Massachusetts has removed state rules requiring that foster parents support LGBTQ+ youth in their care after lawsuits from families and threats from the Trump administration.
The state Department of Children and Families removed the policies Friday, replacing them with a general statement about parents supporting children’s “individual identity and needs.” The change comes in the wake of two lawsuits from families who lost or were denied their foster care licenses after refusing to sign an agreement to not discriminate against LGBTQ+ youth nor attempt to change their gender identity or sexual orientation.
“The Department of Children and Families’ top priority is providing a safe and supportive home for all children in foster care,” DCF Commissioner Staverne Miller told GBH News. “We are also committed to ensuring that no one is prevented from applying or reapplying to be a foster parent because of their religious beliefs.”
The previous DCF policies required that “employees, foster parents, interns, volunteers, and others who interact with children and families must be respectful of how individuals ask to be identified and use the terms an individual uses to describe themselves.” This included allowing foster youth to use restrooms or changing facilities that align with their gender identity, allowing them to dress in clothing or style their hair in ways that align with their gender identity, and allowing them to use their names and pronouns.
The policies also explicitly mandated that “foster parents and contracted service providers do not make attempts to convince LGBTQIA+ children/youth to reject or modify their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.” This included not contracting with “faith leaders who attempt to change a child/youth’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”
The department also supported youth seeking legal name and gender changes, as well as “medical care and mental health services for children/youth provided in a manner that is culturally responsive and affirming,” though none were required for their gender identity to be considered respected.
The lawsuits prompted an investigation by the Trump administration, which accused the state of violating parents’ religious freedoms. Donald Trump then issued an executive order in November that allowed Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “take appropriate action to address State and local policies and practices that inappropriately prohibit participation in federally-funded child-welfare programs by qualified individuals or organizations based upon their sincerely-held religious beliefs or moral convictions.”
The lawsuit was brought by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The conservative Christian legal advocacy group has been involved in several Supreme Court cases involving abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights, including Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the national right to abortion. It also represented website designer Lorie Smith in the 2023 case 303 Creative, Inc. v. Elenis and baker Jack Phillips in the 2018 case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado, which affirmed the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people on the basis of religion.
Over 30 percent of youth in foster care identify as LGBTQ+ and five percent as transgender, according to a 2019 study from Children’s Rights, compared to 11.2 percent and 1.17 percent of youth not in foster care.
If you’re a man who likes men but hates the LGBTQ+ community, then the Straight Acting Brotherhood might just be the community you’ve been looking for.
The Straight Acting Brotherhood is exactly what it says on the tin: It’s a members’ club for men who are sexually attracted to other men. Despite that, you won’t find the words “gay”, “LGBTQ+” or “queer” anywhere on their website. The brothers seem to believe they’re the black sheep of the LGBTQ+ community, as if there’s not a whole “masc 4 masc” community already out there.
“The Straight Acting Brotherhood is a highly exclusive members’ club for high-networth, masculine men who are into men. Its culture rises beyond the hollow LGBT culture, connecting the top one per cent of men who reject the gay scene and strive for personal greatness,” the description on its website reads.
From the website: “Who we are against: We don’t do hollow gay culture: hookups, partying, drinking. We don’t do LGBT labels, pronouns, or rainbow pride. Just men being men.”
The group claims to offer networking opportunities, dinner meetups, and access to a “highly private WhatsApp group for men who think and operate like you.”
Oh, and they’re also selling travel packages such as a five-day “Warrior Retreat” to Thailand. Yes, Thailand, home the world famous ladyboys.
Hit the first link above for a breakdown about the group’s extensive vetting process for butchness. And yes, there’s videos of performative masculinity…such as lying around shirtless with muscular twinks?
On Nov. 4, Erica Deuso made history when she became the first openly transgender mayor-elect of Pennsylvania, a milestone for inclusive political campaigns. Deuso won nearly 65% of the vote and was part of a great nightfor Democrats, with Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill all winning their races in New York City, Virginia and New Jersey, respectively.
Three days after she was elected, Uncloseted Media spoke with Deuso about how her political campaign strategies—which included focusing on “good neighbor” issues rather than on her gender identity—pushed her to win big.
Watch the full video above or read the transcript below.
Spencer Macnaughton: Hi everyone, I’m Spencer Macnaughton. I am joined today by Mayor-elect Erica Deuso. She is a scientist, advocate and community leader who was just elected as mayor of Downingtown, becoming the first openly transgender mayor in Pennsylvania. Mayor-elect, thank you so much for being here today.
Erica Deuso: Thank you for having me.
SM: So let’s get right into it. You won and you made history in Pennsylvania. How are you feeling?
ED: It was a very long day but we were very happy to see the results. It was a clean sweep here in Chester County. All of our statewide won, all of our countywide won, and very many of our local municipal offices won too. So we’re very pleased with that. As for me, I’m feeling a little bit overwhelmed. I looked at this as being “I’m running for mayor. I’m running to be the mayor of a small town in Pennsylvania,” and I looked at this as I knew the history, but I didn’t really know how big it was going to be. And then I took Wednesday off to sort of relax and recharge, and that’s when I started getting all the requests for interviews and talking points, phone interviews, in-person interviews, Zoom interviews. I underestimated how big this would be. So, I’m humbled by all the reactions and I’m ready to get to work.
SM: What do you mean you were surprised by how big this would be? What surprised you about the reaction?
ED: Well, you know, I’ve always looked at it like “I’m a scientist. I’m a business woman. I’m a sister, a daughter, a wife.” You know, my gender identity, myself, I don’t think about it. You know it’s been 16 years since I transitioned. So it’s not something that’s really front of mind for me anymore. And so, I came in this thinking I was gonna run on local issues: traffic, housing affordability, flooding mitigation, public safety. And that’s what I ran on. So coming into Tuesday, I knew the history, but I also knew that I didn’t run on my gender identity. And I was hoping that people around Downingtown would feel very much the same way. That they care about the kitchen table issues that face small towns all around this country. And so to see the outpouring of love and respect and just people calling from all over the country, people calling from all over the world, it’s very, very humbling to me. And I say that with as much gratitude as I can.
SM: Fantastic! And for those who don’t know, since we have a national audience, Downingtown is a small, predominantly white town of roughly 8,000 people, located in Chester County, west of Philadelphia. It typically swings Democratic, and its historical roots are in industrial and mill, as an industrial mill town, and it has a higher average household income than the national average, and typically swings Democrat. But I wanna know, what does Downingtown mean [to] you? How would you describe this town that just elected you as their mayor-elect?
