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a ban on transgender athletes last year.The most prominent of the bills is a measure to ban transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming treatments meant to treat gender dysphoria, including puberty blockers, hormones, or surgical interventions, the latter of which are rarely performed on minors.The ban on gender-affirming care appeared to be dead last month after Sen. Fred Mills (R-New Iberia, the chairman of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, voted with Democrats to reject the bill when it came before the committee.  Mills said that his decision had been heavily influenced by a 2022 Louisiana Health Department study on gender-affirming health care.It found that no gender-affirming surgical procedures had been performed on any minors enrolled in Medicaid in the state between 2017 and 2021, and that hormone and puberty blockers were rarely prescribed to transgender-identifying minors in Louisiana during that same period. National conservative pundits — who have deemed opposition to LGBTQ visibility, transgender rights, and “wokeness” as essential to their party’s brand — were outraged at Mills’ defection, and promised political retribution.Mills’ fellow Republicans caved to pressure from those voices to revive the bill.Senators then used a rare procedural maneuver to recommit the bill to a different committee, allowing it to pass on a 29-10 vote, reports the Associated Press.The bill now heads back to the House, which previously overwhelmingly approved the ban on gender-affirming care.

slammed by LGBTQ advocates as one of the worst bills targeting the transgender community, in part due to its provisions that extend well beyond the realm of transgender health care.In addition to banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, it restricts what bathrooms students may use in schools, limits the scope of sex education to exclude LGBTQ-related topics or information on sexually transmitted diseases, and allows school administrators, employees, and students to misgender trans-identifying minors. None of those other provisions have been challenged in court. The plaintiff families sued last month, alleging the law’s provisions barring transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming treatments infringe on their parents’ right to autonomy in terms of how they choose to raise and make medical decisions for their children and on the youths’ right to equal protection under the law.Corey Shapiro, the legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, said in a statement that the families “should be able to begin or continue essential medical care” for their children, arguing that the law is an egregious form of government overreach into personal family decisions.They also argue that it is inconsistent with leading medical organizations’ recommendations for treating children suffering from gender dysphoria.“Banning medically necessary care for trans youth is not supported by science or reputable major medical organizations,” Shapiro said.

seized on drag as a contentious issue in the modern-day culture wars, with many GOP lawmakers seeking to ban public drag performances in the name of protecting children from being exposed to potentially inappropriate material.Some overzealous law enforcement authorities in Nashville even went so far as to threaten singer Hayley Kiyoko with legal action earlier this year over having drag queens on stage with her as part of her concert tour — despite the fact the Tennessee law seeking to ban drag shows in public had been blocked by the courts.But conservatives have also seized on drag shows as emblematic of the military’s overall LGBTQ-inclusive service and recruiting policies, with many arguing that allowing drag shows at military facilities is an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds, undermines military readiness by weakening soldiers’ resolve, and hampers the military’s recruiting efforts by making military service unpalatable to social conservatives, especially those from the South or so-called “red states.”“Per DoD Joint Ethics Regulation (JER), certain criteria must be met for persons or organizations acting in non-federal capacity to use DoD facilities and equipment,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a statement to Politico. “As [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin has said, the DoD will not host drag events at U.S.

seized on drag as a contentious issue in the modern-day culture wars, with many GOP lawmakers seeking to ban public drag performances in the name of protecting children from being exposed to potentially inappropriate material.Some overzealous law enforcement authorities in Nashville even went so far as to threaten singer Hayley Kiyoko with legal action earlier this year over having drag queens on stage with her as part of her concert tour — despite the fact the Tennessee law seeking to ban drag shows in public had been blocked by the courts.But conservatives have also seized on drag shows as emblematic of the military’s overall LGBTQ-inclusive service and recruiting policies, with many arguing that allowing drag shows at military facilities is an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds, undermines military readiness by weakening soldiers’ resolve, and hampers the military’s recruiting efforts by making military service unpalatable to social conservatives, especially those from the South or so-called “red states.”“Per DoD Joint Ethics Regulation (JER), certain criteria must be met for persons or organizations acting in non-federal capacity to use DoD facilities and equipment,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said in a statement to Politico. “As [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin has said, the DoD will not host drag events at U.S.

GOP lawmakers in the Montana House of Representatives on Wednesday banned the state’s only transgender legislator from speaking on the chamber floor for the remainder of the legislative session after she called out her GOP colleagues last week during a debate on access to gender-affirming care.

survey by The Trevor Project, more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth reported having seriously considered suicide over the past year, with nearly 1 in 5 actually attempting suicide.)Republicans balked at Zephyr’s speech, arguing that her rhetoric was inflammatory.

