The problem is the money AIPAC uses to either entrap politicians and these podcasters / influencers or uses its money to threaten and punish them.ย Hugs
This is a great clip on the situation with the democratic party, democratic leadership, and the democratic message.ย Also the polls on democratic leader ship is in the negative numbers.ย One reason is the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the minority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer has said his number 1 priority is making sure the left keeps supporting israel.ย The democratic party leadership has been totally captured by the big money donors, corporations, and large lobbying groups like the Israeli lobby AIPAC. It doesn’t make the people feel they are important to him or the party leaders.ย Hugs
The largest medical association in the United States supports gender-affirming care โ a stance it has reiterated in different ways over the last 10 years. But as Republicans press leading medical organizations on health care for transgender youth, the American Medical Association (AMA) is the latest group caught between political rhetoric and the complex realities of specialized care that few people receive.
As patients, families and doctors navigate this care in an increasingly confusing and hostile landscape, what medical groups say matters. But lately, what theyโve had to say โ and how politicians interpret it โ has only caused more uncertainty.
The AMAโs stance was already in question after a January meeting between leaders of major medical groups and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. After that meeting, which was first reported by The New York Times, one group in attendance โ the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) โ muddied the waters about whether it had taken a more restrictive stance on gender-affirming care.
Questions soon followed for the AMA, the nationโs most prominent organization representing doctors.
Twenty Republican state attorneys general are pushing for the AMA to broadly oppose gender-affirming care for minors, in response to news coverage about their recommendations around youth surgeries. The attorneys suggest that the AMA may be violating state consumer protection laws by confusing, or even misleading, medical providers and patients about their stance. They mention wanting to โavoid a formal investigationโ into the issue.
The attorneys, led by Steve Marshall in Alabama, wrote a letter in February asking whether the group recommends hormone therapy or puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in minors.
โIf you agree that there is insufficient evidence to support using surgical interventions to treat gender dysphoria in minors โ as your recent statement indicates โ we do not understand how you can find that there is sufficient evidence to support using hormonal interventions to treat gender dysphoria in minors,โ their letter reads.
This is an escalation of a familiar tactic, said Khadijah Silver, director of gender justice and health equity at Lawyers for Good Government. And if it works, it will be a major weapon in the political fight to delegitimize gender-affirming care, they said.
โIf you can convince the public that they have shifted stance, thatโs extremely powerful,โ they said, referring to the AMA.
In some ways, that impact is already being felt.
In a recent congressional hearing on rising health care costs, the board of trustees chair for the American Medical Association was asked about how patients across the country are struggling to find doctors. Two hours into the hearing, he was also asked about gender-affirming care for trans youth โ a topic that affects few Americans, but takes up a lot of political air.
Rep. Erin Houchin, a Republican from Indiana, asked why the medical group changed its position on surgeries for trans youth.
But the AMA maintains that it has not changed its position.
โIn surgery and minors, our belief is that it should generally be deferred until adulthood. But, we respect the physician-patient-family relationship in determining that,โ Dr. David H. Aizuss answered in response to the question from the congresswoman.
That exchange took only a few minutes out of a hearing that spanned the gamut of crises facing the U.S. health care system, like skyrocketing insurance premiums and a worsening physician shortage. But it represents a growing tension between Republicans and medical groups, as elected officials who oppose gender-affirming care push for major health care organizations to do the same.
The American Medical Association declined to comment on the attorneys generalโs letter, which had asked for a response by March 25. In a broader statement, the medical group said it supports gender-affirming care.
โWe support evidence-based treatment for medical care, including gender affirming care,โ an AMA spokesperson said in an email. โCurrently, the evidence for surgical intervention in minors is insufficient for us to make a definitive statement. In the absence of clear evidence, surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood. Treatment decisions should be made between the physician and the patient (and family) based on the best medical evidence and clinical judgment.”
That position aligns with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an authority on medical care for trans people. WPATH recommends that patients generally wait until adulthood before seeking surgery. Trans youth rarely undergo surgery of any kind; of the small number performed on adolescents, the majority are mastectomies.
If an adolescent does need surgery, WPATH recommends they meet extensive criteria โ including a full understanding of reproductive side effects, a yearโs worth of hormone therapy, sustained gender incongruence, plus emotional and cognitive maturity.
The questions surrounding surgery come on the heels of the American Society of Plastic Surgeonsโ response to the January meeting with Oz. In what the Times described as a โtenseโ meeting, Oz pressed leaders of organizations including the AMA and the ASPS on why they recommend gender-affirming care for trans youth. At that meeting, the surgeons group said it would be changing its position, per the Times.
Weeks after the meeting, ASPS released a nine-page statement saying that gender-affirming surgery should be delayed for minors until a patient is at least 19. The surgeonsโ group cited insufficient evidence that benefits for surgery outweigh risks, and pointed to a controversial report created by the Trump administration to back its position.
The surgeons group noted that it still opposes criminalization of such medical care. The Trump administration celebrated the announcement.
