Author: johntarheel76

NYC to distribute $2 million in emergency funding to organizations serving transgender people

Read more at Gay City News.

With less than 48 hours remaining in office, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams rolled out a plan to distribute $2 million in what the city is describing as “emergency funding” to 20 organizations serving transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals in a bid to counteract federal budget cuts.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will administer the funding across organizations delivering the most pressing community services, including in the areas of health and wellness, legal advocacy, youth and family support, safety and crisis response, community building, and economic empowerment, according to the mayor’s office.

Organizations are eligible to receive up to $92,000, which can be used for staff, travel, supplies, and services — so long as most of the clients are transgender, gender non-conforming, or non-binary.

Organizations seeking to apply for the grant must fill out an application by Monday, Jan. 5 at 5 p.m.

CitizensNYC, a non-profit which helps cut through red tape and act as an intermediary between the city and applicants to disburse city funding to various organizations in a timely manner, is partnering with the city to help facilitate the funding, though the city will ultimately determine which organizations receive it.

The funding follows a tumultuous year during which the Trump administration repeatedly moved to slash funding for LGBTQ community services in New York City and elsewhere.

After President Donald Trump issued several executive orders early this year targeting funding for LGBTQ organizations and other groups, federal agencies warned non-profits that their budgets could be slashed if they served transgender individuals or conducted what officials described as “equity-related” work. Lambda Legal, which led a lawsuit against the Trump administration in February, later won a court order restoring $6 million in funding for nine nonprofits serving LGBTQ people and individuals living with HIV.

In September, the Trump administration announced it was cancelling around $36 million in funding for the city as punishment for its policies protecting transgender individuals — a move that prompted the city to sue the Trump administration.

Most recently, the Trump administration issued multiple proposed rules that would require healthcare providers participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs to stop providing gender-affirming care for youth.

“We saw a need after federal budget cuts, and we are responding to it,” First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said in a written statement. “There are essential services at stake for this community. Therefore, it was an imperative for us to take action and fill that need.”

In a written statement, Adams said the city is “putting our money where our values are and stepping up to serve those who need our care.”

Dr. Michelle Morse, the acting city health commissioner, said the federal government’s attacks on trans and gender non-conforming individuals are “unconscionable.”

“Supporting New York’s community organizations that provide lifesaving services and are eligible for the emergency funds is a key part of the Health Department’s commitment to supporting the health and well-being of all New Yorkers,” Morse explained.

The mayor’s announcement comes roughly three months after Adams sparked widespread criticism when he attacked trans-inclusive bathroom policies in a series of comments. At the time, Adams said he opposed what he described as “girls and boys using the same restroom,” saying he would evaluate his “authority” to change laws on that issue, but ultimately conceded he lacked the power to do so.

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The new challenges obtaining SNAP benefits for LGBTQ+ recipients

Read more and listen at NPR.

Advocates for the LGBTQ+ community say the new limits on the food assistance program, SNAP, may make it especially difficult for many LGBTQ people battling food insecurity.

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

2025 was a tumultuous year for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, between changes enacted as part of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and then the government shutdown that interrupted benefits. As Rebecca Smith with member station KBIA in Columbia, Missouri, reports, these changes are having a disproportionate effect on one already vulnerable group, LGBTQ people.

REBECCA SMITH, BYLINE: Emilia Stauffer walks towards the back of the GLO Center in Springfield, Missouri, carrying a heavy box of canned vegetables to a small closet that’s packed to the brim with boxes of shelf-stable foods, hygiene products and more.

EMILIA STAUFFER: So this is where everything gets stored.

SMITH: Stauffer is the community services specialist for the GLO Center, which supports the LGBTQ+ community throughout Southeast Missouri. In early 2025, the center recognized the rising need in their community for help accessing resources such as housing, health care and food.

STAUFFER: We have a population that is underemployed, underinsured, either not able or scared to access services.

SMITH: In a 2025 report, the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which studies LGBTQ+ law and policy, reported that 2.1 million LGBTQ+ adults were enrolled in SNAP nationwide. But now, following the passage of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which puts limits on the food assistance program, it could be harder for them to receive and retain benefits. Stauffer says for her clients, that’s not a new challenge. Many don’t seek out help due to fear of discrimination or the risk of violence.

