Tag: LGBTQrights

Trump has enacted 69% of Project 2025’s anti-LGBTQ+ goals. Here’s what he’ll do next.

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

resident Donald Trump has already achieved 69% of the anti-LGBTQ+ policy goals recommended by Project 2025, the blueprint for his second term created by the Christian Nationalist think-tank The Heritage Foundation, according to the website Project 2025 Tracker.

The website, which describes itself as a “comprehensive, community-driven initiative to track the implementation of Project 2025’s policy proposals,” lists 18 LGBTQ+-related goals. Of them, the tracker categorizes 11 of the blueprint’s goals as “completed,” three as “in progress,” and four as “not started.”

Many of the “completed” goals have dealt with eradicating any funding for gender-affirming healthcare, erasing any mentions of LGBTQ+-inclusive language from federally funded groups, and reinterpreting federal anti-discrimination laws to exclude any protections for trans and nonbinary individuals.

But it’s worth noting that many of the goals that the tracker marked as “completed” were actually policy changes sought in Trump‘s executive orders. Though some of his orders have been pursued by various government agencies and upheld by court decisions, others remain partially blocked in court challenges.

Very few of the “completed” policy goals were accomplished through actual laws passed by Congress. As such, many of Trump’s orders could potentially be overturned by a future president who issues opposing executive orders upon taking office.

The three “in progress” goals involve continuing to deny federal funds to “woke” groups and prioritizing heterosexual families and children in government policies.

The four “not started” goals include protecting religious-based anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, prosecuting any pro-trans educators and librarians as sex offenders, and ending any Medicare coverage for gender-affirming surgeries (even though most major medical associations recommend such care).

Overall, Trump has “completed” 47% of Project 2025’s goals, the tracker states, barely seven months into his second presidential term. Their completion has largely been aided by a Republican-led Congress that has not objected to his unconstitutional and illegal actions that supersede his constitutional authority, as well as by Republican-appointed judges, namely the six-member Supreme Court majority, which has largely allowed his policies to remain in effect without offering much (if any) legal reasoning.

Trump has also achieved some of his goals by illegally denying congressionally authorized federal funding to numerous groups and organizations (both domestically and internationally) or by threatening investigations and prosecutions of groups that defy his orders. Many universities, law firms, broadcasters, and other companies have complied with his orders, even though they likely violate constitutional rights to free speech.

Trump feigned ignorance about Project 2025 and its goals during his 2024 re-election campaign, commenting, “Some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal,” and “Anything they do, I wish them luck, but have nothing to do with them.”

But as the then-vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) said during the Democratic National Convention, “I coached high school football long enough to know, and trust me on this: When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re going to use it.”

Completed

Department of Labor – Provide robust accommodations for religious employees. (Completed July 27)

Department of Labor – Rescind Biden-era Title VII and Title IX rules that strengthened the ability to prosecute sexual assault and discrimination cases. (Completed January 30)

Department of Defense – End all use of public monies for transgender surgeries. (Completed May 12)

Department of Defense – Reverse policies that allow transgender individuals to serve in the military. (Completed May 7)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – End all data collection on gender identity. (Completed February 25)

White House – Remove the words “sexual orientation and gender identity,” “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” “abortion,” “reproductive health,” and “gender equality” from every federal rule. (Completed January 30)

Department of Health and Human Services – Reverse prohibitions on healthcare discrimination based on gender identity. (Completed January 27)

Department of Education – Issue rules and guidance that “sex” is properly understood as a fixed biological fact. (Completed January 19)

Department of Education – Rescind Biden-era guidance that added a “non-binary” option in civil rights data collected from schools. (Completed January 19)

Department of Education – Abandon the redefinition of “sex” to “sexual orientation and gender identity” in Title IX. (Completed on January 19, but blocked by a court order)

White House – Revoke Biden’s executive order 14020, which established the Gender Policy Council. (Completed January 19)

In progress

Department of Health and Human Services – Revoke guidance that prohibited adoption/foster agencies from discriminating based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Department of Health and Human Services – Prioritize traditional (heterosexual) marriage in its messaging, health, and welfare policies.

