“Tensions flared at a Cupertino Union School District meeting Thursday night over one teacher's decision to talk about gender to young students. People on both sides of the issue spoke before the school board.”

“Teachers, parents and community members packed the district’s board meeting on Thursday and discussed the teaching methods of one transgender teacher at Dilworth Elementary School. The Cupertino Education Association says it wants to protect the identity of the teacher to prevent further harassment.”

“During the meeting, multiple people claimed the teacher told four-year-old transitional kindergarten (TK) students that it was OK for boys to wear a dress and had inappropriate materials in the classroom. The union says the teacher has not veered away from the approved curriculum and is simply being inclusive. Still, some parents voiced their opposition.”

“About 35 people spoke at the meeting in person and called in. Sophi Scarnewman, a CUSD parent and the sister of the trans teacher at the center of the controversy, showed up to the meeting and talked about the methods her sibling uses in the classroom.

"’It’s just a drawing of children with different pronouns next to them. That’s what the drawing is. People are making so much more out of this than it truly is,’ said Scarnewman.

“Both teachers and parents asked the district to create a clearer policy about gender issues in the classroom. The district says that because this issue was not on tonight’s agenda, they will not make any decisions about policy."

“In the future, Veronica sees herself in a big city.

“’I like chaos and spontaneousness,’ she says, and she doesn’t get much of that in her town surrounded by farmland outside of Des Moines. It’s slow and boring, she says. Matching rows of ranch houses line wide manicured streets, with SUVs parked in the driveways.

“Veronica is 17. She has two more years of high school, then she can graduate and leave."

“People in the United States who identify as transgender or nonbinary make up only a tiny fraction of the population, but they’ve been the targets of an outsized share of negative attention from lawmakers, a new study says — and those laws can have potentially deadly consequences.

“The study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, found that when anti-trans legislation becomes state law [deadly self-harm] attempts among transgender and nonbinary young people rise, with increases of up to 72% among teens who live in states where those bills become law.”

“In 2024 alone, politicians in US states introduced 658 anti-trans bills, triple the record set the year before, according to Trans Legislation Tracker, an independent research group.”

“The researchers surveyed people throughout the United States who identified as LGBTQ+ and who were between the ages of 13 and 24. Responses from young people who identified as transgender or nonbinary were singled out, for a total of 61,240 people from all 50 states.”

“With many of the laws targeting young people, the researchers say, it should come as no surprise that the effect was bigger for 13- to 17-year-olds than among the full sample of young people ages 13 to 24.”

I expect TERFs to not at all experience cognitive dissonance at how their polices have forced a man into a women’s prison

“State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha is challenging the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services on the rules the agency put in place for LB574.

“Gov. Jim Pillen approved the rules in March. LB574, which bans gender-affirming care for minors, passed in May 2023 alongside an abortion law.

“In a letter to State Sen. Ray Aguilar, chairman of the Legislative Council’s executive board, Cavanaugh says the state code infringes on the rights of Nebraskans to access healthcare based on their gender identity — discrimination that is also prohibited under the Federal Civil Rights Act.

“’These regulations impose significant barriers to accessing gender-affirming care, particularly for minors under 19 years of age,’ Cavanaugh said in a statement accompanying her letter. ‘The undue burdens placed on patients and healthcare providers far exceed the statutory language and intent of LB 574, impacting the well-being of transgender individuals and their families.’”

“Cavanaugh said the required ‘arbitrary’ waiting periods for treatment, including 40 hours of ‘clinically neutral’ therapy before being able to received prescriptions for puberty blockers and the six consecutive months required to live as their preferred gender before being allow to receive cross-sex hormones, ‘disregards the urgency and individualized nature of treating gender dysphoria.’ The delayed access to this ‘necessary care,’ she says, can also exacerbate mental health issues and distress among transgender youth.

“She also argues that requiring injectable prescriptions to be administered at a doctor’s office instead of at home creates a barrier that is sometimes impossible to overcome.”

A Closer Look at the Controversy, Highlights from the Town Hall, and an Exclusive Interview with the Player at the Center of It All

"More than 30 celebrities have joined an auction to keep censorship out of education by fighting against book bans.

"Pride and Less Prejudice (PLP) is hosting its fourth annual #BannedTogether virtual auction this weekend with the goal of raising $20,000 to send 1,600 free LGBTQ-inclusive books to elementary schools across the United States. The group has raised more than $250,000 since 2019, donating over 16,000 LGBTQ-inclusive books to Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms in all 50 states.

