Tag Archives: LGBTQ Youth

Seattle’s ABC affiliate reports: A 38-year-old Bremerton man was arrested Monday in connection with an alleged assault involving two boys, including his biological son, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. Joseph Sweeney faces multiple charges, including second-degree assault and a hate crime. The arrest followed allegations that Sweeney assaulted the two boys on October 20. According to the court documents, …

From the York Dispatch editorial board: At the risk of stating the obvious, South Western’s elected school board is making some strange decisions. For the last two years, they’ve fixated on which bathrooms LGBTQ+ kids use. After a low-turnout school board election in which several far-right members joined their ranks, they hired a Christian law firm, decided to begin banning …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the federal government over its requirement that states provide LGBTQ+ affirming placement for foster care youth. “The Biden Administration is attempting to hold the Texas foster care system hostage to force unscientific, fringe beliefs about gender upon the entire country,” Paxton said in the lawsuit. Under the federal rule, …

The Illuminator reports: Just a day after a federal judge struck down an attempt by Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to halt enforcement of the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX, a federal appeals court granted the states’ request for an administrative injunction Wednesday — temporarily blocking the updated regulations from taking effect in those Southern states. The …

NBC News reports: A federal judge in Alabama on Tuesday refused to block the Biden administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in four Republican-led states, breaking with six other judges who have said the rules are invalid. U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon in Birmingham in a 122-page ruling, rejected various arguments that the four states led by …

The United Press reports: Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation making California the first U.S. state to prohibit schools from outing students to their parents. The Democratic governor signed Assembly Bill 1955, better known as the SAFETY Act, Monday, according to a statement from his office, after the legislation passed through the state’s Congress last month. Under the bill, California …

Reuters reports: Two conservative federal judges in Texas have blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students, preventing the rule from taking effect in the Republican-led state and a school district represented by a Christian legal rights group. Thursday’s rulings by U.S. District Judges Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo and Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth followed …

Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate reports: A Western Pennsylvania man is accused of murdering and dismembering a transgender teenager. DaShawn Watkins, 29, is facing murder charges in connection with the death of 14-year-old Pauly Likens. On June 25, the Sharon Police Department received a report that Likens had been missing since June 22, a news release from the Mercer County Coroner states. …

The Associated Press reports: Enforcement of a federal rule expanding anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students has been blocked in four states and a patchwork of places elsewhere by a federal judge in Kansas. U.S. District Judge John Broomes’ decision was the third against the rule from a federal judge in less than three weeks but more sweeping than the others. …

NBC News reports: The Supreme Court on Monday waded into the culture-war debate over gender-affirming care for transgender minors by agreeing to resolve challenges to a law in Tennessee that seeks to restrict it. The justices will review an appeals court ruling that upheld the measure. The case marks the first time the court will issue a ruling in the …

Houston’s CBS affiliate reports: A Houston doctor has been indicted for obtaining the records of pediatric patients at Texas Children’s Hospital who were not under his care and without authorization, according to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. The indictment alleges Ethan Haim, 34, illegally accessed patient names, treatment codes and attending physicians “under false pretenses and with intent to cause …

The New York Times reports: Key parts of a Florida law that bans gender transition care for minors and imposes hurdles on adults seeking transition care are unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Judge Robert L. Hinkle of Federal District Court in Tallahassee sided with advocacy groups and three families who had said that the law stripped them of …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: San Diego state Assemblymember Chris Ward introduced legislation Wednesday, May 22, that would require school districts and charter schools to keep students’ gender identity and sexual orientation private, amid legal battles — including in San Diego County — over what schools should and should not tell parents of LGBTQ+ students. Assembly Bill 1955 would prohibit …

Back in February, I reported that Ali Forney Center founder Carl Siciliano had penned a coming book and today it has gone on sale. From the Penguin Random House press release: Carl Siciliano met Ali Forney—a Black nonbinary teenager overflowing with life—in 1994 while working at a daytime center for homeless youth in New York City. Nineteen years old and …

The Hill reports: Four more Republican-led states sued the Biden administration Tuesday over new Title IX rules that bolster protections for LGBTQ students. “Biden’s Department of Education has no authority to do what it is attempting to do,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R), who is leading the lawsuit, said Tuesday at a press conference at the state capitol in …

Back in February, I reported that Ali Forney Center founder Carl Siciliano had penned a coming book. From the Penguin Random House press release: Carl Siciliano met Ali Forney—a Black nonbinary teenager overflowing with life—in 1994 while working at a daytime center for homeless youth in New York City. Nineteen years old and driven from home, Forney was the heart …

CBS News reports: Targeting issues about sexual orientation and gender identity, Florida joined three other states Monday in filing a federal lawsuit challenging a new Biden administration rule about sex-based discrimination in education programs. The lawsuit, filed by the attorneys general of Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina and four organizations, seeks to block the rule that would help carry …

Denver’s NBC affiliate reports: The Colorado Supreme Court is allowing a local group to collect signatures for a ballot initiative that opponents believe would target LGBTQ+ students. The measure would require a public school representative to notify a student’s parents if they are experiencing gender incongruence. Opponents believe the measure could potentially “out” transgender students to their parents. “We believe …

ABC News reports: The American Library Association released its annual list of the top 10 most targeted books of 2023 on Monday, the majority of which were challenges because of their LGBTQ content. “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe topped the list for the third year in a row. The graphic memoir, which chronicles the author’s experience with sexuality and gender …

NPR reports: Prosecutors in Oklahoma say they will not pursue charges in the death of Nex Benedict. Bullying someone to attempt or complete suicide is a felony in Oklahoma, reported member station KOSU. But Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler says the fight was not one-sided and there’s not enough evidence to press charges. “Based upon the investigation of the …