Two gay husbands are getting a lot of attention for creating AI versions of prominent right-wingers dressed in drag on their RuPublicans Instagram page. Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Pence are three politicians who got the AI drag treatment. Photos: RuPublicans Instagram page

Barnaby said, “We have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet. This is the planet Earth, where God created men, male, and women, female. I’m a proud Christian conservative Republican.

Republican Assembly member Bill Essayli, who represents the 63rd District in western Riverside County, introduced Assembly Bill 1314. The bill would give school districts three days to notify parents, in writing, once a school employee learns a student identifies as a gender that doesn’t align with their birth certificate or other official records. For example, asking to be identified by a different gender or participating in sports of the opposite gender. The bill died in the education committee after the chair refused to give the legislation a hearing. Photo: Office of Bill Essayli

Republican Assembly member Bill Essayli, who represents the 63rd District in western Riverside County, introduced Assembly Bill 1314. The bill would give school districts three days to notify parents, in writing, once a school employee learns a student identifies as a gender that doesn’t align with their birth certificate or other official records. For example, asking to be identified by a different gender or participating in sports of the opposite gender. The bill is stuck in the education committee after the chair refused to give the legislation a hearing. Photo: Office of Bill Essayli

Tennessee Holler, a progressive news site covering Tennessee politics and a former congressional candidate, issued a statement on Twitter talking about his family’s experience.“Our family’s statement on something that happened to us this weekend. Love each other,” he tweeted.In the statement, Kanew claimed that last Saturday, an unknown person shot several bullets into his home while he and his family were asleep.

amend the gender marker on their birth certificates.Kansas House members included provisions in the bill requiring accommodations for intersex people or those born with chromosomes, genitalia, or reproductive organs not associated with typical definitions for males or females. Supporters of the measure dubbed it a “Women’s Bill of Rights,” arguing that there is a need for single-sex spaces for females.The bill’s verbiage was based on boilerplate language circulated by national anti-transgender groups who have pushed for similar measures in Congress or other states.The measure passed the Kansas Senate by a vote of 28-12 on Tuesday, April 4, after passing the House of Representatives last month by a vote of 83-41, with one conservative Republican House member absent.

A federal judge in Tennessee has blocked the state’s anti-drag law from going into effect for 14 days. Photo: United States District Court, Western District of Tennessee.

ban on transgender service members instituted by the Trump administration, in which some individuals who had transitioned prior to the ban were “grandfathered” in, meaning they could continue serving without incident, while those wishing to transition in the future or currently in the process of transitioning could not.Under the Rubio-Banks bill, the Department of Defense would be forced to adopt regulations prohibiting people who identify as transgender or have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria from serving, except in rare circumstances.Those exempt from the ban are people who may identify as transgender but have remained stable in their assigned sex at birth for 36 months prior to joining the military, and members who are diagnosed after entering the military but who do not attempt to medically transition.Under the bill, those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria may only serve in their assigned sex at birth.

several major elements of Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.Under the newly enacted Kentucky law, school districts are banned from using pronouns that do not match a student’s assigned sex at birth, from teaching certain sex-related courses, and from allowing students to use facilities that match their gender identity, reports Louisville FOX affiliate KDRB.Teachers would be forced to disclose information to parents about their children’s behavior, including whether they are using different names or pronouns that don’t match their sex at birth, or any information disclosed to them by their students about their sexual orientation or gender identity. The new law prohibits schools from teaching human sexuality or sexually-transmitted diseases until after 5th grade, and no student, of any grade level, can receive instruction with “a goal or purpose of students studying or exploring gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.”Schools will also be required to adopt policies informing parents before any class in 6th grade or higher studies sex-related topics, including STDs, and must obtain parental consent before proceeding with any lessons.Schools must also provide alternatives for students whose parents wish to “opt out” of sex-related instruction, and must allow parents to review any materials used in the course of teaching.The bill also prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormones to minors, or from performing surgical interventions to assist a minor in transitioning to a gender that is different from their assigned sex at birth.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill into law that bans most gender-affirming care for transgender minors, making that state the latest to target trans youth in legislation. Photo: Office of Gov. Brian Kemp

Kentucky Gov. Any Beshear, at a bill signing on Wednesday, vetoed a sweeping GOP bill on Friday that would have regulated the lives of trans youths, including banning access to gender-affirming health care and restricting the bathrooms they can use. The bill also would have also banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools with students of any age and allowed teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. Photo: Gov. Andy Beshear Flickr page