STAUFFER: They’re literally terrified. I know we’re here to talk about food, but just even the idea of being flagged as trans is terrifying.

SMITH: People often have to present identification at food banks and pantries, which could inadvertently out transgender and gender-nonconforming people whose identities may not match the gender on their IDs. Plus many food pantries are tied to religious groups. One 2022 analysis, published in the BMC Public Health journal, found that more than 60% of U.S. food pantries were affiliated with faith-based groups.

STAUFFER: Not all faith organizations are the same, but when one has experienced religious trauma, it’s easier to overgeneralize than to make that risk.

SMITH: Because of this, Stauffer meets with groups in the area to determine if they would be safe and welcoming for her clients, but she says it can still be hard for people to go into spaces that historically have been unwelcoming. Brad Sears agrees. He’s one of the founders of the Williams Institute and studies food insecurity in the LGBTQ+ community. He says there’s many reasons beyond just fear of discrimination that LGBTQ+ people are food insecure and less likely to use SNAP than their straight or cisgender peers, such as higher rates of poverty and less of a support system.

BRAD SEARS: And, you know, the vast majority of people overall and in the LGBT community who rely on SNAP are either disabled, or they’re raising young children.

(CROSSTALK)

SMITH: Since March 2025, the GLO Center in Springfield has worked with at least 250 individuals and families. As Missouri implements SNAP changes, which reduces benefits for some and makes others ineligible altogether, the center has already seen a fourfold increase in need. Here’s executive director Aaron Kitchens.

AARON KITCHENS: The queer community is – we’re known for our resilience. And so we want to take action not just ’cause it’s the right thing to do, but also because these are our friends and family. Like, this is our community.

SMITH: Kitchens says the center will continue to find ways to provide direct care to the LGBTQ+ community in the region. All folks have to do is call or drop by. For NPR News, I’m Rebecca Smith in Springfield, Missouri.

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Kazakhstan bans so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda

Read more at the Advocate.

The Central Asian country of Kazakhstan has joined its neighbor Russia in banning so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a bill to that effect into law Tuesday, news service Anadolu Agency reports. It bans “pedophilia propaganda” as well, according to the service. Punishment for violations include a fine of 144,500 Kazakh tenge ($280) and jailing for up to 10 days.

Kazakh citizens had submitted a petition about a year and a half ago urging the government to ban anything considered pro-LGBTQ+ propaganda. The Senate had passed the bill December 18 and the lower chamber of Parliament, the Majilis, approved it in November.

When the Senate was considering the legislation, Sen. Ruslan Rustemov described it as “banning the use of media, literature, entertainment, and other events that promote nontraditional sexual relations and pedophilia,” according to Kazakh news outlet Vlast.kz, as translated by The Diplomat, a newsmagazine covering the Asia-Pacific region.

“An analysis of international experience shows that many countries around the world have adopted legislation that ensures the protection of national values and traditions, including those that provide for the protection of the institution of the traditional family,” Rustemov said.

Vice Minister of Justice Botagoz Zhakselekova “tried to split hairs,” The Diplomat notes, saying LGBTQ+ identity will not be illegal, but “public promotion of LGBT rights” will be. “How this doesn’t violate Kazakh citizens’ basic constitutional rights to the freedom of expression and association isn’t clear,” The Diplomat’s reporter commented.

An international coalition of human rights organizations had condemned the legislation while it was pending. Access Now; Civil Rights Defenders; Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity; Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights; Human Rights Watch; International Partnership for Human Rights; and Norwegian Helsinki Committee issued a statement against the measure in November, saying it “would violate fundamental human rights and increase the vulnerability of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and other queer people (LGBTIQ+) in Kazakhstan.”

“Adopting a ‘LGBT propaganda ban’ would blatantly violate Kazakhstan’s international human rights commitments, including children’s rights to education, health, and information,” the statement continued. “Discriminatory and rights-violating provisions like those being proposed have no place in any democratic society, which Kazakhstan aspires to be.”

