Republican lawmakers in Kentucky have overridden a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear (D) to pass a bill targeting trans children that LGBTQ advocates have described as one of the worst pieces of anti-trans legislation in the country. Republicans, who have supermajorities in both houses of the Kentucky legislature, overrode the veto of Senate Bill 150 on Wednesday. The Senate passed the override by a… Source Source / Read More: 19 Protesters Arrested as Kentucky Republicans Override Veto of Anti-Trans Bill
LGBTQ
Gender-Affirming Health Care Bans Also Impact Families and Medical Providers
Trans activists are warning that recent legislation banning gender-affirming care threatens an onslaught of devastating health complications and mental health struggles for transgender youth nationwide. Teenage access to vital gender-affirming health care has been restricted or banned in 10 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia… Source Source / Read More: Gender-Affirming Health Care Bans Also Impact Families and Medical Providers
Georgia County Spent $1.2 Million to Deny One Employee Gender-Affirming Care
When a transgender sheriff’s deputy in Houston County, Georgia, requested that the department’s health insurance plan cover gender-affirming surgeries, local officials refused to cover them, claiming it was too expensive. In the years since, however, officials have spent more than a million dollars of taxpayer money fighting a federal lawsuit brought by the deputy — far more than it would have… Source Source / Read More: Georgia County Spent $1.2 Million to Deny One Employee Gender-Affirming Care
Nebraska Lawmaker Enters Third Week of Filibustering to Block Anti-Trans Bills
A Nebraska state lawmaker has filibustered every piece of legislation that has been brought up for consideration in the state’s unicameral legislature, fulfilling a vow she made three weeks ago to do so until Republicans agree to drop legislation seeking to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth and abortion rights in the state. State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D) initially promised in late… Source Source / Read More: Nebraska Lawmaker Enters Third Week of Filibustering to Block Anti-Trans Bills
Neo-Nazis, Far Right Protesters Storm Drag Queen Story Hour in Ohio
Hundreds of far right protesters, including neo-Nazis and members of other white nationalist groups, stormed a drag queen story hour at a park in Wadsworth, Ohio, on Saturday. The all-ages show, dubbed the “Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour,” was held at the city’s Memorial Park. The event was held to promote a Humanist children’s book, and concluded with a “short Rock-n-Roll drag… Source Source / Read More: Neo-Nazis, Far Right Protesters Storm Drag Queen Story Hour in Ohio
Arkansas Senate Passes “Most Extreme” Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill in the US
The Arkansas state Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would forbid transgender people in the state from using restrooms, locker rooms or other facilities that correspond with their gender. Senate Bill 270 would forbid trans people from using restrooms that don’t align with the sex they were assigned on their birth certificate. Under the bill, a trans woman who enters a woman’s restroom and… Source Source / Read More: Arkansas Senate Passes “Most Extreme” Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill in the US
Gender-Affirming Care Ban in KY Could Have “Deadly Consequences,” Experts Warn
Health experts in Kentucky have sounded the alarm about a proposed bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender children in the state. House Bill 470 is possibly the “the worst” piece of legislation in the country for LGBTQ people and could have “deadly consequences” if passed into law, LGBTQ advocates and medical experts say. The bill would vaguely ban “gender-affirming services” for… Source Source / Read More: Gender-Affirming Care Ban in KY Could Have “Deadly Consequences,” Experts Warn
FDA Will Now Allow Blood Donations From Gay, Bisexual Men and Transgender Women
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Thursday that it will be ending a longstanding blood donation policy that discriminates against gay and bisexual men, as well as some transgender women. Restrictions on those groups have been in place for decades. In 1985, the FDA mandated an “indefinite deferral” of gay and bisexual men giving blood, citing the higher prevalence of HIV… Source Source / Read More: FDA Will Now Allow Blood Donations From Gay, Bisexual Men and Transgender Women
Belarus: Trial against Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski a ‘shameful pretense’ of justice
Reacting to the beginning of a court hearing in the politically motivated case against Ales Bialiatski, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and chair of the Viasna human rights group, and his colleagues Valiantsin Stefanovich, Uladzimir Labkovich and Dzmitry Salauyou, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “The trial against Ales Bialiatski and […] The post Belarus: Trial against Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski a ‘shameful pretense’ of justice appeared first on Amnesty International.
Texas AG Ken Paxton Asked Agency to Compile List of Trans Residents in the State
This past summer, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton requested employees at the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to do a sweeping search of its database to provide him with names of individuals who, over the past two years, changed their gender on their driver’s licenses and other records. To some, the search appears to be a clear request to find out who in the state is a… Source Source / Read More: Texas AG Ken Paxton Asked Agency to Compile List of Trans Residents in the State
Right-Wingers Who Stoke the War on Trans People Have Club Q Blood on Their Hands
Even before police announced hate crime charges against Anderson Lee Aldrich, the 22-year-old man accused of orchestrating a massacre at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs over the weekend, it was obvious to queer and trans people that the nation’s latest mass shooting was yet another form of the anti-trans and homophobic violence that has been escalating in U.S. society, both structurally and interpersonally, as lies about our lives reach a fever pitch in the right-wing media. The suspect, reportedly wearing tactical gear and wielding an AR-15-style semiautomatic assault rifle, chose a busy Saturday night to enter Club Q in…
For the First Time, LGBTQ Candidates Are on the Ballot in All 50 States
For the first time in U.S. history, voters in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. will have the chance to vote for an LGBTQ candidate, a new report finds. According to a new report by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, there will be at least 678 LGBTQ candidates on the ballot for the general election in November, an increase of 18 percent from 574 in 2020. This is partially due to an increase in the proportion of LGBTQ candidates tracked by the organization who won their primaries earlier this year, at 64 percent compared to 57 percent in 2020. The proportion…