I Used To Save Tips All Year So I Could Buy A Victoria’s Secret Bathing Suit-This Is Cool!

History-Making Alex Consani Gives BTS Tea of Latest Victoria’s Secret Shoot (Tucking Panties and All)

The brand also confirmed that Consani, a Victoria’s Secret Angel, will appear in this year’s fashion show.

By Mathew Rodriguez

Alex Consani confirmed that a tucking panty can be an Angel’s best friend.

The superstar model, who became the first trans woman to win Model of the Year in 2024, shared some behind-the-scenes footage from a recently released campaign with lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret on her Instagram on Tuesday. Alongside usual brand accoutrement, including the iconic angel wings, was another important accessory: a tucking panty.

“Cant stop smiling! So happy to have the opportunity to shoot with the baddest group of girls and the best team there is!” Consani wrote. “I’m so so so grateful!”

The carousel of images and selfies in the mirror featured Consani’s outfit for the day, group shots with her winged campaign colleagues, shots of her in the glam chair and raw footage from the shoot. The shoot celebrated “the first six angels hitting the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2025 runway,” according to the brand’s Instagram.

One shot featured the aforementioned Tuck Kit, a product of Unclockable, a trans-led brand that was founded “to meet the unique needs of trans and queer people,” per its website. The description of the product Consani showed says that it allows the wearer to don their “favorite feminine styles without a gaff and with no bulge,” and “zero panty lines.”

In 2024, Consani became the first trans model, alongside Valentina Sampaio, to walk a Victoria’s Secret runway show. Their casting came six years after Ed Razek, the brand’s former chief marketing officer, made regrettable comments to Vogue about casting “transsexuals” in their fashion shows. ‘

“Shouldn’t you have transsexuals in the show? No. No, I don’t think we should,” he said. “Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It’s a 42-minute entertainment special.” Days after the interview, a statement released by the brand attributed to Razek backtracked to say that the brand “would cast” a trans model for the show, and that it has considered trans models at castings, though one had never been hired. “It was never about gender,” he added.

In 2019, Valentina Sampaio became the first out trans model to work with Victoria’s Secret as part of a shoot with the brand’s VS Pink label. Days later, Razek retired from the companyEmira D’Spain, Edun Sodipo, Honey Dijon and Ceval Omar, all trans women, have since worked with the brand. Consani’s BTS shot is a reminder of her own declaration about the fashion industry that “the future is dolls,” as she stated in a June interview with Them.

“Seeing more of us, not just white versions of our community, not just thin versions of our community, not just able-bodied versions of our community, but all of the facets of being trans,” she said. “I think that’s so fashionable: the expression that comes from having an identity, especially now, that’s so unappreciated and unsupported.”

Reblog Of A Reblog: Resist!

I’m Sorry To Read This:

Celeste Yim Made Trans History on SNL. Now They Are Leaving

“I always felt honored to be working within the long tradition of queer writing at the show.”

By Samantha Riedel

Celeste Yim, the first out nonbinary writer for Saturday Night Live, announced they are leaving the show this week after five years.

Yim, who was hired as an SNL staff writer in 2020 and promoted to writing supervisor in 2023, announced their decision to leave the show after its 50th season in an Instagram post late Sunday night.

“Lorne [Michaels] hired me over the phone when I was 23 and the job literally made all of my dreams come true BUT it was also grueling and I slept in my office every week BUT my friends helped me with everything BUT I got yelled at by random famous men BUT some famous girls too BUT I loved it and I laughed every day and it’s where I grew up,” Yim wrote in the post.

(snip-embedded Instagram on the page)

“I hate when other people say this but it’s true that I was the first ever out trans person to be a writer for SNL,” the scribe wrote. “I always felt honored to be working within the long tradition of queer writing at the show,” Yim added, joking that “Chevy [Chase] is nonbinary!” (Chase was a cast member and hosted Weekend Update in the first season of the long-running series.) Yim also vowed to keep writing comedy in the face of anti-trans oppression. “I feel so powerless to protect trans people in the world but writing connects us and makes us permanent, so it’s what I will continue to do,” they wrote.

Yim wrote numerous iconic SNL sketches during their tenure on the show, perhaps most memorably their sendup of the “It Gets Better” project in 2021 (featuring Kate McKinnon and an iguana). They were also behind the delightfully surreal L’Eggs parody, and often partnered with Bowen Yang on material like Yang’s Weekend Update monologue about anti-Asian hate crimes.

