By Deena Winter | ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Legislature voted Tuesday to restore an exemption in state law protecting religious organizations and schools against claims of gender identity-based discrimination.

Last year, lawmakers modernized definitions in the Minnesota Human Rights Act prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. But no corresponding religious exemption was added for gender identity, so current law allows a church to discriminate against a gay applicant but not a trans applicant. 

Some Republican lawmakers assumed it was an oversight, and introduced bills and amendments restoring the exemption, but earlier in the session, the majority Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party largely ignored their pleas, leading to passionate, angry debates in committee hearings.

Numerous religious groups pushed for what they said was religious freedom protected by the state and federal constitutions, arguing they should be able to employ people who adhere to their religious beliefs without the threat of civil rights litigation. 

Republicans mobilized, calling it an “unprecedented attack” on religious autonomy.

But Tuesday, the Senate unanimously approved a bill (HF4021/SF4292) reinstating the religious exemption. 

True North Legal, which represents religious groups, had already threatened litigation, noting the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the government cannot control religious schools’ hiring decisions.

Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, released a statement saying the vote was the result of  weeks of negotiations.

“Passing this amendment and the bill today secures in law the right we all have under the Constitution,” Limmer said.

The House followed suit later Tuesday, and now the bill heads to Gov. Tim Walz’s desk. 

It was a stunning turnabout from the DFL reaction earlier this session. 

When Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, suggested in a late February committee hearing that the DFL inadvertently forgot to include the religious exemption last session, committee chair Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, corrected him, saying, “It was not an oversight.”

Rep. Brion Curran, DFL-White Bear Lake, was visibly upset by religious leaders’ testimony in support of the exemption, calling it “disgusting,” “infuriating,” “disrespectful” and a direct attack on trans and non-binary people.

“I am appalled that we are having this discussion,” Curran said. “Where’s the dignity in not recognizing our fellow neighbors?”

Minnesota’s first out trans lawmaker, Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul, said during the hearing that the state took big steps toward protecting people’s rights last year — opening its doors as a refuge for transgender people — and said lawmakers weren’t about to allow discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

Niska released a statement saying it’s not the language he originally proposed, but achieves his goal of retaining a broad statutory exemption for both sexual orientation and gender. 

“Both sides had to be flexible in working to resolve this issue and I think the finished product respects all Minnesotans,” Niska said. “It protects institutional autonomy and the rights of association for people of faith.”

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Deena Winter has covered local and state government in four states over the past three decades, with stints at the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota, as a correspondent for the Denver Post, city hall reporter in Lincoln, Nebraska, and regional editor for Southwest News in the western Minneapolis suburbs.

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The preceding article was previously published by the Minnesota Reformer and is republished with permission.

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell. We’re in the halls of government tracking what elected officials are up to — and monitoring the powerful forces trying to influence them. But we’re also on the streets, at the bars and parks, on farms and in warehouses, telling you stories of the people being affected by the actions of government and big business. And we’re free. No ads. No paywall.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

By Whitney Downard  | INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – In a politically charged and, at times, inflammatory Facebook event, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita waded into a recent discussion on pronouns in the workplace.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that repeatedly misgendering an employee or denying them access to a bathroom consistent with their gender identity amounts to workplace harassment.

Rokita issued a ruling of his own Wednesday, saying that “neither state nor federal law requires a coworker to use the preferred pronouns and names of fellow employees.”

But the office cautioned businesses that even if misgendering someone isn’t a recognized form of discrimination, they could still amount to a “hostile work environment claim.”

“There are no examples in case law where the (mis)use of an employee’s pronouns alone has been held to have created a hostile work environment pursuant to Title VII. However, many of these cases at least imply that repeated use of non-preferred pronouns and names could result in such an outcome, if the conduct is ‘severe or pervasive enough,’” the ruling said.

In the 20-minute Facebook live event, the latest in a series of videos from the office, Rokita denounced the move as part of “a new push by America haters to force the rest of us to embrace the radical gender ideology that they want.”

Rokita went on to describe the participation of transwomen in sports as “an invasion” and called ongoing support for gender diversity “trans-sanity.”

“Most Hoosiers agree that we all should extend love and compassion toward individuals dealing with gender dysphoria. After all, it is a problem. And it should be treated. But it doesn’t need to be affirmed, nor should it,” Rokita said. “Treating these individuals with respect, however, does not require us by law to deny basic truths like the fact that there are only two sexes and an individual is one of them.”

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are intersex, a recognized third sex among scientists. Indiana’s Civil Rights Act doesn’t include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes, the attorney general’s office said.

Rokita said the opinion came from a question submitted by Indiana Rep. Mike Speedy, who is running in the 6th Congressional District GOP primary.

“I don’t believe this opinion, in any way, infringes on anyone’s right to be who they think they are. What it does is it protects employers and employees from that ideology from being imposed upon them in a workplace environment. And that’s fair to everyone,” Speedy said.

Rokita said the announcement wasn’t intended to be political, though it comes on the eve of the primary. He said Speedy’s request came in months ago but it took time to compile the ruling.

The Indiana Democratic Party accused Rokita of using taxpayer dollars for political purposes.

“Rokita owes Hoosiers an apology for this obvious political stunt. Whether it’s attacking medical professionals like Dr. Caitlin Bernard or using his office for political games, Rokita’s tenure has been an embarrassment to Indiana. Hoosiers can replace him with a Democratic Attorney General who will respect women’s rights, and focus on protecting taxpayers,” the party said in a statement.

Rokita will likely be on the ballot in November. Party nominees for attorney general are selected through a convention process in Indiana.

