Updated 3/28/26
AN OPEN LETTER TO RIVER REPORTER
Trans+ Support Initiative NY/PA is disappointed in the Delaware Valley School Board’s decision to reverse bathroom and locker room policies that have been in place for the past 10 years without incident (why do we need to fix what is working well?). The community’s and School Board’s long-standing support for trans students using bathrooms and lockers that respect the student’s gender identity is admirable. The Board sudden caving into a federal directive that is misinformed, biased, and hurtful is a shameful dereliction of the Board’s duties.
It is the Board’s responsibility to stand up and protect all students. The Board should stand up to this unjust federal directive rather than kowtow to it. We urge the Board to reconsider its decision and push back at this directive that scapegoats rather than protects our trans youth.
As a group that includes residents of Wayne County, PA and Sullivan County, NY we stand with the Delaware Valley community members in their frustration about this decision, we stand to affirm our kids, and we send our love and support to all students having to bear the results of this terrible decision.
Trans+ Support Initiative NY/PA
By Stella Tannenbaum
DV school board reverses bathroom regs
New policies would comply with Trump admin letter and require trans students to use facilities per sex assigned at birth
DELAWARE VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT, PA — The Delaware Valley School Board voted unanimously to change policies regarding transgender students’ bathroom and locker room use, in response to a letter the district received from the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
The vote means the school district will require transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room in accordance with their sex assigned at birth.
Alex Bollinger(He/Him)March 2, 2026
Scouting America clarifies that their deal with Pete Hegseth doesn’t ban trans kids
Pete Hegseth bragged about how he coerced the organization to end its “woke” ideology. But the group is saying trans kids can still join.
Despite Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s braggingabout getting Scouting America to end its “woke” ideology, the scouting organization formerly known as Boy Scouts of America clarified that transgender kids are still welcome to participate in their programs.
“We have transgender people in our program, and we’ll have transgender people in our program going forward,” President and CEO Roger Krone told the AP.
Daniel Villarreal (he/him)February 24, 20
26
Trump targets trans teen, pushes transphobic law, & praises anti-LGBTQ+ leader in State of the Union
During President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night State of the Union address, he used a teen as a transphobic prop, urged the passage of a law that could keep millions of trans people from voting, and praised the leader of an anti-LGBTQ+ organization.
He also made numerous racist comments demonizing immigrants as deadly and fraudulent criminals while repeatedly blaming Democrats for the nation’s problems, even though Republicans have had full control of the government’s three branches since 2025.
By Joe Reberkenny via The Washington Blade, Courtesy of The National LGBT Media Association February 19, 2026
Sen. Edward Markey says transgender rights fight is ‘next frontier’
In this political moment, as transgender Americans face a wave of federal and state-level attacks, Markey says this fight in particular demands urgent attention.
The Washington Blade spoke with Markey on Feb. 17 to discuss his reintroduction of the Trans Bill of Rights, his long record on LGBTQ rights, and his reelection campaign — a campaign he frames not simply as a bid for another term, but as part of a broader struggle over the direction of American democracy.
Story by AFP USA
Chart inflates prevalence of transgender people committing mass shootings
A chart that frames transgender people as responsible for more mass shootings than individuals from any other demographic group has resurfaced online in the wake of deadly events in Canada and the United States. But the data, which was first posted to X in 2025, does not accurately depict crime statistics, experts told AFP.
"Who Is Behind Mass Shootings?" a February 11, 2026 post on X asks, answering with a chart that claims to assign incidents with four or more fatalities to different races and gender identities.
Ryan AdamczeskiFeb 19, 2026
Project 2025 creator wants to ban gender-affirming care for trans adults
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts recently endorsed taking gender-affirming care away from transgender adults.
After successfully pushing unscientific bans against gender-affirming care for youth, the creator of Project 2025 wants to outlaw the life-saving treatment even for adults.
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts recently endorsed taking care away from transgender adults, saying in an episode of the PBD podcast that the organization is currently "running the numbers" on the supposed correlation between gender-affirming surgeries and violence. His proposed solution? "You outlaw it."
Morgan Chilson via Florida Phoenix February 16, 2026
Kansas governor vetoes anti-trans bathroom bill, citing ‘numerous and significant consequences
The Democratic governor now hands House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 back to a Legislature that has enough Republican votes to override her veto and put the bill into law.
The bill requires government entities to police bathrooms and other private spaces in their buildings, and levies fines against the governing body for failing to comply. It also sets up escalating penalties for individuals who use a bathroom that doesn’t match their sex at birth.