“Thank you Bowen for changing my life and for making me feel normal,” Yim wrote on Instagram this week. (Yim also recently wrote for Yang and Matt Rogers’ Las Culturistas Awards, held earlier this month.) Their statement also thanked “every SNL assistant and production crew member who ever made any part of anything I ever wrote.”

Yim’s time on SNL saw an influx of queer and nonbinary cast members like Molly Kearney and Punkie Johnson, both of whom have since left the show. At the same time, SNL also earned backlash from LGBTQ+ viewers by inviting hosts like Shane Gillis and Dave Chappelle, both of whom have made homophobic and transphobic comments on stage; when Chappelle hosted SNL in 2022, a nonbinary writer — widely believed, but not confirmed, to be Yim — asked to sit out for the week, after which Chappelle made a joke calling the writer “a they” during dress rehearsal (which did not appear in the final show).

“Thank you to my family and friends who love me still even though I did not see them very much,” Yim wrote in their departure announcement. “And thank you all for your support. For writing to me and for wearing my sketches as Halloween costumes. […] I try to imagine my younger self learning about me. I would be amazed. But then I’d be like…Wait, why are you dressed like that…”

Yim’s comments were full of current and former SNL cast members and writers expressing wholehearted support, including Yang, Ego Nwodim, and Jane Wickline, as well as non-SNL celebs like Padma Lakshmi, Jeremy O. Harris, and Ziwe.

“My baby,” cast member (and L’Eggs icon) Aidy Bryant wrote simply, summing it up.

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Calls From All Over For People To Organize

After all, George Washington and all were just regular people before they became part of the government. It really is up to all of us. If you click the article title just below this, all the embeds are there. This is from The Root.

These Leaders Are Calling For Americans to Rebel Against Trump Administration

From an Army general to congressmen, these powerful voices are urging folks to rebel against the Trump administration.

By Phenix S Halley Published August 27, 2025

From where you stand, it may look like you’re just watching unimaginable stuff go down, and nobody’s stepping in to stop it. In only eight months of his second term, President Donald Trump has managed to undermine the Constitution, disrupt the economy, send military troops to cities without congressional approval and divide the country over immigration, civil rights and more. It seems like there’s nothing regular Americans can do to stop him as he continues to complete the missions of his 2024 campaign, but many political leaders are offering suggestions to fight back in ways never seen before.

From journalist Toure to former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, these powerful voices are urging folks to rebel against the Trump administration, and here’s exactly how they say it needs to be done.

Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke

(snip-Insta on the page linked above; text continues)

“If we’re not willing to play hardball right now, it is over,” former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke said during an interview. The Democrat continued comparing the rise of German dictator Adolf Hitler to how American society is handling President Trump now. He urged the Press, opposing political parties and every American to pay attention to Trump’s attempt to rewrite the Constitution, defy the federal courts and attack U.S. citizens before something unredeemable happens. “I don’t know if I’m saying that is going to happen in America,” O’Rourke said referring to Nazi Germany. “But this moment sure as hell rhymes with the 1930s, and if we don’t pay attention, we’re going to lose it.”

Roland Martin

(snip-again, Insta embedded on the page linked above, text continues)

Journalist Roland Martin has told Americans to put down the Tiktoks and fight back. During one video clip, he says “What we are talking about is a battle that’s generational,” Martin passionately began. As Trump continues to suggest red states move to redistrict their congressional seats in Republicans’ favor, Martin called out exactly how this will erase Black voices. “They could wipe out with one Goddamn ruling more than 30 Black Congressional seats,” he said.

Former Vice President Al Gore

On the list of avid critics of Trump is former Vice President Al Gore. During an event in April, Gore didn’t hold back his critiques, and like some others on this list, he compared the Trump administration to Hitler’s regime. He said Trump’s team is “trying to create their own preferred version of reality” to achieve their objectives similar to the Nazi Party. “It was uniquely evil, full stop,” Gore continued. But there are important lessons from the history of that emergent evil.”

Director Marshall Herskovitz

(snip-Insta, etc.)