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A native of upstate New York, Whitney previously covered statehouse politics for CNHI’s nine Indiana papers, focusing on long-term healthcare facilities and local government. Prior to her foray into Indiana politics, she worked as a general assignment reporter for The Meridian Star in Meridian, Mississippi. Whitney is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University (#GoBonnies!), a community theater enthusiast and cat mom.

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The preceding article was previously published by the Indiana Capital Chronicle and is republished with permission.

The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to giving Hoosiers a comprehensive look inside state government, policy and elections. The site combines daily coverage with in-depth scrutiny, political awareness and insightful commentary.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Minneapolis-based retail giant Target has announced that it has scaled back availability of its LGBTQ+ Pride Month collection to select stores and online sales. In May of last year the retailer was forced to remove its LGBTQ+ merchandise after attacks on employees and emailed threats including bomb threats.

In a media statement to the Blade deflecting on specifics regarding the company’s decision to only offer its Pride collection to only about roughly half of its nearly 2,000 stores nationwide, a spokesperson for Target said:

“Target is committed to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month. Beyond our own teams, we will have a presence at local Pride events in Minneapolis and around the country, and we continue to support a number of LGBTQIA+ organizations. Additionally, we will offer a collection of products for Pride, including adult apparel, home products, food and beverage, which has been curated based on guest insights and consumer research. These items, starting at $3, will be available in select stores and on Target.com.”

In an emailed statement reacting to the news Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said:

“Pride merchandise means something. LGBTQ+ people are in every zip code in this country, and we aren’t going anywhere. With LGBTQ+ people making up 30% of Gen Z, companies need to understand that community members and allies want businesses that express full-hearted support for the community. That includes visible displays of allyship. 

“Target’s decision is disappointing and alienates LGBTQ+ individuals and allies at the risk of not only their bottom line but also their values.”

Target stores nationwide receive bomb threats over LGBTQ merch

In May 2023, police departments in Utah, Ohio, and Pennsylvania aided by assistance from agents from Federal Bureau of Investigation Field Offices in Ohio and Utah investigated threats,  including a bomb threat to multiple Utah locations, made by email to local media referencing the retail chain Target’s LGBTQ merchandise collections celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

At the time last May, Target spokesperson Kayla Castaneda released a statement from the company:

“For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month. Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year.”

By Juliette Rihl/LOOKOUT | PHOENIX, Ariz. – Twenty-two states have comprehensive LGBTQ+ civil rights laws on the books. Arizona, though, is not one of them.

The fight to pass an anti-discrimination bill is now more than twenty years old here. Since at least 2002, Arizona lawmakers—mostly Democrats, but also some Republicans—have repeatedly introduced bills that would include sexual orientation and gender identity among the state’s protected classes, such as race, sex, and religion. And although those bills varied in scope, they would have generally protected LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in employment, housing, or public accommodations.

But none of those bills went anywhere.

Instead, protection within the state is enforced by local municipalities; only 11 Arizona cities have ordinances that indicate being LGBTQ+ as a protected class.

Civil rights advocates say a comprehensive statewide anti-discrimination law is necessary. The urban cities that provide protections only account for half of the state’s general population, and research shows LGBTQ+ adults—especially in rural areas—are more likely to experience unemployment or homelessness compared to others.

And though there is competing data on whether or not nondiscrimination bills actually do what they intend, advocates say that it’s better to have something than nothing.

ONCE BIPARTISAN, NOW ONE-SIDED

Employment protections for LGBTQ+ people exist at the federal level, but if the Supreme Court were to roll back those protections it could leave queer people vulnerable, similar to when states saw local abortion laws triggered after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Darrell Hill, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, expressed the importance of a statewide law to avoid that, and protect people from experiencing homelessness or joblessness: “These are very serious consequences of discrimination,” he said.

There was a time when anti-discrimination bills did seem like they could have been a reality with Republican support.

In 2002, when Republicans held a supermajority in the House, six of them signed onto a nondiscrimination House bill with Democrats. However, the bill was never brought up for a vote and died in committee.

That support has since dwindled significantly. Between 2018 and 2022, bills that would have provided protections in employment, housing, and public accommodations had at least one member of each party backing them.

And over the past two years, amid an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the Arizona legislature, Republican support for a bill to protect queer people from discrimination has gone from slim to nonexistent. Even openly gay Republican lawmaker, state Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix), did not support any of the three bills introduced by Democrats the last two sessions.

And attempts to make the legislation bipartisan have been stymied, said state Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D-Phoenix) who also is the co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus. He said he reached out to Gress to try to gain support for HB2625, an anti-discrimination bill introduced this past session. Gress did not respond, he told LOOKOUT.

De Los Santos said Republicans who would otherwise support the legislation might be afraid to go against their party. He noted that Republican leadership recently removed Gress from the House Appropriations Committee in April after voting alongside Democrats to repeal the state’s near-total abortion ban.

Gress did not respond to multiple requests for comment from LOOKOUT.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?

Seventy-seven percent of Arizonans favor laws protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination,  according to a 2022 survey by the nonprofit public opinion research institute PRRI.

So why hasn’t something happened?

“As a matter of reality it’s going to take us to flip the legislature,” De Los Santos said.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle agree, especially as Republicans aligned with the state’s “Freedom Caucus” wield more power and move farther to the right on social issues, such as limiting transgender health care or criminalizing drag in public areas.

State Sen. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) who is associated with the state’s Freedom Caucus, said he and his colleagues disagree with a bill to provide protections for LGBTQ+ Arizonans. He was the only Republican to respond to LOOKOUT’s request for comment.