Kazahkstan’s government additionally has been interfering with journalists in the nation, searching their offices and detaining reporters, and the LGBTQ+ propaganda law will only make this worse, said a December press release from Human Rights Watch and eight other groups. It is “a direct threat not only to people identifying as LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex), but also to journalists, academics, artists, human rights defenders, and civil society actors who risk administrative sanctions for reporting on or advocating for the rights of these groups, or for expressing positive views of LGBTI rights publicly or online,” the release pointed out. What’s more, it goes against Kazahkstan’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, and directives from international bodies such as the United Nations, the organizations added.

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Aetna to Cover IVF Treatments for Same-Sex Couples After $2M National Settlement

Read more at GayE.

When Mara Berton and June Higginbotham imagined their future, it always included children. What they did not imagine was a $45,000 bill standing between them and the family they dreamed of building.

The Santa Clara County couple, both lesbians, discovered that while their heterosexual colleagues’ fertility treatments were largely covered by insurance, they were excluded from the same benefits. To conceive, they were forced to pay entirely out of pocket, a financial burden that reshaped their timeline, their choices and their emotional well-being.

Last week, that inequity cracked open.

In a landmark national settlement approved by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., Aetna agreed to cover fertility treatments such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization for same-sex couples on the same terms as heterosexual couples. The agreement applies nationwide across all Aetna plans, making it the first case to require a major insurer to implement such a policy uniformly.

An estimated 2.8 million LGBTQ members will benefit, including about 91,000 Californians. The settlement also requires Aetna to pay at least $2 million in damages to eligible California-based members, who must submit claims by June 29, 2026.

“We knew it wasn’t right,” Berton said in an interview with CalMatters. “What we’re fighting for is about family building and having kids. It was really important to both of us that other couples not have to do this.”

Before the settlement, Aetna’s policy required enrollees to engage in six to 12 months of “unprotected heterosexual sexual intercourse” before qualifying for fertility benefits, according to the class action complaint. Women without male partners could only access coverage after undergoing six to 12 unsuccessful cycles of artificial insemination, depending on age, a requirement medical experts say is excessive and clinically unnecessary.

The policy, attorneys argued, treated LGBTQ members fundamentally differently and effectively denied them a benefit that can be prohibitively expensive.

“This was an issue of inequality,” said Alison Tanner, senior litigation counsel for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center, which supported the litigation. “Folks in same-sex relationships were being treated differently.”

In an email, Aetna spokesperson Phillip Blando said the insurer is committed to equal access to infertility and reproductive health coverage and will continue working to improve access for all members.

For Berton, the policy felt personal and dehumanizing. After consulting with a fertility clinic and deciding to move forward with donor sperm, she was told by Aetna that she did not meet the definition of infertility. Multiple appeals were denied. Insurance required her to attempt 12 rounds of artificial insemination,even though her doctors recommended no more than four.

Sean Tipton, chief advocacy and policy director for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said policies like that are designed to discourage people from using their benefits. While many doctors recommend three to four cycles of insemination before IVF, studies also show it can be more efficient and cost-effective to move directly to IVF.

In 2023, the society updated its medical definition of infertility to explicitly include LGBTQ people and individuals without partners, a shift aimed at preventing insurers from denying claims like Berton’s.

“It takes two kinds of gametes to have kids,” Tipton said. “Regardless of the cause of that absence, you have to have access to care.”

The settlement comes as California prepares to expand fertility coverage further. A new state law taking effect in January will require most state-regulated health plans to cover fertility care for same-sex couples and single people by broadening the definition of infertility. While that law does not apply to Aetna’s national plans, advocates say the momentum is unmistakable.

And it could not come at a more urgent time.

As LGBTQ rights are increasingly rolled back across the country, from bans on gender-affirming care to restrictions on queer families in schools and public life, access to reproductive health care has become another contested frontier. Who is allowed to build a family, and under what conditions, is no longer just a medical question but a political one. This settlement affirms that queer families are not exceptions to be managed but lives to be supported.