“We must have what they call a popular uprising,” American director Herskovitz said before adding that in order for this movement to be successful, it would have to be peaceful. “This is not a revolt,” he continued. The producer mapped out his proposed plan. According to him, it would only take 12 to 15 million Americans to protest in the streets “day after day after day,” he said. Step two of the plan includes a “general” strike. “I’m not going to work… My store’s not open; my resturant’s not open. I’m not paying my taxes.” Only then would the country see true change similar to the results of the Arab Spring in 2011– the series of pro-democracy and anti-government uprisings which spread across the Middle East.

Congressman Jerry Nadler

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 18: Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) arrives to view proceedings in immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on June 18, 2025 in New York City. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), NYC Comptroller and Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander and Council Member Alexa Avilés visited immigration courts to watch proceedings a day after NYC Comptroller and Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander was arrested by federal agents while accompanying a person out of a courtroom as people continue to be detained following immigration court hearings. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

N.Y. Rep. Jerry Nadler released a six-page letter to the American people urging them to take action against Trump. “We cannot wait four years to vote Mr. Trump out of office,” he said before adding, “To achieve this, we must keep our eyes on two important goals: depressing Trump’s public support and dividing the Congressional GOP from him and from each other.” Nadler’s plan focuses on holding the administration accountable for unconstitutional acts and “exposing his Republican enablers in Congress.”

Former U.S. AG Eric Holder

(snip-Insta, etc.)

During an interview with MSNBC, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Trump’s current actions are “remarkably similar” to that of Europe in the 1930s– when Hitler rose to power. Because of this, Holder said all Americans need to be on high alert. “There’s a treadmill that we’re potentially getting on here that could result in the erosion of rights for American citizens,” he told the network.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

N.Y. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands strong as a controversial yet influential Democrat. Like many of her colleagues, she has remained steady in her criticism towards Trump, and during a rally in California, she said the key to defeating him rest in the hands of Americans. “Community is the most powerful building block we have to defeat authoritarianism and root out corruption,” she told the crowd.

NYT Columnist Charles M. Blow

(snip-TikTok embedded on page linked above, text continues)

Charles M. Blow of the New York Times referenced esteemed author Toni Morrison in his advice to fight back. “If you are taking a break from politics right now… good for you. There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” he began on TikTok. “You’re actually going to need the energy that you’re storing now for the fight to come in the next four years.” He added, “You can’t always stay in the crisis,” quoting Morrison from a 1977 interview. The writer encouraged Americans to “recenter what you love” in order to “remember why you fight.”

Congresswoman Lois Frankel

WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 12: Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) speaks during a news conference to celebrate the passage of legislation that will place statues of former Supreme Court associate justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’ Connor in the U.S. Capitol on May 12, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Democratic leaders were joined by Scott O’ Connor, son of Justice O’ Connor, and Professor Kelsi Corkran, former clerk for Justice Ginsburg. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Fla. Rep. Lois Frankel has an entire page on her website dedicated to ways Americans can help rebel against Trump. “He promised to lower costs, instead, he’s unleashing chaos and cruelty while his rubber-stamp Republicans in Congress are pushing a draconian budget that slashes Medicaid and food assistance—programs millions rely on to get by,” she said. Frankel continued telling folks to call and email their local representatives to voice their complaints, attend town halls and even share their own personal stories.

Greed v. Young Americans

(snip-TikTok etc.)

@geiggfcg on TikTok told younger Americans (ages 45 and younger) to wake up and get to the streets to protest. Why? Because older generations like the baby boomers– including Trump– have ruined the county with their greed, according to the TikToker. “You have been screwed over royally,” he told his followers. From the lack of affordable colleges to the growing cost to buy a home, @geiggfcg said young Americans will deal with the consequences of their parent’s greed. He went on to reference Trump “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which promised to make major cuts to medicaid, add trillions to the national debt and also cut food stamps for millions by 2027.

Local Resistance Movements

(snip-TikTok, etc.)

“Donald Trump’s unpopularity is growing, and this era is going to end,” declared @indivisibleguide on TikTok. In order to ensure this happens, the movement is urging folks to get involved in their local communities and to organize. “You should host a community resistance gathering,” the TikToker said.

FEMA Fights Back

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 8: The Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters, in Washington is photographed on October 8, 2024 in Washington, DC. FEMA is running low on personnel, with only 9% of staff available as Hurricane Milton, with 175 mph winds, approaches Tampa, FL; Compared to 25% availability in previous years. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Nearly 200 employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) signed a written letter expressing concerns that Trump’s “unqualified” government appointees could have long-lasting impact on Americans everywhere. NBC reported that 21 of those employees have been put on leave in response.

