Category: Trans

Legal definition of woman is based on biological sex, UK supreme court rules

*This is being reported by The Guardian

The UK supreme court has issued a historic and definitive ruling that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer only to a biological woman and to biological sex.

In a decision that delighted gender-critical activists, five judges ruled unanimously that the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 did not include transgender women who hold gender recognition certificates (GRCs).

The judgment could have far-reaching ramifications and lead to greater restrictions on the access for trans women to services and spaces reserved for women. It prompted calls for the UK’s laws on gender recognition to be rewritten.

The UK government said the ruling brought “clarity and confidence” for women and those who run hospitals, sports clubs and women’s refuges.

A spokesperson said: “We have always supported the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex. Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government.”

The case was brought to the supreme court by the gender-critical campaign group For Women Scotland, which is backed financially by JK Rowling, after two Scottish courts rejected its arguments that the Equality Act’s definition of a woman was limited to people born biologically female.

Lord Hodge, the deputy president of the court, said the Equality Act was very clear that its provisions dealt with biological sex at birth, and not with a person’s acquired gender, regardless of whether they held a gender recognition certificate.

That affected policymaking on gender in sports and the armed services, hospitals, as well as women-only charities, and access to changing rooms and women-only spaces, he said. However, trans women still have equal pay rights as women, and could have the right to be treated as women in some situations.

In its 88-page judgment, the court said that while the word “biological” did not appear in the definition of man or woman in the Equality Act, “the ordinary meaning of those plain and unambiguous words corresponds with the biological characteristics that make an individual a man or a woman”.

If “sex” did not only mean biological sex in the 2010 legislation, providers of single-sex spaces including changing rooms, homeless hostels and medical services would face “practical difficulties”, it said.

The justices added: “Read fairly and in context, the provisions relating to single-sex services can only be interpreted by reference to biological sex.”

The ruling represents a significant defeat for the Scottish government. For Women Scotland had initially challenged legislation that allowed trans women with a GRC to sit on public boards in posts reserved for women.

Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, said his government accepted the court’s judgment. He said it clarified the limits of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which introduced gender recognition certificates for trans people.

“We will now engage on the implications of the ruling,” he said. “Protecting the rights of all will underpin our actions.”

The Scottish government defended its actions in the case, which it said were always guided by the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s advice. It said it would now engage with UK ministers and with the EHRC to look at the ruling’s implications, since the legislation involved was passed by Westminster.

Trans rights campaigners urged trans people and their supporters to remain calm about the decision.

The campaign group Scottish Trans said: “We are really shocked by today’s supreme court decision, which reverses 20 years of understanding of how the law recognises trans men and women with gender recognition certificates.

“We will continue working for a world in which trans people can get on with their lives with privacy, dignity and safety. That is something we all deserve.”

Sacha Deshmukh, the chief executive of the human rights group Amnesty International UK, which joined with the Scottish government in the supreme court case, said the decision was “clearly disappointing”.

“There are potentially concerning consequences for trans people, but it is important to stress that the court has been clear that trans people are protected under the Equality Act against discrimination and harassment,” he said.

“The ruling does not change the protection trans people are afforded under the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’, as well as other provisions under the Equality Act.”

Susan Smith, a co-founder of For Women Scotland, said the legal action had been “a really, really long road”. “Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex,” she said.

“Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the supreme court for this ruling.”

In a social media post, JK Rowling said: “It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the supreme court,” adding: “I’m so proud to know you.”

Hodge, the deputy president of the court, said it believed the position taken by the Scottish government and the EHRC that people with gender recognition certificates did qualify as women, while those without did not, created “two sub-groups”.

This would confuse any organisations they were involved with. A public body could not know whether a trans woman did or did not have that certificate because the information was private and confidential.

And allowing trans women the same legal status as biological women could also affect spaces and services designed specifically for lesbians, who had also suffered historical discrimination and abuse.

Kishwer Falkner, the chair of the EHRC, said it was pleased the ruling had dealt with its concerns about the lack of clarity around single-sex and lesbian-only spaces, but would need time to fully understand its implications.

“We are pleased that this judgment addresses several of the difficulties we highlighted in our submission to the court, including the challenges faced by those seeking to maintain single-sex spaces, and the rights of same-sex attracted persons to form associations.”

