Category: Trans

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. 

0

Trump admin cut off food aid for kids in Maine to punish state over trans athletes. They’re suing.

*This is being reported by LGBTQNation.

When Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) told President Donald Trump, “See you in court,” she meant it.

On Monday, Maine sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins over the department’s halt on federal funding for education programs in the state in retaliation for its refusal to ban transgender women and girls from school sports.

As Reuters notes, Rollins announced the funding freeze in an April 2 letter to Mills, saying that the decision was “only the beginning” but that the governor could “end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law.” The funding freeze jeopardizes programs that provide free or reduced-price meals to children in Maine schools, childcare centers, and after-school programs.

Mills has publicly clashed with the administration, and with Trump specifically, over its assertion that allowing transgender women and girls to participate in women’s and girls’ sports violates Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in schools that receive federal funding.

In February, the Maine Principals Association announced that it would not comply with Trump’s February 5 executive order banning transgender student-athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. After Trump threatened to cut off the state’s funding, Mills and Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey accused the president of using school children “as pawns in advancing his political agenda” and vowed to “take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides.”

“The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the president’s threats,” Mills said.

During a February 21 meeting with Democratic and Republican governors at the White House, Trump singled out Mills, asking whether she planned to comply with his anti-trans executive order. Mills said that her state was “complying with the state and federal laws.” When Trump continued to petulantly insist that Mills comply with his order, the governor told the president she would see him in court.

In its lawsuit, Maine calls the USDA’s funding freeze a “blatantly unlawful action” in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. Rollins, the state argues, “took this action without following any of the statutory and regulatory requirements that must be complied with when terminating federal funds based on alleged violations of Title IX.”

The state argues that Rollins provided no legal basis for her assertion that by allowing trans students to participate in women’s and girls’ sports, Maine is in violation of Title IX and that her interpretation of the law is wrong. “Indeed, several federal courts have held that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause require schools to permit transgender girls and women to play on girls’ and women’s teams,” the complaint reads.

However, the state is not asking the court to interpret Title IX. It merely asks the court to vacate Rollins’s “arbitrary, capricious” funding freeze for failing to meet the “statutory and regulatory requirements that the federal government must comply with before it may freeze federal funds owed to a state.”

In a statement, Frey said that Trump “and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law, and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the president that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”

0

Angry UK mob rampages trans picnic, burning Pride flag & threatening to stab people

*This is being reported by LGBTQNation.

Several men tore down Pride flags and threatened to stab several attendees of a transgender picnic event last Thursday — one man even burned one of the flags. Event organizers reported the incident to police but said that they didn’t expect a positive outcome.

The group behind the event, Trans Mutual Aid Manchester, held a “Trans Picnic in the Park” event in Platts Field Park from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. last Thursday. Though the organizers said the picnic featured “sunshine and lovely food,” they also said a group of men tried to violently harass and intimidate picnic goers.

“The first pair tore down a Progress Pride flag we had raised to show where we were to people coming to the event, and after threatening to violently assault one of our members with a knife, had his partner burn the flag in front of our group, before leaving,” Trans Mutual Aid Manchester wrote in an Instagram post.

In a second incident, three men approached the picnic while “shouting abuse, then tore down the remaining trans and nonbinary pride flags before running off with them, the organization added.

“Whilst thankfully no one in our community was physically harmed, thanks in part to the intervention of several of our members, this blatant attack on our right to feel safe as a community is a disgusting display of the impunity and hatred with which parts of our society treat their trans siblings,” the Instagram post continued.

While organizers reported the incidents to police, they said that they “do not expect any positive outcome from this” and added, “This was an obvious attack on our community, perpetrated by those who know they will face no repercussions for their attack.”

“We hope this can be something of a wake-up call to know the kind of rampant abuse we face by those who know they can attack us freely.”

The organization said it would take additional safety and security measures for future events and asked for allies outside of the community to help defend trans and nonbinary individuals.

Anti-trans sentiment in the U.K. has increased over the last year following the release of The Cass Review, a report claiming that gender-affirming care has no benefits for trans youth. The report has been widely criticized for excluding the experiences of trans people and trans-affirming medical studies. Nevertheless, government officials have repeatedly cited the report while restricting access to gender-affirming care for trans kids.

0

Montana’s anti-transgender bathroom restrictions are on hold under a judge’s order

*This is being reported by the AP News.

A judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a Montana law that restricts transgender people’s use of bathrooms in public buildings.

The measure, which Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into effect last week, threatened to deprive transgender people of their constitutional right to equal protection under the law, Montana District Court Judge Shane Vannatta ruled. The law prevents people from using restrooms in public buildings that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The five people who sued over the law were likely to prevail, Vannatta added in his ruling.

