Free Republic

It was likely one of the last pieces of city policy passed that winter, just before the New Year, a parting gift from a progressive city council. On December 30, 1975, Minneapolis became the first city to adopt a trans-inclusive LGBTQ+ non-discrimination ordinance. Fifty years later, the United States still lacks similar protections on a federal level.

A San Diego school district is under fire for providing a curriculum that teaches young students about nine genders and 30 sexual orientations. Parents have objected to a slideshow featured on the San Diego Unified Schools (SDUS) website entitled 'LGBTQIA+ Terms you should know'. The resources outlined definitions for nine gender identities including transgender, non-binary, genderfluid and agender. The slides also included a graphic showcasing more than 30 'LGBTQ Youth Sexual Orientations' including graysexual, queer, asexual and pansexual. SDUS is the second largest district in California and services more than 121,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. It is unclear...

One week after the Sioux Center Library board voted 8-1 to continue offering a sexually explicit book called “Icebreaker” to any patron with a library card, it has been discovered that the library also stocks a book called “Identical” in the 12-year-old section of the library.Bookshelves The book graphically details multiple incidents in which a 9-year-old girl is sexually abused by her father, including one incident while her identical twin sister watches. In addition, the book contains violence, including self-harm and suicidal ideations, profanity and derogatory terms and drug and alcohol abuse. The abuse of the daughter, Kaeleigh, started when...

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge has permanently ordered Georgia’s prison system to keep providing some kinds of gender-affirming care for transgender prisoners, although the state plans to appeal. U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert last week ruled that a new state law denying hormone therapy to inmates violated their protection against cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She ordered the state to keep providing hormones to inmates who had been receiving therapy and to allow others medically diagnosed as needing hormone therapy to begin receiving treatment. “The court finds that there is no...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law requiring K-12 schools to provide gender-neutral bathrooms by July 2026.

Doctors have admitted to performing “non-standard” gender-affirming procedures on youngsters and sometimes base treatment purely on cosmetic goals — as they see a spike in patients seeking out “nonbinary” surgeries. The medical professionals copped to sometimes even performing the life-altering procedures with little to no assessment of an individual’s mental health or gender identity, newly emerged videos obtained by The Free Press show. The recordings, some of which have been made at closed-door medical conferences in the US within the last few years, captured clinicians openly discussing how they were trying to fulfill a patients’ desires — even if it...

Graduate teaching assistant Mel Curth failed student on essay advocating Biblical values and traditional gender roles. A University of Oklahoma student who received a zero out of 25 on an assignment regarding gender norms says she was targeted for her Christian beliefs, citing a scathing response from the teacher's assistant who doled out the grade. Samantha Fulnecky is a junior pre-med student at the Sooner State's flagship university. "I was asked to read an article and give my opinion on the article, and the article was about gender binary and mental health and gender stereotypes, specifically in children, because it's...

Two sisters are selling tickets for a party to raise money to enable their mother to commit suicide at a Swiss clinic. Jackie Baker, 59, wants to travel to the Dignitas euthanasia clinic after developing motor neurone disease in February. Her daughters Tara O'Reilly and Rose Baker are desperately trying to raise £8,000 so their mother can "die with dignity" in Switzerland. Hairdresser Tara, 40, is selling tickets for a girls night out with drag artist and playboy waiters to raise the funds for her mother. Tara said: "It's what she wants. We were very upset at the beginning but...

A Florida driver was arrested after allegedly trying to hit members of an LGBTQ running club with his vehicle at a local park, according to the West Palm Beach Police Department. Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud, 43, was arrested on Monday evening for "attempting to strike members of a local running club at a park, making multiple passes and driving recklessly before fleeing," police said. Police responded to the scene at approximately 8:20 p.m. on Monday, and upon arriving, "met with members of a local LGBTQIA+ running club" who reported an individual allegedly driving a Ford Bronco SUV and "intentionally" trying...

Justine Lindsay, who became the NFL‘s first trans cheerleader in 2022, is now opening up about why she was fired in August. Lindsay told her story in an Instagram Live video, saying she was cut from the Carolina Panthers’ dance team, TopCats, because of her trans identity. “I was cut because I’m trans,” Lindsay said on the stream, according to Them. “I don’t wanna hear nobody saying ‘She didn’t wanna come back.’ Why the hell would I not wanna come back to an organization that I’ve been a part of for three years?” Lindsay added that she was “devastated” and...