โToday marks another victory for biological truth in the Trump administration,โ said former Deputy Health and Human Services Secretary Jim OโNeill, in a press release. Oz, who has compared gender-affirming care for minors to lobotomies, applauded the American Society of Plastic Surgeons โfor placing itself on the right side of history.โ
In the following days, the surgeonโs group appeared to backtrack. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reportedly told NPR that its position โdoes not include a blanket recommendation for surgery for minors.โ The ASPS did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
The AMA has had its own trouble communicating its position. In a recent internal newsletter from the board chair, the association said that its policy on gender-affirming care has not changed at all; and that it requested a correction from The New York Times in response to the outletโs coverage of its initial statement on youth surgeries. However, the Times says it has received no such requests.
This back-and-forth is taking place against an intense political backdrop: Six states have made it a felony for doctorsto provide gender-affirming care to trans youth. Hospitals across the country have shuttered gender clinics in response to pressure from the administration. As a result, some young patients are cut off in the middle of treatment and medical professionals are grappling with how the law impacts them.
And despite ample news coverage, gender-affirming care is still not widely understood.
Very few transgender youth seek and access surgeries. More rely on hormone therapy and puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria, which is a medical condition that can cause significant distress for trans people.
Puberty blockers delay the hormones that cause kids to go through puberty, which can be an intense and emotionally fraught time for trans youth. Many families say this treatment is crucial for their childโs wellbeing and prevents distress caused by dysphoria. There are potential risks, like decreased bone density, which is monitored by medical providers. Some providers recommend weight-bearing exercise or diet optimization to boost calcium and vitamin D levels while on puberty blockers.
Hormone therapy, which involves taking testosterone or estrogen to cause physical changes that align oneโs body with their gender identity, is another treatment that some trans youth receive to alleviate dysphoria. As with puberty blockers, clinics require a mental health assessment as well as parental or guardian consent for the treatment.
The Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics are under federal investigation over their support for gender-affirming care. Both medical groups have sued, as the government seeks information to determine if they have made โfalse or unsubstantiated representationsโ regarding the care.
The attorneysโ general letter to the American Medical Association is leveling up that pressure on medical groups, Silver said.
โBecause the care is so politicized, any association that stands up and asserts its support for physicians who provide the care, will be made an example of,โ they said.
The library director who was fired for refusing to relocate LGBTQ childrenโs books has garnered substantial community support, with peopleย donating over $84,000ย to help her as she navigates the loss of her job. A GoFundMe launched by a community member says that the fundraiser for Luanne James is going โdirectly toward supporting her familyโs basic living expenses during this time.โ
James was the director of the Rutherford County Library until the board voted to fire her last week. The termination came after she refused to move 132 childrenโs books to another section of the library because the LGBTQ themes were deemed inappropriate for children. James said that she โhad no choiceโ but to refuse the boardโs request to move the books. She said that she believes librarians are being politicized and that โis not what we signed up for.โ
I think the article is self explaintary and clear.ย The hate directed against the LGBTQ+ seems irrational and immoral.ย Why is it immoral if it is being done by religious groups?ย Because they have no qualms about lying, giving false and misleading information, and forcing their church doctrines on others who don’t agree with those doctrines. Below are just a few quotes fromย the article.ย The last one from florida would make pointing out the truth about how a person is acting or speaking illegal, but doing the racist bigoted stuff would stay legal. Hugs
Anti-trans bathroom bans made aย comeback, with four passed in Alabama, Idaho, Ohio and South Carolina.
Policy changes enactedย barriersย to gender markers and name changes for IDs/personal documents inย Arkansas and Florida.
Florida introduced a bill thatย limited free speech, making public accusations, whether true or false, of a person being homophobic, transphobic, racist or sexist equivalent to defamation and punishable by fine. The bill did not pass.
A central theme of anti-LGBTQ+ organizing and ideology is the opposition to LGBTQ+ rights or support of homophobia, heterosexism and/or cisnormativity, often expressed through demonizing rhetoric and grounded in harmful pseudoscience that portrays LGBTQ+ people as threats to children, society and often public health.
Top Takeaways
In 2024, the number of anti-LGBTQ+ groups increased by about 13% from the previous year. Anti-LGBTQ+ groups maintained a trend in heavy mobilization across multiple strategies with increasing political and financial support from the hard right.
Anti-trans narratives were instrumental to the 2024 election at all levels of government, especially at the local level where anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-inclusive education activism continue to heavily overlap. The politicization of gender-affirming health care and LGBTQ+-inclusive school curricula contributed to what has been characterized as the โmost Anti-LGBTQ electionย in decades.โ Republicans spentย almost $215 Millionย on TV ads to smear trans people,ย surpassing adsย on rival issues such as economy, immigration and housing. Another wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation broke records at state and federal levels, but such bills wereย not as nearlyย as successful as last year.
Anti-LGBTQ+ groups are heavily invested inย the courtsย and pushing policy change by judicial decision. Hard right and anti-LGBTQ+ extremists on social media continue their campaign to โmake pride toxicโ by targeting inclusive business and marketing practices while anti-LGBTQ+ legal groups take up administrative law and lobbying strategies to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in the public and private sectors under the guise of โviewpoint diversityโ and โreligious freedomโ advocacy. ย
Key Moments
Throughout the state legislative sessions, anti-LGBTQ+ movement organizations continued their facilitation of a decades long effort to foment anti-trans moral panic in public discourse. Legislative assaults broke records for the fifth consecutive year, albeit with fewer successes.
