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Today the Department of Education issued widely anticipated proposed regulations clarifying that Title IX’s prohibition against sex discrimination in education protect against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. The announcement of the new proposed rule comes as the country celebrates the 50th anniversary of Title IX of the Education of Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any school or education program that receives funding from the federal government.

“We celebrate and welcome the proposed regulatory updates issued today by the Department of Education making clear that Title IX protections extend to LGBTQ students,” said Jennifer Levi, Transgender Rights Project Director at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). “These regulations provide vital clarity and reinforce important protections that LGBTQ young people need to thrive. Transgender young people are especially vulnerable to bullying, harassment and violence in school settings because of escalating state legislative attacks. The proposed rules issued today by the Department of Education send an important message to LGBTQ students and their families that federal law protects them. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX’s passage, these welcome revisions fortify the promise that federally-funded educational institutions will ensure equal educational opportunities for all students.”

“These proposed regulations demonstrate a strong commitment to protecting educational opportunities for all students including LGBTQ students,” added GLAD Executive Director Janson Wu. “Especially in light of ongoing state legislative attacks, we are grateful for the Administration’s strong support of LGBTQ youth.”

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Today, President Biden signed an Executive Order Advancing Equality for LGBTQI+ Individuals, enacting a range of measures to protect LGBTQ+ youth, families, seniors and other vulnerable members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Among its key provisions, the executive order seeks to protect LGBTQ+ youth and families from the effects of more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ state laws targeting access to medical care and support at school for transgender youth; protect children from the harmful and discredited practice of “conversion therapy,” safeguard LGBTQ+ health care and programs to prevent record high youth suicides; and support LGBTQ+ children and families with a new initiative to protect foster youth, prevent homelessness and improve access to federal programs. The order also strengthens supports for LGBTQ+ older adults and promotes expanded federal data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The following statement is from GLAD Executive Director Janson Wu:

This executive order is an important step toward ensuring that LGBTQ+ Americans can freely access health care, equal educational opportunities, housing, and other basic needs at a time when our rights are being attacked and undermined in state legislatures nationwide. We are grateful to have a President who is committed to LGBTQ+ equality.

President Biden’s initiative to reduce the risk of youth exposure to the dangerous and discredited practice of “conversion therapy” is particularly important as it, along with other disrespect of young people’s identities, is linked to higher rates of suicide attempts and adverse mental health effects. While many states have banned conversion therapy, LGBTQ youth continue to be subjected to it—and right-wing lawmakers have sought to overturn the bans. In New Hampshire for instance, GLAD led a coalition that worked to prevent the legislature from overturning a state law outlawing conversion therapy.

As GLAD continues litigation against Alabama’s law criminalizing parents for obtaining essential health care for their transgender children—one of many such initiatives passed or pending in various states—we’re pleased that President Biden has directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to release sample policies for states to expand access to health care for LGBTQ+ patients and specifically work with states to promote expanded access to gender-affirming care.

Finally, we applaud President Biden’s efforts to specifically recognize and address the needs of older LGBTQ+ Americans, who are particularly vulnerable due to fewer family supports, and the cumulative effects of stress related to decades of discrimination and stigma. GLAD recently settled a discrimination complaint on behalf of Marie King, a transgender woman who was denied a room at an assisted living facility, and we welcome the executive order’s directive that HHS publish new guidance on the non-discrimination protections for older adults in long-term care settings.

Read the President’s full order, learn more about GLAD’s litigation and advocacy，和 support our tireless work for LGBTQ+ equality,

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GLAD has been advancing equality for LGBTQ+ families for more than four decades, and today on LGBTQ Families Day we want to celebrate our wins as well as acknowledge the challenges we still face. We achieved a landmark victory with the 2015 Supreme Court decision that affirmed marriage equality for the entire country. But there are still many gaps in protections for our relationships, so our work continues.

A major initiative that GLAD has been working on for years is ensuring that the laws that provide legal security for our children include the children of LGBTQ+ parents and all families. People form loving families in many ways, and we must ensure that the law recognizes and respects all of them.