Berton and Higginbotham ultimately moved forward without coverage, pulling together money from family and enduring the physical and emotional toll of fertility treatments, including a miscarriage. Today, they are raising twin girls who love the swings and pulling every book off the shelf for story time.

They built their family before the lawsuit concluded. Still, Higginbotham said the victory matters deeply.

“I know people who don’t have children because this isn’t covered,” she said. “The settlement is such a huge step forward that is really righting a huge wrong.”

In a moment when so much is being taken, the ruling stands as a reminder; equality is not abstract. Sometimes, it looks like a family finally being allowed to exist.

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California Policy on Disclosing Student Gender Identity Blocked by Judge

Read more at Newsweek.

A federal judge in California has struck down a state policy that prevented teachers from informing parents when their child identified as a different gender at school, calling the rule unconstitutional and a violation of parental and teachers’ rights.

U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, sitting in San Diego, ruled Monday that California’s policy—meant to protect LGBTQ students’ privacy—improperly restricted communication between parents and educators. The decision delivers a major setback to state officials and LGBTQ advocacy groups that had defended the policy as essential to student safety.

Why It Matters

The ruling stems from a 2023 lawsuit filed by Escondido Unified School District teachers Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, who challenged a district policy requiring staff to keep a student’s gender identity confidential from parents. The pair, represented by the Thomas More Society, a religious liberty law firm, argued that the rule forced them to violate their faith and the trust of parents.

The ruling directly conflicts with California’s Safety Act (AB 1955), signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024, which banned schools from disclosing students’ gender identity or pronouns to parents without the students’ consent.

What To Know

In a 40-page opinion, Benitez said the rules “place a communication barrier between parents and teachers” and “harm the child who needs parental guidance.” He added that such policies deprive parents of their 14th Amendment right to direct the care and upbringing of their children and infringe upon teachers’ First Amendment rights.

“Parental involvement is essential to the healthy maturation of schoolchildren,” Benitez wrote, according to Courthouse News Service. “California’s public school system parental exclusion policies place a communication barrier between parents and teachers… That, this court will not do.”

Benitez’s ruling also issued a permanent injunction, blocking school districts from reinstating similar “gender secrecy” policies. He acknowledged the state’s intent to protect LGBTQ youth from possible abuse or rejection at home but concluded that the policy was overly broad and not narrowly tailored to that goal.

“When the state drops an elephant in the middle of its classrooms,” he wrote, “it is not a defense to say that the elephants are too heavy to move.”

In his order, Benitez framed the issue as a constitutional matter rather than a cultural one.

“Historically, school teachers informed parents of physical injuries or questions about a student’s health and well-being,” he wrote. “But for something as significant as a student’s expressed change of gender, California public school parents end up left in the dark.”

The decision intensifies a legal and political struggle over how schools handle issues of gender identity. Supporters of the Safety Act cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showing that about 25 percent of transgender youth attempted suicide in 2023, underscoring the risks of forced disclosure. LGBTQ groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Equality California, have argued that involuntary outing can lead to family rejection, homelessness or self-harm.

Conservative lawmakers and parental rights groups have opposed such secrecy policies. Tech executive Elon Musk also criticized California’s gender identity disclosure law, saying it was among the reasons he decided to move the headquarters of SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) from California to Texas.

What People Are Saying

Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori West, in a joint statement shared on Monday: “We are profoundly grateful for today’s ruling. This has been a long and difficult journey, and we are humbled by the support we’ve received along the way. We want to extend our deepest thanks to Thomas More Society and to everyone who stood by us, prayed for us, and encouraged us from the very beginning.”

California State Senator Scott Wiener, on X days before the ruling: “I’ve passed some of the strongest protections for trans people in the country—from safeguarding gender-affirming care to protecting youth and families fleeing hostile states. As the federal government ramps up its attacks, I will always stand between trans people and harm.”

What Happens Next

The California Attorney General’s Office has not said whether it will appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit. For now, the court’s decision halts enforcement of policies that restrict teachers from sharing students’ gender information with parents across California’s public schools.

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Malaysia’s LGBTQ Community Lives In Fear As Raids Drive Them Underground

Read more at South China Morning Post.