White House – Cut off government contracts to entities that enforce a “woke agenda.”

Not started

Department of Health and Human Services – Rescind Medicare coverage for gender reassignment surgery.

Department of Justice – “Classify educators and public librarians” who discuss “transgender ideology” with minors as “sex offenders”.

Department of Labor – Prohibit employee retirement plans from investing based on ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors.

Department of Labor – Issue an order “protecting religious employers and employees,” clarify they may make employment decisions based on religion.

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U.S. Air Force to deny retirement pay for transgender troops being separated from service

Read more at PBS.

The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it would deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early and would instead separate them without retirement benefits. One Air Force sergeant said he was “betrayed and devastated” by the move.

The move means that transgender service members will now be faced with the choice of either taking a lump-sum separation payment offered to junior troops or be removed from the service.

An Air Force spokesperson told The Associated Press that “although service members with 15 to 18 years of honorable service were permitted to apply for an exception to policy, none of the exceptions to policy were approved.” About a dozen service members had been “prematurely notified” that they would be able to retire before that decision was reversed, according to the spokesperson who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Air Force policy.

A memo issued Monday announcing the new policy, which was reviewed by the AP, said that the choice to deny retirement benefits was made “after careful consideration of the individual applications.”

All transgender members of the Air Force are being separated from the service under the Trump administration’s policies.

Separation process has hit some bumps

The move comes after the Pentagon was given permission in early May by the Supreme Court to move forward with a ban on all transgender troops serving in the military. Days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a policy that would offer currently openly serving transgender troops the option to either volunteer to leave and take a large, one-time separation payout or be involuntarily separated at later date.

A Pentagon official told reporters in May that they viewed the policy as treating “anyone impacted by it with dignity and respect.”

However, in late July, transgender troops told Military.com that they were finding the entire separation process, which has included reverting their service records back to their birth gender, “dehumanizing” or “open cruelty.”

Shannon Leary, a lawyer who represents LGBTQ+ people in employment discrimination cases, says she expects lawsuits to challenge Thursday’s decision. “It seems quite arbitrary on its face and cruel,” she said. “These military members have dedicated their lives to serving our country.”

Normally, Leary said, when early retirement is offered in the military, it’s available to all members who have served over 15 years. She said she expects other service branches to follow the Air Force’s path.

One Air Force service member says he’s ‘devastated’

Logan Ireland, a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force who has 15 years of service, including a deployment to Afghanistan, is one of the airmen impacted by the policy. “I feel betrayed and devastated by the news,” he said.

Ireland said he was told that his retirement was being denied on Wednesday when his chain of command, “with tears in their eyes,” told him the news.

Officials have said that as of Dec. 9, 2024, there were 4,240 troops diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” on active duty, National Guard and Reserve. Pentagon officials have decided to use the condition and its diagnosis as the main way to identify troops who are trans.

However, the two are not an exact match — not every transgender person has the condition. As a result, there is an understanding that the actual number of transgender people within the military’s roughly 2 million troops may be higher.

Under the latest policy, active duty troops had until June 6 to voluntarily identify themselves and receive a payout while troops in the National Guard and Reserve had until July 7. Pentagon officials previously told reporters that they plan to lean on commanders and existing annual medical screenings to find any transgender service members who do not come forward.

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State Department Removes Anti-LGBTQ+ Violence From Human Rights Report Draft

Read more at Huff Post.

The Trump administration has removed all references to violence against LGBTQ+ people and gender-based violence in drafts of the State Department’s much anticipated annual report on international human rights.

The draft of the report, which was leaked to and first reported by The Washington Post on Wednesday, scales back its critiques of abuses in countries with a record of human rights abuses. In particular, the Post learned of drafts of human rights reports for El Salvador, Israel and Russia that completely excise references of LGBTQ+ people and violence toward those communities.

The erasure of LGBTQ+ people and the abuses they face in the draft report underscores the Trump administration’s intention to scale back references to human rights broadly and take its anti-LGBTQ+ agenda worldwide.

