A gay former pupil and his mother are suing a school district where he allegedly experienced relentless bullying, including verbal abuse, threats of violence and another student making a “straight pride” poster with his face on it.
The legal complaint, filed by the student’s mother in June 2023, details that when he attended Ronald Reagan Middle School, in Haymarket, Virginia, he faced “regular and relentless anti-LGBTQ+ bullying” from classmates.
The defendants named in the case are the Prince William County School Board, the principal, Christopher Beemer, and assistant principal Jenita Boatwright.
Beemer still works as the school but Boatwright has left.
The claimant alleges that Beemer, Boatwright and the school board responded to requests for help “with victim-blaming and inaction”.
The openly gay student started in sixth grade at the school in August 2019 which is when the alleged victimisation began, with the first incident involving classmates taking his belongings and passing them around the classroom while voicing homophobic slurs, it is claimed.
The teacher reportedly did not put an end to the bullying and it happened three more times.
The verbal harassment is said to have continued and in December 2021 five students surrounded the boy outside the school building, again using homophobic slurs.
In the complaint, the boy’s mother says two teachers who were nearby did nothing to help and when the student got into his mother’s car, the bullies gave her the middle finger.
It is also alleged that in 2022, one student made the “straight pride” poster while a number of bullies cornered him in the toilet, banged on the stall door and shouted: “There’s a girl in here,” threatening violence.
A judge denied a school board motion dismiss the case but Beemer and Boatwright’s was granted in part.
The case asserts four causes of action: sex discrimination under Title IX civil rights protections against the school board, an equal protection clause violation against the individual defendants, a violation against the individual defendants, which the judge dismissed, and gross negligence against the individual defendants.
District judge Rossie D Alston Jr gave the plaintiffs 14 days to file an amended complaint for the charge that was dismissed.
A school board spokesperson told Inside Nova it does not comment on active cases but “remains committed to providing an inclusive and excellent education for every student and has no tolerance for harassment, bullying or intimidation of students”.
A major US health insurance company is making artificial insemination available on all its eligible plans – regardless of sexual orientation or partner status.
Aetna, a subsidiary of CVS Health, announced the landmark change its intrauterine insemination (IUI) policy on Tuesday (27 August). Members can access the benefit as a test of fertility and, in some cases, to increase the chances of pregnancy.
“Expanding IUI coverage is yet another demonstration of Aetna’s commitment to women’s health across all communities, including LGBTQ+ and unpartnered people,” the company’s chief medical officer, Cathy Moffitt, said.
“This industry-leading policy change is a stake in the ground, reflecting Aetna’s support of all who need to use this benefit as a preliminary step in building their family.”
Aetna is one of the United States’ largest medical insurance providers, serving over 35 million people and when combined with the rest of CVS Health, makes up 11 per cent of the market share.
What is IUI?
Also known as artificial insemination, IUI is a fertility treatment that involves placing specially prepared sperm directly into the uterus. The procedure is done around the time of ovulation, to increase the chances of fertilisation.
The procedure is usually the first step for couples with unexplained fertility problems, but can also be used for single women and LGBTQ+ couples wanting to start a family. Unlike in vitro fertilisation, where the egg is fertilised in a lab and the embryos then implanted into the uterus, IUI is a direct injection of the sperm.
While IUI is generally less costly, the success rates are lower than IVF, especially for those over the age of 35.
Ground-breaking shift in policy for LGBTQ+ parents-to-be
Aetna’s previous policy only provided IUI treatments to straight couples who said they were not able to conceive after trying for six or 12 months, depending on their ages.
Single women and LGBTQ+ couples were required to pay for 12 cycles of IUI before they became eligible for coverage. The discrepancy was the subject of a 2021 lawsuit brought by a couple in New York.
In response, Aetna, without acknowledging any wrongdoing, committed to ensuring equal fertility treatment coverage for all policyholders, regardless of sexual orientation or marital status. This includes reimbursing past claims for eligible LGBTQ+ individuals and establishing a $2 million (£1.5 million) fund to compensate those affected by the disparity.
