A doctor refused to let a Republican Congressman derail a House Judiciary Hearing by asking for a definition of the word “woman.”
The hearing was held to look address how the Supreme Court is probably going to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the federal right to an abortion in the U.S., and Dr. Yashica Robinson, who provides abortions in Alabama and is on the board of directors of the group Physicians for Reproductive Health, was called to testify about abortion access.
But that didn’t stop Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) from trying to troll her and bringing up a random conservative grievance about the practice of sharing one’s pronouns to help others avoid misgendering people.
“In your written testimony, I noticed you said that you use she/her pronouns,” Rep. Bishop asked her in the hearing. “You’re a medical doctor. What’s a woman?”
“It’s important for you to understand why I said I use she/her pronouns,” Dr. Robinson responded.
Bishop tried to stop her from explaining why she shared her pronouns and again asked, “What is a woman?”
Robinson wasn’t deterred: “I think it’s important that we educate people like you about why we’re doing the things that we do.”
“So the reason I use she and her pronouns is because I understand that there are people who become pregnant that may not identify that way and I think it is discriminatory to speak to people or to call them in such a way as they desire not to be called,” she continued. “It’s important that we respect each individual person.”
Bishop cut her off again: “Can you answer my question of what’s a woman?”
“I’m a woman,” she said.
“Is that as comprehensive of a definition as you can give me?” Bishop asked.
Robinson had had enough and reminded Bishop that the hearing was about abortion, not pronouns or the definition of a woman: “That’s as comprehensive of a definition as I will give you today because I think that it’s important that we focus on what we’re here for, and it’s to talk about access to abortion.”
A Trump-appointed judge just blocked federal agencies from enforcing part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the grounds that it would require doctors to perform gender-affirming care, including surgery, on babies. The wild claim is patently false.
Section 1557 of the ACA states that healthcare cannot be denied to any individual because of discrimination based on their sex, race, disability status, and a variety of other reasons.
Jump to October 2021, the Christian Employers Alliance alleged that the implementation of section 1557 of the ACA was an affront to their religious freedom. Essentially, the suit said that being required to treat patients with gender dysphoria would “[prevent] them from maintaining views and facilities in accordance with their religious beliefs.”
The suit sought to bring an injunction barring the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from carrying out their job duties by ensuring transgender patients are not discriminated against.
Judge Daniel Traynor, a Trump appointee, sided with the Christian Employers Alliance in saying that refusing care to transgender people was an expression of the plaintiff’s religious freedom.
Traynor’s opinion seems to be founded upon the idea that the HHS will be prosecuting doctors for refusing to medically transition infants.
“The thought that a newborn child could be surgically altered to change gender is the result of the Biden HHS Notification and HHS Guidance that brands a medical professional’s refusal to do so as discrimination,” the suit reads. “Indeed, the HHS Guidance specifically invites the public to file complaints for acting in a manner the Alliance says is consistent with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The judge has essentially implied that the Christian Employers Alliance’s religious freedom outweighs transgender people’s right to be treated for their gender dysphoria, on the false claim that babies are being transitioned.
A basic search shows that no infants are transitioning. Puberty blockers, the first step for childhood transition, cannot be prescribed until age 12.
What is an issue, though, is the effects of living without proper gender-affirming care.
“Gender dysphoria can have serious health impacts,” wrote Samantha Schmidt for The Washington Post in February. “It can affect a person’s ability to function at school or work and can lead to intense anxiety, depression and suicide risk.”
So a Trump-appointed judge saw fit to side with a religious organization, prioritizing their religious freedom so as to ensure babies don’t transition, something that isn’t an issue to begin with, and as a result, transgender people are in danger of not receiving life-saving healthcare.
Several major anti-LGBTQ politicians – including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) – won their primary elections in Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia yesterday and Texas’s run-off elections.
Greene – who tried to shut down the House of Representatives twice because it was debating a ban on anti-LGBTQ discrimination and who has a transphobic sign in front of her office – won her primary yesterday with 69% of the vote in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. 73% of her district voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 elections, so she has an advantage going into the general election.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) won his primary after being challenged by Trump-endorsed former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA). Kemp signed three anti-LGBTQ bills in April, which banned trans athletes from participating in school sports, allowed parents to challenge any material taught in school, and banned “offensive” books from school libraries, which has been understood to include books with LGBTQ content.
