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☆ Scotland’s new hate crime law was meant to protect against prejudice. It ended up sowing further division
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Amy Cassidy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order Act came into force last week, a contentious law that expands existing legislation to include transgender identity as a protected characteristic from hate crimes. In the first week of the law’s enactment, a feminist group, “Let Women Speak,” organized a rally against the legislation in Scotland’s capital on Saturday. Another major concern for those who oppose the Hate Crime Act is the supposed lack of clarity on what type of behavior could constitute an offense under the new law. But 25-year-old Scottish trans student Lucy (who asked not to be identified by her real name due to concerns about continued online abuse), said the new law does not reassure her. Scotland’s proposed reforms would have allowed transgender people to self-identify, without the need for a medical diagnosis or certificate.

Persons: –, – Humza Yousaf, ”, JK Rowling, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Jane Barlow, ’, Susan Smith, “, ’ ” Smith, Siobhan Brown, Rowling, Harry Potter, Yousaf, J, Rowling waded, Angela Weiss, ” Vic Valentine, Lucy, Scotland’s, hadn’t, Musk, Ian Miles Cheong Organizations: CNN, ” Scottish, Reuters, Scottish, Women Scotland, Community Safety, Police Scotland, BBC, Getty, Scottish Trans, Public Affairs, Equality Network, Scottish Police Federation, ” Police, Courier, PA Media, Police Locations: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, British, Scottish, Malaysian

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee's decades-old aggravated prostitution statute violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday after an investigation, warning that the state could face a lawsuit if officials don't immediately cease enforcement. LGBTQ+ and civil rights advocates have long criticized the measure as discriminatory, making it almost impossible to find housing and employment due to the restrictions for violent sex offenders. The DOJ letter details several of the struggles of those with aggravated prostitution convictions. A lifetime sex offender registration can stop people from visiting with their grandchildren, revoke job offers, and severely limit housing options. Plaintiffs who had filed a lawsuit seeking to block the aggravated prostitution law in October said the DOJ's letter only further supports their efforts.

Persons: —, ”, Bill Lee, “, Kristen Clarke, Jonathan Skrmetti, David Rausch, Steven Mulroy, it's, Mulroy, ” Brandon James Smith, Skrmetti, “ OUTMemphis, Molly Quinn, OUTMemphis, Adrian Sainz Organizations: U.S . Department of Justice, American Civil Liberties Union, Transgender Law Center, Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, of, DOJ, Associated Press Locations: Tenn, Tennessee, United States, Shelby County, Memphis, Memphis , Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — LGBTQ+ and civil rights advocates on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee's aggravated prostitution statute, arguing that the law stems from the decades-old AIDS scare and discriminates against HIV-positive people. The law was later reclassified in 2010 as a “violent sexual offense," requiring those convicted to face lifetime sex offender registration. Another plaintiff has struggled for years to find housing that complies with Tennessee's sex offender registry requirements. A separate plaintiff is currently incarcerated for violating a sex offender registry requirement and has chosen not to seek parole despite being eligible because complying with registry requirements has become so onerous. According to the complaint, 83 people are currently registered for aggravated prostitution in Tennessee.

Persons: ”, Molly Quinn, OUTMemphis, Bill Lee, Jonathan Skrmetti, David Rausch, Frank Strada, —, Jane Doe Organizations: American Civil Liberties Union, Transgender Law Center, ”, of, Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC, Memphis Police, Unit Locations: Tenn, Tennessee, United States, U.S, Memphis, Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Shelby County

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho law restricting which bathrooms transgender students can use in schools will go into effect while a court challenge plays out. It prohibits transgender students from using public school restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. It also allows other students to sue their school if they encounter a student using a bathroom that doesn’t align with their sex assigned at birth. About a quarter of Idaho schools allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity, Nye said in a previous decision. The group also pushed a new Idaho law criminalizing gender-affirming health care for minors.

Persons: David Nye, Nye, ” Nye, “, ”, Thursday's, Peter Renn, Debbie Critchfield, Raúl, Republican Sen, Ben Adams Organizations: Chief U.S, District, The Idaho Statesman, Lambda, Lambda Legal, Idaho State, of Education, Boise School District’s, “, Republican, Policy, GOP, U.S, Circuit, Appeals Locations: BOISE, Idaho, An Idaho, Raúl Labrador, Labrador, Nampa

His death has been memorialized as an egregious hate crime that helped fuel the LGBTQ+ rights movement over the ensuing years. In 2011, the military scrapped the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that kept gay, lesbian and bisexual service members in the closet. Several activists interviewed this week by The Associated Press evoked Matthew Shepard as they discussed broader developments. The act expanded the federal hate crime law to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It is a popular choice for high school theater productions but has faced opposition due to policies resembling Florida's “Don't Say Gay” law that have surfaced in various states and communities.