ED: Well, very much like a lot of small towns, the town is defined by the people, you know? We have something very that we’re very proud of and that’s this good neighbor spirit where everybody comes out and helps everybody else. So when there’s a family in danger of poverty or housing issues, we come out as a community and support them. We had an individual who was abducted by ICE, and we’ve thrown rallies and raised money for the family, and we’re making sure that the family has what they need as far as money, food, housing, while the family patriarch is in ICE custody. When we had flooding, Hurricane Ida in 2021, historical flood, we started a program called Downingtown Strong. So we have this good neighbor spirit and that comes from the people, not the town itself. The town could be anywhere, but the people of Downingtown will always be what makes this town special.
Photos by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso. Erica Deuso, Pennsylvania’s first trans mayor, pictured in Downingtown, PA.
The Political Campaign Strategies Behind Deuso’s Win
SM: And I hear you say multiple times, “good neighbor,” and I know that almost has been the slogan of your campaign, right? Tell me more about the political strategy behind the idea of branding your campaign as somebody who looks out for the good neighbor.
ED: So when I first moved here in 2007, it was before I transitioned. It was back in the aughts and people were still being discriminated [against] probably more than today. It just wasn’t news. And I was very scared. I was scared of what my neighbors would think, scared of what the town in general would think. The outpouring of love and support when I went through my transition was just amazing. So I look at this as giving back to the people who made me feel at home, made me feel welcome, even through the toughest part of my life. And I think when it comes to building my campaign, that’s where it was centered, is that I was trying to give back. Trying to thank the town for being there for me by saying that I’m going to be there for you.
SM: That’s beautiful. And take me back to when you did come out publicly. Do you have any kind of concrete examples that you can point to of when you remember the community coming around for you?
ED: So,I had a neighbor who lived across the street from me. I had just come out. She didn’t know. She knew me, but she didn’t know me well. So as I’m starting to come out, my hair’s getting longer, I’m dressing differently, I’m trying out new names and things like that. And it was winter time. She came out, we helped shovel out her car because she needed to get to work. And she asked me, “Hey, you know, what’s going on? I’ve seen a bunch of changes, but I don’t know what’s going on.” So I told her. And she’s like, “If you need anything, if you need me to stick up for you in town, if you need me to take you to a doctor’s appointment, if you need anything, just let me know.” And it was maybe a week later, we were out together, we grabbed some coffee and somebody, when I went and gave them my name, they called out, they just said, “Eric.” My friend, my new friend, who had known me basically for a week, goes up to the counter and says, “It’s Erica, get the name right.” And they turned, you know, they blushed. They said, “Oh, we’re so sorry, we got the name wrong” and everything. And I’ve never had a problem with that coffee shop since. It’s those sort of things where it’s just, if somebody misgenders you, if somebody dead names you, my community has my back.
SM: Having those people who have your back and stand up for you, Downingtown community members, how does that make you feel on an emotional level? What does it do for your mental health?
ED: It makes me feel at ease, you know. It makes me feel less tense, less anxiety. When you’re first coming out, you’re taking those first steps with trepidation. You’re wondering, “Is today going to be the day that someone’s going to call me a man? Is today the day where somebody’s going to call me out for using the bathroom at the McDonald’s, or who’s going to laugh at the way that I’m dressed or my makeup or something?” And to know that people have my back, to know I have friends and community members who are there to support and understand and learn and grow with me, that means everything because it made transition so much easier.
SM: And, you know, obviously Downingtown sounds like they’ve been an amazing support, most of the members. But I’m sure not everyone is supportive. And I’m sure you’ve met some people and interacted with people who maybe have never met a trans person before while you were campaigning. What did you find through your campaign worked the best in accessing people who may be misinformed about trans people, who may have never met a trans person and who could never imagine a trans person as their elected leader? What were the kind of tools that worked the best from a communication strategy point of view?
ED: Humor. Humor always works the greatest. I remember going to somebody’s door and a woman came to the door. She said, “Oh, I’m not voting for him.” And I’m like, “Who are you—there’s no hims around here.” And she said, “Oh, I thought you were a man.” And I’m like, “Nope, no, I haven’t been a man for 16 years. You know? And even then that’s questionable.” And she started to laugh. And I said, “Right now, I’m just worried about our town. I’m worried about the traffic on our street here. You know, we have this new development up the street, it empties right onto your street here. What’s going on with that? How has that affected you?” And she said, “Well, to be honest, it’s been a pain because I need to get to work right around the time that the kids are getting picked up from school. And it’s tough because now I have to wait for all the traffic and then the school buses.” And just by using that little bit of humor at the beginning, it bridged that gap. It made me be able to have a conversation with this person who originally had just dismissed me out of hand.
Photo by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso.
SM: And it probably disarmed them and opened up a door for them to feel comfortable enough to ask you questions they might not be sure they can ask.
ED: All too often you see trans people being labeled as angry or upset or you’re going to trigger them by using a name or using a pronoun that they don’t agree with. And, to me, I just look at it from a point of humor and be able to disarm people through a little bit of humor, a little bit of good nature, and not taking things so seriously. Because at the end of the day, we’re all in this together. And if I can use a little bit of humor to disarm a situation and do some education, that’s far easier than coming at it from a place of anger or being upset.
SM: That’s so interesting. Any other strategies that you found worked?
ED: Just focusing on the issues has been the biggest thing. The other side of the aisle, people who want to bring hate and division into this town, came at me trying to make this campaign about my identity. They tried to find anything that I would post, like when I was endorsed by groups like Advocates for Trans Equality or the Victory Fund or LPAC. I would post things on social media saying, “Hey, I’m really proud to have been endorsed by these groups.” And they would take that as, you know, I’m trying to shove gender ideology on them. When in fact, it’s really just [that] we have a robust LGBTQ community in Chester County. And here in Pennsylvania, we have about 71,000 trans people. I want to make sure that they’re represented. And the rabble rousers, the people trying to push against me, tried to make this divisive about my gender. But it didn’t really work when all I’m talking about is public safety, traffic and flooding.
Photo by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso. Erica Deuso engaging in political outreach on National Day of Action.
What Political Outreach Means for Deuso
SM: I think what you just said is kind of a micro representation of the strategies that worked in many other elections this week, right? Where you found, you know, Mayor-elect Mamdani of New York City focusing on affordability, but at the same time not ditching trans and queer people along the way. At the same time, we have the federal government winning from being hateful toward trans people. In my opinion, as somebody who looks at this all day, we’re reaching a precipice among the American populace where they’re starting to realize the BS of all of this misinformation and starting to recognize that “I don’t have to vote for a politician just because they’re against a group. I can actually care about the issues” kind of thing. Does that track?
