Our Advocacy staff will be attending a conference the week of July 14th. Therefore, there will be no issue of Policy Matters issue on July 18th; the next issue will be on July 25th.

Take Action

Learning With Love: The 2025 PFLAG National Convention

Nominate a PFLAG Chapter for a 2025 PFLAG National Chapter Award

Hundreds of PFLAG chapters across the country—run primarily by thousands of passionate volunteers—have been working overtime within their communities over the last two years. Now, you can honor that work by nominating them for a 2025 PFLAG National Chapter Award.

Presented at our biennial convention, Learning With Love, PFLAG National Chapter Awards honor chapters that are going above and beyond to help achieve PFLAG’s mission of creating a caring, just, and affirming world for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.

All chapters in good standing are eligible for this award, and the deadline for submissions is Friday, August 8th, so we encourage you to submit your nomination now, at pflagnation.al/2025ChapterNoms. As a heads up, at least one chapter leader from each winning chapter will need to be present at the convention. Honorees will be announced on Tuesday, September 9th.

State Actions

Hoosiers

The Indiana BMV is proposing a dangerous rule that would ban all gender marker changes on driver's licenses and state IDs. If implemented, it will make it impossible for trans and nonbinary Hoosiers to obtain IDs that reflect who they are. Join our friends at IYG and submit a comment opposing this rule by July 18th!

North Carolinians 
Governor Stein vetoed HB 805, which defines “sex” in the state code as sex assigned at birth. But legislators are planning to override his veto. We need your help to stop them. Thank Gov. Stein for vetoing the trans erasure bill and tell your legislators to uphold his veto!

State Matters

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.

Iowa - Anti-trans civil rights law goes into effect. A law stripping anti-discrimination protections from the trans community from the state civil rights law went into effect on July 1st. This represents the first time a group has lost civil rights protections in the U.S. since the end of Reconstruction. 

North Carolina - Gov. Josh Stein vetoes sex redefinition bill, DEI ban bill. The Governor vetoed HB 805, which defines “sex” in the state code as sex assigned at birth, and SB 558 and SB 227, both of which eliminated DEI from state funded schools. 

Ohio - Gov. Mike DeWine signs budget bill including anti-trans provisions into law. The budget defines sex as immutable, binary, and aligned with one’s sex assigned at birth. The budget also bans Medicaid from funding mental health services that “promote or affirm social gender transition” as well as prohibiting state entities from placing menstrual products in men’s restrooms.

Pennsylvania - University of Pennsylvania bans trans women from women’s sports. The University reached an agreement with the Trump Administration in which the school would ban trans women from participating on women’s sports teams, would erase Lia Thomas’s records from her time at the school, and would apologize to cis women who competed against her.

Court Matters

Supreme Court to hear cases challenging anti-trans athlete bans next term. The justices agreed to review cases from Idaho and West Virginia where lower courts awarded trans students injunctions barring enforcement of the athlete bans in those states and therefore allowing the students to participate in sports. 

Supreme Court orders appellate courts to re-examine cases involving gender-affirming care bans, document change bans. In light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Skrmetti, the Court sent cases from Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and West Virginia back to the appellate court level for further review. 

Federal judge issues new nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s anti-birthright citizenship executive order. US District Judge Joseph Laplante granted a request from immigration rights attorneys to certify a nationwide class action lawsuit led by LULAC and ACLU on behalf of people  being deprived of citizenship and issued a preliminary injunction indefinitely blocking Trump’s order from being enforced against any baby born after February 20, 2025.

Trump Administration sues California over inclusive athletics policies. The lawsuit claims that California’s inclusive athletics policies violate Trump’s interpretation of Title IX.

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. 

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

Budget reconciliation bill signed into law. The new law makes cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programs. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the cuts will result in more than 10 million Americans losing their Medicaid coverage and between three and five million Americans losing their healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. LGBTQ+ adults disproportionately rely on Medicaid, meaning the cuts to the program will disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ community. 

DOJ subpoenas providers of medically necessary care for trans and nonbinary youth. On July 10th, the Justice Department announced that it subpoenaed over 20 doctors and clinics that provide gender-affirming care. 

House Members state opposition to new Equal Employment Opportunity discrimination complaint rules. In a letter signed by several members of the Congressional Equality Caucus to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Representatives calls out Bessent’s decision to remove sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for sex discrimination complaints in several Equal Employment Opportunity forms, saying the move will “create unnecessary hurdles to employees filing EEO complaints and undermine enforcement of federal employee’s nondiscrimination protections.”

U.S. Department of Education dismisses thousands of civil rights complaints. The Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) dismissed nearly 3,500 civil rights complaints between March 11 and June 27 of this year. Civil rights advocates point to the Trump Administration’s elimination of discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity as valid categories of sex discrimination as part of the reason for the high number of dismissals. OCR has focused instead on what it categorizes as antisemitism complaints and those related to trans-inclusive athletics policies and DEI policies. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sends letter to governors calling for removal of rainbow crosswalks. In the letter, Secretary Duffy labelled rainbow crosswalks a “distraction” that could hinder road safety. The letter did not list any accidents that could be attributed to rainbow crosswalks. 

USNS Harvey Milk renamed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced before the last weekend of Pride Month that the naval vessel will be renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson after a Navy chief watertender who died in World War II. Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay elected official in the United States, served in the Navy Reserves from 1951 to 1955, when he resigned over an investigation alleging Milk participated in a "homosexual act" in 1953.

Global Matters

Hong Kong - Government proposes recognizing same-sex marriages performed overseas. The proposal would create a registration system for same-sex couples who are married or have official partnership recognition overseas, allowing those couples to have legal recognition of their relationship in Hong Kong. 

Hungary - 200,000 people attend Budapest Pride in defiance of government ban. A record number of people participated in Budapest Pride, despite the government’s warnings that attendees risked fines and organizers faced jail time for violating a ban on public display of LGBTQ+ related material. 

United Kingdom - Trans women banned from women’s soccer teams in England and Scotland. The ban took effect at the beginning of June, following a court ruling that held that “man” and “woman” referred to sex assigned at birth for the purposes of anti-discrimination legislation. 

United Nations - Human Rights Council votes to continue researching anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. The Council is renewing the mandate of the LGBTQ+ rights expert charged with documenting abuses against the LGBTQ+ community and supporting protections against such abuses. The United States did not take part in the vote as it has disengaged from the Council under the Trump Administration.

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

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