Several factors slowed the trend, including coordinated community responses and reporting, such as the SPLCโsย Project CAPTAIN, on the networks that perpetuate anti-LGBTQ+ talking points and legislation๏ฟผ. Legislation trends of concern include:
A Florida billย promotedย insurance coverage conversion therapy for detransition. The bill passed the House, butย diedย in the Senate.
Anti-trans bathroom bans made aย comeback, with four passed in Alabama, Idaho, Ohio and South Carolina.
Policy changes enactedย barriersย to gender markers and name changes for IDs/personal documents inย Arkansas and Florida.
Florida introduced a bill thatย limited free speech, making public accusations, whether true or false, of a person being homophobic, transphobic, racist or sexist equivalent to defamation and punishable by fine. The bill did not pass.
In February 2024, anti-trans influencers spun a disinformation campaign to exploit the tragic shooting at Lakewood Church in Houston by alleging the shooter was trans. Hard-right social media influencers, equipped with talking points that help fuel gun purchases, used this and other mass shootings in 2024 to perpetuate anti-immigrant and anti-trans conspiracy theories. Despite claiming anti-trans activism helps โprotect children,โย the SPLC reportedย that in the wake of mass shootings, anti-trans extremists divert attention from meaningful reforms to prevent gun violence, which is the leading cause of death for children in the United States.
In response to online campaigns by hard-right social media personalities, many major brandsย scaled backย Pride merchandise in 2024. Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) reported anti-LGBTQ+ ย protests at Pride events decreased in 2024; however, GLAAD documentedย 110 anti-LGBTQ+ย incidents during June 2024. In addition, the SPLC monitored at least 74 bomb threats targeting LGBTQ people and events between January 1 and June 30, 2024.
Theย Colorado Republican Partyย posted โBurn all the #pride flags this Juneโ and shared a video clip titled โGod Hate F__s.โ There was no shortage of vandalism: In Poulsbo, Washington, 14 Pride banners were slashed, and overย 200 pride flagsย were stolen from the town center in Carlisle, Massachusetts. Throughout June, SPLC tracked dozens of protests, bomb threats and harassment campaigns directed at civil society groups like Pride committees and LGBTQ+-inclusive religious congregations. Hate groups including MassResistance,ย Gays Against Groomers, Protect Texas Kids, White Lives Matter, and Aryan Freedom Network were active at Pride events in June 2024.
In July and August 2024, anti-trans influencers manufactured controversy over the gender identity ofย Olympic athletesย Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting. Thisย anti-trans controversyย exclusively targeted Taiwanese and Algerian athletes, scrutinizing the legitimacy of their womanhood. The crux of arguments made by the anti-trans actors re-animated misogynoir stereotypes to exclude women of color from being considered women based on white Eurocentric beauty standards of femininity. The series of events suggests eugenics and racism underlie transphobia and exhibited how anti-trans hysteria disproportionately impacts women of color on an international scale.
In September 2024, the anti-LGBTQ+ hate groupย Family Research Councilย held its annual Pray Vote Stand conference. FRC hosted a variety of anti-immigrant commentary ranging from Katy Faust, president of the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Them Before Us, urging attendees to โbreed outโ immigrants and trans people. At the conference, Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction Ryan Walters alleged illegal immigrants were bringing fentanyl into schools; and the summit featured population control myths espoused by both anti-abortion and anti-vax panelists. FRC devoted multiple plenary sessions to anti-trans, anti-abortion and anti-immigrant coded topics.
The election of the first trans member of congress, Sarah McBride, was immediately met with a trans bathroom ban on all restrooms on the House side of the Capitol complex. The resolution was introduced by Nancy Mace and supported by House Speaker and former Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Mike Johnson. Mace postedย anti-trans slursย on X following aย bathroom sit-inย at the Capitol in protest of the bathroom ban. The protesters were arrested and taken to the Capitol Police station; Mace then posted a video showing her outside the stations saying, โSome trโโs got arrested protesting my ban.โ She then began reading them their Miranda rights along with demeaning commentary about the protesters.
States will continue to be labs for experimenting with anti-LGBTQ+ public policy. The legislative early filing period in Texas shows 32 anti-trans bills already filed for the 2025 legislative session. This year will show a continued pressure on erasing trans people from public life. With Donald Trumpโs re-election, federal civil rights enforcement litigation will likely swing against LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Authors of Project 2025 areย being tappedย as cabinet picks for the second Trump administration. Project 2025 is an authoritarian and theocratic road map, and anti-trans scapegoating makes up key policy recommendations.
Background
Anti-LGBTQ+ groups in the United States oppose LGBTQ+ rights but also generally support heterosexism, an ideology that assumes heterosexuality is the only โnormalโ sexuality, and/or cisnormativity, an ideology that assumes oneโs gender identity always matches the sex one was assigned at birth. Anti-LGBTQ+ groups primarily consist of Christian Right groups but also include such organizations as the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) that purport to be scientific. Anti-LGBTQ+ groups in America have employed a variety of strategies in their efforts to oppose LGBTQ+ rights or support heterosexism and/or cisnormativity, including engaging in the crudest type of name-calling.
