TAKE ACTION

Phone bank for the Equality Act! PFLAG, in partnership with NEAT, is providing an opportunity for our members to talk to voters in target states and patch them through to their Senators’ offices to urge them to vote YES on the Equality Act. Never phone banked before? No worries! Our partner organization, The NEAT, provides in-depth training videos to get you comfortable with using the phone bank tool. You can sign up any time and phonebank whenever is convenient for you. Register here and make some calls!

COURT MATTERS

House and Senate Democrats introduce a bill to expand the number of Supreme Court justices to 13 from 9. The bill, led by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), is the first legislation in recent years designed to add seats to the Court and responds to activist pressure pushing for court expansion.

FEDERAL MATTERS

Senate votes to advance hate crimes bill. The bill, called the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, which cleared a procedural vote on April 14th, would strengthen federal efforts to address hate crimes directed at Asian-Americans. The changes the bill would make include creating a new position at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to expedite the review of hate crimes related to the coronavirus pandemic; expanding public channels to report such crimes; and requiring the DOJ to issue guidance to mitigate racially discriminatory language in describing the pandemic.

President Biden announces pick for first ever AAPI senior liaison. Erika Moritsugu will have direct contact to the president and his administration in discussing issues affecting AAPI (Asian American-Pacific Islander) people, who have been experiencing a rise in hate crimes since the start of the pandemic.

STATE MATTERS

Note: Members of PFLAG can take action on all active bills targeting the trans community at the state level. Visit pflag.org/protecttranskids to take action in your state today. Want to take action and not seeing your state included? Please contact Patrick Cochran, Advocacy and Policy Engagement Senior Coordinator, to have your state legislators added!

Alabama - Alabama legislature approves trans sports ban. The bill, HB391, passed the state House and Senate on April 15th and would prohibit trans girls and women competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. The bill now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature.

Arizona - Arizona legislature passes sex education bill requiring parents to sign off on their children learning about LGBT issues. The bill "requires the school governing board to develop procedures by which parents will be notified in advance, and given the opportunity to opt their children into, any instruction regarding sexuality, gender identity or gender expression.” Schools may also not teach students about AIDS or HIV without parental consent.

Arkansas - Arkansas becomes the first state to enact a trans healthcare ban. Arkansas will prohibit doctors from providing gender-affirming treatment for trans people under age 18 after the General Assembly overrode Governor Hutchinson’s veto on April 6th. Gov. Hutchinson called the bill a "vast government overreach" after meeting with families with trans youth.

California - Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Center opens new youth housing development. The Michaeljohn Horne and Thomas Eugene Jones Youth Housing provides 25 supportive housing apartments for young adults ages 24 and under.

Florida - Anti-LGBTQ+ protesters demonstrate outside the home of Brevard County School Board member. The protesters oppose new accommodations for LGBTQ+ students adopted by the school district, including allowing bathroom use by students according to their gender identity.

Florida House approves athlete ban. The bill, HB1475, passed on a party line 77-40 vote. The companion bill in the state Senate still has to pass before the athlete ban legislation goes to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

Illinois - PFLAG member Kristal Larson becomes first non-judicial candidate to be elected to office in Illinois as an openly trans person. Larson, a member of PFLAG Grayslake/Round Lake, was elected Avon Township clerk after serving as a trustee on the Avon Township board before disclosing as trans.

Montana - Montana Legislature considering amendments to trans athlete ban. The House rejected a Senate amendment on April 12th that would have voided the athlete ban if the federal government would withhold education funding in response to the law. The bill will go to a conference committee, where members of the House and Senate will discuss the proposed amendment.

North Carolina - North Carolina lawmakers introduce trans healthcare ban bill. The bill would prevent doctors from providing gender affirming care for trans youth under 21. Doctors who defy the law could have their license revoked and face fines of up to $1,000 per occurrence.

Two trans sex workers murdered in Charlotte weeks apart. Police have been investigating the murders of the two women since April 4th. It is not clear if the murders are connected. Jermaine Nakia Lee, program director for State of Emergency, said “This is a pandemic in our community. These trans individuals are somebody’s children, grandchild. We should care that they’re being wiped out.”

North Dakota - North Dakota legislature approves athlete ban. The bill, HB1298, bars public elementary and secondary schools from “knowingly” permitting trans students to compete on sports teams conforming with their gender identitiy, but allows cis girls to play on boys’ teams. The measure now goes to Gov. Doug Burgum.

Pennsylvania - Erik Larson named new deputy director of LGBT Affairs for Philadelphia. Mayor Jim Kenney’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion announced Erik Larson as the new deputy director of LGBT Affairs on April 14th. Larson started working for the City of Philadelphia in 2018 as a part-time policy fellow, and previously worked as a coordinator in the Office of LGBT Affairs. He holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tennessee - Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce pens open letter to Governor in response to anti-trans bills. The letter is signed by dozens of major corporations and small businesses. The businesses are emphasizing their opposition to anti-transgender legislation Tennessee lawmakers are considering, includfing HB 1182, which would force businesses to post anti-trans signage outside of bathrooms.

