John Russell (He/Him)July 20, 2026, 1:00 pm EDTThe parents of a transgender teen who died by suicide earlier this year are speaking out about the toll Idaho’s anti-trans laws and the Trump administration’s anti-trans crusade took on their daughter.
“You worry about that hatred being internalized, and that’s what happened to my kid,” Elyse Thorpe told NBC News in a recent profile. “It got inside.”
Thorpe and ex-husband Joseph Pollard describe their late daughter, May Pollard, as an energetic and curious child who loved sloths, video games, and writing poetry. She just wanted to live her life and experience the same things any teen does. But she was also keenly aware of the wave of anti-trans laws and sentiment that have swept Idaho and much of the U.S. in recent years.
According to NBC News, May, who had also been diagnosed with autism, came out as trans when she was in eighth grade. She began receiving gender-affirming medical care in ninth grade. But due to Idaho’s ban on such care for minors, passed in 2022 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2024, her parents were forced to travel to Portland, Oregon, every six months to get May the care she needed. Following President Donald Trump’s return to office in January 2025, Thorpe began making the 13-hour round trip by car to avoid creating a flight record amid the administration’s relentless crackdown on gender-affirming care for young people.
While the treatment improved things for May, the obstacles placed between her and the care she needed by anti-trans legislators continued to weigh on her.
Then, in July 2023, Idaho’s law banning trans students from accessing single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity took effect. Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of Boise High School’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance, and in July 2025, May joined the lawsuit under the pseudonym Jane Doe. In court filings, May described feeling stigmatized by being forced to use her campus’s two single-occupancy restrooms, which came to be referred to as the “trans bathrooms.”
“It is scary having to look around before to see if anyone will see me going into the single-user restroom, as I worry about people gossiping and speculating about me being transgender,” she said. “I don’t want people to know I am transgender without my consent — even students who might be friendly. For me, it is not a part of myself I talk about or that I feel is the most important part of my identity.”
Her parents told NBC News that May would avoid eating and drinking during the school day, hoping to not have to use the school’s bathrooms. “I just want to fit in,” she wrote in her affidavit in the Lambda Legal case. “It is upsetting to think that I may have to go through the rest of high school without access to something as basic as the ability to use the same restroom as everyone else.”
May’s parents say she became more troubled last fall and winter, according to NBC News. She attempted to run away to Oregon, and at least one of her poems seemed to reference self-harm. Then on the morning of January 27, Thorpe woke to find May missing from her bedroom. She later found her daughter’s body in a downstairs bedroom. May was just 16 years old.
When a detective asked her parents whether anyone might have wanted to harm May, Thorpe responded that “A lot of America” did.
“There is a huge amount of animosity, every single day, thrown at trans kids,” an angry and grieving Pollard told the detective. “The whole f**king country. The whole f**king administration, every single f**king day.”
As NBC News notes, over the last few years, Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) has signed 15 anti-LGBTQ+ laws. In April, Little signed a pair of bills, one of which made it a criminal offense for trans people to use the bathroom associated with their gender, while the other banned Pride flags on government buildings.
As for Lambda Legal’s challenge to the state’s school bathroom ban, at the time of May’s death, she was one of just two plaintiffs left in the case, as all the others had graduated high school and no longer held standing. Earlier this spring, Lambda Legal moved to dismiss the case after the final plaintiff graduated.
But Thorpe has continued to protest Idaho’s anti-trans laws. According to NBC News, she stood outside Gov. Little’s office during a March 31 protest holding a photo of her daughter.
“I wanted to support the protesters and remind everyone, including the governor,” Thorpe told the outlet, “that the stakes are real.”
“The parents go and testify, and we say, ‘Children are going to die,’” she said. “We tell the legislators that, and they dismiss it. I guess they think it’s hyperbole, or they think it’s hysteria, or they think it’s an acceptable outcome, probably some mix of those things. So I don’t understand why there is an unwillingness to connect these laws to these outcomes. It was right there from the start.”
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Tag: Religious Bigotry
The progressive Democratic socialist are driving the establishment corporate democrats and billionaires crazy because they are working. Some clips from The Majority Report
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 7-22-2026
Happy Pride Week Halifax!