Anti-LGBTQ+ groups on the SPLC hate list often link being LGBTQ+ inherently to criminal behavior; claim that the marriage equality and LGBTQ+ people in general are dangers to children and families; contend that being LGBTQ+ itself is dangerous and support the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people and transgender identity. These groups also believe in a false conspiracy that LGBTQ+ people seek to destroy Christianity and the whole of society. More recently, hard-line anti-LGBTQ+ groups have promoted their discriminatory laws and policies that limit the rights of LGBTQ people under the guise of religion, blurring the lines between the separation of church and state and discarding anti-discrimination civil rights policies. These same groups have promoted legislative models to push anti-trans legislation into law under a conservative religious assumption that gender can only be understood as either โmaleโ or โfemale.โ
Many leaders and spokespeople of SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ groups have used degrading and derogatory language to describe LGBTQ+ people. Others disseminate disparaging information about LGBTQ+ people that are simply untrue โ an approach no different from how white supremacists and nativist extremists propagate lies about African American people and immigrants to make these communities seem like a danger to society. Viewing LGBTQ+ people as unbiblical or simply opposing marriage equality does not qualify an organization to be listed as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.
2024 Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Groups
* โ Asterisk denotes headquarters.
Abiding Word Baptist Church, Revival Baptist Church
Orange Park, Florida
Advocates Protecting Children
Arlington, Virginia
Alliance Defending Freedom
Scottsdale, Arizona
American College of Pediatricians
Gainesville, Florida
American Family Association
Indianapolis, Indiana
Tupelo, Mississippi *
Franklin, Pennsylvania
American Vision
Powder Springs, Georgia
Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
Columbus, Ohio
ATLAH Media Network
New York, New York
California Family Council
Fresno, California
The Campus Ministry USA
Terre Haute, Indiana
Center for Christian Virtue
Columbus, Ohio
Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM)
New York, New York*
Washington, D.C.
Chalcedon Foundation
Vallecito, California
Child and Parental Rights Campaign
Johns Creek, Georgia
Church Militant/St. Michaelโs Media
Ferndale, Michigan
Concerned Christian Citizens
Temple, Texas
D. James Kennedy Ministries
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Do No Harm
Glen Allen, Virginia
Faith2Action
North Royalton, Ohio
Faithful Word Baptist Church
Tempe, Arizona
Straight Paths Baptist Church
Tucson, Arizona
Family Action Council of Tennessee
Franklin, Tennessee
The Family Foundation of Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Family Policy Alliance
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Family Research Council
Washington, D.C.
Family Research Institute
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Family Watch International
Gilbert, Arizona
First Works Baptist Church
Anaheim, California
Florida Family Voice
Orlando, Florida
Focus on the Family
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Frontline Policy Council
Atlanta, Georgia
Gays Against Groomers
Fountain Hills, Arizona
California
Georgia
Kansas City, Missouri
Monroe, North Carolina
Vancouver, Washington
Milwaukee, Wisconsin*
Generations
Elizabeth, Colorado
Genspect
Chicago, Illinois
Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment (H.O.M.E.)
Downers Grove, Illinois
Illinois Family Institute
Tinley Park, Illinois
Liberty Baptist Church
Rock Falls, Illinois
Liberty Counsel
Orlando, Florida
Louisiana Family Forum
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
MassResistance
Torrance, California
Pocatello, Idaho
Idaho
Waltham, Massachusetts*
New Jersey
Fort Worth, Texas
Houston, Texas
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Gilette, Wyoming
Lander, Wyoming
Massachusetts Family Institute
Wakefield, Massachusetts
Mission: America
Columbus, Ohio
Montana Family Foundation
Laurel, Montana
Pacific Justice Institute
Sacramento, California
Santa Ana, California
Miami, Florida
Mississippi
Reno, Nevada
Salem, Oregon
Seattle, Washington
Partners for Ethical Care
Chicago, Illinois
Pass the Salt Ministries
Hebron, Ohio
Pennsylvania Family Institute
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Pilgrims Covenant Church
Monroe, Wisconsin
The Pray In Jesus Name Project
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Probe Ministries
Plano, Texas
Public Advocate of the United States
Merrifield, Virginia
Revival Baptist Church
Clermont, Florida
Ruth Institute
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Save California
Sacramento, California
Scott Lively Ministries
Springfield, Massachusetts
Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine
Twin Falls, Idaho
Stedfast Baptist Church
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Cedar Hills, Texas *
Strong Hold Baptist Church
Norcross, Georgia
Sure Foundation Baptist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
Vancouver, Washington*
Seattle, Washington
Spokane Valley, Washington
Them Before Us
Seattle, Washington
Tom Brown Ministries
El Paso, Texas
True Light Pentecost Church
Spartanburg, South Carolina
United Families International
Gilbert, Arizona
Verity Baptist Church
Sacramento, California
Warriors for Christ
Mount Juliet, Tennessee
Westboro Baptist Church
Topeka, Kansas
World Congress of Families/International Organization for the Family
Rockford, Illinois
Every litter bit helps, as was sung on TV when I was a child. Here is a thing that might be done these days, or we can share it and that will still help. Earth is our only home (no matter where our legislators tend to spend their time…)
Earth Month Ecochallenge, running from April 1st to April 30th, is a 30-day program focused on environmental and social engagement. During this month, you’re invited to select actions that resonate with your values, committing to them for 30 days to foster and reinforce positive habits. Each action you complete earns points and generates real-world impact. Your efforts, combined with those of your team, contribute to a significant collective difference.