Still vulnerable are the children of same-gender couples, as are children born through assisted reproduction, surrogacy, and more. They also include de facto parents like J. Shia, who raised her son from the day of his birth but still doesn’t have a secure legal tie to him even twelve years later.

We have successfully advocated for comprehensive parentage reform to be implemented in five of the six New England states – leaving only Massachusetts with outdated parentage laws. To join the work to get the MA Parentage Act passed, visit MassParentage.com.

The fight to protect our families is now taking on a different urgency, as the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ attacks continues in the form of legislation across the country. These vicious attacks are aimed at LGBTQ+ youth, especially transgender youth, including stripping away parents’ ability to affirm their transgender children and get them the healthcare they need.

GLAD is committed to fighting against these attacks, in New England and beyond. I am thrilled to share that in Massachusetts the MA Senate just successfully passed an amendment to its version of the state budget which includes protections for providers in Massachusetts who provide essential medical care for transgender youth from out of state. The amendment protects doctors, psychologists, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, and social workers who provide care to youth experiencing gender dysphoria from potential abusive lawsuits originating from other states. We will continue working to ensure this amendment is adopted in the final budget and signed by Governor Baker.

We are also challenging harmful anti-transgender legislation where it is being implemented, as with our recent lawsuit in Alabama, Reverend Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall. Alabama’s SB 184 criminalizes parents for obtaining essential medical care for their transgender children, as well as any provider for offering such evidence-based care. Thankfully, a federal judge granted our motion to block the law as our challenge continues, enabling families to continue accessing life-saving healthcare for their kids until we can hopefully overturn it for good.

So today, on the first day of Pride Month and LGBTQ Families Day, share the story of your family – however it was formed. I hope you are inspired by other families that are sharing with the #LGBTQFamiliesDay hashtag on your social network of choice. Sharing, connecting, and visibility are just a few of the strengths of our community. And this Pride season, I am so proud of our community, all we have accomplished, and all we will accomplish together.

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As Governor Polis is set to sign the “Donor-conceived Persons and Families of Donor-conceived Persons Protection Act,” advocates commended the state’s thoughtful approach to providing people conceived via assisted reproduction access to important donor information and praised the signing last week of legislation advancing legal parentage protections for Colorado families formed via assisted reproduction

May 31, 2022, DENVER, Colo. — Today Governor Jared Polis is expected to sign SB22-224, the “Donor-conceived Persons and Families of Donor-conceived Persons Protection Act,” legislation that takes a balanced approach to allowing people conceived via assisted reproduction access to limited important donor information. This follows the governor’s signing last week of “Marlo’s Law,” HB 22-1153, which enables LGBTQ parents who create families through assisted reproduction to more equitably establish their parentage, providing greater legal security for Colorado children.

The LGBTQ advocacy organizations 科拉奇, 家庭平等, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (高兴的) and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (全国放射学会联合会) submitted testimony in support of two key provisions in SB22-224:

a provision consistent with the Uniform Parentage Act of 2017 giving individuals of any age who were born through assisted reproduction using unknown donor gametes (“donor-conceived persons”) access to non-identifying medical information of their gamete donor; and
allowing donor-conceived persons over age 18 access to identifying information of their gamete donor beginning in 2025.

LGBTQ people build loving families in many different ways, and a significant number rely on assisted reproduction and egg, sperm, and embryo donation. LGBTQ parents, like so many parents, plan thoughtfully to build their families and can experience barriers and discrimination in family building and securing their children legally. COLAGE, Family Equality, GLAD and NCLR commended SB22-224’s thoughtful approach to allowing access to important donor information while maintaining safeguards to ensure that assisted reproduction, including gamete donation, remains accessible, affordable, and provided in a nondiscriminatory and inclusive way.