“The 2024 Human Rights report has been restructured in a way that removes redundancies, increases report readability and is more responsive to the legislative mandate that underpins the report,” a senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to brief the news media, told reporters on Wednesday. “The human rights report focuses on core issues.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.

In a section about El Salvador, the draft report notes the country had “no credible reports of significant human rights abuses.” In a previous report from 2023, the State Department found “significant human rights issues” in El Salvador, including “politically motivated killings” and “harsh and life-threatening prison conditions.”

This spring, President Donald Trump secured a multimillion-dollar deal with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to allow 252 Venezuelan men in the U.S. to be deported and housed within the country’s notorious new Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT.

After being jailed for more than 120 days at CECOT, the men, most of who had no criminal history, told stories of being physically and mentally abused for days on end.

Jerce Reyes Barrios, one of the men held at CECOT, told HuffPost reporters Jessica Schulberg and Matt Shuham about his harrowing experience inside the prison. Reyes Barrios recalled a prison official saying, “Welcome to hell on earth, where you’ll be condemned to spend the rest of your lives; where I’m going to make sure that you never eat chicken or meat again.”

Andry José Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan makeup artist, alleged that CECOT guards groped him and forced him to perform oral sex while he was in solitary confinement.

A former State Department employee, Keifer Buckingham, said the removal of references to violence against LGBTQ+ people was a “glaring omission,” especially when it comes to Russia. In 2023, Russia’s supreme court deemed what it called an “international LGBT public movement” as extremist, and the courts began their first convictions of people last year under the order.

In February of 2024, a man in Volgograd was found guilty of “displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation” after posting a photo of the LGBTQ pride flag on social media. That same month, a woman near Moscow was sentenced to five days detention for wearing frog-shaped earrings that were rainbow colored.

The drafts of the reports for El Salvador and Russia were marked “finalized,” and the draft for Israel was marked “quality check,” according to the Post. It is still unclear when the reports, which are typically released to the public each March or April, will be sent to Congress and then the public, and if they will include these omissions.

U.S. diplomats have released the State Department’s annual human rights reports for nearly 50 years. Historically their findings have been widely read and anticipated by foreign leaders and diplomats, and have been used in legal proceedings both domestically and abroad.

However, this year human rights advocates decried the news about the ways in which the Trump administration has softened the descriptions of human rights abuses, especially the violence against LGBTQ+ people.

Uzra Zeya, the CEO of Human Rights First, an international human rights nonprofit, said in a statement that the changes were “a radical break” from the original goal to “objectively and even-handedly describe the human rights situation in every country and territory in the world.”

“This severely undermines their credibility and value in guiding U.S. decision-making on a wide range of critical foreign policy issues. Purging mention of elections, corruption, and global human rights abuses against LGBTQI+ persons, persons with disabilities, women and girls, refugees and other vulnerable groups runs counter to American interests and values and makes Americans abroad less safe and informed,” she continued.

Amanda Klasing, the national director of government relations for Amnesty International, said in a statement that she believes the mandate to scale back the report came from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who instructed employees to delete sections that included stories from survivors of human rights violations and to ignore instances of repression in certain countries.

“The secretary’s instructions were to cut everything not legislatively mandated, but the leaked documents appear to show effort to narrow the scope of what the world hears about human rights abuses around the world,” she wrote.

“The downplaying or exclusion of key issues, such as discrimination and attacks on civil society, from this year’s report will hinder efforts from governments and civil society organizations around the world to respond to these abuses,” she continued.

The Trump administration’s erasure of LGBTQ+ people and gender-based violence has continued on other international stages. At a United Nations meeting in June, a U.S. delegate spent much of her time in a routing meeting on pollution to discuss the United States’ new “national position” on gender.

“Use of the term ‘gender’ replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity and is demeaning and unfair, especially to women and girls,” the delegate said.

In at least six speeches before the United Nations, U.S. delegates have condemned what it calls “gender ideology,” and pushed the Trump administration’s support for recognizing so-called “biological sex,” according to ProPublica.

During his first day in office, Trump signed an executive declaring that the federal government only recognizes “two sexes, male and female,” and signaled that all references to “gender” would thus be replaced with the term “biological sex.”

