The measure would bar federally funded civics and history programs from promoting what the bill calls “gender ideology” and “discriminatory
It's called H.R. 8705.
Note: the bill is also racist.
The ACLU and the House Equality Caucus blasted their fellow Democrats and the Republicans who voted to pass a bill threatening to censor edu
"Here are the names of the eight Democrats who voted for what the House Equality Caucus condemned as the "Don't Say Trans" bill:
Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas
Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina
Rep. Cleo Fields of Louisiana
Rep. Laura Gillen of New York
Rep. Vicente González of Texas
Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington
Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia"
I beg of you to please contact your senators regardless of party. Say what you have to say to get them to vote against. This is incredibly dangerous.
If one of the Democratic quislings in the House represents you, please call them to tell you exactly how you feel about racist and transphobic censorship and their decision to endanger the lives of children through forced outing.
If you can’t safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:
Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/
Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/
The ACLU of Texas and SEAT are challenging a law that includes an LGBTQ+ student club ban, a forced outing policy, and a DEI ban.
Ryan Adamczeski at The Advocate:
Texas is being sued over its "Don't Say Gay" law that not only bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, but goes even further by completely outlawing LGBTQ+ student clubs.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) announced Monday that they will be filing a lawsuit against Senate Bill 12. Signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday, the law is scheduled to take effect September 1 and be implemented in the 2025-2026 school year.
S.B. 12 flatly states that "a school district or open-enrollment charter school may not authorize or sponsor a student club based on sexual orientation or gender identity." The law bans all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, which it incorrectly defines as "differential treatment" based on race.
The bill also contains a forced outing policy "prohibiting an employee of the district from assisting a student enrolled in the district with social transitioning," which it defines as "a person’s transition from the person’s biological sex at birth to the opposite biological sex through the adoption of a different name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender that deny or encourage a denial of the person’s biological sex at birth."
“This ban on education harms Texas schools by shutting down important discussions and programs that mention race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation,” Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. “Students should be free to learn about themselves and the world around them, but S.B. 12 aims to punish kids for being who they are and ban teachers from supporting them. It sends the false message that Black, Brown, LGBTQIA+, and other students don’t belong in the classroom or in our state."
The law is similar to Florida's colloquially named "Don't Say Gay" bill which prohibited public school staff from discussing LGBTQ+ identities in any capacity. Texas' S.B. 12 states that "a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or district or charter school employee may not provide or allow a third party to provide instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade."
The ACLU of Texas and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) file a lawsuit against the State of Texas over its Don’t Say Gay or Trans law SB12 that includes bans on LGBTQ+ student clubs and DEI programs and mandates student safety-harming forced outing policies.
See Also:
LGBTQ Nation: Texas students sue over “unsafe & unjust” Don’t Say Gay law that bans GSAs
Medical providers statewide have said that such exams are unnecessary and invasive.
Daniel Villarreal (he/him) at LGBTQ Nation:
Voters in Washington state could approve an anti-transgender law, Initiative Measure No. IL26-638, which would require girl student-athletes statewide to confirm their “biological sex” with genital inspections just to play sports. Opponents of the initiative say it’s invasive, could block poorer students from getting verified, and could meet pushback from medical professionals who refuse to comply.
The initiative would require students who want to participate in girls’ sports to provide “a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student’s personal health care provider that verifies the student’s biological sex, relying only on one or more of the following: The student’s reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”
Hormone and genetic testing aren’t always covered by health insurance plans, making a visual inspection of the child’s genitals the most affordable option.
Supporters of the initiative say that kids are already required to undergo verification of their sex assigned at birth, but that’s untrue, KUOW reported. State policy — handled by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), the statewide body that oversees middle and high school sports — has allowed kids to play on sports teams matching their gender identity since 2007. The WIAA said it knows of only 10 or so trans athletes out of more than 200,000 kids currently competing statewide.
The WIAA requires students to undergo a medical physical exam before they’re allowed to play, but the exam checks overall health; it doesn’t verify sex. In fact, the state-recommended forms for the exam don’t even include a section for verifying sex.
[...]