“I don’t think it would be good public policy, in that it would take away some people’s freedom of association, and it would generate lawsuits, and it would step on some people’s religious principles,” he said. A bill that did give religious exemptions was introduced last session, but Kavanagh still didn’t support it.

Kavanagh was the first lawmaker in the nation to propose a bathroom ban for trans students, and was the sponsor of multiple anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year, including one that would “out” queer kids to parents. Most of his bills passed the legislature but were vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.

Rep. Analise Ortiz (D-Phoenix), and State Rep. Lorena Austin (D-Mesa), both members of the LGBTQ+ Legislative Caucus, agreed that Democratic control is necessary to getting the legislation passed: “Republicans have repeatedly shown their complete refusal to pass even the most low-level bills that would support the LGBTQ+ community,” Ortiz said.

This article was originally published by LOOKOUT, a nonprofit queer-focused news organization covering Arizona’s LGBTQ+ communities.

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Juliette Rihl is a freelance journalist for LOOKOUT focused on equity issues. She was named Pennsylvania’s emerging reporter of the year in 2021.

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The preceding article was previously published by the Arizona Mirror and is republished with permission.

Amplifying the voices of Arizonans whose stories are unheard; shining a light on the relationships between people, power and policy; and holding public officials to account.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center is working to keep its doors and services open for hundreds of people with a funding campaign. The financial outlook currently is dire as the center has a May 31 deadline to raise the required funds so that the Leonard-Litz Foundation will match it.

The community center is attempting to raise $25,000. When it achieves that goal, the Leonard-Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation will match the funding for a total campaign of $50,000.

In an interview with ABC News affiliate WISN 12 News in Milwaukee, Ricardo Galaviz, the center’s associate director said keeping the center’s doors open is not only his goal, but also a full circle moment for him.

“Everyone was telling me, like being gay is going to hinder you,” Galaviz told WISN 12 News journalist Diana Gutierrez.  “You’re never going to be successful because of who you are,” he added.

WISN 12 reported that at 16, Galaviz found support at Project U, a youth program at the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. “At the time, my family was not accepting,” he said.

Years later he’s the associate director of the same center that saved him.

“Not only was I able to find people like me, but I was also able to see people who are like me in positions of success,” Galaviz said. He stressed that currently, the center is in need of some saving, too. “The sustainability of the center is what we’re trying to lock down right now,” he said.

In a Facebook post the center noted: “Free activities like yoga classes, potlucks, teen nights, crafternoons, discussion groups, book clubs, and so many more would not be possible without the generosity of our members and donors.”

According to the website of the Leonard-Litz LBGTQ+ Foundation, its mission is to “fund organizations which advance the interests and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community.” The foundation gives grants to local LGBTQ+ organizations, usually focusing most on the U.S. Northeast.

WISN 12 reported the fundraising plan is meant to bring the organization, located at Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Drive and Court Street, back to its full operating status. The organization’s new Interim Executive Director Ritchie T. Martin Jr. and the board of directors created this plan and partnership.

“We are extremely grateful to the Leonard-Litz Foundation for providing us with a grant to keep our doors open and a further matching grant,” said Martin Jr. “Now we look to our donors and community to help us in this next step of getting the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center to a stronger future.”

“From the people that were utilizing services prior to the pandemic. Compared to now, the numbers have multiplied quite quickly,” Galaviz told WISN 12. “We understand the importance of self-care, of taking care of ourselves, not just health wise, physical health, but also emotional and mental health. So, we’re seeing a lot of those services be the ones that people are looking for.”

He stressed it’s important to keep this center running. And although this might be a tough time, he wants to highlight the positives.

“There’s a lot of things that are happening socially, politically to this community. But there’s also a lot of things to celebrate here in Milwaukee. The great things that the center is doing, the great things that we’re able to provide the community,” Galaviz said. “I want people to know too that this is a thriving community. It’s not just a community that’s, you know, in crisis mode. We are in crisis mode. But as history has taught us, we have to come together. We’re all we have, but we’re also all we need.”

Editor’s note: If you’d like to help Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, donate here: https://secure.everyaction.com/kMZxWag-eU6XMa3ufB7wlA2

By Skylar Laird | COLUMBIA, S.C. — A bill banning transitioning medications and surgeries for transgender children is set to become law after the House agreed Thursday to accept the Senate’s changes.

Gov. Henry McMaster plans to sign the bill into law, a spokesman confirmed shortly after the House voted 67-26 along party lines to send it to his desk.

“I think this is a good idea to keep our young people safe and healthy,” McMaster told reporters in January. “If they want to make those decisions later when they’re adults, then that’s a different story, but we must protect our young people from irreversible decisions.”

The bill would ban doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or gender-transitioning hormone therapy to transgender youth under the age of 18. Doctors or other health care providers who violate the ban would risk losing their license. A complaint would have to be filed with the provider’s licensing board within three years of the treatment.

Also disallowed are gender-transition surgeries, though both sides agree no doctors are performing such surgeries on minors in South Carolina. If they ever do, they’d risk being convicted of a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The Senate added a provision requiring school administrators to notify students’ parents when children ask to change their pronouns or say they’re a different gender. The House accepted that without debate.

South Carolina will join two dozen other states with similar bans, though some are blocked by court challenges.

Supporters of the bill have touted it as protecting children from what they say can be dangerous and irreversible surgeries and treatments. House Republicans listed the measure among their top priorities for the year, and the House passed it within the first week of session.

Opponents have said the bill will throw families into disarray and put transgender children at a higher risk of suicide. Democrats in both chambers also argued the state shouldn’t come in the middle of medical decisions that should be between a family and their doctor.

The bill will take effect with McMaster’s signature.