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First US homeless shelter for transgender people opens in New York City 

Read more at The Hill.

The nation’s first shelter for transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness opened its doors this week in New York City. 

The shelter, a joint venture between a local LGBTQ nonprofit and the city government, will provide transitional housing and specialized services for trans New Yorkers who are homeless, including mental health support and job training and placement. The city is fully funding the facility in Long Island City, which will cost $65 million to operate through 2030, the local news outlet Gothamist reported. 

“It’s been just a labor of love to watch it manifest, to hear from community what it is that they want to see in a project, in a program, and to watch other community advocates become excited about it as well,” said Sean Ebony Coleman, founder and CEO of Destination Tomorrow, the organization that will manage the shelter. 

The shelter’s name, Ace’s Place, honors Coleman’s late mother, who would have turned 72 this week.

“Ace was my mom’s nickname, and she dealt with her own challenges and struggles, but the one thing was that she always had a home because my grandmother made sure of it,” Coleman told The Hill in an interview on Wednesday. “Regardless of what my mom’s struggles were, she always had a safe place that she could come and reset and recenter. I thought that was the best way to honor her memory, while also doing the same thing for community members.” 

With 150 beds — housed in 100 single bedrooms and 25 doubles — residents will each have access to their own restroom and two commercial kitchens. One of the kitchens will be used as a teaching space for the shelter’s culinary arts and hospitality program, Coleman said, part of its commitment to facilitating economic mobility. 

Ace’s Place will also have a full-time, onsite psychiatric nurse practitioner who will work closely with social workers and other credentialed staff providing mental health support, according to a news release announcing the shelter’s opening. Added onsite clinical staff will provide health education through coaching and counseling sessions, and yoga and meditation classes are also available to residents. 

Coleman and Destination Tomorrow plan to work closely with New York City officials in operating the shelter, Coleman said. 

“We couldn’t be prouder to make this historic announcement that strongly affirms our values and commitment to strengthening the safety net for transgender New Yorkers at a time when their rights are roundly under attack,” New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park said in a statement, referencing a string of recent Trump administration actions targeting transgender Americans. 

Joslyn Carter, administrator for the city’s Department of Homeless Services, said Ace’s Place is the nation’s first city-funded shelter of its kind. “New York City has long been a leader in advancing LGBTQ+ rights,” she said. 

In the U.S., LGBTQ people experience homelessness at disproportionately higher rates than heterosexual and cisgender people, studies on the subject have found. Roughly 17 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual adults have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, the Williams Institute reported in 2020, and more than 8 percent of transgender people said they were homeless in the past year. 

A 2018 National Alliance to End Homelessness analysis of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data found that transgender people accounted for approximately 0.6 percent of the general population and 0.5 percent of the nation’s total homeless population. The U.S. Transgender Survey, the largest survey of transgender people in the U.S., reported in 2024 that 30 percent of respondents said they had experienced homelessness in their lifetime. 

Reported rates of homelessness are even higher among transgender people of color; more than half of Black transgender women who took the U.S. Trans Survey in 2015 said they experienced homelessness in their lifetime. Nearly 60 percent of Native American transgender women also reported experiencing homelessness, as did 49 percent of trans women of Middle Eastern descent and 51 percent of multiracial trans women. 

“For far too long, Transgender and non-binary people — especially Black and Brown Trans people — have been forced to navigate systems never built for us,” said Bryan Ellicott-Cook, a New York City-based transgender rights advocate, in a statement about the opening of Ace’s Place. “This shelter, created for Trans people by Trans people, represents safety, dignity, and a tangible investment in our community’s right not only to survive, but to thrive. It continues to show what we have always known — that Trans people are the ones taking care of each other, from elders to youth, from healthcare to housing and beyond.”

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‘Just trying to be kids’: Students, families speak out against federal ruling against schools’ transgender policies

Read more at the Prince William Times.

Fearful. Aggravated. Hurt. That’s how 16-year-old Ellie Bowling said she felt after the U.S. Department of Education told the Prince William County school division it must change its inclusive transgender policies or risk losing federal funding.