The new law “is motivated by animus and supported by no evidence that its restrictions advance its purported purpose to protect women’s safety and privacy,” Vannatta wrote.

The judge’s order will be in effect at least until an April 21 hearing on whether it should continue to be blocked while the lawsuit moves ahead.

Gianforte spokesperson Kaitlin Price said the governor will defend the law “and the privacy and safety of women and girls.”

“We’re not surprised to see far-left activists run to the courts to stop this common sense law,” Price said in an emailed statement. “A man shouldn’t be in a women’s restroom, shouldn’t be in a women’s shower room and shouldn’t be housed in a women’s prison.”

The American Civil Liberties Union praised the ruling.

“Today’s ruling provides enormous relief to trans Montanans across the state. The state’s relentless attacks on trans and Two Spirit people cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny by the courts,” said a statement by Alex Rate, ACLU of Montana’s legal director.

The law passed this year despite opposition from Democrats who worried it would complicate daily life for two fellow lawmakers who are transgender and nonbinary. They included Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a Missoula Democrat who in 2023 was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues for comments she made on the House floor.

The law would require public buildings including the state Capitol, schools, jails, prisons, libraries and state-funded domestic violence shelters to provide separate spaces for men and women. It defines the sexes based on a person’s chromosomes and reproductive biology, despite a recent state court ruling that declared the definitions unconstitutional.

The order wasn’t unexpected, bill sponsor Republican Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe said in an emailed statement.

“I am thankful that there is a team of Montanans devoted to protecting women’s spaces from men who desire to invade them,” said Seekins-Crowe.

At least a dozen other states already have variations of bathroom bans on the books, many directed at schools. Even more states, including Montana, have passed laws to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender children and keep trans girls out of girls sports.

Montana’s law allows people to sue a facility if it does not prevent people from using restrooms or changing rooms that do not align with their sex assigned at birth. They can recover nominal damages, generally $1, and the entity could be required to pay the plaintiff’s legal fees.

0

Trans student’s arrest for violating Florida bathroom law is thought to be a first

*This is being reported by NBCNews.

A transgender college student declared “I am here to break the law” before entering a women’s restroom at the Florida State Capitol and being led out in handcuffs by police. Civil rights attorneys say the arrest of Marcy Rheintgen last month is the first they know of for violating transgender bathroom restrictions passed by numerous state legislatures across the country.

Capitol police had been alerted and were waiting for Rheintgen, 20, when she entered the building in Tallahassee March 19. They told her she would receive a trespass warning once she entered the women’s restroom to wash her hands and pray the rosary, but she was later placed under arrest when she refused to leave, according to an arrest affidavit.

Rheintgen faces a misdemeanor trespassing charge punishable by up to 60 days in jail and is due to appear in court in May.

“I wanted people to see the absurdity of this law in practice,” Rheintgen told The Associated Press. “If I’m a criminal, it’s going to be so hard for me to live a normal life, all because I washed my hands. Like, that’s so insane.”

At least 14 states have adopted laws barring transgender women from entering women’s bathrooms at public schools and, in some cases, other government buildings. Only two — Florida and Utah — criminalize the act. A judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Montana’s new bathroom law.

Rheintgen’s arrest in Florida is the first that American Civil Liberties Union attorneys are aware of in any state with a criminal ban, senior staff attorney Jon Davidson said.

Rheintgen was in town visiting her grandparents when she decided to pen a letter to each of Florida’s 160 state lawmakers informing them of her plan to enter a public restroom inconsistent with her sex assigned at birth. The Illinois resident said her act of civil disobedience was fueled by anger at seeing a place she loves and visits regularly grow hostile toward trans people.

0

Hate influencer Chaya Raichik harasses trans teacher & forces her to resign

*This is reported by LGBTQNation and a follow up to our earlier article breaking this news.

English teacher Rosia Sandri was left “heartbroken” after submitting her resignation on March 31 following a campaign of hate against her that followed a TikTok video she posted highlighting her experience as a trans woman in education. That video was shared by transphobes, who called for her to be fired.

Sandri came out as a trans woman seven years ago and taught English for three years at Red Oak High School in Ellis County, Texas. Sandri said her colleagues at the Red Oak Independent School District (ROISD) supported her, and she didn’t directly come out to her class but instead started dressing differently.

Students who noticed asked if they should call her by a different name or use certain pronouns; she told them they could call her “whatever they were comfortable with” but preferred she/her pronouns.

Sandri also has a TikTok account where she posts informative videos educating people on what it is like to be trans, and she filmed some videos after hours in her classroom.

Many of her former students follow her on that account and express their support in comment section, writing “best teacher ever” and “We miss you, stay strong. Lovely makeup.”