Daniel Villarreal (he/him)February 12, 2026
Children’s hospital will continue gender-affirming care after “thorny” court ruling
California state court on Wednesday ordered a San Diego children’s hospital to continue providing gender-affirming hormone therapy and puberty blockers to trans youth for at least one more month. The court ruling gives local families and patients until March 10 to find similar care elsewhere, at which point another court hearing will determine whether the hospital continues to offer such care.
Rady Children’s Hospital stopped providing such care on February 6 in response to the current presidential administration’s threats to end federal funding to medical institutions that offer gender-affirming healthcare. However, the state of California then sued the hospital, saying it was contractually obligated to provide the care.
Molly Sprayregen (She/Her)February 12, 2026
Democrats reintroduce Trans Bill of Rights as “a moral commitment” to trans people
Democrats in both the House and Senate have reintroduced the Transgender Bill of Rights, calling on the federal government to “codify the rights of transgender and nonbinary people under the law and ensure their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security.”
The effort is being led by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who is the parent of a transgender child. The pair also introduced the Trans Bill of Rights in 2023.
Joshua MackeyFebruary 13, 2026
These 3 lessons from the AIDS epidemic show how Black communities can combat HIV under Trump
Over 40 years of Black HIV activism changed the nation while proving why Black activists still matter today.
The first reported cases of what would be known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) included five white men and two Black men, one from Haiti and the other from Los Angeles.
Though HIV was a mystery and researchers had little information on what caused it, let alone which communities it impacted most, that lack of knowledge didn’t prevent the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from erroneously inferring that Black Haitians were at greater risk for contracting HIV. By the time the CDC began collecting racial statistics on the disease, Black people already made up 26% of all AIDS cases within the United States, even though they only made up 13% of the national population.
Molly Sprayregen (She/Her)February 3, 2026
Republican lawmakers want to take away drivers licenses from trans people in Kansas with new bill
Trans advocates are calling it “the most extreme anti-transgender measure in the United States.”
Kansas Republicans are trying to take away currently valid driver’s licenses from transgender people in the state if they have corrected the gender marker on them in a new bill that has also been expanded – under a sneaky maneuver that allows changes to a bill without a public hearing – to be one of the “most extreme” bathroom bills in the nation.
H.B. 2426 was already very anti-trans. It defines “gender” under the law in terms of “chromosomes,… hormones, gonads and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia present at birth” and says that driver’s licenses can only have someone’s sex assigned at birth on it. The bill instructs the state government to invalidate all driver’s licenses that do not have a gender marker on them that reflects a person’s sex assigned at birth and to reissue new driver’s licenses.
John Russell (He/Him)February 2, 2026
Federal court rules that Christian teacher has to follow the rules & use trans kids’ pronouns
A federal appeals court has ruled that a Maryland school district’s trans-affirming policy on student names and pronouns does not violate a Christian substitute teacher’s rights.
As the Washington Post reports, last Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing a former Montgomery County Public Schools substitute teacher’s claims that the district’s policy violated her constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of religion by requiring her to refer to trans and nonbinary students by names and pronouns that align with their gender identity.
Christopher Wiggins Jan 13, 2026
7 takeaways from Supreme Court arguments about bans on trans women and girls in sports
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday heard nearly four hours of arguments in two cases, Little v. Hecox from Idaho and West Virginia v. B.P.J., that could define the future of transgender women and girls’ participation in school sports nationwide.
A large and raucous crowd formed outside the court, where dueling groups held rallies. Supporters of transgender people appeared to outnumber detractors. Some traveled from across the country for the “Fight for the T in Team” rally organized by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Legal Voice, which featured transgender youth, athletes, parents, members of Congress, and civil rights leaders calling for equal access to school sports.
Edited By LUENA RODRIGUEZ-FEO VILEIRA and ASHRAF KHALIL January 13, 2026
Supreme Court seems likely to allow state bans of trans athletes in school sports
The U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to uphold state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams after arguments Tuesday on two cases pertaining to students at the K-12 and college level.
Lower courts ruled for the transgender athletes who challenged the state bans in Idaho and West Virginia, two of more than 24 Republican-led states to pass such restrictions. Nonetheless, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court gave no indication after over three hours of arguments that it would follow suit.
Alex Bollinger (He/Him)January 13, 2026, 3:30 pm EST
MacKenzie Scott just made a $45 million donation to LGBTQ+ youth
Her donation could save lives in these trying times.
