cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/64154

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***Short summary of updates:***The legislative season of 2026 in state legislatures has led to continued degradation of transgender rights across the United States. Meanwhile, nationwide, federal policies continue to lead to enormous legal difficulties for transgender people. In the latest update, Idaho becomes the fourth-ever “Do Not Travel” state for transgender people, and may be the harshest of all such states, where bathroom usage can lead to 5-year prison sentences. Meanwhile, South Carolina expanded its bathroom ban to universities, causing its risk to rise to “Worst Laws Passed.” For youth, the map remains relatively unchanged, with Idaho likewise elevating to “Do Not Travel.”

About The Map

I have tracked anti-transgender legislation for 5 years. Every day, I’ve gotten messages from worried people wondering how they are supposed to assess their risk of staying in their home state. The messages range from parents of trans youth wondering if their children will be taken from them to trans teachers wondering if their jobs will be safe in coming years. Sometimes people just want to know if there is a safer state they can move to nearby.

I created the legal risk map specifically to help answer that question. Now more than ever, it is a question that needs answering for so many transgender people facing forced medical detransition, arrests for using the bathroom, bans on the use of our names, pronouns, and identification documents, and many other curtailments of our rights to exist in public life.

Methodology

The methodology used is primarily qualitative, with a scoring-rubric element for the worst bills. Part of the methodology is my own expert assessment of laws, of which I am well equipped to do. I have read thousands bills targeting transgender people in the last few years. I have watched hundreds of hours of hearings on anti-trans legislation and am fully aware of all of the players nationally as well as where they are making their pushes against trans rights. I have followed the vote count and regularly talk to activists on the ground in each state. I am looking at how similar states are moving in their legislative cycles. Lastly, I watch for statements by governors and bill drafts to see if the Republican party in various states seems to be pushing anti-trans legislation heavily - you can see many examples of such legislation in this newsletter.

In terms of actual laws, I keep a rubric of the various types of laws that target transgender people. For transgender youth, the most concerning laws are those that prohibit gender-affirming care and mandate medical detransition. Additionally, bathroom bans, laws that rigidly define sex as binary, and restrictions on social transition are other key factors that negatively impact a state’s ranking. For transgender adults, the primary legislative concerns include adult gender affirming care bans, bathroom bans, prohibitions on drag specifically aimed at trans people and pride events, restrictions on changing birth certificates and drivers licenses, and laws that end legal recognition for trans people entirely. These factors play a significant role in how I assess and rank a state’s legislative risk.

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The Adult Trans Legal Risk Assessment Map

Moves in this update: Idaho (Worst Laws → Do Not Travel), South Carolina (High Risk → Worst Laws)

• Summary of updates: Idaho has moved into the highest risk level on this map, “Do Not Travel.” This is not an move ever taken lightly. However, with the passage of Idaho’s felony bathroom ban with up to 5 year prison sentences, the state firmly belongs in this category. Though a lawsuit has partially blocked the law, the law remains in effect anywhere a gender neutral or family restroom exists, meaning transgender people must search for a gender-neutral restroom or else they might risk a felony in Idaho. In South Carolina, the bathroom ban there has been expanded to colleges and universities, raising the risk level in the state.

Nationwide Risk: Worst Policies In Effect. The wave of executive orders targeting transgender Americans has reshaped the national landscape in chilling fashion. These directives have forced nonprofits to scrub the word “transgender” from their websites, stripped transgender history from the Stonewall National Monument, withdrawn federal funding from schools and hospitals that recognize or research transgender people, and imposed new barriers to obtaining passports and legal documents. The result is a sweeping, nationwide rollback of rights and recognition for transgender adults. For international visitors, the risk is even more severe: citing the sharp escalation in legal and bureaucratic targeting, several countries have issued travel advisories. Following suit, I’ve designated the United States a “Do Not Travel” zone for non-essential travel for transgender people without a full understanding of the legal environment, due to the heightened risk of visa revocation, denial of entry, or detention.

Here are the categories and where each state falls:

• Do Not Travel (FL, ID, KS, TX): Three states have earned “Do Not Travel” advisories: Florida, Kansas, and Texas. Kansas bathroom ban allows for everyday citizens to seek out transgender people in bathrooms and sue them for large sums of money, creating a bounty hunter system in the state. Meanwhile, Idaho’s ban can result in 5-year prison sentences. Florida has a law that allows for the arrest of transgender people for using bathrooms according to their gender identity and another policy targets transgender people’s drivers licenses. Florida has also put into effect a policy that says trans people “misrepresenting” their gender on their drivers license could be guilty of fraud and has begun erasing Pride crosswalks across the state. Local LGBTQ+ orgs as well as HRC have issued travel advisories for the state. This analysis likewise concurs with such a rating. In Texas, the state is not only ignoring court ordered drivers license changes for trans adults, but it is also creating a database of people attempting to make such changes. A new statewide bathroom ban that has already resulted in detainment makes the state the Do Not Travel on this list.

• The Worst States (AL, AR, IA, IN, LA, MS, OH, OK, ND, SC, SD, TN, UT, WV, WY): These states have passed deeply troubling legislation targeting transgender adults in extremely harmful new ways. Utah has a bathroom ban for transgender adults. Alabama has also passed a Don’t Say Gay bill that includes a bathroom ban on college campuses. Many states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, and others listed in this category have gone so far as to legislatively erase transgender people, effectively removing any legal rights associated with their gender identities. Other states, such as North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, prohibit any changes to birth certificates, forcing trans people to out themselves when showing their documents. These states also could start targeting adult gender affirming care - Florida has already done so, banning 80% of such care.

• High-Risk States (GA, MO, NE, NH, MT): All of these states have passed anti-trans laws, but they haven’t reached the same level of severity as the worst states. Missouri for example, prohibits gender-affirming care for incarcerated adults as well as transgender youth and have seen new laws proposed this cycle going even further. Nebraska’s governor has issued an executive order ending legal recognition of trans people. Additionally, some of these states have laws that permit the refusal of medical care to LGBTQ+ individuals on religious grounds. Although each of these states has laws targeting transgender adults, none have done so to the extent of the worst states. Montana is a special case on this list, in that it has passed laws that would normally place it among the worst states, but those laws have repeatedly been blocked in court.