I watched this three times because the message is so good. The fact that the reverend of this faith can rejoice in diversity makes me wonder what hater preachers and haters get out of their faith, out of their hate? I have been listening to the book Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang. He is like Dan McClellan in that he is a biblical scholar; he knows the original manuscripts, times of use for each edition, and where different translations screw things up, and Fugelsang is a comedian, so he can throw it all out there with humor. I recomend everyone try to find the book or the audio book. He has whole chapters taking on the different haters and the clobber verses of the bible. He shows what the original meaning, as far as can be known of each of those verses was, correcting the misunderstand and hate. He like me feels that Christians follow Christ, biblcians follow the bible and they get that wrong because they don’t know the subtext or original intent; they hear only what the weekend preacher said who is preaching his version of the bible, not Christ’s. Happy Pride week Halifax. Long may your flags fly. Hugs
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 7-20-2026
I am sorry this is so late getting out. Now that I can walk again I am helping Ron renovate the house and create my new office by making the meals and doing the dishes and laundry. But I am exhausted at the end of the day. I got to bed between 6 and 7 pm and get up between 4 and 5 am. I am not complaining, just telling the facts of my life. On Monday the 6th I got a spine shot that let me walk again. It is slowly wearing off and the pain and neuropathy in my right leg is again increasing. This morning I made breakfast of fried potatoes, two slices of bacon each, two sausage patties each, and three eggs fried over medium where the whites are fully cooked and the yolk is still yellow and runny. Ron wanted two whole muffins and I had two slices of toast.
Then I went out with Ron to the nearby Publix to get our 4 cases of Publix caffeine free diet cola which is 24 two litter bottles and while I waited for the store to bring them out to me Ron got a few snacks I wanted, such as peanuts and almonds, along with a few other things. Then when we got home I started the laundry of towels and sat down for a bit. Then got up to make Ron lunch but he saw how tired I was and told me he could get it himself so I started doing dishes.
Our next goal is to get the meat slicer out and make breakfast steaks and sliced ham for sandwiches out of the two medium hams we bought. It is far cheaper that way than buying individual ham steaks and sliced ham from the deli. Then Ron says he will make supper but I think if I can stand I will. But I am very tired. So now at 2:20 pm I am trying to finish the morning cartoons / memes / news posts.
But the real reason for writing this on this post is tomorrow. I have my spine surgery scheduled for 07:30 in the morning. Yes I am worried, but I have to have it. This is the one where they put me almost mostly under (the person who called me told me I wouldn’t be able to remember it happened). Heard that before. But I did remember. So nothing by mouth but my morning pills which they went over with Ron and I.
I admit I am struggling with the fact that I will be basicly nude and unable to protect myself during this. I have been drugged for sex in my childhood. So as I told people here I have to have a colonoscopy, and this is the same issue. The thing I have to help me is that this surgeon I have known and been getting epidurals from him that required my butt to be exposed. Therefore, I trust him.
I never told him but I know he knows of my childhood abuse because Doctor Brenda must have recorded it in my chart. Anyway the point is if I can get the cartoons / memes / and news post out tomorrow I will. I just don’t know how I will feel after the M.I.L.D. surgery to cut and trim the spinal cord in my lower spine. Oh Ron and I just trimmed up two hams into sandwich meat and ham steaks for breakfast. I will post that soon. Hugs
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Hey Tumblr guess what? For the next two weeks, posters are back in my online shop!! You get to choose between 4 rad designs. Get them while they’re hot!
BRING ME SCHRÖDINGER’S HEAD
Ron nad I have library cards. They let you borrow far more than books. They also have audio books, movies, TV shows, and games for every platform. When I want a book to listen to but it is too expensive, as audio books tend to be, we borrow it from the library app. The cool thing is if our branch doesn’t have it the main system will somewhere and we can still borrow it. Hugs
West Bank Pogroms Intensify | Jasper Nathaniel | TMR
I watched this the day it aired on the show. My gods how horrific and horrifying. The out of control settlers try to kill these people because they are recording the stealing of Palestinian lands and murdering Palestinians. If the driver had been any slower these people in the cars would have been killed. And the IDF supported the attacks on helpless people. US citizens. The Israeli government takes our taxpayer money and supports the killing of US citizens and reporters. If there is anything that says the Israelis know they are committing war crimes it is the killing of the reporters for showing their crimes. The place these attacks took place is in a zone that no Israeli is supposed to be even allowed in. Israeli is out of control and they use our taxpayer money to do it. The reason the reporter wanted to go to that spot was because a palestinian man’s son was killed and those with him hunted for 2 hours by settlers. The settlers live in the homes that the Palestinians built for themselves. Israeli settlers are nothing more than thieving thugs, and the population of Israel supports them which makes all those in Israel supporting this nothing more than thieving thugs. The people in these cars were terrified. You can hear it in the cries of the people in the car. The US ambassador supports Israel in this killing of US people. Please watch and do what you can to stop these lawless attacks against innocent people by Israeli settlers. Hugs
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 7-18-2026
Yesterday, I stumbled on a forum dedicated to hate me, where people basically spend their lives spewing transphobic bs, obsessing over my body, making up stuff about me, sharing awful parodies of my work, etc. It really got to me, as I’ve been living with the knowledge that these people are constantly there, stalking each of my movements, for several years now.
