Top Stories

Journalist put on Charlie Kirk’s ‘hit list’ speaks out about vile abuse: ‘He normalized violence’

Pink News September 15, 2025

A journalist who was put on the late right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s “hit list” has spoken out on the abuse she received from his supporters.

US-based speaker, commentator, and college professor, Stacey Patton, posted a statement to Facebook, days after the 31-year-old right-wing pundit was shot dead in Utah, highlighting the “venom” she faced from his supporters in 2024.

The Turning Point USA co-founder, known for his extreme anti-LGBTQ+ views, was fatally shot in the neck during a crowded open-air debate on gun violence at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (10 September). A manhunt for the killer, whose identity is unknown, is ongoing.

Just seconds prior to the shooting, Kirk was asked about the epidemic of mass shootings in the US after he and many right-wing figureheads claimed “too many” mass shooters were trans. Of the 3,708 mass shooting incidents in the US since 2015, only an estimated 16 of the incidents were committed by trans people.

In her statement following his death, Patton claimed that Kirk, whom she called a “hateful racist,” was responsible for weeks of abuse and death threats she received in 2024 after he placed her on Turning Points’ so-called “Professor Watchlist.”

The website, created in 2016, lists academic staff, journalists, and activists which the right-wing organisation claimed “discriminate against conservative students” and promote “anti-American values” by advancing what it calls “leftist propaganda.“

Patton says she was placed on the list in 2024 after writing a column, which she said “inflamed the MAGA faithful,” adding: “Once my name went up, the harassment machine roared to life.

“For weeks, my inbox and voicemail were deluged,” Patton continued. “Mostly white men spat venom through the phone: ‘B***h,’ ‘c**t,’ ‘n****r.’ They threatened all manner of violence.

“They overwhelmed the university’s PR lines and the [university] president’s office with calls demanding that I be fired. The flood was so relentless that the head of campus security reached out to offer me an escort, because they feared one of these keyboard soldiers might step out of his basement and come do me harm.”

Professors faced threats of physical and sexual violence over Charlie Kirk’s ‘hit list’

Patton is far from the only professor to share similar stories after they were added to the watchlist. One professor told campus free speech rights group FIRE in 2023 that they were subjected to threats of physical and sexual violence after being added to the list.

One message, they said, featured a picture of their house and driveway, while another told them to “watch your step.”

“Kirk’s watchlist has terrorised legions of professors across this country,” Patton continued. “Women, Black faculty, queer scholars, basically anyone who challenged white supremacy, gun culture, or Christian nationalism, suddenly found themselves targets of coordinated abuse.

“That is the culture of violence Charlie Kirk built. He normalised violence. He curated it, monetised it, and sicced it on anyone who dared to puncture his movement’s lies.”

The journalist deplored depictions of Kirk as nothing more than a “civil debator,” saying that the “truth” was that “Kirk and his foot soldiers spent years terrorising educators, trying to silence us with harassment and fear.”

“Kirk spent years demonising LGBTQ+ people, mocking gun survivors, spewing racism about Black folks, and pushing policies that literally shorten lives,” she said. “It is so revolting to watch a bipartisan wave of grief sweep over this hateful racist as if he was a neutral community servant.”

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Supreme Court allows transgender student to use boys’ restrooms at S.C. school

Lawrence Hurley September 15, 2025

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request by South Carolina officials to bar a transgender boy from using the boys’ restrooms at his school.

The court denied an emergency request filed by the state, which has recently enacted measures aimed at forcing schools to bar transgender students from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

The brief order stressed that the decision “is not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation.”

Three conservative members of the court — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — said they would have granted the request.

The only issue before the Supreme Court was whether one ninth grade student, named in court papers as John Doe, could use the boys’ restrooms at his school while litigation continues.

South Carolina legislators have sought to restrict transgender bathroom access by including language in budget bills that withdraws funding for schools that do not comply with their demands.

