| | Learning With Love: The 2025 PFLAG National Convention Register now for early bird rates! Taking place Oct. 10-12 in Chicago, we’ll present workshops, panels, and plenaries from PFLAG National staff, chapter leaders, organizers, and community leaders to help you support, educate, and advocate for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. We’ll provide insight, expertise, training, strategies, and best practices so that PFLAG friends, families, members, supporters, and leaders can achieve our vision of an equitable, inclusive world where every LGBTQ+ person is safe, celebrated, empowered, and loved. Join us in courageous love, in community together. Visit pflag.org/2025convention to register today. State Actions New Hampshirites SB 211, an anti-trans athlete and facilities ban, and HB 377, an anti-trans healthcare ban, have each passed one chamber of the state legislature. We need your help to stop these bills from getting to the Governor's desk. Tell your legislators to respect trans kids and vote NO on these bills! |
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|  | | Here is a sample of what’s going on around the country. You can share news from your state with advocacy@pflag.org for possible inclusion in a future newsletter. California - Ongoing ICE raids spark fear, protests, federal actions in Los Angeles. Protests erupted after ICE officers carried out raids in three locations across Los Angeles, where dozens of people were taken into custody. President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth authorized the deployment of approximately 700 Marines and more than 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles. A judge temporarily halted the deployment, but as of this writing, that decision has been halted by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, California Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a news conference after he tried to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on the actions in Los Angeles. Delaware - Delaware Senate passes bill to codify same-sex marriage. The Delaware Senate unanimously passed a bill to codify same-sex marriage into its state constitution, sending it to the House. Florida - We are thrilled to share that Wendy Vernon, President and Founder of PFLAG Safety Harbor, has been named one of the grand marshals of the 2025 St. Pete Pride Parade. She is being recognized as a powerhouse advocate who leads with love, action, and purpose. We couldn’t agree more! Michigan - Michigan GOP budget takes aim unisex school bathrooms, ‘woke’ universities, email pronouns. Michigan House Republicans unveiled a $21.9 billion School Aid Fund and $2.4 billion higher‑education budget that increases per‑pupil K–12 funding—up to $12,000 per student—but penalizes districts with unisex bathrooms, DEI programs, transgender girls playing sports or curricula that include “race or gender stereotyping,” and slashes universal school meal funding. Maine - Maine Senate rejects effort to ban trans girls from sports. The Maine Senate rejected two Republican-backed bills that would have banned transgender girls from participating in girls' sports and restricted access to gender-affirming care for minors. OUr PFLAG Portland chapter played a major role in this victory for transgender Mainers. Texas - Here are the new Texas laws that will affect trans and LGBTQ+ people. Texas lawmakers passed bills restricting LGBTQ+ content in schools, banning gender-affirming counseling for minors, and limiting courts from recognizing non-affirmation as abuse. One bill bars clubs like Gay-Straight Alliances and restricts pronoun use. Others let school boards remove LGBTQ+ books, though drag bans and some club restrictions failed. |
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| | | | | ‘It was necessary to become activists’: LGBTQ+-affirming Iowa religious groups find church in quiet rooms, loud rallies. Several churches and faith communities across Iowa, including United Church of Christ, United Methodist, Episcopal, and independent congregations such as Sanctuary Community Church, are openly LGBTQ+-affirming and actively advocate for queer inclusion, particularly in response to the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The majority of presbyteries have approved Amendment 24-C. A majority of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) presbyteries have approved Amendment 24-C, which adds inclusion, specifically regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, as a consideration for ordination. This marks a significant step toward LGBTQ+ inclusion while maintaining local discretion in leadership decisions. |
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