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Supreme Court abortion case could lead to more attacks on LGBT+ rights

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This week, the US Supreme Court will hear Mississippi’s case for overturning the Roe v Wade decision that federally guaranteed the right to an abortion. Mississippi is asking the Supreme Court to uphold the state’s ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy by overturning Roe v Wade, potentially devastating reproductive rights across the US. It is also looking for the courts to overrule the Planned Parenthood v Caseydecision, in 1992, which prevents states from banning termination before the point of viability (a foetus is only viable outside of the womb when a pregnancy has reached around 24 weeks). The Supreme Court has never ruled in favour […]

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Sweden names first trans government minister in historic step for LGBT+ rights

Sweden’s first female prime minister Magdalena Andersson has added the country’s first-ever trans minister to her new majority female government. On Tuesday (30 November), on her second day as prime minister, Andersson announced her new government, including Lina Axelsson-Kihlbom as education minister. Axelsson-Kihlbom, 51, is a former headteacher and lawyer who became known as “Superrektorn” (“Super Principal”) after she appeared on a documentary series in which she managed to turn around a failing school in one of Sweden’s most deprived areas. The mother-of-two also published a book in 2015 titled Kommer du tycka om mig nu? (Will You Love Me Now?) in which she told the […]

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Michigan teachers told to take down Pride flags after ‘external challenge’

A middle school teacher in southern Michigan resigned after he and other educators in his district were told to remove LGBTQ Pride flags they had up in their classrooms. Teachers were told to take down the flags after Three Rivers Community Schools in Three Rivers, Michigan, received an “external challenge” about the symbols that had “reached the board level,” according to an email obtained by NBC affiliate WOOD of Grand Rapids.  “The rumors kind of floating around was that there’s one or two parents that complained about the flags being in the classroom,” said Russell Ball, the teacher who resigned.https://iframe.nbcnews.com/XERhvF6?_showcaption=true&app=1 […]

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School makes 12-year-old take off Pride shirt, then her classmates did something amazing

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There’s been a rainbow-colored rumpus at a Catholic school in northeast Baltimore over the weekend. The Baltimore Brew reports that a 12-year-old student at St. Francis of Assisi School wore a rainbow Pride shirt on dress-down Friday last week. The girl, who was not named in the report at the request of her mom, thought little of it, having worn the top before. She and her classmates attended a church service at the school during the day. The service was led by Father John J. “Jack” Lombardi. According to witnesses, the paper says that at Father Lombardi’s direction, the school principal told […]

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President Biden’s World AIDS Day message proves he’s a very different president than Trump

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oe Biden has promised tackle LGBT+ health inequality in his World AIDS Day message, proving once again that he’s a very different president to Donald Trump. Ahead of World AIDS Day (1 December), the president issued a proclamationin which he said his administration was “focused on addressing health inequities and inequalities and ensuring that the voices of people with HIVare at the centre of our work to end the HIV epidemic globally”. Biden “honoured and remembered” the “36 million people, including 700,000 Americans” that have been lost since the start of the AIDS crisis, and noted the impact of COVID-19 on access to HIV-related healthcare. […]

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Iowa Medicaid denial of transgender surgery unlawful, judge rules

An Iowa law that prohibits Medicaid coverage for sex reassignment surgeries for transgender residents violates state law and the state constitution, a judge ruled in a decision made public Monday. Judge William Kelly ordered the Iowa Department of Human Services to provide coverage for sex reassignment surgeries when ordered to treat gender dysphoria, a psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. It often begins in childhood, and some people may not experience it until after puberty or much later, according to the American Psychiatric Association. At least nine states across […]

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To Stop Anti-Transgender Violence, Lawmakers Must Address Its Roots

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As of early November, this year is the deadliest on record for transgender people in the United States, with at least 45 people killed. But their deaths are only the tip of the iceberg. Many other transgender people are subjected to violence and harassment, in public and at home. Our recent research focused on Florida, Ohio and Texas, three states where dozens of transgender people have been killed between 2016 and 2021. We found that anti-transgender violence is intersectional; risk is shaped by race, gender, class and other factors. During this period, at least 88 percent of the transgender people killed in Florida, 91 […]

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Rainbow Railroad Hosts ‘When I Am Free’ Benefit Concert To Get LGBTQI+ Individuals To Safety

The annual Chicago 5 Lives Fundraiser hosted by Rainbow Railroad is proud to return this year with “When I Am Free”, a benefit concert offering attendees a premier evening of classical music from esteemed young musicians. Hosts will include U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky and Chicago Reader publisher Tracy Baim. The concert will be held on Friday December 3rd from 7:30-9pm at the Hoover-Leppen Theatre and will also be livestreamed. Tickets are $100 and all proceeds go directly to Rainbow Railroad to support its mission to assist LGBTQI+ refugees fleeing persecution. The Chicago 5 Lives Campaign will aim to raise $50,000 – enough […]

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Parents sue school for letting kids use chosen name and pronouns without their permission

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A group of parents in Wisconsin, US, have filed a lawsuit against their children’s school over a policy that allows students to go by their chosen name and pronouns without telling their parents. The parents claim that by allowing children to use different pronouns or a different name, the school has violated their “fundamental constitutional right” to “raise their children”. Studies have found that consistently using the correct name or pronouns for young trans people reduces the likelihood they will become anxious, depressed and suicidal. Attempting to persuade a child not to be trans, also known as “conversion therapy”, has the opposite […]

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Botswana Court Upholds Decriminalization Of Gay Sex

Reuters reports: Botswana’s Court of Appeal on Monday upheld a 2019 ruling that decriminalised gay sex, a decision hailed by gay community as establishing the southern African country as a “true democracy”. Monday’s decision in effect struck off two sections of the penal code that had outlawed homosexuality. Before the 2019 High Court ruling, which was praised by international organisations and activists, engaging in gay sex in Botswana was punishable by up to seven years in prison. The state had argued on appeal that the penal code outlawed gay sex and there was no evidence that people’s attitude towards homosexuality had […]

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