The organizations also stressed the importance that legislation like SB22-224 be adopted in conjunction with parentage legislation that provides legal security and recognition for families formed through assisted reproduction and praised Governor Polis for signing HB 22-115 last week. “Marlo’s Law” streamlines the process for confirmatory adoptions, ensures that Colorado’s parentage laws are gender neutral and explicitly inclusive of LGBTQ families, makes parentage presumptions gender-inclusive, expands access to establishing parentage through a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Parentage to intended parents through assisted reproduction, and makes Colorado’s assisted reproduction provisions gender and marital status neutral so that if you consent to assisted reproduction you are a parent to the resulting child.

The organizations issued the following statements:

COLAGE 执行董事 Jordan Budd：
“We’re thankful that Governor Polis and Colorado lawmakers are thinking broadly about the importance of protecting families by enacting both H.B. 22-1153 and SB22-224 this session. Together these new laws will provide increased legal security and access to important donor medical information for families formed through assisted reproduction. As an organization dedicated to supporting people with LGBTQ parents, we know that children come into families in many different ways. We are pleased to see Colorado make such big strides in providing protections for LGBTQ families and for all children and families in the state.”

家庭平等组织首席政策官谢尔比·戴 (Shelbi Day)：
“Children and adults who were conceived through gamete donation and their families are a multi-faceted community and we were pleased to see so many different stakeholders brought to the table in the development of SB22-224. Among the LGBTQ+ parents and intended parents in the Family Equality community there is a commitment to openness and honesty with their children about the circumstances of their birth through assisted reproduction. We support the structure that SB22-224 will provide for open and honest communication about family origins, and applaud Governor Polis for signing it this session alongside legislation that ensures Colorado’s parentage laws include LGBTQ+ people who form their family using assisted reproduction.”

Patience Crozier，GLAD 高级律师：
“We commend Governor Polis and the legislature for ensuring that all parent-child relationships and families are protected under Colorado law and for encouraging openness for donor-conceived people. H.B. 22-1153, signed into law last week, ensures that the children of LGBTQ parents are fully protected under state parentage law – protections that are crucial to children’s security and well-being. Legislation regarding family building raises many important issues and involves numerous stakeholders, including children and their parents. We applaud the thoughtful approach taken in Colorado to encourage openness for donor-conceived people while at the same time guarding against discrimination or increased barriers in family building and, importantly, ensuring legal security and recognition for families formed through assisted reproduction.”

Cathy Sakimura，NCLR 副主任兼家庭法主任：
“We applaud Governor Polis for signing SB22-224 together with HB 22-1153 this session to ensure both that donor-conceived persons have access to important information and that parent-child relationships in LGBTQ families are protected under the law. Many LGBTQ families are formed using donated sperm or eggs from unknown donors. Information about the medical histories of those donors and, once a child is an adult, the identity of donors, should be accessible to families who wish to know, while also safeguarding the privacy of families and protecting the recognition of families in every way they are formed. Laws addressing the release of information about sperm and egg donors must be passed alongside laws that respect families who are formed using assisted reproduction. We applaud Colorado for considering all of these important issues and passing SB22-224 along with HB22-1153 to expand protections for families formed through assisted reproduction.”

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新法律加强对 LGBTQ 家庭的保护；即将出台的马萨诸塞州亲子法也将发挥同样作用

2022年5月25日——5月23日星期一，科罗拉多州州长贾里德·波利斯签署了众议院第22-1153号法案，该法案使通过辅助生殖(AR)建立家庭的LGBTQ父母能够更公平地确认其亲子关系，为科罗拉多州的儿童提供更大的法律保障。除了简化确认收养的流程外，该法案还采取了以下措施，以确保科罗拉多州的亲子关系法不分性别，并明确包容LGBTQ家庭：

将“父权”、“父亲”和“母亲”等术语更新为性别中立，
使亲子关系推定具有性别包容性，
通过自愿承认亲子关系，扩大准父母确认亲子关系的渠道，以及
使科罗拉多州的 AR 条款对性别和婚姻状况保持中立，因此如果您同意 AR，您就是由此产生的孩子的父母。

