Free Republic

Washington (AP) — After the raucous rainbow-hued festivities of Saturday’s parade, the final day of World Pride 2025 in the nation’s capital kicked off on a more downbeat note.Thousands gathered under grey skies Sunday morning at the Lincoln Memorial for a rally and protest march, as the community gathers its strength for a looming fight under President Donald Trump’s second administration. “This is not just a party,” Ashley Smith, board president of Capital Pride Alliance. “This is a rally for our lives.”Smith acknowledged that international attendance numbers for the bi-annual World Pride were measurably down, with many potential attendees avoiding...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Saturday again decried two gold medalist Olympic athletes, falsely labeling the female boxers as men. Trump made the comments while speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and pledging to “keep men out of women’s sports,” turned his attention to the recently concluded Olympic Games and the case of two athletes who became the subject of international scrutiny regarding misconceptions about their gender. Trump has long criticized transgender people as part of his rallies and focused specifically on transgender athletes, using language about gender identity that LGBTQ+ advocates say is wrong and...

Tennessee and Kentucky can continue to ban gender-affirming care for young transgender people while legal challenges against those state laws proceed, federal appeals judges ruled. In a 2-1 decision by a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel late Thursday, the majority wrote that elected lawmakers made “precise cost-benefit decisions” in instituting the bans and “did not trigger any reason for judges to second-guess them.” The laws were passed by Republican majorities in both states. “Prohibiting citizens and legislatures from offering their perspectives on high-stakes medical policies, in which compassion for the child points in both directions, is not something...

Mack Allen, 18, attends a rally for LGBTQ+ youth at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., on Jan. 31. A Kansas law enacted last year ended the state’s legal recognition of transgender identities and now other states are considering such laws. (John Hanna / Associated Press) TOPEKA, Kan. — Mack Allen, an 18-year-old high school senior from Kansas, braces for sideways glances, questioning looks and snide comments whenever he has to hand over his driver’s license, which still identifies him as female. They’ve come from a police officer responding to a car accident. They’ve come from an urgent care employee...