Persons: It's, Matthew Shepard, we've, Kevin Jennings, “, you've, they're, we’ve, ”, Ron DeSantis, “ We’re, ” Shannon Minter, Rodrigo Heng, Lehtinen, ” Heng, James Esseks, Esseks, ” Esseks, Kelley Robinson, —, James Byrd Jr, Barack Obama, Shepard, Shepard's, Judy, Matthew Shepard’s, Shelby Chestnut, Chestnut, Cathy Renna Organizations: of Wyoming, U.S, Supreme, Republican, Lambda, GOP, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, American Civil Liberties, HIV, Human Rights, Associated Press, Matthew Shepard Foundation, Transgender Law, New, National, Task Force Locations: Vermont, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Laramie , Wyoming, New York City

☆ States Passed a Record Number of Transgender Laws. Here’s What They Say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Adeel Hassan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Statehouses around the country this year have been consumed by fights over laws governing transgender people. Seventeen states during their most recent legislative sessions passed restrictions on medical care for transgender people, joining just three other states that passed similar bans in the last two years. A series of other laws passed regulate which bathrooms transgender people can use and whether schools can affirm transgender children’s identities. A federal judge in Arkansas last week struck down that state’s law forbidding medical treatments for children and teenagers seeking gender transitions. Amid the fighting, it’s easy to overlook the text of the laws themselves, which can get clinical very quickly.

Locations: Arkansas, Florida

The majority of those bills specifically affect transgender people, touching on nearly every aspect of a transgender person's public life. And the vulnerability of most Republican state legislators right now is in the primary, if at all," Allen said. The bill he signed on Wednesday also adds obstacles for transgender adults and grants courts jurisdiction in child custody battles in some cases involving gender-affirming care. Demonstrators swarmed the Texas House, leading lawmakers to send a bill banning gender-affirming care back to committee. In Montana, protests contributed to the censure of transgender state Representative Zooey Zephyr, who was banned from the state House floor by Republican legislators.

☆ OpenAI C.E.O. Calls for Government Regulation of Artificial Intelligence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

NOW PLAYINGOpenAI C.E.O. Calls for Government Regulation of Artificial Intelligence1:07Brandon Johnson Is Sworn In as Chicago’s 57th Mayor0:38As House Passes Border Security Bill, McCarthy Blasts White House1:05Santos Does Not Plan to Resign Despite Fraud Charges0:48Biden and McCarthy Address Debt Limit Talks1:13Four Proud Boys Are Convicted of Sedition0:59‘Taxpayers Are Not on the Hook’ for First Republic Collapse, Biden Says1:10Biden Ribs News Media at Correspondents’ Dinner0:40House Republicans Pass Debt Ceiling Bill0:54Montana House Votes to Block Transgender Lawmaker0:49Biden Welcomes South Korean President to White House0:33

☆ Judge Rejects Montana Transgender Lawmaker’s Bid to Return to House Floor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rep. Zooey Zephyr at a House Judiciary Committee meeting in the Montana State Capitol on Monday. Photo: Thom Bridge/Independent Record/Associated PressMontana Rep. Zooey Zephyr cannot return to the state Legislature, a judge ruled, after the transgender lawmaker’s Republican colleagues barred her from participating in floor debates over her actions against a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors, which they said broke decorum. Judge Mike Menahan, of Montana’s First Judicial District Court, on Tuesday denied a request to temporarily block officials from keeping Ms. Zephyr off the House floor for the remainder of this session, which is scheduled to end Friday. Judge Menahan said the request would require the court “to interfere with legislative authority in a manner that exceeds this Court’s authority.”

☆ A photo of women snickering at trans lawmaker Zooey Zephyr in Montana looks a lot like the photos of white people snickering at Black people in the 1950s
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The vote meant Zephyr could no longer enter the House chamber, so she worked from a public bench in the hallway outside. State Rep. Zooey Zephyr sits on a bench just outside the main chamber of the House on April 27 in Helena, Montana. The censure prevents Zephyr from entering the House floor, so she has instead been working from a public bench outside the chamber. Photos from the time show authorities in different cities escorting Black children to school through throngs of glaring white protestors. Similarly, a group of supporters on Tuesday managed to hold Zephyr's seat outside the chamber for her, the lawmaker said.

☆ Transgender Lawmaker Sues Over Removal From Montana House Floor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Jacey Fortin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsA state representative in Montana asked a court on Monday to allow her to return to the House floor for the rest of the state’s legislative session, arguing that her First Amendment rights had been violated after an escalating standoff over her remarks on transgender issues. Representative Zooey Zephyr, a Democrat from Missoula, was barred last week from participating in deliberations in the House chamber after she made impassioned comments in opposition to a ban on hormone treatments and surgical care for transgender minors. The bill, which passed, has since been signed by Gov. “I’m determined to defend the right of the people to have their voices heard,” Ms. Zephyr, who is transgender, tweeted on Monday when announcing her lawsuit, adding that the rights of her 11,000 constituents had also been violated. Four of them were also named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana and other lawyers.

