| | Love Votes Join us for our Wednesday, October 30th PFLAG Academy Online session PFLAG Votes 2024: Be A PFLAG Voter and Mobilize Others to do the Same. As PFLAG voters, let’s encourage our friends, family, and community members to head to the polls so that our LGBTQ+ loved ones have the freedom to be themselves, to thrive, and to learn. In this PFLAG Academy Online session we’ll discuss how to make a plan to vote, review strategies to motivate others to cast their ballots, and take part in direct action to ensure our friends and family do their civic duty in 2024. Register today! Help your friends and family make their plan to vote: Use Rally to organize your friends, family, and anyone else in your network to get out and vote! Rally lets you canvass your contacts from your couch and have effective conversations to ensure everyone in your network has the resources they need to vote. We hope you’ll watch this training video and start using Rally to get your friends, family, and others in your network to make a plan to vote and then cast their ballots! Stay tuned for information on our next days of action kicking off on October 30th and going all the way up to Election Day! |
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|  | | 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. Infant mortality rises following introduction of abortion bans. Research published in JAMA Pediatrics found that infant mortality was about 7% higher than typical following the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, which overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion. Arizona - USPS collection box in Phoenix lit on fire, 20 ballots damaged. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego stated that she is closely monitoring the incident alongside Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, and local and federal law enforcement. Go to PFLAG’s Love Votes page for information on your options for casting your ballot in Arizona. Maryland - Trans Shield Act takes effect. The law took effect on October 1st, meaning that gender-affirming care is now recognized as legally protected healthcare in the state. The law also protects gender-affirming care patients and providers from out-of-state prosecution and investigations. Ohio - ACLU Ohio warns Village of Waynesville that it illegally discriminated against gay applicant for Village Council. David Nation, an openly gay man, was the only applicant seeking to fill a vacancy on the Village Council by the time the application deadline closed. Despite this, the Council appointed someone else to the vacancy, with council President Pro Tempore Chris Colvin citing Nation’s “efforts being a founding member of the [LGBTQ+] Rainbow Alliance ERG” as a reason that Mr. Nation was not appointed. The ACLU of Ohio stated that this amounts to “flagrant discrimination.” Texas - Odessa passes anti-trans bathroom ban. In a 5-2 vote, members of the council expanded a 1989 ordinance that prohibits individuals from entering restrooms of the opposite sex to prohibit trans people from using restrooms which match their gender identity. Alexander Ermels, the president of PFLAG Midland/Odessa and an openly trans man, gave testimony opposing the ban, saying “[The ban] is not addressing any real problem in our community, instead, it's creating one, making people worried about something that just is not an issue.” |
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| | | | | Australia - Mass walkout at graduation ceremony after speaker makes anti-gay, anti-abortion comments. Joseph de Bruyn, the former national president of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, gave a speech at Australian Catholic University’s (ACU) graduation ceremony in Melbourne, where he said abortion was the “single biggest killer of human beings” and same-sex marriage went against “every society on Earth”. Many attendees walked out following these comments. Georgia - Trans activist attacked in Tbilisi following adoption of anti-LGBTQ+ law. Nata Talikishvili, a transgender activist, was attacked with a brick, leaving her with a concussion. Georgia recently adopted a law prohibiting Pride marches and other public expressions of LGBTQ+ identity and support. Poland - Same-sex civil partnerships bill introduced. The bill would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships, allowing those couples to gain rights to inheritance and medical information about their partners. However, they would not gain the right to jointly adopt children. Russia - Two gay clubs raided in Moscow, more than 50 people detained. Armed police officers raided the Central Station and Three Monkeys clubs in Moscow and detained over 50 patrons. United Kingdom - Trans Britons being denied gender affirming care. More than 200 trans people in the UK have been refused hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by their general practitioners in the last year. |
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