LGBT+ News and Discussions

weatheriscool
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Historic day for LBGTQ rights, as anti-discrimination bill goes to Whitmer
LANSING — Gay and transgender Michiganders are poised to win permanent protections against discrimination under legislation headed to the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for a promised signature.

The Democratic-led House on Wednesday gave final approval to long-discussed legislation to expand the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

The bill codifies a series of recent court orders and interpretive statements that have already extended similar rights to Michigan’s LGBTQ community.

Supporters called Wednesday’s House vote another historic step in the fight for equality that will strengthen prohibitions against discrimination in the workplace, housing market and places of public accommodation.
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-gover ... es-whitmer
weatheriscool
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Gov. Tim Walz signs executive order protecting gender-affirming health care
https://www.startribune.com/gov-tim-wal ... 600257207/
Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order on Wednesday protecting access to gender-affirming health care for transgender Minnesotans, a direct response to recent legislative action in states such as Iowa and South Dakota to ban that care for children and their families.

"It's being led by bullies, and I say this as a teacher, we cannot stand bullies," the DFL governor said during a signing ceremony for the order. "Nothing to gain for themselves, not following any factual data, and essentially using the state apparatus to bring cruelty."

The order aims to make Minnesota a refuge for people seeking health care designed to affirm their gender identity by protecting patients and providers from extradition orders and keeping their data private. State agencies will communicate with healthcare systems about the requirements under the order.

Its aim is similar to proposals introduced in the DFL-controlled Legislature, but supporters said the recent proposals in other states prompted the need for an emergency action as the bills make their way through the process.
weatheriscool
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Vermont Senate passes bill protecting providers of abortions, trans procedures from legal action
The Vermont Senate on Friday passed a bill that aims to protect health care workers from disciplinary action for providing abortions and gender-affirming health care, and change insurance premium charges related to such care.

The legislation defines reproductive and gender-affirming health care as legally protected “health care activities.”

Another bill that passed in the Vermont House last month would provide health care providers with legal protection. It would also ban public agencies from cooperating in interstate investigations seeking to impose civil or criminal liability on patients or providers.

The bills were introduced in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June, amid major changes across states that restrict or take steps to protect access to such care.


https://wfin.com/fox-political-news/ver ... al-action/
weatheriscool
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Kansas governor vetoes legislation banning transgender athletes from school sports
TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly for the third straight year has vetoed model legislation that would ban transgender girls from playing school sports with cisgender girls.

The Democratic governor said Friday the annual attack on transgender students sends “a signal to prospective companies that Kansas is more focused on unnecessary and divisive legislation than becoming a place where young people want to work and raise a family.”

“Let’s be clear about what this bill is all about — politics,” Kelly said. “It won’t increase any test scores. It won’t help any kids read or write. It won’t help any teachers prepare our kids for the real world. Here’s what this bill would actually do: harm the mental health of our students.”

House Bill 2238 would require children as young as kindergarten age to participate in school activities based on the gender they were assigned at birth. Challenges potentially could expose them to genital inspections.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association said earlier this year that the law would apply to approximately two student athletes in Kansas schools.


https://www.newsfromthestates.com/artic ... ool-sports
weatheriscool
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House passes Trans Health Equity Act, advances price-gouging and data protections, backs a new state spirit
By Danielle E. GainesBryan P. Sears
March 18, 2023
https://www.marylandmatters.org/2023/03 ... te-spirit/
The House of Delegates chamber. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.
The Maryland House of Delegates voted Saturday to approve the Trans Health Equity Act — a bill that just a year ago disappeared from the chamber’s agenda ahead of a floor vote.

Delegates debated the legislation for about 25 minutes early Saturday afternoon before passing the measure 93-37.

Del. Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery), the lead sponsor of the bill, was joined by 59 cosponsors this session.

Kaiser said she thought it was important to serve as a voice for the trans community in the chamber.

“What is being said nationally about trans people are the same lies that were said about gays and lesbians 20 years ago,” said Kaiser, who was one of the first openly gay members of the General Assembly. “And that’s part of the reason I feel the passion and the connection to our trans brothers and sisters.”

She commended Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery) for defending the bill in the chamber during floor debates earlier in the week.

Republicans in the chamber introduced a couple of amendments to attempt to curtail the legislation, but those were voted down.

While the bill generated significant debate, it changes state policy only modestly.

The bill would require Maryland Medicaid, beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, to provide coverage for additional gender-affirming treatments, which are currently disallowed in the state’s plan but commonly covered by private insurance. The expanded treatments include hormone therapy, hair alteration, voice therapy, physical alterations to the body, and fertility preservation.

