LGBTQ+ News Weekly Update

Week of April 5-11

Monday, April 6 - “In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, titled "I'm gay, but that doesn't make me queer," contributor Ben Appel draws a clean line between being gay and being “queer,” casting queerness as an ideological project built on rejecting what is normal and legitimate. On its own, the argument might read like a personal distinction, but placed alongside the Journal’s broader cultural coverage, it begins to look like something more deliberate: an effort to define which versions of queer life are acceptable and which ones are not.” 

Monday, April 6 - “A university professor and author of anti-LGBTQ+ works has been charged with multiple sexual offences against children.”

Tuesday, April 7 - “Two veterans who were forced to resign for being gay due to a ban on LGBT personnel in the armed forces have launched legal action against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over a scheme set up to compensate them.”

Tuesday, April 7 - “A federal appeals court decision on Monday cleared the way for enforcement of a state law that bans Iowa’s public schools from offering certain books and forms of instruction related to gender and sexual orientation.”

Tuesday, April 7 - “Audio recorded from a hearing in New Mexico is raising serious concerns about how LGBTQ+ asylum claims are handled in US immigration courts.”

Tuesday, April 7 - “The Education Department said Monday it has terminated agreements with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding protections for transgender students, backing away from requirements negotiated by previous administrations that took a different interpretation of civil rights.”

Wednesday, April 8 - “Eleven leaders of a Turkish LGBT rights group went on trial Wednesday on charges of "obscenity" and "violating the protection of the family", their lawyer told AFP.”

Wednesday, April 8 - “There has been a recent rise in anti-LGBTQ legislation across a number of African countries that already have strict sexuality laws.”

Thursday, April 9 - “An Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit unveiled a large quilt Wednesday night that was decorated by and dedicated to transgender youth.”

Thursday, April 9 - “Minnesota’s largest pediatric health system is restoring gender-affirming care for minors after a federal judge blocked a Trump administration effort to label the treatment unsafe, reversing a suspension that had disrupted care for families across the state.”

Friday, April 10 - “Policies that single out transgender women and athletes with intersex variations do not protect women’s sports. They manufacture a scapegoat while the real challenges to women’s sports go unaddressed: unequal funding, limited access to training and facilities, pay disparities, male-dominated leadership, gender-based violence and harassment across race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Friday, April 10 - “Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Friday signed into law a bill to require teachers and doctors to out transgender minors to their parents, or face lawsuits.”