Washington (AFP) – In a sharp change, the United States said Thursday that its signature human rights report would start tracking countries that support gender changes for children and diversity and equity programs. Specifically, the report will ask US embassies to report on countries that allow "chemical or surgical mutilation of children in operations that attempt to modify their sex." Rubio also asked embassies to track "enforcement of policies like affirmative action of diversity, equity and inclusion that 'provide preferential treatment' to workers on the basis of race, sex or caste." The issues reflect top priorities for Trump since he...

When two dating apps, Blued and Finka, disappeared from the Apple AppStore in China on November 11, a whole world threatened to disappear. The apps are two of the most popular among China’s LGBT+ community. Blued had been downloaded tens of millions of times, according to the BBC. In taking them down, the authorities removed two major LGBT+ spaces, leaving little in their place. Apple said it removed the apps “based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China”. Evidence of hardening attitudes towards the LGBT+ community in China has been increasing for some time. Before targeting Blued and...

The Supreme Court on Monday morning turned down a request from Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, to reconsider its 2015 decision recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. In a brief, unsigned order, the justices rejected Davis’ petition for review of a ruling by a federal appeals court upholding an award of $100,000 to a gay couple to whom she had refused to issue a marriage license. That petition had also asked the justices to overrule the 2015 decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, arguing that a right to same-sex marriage “had no basis in the Constitution.” As is...

The Supreme Court on Monday declined an opportunity to overturn its landmark precedent recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, tossing aside an appeal that had roiled LGBTQ advocates who feared the conservative court might be ready to revisit the decade-old decision. Instead, the court denied an appeal from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who now faces hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and legal fees for refusing to issue marriage licenses after the court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges allowed same-sex couples to marry. The court did not explain its reasoning to deny the appeal, which...

TUCKER, Ga. — A transgender woman said a DeKalb County Police officer accosted her after she used the women’s restroom at Tucker-Reid H. Cofer Library. The police department has opened an Internal Affairs investigation into the incident, according to a police spokesperson. “Because the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to share additional details at this time,” the spokesperson said. “The department remains dedicated to treating all members of our community with dignity, respect, and professionalism.”

NEW YORK (AP) — TV shows like “Abbott Elementary,” “Hacks,” “Heartstopper,” “The Last of Us” and “Yellowjackets” helped increase the ranks of LGBTQ+ characters on prime time by 4% over the previous season, according to a new study by the advocacy group GLAAD. This year’s “Where We Are on TV” study, released Thursday, counted 489 LGBTQ characters across scripted prime-time broadcast, cable and streaming shows — up 21 additional characters. It marks a boost after two years of decline, but remains far below the 2021-2022 record high of 637 characters. GLAAD added that the number of transgender characters on TV...

UK health officials are encouraging gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men to make sure they are vaccinated against mpox, as a strain called 'clade Ib' shows early signs of local spread in some European countries. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is aware of small numbers of cases of this strain of mpox - formerly known as monkeypox - in Spain, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands, as well as the US.

[Catholic Caucus] Italian synod moves to ‘recognize’ homosexual and transgender identities in the ChurchThe document rejects ‘discriminatory attitudes’ in the Church against homosexual and transgender identities despite associated sins having the potential to cause eternal death.The Third Synodal Assembly of Churches in Italy has taken a significant step toward normalizing and affirming homosexual activity and gender dysphoria in a document released Friday.Issued in Rome, “Yeast of Peace and Hope” utilized unprecedented language to express openness toward disordered identities that may encourage those who have fallen into these tragic conditions to further risk the salvation of their immortal souls.Under section 30(c)...

The New Jersey Education Association, one of the most powerful political arms in New Jersey favoring Democrats, is set to host an event next month to celebrate “the vibrant world of drag” for public school teachers.The NJEA is the union representing hundreds of thousands of New Jersey educators, and is also behind one of the top-spending political groups in the state. It has poured tens of millions of dollars into Democratic campaigns and last month endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill over Republican Jack Ciattarelli.Just a few days after that election takes place, it will hold the event called “Drag...

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III on Monday dedicated Britain’s first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, 25 years after the U.K. ended a ban on homosexuality in the armed forces. The king, who is the ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument in the National Memorial Arboretum in central England at a service attended by scores of serving troops and veterans. The sculpture takes the form of a crumpled bronze letter bearing words from personnel who were affected by the ban. Between 1967 and 2000, soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who...