• Moderate-Risk States (AK, KY, NC): These states have either passed one or two laws aimed at transgender adults or have enacted multiple laws targeting transgender youth, or are advancing negative laws quickly. For states focusing on trans youth, history shows they are more likely to introduce anti-trans legislation for adults in subsequent years. Most of these states are under Republican control, either through supermajorities in the legislature or Republican governorships. Many have enacted “Don’t Say Gay” provisions, which frequently result in the banning of transgender teachers. Additionally, many have passed religious refusal rights bills. However, most of these states have either not yet ventured into anti-trans adult legislation or have only passed milder forms of such laws.

• Low-Risk States (AZ, DE, ME, MI, NV, PA, VA, WI, DC): These states have largely refrained from targeting transgender adults, although they haven’t taken extraordinary steps to protect adult transgender rights either. For example, Arizona and Virginia have enacted anti-trans policies affecting youth but, due to state-specific factors, appear unlikely to extend such policies to adults. Conversely, Michigan, and Nevada have enacted fairly robust non-discrimination policies but fall short in ensuring healthcare equity and providing protections for incarcerated transgender individuals. Maine has increased in risk due to capitulation to Trump over sports bans in the University of Maine system. While these states generally offer a safer environment for transgender adults, they stop short of going the extra mile to make their jurisdictions unequivocally safe places to reside. In the case of the District of Columbia, it may fall under attack from Congress and executive actions, meaning it can no longer be considered “most protective.” This most recently was manifested with the DC House bathroom ban.

• Most Protective States (CA, CO, CT, HI, IL, MA, MD, MN, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT, WA): These states have gone above and beyond in safeguarding the rights and well-being of transgender individuals, making them highly desirable places to live for those in search of security. States like Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington have enacted comprehensive health insurance laws that cover facial hair removal and an expanded range of medical procedures. Each of these states offers refugee protections for individuals fleeing more repressive states with anti-trans laws. Care is not only supported but also enjoys legal reinforcement from the state, ensuring accessibility as long as such treatments remain lawful at the national level. These states are the most likely to counteract federal anti-trans regulations.

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The Youth Trans Legal Risk Assessment Map

Moves in this update: Idaho (Worst Laws → Do Not Travel)

• Summary of updates: This map quite closely resembles the last map published with respect to youth. No state in the United States can be considered low-risk for transgender youth, due to federal policies and mass capitulation to Trump’s threats with respect to sports and healthcare bans. Meanwhile, a recent Title IX SCOTUS decision raises the risk of anti-trans policies in blue states in the coming months. As such, the country remains between Moderate Risk and Do Not Travel depending on the state.

Nationwide Risk: Worst Laws Passed. A wave of executive orders has targeted transgender youth in sweeping and extreme ways. Nonprofits have halted services for trans youth, healthcare providers face federal bans via executive orders, and teachers have been warned they could be investigated for “practicing medicine without a license” simply for using a trans student’s chosen name. The cumulative effect is a chilling rollback of basic recognition and care—one that signals even more punitive measures may be on the horizon.

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Last year I tried to get my insurance to cover top surgery. Two different ones strung me along and then canceled at the last minute.

My hope was to sneak in before my needed hysterectomy and before things got worse.

Needless to say it didn't happen.

As things continue to get worse. With the already hard time of money, it just seems like its not going to happen. There are so many people who need money more then me. I have been very privilege with a roof over my head, food, and some healthcare. Fundrasing seems wrong especially with how much would be needed. It also seems most of the fundrasier places are not running anymore? Least that is what it seemed like when I checked.

I have done my best to make peace with this.

However sometimes it just hits me very hard. The fact that I will probably never be comfortable in my body. I try to practice radical acceptance and trying to force myself to like my body. If anything so I can stop dodging photes and mirrors. But its just hard sometimes. I feel wrong in a way that is hard to describe. It's so much harder to press it back down once that Pandora box has open.

I guess I just wanted to toss my story into the abyss. Sort of a sad rant/lamenting I guess. Another issue on the infinity of suffering of America.

I've had a lot of conversations with cis people about the trans experience and most of these have been cordial, if not enjoyable! While most of the points raised when discussing the struggle for trans liberation elicit sympathy from these people the topic of minors transitioning tends to get the strongest and most oppositional responses. They seem to believe that the possibility that someone may regret transitioning for identity or reproductive reasons justifies blanket bans on transitioning for minors. I've also heard concerns about gender affirming care being used as an avenue for medical abuse, of which I am unaware of any verified cases.

How does one approach the topic of trans liberation for trans minors? Obvously debatelord antics aren't going to win hearts and minds but there has got to be some narrative angle that resonates with cis people or otherwise dispells their fears of cis children coming to harm.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/62851

Wikimedia Commons // Paul Goyette

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Governor Pritzker rounded out Pride Month by signing a trio of bills that will protect transgender people’s privacy from out-of-state attacks—most notably, by removing testosterone from the list of prescriptions required by law to be added to a government database.

“The work will continue until all Illinoisans are safe, healthy, and free to express their truest selves,” said Governor JB Pritzker in a June 28 press release.

The Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program (ILPMP) is a longstanding interstate database that enables health care providers to track the prescription of certain substances, in order to curb drug abuse. Transgender people are often prescribed testosterone for hormone replacement therapy—it is most notably associated with trans men, but it may also be prescribed to any trans person who receives gender-affirming surgery impacting their hormone production.

The bill, HB 4834, also preemptively banned adding certain drugs to the program in the future—such as estrogen or mifepristone and misoprostol, a pair of medications used for at-home abortions.

