Gender-affirming care Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

challenge the law in court last month, were likely to suffer “immediate” harm, in the form of reduced access to health care providers willing to treat their gender dysphoria, if the law — which imposes penalties on doctors who prescribe gender-affirming treatments — were to take effect.Holbrook found that, because the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their lawsuit, it was best to issue a temporary restraining order “maintaining the status quo while the Court can more thoroughly review the evidence and argument following a full hearing.”Holbrook also noted that the whole law had to be blocked because lawmakers combined the bill banning gender-affirming care with a separate bill banning transgender athletes from women’s sports to gain the necessary votes to pass the Republican-controlled state legislature.In December, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed the bill from taking effect, expressing qualms about infringing on parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their own children.

veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.Had the bill passed, it would have banned all gender-affirming surgical and hormonal interventions for minors suffering from gender dysphoria, with penalties, including the loss of their license to practice.The proposed law also would have allowed former patients, or the parents of former patients, to sue any doctor who prescribed gender-affirming treatments.Critics of the bill say it also would have effectively barred social transitioning — which involves no medical interventions — by prohibiting any person or entity who receives state funds from advocating for social or medical transitions for minors with gender dysphoria.

filed a lawsuit against West Virginia officials on behalf of a Medicaid participant, Christopher Fain, who was denied coverage for gender confirmation surgery. That same lawsuit also previously challenged a similar exclusion contained in West Virginia’s state employee health insurance plan on behalf of two state employees who could not obtain coverage for gender-affirming treatments, either for themselves or their dependents.Lambda Legal subsequently added additional transgender plaintiffs to the case, including Shauntae Anderson.The state employee plaintiffs’ claims were eventually resolved by a 2022 settlement with The Health Plan of West Virginia, Inc., which removed its exclusion on gender-affirming care.The lawsuit subsequently resumed, challenging only the Medicaid exclusion.In August 2022, a federal judge ruled that West Virginia’s Medicaid program could no longer discriminate against transgender recipients by failing to cover the cost of surgical care deemed medically necessary for treating a person’s gender dysphoria.

A transgender-led national nonprofit, The Gender Research Advisory Council & Education (GRACE), has launched its first commercial seeking to change the minds of politically right-of-center Americans to support transgender rights.The sixty-second ad, “Dads,” features an interview with Eric Childs, an Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veteran from rural South Carolina, who is the father of four children — including a transgender teenager. In the ad, Childs expresses how much he loves and supports his 15-year-old son –- whose name is not being published to avoid harassment and threats.

press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Ohio Department of Health rolled back several rules and regulations that would have restricted access to gender-affirming medical care for transgender adults.In January, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine directed the department and the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to file rules for public comment to ensure that individuals do not pursue a gender transition hastily.

tracker developed by the American Civil Liberties Union.According to the ACLU, Oklahoma currently has the most proposed anti-LGBTQ bills with 36 — though many of them are redundant, with lawmakers introducing their own versions of nearly identical bills.The state with the next highest number of bills is Missouri, which has introduced 28, and South Carolina, which has introduced 26.Most of the bills target the transgender community, taking the form of efforts to either redefine transgender existence out of law or place restrictions on transgender people’s ability to self-identify, access spaces, or receive services that affirm their gender identity.More than 200 bills focus on educational matters, including proposed athlete bans, curriculum censorship bills, and at least 38 requiring LGBTQ-identifying students to be outed to their parents in the name of “parental rights.”Another 120 seek to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for trans-identifying minors, with some even seeking to require transgender adults to overcome a number of bureaucratic or regulatory obstacles to receive transition-related treatments, which critics say is an attempt to frighten medical providers into refusing to see transgender patients altogether.Already, 24 states have passed some form of restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, resulting in a flood of legal challenges from families with transgender children and from doctors who are penalized for prescribing gender-affirming care under the laws.While most lower-level federal courts temporarily blocked such bans last year, only one statewide ban, in Arkansas, has been declared unconstitutional.Other bans in Indiana, Montana, and Florida remain blocked, although bans in states

The Associated Press.“When I’m analyzing the governor’s motivation, what should I make of these statements?” Hinkle asked. “This seems to be more than just hyperbole.”The restrictions on gender-affirming care were first enacted in March after the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine — at the urging of DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and the state Department of Health — approved rules to limit the accessibility of hormonal and surgical interventions.