These videos, unfortunately, caught the attention of anti-trans influencer Chaya Raichik, who runs LibsOfTikTok. Raichik reposted one of Sandri’s videos, deadnaming and misgendering her. In the clip, Sandri talked about her pupils being supportive of her journey.

“They call me ‘ma’am. ’ They call me ‘miss,’” she said. “They use my correct pronouns and know my correct name, and it’s incredibly affirming.”

Raichik asked her over 4 million followers, “Would you feel comfortable with this person teaching your kid?”

Raichik is notorious for using her social media following to single out LGBTQ+ people and allies, presenting their innocuous interactions with children as “grooming.” Her followers harass and threaten businesses and institutions that support LGBTQ+ people, some going as far as to send bomb threats to children’s hospitals for providing gender treatment to trans youth. Schools targeted by Libs of TikTok faced similar repercussions.

Sandri was out sick when Libs of TikTok reposted her video but stated that she started receiving threats and harassment on her personal and school email. The human resources department at ROISD and the deputy superintendent reported that they have also received threats and have placed Sandri on administrative leave for two days while the school launches an investigation.

Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison (R) shared the Libs of TikTok post and called for Sandri to be fired.

“As the State Representative for Red Oak ISD, I am demanding that THIS TEACHER BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED!” Harrison tweeted.

On Monday, Sandri agreed with the school that she would resign.

“When I signed that resignation, it felt like my dream was being taken away from me,” Sandri told NBC. “I’m not going to get hired again as a teacher in Texas, and that hurts. It hurts I have to leave my students in the middle of the year…they keep on messaging me and asking if it’s illegal to be a trans teacher.”

Harrison later told NBC News that he was proud to have helped remove Sandri from her job.

“Any teacher who claims to get gender euphoria from their minor students and teaches them that boys can become girls should be terminated immediately,” Harrison said.

Despite this, Sandri has stated that she still wants to be a teacher and hopes to find a way.

0

Governor stands with trans kids & won’t take ‘soul-sucking path’ of sacrificing their rights

*This is reported by LGBTQNation.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has never shied away from standing up to Donald Trump, and he has also made it clear he supports the LGBTQ+ community.

At a recent Human Rights Campaign dinner in Los Angeles, Pritzker reaffirmed his commitment to supporting queer folks and resisting Trump.

“The Trump administration and his Republican lackeys in Congress are looking to reverse every single victory this community has won over the last 50 years,” Pritzker said. “And right now it’s drag queens reading books and transgender people serving in the military. Tomorrow, it’s your marriage license and your job they want to take.”

“Bending to the whims of a bully will not end his cruelty. It will only embolden him. The response to authoritarianism isn’t acquiescence. Bullies respond to one thing, and one thing only, a punch in the face.”

He also spoke directly to transgender youth to tell them they are not alone.

“And in the midst of this existential fight, this battle that seems to consume everything, well, let’s not take the soul-sucking path of sacrificing the most persecuted for that which we deem to be most popular.”

“I know that there are transgender children right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist. Well, I am. We are. We will.”

He also spoke about his mother’s activism for LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive rights and declared, “I have to laugh when I hear the right-wing carry on about the dangers of exposing kids to trans people or same-sex couples, because I’m living proof that introducing your kids to the gay agenda might result in them growing up to be governor.”

Pritzker has long advocated for LGBTQ+ people as governor. In 2023, he signed a landmark bill making Illinois the first state to make it illegal for libraries to ban books.

0

Trump uses child abuse awareness proclamation to bash transgender people

*This is reported by Axios.

President Trump‘s decision to target transgender care in a proclamation declaring April National Child Abuse Prevention Month “betrays” the month’s purpose, LGBTQ advocates said.

Why it matters: Framing the trans youth experience as “abuse” further stigmatizes an already vulnerable community, as the Trump administration tries to erase trans people from American life through policies limiting access to health care, careers, sports, education and more.

Driving the news: Trump’s Thursday proclamation singled out transgender care, labeling it a form of child abuse without acknowledging the most common risk factors for neglected or abused children.

  • “It is deeply disingenuous for Trump to use National Child Abuse Prevention Month as a platform to attack and stigmatize the trans community,” Ash Lazarus Orr, a spokesperson for Advocates for Trans Equality, told Axios.

Reality check: Gender-affirming care is supported as both medically appropriate and potentially life saving for children and adults by major medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association.

  • Drugs like puberty blockers are temporary and reversible. They are given to trans youth and non-trans youth who experience early onset puberty.

What they’re saying: Trump’s proclamation “is vile and upsetting but importantly it is just a press release,” Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project said in a statement on Instagram.

  • “It does not change the law or direct any agency action. But it does continue to suggest that the government is moving towards efforts to explicitly criminalize trans life and support of trans people.”

“Using the language of ‘child protection’ to justify the oppression of trans youth betrays the very values this month is meant to uphold,” Orr said.