Kentucky Gov. Any Beshear, at a bill signing on Wednesday, vetoed a sweeping GOP bill on Friday that would have regulated the lives of trans youths, including banning access to gender-affirming health care and restricting the bathrooms they can use. The bill also would have also banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools with students of any age and allowed teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use. Photo: Gov. Andy Beshear Flickr page

injected itself into culture-war battles over curriculum content, student privacy policies, special accommodations for LGBTQ students, and what books or materials are accessible in school libraries.The House approved the bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep.

previous vetoes withstood override attempts, it is unclear whether the Republican-led legislature will amass the votes needed to enact the measure over Kelly’s objections — although initial vote tallies in both chambers seem to indicate the votes are there.Last year, Republicans seized upon Kelly’s vetoes as a major campaign issue, trying to paint her in TV and radio ads as out-of-step with Kansans and as hostile to women’s athletics, arguing that allowing transgender females to compete puts cisgender athletes at a disadvantage, robbing them of the opportunity to win awards and other honors.During the campaign, Kelly said that decisions on transgender eligibility should be left to individual schools, doctors, families, and local officials. As reported by The Associated Press, Kelly claimed that the bills favored by Republicans would have “created unnecessary new government mandates,” and could have potentially hurt the state’s business climate by creating a backlash similar to the one experienced by North Carolina when it passed a transgender restroom ban in 2016. Despite the onslaught of attack ads trumpeting the transgender sports issue, Kelly was ultimately re-elected narrowly last November.If Republicans do override Kelly’s veto, it would make Kansas the 19th state to pass a law restricting transgender participation in female-designated sports, prohibiting any student assigned male at birth from competing against women athletes, except in the case of a co-ed sports team or club.

Republican Assembly member Bill Essayli, who represents the 63rd District in western Riverside County, has introduced AB 1314. The bill would give school districts three days to notify parents, in writing, once a school employee learns a student identifies as a gender that doesn’t align with their birth certificate or other official records. For example, asking to be identified by a different gender or participating in sports of the opposite gender. Photo: Office of Bill Essayli

Florida Republican Congressman Greg Steube, wants to amend Title IX — the civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex — to carve out an exception and discriminate by recognizing one’s sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Photo: Office of Greg Steube

HuffPost. (Even Florida’s only goes up to third grade, while requiring that such topics be “age or developmentally appropriate” in older grades.)According to Newsweek, Kelley, a former teacher, said, in remarks introducing the bill, that school-age children are “very naive and easily influenced,” arguing that “exposure to such topics is inappropriate for children, creating confusion which may then cause doubt in their identities.”“It is not the place of the school to indoctrinate our children by exposing them to gender and sexual identity curriculums and courses,” she said. “Therefore, we must keep our educational instruction pure, without the political nuances.”But Christofanelli challenged the wording of Kelley’s bill and the logic behind it, wondering if the prohibitions on “sexual orientation” might prohibit teaching about heterosexuality as well as homosexuality.“I’m just going to read you the language in your bill,” Christofanelli said, referring to the prohibition on instruction regarding sexual orientation.

transgender athletes from competing in sports that match their gender identity; and ban gender-affirming care, not only for minors, but some legally recognized adults in their twenties.Narissa Rahaman, the executive director of Equality Virginia, told Metro Weekly that some of the “forced outing” bills were especially pernicious.One measure would have required school administrators to out students to their parents, regardless of whether trans-identifying students have discussed their identities with their parents or whether they may be living in a home with parents who are not supportive of LGBTQ identity.“There was one forced outing bill that would require a court order for a student to be able to update their name in their school record,” Rahaman said.  “And not just their official school record, like a roster, but just any sort of school document, like a library card reflecting their correct gender, would have required a court order.”Rahaman said the organization’s priority this year was primarily aimed at defeating such bills, although Equality Virginia was monitoring other pro-LGBTQ measures that were introduced, including three bills — one introduced by Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), one introduced by Del.

The Voice of OC.“We, the City of Huntington Beach, are one community with many different cultures and people. All are equally valued members of our community, and none are to be treated differently or discriminated against,” Burns wrote in a memo explaining his proposal.

Them reported, Rubio has singled out Lil Miss Hot Mess specifically in the past. In May, Rubio wrote a letter to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall asking for two children’s books written by Lil Miss Hot Mess — The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish and If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It — to be removed from the library at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. Rubio called for the cancellation of a Drag Queen Story Hour on base as part of Pride Month, claiming that the events are “sexually-charged” and thus, inappropriate for children to attend. “These inappropriate events are extremely divisive at home for good reason; in all cases, they place young children in close proximity with adults who are intentionally and explicitly sexualized,” Rubio wrote.