Also in Georgia, former NFL player Herschel Walker won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and will face Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in the general election.
“Don’t call- Don’t put that ghetto g-word on me,” he said in a Twitch stream in January. “I just like masculine men. I’m not a— I don’t wanna be lumped in with the rainbow people.”
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey (R) won her primary yesterday with 54% of the votes counted so far. Ivey signed a law earlier this month that would throw doctors in jail for providing gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth and young adults, but a federal court stopped the state from implementing it.
“I thank you with all my soul,” Ivey said on Tuesday night. “I am so proud to be your governor.”
In Texas, the incumbent Paxton won his run-off election for state attorney general against George P. Bush. While Paxton got the most votes in Texas’s primary in March, he didn’t get a majority of the vote and had to face Bush in a run-off yesterday.
Bush said that he challenged Paxton because he wanted to advance “good government.”
“This campaign is about good government – making sure we don’t have indicted felons serving at the top of the chain of command of our law enforcement officials here in Texas,” he said on Texas Public Radio.
Earlier this year, Paxton published a non-binding opinion that allowing transgender youth to transition violates their constitutional right to reproduce, a right that is not mentioned in the Constitution. His opinion was so full of medical errors related to transgender people that Yale medical and legal researchers published a report about it and said it was “not grounded in reputable science and are full of errors of omission and inclusion.”
“These errors, taken together, thoroughly discredit the AG opinion’s claim that standard medical care for transgender children and adolescents constitutes child abuse,” the Yale researchers wrote.
Trump-era White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the Republican primary for Arkansas governor, winning a campaign where she avoided talking about state issues and instead focused on national Republican talking points.
Sanders attacked LGBTQ equality repeatedly when she was at the White House, including saying that “religious liberty” requires allowing “a baker to put a sign in his window saying we don’t bake cakes for gay weddings” and saying that allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military is “a very expensive and disruptive policy,” even though experts did not agree with that statement.
A federal judge struck down a Tennessee law Tuesday that would have required businesses in the state to post warning notices on their public restrooms if they have policies allowing transgender patrons to use the facilities that match their gender identities.
The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law in June on behalf of two business owners — the owner of Sanctuary, a performing arts and community center in Chattanooga, and the owner of Fido, a restaurant in Nashville, among other businesses.
The law went into effect on July 1, but U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger issued a preliminary injunction against it a week later. Then on Tuesday, Trauger permanently blocked the law by granting the ACLU’s motion for summary judgment, which asks a court to decide a case without a full trial.
She wrote in a 40-page decision that the law violates the First Amendment of the Constitution because it compels speech that is controversial and with which the plaintiffs disagree.
“It would do a disservice to the First Amendment to judge the Act for anything other than what it is: a brazen attempt to single out trans-inclusive establishments and force them to parrot a message that they reasonably believe would sow fear and misunderstanding about the very transgender Tennesseans whom those establishments are trying to provide with some semblance of a safe and welcoming environment,” Trauger wrote.
Glenn Funk and Neal Pinkston, both district attorneys; Christopher Bainbridge, the state director of code enforcement; and Carter Lawrence, the state fire marshal, are named as defendants. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A representative for Gov. Bill Lee has also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The law required business owners with even informal policies that allow people to use whichever bathroom they want to post a sign that reads, “This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex regardless of the designation on the restroom,” at the entrances of single-sex public restrooms, locker rooms, dressing areas or other facilities that are “designated for a specific biological sex … where a person would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
The law said the sign must be at least 8 inches wide and 6 inches tall and use the colors red and yellow, with a boldface typeface, among other requirements.
Representatives for the state argued that the law is a “content-neutral” rule meant to clarify restroom signage and is not meant to be an endorsement of how gender identity should be understood, according to the opinion. The ACLU’s clients, they argued, have “imagined an idiosyncratic, hidden undertone to the [required] signage.”