  • “Denying trans youth medical care won’t change who they are.”

“Supporting a child — regardless of their gender identity — is an act of love, period,” Jarred Keller, a Human Rights Campaign spokesperson, said.

  • “The idea that affirming a child’s gender identity constitutes something harmful is an insult to the parents who support their transgender children with compassion and understanding.”

Threat level: Trump wrote that “a stable family with loving parents” is a safeguard against child abuse, but most victims are abused by a parent, according to the National Children’s Alliance.

By the numbers: In 2022, a reported 434,000 perpetrators abused or neglected a child, per the alliance.

  • 76% of children were victimized by a parent or legal guardian in substantiated child abuse cases, meaning that child protective services agencies determined that abuse or neglect occurred.

Zoom out: Trump in January signed an executive order to defund youth gender-affirming care and a separate one threatening funding for K-12 schools that accommodate transgender children.

  • American hostility toward trans people has prompted U.S. allies to issue travel advisories for trans travelers, warning them that they must designate one “sex” on their travel forms and it has to reflect the gender they were assigned at birth.
0

Ts Madison’s ‘Starter House’ opens its doors to trans women in Atlanta

*This is being reported by Out.com

Trans icon Ts Madison has now opened a groundbreaking new initiative — dubbed as a “Starter House” — for trans women in Atlanta, GA, coinciding with 16th annual Transgender Day of Visibility. The trans advocate has partnered with NAESM, a historic Black HIV/AIDS organization, to launch a groundbreaking housing initiative aimed at supporting Black trans women engaged in sex work.

Located in Ts Madison’s former residence, the facility offers Black trans individuals access to safe housing, gender-affirming healthcare, economic opportunities, and holistic support.

The grand opening stirred deep emotions for the RuPaul’s Drag Race judge. “This morning I was having withdrawals because this is a big thing. Like, this is my house. I’m like, I’m giving my house to the community. That means people are going to be transitioning in and out and in and out of this house. I built a legacy here, but I’m still attached to this house. These are girls that are disenfranchised. These are girls that are homeless. These are girls that are trying to find another way in their life.”

The Ts Madison Starter House is part of A New Way of Life’s SAFE Housing Network, a global coalition of over 30 organizations focused on providing reentry support for women who have been incarcerated. Founded in 1998, the SAFE Housing Network aims to reduce incarceration rates in the U.S. by offering safe housing, assisting individuals in healing from the trauma of their experiences, and empowering them to take a leadership role in the movement to end mass incarceration.

Dominique Morgan, the Executive Director of the project, emphasized the importance of community support. “I think so many of us feel the fear of what’s happening in this climate, and so many folks feel like, oh my goodness, are we going to make it. And what today really symbolizes for me is that we have answers happening all over the place, and that we have the power to decide how we show up for each other.”

This facility will serve as a vital stepping stone for women, providing safe, affirming housing that prioritizes dignity and stability. To learn more and/or make a donation to the project, visit the official page for the Ts Madison Starter house.

0

North Texas teacher resigns after backlash over TikTok pronoun video

*This is being reported by WFAA.

 For seven months, Red Oak ISD was a sanctuary for Rosalyn Sandri. She described it as a place where she pursued her lifelong dream of being a teacher.

But today, she’s no longer in the classroom.

Sandri, an English teacher, shared a video on TikTok talking about how her students had embraced her pronouns and showed respect by addressing her as “ma’am.”

“When I told them I changed my pronouns, they jumped right into it,” she said on Tuesday.

But Sandri said when the post was reposted on X, formerly known as Twitter, by the account Libs of TikTok, it went viral, racking up 3.2 million views.

That’s when the backlash began.

Sandri said she began receiving death threats and hateful emails, even through her school email account.

“I got a notice that told me to eat a bullet,” she said.

The video also caught the attention of Texas State Representative Brian Harrison, who publicly called for her resignation.

“Schools are for education, not indoctrination,” Harrison said over Zoom on Tuesday.

“Teaching children, minors, that boys can become girls, and girls can become boys is at odds with objective reality. And the biological reality is that there are only two sexes,” said Harrison.

In a statement to WFAA, Red Oak ISD confirmed that Sandri resigned effective immediately on Monday, March 31.

“In light of recent attention, Red Oak High School English teacher Sandri has resigned, effective March 31, 2025. Any other information is a personnel matter, and we are not at liberty to discuss.”

Sandri said she felt she had no choice but to step away for her safety and the safety of the school and students.

“When I resigned, I felt like I was signing away my ability to teach in the state of Texas. I don’t know that another school will touch me now,” she said.

“Being a teacher is all I ever wanted to do since I was five years old,” she said.

Now, she fears her career in Texas is over.

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