CNN —From statehouses to the presidential campaign trail, Republicans are escalating their political attacks on transgender people – a reflection of what they see as a cultural fight their base is eager to wage. And in recent days, those attacks have turned into new forms of mockery and political retribution, as Republicans seek to turn transgender rights into a flashpoint by seizing on social media controversies and exercising their rule-making power in statehouses where they hold large majorities. “A lot of young trans people are worried that their medication is going to get pulled,” she said of legislation targeting health insurance coverage for gender-affirming care. Transgender rights activists protest outside the House chamber at the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City on February 6, 2023. That is not a transgender person,” Haley said of Mulvaney as the crowd nodded.

☆ Montana governor signs bill banning transgender medical care for youths
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 28 (Reuters) - Montana's governor on Friday enacted a Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender children, days after a transgender lawmaker protesting the bill was barred from the floor of the state legislature, sparking a national furor. The legislation, Senate Bill 99, passed the House of Representatives three days later, and Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed it into law on Friday. Republican House leaders initially reacted to Zephyr's floor statements by turning off her microphone. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday called the Montana Republican House action against Zephyr a "denial of democratic values". The Tennessee lawmakers were promptly reappointed to their seats by their county legislatures and earned a trip to the White House.

☆ Montana latest to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Reuters Editorial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PoliticsMontana latest to ban gender-affirming care for trans youthPostedMontana's governor on Friday enacted a Republican-backed ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender children, days after a transgender lawmaker protesting the bill was barred from the floor of the state legislature, sparking a national furor. Emma Jehle has more.

☆ Montana Governor Signs Law Banning Transgender Care for Minors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Jim Robbins | Jacey Fortin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

HELENA, Mont. — The Republican governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill into law on Friday to restrict transition care for transgender minors, joining about a dozen states that have adopted similar laws since the beginning of the year. The bill, which prohibits transitional hormone treatments and surgeries for transgender people under 18, led to a standoff this month with Representative Zooey Zephyr, one of the Legislature’s only transgender lawmakers. In a speech on the House floor last week, Ms. Zephyr told her conservative colleagues that the ban would put “blood on your hands,” and that denying transition care would be “tantamount to torture.” For days after, House leadership refused to call on Ms. Zephyr during discussion of any bill up for consideration before the House.

☆ Montana Transgender Lawmaker Barred From House Floor
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Talal Ansari | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Rep. Zooey Zephyr walks out of the Montana House of Representatives after lawmakers voted to bar her on Wednesday. Photo: Thom Bridge/Independent Record/Associated PressMontana’s House of Representatives voted to bar a transgender Democratic lawmaker from participating in debate from the legislature floor a week after she spoke out against a bill that would ban gender-affirming therapies for minors. The Republican-controlled legislature on Wednesday voted 68-32 to no longer admit Zooey Zephyr to the House floor for the rest of the session. She will be able to vote remotely.

HELENA, Mont. — As Montana lawmakers entered the critical final days of their legislative session on Thursday, one of the state’s only transgender lawmakers, Zooey Zephyr, was left exiled from the House chamber, monitoring the debate and casting votes on a laptop as she sat on a hallway bench near a bustling snack stand. Even as her Republican peers sought to isolate her in the wake of her impassioned comments against a proposed ban on what doctors call gender-affirming medical care for children, Ms. Zephyr said she would not remain idle. She spent much of the day on the bench, working with headphones in her ears to block the sound of chattering lobbyists, the hiss of a milk foamer and the voices of lawmakers ordering coffee. “I am here working on behalf of my constituents as best I can given the undemocratic circumstances,” Ms. Zephyr said on Twitter.

— The Montana House of Representatives took the extraordinary step of blocking the state’s only transgender lawmaker from the House floor for the remainder of the legislative session on Wednesday after an escalating standoff over her ability to speak in the House led to heated protests and arrests on Monday and the abrupt cancellation of Tuesday’s session. The barred lawmaker, Representative Zooey Zephyr, will still be allowed to cast votes during House proceedings for the remainder of session, which concludes on May 5, but must do so remotely. The move is the culmination of a weeklong battle between House leadership and Ms. Zephyr, who was prohibited from participating in deliberations on the House floor after she made impassioned comments during debate over a bill that would prohibit hormone treatments and surgical care for transgender minors. It was one of a half-dozen similar bills targeting transgender youth that the Legislature had considered in the last week alone. And it comes amid an avalanche of similar legislation in Republican-controlled legislatures across the country.

