LGBT News

NYC Pride Flag Arsonist Found Mentally Unfit For Trial

New York City’s ABC affiliate reports: The woman arrested for allegedly setting fire to a gay pride flag outside a Manhattan restaurant, an incident caught on camera, was found mentally unfit for trial. Angelina Cando, who is charged with hate crimes, appeared briefly in court Tuesday. Her case was adjourned to May 9 for the Manhattan district attorney’s office to …

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MT Rep. Zooey Zephyr Loses Bid To Return To Chamber

The Associated Press reports: Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the transgender state lawmaker silenced after telling Republicans they would have blood on their hands for opposing gender-affirming health care for kids, was barred from returning to the Montana House floor in a Tuesday court ruling that came just hours before the Legislature wrapped up its biennial session. District Court Judge Mike Menahan …

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Activists Ejected From TX Capitol In Trans Rights Protest

The Texas Tribune reports: LGBTQ Texans defending transgender kids’ access to transition-related medical treatments that experts consider lifesaving clashed with a state Republican party that opposes all efforts to validate trans identities Tuesday, as state police forcefully booted from the Capitol people protesting a bill that would ban such care. It was the most dramatic day yet during a legislative …

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PA House Approves Statewide LGBTQ Protections

Harrisburg’s ABC affiliate reports: The Pennsylvania House narrowly passed a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. The bill, dubbed The Fairness Act, passed the House on Tuesday by a 102-98 vote after previously passing the House Appropriations and Judiciary committees. The bill amends the 1955 Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, which already …

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DeSantis Gets Bill Allowing Doctors To Refuse LGBTQs

Florida Politics reports: Insurers and providers would have the right to refuse health care that is at odds with their moral religious or ethical beliefs under a bill (SB 1580) the House has passed by an 84-34 vote. Advocates for gay, transgender and women’s health care worry that the bill gives physicians and payors legal protections to discriminate against patients. …

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Uganda Lawmakers Pass Amended “Kill The Gays” Bill

The Associated Press reports: Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday passed a new version of an anti-gay bill that removes a clause which appeared to criminalize identifying as LGBTQ. President Yoweri Museveni [photo] last month returned the bill back to the national assembly, asking for changes that differentiate between identifying as LGBTQ and actually engaging in homosexual acts. The new law prescribes …

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Alabama GOP Bill Would Outlaw Drag Shows In Public

The Associated Press reports: Alabama has joined states trying to limit drag shows after legislation was filed Thursday that would prohibit the performances in public places where children are present. The bill by Republican Rep. Arnold Mooney would add a provision to the state’s anti-obscenity laws to prohibit “male or female impersonators, commonly known as drag queens or drag kings” …

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Trans Lawmaker Sues Montana After Being Censured

ABC News reports: Montana state legislator Zooey Zephyr is suing the state, House Speaker Matt Regier and Sergeant at Arms for the Montana House of Representatives Bradley Murfitt after being censured by House Republicans. “The recent actions violate my 1st amendment rights, as well as the rights of my 11,000 constituents to representation,” Zephyr said in a tweet Monday. “Montana’s …

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TODAY: The Nineteenth Blogiversary Of Joe.My.God.

Today marks the nineteenth blogiversary of this here website thingy. Counting this one, we’re at 138,342 posts over 19 years, the last 15 of which have been without a full day off, although posting on weekends is usually at a slower rate. As I’ve said on this day every year, whether I am insanely committed or am insane and should …

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Montana Gov Signs Anti-Trans Bill Despite Son’s Pleas

The Associated Press reports: Montana became the latest state to ban or restrict gender-affirming medical care for transgender kids Friday when its Republican governor signed legislation that exiled transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr told fellow lawmakers would leave “blood” on their hands. Montana is one of at least 15 states with laws to ban such care despite protests from the families …

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VIRAL VIDEO: Montana GOP State Rep Would Rather Have Her Daughter Commit Suicide Than Transition

NBC News reports: A recent comment by a Montana Republican state lawmaker who sponsored legislation to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors has gone viral and drawn backlash online. State Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings, suggested during a floor debate that she would rather risk her daughter dying by suicide than allow her to transition. Seekins-Crowe did not say that …

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CDC: 25% Of High School Students Identify As LGBTQ

ABC News reports: A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows over one out of every four high school students in the United States identifies as LGBTQ. Using data it collected in 2021, the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) found that 74.2% of American high school students identified as heterosexual. The CDC surveyed …

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Son Of MT Gov Lobbies Him Against Anti-LGBTQ Bills

The Montana Free Press reports: David, 32, sat down in the governor’s office on March 27 with a prepared statement about legislation affecting transgender Montanans and the LGBTQ+ community generally, to which David says he belongs. He wanted to talk about Senate Bill 99, a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors; Senate Bill 458, a bill to define sex …

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Texas Senate Approves Bill To Prevent Doctors From Getting Liability Insurance Related To Trans Healthcare

The Texas Tribune reports: Transgender Texans of all ages could have their access to transition-related medical treatments severely limited — or effectively ended — under a bill the Texas Senate formally approved Wednesday. Senate Bill 1029 would make physicians and health insurers financially liable for their patients’ lifetime medical, mental health and pharmaceutical costs resulting from complications of gender-affirming medical …

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Ex-NBA Star: We Left FL To Protect Our Trans Daughter

The Washington Post reports: Former Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade moved his family out of Florida because of the state’s increasing hostility to LGBTQ people — including Wade’s daughter, Zaya. That revelation emerged in an interview Wade gave reporter Rachel Nichols for her Showtime program Headliners. “I have to make decisions for my family, not just personal, individual decisions,” Wade …

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KS Lawmakers Override Gov’s Veto On Bathroom Bill

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports: Kansas lawmakers enacted Thursday a sweeping anti-transgender rights bill that could require transgender individuals to use public facilities in almost every facet of society that align with their sex assigned at birth, raising the likelihood of lawsuits and questions about how the measure will be enforced. Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed Senate Bill 180 earlier this month, …

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Louisiana House Advances K-12 “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

The Associated Press reports: As several conservative states adopt legislation that prohibits school employees from teaching or discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, Louisiana advanced its own “Don’t Say Gay” bill Wednesday. The anti-LGBTQ+ measure was narrowly approved by a Republican-controlled House committee and heads to the full House, where an emotionally charged debate over the culture …

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DOJ Sues Tennessee Over Trans Youth Healthcare Ban

The Tennessean reports: The Department of Justice on Wednesday intervened in a federal lawsuit against Tennessee over the state’s controversial ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, asking the court to halt the law’s implementation before it takes effect on July 1. In March, Gov. Bill Lee [photo] signed into law SB 1/HB 1, which bans gender-affirming care for minors. …

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North Dakota Governor Signs Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill

PBS NewsHour reports: Transgender kids and adults in North Dakota won’t be able to access bathrooms, locker rooms or showers that match the gender they identify with in places like college dorms or jails, under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Burgum. The American Civil Liberties Union has said that so far this year, more than 450 bills …

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Montana House Votes To Censure Trans Lawmaker

NPR reports: Republicans, who dominate the Montana House of Representatives, have voted Wednesday to formally punish Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr. Zephyr, who is transgender, has been blocked from speaking since last Tuesday when she told supporters of a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors that she hoped they would see “blood on [their] hands.” There, she was alluding to …

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