In Chow Kit, a crowded district of Kuala Lumpur forever caught between progress and prejudice, Amy* moves quietly through narrow alleys – a transgender outreach worker tending to lives the city prefers not to see.

Her evenings begin with small rituals: a backpack filled with condoms, test kits and pamphlets; a quick text to let her friends know that she is safe.

Then, when she steps out, much of her work happens in passing conversations – careful not to draw too much attention.

“The girls know they’re high-risk,” Amy said of the transgender sex workers she visits. “They want to stay healthy. But also … they just want to live.”

Yet even basic healthcare work can feel dangerous when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder. And furtiveness comes naturally if your very existence can be construed as a crime. Some of the women worry about being seen entering clinics for fear of who might recognise them.

“When people are scared to be seen, they stop showing up,” Amy told This Week in Asia. “Fear doesn’t just affect our lives; it affects public health.”

Malaysia does not legally recognise LGBTQ identities. Same-sex relations are federally banned under colonial-era anti-sodomy legislation, while parallel Islamic laws in Muslim-majority states prohibit cross-dressing and “posing” as another gender.

Such laws are often used not to intimidate as much as to prosecute. Over the years, Amy has watched how enforcement ebbs and flows – and how it always seemingly comes back stronger.

Few know that cycle better than Erina*, 55, a transwoman who spent decades performing in Kuala Lumpur’s drag circuit. She remembers when the scene was small but defiant, when glitter and high heels meant joy instead of danger.

“There was a time when we could perform without constantly looking over our shoulders,” she said. “It wasn’t easy, but there was space. That space has shrunk.”

The contraction feels literal now. Venues where she once worked have closed. Others stopped booking drag performers, terrified of raids. The most recent ones, on November 28 and 29, still ripple through the LGBTQ community. Police and religious officers stormed two men-only spas in Chow Kit and Penang, detaining hundreds.

It was the largest crackdown on queer spaces since a Halloween-themed party raid in 2022, activists say.

‘Shells of people’

Police later released the men who were rounded up in Kuala Lumpur, saying they had found no evidence of exploitation, coercion or “abnormal sexual activity”. Muslim detainees remained under investigation by Islamic authorities, however.

In Penang, the spa owner was fined 8,000 ringgit (US$1,960) after pleading guilty to owning obscene material and exposing others to HIV. Several other men were charged with offences ranging from gross indecency to possessing pornography.

For the community, the raids came as a shock. “People are now more afraid to go out,” Erina said. “Honestly, we’re not asking for special treatment … we’re asking to live without fear.”

Community groups rallied in support of the detainees. Members of Jejaka – a network supporting gay and bisexual men in Malaysia – gathered outside the police station in Kuala Lumpur where the men were being held, joined by volunteers, lawyers and family members calling for their release. They also pooled resources to provide legal aid, food and temporary housing.

In a statement, the group condemned the raids, arguing that the law used to justify them was “a relic of colonial morality” wielded to “target, stigmatise and endanger LGBTQ communities”.

“People are hiding,” said Pang Khee Teik, co-founder of LGBTQ organisation Seksualiti Merdeka (Sexuality Independence). Discriminatory laws had reduced members of the community to “shells” of people who “are navigating life with constant vigilance”, he said.

“It’s very sad to see that this is what we have done to our fellow Malaysians in the name of protecting ‘morality’.”

Amir*, a gay man in his twenties, remembers the brief sense of liberation he felt dancing in a club before what he called “the infamous raid”.

“It felt empowering,” he told This Week in Asia. “For a moment, I forgot I was in Malaysia. That’s how free it felt.”

Now, such gatherings are invite-only, with locations shared selectively through personal networks, often at the last minute. Amir says he has stopped going after the raids.

“This is Malaysia,” he said. “Hatred towards the LGBTQ community isn’t just normalised, it’s encouraged.”