EXCERPT FROM HB 4834

Policies like this “protect trans people from invasive surveillance over their health care,” Alejandra Caraballo, a Harvard law instructor and privacy expert, told Erin in the Morning. In a 2025 report she penned for this newsletter, she explained how similar systems, called Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), could be exploited to carry out anti-trans attacks.

“The database enabling this crackdown was never billed as a tool for political persecution,” she wrote. “PDMPs were originally established in the 2000s to combat the opioid epidemic and ‘doctor shopping’ for narcotics. Every U.S. state and territory now maintains a PDMP—an electronic registry of controlled substance prescriptions, typically Schedules II through V, that doctors and pharmacies are required to report.”

The ubiquity of this system means it could give bad actors from other states access to someone’s personal medical records, even without a warrant from the state where this care was rendered.

The signing of the law comes as a response to increased efforts by the federal government and red states across the country to reach into trans-friendly jurisdictions to prosecute providers. However, there are currently no public reports of a transgender person or a health care provider being successfully, directly prosecuted with information from a PDMP simply for providing, receiving, or being the parent of someone receiving gender-affirming care.

Hospital systems have comparatively faced more blowback from the Trump Administration, but it’s still important to remember they, too, have managed to avoid any sort of criminal convictions simply for offering gender-affirming care.

But that hasn’t stopped the Trump Administration from antagonizing them anyway, underscoring the importance of laws like this around the country as a protective measure. For example, NYU Langone received a criminal subpoena from the Northern District of Texas, a federal court, demanding information about trans youth care. The move is widely considered to be an act of judge-shopping from the Department of Justice; this district court, though thousands of miles away from New York City, is considered among the most conservative in the country.

It has continued to hang over the heads of trans people and their doctors everywhere.

“No one should fear being monitored or tracked for receiving hormone replacement therapy prescribed by their healthcare provider,” said Illinois State Senator Adriane Johnson, a Democrat. “Protecting medical information is essential to ensuring patients feel safe seeking care, asking questions, and making personal health care decisions.”

Cisgender men and cisgender women may also be prescribed the hormone for anything from cancer treatments to menopause symptom relief. Compared to other hormones associated with gender-affirming care (such as estrogen, progesterone, or spironolactone), testosterone access is especially scrutinized because it’s also heavily associated with drug abuse among cisgender athletes.

It’s also not the only protective law Pritzker signed that day. HB 5492 expands access to hormone therapy by mandating insurance companies cover up to a six-month supply of prescription hormone therapy when a pharmacist or health care provider deems it appropriate.

“In a time when gender affirming care is under constant attack by the federal government, dispensing prescriptions in bulk will give patients from Illinois and others traveling from out of state for care the assurance that they will have access to needed medications,” Pritzker’s press release says.

There was also HB 5095. This takes existing policy by Illinois’ Secretary of State, which makes it easier for people to choose their preferred gender marker on state IDs, and codifies it into law—making it a more permanent fixture, rather than a rule that can be changed on a whim by the next gubernatorial administration.

“Across the country, lawmakers are attempting to strip rights, erase identities, and target our most vulnerable community members,” said Channyn Lynne Parker, CEO of Equality Illinois.

“But here in Illinois, we are fighting back and winning,” Parker continued. “HB5095 preserves gender markers on state IDs; HB5492 expands access to hormone therapy; and HB4834 shields our most private medical information from surveillance. These are not small victories. They are a declaration that in this state, LGBTQ+ lives matter.”

HB 4834 went into effect upon Pritzker’s signing, and agencies have until the new year to transition to compliance. The other two laws will take effect on January 1, 2027.

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Shem seems pretty based. Might check out this cult thing.

definitely not just uploading a picture of one of my plants because i forgot about this mega

Join our public Matrix server!

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As a reminder, please do not discuss current struggle sessions in the mega. We want this to be a little oasis for all of us and the best way to do that is not to feed into existing conflict on the site.

Also, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.

Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button.

spoiler

So a semi-custom vrc avatar I use regularly online has 3 gold rings in the right ear that I put there shortly after I started working on customizing the model. Lately I've been obsessively thinking about how awesome that would be to have IRL, so this video speaks to me.

I don't have any current piercings, though I did get a labret piercing when I was younger but sadly let it heal up over time. I'm VERY VERY tempted to get this ear thing done.

As I brainstorm for a novel I'm planning to write, what are some good trans characters throughout various forms of media and what do you like about how they're written?

I think I have a lot of good material to work with as I plan to build on and embellish certain things about my own upbringing to make for a better story. I want more material than just my own experiences though.

Abuse, trauma, and self harm are going to be things I want to delve into, at least for this character in particular so I'm especially looking for material that doesn't shy away from grappling with things of this nature.

EDIT: fwiw I hunted down this thread and it turns out that OP actually did some self-crit, which was more positive than I was expecting https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDigitalCircus/comments/1ucu9hl/jax_being_trans_and_my_opinion_as_a_cis_straight/

• Link To Transgender Law Center Statement
  Text

Transgender Law Center Condemns SCOTUS Opinion in Hecox and BPJ

NATIONAL – Transgender Law Center decries today’s ruling by the Supreme Court in West Virginia v BPJ and Little v Hecox, which greenlights discrimination against transgender youth who want to participate on sports teams that match their gender identity. The majority opinion, fully supported by all six conservative justices, allows the sports bans in Idaho and West Virginia to stand.

“Today’s sweeping ruling is a huge overstep of this court’s power to push ideology over honoring basic civil rights,” said Shelby Chestnut (they/he), Executive Director. “We know a future is possible where every person, no matter who they are, has the freedom to live and thrive as their authentic selves. Our people are organizing in every community to make our voices heard, hold our leaders accountable, and build a world that works for all of us.”

All nine Justices upheld the sports bans on the basis of Title IX. The majority opinion also ruled that these bans are not a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. In the dissenting opinion, Justice Sotomayor noted, “In the end, to the Court, the facts do not matter, even though the consequences are serious.”

