The original rescissions package Trump requested called for $400 million in cuts to PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which George W. Bush started in 2003.
But in the Senate, Democrats and a handful of Republicans objected to the PEPFAR cuts. Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the health program had saved an estimated 26 million lives and allowed nearly 8 million babies to be born healthy to mothers living with HIV.
“There are some cuts that I can support, but I’m not going to vote to cut global health programs,” Collins told reporters last week.
Seeking to tamp down the GOP rebellion, the White House this week agreed to make changes to the package, dropping the PEPFAR cuts to secure GOP votes.
“PEPFAR will not be impacted by the rescissions,” White House budget director Russell Vought told reporters after he huddled behind closed doors Tuesday with Senate Republicans.
Removing those cuts, Vought said, means the package has “a good chance of passing.”
The rescissions package, which would claw back $9 billion in congressionally approved funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, narrowly passed the Senate early Thursday on a 51-48 vote. Collins was one of two Republicans to vote against the package, lamenting that the White House had not provided details of the cuts and that “nobody really knows what program reductions are in it.”
The House passed the package of cuts early Friday and Trump has vowed to sign it into law.
The White House’s original rescissions request sent May 28 detailed that the cuts would target only HIV/AIDS programs that “neither provide life-saving treatment nor support American interests.”
“This rescission proposal aligns with the Administration’s efforts to eliminate wasteful foreign assistance programs,” the request said. “Enacting the rescission would restore focus on health and life spending. This best serves the American taxpayer.”
But even some deficit hawks in the House said they supported the decision to preserve PEPFAR funding.
“It’s very successful. I think it serves a useful purpose,” said conservative Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., who voted for the rescissions package.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee who also supported the package, said, “It’s half the money we’ve given to Ukraine, and it’s saved 25 million lives.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed the legislation and said the PEPFAR-related changes were insufficient.
“Cuts to foreign aid will make Americans less safe. It will empower our adversaries,” he said. “The changes Republicans say they’ve made to PEPFAR are not enough, and nobody’s fooled by small tweaks to this package.”
Some advocates were relieved by the removal of PEPFAR cuts but disappointed with the overall package.
“It is always good news when lawmakers prioritize children, especially children who are orphaned or vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. But the larger trend here is not hopeful,” said Bruce Lesley, the president of First Focus Campaign for Children.
“While a few senators persuaded their colleagues to preserve funding for these children in this case,” he said in a statement, “the Senate’s overall decision to hand $9 billion back to the President suggests that what the legislature does actually doesn’t matter.”
On July 9, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a workshop with the inaccurate and inflammatory title: “The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors.” The title, event, and invited speakers ignore the consensus of every major medical association and leading world health authority, which all support health care for transgender adults and youth.
Sensationalized and misleading terms such as “mutilation” and “sterilization,” which falsely claim that medical care for transgender people is inherently “dangerous.” The American Academy of Pediatrics states: “There is strong consensus among the most prominent medical organizations worldwide that evidence-based, gender-affirming care for transgender children and adolescents is medically necessary and appropriate.”
Conspiracy theories such as “rapid onset gender dysphoria” which have never been proven and have been debunked by the science community, as well as false claims about a “secret plot” in schools and hospitals to forcibly “transition” children. Affirmation of trans youth has been repeatedly shown to improve mental health, lower the risk of self-harm, and increase academic success.
Exclusion of transgender and gender non-conforming doctors, patients, and families who can testify to the benefits, safety, and medical necessity of the care.
Additional background on incendiary and baseless narratives targeting transgender health care is available here.
Background on FTC Speakers:
Speakers invited to the FTC’s hearing also have a long history of promoting harmful narratives to ban essential health care and restrict transgender people’s access to society. They frequently travel from state to state and appear on right-wing media to push anti-LGBTQ legislation and policy at the local and federal levels.
According to GLAAD’s ALERT Desk, invited speakers for the FTC workshop have been involved in at least 60 anti-LGBTQ incidents nationwide.
29 of these incidents include hateful and harassing comments made while advocating for anti-trans legislation in at least 20 US states.
Speakers including Jamie Reed, Prisha Mosely, Simon Amaya Price, Erin Friday, and Claire Abernathy frequently travel outside their state of residence to push anti-trans legislation into local communities.
Invited speakers also have a history of harassing medical providers, educators, transgender athletes, and other LGBTQ people and allies. Examples include:
April 2025: Erin Friday participated in a protest outside of a YMCA in Berkeley, California, where they harassed employees and patrons over the YMCA’s trans-inclusive locker room policies.
April 2025: Erin Friday and Beth Bourne participated in a protest against the California Interscholastic Federation in Oakland, California, to block transgender youth from participating in school sports in their authentic gender.
March 2025: Beth Bourne harassed employees of the Sacramento City Unified School District during a flag raising ceremony for Transgender Day of Visibility. Defamatory and harmful comments included: “I’m here because I’m opposed to the idea that you as a school district want to indoctrinate kids.”
September 2024: Jamie Reed and Soren Aldaco protested against the American Academy of Pediatrics’ annual conference in Orlando, Florida, over their support for transgender health care. Protestors attempted to interrupt the keynote speech of a leading transgender health official.
February 2024: Prisha Mosely participated in a protest against a Planned Parenthood in Lansing, Michigan, harassing patients and medical providers over the organization’s support for transgender patients. Protestors held signs that read: “Transcare does not equal healthcare.” Health care for transgender people is supported by every major medical association as safe, effective, and lifesaving.
Many of the invited speakers also maintain connections with major anti-LGBTQ organizations:
Paul Dupont represents the American Principles Project – a group with a long history of promoting anti-LGBTQ policies, including attacking trans student athletes, opposing the Equality Act, and spreading disinformation about pro-equality political candidates.
Jay Richards represents the Heritage Foundation, which spearheaded the far-right presidential transition plan “Project 2025.” The plan advocates for firing federal employees who oppose or insufficiently support right-wing policies, ending access to abortion and contraception, eliminating protections for LGBTQ people, and censoring accurate history about LGBTQ people as well as the word “transgender.”
Beth Bourne is the chair of a California chapter of Moms for Liberty – an organization designated as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The group has a long history of calling for book bans, classroom censorship, and bans on teaching about slavery, race, racism, before aggressively turning toward targetingtransgender people and youth.