Ellie, who is trans, is a rising junior in Colgan High School’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. She’s excited to soon be driving and loves to be onstage. Last spring, she performed in the school’s production of “Guys and Dolls” and recently earned the role of “Candy” in the school’s fall production of “Zombie Prom.”

“I’m currently thriving in this environment; they created a great learning experience for me,” Ellie said of Prince William County schools.

Ellie was 11 when she started her transition. Since then, her parents, Adam and Erin Bowling, have legally changed her name and gender on government and school documents. After obtaining medical and psychological signoffs, Ellie began receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy at Children’s National Hospital in D.C.

At Colgan High, like all other Prince William County schools, transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities in accordance with a regulation that guides how transgender and gender nonconforming students are treated in schools.

“I know that Colgan is a good place for me. I fit in well there, and that’s partially because these policies help me fit into this school and be able to find my place,” Ellie said. “Without these policies — I don’t know.”

The Bowlings are one of likely hundreds of Prince William County families facing uncertainty as the new school year approaches in less than two weeks. The schools are wrestling with the education department’s determination that its policies violate Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational settings that receive federal funding.

On July 25, the education department told five Virginia school divisions — Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington and Alexandria — they had 10 days to change their policies that allow transgender students to use the facilities that match their gender identities “or risk imminent enforcement consequences, including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.”

School board has yet to act

The education department said its decision was based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender affirming care for minors. The Northern Virginia school policies are based on an earlier case involving Virginia teen Gavin Grimm, who successfully sued Gloucester County schools in federal court to allow students to use restrooms that match their gender identities. In 2021, the U.S. Supreme court declined to review the case.

Babur Lateef, the Prince William County School Board chairman, called a special board meeting this week to receive legal advice on the decision, which will mostly be held in closed session. He declined further comment.

School board member Tracy Blake said he told parents to expect no changes when school begins on Aug. 18.  

“Trans students and families do not need to worry about coming back to school on the first day because there will be no disruptions for trans students or any students,” he said in an interview on Friday, Aug. 1.

Blake said he believes removing the regulation would be wrong.

“We can’t discriminate against one person,” he said. “Once you let one thing go, what happens then? Then it’s the next thing. We’ve already seen this in history, and all of our students have to feel safe.”

Ruling adds to challenges for transgender youth

The move by the U.S. Department of Education wasn’t unexpected because trans people have been targeted by the Trump administration, said Lisanne Boddye, a mother of seven, including a transgender teen and a gender expansive teen who both attend Potomac High School. Boddye is also a special education teacher at Potomac High and the wife of Prince William Supervisor Kenny Boddye. 

“My children, like thousands across the country, deserve to walk into their schools knowing they are respected, affirmed and protected,” Lisanne Boddye said. “When leaders target transgender students for exclusion or erasure, they send a chilling message — not just to those students, but to every family who believes in fairness, decency, and the right to learn without fear.”

About 3.3% of U.S. high school students identify as transgender, and about 2.2% of high school students are questioning their gender identity, according to a 2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. That means about 1 in 20 high schoolers are either transgender or questioning their gender, or about 1,200 of the 24,000 students enrolled in Prince William County’s 13 high schools.

Delta Boddye, 16, a rising senior, rows on the Potomac High School crew team. She began transitioning two years ago and said her teachers have always used her correct name and “made sure they are affirming (her).”

“I’ve just been planning on just living as myself, just trying to be a kid, trying to be a student,” she said about returning to school.

But revoking the school’s policy could change that, she said. No matter the policy, Delta said she will insist that her correct name and pronouns are used at school.

The possible change in the school division’s policy comes on top of other challenges. Delta was considering joining the military but now can’t because of the recent ban on transgender troops. The Bowlings learned the Youth Pride Clinic at Children’s National Hospital, where Ellie is a patient, will no longer prescribe gender-affirming medications as of Aug. 30 due to “escalating legal and regulatory risks” to the hospital and its providers.

“This is supposed to be her happiest year, her senior year, and all of the horizons are supposed to be endless, and now most of them are not,” said Lisanne Boddye, who is an Army special operations veteran.