ED: It does. I mean, if you look at the campaigns of Mayor-elect Mamdani, Governor-elect Spanberger, Governor-elect Sherrill in New Jersey, the anti-trans ads did nothing. I had somebody circulate a letter a couple days before the election saying that the flooding issues that I had were garbage, saying that I was misleading people with my gender identity. And they brought it around town through our local Turning Point Action group here in Chester County. They had middle schoolers running these letters and putting them on people’s doors and under placemats. The reaction to that was, “This is awful to a person around town.” I heard literally hundreds of people at the polls tell me, “You know, I wasn’t going to come out and vote today but getting that letter brought me out and not for what they thought it was going to do.” Um, I think people are just starting to see LGBTQ people, immigrants, people of other races, ethnic backgrounds, that didn’t scare people off the way that the opposition thought it was going to scare people off. We’re moving to a place where if a person is the most qualified person, I think people want that. And it starts up at the top. People are seeing that maybe we didn’t elect the most qualified person to be president right now. All these things that the current administration wants to do just to make some people’s lives harder is turning a lot of other people off. So if we focus on the things that really matter to the American people, to the people of Downingtown, the people of Pennsylvania, I think that’s what’s really gonna win people. If you compare somebody’s health care premiums to whether or not someone’s transgender, I think they’re gonna be more worried about the health care premiums at this point.
Pennsylvania Governor Election: The Bigger Picture
SM: So fascinating, and I think all of that resonates. And I think a lot of Americans are ready to just care about the issues and tackle the issues specifically. With that said, you are making history, right? As Pennsylvania’s first openly transgender mayor, what does that mean for you? How are you gonna balance focusing on the issues while also honoring this history that you’ve made?
ED: So it means a lot to me, my own gender identity. I’m so happy to be able to represent our community in this situation, but there’s a lot to do. The mayor of Downingtown’s major responsibility is working with the police, to make sure the police have what they need to do the job that they need to do. Working as mayor, I’m gonna make myself accountable, I’m going to make myself available. We’ve never had office hours here for a mayor, so I’m gonna set up office hours. I will be there to talk to you, listen to you, understand what the problems are—sorry, there’s a little bug—understand where the problems are in town.
SM: Obviously you’re courageous, but are you afraid in any ways being in this elected position, given how much animus there is towards the trans community right now in America?
ED: I was. At the very beginning of this, right after the primary, and it was a landslide. So that made a lot of people happy, but at the same time it really made some people unhappy. And there was some chatter, there were some potentials for violence. And we made sure that when we had some events this summer and this fall that we were doing our best to make sure we were protected. And we had two security people at a Fall Fest that we had here where people knew where I was going to be at every minute of the day, that day, and this was weeks after the Charlie Kirk assassination. And just because of the use of firearms, it was such an open place, I did invest personally in some protective armor underneath my clothes for that. Thankfully, we didn’t need it. So, we were safe with that. But still, we kept security in mind. Thankfully, there was no violence to speak of. Just a lot of people speaking out of a place of ignorance and misunderstanding.
SM: You’re saying armor, you wore a bulletproof vest?
ED: Yes.
SM: Wow, and I’m guessing you wouldn’t have done that and you wouldn’t have hired security if you weren’t transgender, is that fair?
ED: That is fair. This town leans Democratic. I’m not worried about a lot of the majority of the people of this town. And really the people of this town who could vote in the borough were not the problem. It was people from the outlying areas of this town, the townships that surround us. That’s where a lot of the divisiveness and people trying to force this campaign to be about my gender. That’s where they came from. We couldn’t really control them very well. So we just need to prepare for every eventuality.
SM: Obviously, there’s been transphobic comments on social media as there always are. Sometimes you’ve been responding and sometimes you haven’t. What’s kind of behind the decisions of when to engage and when to leave it?
ED: So I think when some of these comments come from a place of ignorance, there’s an opportunity for education. I remember one comment where somebody said, “You wanna just chop off your genitals” and things like that. And I said, “Look, if you follow the WPATH guidelines, everything starts with mental health,” and they came back and said, “I had no clue that there was this much involved with it.” To know that, yeah, they may disagree with it still, but at least they have a better understanding of the process and it isn’t just, somebody wakes up tomorrow and decides that they wanna go have surgery. It doesn’t work that way. And for other reasons, I don’t want a kid [or] another trans person to see my posts, see all the hate, and then not see me push back against it, you know? I don’t want them to think that I’m just gonna sit back and take it when other people in power are telling me, “You can’t use this bathroom,” or “You have to change your passport or your driver’s license or something that you have to change it back.” No, I’m not going to just stay silent because that trans kid is looking at me. They’re looking at me for leadership. And if I just stay silent on those sort of things, that person’s thinking, “Well, there’s no one standing up for me.”
SM: You must feel like you have a duty to engage.
ED: Exactly, that’s how I feel about it, is that, you know, when there’s something, you have to push back against it because there’s always people watching.
PA Governor Election and National Political Trends
SM: What would you say to politicians at the highest level of government in America right now who are stoking this fire of transphobia and anti-trans animus?
ED: Let’s have a conversation. I think if we can find 5% of an issue where we can agree on, I think we can build on that. Let’s bring the temperature down on LGBTQ issues. Let’s stop worrying about whether or not someone can change the letter on their passport. And let’s have a conversation about how best we can treat everybody as Americans. And as equals.
SM: And you would sit down with the Donald Trumps and the other people to talk about that? You would be open to that?
ED: If there was somebody who was willing to have an actual conversation where we could find common ground and build on it, I would sit down with anybody. That said, if I know that it’s not turning into a good-faith argument, that conversation is going to be over, and we’ll find somebody else who will have a good-faith conversation.
Photo by Mark Fiske, courtesy of Deuso. Erica Deuso connecting with families of Downingtown during her political campaign.
What It Means to Be a Trans Politician in Today’s Climate
SM: I want to go back to little Erica. At what age do you think you realized you were trans, and tell me a little bit about those early realizations.
ED: So, I believe I was 4. It was very early on, but that was 1984, at a time when people didn’t know anything about this. My parents obviously didn’t know anything about it. I lived with that for six years, knowing that I didn’t have the language, I didn’t have the verbiage, I didn’t understand what was going on. It was a time when kids didn’t go to therapists. And so I waited until I was 10 to tell my parents. And, obviously, it was 1990, and things didn’t go over well at that point. It wasn’t something they knew anything about and they came at it from a place of fear, not understanding. So I sort of shoved it down a little bit, and then college came around and I tried to do something about it again in college when I was 19. And I met my ex on the way to therapy. So put it on the shelf again. And it wasn’t until I was 29 that I realized, “Hey, I don’t wanna turn 30 and not know who I really am.” So I went to a therapist who specializes in gender identity and gender dysphoria here in the area. And by the end of the first session, she said, “I don’t think I’ve met another person who fits as many criteria for this as you do.” So we started on the path. I did get amicably divorced from my ex. Still friendly. I’m very happy for her. She has a very cute little girl, happily married again. I’m happily married now again. And life is good. And very, very happy with the way things happen. And everything happens for a reason. And I firmly believe that I’m living this life for a reason. Maybe it’s to be the mayor. Maybe it’s for something greater. Who knows? But right now I’m focused on being the best mayor Downingtown has ever had.