Kate Steinle, the chief clinical officer at Folx, an American healthcare provider for the LGBTQ+ community, said: “We know first-hand the barriers people face in accessing medical care to start or grow their families.
“As an in-network provider focused on the LGBTQ+ community, we applaud Aetna’s efforts to reduce out-of-pocket costs, so that more people can have the families they dream of and deserve.”
The new policy comes into effect on Sunday (1 September).
Gay Brazilians have become targeted as a slew of murderers have been using dating apps to target gay men, Reuters reports.
One victim, Leo Nunes, was murdered on Lover’s Day in Brazil after he met someone on Hornet, a gay dating app. He was killed in a middle-class neighborhood in Sao Paulo.
One suspect has been arrested, however the string of crimes has yet to stop. People report being robbed and attacked after meeting up with assailants using fake profiles.
Straight men may be at risk, too, of “love cons,” where straight men are lured to a remote location to meet with a woman and are instead kidnapped and robbed.
Criminal groups are targeting LGBTQ+ people because of their known reluctance to interact with law enforcement.
“Because of structural homophobia, criminals know that LGBT people are vulnerable. They know they will be more easily intimidated,” said Wanderley Montanholi, a lawyer for the family of Heleno Veggi Dumba, a gay doctor who was murdered in April in Sao Paulo after an attempted robbery.
Three suspects have been arrested for Dumba’s killing, however none are charged as of yet.
Five gay men have been killed through these apps since March of 2024, although the number may be higher as deaths go unreported to police.
Brazilian police declined to comment to Reuters about murders linked to gay dating apps, mentioning only the “love cons.”
Gabriel, a gay man who did not give his surname to Reuters, was robbed by the same profile on the same street as Nunes. “One man put a gun to my stomach and asked me the password of my phone,” he said, which led to his bank accounts being accessed and his money and credit cards stolen.
According to Gabriel, the profile remained on Hornet for weeks after it was flagged, in spite of multiple people flagging it as well. Law enforcement declined to comment on the cases of Gabriel and other individuals who had been attacked.
Gerry Monaghan, head of operations at Hornet, said to Reuters that “all reports are looked at and reviewed by Hornet.” He also said that the company added additional staff to handle reporting and that they changed their reporting system to prioritize issues based on severity. He did not elaborate on this.
A spokesperson for Grindr said that they are “aware that in Brazil, digital platforms such as ours are occasionally abused to target LGBTQ+ people.” He referenced security features in the app and referenced their participation with law enforcement.
Dr. Molly McClain treats many out-of-state patients at her New Mexico clinic, though she said around 1 in 5 find the cost too prohibitive. Nina Robinson for NBC News
Dr. Kade Goepferd has received death threats for their work treating transgender youths at Children’s Minnesota Hospital, but Goepferd said the harassment isn’t the most worrying part of the job.
“The waitlist is what keeps me up at night,” said Goepferd, who uses they/them pronouns. “It has grown every year, and it got particularly long after the bans went into effect.”
Goepferd is the medical director of the hospital’s Gender Health Program, the only multispeciality pediatric gender clinic in Minnesota. The program has experienced a 30% increase in calls since surrounding states outlawed gender-affirming care for minors, and the waitlist is now at least a year for new patients, even after Goepferd hired additional staff to help the hundreds of trans youths requesting appointments.
Dr. Kade Goepferd said the waitlist at their Minnesota clinic “has grown every year” and has gotten “particularly long after the bans went into effect.”Sarah Wilmer for NBC News
Twenty-six states now have restrictions on transgender health care for minors, according to the LGBTQ think tank Movement Advancement Project. The laws have left those still able to provide this type of care, like Goepferd, struggling to keep up with demand.NBC News spoke to a dozen clinicians in states where gender-affirming care for minors remains legal, from Connecticut to California, and found all are treating transgender youths fleeing bans. Not only does the surge in out-of-state and newly relocated patients create logistical challenges — from waitlists to insurance denials — it also presents a legal risk for health care professionals. Although some states have enacted protections for gender-affirming care providers, these shield laws remain untested in court, and they have done little to deter anti-trans attacks. Many doctors said they’ve had to take added security measures as transphobic rhetoric has intensified.