Doe’s parents sued on his behalf, saying that the measures violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires that the laws apply equally to everyone, as well as Title IX, the federal law that bars discrimination in education.

A federal judge in South Carolina has not ruled on the substantive legal issues yet and rejected a request from Doe that he be allowed to use his preferred restroom while the case continues.

In August, the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a similar request, prompting the state to turn to the Supreme Court.

In the Supreme Court’s new term, which begins next month, the justices will consider a major case on state laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s school and college sports.

International/ News/ Top Stories

Burkina Faso Criminalizes Same-Sex Conduct

Alex muller, Human Rights Watch September 14, 2025

Burkina Faso’s Transitional Legislative Assembly passed a law on September 1, 2025, that makes consensual same-sex relations a criminal offense, a major setback for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Under this new law, people found guilty of homosexuality could face two to five years in prison, as well as fines. The law violates LGBT people’s rights to non-discrimination and privacy.

The law is being enacted amid shrinking civic and political space and a major crackdown by the military junta on the political opposition, media, and peaceful dissent.

Until now, Burkina Faso has never had a law criminalizing consensual same-sex relations. Unlike many other African countries, it did not inherit a colonial penal code that outlawed so-called sodomy.

Passed as part of the broader Persons and Family Code, the criminalization provision was adopted unanimously by the assembly’s 71 members. It also would provide prison sentences and fines for “behavior likely to promote homosexual practices and similar practices.”

Burkina Faso’s justice and human rights minister, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, said the new legislation responded “to the deep aspirations of our society” and showed “respect for cultural values.”

The junta’s decision to criminalize consensual-same sex relations contravenes its obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Recent judgments in other African countries like Botswana, Mauritius, and Namibia have confirmed that laws that criminalize same-sex conduct violate the privacy and non-discrimination rights of LGBT people.

Beyond violating basic rights, such laws foster violence and abuses against LGBT people. In 2014, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights strongly urged African Union member states to “end all acts of violence and abuse” targeted against persons due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Burkina Faso’s junta president, Ibrahim Traoré, should not sign the Persons and Family Code into law. Instead, he should refer it back to the assembly for revision. The revised code needs to respect the rights of non-discrimination and privacy of everyone in Burkina Faso regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Opinions/ Top Stories

Bring Them Home: Deploying Our State National Guard for Political Purposes Endangers Public Safety

Gary Carnivele September 13, 2025

LGBTQ leaders in Washington, DC, and in states deploying their National Guard to a militarized DC, speak out about the dangers to LGBTQ people in DC and to public safety at home.

Dwayne Steward, Equality Ohio Executive Director

“You don’t have to be from Ohio to know the dangerous history of injecting the National Guard into political moments. 55 years ago this past May, National Guard members fired on unarmed demonstrators on the Kent State campus, killing four students and injuring nine people. The violence sparked a nationwide reckoning that we are still atoning for to this day.

We are at a similar inflection point. Deploying the Ohio National Guard to Washington, DC, using demonstrable lies about crime to justify it, is inappropriate and dangerous, especially to already marginalized communities, including Black and Brown Americans, LGBTQ people and venues. Guards are roaming unfamiliar streets with unclear orders. They’re being used as props for political photo opps. They’re pulled from their families and communities not to serve their oath or neighbors, but a political agenda.

Our National Guard troops are our family, friends, and neighbors, just like LGBTQ people. They are community helpers, including last year after a deadly tornado outbreak across five Ohio counties. They belong on our streets, in a mission of helping, not attacking the people they’re meant to protect. Our personal safety and public safety are at stake. It’s up to each of us to speak up and end this pointless escalation. We must continue to build a history of trust, service, and peace.”

Chris Sanders, Tennessee Equality Project Executive Director

“Deploying the Tennessee National Guard to the capital or any other city under false pretenses goes beyond playing politics. It is an extreme, repressive solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Governor Lee’s actions could create the very conflict and danger they purport to address. It seems no coincidence that cities that embrace their diverse communities, including the LGBTQ+ community, are being targeted.”