This yearโs theme, People and Planet: Resilient Together, focuses on resilience: the capacity to adapt, recover, and grow stronger through change. Resilience lives in people, in communities, and in the natural systems that sustain us. In a world shaped by uncertainty, it helps us stay grounded, connected, and capable of creating positive change. Our new actions and categories will help you explore resilience at many levels – personal, in your community, in the organizations you are part of, and in nature. (snip)
House Resolution 7661 is a potentially significant piece ofย book ban legislation. Here’s what you need to know about it.
On March 17, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce advanced H.R. 7661. There is no word regarding when the bill will be voted on, but the vote is expected to occur sometime in the coming weeks. While that bill number may not sound familiar, thereโs a good chance you have recently heard it referred to as the National Book Ban Bill.
Though that title is not formally associated with the proposed resolution, it does speak to the concerns many have regarding the billโs language, intentions, and potential long-term impact. While it can understandably feel overwhelming to keep up with every potentially impactful piece of legislation in the modern United States government, the details of H. R. 7661 (including those not printed, which only exist between the lines) make it worth knowing about for anyone who opposes the growing trend of book bans and public education funding.
What is H. R. 7661, or the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act?
Formally, what is sometimes referred to as the National Book Ban Bill is being presented as H.R. 7661 or the โStop the Sexualization of Children Act.โ You can read that act here. It has also been referred to as the โNational Donโt Say Gay bill,โ a reference to a 2022 statute that triggered significant school policy changes, including legislation that restricted public schools from introducing material in kindergarten through 3rd-grade classrooms that was deemed to be related to matters of sexual orientation and gender identity. The law also included requirements specific to students in higher grades and age ranges.
A sweeping initiative, the Donโt Say Gay bill (formally referred to as the โParental Rights in Educationโ bill) established several education restrictions regarding both curricula and school policies that could be enforced via various means (including potential legal action). It required schools to inform parents if their children received any mental health services at school, it allowed parents to have greater access to formerly private documents related to their kids, and it enacted a series of moderation policies that effectively enabled legislators to have greater control over what is (and isnโt) taught to students in those age ranges via funding decisions and similar policies. Said policies included book bans, which are also at the heart of H.R. 7661โs many potential effects.
The Main Provisions of H. R. 7661
The primary purpose of H. R. 7661 is to enable the U.S. government to deny federal funding to schools that use those funds for programs and materials the bill deems to be inappropriate.
The bill is effectively an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The act was designed to provide expanded federal funding to public schools to ensure that their students (more specifically, public school students in lower-income areas) didnโt continue to fall far behind students at schools with access to more resources. It was a milestone piece of legislation that remains one of the cornerstones for federal public school funding in the United States to this day.
While H. R. 7661 would not eliminate that act, it would, in the billโs own language, โprohibit the use of funds provided under such Act to develop, implement, facilitate, host, or promote any program or activity for, or to provide or promote literature or other materials to, children under the age of 18 that includes sexually oriented material, and for other purposes.โ
The broad nature of that language is one of the more controversial aspects of the bill. For instance, it would deny schools the ability to use federal funding for programs, literature, and related texts that include โsexually oriented materialโ and โmaterial that exposes such children to nude adults, individuals who are stripping, or lewd or lascivious dancing.โ H. R. 7661 also includes exemptions for scientific texts, works related to major religions, as well as โclassic works of literatureโ and โclassic works of artโ (more on those in a bit) that may naturally include references to the content it intends to restrict. Furthermore, the authors of the bill note that โsexually oriented materialโ includes โany depiction, description, or simulation of sexually explicit conduct (as defined in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 2256(2) of title 18, United States Code).โ You can read those United States Code subparagraphs here. They largely reference material such as โbestialityโ and โsadistic or masochistic abuseโ but also include the far more general idea of โsexual intercourseโฆ whether between persons of the same or opposite sexโ as sexually explicit content. It is a rather large collection of topics which could potentially fall under that umbrella definition.
However, H. R. 7661 would expand the definition of โsexually oriented materialโ to include material that โinvolves gender dysphoria or transgenderism.โ Along with suggesting that matters of identity should be considered a sexually obscene topic, the inclusion of that language has significant legal implications. That choice of wording makes it clear that this bill will most directly and immediately affect transgender students, transgender-related materials, and it could be argued, gender non-conformity topics in general, which may include discussions of specifically prohibited subjects in affected schools.
Whatโs important to remember is that the bill specifies works that will be excluded, but it is more vague regarding what, exactly, could be impacted. It could, for instance, be determined that a variety of LGBTQIA+ books that make passing reference (or even perceived passing references) to such materials could also be effectively banned from federally funded schools. The policies for such determinations and review procedures are not set. It should also be noted that the use of โsexually oriented materialโ and similar pieces of broad language have often been contested as the basis for similar pieces of legislation (more on those below).
