LGBTQIA+ Resources: In the News

Farr has found himself in an unlikely role: fighting bathroom bans that have proliferated at the state and local level in recent years. But Farr is not so unusual, says his attorney, Gillian Ruddy Wilcox of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri
Heather Hollingsworth AP News April 11, 2024

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a measure Friday that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors, casting the action out of step with many in his own party as thoughtful, limited and “pro-life.”
BY SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON AND JULIE CARR SMYTH AP{ News
December 29, 2023

Laura Ann Carleton was described as “fearless” by her daughter, who said her mother died “defending something that was so important to her.”
Orlando Mayorquin The New York TImes Aug. 20, 2023

A Baytown teacher and grandmother was fired from her job after going to a drag show and posting about it on social media.
Pooja Lodhia KTRK Eyewitness News July 25, 2023

Thousands of effusive marchers danced to club music in New York City streets Sunday as bubbles and confetti rained down, and fellow revelers from Toronto to San Francisco cheered through Pride Month’s grand crescendo.
Bobby Caina Calvan AP News June 26, 2023

There were more than 350 incidents of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. harassment, vandalism or assault in the United States from June 2022 through April 2023, according to a new report, reflecting a climate in which bias against gay and especially transgender people has become widespread.
Maggie Astor The New York Times June 22, 2023

A U.S. judge on Wednesday struck down a Florida rule and a statute that banned state Medicaid payments for transgender healthcare, marking the second defeat in two weeks for anti-transgender legislation in the state.
Daniel Trotta Reuters June 22, 2023

A Detroit-area community has banned LGBTQ+ flags from publicly owned poles after a tense meeting that raised questions about discrimination, religion and the city’s reputation for welcoming newcomers.
AP News June 14, 2023

Despite Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers' championing of anti-LGBTQ+ laws — spurring the most prominent gay rights group in the U.S. and other civil rights organizations to issue warnings that the Sunshine State may no longer be safe — Gay Days organizers are still encouraging visitors from around the world to come to one of Florida’s largest gay and lesbian celebrations.
Mike Schneider AP News June 1, 2023

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republicans on Wednesday approved bills to ban diversity programs in colleges and prevent students and teachers from being required to use pronouns that don’t correspond to someone’s sex, building on top priorities of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Anthony Izaguirre AP News May 4, 2023

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Republicans persisted in forbidding Democratic transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from participating in debate for a second week and her supporters brought the House session to a halt Monday — chanting “Let her speak!” from the gallery before they were escorted out.
Amy Beth Hanson and Sam Metz AP News April 25, 2023

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added more wins to his agenda targeting the LGBTQ+ community as a state board approved an expansion of what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law Wednesday, and the House passed bills on gender-transition treatments, bathroom use and keeping children out of drag shows.
ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and BRENDAN FARRINGTON AP News April 19, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter has quietly removed a policy against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” raising concerns that the Elon Musk-owned platform is becoming less safe for marginalized groups.
Barbara Ortutay AP News April 29, 2023

A US court has upheld the right of public schools to force religious teachers to call transgender students by their chosen names and pronouns.
Io Dodds Independent April 10, 2023

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican governors in Indiana and Idaho have signed into law bills banning gender-affirming care for minors, making those states the latest to restrict transgender health care as Republican-led legislatures continue to curb LGBTQ+ rights this year.
Arleigh Rodgers AP News April 6, 2023

The Kentucky measure bans access to gender-transition care for young people, and West Virginia’s governor signed a similar bill on Wednesday. Passage of bans also appears imminent in Idaho and Missouri.
Campbell Robertson and Ernesto Londoño The New York Times March 29, 2023

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Administrators at a Wisconsin elementary school stopped a first-grade class from performing a Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton duet promoting LGBTQ acceptance because the song “could be perceived as controversial.”
Harm Venhuizen AP News March 27, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Lee says it would be “ridiculous” to conflate a recently surfaced yearbook photo of him wearing women’s clothing in high school to drag show performances currently under attack in Tennessee and other GOP-led states.
Kimberlee Kruesi AP News February 28, 2023

Adolescent girls reported high rates of sadness, suicidal thoughts and sexual violence, as did teenagers who identified as gay or bisexual.
Azeen Ghorayshi and Roni Caryn Rabin The New York Times Feb. 13, 2023

The measure, signed by the governor on Saturday, is part of a wave of proposed legislation in states across the country this year that would restrict transgender rights.
Ava Sasani The New York Times Jan. 29, 2023

The bills they have proposed — more than 150 in at least 25 states — include bans on transition care into young adulthood; restrictions on drag shows using definitions that could broadly encompass performances by transgender people; measures that would prevent teachers in many cases from using names or pronouns matching students’ gender identities; and requirements that schools out transgender students to their parents.
Maggie Astor The New York Times Jan. 25, 2023