Trauger, who was appointed to the court by President Bill Clinton, disagreed, noting that the government’s preferred view of how gender works — that it is dictated by “biological sex,” which is assigned at birth and is limited to male or female — is contested.
“The only thing that is imaginary in this case, though, is the imagined consensus on issues of sex and gender on which the defendants seek to rely,” Trauger wrote. “Transgender Tennesseans are real. The businesses and establishments that wish to welcome them are real. And the viewpoints that those individuals and businesses hold are real, even if they differ from the views of some legislators or government officials.”
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“We applaud the court for recognizing that this law violates the First Amendment and harms transgender people,” Hedy Weinberg, the executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, said in a statement.“Transgender individuals should be able to live their lives free of harassment and discrimination. Today’s decision ensures that the businesses who welcome them are not forced to become instruments for politicians’ discrimination.”
Bob Bernstein, the owner of the Nashville restaurant Fido, has an informal policy that allows customers to use the restroom they feel is most appropriate. He said he has not had any complaints or concerns about the policy, and he objected to the “stigmatizing” message the law required.
“As a former journalist, I believe strongly in free speech,” Bernstein said in a statement. “The government can’t just force people to post discriminatory, inaccurate, and divisive signs in their places of business. I am glad that the court recognized that this law violates the First Amendment.”
A unisex sign and the slogan “We Are Not This” outside a restroom at Bull McCabe’s Irish Pub in Durham, N.C., in May 2016.Sara D. Davis / Getty Images file
Advocates have described the law as a new iteration of “bathroom bills” passed in 2016, such as House Bill 2 in North Carolina, which sought to bar trans people from using the bathrooms that aligned with their gender identities.
The sponsor of Tennessee’s law, Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, said in legislative debate in May 2021 that the bill is meant to protect women and children “against sexual predators that could be taking advantage of policies, executive orders or legislation that may allow the opposite sex to enter a restroom, shower or locker room,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
Trauger wrote in her opinion that Rudd “was unable to provide examples or evidence of such a problem,” although he argued that “we shouldn’t wait for people’s rights to be abused” to potentially prevent “an attack.”
The issue is not new, advocates have said, and proponents of bathroom bills passed in 2016 cited similar arguments. A 2018 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found there is no evidence that trans-inclusive policies for public facilities increase safety risks.
English soccer player Jake Daniels said he is gay on Monday in a trailblazing moment for the European men’s game.
The 17-year-old forward made the announcement at the end of his first season as a professional player with second division club Blackpool.
“This season has been a fantastic one for me on the pitch,” he said in a statement. “But off the pitch I’ve been hiding the real me and who I really am. I’ve known my whole life that I’m gay, and I now feel that I’m ready to come out and be myself.
“It’s a step into the unknown being one of the first footballers in this country to reveal my sexuality.”
While women’s soccer features many prominent LGBTQ players, the men’s professional game lacks players who are publicly gay.
Daniels said he was inspired by Josh Cavallo of Australian team Adelaide United, who is the only openly gay man currently playing in a top division in world soccer following the 22-year-old midfielder’s announcement in October.
“I’ve hated lying my whole life and feeling the need to change to fit in,” Daniels said. “I want to be a role model myself by doing this. There are people out there in the same space as me that may not feel comfortable revealing their sexuality.
“I just want to tell them that you don’t have to change who you are, or how you should be, just to fit in. You being you, and being happy, is what matters most.”
Daniels said teammates at Blackpool embraced his sexuality after confiding in them. The northwest English club said it was “incredibly proud that he has reached a stage where he is empowered to express himself both on and off the pitch.”
The English Football Association said Daniels was an “inspiration” to the sport.
“This is a hugely positive step as we strive to build an inclusive game that we can all be proud of,” the governing body tweeted. “We are with you and we hope your story will help to give people across the game the strength and encouragement to be their true self.”
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The only openly gay man to have played in English soccer’s professional leagues was Justin Fashanu, who was not active at a high level when he made the announcement in 1990. The former Nottingham Forest and Norwich City striker was found hanged in a London garage at age 37. The Justin Fashanu Foundation calls him the “world’s first openly gay professional footballer.”
Soccer in England is still dealing with trying to eradicate homophobic chants at some games.