Jace Woodrum, ACLU of South Carolina Executive Director

“The fact is not lost on us in South Carolina that Governor Henry McMaster and President Trump have ordered our National Guard troops to occupy one of the largest Black population centers in the country. They are also attacking a thriving LGBTQ+ community. We condemn the abuse of our National Guard troops to intimidate our neighbors in Washington D.C., particularly at a time when the McMaster and Trump administrations are ramping up their cruelty against Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ people.

“As the national ACLU has warned, National Guard troops are generally not trained in local policing or de-escalation. By sending them to act as military police in places where police have already failed to earn the trust of the communities they serve, the governor is contributing to a needlessly volatile situation. We call on Governor McMaster to bring our National Guard troops home. Especially now, during the peak of hurricane season, we cannot afford to send them away as pawns in an authoritarian project.”

Lea Campbell, Mississippi Rising Coalition Founding Organizer

“To deploy the Mississippi National Guard far from home and during hurricane season is irresponsible and a recipe for disaster. Our Guard is more than a military, they are our communities’ 911 in a true emergency, and Mississippians are particularly vulnerable to devastation from hurricanes, as we know and remember on this 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Mississippi’s National Guard are also spouses and parents, many with full-time jobs and school, kids at home or older parents to look after. To send them on a manufactured mission that is so profoundly political dishonors their service, their families and harms everyone back home.

It has been reported that our capital city has a higher rate of crime than Washington, DC. But sending the Guard to Jackson or anywhere else in America is worse than a bandaid. It is dangerous political theater enabling our elected leaders to evade responsibility for what we know helps keep people safe: good-paying jobs, health care, food security, affordable homes, access to transportation, education and child care, clean air and water, the basics of community trust and safety. In fact, in deploying the MS National Guard to Washington DC, Governor Reeves is complicit in advancing the Trump regime’s authoritarian agenda that increases the risk of harm to the most vulnerable. LGBTQ people and queer Black and Brown families are at disproportionate risk as victims of crime as well as state-sponsored discrimination and abuse by law enforcement. The risks of militarization are too great for our most marginalized and for all families in Mississippi. Bring them home.”

Rosemary Ketchum, Friendlier City Project, West Virginia

Rosemary Ketchum, Founder, Friendlier City Project, West Virginia

“Our National Guard exists to protect and support our neighbors here in West Virginia, especially during times of crisis and natural disaster.

Diverting them for political theater in Washington or elsewhere undermines that mission and puts all of us at risk. For LGBTQ people and other marginalized communities, already vulnerable to discrimination, this militarized deployment is not only unnecessary, it is dangerous and erodes trust in our most important institutions.

We call on state leaders to keep the Guard where they belong: serving their communities, not intimidating them.”

Mark Rutstein/Crush Dance Bar, Washington, DC

“We have already seen a negative impact on our business, including a reduction of tourism to our venue and a decrease in people who are afraid of being profiled. The first two weeks of August resulted in a 38% reduction in sales. Some days we were 75% down in sales and others 50%. All of this would have been much worse had the LGBTQ community not shown up for us after seeing us on local and national news. They told us they came in to buy a drink to support us. We are hearing the same thing from other LGBTQ venues. Bottom line if this is all about safety, it’s really not safe or free if people can’t be themselves and live their lives, and be together in community. The takeover of metro police and increased federal presence comes at a great cost to the things we all value the most.”

Monica Hopkins, ACLU of the District of Columbia Executive Director

“The deployment of out-of-state National Guard troops and more federal agents onto D.C. streets is a brazen abuse of power meant to intimidate and create fear in the nation’s capital. This is an unnecessary overstep to micromanage D.C. under a phony emergency, causing real harm to residents and visitors — all to advance the Trump administration’s political agenda. The ACLU-D.C. will continue to monitor the use of D.C. police and federal law enforcement to ensure that the constitutional rights of our community are protected. We need the nation to join us in the fight for statehood so that D.C. residents are treated like those in every other state and have the same guardrails against federal overreach.”