The Associated Press.“When I’m analyzing the governor’s motivation, what should I make of these statements?” Hinkle asked. “This seems to be more than just hyperbole.”The restrictions on gender-affirming care were first enacted in March after the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine — at the urging of DeSantis, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, and the state Department of Health — approved rules to limit the accessibility of hormonal and surgical interventions.

News Nation, host of the evening.DeSantis claimed Haley supports “gender mutilation of minors” and does not support government intervention to stop these treatments.Haley responded that she had actually criticized Florida’s original “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, for only going as high as third grade.She said it should be expanded to all grades. DeSantis pointed out that the expansion was a different piece of legislation, which was passed earlier this year. “We’re talking about sex change operations on minors,” countered DeSantis.

“I think that the reason there is so much fervor against trans people, and specifically transgender youth right now is because the opposition is deliberately taking advantage of the public’s lack of familiarity with them,” says Rodrigo Heng-Lethinen, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, which is celebrating 20 years with a gala on Oct. 27. “Most Americans do not think they know someone who is transgender.

press release.Two of the plaintiffs — Micha Rich, a staff accountant at the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, and Benjamin Johnson, a media clerk at an elementary school in Bibb County, Georgia — are transgender men who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and were advised to pursue social and medical transition to treat their dysphoria.The third plaintiff, referred to by the pseudonym “Jane Doe,” is an employee of the state’s Division of Family and Children’s Services, whose adult transgender son, “John,” gets his insurance coverage through his mother’s plan.In all three instances, the plaintiffs were denied coverage for gender confirmation surgery. Rich and John Doe were also denied coverage for hormone therapy — even though such treatments are offered to non-transgender patients if recommended by their doctors — because they would assist in a gender transition, violating the state employee insurance plan’s prohibitions on coverage for transition-related treatments.As a result of the denials of coverage, all three trans individuals had to forego surgery for a significant period — in Rich’s case, two full years.Rich and Doe ultimately had to pay out of pocket to cover the cost of their surgical and hormonal treatments, with Rich being forced to declare bankruptcy a few months later due to the financial strains placed on him.Johnson was able to have his surgery covered by switching to a non-discriminatory Marketplace plan, which he had to pay for out of his own pocket.Under the terms of the settlement, the members of the State Health Benefit Plan, including state employees and their dependents, will now be able to obtain coverage for gender-affirming treatments, effective immediately.

vacated a lower court’s injunction blocking state authorities from enforcing a similar law in Alabama.In a decision criticized by LGBTQ advocates, Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee, ruled that the district court had applied the wrong standard when determining whether to issue an injunction blocking the law.Lagoa argued that there is no constitutional right of parents to “treat [one’s] children with transitioning medications subject to medically accepted standards,” as argued by plaintiffs.This comes even though the Supreme Court, in numerous other legal battles, has ruled parents possess a fundamental right to raise their children as they see fit.As a result of Lagoa’s opinion, the Alabama law was allowed to go into effect. State authorities can punish doctors who prescribe gender-affirming treatments to minors suffering from gender dysphoria.

statement announcing his veto of the bills, Cooper accused Republicans of “scheming for the next election” by “hurting vulnerable children” and pushing “political culture wars.”He likened the measures to the state’s infamous HB 2 “bathroom bill” restricting transgender access to certain public multi-user facilities, which passed in 2016 and led to a large-scale economic backlash against the state.“A doctor’s office is no place for politicians, and North Carolina should continue to let parents and medical professionals make decisions about the best way to offer gender care for their children,” Cooper said of the restrictions on gender-affirming care, which prohibit rarely-recommended surgical procedures, hormone therapy, and puberty blockers, as well as mental health therapy that affirms a trans-identifying youth’s gender identity.“Ordering doctors to stop following approved medical protocols sets a troubling precedent and is dangerous for vulnerable youth and their mental health,” Cooper added.