“If, by me coming out, other people look at me and feel maybe they can do it as well, that would be brilliant,” Daniels told broadcaster Sky Sports. “If they think this kid is brave enough do this, I will be able to do it too. I hate knowing people are in the same situation I was in.
“I think if a Premier League footballer does come out that would just be amazing. I feel like I would have done my job and inspired someone else to do that. I just want it to go up from here. We shouldn’t be where we are right now.”
It is a rarity in team sports for men to announce they are gay.
Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas was the first active rugby professional to come out in 2009, two years before he retired, and has become a source of inspiration across sports.
The first active NFL player to come out as gay was Carl Nassib in 2021 while he was at the Las Vegas Raiders. The defensive end was released by the team in March.
The first openly gay player in the NBA was Jason Collins while playing for the Brooklyn Nets in 2021.
One of the most prominent gay athletes in Britain is Olympic diving champion Tom Daley who inspired former England soccer captain Casey Stoney to come out in 2014. She is coach of the San Diego Wave after managing the women’s team at Manchester United.
“Must of took a lot of guts & courage,” Stoney tweeted to Jake Daniels. “Good for you for stepping out of the mould & for being authentically you! Wouldn’t it be great if we got to a place where we didn’t have to use the words ‘guts & courage’ to describe someone being comfortable being themselves.”
Britain’s Royal Mint unveiled a special new commemorative rainbow-colored 50 pence coin on Wednesday as a tribute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Pride UK movement.
The coin, designed by east London artist and LGBTQ activist Dominique Holmes, uses state-of-the-art printing technology to emboss it with the colors of the Pride progress flag.https://iframe.nbcnews.com/zUt216w?_showcaption=true&app=1
“It humbles me greatly that the words that I coined for the brand — protest, visibility, unity and equality — will be on an actual coin, opposite the queen,” Asad Shaykh, director of marketing and communications at Pride in London said.
“This queer brown immigrant has come a long way, powered by hope, love and this city. Nowhere in the world had this been possible, except the UK. Pride in London feels very proud today.”
The coin honors the anniversary of the first official Pride UK event in 1972 and is the first to be dedicated to Britain’s LGBTQ+ community.
A federal judge blocked part of a newly enacted Alabama law that made it a felony for doctors to provide certain gender-affirming medical care to minors.
Alabama was the third state to pass restrictions on transgender health care, following Arkansas and Tennessee, but the first to add felony penalties. Doctors and other health care providers who violate the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which took effect May 8 and is partially still in effect, could face up to 10 years in prison or a $15,000 fine, or both.
Civil rights groups and the Justice Department argued against the law on behalf of doctors and transgender minors in the state last week, and in an opinion issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Liles Burke found “substantial likelihood” that part of Alabama’s law was unconstitutional.
He put a temporary block on the portion of the law that bars minors from receivingnonsurgical care such as puberty blockers and hormones, writing that parents “have a fundamental right to direct the medical care of their children.”
“This right includes the more specific right to treat their children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards,” he said. “The Act infringes on that right and, as such, is subject to strict scrutiny. At this stage of litigation, the Act falls short of that standard because it is not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest.”
Burke allowed other parts of the law to remain in effect, including the ban on gender-affirming surgery for minors. He also allowed two provisions related to education to remain in effect: one that prohibits school officials from keeping information about a child’s gender identity secret from their parents, and another that prohibits school officials from “encouraging or compelling children to keep certain gender-identity information secret from their parents.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall did not immediately return a request for comment Saturday morning.
Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, a plaintiff in one of the suits challenging the law and a co-lead of UAB Pediatrics’ gender health team, said late Friday that the decision “is a huge relief for transgender children and their families.
“The court’s decision recognizes that this is well established care that has been endorsed by 22 major medical associations,” she said. “This decision will ensure transgender children in Alabama, and beyond, can continue to receive this evidence-based well-known lifesaving care.”
Ladinsky told NBC News after the Legislature passed the bill in March that there were no surgeons in the state who perform gender-affirming surgeries on minors.She said Monday that if thefull law had been allowed to remain in effect, it would’ve forced many of her patients to cease their ongoing treatment, because the law had no grandfather clause for transgender youths who were already receiving care.