以下声明应归功于 GLAD 高级律师 Patience Crozier： “通过签署这项法律，科罗拉多州确保LGBTQ父母的子女无论出生情况如何，都能受到州亲子法的充分保护。这些保护措施对儿童的安全和福祉至关重要，尤其是在危机时期。科罗拉多州通过更新其亲子法，使其性别包容且婚姻状况中立，确保所有家庭都能受到法律的平等保护，这值得庆祝。“我们希望马萨诸塞州立法机构也能效仿，通过这项法案马萨诸塞州亲子法这是一项两党法案，旨在为联邦的LGBTQ家庭以及许多其他家庭提供全面的亲子保护，无论其成立方式如何。爱构成了家庭，我们的法律必须保护它们。

Statement on Racist Mass Shooting in Buffalo, NY

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This past weekend’s mass shooting targeting Black Americans at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood of Buffalo, NY marks the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. this year and joins the growing list of tragic and hate-based mass shootings in recent years. For the families and friends of the 10 people who were shot and killed – parents, family members, a retired police officer, a devoted church parishioner – there is little we can do collectively to ease their suffering and loss, other than to bear witness to their pain and honor those killed.

But for all Americans, and especially Black Americans who have been targeted by racist violence in our country, we can and we must raise our collective voices to drown out the voices of hate. It is our moral responsibility that we are never silent in the face of hate.

Finally, we can and we must hold accountable those who purvey hate for profit and political gain. Those include elected officials like U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, who has echoed replacement theory conspiracy theories in campaign ads, and far-right pundits like Fox New host Tucker Carlson, who has made millions of dollars bringing dangerous and dark fringe movements into the mainstream.

GLAD will continue to join in fighting hateful rhetoric and theories that do nothing but divide us as Americans and target people of color and historically marginalized communities.

Stopping the spread of white supremacist violence in our society will not bring this weekend’s victims back, but it can prevent future tragedies from occurring. Let us all take this opportunity to recommit to our shared responsibility to work toward justice and with it peace.

We grieve in solidarity and send our sincere condolences to the entire Buffalo, NY community.

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GLAD joins with our entire community in mourning the loss of Urvashi Vaid, a beloved member of the GLAD family and a visionary, kind, and fearless activist. We send all our love to her partner, Kate Clinton, to their family, and to the many, many people across the globe whose lives she touched.

Throughout her four decades as a leader, community organizer, writer, and civil rights attorney, Urvashi embodied an absolute commitment to the recognition and enhancement of the dignity of every person.

She has left a lasting legacy on every part of our LGBTQ movement and on nearly every LGBTQ organization in the U.S. and beyond, including GLAD. In her early organizing as a part of Boston’s LGBTQ community in the 1980s, Urvashi worked at Gay Community News, co-founded the Boston Lesbian & Gay Political Alliance and served as one of GLAD’s first staffers while a law student at Northeastern University School of Law.

As GLAD’s long-time legal director Gary Buseck said in presenting her with the 2014 Spirit of Justice Award: “Urvashi reminds us that our work is never done; that there are laurels, but not to be rested on; and that we need only to open our eyes to see so many who remain in need of the liberation we profess to seek.”

In sorrow and gratitude, may Urvashi’s legacy inspire us to continue seeking liberation for all.

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During Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we are celebrating LGBTQ2S+ artists and advocates whose creativity and commitment to visibility, truth, and community has made–and continues to make–a powerful impact in our communities.

Truong Tran

Truong Tran (he/him) is a visual artist and writer who has been honored and nominated for numerous awards, such as The Poetry Center Prize, The Fund for Poetry Grant, and more. Truong currently teaches at Mills College, in Oakland, California. The intersection of his identities as a Vietnamese American, immigrant, person of color, and gay man – are central throughout his literature and art. In an interview with The Pen Ten, Truong explains his personal truths: “I have a responsibility to write about [American] histories as it informs the ways I move through the world. It is a shared responsibility. In this way, writing holds the consciousness of my complicated identity.” Truong writes and makes art out of necessity, so as to prevent other people from illustrating, or not illustrating, his narrative for him.