“There’s been a growing awareness over the last year that the environment is only getting more and more dangerous for providers,” said Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute, a nonprofit advancing LGBTQ health care.
Not all transgender youths seek medical intervention, and while the total number of minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria has increased in recent years, the percentage pursuing transition care has decreased, according to data collected by Reuters and Komodo Health Inc. In a 2022 report, the organizations found around 13% of trans youths sought medical intervention in 2021, down from 17% in 2017. Meanwhile, the number of laws targeting providers has risen rapidly since 2021, when Arkansas became the first state to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Now, more than half of U.S. states have such restrictions in place.
Proponents of these laws say they prevent harmful experimentation on children, who they argue are not mature enough to make life-altering decisions about their bodies. However, the bans contradict the consensus among major medical associations, which recommend the treatment of gender dysphoria before age 18.
Care for young children involves only social changes, such as a new name and pronouns. For some preteens, the next step is puberty blockers, medication that suppresses the development of distressing secondary sex characteristics like facial hair. Once patients reach adolescence, they can start gender-affirming hormone therapy, which allows teens to mature into the gender matching their identity and is the same protocol used with trans adults. Gender-affirming surgery, such as the removal of breast tissue, is rarely performed on minors, but these procedures are also outlawedfor youths in dozens of states.
The consequences for violating transgender care bans range from loss of medical license to criminal charges. It is now a felony in six states — Alabama, Idaho, Florida, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Carolina — to prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy to transgender youths, according to KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. Twenty states impose civil and professional penalties, such as empowering parents to sue or subjecting providers to discipline from the medical board, KFF reports. Those sanctions are paired with an “aiding and abetting” clause in eight states, preventing doctors from even referring families elsewhere for treatment.
Jennifer Pepper, president and CEO of CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health, an LGBTQ and women’s health care organization, said the bans are borrowing tactics from the anti-abortion movement.
“It’s having the same nightmare all over again,” said Pepper, whose Illinois clinic offers gender-affirming hormone therapy to teens 16 and up. “You make it about safety, and you make it about these providers who don’t actually care about patients. And those are all the same words and plays that we saw right after the Roe v. Wade decision.”
Sixteen states have enacted so-called shield laws or executive orders that help gender-affirming care providers practice without repercussions, according to Movement Advancement Project. These policies prohibit information-sharing with prosecutors in states with bans and block the extradition of health care professionals.Milo Inglehart, a staff attorney at the California-based Transgender Law Center, said the clash between bans and shield laws has created tremendous uncertainty for providers.
“We haven’t seen this much state legal conflict since the Civil War, practically,” Inglehart said.
Inglehart and other advocates fear the shield laws aimed at gender-affirming care providers may not hold up in court. So far, the only test has come from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who demanded the medical records of transgender patients at Seattle Children’s Hospital. The hospital — which falls under Washington’s shield law — filed a lawsuit against Paxton and, as part of a settlement, he dropped the request.
Nonetheless, Kellan Baker said he advises health care professionals not to rely on these policies. Many providers under shield laws agreed, telling NBC News they still feel at risk treating out-of-state patients.
“It’s a tenuous protection,” said Dr. Molly McClain, medical director of the University of New Mexico’s Deseo clinic for transgender youths. “I’m not afraid now, but I think we’re just going to have to see.”