Dr. Miriam Grossman represents Do No Harm, which SPLC has designated as “an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that led a campaign to challenge anti-racist and LGBTQ+-inclusive education policies in 2024.”
Leor Sapir represents the Manhattan Institute, which is part of a “pseudoscience network” opposing anti-racist and LGBTQ-inclusive education policies as well as baselessly questioning essential health care. Sapir has no formal training as a medical professional or in youth education.
Dr. Eithan Haim, a self-described “whistleblower,” was accused of leaking confidential medical records of minors seeking gender-affirming care at a Texas hospital. Haim was charged with unlawfully disclosing these records to another fellow at the aforementioned Manhattan Institute, who used the information to push for a ban on health care for trans youth in Texas.
Jordan Campbell is an attorney who represents clients who feel they have been wronged during the medical care they received while identifying as transgender. Campbell is a contributor for the Federalist Society, which has a history of advocating against basic LGBTQ protections including employment non-discrimination, hate crime legislation, and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The organization has also platformed an SPLC-designated white nationalist known for his virulently racist and xenophobic immigration stances.
In a family friend’s front yard at around 11 years old, Elle Setiya remembers listening in on her dad’s conversation with Alex Byrne, a philosophy professor at MIT. She recalls Byrne airing his grievances to her dad—who heads up the philosophy department—about the growing trans rights movement.
“Can someone really just say they’re a woman and that’s it? Whatever happened to biological sex?” she remembers Byrne saying.
“I felt it personally in a way that I wasn’t expecting to, because it brought up the feelings of discomfort around my presentation,” Setiya, now 18, told Uncloseted Media. “It did make [transitioning] a little bit harder.”
At the time, Setiya, who would come out to her parents at 14 years old, had no idea that Byrne would go on to apply his perspective in his work with the Trump administration.
In May, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services released a 409-page report titled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices,” which criticizes gender-affirming care for minors and argues for the benefits of Gender-Exploratory Therapy, a model which manyexperts have compared to conversion therapy because the practice encourages patients to attribute feelings of gender dysphoria to other causes. The report suggests that gender dysphoria could be the result of undiagnosed autism, borderline personality disorder or childhood trauma.
The report, prompted by an executive order that cracks down on gender-affirming care for minors, was fast-tracked to the public before it finished peer review and kept its nine authors anonymous “to protect them from intimidation tactics and undue pressure campaigns.” After its release, it was criticized by numerousleadingmedical organizations.
Ashley’s post (via Bluesky).
After the report was published, bioethicist and University of Alberta law professor Florence Ashley posted a thread noting that names matching those of Byrne and two consultants employed by the consulting firm Guidehouse appeared in the report files’ metadata.
While Byrne initially declined to comment about his role in the report, he wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post last month in which he identifies himself as one of the authors and accuses critics of the report of “shaming [and] ostracizing.”
“We all stand to benefit from free and open inquiry, in medicine. … That does not mean elevating crackpots or taking wild conspiracy theories seriously. It means that objections should be made using arguments and data,” Byrne wrote.
Since Byrne’s name first appeared, students and colleagues at MIT have expressed concern that Byrne, who claims to support the right of “transgender people to live free from discrimination,” would work with an administration that opposes trans rights.
But beyond that, Ashley told Uncloseted Media that “the fact that Alex Byrne is not somebody who has relevant expertise is certainly concerning” when it comes to the report’s legitimacy.
Who Is Alex Byrne?
Byrne has worked as a professor in MIT’s philosophy department since 1995and specializes in the philosophy of mind, metaphysics and epistemology. He wouldn’t take up the philosophy of gender until a 2018 article where he argues that sex should be understood as binary.
From there, Byrne’s focus on gender would increase. In 2023, he published “Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions.” The book was rejected by Oxford University Press because peer reviewers felt it did not cover its subject in “a sufficiently serious and respectful way.”
Despite this, Byrne often spoke in support of trans rights. A philosopher of gender—who spoke with Uncloseted Media on background—doesn’t think Byrne is “out to get anyone.” They say, “[This] is why it’s so sad. … I do think that he’s trying to speak the truth, but his perspective on the truth is somewhat limited,” adding that Byrne’s initial work was not well-informed, though this would improve over time.
While Byrne’s knowledge may be lacking, his work has had impact. His 2019 critique of gender identity was referenced in an amicus brief supporting Florida’s ban on trans health care for minors. An expert witness for the Women’s Liberation Front referenced Byrne at the end of a declaration attempting to force trans women into men’s prisons. And Byrne has given talksat conferences held by Genspect, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.
While many wonder why a philosopher would contribute to a report on trans health care, Byrne has argued that “philosophy overlaps with medical ethics.”
Despite this, Ashley says there’s still a problem: Byrne is not an ethicist.
“While it is true that philosophy plays a really central role in bioethics, that is only relevant insofar as the philosopher in question has the relevant expertise and background,” they say. “Philosophical expertise is not just randomly interchangeable, as much as a lot of philosophers would like to think so.”
Since Byrne’s focus pivoted to gender, Setiya remembers hearing him talk about trans issues at family dinners.
“He liked to do this thing where he would say … ‘I want to speak more about it in terms of theory and ideas rather than more controversial political areas,’” she says.
Setiya remembers reading excerpts of Byrne’s book and one line standing out because it went against his “apolitical” rhetoric: “Revolutions devour their own children, and the gender revolution is no exception.”
“It was hurtful, because it felt like it was being done from a very detached perspective,” she says. “The ideas were being presented in a way that implied that it wasn’t impacting people’s everyday lives and was just an abstract theory. Even as somebody who did not fully know at the time who [I] was or hadn’t fully come to terms with it yet, that rhetoric definitely had a negative effect on how I viewed myself.”
Critics of the Report
Byrne has said that “the hostile response to the review by medical groups and practitioners underscores why it was necessary.”
But experts say their key concerns aren’t political but rather methodological. Ashley says that the report’s public release without the completion of peer review, its anonymous authors and its five-month turnaround are all unusual.
By comparison, the similarly controversial Cass Review took four years to be published, and it identified its primary author from the beginning.
“It takes way longer than that to do a systematic review of evidence,” says Ashley. “This indicates that it was probably rushed quite a bit.”
