I can't believe it's...Good Queer News!

This week's recap of Good Queer News stories from around the country, including some major national court victories!

Good morning and happy Monday, beloved readers.

I've got some lovely stories to share with you this week, as well as a few other things that might bring you joy. To start, though, I want to share a fun idea I've had to lift up some of the wonderful writers that I know follow me on here.

I'll be spending quite a bit of the month of May traveling to celebrate my wife graduating from medical school, and rather than just "go dark" for the month, I thought it could be fun to let a few folks write a guest post! For details on submissions and pay (yes, pay!) click below.

In case you missed my live stream with Vico Ortiz and Nay Bever from Today in Gay Podcast, you can watch back the recording!

It was SO much fun to talk about queer joy in the relationships we build, a number of my most humiliating personal moments, and what it means to play a role in building your community. Be warned that I had a long week last week, so my swearing filter was........off.

Some Real Talk about Bad Queer News

I know that many of my followers have likely seen recent articles about the record breaking horror of the number of anti trans bills proposed this year. We need to talk about it. As y'all know, I have always taken a strong stance against fearmongering, especially when the call is coming from inside the house.

I think reporting on huge numbers of bills is theoretically helpful for activating allies or proving to those “in the middle" that there is a targeted attack on our community, but the majority of the impacts of these kinds of posts re-traumatize and demoralize our community. These numbers are often shared without context, and many bills are quietly added to the counts that aren’t about the trans community at all.

So many of these bills are duplicates, or are filed in sheer volume meant to prove patriotism and terrorize our people. When we had our anti-trans sports ban in Missouri, there were 8 identical bans filed because they all wanted their name on it, but they were counted as 8 bills so that journalists and nonprofits could compete to share that they are watching the highest number of bills. So many of these bills have already been defeated or never had a path to passage in the first place.

This year, Missouri is listed as the second worst state for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, with some sites listing between 50-70 bills as active threats for the trans community. Here on the ground, there are 4 that we’re watching closely and actually concerned about. But when folks are so demoralized hearing about the 50, we can’t get them to show up for the 4.

Yes, there is momentum for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, but we need to have more care for our community than just throwing out massive numbers to drive engagement or donations. There is MAJOR momentum (and huge amounts of success) in beating back, harm reducing, or blocking in court anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and I wish we led with that more.

We have to take care of ourselves and each other while we stay informed, and fearmongering is not the way to do that!!

What's Good?

Court Victories

In an iconic moment a few weeks ago, Maine governor Janet Mills told Trump she would "see him in court" over Maine's refusal to enact a trans athlete ban in their K-12 schools. He attempted to take away federal funding through the USDA, including funding for school lunches and food assistance for low-income families (protecting kids my butt) unless Maine complied with the order, but she saw him in court, and she won! (NPR, 4/12)

Two other back to back court victories on a National Scale last week:

1: A judge has blocked the enforcement of the federal passport ban for the plaintiffs in the case. This means it does not yet apply to everyone, but has laid the strong groundwork for a broader lawsuit restoring access to legal documents for all trans people!!! (PBS, 4/18)

2: The 9th Circuit of appeals blocked the Trump admin’s request to be allowed to enforce their military ban! (HRC, 4/18)

Legislative Wins

In the latest of fantastic protective moves, Colorado has removed their ban on gay marriage. While it had not been in effect since the Obergefell ruling, it still marks a victory for LGBTQ+ Coloradans. (Colorado General Assembly)

Washington State has passed a bill covering 12-month hormone therapy stockpiles to allow providers to prescribe longer prescriptions to patients feeling concerned about interruptions in access to care. Washington has been really leading the charge in looking for new ways to support their trans residents! (Erin Reed, 4/17)

Your Voice Matters!

When Planned Parenthood of Arizona announced they were halting all adult gender affirming care, it was a clear and discriminatory overcompliance with the Trump admin's early attempts to target adult gender affirming care. After massive national pushback, they have walked back this decision and are still providing gender affirming care! (Erin Reed, 4/16)

The Massachusetts Senate is considering upgrading their “Shield Law”, protecting folks who provide and receive gender affirming care and reproductive care from out of state litigation efforts. This is a broader part of MA’s new “RESPONSE 2025” strategic plan, an effort to be continually assessing ways to respond to federal threats to MA residents. If you live in MA, call your senators to let them know this bill is a priority for you! (WGBH, 4/14)

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That’s all for now, folks! Stay tuned for a fun article later this week on ways I’ve been using joy in my activism lately. Stay safe, take care of each other, and drink water!

- Ben

P.S. to all the trans people reading this, you’re late on your HRT baddie. Go do your shot!!