A billboard challenging an impending ban on drag performances in Texas will go up in Austin early next week after a crowdfunding campaign organized by the makers of “RuPublicans” — a parody Instagram account that uses artificial intelligence to reimagine Republican political leaders as drag queens — crushed its fundraising goal in a single weekend….
Author: Brooke Migdon
Midwestern cities become transgender health sanctuaries amid GOP legislative threats
A growing number of Midwestern cities are declaring themselves safe havens for gender-affirming health care, often in direct defiance of laws passed by conservatives at the state level. While state legislatures across the Midwest are controlled overwhelmingly by Republicans, cities and metropolitan areas tend to lean more Democratic, driving some local leaders to introduce resolutions that distinguish the…
Majority of LGBTQ adults feel safety threatened by gender-affirming care bans: poll
State laws that ban gender-affirming health care are making LGBTQ adults feel less safe, according to new polling from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a national LGBTQ rights group. In a survey of more than 14,000 LGBTQ people in the U.S. older than 18, nearly 80 percent —including 94 percent of transgender and nonbinary respondents — said statewide…
North Carolina Legislature overrides vetoes of bills targeting transgender health care, athletes
The North Carolina Legislature voted Wednesday to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto against three bills that would ban gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, prevent transgender women and girls from competing on female sports teams and limit classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity. Cooper vetoed all three bills last month, writing in the veto…
LGBTQ veterans sue DOD over lingering discriminatory discharges
A group of LGBTQ veterans who were discharged because of their sexual orientation sued the Defense Department in federal court Tuesday, arguing it violated their constitutional rights when it failed to update them to honorable discharges after it repealed the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy more than a decade ago. “The U.S. Armed Forces allows…
How Bud Light lost its crown
Bud Light has been locked for months in a contentious dispute with its consumer base over a brief partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that has cost the brand and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, billions in market value. The brewing giant this week said it plans to lay off hundreds of U.S. corporate employees in an announcement…
Oklahoma governor signs order targeting transgender rights
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed an executive order Tuesday directing state agencies to adopt narrow definitions of “male” and “female” in a move that will roll back legal protections for transgender people in the state. Stitt’s executive order, known to its supporters as “The Women’s Bill of Rights,” defines “female” as a person “whose biological…
Federal judge halts Montana ban on drag performances
A federal judge in Montana issued a temporary restraining order on Friday blocking the state from enforcing a law that bans certain drag performances, writing in an order that the law likely suffers from “constitutional maladies.” Montana’s House Bill 359, passed by the state’s majority Republican legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte in May,…
Senate bill would help trans, nonbinary people who have changed their names receive accurate credit scores
Senate Democrats on Thursday unveiled legislation that would make it easier for people who have legally changed their names to receive accurate credit information. The Name Accuracy in Credit Reporting Act, introduced Thursday by Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to require that all…
Most voters oppose LGBTQ, abortion-related measures in House defense bill
Republican-led amendments to an annual military spending bill that threaten reproductive and LGBTQ rights are largely unpopular among voters, regardless of their political affiliation, according to new report from Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and polling firm. House Republicans this month packed a number of controversial amendments into the must-pass National Defense Authorization…