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott just donated $45 million to the Trevor Project, an organization that runs a crisis line for LGBTQ+ youth. It is the largest single donation that the organization has ever received and comes as its government support has been reduced by the current administration.
Kate Sosin Jan 12, 2026
Conservatives have increasingly argued that transgender women and girls have an unfair advantage in sports, that their hormone levels make them stronger and faster. And for that reason, they say, trans women should be banned from competition.
But Lindsay Hecox wasn’t faster. She tried out for her track and field team at Boise State University and didn’t make the cut. A 2020 Idaho bill banned her from a club team, anyway.
Becky Pepper-Jackson wasn’t necessarily hormonally different from other girls. The 15-year-old West Virginia student transitioned before ever undergoing male puberty. A state ban on transgender athletes is keeping her from playing on her high school’s track team.
Alex Bollinger (He/Him)January 12, 2026
Americans think Republicans are too obsessed with trans people
Other than hostility towards immigrants, there was no issue voters thought was more of a problem for Republicans. Most Americans believe that it’s a “problem” that Republicans are transphobic.
Molly Sprayregen (She/Her)January 11, 2026
Trans rights activists protested a production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at London’s Palace Theatre last Sunday, writing a series of chalk messages urging fans to avoid seeing the show.
The action was organized by Defund Transphobes, which holds “chalk&talk” events all over the country involving both writing messages and chatting with folks about what it means to be trans. In particular, they have targeted the areas near Waterstones bookstores. The chain has a large partnership with Harry Potter and centers the books and merchandise in its stores.
By James FactoraJanuary 2, 2026
Marlon Wayans on Protecting Trans Son: "I'm Gonna Love My Baby Regardless"
“People could judge and say what they want but at the end of the day that’s my child."
Marlon Wayans is once again going on the record about his unapologetic love for his transgender son, and his appreciation for other parental role models like Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union.
The comedian appeared on a recent episode of the podcast We In Miami, during which he was asked about whether he thought he would become a spokesperson for supportive parents of trans children. Wayans responded that he followed his “natural instinct as a father” — protecting his child. “People could judge and say what they want but at the end of the day that’s my child and I’m gonna love my baby regardless of what anybody says and they should be allowed to have their anonymity and enjoy their life exactly the way they want to enjoy it,” he said. The comedian went on to add, “You can’t beat gay out of someone. You can’t hypnotize someone to not be transgender. You just gotta accept and love them.”
ByBrickiJanuary 1, 2026
Building Bridges: Fostering Allyship and Inclusion in 2026
As 2026 begins, conversations around allyship and inclusion feel heavier, more complex, and more personal than they did even a year ago. Transgender visibility continues to grow across media, culture, and everyday life, yet that visibility exists alongside a coordinated effort to narrow who is allowed safety, legitimacy, and belonging. Progress and pushback are no longer sequential. They are simultaneous.
Alex Bollinger (He/Him)December 31, 2025
Trump & SCOTUS rolled back rights, but there was hope: The 6 biggest LGBTQ+ stories of 2025
2025 saw massive changes in a lot of domains – economic policy, technological development, international relations… and LGBTQ+ rights issues. There was a sea of difference between the policy agendas of the previous and current presidents, and Donald Trump wasted no time, often skirting the law, in implementing his policy vision.
LGBTQ+ people saw regression in many policy areas, but there were also some signs of cultural progress.
Here are the six most impactful LGBTQ+ news stories of the year, the stories that changed people’s lives and that will be remembered in future decades, for better or for worse.
December 29 2025 1:00 PM EST
RFK Jr.'s HHS investigates Seattle Children's Hospital over youth gender-affirming ca
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched an investigation into Seattle Children's Hospital for providing gender-affirming care to youth.
The department announced Friday that it has referred the hospital to the Office of Inspector General for "for failure to meet professional recognized standards of health care as according to Secretary Kennedy’s declaration." If the department concludes the hospital violated the policy, it could lose its Medicaid and Medicare funding.
Related: Health policy expert to RFK Jr.: You can't ban trans youth care this way
Cited in the referral is the agency's announcement from earlier this month that it is proposing to ban the lifesaving care for those under age 18, and to prevent both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program from covering the treatment.
Selena Simmons-Duffin>Shots - Health News> Updated December 18, 2025
RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people
Health officials from the Trump administration announced several moves Thursday that will have the effect of essentially banning gender-affirming care for transgender young people, even in states where it is still legal.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, who leads Medicaid and Medicare, announced the measures in a press conference at the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C.