SM: What would your message to young kids be who might have dreams of being mayor or other, you know, amazing career paths, but aren’t sure if they can be out and proud and do these and achieve these ambitions?
ED: You will surprise yourself with what you’re capable of once you say that “I’m going to just be myself, no matter what anybody else says.” There will always be people who push you to be different, whether you’re trans or not, but you have to persevere and say, “This is who I am. This is what I’m going to do with my life,” and just keep pushing because you only have one life, and you need to live it in the way that’s going to bring you the most joy and the most happiness and be the best for yourself.
SM: What are you most excited [about] when it comes to getting to work?
ED: Well, I want everybody to know, who voted me in, that I’m eternally grateful for the responsibility that you have given me. I’m not gonna let you down.
SM: Fabulous. Well Mayor-elect Deuso, I think you should be very proud. You’re a role model overnight, kind of, which might have even surprised you. And I wish you the best of luck as Mayor of Downingtown. Thank you so much for speaking with me and Uncloseted Media today.
ED: Thank you so much for having me, and my door’s always open.
Since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term, Uncloseted Media has been checking in every 100 days to document each move in the administration’s ongoing and relentless attack on the LGBTQ community. These last few months have continued the trend of each 100 days being worse than the last. Trump has weaponized the assassination of Charlie Kirk to put an even bigger target on trans Americans, and he has been testing out new rhetoric, claiming that Democrats want “transgender for everybody,” a line he’s now used so many times that we couldn’t include every reference. With that in mind, here’s the administration’s complete track record on LGBTQ issues from days 201-300.
Aug. 9, 2025
Trump announces that he is nominating Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy ambassador to the United Nations. Bruce, an out lesbian, opposes transgender health care for minors and claims LGBTQ Pride commercials “really do damage to the gay and lesbian community.”
Aug. 11, 2025
During a public safety press conference, Trump orders the National Guardto deploy in Washington, D.C., claiming it will curb crime despite it being down. While doing so, he attacks the LGBTQ community, saying, “That’s why [Democrats] want men playing in women’s sports, that’s why they want transgender for everybody. Everybody, transgender.”
Aug. 12, 2025
Trump orders a review of the Smithsonian Institution to determine whether it aligns with his administration’s standards. He targets the museum’s exhibits on transgender athletes, ballroom drag and the evolution of LGBTQ identities, as well as a painting of a Black trans statue of Liberty—that was later withdrawn by the artist—in the National Portrait Library.
The same day, the State Department releases a revised 2024 Human Rights Report that omits references to LGBTQ people and erases mentions of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The report also removes critiques of governments for mistreating LGBTQ communities. For example, it removes information about Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ laws that encourage citizens to report their LGBTQ neighbors and that ban depictions of homosexuality or gender transition in schools or the media.
Aug. 14, 2025
The Department of Education (DOE) launches an investigation into four Kansas school districts, accusing them of violating Title IX as they “permit students to participate in sports and access intimate facilities based on ’gender identity’ rather than biological sex.”
Aug. 15, 2025
Budget cuts stemming from Trump’s federal workforce reductions eliminate $600,000 in funding for the D.C. Office of LGBTQ Affairs for 2026.
The same day, the administration announces plans to eliminate gender-affirming care from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program starting in 2026, cutting coverage for over 8 million people. The policy would block access to hormones and surgeries for federal workers and their families.
Aug. 20, 2025
The media reports on court filings that reveal that the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued subpoenas to hospitals for private medical records of LGBTQ patients 18 and younger. The DOJ requests billing data, communication with drug manufacturers, Social Security numbers and recordings from providers who treat gender non-conforming minors. Doctors across the country report threats and fear government retaliation.
“The subpoena is a breathtakingly invasive government overreach. … It’s specifically and strategically designed to intimidate health care providers and health care institutions into abandoning their patients,” says Jennifer L. Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD law, an LGBTQ legal group and civil rights organization.
Aug. 21, 2025
The White House publishes a list of 20 Smithsonian exhibits deemed “objectionable,” including many that highlight LGBTQ and non-white artists. Targeted works include the American History Museum’s LGBTQ+ exhibit that explores queer and disabled identities, as well as a Title IX anniversary display featuring transgender athletes.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cuts $12 million of federal funding for California’s “Personal Responsibility Education Program,” which provides sex education to teens. HHS officials cite the state’s refusal to remove lessons on so-called “radical gender ideology.”
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) upholds an executive order which directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cut more than 1,700 grants, nearly 200 of which provide funding for HIV/AIDS.
The New York Times reports that the Trump administration will withhold more than half of the congressionally appropriated $6 billion for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Experts say the cuts threaten HIV/AIDS services worldwide, as the Kenyan HIV/AIDs network NEPHAK announces layoffs and closures of health centers.
Aug. 23, 2025
ICE violently detains Brazilian trans woman Alice Correia Barbosa, later announcing plans to deport her.
Aug. 26, 2025
The administration warns U.S. states and territories that they will lose federal funding for sex education unless they “remove all references to gender ideology.” Forty-six states and D.C. receive letters ordering the purge of all “gender ideology” content within 60 days.
Aug. 28, 2025
The DOE orders Denver Public Schools to replace gender-neutral restrooms with sex-designated facilities within 10 days. If they don’t comply, the DOE suggests they will lose federal funding.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells Fox News that the HHS is studying whether gender-transition medications or antidepressants cause violence, citing a church shooting in Minneapolis by a transgender woman. Research shows no such connection, and nearly all mass shootings are committed by cisgender men.
Aug. 29, 2025
In an interview with the Daily Caller, a right-wing opinion website, Trump baselessly claims that banning transgender troops improves military readiness. He falsely links transgender identities to violence and repeats debunked claims about gender-affirming care.
The Harvard Crimson posts Dean David J. Deming’s announcement that the university will no longer host programming for specific races or identity groups, signaling deeper cuts to diversity efforts. The move follows Trump’s demands that Harvard dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs or lose billions in federal research funding. Since Trump took office, Harvard has removed DEI language, closed identity-based offices and folded LGBTQ, women’s and minority programs into a single “Harvard Foundation.”
On a podcast with former George W. Bush special assistant Scott Jennings, Trump conflates crime with support for transgender people, saying Democrats are “fighting for criminals, just like they fought for transgender for everybody … all these crazy things.”
Sept. 3, 2025
After a settlement requiring the administration to restore health and science information to federal websites, HHS officials tell the Associated Press that they remain “committed to its mission of removing radical gender and DEI ideology from federal programs.” The reversal follows an executive order meant to eliminate the term “gender” from policies and delete public health pages about pregnancy risks, opioid addiction and AIDS.
During an Oval Office meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, Trump once again says Democrats “gave us things like men playing in women’s sports, open borders for everybody, transgender for everybody.”