Tennessee passes bill allowing parents to waive LGBTQ-related curriculum for their children. The bill passed the state House 64-23 on April 14th and now goes to Gov. Bill Lee's desk for his signature.

Texas - Texas lawmakers considering trans youth medical ban. Senate Bill 1646, filed by State Sen. Charles Perry, would define allowing a child to receive gender affirming care as child abuse on the part of the parents. Texas’s House and Senate committees are simultaneously considering a slate of anti-trans bills that advocates, including PFLAG members, are fighting every day.

Texas Senate approves trans athlete ban. Senate Bill 29 bans trans atheltes from participating in sports teams that conform with their gender identity and would require students to show their original, unchanged birth certificate to prove their “biological sex.” The measure now heads to the Texas House of Representatives, which is currently considering its own version of the same bill.

West Virginia - Governor Jim Justice announces he will sign trans athlete ban. The Gov. said in his weekly coronavirus briefing “Personally I feel that absolutely, I just can’t get through my head that it is the right thing for us at a middle school level or a high school level in our state for me not to support the bill.” The bill would ban middle and high school trans athletes from competing with a team conforming with their gender identity.

GLOBAL MATTERS

Cameroon - Security forces arrest and abuse LGBTQ+ Cameroonians. According to Human Rights Watch, police in Cameroon have arbitrarily arrested, beaten, or threatened at least 24 people, including a 17-year-old boy, for alleged consensual same-sex conduct or gender nonconformity, since February 2021. At least one of them was forced to undergo an HIV test and anal examination.

Germany - Aide to Hungarian Prime Minister defends Hungarian soccer coach fired by German team for expressing anti-LGBTQ+ views. The aide called the firing reminiscent of a “totalitarian regime” and said “Expressing your opinion cannot be punished under the rule of law.” A German foreign ministry spokesman responded to the comments, saying they were “in no way comprehensible to us.”

Mexico - Trans street vendor running for Mexico City’s Congress. The vendor, Marven, identifies as Mexico’s ‘muxe’ third-gender, and was featured in a Netflix series as "Lady Tacos de Canasta.”

Poland - Mayor of town which voted to be “free of L.G.B.T.” wants to reverse the vote. Town councilors in Krasnik adopted a resolution two years ago declaring the town “free of L.G.B.T.” The move has since jeopardized millions of dollars in foreign funding; a French town last year severed a partnership with Krasnik and Norway said in September that it would not give grants to any Polish town that declares itself “free of L.G.B.T.” Mayor Wojciech Wilk is now lobbying the council to repeal the resolution.

UK - UK Government's LGBT advisory panel disbanded. Three members quit last month, and the panel has not formally met senior government representatives since last year. A government spokesman said a replacement for the panel is forthcoming.

MEDIA MATTERS

NCAA releases statement on trans athlete bans but does not commit to moving championships. On April 12th, the NCAA said that it was “committed to ensuring that NCAA championships are open for all who earn the right to compete in them” but made no specific commitments to pulling championship games from states considering or enacting trans athlete bans, despite pressure from LGBTQ+ advocates.

National LGBT Media Association (NGMA) Bans Meetings in Georgia. NGMA approved a resolution banning meetings in Georgia in response to the state’s voter suppression law, which is expected to limit voter access — especially in communities of color.

British study shows pandemic exacerbating LGBTQ+ homelessness. More than six in 10 LGBTQ+ young people surveyed said they felt scared or threatened by their family members before they became homeless and more than half feared being evicted from the family home if they came out. The report also claimed that six in 10 faced some form of discrimination or harassment while accessing services.

Kings and Queens short film wins numerous awards at film festivals. Director Elmer J. Howard shot the film in Portland, Maine. The movie centers on Lucy, a newly single young lesbian who finds herself at a new job with a drag scene.

British survey shows LGBTQ+ youth experiencing loneliness due to the pandemic. A study conducted of 1,100 young LGBTQ+ people by the organization Just Like Us showed that Welsh youth, as well as Black youth, and those eligible for free school meals and/or have a disability were the worst impacted by loneliness. Dominic Arnall, Chief Executive of Just Like Us, said teenagers needed a "positive message of acceptance" from authority figures to alleviate this.

Tennessee non-profit builds tiny homes for homeless trans women. Kayla Gore runs the non-profit, called “My Sista’s House”; she is a Black trans woman who has experienced homelessness herself. Her non-profit aims to provide housing to trans people in need, particularly trans women, who disproportionately experience homelessness.