The Washington Post.The bill needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, meaning at least 10 Senate Republicans would have to support it in order to end debate on the measure and hold a final up-or-down vote on it.The measure previously passed the House of Representatives in July, earning support from all of the lower chamber’s Democrats and 47 House Republicans. The Senate is the final hurdle to passage.If the Senate approves the proposed religious liberty language additions, the legislation would have to head back to the Democratic-led House for passage.But while passage in the lower chamber would not be a problem, the scheduling of the vote in a limited window, as well other pieces of legislation demanding congressional members’ attention, may create additional hurdles.Because the bipartisan group of senators believes they have the necessary Republican votes to overcome a filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday that he plans to schedule a vote on the measure “in the coming weeks,” which would force Republicans to go on record ahead of the midterm elections.Collins has expressed concern that Schumer will play political games with the bill by delaying a vote on it, telling Politico that she hopes he will schedule a vote on the bill this month.Further complicating the issue, Congress must approve stopgap legislation to fund the government by Sept.

wrote Tuesday, sparking a viral debate in the comments section.People weren’t happy with her statements, which ignited a medley of responses from others.“This is WRONG. Crazy Hollywood Leftie threatening ‘Civil War’ if Dems don’t win. Sadly, this is today’s Left: angry, hateful & violent,” Texas senator Ted Cruz tweeted in response.Christian author Jeremy Kappell chimed in: “The inherent message here couldn’t be more clear.

Tiffany Cross and comedian Wanda Sykes — have already slammed the network for reportedly hiring Griffin.Who will be the next co-host of @TheView? The wait is finally over! Find out only on @TheView this THURSDAY at 11e|10c|p on ABC! pic.twitter.com/xvLHqgin2ZBorn in Los Angeles on June 15, 1989, Griffin is the daughter of two journalists. Her father, Joseph Farah, was the executive news editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, then an editor at Northern California’s the Sacramento Union.Her father is of Syrian and Lebanese descent.

The View, criticized members of her own political party for voting against a bill to codify same-sex marriage into law. Griffin, who previously served as press secretary for former Vice President Mike Pence before serving as White House Director of Strategic Communications, explained how shocked she was seeing the number of Republicans who voted against the bill.“They’re on the wrong side of this,” Griffin said during a recent on-air discussion on the issue. “On the one hand, I’m pleased that the House was able to pass codifying marriage equality into law, but the number of Republicans that were against it — it’s 2022.

Roe v. Wade, and with it, longstanding legal precedent.Titled the “Respect for Marriage Act,” the bill would require states to recognize legally valid same-sex and interracial marriages, and prohibit discrimination “based on the sex, race, ethnicity or national origin of the individuals in the marriage.” Couples who believe they’ve been discriminated against because of their LGBTQ identity would be allowed to pursue legal action.The number of House Republicans who defected from the Republican Party’s official position, which opposes legal recognition of same-sex relationships, was much larger than expected by most political observers, reflecting shifting attitudes on the issue of same-sex nuptials, even among Republicans — a majority of whom support same-sex marriage, according to polling.Many of the Republicans who voted in favor of the measure tended to be younger, newer members of Congress, hailing from suburbs or exurbs of large cities, though there were exceptions.For instance, all four members of the Utah congressional delegation voted in favor of codifying same-sex marriage.

veto of a bill barring transgender girls from participating in female-designated sports.The House of Representatives voted 56-18 to override the veto, with the Senate voting 21-8 soon afterward. Four Republican lawmakers had needed to switch their initial votes to support the override.

original version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Kera Birkeland (R-Morgan), sought to avoid a full-scale ban on transgender athletes like the one rejected last year by Utah lawmakers while ensuring that cisgender females are not disadvantaged by competing against transgender females who have a physiological advantage over them.To that end, Birkeland’s bill would have created a seven-person panel — comprised of six members appointed by the president of the State Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the governor — including: a sports physiologist, a board-certified physician, a mental health professional, and an athletic trainer — and one coach or interscholastic official appointed by the presiding state athletic association.The commission would then determine, on a case-by-case basis, an individual student’s eligibility, based on their personal physical characteristics, for competing on sports teams that match their gender identity.

Johnny Isakson was a Republican who represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate from 2005 to 2019.Isakson served in the Georgia Air National Guard and worked as a realtor before beginning his political career in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) re-enacted the famous “Biscuits with the Boss” scene from the first season of “Ted Lasso.”Romney — clad in the recognizable chinos, sweater, whistle and mustache sported by Jason Sudeikis’ titular character in the Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series — tweeted a gif of himself serving a pink box of sweet treats to Sinema, assuming the role of AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton (played by Hannah Waddingham on the show).

Texas Tribune. In an interview at The Texas Tribune Festival on Friday, Phelan said that 75 state representatives signed on as sponsors or authors of the House’s version of the bill during the last special session, leaving them only one vote shy of a majority.