Beyond the methodological flaws, there are political biases. While the report claims not to be a policy recommendation, it was commissioned by Trump—who has railed against the trans community—in an effort to ban gender-affirming care for minors nationwide.
Even though Byrne has said he’s not a fan of the Trump administration, the philosopher of gender says it’s unwise to work with them in good faith.
“Being able to [work with people on the other side of the aisle] is, in principle, okay, but in this particular case, when it comes to Trump, it just goes into the misinformation sphere, and it’s not clear how any of it is going to be used,” they say.
The report’s citations include publications by a number of researchers involved with anti-LGBTQ hate groups who are trying to dismantle gay and trans rights in the U.S. and abroad, including Alliance Defending Freedom-funded psychiatrist James Cantor and Dr. Quentin Van Meter, former president of the American College of Pediatricians.
Student Pushback at MIT
The Stata Center, which houses MIT’s Department of Linguistics and Philosophy (Lucy Li).
All of this prompted a group of MIT Philosophy students to write an open letter titled “Dear Professor Byrne,” where they condemned him for working with the Trump administration. The letter had over 200 signatures, including professors and students from MIT and other universities.
“We have been making an effort … to be a place where trans-inclusive thought can flourish,” says Katie Zhou, a graduate student at MIT Philosophy who signed the letter. “It is disappointing to see this be overshadowed by this one guy.”
“MIT cannot claim to be accepting or friendly to LGBT people while letting its professors collaborate with the Trump administration to kill LGBT kids,” another MIT grad student told Uncloseted Media.
In an email, MIT wrote that they respect “that there is a range of views across our community … and as a general practice, [they] do not comment on the individually held and freely expressed views of any particular community member.”
In a written response, Byrne called the letter “inimical to the mission of the university” and accused it of attempting to chill dissent against gender-affirming care.
But multiple people at MIT Philosophy say that Byrne has had opportunities to engage in dialogue about gender. Zhou says Byrne attended numerous open forums about gender identity, including a 2024 workshop which brought together activists and scholars, though she says he didn’t speak. He also attended a queer and trans theory reading group run by Zhou, where he “mostly just sat there quietly,” occasionally asking a question.
“I’m worried that he could try to push a narrative where we in the department are silencing him, and I just wanted to say for the record that we’ve worked very hard to have spaces where these issues can be discussed openly,” says Zhou.
A grad student at MIT told Uncloseted Media that they felt frustrated with the disconnect between Byrne’s interactions with trans students on campus and his online rhetoric.
“He’ll go online and post this rant about trans people and trans philosophy, and the next day he’ll walk past me in the hallway like nothing happened.”
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Setiya says she never felt comfortable broaching the subject of gender with Byrne. “I think that if I did try and get into a conversation with him, he would intellectualize things and he would maneuver the conversation in a way that would make me sound uneducated or not fully prepared,” she says. “He has a very sarcastic and sardonic way of approaching things … and if [he] gets a response, [he] can just use that moment to be like, ‘Wow, look at how unhinged these trans activists are.’”
Another MIT student added that keeping up with people like Byrne who pontificate on theories about trans people’s existence is exhausting.
“We don’t have time to go through every poorly conducted study and rebut the pseudoscience point-by-point,” they told Uncloseted Media. “He has the time to generate these bad arguments, and there’s no stakes in it for him, there’s no emotional toll, there’s no consequences if he’s wrong.”
Byrne declined to be interviewed for this story and did not respond to a request for comment.
Moving Forward
The report’s findings are already having impact. The anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom has begun citing the report to promote their numerous lawsuits supporting anti-trans legislation. The group’s president, Kristen Waggoner, stated that the report “should lead to the closure of every gender clinic in America” and that “doctors who perpetrate these experiments on children should lose their medical licenses and be sued.”
Ashley says the report’s publication helps legitimize the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on gender-affirming care under the veneer of science.
“They’re not so much seeking to convince people who already disagree with them, as much as try[ing] to make the people that already agree with them feel heard and validated, and they’re telling the moderates who low-key dislike trans people but are having trouble justifying it to themselves, ‘I hear you, and you are correct.’”
The philosopher of gender, who admired Byrne’s work prior to his shift to gender politics, expressed disappointment that he had taken this path.
“Alex is someone who is a very committed person and wants to think hard about hard questions,” they say. “More than angry, I just feel really sad. … Why did he go down this road? What’s at stake for him? I just don’t understand.”
Elle Setiya, who has known Byrne since she was young, says the report has increased her own fear as a young trans woman and her fear for trans and queer youth in the U.S.
“To feel like their government doesn’t value them and is actively working against them. It just takes a toll on you, I think.”
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Texas lawmakers will convene next week for a special session to consider legislation addressing the deadly floods that devastated parts of the state earlier this month — and a bill regarding which restrooms transgender Texans can use.
When Gov. Greg Abbott initially called for a special session in June, it was to tackle six bills he had vetoed during the regular session, among them a contentious measure that would havebanned hemp products containing THC. But after flash floods overwhelmed parts of central Texas on July 4 — resulting in at least 120 deaths with many more still missing — the intended focus shifted to flood relief.
However, when the governor’s 18-point agenda was released last week, it included far more than flood-related measures. In addition to considering bills that would restrict hemp products, Abbott has also asked lawmakers to consider legislation “further protecting unborn children and their mothers from the harm of abortion” and legislation “protecting women’s privacy in sex-segregated spaces.”
On Monday, the first day lawmakers were able to file bills for the special session, none of the 82 measures filed mentioned the deadly July 4 floods, according to KXAN-TV, NBC’s Austin affiliate.
Republican state Rep. Valoree Swanson introduced the so-called bathroom bill, which would require transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to their birth sex in public schools, government buildings and correctional facilities. If House Bill 32, known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, becomes law, public entities that violate the measure could face financial penalties and be subject to civil lawsuits.
Currently, 19 states across the country restrict which bathrooms and other sex-segregated facilities transgender people can use, according to Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank.
When Arden was 16, they called a suicide crisis hotline “thinking their life was over.”
They were in an abusive relationship, regularly self-harming, and felt that nothing was helping. “It was terrifying,” they told Uncloseted Media.
“If it weren’t for the hotline, I would have killed myself.”
Since that day, Arden, now 24 years old and living in Brooklyn, has used various crisis helplines. When the 988 national suicide prevention hotline launched a “Press 3” option in 2022 for LGBTQ youth, they immediately started using the resource.