In response to the Minneapolis mass shooting, CNN reports that the DOJ is considering restricting transgender Americans’ Second Amendment rights by building off of Trump’s trans military ban and using it as justification for a firearm ban—something that would only be possible by declaring them mentally “defective.” The proposal sparks backlash from the National Rifle Association, who says in a statement that they “will not support … sweeping gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process.”
A Maine principals’ group challenges a subpoena from the DOJ that seeks athletic rosters statewide as part of the administration’s effort to ban transgender students from sports. The group argues the request would expose private student information unrelated to the case.
A federal appeals panel upholds an injunction blocking the Trump administration’s plan to deny accurate passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans. Judges rule the government failed to show how inclusive passports violate federal law. In its decision, the court writes:
“Based on the named plaintiffs’ affidavits and the expert declarations submitted by the plaintiffs, the district court made factual findings that the plaintiffs will suffer a variety of immediate and irreparable harms from the present enforcement of the challenged policy, including ‘a greater risk of experiencing harassment and violence’ while traveling abroad.”
Sept. 5, 2025
CNN uncovers years of homophobic and misogynistic posts by E.J. Antoni, Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni, an economist at the Heritage Foundation, contributor to Project 2025 and a “bystander” on Jan. 6, has repeatedly mocked LGBTQ people and journalists and appears to have been running an X account where he posted that “there is only one sexual orientation – everything else is a disorientation.” The administration would withdraw his nomination Sept. 30.
Sept. 8, 2025
Three military families sue the Department of Defense after the Trump administration’s ban on transgender health care. “This is a sweeping reversal of military health policy and a betrayal of military families who have sacrificed for our country,” says Sarah Austin, staff attorney at GLAD Law.
Speaking to the Religious Liberty Commission, Trump rambles, “On day one of my administration, I signed an executive order to slash federal funding for any school that pushes transgender insanity on our youth.” He goes on to falsely claim that some states can force children to transition without the parents knowing.
Sept. 9, 2025
A federal judge blocks the administration’s attempt to subpoena medical records of transgender minors at Boston Children’s Hospital. The court finds that:
“The Administration has been explicit about its disapproval of the transgender community and its aim to end GAC [gender-affirming care]. … It is abundantly clear that the true purpose of issuing the subpoena is to interfere with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ right to protect GAC within its borders, to harass and intimidate BCH to stop providing such care, and to dissuade patients from seeking such care.”
Sept. 11, 2025
The Wall Street Journal publishes a leaked Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives memo which falsely claims that shell casings found near the scene of Kirk’s murder were engraved with expressions of“transgender and anti-fascist ideology.”
Sept. 12, 2025
The DOJ removes a study from its website showing that far-right extremists have killed more Americans than any other domestic terrorist group. The archived report disappears two days after anti-LGBTQconservative Charlie Kirk is assassinated.
Sept. 15, 2025
In a press conference, Trump says he would “have no problem” removing Pride flags from Washington, D.C. streets after Brian Glenn, a far-right content creator, says that “a lot of people are very threatened by this flag.” Glenn attempts to paint the Progress Pride flag as the “transtifa” flag and suggests that “if you can label them a domestic terrorist group, in all reality, you could take that flag down.”
Trump acknowledges legal limits under free speech law but adds, “I think you probably could. Again, you’ll be sued, and it’s okay. I’ve been sued before a couple of times.”
LGBTQ+ people are significantly more likely to report being stopped, detained, and falsely accused by law enforcement compared to non-LGBTQ+ people, and it’s keeping them from calling for help.
A recent review of more than 25 years of research on interactions between LGBTQ+ people and law enforcement by the Williams Institute found that LGBTQ+ people were more likely than non-LGBTQ+ people to face mistreatment from police. LGBTQ+ people were more likely have been stopped (51 percent vs. 42 percent), searched (27 percent vs. 16 percent), arrested (20 percent vs. 14 percent), and held in custody (19 percent vs. 14 percent) over the course of their lives.
“Experiences of police mistreatment may discourage LGBTQ people from reporting crimes or engaging with law enforcement,” Joshua Arrayales, lead author and Law Fellow at the Williams Institute, said in a statement. “Reporting crimes is essential for accurate crime statistics, proper allocation of crime prevention resources, and support services that address the unique needs of LGBTQ survivors.”
Police still engage in tactics such as raids and entrapment, the report notes, leading to distrust between the community and law enforcement. Over one-fifth (21 percent) of LGBTQ+ people reported at least one police-initiated contact in the prior 12 months, compared to 15 percent of non-LGBTQ+ people. LGBQ people were nearly six times as likely as the general population (6 percent vs. 1 percent) to have been stopped by police in a public space.
Bisexual and transgender respondents were even more likely to report being stopped or detained by police, causing nearly half (46 percent) of trans people saying they would be reluctant to contact the police if they needed help, compared to one-third (33 percent) who would feel comfortable doing so.
LGBQ people felt similarly, with around 13 percent saying they did not call the police when they needed help. Almost one-fourth (22 percent) of LGBQ people said that they would not contact the police again, compared to 6 percent of the general population.
“Negative interactions with police affect LGBTQ people beyond the immediate incident,” said Christy Mallory, study author and Interim Executive Director and Legal Director at the Williams Institute. “Research has found associations between police violence and harassment and binge drinking, stress, depression, and other negative health outcomes.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to enforce a policy aimed at limiting transgender rights that would restrict sex designations on passports to “male” and “female” based on sex assigned at birth.
The justices granted an emergency request filed by the administration, which is seeking to reverse a policy introduced during the Biden administration that allowed people to put “X” as a gender marker or self-select male or female.
“Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the court said in the unsigned order.
The three liberal justices on the conservative-majority court dissented.
“The Government seeks to enforce a questionably legal new policy immediately, but it offers no evidence that it will suffer any harm if it is temporarily enjoined from doing so, while the plaintiffs will be subject to imminent, concrete injury if the policy goes into effect,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in a dissenting opinion.
Since 1992, the State Department has, in certain circumstances, allowed people to choose a male or female marker that does not correspond to their genders at birth. The Biden administration introduced the “X” option in 2021 and made it easier for transgender applicants by removing the need for medical proof of gender transition.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that the decision reflects the administration’s view that “there are two sexes, and our attorneys will continue fighting for that simple truth.”
The Trump policy effectively means that transgender people, even those who have fully transitioned and have medical records to prove it, will not be able to have gender markers that correspond with their identities.
“This is a heartbreaking setback for the freedom of all people to be themselves, and fuel on the fire the Trump administration is stoking against transgender people and their constitutional rights,” Jon Davidson, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union representing transgender people who challenged the policy, said in a statement.
President Donald Trump announced on his first day in office, Jan. 20, a rollback of the Biden rule and also said people must have passports that reflect their genders at birth.
The Trump policy was challenged by several transgender people, who alleged that it violated their right to equal protection under the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, as well as a federal law called the Administrative Procedure Act.