Channyn Lynne Parker, Equality Illinois CEO, responding to Trump administration intention to send federal troops to Chicago:

“Deploying the military against Chicagoans undermines the very trust between residents and public institutions that is essential to democracy. Illinois has shown that progress comes from community-centered solutions and bold leadership—not federal intimidation.

Sending in the military will not keep LGBTQ+ people, Black and Brown communities, or working families safe. What will keep us safe are investments in education, housing, healthcare, and public safety initiatives that are designed by and for our communities. The National Guard will not fund our schools, protect our right to healthcare, or ensure that LGBTQ+ Illinoisans can live free from violence and discrimination.

Equality Illinois rejects policies of fear and militarization. We will continue to work alongside our Mayor, our Governor, and our statewide partners to ensure Illinois remains a safe state for all—protected from government overreach and unwavering in our commitment to equality and justice.”

National/ News/ Top Stories

HRC demands WSJ retract report linking Kirk shooting to transgender community

Brooke Migdon, The Hill September 12, 2025

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, is demanding that The Wall Street Journal retract its reporting incorrectly linking the shooter in conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination with the transgender community.

Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon while speaking at a Utah college. In the clamor of information related to Kirk’s killing, The Wall Street Journal, citing “an early bulletin circulated widely among law enforcement officials,” reported Thursday that investigators had discovered ammunition with expressions of “transgender and anti-fascist ideology” inside the rifle believed to have been used in Kirk’s killing.

The New York Times reported later Thursday that the document had not been verified by analysts with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, did not match other summaries of the evidence and “might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted.”

The story from The Wall Street Journal was later updated to reflect caution from some Justice Department officials about the veracity of the internal bulletin. On Friday, a lengthy editor’s note was appended to the outlet’s original report, after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R), during a news conference, “gave no indication that the ammunition included any transgender references.”

Cox on Friday said law enforcement had taken Tyler Robinson, 22, into custodyin connection with Kirk’s assassination following a multiday search. Engravings on both spent and unused bullet casings found at the scene read “Hey fascist!” and “Catch!” Cox said. Another read, “If you read this, you are gay, lmao.”

On Friday, the Human Rights Campaign said The Wall Street Journal’s reporting erroneously tying Kirk’s murder to the transgender community was “reckless and irresponsible” and led to a “wave of threats against the trans community from right-wing influencers.”

“News outlets like @wsj.com have a critical responsibility to report the truth,” the organization wrote in a post Friday afternoon on Bluesky. “Promoting false information that ties our LGBTQ+ community to the Utah shooting is reckless, irresponsible, and puts trans people especially in danger. Anyone with a platform must do better. Lives are on the line.”

“@wsj.com needs to hear from ALL of us,” HRC added in a second post, which includes a link to an open letter. “Take action now to demand a retraction and apology for its dangerous and misleading coverage.”

The letter, to be delivered to a Wall Street Journal inbox for general feedback, says rage “is what makes this country a tinder box,” echoing recent pleas from Cox and others to turn away from political violence.

“The rush to lob hot takes and publish click bait is not how we are going to get out of this deeply divided, dangerous era,” the open letter reads. “News outlets like the Wall Street Journal must do better.”

A spokesperson for The Wall Street Journal did not immediately return a request for comment.

The outlet’s reporting and the fallout come as the Justice Department reportedly considers banning transgender people from owning firearms in response to last month’s mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. The proposal, which the Justice Department has not publicly released or confirmed, has been condemned by Second Amendment rights groups, including the National Rifle Association.

President Trump, in an interview late last month with the Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet, said most mass shooters are not transgender.

International/ News/ Top Stories

Despite war, Pride persists in Kharkiv: ‘We stay here and continue our work’

Pink News, Sophia Perry September 12, 2025

In the north-east of Ukraine, a mere 18 miles from the Russian border, sits the city of Kharkiv, home to Kharkiv Pride.