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Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ public events, seen as a major blow to rights

*This is being reported by CNN.

Hungary’s parliament on Monday passed an amendment to the constitution that allows the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, a decision that legal scholars and critics call another step toward authoritarianism by the populist government.

The amendment, which required a two-thirds vote, passed along party lines with 140 votes for and 21 against. It was proposed by the ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition led by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Ahead of the vote — the final step for the amendment — opposition politicians and other protesters attempted to blockade the entrance to a parliament parking garage. Police physically removed demonstrators, who had used zip ties to bind themselves together.

The amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development supersede any right other than the right to life, including that to peacefully assemble. Hungary’s contentious “child protection” legislation prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors aged under 18.

The amendment codifies a law fast-tracked through parliament in March that bans public events held by LGBTQ+ communities, including the popular Pride event in Budapest that draws thousands annually.

That law also allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify people who attend prohibited events — such as Budapest Pride — and can come with fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546).

Dávid Bedő, a lawmaker with the opposition Momentum party who participated in the attempted blockade, said before the vote that Orbán and Fidesz for the past 15 years “have been dismantling democracy and the rule of law, and in the past two or three months, we see that this process has been sped up.”

He said as elections approach in 2026 and Orbán’s party lags in the polls behind a popular new challenger from the opposition, “they will do everything in their power to stay in power.”

Opposition lawmakers used air horns to disrupt the vote, which continued after a few moments.

Hungary’s government has campaigned against LGBTQ+ communities in recent years, and argues its “child protection” policies, which forbid the availability to minors of any material that mentions homosexuality, are needed to protect children from what it calls “woke ideology” and “gender madness.”

Critics say the measures do little to protect children and are being used to distract from more serious problems facing the country and mobilize Orbán’s right-wing base ahead of elections.

“This whole endeavor which we see launched by the government, it has nothing to do with children’s rights,” said Dánel Döbrentey, a lawyer with the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, calling it “pure propaganda.”

Constitution recognizes two sexes

The new amendment also states that the constitution recognizes two sexes, male and female, an expansion of an earlier amendment that prohibits same-sex adoption by stating that a mother is a woman and a father is a man.

The declaration provides a constitutional basis for denying the gender identities of transgender people, as well as ignoring the existence of intersex individuals who are born with sexual characteristics that do not align with binary conceptions of male and female.

In a statement on Monday, government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács wrote that the change is “not an attack on individual self-expression, but a clarification that legal norms are based on biological reality.”

Döbrentey, the lawyer, said it was “a clear message” for transgender and intersex people: “It is definitely and purely and strictly about humiliating people and excluding them, not just from the national community, but even from the community of human beings.”

The amendment is the 15th to Hungary’s constitution since Orbán’s party unilaterally authored and approved it in 2011.

Facial recognition to identify demonstrators

Ádám Remport, a lawyer with the HCLU, said that while Hungary has used facial recognition tools since 2015 to assist police in criminal investigations and finding missing persons, the recent law banning Pride allows the technology to be used in a much broader and problematic manner. That includes for monitoring and deterring political protests.

“One of the most fundamental problems is its invasiveness, just the sheer scale of the intrusion that happens when you apply mass surveillance to a crowd,” Remport said.

“More salient in this case is the effect on the freedom of assembly, specifically the chilling effect that arises when people are scared to go out and show their political or ideological beliefs for fear of being persecuted,” he added.

Suspension of citizenship

The amendment passed Monday also allows for Hungarians who hold dual citizenship in a non-European Economic Area country to have their citizenship suspended for up to 10 years if they are deemed to pose a threat to public order, public security or national security.

Hungary has taken steps in recent months to protect its national sovereignty from what it claims are foreign efforts to influence its politics or even topple Orbán’s government.

The self-described “illiberal” leader has accelerated his longstanding efforts to crack down on critics such as media outlets and groups devoted to civil rights and anti-corruption, which he says have undermined Hungary’s sovereignty by receiving financial assistance from international donors.

In a speech laden with conspiracy theories in March, Orbán compared people who work for such groups to insects, and pledged to “eliminate the entire shadow army” of foreign-funded “politicians, judges, journalists, pseudo-NGOs and political activists.”

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Dr. Oz is trying to take gender-affirming care coverage away from trans Medicaid recipients

*This is being reported by LGBTQNation.