Peaceful March Against Trump

(snip-TikTok etc.)

ack in April, thousands of Americans across the nation flooded the streets in order to protest against Trump. In this video, a large group of demonstrators are gathered in Milwaukee all against the 47th president.

Army General Mark Milley

(snip-TikTok etc.)

Retired Army Gen. Mark Milley has been an avid critic of the Trump administration for years. In fact, his critiques of Trump even prompted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to pull Milley’s security clearance and protective detail back in January. Still, Milley has remained outspoken about why Americans need to stand strong against Trump. “We don’t take an oath to a tribe… We don’t take an oath to a king or queen or to a tyrant or a dictator,” Milley said. “And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”

Journalist Toure

(snip-TikTok etc.)

For journalist Toure, the key to fighting back against Trump and his administration is to hold those doing his bidding accountable. “The pathway out of this is accountability– Not for Trump but for everybody who holds up his order,” he said on TikTok. “‘I was just following orders’ is not sufficient.” Instead, he said the licensed lawyers and licensed pilots who carry out Trumps wishes– such as deporting migrants against court orders and defending the president’s alleged unconstitutional actions in court– need to lose their licenses.

Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 21: California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on during a bill signing event related to redrawing the state’s congressional maps on August 21, 2025 in Sacramento, California. In a move to counter Texas House Republicans’ plan to redraw the state’s congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, California Democrats took up a proposed constitutional amendment to temporarily redraw their own congressional maps, potentially creating five additional U.S. House seats for their party. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

While many Democrats are conflicted about going as low as Trump, who is known for ripping into his enemies with low blows and jabs online– Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom seems to have no mercy. The two men have gone back and forth for years, but ever since Trump returned to the White House, Newsom has been fighting the president’s fire with fire, we previously reported. Most recently, Trump has encouraged red states to rezone their voting districts in order to gain more Republican seats come the 2026 midterms. In direct response to that, Newsom promised to do the same in his state.

A Reblog – By Bee

A Letter To An Editor In Regard To Ottawa PRIDE

(If you click through, you can read Dr. Hogans own story on his page.)

When the Parade Stops, the Silence Speaks Louder by Richard Hogan, MD, PhD(2), DBA

null Read on Substack

Narrative Word Count: 289

Bio: Richard Francis Hogan is a Canadian writer, Poet and advocate on several levels based in Ottawa. His work explores hope, resilience, identity, faith, and the quiet power of public spaces.

(snip-personal contact info)

https://richardhogan1.substack.com

Cover Letter for Submission

Subject: Op-Ed Submission: When the Parade Stops, the Silence Speaks Louder

Dear  Editor,

I am submitting the attached op-ed for consideration in the Ottawa Citizen. It reflects on the recent cancellation of the Ottawa Gay Pride Parade and the deeper cultural and spiritual implications of that absence. As a longtime resident and advocate for inclusive public spaces, I believe this piece speaks to a moment of reflection for our city and its commitment to visibility, dignity, and belonging. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Richard Hogan

(snip-personal contact info)

Full Narrative

When the Parade Stops, the Silence Speaks Louder

By Richard Francis Hogan

The cancellation of the Ottawa Gay Pride Parade due to protests is more than a logistical decision. It is a cultural silence, a civic absence, a spiritual pause that demands reflection.

For decades, Pride has been more than a celebration. It has been a procession of courage, a public hymn of identity, a communal act of love. It has been where the marginalized found visibility, where joy became resistance, and where the city itself remembered its promise to all its people.

To cancel such a gathering is not merely to postpone an event. It is to interrupt a ritual of belonging.

As a Christian, I believe in the sacredness of every human soul. As a Buddhist, I recognize the impermanence of all things—but also the importance of showing up, again and again, with compassion. And as someone with Irish blood, I know that humor and heartache often walk hand in hand. We laugh because we’ve cried. We march because we’ve been still for too long.

This year, there will be no rainbow flags waving down Bank Street. No music echoing through Centretown. No cheers from sidewalks lined with families, allies, and elders who remember when Pride was a protest, not a party.

But let us not confuse absence with apathy.

Let us write, speak, gather, and remember. Let us honor those who came before, and those who still wait to be seen. Let us make sure that when the parade returns, it does so not just with glitter—but with grit.

