Free Republic

On Tuesday, June 24, federal authorities apprehended an armed subject who advanced on officers with a large knife outside the ICE facility in Portland, Oregon. Julie Mikela Winters, 47, born Christopher Hudson, has been charged with felony attempted assault of a federal officer, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. The incident occurred during the ongoing Antifa occupation at the ICE facility located at 4310 SW Macadam Avenue, which has been under siege by black-clad militants for more than two consecutive weeks. According to an FBI affidavit, Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers observed Winters attempting to ignite...

Mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani wants to spend $65 million in taxpayer funds on transgender treatment — including for minors — if he’s elected to lead New York City. The Queens assemblyman, who is locked in a close race with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, says on his campaign website that the money would be funneled to public providers to help transgender New Yorkers. About $57 million would be allotted for public hospitals, community clinics, federally qualified health centers and nonprofits with another $8 million for more expanded services, the website states. Mamdani defended the spending plan as...

The U.S. Department of Education announced Wednesday that the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation violated the civil rights of female students on the basis of sex by allowing transgender students to compete in school sports according to their gender identity.Having concluded its investigation, the U.S. Department of Education is calling on California to “voluntarily agree” to change what it determined are “unlawful practices” within 10 days or risk “imminent enforcement action.”“Although Governor Gavin Newsom admitted months ago it was ‘deeply unfair’ to allow men to compete in women’s sports, both the California Department of Education and...

The Supreme Court left unresolved whether states can give primacy to biological sex over gender identity, a question that has divided lower courts nationwide, in its blockbuster decision upholding Tennessee's ban on medicalized gender transitions for youth, though individual justices in the majority promoted their own conclusions in concurrences. The most powerful nine jurists in America will consider whether to fill in the gaps from U.S. v. Skrmetti this week when, for the third time, they review petitions by West Virginia and Idaho to overrule courts that struck down their "fairness in women's sports" laws that prevent males from participating...

UPMC has confirmed it will end gender-affirming care for patients 18 and younger in response to the Trump administration’s policies aimed at transgender youth. A spokesperson for UPMC, the region’s largest hospital network, said federal guidance has made it clear clinicians who provide care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy run the risk of criminal prosecution. UPMC will continue to provide behavioral health support and other care “within the bounds of the law,” the spokesperson added. The spokesperson declined to say when care will end, but impacted families have been told June 30 is the cutoff.

Stevie Brocksom is still floored after actor David Tennant, best known for his work in the Doctor Who series, wore one of the trans-positive T-shirts they sent him on a whim. The photo has led to a massive spike in sales of the London, Ont., designer's activist T-shirts which help fund a scholarship for transgender students in Ontario. Brocksom and their graphic designer sell a series of T-shirts with trans-positive messaging on their website, "Stevie Safe Spaces." The T-shirts, which are available in sizes S up to 6XL, have slogans on them like “you can’t erase us,” "protect trans kids"...

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding Tennessee’s ban on medical gender interventions for children, reflects a split in the Justices’ views of medicine: Is it about restoring patients’ health or satisfying their wants? The court held last week that the Tennessee law permissibly distinguished between different medical uses of puberty blockers and hormones for children. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts explained that medical treatments are defined not only by the drug used but by the purpose for which it is prescribed. Administering testosterone to a boy with delayed puberty is categorically different from...

There is no reasoning with these people. 1. John Brennan: “Allow Iranians to have some type of enrichment capability.” He says he’s just trying to think creatively. 2. Texas Democrats took to the Texas House floor to argue for state legislation that says that if you go on vacation and squatters take up residence in your home, they should be allowed to stay. 3. Democrats’ reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on transgender kids: Democrats said not allowing them mutilate their sex parts would cause “permanent, irreparable harm” — which, of course, is the opposite of true. John Brennan’s brain...

Three weeks after sparking a war of words with anti-trans activist Riley Gaines, apologizing for her targeted remarks, and being inundated with comments about the incident since, seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has deleted her account on X, formerly Twitter. Biles de-activated her account, which had nearly two million followers, after she came to the defense of a transgender high school athlete that Gaines had been attacking. But after Biles personally insulted Gaines (for which she later apologized), it opened up a flood gate of attacks which appears to have led the 28-year-old gymnast - considered the greatest of...