Mehmet Oz, the newly confirmed administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is telling state Medicaid officials to stop covering gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Medicaid is the joint state-federal program that covers health care for people with low incomes, including 40% of minors in the U.S.

A letter sent from the CMS to state Medicaid directors said that the program should stop reimbursing gender-affirming care for minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgical interventions. The letter says that there is an “underdeveloped body of evidence” supporting gender-affirming care despite the research showing that it’s a safe and effective treatment for gender dysphoria, which is supported by all major medical organizations in the U.S. The letter also cites the U.K.’s “Cass review,” a report on gender-affirming care that has been criticized for its bias against transgender people.

In a statement, Oz – who was confirmed by the Senate earlier this month – said that gender-affirming care can lead to sterilization, and that’s why the CMS is cracking down on it.

“Medicaid dollars are not to be used for gender reassignment surgeries or hormone treatments in minors – procedures that can cause permanent, irreversible harm, including sterilization. CMS will not support services that violate this standard or place vulnerable children at risk.”

Republicans in the Senate at first balked at Oz’s nomination, not due to his lack of qualifications for leading the agency but because he had, on television, expressed more liberal views when it came to acknowledging that trans kids exist and supporting reproductive freedom. The White House assured Senate Republicans that Oz is now transphobic.

Taking away health care from trans minors in low-income families just a week into his tenure at the CMS may reassure Republicans of Oz’s conservative credentials.

In January, the president signed an executive order targeting gender-affirming care for trans minors and some young adults. The order told the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – under which the CMS is organized – to “take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children,” including by changing “Medicare or Medicaid conditions of participation or conditions for coverage.” Referring to gender-affirming care as “mutilation” is a tactic used by anti-transgender activists to sway public opinion against the care that has been shown to save lives.

Former HHS official Adrian Shanker, who worked at the department under former President Joe Biden, said that the CMS letter misuses regulations to limit gender-affirming care coverage.

“I don’t think this letter is using those regulations in good faith,” Shanker told Advocate. “This letter is using highly politicized language that is not grounded in the mountain of evidence that supports the underlying health and well-being of trans youth.”

“It frankly looks like a campaign document,” he continued. “It looks like a document written by anti-trans activists rather than by public health professionals and health care leaders.”

Shanker pointed out that the letter itself is not legally binding but that it will lead states to cut off coverage for gender-affirming care.

“The significant fear here is that this ‘Dear State Medicaid Director’ letter will be utilized to preclude access to care even further in some states,” he said. “And the risk of that is actually very significant because we have incredible amounts of data that confirms the health impacts of denying access to care for trans youth.”

In 2015, trans reality TV personality and author Jazz Jennings appeared on Oz’s talk show, and he complimented her mother for being supportive.

“I love the support you’ve given your daughter,” Oz said. “It’s wonderful. And you can see the beautiful young woman she’s becoming because of it.”

This was before Oz entered the political realm. The exchange, though, led to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) sending a letter demanding the administration explain the ten-year-old episode.

“Have your views on this issue changed since you hosted your television show?” Hawley’s letter demanded, asking if Oz supports the administration’s position that “gender transition procedures for minors should be banned.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the White House said that Oz would follow the president’s views on the matter, saying that everyone in the administration will follow his “playbook.”

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“Cherished” teacher fired for calling student by preferred name. The community is rallying for her.

*This is reported by LGBTQNation.

A Florida teacher has lost her job for calling a student by their preferred name without obtaining parental consent. Melissa Calhoun has taught in Brevard County for 11 years and is thought to be the first to fall prey to a new state policy requiring parents to sign a consent form for a student to go by something other than their legal name at school.

Administrators at Brevard County’s Satellite High School decided not to renew Calhoun’s contract for the 2025-2026 school year after a parent complained she’d been calling their child something other than their legal name. The student’s gender identity has not been revealed, but Florida Today reported that “community members believe” the case is “related to the student’s gender identity.”

The parental consent rule—which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in 2023—does not specify the consequences for breaking it, but the school chose not to renew Calhoun’s contract since the state will now be reviewing her teaching contract due to the parent’s complaint, district spokeswoman Janet Murnaghan explained to the Washington Post. She has, however, been permitted to finish the school year.

“Teachers, like all employees, are expected to follow the law,” Murnaghan said.