Trans journalist Erin Reed noted that trans sports bans with similar requirements have been highly controversial. Last March, Congress failed to pass the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would have amended Title IX — the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in government-funded schools and education programs — to prohibit schools from allowing trans female athletes to participate in athletic programs or activities “designated for women or girls.” The Congressional Equality Caucus noted that the bill could have forced “any student to answer invasive personal questions about their bodies & face humiliating physical inspections to ‘prove’ that they’re a girl.”
According to Reed, the Washington ballot measure would restore language to the 2024 parental rights law that would effectively require the forced outing of trans students to their parents. Reed said the law will likely face constitutional challenges if it becomes law.
If voters approve anti-trans measure IL26-638 in Washington state that would bar trans girls from girls’ sports, girls would be subjected to invasive genital inspections to be eligible to play in women’s sports.
So like. Just watched Red, White and Royal Blue. It’s freaking awesome, amazing, they’re adorable, yayaysydyaysys. CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW PRETTY HENRY’S SISTER BEATRICE IS FOR A SECOND THO!? ‘Cause. Oh. My. GOD-!! Like. No, seriously guys. Those DRESSES!? That HAIR!? The EYES!? The freaking BACKSIDE AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER GODDAMN ANGLES!? I’m deceased guys, she’s so. Fucking. GORGEOUSSSS-!!😭🥹💅🏻😂🍿
Anyways, they all look pretty, but omfg, Alex in that SUIT at the New Year’s party?? Omgggg-CHEF’S KISS BESTIEEE-!! The EMBROIDERY ALONE!? HOD!! Henry I feel you. I, too, would kiss this man without care for any of the consequences if I had the chance looking like THAT-
Btw, Henry’s ROBES!? My god. And like. He doesn’t have traditional Japanese robes or whatever, I mean his bath/sleepingrobes?? FUCKING STUNNING BITCH!!
…my god, is this my bisexual awakening-
Like. I was kind of hesitating to put a label, ‘cause I wasn’t sure about anything other than I probably like both and I’m definitely queer, RIP. But I’m. You know what. This is my official definite QUEER awakening then. Fuck it, we roll. Everyone say THANKK YOUUU RED WHITE AND THAT ROYAL BLUE ASSSS-!! Tihi. ;)
Also. Obligatory; Miguel is a fucking bitch for outing them, but I predicted he was going to do it the SECOND his grin flickered slightly up and then down again after seeing Henry together with Alex at the cafe. Siggghhh-I was like. …they’re gonna get outed because Alex was distracted by how pretty Henry is and couldn’t focus?? What the hell??😭 But honestly it was gonna happen eventually because Miguel is a bitch and already WAYYYY too plot relevant to not be the villain-I fucking knew it. We just can’t have a gay/queer show without at least ONE of the queer people being evil, can we??👁️👄👁️
Also, yes, I watched this movie to the end, and yes I was immediately on TikTok to watch edits and play HayDay on my iPad, and YES I do believe the theory that Miguel already had access/hacked Alex’s email, tho why did he wait so long?? Hmmmm…maybe to do it at the worst possible moment? To make sure Alex’s mom didn’t win again, to make sure Alex blamed himself for everything, so he’d have no more privilege and lose the Prince and come crawling back begging to Miguel who could then either reject him or graciously accept him (not that this would ever actually happen because has too much self-respect, but you know. Evil gay person fantasies and all that, RIP-) or maybe to make sure it wouldn’t immediately be tied back to him?? Sighhh…I don’t fucking know, but there’s a million reason and they all tie back to Miguel being a bitchy little asshole.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk!!
TLDR; they’re all pretty, I’m probably bisexual, RWRB is my official queer awakening and Miguel can fuck right on off to rot for outing someone. Okay, byeee-!!
PS: didn’t know I was gonna be watching TWO whole new media’s so soon after one another?? Huh. And they’re both queer and related to Heated Rivalry. Huh. Yay!!
PPS: Alex is Ilya and Henry is Shane, but they’ve switched circumstances, except that Henry won’t actually outright DIE for coming out. Oh; and there’s more politics involved lolz. And all that. Xoxo.
PPPS: do we hate the grandpa or is it okay to lowkey like him and still he’s funny and surprisingly accepting and protective?? And still high-key hate for being an asshole forcing Henry to be angsty and hide?? Hmmmm…??