Ashton Orr, a transgender man from West Virginia, is the named plaintiff in the case. He applied for a passport with a male sex marker in January and, in February, was told by the State Department that he could have only a female sex marker.
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled against the administration, saying people should be able to choose their own markers or “X” as an alternative. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the ruling on hold while litigation continued.
The new Trump policy is “eminently lawful,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in court papers. “The Constitution does not prohibit the government from defining sex in terms of an individual’s biological classification,” he argued.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs — Orr and six other transgender people — say the Trump policy bucks a 30-year trend of giving applicants a choice over how they are identified.
“This new policy puts transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people in potential danger whenever they use a passport,” the lawyers wrote in court papers.
The Trump administration this year has regularly rushed to the Supreme Court when its policies are blocked by lower courts.
The passport case marks the 22nd time the court has granted an emergency request filed by the administration via what has been dubbed the “shadow docket,” according to an NBC News tally. The administration has, so far, lost only two of those cases.
It is not a final ruling and litigation will continue, but it signals how the case will ultimately be decided.
The Supreme Court’s frequent interventions early in litigation, often with little or no explanation, have prompted some federal judges to express frustration with how the justices are managing the situation.
Liberty Counsel, the legal group representing Kim Davis’ latest push for the Supreme Court to overturn gay marriage, wants to reshape American society in a far-right Christian image—one in which LGBTQ people are excluded. They’ve been fighting LGBTQ rights for years, from Lawrence v. Texasto Proposition 8 to Obergefell. Along the way, they’ve claimed that gay people “know intuitively that what they are doing is immoral, unnatural, and self-destructive” and that they are “not controlled by reason,” but rather by “lust.”
While the brunt of their work focuses on right-wing litigation, their efforts don’t stop there.
An Uncloseted Media investigation has uncovered that Liberty Counsel operates as an umbrella organization that has either founded or heavily supported a large network of affiliated organizations working to pursue far-right Christian politics by influencing key American institutions.
“What I compare it to are gears in a machine, and each one serves a different purpose,” Anne Nelson, author of “Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right,” told Uncloseted Media.
These groups use education to spread far-right Christian doctrine, they galvanize churches to become activist hubs and they work behind the scenes to influence Supreme Court justices and other government officials.
All of these groups, many of which are frequently referred to as “ministries,” share the enthusiastic support of Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver and the common goals of fighting against LGBTQ rights, cracking down on abortion, influencing American law and politics and more.
“This array of ‘ministries’ reflects the varied fronts in the religious right’s war against LGBTQ Americans and our freedom,” says Peter Montgomery, research director at People for the American Way, an advocacy group aimed at challenging the far right. He says that this network strategically works in tandem to drum up support among congregations and conservative women and to influence American media, courts and schools.
To make sense of these dizzying connections, we spoke with key experts…
… and we dug into the group’s that are part of Liberty Counsel’s expansive network. Here’s what we found about each of them:
1. Liberty Counsel Action
Screenshot from Liberty Counsel Action.
Liberty Counsel Action is a companion to Liberty Counsel. While the two groups are formally distinct and have slightly different leadership, Mat Staver is chairman for both groups, and they have very similar website architecture. The primary distinction is that Liberty Counsel is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a designation for religious and charitable organizations, while Liberty Counsel Action is a 501(c)(4), a designation for social welfare groups. While the designations are similar, donations to 501(c)(3) organizations are tax-deductible, but the groups cannot endorse or donate to political campaigns. Meanwhile, donations to 501(c)(4) organizations are not tax-deductible, but they can donate to and endorse candidates.
Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. Photo by Gage Skidmore.
Montgomery says it’s a fairly common strategy for organizations to maintain different groups like this. While Liberty Counsel is able to bring in more money due to tax incentives for donors, Liberty Counsel Action can freely engage in political advocacy.
Some of the group’s campaigns include fighting the Equality Act and calling for Congress to investigate pro-Palestinian student organizations. One of their initiatives this year has been drafting “Abortion in Our Water,” a report that outlines how abortion pills are polluting U.S. water supplies, a claim that environmental scientists have rejected. They’re also currently pushing for Republicans not to “cave to the Schumer Shakedown,” a nickname they’ve used for the ongoing government shutdown
For more direct political action, Liberty Counsel Action also had a super PACwhich spent nearly $70,000 on opposing Barack Obama’s reelection.
Montgomery says having these different branches allows Liberty Counsel to achieve more diverse control in politics and the law.
“Some of [their goals] they can achieve through the courts, some of it is gonna be through political advocacy. So then you start an advocacy affiliate, and then you start a PAC because you want to elect people who can help you get this vision of the country,” he says.
2. Faith and Liberty
Screenshot from Faith and Liberty.
Founded in 1995, Faith and Liberty—originally named Faith and Action—is a Washington, D.C. based Christian ministry that has historically courted Supreme Court justices and other government officials behind closed doors. The group’s former president, Rev. Rob Schenck, decided to leave the Christian right in 2016 after the movement’s embrace of then-candidate Donald Trump compounded his growing doubts about the ideology.
“MAGA I don’t even define as Christianity anymore,” Schenck told Uncloseted Media. “It’s an apostasy—it’s a defection from the Christian faith. It is, in fact, the diametric opposite of what Jesus taught and modeled.”
Schenck says that the group would host dinners, prayers and other meetings with conservative politicians and Supreme Court justices including Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and the late Antonin Scalia, where they would encourage the justices to adopt more radical rhetoric and policies.
“We would tell [the justices] over and over again: The people love you when you are bold and uncompromising and unapologetic, so be strong—we are with you, we’re behind you,” Schenck says, adding that his former organization was internally nicknamed the “Ministry of Emboldenment.”
Other activities of the ministry included outreach to young people at colleges and youth programs with an eye toward recruiting future right-wing political and judicial figures. This included hosting events and offering internships for conservative teenagers in the U.S. Capitol.
Schenck says attendees of these events would discuss how the federal government works, “meet the conservative justices, sit in on cases relevant to our Christian conservative agenda, and attend lectures about the judicial branch sponsored by the Supreme Court Historical Society.” Schenck says he later saw many of these individuals in the Capitol, and that the group encouraged their federal judge contacts to prioritize graduates from conservative Christian universities for clerkships and other staff positions.
While Schenck intended to dismantle Faith and Action following his shift in beliefs, he allowed the group to be acquired by Liberty Counsel in 2018 after pressure from the board and donors.
In 2022, Rolling Stone reported that Schenck’s successor—Peggy Nienaber—was caught on a hot mic bragging about praying with Supreme Court justices prior to their decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which cited a brief filed by Liberty Counsel. Staver told Rolling Stone that these allegations are “entirely untrue.”
Schenck says Nienaber—who was his deputy when he led the company—always had a great ability to get into rooms with America’s key lawmakers.