The state’s Medicaid program already covers treatments including mental health services, hormone replacement therapy and gender reassignment surgery.
weatheriscool
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Italy orders cities to stop recognizing children of same-sex couples
A move by Italy’s new right-wing government to restrict the rights of same-sex parents led hundreds to take to the streets over the weekend.

Protesters gathered in Milan’s Piazza della Scala Saturday for the “Hands Off Our Sons and Daughters” demonstration organized by LGBTQ+ rights groups after Italy’s Interior Ministry ordered the city to stop registering the children of same-sex couples.

While same-sex civil unions have been legal in the country since 2016, same-sex couples do not have the right to adopt, thanks in part to opposition from the Catholic Church. Surrogacy remains illegal in Italy and there are restrictions that prevent the adoption of “stepchildren” by one parent. Medically assisted reproduction, like in vitro fertilization (IVF), is only available to heterosexual couples.

Until last week, Milan was one of several Italian cities where same-sex couples could be listed as “parents”—as opposed to “mother” and “father”—on birth registrations. But as Aljazeera reports, last week the city’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, announced that the Interior Ministry had sent a letter ordering an end to the practice. According to CNN, the Italian Interior Ministry said it would order other cities to halt the practice as well.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/03/ita ... x-couples/
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caltrek
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Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
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Uganda passes anti-LGBTQ bill that would impose death penalty
Uganda passes anti-LGBTQ bill
As reported by Time, Uganda’s Parliament in Kampala on Tuesday passed a bill that would make it a crime to identify as LGBTQ — legislation described by the United Nations’ human rights chief as “probably among the worst of its kind in the world.” The Anti-Homosexuality bill introduced several new regulations that would see anyone who is openly gay, as well as advocates for LGBTQ rights, severely punished.

The new bill proposes: the death penalty for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” meaning sexual acts with minors, or people with disabilities or with HIV; 20 years in prison for committing the “offense of homosexuality”; and 10 years in prison for attempting to commit a sexual act. The bill now heads to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who can veto it or sign it into law. The legislation has received worldwide condemnation, with National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stating that Uganda could face economic repercussions if it’s made law.



Why it matters: The new bill is the latest in Uganda’s crackdown against homosexuality. The LGBTQ community had already been facing discrimination before Tuesday’s bill. In 2013, same-sex acts became outlawed, with a punishment of life imprisonment. Following this, suicide rates in the LGBTQ community increased. The newest bill could see further discrimination and a possibility of mass violence against those who identify as LGBTQ.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/uganda-anti- ... 42697.html
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caltrek
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Texas University President Hit with First Amendment Lawsuit for Canceling Drag Show
Cameron Langford
March 24, 2023

Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — A West Texas A&M University student group sued the school’s Christian president on Friday for forbidding their charity drag show because he believes it would discriminate against women.

LGBTQ students at the university in Canyon, a small town 20 miles south of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle, formed Spectrum WT in 2009 to provide a safe space for themselves and their allies and promote diversity on campus and the surrounding community, according to the lawsuit.

Spectrum WT, its president Barrett Bright and vice-president Lauren Stovall sued Walter Wendler, president of West Texas A&M University, John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, and the system’s board of regents, in Amarillo federal court.

The group says it started planning a drag show in November to raise money for The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth.

It dubbed the show “A Fool’s Drag Race” because it planned to hold it on April Fool’s Day but rescheduled to March 31 as another April 1 event had already been booked for Legacy Hall, a 700-seat venue within the university’s student center.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/texas-u ... rag-show/

caltrek's comment: I guess some conservatives are all for freedom of speech as long as it is speech with which they agree.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
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North Dakota governor vetoes bill restricting transgender students’ pronouns
https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-dakota ... 24849.html
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have prohibited public school teachers and staff from referring to students and other staff by pronouns that do not match their sex assigned at birth.

In a letter expanding on his decision to the North Dakota Senate president, Burgum argued the bill’s ambiguity “would invite lawsuits” and “put teachers in the precarious position of trying to determine how to refer to students without violating law.”

“The teaching profession is challenging enough without the heavy hand of state government forcing teachers to take on the role of pronoun police. Parents, teachers and administrators using compassion, empathy and common sense can address individual and infrequent situations that may arise,” Burgum said.

Burgum said he’d have had no objections to signing the bill if it included only Senate Bill 2231’s first section, which asserts a state government employee can’t be required to use a colleague’s preferred pronouns. Existing free speech protections, Burgum said, already shield against compelled speech.

The governor took issue with the second section, which would have barred public school teachers from using a transgender student’s preferred pronouns without permission from both a school administrator and the student’s parents.

“Section 2 infringes on local control by unnecessarily injecting the state into rare instances most appropriately handled at the parent, teacher and school district level. This section removes discretion from school boards, schools and teachers in determining how to accommodate the needs of all students in public schools,” Burgum wrote.
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