The Texas House Committee on Public Education is considering a bill, already passed by the State Senate, which could be used to ban transgender students on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) from athletic participation by allowing the University Interscholastic League (UIL) to label their medical treatment as steroid use. Currently, the UIL already bars the use of steroids but protects students…
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 201 — legislation protecting LGBTQ youth in the state from the dangerous and discredited practice of so-called “conversion therapy.” State Sen. David Parks sponsored the bill and shepherded it through to the governor’s office. Nevada becomes the tenth jurisdiction…
Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst behind one of the largest leaks of classified information in history, was released from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas Wednesday morning. “She has experienced trauma over the past seven years of her confinement and the trauma from those experiences won’t just evaporate the day…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The New York Times reported Tuesday that President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February. As is customary Capitol Hill reporters approached members of Congress for quotes about…
NEW YORK— Monday, Joshua Vallum was sentenced to 49 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend, Mercedes Williamson, who was transgender. His sentencing marked the first application of the federal hate crimes law for the murder of a transgender person and, following the news, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited the tragedy in…
WASHINGTON — Individuals and institutions from across the country today filed friend-of-court briefs in support of Gavin Grimm, an 18-year-old Virginia high school student who is challenging his school board’s refusal to allow him access to the boys’ restroom because he is transgender. The briefs in the case, which is currently being considered by the…
The Trump administration has massively expanded the so-called “Global Gag Rule” (GGR), which stops any U.S. aid to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide abortion information, referrals or services — even when they provide those services with their own, non-U.S. funding. The Trump administration’s announcement comes at the beginning of National Women’s Health Week, a…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new poll released on Monday by Gallup reveals 64 percent of U.S. adults say same-sex marriages should be recognized by the law as valid. This is up 3 points from the 61% last year and is the highest percentage to date and continues the generally steady rise since Gallup’s trend began…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report out today from the Center for Data Innovation—a data-policy think tank—outlines 10 concrete steps Congress can take to optimize the way data is collected, shared, and used in the United States, including addressing the LGBT data gap. According to the think tank, government-sponsored data collection often omits demographic information…
WASHINGTON, D.C., —In a backward move and a major turnabout from the policies of Obama administration Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions has directed federal prosecutors to pursue the harshest criminal penalties for those who have been charged with drug crimes. The move is being described by the National LGBTQ…
