Story at a glance A private religious school in Florida will not be expected to follow a new LGBTQ+ inclusive policy to receive federal funding for school lunches. Grant Park Christian Academy sued the Biden administration and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) late last month, arguing that the rule threatened its “ability to feed…
Author: Brooke Migdon
Poorly communicated guidelines, ever-changing restrictions and ‘almost laughable’ transphobia. How a transgender cyclist lost her title.
Story at a glance USA Cycling has revoked a silver medal from a transgender cyclist and removed her from competing in further events at the 2022 Elite Track National Championships, citing unmet participation requirements. Leia Genis, 25, wrote in an Instagram post following her disqualification that she was “heartbroken” and “disgusted” and suggested that the…
Michigan public library defunded over inclusion of LGBTQ+ materials
Story at a glance Voters in Western Michigan last week defeated a measure to renew their public library’s property tax millage that is responsible for most of its annual budget over the library’s inclusion of LGBTQ+ books. The Patmos Library in Jamestown Township, Mich. is now at risk of closing before the end of next…
Experts worry monkeypox disinformation will harm LGBTQ+ community
Story at a glance LGBTQ+ advocates and public health experts have expressed concern that the framing of monkeypox as a disease that is spread exclusively by LGBTQ+ people through sexual contact will stigmatize and isolate an already-marginalized group. Monkeypox can spread through close or skin-to-skin contact, but it is not a sexually transmitted disease, according…
Florida’s Board of Medicine considers restricting gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, adults
Story at a glance Florida’s Board of Medicine, made up of doctors appointed by the governor, will meet Friday to consider establishing new standards of care for the state’s transgender youth. The proposed standards from the state Department of Health are mostly based on false or misleading claims about the effectiveness and safety of gender-affirming…
Lawsuit filed against Tennessee ‘bathroom bill’
Story at a glance The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) on Thursday filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging a 2021 Tennessee law that prohibits transgender students from using school restrooms or locker rooms that match their gender identity. A similar complaint was filed by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the HRC,…
Judge rules West Virginia Medicaid must cover gender-affirming medical care
Story at a glance West Virginia’s Medicaid program will no longer exclude coverage for gender-affirming medical care, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. Lambda Legal, the law firm Nichols Kaster, PLLP, and the Employment Law Center, PLLC filed a class action lawsuit in 2020 challenging West Virginia’s exclusion of coverage for gender-affirming surgeries for transgender Medicaid…
Iowa school district sued over transgender student policy
Story at a glance An Iowa school district was sued this week over its adoption of a policy designed to protect transgender students through the development of “gender support plans.” The group suing the school district, Parents Defending Education, has said the policy infringes on the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of students, as well…
New research challenges claim that youth identify as transgender due to ‘social contagion’
Story at a glance A paper published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics disproves popular theories used mostly by conservative politicians and those in the medical field seeking to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. Transgender adolescents do not identify as transgender because they are influenced by external factors like social media or…
Petitions urging Romney to codify marriage equality signed by ‘hundreds’ of Utahns
Story at a glance Hundreds of Utahns have signed petitions urging Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would officially repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and require federal recognition for same-sex and interracial marriages nationwide, the Human Rights Campaign said this week. The petition signatures…