There are undoubtedly concerns regarding the direct targeting of students and materials that would be most obviously impacted by the โgender dysphoria or transgenderismโ language. The reason that this is being referred to as a โNational Book Ban Bill,โ though, is due to both the billโs relationship with current federal funding policies (and thus its potential reach) and the ways that its language could be used to legally justify a variety of bans or create a precedent for similarly sweeping bills.
Itโs a familiar question in time travel narratives: If you could go back in time and kill Adolf Hitler, would you? Sometimes, of course, there are time travel rules in place that prevent such interference; for instance, in About Time (2013) time travelers can only go back to moments in their own pasts. But there are plenty of other stories where the opportunity does present itself (although not everyone is able to follow through with it, including antihero Deadpool).
While the basic premiseโremoving Hitler from existence in some way (often as a baby, or before he can be born)โis sometimes only briefly touched on in time travel narratives, there are a number of stories that explore the problems and ramifications of such an action in a bit more depth. Here are five short stories (well, four stories and one comic, which is arguably a short story with art) that do just that.
Just a few years into World War IIโbefore America had even joined the fightโRalph Milne Farley wrote the earliest known story about using time travel to kill Hitler. The unnamed main character is one of the Nazi leaderโs distant cousins but he lives half a world away in Massachusetts. Heโs deeply unhappy about Hitlerโs warmongeringโpartly because the genocidal leaderโs actions are unequivocally wrong, but also partly (and honestlyโฆ largely) because being drafted into the war is going to interfere with our narratorโs painting career.
After complaining to a friend about all the Allies who havenโt taken the chance to assassinate Hitler during their face-to-face meetings, our protagonist gets the chance to go back in time and murder the Fรผhrer while heโs still a young boy. Although the outcome is now a fairly basic rendition of the theme, this story remains notable for being the first take on the idea.
Set in a world where being a killer-for-hire is a legitimate profession, this comic book sees our protagonist, an anthropomorphic dog who is once again unnamed, take on an unusual job: killing Hitler. The time machine that sends him back only has enough energy for one round trip every 50 years, so itโs crucial that he doesnโt mess it upโwhich, of course, he does. Not only does he fail to kill Hitler, but the Fรผhrer uses the time machineโs one ride back to the present and then promptly blends in with modern society.
Our hitman still needs to finish the job, though, and now heโs tasked with tracking down the Nazi leader, in spite of the fact that heโs much older once heโs caught up to his target (because, after being stranded in the past, he had to live through the years to get back to the present). He decides to enlist the help of his (now much younger) ex-girlfriend and the journey they go on together is filled with both dry humor and unexpectedly tender moments. Sure, their goal might be murder, but thereโs still room for touching character growth along the wayโฆ
Written in the second person, this short story sees you sampling a technology called Multiversityโข, which is essentially Google Search for the multiverse. You enter โTHE DEATH OF ADOLF HITLERโโone of the most popular searchesโand are shown eight sample realities based on the various ways that Hitler has died in alternate histories. This story is short and sweet, with only a few sentences outlining each scenario (although youโre informed that you can get a more detailed breakdown for the low, low price of $59.95!).
The hilarious scenarios become increasingly unhinged (and one does explicitly feature time travel!), but because there are only eight I donโt want to spoil any of them by going into too much detail, here. What I will say is that I would absolutely pay to find out more about the squids in Scenario #8โฆ
This short story served as the basis for the โAlternate Historiesโ episode in the first season of Love, Death & Robotsโso if this concept seems familiar to you, that might be why.
โWikihistoryโ is written entirely as a series of online forum posts from members of the International Association of Time Travelers. The first post in the story comes from FreedomFighter69, a new member of the IATT who is celebrating their first excursion: going to the opening of the 1936 Olympic Games to kill Hitler. SilverFox316 is none too impressed with this move and a few minutes later posts to say that theyโve successfully gone back and stopped FreedomFighter69. Much to the frustration of SilverFox316, new members continue making this same mistake (which could be avoided if theyโd simply read Bulletin 1147 as theyโve been repeatedly asked to do!).
The forum format is inventive, the time travel plot is chaotically fun, and the bickering dynamic between the posters feels hilariously true to life.
This is another short story written in the second person; this time youโre a member of a small group of anti-fascists intent on using a time travel rig to kill baby Hitler. Umeko volunteers for the gruesome mission and when she returns, sheโs confident that she got the job done. But then she learns that history hasnโt changed, which makes no sense because sheโs certain that she beheaded baby Hitler.
While the group squabble over this unexpected result, you as the protagonist take the opportunity to slip into the rig and go back to 1890 to figure out what went wrong with the original mission. You get your answer, but unfortunately both time travel and group projects are a very messy business, so combining the two isnโt exactly a recipe for success.
Although using time travel to put an end to Hitler and his rise to power is a fairly well-trodden trope at this point, hopefully this list has proven that there are still plenty of creative ways to tell this kind of story. Iโd love to hear if you have any particularly intriguing, thoughtful, and/or original stories that riff on this theme, regardless of format!