Dr. Molly McClain said shield laws are a “tenuous protection” for providers of gender-affirming health care for minors.Nina Robinson for NBC News
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear its first case on gender-affirming carenext term, marking a potential turning point for providers. The court will weigh whether Tennessee’s ban violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.In the meantime, the patchwork of state policies makes telehealth especially fraught. Dr. Izzy Lowell, founder and director of the online clinic QueerMed, is based in Georgia but serves transgender teens and adults nationwide. She’s able to avoid the bans by asking patients to travel for their virtual appointments.
“The way the telemedicine law works is that wherever the patient is located at the time of the visit, that state’s laws apply,” Lowell said. “So we have patients drive or fly or whatever from wherever they are over the border into a state without a ban.”
Lowell said she also employs “about a dozen” attorneys to monitor gender-affirming care laws. Last year, she received a demand for patient records from the Texas attorney general, and she later told The Washington Post she would not be complying. She declined to comment on the matter to NBC News.
Dr. Molly McClain leads the Deseo clinic, which is run out of the UNM Southeast Heights Family Health Clinic in Albuquerque, N.M.Nina Robinson for NBC News
Telemedicine provider Dr. Crystal Beal said they consider their own practice a form of civil disobedience. Beal, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, is the founder and CEO of QueerDoc, a telehealth clinic treating patients in 10 states, including a few with bans. As a nonbinary femme, Beal said, they feel compelled to defy anti-trans laws.“I provide care in a different way than my allied colleagues,” Beal added. “I’m worried about my community dying.”
‘A completely clogged system’
More than a third of transgender teens in the U.S. now live in states with bans on trans health care for minors, according to the Movement Advancement Project. These restrictions have driven thousands of young people to seek transition-related care out of state, straining resources at the network of gender clinics still open.
Three-quarters of the providers NBC News interviewed had waitlists of at least three months, with some as long as a year. Dr. Sumanas Jordan, medical director of Northwestern Medicine’s Gender Pathways Program in Chicago, said her clinic is flooded with calls every time a ban passes.
“We actually have a script, because the volume increases so much that we have to have a lot of people help us,” Jordan said, noting that Northwestern’s calendar has remained “constantly full” even as more appointments have been added.
Overcapacity is a common problem for gender-affirming care programs, according to Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, president-elect of the U.S. Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH) and medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
“Our waitlists get long, we hire a provider, and then our waitlist goes down, and then it goes up again,” Olson-Kennedy said. “But that’s like the L.A. freeways. We’ll never catch up to the amount of traffic.”
Many gender clinics are also experiencing a rise in insurance issues due to the bans. Because Medicaid and some private plans won’t reimburse for out-of-state care, transgender youths often lose insurance coverage if they travel. That forces families to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars out of pocket per dose of puberty blockers or hormone replacement.
McClain said the cost is a major barrier for her out-of-state patients, with around 1 in 5 unable to continue treatment after arriving at her New Mexico clinic.
“Even the ones who are privileged enough to get here aren’t always wealthy enough to be able to afford the medications,” McClain said.
Finding a pharmacist to fill these prescriptions presents another challenge. McClain relies on a pharmacy that ships over state lines but has no backup if it closes.
“I don’t know what we’ll do at that point,” she said.
While telemedicine offers more flexibility, Lowell said her patients in states with bans get pushback from pharmacists “all the time” and have to shop around. Many of them use travel grants from the Campaign for Southern Equality, a nonprofit that helps transgender youths access services in non-ban states.
But even with funding available, the frequent trips required to keep a transgender teen current on medication can put care far out of reach for some families. Unlike with an out-of-state abortion, they need to return for appointments multiple times a year, if not relocate entirely. And moving to a shield-law state such as California typically comes with a high cost of living.
Melissa Santos, head of pediatric psychology at Connecticut Children’s, is concerned low-income patients will be shut out of care altogether if leaving home becomes their only option. She oversees a research project on transgender youths and has seen firsthand how families are struggling to restart their lives in Connecticut.“It is going to end up being a completely clogged system where only those with means will ever be able to access it,” Santos said of the overburdened clinics in shield-law states.