Since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the country’s second-largest city has faced relentless strikes by Russian forces with more than 8,000 of its buildings – including schools and homes – destroyed, thousands of people killed and injured whilst countless more have fled westward to Kyiv or abroad for safety.

But despite the on-going war, the destruction, the uncertainty, Pride persists.

Pride continues in Kharkiv, despite the war (Christina Pashkina)

When the conflict began, Kharkiv was quickly identified as one of Russia’s main targets given its proximity to the border, history and infrastructure.

A traditionally Russian-speaking city, Kharkiv was a major centre during the Russian Empire and once served as the capital of Soviet Ukraine between 1919 and 1934.

Nowadays, the city is an industrial, scientific and cultural hub home to several top universities and research institutes and has various industrial enterprisesemploying thousands across the chemical, power production, fuel, and food sectors.

The city and the wider region of Kharkiv Oblast, which has become increasingly known for its agricultural production and also holds Ukraine’s largest natural gas reserves, unsurprisingly contribute significantly to Ukraine’s economy.

Capturing the Kharkiv – home to 1.4 million before the start of conflict – would be both a strategic and symbolic victory for Putin.

When Russian forces crossed the border in February they captured several towns and villages across Kharkiv Oblast as they made their way towards Kharkiv – but were unable to take the city.

“It was important to continue our fight”

When the war came, KharkivPride, which began in 2019, was unable to go ahead with its usual activities.

Months after the invasion though, the Pride organisation instead held a MetroPride where LGBTQ+ people powerfully and resiliently marched through the city’s subway – protected from both the Russian airstrikes and the far-right groups who would normally seek to violently counter-protest.

That Pride, amidst the harrowing, early days of the conflict, was about still being in the public eye, with Sharyhina explaining “it was really important to continue our fight, continue to be visible in that situation”.

She told PinkNews initially the LGBTQ+ community chose to keep silent about its fight for equal rights when the invasion happened and focused instead on securing Ukrainian independence. But, after they were accused by certain quarters of not fighting for Ukraine, Sharyhina concluded LGBTQ+ people“can’t be silent again”.

This year’s KharkivPride celebrations are taking place between 30 August and 6 September, under the slogan: “Together for equality and victory”.

AutoPride will see a fleet of rainbow coloured cars travel through the city (Christina Pashkina)

On 30 and 31 August the group hosted a PrideFest, followed by a commemoration of fallen LGBTQ+ military personnel on 5 September and will conclude with an AutoPride on 6 September – which will see a convoy of cars decked out in rainbows travel through the city.

More than half a decade on from the first KharkivPride, when the group “collected people from zero” because the queer community was not publicly active, organisers continue to mobilise the community.

“Our community centre is a safe space for LGBT people. When people come to the community centre they feel freedom and like they can be themselves and proud of it. They don’t feel scared about coming out.

“When you have a place and know people like you – homosexual, queer or trans people – you can feel yourself,” Sharyhina said, adding LGBTQ+ residents feel “inspired” by that space.

“After that, they come to Pride because they are ready to say something about their rights.”

National/ News/ Top Stories

How GLAAD is Combatting Censorship by Sending LGBTQ Books Straight to Capitol Hill

GLAAD September 12, 2025

As LGBTQ-inclusive books are being pulled from classrooms and libraries at an alarming rate, GLAAD is taking direct action by mailing hundreds of copies of a beloved (and banned) LGBTQ title straight to every member of Congress and the Supreme Court.

The campaign is built around Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a joyful children’s book co-published by GLAAD and Little Bee Books. The title was recently cited in a devastating U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opens the door to even more extreme book bans, despite its completely harmless content. The story follows Chloe, a young girl who learns that when her favorite uncle marries his boyfriend, she isn’t losing him—she’s gaining another loving family member. Somehow, even a message this heartwarming is under attack. And so, GLAAD is making sure all the legislators behind these harmful decisions can review the material themselves.