Remember a couple of things as you read this below.ย First there is nothing wrong with being LGBTQ+ and the feelings associated with those letters.ย Second most children are desperate to fit in to the majority, to be “normal”.ย The country was well on the way to reassuring these kids / adults that those feelings were normal and OK.ย That the child was not damaged not an abomination to god, and did not need to be fixed.ย Then the right wing religious hate machine managed to pass don’t say gay laws, bathroom bills, and “lets make those who are not straight or cis be attacked outcasts again” laws.ย
There are two errors not really mentioned here. Minors who are going to these “religious anti-LGBTQ+ be straight cis only” therapestย / religious leaders are normally forced there by parents who have been convinced by religious leaders in their church that their child is damaged and needs to be fixed as they are sinning just for feeling as they do and so will be going to hell.ย (Side note Jesus never said anything like that.ย I remember being told that I was “acting gay / doing gay things” because I liked sinning.ย To which I replied, You have it backwards.ย I was born gay and I like doing / being gay and so I don’t care that it is sinning to you.)ย The child is often told this to the point where even if they don’t fully hate themselves they are willing to do anything their parents want to “be normal” or get their parents off their backsides about it. And often the child is threatened with being thrown out of the home if they don’t go to conversion therapy.ย And then the religious therapist reinforces the message that they are damaged, broken, that they cannot be as they are but must be fixed, must be healed of the sin / feelings.ย Every major medical association has reviewed and studied conversion therapy and they conclude it is harmful, has no basis in science and those kids who go through it are far more likely to try to end their livesย so they recommend helping young people to accept themselves and their feelings except for the minor one started by a religious group that has rejected all the studies and findings for the religious belief that god wouldn’t create anyone that way and because we are not that so those people / kids that feel that way must be forced to change to make them and their god happy.ย ย
There are facts, and then there are religious beliefs that disregard those facts.ย The fact is that the data and medical studies show that helping non-straight non-cis children accept that they are normal also shows that gender afirming care is the most beneficial way to help young people who are LGBTQ+ and struggling with the idea of wanting to be “normal” or like the other students are.ย I did not want to be gay as a kid growing up. I knew my attraction perhaps sooner than most kids due to my childhood situation. But all the time growing up I heard about how bad and horrible people who had the feelings I did were and how doing what I was being forced to do made me the worst possible human.ย I was attacked at school even though I was not out but some thought I was different and that was enough.ย When I had to join the church to get to leave my abusive home to get to safety I heard constantly how bad / sinfull / an abomination I and people like me were to god who wanted mankind to wipe me out… wait why does god need mankind to do that, especially white Christian men to do that, can’t he just stop makingย gay people with out a demon in them?ย
At my church school a lot of the boys were flirting with same sex attractions as they were horny teen boys separated from girls. Similar to the situation I found in the military where I had a group of “straight” guys asking me to go on passes with them.ย And it was very fun, but they always claimed not to be able to remember what happened on those trips.ย But each of those kids and some of those adults I had consensual fun with blamed themselves for failing god and failing to be normal.ย I had one really cute fun guy who I would go on passes with who couldn’t wait to get into the hotel room to have sex.ย And it was not just one way either.ย He received as he gave and what he enjoyed he returned if you catch my trying not to be too explicit. But that was the same with all the guys, they were not hung up on straight norms while in a hotel room with me.ย But this one guy would always on the way back to base tell me we couldn’t do that again.ย It was wrong.ย It was something we shouldn’t do.ย I did not argue.ย But 3 weeks or a month later he was begging me to go on a four day pass with him.ย ย
My point was this guy was 18 / 19 like me.ย I had already long accepted who I was and how I felt. He had taken the be normal message to heart.ย He could have used therapy to accept his feelings and needs.ย But the one thing he did not need and would have been harmful was conversion therapy. That guy was with me in Germany, after a wonderful weekend he again said we couldn’t do that again,ย He got married and it lasted a year, then he got divorced.ย I lost touch with him.ย But lives were harmed because he just couldn’t face he was gay, couldn’t tell his religious parents he was gay, and would have been placed in conversion therapy if his parents had known as a teen he struggled with same sex attraction and was not straight. Hugs
The Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a major win for the free speech rights of counselors and therapists, ruling in an 8-1 decision that a Colorado law prohibiting licensed counselors from engaging in talk therapy to help a person โreduce or eliminate unwanted sexual attractions, change sexual behaviors, or grow in the experience of harmony with [their] bod[ies]โ unconstitutionally violated the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
FRC President Tony Perkins called the decision โA Supreme Court win for free speech and biological reality.โ
โIโm encouraged to see the muzzle removed from therapists seeking to help willing patients come to terms with, and be at peace with, how God created them,โ reflected Perkins in a statement to The Washington Stand.
โThe Left is using the levers of government to block families and individuals seeking help. Under Colorado law, a girl could legally seek a therapistโs help to change her gender but could not seek help from that same therapist to align her identity with her biological sex. Where is the fairness or logic in that? I commend the court for striking down this deeply invasive and unjust law.โ
Read theย full article. In 2013, Exodus International โ then the nationโs largest ex-gay group โ disbanded. Its longtime president Alan Chambers declared that not one of his groupโs thousands of victims had ever become heterosexual.
Conversion therapy is discredited junk science that inflicts harm on LGBTQ youth.The Supreme Courtโs decision is disappointing and puts vulnerable kids at risk.