Arden, who identifies as nonbinary, says the LGBTQ hotline workers “respected their identity” and were understanding that they are not a woman. “It was really affirming for a very troubling time in my life.”
Since then, Arden has “Pressed 3” more times than they can remember, seeking help for everything from dealing with the loss of their friend, who died by suicide, to “stupid cliquey gay people stuff.”
“I remember when my friend had killed himself and I was dealing with a lot. I called them and they talked to me for over an hour because I was really upset,” they say. “When I called the hotline, it was a last resort. I was really at my wits’ end.”
Arden—whose last call to the lifeline was two weeks ago—is one of 1.3 million callers and chatters the LGBTQ youth hotline has served since it launched, according to federal data. The legislation that greenlit the national program, signed by Trump in 2020 during his first term, explicitly recognized that LGBTQ youth are more than “4 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers, with 1 in 5 LGBTQ youth and more than 1 in 3 transgender youth reporting attempting suicide.”
Photo by Kaoly Gutierrez for Uncloseted Media.
This new option to “Press 3” allowed queer youth in crisis the ability to directly connect with counselors from a set of specialized LGBTQ crisis centers. These counselors are trained in cultural competency and often bring lived experience, providing identity‑affirming, empathetic support for challenges like coming out, discrimination or mental health crises.
Despite the hotline’s success, the Trump administration announced last month that they would be shutting it down on July 17, claiming that the service had run out of congressionally directed funding. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said in an email to Uncloseted Media that “continued funding of the Press 3 option threatened to put the entire 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in danger of massive reductions in service.”
“This is absolutely a mistake,” a suicide prevention call center director told Uncloseted Media. “We are concerned that this will result in increased suicide rates for LGBTQ youth.”
Why We Need Option 3
The director’s concern is supported by a 2022 research brief that found that queer college students with access to LGBTQ-specific services were 44% less likely to attempt suicide than those without it. Research also shows that a hotline specific to LGBTQ services increases the likelihood of queer youth calling.
“It’s true for any direct service,” Harmony Rhoades, associate research professor of sociology at Washington University, told Uncloseted Media. “People who are in substance use recovery want to work with people who’ve gone through recovery themselves because they understand what that experience is. Culturally, there is not a lot of understanding of the specific experiences of someone who is LGBTQ and without specific training, a crisis counselor isn’t going to be able to know the language that’s going to feel affirming.”
Gemma Brown near High Point, North Carolina. Photo by Kaoly Gutierrez for Uncloseted Media.
“Connecting with someone who gets it was really helpful. … Because at home, I was so isolated and I didn’t really interact with other queer people,” says Gemma Brown, who used the Trevor Project’s chat function at 10 years old.
“I was an extremely self-loathing, suicidal kid who was under the impression that God hated me and I was gonna burn in hell for eternity,” Brown, now 15 and living in High Point, North Carolina, told Uncloseted Media.
“I only used the chat feature because I was scared my parents would hear me. We shared a wall,” she says. “I was spiraling really bad. I’d just realized I was crushing on girls, and I thought I was going to burn in hell for all eternity because that is what we are taught.”
Raised in a Southern Baptist Church, Brown never felt safe at home, where her father would regularly spit slurs like “faggots” and “queers.” At church, every sermon was about Sodom and Gomorrah or about how “real love” only existed between a man and a woman.
“I grew up knowing the number one thing not to be was one of the ‘dirty queers,’” she says. “I kept thinking, I can kill myself now and go to hell, or live longer and still go to hell. I used to have panic attacks at 9, 10 years old, just thinking about burning in hell perpetually.”
Brown remembers Caitlin, the chat counselor who helped her, being the first ever to tell her that queer love was valid.
“She told me she’d been with her girlfriend for seven years. I didn’t even believe queer people could be happy. … It broke my brain in the best possible way,” says Brown, who is now out and proud to her parents, who have come around, and to most of her friends on social media.
Gemma and her Mom, Melanie. Photo by Kaoly Guttierez for Uncloseted Media.
Arden had a similar experience. “The queer line is better than the regular line,” they say. “I feel like it’s less like going through a checklist on the queer line.”
As a survivor of sexual assault, Arden says knowing that the counselors on the other line were trained in LGBTQ-specific trauma made it easier to reach out for help. “My voice doesn’t pass per se but they still respected my identity,” they say.
LGBTQ-specific resources for youth are critical, with 41% seriously considering suicide in 2024. In addition, queer youth are disproportionately affected by a litany of mental health issues and trauma, including physical and sexual assault, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, bullying and addiction.
“It’s not like we’re cherry-picking some random group,” says Rhoades. “If we are going to fund [suicide prevention], there is no reason we should do it inefficiently by not effectively targeting the people who need it most. So yes, they need specific suicide prevention services.”
While the hotline focuses on LGBTQ youth, they don’t turn away adults who need help. Joshua Dial, 36, says that when he called 988, he was often connected to the LGBTQ youth hotline after mentioning that he’s gay.
“I always walked away feeling better after I called,” he says. “There have been times when I spoke to the regular 988 crisis people, and they helped too. But they didn’t understand quite as much.”
Dial, a Lutheran who lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma, says he wasn’t always comfortable being open about his sexual orientation to his religious community and that the only way to meet other gay people was on hook-up and dating apps, which he notes are “not for emotional support.”
“I wouldn’t be talking to my pastor about getting on Grindr. I can’t go to my pastor and tell them what I did last weekend,” he says.
Photo courtesy of Dial.
Dial, who was raised to believe that homosexuality is a sin, has experienced depression since the age of 16 and has also struggled with bipolar disorder, addiction and PTSD. “My addiction was getting worse, and the only constant was that the line was always available,” he says. “I didn’t have any other options, but I knew that if I called the hotline, I would get help.”
Dial says the emotional support he received through these phone calls kept him from self-harm and suicide. “There are times when I called that number and was this close to taking a handful of pills, this close to slitting my wrist, this close to buying a gun to shoot myself. And I talked to those people, and they not only understood, but they gave me the empowerment of knowing that someone had my back.”
How Cutting Option 3 Affects the Whole System
While the cuts are only meant to affect the hotline’s support for LGBTQ youth, crisis center employees say they’ll impact the entire 988 network.