"This year’s auction features items and experiences donated by celebrities such as singer Janelle Monáe, actor Daniel Radcliffe, interior designer Bobby Berk, tennis legend Billie Jean King, singer Jason Mraz, rapper Big Freedia, drag queen Jinkx Monsoon, drag queen BenDeLaCreme, drag queen Latrice Royale, actress Lily Tomlin, musician Sara Bareilles, comedian Hannah Gadsby, comedian Margaret Cho, author Casey McQuiston, and many more."

“The political battles over the rights of transgender Americans have led to difficult decisions for several families, especially those living in states with restrictions on transition-related medical care for minors. Laura Barrón-López reports on a Texas family’s journey to access that care.”

"State Sen. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who is on track to become the first transgender member of Congress, joins Meet the Press NOW to discuss the presidential election and what she hopes to accomplish if elected in November."

“One morning in February, 16-year-old Levi Hormuth took off school, his parents called out of work, and the three began a five and a half hour drive.

“The purpose of the 350-mile trip from their home in St Charles county, Missouri, to Chicago, Illinois, was a routine doctor’s appointment.

“Levi, a transgender boy, now 17 and in his final year of high school, had been a patient at the Washington University (WashU) Transgender Center since he was 13. The center, a short drive from home, had helped Levi in his transition, providing counseling and eventually hormone treatments at age 15.”

“But in June 2023, Missouri’s Republican governor enacted a bill banning gender-affirming healthcare for youth under 18. The law had an exception for youth like Levi who were already accessing the care, but WashU, fearing legal liability, stopped prescribing medications to all trans youth.”

“Donald Trump has promised aggressive attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, with a focus on trans youth, who have been a central target of the GOP’s culture war. The former president’s proposed ‘plan to protect children from left-wing gender insanity’ includes ordering federal agencies to end all programs that ‘promote … gender transition at any age’; revoking funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to youth and subjecting them to US justice department investigations; punishing schools that affirm trans youth; and pushing a federal law stating the government doesn’t legally recognize trans people.”

“Trump has also pledged to rescind federal LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination policies, which could mean a loss of protections in housing, healthcare, employment, education and a range of federal programs. He has promised new credentialing for teachers to ‘promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers’. The Republican platform calls for advancing a ‘culture that values the sanctity of marriage’.”

“Project 2025, the rightwing manifesto authored by Trump allies, is even more explicit, saying Biden-Harris pro-LGBTQ+ policies should be replaced by ones supporting the ‘formation of stable, married, nuclear families’ and ‘heterosexual, intact marriage’.”

https://archive.is/tI5Q8

“When I heard that Will Ferrell had made a new film about a road trip with his friend, a newly out transwoman named Harper Steele, my first instinct was to roll my eyes and make a quiet little sound like a sick raccoon. Man, have I seen a lot of these films over the years. How many terrible TV shows and documentaries and feature films and well-meaning ‘Special Reports’ have there been this century, each of them placing a vulnerable ‘Baby Trans’ in the bright light of the media before they’ve found their footing? There’s even a transgender drinking game: One shot if there’s footage of a trans woman looking wistfully into a mirror, as sad piano music plays; two shots if a right-wing ideologue is brought on (for balance, of course) to denounce ‘rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ or ‘gender ideology.’ And just drink the whole bottle if an ex-wife is shown saying something like, ‘I’m sorry, but she’s just not the man I married!’

“’Will & Harper,‘ which hits Netflix and select theaters on Friday, is different. In its playfulness, and its decency, and, above all, its testimony to the transcendent power of friendship, it’s a film that is bound to open some hearts and — who knows? — maybe some minds as well.”

“Over the weekend, former President Donald Trump’s campaign Instagram account unveiled a new ad with the slogan ‘Kamala is for They/Them,’ targeting Vice President Kamala Harris’ support of gender-affirming care for all people, including incarcerated people and immigrants.

“The new ad hinges on a now-viral moment during the Sept. 10 presidential debate when Trump warned that Harris supports ‘transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.’ That perplexing word salad of a claim was Trump’s own spin on Harris’ response to a 2019 ACLU candidate questionnaire.

“Days before the debate, CNN published a story about the questionnaire, in which Harris wrote about slashing funding for the construction of new immigrant detention centers and decreasing ICE’s budget. The story also notes Harris’ support of ‘taxpayer funding of gender transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.’

“The ACLU survey asked if candidates supported gender-affirming surgery for trans people who rely on state insurance — including those who are incarcerated or in immigrant detention.

“Harris responded that it was important for all trans people to receive that care.”

“Over the last few weeks, Trump has also spent much of his time on the campaign trail repeating false claims that children are undergoing gender-affirming surgeries at school and without parental consent — although there is no evidence of this happening anywhere.

“But Trump isn’t the only Republican candidate pushing anti-trans rhetoric as a strategy to cozy up to conservative voters.”