The number surpasses the number of bills filed in advance of 2024, a historically hostile year towards trans individuals.
After a record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation, 2025 is shaping up to be even more challenging for transgender and queer people across the United States. A legislative tracker maintained by Erin In The Morning and other volunteers has found that nearly 120 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills have already been filed in states nationwide ahead of the 2025 legislative season. This far surpasses the 80 bills filed by this time in 2023, signaling another historic wave of legal attacks on the ability of transgender people to move, live, and exist freely as themselves in public.
The bulk of the bills so far come from Texas and Missouri, two of the earlier states that release prefilled legislation ahead of the 2025 session. However, states like South Carolina, New Hampshire, Georgia, Wyoming, and Montana all feature multiple anti-LGBTQ+ bills, with more being added every day. Thirteen states in all have seen anti-trans bills filed: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
This year, several state bills aim to strip legal recognition from transgender people entirely. Between 2022 and 2024, ten states passed such legislation or enacted similar policies, with devastating consequences for affected communities. In Kansas, Florida, and Texas, transgender individuals are now unable to update their driver’s licenses, and in some cases, states have begun reverting gender marker changes that were made years or even decades ago. Transgender people who have lived as their legal gender for years may face forced reversion of their identification documents if these new bills are enacted. Similar legislation has already been introduced in Texas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
In many states that have passed such legislation, bathroom bans have also been attached. Indeed, in the initial rush of bills, several bathroom bans can be found that target transgender adults. Two Texas bills would allow lawsuits if transgender people are encountered in bathrooms. One bill in Montana would bar transgender people from publicly owned bathrooms of their gender identity. One bill in Missouri would even make it “unlawful public discrimination” to allow a transgender person in bathrooms of their gender identity.
Book bans are seeing a resurgence in the prefiled bills. In 2024, PEN America found 10,046 instances of individual books banned, affecting 4,231 unique titles. Banned books include The Handmaids Tale, Flamer, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Gender Queer, and more. Texas features several such bills this year, despite the state being rebuked by higher courts for book bans in 2024.
Another common type of anti-trans legislation that is common is sports bans. Many bills aim to expand existing restrictions to even broader contexts. In Texas, one proposed bill seeks to deny private sporting events access to the state’s Events Trust Fund—a source of professional funding for major sporting events—if they allow trans athletes to compete. Other bills aim to extend sports bans to new age groups. For instance, a bill in Wyoming would expand its current ban, which applies to students in grade 7 and above, to include kindergarteners.
Several other categories of bills have seen activity, such as drag bans, forced outing of transgender students, “don’t say gay” bills, birth certificate gender change bans, drivers license gender change bans, and more.
According to the ACLU, legislative attacks on transgender people grew “exponentially” over 2023 and 2024. These anti-trans laws have directly caused an increase in suicide attempts in some states by up to 72%. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in four transgender youth have attempted to take their own life in the last year, with many of those attempts requiring medical treatment.
In the coming months, a landmark Supreme Court decision will determine the constitutional fate of bills targeting transgender people. While the case centers on a law restricting transgender medical care, its broader implications go far deeper—addressing whether discrimination against transgender people qualifies as sex discrimination warranting heightened scrutiny. The Court may also weigh whether transgender individuals are granted equal protection around their transgender status. This ruling has the potential to either shut the door on many of these bills and laws or swing it wide open, unleashing a flood of legislative attacks that could make 2025 a historically devastating year for transgender rights.
These bills will continue to be tracked by Erin In The Morning and other volunteers and can be found here.
Oh yeah also all three of the counsellors I've talked to ever have betrayed my trust in some way.
The first was feeding my abusive mum things I said about her during sessions. The second outed me as queer to my (Catholic!) sixth form college. And the third told me my grandad died of cancer because he didn't have enough self belief.