Although telemedicine has allowed some gender programs to expand, Lowell warned that it’s inaccessible to most practices. “It’s very, very difficult to get additional state licenses,” she said.
At the same time, the bans are limiting medical school and residency choices for the next generation of gender-affirming care providers. That creates a “vicious cycle,” said USPATH President Dr. Carl Streed, where there aren’t enough new doctors to handle the influx of patients in shield-law states.
“When you shut down locations where you provide this care, you’re losing opportunities for people to be trained there as well,” Streed said. “Therefore, we lose the opportunity to have more folks be able to provide this care.”
‘Simmering in the background’
The spread of health care restrictions has also made providers a political target, with some saying they’ve been harassed relentlessly by the far right. Olson-Kennedy said the anti-trans attacks have come as a shock to most medical institutions.
“These are probably not the things that pediatricians and pediatric hospitals are used to,” she said. “But these are things that trans people are used to.”
The majority of gender-affirming care providers NBC News interviewed had received threats, ranging from angry calls and emails to arson. Even a doctor in liberal San Franciscosaid he had someone vow to kill him and his dog.
“It’s always kind of simmering in the background,” Dr. Kade Goepferd said of the harassment directed at their field. “It strengthens my resolve that this is really important work.”
Dr. Kade Goepferd said the anti-trans messaging they face in their line of work weighs on them, despite the joy and purpose they’ve found in their profession.Sarah Wilmer for NBC News
Last year, an arsonist destroyed Lowell’s practice in Georgia, leaving behind graffiti that made their intentions clear. The FBI is now investigating the incident as a hate crime, according to Lowell.“Mine was the only office that was burnt, and it was burnt completely,” Lowell said. “To the point where they had to ask, ‘Was there a computer on the desk?’”
This climate of fear has led many clinics to avoid publicity and increase security measures for their staff. Some practices have removed contact information from their websites or considered erasing their online presence entirely.
Several of the largest pediatric gender programs in the country, including Seattle Children’s, Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, declined interviews with NBC News.
Dr. Joshua Safer, director of Mount Sinai’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York, said he had to stop sharing his team’s street address online due to threats. He decided to risk keeping the rest of the website up to reach teens in states with gender-affirming care bans.
“If you’ve got some kid,” Safer said, “and their only access to information is in their bedroom on their computer, I wanted them to find Mount Sinai.”
The waiting room at the Children’s Minnesota Specialty Center, where Dr. Kate Goepferd’s Gender Health Program is located.Sarah Wilmer for NBC News
Some transgender health care providers under shield laws said they feel a kind of survivor’s guilt, a sense that they could be doing more to help patients and colleagues in states with bans. Olson-Kennedy described it as a “moral wound” for the doctors still able to practice.Goepferd said the anti-trans messaging weighs on them, despite the joy and purpose they’ve found in their work.
“It’s emotionally exhausting to be targeted,” Goepferd said. “It’s also really sad and painful to watch the patients and families that you care for be targeted.
“I’m glad that I can offer them care, but I can’t take that away from them.”
a divided panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a federal district court decision blocking enforcement of the Florida laws banning health care for transgender minors and restricting it for transgender adults. The 2-1 ruling allows the state to enforce the laws while the Court hears Florida’s appeal of the June 11 decision finding that SB 254 and the Boards of Medicine rules unlawfully targeted transgender people.
Writing in dissent, Judge Wilson found that the district court had “identified sufficient record evidence to support concluding that the act’s passage was based on invidious discrimination against transgender adults and minors,” and that “withholding access to gender-affirming care would cause needless suffering.”
