Tag: politics

Poland finally repealed the country’s last “LGBT-free” zone

*This is reported by LGBTQNation.

Ten years after the far-right Law and Justice Party was elected to power in Poland, and two years after their defeat in national elections, a last vestige of the party’s state-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ+ policies has finally been eliminated.

On Thursday, a council in the southeastern Polish town of Łańcut officially abolished the country’s last remaining ‘LGBT-free’ resolution.

The resolution, introduced by the previous government, was one among about 100 that declared local regions “LGBT-free” or banning “LGBT ideology,” barring the “promotion” of homosexuality and other minority sexual identities, especially in schools.

The declarations drew criticism from human rights groups as well as the European Union, which withheld funding from Poland on the grounds the resolutions were discriminatory and breached the multi-national bloc’s fundamental values.

The move resulted in the freezing of billions of Euros worth of funding to Poland.

In 2022, Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the effect of the resolutions was a “violation of the dignity, honor, good name and closely related private life of a specific group of residents,” and deemed them unconstitutional.

The court held that Poland has a duty to protect all its citizens, including members of minority groups. In the aftermath, all of the local resolutions were repealed, leaving Łańcut the final holdout in the country.

“Councilors have been taught a lesson not to succumb to propaganda that appeals to their emotions,” said Jakub Gawron, an activist who ran the so-called Atlas of Hate, an interactive online map illustrating the regions with the “LGBT-free” declarations.

European leaders punished Poland for its anti-LGBTQ+ zones

In 2021, the European Commission warned five Polish regions that “declaring LGBTIQ-free/unwelcome territories, workplace or services constitutes an action that is against the values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.” Municipalities with those discriminatory policies were notified that they wouldn’t receive funding for infrastructure, environmental initiatives, and other EU-sponsored projects.

Later in 2021, the EU Parliament formally condemned Poland for trying to create “LGBT-free” zones, with lawmakers comparing the policies to “Jew-free” zones that existed in the years before and during World War II.

By early 2020, roughly one-third of the country had established “LGBT-free zones.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a State of the Union address the same year that “LGBT-free zones” are “humanity-free zones.”

“They have no place in our Union,” von der Leyen told European lawmakers. “I will not rest when it comes to building a union of equality. A Union where you can be who you are and love who you want – without fear of recrimination or discrimination.”

She did not mention Poland by name.

Then-candidate for President Joe Biden re-tweeted von der Leyen’ message, adding “LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.”

“Let me be clear: LGBTQ+ rights are human rights — and ‘LGBT-free zones’ have no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world,” Biden posted to Twitter.

The repeal in Poland comes amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation arising in the fellow EU member nation of Hungary, as well as Vladimir Putin’s continued crackdown on LGBTQ+ identity in Russia with his implementation of successively broader anti-“gay propaganda” laws.

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LGBTQ refugees say Kenya’s reform plan risks leaving them out

*This is being reported by NBC News.

Already an outsider, Ugandan refugee Constance fears a plan to integrate hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers into Kenyan society will instead further alienate him and other LGBTQ refugees at a time of rising hostility.

The Shirika Plan, launched by President William Ruto last month, will transform two of the world’s largest refugee camps into open cities and allow the country’s more than 800,000 refugees to finally get jobs, health care and other services.

Under Shirika, which means “coming together” in Swahili, the nearly half-million refugees at the Kakuma camp in the north and the Dadaab camp near the Somali border can choose to leave the settlements to live alongside other Kenyans.

“The idea of integration is good, because it will guarantee refugees a free life and all rights, like any other Kenyan,” said Constance, who runs a safe house for Ugandan LGBTQ refugees. He did not give his last name for safety reasons.

But Constance said groups representing LGBTQ people have not been invited to public forums held in major cities to debate the plan, which was first floated in 2023.

“Unlike other refugees, we have serious concerns about security, health and housing that should be incorporated … But how will we voice these issues when we are not part of the process?” he said.

Kenya’s refugee commissioner John Burugu said all those affected by the Shirika Plan had been invited to comment.

“We have not locked any one or group out of the process,” Burugu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

“You don’t have to physically attend the public participation forums. We have people, groups and organizations who submitted written memoranda, and we captured their views.”

But organizations defending the rights of LGBTQ refugees fear this vulnerable group is being ignored.