“This being rifted does very much mean less capacity for 988 as a whole,” says the suicide prevention call center director. “Everyone will be affected.”
“When the LGBTQ hotline opened up, it really lowered the volume on the mainstream counselors,” a 988 hotline counselor in Washington state told Uncloseted Media. “It seemed really helpful, and I didn’t get a lot of LGBTQ chats after that point.”
The counselor at the Washington state center says they are about to lay off 42 counselors from their LGBTQ hotline. They say these roles won’t be replaced on the main 988 line due to a hiring freeze. Because of this, counselors expect the number of calls they receive to double, which could dramatically increase wait times. The Washington state center did not respond to a request for comment.
Even without the cuts, wait times are an issue. A 17-year-old caller from Virginia says that even the 10 minutes they had to wait for their call to be answered were painful. “I was worried that nobody would want to talk to me. I was just feeling hopeless,” they say. “There’s this one resource that I’m supposed to be able to have access to 24/7, but it just isn’t as accessible as it should be. For some people, those 10 minutes are crucial.”
In a 2009 study of 82 patients referred to a psychiatric university hospital after a suicide attempt, nearly half reported that the period between their first thought of suicide and their actual attempt had lasted 10 minutes or less, underscoring how shorter wait times can be a matter of life and death.
“If we are not able to catch someone during the time that suicidal thoughts have appeared and intervene as quickly as possible, they could start figuring out how they’re going to kill themselves and make it happen,” says the suicide prevention call center director. “And a lot of folks have access to means that can result in instant death like firearms.”
What Can Be Done?
With the “Press 3” option gone, Rhoades worries that the current spate of anti-LGBTQ legislation and hateful rhetoric toward the community will affect how counselors without queer-specific training will provide care.
“We’re living in an unprecedented time where anti-LGBTQ hatred is being normalized,” she says. “It absolutely affects how young people are treated. And it filters down to crisis counselors.”
As Congress and the Trump administration prepare to shut down “Press 3” on July 17 in an effort to save money, many believe that it will have the reverse effect.
“They just want these people to die. … That’s the message I got,” says a hotline operator in Washington state, adding that the administration is “not looking at the bigger picture.”
Arden says they wouldn’t be here today without the line’s support. “I’ve been struggling for a long time in my life [with] self-harm and I’ve been clean almost two years now,” they say. “I would definitely not be clean if it weren’t for the hotline and I would probably hurt myself again.”
LGBTQ Crisis Helplines Still Available:
The Franklin County Youth Psychiatric Crisis Line: 614-722-1800
The Huckleberry House for youth experiencing homelessness also offers a teen crisis shelter helpline: 614-294-5553
The Trevor Project has a crisis hotline: 1-866-488-7386
If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:
The federal agency responsible for enforcing laws against workplace discrimination will allow some complaints filed by transgender workers to move forward, shifting course from earlier guidance that indefinitely stalled all such cases, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.
The email was sent earlier this month to leaders of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with the subject line “Hot Topics,” in which Thomas Colclough, director of the agency’s Office of Field Programs, announced that if new transgender worker complaints involve “hiring, discharge or promotion, you are clear to continue processing these charges.”
But even those cases will still be subject to higher scrutiny than other types of workplace discrimination cases, requiring approval from President Donald Trump’s appointed acting agency head Andrea Lucas, who has said that one of her priorities would be “defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights.”
Since Trump regained office in January, the EEOC has moved away from its prior interpretation of civil rights law, marking a stark contrast to a decade ago when the agency issued a landmark finding that a transgender civilian employee of the U.S. Army had been discriminated against because her employer refused to use her preferred pronouns or allow her to use bathrooms based on her gender identity.
Under Lucas’s leadership, the EEOC has dropped several lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers. Lucas defended that decision during her June 18 Senate committee confirmation hearing in order to comply with the president’s executive order declaring two unchangeable sexes.
However, she acknowledged that a 2020 Supreme Court ruling — Bostock v. Clayton County — “did clearly hold that discriminating against someone on the basis of sex included firing an individual who is transgender or based on their sexual orientation.”
Colclough acknowledged in his July 1 email that the EEOC will consider transgender discrimination complaints that “fall squarely under” the Supreme Court’s ruling, such as cases involving hiring, firing and promotion. The email backtracked on an earlier policy, communicated verbally, that de-prioritized all transgender cases.
The EEOC declined to comment on the specifics of its latest policy, saying: “Under federal law, charge inquiries and charges of discrimination made to the EEOC are confidential. Pursuant to Title VII and as statutorily required, the EEOC is, has been, and will continue to accept and investigate charges on all bases protected by law, and to serve those charges to the relevant employer.”
But even the cases that the EEOC is willing to consider under Bostock must still be reviewed by a senior attorney advisor, and then sent to Lucas for final approval.
This heightened review process is not typical for other discrimination charges and reflects the agency’s increased oversight for gender identity cases, former EEOC commissioner Chai Feldblum told The AP in a Monday phone interview.
“It is a slight improvement because it will allow certain claims of discrimination to proceed,” Feldblum said of the new policy. “But overall it does not fix a horrific and legally improper situation currently occurring at the EEOC.”
Colclough’s email did not clarify how long the review process might take, or whether cases that include additional claims, such as harassment or retaliation, would be eligible to proceed, and the EEOC declined to address those questions.
“This is not the EEOC being clear to either its own staff or to the public what charges are going to be processed,” Feldblum said. “This is not a panacea.”
Senior White House adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has played a central role in shaping policies in both Trump administrations. He had a key role in the first Muslim travel ban, the first trans military ban and various initiatives to erode the rights of trans students. In Trump 2.0, Miller has either written or edited all of the more than 160 executive orders the president has signed so far.
In 2021, Miller—who is not a lawyer—founded America First Legal (AFL), a right-wing organization designed to fight the so-called “woke agenda” in courtrooms across the U.S. AFL’s goal is to function as a legal battering ram against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights and immigration. The group has rapidly become a key player in the broader conservative movement, launching over a hundred lawsuits, complaints and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to serve as the Trump administration’s legal attack dog. AFL actively “forum shops,” filing lawsuits in spaces where judges have shown conservative leanings.
Here are the key moves AFL has made on LGBTQ issues.