The organizations representing the plaintiffs in Doe v. Ladapo, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC), National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Southern Legal Counsel (SLC), and Lowenstein Sandler LLP, issued the following statement in response to today’s ruling:
“We are deeply disappointed by this decision and the panel’s disregard for the district court’s careful findings and adherence to the Eleventh Circuit’s recent precedent. Allowing these discriminatory restrictions to go back into effect will deny transgender adults and adolescents lifesaving care and prevent Florida parents from making medical decisions that are right for their children. As the district court found based on voluminous evidence, the record shows that these extraordinary restrictions were based on disapproval of transgender people and serve no purpose other than to harm transgender Floridians. The plaintiffs in this case are considering their options and will take every step possible to protect their right to equal treatment under Florida’s laws, which these restrictions egregiously violate. We will continue fighting for transgender Floridians and their families, and for everyone’s right to make healthcare decisions without government interference.”
Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. (SLC) is a Florida statewide not-for-profit public interest law firm that is committed to the ideal of equal justice for all and the attainment of basic human and civil rights. SLC’s Transgender Rights Initiative protects the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community through federal impact litigation, policy advocacy, and individual representation.www.southernlegal.org
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.www.hrc.org
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. Since its founding, NCLR has maintained a longstanding commitment to racial and economic justice and the LGBTQ+ community’s most vulnerable.www.nclrights.org
Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) works to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation.www.glad.org
Thousands of transgender and nonbinary people — and their allies — will gather in Washington, D.C., Saturday for the National Trans Visibility March.
The march, which has been held annually since 2019, focuses on the need for trans visibility in politics as well as society at large. Trans people need to support politicians who support them, contact elected officials, and get involved in grassroots campaigns, the march website notes.
This year’s march will also highlight the need for intersectionality of HIV prevention and education with broader social justice concerns. Participants will emphasize the need for comprehensive sex education that includes HIV prevention as well as culturally competent, trans-inclusive health care services.
The first National Trans Visibility March was held in 2019 in Washington. The march was held virtually in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but picked back up in 2021 in Orlando. In 2022, it was held in West Hollywood, and in 2023, in New York City.
This year, participants will start arriving at noon at the Human Rights Campaign headquarters, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW. There will be an opening ceremony at 1 p.m., and the march starts at 1:30 p.m. It will come back to the HRC headquarters at the end.
Speakers will include Hope Giselle, executive director, president, and CEO of the march; Kelley Robinson, president of HRC; Elijah Nicholas, founder and chairman of the Global Trans Equity Project; Ollie Henry, a storyteller and activist with the National Black Justice Coalition and American Association of People with Disabilities; Iya Dammons, founding executive director of DC and MD Safe Haven; Louis Shackelford, director of external relations for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network; and Lee Blinder, founding executive director of Trans Maryland.
There will be a post-march party from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Moxy Hotel, 1011 K St. NW.
Atlanta police are investigating an act of vandalism that damaged property belonging to organizers of an LGBTQ Pride event dedicated to celebrating Black queer communities globally.
The Atlanta Police Department said in a statement Wednesday that the incident happened at a hotel in midtown Atlanta, where an event for Global Black Pridewas taking place.
Authorities added that a preliminary investigation indicated that an intoxicated guest of the hotel caused the damage late Tuesday evening, and that they are still “following up on leads regarding the identity of the suspect and are working to determine why the suspect caused the damage.”
Tables, pamphlets and other memorabilia were scattered on the floor at the hotel, according to photos the organizers of the festival shared with NBC News.
Global Black Pride condemned the incident in a post on Instagram on Wednesday, calling it an “act of hatred.”
“Healing and joy are our priorities in a world that often harbors hate,” the group wrote. “We will not be deterred, and we will not allow hate stop us from celebrating our pride and resilience.”
“When we fight, we win,” it added.
The Global Black Pride festival, which started Tuesday and will end Monday in Atlanta, includes workshops, art exhibits, a health conference and several marches. It began during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and is celebrated every two years. The 2022 event, the first held in-person, was in Toronto.
This year’s celebration headliners include Tony-winning actor Billy Porter and Nigerian singers Yemi Alade and Omawumi.
More than half of Black LGBTQ U.S. adults live in the South, according to a January 2021 report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Of the Atlanta metropolitan area’s population of about 6 million people, roughly 194,000 identify as LGBTQ, according to March 2021 data from the institute, though that data was not broken down by race.