“It is egregious that the Supreme Court authored this opinion, upholding these clearly discriminatory bans,” said Shawn Thomas Meerkamper (they/them), Managing Attorney. “Every young person deserves to move through life free from discrimination or exclusion. We are steadfast in pursuing every legal avenue possible to ensure all youth, including transgender youth, can belong.”

While the long-term impact of the Court’s ruling is not yet known, this will likely affect civil rights protections for transgender people in many other areas.

“We have always known that the courts have never been a validator to our worth or our existence,” said Mariah Moore (she/her), Director of Policy & Programs. “Time and again, our civil rights have been fought for and won when we show up together and make our demands crystal clear. No matter who is in power, we will continue banding together to create a future where every person can live freely as themselves.”

Transgender Law Center filed an amicus brief in the case to uplift the lived experience of transgender athletes and the importance of sports in their lives. Read their stories here.

Today, the Supreme Court also issued its decision in Trump v Barbara. In a 6-3 decision, the Court struck down the administration’s Executive Order targeting birthright citizenship, holding that the order violates the 14th Amendment.

“All of us, no matter where we come from, deserve safety and belonging in the place we call home,” said Isa Noyola (she/her), Director of the Border Butterflies Project. “The ruling today reaffirms that everyone born in this country deserves recognition, rights, and the freedom to participate in our society. We all belong here, and we will never stop showing up to create a world where current and future generations can thrive.”

• Link To Erin Reed Article

Both of the above links are worth the read but the tl;dr is:

• Discrimination against trans student athletes is ok, school bathroom bans may be as well.
• Ruling is narrow and does not remove other protections for trans people, but may open up other avenues for attacks.

If I'm understanding this correctly, this is basically saying that sex-segregation policies in schools do not violate the rights of trans students.

Part of his agreement, in text form:

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/60695

Jeffco Schools // Wikimedia Commons // Jeffrey Beall

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Upwards of 74,000 Colorado students are the latest political pawns being held hostage by the Trump administration’s escalating war on trans kids.

Despite following the very same laws as every other public school in Colorado, Jefferson County Public Schools, known as Jeffco, has been the target of anti-trans ire for some time now. It is the second largest district in Colorado. It is also one of at least 18 schools that federal officials have been investigating for so-called violations of Title IX, threatening to block school funding unless they promise to discriminate against trans athletes.

Now, district leadership has called on Governor Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova to support their fight to protect students.

“Our immediate ask is for your voice in the form of public support for our district and its students,” a letter from the district to state officials, which was obtained by Erin in the Morning, reads. (It can be read in full at the bottom of this article.)

Colorado schools are already facing a ballooning financial crisis.“We now face spending tens of thousands of our scarce dollars to protect our federal funding in what is, undoubtedly, a proxy fight in defense of Colorado law,” the letter continues. “We cannot do this alone.”

Neither the Polis nor Córdova replied to questions about whether they would provide further support to Jeffco; the Attorney General declined to comment.

Jeffco’s rallying cry comes after multiple threats from the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Last week, the school board voted to authorize funding for a potential legal battle as “a proactive step to ensure our legal team can protect the district if necessary,” District lawyers told Colorado Public Radio.

The standoff came to a head on Friday, when the OCR sent its third letter of its kind in under two years.

“Today’s action makes clear that continued noncompliance will be met with accountability and consequences,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. But seemingly arbitrary deadlines set by other letters to the district have come and gone, and Jeffco is still standing, federal funding and all.

In its recent letter to state officials, the board emphasized that transgender rights were added to the books nearly two decades ago, and that it’s been supported by case law since.

“In June of 2013, the Civil Rights Division–with the advice and counsel of the Attorney General’s Office–held that a school district violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) by forcing a transgender girl to use the boys’ restroom,” the letter reads, referring to Mathis v. Fountain-Fort Carson.

“In the wake of the Mathis decision, Jeffco Public Schools memorialized its compliance in a formal written Policy Regulation,” the letter continues. “It is this regulation that OCR attacks as a violation of Title IX based on 2025 orders from the White House. It is cold comfort to Jeffco that a federal appellate court in Minnesota noted that Executive Order 14201 does not reflect settled law; the threat to Jeffco remains.”

Last month, it adds, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in Boe v. Children’s Hospital that “Colorado institutions may not disregard CADA even in the face of enforcement threats based on federal policy pronouncements not grounded in statute or rule. Now, OCR demands that we change course, while the Boe decision prohibits us from doing so.”

Tim Heaphy, an attorney representing the district, told The Denver Gazette that if the OCR does follow through on its threats, Jeffco is prepared to put up a fight and file an injunction.

The OCR, on its part, has been allegedly dodging remediation efforts, according to a statement from Jeffco’s Executive Director of Communication, Devra Ashby. The agency reportedly cancelled a planned meeting with the district, and then issued a public Letter of Impending Enforcement Action.

“This issue is not unique to Jeffco. It is an attack on Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA),” Ashby said. “We have repeatedly asked the OCR how Colorado schools are supposed to follow both Colorado law and OCR’s interpretation of Title IX, which is not legally binding. Instead of continuing that conversation, OCR ended negotiations.”

All public schools in the state are bound by CADA, but Jeffco seems to have been singled out as a result of manufactured right-wing media fervor. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group, represented parents who sued the district in 2025, saying cisgender kids’ rights were violated because transgender kids were awarded those same rights. The ADF functionally argues that parents are entitled to know the intimate medical details about any given transgender child if that child might come into contact with their own child.

In spite of the financial crisis facing Colorado schools, Jeffco board member Erin Kenworthy said she was proud to authorize funds for a potential legal fight. “It’s impossible for me to put a price tag on protecting the dignity and humanity of our students,” Kenworthy told Erin in the Morning, noting she was speaking in an individual capacity—not as a spokesperson for the board’s official stance.

“I cannot imagine that the legal costs incurred would come close to what we stand to lose if we don’t defend ourselves,” she said.