Because Pride is not a date on the calendar. It is a declaration of dignity.

And dignity, like love, does not disappear. It waits. It endures. It marches on.

But There Have Always Been

male cheerleaders. Way, way back, all cheerleaders were male. Geedub and more U.S. presidents were cheerleaders.

Male Cheerleaders Are the Right’s Latest Absurd Distraction by Charlotte Clymer

Don’t fall for it. Read on Substack

The excellent Minnesota Vikings cheer squad. Image credit: David Berding // Getty Images)

The American economy has become sluggish, Trump’s foreign policy has been abysmal, and we still don’t have the Epstein files that likely implicate Trump’s role in a massive sex operation that targeted children.

Thus, the distractions keep on comin’, and the latest culture war fiasco being trial-ballooned by rightwing media is… male cheerleaders in the NFL.

If you’ve spent any time on social media over the past few weeks, you’ve probably seen the predictable, manufactured outrage over the Minnesota Vikings adding two men to their cheer squad this season.

Fox News, conservative influencers, and even Republican elected officials are getting in the mix, desperate to find any damn distraction they can to keep folks from paying attention to the massive failures and glaring scandals of the Trump administration and Republican Party across-the-board this year.

But this ain’t a new thing. There have been male cheerleaders in the NFL since 2018, when the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints became the first franchises to add men to their cheer squads.

Since then, the Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens have selected male cheerleaders.

This season, a full third of NFL teams have men on their cheerleading squads, but what I find truly hilarious is that the past eight winners of the Super Bowl have male cheerleaders.

In fact, the past eight Super Bowls have only featured teams with male cheerleaders.

Yesterday, Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama—a former college coach—weakly attempted to fear-monger over the issue with one of the more bizarre claims he’s made in a while:

But if you’re going to be woke and you’re gonna try to take the men out of men’s sports, which is what you’re doing. They’re trying to take gender and say, ‘OK, we’re going to make it more about gender than we are about masculinity.’ Then, you’re going to have a huge problem. It’s coming.

I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about, either. I caught the oblique reference to trans women in women’s sports, but good lord, what an awkward way of framing the argument.

This is all the more amusing when you consider the long history of Republican politicians who were male cheerleaders.

That includes four Republican presidents in their college years: both George W. Bush and his father George H. W. Bush at Yale, Ronald Reagan at Eureka, and Dwight D. Eisenhower at West Point.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry was a cheerleader at Texas A&M. So was Senator Trent Lott at Ole Miss. So was Mitt Romney at Stanford.

The Republican Party has a long and proud history of producing the nation’s finest male cheerleaders. In the past 50 years, more Republican presidents have been male cheerleaders than seen combat.

So, what’s the play here? We all know it’s a distraction, but why are Republicans and conservative media hoping this’ll stick?

Some rightwing men are angry over male cheerleaders because male cheerleaders distract from their open lusting toward women cheerleaders.

They see male cheerleaders as a distraction because they might “accidentally” objectify a male cheerleader amidst all the pretty ladies and that puts them on edge.

Yet they’re openly lusting for women cheerleaders at a public venue in front of kids.

These are the same dudes who claim any LGBTQ content in any public context is harmful to kids because from the warped and sad perspective of these dudes, merely the presence of LGBTQ visibility is always sexual in nature.

But they’re actually very pleased to ogle sexy women and see no problem doing so in front of kids. Sexual performance is never a problem when it caters to straight men.

As always, this goes back to the male gaze and some straight men being entirely incapable of reconciling their own sexuality and religious hypocrisy and using the “safety of kids” to alleviate their own discomfort.

The problem isn’t the presence of sexy cheerleaders, regardless of gender. It isn’t the presence of children. It isn’t even supposed religious teachings.

The problem, as always, are some straight, conservative men needing the entire world to cater to all their whims and all their discomforts and holding up a Bible to cover for that, which immediately gets set back down the moment there are sexy ladies to ogle.

It’s pathetic, but what would you expect from a political party that’s doing everything it can to distract from its leader, Donald Trump, being connected to a massive sex trafficking operation?

The Republican Party is in desperate need of better crowd chants. Maybe they should ask their own male cheerleaders to help them out.