Upholding morality

Authorities insist enforcement actions are necessary to uphold public morality. Days after the raids, members of the Malay nationalist group Pekida gathered outside one spa, plastering stickers and planting banners describing the venues as “immoral”.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail later said Malaysia might “revisit” certain provisions of its Penal Code, but only in ways consistent with “religious and moral values”.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has ruled out legal recognition of LGBTQ rights during his tenure.

Advocates say the result of the crackdown has been a deepening atmosphere of fear. In June, police raided what NGOs said was an HIV awareness event in Kelantan, calling it a “gay sex party”. Authorities have also cracked down on cultural symbols, seizing rainbow-themed Swatch watches and banning books deemed to “promote” LGBTQ lifestyles.

Through it all, Amy keeps walking her route through Chow Kit, never knowing when the next knock on a clinic door might provoke suspicion, or when a familiar face might vanish for weeks.

*Name changed to protect interviewee’s identity

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Cleveland Heights to welcome only LGBTQ mayor in Ohio

Read more at Spectrum News 1.

Jim Petras is leading Cleveland Heights in turning the next page in its governance, assuming office as city’s newly-elected mayor in January.

“[I’m] very grateful to our current mayor, Tony Cuda, for allowing me total access to our city staff. I’ve been listening and learning from them, and I look forward to taking over on Jan. 1,” Petras said.

Petras is a longtime Cleveland Heights resident and lifelong midwesterner, growing up in Pittsburgh and moving to Ohio to attend Case Western Reserve University. He’s served on city council since 2024, and now, is marking a pivotal moment in the city’s history.

Beginning next year, Petras said, he will become the only openly LGBTQ mayor in Ohio.

“Here in Cleveland Heights our motto is, ‘All are welcome.’ And so I look forward to being a good leader for that motto, and helping us to live up to that motto,” Petras said.

Around 400,000 LGBTQ adults live in Ohio, but the community continues to facing underrepresentation in state and municipal government. Petras’ win could soon help bridge that gap.

Constituent Harriet Applegate said she’s looking forward to seeing more representation of the community in local government.

“We have as much diversity of talent as we have diversity of ethnicities and people and lifestyles,” she said. “We’ve got so much talent, and much of that talent is willing to give up itself and help out the city.”

Cleveland Heights has a number of LGBTQ inclusive policies, including a ban on conversion therapy, gender-neutral parental leave and declaring itself a “safe haven” for gender-related care.

Still, Applegate said, Petras’ win could lead to major changes across all communities. 

She said she’s hoping to see Petras address several longstanding issues around the city.

“There’s something of a racial divide, and I think that needs to be addressed. I think the new mayor has plans to do that,” Applegate said. “… He campaigned on, you know, fixing the streets, and that’s huge for people. I mean, just the basic city services have not been met for the last few years.”

Petras’ mayoral campaign included improving city infrastructure and boosting the local economy, which he said, continue to be among his top priorities.

“I’m focused on getting our 2024 audit completed, and I’m also very interested in our core city services,” he said. “So that means improving our snow plowing leaf pickup, doing a better job with resurfacing streets. And I also want to build relationships with nearby cities and other organizations.”

And while his term hasn’t officially begun, Petras said, he’s already kickstarting plans for building a better future for the city.

“We’re sitting down with staff to learn more about our current snow removal process. I look forward to diving in more deeply,” Petras said. “Also looking forward to putting together, for example, a five-year plan for our streets so that we can make sure that our streets are in good shape and that none of them get forgotten about.”

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Court blocks Michigan conversion therapy ban on free speech grounds

Read more at Bridge Michigan.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked Michigan’s ban on conversion therapy for minors who are LGBTQ+, declaring it violates the First Amendment rights of therapists and counselors.

In a 2-1 opinion, the court said the law illegally restricts speech that reflects the moral beliefs of therapists. It set aside a lower court’s ruling and granted a preliminary injunction sought by Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties.

“The Michigan law discriminates based on viewpoint — meaning the law permits speech on a particular topic only if the speech expresses a viewpoint that the government itself approves,” Judge Raymond Kethledge wrote, joined by Judge Joan Larsen.

They noted that the law permits counseling that helps someone undergoing a gender transition.

The court’s decision comes more than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a Colorado case that could resolve the issue nationwide.