As of this writing, the OCR’s primary talking point remains transgender athletes, specifically on girls’ teams. But because it appears there are no trans girls on women’s teams anyways, Trump officials manufactured one—or rather, 61 of them, claiming to have found this number of “male students” on Jeffco’s girl’s athletics rosters.

In reality, it appears none of the people on that list were trans student athletes; most were not even students. The individuals singled out were men on the coaching and training staff, or simply those appointed as team mascots.

“Since that moment, we have repeatedly and respectfully asked the OCR to address this factual error,” Jeffco said at the time. “They have declined to do so.”

All of this is in lockstep with conservative efforts to bastardize Title IX, the bedrock of gender-based civil rights protections in public schools, to fit an anti-trans agenda. The White House argues that Title IX not only permits trans exclusion, but mandates it.

Jeffco reiterated its commitment to upholding equal rights. “We will not violate Colorado law, and we will not abandon our obligations to any student in this district,” Jeffco declared. “Every student deserves to belong here.”

See the full letter here:

26 06 26 Jeffco Letter To Statewide Officials

71.4KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

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Corvids refers to birds belonging to the family Corvidae. Typically associated with birds in the genus Corvus, which includes crows, ravens, and loyalist primarchs, these "true crows" only make up 47 of the 135 current species. Corvids have native habitats in almost every place on Earth, and cover a wide variety of birds from the aforementioned crows and ravens to magpies, jays, and nutcrackers.

I'm gonna try and update the thread with a new corvid each day of the week, there's a lot of beautiful plummage on some corvids and also a lot of just like little gremlins, so hopefully that'll be kinda fun.

I hope everybody has a lovely week!

Monday: Little Crow (Corvus Bennetti) - Western and Central Australia

Tuesday: Hooded Crow (Corvus Corone Cornix) - Western Asia and Northern, Eastern, and Southern Europe

Wednesday: Azure-Winged Magpie (Cyanopica Cyanus) - Central and Northern China, Northern Japan and Mongolia, Southern Siberia, and Korea

Thursday (Late oops sorry): Northern Nutcracker (Nucifraga Caryocatactes) - Scandanavia, Northern Europe, Russia, Siberia, Japan

Friday: Western Jackdaw (Coloeus Monedula) - Europe, Central Asia

Saturday: Purplish-backed Jay (Cyanocorax Beecheii) - Northwestern Mexico

Sunday: Common Raven (Corvus Corax) - Deliverance

BONUS CAPSTONE BIRD : Transvolcanic Jay (Aphelocoma Ultramarina) - Southern Mexico

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As a reminder, please do not discuss current struggle sessions in the mega. We want this to be a little oasis for all of us and the best way to do that is not to feed into existing conflict on the site.

Also, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.

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spoiler

I can understand not understanding transmisogyny or not understanding why TME/TMA exist as terms, but I think this post is easy to understand for anybody who isn't themselves transmisogynist

https://hexbear.net/post/7882202

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/59806

NYU Langone // Photos by Alexa B Wilkinson

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New York City Pride marshals are going for a retro look this year. The picket lines, the neon pink-and-green signs in the style of ACT UP, the confrontations with municipal, medical, and movement leaders—it’s evocative of Pride protests past, and provocative as Trumpian threats put institutional backbones to the test in the city widely regarded as the birthplace of the LGBTQ liberation movement as we know it today.

At the behest of the Trump regime, hospitals across the city, state, and country have been pausing or sunsetting back gender-affirming care for trans people—including, in some cases, legal adults. This is even true in Democratic strongholds like NYC, where, despite a mayor who ran a campaign on preserving trans health care rights, a governor who signed a trans “safe haven” bill package years ago, and a state Attorney General who said in no uncertain terms that dismantling trans youth’s access to care is against the law, major hospital systems are capitulating to threats of federal funding cuts and litigation by rolling back care.

So, ahead of the annual Pride Parade this year, many activists in the trans community were understandably put off to see the names and logos of those very same health care systems on the bill. The Gender Liberation Movement (GLM) decided to do something about it.

The direct action and advocacy group published an open letter earlier this week with 20 current and former parade marshals among the signatories, as well as other LGBTQ leaders, families of trans kids, and national organizations such as the Campaign for Southern Equality and the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network. Then, on Wednesday, GLM rallied nearly 100 people across three hospitals to picket and protest restrictions on care.

“If one group of people’s healthcare can be targeted in this way, it opens the door for any group of people’s healthcare to be cut off due to federal government attacks,” Eliel Cruz, co-founder of Gender Liberation Movement, said after the picket.

Meanwhile, a flurry of headlines highlighted the big names that lent their support to GLM’s open letter. Heritage of Pride, the non-profit that produces the yearly parade, selects the marshals each year. Signatories from this year’s marshal cohort include Saturday Night Live alumni Bowen Yang, activist Miss Peppermint of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame, Pose actress Dominique Jackson, and Gays Against Guns president Jay Walker.

“While many institutions have courageously defended trans youth and continued providing medically necessary care despite political pressure, several New York City hospital systems, including NYU Langone, Mt. Sinai, and New York Presbyterian, have instead chosen to preemptively end gender-affirming care for young people, capitulating to the attacks by the Trump Administration,” the letter reads. (Presbyterian has not explicitly announced it halted care, but it did strip any references to youth gender care from its website, and continues to avoid questions as to the status of its GAC programs).

“We call on NYC Pride to prohibit any hospital system that has ended, restricted, or suspended gender-affirming care for transgender youth from marching in the 2026 NYC Pride March and festival, and any future prides, unless and until they restore that care and publicly commit to protecting trans youth and their families,” GLM’s letter continues. “While we understand that not everyone who marches with the hospitals supports these decisions, as institutions, they must be held accountable.”

Indeed, while these attacks have been happening across the country, many institutions have found ways to fight back; otherwise, some legal and elected officials have made bold moves to hold them to it. In May, Colorado’s top court ordered Children’s Hospital Colorado to resume suspended medical treatments for transgender patients under 18. A month before that, Minnesota Children’s lifted its suspension of gender-affirming pediatric care in the wake of a federal court ruling to protect such care. And Rady Children’s in San Diego was compelled to restore care after the state of California successfully argued Rady’s actions violated a 2024 merger agreement with another health care system.