groomer” on Twitter, prompting some users to threaten to harm or maim her or even kidnap her 13-year-old child.According to the complaint, filed in Douglas County District Court last week, the Nebraska Freedom Coalition slammed State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, a progressive who was previously affiliated with the Democratic Party but has since become an independent, for opposing a proposed ban on gender-affirming care.Hunt was one of three lawmakers who mounted a several months-long filibuster that effectively slow-walked the legislative agenda for the state’s unicameral, technically nonpartisan, legislature for this year’s session.The filibuster ended after Republican-affiliated lawmakers found enough votes to overcome it by proposing a watered-down version of the ban, signed into law by Republican Gov.

The Guardian. “We have decided to make a message towards the U.S. government,” the group posted on the social network Telegram, boasting of the Fort Worth breach.

temporary injunction prohibiting the state from seeking to enforce Section 4 of Senate Bill 150, a sweeping anti-LGBTQ bill that, in addition to barring gender-affirming medical care for minors, restricts which restroom and locker room facilities transgender students can use, allowing teachers and other students to misgender trans-identifying minors, and prohibits certain types of classroom instruction on LGBTQ-related topics and topics related to sexuality, HIV, or other sexually-transmitted diseases.The measure was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in March over concerns that it infringed not only on LGBTQ students’ right to freedom of expression and equal protection under the law, but the parental rights parents who choose to affirm their children’s identities.In issuing the injunction, Hale sided with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which sued to overturn the law on behalf of seven families with transgender children.

Arizona Republic. “The state is leading by example on this issue, and we will continue working until Arizona is a place where every individual can participate equally in our economy and our workforce without fear of discrimination or exclusion,” Hobbs said in prepared remarks. “This is the only way to move our state forward.”Under Hobbs’s first executive order, state agencies will be prohibited from using funds to promote or facilitate conversion therapy, or efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity based on the belief that LGBTQ identities are pathologies that can be suppressed or even “cured.”Most major medical and mental health organizations have denounced conversion therapy as unscientific and, more importantly, ineffective at achieving its purported goals — namely, the ability to radically and permanently  “change” a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or feelings of sexual attraction, as opposed to simply providing subjects with techniques that help them resist giving into or acknowledging their feelings or desires.

sued to block the law, arguing that it violated transgender people’s right to equal protection, parents’ rights to make appropriate medical decisions for their children and doctors’ free speech rights. They also asked for an injunction to block Arkansas officials from attempting to enforce the ban on transition-related care.In an 80-page ruling, U.S.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has issued an executive order declaring the state a safe haven for transgender people seeking out gender-affirming health care.The order, issued by Moore on June 6, during an Annapolis Pride celebration, aims to protect people who travel to Maryland seeking out gender-affirming care, which may be banned or restricted in their home states.

slammed by LGBTQ advocates as one of the worst bills targeting the transgender community, in part due to its provisions that extend well beyond the realm of transgender health care.In addition to banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, it restricts what bathrooms students may use in schools, limits the scope of sex education to exclude LGBTQ-related topics or information on sexually transmitted diseases, and allows school administrators, employees, and students to misgender trans-identifying minors. None of those other provisions have been challenged in court. The plaintiff families sued last month, alleging the law’s provisions barring transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming treatments infringe on their parents’ right to autonomy in terms of how they choose to raise and make medical decisions for their children and on the youths’ right to equal protection under the law.Corey Shapiro, the legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, said in a statement that the families “should be able to begin or continue essential medical care” for their children, arguing that the law is an egregious form of government overreach into personal family decisions.They also argue that it is inconsistent with leading medical organizations’ recommendations for treating children suffering from gender dysphoria.“Banning medically necessary care for trans youth is not supported by science or reputable major medical organizations,” Shapiro said.

