This video explains what everyone on the real left already knew instead of forgetting the transย / woke culture wars and moving right, the center left keeps demanding which is simply code speak for leaning right.ย While all the same democratic strategists since the Bill Clinton days demand candidates move to the right to “triangulate” to capture republican voters these polls show what we already knew.ย The culture wars are losing for the republicans.ย After republicans spent nearly 3 million dollars in ads against trans people the polls showed almost no one felt those adverts influenced their vote.ย Even as red states rail against higher education, acceptance, and tolerance of people who are different it is losing them votes.ย Some thing the Christian nationalists who are in the height of their influence now in political circles don’t understand is that people who grew up with LGBTQ+ classmates, friends, and even dated some do not find them the evil that these hate religions preach they are.ย ย
*** Personal note.ย ย I explained to Ali in an email that I am not functioning.ย For what ever reason wheither it be anemia or something worse I am desperately tired from the time I manage to get up.ย I often get up only to a few hours later go back to bed for four or more hours.ย I have started taking vitamin B-12 and a woman’s one-a-day vitamin.ย That with more red meat which was recommended to me in the past every time I go into anemia.ย ย How ever I get up, I have coffee and stuff with Ron then I need to go back to bed for normally 4 hours, get up and do dishes while watching The Majority Report.ย How ever some days like yesterday I did not even get that far, going to back to bed by 2 pm only to have Ron wake me and beg me to eat.
I have done better today only going back to bed for 3 hours later in the morning.ย I wanted to go to bed two hours ago, but Ron was all upset he couldn’t sleep due to the neighbors having new skirting put around their home outside our bedroom.ย So I got him in his recliner and moved his CPAP out to his chair.ย Still he was not tracking.ย Good news as I was falling asleep at my desk he woke up and is fixing supper.ย At this point I am so tired I don’t really care whether I eat or not.ย ย
I tried to reply to comments, but I couldn’t.ย I even started to move old saved open tabs out by making a new cartoon / memes post but I simply couldn’t do it.ย Right now the best I can do to function is make doctors appointments and watch videos that don’t take too much thought to understand.ย That means most political videos are outside my ability.ย I am sorry but right now I am functioning at the level of a confused grandpa.ย Sorry.ย I hope to get better soon.ย Ron says if I don’t clear up by next week we will demand the primary care see me and deal with it. I’m not sure if I want that as my last visit he was insisting I thinkย about getting a colonoscopy.ย ย Anyway.ย This is a good video and one I watched several hours ago when I was much sharper than I feel now.ย ย ***ย Hugs
I have the same idea as the Reverend on this issue.ย It is how I handle my comments on my blog.ย Attack the ideas, not the person expressing them.ย Hugs
I did some reviews on the Cass report because it was supported by so many anti-trans bigots. Turns out there were so many lies and errors in the report that it became clear the purpose was to discredit the clinic and get it shut down.ย The report was driven by anti-trans people and even Cass herself was well known to be anti-trans.ย But what is so irksome is the lies still get told and circulated repeatedly even when they are pointed out.ย The idea of social contagion was found to be entirely made up by people desperate to keep their child from transitioning.ย The idea came from a website set up for parents that had kids transitioning and they hated it.ย The Cass report used lies from that site as if they were medical facts saying that parents were not told and children were being rushed to transition, when even the parents admitted they had all the information in writing that they had to sign and the biggest complaint was how long it took to get seen by the clinic with many kids going through puberty before they got gender affirming care.ย The idea of large amounts of detransitioners is totally made up as real studies have found it is less than 2% and the regret levels are well below any other medical procedure.ย I wish haters and bigots would understand if they have to make up stuff and lie to prove their point then they have no point to make.ย They just hate the idea of people not accepting they are the gender / sex assigned at birth and don’t want to accept new medical data.ย Hugs
Erin In The Morning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.
In the latest episode of their podcastย A Touch More,ย all-star athletes Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird denounced the International Olympic Committeeโsย new rule requiring sex testingย for athletes competing in the womenโs category.
The anti-trans policy will subject athletes competing in the womenโs divisionโand only womenโs, not menโsโto invasive sex testing to determine whether they have an SRY gene. Whyย thisย is where the International Olympic Committee chose to draw the gender line is arguably arbitrary.
No major medical organization endorses this litmus test as a reliable marker of athletic skill or โbiological sex.โย Even the scientist who discovered the SRY geneย has slammed this practice in sports,ย sayingย โscience does not supportโ this โoverly simplisticโ approach. Rather, itโs an arbitrary line in the sand used to cram unscientific ideas about gender and sex into manmade, binary boundaries.
Nonetheless, if a woman tests positive for the gene, she could be forced to compete in the โmaleโ category. This has had dire consequences the last few times it was deployed against womenโs athletes.ย From 1992 to 1999, cisgender women were forced into testing and found out, on the world stage, that they had intersex conditions they never knew about. The spectacle led to ostracization, disqualification, andย at least one suicideย before suchย testing was abolished.