“You can’t march in a Pride parade while you are damaging the lives of members of our community,” said 2026 marshal Jay Walker, who also co-founded the Heritage of Pride’s more progressive and grassroots counterpart, the Queer Liberation March.

“If they had any sense of responsibility or honor, the hospitals would withdraw from marching themselves,” he told Erin in the Morning.

At the same time, Walker and other GLM signatories acknowledged that the boots on the ground during the parade were likely not the same as the higher-ups deciding to withhold care.

“It’s the gay nurses and trans med techs—the people who have to work in that system,” said Alaina Daniels, executive director of Trans Formative Schools, an educational and advocacy non-profit serving gender diverse children and teens.

For context: Almost any community organization can pay a fee to secure a spot in the parade. NYC Pride’s lax approach to groups granted a contingent has drawn ire in the past, from queer cop groups to major banks and corporations.

Daniels further told Erin in the Morning that Trumpian threats—from funding freezes, to lawsuits, to retaliatory subpoenas—amounted to a multi-billion dollar gun “aimed at the heads of hospitals.”

Nonetheless, Daniels called on fellow activists and city officials to be brave. “We signed the letter because we wanted to support GLM and push local organizations—whether it’s the school board we fought for months, Mamdani not funding gender-affirming care for kids, or the hospitals cancelling care,” she said. (Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently came under fire over plans to open a publicly-funded gender-affirming care clinic in Queens—the first of its kind in the country, if it comes to fruition. It’s a meaningful “first step,” as Mamdani put it, but it drew backlash for only catering to those 19 and above. In other words, minors and some legal adults, at age 18, will be excluded. It’s the same age cut-off pushed by the Trump regime in early anti-trans executive orders.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, in response to *Erin in the Morning’*s queries about the pickets and open letter, NYC Pride said it will be “connecting local advocates with the leadership of these institutions to continue the dialogue.”

“NYC Pride works with over 100 partners each year, representing a wide range of communities, backgrounds and industries,” the organization said. “We do not stand behind every decision every partner of ours makes, but we remain committed to creating safe spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community: to gather, march, celebrate and be seen.”

In response, the Gender Liberation Movement, on its part, is continuing to push back. “We stand firm, and with the parents of trans kids, in our belief that these hospitals should not be allowed to march and receive pro-LGBTQ brandwashing until they restore care,” Cruz told Erin in the Morning.

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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8845083

My name is Soliman, and this is not only my story, but also the story of my little sister, Montaha, and my family who are trying to survive life in the displacement camps of Gaza.

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Today, we live in a tent after losing our home and everything we had. The photos show part of our daily reality: a small tent that has become our shelter, simple bread that we struggle to provide, and a basic oven we use to cook and bake in the middle of harsh conditions. My little sister Montaha should be spending her days at school, playing with friends and dreaming about her future, but instead she is growing up surrounded by displacement, uncertainty, and hardship.

​

Despite everything, I still hold on to my dream. In 2023, I was forced to stop my education because of the war. Now, I have been nominated for admission in Cairo, Egypt, and I have a chance to continue my studies and build a better future. Education is my hope to support myself, help my family, and provide a better life for my younger siblings, including Montaha.

​

To make this possible, I need to cover the coordination and travel costs, admission fees, and educational expenses. Every dollar donated brings me one step closer to continuing my education and escaping the cycle of hardship that my family and I face every day.

​

Please help me and my family carry these burdens. Your support, no matter how small, can make a real difference in our lives. It may help me raise the coordination fees needed to leave Gaza and continue pursuing my dream.

This is Gaza. These are the tents. But the dream is not over yet.

Donate here:

https://gofund.me/1b1dffad6

Thank you for standing with us and giving us hope for a better future.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/59479

The LGBTQIA+ Commission of the American Party of Labor–

“Let’s Go Washington” founder Brian Heywood speaks at a rally. (Aspen Ford/Washington State Standard)

In an effort to develop a generation of poorly educated and socially isolated workers, the most reactionary wing of the American ruling class has been engaged in a well-documented crusade against both the rights of transgender students and the already underfunded public school system as a whole. A state-level front in this ongoing war has been opened by the “Let’s Go Washington” coalition formed by right-wing billionaire hedge fund manager Brian Heywood. A longstanding financial supporter of the Trump regime, Heywood and “Let’s Go Washington” have introduced a number of legislative campaigns in favor of typical capitalist and reactionary interests. These range from limiting property taxes, securing state funding for home schooling (which, if enacted, would essentially amount to defunding public education), and strengthening legal protection of “parental rights.” It is at the intersection of several of these campaigns that Heywood’s committee has introduced two initiatives into the Washington House of Representatives.

The two initiatives in question are IL26-001, “Restoring Parents’ Rights,” and IL26-638, “Protecting Girls’ Sports.” IL26-001 is a reactionary attack disguised as a defense of parental rights. The measure would allow parents access to their children’s medical and mental health records from their schools. At first glance this may seem like a reasonable measure, but it conceals the true aim which is to enable parents to police the private discussions between LGBTQIA+ youth and their counselors. This represents a clear violation of students’ rights to the privacy and safety which so many of these vulnerable children rely on. In fact, studies show that many adolescents experiencing mental health crises are also dealing with abuse, neglect, hostility, or other serious problems at home. The privacy afforded to students in counseling settings exists for a reason: it provides a lifeline for young people who cannot safely turn to their families for support. IL26-001 would tear away those protections, placing not only queer youth, but all vulnerable students like victims of child abuse, under greater surveillance, making it more difficult for them to access the help they need. Far from protecting children, it would leave many with nowhere safe to turn.  This initiative is the latest in a long line of attacks made by Heywood against changes made to the so-called “Parental Bill of Rights” in order to make it compatible with state laws protecting the privacy of children.