The Supreme Court ’s conservative majority sounded sympathetic Monday to a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, a dispute that’s the latest clash of religion and gay rights to land at the highest court.
Jessica Greko AP News Dec. 5, 2022

Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships would be allowed to donate blood without abstaining from sex under guidelines being drafted by the Food and Drug Administration, people familiar with the plans said. The change would be a departure from U.S. policy that for many years barred men who have sex with men from donating blood.
Liz Essley Whyte and Amy Dockser Marcus Wall Street Journal Nov. 30, 2022

A man shrouded in body armor and wielding an AR-15 style rifle attacked an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday night, in a rampage that killed at least five people and injured at least 25 others.
Jack Healy, Mitch Smith, Adam Goldman and Patricia Mazzei The New York Times
Updated Nov. 21, 2022

The Respect for Marriage Act, if signed into law, would codify the ability for same-sex as well as interracial couples to get married and require states to recognize the marriages.
Katy Stech Ferek The Wall Street Journal Nov. 14, 2022

Across the country, women, LGBTQ and Black candidates broke barriers Tuesday as part of a new generation of politicians elected to governor’s offices and seats in Congress.
ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON AP News November 9. 2022

A record 678 LGBTQ candidates will be on the ballot this November amid a spike in anti-LGBTQ legislation and a resurgence of homophobic tropes.
Matt Lavietes NBC News Oct. 26 2022

Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, announced that we now offer people the choice to self-select their sex on their Social Security number (SSN) record. We implemented this policy change and the new option is now available.
Abigail Zapote, Senior Advisor to the Commissioner. Social Security Matters Oct. 20, 2022

Oklahoma has a new law that bans public elementary, middle school, high school and college athletes from competing on the sports teams of their gender identity if it is different from their sex assigned at birth. While more than a dozen other states have similar laws, Oklahoma is believed to be the only one known to require a “biological sex affidavit” for participation.
CLIFF BRUNT AP News October 4, 2022

Small studies suggest that breast removal surgery improves transgender teenagers’ well-being, but data is sparse. Some state leaders oppose such procedures for minors.
Azeen Ghorayshi The New York Times Sept. 26, 2022

BOSTON - Nonbinary athletes will be able to run in next year's Boston Marathon without having to register as members of the men's or women's divisions, race organizers announced Monday.
CBS News Boston Sept. 12, 2022

The proposal to update protections against discrimination in education is aimed at rolling back some Trump-era revisions while expanding the half-century-old rules to cover sexual orientation.
Lauren Camera US News & World Report June 23, 2022

More teenagers than ever are seeking transitions, but the medical community that treats them is deeply divided about why — and what to do to help them.
Emily Bazelon The New York Times June 15, 2022

New estimates based on C.D.C. health surveys point to a stark generational shift in the growth of the transgender population of the United States.
Azeen Ghorayshi The New York Times June 10, 2022

An estimated 58,200 transgender youth and young adults ages 13 and older in the U.S. are at risk of being denied gender-affirming medical care due to proposed and enacted state bans and policies, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
UCLA Williams Institute March 21, 2022

The Vatican has declared that gender-affirming surgeries and surrogacy are grave violations of human dignity. A new document from the doctrine office puts them on a par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that violate God’s plan for human life. In its most eagerly anticipated section, the Vatican flat-out rejected “gender theory” or the idea that one’s gender can be changed.
David Crary AP News April 8, 2024

The country’s Parliament also extended equal parental rights to same-sex couples, including clearing the way for them to adopt children.
Niki Kitsantonis The New York Times Feb. 15, 2024

Ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry, the court labeled what the suit called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia as an extremist organization and banned it.
Dasha Litvinova AP News November 30, 2023

In the United States, the national conference of Catholic bishops rejects the concept of gender transition, leaving many transgender Catholics feeling excluded. On Wednesday, the Vatican made public a sharply contrasting statement, saying it’s permissible, under certain circumstances, for trans Catholics to be baptized and serve as godparents.
David Crary AP News November 9,2023

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a law requiring transgender people to undergo sterilization surgery in order to officially change their gender is unconstitutional, a landmark verdict welcomed by advocates as a sign of growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights.
Mari Yamaguchi AP News October 25, 2023

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s top court on Tuesday refused to legalize same-sex marriages, passing the responsibility back to Parliament in a ruling that disappointed campaigners for LGBTQ+ rights in the world’s most populous country.
Krutika Pathi AP News October 17, 2023

Prosecutors used the death penalty provision of a newly passed law to charge a 20-year-old man. The measure has sown widespread fear among gay Ugandans.
Emma Bubola The New York Times Aug. 29, 2023