Genuinely terrible experiences. Yet I stil hope therapy may be different. It's scary how unregulated the counselling industry is.
i had another 3 and a half hour argument with my mom. she was bothered why i hadnt come out of my room or eaten anything all day, and why i was still flat and miserable. it was really long. a lot of screaming and yelling.
the root of all my problems is when i first transitioned at 7/8 years old, i didnt realize people would mistreat me for it till it happened. i didnt realize i was being made fun of an excluded for it till my mom told me that was why. and it didnt make any sense to me. she taught me that whole "treat people how you wanna be treated." i wasnt mistreating anyone. but they were mistreating me. i didnt do anything wrong, but they still excluded me and mistreat me and were afraid of and repulsed by me. that majorly fucked my sense of control. my whole illusion of "im the main charecter and i can do anything to anyone and it will always end how i wanted it to" that i was raised to have just fell apart in front of my eyes. i must have done something wrong. i must have bothered them somehow. i chased popularity because i couldnt handle the idea of people i liked or was neutral on disliking me. and everything i do is in an attempt to protect myself from whatever pain would be derived from them hating me for something i cant change. having to stack up and put on the trench coat to portray what i thought people would rather see, then come home, split apart and push the stress of that elsewhere in the home. i suppressed all the weird shit about me i possibly could to better my chances. i stayed stealth and lied to everyones face. i refused to associate with other queer people. i modeled myself off the regina george type because they were what i always wanted to be- glamorous, unhateable, and viciously strong. and its informed my relationship with everything. its why i cant do anything. every time i encounter a problem with im writing or drawing or working on music or when i did theater or homework or what the fuck ever, any time its not smooth step after step completion, anytime i have a problem i cant immediately solve, i chuck it away from me. because i dont think anythings that hard, but im always the last person in the room to figure out the answer. i cant handle the fact i dont always have total control over everything. i thought i did, but i dont anymore. i cant get over that. i must have done something wrong. i do my best to correct it but it never works. they always hate me. they always have smart shit to say behind my back about it. its always the one thing i have no control over. its always the first thing they punch at me for. my kindergarten best friends mom wouldnt let me play with her anymore when she found out. my second grade best friend told me i was gonna grow up to be gay, that random girl asked me if i was a tranny, that woman in the mcdonalds bathroom told me i was a man and dont belong in the girls bathrooms or something, when i broke things off with my childhood bestfriend, the first thing she said to warn one of my new freinds was that i was weird and wasnt young enough to know i was trans when i was a kid, the first thing that bitch in middle school said to her boyfriend when i was cast as his wife in the musical was "what do you think of your new husband-i mean wife", me and my boyfriend split up because he was mad i didnt tell him and then started shitting on me because of his "religion". when i left my first job, everyone celebrated cause they thought i got fired and i was so weird and wrong and awful, every oomf ive ever had comes at me sideways and on and on and on. its always the same cheap shot low blow every fucking time. and every fucking time i go back to that little 8 year old that no one wanted to pick and no one wanted to be friends with. its done so much more damage than anyone could have known.
and the thing that pisses me off, is that my moms like, "well you have to get over it, you know people are pieces of shit, stop sucking up to them live in the real world" or whatever. acting like its my fault im hurt by it. no, its not, i was 8 FUCKING YEARS OLD. ITS NOT MY FAULT THEY SCARRED ME
and then she kept badgering me. "youve always been who you wanted to be and i let you. is that not who you want to be?" and i couldnt answer. and she kept badgering me and i couldnt say it, because i didnt wanna talk to her about it, its weird, its awkward, and i knew she wouldnt react well because when i told her me friend in high school was non binary, we argued for like a week because she refused to wrap her head around it. and i didnt wanna argue. i didnt wanna talk about it, but she kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing, and i kept saying im not ready to talk about it and she kept screaming over and over about how much work shes done to try and support me and i blurted it out against my will.
she thinks its stupid. she dosent have to say it for me to know. she thinks it stupid. and she was all pissy cause shes like "did we make the wrong decision?" because i told her thats why i put off taking hormones. either way my body would change in a way i wouldnt be able to reverse and i would be stuck as one way or the other forever, so either way, i wasnt gonna be happy. i just chose estrogen because its easier to correct latter if i needed to.
so i came out. against my will. its weird. and awkward.
cherry on top of that was i had my medical problem again. i was in the bathroom from midnight to 7 am. it wouldnt go away.
fuck. i fucking hate my life. why couldnt i have been aborted.