Chance for inclusion

The multi-year Shirika Plan has been lauded by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR as an opportunity to improve the lives of refugees and create economic opportunities for Kenya.

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Couple planning Puerto Vallarta wedding claims discrimination

*This is reported on LGBTQNation.

A Canadian couple planning a destination wedding in gay mecca Puerto Vallarta says they’ve been discriminated against by the beachside hotel where they’d hoped to tie the knot.

Jeremy Alexander and Ryan Sheepwash shared their experience in now-viral videos on Instagram and TikTok.

“Soooo disappointed that my fiancée and I got discriminated against for our wedding plans in Puerto Vallarta by #Sheraton!! Worst of all, they’ve probably done this to countless other same-sex couples.”

The pair had been planning their wedding for months, including a trip to PV to check out prospective venues. They say a tour of the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort won them over, with hospitable staff and a price within their range.

But the couple’s experience with the hotel’s wedding planner deteriorated over a succession of efforts to lock the wedding in. When a quote finally arrived after three months, Alexander and Sheepwash were provided with an outrageous estimate of the bill.

The invoice said 25 deluxe, all-inclusive ocean view rooms would set guests back $970 each; the hotel demanded a $36,000 deposit for half of the rooms.

“It’s not reasonable,” Alexander said. “No one can afford that.”

It was also much more than the hotel had initially quoted the couple. The Sheraton also said they couldn’t accommodate the couple until March of 2027.

Alexander and Sheepwash got engaged in Puerto Vallarta in February 2024.

Shocked at the estimate, the couple decided to ask a straight friend to “request a quote just to see apples to apples what it looks like.”

That inquiry for a hypothetical wedding, planned for the same dates Alexander and Sheepwash wanted, came with a different outcome: a “deluxe package” for 50 people was $8,500, or $254 per person per night, and required a deposit of just $1,700 — on the same dates Alexander and Sheepwash had requested.

“We just feel defeated,” said Sheepwash in the TikTok video. “It’s not fair because we love each other and we really want to get married, and we want to make it special and we want to make it perfect.”

“We felt we’d be indirectly complicit to the system if we’re aware of it and we’re not combating it,” Alexander told NBC News. “That was the major driving factor in us wanting to put the story out there.”

The hotel is a “third-party franchisee” of the Marriott corporation and declined to comment.

Marriott International said in a statement that the company has reached out to the couple “to learn more about their experience and are working with the property to offer a solution.”

“The Sheraton Buganvilias has been active in the LGBTQ community in Puerto Vallarta for years, not only hosting LGBTQ+ weddings and groups but also supporting Pride events in Puerto Vallarta,” the spokesperson said. “Marriott remains steadfast in our commitment to ensure guests are treated with respect and understanding.” 

“It’s very clear there’s an issue all the way to the top at this particular Sheraton of homophobia,” Alexander said. Marriott “would need to make some seriously impactful change before I’d be entertaining what they have to say there. They are part of a lot of queer travel alliances, and the actions have to line up with reality, and right now it doesn’t.”

Alexander and Sheepwash aren’t the first to experience the hotel’s discriminatory treatment. “Just Google it,” Alexander advises on Insta.

In 2019, Josh Rimer, a television host and Mr. Gay Canada 2019, and his then-fiancé were turned away from the hotel after choosing it to host their own wedding.  

And while researching the hotel, Sheepwash uncovered a TikTok video posted by Daniel Galecio, a wedding planner in Puerto Vallarta, who said the same Sheraton staff member who provided the couple’s inflated estimate told him the resort is currently unable to host same-sex weddings. 

“That hotel has a history of years of discrimination, and all the city knows — all the gays know,” Galecio said.

Marriage equality became legal nationally in Mexico in 2022.

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Attorney General threatens doctors with 10 years in prison for providing gender-affirming care

*This is reported by LGBTQNation.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has a long history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, issued a memo to the Department of Justice (DOJ) telling employees to investigate and prosecute cases of minors accessing gender-affirming care as female genital mutilation (FGM).

“The Department of Justice will not sit idly by while doctors, motivated by ideology, profits, or both, exploit and mutilate our children,” the memo states. “Under my watch, the Department will act decisively to protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of care.”