The removal of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding is just the beginning of a very real and very dangerous culture of censorship, where misinformation and discrimination runs rampant. Meanwhile, real American issues – access to healthcare, gun violence, and economic security – are ignored. In Escambia County, Florida, school board members ignored their own policies that safeguarded LGBTQ books—and even fired the superintendent who stood up for students’ right to read. And in Georgia, a beloved librarian was fired for including a children’s book about a transgender boy in a display created by young readers.

These are not isolated cases. Across the country, extremist groups are targeting queer stories and any book that affirms the existence of LGBTQ people, as well as stories featuring other marginalized communities, or championing Black and brown voices. It isn’t just about books. It’s about silencing voices, erasing identities, and controlling what kids are allowed to know about themselves and each other.

Through this campaign, GLAAD is reminding everyone—especially LGBTQ youth—that they deserve to see themselves in the books they read. Click HERE to join hundreds of others standing in support of queer youth and against censorship before it’s too late.

Features/ Top Stories/ Transgender / Transsexual

Creator of the trans flag is fleeing U.S. due to LGBTQ+ persecution

Baum, S, The Advocate September 11, 2025

Monica Helms, the Navy veteran and creator of the original transgender pride flag, is fleeing the country due to anti-LGBTQ persecution.

She and her wife, Darlene Wagner, launched a GoFundMe earlier this year to facilitate their move abroad.

“We are worried there’s a possibility something could happen where we end up getting arrested just for being who we are,” Helms said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter when the fundraiser first kicked off.

The couple currently lives in Georgia, which Erin in the Morning’s newest risk assessment map labeled as a “high risk” area for transgender people. Helms is by no means the only transgender refugee fleeing the United States. In May, a Williams Institute poll found that nearly half of all trans adult respondents had considered moving out of state or out of the country.

Since 2023, almost three dozen anti-trans bills have been introduced in Georgia, four of which have passed, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker. There was a ban on trans girls playing on scholastic women’s sports teams, a ban on using state funds to provide transition-related health care to incarcerated people, a ban on providing evidence-based medical treatment for minors with gender dysphoria, and the Georgia Religious Freedom Restoration Act—which does not explicitly target trans people, but is likely to make it easier to discriminate against them using religion as a legal defense. (Thankfully, there have been some successful and ongoing legal challenges to many of these policies.)

However, “even blue states are starting to see problems,” Helms told the Bay Area Reporter. California’s governor reportedly moved to kill pro-LGBTQ bills behind the scenes; New Jersey school boards have engaged in a coordinated effort to forcibly out trans students to hostile parents; and hospitals located within Democratic strongholds across the country are violating state equal protections laws to deny trans kids access to health care, capitulating to Trumpian threats.

NBC’s Jo Yurcaba profiled families of trans kids moving to places like Australia and New Zealand. Hannah Kreager, a 22-year-old trans woman from Arizona, filed a groundbreaking asylum claim in Canada earlier this year; if granted, it would mark the first time a trans person from the United States would be given asylum in another country due to their LGBT status.

Of course, all of these stories come with the presumption of privilege. Trans people in these scenarios may have had familial support and/or a source of income or wealth that enabled them to uproot their lives to a safer place. Others resort to bouncing from state to state to receive care, uprooting their lives to live in a more tolerant community or traveling across state or international lines periodically to access health care.

As for Helms, she vowed to continue to fight for trans people no matter where she lives. “We will not abandon our activism,” she wrote in her GoFundMe.

Helms designed the transgender pride flag after having a conversation with the creator of the bisexual pride flag in 1999, she told the Bay Area Reporter. She has said it is important to her that it remains open and free to use for the public. The pink, white, and blue flag has become a household symbol for trans people and their loved ones.

“No matter how you fly it, it’s always correct, which signifies finding correctness in our own lives,” Helms said.

National/ News/ Top Stories

Judge orders Trump to restore hundreds of diversity, equity, and inclusion webpages

Amelia Hansford, Pink News September 11, 2025

The US government has been ordered to restore dozens of webpages on gender identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as part of a court settlement.

