Comments on: The LGBTQIA+ News Post, August 19, 2025: Hi Honey, I'm Home

The LGBTQIA+ News Post, August 19, 2025: Hi Honey, I'm Home

mephron — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 10:49:53 -0800

Welcome to the LGBTQIA+ News Post for August 19. Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try, I'll never know.

Sorry about the delay. I had a pretty bad week, but it's time to get back on the broom and defy gravity. The Bad News The State Department has removed all references to anti-LGBTQ+ abuses from the annual human rights report. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told LGBTQ+ couples who are thinking about it to get married while they can, because she believes that the Supreme Court will overturn Obergfell and nationwide marriage equality. The Office of Personnel Management has announced that in 2026, no gender-affirming care will be covered for Federal employees by available insurance plans.

As an exception, counseling services for possible or diagnosed gender dysphoria must still be covered. Covered counseling services must be provided by a licensed mental health provider and may include those who provide faith-based counseling.

...but conversion therapy is covered. Five school districts in Virginia have stated that they will not change their rules and allow trans students to use lavatories and locker rooms aligned with their gender identity, so of course the Regime has pulled their federal funding. UCLA has rejected a demand from the Regime to restore their federal funding.

The demands reportedly include a large monetary settlement, an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and a rollback of transgender rights on campus. That rollback would ban transgender students from participating in sports, living in dorms, and likely using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, as well as halt the provision of gender-affirming care by the university's hospital and medical school—demands similar to those made of other prestigious schools that have capitulated to Trump.

It also included the UCLA medical system ending all gender-affirming care. This comes after Columbia, Penn and Brown bowed down and kissed the ...ring. yeah, we'll go with "ring". In the meantime, the state of California is fighting the Regime stating that this sort of thing is illegal; a court has agreed that the freezing violates the rights of the states, and the Regime is claiming it's a "suspension", not a "termination", and therefore it doesn't violate that ruling. They are also claiming that all hairs can be split easily. Gerika Mudra, a lesbian teen in Minnesota, was forced by the staff at a Buffalo Wild Wings was forced to prove she was female to use a women's restroom. A lawsuit is pending. Florida Governor and undisclosed high-heel enjoyer Ron DeSantis signed a law that specifically bans nonstandard road decorations, like, say, pride flag painted crosswalks. The Florida Department of Transportation has now sent out a bunch of letters that if cities don't fix this, the state will and charge them for it. This includes the Florida cities of Delray Beach and Key West. Orlando has not gotten this thread for the Pulse-inspired crosswalk... yet. In the UK, the gym chain Virgin Active has stated that trans people will not be able to use changing rooms or bathrooms of their gender identity, but must use their birth gender, stating this is to be in compliance with EHRC guidance, which hasn't been fully released yet. There's no opposite for a cinnamon roll that I know of, but if there was, this is it: Chris Pratt defends 'wonderful' relative and US health secretary RFK Jr. Ugggh. The Good News In a follow-up to last time's story about Marks and Spencer in the UK issuing an apology to a TERF who was offended by a trans employee asking her daughter if she needed help in the bra section, we have a post on Reddit ostensibly from the employee in question stating that M&S has, in fact, been awesome to her, and that they withdrew the hastily-issued apology after finding out the truth. Czech Games Edition (CGE), the publisher behind the board game Codenames, has announced that it will donate 100% of the profits from its Harry Potter-themed edition, Codenames: Back to Hogwarts, to charities supporting trans communities. The decision comes in response to widespread criticism over the company's licensing of the Harry Potter brand, given author J.K. Rowling's controversial views on gender identity. A Texas judge, appointed by Dubya, has written a decision for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision that put a huge hole through the West Texas A&M ban on drag shows, stating that drag shows "plainly involve expressive conduct within the protection of the First Amendment." The original cancellation was stated, by the college's president Walter Wendler as being a form of "derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny", also comparing it to blackface. The dissenter on the decision, James Ho (appointed by the Regime Head) wrote in his dissent that "drag shows enjoy greater favor among cultural elites than... religious activities," that bans on drag are necessary to protect cisgender women, and that forcing universities to host on-campus drag shows may lead to courts forcing universities to implement transgender-inclusive policies. Judge Ho, you need a cerebral enema. Comic Marc Maron has declared war on comedians who use anti-trans humor:

"At this point, it's lazy and sloppy and hackneyed," Maron declared, specifically addressing the prevalence of anti-trans material in comedy clubs. Maron painted a vivid picture of what he sees nightly at venues like the Comedy Store: "I'm walking down the hall at the comedy club and in one room someone's doing their bit about trans people and then I get down the hall and there's someone on stage going, 'Well, I guess I got to do my bit about trans people.' Like, no, you don't. You don't. It's hack now."