“Peggy was very good at what she did, and she was particularly skilled at gaining access to people who had all kinds of defensive measures to protect them from the public … or from people that they did not want to entertain,” he says. “It would shock me if Mat [Staver] did not deploy her for those purposes, and I do know she had well-established relationships inside the Supreme Court, certainly inside … the Republican sides of both houses [of Congress].”
In an email to Uncloseted Media, Liberty Counsel says, “Mat Staver has not spoken to Rob Schenck since 2017, and he has no knowledge of what Peggy Nienaber does and what she does now is vastly different than what she did when she worked for him. … It is preposterous to think a Supreme Court Justice can be influenced. We have no such agenda. We do litigate in the courts and have been successful at all levels by advocating for correct legal principles.”
3. The Salt and Light Council
The Salt and Light Council trains U.S. pastors on how to start a “Biblical Citizenship Ministry” at their churches. These ministries are meant to encourage congregations to engage in politics to “defend and promote life, natural marriage, [and] our constitutional and religious liberties.” The group was founded in 2008 by Dran Reese, and it became a ministry of Liberty Counsel in 2013. While the group now appears to operate independently, Staver remains chairmanof its board.
Pastors who sign up to start a Biblical Citizenship Ministry pick someone from their congregation to lead it, send them to attend The Salt and Light Council’s trainings and then receive two topics a week to bring to their congregants, with the group also promising legal support from Liberty Counsel for these pastors.
Salt and Light chapters, which now exist at over 120 churches and synagogues in 30 states, are frequently active in anti-LGBTQ activism: Reese has been caught spreading false stories about sexual harassment by trans girls in bathrooms, and the group has fought to protest Drag Queen Story Hoursand cancel LGBTQ-friendly book fairs.
Perhaps most influentially, the group is a part of the Remnant Alliance, a Texas-based coalition of far-right Christian groups that have been collaborating to swing school board elections and implement policies such as LGBTQ book bans across the state.
Montgomery says the group’s decentralized model allows them to operate on a surprisingly efficient budget.
“[It] doesn’t have a huge budget, doesn’t have a huge staff, because it’s mostly about encouraging local churches to start their own chapters and do their own thing,” he says. “The council provides them with resources, like brochures on issues or voter guides.”
4. We Impact the Nation (WIN)
Screenshot from We Impact the Nation.
Founded in 2005 as Women Impacting the Nation, this group is a project of Boca Raton-based conservative activist Sue Trombino. Prior to its rebranding to We Impact the Nation in 2024, the group became a project of Liberty Counsel for a few years beginning in 2011.
WIN founder Sue Trombino on Newsmax in 2015 (Newsmax).
During this time, Liberty Counsel sponsored WIN’s annualconference called “For Such a Time as This,” featuring scripture readings and baptism and offering renewed commitments to faith and service.
As recently as September, WIN distributed copies of “Take Back America,” a book written by Staver that argues that “God is the foundation of good government and national prosperity” and that “we need God in America again.”
Today, the group hosts talks, conferences and local chapter meetings with the goal of activating women to be conservative activists. They are most active in Southeast Florida, where they host monthly meetings and were a significant player in the campaign which defeated a constitutional amendment that would have protected abortion in the state.
The group has also historically been active in spreading anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, advocating for bathroom bans as early as 2013, arguing against conversion therapy bans, and calling forfunding to be cut to groups that disobey Trump’s executive orders against “gender ideology.”
5. Covenant Journey Academy
Screenshot via Covenant Journey Academy.
Covenant Journey Academy is an online K-12 school that incorporates Christianity into its curricula. Founded by Staver and launched by Liberty Counsel in 2023, the group targets parents who want to homeschool their kids and is billed as an alternative to “woke” public schools. The academy is now accredited in its home state of Florida and is even eligible for a state scholarship program.
Each of the academy’s courses features what they call “Biblical Integration.”
One Bible class for middle schoolers called Lightbearerspromises that students will “learn how to apply their Christian faith to every area of life and study” and covers topics such as “abortion, apologetics, cults, evolution, feminism, homosexuality, naturalism, moral relativism, pluralism, relationships, and socialism.” Staver haspromotedCovenant Journey Academy as a way for parents to avoid “LGBT propaganda” and “LGBTQ grooming.”
6. New Revolution
Screenshot via New Revolution Facebook.
New Revolution is a publishing service owned by Liberty Counsel that helps produce media for Christian organizations.
The group has published a book depicting foundational sex researcher Alfred Kinsey as a “mad scientist” and “pervert extraordinaire;” and Kim Davis’ memoir, which they say “goes behind the scenes to reveal how God gave this unlikely candidate a platform to defend marriage and religious freedom.”
In February, they advertised their services to other far-right groups at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.
7. National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC)
Screenshot via NHCLC.
NHCLC is an organization that represents Hispanic Christian churches, with
Aaaaaand he’s back…. Disgraced gay former Congressman George Santos has inserted himself in the presidential election with his “expert” take on hard-right, culture-warring Republicans with a drag-addled past.
The onetime Republican New York representative, who’s facing multiple campaign finance indictments following his expulsion from the U.S. House of Representatives, shared his reaction to the revelation that Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), attended a party while he was a student at Yale Law School dressed as a woman in an interview with TMZ.
According to Santos, the controversy surrounding Vance’s cross-dressing at a costume party is “disingenuous” and “most dudes at some point have played around” dressing up as a woman.
“It’s definitely not drag,” Santos said of Vance’s amateur ensemble.
Photos shared by a former Yale classmate revealed Vance posing seductively wearing a long blonde wig, black knit blouse, a colorful skirt and a chunky chain necklace. In one photo, he carries a black purse over his shoulder.
“Holy crap, is that bad drag,” Santos commented about the photos.
“I mean, the guy went to a costume party, put on a freakin’ cheap wig from Party City, or something similar,” the one-time Brazilian drag queen posited. “To call that drag is disingenuous, and I think most dudes at some have played around with costumes that were gender-bender.”
Straight “couples do that all the time,” Santos claimed. “The wife will dress up as a guy. Husband will dress up as a woman. So it’s not drag. It’s definitely not drag.”
Like the self-loathing Santos, Vance has been consistently hostile to the LGBTQ+ community.
Last year, along with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in the House, Vance introduced legislation in the Senate to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth at the federal level and to make such care more difficult for trans adults to obtain.
Vance has expressed his support for Don’t Say Gay legislation prohibiting discussions of sexual orientation and gender identities in schools, writing, “I’ll stop calling people ‘groomers’ when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children.”
Vance spoke out against laws protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination following the 2020 Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County ruling, which found that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination is a form of sex-based discrimination. He called the legal reasoning behind the decision a “betrayal of social conservatives and traditionalists.”
Vance also opposes the Equality Act, legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity in federal anti-discrimination laws.
News of Santos’ own drag past in Brazil — as a pageant queen named Kitara Ravache — surfaced amid a tsunami of larcenous revelations about the Long Island Republican in 2023. The newly-sworn-in rep spent weeks denying the rumors before eventually owning up to his alter ego.