However, it allows a phase-out for youth already in treatment.

Any minor taking puberty-blocking drugs or so-called “cross-sex” hormones under a doctor’s care before Aug. 1 can be gradually taken off them. All prescriptions must cease by Jan. 31, 2025.

Families of transgender children whose access will end can apply to get the treatment in a different state through the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project, the Campaign for Southern Equality announced Thursday. That can include up to $500 to cover travel and other expenses, according to the nonprofit.

“No one should be forced to leave their home state to access the care that they need and deserve,” Raymond Velazquez, executive director of partner organization Uplift Outreach Center, said in a statement. “Through this program, we will ensure that families and young people understand that they have options – and that support is available to help them.”

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Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.

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The preceding article was previously published by the South Carolina Daily Gazette and is republished with permission.

The South Carolina Daily Gazette is a nonprofit news site providing nonpartisan reporting and thoughtful commentary. We strive to shine a light on state government and how political decisions affect people across the Palmetto State. We do that with coverage that’s free to both readers and other news outlets.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

By Minh Ha, Verite | NEW ORLEANS, La. – Transgender public school students are caught in the middle of a legal battle between the state of Louisiana and the federal government, and schools have no clear answers on how to proceed.

Last week, Gov. Jeff Landry announced that Louisiana — along with Mississippi, Montana and Idaho — filed suit against the federal government over newly issued rules under Title IX, a 1972 law prohibiting gender discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding, including public K-12 schools in the state.

The new guidelines, released by the U.S. Department of Education last month, expand the definition of prohibited sex discrimination to apply to “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” Failing to comply risks losing billions of dollars in federal funding that goes to schools around the state.

The lawsuit focuses on the requirements around gender identity. The state argues that the rule is an overreach of Title IX authority. The law, the state argues, was intended to prohibit discrimination based on biological sex alone.

“The consequences will be shocking and severe,” lawyers for the states, among them Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, wrote in the April 29 complaint. “Boys and girls will be forced to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and perhaps even lodging on overnight field trips with members of the opposite sex. Adding insult to injury, they will be forced to use ‘preferred pronouns’ or else face punishment, which raises distinct Free Speech and Free Exercise problems.”

The rules, set to take effect Aug. 1, have faced backlash from other Louisiana state leaders, who have called the move an attack on women’s rights. In a letter sent out to school leaders April 22, state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said that the changes could contradict state law and urged schools not to follow the federal guidelines.

“The Title IX rule changes recklessly endanger students and seek to dismantle equal opportunities for females,” Brumley said in the letter.

Late last week, 17 parish school boards — including Bossier, Caddo and St. Tammany parishes, among the largest districts in the state — joined the state in its lawsuit against the Biden administration.

The revisions come during a time when Louisiana lawmakers are making a concerted effort to erode LGBTQ+ rights, with bills under consideration that would prohibit school employees from addressing students by their preferred pronouns, outlaw the discussion of sexual orientation in schools and segregate bathrooms and locker rooms based on sex assigned at birth.

Louisiana has about 4,000 students in the 13-17 age group identifying as trans, according to a 2022 report. In New Orleans, the largest and most politically left-leaning city in the state, school district leaders have not taken a stance on the issue.

Orleans Parish School Board President Katherine Baudouin declined to comment, citing a lack of information, while a spokesperson for the NOLA Public Schools district said these “complex issues are being reviewed.”

The school board previously took a stand on a related issue. In 2022, the board adopted a resolution denouncing anti-trans legislation moving through the state Legislature.

The Greater New Orleans Collaborative of Charter Schools, which 14 charter schools are a member of, said it is reviewing statements by federal and state authorities regarding the new Title IX requirements. Member schools, which include The Willow School and Warren Easton High School, all currently have similar non-discrimination policies with wording in compliance with the requirements of their respective public authorizers, like the NOLA Public Schools district, Jefferson Parish School Board and the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“It is our policy to refrain from commenting on current or imminent litigation,” a spokesperson for the collaborative said in an email to Verite News. “We will continue to monitor this situation as we prepare for next school year.”

‘It is heart-wrenching to watch us die’

Lux Matt, a sophomore at New Harmony High School in New Orleans who identifies as trans and nonbinary, is still mourning the death of Nex Benedict, a trans high schooler who died after being bullied at school in Oklahoma earlier this year. Medical examiners have ruled the death a suicide.

Matt was in the process of receiving gender-affirming care when a statewide ban on gender-affirming care for minors took effect in January.

“People underestimate how much this affects us,” Matt said. “We grieve every single trans person that is murdered, whether they are 45 years old or 15. It is heart-wrenching to watch us die.”

Surveys have consistently shown that LGBTQ+ youth have high rates of suicidal thoughts, with transgender youth at particularly high risk. A 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey also shows that trans and queer high schoolers were almost twice as likely to face bullying compared to their straight peers. In Louisiana, LGBTQ+ students reported in 2019 hearing anti-LGBTQ remarks regularly in school.

Matt said respecting trans kids’ names and pronouns at school helps prevent suicides. Since late 2021, they have been advocating for their and other queer and trans youths’ rights through advocacy work via Trans Queer Youth NOLA.

Matt said they have been in conversations with school leaders to keep their school safe and inclusive. For example, the school might work to allow students to use nicknames in school even if the state passes House Bill 121.

The bill, which passed the state House last month and is now in the Senate, would require school employees to refer to students by the names listed on their birth certificates (known as “deadnaming”) and pronouns that align with the gender they were assigned at birth, regardless of their gender identities, unless their parents give permission to do otherwise.

The school also doesn’t have a dress code or uniform, which Matt said allows trans students to express themselves freely.