Lehuauakea

Lehuauakea (they/them) is a māhū (third gender) mixed-Native Hawaiian artist from the Big Island and a graduate of the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Their work explores cultural ecologies within the context of environmental degradation through media such as ohe kāpala (carved bamboo printing tools), kapa (bark cloth), and natural pigments. Lehuauakea’s upbringing was filled with indigenous practices and handicraft traditions that fuel their art. For example, kapa is a cloth used for clothing and bedding; newborn babies are born into kapa, and the remains of people who have passed away are buried in the cloth. Lehuauakea’s laborious art process materializes the intimate narratives and resiliency of them, their community, and their ancestors.

Ka-Man Tse

Ka-Man Tse (she/her) is a queer photographer whose work has been exhibited in her native Hong Kong and the US. Her project “narrow distances” is composed of portraits of Hong Kong’s LGBTQ2S+ community, which is her inherited and chosen family. The book is composed of photographs from a 14-year period (2004-2018); the various portraits serve the purpose of centering people who are often marginalized and positioning them so that they occupy space. Ka-Man describes her work process as one that involves “re-visiting, re-imagining, collaboration and long-engagement within a framework of care and community.” She inspires unique creative processes from her students too – Ka-Man has lectured at Yale University and Cooper Union, and now holds professorship at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Ora Lin

Ora Lin (they/them) is a Chinese American YouTuber and self-taught sewist. Their welcoming tutorials guide viewers through historical sewing projects and techniques, interspersed with occasional contemporary designs. Many of Ora’s videos provide social commentary on the interconnectedness of identity and intersectionality with fashion, costuming, and culture. Their recent Youtube video demonstrates how to sew a Regency dress – a 19th century long ankle length dress, with a high empire waistline, resting just under the bust – and is interspersed with commentary on how the hit Netflix series Bridgerton does the bare minimum in terms of inclusion and representation. In Ora’s own words::

“As it is, Bridgerton is already “progressive” as far as what media is pushing. Currently, it’s capitalism, it’s white supremacy. You can’t really expect anything different. I wish we could.”

Tamara Ching

Tamara Ching (she/her) is a long-time Chinese Hawaiian activist who advocates for LGBTQ2S+ communities in San Francisco. She became active in San Francisco’s sex work and drag scenes in the 1960s and is now a “Mommy” in her Asian transgender community. Tamara’s work continues as she fights for protections for transgender people in San Francisco, HIV prevention, and education within the community. In an interview for the Stanford Pride Oral History Project, Tamara describes her upbringing with absent parents, abusive siblings, and racial harassment at school. Despite these early hardships, she found success and a sense of autonomy through sex work, and eventually, administrative roles under the federal government. Tamara’s activism in the 1980s led her to be the first and only person to receive a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support immigrant transgender sex workers. Her extensive advocacy continues to leave a lasting mark on San Francisco’s LGBTQ2S+ community.

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提供重要捐赠者信息的法律必须认识到，许多人通过辅助生殖建立了充满爱的家庭，并且应该与确保这些儿童和家庭获得合法父母保护的法律同时颁布。