Both the Bowlings and Boddyes say they are speaking out not only for the safety and mental health of their own children, but for their trans classmates who may not have the same family and community support.

Equality Prince William, a nonprofit that advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community, sponsored a campaign urging the school board “to hold firm in their support for transgender and gender diverse students.” As of Aug. 5, 1,700 letters had been sent. 

“Title IX exists to prevent exactly this kind of discrimination,” said Glorya Jordan, a registered nurse who is on the board of Equality Prince William and is the mother of a transgender adult. “The attempt to rescind protections for transgender youth is not only illegal but deadly. Trans youth already face staggering rates of bullying, depression and suicide.”

“Let’s stop hurting our children because of what we are afraid of and do not understand,” said the Casa BruMar Foundation, a nonprofit based in Gainesville that provides resources for the LGBTQIA+ community. “Let’s allow our children to know that being different is not dangerous.”

Adam Bowling hopes people realize there is so much more to his daughter Ellie than just being trans and she deserves to be her authentic self at school. 

“Demonizing this group of people is just so wrong,” he said. “I just hope the majority of people hear stories like Ellie’s and realize that there are human beings that these decisions are affecting and it’s a life-or-death situation for some of them.”

Ellie wants people to know that she is a normal teenager.

“I hate how politicized trans youth is, because I am not a monster,” Ellie said. “There’s so much misinformation out there obviously for fear-mongering reasons. I’m not this predator who goes into women’s spaces just to, like, spy on them. I am a woman who is living her life.”

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New immigration policy bans visas for trans athletes: “Not in the national interest”

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued policy updates “effective immediately” to prevent trans women athletes abroad from entering the country to compete in sports competitions.

The agency said the updates are in accordance with an executive order against trans athletes that directed the Department of Homeland Security to bar entry to trans women from other countries who want to play sports in the United States.

The policy change is especially significant since the United States is set to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The press release, issued on August 4, consistently misidentifies trans women as men.

“USCIS will affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities by granting certain athlete-related petitions and applications, that had previously been abused and offered to men, only to women, ensuring that male aliens seeking immigration benefits aren’t coming to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports,” it said, explaining the new eligibility policies for “extraordinary ability” visas.

“This policy update clarifies that USCIS considers the fact that a male athlete has been competing against women as a negative factor in determining whether the alien is among the small percentage at the very top of the field,” the release continued, saying the agency “does not consider a male athlete who has gained acclaim in men’s sports and seeks to compete in women’s sports in the United States to be seeking to continue work in his area of extraordinary ability.”

“Male athletes seeking to enter the country to compete in women’s sports do not substantially benefit the United States,” the agency claimed, “and it is not in the national interest to the United States to waive the job offer and, thus, the labor certification requirement for male athletes whose proposed endeavor is to compete in women’s sports.”

A statement from USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser further emphasized the administration’s hostility to trans athletes and its refusal to address them by their actual genders.

“Men do not belong in women’s sports,” Tragesser said. “USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women.”

“It’s a matter of safety, fairness, respect, and truth that only female athletes receive a visa to come to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports.” He then claimed the administration “is standing up for the silent majority who’ve long been victims of leftist policies that defy common sense.”

The administration has been targeting trans folks abroad as part of its overall crackdown on trans participation in sports.

In February, the State Department told U.S. immigration officials around the world to deny visas to transgender athletes attempting to enter the U.S. and to permanently ban any athletes who “misrepresent” their birth sex on visa applications.

The February 24 message, authored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, directs U.S. consulates and immigration offices worldwide to ban trans visa applicants under a section of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that issues a “permanent fraud bar” for people who lie on their visa applications.

In addition to targeting trans athletes abroad, the executive order directs the Department of Justice to prosecute schools that allow trans female athletes in female sports programs. It also threatens to prevent cisgender U.S. athletes from competing in international sports competitions that allow international trans athletes to compete alongside cis athletes.

“Many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports,” the order states, misgendering trans female athletes. “This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.”

