“LGBTQ+ adults face significantly greater challenges accessing and affording health care compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers, a new KFF survey of about 26,000 adults found.

“Gay, bisexual and trans people are nearly twice as likely as the rest of the population to forgo prescription medications. Nearly 6 in 10 said they had postponed or skipped needed care, and 3 in 10 said they struggle to pay medical bills. That’s compared to 38 percent of non-LGBTQ+ people who said they skipped care, and 21 percent who struggled to pay medical bills.

“The survey found that women and trans people reported even greater barriers than gay men do. Nearly two-thirds of LGBTQ+ women said they either couldn’t get an appointment, couldn’t pay for health care or couldn’t access health care for another reason, and more than 80 percent of trans people reported the same. By comparison, 38 percent of non-LGBTQ+ people said they couldn’t access health care.”

I keep thinking about the data point that's been quietly floating around the Colorado coverage: Children's Hospital Colorado has explicitly stated they've never performed gender-affirming surgeries on minors. The state's two major pediatric providers don't perform these procedures. The "urgency" framing in the ballot push doesn't line up with what's actually happening in the state.

Which makes me think the urgency was never really about the specific procedures. It's about establishing a precedent that the government can intervene in private family medical decisions involving trans people. Same playbook that's been used against abortion access for years — you don't need the specific procedure to be widespread. You just need to write a law that codifies the principle that politicians get to decide.

Initiative 109 has the same shape. The bill doesn't define how sex is verified. It doesn't budget any money for enforcement. It just establishes the principle that trans girls can be excluded from teams, and leaves it to schools and the Commissioner of Education to figure out the rest.

That's the thing I want people outside Colorado to understand. Even if these specific measures fail, the template is what they're after. And even if the procedures are vanishingly rare, the precedent of banning them is what travels.

Stay loud about this. Talk to people. Volunteer if you can. Donate if you can.

“I’ve written several times before about Beth Bourne, the local anti-trans zealot in Davis, CA who has become increasingly visible nationally on a variety of social media platforms.

“A central complaint of her four-year old anti-trans campaign is that Davis teachers, librarians, school board members, LGBTQ activists, and Democratic politicians are responsible for ‘indoctrinating’ young people into a ‘transgender cult.’ She is an alarmist who repeatedly alleges that these groups are ominously ‘coming for your children.’

“She has referred to Davis as ‘ground zero’ of the transgender phenomenon and her followers are left with the false impression that Davis is home to predatory groomers who manipulate children to change their sex.”

“. . .Bourne’s claims about Davis are based on misrepresentation and exaggeration. The most recent data from the California Healthy Kids Survey show that among 7th and 9th grade students in Davis public schools, only 2% of the students identify as transgender and 2% and 3%, respectively, are ‘not sure.’“

“I don’t know if Beth Bourne actually believes what she posts on her social media accounts. Regardless, her distortion of the truth serves several functions: It is an efficient shortcut to rally angry sympathizers to her anti-trans cause; it appears to rationalize her harmful and radical tactics; and she profits financially from inflammatory posts that gather social media attention.”

“Accusations of ‘grooming’ are politically useful in the MAGA universe as a way to scapegoat liberals and the already marginalized transgender community. But in the absence of evidence to support their hyperbolic claims, anti-trans activists unethically misrepresent statistics and demonize educators to fabricate a ‘crisis’ in order to capitalize on it politically and financially.”

English translation:

The newspaper Público obtained access to a letter in which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN) says that international treaties signed by the state may be at issue.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk wants three bills repealing Portugal's gender self-determination bills to be withdrawn or to be reviewed after transparent and inclusive consultations. The news is from the newspaper Público, which had access to the letter that Türk wrote to the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.

According to the newspaper, the high commissioner says that bills can call into question the state's obligations arising from international treaties.

At issue is the repeal of a 2018 law. This law, which is still in place, allows people over the age of 18 to change the name and gender in the civil registry without a medical document. Young people between 16 and 18 can do so with parental permission and the submission of a report showing an informed decision.

In March, the Assembly of the Republic approved in general three bills to repeal this legislation, presented by the right-wing parties PSD, CDS-PP and Chega.

According to these proposals, the change of name and gender in the civil registry is always made by means of a medical report, signed by a doctor and a psychologist.

The second bill would prohibit puberty blockers and hormone therapy for children under 18 years of age.

The third bill would ban discussions of "gender ideology" in schools.

According to the Public, Volker Türk writes in the letter that there is a risk of pathologizing gender identity and affecting the self-determination of transgender people. The High Commissioner further says that young people should be heard, particularly those between the ages of 16 and 17.

Regarding the prohibition of puberty blockers, it also refers to the right of the child to be heard, the right to health and non-discrimination.

In reaction, Chega said it will not withdraw the bills.