Across the Middle East, LGBTQ communities face a growing crackdown, echoing efforts by prominent American conservatives to restrict the rights of gay and transgender people and erase their influence from society.
Mohamad El Chamaa The Washington Post August 3, 2023

The students at an elite college in China found themselves on a collision course with the authorities amid a crackdown on gay and transgender expression.
Nicole Hong and Zixu Wang The New York Times June 3, 2023

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vilified gay people during his re-election campaign, calling them a threat to society and rallying conservatives against them. It has left people feeling threatened, and alone.
Ben Hubbard, Elif Ince and Safak Timur The New York TImes May 31, 2023

The legislation, which now goes to the president, also calls for life in prison for anyone engaging in gay sex. Policies to stifle L.G.B.T.Q. rights have been on the rise in several African nations.
Abdi Latif Dahir The New York Times Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya March 22, 2023

The show began in 1968 when one of the circus’ female dancers was absent for a performance. Its founder, René Valdés, had one of the male performers dress as a woman and replace her on stage. The performance was so popular the dancer did five curtain calls to receive applause. The transformation circus was born and has been committed to sexual diversity ever since.
Patricia Luna AP News March 1, 2023

Christian conservatives in the country have campaigned tirelessly for decades to prevent legislation that would offer protections to L.G.B.T.Q. people.
John Yoon The New York Times Feb. 22, 2023

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.
Nicole Winfield AP News Jan.25, 2023

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Track and field’s governing body is facing renewed criticism for a proposal to allow transgender athletes to continue competing in top female events, although with stricter rules.
Gerald Imray AP News Jan. 25, 2023

Trans men face deep isolation in Pakistan. The country, with a conservative Muslim majority, has entrenched beliefs on gender and sexuality, so trans people are often considered outcasts.
Riazat Butt AP News Jan. 19, 2023

The Church of England said Wednesday it will allow blessings for same-sex, civil marriages for the first time but same-sex couples still will not be allowed to marry in its churches.
Sylvia Hui AP News Jan. 18, 2023

The law makes it illegal to spread “propaganda” about “nontraditional sexual relations” in all media, including social, advertising and movies.
Emma Bubola The new York Times Dec. 6, 2022

According to the city, the new shelter “addresses community concerns identified including a lack of dedicated shelter supports for 2SLGBTQ+ adults; violence and discrimination experienced by trans people, particularly women, in the shelter system; and the stigma and barriers faced by refugees when they come to Canada.”
Hannah Jackson Global News November 30, 202

Activists in Spain are concerned time is running out to pass a law that would make it easier for people to self-identify as transgender, as its progress through parliament is slowed by heated debate.
Charlie Devereux, Susana Vera, and Elena Rodriguez Reuters November 24, 2022

Russian lawmakers backed a bill on Thursday that would expand an existing ban on the promotion of "LGBT propaganda" among children to include people of all ages, a move critics see as an attempt to further intimidate and oppress sexual minorities.
Caleb Davis Reuters Oct. 27, 2022

State’s virtual weddings become a welcome solution for couples around the world; a post-midnight ceremony in Hangzhou
Shen Lu The Wall Street Journal Oct. 11, 2022

The sweeping 100-page law will also allow same-sex couples to adopt and includes measures that expand protections for women, children and the elderly.
Eduardo Medina The New York Times Sept. 26, 2022

Italy is already an outlier in Western Europe in terms of gay rights — gay marriage is still not recognized by law — but the possibility of Ms. Meloni taking power has prompted fears among gay families that things might get worse.
Emma Bubola The New York Times Sept. 25, 2022

Indian matchmaking site Matrimony.com Ltd (MATI.NS) has launched a new app catering to the members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the company said on Tuesday, as it expands to cover a bigger section of the society.
Reuters Sept. 6, 2022

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore’s gay community Monday hailed a plan to decriminalize sex between men as “a triumph of love over fear” but warned there is still a long way to equality and new bans on same-sex unions could entrench discrimination against them.
TOH EE MING and EILEEN NG AP News August 22, 2022

The city of Buenos Aires blocked the use of gender-inclusive language in schools, reigniting off a debate that is reverberating across the world.
Ana Lankes The New York Times July 20, 2022

In February 2022, the constitutional chamber of El Salvador’s Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling advancing the rights of the country’s embattled transgender community. It ruled that the constitutional clause barring discrimination based on sex encompasses discrimination based on gender identity, and that El Salvador’s law governing legal name changes must allow trans people to modify their legal name in accordance with their gender identity. The court gave the Legislative Assembly one year to make the necessary reforms.
John Holmes Human Rights Watch July 18, 2022

In Ukraine, a lot of people fear what might happen under Russian occupation. LGBTQ people are particularly worried. Inside Russia, they've faced persecution, even torture. For some, it's an added reason to flee the war. For others, though, it's a reason to stay and fight.
NPR March 13, 2022