It’s Not Only The One Or Two, After All-

More than 2.8m people in US identify as trans, including 724,000 youth, data shows

Exclusive: largest data analysis of its kind counters Trump’s aggressive efforts to deny trans minors’ existence

View image in fullscreen A protester is silhouetted against a trans pride flag during a pro-transgender rights protest outside of Seattle children’s hospital on 9 February. Photograph: Lindsey Wasson/AP

More than 2.8 million people now identify as transgender in the US, including an estimated 724,000 youth, according to a new data analysis that is the largest of its kind to date.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Williams Institute used federal surveys and data from state health agencies to identify the size and demographics of the trans population in each state.

The analysis, shared with the Guardian and released on Wednesday, documented thousands of trans youth living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The findings counter Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to deny the existence of trans minors, as his administration removes references to trans people across federal agencies and widely erodes protections and programs for LGBTQ+ communities.

The report builds on federal data collection efforts that the White House is now eliminating. The authors warn their study could be the last comprehensive portrait of the nation’s trans population for a decade or more as trans people are erased from vital US surveys, including health reports and crime data analyses.

The Williams Institute primarily relied on data from 2021 to 2023 from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveys and records disclosed by state health agencies. Some of the key findings include:

  • 1% of the total US population ages 13 and older identifies as trans, including 0.8% of adults (more than 2.1 million people) and 3.3% of youth ages 13 to 17 (roughly 724,000 people).
  • Young adults ages 18 to 24 are significantly more likely to identify as trans (2.72%) than those 35 to 64 (0.42%) and those 65 and older (0.26%).
  • Of the 2.1 million trans adults, 32.7% (698,500) are trans women, 34.2% (730,500) are trans men and 33.1% (707,100) are trans non-binary people.
  • The trans populations are fairly consistent across regions, with 0.9% of adults in the west, midwest and north-east identifying as trans, compared with 0.7% of adults in the south.
  • Minnesota had the highest rate of adults who identify as trans (1.2%), and Hawaii had the highest rate of trans youth (3.6%), though the ranges were similar across states.

“Trans people live everywhere and are represented in every state,” said Dr Jody Herman, senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute and co-author of the report, noting the total US trans population was greater than the individual populations of more than a dozen states. “This is a substantial population that has unique concerns and barriers to getting their needs met, and lawmakers need to keep that in mind.”

The Williams Institute, a leading LGBTQ+ policy research center, has published national trans population counts since its 2011 report, which was the first of its kind as state-level data on gender identity became available. The estimates are considered the best available data and were cited by the US supreme court in its recent majority opinion upholding Tennessee’s ban on trans youth healthcare.

The quality and sources of the researchers’ data have improved from one report to the next, the researchers said, making it difficult to assess changes over time. But the researchers noted that the overall estimates of trans adults have remained relatively steady, while the latest data shows how younger people are now significantly more likely to identify as trans than older groups.

There are many factors contributing to youth identifying as trans at higher rates, including that younger people are more likely to answer these kinds of survey questions, said Dr Andrew Flores, Williams Institute distinguished visiting scholar and associate professor of government at American University.

“Younger people are growing up among other younger people who already hold more accepting attitudes toward LGBT and transgender people more broadly,” said Flores, a report co-author, citing increasingly visible signs of support, such as student walkouts in Florida in protest of anti-trans policies. “In this generation, they might be more willing and safe to identify that they are transgender, because they don’t see as much of a harm or threat as older generations.”

While some conservatives and anti-trans advocates have presented a reported rise in trans youth as a “social contagion”, suggesting youth are copying their peers, “the growth comes as people are now in an environment that allows them to fully express who they are,” Flores said.

Shifting language also affects generational differences, he said, noting how older groups were more likely to identify as lesbian or gay while younger people are more likely to identify as bisexual or pansexual. And while older trans people are more likely to identify as men or women, younger trans people more frequently identify as non-binary.

The report also found that the race and ethnicity of trans people was largely similar to broader US demographics, with Indigenous, Latino and multiracial adults slightly more likely to identify as trans than other groups.

The Trump administration, which has widely attacked data collection efforts across government, has moved to remove trans identity questions from two critical CDC behavioral health surveys and from Department of Justice surveys on crime victimization and sexual violence. The US Census Bureau has also taken steps to exclude gender identity from multiple surveys, according to the former director who resigned in February.

Those efforts followed Trump’s day-one executive order “restoring biological truth” to the government, which suggested that trans identity was “false” and directed the state department to deny trans people accurate passports.