English teacher Rebecca Cavalier sponsors the gay-straight alliance at Benjamin Franklin, which she said is one of few organizations of its kind in the city. Cavalier said Ben Franklin is committed to making sure LGBTQ+ students have a safe space on campus.

“Unfortunately, schools have become these political war zones where people from the right want to control what’s going on in the classroom,” she said. “It does create a feeling of fear, and I think that’s what’s going to do the most damage. Even teachers who are allies are going to take out queer representation in their libraries because they’re afraid.”

This year, her team has carried out protests, organized email campaigns to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and even put on a play about growing up queer in Louisiana at the state capitol, she said. With support from local advocacy groups, the school also built a queer library and a gender-affirming clothing closet at the school, she added.

“My administration probably won’t want to fully break the law, but we’ll do whatever we can to make kids feel safe,” she said. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen at other schools, which is sad. Kids are gonna feel very isolated.”

Cavalier said she’s worried the club might be seen as running afoul of yet another proposed state law next year. House Bill 122, which passed the State House last month and is awaiting debate in the Senate, would prohibit the discussion of sexual orientation in public schools, including during extracurricular activities.

But Cavalier said the group plans to hold meetings outside of school and partner with the Pride Center and other groups to avoid breaking the law. The gay-straight alliance is also putting together a working group to find loopholes in the law, Cavalier said.

“It’s hard to keep fighting because it just felt so hopeless this year, but we can’t make it easy for them,” she said.

A chilling effect

A’Niya Robinson, an advocacy strategist for the ACLU of Louisiana, said conflicting messages regarding Title IX from the federal and state levels had caused confusion among students, parents and educators statewide.

“There are a lot of different layers: there’s local law, there state law, there’s federal law,” she said. “There are folks who are knowingly injecting more confusion by filing baseless lawsuits — it really creates this chilling effect. I can easily see situations where teachers and students may be afraid to exercise their rights because they don’t exactly know what’s outlawed and what’s not.”

The ban on gender-affirming care that took effect this year forced New Orleans Center for Creative Arts sophomore Nicholas Lavender and his family to visit Rhode Island in March to access gender-affirming care. His parents, Beth Rosch and Will Lavender, said the family will return in August to take care of his medical needs.

“I’m grateful that this expansion has happened at the federal level because it’s keeping up with our continuing understanding and knowledge of what sexual identity is,” Rosch said, adding that she was frustrated with the state Legislature. “It’s an integral part of a person. It’s not a costume you put on to get into the other gender’s locker room.”

Will Lavender said he hopes school administrators will be vocal and take a stance to protect trans kids as the lawsuit progresses.

Rosch said it’s important for schools and teachers to provide all students with an inclusive and supportive learning environment.

“Children spend the majority of their waking hours at school, and that’s an enormous part of their social experience,” she said. “Just the cultural damage of these poor kids and adults [by] being told, ‘You’re not, you’re not real, you’re not true, you’re not a regular human being, you’re flawed, you’re imagining your own identity’ — that’s incredible psychological damage.”

Will Lavender said the attacks on queer and trans rights from the Statehouse have made the family feel unwelcome in Louisiana. But he hopes the NOLA Public Schools district would protect queer and trans students.

“All trans kids just want to be their normal, regular selves,” he said. “I would like to have faith that [the NOLA Public Schools district] will do the right thing, and hopefully not be afraid to get [its] hands dirty to support the kids of our city, all of them.”

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Minh (Nate) Ha is a recent magna cum laude graduate from American University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism. Originally from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Ha has spent the past four years in Washington, D.C. His reporting includes stories about how second-generation Vietnamese Americans fought to protect their community center in Virginia amidst redevelopment plans and the construction and delays of the Washington, D.C. metro.

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The preceding article was previously published by The Louisiana Illuminator and is republished with permission.

This article first appeared on Verite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization with a mission to cast light on how decisions in Baton Rouge are made and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianians. Our in-depth investigations and news stories, news briefs and commentary help residents make sense of how state policies help or hurt them and their neighbors statewide.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

By Nina Banks | KATY, Texas – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation Monday into Katy Independent School District’s gender identity policy on the basis of gender harassment under Title IX. The investigation came nine months after the district adopted a policy that notifies parents if their child requests to use a different name or pronouns at school.

Katy ISD did not respond to a request of how many parents have been notified this year under the new policy, which requires staff to inform parents that students are transgender or ask to use different names or pronouns.

The Houston Chronicle reported in December that the district had notified parents at least 23 times since the policy was adopted.

The gender identity policy also bars schools from teaching “gender fluidity” and denies students from competing in sports with the gender they identify with, which mirrors state legislation already regulating K-12 athletics.

Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, a student-led advocacy group, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education in November regarding the policy. Katy ISD graduate and member of SEAT Cameron Samuels labels the investigation as a win against the conservative policies being passed in the district.

“Elected solely on platforms to target marginalized students, far-right school board candidates accomplished exactly what they were elected to do: weaponize identity and neglect students’ educational needs,” they said.

Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational settings or federally funded activities. Gov. Greg Abbott has loudly voiced his opposition to the federal law recently ordering the Texas Education Agency to disregard the Biden administration’s expansion of Title IX.

“The district is committed to offering equal educational opportunities to our entire community,” a spokesperson from Katy ISD told the Tribune in a response to the investigation. “While we have received the OCR filing and deny any wrongdoing, we are committed to remaining fully cooperative and responsive throughout the process.”