But many in the Brevard County community are not on board with the school’s decision. Many people showed up to advocate for Calhoun at a recent school board meeting, even though her issue was not on the agenda.

“There was no harm, no threat to safety… Just a teacher trying to connect with a student. And for that her contract was not renewed, despite her strong dedication and years of service,” the school’s media specialist, Kristine Staniec, whose kids were taught by Calhoun, reportedly told the board.

Over 12,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to reinstate Calhoun, calling her “a cherished teacher” and “dedicated educator” who “is being punished merely for showing respect to a student’s choices.”

“Ms. Calhoun is an embodiment of what proper education should be: inclusive, understanding, and respectful of individuality,” the petition continued. “Losing her would be a significant loss to Brevard County’s education community.”

Brian Dittmeier, director of public policy for LGBTQ+ student advocacy organization GLSEN, told the Post that Calhoun’s firing “is an indicator of bureaucratic overreach of antitransgender policy,” in addition to the blatant anti-trans attacks it represents.

“A teacher could potentially be fired for calling a student Tim instead of Timothy,” he emphasized, pointing out how anti-trans laws hurt everyone in the end.

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Air Force pulls back ban on personal pronouns in emails

*This is being reported by The Hill.

The U.S. Air Force is reversing its ban on including preferred pronouns in email signatures and in other professional communications.

In a news release published April 3, the Air Force said it has “rescinded” an earlier “directive to cease the use of ‘preferred pronouns’ (he/him, she/her, or they/them) to identify one’s gender identity in professional communications.”

Airmen and civilian employees may now include their preferred pronouns in email signature blocks, memoranda, letters, papers, social media, official websites and any Department of the Air Force official correspondence, the news release said.

The original ban was announced on Feb. 4, in guidance on President Trump’s executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Military.com reported that the ban reversal came after the Air Force learned that a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law in 2023, said the defense secretary “may not require or prohibit a member of the armed forces or a civilian employee of the Department of Defense to identify the gender or personal pronouns of such member or employee in any official correspondence of the Department.”

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Politician calls for transgender Americans to be offered asylum in Norway: ‘We have to act’

*This is reported by Pink News

A Norwegian transgender politician, representing the Green Party (MDG), has advocated for transgender Americans to be granted asylum in Norway due to the anti-trans discrimination they are facing in the US.

Karina Ødegård, who is on track to becoming Norway’s first transgender member of parliament, has told Norwegian newspaper Afterposten that the challenges faced by trans people in the US are similar to the persecution experienced by marginalised groups in 1930s Germany.

The Green Party have supported Ødegård’s proposals.

Referring to the rise of fascism in Europe and the persecution of Jewish people and other minorities, she said: “What would we have done in the 1930s if we knew what was about to happen? That’s where we are now. Then we have to act,” she said.

Ødegård has said that in contrast to the US, the state and healthcare system in Norway helped her to be herself.

“One thing is that you see [in the US] the development of an illiberal democracy. I find that extremely problematic. Then it gets even worse because the Trump administration has singled out transgender people as scapegoats to be hanged and removed,” she explained.

This comes after President Trump signed a raft of executive orders targeting trans people, preventing them from serving in the military, banning trans women from participating in women’s sports, and requiring official documents to only list their gender registered at birth.

LGBTQ+ rights in Norway

Norway is generally considered to be a very LGBTQ+ friendly country, as it was one of the first countries to pass an anti-discrimination law that explicitly included sexual orientation in 1981.

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Also, same-sex marriage and adoption has been legal there since 2009.

Unfortunately, Norway doesn’t yet legally recognise non-binary identities, nor does it offer gender-affirming care for under-18s, stating a “lack of comprehensible research” despite the majority of Norwegian people believing that it should be accessible.

Norway has laws (The Tenancy Act, the Housing Association Act and the Residential Building Association Act) that all prohibit housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Married and committed same-sex couples are permitted to adopt under Norwegian law, and self-ID is also allowed: to change their gender, trans citizens only have to send a notification to the National Population Register.

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WorldPride organizers may warn trans people from abroad not to attend event

*Reported by the Washington Blade.

One of the lead organizers of WorldPride 2025, set to take place in D.C. May 17-June 8, told members of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, known as COG, on April 9 that due to the recently implemented anti-trans policies of the Trump administration, it may be dangerous for trans people traveling from abroad to attend WorldPride in D.C, according to a report by WTOP News.

