Take Action

Federal Actions

Next week, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R.22, the “SAVE Act," which would restrict access to voting for millions of citizens, especially immigrants, people of color, transgender people, and married women. Please contact your Representative today and demand that they vote NO on this blatant attempt at voter suppression.

State Actions

Georgians

Tell your state representatives to vote NO on SB 36 and SB 39. SB 36 would create a broad license to discriminate on the basis of faith while SB 39 would ban the Georgia State Health Benefit Plan from covering gender-affirming care. We need your help to defeat both bills! 

Tennesseeans 

Join our partners at Tennessee Equality Project to help defeat anti-LGBTQ+ bills!

Wisconsinites

Wisconsin’s Spring Election where voters will have the power to elect a new member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is April 1st. This new justice will play a pivotal role in deciding on important issues that affect the lives of LGBTQ+ Wisconsinites. To find your polling place, see what is on your ballot, and check your voter registration visit MyVote.WI.Gov.

State Matters

Here is a sample of what’s going on around the country. Please be kind to yourself and use your discretion while reading this section. You can share news from your state with advocacy@pflag.org for possible inclusion in a future newsletter. 

Kentucky - Legislature overrides Gov. Beshear’s veto; nullifies conversion therapy ban executive order. Kentucky’s state legislature voted largely along party lines to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of HB 495. The state’s gender-affirming healthcare ban goes into effect immediately and the new law will also nullify the Governor’s 2024 executive order that had banned conversion therapy. Kentucky is the first state in the country to re-legalize the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy after banning it.

Maine - Hundreds demonstrate for trans rights outside high school targeted by Trump Administration. Greely High School has been the subject of a Title IX investigation over its trans-inclusive athletic policies. Parents, students, and others gathered across the street from the school carrying signs urging the school district to support its trans inclusive policies and its trans students. 

New Hampshire - State House passes bill allowing anti-trans facilities bans. HB 148 passed the House 201-166. Should the bill become law, it would allow – but not compel – businesses, organizations, and government entities to restrict access to sex-segregated facilities based on sex-assigned at birth. 

South Dakota - Gov. Larry Rhoden signs anti-trans bathroom bill into law. The Governor signed HB 1239, which segregates bathrooms and other facilities in public schools and state-owned buildings based on sex assigned at birth. 

Tennessee - Legislature passes anti-trans bathroom ban. The bill requires educational institutions that house students overnight to segregate bathrooms based on sex assigned at birth. It awaits Gov. Bill Lee’s signature.

Utah - Pride flags outlawed at all government buildings, schools. Gov. Spencer Cox allowed HB 77 to become law without his signature. Utah will become the first state in the nation to ban pride flags from all public schools and on all government property when the bill goes into effect on May 7th.

Virginia - Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoes bill banning discrimination against PrEP users. HB 2769 would have banned health and life insurance companies from discriminating against people who take PrEP for HIV prevention. 

West Virginia - State Senate passes bill to nullify local nondiscrimination ordinances. SB 579 passed the Senate 25-8. Should it be signed into law, it would nullify LGBTQ+-inclusive anti-discrimination ordinances which have passed in 20 cities across the state. 

Wisconsin - Assembly passes four anti-trans bills. The Assembly passed two bills which would ban trans girls from school sports, a gender-affirming care ban, and a forced outing bill. Gov. Tony Evers has vowed to veto these measures.

Court Matters

Second federal judge issues preliminary injunction blocking Trump’s trans military ban. U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle held on March 27th that the policy is discriminatory and does not advance the goals of "military readiness, unit cohesion, lethality, or any of the other touchstone phrases long used to exclude various groups from service."

Federal Court blocks discharge of two transgender airmen. Master Sgt. Logan Ireland and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Bear Bade, who are both openly trans, were granted a preliminary injunction blocking their discharge from the military by U.S. District Judge Christine O’Hearn on March 24th. Judge O’Hearn’s ruling held that the administration did not present “any compelling justification whatsoever” that the Administration’s trans military ban must immediately be implemented, since both Ireland and Bade had both served for many years with exemplary records. 

Federal judge hears oral arguments in case concerning Trump’s anti-trans passport policy. U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick did not issue a ruling on whether the passport policy should be blocked during a hearing on March 25th, but questioned how the policy could not be seen as being driven by animus towards trans people, "slew of government actions against transgender and nonbinary people."

Trump directs DOJ to sanction law firms and lawyers engaging in “vexatious” lawsuits against the government. In a memo released on March 21st, Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to review the “conduct” of lawyers and law firms that have brought suit against the government in the last eight years. The memo also instructed Bondi to take action against “[l]awyers and law firms that engage in actions that violate the laws of the United States,” singling out immigration lawyers, specifically.