“Therefore, it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” the order continues. “It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”

Trans athletes have argued that anti-trans politicians who talk about “protecting women’s sports” never fight to get increased funding or discourage the sexist discrimination and sexual abuse that keep many female athletes from competing in the first place.

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Democrats fled Texas to stop Republican redistricting. They could also sink an anti-trans bill.

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

On Sunday, Texas Democrats denied House Republicans a quorum to approve a new Congressional map redrawn to add GOP seats to the slim majority Republicans hold in the U.S. House of Representatives.

They did it by fleeing the state.

While the Republicans’ gerrymandering power grab was top of mind for Texas Dems, another piece of legislation will also die without a vote if the lawmakers make good on their promise to stay absent from a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to push the redistricting plan through the Republican-dominated House.

On Monday, Texas Senate Republicans passed a draconian new anti-trans “bathroom bill” through committee that provides a rigid penalty system for any facility that does not comply. A first offense would trigger a $5,000 fine, while subsequent violations would earn $25,000 fines for each infraction, the Dallas Observer reports.

Sponsors added S.B. 7 to the special session agenda at the request of Abbott, who called the discriminatory legislation a priority.

If Democrats remain out of state for the next two weeks, the quorum break-up would last through the session’s expiration. That means that even if S.B. 7 passes the Senate, it would be dead on arrival in the Texas House of Representatives.

Out state Sen. Venton Jones (D), who made news earlier this year when he proposed to his boyfriend on the Texas House floor, urged the public to testify against the bill regardless of its poor prospects in the Democrats’ absence, as he stood on a tarmac about to leave the state.

“Texas, it’s time to stand up against harmful legislation targeting the LGBTQ community,” Jones posted to Instagram. S.B. 7 “aims to erase transgender, non-binary, and intersex Texans from public life spaces. We encourage Texans to show up and testify against this bill, and to follow organizations like Equality Texas to stay informed and get involved in the defense of this special session.”

“Venton makes clear that at least for him, and it would seem to be the LGBTQ caucus as well, the quorum break was not only about ending the redistricting plan, but also cutting short these discriminatory bills like SB 7,” said a spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Texas.

“While the maneuver might have been about redistricting, I think the timing considered what other legislation was still on the table.”

Over 100 people signed up to testify for and against S.B. 7 at Monday’s hearing.

“I was born female and I continue to identify as a woman, but I get mistaken for a man or a teenage boy when I go to the bathroom. I am who this bill claims to protect, but in execution, I will only be harmed,” said Caroline Green, an Austin resident. 

While the extraordinary, mid-decade redistricting plan won’t affect state lawmakers like Jones, it does put the seat of Texas’ only out member of Congress, Rep. Julie Johnson (D), in jeopardy.

The new map would turn Johnson’s district from 68% Democratic to 60% Republican, the Dallas Voice reports. Texas’ 32nd Congressional District currently includes parts of Plano and Dallas. The new district would only include a portion of Dallas and more rural parts of eastern Texas.

Johnson called the proposed map a “disaster” and a “desperate move from a party losing its grip on a changing state.”

In 2021, when Johnson represented Dallas as a state representative, she and her Texas House Democratic colleagues fled the state in another walkout, denying Republicans a quorum, slowing down a right-wing, so-called voting rights bill from passage. 

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Is Mexico a good place for LGBTQ people leaving the US? Find out in this video!

If you’re an LGBTQ person looking for a better place, listen to Shasta as she tells you about Mexico.

For many LGBTQ+ Americans, the current political climate in the U.S. feels increasingly hostile and unsafe. In this video, we explore what it’s like to escape to Mexico — a country with growing LGBTQ+ protections, thriving queer communities, and a much lower cost of living.

We’ll cover: ✅ The most LGBTQ-friendly cities in Mexico ✅ Visa and residency basics for U.S. citizens ✅ Healthcare access and affordability ✅ Safety and community support ✅ Stories from real LGBTQ+ expats who made the move

From Mexico City’s vibrant queer scene to the laid-back beach towns of Puerto Vallarta and Mérida, discover why more and more LGBTQ+ people are finding freedom, safety, and joy south of the border.