The WTOP report says the message of concern was delivered by Ryan Bos, executive director of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, which is the lead organizer of WorldPride 2025. The news report says Bos spoke at a meeting of COG, which consists of local government officials from D.C. and the surrounding suburban counties in Maryland and Virginia.

“It’s possible that we may actually issue a statement telling trans folks internationally not to come, or if they come, they come at their own risk,” WTOP quoted Bos as saying.

“So, these are the things that we will be discussing with the D.C. government and our partners to determine how best to communicate that to ensure that we’re getting the resources to the folks that need it,” Bos said according to the WTOP report.

WTOP reported that some members of the COG board expressed concern over the news that it may be harmful for trans people to travel to the D.C. area for WorldPride.

 “It’s really shameful that you all are having to consider making statements like that,” WTOP quoted Frederick County, Md., Executive Jessica Fitzwater as saying. “It’s really heartbreaking.”

D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who attended the COG meeting, told Bos, “I’m disheartened to hear that, but I hope you also recognize you’ve got partners in this room that want to be right there with you to make sure this is a wonderful, successful event, a safe event, that’s going to take place across the whole region,” WTOP reports.

Capital Pride Alliance, in response to a request for further comment on Bos’s remarks at the COG meeting, said in a brief statement that Bos’s presentation was limited to what “may happen.” The statement said no official decision has been made regarding a possible warning for trans people considering attending WorldPride. 

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Slovakia could ban gay couples from adopting & nonbinary people from existing

*This is reported by LGBTQ Nation.

Slovakia is considering changes to its constitution to limit LGBTQ+ people’s rights.

This past Wednesday, lawmakers voted to advance the amendments that, if adopted, would limit adoption to only heterosexual married couples and define all people as only being male or female.

The Christian-majority Central European nation currently does not recognize same-sex relationships at all, and its constitution was amended in 2014 to state that marriage “is a unique union between a man and a woman.” But anyone can adopt a child under current Slovak law.

Slovakia also does not recognize nonbinary people under the law, according to Amnesty International. The proposed constitutional amendments would write that lack of recognition into the constitution, making it harder for the legislature to change it later.

Other changes that were advanced on Wednesday include allowing healthcare providers to refuse abortion care and requiring parental approval for sex education in schools. The legislature is also considering lower gestational limits for abortion and a ban on in-vitro fertilization and surrogacy.

“This swathe of amendments is an attempt to buttress an increasingly hostile environment for LGBTIQ+ people, undermine gender equality, rule of law, and broader human rights protections in Slovakia,” said Director of Amnesty International Slovakia Rado Sloboda. “Constitutionalizing the possibility to refuse abortion care on ‘conscientious objection’ grounds would put people’s health and lives at grave risk.”

“If passed, these draconian measures would further undermine gender equality and deepen the crackdown on LGBTIQ+ people’s rights, mirroring the dangerous practices of other countries in the region, such as Hungary and Poland. Members of the Slovak Parliament must vote to reject this multi-pronged assault on human rights.”

Bloomberg reports that 81 lawmakers supported the changes in the first reading yesterday, and they will require at least 90 votes to pass the next round of voting. The nation’s parliament has 150 members.

Slovakia is a European Union member state, and the rollbacks of LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights could lead to tensions with European Union laws.

Prime Minister Robert Fico of the left-nationalist Direction—Social Democracy party returned to power in 2023 with a socially conservative platform.

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Montana Republicans Say No to Prosecuting Parents for Trans Care

*This is reported by Mother Jones.

Five days after President Donald Trump declared “gender ideology” to be “one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse,” Montana’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives killed a bill that would have enshrined much the same idea into state law by criminalizing parents and medical providers.

Montana Senate Bill 164 would have made it a felony for any adult to help transgender children under 16 to gain access to gender-affirming medical care—including hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries—classifying such help as child endangerment. On Tuesday, House lawmakers voted 58-40 to reject the proposed law, with 17 Republicans joining Democrats to block it from advancing to its final reading. 

“I think it’s overly broad,” the lone Republican to speak against the bill, Rep. Brad Barker, said Tuesday. Barker said that while he generally opposes gender-affirming care for trans youth, SB164 was “the wrong approach.” 