Medicaid cuts threaten hundreds of hospitals, new report finds
Together, the hospitals provide care for nearly 7 million patients across the U.S., according to the analysis.
Across the country, hospitals have already warned they may need to lay off staff members or scale back care, including maternity and mental health care, because of Medicaid cuts.Image Source / Getty Images
More than 400 hospitals across the United States are at high risk of closing or cutting services because of the Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trumpโs โbig, beautiful bill,โ according to anย analysis from the progressive watchdog group Public Citizen.
The fallout could make it harder for millions of people to get care and put thousands of health care workersโ jobs at risk as hospitals lose a key source of federal funding. Medicaid coversย about a fifthย of all hospital spending.
Theย Medicaid cutsย come in phases, with more significant changes, including work requirements, in 2027 and limits on how states raise funds in 2028. Overall, the law is expected to reduce federal Medicaid funding byย roughly $1 trillionย over the next decade.
โWeโre seeing hospitals that are already under severe financial strain having to make decisions about how to stay financially solvent,โ said Eileen OโGrady, a researcher in Public Citizenโs Congress Watch division and the reportโs author. โThat has pretty clear implications for people who live in that community. It also has ripple effects on other hospitals in those communities.โ
The analysis draws on hospital financial data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2022 through 2024, covering about 95% of U.S. hospitals. The group defined at-risk hospitals as those in which Medicaid and other low-income government programs made up at least 20% of revenue and that have been operating at a loss in recent years.
The report doesnโt estimate when hospitals could close or cut services.
โClosure is the worst-case scenario, but it also doesnโt preclude hospitals from having to make really tough decisions about cutting services that might be essential to those communities but are just no longer financially viable,โ OโGrady said.
Across the country, hospitals have alreadyย made statementsย warning they may need toย lay off staffย or scale back care, includingย maternityย and mental health care, because of the Medicaid cuts.
For many patients, hospitals are the last place to turn when there are few or no other options for care.
โWhen hospitals close, patients have less access to the care that they need,โ said Gideon Lukens, director of research and data analysis on the health policy team at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research group. โThey have to travel further or wait longer in other hospitals that become overcrowded. That additional time can be the difference between success and failure of time-sensitive, potentially life-saving treatments.โ
The closures also add strain to the hospitals that take on the extra patients.ย OโGrady said doctors end up having โless patience, less time, less capacity to provide the highest quality care.โ
โIt can be very dangerous for hospitals to be under this kind of strain,โ she said.
The analysis found a total of 446 at-risk hospitals, with at least one at-risk hospital in 44 states and Washington, D.C.
About 60% of the at-risk hospitals โ 267 facilities โ are in urban areas, even as much of the debate around Medicaid cuts hasย focused on rural hospitals.ย Black and Latino people stand to be the most affected by the cuts.
The hospitals span both Democratic and Republican-led states, though the states with the largest number of at-risk hospitals are California, New York, Illinois and Washington.
Republicans also represent several congressional districts with the highest number of at-risk hospitals. House Republicans who voted for the Medicaid cuts have 196 at-risk hospitals in their districts, while Senate Republicans โ all of whom back the cuts โ represent 146 at-risk hospitals in their states, according to the analysis.
The cuts could lead to a worsening crisis, especially for rural hospitals, said Zachary Levinson, the project director of the KFF Project on Hospital Costs.
He said that by his estimates, Trumpโs law sets asideย $50 billion to support rural communities, but could reduce federal Medicaid spending in rural areas by far more โ about $137 billion over a decade.
James Jackson, the CEO of Alameda Health System in Oakland, California, said the Medicaid cuts represent an โexistential threat.โ
Alameda Health System, which gets 60% of its revenue from Medicaid payments, announced in December that it would lay off nearly 300 employees and lose more than $100 million annually by 2030. (The health network was not included on Public Citizenโs at-risk list, though the report notes its financial troubles.)
The layoffs, set to take effect in March, have since been delayed.
Proposed cuts included mental health services, care for patients with chronic conditions and an ambulatory plastic surgery program. Jackson said closing hospitals is not on the table, but the system has continued to look at scaling back services.
โI donโt think the impact is going to be a positive one,โ he said. โWe are often the provider of last recourse, so if weโre not able to provide a service, there will be a delay in receiving care at one of the other systems in the area or they may not provide it at all.โ
Trinity Health, a Michigan-based hospital system with facilities in other states, said itโs projected to lose $1.5 billion due to โrecent and future government policy changes.โ
In January, it said it was laying off 10.5% of its billing staff. One of its hospitals, St. Maryโs Sacred Heart Hospital in rural northeast Georgia,ย announced last Octoberย it was closing its maternity unit.
In a statement, a Trinity Health spokesperson shared a previous statement that said in part that โmore reductionsโ are being considered by the federal government and itโs โnot possible to simply absorb such a significant financial impact without making thoughtful, forward-thinking changes.โ
Berkeley Lovelace Jr. is a health and medical reporter for NBC News. He covers the Food and Drug Administration, with a special focus on Covid vaccines, prescription drug pricing and health care. He previously covered the biotech and pharmaceutical industry with CNBC.
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