Victor Perez, Katy ISD board president and proponent of the policy, argued that the policy was “mischaracterized” by community members as an attack on its queer and transgender students and instead relieves the burden for staff withholding information from parents. The policy was passed at a board meeting in August with a vote of 4-3 after four hours of public comment.

Alastair Parker, a member of the Cinco Ranch High School Gender-Sexuality Alliance, spoke at the board meeting in opposition to the policy.

Parker and others argued that the policy infringes on the rights of transgender kids to express themselves and opens them to potential harm if they are outed to transphobic parents or caregivers.

Johnathan Gooch from Equality Texas, a nonprofit advocacy group for LGBTQ+ Texans, said he hopes students recognize their power to report policies like this in the wake of the increasing number of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ youth.

This isn’t the first instance in Texas of a gender related policy being investigated on the federal level. Carroll ISD in Tarrant County was reported to have eight open investigations last February after it eliminated protections over race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.

There are documented mental health benefits to using preferred pronouns. A research team at the University Texas at Austin conducted a study in which they concluded that students in gender-affirming environments report 71% fewer symptoms of severe depression, a 34% decrease in reported suicidal ideation and a 65% decrease in suicide attempts.

“When students place their trust in teachers and school administration, the school has a duty to preserve that trust,” Gooch said. “That duty requires schools to ensure that no disclosure would place a student in harm’s way.”

Parker has been out as a transgender man since the seventh grade and is supported by his father, who he resides with. He acknowledged that this isn’t the case for many of his classmates as some have parents that are less accepting.

His teachers have gone by his preferred name and pronouns for his entire high school experience. But since the policy has been enacted, he has seen some of his peers go by their deadnames fearing that their parents would be notified.

Over the past year, other schools across the state have adopted similar policies.

Keller ISD, which is also in Tarrant County, passed a policy in late June that prevents students from using their preferred name and pronouns or using restrooms with the gender they identify with.

The policy was met with retaliation from the Texas American Civil Liberties Union, writing in a letter to the district that the policy is “deeply invasive and unlawful for school administrators to interrogate students’ private medical information in this way.”

As the end of the school year nears, Parker observed the policy being enforced at varying levels of severity by teachers. The passing of legislation or policy like this deters from the ongoing health crisis for queer and transgender youth and is wholly unnecessary, he said.

“If a child’s not telling their parents something like that, it’s for a reason,” he said. “I know that most of the people who are in favor of this are the ones who bounce off whatever their parents have told them to repeat.”

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Nina Banks is the Tribune’s Dallas Press Club Foundation reporting fellow based in Arlington where she is studying communications at Tarrant County College. She is managing editor of the student-run newspaper, The Collegian, and hosts the staff’s podcast, The First Draft. When Nina isn’t hunched over her laptop, you can find her sipping on boba tea.

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The preceding article was first published by The Texas Tribune and is republished with permission.

Disclosure: Equality Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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WASHINGTON — Karine Jean-Pierre sat down with the Washington Blade for an exclusive interview in her office on Tuesday, a week before the two-year anniversary of her appointment as America’s first Black and first openly queer White House press secretary.

Her history-making tenure has come at an especially fraught time for LGBTQ people.

The Biden-Harris administration has been widely celebrated as the most pro-equality in history. Over the past four years, rights and freedoms were expanded through the passage of landmark legislation and the enactment of bold new policies by federal agencies like the FDA and U.S. Department of Education, while the president elevated record-breaking numbers of LGBTQ appointees to serve in the highest levels of government.

At the same time, conservative Republicans have led an unprecedented legislative assault on queer people, especially transgender and gender-expansive youth, which has been accompanied by an escalation of dangerous fear and hate-mongering rhetoric against the community and spikes in bias-motivated acts of violence as well as depression, anxiety, self-harm behaviors, and deaths by suicide.

On these matters Jean-Pierre has often spoken out, addressing reporters from the lectern in the West Wing’s James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in remarks that have often gone viral and driven news coverage.

Reflecting on her tenure, the 49-year-old press secretary explained why she is uniquely positioned to leverage her influence as the most visible spokesperson for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the administration — at this pivotal moment for LGBTQ people both at home and abroad.

Leadership comes from the top

“Representation matters,” Jean-Pierre said. “And the president was certainly very aware of that, and wanted to make sure that he put together the most diverse administration,” she said, “and he did that.”

About 14 percent of appointees in the Biden-Harris administration identify as LGBTQ, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Adm. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In his first term, Biden has appointed a record-breaking 11 LGBTQ judges to the federal bench, tying with the number who were confirmed under former President Barack Obama over the course of eight years.

“I am in this job because the president of the United States believed and wanted me to speak on behalf of him and said, ‘You have my voice, and you know how to speak for me, and this is the role that I want’ — I mean, that’s why he chose me,” she said.

Jean-Pierre stressed that she is able to condemn “these bad bills, these awful bills, these really hateful, prejudiced, anti-LGBTQ+ bills” because of “this president” — and not just by virtue of his appointment of her to the role of press secretary, but also because “he believes it is important to speak out.”

“Silence is complicit,” she said. “You know, that’s something that you hear from this president all the time: We cannot be silent in this moment. We cannot. Not when we see these anti-LGBTQ+ bills” nor when attempts are made to restrict reproductive rights or other freedoms.

When vulnerable queer youth are being targeted, Jean-Pierre said, “we have to do everything that we can — as an administration, as the White House, as the federal government — to protect them, and that’s what I get to do” because “this president allows me to speak out and show up.”

Jean-Pierre also pointed to Biden’s remarks in defense of the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups during his State of the Union addresses and other major speeches.

“One of the things that he has said that always touches me is he says, ‘trans kids are some of the most impressive, brave people’ that he has seen,” she said. The president understands that “This is not about politics. This is about the right thing to do. And protecting lives.”