April 6, 2021
Miller launches AFL. In a statement, he describes his vision for the organization:
“America First Legal is the long-awaited answer to the ACLU. We are committed to an unwavering defense of true equality under law, national borders and sovereignty, freedom of speech and religion, classical values and virtues, the sanctity of life and centrality of family, and our timeless legal and constitutional heritage. Through relentless litigation and oversight we will protect America First, Last, and Always.”
Aug. 25, 2021
AFL filesa lawsuit on behalf of two Texas doctors against Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra. The doctors object to an HHS notice that states that a law that bars “sex” discrimination in federally-funded health care also protects LGBTQ people from discrimination. The doctors say that this could pressure them to administer or refer patients to gender-affirming treatments they oppose. In December 2024, the case is thrown out due to lack of standing.
AFL files a formal civil rights complaint against Morgan Stanley, claiming the company’s Freshman Enhancement Program, which aimed to help minorities overcome systemic barriers of entry into the financial field, was racist and sexist against white men. Morgan Stanley would quietly shutterthe program in 2024.
July 2022
A month after Roe v. Wade is overturned, AFL files civil rights complaints against Dick’s Sporting Goods and Lyft for company policies that help employees pay for travel expenses related to out-of-state abortions.
Oct. 26, 2022
In the lead up to the midterm elections, AFL sends out mailers to Spanish-speaking voters that accuse “Joe Biden and his allies on the left” of “indoctrinating your children,” and “[i]njecting young children with female hormones given to sex offenders to cause sterilization.” The mailers also include an altered photo of Dr. Rachel Levine, falsely writing that she promotes the “chemical and surgical castration of boys and girls.”
Photo by Denver Post.
Jan. 25, 2023
AFL sues the West Shore School District of Pennsylvania, alleging their Social Emotional Learning curriculum violates parents’ rights to their children’s moral and religious education because there was no option to opt out. AFL took particular issue with the curriculum’s “virtues and values.” The court would side with AFL.
April 2023
AFL files a federal civil rights complaint against Anheuser-Busch and requests that an investigation take place for their hiring, promoting and job-training employment practices. The complaint is filed in part because of a recent Bud Light marketing campaign that featured transgender actress and influencer Dylan Mulvaney. AFL would file nearly identical complaints against McDonald’s, BlackRock and Mars.
Photo by w_lemay.
April 21, 2023
AFL is listed on the advisory board for Project 2025—the 920-page policy blueprint that recommends overturning a variety of LGBTQ rights. Miller later has AFL removed because of negative attention.
May-August 2023
AFL files a barrage of lawsuits, complaints and FOIA requests against a litany of companies, including Microsoft, Unilever, Nordstrom, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Kellogg’s for their DEI initiatives. In a FOIA request, they claim Microsoft purposefully laid off natural-born citizens in favor of hiring foreign workers who they can pay a lower wage. For the complaint against Unilever, they took issue with the language in their application process that says, “Where legally possible, we consider racial and ethnic diversity in our recruitment.”
Sept. 6, 2023
AFL sues the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) on behalf of a white man who alleges he was forced to report to an inexperienced Black employee as a result of AICP’s Double the Line program. AFL claims that the program, which aimed to help people of color overcome barriers of entry in the entertainment industry, is racist toward white people. In a statement, AFL wrote:
“For many decades, New York and Federal law have prohibited discrimination based on race, color, national origin, and sex. The Defendants, with their morally twisted “woke” view that racism, bigotry, and sexism actually are perfectly fine … have arrogantly declared themselves above the law. … The Defendants here, and the entertainment industry more generally, will soon find out that the cost of racialist virtue signaling has gone up.“
Oct. 5, 2023
AFL files a federal civil rights complaint against the MLB’s diversity programs, claiming these policies unlawfully favor women and Black and Brown people.
In March 2025, the MLB removes all mentions of diversity from their website and releases a statement saying: “We are in the process of evaluating our programs for any modifications to eligibility criteria that are needed to ensure our programs are compliant with federal law as they continue forward.”
While the MLB did not cite the complaint, some speculated that the league may have bowed to AFL and Trump’s demands to avoid having their antitrust legal exemption revoked.
AFL would later hit other sporting leagues with similar complaints, including the NFL and NASCAR.
Oct. 19, 2023
AFL sues New York University on behalf of a first-year law student, who baselessly claims the university discriminates against white men when selecting members and editors for the Law Review. “Law review editors take heed. Any subordination of academic merit to ‘diversity’ considerations when selecting members or articles will be met with a lawsuit,” AFL says in a statement.
Nov. 1, 2023
AFL files federal civil rights complaints againstAmerican Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines for corporate DEI initiatives that aim to promote minorities so that company leadership is more representative of their customers. A year later, allthreeairlines would ground their DEI hiring practices.
Nov. 20, 2023
AFL sues Mesa Public Schools and their superintendent, alleging that teachers and administrators are “encouraging and assisting students to identify as members of the opposite sex without notifying parents” and helping with the “facilitation of sex transition.” Legal advisers concluded the district’s policies comply with state law, and leadership says no medical transition is involved whatsoever.
Dec. 19, 2023
Just in time for the holidays, AFL files federal civil rights complaints against Mattel and Hasbro for their DEI practices that are “promoting a radical LGBT+ agenda.” America’s biggest toy companies had sought diverse leadership through their DEI initiatives that helped gender, racial and sexual minorities overcome systemic barriers in the corporate world. But AFL sees that as unfairly tipping the scales away from white men.
Feb. 29, 2024
A script coordinator files a lawsuit with AFL against CBS/Paramount, alleging he was blocked from advancing at the company due to their DEI quotas. The lawsuit accuses the network of discriminating against straight white men. After a year, CBS and Paramount would settle by dismantling diversity hiring targets and pledging to assess future hires on merit.
AFL teams up with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue the Biden administration over its revised Title IX guidance that bars schools from discriminating against transgender students. “Biden’s new Title IX regulation is a vile obscenity: it forces women and girls to share locker rooms and restrooms with men. It forces them to call a he, a she, and to pretend in every way that a man is a woman, humiliating, degrading, and erasing women,” Miller says in a statement.
Photo by Gage Skidmore.