“I am putting medical practitioners, hospitals, and clinics on notice: In the United States, it is a felony to perform, attempt to perform, or conspire to perform female genital mutilation on any person under the age of 18. That crime carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years per count. I am directing all U.S. Attorneys to investigate all suspected cases of FGM—under the banner of so-called “gender-affirming care” or otherwise—and to prosecute all FGM offenses to the fullest extent possible.”

It’s unclear what that part of the memo will do, since gender-affirming genital surgery isn’t performed on minors in the U.S. Under federal law, FGM is defined as “partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” The only case of gender-affirming care cited in the memo involved a mastectomy.

The memo goes on to say that the DOJ will go after “on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones, or any other drug used to facilitate a child’s so-called ‘gender transition’” as a violation of consumer protection laws. Bondi directed the Civil Division’s Fraud Section to investigate the use of puberty blockers as a violation of the False Claims Act and accused hospitals of performing gender-affirming genital surgery on minors “while billing Medicaid for an entirely different procedure.”

The memo tells the department to ignore the medical recommendations of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the medical organization that sets standards of care for the treatment of gender dysphoria, saying that the group “muzzled dissenting members,” a common accusation against scientific organizations that produce recommendations that the right doesn’t like.

The memo does not discuss circumcision or genital surgeries often performed on intersex children in order to make their bodies conform to stereotypes of what male or female genitalia should look like.

Gender-affirming care is supported by all major medical associations in the U.S., including the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, as safe and life-saving for young people with gender dysphoria.

Williamette University Constitutional Law professor Robin Maril said that Bondi’s memo doesn’t create any new laws, and the parts about fraud are already part of how the DOJ handles the law.

“The bulk of this is just showing how they’re going to use resources and investigate,” she told NBC News. “That’s not a law change. It’s meant to have a chilling effect on physicians providing access to necessary care, fearing that it will be characterized as chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”

The memo comes after the president signed an executive order in January to ban gender-affirming care, even though the president doesn’t have the authority to do so. The executive order told federal departments to look for ways to fight against gender-affirming care, even though Congress has not banned the practice despite bills to ban it being introduced several times over the past few years.

Several courts have already blocked the executive order from going into effect.

Also this week, Bondi convened the first meeting of the administration’s “anti-Christian bias” task force. She started the meeting by saying that President Joe Biden – a devout Catholic – had “abused and targeted Christians,” citing a 2023 FBI memo about threats posed by anti-choice protestors.

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Kennedy Center’s events scheduled for LGBTQ+ pride celebration canceled, organizers say

*This is reported by the AP

Organizers and the Kennedy Center have canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., amid a shift in priorities and the ousting of leadership at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.

Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues. And in the wake of the cancellations, Washington’s Capital Pride Alliance has disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center.

“We are a resilient community, and we have found other avenues to celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the alliance. “We are finding another path to the celebration … but the fact that we have to maneuver in this way is disappointing.”

The Kennedy Center’s website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website with a general description and a link to the World Pride site. There are no other details.

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request from the AP for comment.

The move comes on the heels of massive changes at the Kennedy Center, with President Donald Trump firing both the president and chairman in early February. Trump replaced most of the board with loyalists, who then elected him the new Kennedy Center chairman.

The World Pride event, held every two years, starts in just under a month — running from May 17 through June 8 with performances and celebrations planned across the capital city. But Trump administration policies on transgender rights and comments about Kennedy Center drag performances have sparked concern about what kind of reception attendees will receive.

“I know that D.C. as a community will be very excited to be hosting World Pride, but I know the community is a little bit different than the government,” said Michael Roest, founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, which had its June 5 performance at the Kennedy Center abruptly canceled within days of Trump’s takeover.

Roest told the AP he was in the final stages of planning the Kennedy Center performance after months of emails and Zoom calls. He was waiting on a final contract when Trump posted on social media Feb. 7 of the leadership changes and his intention to transform the Kennedy Center’s programming.

Immediately the Kennedy Center became nonresponsive, Roest said. On Feb. 12, he said, he received a one-sentence email from a Kennedy Center staffer stating, “We are no longer able to advance your contract at this time.”

“They went from very eager to host to nothing,” he said. “We have not since heard a word from anybody at the Kennedy Center, but that’s not going to stop us.”

