Free Republic

On Thursday, a federal court ruled that parents in Maryland do not have a right to opt their children out of classes which teach pro-LGBT curriculum. According to the Washington Free Beacon, the group of parents had filed a lawsuit against Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), demanding that the district revive a policy that allowed them to pull their children out of classes that discussed books and other materials featuring LGBT characters. The policy was first enacted in January but then repealed in March. “The Court concludes the plaintiffs’ asserted due process right to direct their children’s upbringing by opting...

Carlos Santana delivered a speech laced with anti-transgender remarks during a recent performance in Atlantic City, New Jersey, telling the audience, “A woman is a woman, and a man is a man.”

The coordinated attack on trans rights in state legislatures across the US is built on a foundation of hateful paranoia and right-wing lies. But however unpopular anti-trans bills are, the human costs are real: thousands are migrating from anti-trans states.

A district judge appointed by Joe Biden has ruled that parents in Montgomery County, Maryland, have no right to opt their children out of the school’s woke LGBTQ curriculum. United States District Judge Deborah L. Boardman ruled against the Muslim-led group of parents who did not want their children exposed to far-left propaganda about sex and gender. The parents sought an injunction before the first day of school on August 28 after the district changed its policies in March to no longer allow parents to opt their children out of being assigned books that advocate pride parades, gender transitioning, and...

I’ve just experienced another attack on social media. The harassment on X, as Twitter now calls itself, usually lasts around 36 hours, and while most of the nasties are trolls and bots, I can’t pretend that the hundreds of comments don’t have an effect. I’m a priest, progressive, outspoken. No point in complaining. But a disturbing new aspect of these bombardments are the repeated and constant false accusations of pedophilia – not a libellous dribble, but a flood. It’s not really about me of course, and I’m in good company. Last month in Belleville, Ont., when Justin Trudeau was swarmed...

At Joint Base Lewis-McChord's air show just outside of Tacoma, Washington, this past weekend, onlookers and families saw tactical military jets, high-performance sports cars and risqué models dancing on stage in skintight red,white and blue bikinis, part of what organizers described as a "way to thank the Puget Sound community." Instagram was flooded with pictures and videos of the models alongside sports cars, on the runway posing in front of cargo planes and in front of hot rods parked inside a hangar. Two dancers were also featured wearing revealing flight suits while dancing on stage. It was all featured in...

A record number of bills aimed at restricting the rights of LGBTQ people have become law in the past three years, but the majority of those that have faced legal challenges haven’t held up in court, according to an NBC News analysis, legal experts and the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed legal challenges against some of the laws. Just this year, state representatives introduced 491 bills aimed at restricting LGBTQ rights, with 77 of them becoming law, according to the ACLU. The majority of bills proposed and passed focused on limiting the ability of transgender youth to receive...

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has vetoed a bill that was meant to protect children from transgender gender-change surgeries and other procedures like giving kids cross-sex hormones.House Bill 648, known as the “Stop Harming Our Kids Act,” was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature along party lines in early June.The bill sought to prohibit hormone treatments for minors as well as puberty-blocking drugs and gender reassignment surgery, such as giving girls who identify as boys double mastectomies, which critics have decried as a form of mutilation.“If HB 648 doesn’t become law, we will be sending a horrible message...

Progressive mommy-blogger Jen Hatmaker is giving tens of thousands of dollars to pro-LGBTQ+ organizations, and her most recent grant winner, with their focus on grooming and encouraging babies to become transgender or non-binary, is perhaps the most grotesque of all. We recently brought you the story Jen Hatmaker Org. Supports ‘Gender Affirming Care’ for Children+ Gives Money to Groomers, which detailed the efforts of her company’s grant recipient, Texas Action Health, to help boys and girls transiton into the opposite sex by providing access to health care information, counseling, chemicals, and gender bending insurance. Hatmaker is the co-founder and Chief...

"Washington Dems silent on nude Pride cyclists exposing genitalia to crowd including kids, families," Fox News reported. Claim: Two videos authentically showed that some naked men participated in the June 2023 Seattle Pride Parade and also bathed in International Fountain, in both instances with families and children present. Rating: True In late June 2023, we received mail from readers who asked about a story involving Seattle Pride's annual parade. The main question from our readers appeared to be if it was true that viral videos showed some naked men had participated both in and nearby the all-ages parade that had...