“I don’t like the thought of criminalizing parents,” Barker added, entreating fellow Republicans to “vote with your conscience.” 

The bill carried penalties of up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines for any adults, including parents and doctors, who provided children with surgery, puberty blockers, or hormone replacement therapy for the purpose of “altering the appearance” of the child or affirming the child’s gender. If “serious bodily injury” occurred, the maximum punishment was 10 years imprisonment and $25,000 in fines.

“Turning parents and doctors into felons is absolutely not the approach that best serves this state,” Democratic Rep. SJ Howell, the first non-binary person to be elected to the Montana legislature, said on the House floor.

The bill cleared the Senate in February, 30-20, with two Republicans voting against it. In that floor debate, the legislation’s sponsor, Republican Sen. John Fuller, called it a “simple bill” to protect Montana’s children. “The state does have a compelling interest, a very compelling interest, to avoid the sterilization and sexual mutilation of children,” he said. In 2023, Fuller sponsored a law that threatened medical providers’ licensing if they offered gender-affirming care to minors, a law that courts have blocked while litigation proceeds.

“This bill is not about politics, it’s about safeguarding the health and innocence of Montana youth,” one of SB164’s House supporters, Republican Rep. Braxton Mitchell, said Tuesday. But more than a quarter of members of his own party disagreed, suggesting a potential turning point for the Montana legislature, at least on trans issues.

Tuesday’s vote was the second time this year a large swath of Republicans crossed party lines to block an anti-trans bill. Last year, Montana’s first openly transgender lawmaker, Rep. Zooey Zephyr, said her Republican colleagues often privately bemoan the transphobic culture wars and apologize to her for their votes on anti-LGBTQ legislation. 

Even so, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed two anti-trans bills into law last month—a bathroom ban and a law prohibiting trans girls and women from playing on women’s sports teams from kindergarten through college. The bathroom ban has been temporarily blocked. A state law that prohibited trans women from participating in female collegiate sports was ruled unconstitutional in 2022.

The right to privacy is enshrined in the Montana constitution, and state courts have strongly affirmed its application to healthcare laws. Last December, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction on a law that would have made gender-affirming medical care providers vulnerable to licensing board disciplinary proceedings. And last summer, it ruled that a parental consent law for minors seeking abortion was unconstitutional. (In January, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen asked the U.S. Supreme Court to declare that ruling an unconstitutional infringement on parental rights. The Supreme Court has not decided whether to hear the case.)

If it had passed, SB164 would have become the first law in the country defining gender-affirming care as a form of felony child endangerment. (Child endangerment and abuse fall under different statutes, but both evoke the same myth that gender-affirming care is dangerous for youth.)

Montana, however, wouldn’t have been the first state to direct child welfare workers to investigate families of trans children. In 2022, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to open child abuse investigations into parents who seek gender-affirming care for their children. That directive remains partially blocked after families of trans children and the LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG sued. 

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Bondi: Justice Department cut funding for Maine corrections department over transgender inmate

*This is reported by The Hill.

The Justice Department revoked funding for the Maine Department of Corrections over the state’s placement of a transgender woman in a women’s prison, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday. 

Bondi made the announcement during an interview with Fox News, saying the department pulled all “nonessential” funding from the state corrections department on Monday after federal officials learned “a guy” was serving time in one of the state’s two women’s facilities. Bondi said the inmate was convicted of murder. 

The loss in funding for the department totaled upward of $1.5 million, according to Fox News. The Justice Department did not return a request for comment. 

In a news release, Maine’s corrections department said it received formal notice from the Department of Justice on Monday that certain federal grants “are being terminated because they ‘no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities.’” The cuts will impact state-run initiatives related to substance abuse treatment and support for children with incarcerated parents, the corrections department said. 

The notice from the Justice Department, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill, does not mention transgender inmates. “While the Department is aware of related public statements by the United States Attorney General, the notice is the only communication that has been received by the Department,” Maine’s corrections department said. 

The move by the Justice Department is the latest development in a monthlong battle between the Trump administration and Maine over the state’s refusal to ban transgender student-athletes from girls’ and women’s sports as ordered by the president.  

Another Trump executive order directs transgender women in federal women’s prisons to be moved to men’s facilities. A federal judge temporarily blocked the administration from enforcing that order in February. 

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