District Court judge Lauren King ordered the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to restore hundreds of webpages removed from government sites under orders from president Donald Trump.

Nine medical organisations and public health nonprofits sued the US government after Trump issued an executive order in January directing the health department to remove pages containing vital information and data on gender identity, HIV prevention, and health advice for marginalised groups.

Affected websites included the National Institute of Health’s HIV risk reduction tool, an FAQ page on Mpox treatment and hundreds of sites on health issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community.

As part of an agreed settlement finalised on Tuesday (2 September), the government must restore the data and cease the deletion of further resources.

The Washington State Medical Association (WSMA), Washington state’s largest medical association and lead plaintiff in the case, said it was “thrilled” at the settlement result.

It is expected to restore webpages on pregnancy risk, opioid-use disorder, HIV data, and much more.

Dr John Bramhall, WSMA president, said following the judgement that he was “extremely proud” of the healthcare community for “pushing back on this egregious example of government overreach.”

“This was not a partisan issue,” he continued. “Open data benefits everyone, and ensuring its availability should be a bipartisan priority.”

Vital health and DEI webpages vanished ‘in the blink of an eye’

The organisation, which represents more than 13,000 physicians, emphasised the importance of readily available health data and information for the general public on all topics.

Condemning the sudden removal of “trusted health information,” Dr Bramhall said many resources which physicians rely on to monitor a patient’s health “vanished in [the] blink of an eye.”

“Not only was our ability to provide care to our patients compromised, but our trust in our federal health institutions has also been badly shaken,” he continued. “The WSMA engaged in this legal effort to resist interference into the physician-patient relationship and to show patients and communities that, regardless of the whims of governments or politics, physicians are committed to providing accurate, evidence-based care.”

A spokesperson for HHS said to Fox News Digital it remains “committed to its mission of removing radical gender and DEI ideology from federal programs, subject to applicable law, to ensure taxpayer dollars deliver meaningful results for the American people.”

The settlement comes as health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr was grilled in a Senate hearing over his vaccine policies and notorious views on public health.

The 71-year-old, who is infamous for his conspiratorial scepticism on vaccines, was accused of a “reckless disregard for science” during the Thursday (4 September) hearing after firing the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) head over his vaccine policies.

Democratic senator Ron Wyden, who sat on the committee, accused Kennedy of trying to “[take] vaccines away from Americans,” adding: “I hope at the very least, Robert Kennedy has the decency to tell the truth this morning.”

Justifying the CDC firings, Kennedy said they were “absolutely necessary,” called the US the “sickest country in the world,” and claimed “that’s why we need to fire people at the CDC.”

National/ News/ Top Stories

Amy Coney Barrett, conservative panelists discuss overturning marriage equality

The Advocate, Trudy Ring September 10, 2025

Conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett doesn’t appear inclined to overturn marriage equality — but can she be trusted?

Barrett calls the right to marry “fundamental” in her new book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution, which comes out Tuesday. However, she has previously said the matter should be up to each state. And in her confirmation hearings in 2020, she was cagey about whether she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion nationwide, butin 2022 she voted to overturn it.

Meanwhile, panelists at the National Conservatism Conference, held this week in Washington, D.C., discussed the possible reversal of Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that established marriage equality in every state.

In her book, Barrett writes, “The court has held that the rights to marry, engage in sexual intimacy, use birth control, and raise children are fundamental, but the rights to do business, commit suicide, and obtain abortion are not.”

Barrett recently told Norah O’Donnell of CBS News that she hopes to help readers “understand the law.” It’s not just an opinion poll,” she said.

“You know, what the court is trying to do is see what the American people have decided. And sometimes the American people have expressed themselves in the Constitution itself, which is our fundamental law. Sometimes in statutes,” she said. “But the court should not be imposing its own values on the American people. That’s for the democratic process.”

Barrett was evasive about her views on marriage equality during her confirmation hearings. But she had previously suggested it should be decided state by state.