I will never understand this kind of hate. I cried a good deal of tears. It was important. I need to feel in order to find the will and energy to create. I remembered who I do all this work for : us. The ones I call my family. My trans siblings. That’s why my new book starts with “we”. That’s why I’m announcing it in the urgency, as a memorandum for these troubled times and a reminder that we are stronger together, and that we need to be there for each other.
We won’t be erased. Pre-order it on my Etsy store
Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 7-17-2026
Ron and I. I get up earlier than him by several hours. Hugs
“See? Even the air is telling me to cancel my plans and stay home.”
“Make sure to wash those berries really well, and then to not eat them.”
“Hydration break!”
Testosterone-Fueled Troops? Hegseth Says Military to Begin Testing Hormones.
Kegseth is hyper fixated on the the male physique and the idea of a white male hyper agressive toxic masculinity that he thinks the Russian military has. But while our inclusive military is considered one of the best Russia’s hyper all white military is getting its ass handed to it by the inclusive diverse Ukrainian military. I posted earlier that Kegseth has again blocked the promotion of well qualified female and black officers to two star rank in his goal of an all white male military. This guy won’t be in charge of the military in two more years if the people are allowed to to have a free election and his successor hopefully won’t be such a misogynist bigot. But the damage will be done and the careers of these officers damaged. Kegseth couldn’t take serving a full career of at least 20 years, but these people who he is denying promotion to have well more than 20 years in the military. How come testosterone for trans kids / people is somehow in Kegseth’s view bad and trans people taking hormones are unfit for military service, yet having straight white men all on testosterone some how makes the military better? Hugs
https://www.notus.org/defense/testosterone-troops-hegseth-testing
Service members 30 and over will test annually and can choose to receive testosterone replacement therapy if they are recommended for treatment.
“We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world, and this program delivers on that obligation,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo
July 15, 2026 01:26 p.m.
Updated: July 15, 2026 06:57 p.m.
The Pentagon will begin annually testing service members 30 and over for testosterone deficiencies, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday.
Hegseth said in a video posted to social media that the new screening would become part of the Defense Department’s periodic health assessment for military personnel. The health exam has been mandatory since 2016 and is used to measure medical condition, behavioral health, mental health and readiness to deploy.
Service members who are recommended for treatment will have the choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy, Hegseth said. Personnel under 30 can volunteer for an examination.
Hegseth’s post referred to “High-T,” a social media fad pushed by influencers that encourages men to seek higher levels of testosterone to maintain their strength and masculinity. Discussions around masculinity have seeped into culture wars and national politics. In May, James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, defended his masculinity after personal attacks from conservatives about his physical appearance.
“This initiative — it’s not about artificial enhancement; it’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight,” Hegseth said in the video. “We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world, and this program delivers on that obligation.”
Testosterone levels in males decline about 1% a year after the age of 30 or 40, according to the Mayo Clinic. It is considered a typical sign of aging.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not approve testosterone replacement therapy for males without specific forms of hypogonadism, a medical condition associated with a malfunction of the organs that produce testosterone. Testosterone replacement therapy consists of injections, pellets, patches or gels that release hormones into the body.
Some medical groups, such as the Endocrine Society and the American Urological Association “recommend against routine screening” for hypogonadism in the general male population, according to Helen Bernie, a urologist and director of male sexual and reproductive medicine at Indiana University.
Bernie said testing could still be valuable in some military populations with symptoms or certain risk factors, but warned that a single low testosterone result should not lead directly to a diagnosis or treatment. Instead, testosterone levels should be measured twice in the early morning and considered alongside symptoms and possible underlying causes.
“Screening should open the door to a thoughtful medical evaluation, not automatically to a prescription,” Bernie told NOTUS.
Sleep deprivation, intense physical training, weight changes, illness and certain medications can temporarily lower testosterone, Bernie said. Doctors should evaluate those factors before determining that a service member has a testosterone deficiency.
Bernie said testosterone therapy is generally safe for appropriately selected and monitored patients, but it can “impair their sperm production or impair their fertility,” especially in young men.
She said service members should be counseled about fertility and other risks before beginning therapy and monitored throughout treatment.
“If the Pentagon moves forward with a screening program, I do think it’s important that there’s clear evidence-based guidelines in place so that every service member is evaluated consistently and safely.”
“The goal should be appropriate diagnosis, appropriate treatment, not simply increasing the number of men receiving testosterone,” she said.
The Defense Department declined to comment further on Hegseth’s video. It did not answer questions regarding the FDA’s guidance on testosterone replacement therapy.
The FDAdid not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 7-16-2026