“That is one of … the most cruel and ignorant parts of the law,” she said.
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Shay Shelnutt, the bill’s primary sponsor, said during a Senate debate in March that the bill seeks to “protect our children” and “stop these surgeries and these drugs on our children,” local news outlet AL.com reported.
Heather R. who lives in a small town about an hour northwest of Birmingham with her 15-year-old transgender son, Rob, said Saturday that she feels that the decision gives them some “breathing room.” She asked that her last name be withheld for safety and privacy reasons.
“I am worried this is going to increase violence and harassment toward trans people and their families, so I don’t feel we can start celebrating like it’s over,” she said.
Heather created a GoFundMe account so that she could move her family to a more supportive state.
“I don’t think it’s going to get better here, and we’re isolated here,” she said after the law took effect. She had originally planned to move to Maryland but recently decided to move to one of the 19 states that are considering legislation to protect transgender youths.
She said lawmakers who support restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors rely on misinformation to support their views and don’t seem to understand that trans kids are just like other kids. Rob said he likes video games, and when asked how many pets the family has, he said his answer would be “lengthy” before adding, “we have two dogs and a pack of cats.”
Though the part of the law that would affect Rob’s medical care has been blocked, at least temporarily, she said the family still plans to move.
“I do think we need to move somewhere safer so he can have a community of trans and LGBT people to hang out with in his late teens,” she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday alerted gay and bisexual men that monkeypox appears to be spreading in the community globally, warning people to take precautions if they have been in close contact with someone who may have the virus and to be on the lookout for symptoms.
Dr. John Brooks, a CDC official, emphasized that anyone can contract monkeypox through close personal contact regardless of sexual orientation. However, Brooks said many of the people affected globally so far are men who identify as gay or bisexual. Though some groups have greater chance of exposure to monkeypox right now, the risk isn’t limited only to the gay and bisexual community, he cautioned.
“We want to help people make the best informed decisions to protect their health and the health of their community from monkeypox,” Brooks said.
A section of skin tissue, harvested from a lesion on the skin of a monkey, that had been infected with monkeypox virus, is seen at 50X magnification on day four of rash development in 1968. CDC | Reuters
Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease, which is generally passed through semen or vaginal fluid, but it can be transmitted through sexual and intimate contact as well as through shared bedding. The virus spreads through contact with body fluids and sores, Brooks said.
He added that it’s important for physicians and individuals to be aware of the symptoms associated with monkeypox, particularly anal or genital lesions that can be confused with herpes, syphilis or chickenpox.
“Anyone with a rash or lesion around or involving their genitals, their anus or any other place that they have not seen it before, should be fully evaluated, both for that rash but particularly for sexually transmitted infection and other illnesses that can cause rash,” Brooks said.
Monkeypox usually begins with symptoms similar to the flu including fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. It then progresses to body rashes on the face, hands, feet, eyes, mouth or genitals that turn into raised bumps which then become blisters.
However, the rash has appeared first in some of the recently reported cases, according Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a CDC official. While the virus has a long incubation period, patients are considered most infectious when they have a rash, McQuiston said. Though monkeypox can spread through respiratory droplets, the virus comes from infected lesions in the throat and mouth that can expel it into the air. But transmission from respiratory droplets requires prolonged face-to-face contact, according to the CDC.
“This is not Covid,” McQuiston said. “Respiratory spread is not the predominant worry. It is contact and intimate contact in the current outbreak setting and population.”
The U.S. has confirmed one case of monkeypox in Massachusetts and four cases of orthopox in New York City, Florida and Utah, according to McQuiston. State labs have tests that can identify orthopox, which are presumed to be monkeypox, but they have to be sent to the CDC in Atlanta for further analysis to confirm that diagnosis, McQuiston said.
The cases identified in the U.S. are a milder West African strain, McQuiston said. Most people who catch the virus recover in two to four weeks without specific treatments, she said.
The World Health Organization has identified about 200 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases across at least a dozen countries in Europe and North America in recent days.