In a dissent, Judge Rachel Bloomekatz said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should have waited for the Supreme Court to act.

The Michigan bill was passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and signed into law in 2023 by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who said conversion therapy is a “horrific practice.” Therapists could lose their license if they violate the law. More than 20 states have a similar law.

LGBTQ+ rights advocates have cited research suggesting conversion therapy can increase the risk of suicide and depression.

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Texas unveils “tip line” to report & send pictures of suspected trans women using the restroom

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

Texas’ virulently anti-trans attorney general, Ken Paxton (R), has launched a tip line that allows people to report on suspected trans people they believe are violating the state’s new bathroom ban.

In a statement announcing the tip line, Paxton said the Texas Women’s Privacy Act – which requires people in public buildings to use bathrooms based on sex assigned at birth – “was passed to ensure that women and girls in Texas are protected from mentally ill men wanting to violate their basic right to privacy.”

“It’s absolute insanity that action like this is even needed,” he claimed, “but unfortunately, in the day and age of radical leftism, it is.”

In reality, research has shown no evidence that allowing trans women access to single-sex spaces like bathrooms poses a safety risk to cisgender women.

In fact, forcing trans people to use facilities that do not align with their gender identity can result in “high rates of harassment and violence against transgender people as well as cisgender people, particularly women who do not conform to traditional ideas of femininity,” according to the Movement Advancement Project. A 2021 study from UCLA’s Williams Institute found that trans people are four times more likely than cis people to be victims of violent crime.

Nevertheless, the enactment of the legislation marks the culmination of a 10-year effort by Texas Republicans. The law does not allow an individual to be punished or fined by the state; rather, it fines the institution that allowed the infraction $25,000, plus an additional $125,000 per day for additional violations.

The law also requires the attorney general’s office to investigate complaints, but first, complaints must be filed with the accused agency. “Together, we will uproot and bring justice to any state agency or political subdivision that opens the door for men to violate women’s privacy, dignity, and safety,” Paxton said.

Paxton’s tip line requires folks to submit the original complaint that was filed with the accused agency in addition to filling out the online form and providing “evidence” that a trans person used the restroom. Perhaps most concerning, it also includes an option to submit up to five photos, even though taking pictures in restrooms is illegal.

Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said the tip line “wrongly encourages Texans to violate each other’s privacy in bathrooms.”

“The Attorney General has tried for years to vilify and dehumanize transgender Texans,” Klosterboer said, “but he can’t strip away every person’s right to privacy and right to live our lives free from gender stereotyping.”

Critics of the law have worried that it will spark violent over-policing by the institutions at risk of these massive fines. This policing will affect both trans and cis people who don’t fit strict gender norms.

The law has already been used in ways that lawmakers may not have intended. Students at the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA), for example, are being forced out of their current dorm rooms and made to relocate because of the ban.

At UTSA, mixed-gender dorms include pairs of rooms separated by a shared bathroom; often, those rooms are occupied by people of different genders. Any students sharing a bathroom between their rooms with someone of a different sex assigned at birth are being forcibly rehoused to comply with the new law.

On December 6, transgender protestors with a group called the 6W Project visited the Texas Capitol and attempted to use the restrooms that aligned with their gender identities to make a point about the lack of enforcement mechanisms in the law.

At first, they easily entered the bathrooms of their choice, then proceeded to give speeches in the Capitol Rotunda, The Texas Tribune reported. But when they attempted to use the restrooms a second time, officers stopped them and asked to see their IDs.

Officers claimed in a statement that the ID requests were voluntary, though those who did not show their IDs were barred from entering the bathroom. The officers did allow two trans women with female markers on their IDs to enter the women’s restrooms. Officers also reportedly only guarded the women’s restroom and not the men’s.

“I think that the Texas government just established that they have no consistent enforceable standards for this law,” protester Matilda Miller told the Texas Tribune.

“What we did was not radical, it was not profound,” added 6W Project co-founder Ry Vazquez. “People use the restroom every day in a public setting, and for it to become what it is now, where it is now an active threat to someone who is not prepared, is utterly abysmal.”

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