In the wake of the cancellation, Roest said he managed to move the International Pride Orchestra performance to the Strathmore theater in nearby Bethesda, Maryland.

Crenshaw said some other events, including a drag story time and a display of parts of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, would be moved to the World Pride welcome center in Chinatown.

Monica Alford, a veteran arts and culture journalist and event planner, was scheduled to organize an event June 8 as part of Tapestry of Pride, but said she also saw communication abruptly end within days of Trump’s takeover.

Alford has a long history with the Kennedy Center and organized the first-ever drag brunch on the Kennedy Center rooftop in 2024, and said she regarded the institution — and its recent expansion known as The Reach — as “my home base” and “a safe space for the queer community”

She said she was still finalizing the details of her event, which she described as “meant to be family-friendly, just like the drag brunch was family-friendly and classy and sophisticated.”

She said she mourns the loss of the partnership she nurtured with the Kennedy Center.

“We’re doing our community a disservice — not just the queer community but the entire community,” she said.

Roest said he never received an explanation as to why the performance was canceled so late in the planning stages. He said his orchestra would no longer consider performing at the Kennedy Center, and he believes most queer artists would make the same choice.

“There would need to be a very, very public statement of inclusivity from the administration, from that board, for us to consider that,” he said. “Otherwise it is a hostile performance space.”

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NC councilman’s ‘nasty’ anti-LGBTQ comments spark protest in Catawba County

*This is reported by the Charlotte Observer.

Community members in Catawba County are planning a protest after backlash erupted over a scheduled Pride event, including anti-LGBTQ comments from a Newton city council member. The LGBTQ+ Democrats of Catawba County plan to protest at the Newton City Council meeting on May 6. The group rebranded and reorganized its event, formerly called the “2025 Newton Pride Takeover,” after what its leaders described as “nasty” Facebook comments led businesses to withdraw. The comments included discriminatory remarks from Council Member Jon McClure, said group president MacGregor VanBeurden. “That’s when it got really nasty and a lot of people I think felt emboldened by that,” VanBeurden said about McClure’s comments. “So we got a lot of hate, a lot of bad comments, and then our businesses started pulling out from the event. There were some really serious things said and it’s really blown up in the last week.” Newton is a city of more than 13,000 people about an hours drive northwest of Charlotte. McClure responded to a Facebook post announcing the Pride event with a video where a woman made false claims about transgender people. The councilman said in subsequent comments he does not support queer and transgender people. McClure did not respond to emails and phone calls from The Charlotte Observer requesting comment. Newton Mayor Jerry Hodge said in an interview with the Observer the city will allow people to speak about the issue during public comment like they would in any other meeting. “One council member does not speak for the entire council, and that may have been perceived as the case, but it is not,” he said about McClure’s comments. “We’ll be prepared to conduct a civil meeting for our citizens… and we will conduct the meeting within the realm of respect and dignity for all who speak.” Event rebrand The original Pride celebration, planned for the week of June 23rd, included a networking event, a queer karaoke night and a drag fundraiser, VanBeurden said. Facebook comments — from the councilman and others — prompted numerous businesses to pull out, VanBeurden said. But the show will go on. Since rebranding the event as the Newton Rainbow Celebration, numerous new businesses have signed on to participate. The event will include the networking event as well as a festival and drag event. One business that pulled out was local bar Pour Choices, which was supposed to host the queer karaoke night, VanBeurden said. Local boutique Emporium 23 also pulled out following the backlash but recommitted once the event was rebranded. About 20 local vendors signed up to participate in the celebration in just a few days, VanBeurden said. VanBeurden said it is important to him to remain resilient in the face of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. “We’ve had a lot of progress made for lesbians, gays and bisexuals. We are nowhere near where we need to be, and there are still issues within our community from the outside world, but we’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “I think that’s part of the reason that it’s so important is because as a gay man I have to stand up for other members of my community that are struggling even harder than I am.” That resilience includes the protest, which VanBeurden expects to draw turnout from the Carolinas LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Democratic Party. Catawba County isn’t the only area where LGBTQ+ events have faced pushback this year. In March, Union County commissioners voted to ban “obscene” and “sexualized” events in public parks, a move many interpreted as targeting Pride and drag events. In Monroe, two city council members also pushed for local rules to restrict drag performances, classifying them as “adult entertainment.” VanBeurden said rural and conservative areas remain critical battlegrounds in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. “I think that the most effective way to make a change in any movement is to bring visibility and to show people that we exist and we exist outside of the big cities,” he said. “We exist in the middle of nowhere. We exist everywhere.”