“And I say all of this to say it matters. It matters who sits behind that Resolute Desk. It matters who’s the president of the United States,” Jean-Pierre said.

The press secretary added that Biden’s actions as president affirm his verbal commitments to protect, support, and defend the LGBTQ community.

“The president signed an executive order to make sure that we were lifting up LGBTQ+ rights on the federal level, to make sure that policies that we were putting out there were taking steps toward protecting families, protecting youth, addressing mental health amongst young people, and in the community, and that was something that was really important for the president to do.”

She described a pivotal moment in the White House when, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade’s constitutional protections for abortion with a 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), conservative Justice Clarence Thomas signaled his interest in revisiting other cases, including those that established the right to marriage equality.

“So, one of the things that came out of Congress in a bipartisan way was protecting marriage, protecting marriage equality,” Jean-Pierre said, “and I remember when the president signed [the Respect for Marriage Act] in December of 2022, and how beautiful that was knowing that that was protected by law.”

“We have made sure to do what we can on the federal level,” she added, noting that, “Obviously, there’s legislation that we have to continue to push for,” including the Equality Act — which would codify nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans — “but we do what we can from this side of things.”

The importance of diversity of lived experience

The president also understands the value of narrative storytelling in policymaking and governance, Jean-Pierre said, noting how Biden often talks about economic issues by relating to the struggles of working families with his journey from humble beginnings in Scranton, Pa.

Likewise, Jean-Pierre said that drawing from her lived experiences “helps me understand policy a little bit more and telling stories around policies a little bit more.” For example, she sees the danger of anti-LGBTQ laws targeting youth not just because of her identity as a member of the community — but also as the mother of a nine-year-old.

In February, Jean-Pierre spoke out repeatedly after a nonbinary Oklahoma teen named Nex Benedict died, in what was later ruled a suicide, after enduring months of bullying over their sexual orientation and following their state’s passage of a bill prohibiting trans students from using restrooms and facilities consistent with their gender identity.

“I know that for many LGBTQ+ students across the country this may feel personal and deeply, deeply painful,” Jean-Pierre said in remarks to reporters during the opening (the “topper”) of her press briefing on Feb. 23.

“Nex Benedict and so many young people are dying by suicide,” she told the Blade. “And that hurts. That’s an incredibly hurtful thing. Because they were bullied, because they were attacked, because they don’t feel free.”

“As a parent, as a mom, I do everything that I can to make sure that [my daughter] is protected,” Jean-Pierre said. “And what I want for my child, I want for every child, so that does hit differently, because it’s very personal.”

The press secretary recalled how she met two mothers at an event last year and, in separate conversations with the women, learned how they planned to leave their respective home states — Texas and Oklahoma — because they had trans children and felt unable to protect them amid the legislative attacks.

“Can you imagine,” she asked, “you’re raising your child in a community that you are familiar with” when suddenly, “there is a piece of legislation that’s going through the state legislature that gets signed by the governor and it is telling you that your child is in danger?”

Jean-Pierre also recognizes how her professional background and experience have equipped her for the briefing room and other duties of her role as White House press secretary.

Prior to joining Biden’s 2020 campaign and then the Biden-Harris administration, she worked as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, having also served as a senior adviser and national spokesperson for MoveOn, the progressive public policy advocacy group.

Jean-Pierre began her career working on political campaigns and fundraising before joining the faculty of her alma mater, Columbia University, where she was a lecturer in international and public affairs.

“There’s something to growing and experiencing and taking chances and jumping from one thing to another,” she said, “understanding that you’re learning from the last thing and what you’re learning from the last thing you’re going to take to the next experience.”

The president, Jean-Pierre said, “had watched me do TV and watched me in my roles prior, and really believed that I was the person that he wanted” for the press secretary role.

Ultimately, “whether it’s making sure I am empathetic, sympathetic to what people are going through as a mom, as someone that belongs to multiple communities, I get to do that. Whether it’s the media and understanding how the media works, how TV works, how communicating with the press works, I’ve done that, so I’m able to bring that to the podium,” she said.

‘Lifting up issues that matter‘

In the immediate aftermath of Benedict’s death, Jean-Pierre noted that LGBTQ advocacy groups and individuals had sought to “get more attention to what happened there,” while the Biden-Harris administration wanted folks to understand “that we’re watching, we’re seeing what is happening, and we’re going to speak” about it.

“We’re not going to be silent, here,” she said. “We were very purposeful about it.”

In hindsight, Jean-Pierre said, her remarks from the podium made a real impact. “It brings coverage; it brings the White House press corps and others to cover what we’re saying. That is why it is so important what we do at the podium; it is so important what we do in this press briefing room — lifting up issues that matter to the American people.”

The press secretary added, “sometimes it’s not even an issue that’s popular. It’s something that needs to be spoken to, because it is something that could lead to a dangerous situation; something that could oppress a community, harm a community — and we get that; this president gets that, this administration gets that.”

Initially, there was very little press coverage of Benedict’s death, Jean-Pierre said, but “we wanted to really lift up what was happening,” because “it wasn’t just Nex Benedict. It was a story of many, many people in that community who were being bullied, who were being attacked. And we needed to speak to that” especially amid the hundreds of bills targeting the rights of queer youth in Oklahoma and across the country.

In another instance recalling her comments from the briefing room, Jean-Pierre stressed how it was important for the administration to “take on the governor” of Florida, Ron DeSantis (R), over his efforts to target the LGBTQ community by banning books, imposing curriculum restrictions, and limiting educators’ ability to be out at work.

