Tag Archives: LGBT youth

For the third time in three years. Via press release: One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Coloradans and their families, released the following statement from Executive Director Daniel Ramos on the passage of House Bill 1156 out of the Colorado House Representatives by a 38-27 vote with bipartisan support. “House Bill …

ABC News reports: Advocates of long-discredited gay conversion therapy programs say they are heartened by the election of Donald Trump and are counting on Vice President Mike Pence and congressional Republicans to help fight off efforts to make such programs illegal. “I certainly hope that this administration will pull back from some of the aggressive activism that the Obama administration …

CNN reports: Lawyers for Gavin Grimm, a transgender teen who is barred from using the boys’ bathroom at his Virginia high school, told the Supreme Court Thursday that his challenge to the school board policy should go forward, arguing that the restrooms “must be equally available to all boys and all girls, including boys and girls who are transgender.” The …

The Hill reports: New Education Secretary Betsy DeVos defended the Trump administration’s decision to rescind protections for transgender students, arguing that the protections were an “overreach” of the Obama administration. “This issue was a very huge example of the Obama administration’s overreach, to suggest one-size-fits-all, federal government approach,” DeVos said on Thursday at the conservative conference CPAC. DeVos was initially …

From the Family Research Council: The Trump administration’s reversal of this mandate on schools is a victory for parents, children, and privacy. The Obama administration resorted to this coercive policy because they knew parents and schools could never be persuaded to force boys and girls to shower together, stay together on school trips, and use the same locker rooms and …

The New York Times reports: President Trump rescinded protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms of their gender identity, overruling his own education secretary and placing his administration firmly in the middle of the culture wars that many Republicans have tried to leave behind. In a joint letter, the top civil rights officials from the Justice …

Law Newz reports: There is now a draft copy of a document circulating that shows the potential Trump administration reasoning for backing off the Obama policy regarding transgender bathroom use. The Obama administration’s contends that Title IX prohibits the discrimination on the “basis of sex” to include a requirement that facilities provide people access to bathrooms based on the sex …

The New York Times reports: A fight over a draft order that would rescind protections for transgender students in public schools has erupted inside the Trump administration, pitting Attorney General Jeff Sessions against the secretary of education, Betsy DeVos. Ms. DeVos initially resisted signing off on the order and told President Trump that she was uncomfortable with it, according to …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Despite pleas from parents of transgender children and LGBT employees, the Trump administration is set Tuesday to rescind Obama-era guidance to schools barring discrimination against transgender students and ensuring they have access to the restroom consistent with their gender identity. Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told the …

PBS reports: State legalization of same-sex marriage appears to be linked to a decrease in adolescent suicide, based on a new analysis published today in JAMA Pediatrics. The results give more context to the potential effects of social policy on mental health. The researchers found that suicide attempts by high school students decreased by 7 percent in states after they …

Ben Winslow reports at the Salt Lake Tribune: A bill introduced in the Utah State Legislature may help get the state out of a lawsuit over a law that forbids discussion of anything construed as “promotion” of homosexuality. Senate Bill 196, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams, R-Layton, “repeals language prohibiting the advocacy of homosexuality in health instruction.” “It …

The Toledo Blade reports: The Toledo City Council unanimously approved a ban on conversion therapy today while also making gender identity a protected class in the city. The proposal was lauded earlier in the day during a public hearing by supporters but also criticized by clergymen who asked if they would be prohibited from counseling people who are gay. Conversion …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday that it would allow transgender boys to join the organization, based on their gender identity, shifting away from a policy that determined eligibility based on the sex listed on a child’s birth certificate. “Starting today, we will accept and register youth in the Cub and Boy Scout programs …

Via email from openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims: This afternoon I announced with Mayor Kenney and the American Psychiatric Association (APA), legislation banning the practice of conversion therapy on minors, aimed at changing their sexual orientation. In my experience, there is oftentimes a deeply rooted connection to religious fundamentalism that underscores the thought processes of many advocates of …

UPDATE: Things are now underway. The confirmation hearing for billionaire anti-LGBT Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos is allegedly starting any minute, but it appears the proceedings may be been delayed somewhat by the Chelsea Manning story, which is dominating all networks at this writing. Watch below.

Fox News reports: A woman in Brazil has confessed to stabbing her teenage son to death because she couldn’t tolerate he was gay, local media outlets are reporting. The woman, Tatiana Lozano Pereira, lured her 17-year-old son to the family home after a heated argument on Christmas Eve. Once in the house, Itaberli Lozano was reportedly ambushed by the woman …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students contact Lambda Legal every day to seek help being safe at school.  We need a Secretary of Education who will make schools safe for all students, and who won’t tolerate bullying – by peers, parents, or school administrators. What we know so far about Betsy DeVos’s record concerns …

Via World Net Daily: The U.S. Supreme Court has been handed a bombshell: An appeal of a lower-court ruling that banned Christian counselors from talking with teens about the biblical standard for sexuality. The case challenges laws that force licensed counselors to affirm homosexuality, prohibiting them from helping clients overcome same-sex attractions. Such laws have been adopted in New Jersey, …

CBS News reports: The Boy Scouts of America is facing tough questions after banning a child over his gender identity. Joe Maldonado, 8, who was born a girl and now identifies as a boy, was removed from his New Jersey Cub Scout troop. Joe’s family says parents of other children had complained. Joe’s mother, Kristie Maldonado, says the organization already …

JMG reader Rob tips us to this lovely three-minute clip from Kodak. From the YouTube description: “Director Terry Rayment’s 35mm film “Understanding” poignantly depicts the transformational power of love and happiness. Cinematographer Kate Arizmendi captured all of the emotions beautifully on KODAK VISION3 500T 5219.”