The transgender flags that usually adorn the Stonewall National Monument in New York City during Pride Month are missing this year. As CBS News New York's Dave Carlin reports, some New Yorkers are taking matters into their own hands.

The American Medical Association's new president Dr. Bobby Mukkamala said the ruling was "harmful government interference." The American Medical Association (AMA), the largest medical association in the United States, is coming out against the Supreme Courts ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, arguing that irreversible and damaging transgender procedures for minors are necessary treatments. “The American Medical Association is disappointed in today’s decision that opens the door to further intrusion into patient care and harmful government interference into the practice of medicine,” AMA President Dr. Bobby Mukkamala said in a statement after the ruling came down. The court ruled on...

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN Political Contributor and Democratic strategist Paul Begala said that while he disagrees with bans on gender transitions for children, it’s “crazy” for states like California to keep schools from telling parents about their children transitioning. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) said, “[T]his is one of the reasons why the Democrats are losing on an issue like this, because, again, if you can’t definitively tell — I have a six, a four, and a 2-year-old. My six and four-year-old, they think that they’re Anna and Elsa and my little boy thinks he’s Lightning McQueen....

Detransitioner Chloe Cole landed a final blow to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) after she threw an absolute hissy fit over the recent United States Supreme Court transgender ruling for kids.On Wednesday, SCOTUS upheld Tennessee's law barring "gender-affirming care" (including irreversible mutilation) for so-called "transgender" minors, which specifically rejected claims that "transgender" people are part of a protected class. Warren lost her ever-loving leftist mind and falsely claimed on X that "Trans kids suffer when they don't get medically necessary care. This is a brazen political decision by the Supreme Court. My heart is with trans kids and their loved ones....

The inside story of the case that could set the movement back a generation.One day last December, a clutch of dark-suited lawyers descended the steps of the Supreme Court to a hero’s welcome. The lawyers, from the American Civil Liberties Union, had that morning joined counterparts from the Biden administration in asking the court to block a Tennessee law that bars doctors from providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery to young people who feel that their bodies are the wrong sex. In the plaza outside the court, L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy groups had turned out hundreds of supporters, who hugged, cheered...

In the early 2000s, Avery Belyeu was living as a gay man in New York City, starting a career in the nonprofit sector and seeking opportunities to help those struggling to find their identities. About 10 years ago, Belyeu became a woman. Now CEO of the Montrose Center, Belyeu remains steadfast in her advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community. She knows the struggles of feeling like she doesn't belong. Raised in a family of Jehovah's Witnesses in Florida, she hasn't seen her parents in 17 years and has found that her religious beliefs align with Judaism. Belyeu and the Center's staff...

Constitutional attorney Alan Dershowitz said Wednesday that the Supreme Court should have ruled unanimously in favor of Tennessee’s restrictions on child sex changes, calling it “a simple, simple, case.” The Supreme Court upheld SB1, which was passed by the Tennessee legislature in March 2023, in a 6-3 ruling released Wednesday morning. On “The Dershow,” Dershowitz expressed shock that it was a 6-3 decision. “The Supreme Court decided today in a six-to-three decision. [It’s] shocking to me it was six-to-three. It should have been nine-nothing, in a six-to-three decision, decided that a state, Tennessee, had the right to restrict certain kinds...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a jolting setback to transgender rights.

A report on the largest survey ever of trans Americans’ health was released on Wednesday, June 11, and its findings reaffirmed what many academics, health care providers and trans people already know: gender-affirming care saves and improves lives, but transphobia often dissuades people from pursuing or continuing it when they need it most. Over 84,000 trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people aged 18 and up responded to the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey, spearheaded by Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE). Of respondents who had transitioned, 9% had gone back to living as their sex assigned at birth at some point in...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting transgender drugs and surgeries for children, a major win for conservative activists and parent groups. The court ruled 6-3 in United States v. Skrmetti that Tennessee’s law does not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti defended the law before the High Court in December, saying it was a matter of “protecting kids from the consequences of decisions that they cannot fully understand.”

In a decision that plunged the Supreme Court into yet another culture war feud, the justices on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law banning all gender affirming care for minors. In the last few years, fully half the states have adopted similar bans, leaving the other half, so far, allowing gender affirming care in the form of at minimum, hormone treatments prior to a teenager turning 18. The vote was 6-to-3, along conservative/liberal lines.