A group of Hollywood elites is calling for the censorship of people who oppose child mutilation. On Tuesday, a group of over 250 celebrities signed a statement from the LGBT activist group GLAAD that called on social media companies to crack down on people who oppose the trans agenda. The statement was addressed to several social media executives, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Twitter’s Elon Musk. In the statement, the celebrities accused the social media giants of failing to adequately address “hate speech” against gay and trans people on their platforms. “There has been a massive systemic failure to prohibit...

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin said they plan to appeal the ruling to the Eighth CircuitA federal judge on Tuesday ruled an Arkansas law that bans hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery for transgender minors is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody said that the first-in-the-nation law violated the due process and equal protection rights of transgender youth and their families and it violated the First Amendment rights of health care providers by prohibiting them from referring patients elsewhere. "Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the prohibited medical...

A Federal Court has blocked the implementation of a controversial Florida law banning children from attending drag shows. The law championed and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis faced a legal challenge from Orlando Restaurant Hamburger Mary’s, which has run 'family friendly' drag shows for 15 years. The law can now no longer be enforced until Hamburger Mary finishes litigating its case, after a Federal judge issued a preliminary injunction.

The NJ Attorney General says Middletown is putting the physical safety of transgender students at risk by "outing" them to their parents. MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The state of New Jersey has now sued the Middletown school district, plus Marlboro and Manalapan, over their new transgender student policies. In Middletown, teachers are now required to notify parents if their child seeks to officially go by a different name or gender pronoun, or use a different bathroom in school. Marlboro and Manalapan-Englishtown Regional school boards approved similar transgender policies this week. But NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin says the districts are...

On Friday, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled a shirt that read "THERE ARE ONLY TWO GENDERS" could be construed as bullying of a protected class and is not protected speech after a 12-year-old and his father filed suit against officials in the Middlesbrough Public School district for First and Fourteenth Amendment rights violations. Judge Indira Talwani said in the court ruling, the boy and his father had "not established a likelihood of success on the merits where he is unable to counter Defendants’ showing that enforcement of the Dress Code was undertaken to protect the invasion of the rights...

A high-ranking Space Force officer has spoken out slamming a slew of recent anti-LGBTQ state laws, saying they have a negative impact on military families and force readiness. Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt made the remarks in a fiery speech at the 12th Annual DoD LGBTQ+ Pride Event in Washington DC, saying that the laws sometimes forced her to choose 'less qualified' candidates for postings in those states. 'Since January of this year, more than 400 anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been introduced at the state level,' said Burt, the Space Force's deputy chief of space operations. 'That number is rising and demonstrates...

Lt Gen DeAnna Burt claimed such laws 'could be dangerous' for members of the militaryLt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of space operations, also claimed that such laws affect her hiring and promotion decisions, sometimes leading her to choose a "less qualified" candidate because of a preferred candidate's "personal circumstances.""Transformational cultural change requires leadership from the top, and we do not have time to wait," Burt told those attending the event. "Since January of this year, more than 400 anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been introduced at the state level. That number is rising and demonstrates a trend that could be dangerous...

You may be inclined to give the Toronto Blue Jays credit for releasing pitcher Anthony Bass, who recently shared a hateful anti-LGBTQ+ Instagram post, and then later denied reality, saying it actually wasn't hateful. The Blue Jays were right to cut ties but he made these comments days ago. The team's action was slow and perhaps even enabling. That's because the Blue Jays were going to proceed with having Bass catch the ceremonial first pitch before Friday's first game of the team's Pride Weekend activities. Why you would have someone who shared an anti-LGBTQ+ post take part in a night...

A trailblazing transgender student at an L.A. County high school is helping his community through the Gender Cool program. LOS ANGELES -- Some of 18-year-old Alex's passions include acting and set building, which keeps him busy. But what also keeps Alex -- a senior in high school -- busy is being a part of the Gender Cool Champions group. Gender Cool is a youth-led group aiming to bring positive change by sharing young people's experience and creating awareness about the transgender community. Alex is transgender. "My pronouns are he/him. I do advocacy with the Gender Cool project. But I have...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — A federal judge ordered Florida to stop enforcing its ban against providing gender-affirming healthcare to transgender children for three families, according to newly-released court documents. On Tuesday, Judge Robert L. Hinkle, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, issued a preliminary injunction in favor of three families with transgender children in a lawsuit filed against dozens of Florida officials, including the Florida Surgeon General, the Florida Board of Medicine and its members, the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine and its members, the Florida Attorney General and Florida’s 20 State Attorneys. The...