Federal Matters

In addition to other federal issues, this section includes ongoing activity regarding the executive orders (EOs) signed by President Trump since January 20, 2025. Please know that EOs do NOT override the United States Constitution, federal statutes, or established legal precedent. EOs are required by law to follow a process before changes can be implemented, and for many of these EOs, litigation is not only expected but is also already happening, such as PFLAG v Trump (see above). 

To inform your activism, advocacy, and media work, please use our explainers and resources web page, which is updated frequently as we gather information from our many trusted partners. 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revokes legal protections for over 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced on March 21st that 532,000 people from the aforementioned countries who came to the U.S. with financial sponsors starting in 2022 under the humanitarian parole program would lose their legal status on April 24th. Humanitarian parole has been used by many administrations to temporarily allow people to live in the U.S. who are leaving countries where there is war or political instability. 

LGBTQ+ asylum seeker deported to El Salvador. An LGBTQ+ asylum-seeker from Venezuela was among hundreds deported to El Salvador on March 15th. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents alleged the man was a member of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua based on his tattoos. The President invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan nationals. The Alien Enemies Act was last invoked during WWII, when it was used to put Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants into concentration camps.

Department of Education opens investigation into California over law banning forced outing policies. The U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation into California’s Department of Education on March 27th, alleging violations of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) stemming from the state’s anti-forced outing policy law, the SAFETY Act, which took effect January 1st. 

Department of Education launches Title IX investigations into Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Deerfield Public Schools (DPS), and the Illinois State Board of Education. The department alleges that those entities are violating the Administration’s interpretation of Title IX by allowing trans girls to use the girls’ locker room. 

Department of Education launches Title IX investigation into Portland Public Schools, Oregon School Activities Association. The department alleges that a trans girl was allowed to participate in a girls track and field meet, violating the Administration’s interpretation of Title IX.

Justice Department (DOJ) repeals 11 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance guidances. The DOJ removed 11 guidances for compliance with the ADA on March 26th. Five of these guidances related to COVID conditions; the rest related to accessibility features in retail and other public accommodations. 

Trump Administration cancels almost 70 LGBTQ+ health-related grants. The Administration canceled 68 grants to 46 institutions on March 21st, totaling almost $40 million in funding. Canceled grants included research focusing on HIV prevention and a study of older LGBTQ+ adults conducted by Vanderbilt University. 

The Signal attack plan messages: What we do (and don’t) know. Senior Administration officials invited the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic to a chat group on the commercial messaging app Signal that discussed plans for a military strike in Yemen. Important questions remain about whether federal laws were violated, whether classified information was exposed, and whether anyone will face consequences for the leaks.

Global Matters

Denmark - Government issues travel advisory for the U.S. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not advise transgender people to avoid travel to the U.S. all together, but warned that they should contact U.S. embassy officials if their passport’s gender marker does not match their sex assigned at birth.

Japan - Osaka high court rules same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. This is the fifth Japanese high court to make such a ruling. Japan is the only G7 country that does not allow same-sex marriage. 

Namibia - First female president of Namibia inaugurated. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah vowed to uphold the rights of every Namibian and to enhance gender parity across the country in her inaugural address. 

Netherlands - Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues travel advisory for the U.S. The ministry warned the LGBTQ+ community that “a number of states have introduced local laws which may have negative consequences for LGBTIQ+ people, such as access to healthcare.” The ministry also advised trans and nonbinary travelers to ask the US consulate in Amsterdam if they have questions regarding their passports. 

Trinidad and Tobago - Appeals Court re-criminalizes same-sex sexual activity. The Trinidadian Court of Appeal ruled 2-1 to overturn a lower court ruling which held that the country’s ban on consensual sexual activity between same-sex adults was unconstitutional.

Media Matters

Cynthia Erivo says 'it isn't easy' to wake up and choose to be yourself. 'Wicked' star Cynthia Erivo delivers tear-jerker speech at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles.

Annual meeting of HIV researchers shares news about cures, once-yearly PrEP. Among the advances shared, researchers from Chicago and Oslo, Norway reported that two more people appear to be free of HIV after stem cell transplants for cancer treatment.

Tyrone Smith, award-winning LGBTQ activist and AIDS awareness advocate, has died at 82. Tyrone Smith of West Philadelphia was an award-winning LGBTQ activist, AIDS awareness advocate, community leader, consultant, mentor, and adviser to two Philadelphia mayors. He cofounded Unity Inc. in 1989 and the Black Gay Men’s Leadership Council in 2005, and had been honored by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS with the Red Ribbon Award.

LGBTQ-inclusive youth football camp to open this summer. New Orleans Saints player Khalen Saunders announced at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on March 27th that he will host an LGBTQ-inclusive football camp this summer.

Defending LGBTQ+ Rights in Small Town America + Beyond. PFLAG National CEO Brian Bond uplifts the important work happening throughout the PFLAG Chapter Network and beyond on this podcast hosted by Dr. Nii-Quartelai.

PFLAG National
(202) 467-8180 | love@pflag.org

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser