn’t as accessible as it should be. For some people, those 10 minutes are crucial.”
In a 2009 study of 82 patients referred to a psychiatric university hospital after a suicide attempt, nearly half reported that the period between their first thought of suicide and their actual attempt had lasted 10 minutes or less, underscoring how shorter wait times can be a matter of life and death.
“If we are not able to catch someone during the time that suicidal thoughts have appeared and intervene as quickly as possible, they could start figuring out how they’re going to kill themselves and make it happen,” says the suicide prevention call center director. “And a lot of folks have access to means that can result in instant death like firearms.”
What Can Be Done?
With the “Press 3” option gone, Rhoades worries that the current spate of anti-LGBTQ legislation and hateful rhetoric toward the community will affect how counselors without queer-specific training will provide care.
“We’re living in an unprecedented time where anti-LGBTQ hatred is being normalized,” she says. “It absolutely affects how young people are treated. And it filters down to crisis counselors.”
As Congress and the Trump administration prepare to shut down “Press 3” on July 17 in an effort to save money, many believe that it will have the reverse effect.
“They just want these people to die. … That’s the message I got,” says a hotline operator in Washington state, adding that the administration is “not looking at the bigger picture.”
Arden says they wouldn’t be here today without the line’s support. “I’ve been struggling for a long time in my life [with] self-harm and I’ve been clean almost two years now,” they say. “I would definitely not be clean if it weren’t for the hotline and I would probably hurt myself again.”
LGBTQ Crisis Helplines Still Available:
The Franklin County Youth Psychiatric Crisis Line: 614-722-1800
The Huckleberry House for youth experiencing homelessness also offers a teen crisis shelter helpline: 614-294-5553
The Trevor Project has a crisis hotline: 1-866-488-7386
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