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HHS Plans to Cut the National Suicide Hotline’s Program for LGBTQ Youth

*This is reported by Mother Jones.

The federal government plans to eliminate services for LGBTQ youth who call 988, the national suicide and crisis hotline, according to a Health and Human Services budget draft leaked last week. The budget, first reported by the Washington Post, would go into effect in October if approved by Congress.

Since the hotline’s launch in 2022, callers have been able to speak with counselors trained to work with specific at-risk populations, including LGBTQ youth, who are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers.

The service for LGBTQ youth has received 1.3 million calls, texts, or chats since 2022. In February, the program received an average of 2,100 contacts per day.

“Here we are cutting off the nation’s lifeline to those in crisis,” says Paolo del Vecchio, former director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s Office of Recovery. “Due to the discriminatory practices of the Trump administration, they’re pulling that life preserver away from thousands and thousands of people.”

Mental health experts say that trained counselors provide key cultural competency to LGBTQ youth, understanding the stress caused by recent political attacks, the importance of using appropriate pronouns, and the ways in which the youth often face lack of family support and harassment.

“I worry deeply that we will see more LGBTQ young people reach a crisis state and not have anyone there to help them through that,” says Janson Wu, director of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, a LGBTQ suicide prevention organization. “I worry that LGBTQ young people will reach out to 988 and not receive a compassionate and welcoming voice on the other end—and that will only deepen their crisis.”

The Trevor Project, one of the handful of organizations that make up the LGBTQ+ Youth Subnetwork, responds to about half of 988’s calls and texts from LGBTQ youth. This year, the subnetwork received an estimated $50 million in federal funding.

Trump’s first months in office have been particularly harrowing for transgender youth. The president has signed executive orders restricting access to gender-affirming care for young people, barring transgender people from serving in the military, and threatening to prosecute teachers who support nonbinary students.

Under the leadership of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HHS has already cut about a quarter of its workforce. SAMHSA has been eliminated, and mental health initiatives have been consolidated with disparate programs in a newly-created Administration for a Healthy America. The leaked budget proposes further sweeping cuts to HHS, including a 40 percent budget cut to the National Institutes of Health; elimination of funding for Head Start, the early childhood education program for low-income families; and a 44 percent funding cut to the Centers for Disease Control, including all the agency’s chronic disease programs.

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Alabama GOP passes 10 Commandments-in-schools bill on same day as rollbacks of LGBTQ+ rights

*This is reported by LGBTQNation

The Alabama state House of Representatives passed several anti-LGBTQ+ bills this past Thursday. The bills include an expansion of the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, a ban on drag performances, a ban on Pride flags, and a ban on school employees calling trans students by the correct pronouns.

One of the bills would also require the Ten Commandments to be posted in every school in the state.

H.B. 244 extends the state’s ban on discussing LGBTQ+ people in schools, which currently only applies to grades K through 5, to all grade levels. It also bans school employees from “displaying flags or insignia relating to sexual orientation or gender identity,” which would include Pride flags. It also bans school employees from referring to a student with pronouns or a “title” that is “inconsistent with the student’s biological sex at birth.”

State Rep. Mark Gidley (R) said that the bill was necessary because an unnamed student told him that they have a teacher who can’t teach without mentioning “all things gay and transgender.” Gidley didn’t say what school this happened in.

State Rep. Neil Rafferty (D), the only out gay person in the chamber, said that LGBTQ+ people are “not the problem.”

“I want you to know you are not the problem. You are not broken, and you’re absolutely not alone,” he said. “They’re not theories. They’re not talking points, not threats to be neutralized. They’re people. They’re Alabamian, and they deserve better than what we are offering them right now.”

State Rep. Phillip Ensler (D) said that the bill will make kids feel unwelcome in schools.

“If they don’t trust a teacher, if they think a teacher doesn’t like them or use them differently or views them as unequal, they’re not going to be as open to learning,” he said.

The bill passed with 76 votes in favor and nine against.