Thanks to Kristi, I now know that Americans of Concience has some cool news, with these being the LGBTQ+-specific ones:

WI's Supreme Court clears the way to permanently ban so-called "conversion therapy."
The Pittsburgh City Council unanimously passes three bills to further safeguard LGBTQ+ residents from medical and other forms of discrimination.
Drag Race's production company helps support small-town Prides across the country.
Pope Leo will not rescind Pope Francis' declaration of approval for blessings of same-sex couples.
In recognition of her efforts to support LGBTQ+ rights and enhance climate protections, Pattie Gonia becomes the first drag artist to make the Time100 list.
Boston opens a new park named in honor of Rita Hester Green, one of the people whose death inspired the creation of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
LGBTQ+ people of color break records with this year's Emmy nominations.
Budapest residents gather for a massive Pride celebration in defiance of Hungary's new, oppressive anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

The (very dirty) Cinnamon Roll Report Renee Rapp has informed the world through the podcast Long Winded with Gabby Windley that she loves scissoring and the use of a strap-on both giving and recieving . This is after she talked on the podcast Call Me Daddy about cheating in a relationship. And he's back - Pedro Pascal shows solidarity with immigrant families facing ICE raids in Los Angeles. Be well, friends. If you have news I missed or personal triumphs, bring them here! Let us know your joys. Something has changed within me Something is not the same I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game Too late for second-guessing Too late to go back to sleep It's time to trust my instincts Close my eyes and leap It's time to try defying gravity I think I'll try defying gravity And you can't pull me down

By: kristi

kristi — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 10:59:27 -0800

Thank you for putting this together, mephron, and helping us all keep up to date with all the everything, the bad and the good. Glad to hear about the Texas drag show ruling, and a big hooray for Pedro Pascal! I so appreciate your posts, mephron; I so appreciate you.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 11:56:32 -0800

Czech Games Edition (CGE), the publisher behind the board game Codenames, has announced that it will donate 100% of the profits from its Harry Potter-themed edition, Codenames: Back to Hogwarts, to charities supporting trans communities. Rowling's cut, meanwhile, will be used to fund legal action to harm trans people.

By: kokaku

kokaku — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 12:11:17 -0800

I'm so pissed about Federal employees losing gender healthcare. A good friend of mine is being hit hard by this and it's just one more bit of cruelty. I will never forgive the people who vote for these monsters.

By: Art_Pot

Art_Pot — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 12:31:19 -0800

By: Well I never

Well I never — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 13:44:39 -0800

In Mt Pleasant, Michigan, a small city that is home to Central Michigan University, progressive parents have successfully supported their school board against right-wing attacks. The board has chosen not to "comply in advance" with transphobic federal policy (which conflicts with Michigan law protecting gender identity and gender expression). Write up in the New Republic. Every act of resistance matters.

By: the sobsister

the sobsister — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 14:07:24 -0800

FYI: The State Dept. link isn't a link as far as I can tell. I looked up and found the story here: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5495621/state-department-human-rights-reports-slashed The first Renee Rapp link goes to the Virgin Active story. I haven't checked all the links, but those are two I found broken.

By: luckynerd

luckynerd — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 15:06:04 -0800

Can we have erectile dysfunction meds be labeled as "gender affirming care"?

By: kokaku

kokaku — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 17:32:28 -0800

They've already established that medical bans only apply to trans people according to the precedent of "fuck you we'll do what we want" currently being established by the Roberts Court.

By: i used to be someone else

i used to be someone else — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:20:36 -0800

Czech Games Edition (CGE), the publisher behind the board game Codenames, has announced that it will donate 100% of the profits from its Harry Potter-themed edition, Codenames: Back to Hogwarts, to charities supporting trans communities. ah, bigotry offsets. or indulgences, if you'll indulge me. guess it's better than nothing. --- Can we have erectile dysfunction meds be labeled as "gender affirming care"? so this feels like one of those "i mean i guess" kind of things that lands differently depending on audience? like to other cis people i suppose it does feel like a kind of wry, trenchant, humorous gotcha observation but from the other side of the divide it feels... hollow. like when primarily not-trans people were pointing out trans men would have to go into women's restrooms should the discriminatory bans pass, which, technically is true, except there's always enough wiggle room to still force trans men to go to men's rooms (or accessible bathrooms) alongside trans women instead; we see this in how puberty blockers are still allowed for cis kids, how many orders of magnitude more money is given to researching boner pills than longitudinal studies as to progesterone's efficacy as part of feminizing hrt for a period longer than two years (or even how much money gets spent on identifying causes and treatments for endometriosis) boob jobs are gender affirming care. but it's "mockery" and "mutilation" when trans femmes do it, and whatever when cis women do it. i mean, i guess? i wish it was as effective in convincing people but it kinda feels a lot like calling anti-trans bigots and terfs "farts"

By: i used to be someone else

i used to be someone else — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:22:21 -0800

I don't know how it compares to his first term, but I know I know of several LGBTQIA couples here in DC that are leaving or have left already for France or other countries due to the way things are going. It's so heartbreaking that our country is going backwards instead of forwards. two couples with at least one trans partner that i know in the chi-town area have moved to spain in the past year because of the way things have curdled part of me still hopes that i can escape but the noose feels like it's closing fast and this is not an enjoyable kind of breath play

By: evilangela

evilangela — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 10:26:28 -0800

"drag shows enjoy greater favor among cultural elites than... religious activities," As always, another example of the actual "cultural elites", those who are in power and who believe their culture should be the only cultural that should even be allowed, using the cries of victimhood to protect their entitlement. The oppressors crying about being oppressed by anything existing that they don't approve of.