A federal judge extended a temporary order Tuesday for a transgender girl to play soccer for her high school team while considering arguments for a longer-term order and a possible trial as the teen and another student challenge a New Hampshire ban.
The families of Parker Tirrell, 15, and Iris Turmelle, 14, filed a lawsuit Aug. 16 seeking to overturn the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act that Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law last month. While Turmelle doesn’t plan to play sports until December, Tirrell successfully sought an emergency order allowing her to start soccer practice on Aug. 19.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Landya McCafferty found that Tirrell had demonstrated likely success on the merits of the case. She extended that order Tuesday, the day it was expiring, for another two weeks through Sept. 10. McCafferty also listened to arguments on the plaintiffs’ broader motion for a preliminary order blocking the state from enforcing the law while the case proceeds.
McCafferty also raised the possibility of a trial this fall, before winter track season starts for Turmelle, who attends a different school.
Chris Erchull, an attorney at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders representing the the students, said he would be ready for a trial. Michael DeGrandis, an attorney for the state, said he would need to discuss that with the attorney general’s office.
“As soon as Iris walks into school next week, she’s going to be suffering harm because of the way this law impacts her,” Erchull said in a news conference afterward. “She has no guarantees that she will be able to participate in school sports this year.”
The lawsuit said the law violates constitutional protections and federal laws because the teens are being denied equal educational opportunities and are being discriminated against because they are transgender.
Lawyers for the state said the teens’ lawyers haven’t proven their case and they haven’t shown why alternatives, such as participating in coed teams, couldn’t be an option.
The bill signed by Sununu bans transgender athletes in grades 5 to 12 from teams that align with their gender identity. It require schools to designate all teams as either girls, boys or coed, with eligibility determined based on students’ birth certificates “or other evidence.”
Sununu had said it “ensures fairness and safety in women’s sports by maintaining integrity and competitive balance in athletic competitions.” He said it added the state to nearly half in the nation that adopted similar measures.
The rights of transgender people — and especially young people — have become a major political battleground in recent years as trans visibility has increased. Most Republican-controlled states have banned gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, and several have adopted policies limiting which school bathrooms trans people can use and barring trans girls from some sports competitions.
Ford Motor is the latest company to walk back some of its commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The automaker has taken “a fresh look” at its DEI policies and practices over the past year to take in to account the evolving “external and legal environment related to political and social issues,” according to an internal communication that was shared with global Ford employees and posted on X on Wednesday by an anti-DEI activist. Ford confirmed the letter was authentic and said it had no additional comment on the matter.
Ford’s move follows retailer Tractor Supply, which was one of the first major companies to stop its DEI efforts, as it severed ties earlier this summer with the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, and retired DEI targets like boosting the number of employees of color at the manager level. Harley Davidson also decided last week to stop consulting the HRC’s metric for treatment of LGBTQ+ employees and affirmed that it does not have a DEI function.
Home improvement retailer Lowe’s also joined the efforts earlier this week, and noted that it might also make additional changes to the policies over time.
The companies have cited conservative backlash or changing social and political environments in their announcements.
In its memo Wednesday, Ford said it will not use quotas for minority dealerships or suppliers, adding that it does not have hiring quotas.
The automaker will also stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, as well as various other “best places to work” lists.
“As a global company, we will continue to put our effort and resources into taking care of our customers, our team, and our communities versus publicly commenting on the many polarizing issues of the day,” Ford said in the statement sent to employees. “There will of course be times when we will speak out on core issues if we believe our voice can make a positive difference.”
The Human Rights Campaign scores participating companies annually based on their corporate equality measures for LGBTQ+ individuals, including practices like offering spousal medical benefits regardless of sex and having distinct LGBTQ+ community outreach efforts.
Ford, in previous years, had received a perfect score on the index.