🧭 Whether you’re looking for adventure, community, or simply peace of mind, this video will help you weigh your options and envision a new life abroad.

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Historic First: Puerto Vallarta Approves Municipal Plan with LGBTQ+ Inclusive Policies

Read more at Out & About PV.

The Puerto Vallarta City Council has approved a new Municipal Development and Governance Plan for 2024–2027 that includes specific policies to protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. This marks the first time in the city’s history that such actions have been formally integrated into its municipal planning.

The plan, which serves as the primary guide for public policy, was presented by Mayor Luis Ernesto Munguía González and passed with 15 votes. Munguía noted that the document was the result of extensive citizen input, including neighborhood meetings, specialized forums, and public surveys.

The Vallarta Diversity Network, a local LGBTQ+ advocacy group, was among the organizations that participated in the consultation process. The group submitted a proposal that called for an effective public policy on sexual and gender diversity, which was incorporated into two key sections of the plan.

Key actions highlighted in the plan include the creation of a Municipal Human Rights Program that will feature affirmative actions for people of diverse sexual orientations. It also proposes initiatives to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. These measures will be carried out through institutional programs and in partnership with organized civil society groups.

The plan outlines an implementation strategy that includes performance indicators, evaluation methods, and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Vallarta Diversity Network said the inclusion of these policies is an important step toward establishing public policies that recognize and protect the rights of LGBTQ+ residents. The organization has committed to collaborating on the plan’s implementation, monitoring, and evaluation, emphasizing the need for proper budget allocation and accountability.

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GOP official proudly shares invitation to church that called for killing LGBTQ+ people

Read more at LGBTQ Nation.

Indiana’s Republican lieutenant governor appears interested in attending a service at a hate church that called for murdering LGBTQ+ people.

Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith (R) shared a post from Indianapolis Sure Foundation Baptist Church leader Justin Zhong inviting him to a church service, appearing to approve of the invitation. The repost has since been deleted.

The Sure Foundation Baptist Church made national headlines recently when lay pastor Stephen Falco used slurs and called for murdering gay people during a Men’s Preaching Night.

“There’s nothing good to be proud about being a f*g. You ought to blow yourself in the head in the back of the head. You’re so disgusting,” he said. “Why do I hate sodomites, why do I hate f*gs? Because they attack children, they’re coming after your children, they are attacking them in schools today, and not only schools in public places, and they’re proud about it!”

The sermon was posted to YouTube, which removed the video, but the church’s leadership defended the sermon.

“The Bible is crystal clear that sodomites – homosexuals – deserve the death penalty carried out by a government that actually cares about the law of God,” Zhong said at the time. “I will not apologize for preaching the Word of God. I will not apologize for stating facts. I will not negotiate with terrorists, among whom the LGBTHIV crowd is full of domestic terrorists.”

Over the past several years, several Baptist churches – part of the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Movement, or New IFB – have gotten attention online for their extreme and violent anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during sermons, which they often post to social media. The pastors – all male, the movement does not believe women should be in positions of authority – have called for killing gay people or said that they hope all gay people die, usually using slurs and parroting anti-LGBTQ+ stereotypes and urban legends, like that teachers are teaching kids to be gay.

Beckwith himself has a history of anti-LGBTQ+ extremism. He said in June that LGBTQ+ people in “ancient history and all the way up to today” have a “demonic spirit” associated with the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar.

That same month, he sent an “alert” to his followers on social media that Pride Month is a sign of “Pagan Conquest” that will bring “ritual child sacrifice – with glitter and hashtags.” He claimed that Pride Month is part of a “state-corporate-pagan alliance to reprogram society” that forced people to listen to “Harvey Milk sermons” and support “government-sanctioned grooming.” Grooming is a word for tactics used by child molesters.

When running for lieutenant governor in 2024, he referred to pro-choice voters as “demonic.”

He said that Democrats had the “Jezebel spirit” and “a boldness for immorality” during a podcast interview last year. The host of the podcast said that the Jezebel spirit was “ultimately about control, which is the spirit of witchcraft, as we know. That’s what Jezebel operated in.” Beckwith nodded along.

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