☆ Montana's House just voted to censure its first openly transgender lawmaker after protests and days of not letting her speak
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Montana House of Representatives voted to censure its first transgender legislator. State Rep. Zooey Zephyr was censured days after protestors interrupted the legislature because the House speaker wouldn't recognize her on the floor. In doing so, Zephyr will not be allowed on the House floor or gallery for the remainder of the legislative session. State Rep. SJ Howell, a Democratic legislator who is nonbinary, spoke in support of Zephyr on Wednesday and said the protests on Monday were unsurprising. Now, after Zephyr's censure, a similar problem could occur for Montana Republicans as Zephyr increasingly gets placed into the spotlight.

☆ Montana House Cancels Session Amid Standoff With Transgender Lawmaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Jim Robbins | Jacey Fortin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

This year, 11 states have passed laws prohibiting such care for young people. Few of those legislatures have had to debate those laws with a transgender lawmaker as a member. But she added that she is now serving her third term — and watching transgender candidates in other states win elections, too. Ms. Zephyr, 34, said she ran for office on a campaign platform of affordable housing, health care, human rights and climate justice. But it is her clash with Republican lawmakers over transgender issues that has rapidly raised her profile.

☆ Republicans Call for Censure of Transgender Lawmaker Who Condemned Care Ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Representative Zooey Zephyr took to the floor of the Montana Legislature on Tuesday to make an impassioned plea for her colleagues to reject a bill that would ban transition care for transgender minors, saying that denying such care would be “tantamount to torture.”“This body should be ashamed,” Ms. Zephyr, a first-term Democrat and the Legislature’s first transgender member, said. “If you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”The Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, responded by accusing Ms. Zephyr in a letter of “attempting to shame the legislative body” by using “hateful rhetoric.” The letter, which misgendered Ms. Zephyr, called for her to be censured. On Thursday, however, the House adjourned without taking that step. It was unclear if they planned to take up the matter on Friday.

☆ Opinion | Sorry, Republicans, Your Trans Panic Won’t Help You Win
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Lydia Polgreen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

State legislatures across the country are enacting draconian abortion bans that are producing predictably tragic outcomes. It has become blindingly obvious what happens when Republicans legislate what Americans do with their sex organs. For years even before the fall of Roe, conservatives have used hard-edge anti-trans messaging in both red and swing state races, only to come up short. issues as a wedge in races in swing states from the Midwest to the Sunbelt to New England. The data suggest that opposition to trans rights cannot overcome — or possibly even make a dent in — the advantage that comes to Democrats in swing states for supporting abortion rights.

☆ Nebraska hasn't passed a single bill this year because one lawmaker keeps filibustering in protest of an anti-trans bill: 'I will burn this session to the ground'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Azmi Haroun | Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Nebraska state senator has filibustered every bill in this year's legislative session. State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh is doing so in opposition to an anti-trans bill, The Washington Post reported. "This bill legislates hate and targets trans youth," Cavanaugh told The Post. "I will burn this session to the ground over this bill," Cavanaugh told her colleagues in a February session, according to the Post. "The dream would be for the bill to die and for us to move forward with the work of the state," Cavanaugh told the Post.

☆ Hot dog fingers and googly-eye rocks from 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' could be yours as A24 auctions dozens of props and costumes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A24 announced an auction of dozens of props and costumes from "Everything Everywhere All at Once." There are over 40 items for sale, including the famous "hot dog finger" gloves and several costumes. A mix of props and costumes are available in the auctions, including the famous "hot dog finger" gloves worn by Yeoh's character Evelyn. Many of the other props and costumes, including a rock with googly eyes and the fanny pack worn by Quan's character Waymond, are selling for a few hundred or thousand dollars. A24 has also auctioned items for charity from some of its past films including "Uncut Gems" and "Midsommar," as well as other general Hollywood memorabilia.

☆ Vermont's first trans lawmaker gets engaged at rainbow-lit White House
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Vermont Rep. Taylor Small, the state’s first transgender lawmaker, got engaged to her partner, Carsen Russell, while the White House was lit with rainbow lights on Tuesday. Vermont Rep. Taylor Small got engaged to her partner, Carsen Russell (left), after the Respect for Marriage Act signing at the White House on Tuesday. Courtesy Rep. Taylor SmallAs the event was wrapping up, Russell said he asked Small if she wanted to take a photo. “Carson is wonderful at navigating the roads with such confidence.”Carsen Russell, Vermont Rep. Taylor Small's partner of nearly four years, said he wasn't sure he would be able to get a ring into the White House without Small noticing. “I was like, ‘How do I get a ring into the White House without her noticing?’” he said.

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