H.B. 67 bans public schools and libraries from hosting drag performances in the presence of minors without parental consent, and also says that trans people must use the restroom associated with their sex assigned at birth in places where minors might use the restroom. It also passed 76-9.

“This bill is an attempt to censor LGBTQ experiences from the public and is contradictory to our First Amendment rights,” the ACLU of Alabama said in a statement. “Supporters of this bill argue that drag performances are not appropriate for minors. That’s a decision for that minor’s parents, caregivers, and family to make – not the State of Alabama.”

On the same day, the chamber passed H.B. 178, a bill that would require all public schools in the state, both K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities, to display the Ten Commandments in “a common area.” The bill doesn’t give schools funding for this and instead suggests that they seek donations.

“The First Amendment guarantees that students and their families —not politicians or the government—get to decide which religious beliefs, if any, they adopt and what role those beliefs will play in their lives,” the ACLU of Alabama said in a statement. “Displaying the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms blatantly violates this promise. Students can’t focus on learning if they don’t feel safe and welcome in their schools.”

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gidley, also requires schools to display a statement near the Ten Commandments that says they are “a key part of the Judeo-Christian religious and moral tradition that shaped Western Civilization and ultimately the founding of the United States.”

“This is about returning foundational principles to schools to be taught,” Gidley said about his bill.

Democrats called the bill a distraction.

“We’re focusing on issues that really don’t put more money in the pockets of every Alabamian,” said House minority leader Anthony Daniels (D). “It does not reduce the cost at the gas pump. We’re talking about solving problems for the average Alabamanian. This particular issue does nothing.”

One Democrat pointed out that the Ten Commandments aren’t age-appropriate for younger children.

“I think that the 10 commandments have their place, but I don’t know that we need to mandate that they be in our schools,” said state Rep. Marilyn Lands (D), the Alabama Reflector reports. “I think we teach our children well in our homes, and I think we have churches to teach them, but I’m not sure that they belong in our schools.”

The bill passed the state house 88-11. All three bills now go on to the state senate.

Louisiana passed a similar bill regarding the Ten Commandments last year, requiring them to be displayed in every classroom in the state. A federal judge blocked the bill from taking effect, saying it was “unconstitutional on its face.”

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Greenfield (Mass.) City Council passes ‘sanctuary city’ resolution for trans, gender-diverse people

*This is reported by the Greenfield Recorder.

City Council voted 9-0, with one abstention, to approve a resolution declaring Greenfield a “sanctuary city” for transgender and gender-diverse people Wednesday evening.

The vote followed more than two hours of public comment, with more than 20 residents voicing their support.

The resolution, which was initially proposed by resident Trystan Greist, was written in anticipation of a federal rollback on LGBTQ rights. Prior to the passage of the resolution, councilors had expressed plans to pass an ordinance in the near future vowing support for the trans community, which would codify it into municipal law.

“There’s absolutely no reason that we shouldn’t do this and a million reasons why we should,” Precinct 2 Councilor Rachel Gordon said. “My only concern is that it’s just a resolution. … I think it’s really important as a community and a council that we then make this into an ordinance that has real teeth so that people have as much protection as possible.”

Among the dozens of resolution supporters — some carrying signs and pinning trans flags to their clothes — was Greist, who explained that while the resolution might not have any legal backing, it could serve as a determining factor for trans and gender-diverse individuals deciding whether to move to Greenfield.

“The reason I wrote [this resolution] wasn’t just for the trans people living in the region — and there are a lot of us, and there are more coming — but it’s for all of the trans families in the nation that are currently under siege,” Greist explained. “We need to put out that we’re here and that we’re welcoming and that we’re safe. To be perfectly honest, I’m hoping that if enough cities in Massachusetts pass resolutions like this, we will eventually become a trans sanctuary state.”

Some residents and activists who spoke in support of the resolution shared their concerns over the state of the trans and broader queer communities, with some expressing fear that the “X” gender marker on their licenses would put targets on their backs in other states.

Others shared experiences of having their pride flags removed from their properties, or facing other forms of discrimination and intimidation because of their gender identities.

“My wife is from here, and when we closed on our house on High Street, before we unlocked our door, the first things that we did were we hung our pride flag on the porch and stamped our Black Lives Matter sign into the front yard,” resident Lev BenEzra said. “Since that time, our pride flag has been ripped down from our porch not once, not twice, but three different times, and yanked in such a manner that the person had to have climbed up onto our porch.”