In a statement, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said the group was disappointed in Ford’s decision.
“By failing to support women leaders, employees of color, and LGBTQ+ employees, Ford Motor Company is abandoning its financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool,” Robinson said in a emailed statement. “In making their purchasing decisions, consumers should take note that Ford Motor Company has abandoned its commitment to our communities.”
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn affirmative action in colleges, a growing number of conservative activists on social media have called on companies to stop investing in DEI.
“There is an old saying: If you give an inch, people take a mile, and that is essentially what we have seen when the Supreme Court made a ruling that was very specific to institutions of higher education,” industrial and organizational psychologist Derek Avery told CNBC. “Conservative state attorney generals sent letters to corporations warning them that they could expect to be sued if they continue to advocate and promote DEI practices within their organizations that could be construed as counter to the Supreme Court ruling, even though the Supreme Court ruling had no bearing on those corporate initiatives.”
In response to an inquiry from NBC News, the anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck said in an email that calling the campaign an anti-LGBTQ effort would be “inaccurate.”
“I oppose any group about sexuality in the workplace whether you’re gay or straight,” he said, citing the support his effort has received from the Log Cabin Republicans, a politically conservative group led by gay GOP members.
Ashley Brundage, 44, a DEI educator and former bank executive, moved one step closer on Tuesday to becoming the first elected transgender lawmaker from Florida despite a smear campaign perpetuated by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis.
Brundage, running for a state House seat from the Tampa area, swamped her opposition with more than 81 percent of the vote in Florida House District 65’s Democratic primary.
She’ll face incumbent Republican Florida state Rep. Karen Gonzalez Pittman in November.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled to announce that we’ve won the Democratic primary election with a resounding victory over 80% for Florida State House District 65!” Brundage posted on X.
Brundage joins two other winning LGBTQ+ candidates in Florida, former state representative Joe Saunders and climate advocate Nate Douglas, in trying to erase Republicans’ super majority in the state legislature in November.
A fourth LGBTQ+ candidate, former Obama staffer Chad Klitzman, did not fare as well, losing his primary in heavily Democratic Broward County to a pro-LGBTQ+ rights candidate, Barbara Sharief.
Brundage’s opponent in the general election is a former teacher in the Tampa area who voted in favor of Don’t Say Gay legislation and book bans in school libraries. Brundage is the award-winning author of Empowering Differences: Leveraging Your Differences to Impact Change.
Brundage says Pittman “only helped to scare away people from wanting to come to Florida” with the “draconian laws” she’s helped to pass.
Those include Gov. DeSantis’ signature Don’t Say Gay legislation, which Brundage described in an interview with LGBTQ Nation as “absolutely ridiculous.”
DeSantis’ antipathy for Brundage extends back, incongruously, to an award for which he congratulated her.
In 2022, Brundage was given a Spirit of the Community award by the Florida Commission on the Status of Women for bringing in tens of millions of dollars to the Tampa area with an international economic empowerment conference. Brundage received a letter of congratulations from DeSantis, who, it turns out, didn’t know Brundage was trans.
But news organizations did, and Brundage says DeSantis “dodged everybody’s request for comment on it. No comment. No comment. No comment. I announced my candidacy, of course, and talked about the letter. And then he finally responded — to the Daily Mail in the U.K. And he told them that he would have never given me the award if he had known that I was a transgender woman.”
Like his hateful Don’t Say Gay laws, Brundage called DeSantis’ disavowal “ridiculous.”
“I still brought in a $12.5 million conference, selling out two entire hotels and a convention center for the city of Tampa,” Brundage says. “I still did that. I still created a scholarship foundation for youth, and I still mentored children and women in my community through financial literacy educational programs for free.
“So none of that has changed, but because he knows my political affiliation, all of a sudden, he wants to say that he wouldn’t have given me that award. And that’s exactly what’s wrong with our political world right now. Partisan politics get in the way of actually accomplishing things that are good for our economy.”