June 21, 2024
In a narrow ruling, eight employers that AFL represented in 2021 are no longer legally required to provide no-cost coverage for certain types of preventative care, including PrEP for HIV. This opens the door for larger lawsuits, which paves the way for more employers to claim that covering healthcare that disproportionately affects LGBTQ people could violatetheir religiously held beliefs, such as the idea that homosexuality is a sin.
Sept. 18, 2024
AFL files a lawsuit against California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing a bill into law that makes it harder for schools and educators to disclose a student’s LGBTQ identity to their parents. The law also allocates funding for services such as counseling for LGBTQ youth and the development of anti-harassment policies in schools.
December 2024
AFL files an amicus brief in support of Marlean Ames, a white, straight Ohio woman, who claims she was passed over for two promotions that were given to less qualified gay co-workers and that the bar to prove “reverse discrimination” is too high. The case was taken to the Supreme Court and—in June—ruled in Ames’ favor in a unanimous decision.
Feb. 12, 2025
AFL sues the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on behalf of Jessica Featherston, a lighting technician who alleges she was removed from the orchestra after reporting a transgender woman for sexual harassment when she was in the women’s locker room.
AFL and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sue Target. They allege that the retail giant’s corporate board put shareholders at unnecessary financial risk due to the loss of profits from DEI initiatives and the impact of LGBTQ activists, which they claim hurts the company’s bottom line.
Photo by Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida.
Feb. 24, 2025
AFL formally requests that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs begin investigating federal contractors who are disobeying Trump’s 2025 executive order that aims to end DEI initiatives.
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I opened an email announcement sent by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, with the subject line: these colors don’t run – Independence Day special. I felt as if I were struck by one of the lightning bolts that had been igniting the skies the past few days above my western Massachusetts town.
Initially I thought perhaps an right-wing organization had ripped off the mailing lists of queer and trans community members to co-opt our movement by employing similar imagery and textual phraseology used by those who oppose us.
Along with the ad for a rainbow-winged eagle shirt, HRC attempted to explain with words highlighted in a vivid yellow why members of our communities needed to purchase this product in recognition of Independence Day:
“A fierce rainbow-winged eagle with a sassy attitude, this graphic is about reclaiming the imagery of America,” the description read, adding that the image affirms “our country’s resilience” and reminds MAGA supporters “that we belong and we’re NOT backing down.”
I get HRC’s intent to communicate that members of our community certainly have a right to exist, to remain here in the United States as welcomed and respected participants with equal rights and privileges.
The impact this email missive had on me was initially shocking, which soon turned to resentment and scorn that an organization supposedly representing LGBTQ+ people would, like those on the extreme right, promote aggressive militarist iconography under the banner of “These colors don’t run.”
This is neither “reclaiming” the type of imagery we should be using to represent the United States, nor is it “reclaiming” the phrase used in toxic masculinity to justify aggression, bullying, and violence.
Yes, I understand that “These Colors Don’t Run!” is an expression some people in the military use to assert that the United States of America, through the flag’s red, white, and blue, does not retreat from challenges and confrontations. The phrase has also been co-opted by members of the MAGA movement to express their intention of “taking back” the country to its far-right extremes.
But I am often reminded of the insightful words of one of our leading poets and essayists, Audre Lorde, who warned: “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”
Placing rainbow wings on a predatory American eagle is tantamount to relinquishing our social change challenges and past victories based on our dedication to the philosophy of nonviolent resistance.
Must we surrender our values in this age of ever-increasing violence at home and abroad? Is this the price we must pay to maintain the rights we have worked long and hard to earn? Must we embrace the dangerously sharp-clawed eagle to advance the revolutionary change we need to make the nation live up to its promise of “liberty and justice for all”?
Yes, queer and trans assimilation certainly has its limits. But critical questions must be addressed: Do we even want to assimilate into a corrupt system as it currently exists, where inequality prevails, where property rights hold priority over human rights, where the wealth and income gap ever widens, and where marginalized groups are blamed for causing these problems?
Much has certainly been gained over the years as our visibility has increased and our place within the culture has become somewhat more assured. But I also can’t help but feel that something very precious has been lost.
Our early excitement, though by no means our ability, to fully restructure the culture, as distinguished from mere reform, seems now to lie dormant in many of our political organizations and communities.
LGBTQ+ identities alone are not sufficient to connect a community or fuel a movement for progressive social change. We must, therefore, look beyond ourselves and base our communities and movements not simply on our identities, but also on our shared ideals. We must come together with like-minded people who share similar political philosophies and strategies.
This is my vision of a movement for social change. HRC certainly does not speak for or represent me, my goals, or my ideals.
A transgender girl housed in a male unit of a Washington, D.C., juvenile detention center has been hospitalized after sustaining multiple injuries, including a broken jaw, officials said.
The girl, whose age was not disclosed, was one of two residents of the city’s Youth Services Center to be sent to the hospital on July 7 following violent incidents at the facility, Turnesha Fish, interim chief of staff at the city’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), confirmed Tuesday.
The two incidents were isolated, and a full review has been launched, according to officials.
NBC Washington reported that five teens have been charged with violations related to the assault of the trans resident.
Sam Abed, the DYRS director, said the incidents were “unacceptable” and being taken “very seriously” by the agency.
“We appreciate our staff for their quick actions in de-escalating the situations,” he said. “These incidents do not reflect the values or standard of care we aim to uphold.”
Youth Services Center in Washington, D.C.Google Maps
Department officials said the residents involved have been separated and reassigned to different housing units.
According to a copy of the department’s LGBTQ policy, which was shared with NBC News, a classification committee decides on housing assignments for all youth residents and takes into consideration information shared during intake and a health care provider’s recommendation “that may indicate a need for a particular housing situation.”
“All classification and housing decisions at DYRS secure facilities shall be based on youths’ individualized needs, prioritizing the youth’s physical and emotional well-being,” the policy reads.
Transgender and intersex youth “shall not automatically be housed” according to their sex assigned at birth, according to the policy.
The policy, which has been in place since 2012, also states that staff should take the resident’s perception of where they will be “most secure” into account. All residents also have the opportunity to request a re-examination of placement “if they feel unsafe in their current housing.”