It’s unusual, though not unheard of, for monkeypox cases to be found outside a handful of West and Central African nations where the virus is endemic. The U.S. had an outbreak of more than 70 cases in 2003 that stemmed from people keeping infected prairie dogs as pets.
There has been a surge of cases in Nigeria in recent years, but the cases identified around the world over the past two weeks are unusual because most of the patients did not have recent travel history to Nigeria or another country where the virus is usually found, according to McQuiston.
The smallpox vaccine appears to be about 85% effective at preventing monkeypox, based on research in Africa, according to the CDC. The U.S. has a stockpile of 100 million doses of an older generation vaccine called ACAM2000 that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for people at high risk of smallpox, according to McQuiston. However, the vaccine can have significant side effects and any decision to use it widely would require serious discussion, she said.
The U.S. also has more than 1,000 available doses of a vaccine called Jynneos that is FDA approved for people ages 18 and older at high risk of monkeypox or smallpox. It is administered as two shots and doesn’t have the same risk of severe side effects. McQuiston said the number of doses should increase quickly in the coming weeks as the vaccine maker boosts production.
“We are hoping to maximize vaccine distribution to those that we know would benefit from it, so those are people who have had contact with a known monkeypox patient, health-care workers, very close personal contacts and those in particular who might be at high risk for severe disease,” McQuiston said.
Chris DeSett said the first time he started to feel comfortable with his sexuality was the first night he moved into a dorm at American University in Washington, D.C.
DeSett, 28, moved there ahead of his freshman year in August 2012, from his childhood home near Kansas City, Missouri. He chose the school for its international studies program but also because he wanted to get out of the Midwest to figure out who he was away from his family.
Chris DeSett.Chris Desett
After he moved into his dorm, and everyone’s parents had left, he said other students started banging on doors to gather people to hang out together.
“So we’re all rushing down to this meeting area, and we’re talking and we’re playing ‘Never Have I Ever’ and stuff like that,” he said. “It felt very welcoming and felt very affirming, and I kind of dipped my toe in the water and just said, ‘Oh, I think I might be bisexual.’ I didn’t feel that way, but I was just testing the waters for a reaction. And everyone’s like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s so great.’”
After the first semester of his freshman year, he came out as gay. He said that moment on the first night in the dorms had a lasting impact on him.
“The reason why that’s so important to me was I wasn’t met with rejection,” said DeSett, who now works for the federal government. “That affirming environment did give me the confidence to really explore my identity and then land on the conclusion that, ‘No, I am a gay man, and I’m confident that I know that for a fact. I know that I’ll be loved for who I am.’”
New research from the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law, revealed that LGBTQ people who attended college or graduate school were four times more likely, at 21.5 percent, to report having chosen a university in a different city or state to seek a more welcoming climate than non-LGBTQ people, at 4.8 percent. Nearly one-third, or 32.6 percent, of LGBTQ people reported picking a college elsewhere to get away from their family, compared to 14.1 percent of non-LGBTQ people.
DeSett said he chose a school in Washington, D.C., because he “wanted an experience where I had room to grow and be myself without having to worry about someone calling my parents” and outing him before he was ready.
The Williams Institute found the majority of LGBTQ people surveyed, at 71.9 percent, said they experienced a sense of belonging at their college. That number is slightly lower than non-LGBTQ people, at 83.5 percent.
But, researchers noted, despite some LGBTQ people’s efforts to find more welcoming environments, more of them reported facing bullying, harassment, assault and mental health issues than their non-LGBTQ counterparts. Nearly one-third (32.6 percent) of LGBTQ people who attended a four-year college or graduate school said they experienced bullying, harassment or assault, compared to 18.9 percent of non-LGBTQ people. More than one-third (35.3 percent) reported that their mental health was not good for all or most of the time they were in college, compared to 10.8 percent of non-LGBTQ people.
Majorities of LGBTQ people in four-year colleges (60.4 percent) and graduate school (56.3 percent) also said they were not out as LGBTQ to any faculty or staff.
Adon Cooper said he thought he would feel comfortable being out when he started undergrad in 2004 at the State University of New York at Purchase, a public liberal arts college about a half-hour north of his home in the Bronx borough of New York City.