The other bill championed by Heywood, IL26-638 would mandate physical examinations of children’s genitals to document their sex assigned at birth if they wish to play in interscholastic sports. It would prohibit schools and nonprofit organizations from allowing transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports. Any institution or individual found in violation of this law would be subject to penalties deemed by the applicable school board to be “proportional to the offense,” leaving enforcement intentionally vague.

While often touted as upholding fairness or “biological reality,” laws banning transgender girls from girls’ sports are based on scientifically unsound claims. A metanalysis published in Feb. 2026 found that transgender women using feminizing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had comparable fitness to cisgender women, and that available evidence “does not support theories of inherent athletic advantages for transgender women over cisgender.” What is well supported by the available data is the fact that gender-affirming care greatly improves the health and well-being of transgender and nonbinary children. It is also documented that the increase in state-level legislation targeting transgender rights has been associated with an increase in suicide attempts among youths. If there is no scientific basis for sports bans targeting transgender girls, then we are left with the reality that they are part of a larger campaign to present reactionary positions as “common sense” measures. This becomes abundantly clear when the Washington ballot initiatives are viewed alongside legislation introduced in other states.

Despite overwhelming popular support, landmark legislation in Colorado that enshrines protection of transgender rights, popularly known as the Kelly Loving Act, came under fire from reactionaries. A common theme shared with the messaging of “Let’s Go Washington” was the ever-present call for protecting “parental rights.” However, a far more insidious motivation was communicated by the right-wing extremist and Colorado State Representative Brandi Bradley, when she described her fellow bigots as the “tip of the spear” in introducing reactionary rhetoric into law. While ultimately unsuccessful, the campaign against the Kelly Loving Act resulted in considerable political gains for reactionary elements in Colorado. With the support of various fascist elements on Social Media like “Moms for Liberty” and “Libs of TikTok,” the struggle against the Kelly Loving Act has been used as fodder in a national effort to manufacture outrage against LGBTQIA+ people and garner support for other causes that harm populations of working people, including legislation targeting undocumented immigrants.

It is also important to examine the role that strengthening so-called “parental rights” has played in this “tip of the spear” strategy. In 2023, at a rally entitled “Parents Matter,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin reduced this position to a simple slogan: “Children belong to parents, not to the state.” The reduction of the status of children to the property of their parents is alarming yet central to both the nuclear family and its role in reinforcing the coercive power of capitalism. In this regard it should be noted that a key element of the far-right Project 2025 is the weakening of laws protecting children from exploitative labor practices.

It can no longer be denied that the recent proliferation of legislation targeting transgender youth has been a powerfully effective tool for the most reactionary wing of the American bourgeoisie. Through these initiatives, billionaires like Brian Heywood have distracted workers from our shared interests and instead attempted to foment culture wars and animosity towards some of the most vulnerable populations among young people, and even sowing division where there previously was none.

Laws targeting access to life-saving gender-affirming care play a similar role as abortion bans and other attacks on healthcare. To the same extent, the fanatic crusade for “parental rights” is leading us down the path toward funding inadequate homeschooling programs and public-school austerity. It is no coincidence that the rapid spread of such hateful propaganda coincides with the rapid increase in costs of living and instability for the vast majority of American workers. The intended effect of such plans is to rear a new generation of less educated, more religious, and socially isolated workers fit for maximum exploitation by the bourgeoisie. It is critical that the working class not take this bait, and, more importantly, that we maintain a commitment to standing up for the rights of all oppressed people in their struggles for liberation.

From The Red Phoenix via This RSS Feed.

Flying boats are fixed-wing aircraft with hulls like boats, allowing them to land on water instsead of runways. Lakes, seas, reflecting pools, you name it.

In the early history of flight this kind of thing was popular because there were a lot of places without runways and airstrips, and a lot of those that did exist were too small to accomodate larger, long-distance airplanes. There were other advantages too - because their size wasn't limited by the length of runways, they could be built to an impressive size, and had longer range than land-based airplanes. I imagine it was also comforting to be able to land safely on the water in case of mechanical problems.

I think my favorite flying boat is the Dornier Do X (pictured in the thumbnail) which was made in the 1920's. In addition to seats for about a hundred passengers, its three decks contained an onboard kitchen, a dining room, multiple bathrooms, and a bar. Each nacelle on the top has two engines, for a total of twelve. There's just something magnificent about it.

In the 21st century flying boats are quite rare, although there are a few models used for fighting wildfires. The CL-415 Super Scooper for example, can skim the surface of a lake or reservoir for a few seconds and take in more than six thousand liters of water without stopping!

Thank you all for your attention to this matter.

Join our public Matrix server!

https://rentry.co/tracha#tracha-rooms

As a reminder, please do not discuss current struggle sessions in the mega. We want this to be a little oasis for all of us and the best way to do that is not to feed into existing conflict on the site.

Also, be sure to properly give content warnings and put sensitive subjects behind proper spoiler tags. It's for the mental health of not just your comrades, but yourself as well.

Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button.

spoiler

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/57846

Ted Eytan // Flickr

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Between the 1940s and 1950s, the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations targeted Americans for their beliefs, their associations, and their speech. The mechanism was not primarily criminal prosecution—it was investigation, subpoena, and the threat of institutional destruction. Its goal was compliance through fear. That fire burned through Hollywood, through the federal government, and through universities, before finally being recognized for what it is today: one of the most extreme government overreaches in American history, wielding extraordinary powers to persecute a disfavored group. Now, the federal government is engaged in a structurally identical campaign—but this time, it is waged against transgender people and the institutions that serve them, targeting hospitals with subpoenas, threatening organizations and nonprofits with funding cuts, and hauling medical societies before kangaroo courts in an attempt to beat them into submission. And with a lawsuit filed yesterday against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in a transparently forum-shopped court in Texas, the administration has turned toward its most prized target of all: the central organization that advocates for trans healthcare worldwide.

