Anti-trans laws that target gender-affirming care, transgender youth’s participation in sports, and LGBTQ-inclusive education have been enacted across the nation this year. Now people who study the anti-LGBTQ right are watching out for a new growing threat: harassment and protests against facilities that offer gender-affirming care. People who study the anti-abortion movement say that anti...
Why we don’t know more about violence against trans people
At least 50 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been killed this year across the country, according to a report compiled by the Human Rights Campaign. This marks the highest number of such killings since records have been kept: Last year, at least 44 trans and gender-nonconforming people suffered violent deaths, the previous highest number recorded. The words “at least”...
Florida follows Texas in stripping resources for LGBTQ youth from government website
A state agency in Florida has taken down content from a website that provided anti-bullying resources, including those specifically meant to help LGBTQ youth. This action comes just three months after a Texas agency removed information for LGBTQ youth from its websites following criticism from a Republican gubernatorial candidate. The Florida Department of Education’s website for the Office...
Schools are struggling to protect trans students facing discriminatory state laws
Schools across the country have been left to navigate a spate of discriminatory state laws targeting transgender youth over the past several months, forcing them to determine if — and how — they are able to fight back. Nine states have passed laws or implemented executive orders in the past year to stop transgender athletes from playing on the team of their gender, with Texas the latest state to...
Therapists connected to US Christian groups push anti-LGBTQ practices in other countries
Christian groups in the United States have been helping to promote anti-LGBTQ “conversion therapy” outside of the country, according to an investigation published on Wednesday by openDemocracy, a U.K.-based global news outlet. As part of the investigation, reporters who went undercover as LGBTQ people seeking mental health services from Christian groups were connected to providers...
Health program for trans kids shuts down amid conservative attacks
A health care program for transgender youth in Dallas, Texas, has been disbanded after facing criticism from right-wing, anti-trans protesters, the Texas Tribune reported Friday. The GENder Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support program, also known as GENECIS, provided hormone treatments, mental health services, and counseling. The program was dissolved sometime in early November...
School surveillance technology could hurt LGBTQ students, privacy advocates say
As conservatives stoke fears about books on LGBTQ subjects in libraries and school policies affirming transgender youth, another practice threatens LGBTQ students’ privacy and safety: Many school districts are monitoring students’ activity on devices such as cellphones and computers, viewing their email accounts, search histories, messaging, and chats, sometimes 24 hours a day...
Far-right groups sue over transgender-inclusive school policies in Virginia and Florida
The Alliance Defending Freedom and the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, two anti-LGBTQ legal advocacy groups, have filed lawsuits against school districts over their policies affirming transgender students and advising against the outing of LGBTQ students to their families. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center designates an anti-LGBTQ hate group, is behind an...
Librarians are fighting back against conservative attacks on LGBTQ books
As conservatives continue to demand the removal of books on LGBTQ subjects and racism from libraries, librarians and library groups are making it clear that they’re willing to push back against attempts at censorship. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott made news on Wednesday when he announced a criminal probe into books in school libraries that he considers “pornographic.” He wrote to...
This US-based hate group is promoting anti-LGBTQ discrimination around the world
The international wing of an anti-LGBTQ organization based in the United States is succeeding in its efforts to chip away at LGBTQ rights across the globe, according to a new report from the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. The report, “From America with Hate: The Alliance Defending Freedom’s Role in Advancing Anti-LGBTQ+ and Anti-woman Agendas in Eastern Europe,” was...