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Anti-trans attacks aren’t the winning election issue the right thinks it is

Republicans are waging war against the transgender community, believing that they have a winning electoral strategy.  In terms of causing both physical and emotional damage, they have succeeded, as states like North Carolina and Missouri have banned gender-affirming treatment for minors. But the attacks may not be quite the brilliant campaign tactic that the GOP thinks it has. If anything, Republicans are finding that they may have gone too far. Moreover, based on history, attacking the trans community may be more of a losing proposition at the ballot box than Republicans believe.  The current run of attacks on the trans community is sadly not […]

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Brazil makes homophobic hate speech punishable by prison

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Brazil’s high court has ruled that homophobic hate speech is on par with racial hate speech and punishable with a prison sentence of two to five years. The Supreme Court’s 9-1 ruling stated it was a “constitutional imperative” for LGBTQ+ people in the country to have this protection.  France 24 explained that the court already ruled in 2019 that homophobia was a crime on par with racism, but that ruling applied to the overall LGBTQ+ community, rather than to speech directed at specific people. The most recent lawsuit was brought by ABGLT, a Brazilian LGBTQ+ rights group. The injunction comes after the […]

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First Ugandan is charged with ‘aggravated homosexuality’ punishable by death

A 20-year-old man has become the first Ugandan to be charged with “aggravated homosexuality,” an offense punishable by death under the country’s recently enacted anti-gay law, prosecutors and his lawyer said. Defying pressure from Western governments and rights organizations, Uganda in May enacted one of the world’s harshest laws targeting the LGBTQ community. It prescribes life in prison for same-sex intercourse. The death penalty can apply in cases deemed “aggravated,” which include repeat offenses, gay sex that transmits terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly person or a person with disabilities. According to a charge sheet seen by Reuters, […]

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Judge blocks Texas ban on transition-related care for minors, state expected to appeal

A Texas judge blocked the state’s upcoming ban on transition-related medical care for minors Friday as a judge in Missouri ruled that a similar ban in that state could take effect Monday, the latest in a legal fight over efforts by conservatives to restrict such care around the country. In Texas, a group of families and doctors sued to block the state law, arguing it would violate parents’ rights and have devastating consequences for transgender children and teens who would be denied treatment recommended by their physicians and parents. The ruling landed just ahead of the Sept. 1 start date […]

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Judge dismisses lawsuit by sorority sisters who sought to block a trans woman from joining

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit contesting a transgender woman’s admission into a sorority at the University of Wyoming, ruling that he could not override how the private, voluntary organization defined a woman and order that she not belong. In the lawsuit, six members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority chapter challenged Artemis Langford’s admission by casting doubt on whether sorority rules allowed a transgender woman. Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson, in his ruling, found that sorority bylaws don’t define who’s a woman. The case at Wyoming’s only four-year public university drew widespread attention as transgender people fight for more acceptance […]

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Two Florida LGBTQ centers vandalized with anti-LGBTQ messages and hate symbols

Murals at two LGBTQ centers in Orlando, Florida, were defaced with anti-LGBTQ messages and hate symbols over the weekend. The LGBT+ Center Orlando, a nonprofit located downtown, published a photo of the vandalism on its Facebook page Saturday morning, calling the incident “sad and infuriating.” The image shows a colorful rainbow heart mural defaced with black spray paint that includes a homophobic message, a Bible reference and a Celtic cross, which is a widely recognized symbol associated with white supremacy. “It’s not the first time it has happened and even though is frustrating, we are not going to stop being a beacon […]

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Carlos Santana makes polarizing anti-trans comments in viral concert clip

Carlos Santana is on the hot seat after a video of him on stage, making polarizing remarks about gender, quickly began circulating online. In the clip, the “Oye Como Va” singer is seen addressing the audience in between songs. Through the applause, Santana can be heard saying: “When God made you and me — before we came out of the womb, you know who you are and what you are. Later on, when you grow out of it, you see things, and you start believing that you could be something that sounds good, but you know it ain’t right. Because a woman […]

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Florida will now fire trans teachers if they use the correct bathroom

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Florida’s State Board of Education has approved new penalties to enforce the state’s anti-transgender bathroom law. Signed into law in May by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also running for his party’s presidential nomination in 2024, Florida’s House Bill 1521 went into effect in July. It requires people to use bathroom and changing facilities that correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth and applies to public schools, universities, parks, prisons, and other government buildings but not to businesses and healthcare facilities. DeSantis has said the law will ensure women’s safety, based on the myth that trans people are violent sexual […]

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Gender-affirming surgery in the U.S. nearly tripled before pandemic dip, study finds

The number of gender-affirming surgeries in the U.S. nearly tripled from 2016 to 2019 before dropping slightly in 2020, according to a study published Wednesday. The increase likely reflects expanded insurance coverage for transgender care after the Obama administration and some states actively discouraged discrimination based on gender identity, lead author Dr. Jason Wright of Columbia University said. The dip in 2020 can be attributed to the pandemic. About 48,000 patients underwent such surgeries during the five years studied, with about 13,000 procedures done in 2019, the peak year, and 12,800 in 2020. A little more than half the patients […]

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Far-right leaders are decimating LGBTQ+ rights to distract from their own incompetence

With a pronounced Roman accent and a confidently assertive demeanor, a petite figure stands before an enthusiastic crowd. The people cheer as the figure emphasizes the importance of Christian values, the role of women in traditional family settings, and the threat posed by immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, associating them with the decline of what was once home to the great Roman Empire. You may, for a moment, be reminded of figures like Mussolini, Hitler, or Franco. But the figure is actually in power today. She is Italy’s first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni. Her rallying cry, “I am a mother, I […]

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