The lawsuit, brought by the FTC and the attorneys general of Texas, Alaska, Iowa, and Nebraska, alleges that WPATH has violated the FTC Act by engaging in "deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce"—weaponizing federal consumer protection law, statutes designed to go after companies selling snake oil and fake cancer cures. The complaint alleges that WPATH "provided the means for medical providers to make false and unsubstantiated claims to parents in order to sell pediatric medical transition services," and that this makes them a target under consumer protection laws. This is despite the fact that WPATH sells nothing—it is a nonprofit medical advocacy organization that publishes guidelines based on its assessment of the available science, advocating for a transgender patient population that governments and medical institutions had historically forsaken. Its advocacy has led to expanded insurance coverage for transgender healthcare, recognition by every major American medical organization that gender-affirming care is legitimate medicine, and an infrastructure of clinical standards that thousands of providers rely on. For this—for succeeding in its mission—the government has deployed an unprecedented legal theory to destroy it.

Or, mostly unprecedented. During the Red Scare, the federal government targeted organizations and individuals not for crimes but for their published views. In 1949, Owen Lattimore, a professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University, was accused by McCarthy of being "the top Russian espionage agent.” The evidence was Lattimore's published academic writings on China policy, which McCarthy deemed too sympathetic to communism. Lattimore was indicted over testimony about his scholarly work—charges that were eventually dismissed, but not before his reputation was destroyed and he was placed on leave. The government simultaneously maintained a Hollywood blacklist that affected more than 300 people in the entertainment industry—actors, screenwriters, directors—none of whom were convicted of crimes. The government weaponized its investigatory powers specifically to make it impossible for anyone in a position of institutional influence to associate with, employ, or support people whose views ran counter to the government's preferred ideology. This is exactly the architecture we are seeing deployed against transgender healthcare today: the government is threatening any organization that opposes its stance on transgender people, the blacklist is developing in real time, and anyone who pushes back is investigated.

So, too, is there a parallel in the choice of tribunal. During the Red Scare, McCarthy chose the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations because it gave him maximum control—everyone on the committee was sympathetic to his crusade. The FTC's forum shopping follows the same logic. The government first targeted WPATH with subpoenas in Washington, D.C.—the natural venue for an action by a federal agency headquartered there. When that failed, when Judge Boasberg found "extensive evidence of animus and wafer-thin justifications" behind the investigation, the government did not accept its loss. Instead, it ran to the Northern District of Texas—where Trump-appointed Judge Mark Pittman and George W. Bush appointee Reed O'Connor handle virtually every civil case, and where the administration has already centralized its legal campaign against gender-affirming care. The venue justification? WPATH was originally incorporated in Texas in 1980, even though it actually operates out of Illinois and its principal place of business is in East Dundee, outside Chicago. A 46-year-old incorporation filing is the thread on which the government hangs its choice to bypass the D.C. court that already ruled against it and bring its case before a judge it knows will be sympathetic.

Not that this justification even matters, because the government is weaponizing the same forum-shopping playbook against hospitals across the country. The DOJ has been issuing criminal grand jury subpoenas to hospitals demanding lists of doctors and trans youth. When the government attempted to enforce similar subpoenas in the states where the hospitals actually operate, it lost virtually every time. So what was the tactic they used afterwards? The DOJ “based its investigation” in the Northern District of Texas—convening a grand jury there to subpoena hospitals in New York, Rhode Island, and elsewhere—specifically to land before Judge Reed O'Connor, another reliable conservative appointee. Even a federal judge acknowledged from the bench that "it's pretty clear to me that this was shopped to Texas." Harvard Law's Alejandra Caraballo called it "a blatant unlawful effort by the DOJ to intimidate providers of gender affirming care to trans youth by engaging in judge and forum shopping." The rationale is extraordinary: if you base an investigator in Texas, you can use a Texas grand jury to demand the private medical records of children treated at a hospital in Manhattan. The government lost in the courts that play fair. So it found one that wouldn't.

This campaign extends far beyond medical organizations and doctors, but into all organizations for any perceived political or social support of transgender people people. During McCarthyism, the government did not just investigate suspected communists—it demanded that institutions purge any association with disfavored views. Federal employees were screened for loyalty. Teachers were forced to sign oaths. Libraries were pressured to remove books. The goal was not just to punish the accused but to make the ideology itself unspeakable in public life. The Trump administration is executing the same strategy against transgender people.

The administration’s latest proposed federal rule would evaluate every federal grant recipient in America—not the grants themselves, but the recipients—for promotion of "gender ideology," defined as any acknowledgment that gender identity differs from sex assigned at birth. It has already forced the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to erase all references to transgender people from its materials and ordered it to deadname transgender children in its missing persons reports. It pressured RAINN, the nation's largest anti-sexual-violence organization, into removing all support for LGBTQ+ survivors. It has scrubbed federal websites of scientific studies on transgender health, removed data on transgender populations, and erased the word "transgender" from the Stonewall National Monument—the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Republican-controlled states have in some cases barred transgender teachers from classrooms. During the Red Scare, the Attorney General maintained a list of "subversive organizations." Today, the federal government is building something just as powerful: a regulatory infrastructure that treats the mere acknowledgment of transgender people as grounds for institutional punishment.

This chapter in American history will be remembered alongside the darkest abuses of government power against disfavored groups. What is happening now to transgender people is structurally identical to those prior abuses. The administration has rejected every check on its power: when courts rule against it, it moves to friendlier courts. When medical organizations push back, it investigates them too. WPATH is its latest target. But this will not stop with WPATH. It will continue until transgender people have nowhere left to turn for care, for recognition, or for the basic dignity of being acknowledged as human beings—unless, as in every previous era of persecution, enough people recognize what is happening and say “enough.”

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Very useful resource for finding and tracking reliable diy sources^^

For anyone who isnt aware of the context:

On June 9th our domain registrar suspended the domain diyhrt.market citing terms of service violations. We’d long anticipated this might be happen and so it was neither a shock nor an emergency for us when it finally did.