Other residents, such as Trystan Greist’s spouse Arjuna Greist, quoted pastor and Holocaust survivor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem “First They Came,” to argue that even those outside the trans community have a moral obligation to take a stand against mistreatment and discrimination.

“‘First they came for the socialists’ — we all know the poem. We hear the powerful lesson that we must speak up for any group under attack by a fascist regime, if only to ensure that someone is left to help when they inevitably come for us,” Arjuna Greist said. “We have an opportunity today, here in Greenfield and all over our state and country, to write our own poem together.”

Prior to his vote, At-Large Councilor John Garrett, who also works as a high school history teacher, spoke to Arjuna Greist’s reference to the poem in his remarks. He said the comments “chilled him” and gave historical context to a moral obligation against neutrality.

City Council President Lora Wondolowski, one of the resolution’s early supporters, expressed enthusiasm and pride for the community’s support of the resolution.

“I’m really moved. I knew it would be emotional to hear the stories and I still feel it deep in my heart. When my ex-wife and I moved to Greenfield over 20 years ago, we didn’t know if we’d be welcomed here. I’ve had Slurpees thrown at me from moving cars, and I’ve also seen the best and had neighbors who I never thought would be supportive be really supportive of our family,” Wondolowski said. “This resolution allows us to be full-throated in our support of the community.”

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Judge grants “critical victory” to trans people suing Trump for his anti-trans passport policy

*this is being reported by LGBTQNation

U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick has issued a partial preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s executive order barring trans people from changing the gender markers on their passports.

Kobick’s decision mandates that six of seven trans and nonbinary plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) receive passports that accurately reflect their gender identities. This includes allowing an X marker for those who do not identify as male or female.

“The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny,” Kobick stated, as reported by the Associated Press. “That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.”

She agreed that the plaintiffs could successfully prove the administration’s order is “based on irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans,” is “arbitrary and capricious,” and “was not adopted in compliance with the procedures required by the Paperwork Reduction Act and Administrative Procedure Act.”

“This ruling affirms the inherent dignity of our clients, acknowledging the immediate and profound negative impact that the Trump administration’s passport policy would have on their ability to travel for work, school, and family,” said Jessie Rossman, legal director at ACLU of Massachusetts, in a statement. “By forcing people to carry documents that directly contradict their identities, the Trump administration is attacking the very foundations of our right to privacy and the freedom to be ourselves. We will continue to fight to rescind this unlawful policy for everyone so that no one is placed in this untenable and unsafe position.”

The ACLU also plans to file a motion requesting Kobick’s decision apply to all trans and nonbinary people across the country.

“This decision is a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “But it’s also a historic win in the fight against this administration’s efforts to drive transgender people out of public life. The State Department’s policy is a baseless barrier for transgender and intersex Americans and denies them the dignity we all deserve. We will do everything we can to ensure this order is extended to everyone affected by the administration’s misguided and unconstitutional policy so that we all have the freedom to be ourselves.”

The ACLU filed Orr v. Trump in February after the president signed an executive order declaring that there were only two immutable genders: male and female. Afterward, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered that all passport applications requesting an “X” gender marker be suspended, as well as any applications listing a person’s gender identity rather than the sex they were assigned.

“I thought that 18 years after transitioning, I would be able to live my life in safety and ease,” trans man and plaintiff Reid Solomon-Lane said in a statement when the lawsuit was filed. “Now, as a married father of three, Trump’s executive order and the ensuing passport policy have threatened that life of safety and ease. If my passport were to reflect a sex designation that is inconsistent with who I am, I would be forcibly outed every time I used my passport for travel or identification, causing potential harm to my safety and my family’s safety.”

The lawsuit argues the passport policy is a violation of the Constitution’s Equal Protection and Due Process clauses and is also a violation of the First Amendment by compelling speech from trans, nonbinary, and intersex passport holders.

The Trump administration has argued the policy will not harm anyone.

“Some Plaintiffs additionally allege that having inconsistent identification documents will heighten the risk that an official will discover that they are transgender,” the Justice Department said. “But the Department is not responsible for Plaintiffs’ choice to change their sex designation for state documents but not their passport.”

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