The data loss will make it impossible for the Williams Institute to continue its analyses in their current form, and even if the next administration restored the surveys, the public would still be losing up to 10 years of data, which would be a devastating erosion of knowledge, the researchers said.

“We didn’t really have decent national data until around 10 years ago, so we just very recently got a grasp on how many people identify as trans in the US and what their characteristics are,” said Herman. “For these data sources to just suddenly disappear, it is a major setback. The population is not going to go away; we’re just not going to know more about them than what we have from our current sources.”

The data has frequently been cited by journalists, school boards, public health experts, civil rights lawyers, advocates fighting discriminatory legislation and lawmakers expanding trans rights. The researchers had hoped federal data could help illuminate how trans people were moving within the US as some have fled red states due to anti-trans laws, but that will be hard to track without national surveys, they said.

“In some policy circles, they say if you can’t be counted, you don’t count,” Flores added. “And for members of the LGBTQ+ community, to be able to see numbers that reflect their lived experiences is quite important.”

Imara Jones, founder of news organization TransLash Media, said there was no easy fix for the loss of national data backed by federal resources.

“It is meant to erase, and that erasure is meant to have real-world impacts, making it harder for people to be who they are,” Jones said.

Flores said the institute and others were discussing ways to fill the gaps and continue data collection without the federal government: “We’re not just going to close up shop. We’re going to try to find a way to keep telling these stories and be persistent.”

Romance Books On Sale

Hegseth’s Pastor: “Gay Marriage Doesn’t Exist” [VIDEO]

100% Christian hate.  No one loves more than bigot Christians can hate.  This would be a non-story except Kegseth is the head of the military with the authority to remove any group from the military he doesn’t like.   Think about the idea that woman shouldn’t vote according to his preacher yet females in the military at every level have authority over men … so if they can’t be trusted to vote …?  But Kegseth thinks the US military needs to be an all white male thuggish killing machines like the Russian military who are getting their asses kicked by the inclusive Ukrainian military.  The Christian bigotry prevents people like him from seeing the truth.  The idea of heavily muscled men facing each other on a field of battle is far in the past.  Military tech is way more far advanced.  It needs twink kids in the basement playing on gaming machines, it needs females who can out think every man around. Kegseth’s idea of manliness and the military makes me suspect him of having a man fetish, an Arnold Schwarzenegger fetish.  It idealizes something that is not true and doesn’t exist.   This man grew up on far too many he man cartoons and movies.   Hugs.  

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“We have to overturn Obergefell. Many people will say, ‘That ship’s sailed, man. Gay people are married. We can’t go back.’ Gay marriage does not exist in the world. It can’t, any more than a square triangle can exist. God created marriage. I had premarital counseling today, I opened up the bible to Genesis I and showed them where God created marriage. He made them male and female. He set it.

“You want us to persist in having lies at the fundamental level of our nation? What’s that going to do to our country, other than have it crumble and have judgment be upon it? You have to remember that there’s a God in heaven who has thoughts on these matters.

“Of course, it has to go because it’s non-reality. We have to become sane again as a nation. And because we’ve gotten ourself so deep into this sin, there’s no clean way to do it.” – Pete Hegseth’s pastor Brooks Potteiger, who last appeared here when he called for God to burn down a “demonic” network’s headquarters for featuring a gay couple on a reality show.

Pottigier’s church is part of Pastor Doug Wilson’s Christian nationalist network, which advocates for a full-Gilead theocracy in which women cannot vote and homosexuality is criminalized. Last week Hegseth retweeted a video in which Wilson called for all of those things.

What gets me is the arrogance they show saying shit like this. “Everybody must live according to MY beliefs! “

That is pretty much religion all over the world. And they mostly all believe they are the only true religion. Buddhism seems the most benign of all of them.

Gay marriage doesn’t exist?

I can produce a married gay couple faster than he can produce his god.

No one needs any religion’s approval of a…

CIVIL MARRIAGE!

Got it?

 

If Obergefell is overturned, same sex marriage will not go away but we will go back to the bad old days where there will be a patchwork of states where SSM will be valid.

I do wonder for example if someone was married in Oklahoma will their marriage be voided and would need to remarry in SSM state or will they be grandfathered in.

Getting real sick of being ruled by people who believe in the myths of 2,000 year old clan of goat herders.