LGBT News

The Associated Press reports: Officials in Missouri’s largest city are moving to declare it a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care, defying state officials who are intent on banning it for minors and restricting it for adults. A Kansas City Council committee approved such a resolution Wednesday. The full council will now consider it Thursday. The council members …

The Associated Press reports: North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill that prohibits public schools and government entities from requiring teachers and employees to refer to transgender people by the pronouns they use, the governor’s office announced Monday. The new law also requires teachers to tell a parent or legal guardian if the student identifies as transgender. …

From the editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel: The best that can be said about Friday’s finish of the 2023 legislative session is that it has ended. Senators and representatives packed up and headed home, where most can no longer do more damage to Florida citizens. But the misery will continue as Gov. Ron DeSantis gleefully signs into law the …

Pink News reports: Democratic representative and trans trailblazer Zooey Zephyr has proposed to her girlfriend, the independent journalist and LGBTQ+ activist Erin Reed. Reed told PinkNews that the couple had been “side by side through it all for the last several months” and they are “thrilled” to be “a source of happiness for our community”. The past few weeks have …

The Associated Press reports: Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton lashed out Thursday at anti-LGBTQ measures enacted by Florida lawmakers and ripped the state’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law with a reference to oppression seen in Saudi Arabia. “It’s not good at all,” Hamilton said ahead of F1’s highly anticipated race in suburban Miami this weekend. “I stand by those …

“This Americanisation of our politics has no place here. My message to those people is, very clearly: if you want to behave like the worst elements of the Floridian Republican Party, get to Florida. “Head over there, where your hateful views might be worth something. They are worth nothing here. We will not stand for this sort of ugly behavior. …

ABC News reports: Florida mayors across the state are speaking out in support of LGBTQ rights in light of several bills targeting the community that have been passed by the state legislature and are heading to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis. At least eight mayors from Orlando, Miami Beach, Tampa, Tallahassee and more have signed the pledge in support …

The Associated Press reports: Indiana’s governor on Thursday signed a bill that will require schools to notify a parent if a student requests a name or pronoun change at school, one of the final bills approved in a legislative session that had targeted LGBTQ+ people in the state, especially students. Critics worry the law could out transgender children to their …

The New Republic reports: The Florida legislature passed a bill Thursday that will let the state take transgender minors away from their families if they are receiving gender-affirming care. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 26–13, mainly along party lines, and the House shortly after by a vote of 83–28, again along party lines. The measure now …

Agence France-Presse reports: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday launched a new attack against Turkey’s LGBTQ community as he played up his conservative credentials ahead of a crucial May 14 vote. Polls show the 69-year-old running neck-and-neck with leftist secular leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu in one of Turkey’s most important election races of its post-Ottoman history. “We are against the LGBT,” …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Nearing the end of a legislative session filled with debates about transgender issues, Florida lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill aimed at requiring people to use bathrooms that line up with their sex assigned at birth. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 26-12 to approve the bill (HB 1521), with the House following a short time later by …

Florida Politics reports: House members voted 82-33 along party lines for SB 170, a controversial measure that since its introduction last year has put advocates for local governance and home rule on edge. The bill is titled “Local Ordinances,” and that’s its target. The bill, which would largely go into effect Oct. 1 after receiving Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature, would …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

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 …

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” …

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 …