Take Action

Floridians: 

Join our partners at Parenting with Pride for their public education webinar on April 24th! In Florida, we have witnessed the emergence of book bans, legislation prohibiting discussions on race, and the implementation of anti-LGBTQ+ policies. Join Parenting with Pride to explore strategies to resist these challenges, ensuring the protection of public education for all.

Louisianans:

Call your representatives and tell them to vote NO on the bathroom ban! HB608 passed the House this week. We need to make sure this harmful bill goes no further. Call your Senator TODAY and tell them to vote NO on HB608!

Ohioans:

Call your representatives and tell them to vote NO on the bathroom ban! HB183 passed out of committee this week. We need to make sure this harmful bill goes no further. Tell your representative TODAY to vote NO on HB183!

South Carolinians:

Your legislators need to hear your voice on H 4624! This bill would ban medical care for trans youth under 18, block Medicaid funding for gender-affirming care for ALL South Carolinians, and force teachers to out their trans students. Contact your legislator TODAY and tell them to VOTE NO on this harmful bill!

Tennesseans:

Help our friends at the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) fight back against anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Take action with TEP!

Virginians:

Please join Equality Virginia, GLSEN, and The Trevor Project in urging Governor Youngkin to sign HB 536 and HB 224, essential pieces of legislation aimed at safeguarding the well-being of students across Virginia.

State Matters

Self-care note: While some of the following stories celebrate and affirm LGBTQ+ people, many cover legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans and nonbinary youth. Please be kind to yourself and use your discretion while reading this section. 

Advisory: State news is representative but not exhaustive due to space constraints; feel free to forward news about your state to advocacy@pflag.org to consider for inclusion.

Alaska - House Judiciary Committee advance anti-trans athlete ban. HB 183 was also amended in committee to ban trans athletes from collegiate sports as well as elementary and middle school sports. Trans girls are already barred from participation in girls high school sports by a regulation adopted by Governor Mike Dunleavy’s appointees on the state Board of Education and Early Development last year.

California - Riverside County school board repeals forced outing policy. The Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board (MVUSD) announced the decision to abandon a policy requiring school faculty and staff to out trans and non-binary students to their parents in an email sent to parents, faculty, and staff members, and school district administrators. The decision comes after the California Department of Education found that the MVUSD violated the state’s education codes.

Kansas - Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes healthcare ban. The governor vetoed a bill which would have banned medically necessary care for trans and non-binary youth in the state. In her veto message, the Governor said "This divisive legislation targets a small group of Kansans by placing government mandates on them and dictating to parents how to best raise and care for their children.”

New Hampshire - Senate votes to table bill rolling back anti-discrimination protections for trans people. SB 562 would have rolled back non-discrimination protections for trans people in public spaces, and promoted athlete bans and bathroom bans. The Senate voted unanimously to table the bill, which stops it from moving forward.

Ohio - Judge blocks anti-trans healthcare ban. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook issued a two-week temporary restraining order to block HB68. The legislation would prohibit medically necessary care for trans and non-binary Ohioans, and was set to take effect on April 24. 

Tennessee - State Senate passes bill to make it a felony to help transgender youth access medically necessary care. SB 2782 was amended before its passage to state that any adult who "recruits, harbors, or transports" a minor in Tennessee for the purpose of gender-affirming care could be guilty of a Class C felony, which carries a prison sentence of three to 15 years.

Court Matters

Supreme Court allows enforcement of Idaho healthcare ban. While SCOTUS did not comment on the constitutionality of the Idaho law, it did remove the injunction that stopped the law from being enforced, thereby allowing healthcare to be accessed only by the two plaintiffs in the case. This means Idaho can now ban medically necessary care for trans and nonbinary youth in the state. 

Fourth Circuit Court strikes down West Virginia anti-trans athlete ban. In a 2-1 ruling, the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals concluded that West Virginia violated Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools or education programs, by barring a transgender teenage girl from competing on the girls’ track team at her school.

Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals votes to keep blocking Texas book ban law. In a 9-8 vote, the full court declined to reconsider a three-judge panel decision from January which found that the book ban law violated the U.S. Constitution by requiring booksellers to review and rate books for sexual content before they can sell them to primary and secondary schools. 

Trans veterans’ advocacy group files second lawsuit against the Veterans Administration (VA). The Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) is suing the VA over its exclusion of medically necessary gender-affirming surgery from health benefits for veterans. In 2016, TAVA filed a petition asking the VA to start the rulemaking process to make a policy allowing coverage of medically necessary gender-affirming surgery for trans veterans. PFLAG National advocates strongly for this still-unchanged policy to be updated inclusively.

Federal Matters

Rainbow History Project holds reenactment of the first picket line for gay rights in front of the White House. The first picket line protest for gay rights took place in front of the White House on April 17th, 1965, organized by the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC, founded by LGBTQ+ rights pioneer Frank Kameny. The Rainbow History Project reenacted the event in front of the White House to mark the 59th anniversary of the picket line. 

Biden administration releases Title IX rule protecting LGBTQ+ students. The Department of Education finalized the new Title IX rule, rescinding the last administration’s harmful and restrictive sex harassment rule. The new rule makes protections clearer for survivors, pregnant and parenting students, and LGBTQ+ students, ensuring every student has the freedom to learn and to be themselves. While specific guidance on athletics and inclusion of transgender athletes has yet to be released, this rule states clearly that school programs and activities that discriminate based on gender identity violate Title IX. Read PFLAG National’s statement released in coalition with the National Women’s Law Center, Know Your IX, GLSEN, and others responding to the rule.

Global Matters

Germany - Parliament passes law easing process for trans and non-binary people to update their legal documents. The new law only requires trans people over the age of 18 to make a simple declaration of their identity at a registry office in order to update their name and gender markers on official documents. The law also allows youth between 14 and 18 to update their documents with parental permission, though they can petition a family court to allow them to update their documents if their parents refuse to give permission.

United Kingdom - Scotland pauses prescriptions of puberty blockers for trans youth. Scotland’s sole clinic for treating transgender youths announced it is pausing new prescriptions of puberty blockers for trans and non-binary youth. However, youth already receiving this care can continue to receive it.

Media Matters

New Netflix documentary to tell history of queer stand-up comedy. The documentary, Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, will premiere on Netflix on June 18th. It is the first feature-length documentary to look at the history of queer stand-up as “an instrument for social change over the past five decades.”

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

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