I knew something was off when I started growing facial hair at 12 years old. Small chin hairs, but still noticeable to everyone. I’d poke and prod them at first, not out of shame but curiosity and wonder. The more body hair I grew, the more intrigued I became. I thought it was neat that my body changed in this way! I soon found out not everyone would agree with me. My grandmother would tell me not to pick at it or I’d get spots and scars. Other girls in my class soon whispered about me being a man. I vividly remember a girl at my old school, rudely asking about the hair also growing on my knuckles, laughing a bit when she noticed. I didn’t know how to answer at the time. I was just as confused as she was! Eventually, I wanted to tweeze every one of those hairs out of shame. Now they’re something I’ve come to embrace.
I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere.
I always knew my body was different. It wasn’t just the changes I encountered, but how people treated me because of it. I remember learning my now ex-friend was the one calling me “Sasquatch Legs” behind my back. Of course, that nickname followed me throughout high school. Other people around me soon became violent and verbally hateful when seeing just how different I truly was. Pressure from my family to maintain my femininity by wearing makeup and dresses once puberty hit became a central theme in my high school years, marked by arguments and rebellion. Growing up, I was always taught that a woman should be hairless, blemish-free and always present herself femininely. I had bouts of acne, a hairy face (not to mention my even hairier legs) and a dislike of dresses and makeup. It became clear that society’s definition of a woman didn’t fit me at all.I was constantly told by everyone, including my own family, that I had to maintain my body so I could meet these high standards. It only made me feel worse about myself. I felt like I didn’t belong anywhere, too hairy to be a visible and accepted woman, yet I knew I wasn’t a man, despite everyone seeing me as such.I was quickly taught two things during that time of my life: My body was different in a way people didn’t like, and I was the one at fault for not changing it.
Society saw me as a “broken woman.” For a long time, I believed them.
That shame and guilt followed me for a long time. I felt othered in a way I didn’t have words for. Even when I shaved, wore makeup, and put on a dress in an effort to belong, I was still seen as a man. Society saw me as a “broken woman,” and for a long time, I believed them. It seemed no matter where I went or how much effort I put into fitting in, it wasn’t going to work. I wrestled even more with my gender identity. I had cycled through labels I thought made sense, yet none seemed to fit. They all seemed to come with an assumption: that I was raised as a woman who had feelings of dysphoria due to the body and gender assignment I was given. That is a real experience for some people, but wasn’t mine. In my case, I never fit into society’s view of being a woman to begin with, despite my knowing deep down that I am one. I realized that I was at a unique crossroads. Society kept saying I didn’t fit into women’s spaces enough to be seen as one. Yet I didn’t feel a hundred percent comfortable calling myself a man, despite my very masculine features. I knew I had a gender: a very masculine woman, one who didn’t want to give up her masculinity to be seen as woman enough. I didn’t want to compromise on my identity. I desperately hoped I could give it a lens that would make all these years of uncertainty, confusion, and isolation finally fall into place.
I finally had a way to describe my experiences.
Eventually, I stumbled on the term that’d fundamentally shape everything I’ve known about myself: intersex.There was a label for people like me who have variations in their sex characteristics! I sobbed in relief as the term clicked in my brain, filling in all those years of shame and confusion with a new sense of clarity I needed. I could look at my life from a new lens with a better understanding of myself. I finally had a way to describe my isolating yet unique experiences.Over my high school years, I had cycled through terms that I used to describe my gender identity. What I was missing was the idea that I could be intersex, too. Being intersex encompasses a separate set of experiences related to physical variations in sexual characteristics. Finding the label was life-saving. It clarified the line I didn’t know I was walking, trying to know myself through my gender identity but also my body’s sexual characteristics. Still, I didn’t know how I fit as an intersex person. I had no medical diagnoses to explain my traits at the time, but everything about my body clicked—I just knew I belonged. That satisfied me for a while, but eventually I wanted concrete answers.
My features were seen as an issue to be solved.
At 18 years old, I was finally given a word that described my variation specifically. PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome).Those three words rang in my head like a bell. I felt relieved, but I also left the doctor’s office confused. Confused as to how to take care of myself, wondering just how deep this all went. I was told what my condition was and had a brief explanation: I have hyperandrogenic PCOS, meaning I have higher-than-typical levels of testosterone and/or other androgens (masculinizing hormones). This is why I grew facial hair at 11, barely menstruated, and struggled so hard with being accepted. It soon became very clear to me that my doctor at the time was hoping I’d “fix” what he thought was “wrong” with me. My masculine features were seen as a glaring issue to be solved. My doctor thought he had the solution and suggested I start estrogen to maintain my hormone levels. I refused immediately. Of course, my doctor asked me, “Why won’t you go on hormones? It’d be good for you. You’re just being stubborn!” I had been on estrogen-based birth control prior to my diagnosis and knew it wasn’t right for me. Taking it left me with awful periods to the point where I couldn’t leave my bed. That time of my life was exhausting, and I didn’t want to go through it a second time. I brought up health concerns with taking estrogen, but deep down, I knew it was more than that. Estrogen is a feminizing hormone. I didn’t know how to articulate it at the time, but I’m not someone who’d want the changes estrogen would give me. I was comfortable in my identity as a masculine woman.
I am not broken—my PCOS makes me feel whole.
Now that I am involved in the intersex community, I’ve become more at home in my body. I don’t feel like some “broken woman” or just someone made as the punching bag for jokes. With the intersex community behind me, a space where I’m accepted and seen as I am without any need to conform, I can say how I actually feel. To everyone who mocked my facial hair growing up:To my old doctor, who tried again and again to push estrogen-based HRT onto me, even going as far as to mark me as “non-compliant” when I refused for the final time:To society that deemed me a failed specimen in need of fixing: I’m an intersex masculine woman with PCOS. I refuse to change my body, just so I can fit within the rigid and restraining expectations of how you think a woman should be. I am not broken. If anything, knowing I have PCOS has made me feel more whole than I’ve ever been—facial hair and all.
At interACT, we believe intersex youth deserve to be heard and paid for their labor. That’s why we compensate every young person who shares their story. If you believe in resourcing intersex youth leadership and uplifting their voices, please consider making a donation today. Your support helps ensure youth like Tendaji can keep telling their stories and shaping the intersex futures.
Tendaji Phoenix is an interACT Youth Advocacy cohort member with hyperandrogenicPCOS who uses he/she pronouns. He is an aspiring cybersecurity analyst from Los Angeles. She likes discussing the tech world and listening to lofi music.