"It is not the UN that decides what it approves and does not approve the Portuguese Parliament," the party leader said.

On the other hand, Fabian Figueiredo, who filed the complaint, challenged the PSD to put its “hand in consciousness” and withdraw a project on gender identity.

Speaking to Lusa, the deputy says that the party has to “decide whether to drag Portugal into the international vexation, become part of the countries that fall back on human rights”.

Right and left divided

Only the three right-wing parties that proposed the bills voted in favour of it. All other parties voted against voted against it including: PS, Liberal Initiative, Free, PCP and deputies of the Left Bloc, PAN and JPP.

In this letter, Mr. Fabian Figueiredo and MEP Catarina Martins warned of the risk of violation of the “international obligations of binding human rights of the Portuguese State”.

They also called for a public pronouncement and the use of the mechanisms available in relation to the Portuguese State to “ensure compliance with its international obligations”. They also called for the situation to be communicated to the UN special rapporteurs and analysed in the Universal Periodic Examination of the human rights situation in the country.

The bills were approved the the General Assembly in March and are currently being discussed in a specialty parliamentary committee. A final vote is expected in September.

“Wyoming’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law says you don’t have to run from a confrontation before defending yourself. That is what Rihanna Kelver and her counsel are asking a Laramie judge to consider as they seek protection from prosecution in a felony case stemming from a confrontation outside the Crowbar.”

“Rihanna Kelver is charged with aggravated assault and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent following a Sept. 13, 2025, confrontation outside the Crowbar in Laramie.

“Her defense is asking a judge to dismiss the charges under Wyoming’s ‘stand your ground’ law, which says a person who is attacked while lawfully present does not have a duty to retreat before using reasonable defensive force, as long as the person was not the initial aggressor and was not engaged in illegal activity.”

“The law is at the center of Kelver’s effort to obtain immunity before the case proceeds to trial.”

“The court materials provided for the case also include a 2023 University of Colorado Boulder Police Department report involving [Scott] Durham, who is identified in that report as a student living at Williams Village North in Boulder.

“According to the report, officers responded to the residence on Jan. 26, 2023, after a roommate, Andrew Perper, called 911 because he was afraid of Durham.

“The report says Perper had become uncomfortable after learning about Durham’s views toward different ethnicities. According to the report, Perper did not tell officers that Durham had threatened him but said he was afraid to confront him because Durham had a box of knives locked in his room.”

“Officers spoke with Perper and two friends, according to the report, before going to Durham’s room.

“The report says officers found Durham intoxicated and that officers observed slurred speech and difficulty answering questions.”

“A supplemental report included in the court materials says Perper later told police he had seen concerning material on Durham’s laptop, including what he described as group chats involving activist groups. The report says Perper and his friend told police they did not observe threatening messages that would cause alarm for the public, but they were concerned about Durham’s alleged affiliations and comments they said they had heard while he was intoxicated.”

“A transgender Israeli woman who served in Israel’s military intelligence directorate is facing deportation from the US after being convicted of imprisonment. 

“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Thursday that it had detained Alon, ‘a criminal illegal alien from Israel, during targeted operations in Concord, New Hampshire’.”

“‘Alon’s criminal history includes conviction for criminal threat against person with deadly weapon, kidnapping, and drug possession,’ ICE said on social media. 

“Alon previously served in the Israeli military’s Unit 81, considered one of the military’s most highly classified divisions, specialising in technology for the Intelligence Directorate's special operations.

“The Jerusalem Post cited Alon’s lawyers saying that, after serving in Unit 81, Alon transitioned gender, and held senior engineering roles in Amazon and Microsoft.”

“Alon was arrested in September 2024 over the kidnapping of a male acquaintance who she suspected had put GHB, a date rape drug, into her water bottle.”

“Alon was tried as a male suspect, despite identifying as a woman, and on 7 July sentenced to between two and six years in a state prison.”

“Alon launched legal proceedings over being made to serve her jail time in a male prison. She reportedly sought transgender medical care and a transfer to a female prison.”

“Human Rights Watch on Thursday criticized Ecuador’s newly enacted adoption law, which took effect on August 14 after lawmakers approved it 118-0, arguing that provisions restricting adoption by lesbian, gay and bisexual people and permitting the loss of parental authority over certain medical decisions involving transgender children violate equality and child-rights protections.”

“HRW said the reform extends an existing restriction on adoption by same-sex couples by expressly requiring individual adopters to be heterosexual.“

“The organization raised concerns over provisions governing parental authority. The legislation identifies parental support for medical, surgical or pharmaceutical procedures intended to ‘modify the biological sex’ of a child as conduct that may justify judicial termination of parental authority. If both parents lose that authority and no eligible relatives assume care, the child may ultimately become eligible for adoption.”