โWhat weโre doing is subjecting everybody, all women and all people who are identifying as women, to this really invasive testing that only to me just says like, oh, so weโre just trying to whittle it down to a certain type of woman,โ Rapinoe said.
Rapinoe is one of the most high-profile athletes in the country, a soccer player with three Olympic competitions under her belt and a decorated career in the U.S. Womenโs National Team (USWNT). Bird, meanwhile, is among the most successful athletes in historyโthe retired WNBA legend spent her 20-season professional career as a point guard for the Seattle Storm, and is a record-breaking Olympian in her own right. The athletic power couple has been engaged since 2020. Together, theyโve long been outspoken advocates for the LGBTQ community.
Rapinoe connected the anti-trans vitriol in sports to the right wingโs broader attacks on queer and trans people, calling the push for sex testing โhateful.โ
โThey sort of like, lost the battle on gay marriage,โ Rapinoe said. โSo, itโs just like, weโre going to have this whole campaign for all these years to just hate trans people, which is such a small percentage of the population.โ
Countless women,ย cisgender and transgender alike, have faced harassment and persecution because of the anti-trans athlete witch hunt.
โItโs just a total acquiescence to the Trump Administration,โ Rapinoe said. โItโs just horrible, and Iโm just sickened by it.โ
The IOC rule is part of a broader pattern. In the United States, sports bans have served as a Trojan Horse for more sweeping anti-trans policies.ย The DOJโs recent lawsuitย over โwomenโs sports,โ for example, also demands that transgender students be banned from bathrooms and locker rooms.
โCan we please stop obsessing over trans people and, I donโt know, maybe focus our time, energy, and resources into real problems womenโs sports face?โ Bird chimed in. She rejected the idea that sex testing, as the IOC claims, โprotects women,โ instead calling it a โfear-mongeringโ political ploy meant to generate support from conservative voters.
โThatโs all this is,โ Bird said. โIf you crack this door open, it gets blown open. Youโre now policing womenโs bodies across the board.โ
Erin In The Morning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.
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
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.
I got up at 3 am this morning and was able to respond to almost all the comments.ย That gave me a few minutes while I ate some apple oatmeal for breakfast to read some news from Joe My God that he posted yesterday.ย Here they are in no particular order. Hugs
Yes it would make me want to sign up to work grueling hours and possibly die for a country that wants to use my graduation to arrest and deport my family members. Great move.ย Hugs.
I wonder what makes a person so hateful, bigoted, and racist.ย How much do you fear not being in a super majority and why? Do they worry that the new majority will treat them the way they treated the minorities when they were the majority? Hugs
More racism.ย This program they are now stopping claiming it is DEI and woke is because the first program illegally excluded black people in an attempt to be racist.ย Hugs
I was not sure whether to put this under corruption or racism.ย But as they are clearly using race, skin color, and language/accents to stop and detain people, racism won the toss.ย Hugs
OK more bigotry if not racism.ย The joy these people get from forcing kids to be cis or straight rather than let people just express themselves as they are is something I don’t understand. Seriously, why the need to go against all the medical science, medical studies that show conversion therapy to not only not work but to be very harmful to those who experiance it.ย ย It is torture and child abuse.ย Kids who are forced into it, who have to suffer through conversion therapy are much more likely to try to commit suicide.ย For what goal, to please their god?ย Their god created the trans / gay person as trans or gay.
The Army felt it was important enough breach of regulations and rules along with a waste of taxpayer money to suspend and investigate those involved.ย ย Pete Kegseth our Fox host wannabe big time war general secretary of defense over ruled their decision and undermined their authority because it looked cool.ย He is acting like a 10 year old boy playing army with his toys.ย Kegseth also illegally removed 4 officers from being promoted to flag rank.ย Two because they were female and two because they were black.ย The rest he wanted to be promoted were white men of course. Hugs
More illegal actions by the wannabe dictator and his administration who believe anything tRump mumbles is the law of the land and they do not have to follow any rule or law.ย Hugs
tRump illegally deciding that his administration can decide who gets to vote and how voting is done.ย All by his decree.ย The dear leader has spoken.ย Hugs
More crime? Why am I surprised that people that rioted and attacked the US Capitol, breaking in and causing mass damage might not respect the laws?ย In that act they assaulted police, staff, and tried to kill congress members.ย Hugs
These hateful Christian bigots think any mention or media showing that LGBTQ+ people exist is pornography.ย It isn’t and makes a mockery of protecting kids from real porn.ย But they use these words and equate any mention or sign of LGBTQ+ with porn to make it seem as harmful and dangerous as showing hardcore rape porn to children.ย See the quote below.ย Their goal is again to wipe any mention of the LGBTQ+ from society and public view.ย They learned from Putin who used the same protect the children tactic.ย Think of this if this bill passes how do they justify the Bible in libraries and schools?ย But these people want a straight cis white male dominated society where they get to force their church doctrines on the public.ย However these same people scream parental rights or religous freedoom if you ask them to give others respect and equality.ย They want to oppress everyone else but any attempt to get them to give the same respect they demand for their ideas to others who have different beliefs is persecuting them.ย Hugs
On the full House floor, sponsor Rep.ย Doug Banksonย called HB 1119 a โcommonsense policyย that answers a simple question: Should pornography be available to minors in our schools?โ
‘Our focus right now is on making legislators aware of the billโs constitutional problems.’
