LGBT News

PBS reports: The rights of transgender Americans has been a growing topic of debate on sports fields, in state capitols and in Congress. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, says more than 30 state legislatures have proposed more than 115 bills that would limit transgender rights, from participation on sports teams to access to medical care. But two-thirds …

Tallahassee’s NBC News affiliate reports: The Florida House on Wednesday passed a bill that would ban transgender females from competing girls’ and women’s high school and college sports. The bill passed with a vote of 77-40 after a heated debate. The bill would make participation in athletics contingent on determining a students’ “biological sex,” which is a disputed term that …

NBC News reports: The NCAA Board of Governors released a statement Monday that it will not host championships in places that discriminate against transgender athletes. “The NCAA Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports. This commitment is grounded in our values of inclusion and fair competition,” the statement read in …

The Hill reports: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on Sunday that his decision to veto the transgender youth healthcare ban was a “message of compassion and conservatism,” saying it aligned with his conservative belief in limited government. Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Hutchinson acknowledged the blowback he has received from his party for his veto of the …

NPR reports: ARI SHAPIRO: And so if you were to hear today from one of those transgender minors and their parents who had been getting hormone treatment and will have to stop under this law, like, what would you say to them? ASA HUTCHINSON: Well, I’m sorry, and that’s exactly the reason I vetoed the bill is because we wanted …

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: On a window outside Aries Tax Service in Radcliff, Kentucky, signs promote how customers can e-file returns for $55 as long as they provide 10 things to Ken Randall, the registered tax return preparer at the Hardin County business. But the last thing Randall lists on his “I Need” placard is something he doesn’t want: “Homosexual …

Little Rock’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Arkansas House and Senate both voted to override Governor Asa Hutchinson’s veto of HB1570, making the bill law. Gov. Hutchinson vetoed HB1570 on Monday. The Arkansas House voted 71-24 to override Hutchinson’s veto, and the Arkansas Senate voted 25-8 to override the veto. Arkansas becomes the first state to ban gender confirming treatments …

Nashville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Tennessee’s Republican-dominant Senate on Monday advanced legislation that would require school districts to alert parents of any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as allow them to opt their students out of such instruction. According to the bill, school districts would have 30 days to alert parents or guardians of upcoming instruction …

The Hill reports: The Department of Justice (DOJ) has told federal agencies that gay and transgender students are protected from discrimination under civil rights laws, reversing Trump administration guidance that limited the impact of a landmark Supreme Court decision last year extending employment discrimination protections to LGBT workers. In an memo to federal agencies, Pamela Karlan, the head of the …

Little Rock’s ABC News affiliate reports: Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday that he vetoed a bill that would ban gender confirming hormone treatment for trans youths. Hutchinson called the bill “well-intended but off course” and said it was “overbroad.” “We are creating new standards of legislating interference for physicians and parents as they deal with some of the most …

The Associated Press reports: The Pentagon on Wednesday will sweep away Trump-era policies that largely banned transgender people from serving in the military, issuing new rules that offer them wider access to medical care and assistance with gender transition, defense officials told The Associated Press. The new department regulations allow transgender people who meet military standards to enlist and serve …

From a just-issued White House proclamation: Today, we honor and celebrate the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities. Transgender Day of Visibility recognizes the generations of struggle, activism, and courage that have brought our country closer to full equality for transgender and gender non-binary people in the United States and around the world. Their trailblazing work has given …

The Associated Press reports: In a sharp rebuke to Trump-era policies, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday formally scrapped a blueprint championed by his predecessor to limit U.S. promotion of human rights abroad to causes favored by conservatives like religious freedom and property matters while dismissing reproductive and LGBTQ rights. Blinken said a report prepared for former Secretary of …

CNN reports: The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services, the first out transgender federal official to be confirmed by the chamber. The vote was 52-48. Levine, a pediatrician, previously served as Pennsylvania’s secretary of health and as physician general — the state’s top health official and …

The Times of Israel reports: Doug Emhoff, husband to US Vice President Kamala Harris, will serve as guest speaker at this year’s National Rainbow Seder. The event, a virtual one, strives to celebrate Passover through an LGBTQ lens. The Seder’s theme is “Renewal and Resistance: a Journey Towards Liberation.” It will include a specially commissioned Haggadah coupling the story of …

Via press release from the Justice Department: A Louisiana man was indicted and charged today in federal court in the Western District of Louisiana on six counts, including hate crime, kidnapping, firearm and obstruction charges. Chance Seneca, 19, of Lafayette, was charged by a federal grand jury on March 18 based on his attempted murder of a gay man and …

The Washington Post reports: In some ways, full LGBTQ rights has never seemed more within reach. First came the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Then its decision last year banning LGBTQ discrimination in employment. And now, for the first time since those rulings, a Democratic-led Congress and a president who vows to pass sweeping legal protections by April. …

The Associated Press reports: A Japanese court ruled Wednesday the government’s ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, recognizing the rights of same-sex couples for the first time in the only Group of Seven country that doesn’t acknowledge their legal partnership. Even though the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ demand for government compensation, the precedent is a major victory for same-sex people …

The Hill reports: Marvel is introducing a new “LGBTQ+ hero” into the “Captain America” world, a character the comic book publisher says “stands for the oppressed and the forgotten.” The debut of Aaron Fischer, known as the Captain America of the Railways, is timed to coincide with Pride Month in June, Marvel Comics said in a Monday news release. The …

Reuters reports: The Vatican said on Monday that priests and other Catholic Church ministers cannot bless same-sex unions and that such blessings are “not licit” if carried out. The Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), issued the ruling in response to questions and moves in some parishes to impart such blessings as a sign …