“Literally, the first time walking on campus, I was greeted by a bunch of drag queens, and I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be really cool,’ but I realized that I wasn’t really ready to have those kinds of conversations,” Cooper, 35, said.
Adon Cooper.Adon Cooper
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Even though he wasn’t ready to be out, he said he faced peer pressure and verbal abuse from people who tried to force him to come out.
But he said college was still where he found his “footing,” and he started to feel more comfortable with the idea of coming out. One day, his first roommate in college, who was a dancer, went into the bathroom “as his normal self and came out fully in drag,” Cooper recalled.
The two talked about drag and watched “Paris Is Burning,” a 1990 documentary about New York City’s ball scene, a subculture created by LGBTQ people of color where members of different “houses” dress up and compete in elaborate balls. He said they are still friends.
“He started to really educate me on what a queer lifestyle can look like, and it made me feel like maybe if and when I’m ready, I’ll at least have someone I feel comfortable enough to have this conversation with,” he said.
The report found that transgender and gender-nonconforming students face additional issues, including their colleges or universities lacking policies to support them. Resources for transgender students were less commonly reported by participants than general LGBTQ resources. One in four LGBTQ respondents reported that their school had a policy of allowing transgender students to change their gender markers on their school records, and more than half (59.8 percent) were unaware of such policies.
Less than half (44 percent) of LGBTQ respondents reported the presence of at least one gender-neutral bathroom, and less than one-third (29.3 percent) reported that their college had gender-inclusive housing, defined as housing that isn’t segregated into men’s and women’s spaces and welcomes students who identify outside of the gender binary.
JJ Nichols, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, attended Samford University, a private Christian school outside of Birmingham, Alabama, starting in 2013. They said they didn’t come out until two years after they graduated, but, looking back, they said if they had asked to use gender-neutral pronouns at school, it “would be met with a lot of pushback.”
JJ Nichols.JJ Nichols
“It’s still inside Birmingham, which is the major city, so the homophobia was low-lying,” they said. “It was like more of that, ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin.’”
The Williams Institute researchers concluded that their findings show “the need to improve conditions for LGBTQ students, a sizable and heterogeneous minority population.” They recommended that colleges include sexual orientation and gender identity in nondiscrimination policies that protect LGBTQ students, faculty and staff; include LGBTQ content in diversity training for staff; and start a campus climate survey to identify emerging issues, among other suggestions to make campuses safer for LGBTQ students.
Nichols said that, despite the climate at their school, they remember meeting a professor in the school of music who helped them feel a little more comfortable with their identity. The teacher was pregnant, and she made a comment that if she had a son who was gay, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“It was just the note — the knowledge that somebody was OK,” they said.
Because of the disciplinary infractions he received for leading the protests at Flagler Palm Coast High School in March, school administrators are preventing him for running for the elected student body office, Jack Petocz said in a letter posted on Twitter on Tuesday. The school is located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Daytona Beach.
“I am continuing to be punished for standing up for my identity and against widespread hatred,” Petocz wrote. “We shouldn’t be subject to abuse both in Tallahassee and at-home.”
In an email, school district spokesman Jason Wheeler said Flagler Schools was not permitted to speak about individual students’ disciplinary records. Requirements for individual on-campus clubs or organizations are set by the schools or clubs themselves, he said.
“The district has no say in setting those requirements or in how those requirements are enforced,” Wheeler said.
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Petocz is being honored next week with an award at the 2022 PEN America Literary Gala for organizing students to protest the Florida legislation and fighting book bans. PEN America is a New York-based nonprofit that advocates for free speech and is made up of novelists, journalists and other writers.
“Jack Petocz is leading his generation in fighting back against book bans and legislative efforts to police how individual identities can be discussed in schools,” PEN America said in a news release announcing that the Florida student would be receiving an award.
The Florida legislation, signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in March, bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
More than 500 Flagler Palm Coast High School students walked out in protest of the legislation in early March, as well as thousands of other students around Florida. Petocz says he defied school officials’ orders not to distribute 300 rainbow pride flags he had purchased for the protest. He was suspended for four days afterward, he said.