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton recently said she expects the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to overturn Obergefell. “It took 50 years to overturn Roe v. Wade,” she told Jessica Tarlov of The Five in a podcast interview. “The Supreme Court will hear a case about gay marriage. My prediction is they will do to gay marriage what they did to abortion. They will send it back to the states.”

Last month, Kim Davis, the former clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, asked the Supreme Court to hear her case challenging Obergefell. Davis, a conservative Christian, quit issuing marriage licenses altogether after the ruling so she wouldn’t have to issue them to same-sex couples. The high court justices haven’t said if they’ll take the case.

Some political observers disagree with Clinton, saying the Supreme Court likely doesn’t want to revisit marriage equality, even though two ultraconservative members — Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — have said they’d like to overturn it.

Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor, told Newsweek that Barrett’s comments in her book and to CBS indicate she’s “not inclined to overturn the right to same-sex marriage.” She has sometimes gone against other conservative justices.

“As to whether other justices share her apparent view, I would further guess that at least Justice Thomas would not agree with her,” Rossi added. “In the end, my prediction is that a majority of the court will stand firm and preserve the right to same-sex marriage.”

O’Donnell’s interview on with Barrett will air on CBS Sunday Morning at 9 a.m. Sunday and at 11 a.m. on CBS News 24/7.

If the court did overturn Obergefell, there would be some protection from the Respect for Marriage Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It requires federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages, and requires states to recognize those performed in other states. However, no state would have to offer equal marriage rights.

In addition to Davis, there are other right-wing forces who would like to see the ruling reversed. At the National Conservatism Conference’s “Overturn Obergefell” panel Thursday, participants portrayed marriage equality as the source of many societal ills, including harm to children — something debunked by many studies.

“The last 10 years have made one thing unmistakably clear: We can either recognize gay marriage, or we can recognize a child’s right to the mother and father. We can’t do both,” anti-LGBTQ+ activist Katy Faust said at the event, according to The Washington Times. “If we are to retake legal marriage, we highlight the real victims, the children starved of maternal or paternal love, acquired by predators, mass produced, trafficked across borders, struggling with identity confusion, subjected to risky households.”

“If an adult can assemble sperm, egg, and womb — and ‘intend’ to parent the child —they get the baby,” she said. “Biologically related or not. Pedophile or not. Retiree or not. Foreign national or not. Intent-based parentage is child trafficking disguised as constitutional rights. Gay marriage did that.”

“The moment the state has the power to assign parenthood to strangers, it can unassign it from you,” she added. “Your legal relationship to the children you’ve begotten is weaker than it was a decade ago. Make no mistake. Gay marriage did that.”

Jeff Shafer, director of the Hale Institute, a conservative think tank, said that “Obergefell requires the gender neutralization of indelibly sexed legal standards. The whole point of Obergefell’s audacity was to knock over a cultural pillar that defines and orients a whole legal framework.”

Orthodox Rabbi Ilan Feldman put in, “Marriage is not for us to redefine. It’s God’s plan for the world,” ignoring that the U.S. is not a theocracy and that different faiths have different ideas about marriage.

Another on the panel was longtime anti-LGBTQ+ activist John Eastman, a close ally of Donald Trump. He was forced to resign as a law professor at Chapman University because of his role in the rally that preceded the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection, and he has been disbarred. But he’s still out there trying to end marriage equality.

He said he’s encouraged by the fact that after Davis filed her request with the Supreme Court, the court asked for a response from the gay couple who sued her over her denial of their marriage license. She wants to avoid paying damages to them as well as having the court overturn Obergefell.

The request for a response indicates the high court is interested in the case, he said at the conference, according to The Washington Times, although he thinks the court may limit itself to religious freedom concerns. “We should be very clear in the Kim Davis case, this wasn’t about the couple being able to get a marriage certificate under the auspices of Obergefell — they got one,” he added. “It was getting it from her despite her religious objection. It was an Orwellian bend-the-knee move.”

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