only state in the Deep South that does not expressly prohibit doctors from recommending gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth.Louisiana’s bill failed in a vote in the state Senate Health and Welfare Committee when Sen. Fred Mills (R-New Iberia), the committee chairman and a pharmacist by trade, voted to defer the bill rather than pass it out of committee.Mills said his decision was heavily influenced by a 2022 Louisiana Health Department study on gender-affirming health care, which found that no gender-affirming surgical procedures had been performed on any minors enrolled in Medicaid in the state between 2017 and 2021.Instances in which medications, such as hormones or puberty blockers, were prescribed to transgender minors were also exceedingly rare, according to the report.Mills said he trusts physicians more than legislators to make medical decisions in a patient’s best interests.“I always in my heart of hearts have believed that a [medical] decision should be made by a patient and a physician,” he said, according to The Hill.Had it passed, the bill would have barred healthcare professionals from prescribing gender-affirming treatments to minors, or referring minor patients to places where they could obtain such treatments.

estimates that 29 bills seeking to ban gender-affirming treatments — mostly for youth, though some seek to ban Medicaid and private insurers from covering transition-related procedures — have been passed into law this year.“We should not be in the business of telling low-income or impoverished people that they don’t deserve access to the same level of care that every other Maryland resident has access to,” Del. Kris Fair (D-Frederick Co.), the chair of the Maryland LGBTQ+ Caucus, told The Washington Post.

Tennessee Holler, a progressive news site covering Tennessee politics and a former congressional candidate, issued a statement on Twitter talking about his family’s experience.“Our family’s statement on something that happened to us this weekend. Love each other,” he tweeted.In the statement, Kanew claimed that last Saturday, an unknown person shot several bullets into his home while he and his family were asleep.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill into law that bans most gender-affirming care for transgender minors, making that state the latest to target trans youth in legislation. Photo: Office of Gov. Brian Kemp

WYPR.There are currently estimated to be around 24,000 transgender individuals in Maryland, nearly one-quarter of whom are enrolled in Medicaid.In 2022, about 100 people received gender-affirming care through Medicaid. The proposed bill is expected to increase that number by about 25 people per year.Maryland health officials say that if each of the estimated 125 people were to utilize every single new gender-affirming treatment under the bill — which is not possible, as some of those procedures or treatments contradict each other, it would increase Medicaid spending by $7.6 million, or 0.6% of the $11.7 billion Maryland spent on Medicaid expenditures in 2019.Opponents of the bill argue that the services that transgender patients can have covered by Medicaid are not provided for other Medicaid recipients.Additionally, cisgender Medicaid recipients aren’t eligible for coverage for services like dentures, home birth services, or treatment for eating disorders, reports Baltimore FOX affiliate WBFF.“It seems discriminatory to utilize Medicaid money for cosmetic surgeries and fertility services that aren’t offered to other people on Medicaid,” Del.

debunked theory that claims young people — especially those assigned female at birth, and those who claim to have so-called “autism” or similar neurological or developmental disorders — will identify as transgender due to “social contagion” or peer pressure. The newly enacted law makes Mississippi the sixth state to pass either a complete or partial ban on gender-affirming care, although complete bans in other states, such as Alabama and Arkansas, have been halted as lawsuits challenging those laws work their way through the courts.Other states, such as Utah and Arizona, have enacted partial bans, blocking all surgical treatments on minors. Utah’s law also imposes a permanent moratorium on puberty blockers for any youth who has not already been receiving hormonal interventions for at least six months.The passage of the Mississippi law continues the trend of Republican-dominated legislatures and Republican governors taking aggressive action to prohibit doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans-identifying minors.A similar law signed by South Dakota Gov.