New questions follow about what police said happened before a car crash in Ybor City early Saturday morning. Four people were killed and 13 others were injured. A Florida Highway Patrol cruiser chased the car, suspected of speeding and racing earlier in the night, but slowed down about 20 seconds before the crash.
Where Tampa Police say the chase ended does not match up with their own video. We spent Monday trying to get clarification from TPD and FHP but both agencies refused to comment, declining to answer questions about why what they said doesn’t match what was shown in police helicopter footage.
10 Tampa Bay matched that video with where it happened on the ground and discovered that the chase went thousands of feet farther along 7th Avenue than police claim.
The pursuit policy of the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is under intense scrutiny following a high-speed chase that resulted in a catastrophic crash in Ybor City, leaving four dead and multiple injured. The chase, which ended in tragedy outside the popular LGBTQ+ nightclub, Bradley’s on 7th, has sparked a debate over the safety and the appropriateness of such law enforcement tactics, particularly in populated areas. Adding to the controversy, an inquiry into the pursuit revealed discrepancies between official police statements and helicopter footage of the chase.
Moreover, FHP’s modified pursuit policy, which allows for a broader range of offenses to justify a chase, comes into question as noted by Attorney Anthony Rickman who highlighted an uptick in fatalities relating to FHP pursuits following these amendments. A response from Madison Kessler, communications director for the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, reiterated the culpability of the driver, asserting that “Our troopers followed policy, disengaged prior to when the suspect entered a crowded area, and the driver lost control on his own.”
Lambda Legal is taking its fight from the courtroom to the digital stage. With its new national campaign, “All Rise,” the nation’s oldest LGBTQ+ legal advocacy organization is turning a familiar courtroom command into a rallying cry — and a fundraising lifeline. The campaign, built around short- and long-form videos, paid digital ads, and a coordinated influencer blitz rolling out during LGBTQ+ History Month, is designed to keep Lambda Legal’s lawyers in courtrooms across the country as the Trump administration accelerates efforts to roll back hard-won rights.
Backed by creators including Under The Desk News, Rose Montoya, Pattie Gonia, Isaias Hernandez, Blair Imani, Jesse Sullivan, and Chella Man, All Rise blends grassroots donor outreach with emotional storytelling. It marks Lambda Legal’s largest digital awareness push to date and a call for unity and urgency from a group describing itself as the LGBTQ+ community’s “last line of defense.”
For more than five decades, the legal nonprofit has fought in courtrooms for LGBTQ+ people and those living with HIV. But in the second term of the Trumpadministration, which has banned gender-affirming care for trans minors, restricted diversity programs, and barred transgender people from militaryservice, the group’s work has become existential.
“This is a break-the-glass moment,” Kevin Jennings, Lambda Legal’s CEO, told The Advocate in an interview. “Everybody needs to throw everything at this right now. Their agenda is nothing less than the destruction of our democracy as we’ve known it.”
A movement facing its reckoning
Lambda Legal’s message arrives amid an unprecedented wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Nearly 2,000 bills have been introduced nationwide over the past two years, and more than 200 have been enacted into law. “We’ve lost the White House, we’ve lost Congress,” Jennings said. “The courts are our only recourse at this point.”
So far, the organization has sued the Trump administration six times and won four cases. Two remain pending. “We could end up six for six,” Jennings said.
According to Lambda Legal’s “Tracking Trump” case tracker, the group currently has six open cases against the administration targeting transgender rights, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and health care. The tracker also notes two preliminary injunctions granted in active cases regarding transgender service members and health care coverage.
The tracker reaffirms Lambda Legal’s long-term success rate: the organization reports an 86 percent win rate against the first Trump administration.
“There’s reason to be hopeful, but don’t be optimistic,” Jennings said. “Optimism assumes it’ll just get better by itself. Our only hope is if people rise together and fight back.”
This is not a rhetorical flourish. In June, Lambda Legal announced the largest fundraising campaign in LGBTQ+ history — $285 million raised through its “Unstoppable Future” initiative. The haul exceeded its goal by more than $100 million, with $80 million in cash on hand and $200 million in long-term commitments. Nearly all of it came from individual donors, not corporations. The infusion allowed the group to expand its legal staff by more than 40 percent.
Jennings described that surge of support as a message to those seeking to dismantle equality: “We will not go back.”
Turning a legal command into a moral imperative
To bring that defiance to life, Lambda Legal turned to Jason Keehn, founder of the mission-driven agency Accompany Creative. Keehn, whose firm was named Ad Age’s Purpose-Led Small Agency of the Year in 2024, said he approached “All Rise” as both a creative brief and a civic duty.
“The phrase has urgency,” Keehn told The Advocate. “It’s about standing up for all of us within the LGBTQ+ community, but also about what happens next if we don’t. Human rights are being eroded, and the message is: you’re next.”
Rather than rely on the anxious tone familiar in political advertising, Keehn said he and his team sought to inspire without numbing audiences. “We didn’t want to add to the toxic negative swirl,” he said. “You can’t be lighthearted about what’s happening, but we also don’t need more messages freaking people out. The better choice is to shine a light on what we can be.”
A portrait of the community under fire and a message of hope
Directed by queer filmmaker Lucio Castro, the campaign features trans military members, trans youth, LGBTQ+ families, and attorneys who represent them in court. “You see lawyers saying directly to the camera, ‘I’m fighting for you every day,’” Keehn said. “That makes the work tangible.”
The videos — some only six seconds long, others a full cinematic arc — are designed for the realities of the modern attention economy. “You need something thumb-stopping on Instagram and something that stays with people longer,” Keehn said. “It all has to ladder up to one big idea.”
The campaign’s insistence on hope, not as sentiment but as strategy, distinguishes it from the darker, fear-based tones that often dominate political messaging. Jennings calls this a deliberate choice. “The ultimate goal of our opponents is to make people feel hopeless,” he said. “Because if you have no hope, you won’t fight.”
Keehn agreed. “Civil rights aren’t just about voting or hiring practices,” he said. “They’re about how we choose to spend our energy and use our talents, and this is our way of doing that.”
For Lambda Legal, the campaign is not an aesthetic exercise but a call to arms.
“You have four assets: your voice, your vote, your time, and your money,” Jennings said. “Some people can write checks. Some people can march. Some people can sue — that’s what we do. Just figure out what you can do and do it.”
Jennings often returns to a simple, chilling analogy. “They picked on trans people first,” he said. “Just like the Nazis picked on Jews.”
It is a warning, not hyperbole — a reminder that authoritarianism rarely begins with mass repression. It starts with tolerated cruelty.
“Hope is not optimism,” Jennings said. “Hope is the belief that if we fight, things might get better. But we have to fight.”
Watch one of the All Rise campaign’s videos below.