Doing what’s right — regardless of the backlash

Jean-Pierre was quick to brush aside the question of whether she considers the risk of incurring backlash from the right when deciding whether to speak out on matters of LGBTQ rights.

Blowback “happens all the time,” she said. “Every day!” So, “I just don’t pay attention to it. We have to do the right thing and we can’t live in fear, here.”

The choice to be silent about a problem is the choice to be complicit, and not only does silence forestall any progress toward addressing the issue at hand, but it also constitutes an abrogation of one’s responsibility as a leader, Jean-Pierre said.

“The president is very clear about that,” she said. With respect to issues like dangerous anti-LGBTQ legislation, “you can’t be silent” because “people’s lives are at stake.” Ultimately, “The backlash is going to be the backlash, but we’ve got to do the right thing and history will remember where we stood.”

The Biden-Harris administration believes this principle extends to America’s leadership on the international stage, Jean-Pierre said, in her response to a question about U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-Mich.) travel to Uganda last year to speak in defense of the country’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act.

She stressed that the law, which criminalizes homosexuality and imposes the death penalty in some cases, is “dangerous and undermines the rights of all citizens. And the president has been very clear, the Biden-Harris administration has been very clear, that no one should live — and I’ve said this before — in constant fear.”

Rather, Jean-Pierre said, “They should feel safe in their community, they should feel protected, and no one should be subjected to violence and discrimination. It is not what we believe, whether it’s here in this country or abroad.”

Since the legislation was made effective in May 2023, she noted, “we’ve taken several accountability actions, including restricting visa entry to the United States, restricting economic support to the government, and sanctioning officials who abuse human rights.”

Jean-Pierre added that, “we’re also deeply troubled by the copycat anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world,” which is “why it’s important what we do as the United States, because we’re leaders. And when you’re seeing other countries trying to implement and copycat the same thing, you need the United States to stand up and speak out against it. And that’s leadership.”

The administration’s robust response “sends a message around the world, that we do believe in human rights; we do believe that people should be protected; we do believe that violence and discrimination is not OK,” Jean-Pierre said. “And we lead by example.”

Likewise with respect to her comments from the podium, she said. “And [those remarks] went viral, because we spoke to it very loudly, very clearly,” in what was “an important moment for the community here but [also for] the community abroad, to hear from us, [that] we’re not afraid to talk about this because we have to and we understand our role in the world.”

By Erin Reed | SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – On Wednesday evening last week, the Utah Public Auditor released a form allowing cisgender people to report transgender people in bathrooms. This was done in response to a law passed earlier this year banning transgender people from bathrooms and changing rooms in various circumstances.

Within a couple of days, the form was flooded with over 4,000 meme submissions, leading to a flurry of news articles critical of the approach to enforcing anti-transgender bathroom legislation. Now, the Utah Public Auditor is responding to the critiques by deferring blame onto the state legislature for making his office the “bathroom monitor,” a role he says he never asked for.

In a statement released today, Utah State Auditor John Dougall called the passage of the bill rushed and stated his office was never consulted during the process of passing the law: “The Office created the complaint form to comply with a statutory mandate – a role we did not request. Indeed, no auditor sets out to become a bathroom monitor. Unfortunately, neither Rep. Birkeland, nor any other legislator consulted with this Office regarding this newly mandated obligation placed on the Office under this bill. Like many in the public, we learned about our role under this bill shortly before the bill was rushed to final passage.”

You can view the full statement here:

The statement is in response to widespread criticism and outcry over the use of the form to target transgender people. The form included a section where people could upload images, among other things, to support their allegations.

This led to fears that the form would encourage members of the public to act as vigilante bathroom police, taking pictures of people they thought were transgender in private bathroom spaces.

This was a criticism shared by Senator Jennifer Plumb, a vocal critic of the legislation, who posted shortly after its release, stating, “Apparently Utah’s solution to people feeling unsafe in restrooms is to encourage folks to take photos of & focus extreme attention on the private parts of others who are taking care of a biological need to eliminate waste?”

The form was quickly recognized as a threat to transgender people, and in response, thousands of people flooded the tip line with frivolous complaints and memes, over 4,000 in all. Memes sent to the form included the yelling cat meme, Godzilla with trans pride flags, the entire script to the Bee Movie, and more.

In a separate twist, private data such as images from those who submitted forms was leaked through an open database, which allowed some of these meme submissions to be publicly viewable for a short time.

The ordeal over the bathroom reporting tool in Utah mirrors problems seen in many other anti-trans bathroom laws targeting transgender adults. These laws are extremely difficult to enforce. Questions of enforcement were brought up often in the debate, with many pointing out that you can’t always tell who is transgender.

This sentiment was shared in the Senate Business and Labor Committee by Dustin Parmley, a public defender, who stated, “This bill is impossible to enforce. It relies on citizens to determine if someone is feminine or masculine enough to use it. The exceptions are for hidden conditions, such as someone’s surgery or birth certificate. It will lead to unnecessary police investigations.”

It remains to be seen what the future of the form looks like. Already, the option to submit a picture has been removed. There is no indication that any actionable complaints have been submitted.

Other attempts to create such forms have similarly failed, such as in Virginia, where Governor Glenn Youngkin’s tip line was flooded with complaints about Beowulf, or in Missouri, where scripts for the Bee Movie were sent in.

In this case, it appears that when faced with problems enforcing anti-trans laws, the state of Utah attempted to sidestep the issue by abdicating the responsibility of enforcement to its citizens. In its “rush” to pass the legislation, those who pointed out that such a bill would create “bathroom police” appear to have been proven correct.

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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.

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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.