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is urging the Senate to kill a bill passed by the House that First Amendment advocates fear will increase book banning in Florida schools.
โLibrary book removals can raise serious First Amendment issues,โ FIREโs Public Advocacy Directorย Aaron Terrย wrote in aย letterย last week to Senate Presidentย Ben Albritton. โThe bill creates aย powerful incentive for individuals to object to any book they dislike or consider inappropriate,ย knowing it will be immediately pulled from circulation for all readers.โ
The House passedย HB 1119ย via aย 84-28 voteย following a partisan debate. An identical Senate bill (SB 1692) has not moved in the upper chamber since it was filed last month.
HB 1119 would block schools from considering the literary, artistic, political or scientific value of books if the material is deemed otherwise harmful for minors.
On the full House floor, sponsor Rep.ย Doug Banksonย called HB 1119 a โcommonsense policyย that answers a simple question: Should pornography be available to minors in our schools?โ
โThe answer is an emphatic no,โ he told lawmakers.
Bankson and other Republicans argued some inappropriate books still exist on the shelves because of a loophole from the application of the Miller Test, which is a Supreme Court decision dealing with adult material.
The Apopka Republican filed similar legislation last year that advanced in the House but died in the Senate.
FIRE argues that HB 1119 goes too far.
โTo be clear, not every book is appropriate for every student,โ the Philadelphia-based First Amendment advocacy nonprofit wrote in the letter.
โAgain, FIRE recognizes that school districts have a responsibility to assess whether library materials are appropriate for students of different ages. But any such assessment must be carefully crafted to ensure that students are not broadly denied the opportunity to read age-appropriate works that speak to their particular interests.โ
The bill wouldnโt allow school officials to take into account the full content of the book or if the work has serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors of any age since it doesnโt consider grade levels, FIRE said.
โThese elements of the Miller test are critical to preventing censorship of literature, art, medical textbooks, history texts, and other speech that depicts or alludes to sex simply because someone finds them offensive,โ FIRE said.
โIn other words, older studentsโ access cannot be restricted based on what may be unsuitable for younger children. But HB 1119 disregards this commonsense principle. It requires districts to โdiscontinue use of the materialโ if they determine it is โharmful to minors,โ without regard to age or grade level.โ
Florida passed a 2023 law that allows people to challenge book titles they find offensive for young people in schools.ย
โUnder the current statute, Florida schoolย districts have removed hundreds of books from libraries, including titles that are by no stretchย of the imagination โpornographyโ and come nowhere close to the legal definition of obscenity,โ FIRE said in the letter.
โThe Florida Department of Educationโs own report shows that during the last school year,ย literary classics and widely acclaimed modern works โ including โOne Hundred Years of Solitude,โ โA Clockwork Orange,โ โThe Human Stain,โ โThe Kite Runner,โ and โLife of Piโ โ were removed even from libraries serving students in grades 9-12. If enacted, HB 1119 will only accelerateย this trend and further narrow the range of ideas on school library shelves.โ
When asked by Florida Politics whether FIRE would sue if the Legislature passes the bill, the organization did not answer.
โOur focus right now is on making legislators aware of the billโs constitutional problems,โ FIRE spokesmanย Jack Whittenย said. โThatโs a decision that would require internal discussion and depend on various factors.โ
Gabrielle Russon
Gabrielle Russon is an award-winning journalist based in Orlando. She covered the business of theme parks for the Orlando Sentinel. Her previous newspaper stops include the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Toledo Blade, Kalamazoo Gazette and Elkhart Truth as well as an internship covering the nationโs capital for the Chicago Tribune. For fun, she runs marathons. She gets her training from chasing a toddler around. Contact her atย gabriellerusson@gmail.comย or on Twitter @GabrielleRusson .
A newly introduced bill at the Colorado State Capitol would allow LGBTQ individuals to sue for damages caused by so-called conversion therapy, or therapy aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of a person.
The practice was banned in Colorado in 2019, and the American Medical Association – among other medical and mental health organizations – has said it is ineffective and can lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological injuries.ย
DENVER, CO – JANUARY 14: Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie in front of the House Gallery starts the 2026 legislative session at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, Colorado on January 14, 2026.RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Sponsors of HB26-1322 say many of those harmed by the therapy don’t come forward for years. Their bill would eliminate the statute of limitations in cases involving conversion therapy.
Individuals could sue their therapists, facilities that hired the therapists, and anyone who knew or should have known about the therapy and didn’t take reasonable steps to stop it.
Plaintiffs could recover economic and punitive damages if they could prove that the therapy was a substantial factor in their psychological injuries.
The bill is sponsored by State Representatives Alex Valdez and Karen McCormick in the House and State Senators Lisa Cutter and Kyle Mullica in the Senate.
The House Judiciary Committee will hear the bill this Wednesday.
Gabrielle Russon
Scottie's Playtime 