2022 年 5 月 11 日，科罗拉多州丹佛市——周二，科罗拉多州立法机构通过了 SB22-224，即《捐献受孕者及其家庭保护法案》，在参议院以一致通过，在众议院以 53 比 12 票通过。LGBTQ 倡导组织 COLAGE、家庭平等、GLBTQ 法律倡导者和捍卫者（GLAD）和国家女同性恋权利中心（NCLR）在 4 月 26 日举行的参议院委员会听证会和 5 月 5 日举行的众议院委员会听证会上提交了证词，支持该法案中的两项关键条款：1）允许任何年龄的、使用未知捐献配子通过辅助生殖出生的个人（“捐献受孕者”）获取其配子捐献者的非识别性医疗信息；2）允许 18 岁以上的捐献受孕者获取其配子捐献者的身份信息。关于家庭建设的立法必然会引发许多重要的利益和问题，并涉及众多利益相关者，包括儿童及其父母。 LGBTQ群体以多种方式建立充满爱的家庭，其中相当一部分人依赖辅助生殖以及卵子、精子和胚胎捐赠。LGBTQ父母与许多父母一样，会精心规划家庭的建立，但在组建家庭和合法保障子女权益方面，他们可能会遭遇障碍和歧视。SB22-224法案是科罗拉多州迈出的重要一步，该法案将继续致力于确保通过捐赠受孕的人士能够获取重要信息，并确保LGBTQ家庭中的亲子关系受到法律保护。各组织对该法案的周到处理方式表示赞赏，该法案在允许获取重要捐赠者信息的同时，还采取了保障措施，以确保辅助生殖（包括配子捐赠）仍然易于获取、价格合理，并以非歧视性和包容性的方式提供。亲子法专家考特尼·乔斯林（Courtney Joslin，加州大学戴维斯分校法学院马丁·路德·金法学教授）和道格拉斯·内杰米（Douglas NeJaime，耶鲁大学法学院安妮·乌尔索斯基法学教授）也提交了支持SB22-224法案的证词。 Joslin 和 NeJaime 的证词强调了像 SB22-224 这样的立法必须与本届会议早些时候通过的 HB 22-1153 等关于亲子关系的立法一起通过，这些立法为通过辅助生殖组建的家庭提供了法律保障和认可。SB22-224 法案目前已提交州长 Jared Polis 审议。 各组织就 SB22-224 的通过发表了以下声明： COLAGE 执行董事 Jordan Budd： 作为一个致力于支持LGBTQ父母的组织，我们深知孩子们以各种不同的方式进入家庭。许多LGBTQ父母通过辅助生殖（包括配子捐赠）建立家庭，这些孩子和家庭需要并应得到法律保护。SB22-224法案认识到确保家庭能够获取非身份识别的捐赠者医疗信息的重要性，这些信息有助于做出关键的医疗保健决策，同时也为希望获取配子捐赠者身份信息的成年捐赠者提供了选择。我们感谢科罗拉多州的立法者们广泛思考保护家庭的重要性，并推进SB22-224法案和HB 22-1153法案，这将为通过辅助生殖组建的家庭提供更强大的法律保障。 家庭平等组织首席政策官谢尔比·戴 (Shelbi Day)： 通过配子捐赠受孕的儿童和成人及其家庭是一个多元化且多面的群体。作为一个代表LGBTQ+家庭及其希望组建家庭的人士的全国性组织，我们深知，对于这个群体中的LGBTQ父母，我们承诺要对他们的孩子保持开放和诚实的态度，告知他们通过辅助生殖和捐赠配子出生的情况。我们支持SB22-224法案所构建的关于家庭出身公开坦诚沟通的框架，并赞扬科罗拉多州立法机构通过HB 22-1153法案，该法案旨在更新科罗拉多州的亲子法，将通过辅助生殖组建家庭的LGBTQ+人士纳入其中。 Patience Crozier，GLAD 高级律师： “我们很高兴看到立法机构致力于确保所有亲子关系和家庭都受到科罗拉多州法律的保护，并鼓励对捐献受孕者保持开放态度。在本届会议早些时候，立法机构提出了一项单独的法案 HB 22-1153，旨在更新科罗拉多州的亲子关系法，使其包容 LGBTQ 父母，并确保通过辅助生殖组建的家庭获得法律保障。SB22-224 中关于捐献受孕者及其家人获取配子捐献者非身份医疗信息的规定与模型一致。” 2017年统一亲子法（同性恋者反堕胎联盟长期以来一直支持这项法案），而其中规定18岁即可公开身份的条款，对许多通过捐卵受孕的人士及其家人来说，是重要的一步。我们希望波利斯州长能够尽快签署这两项法案。 Cathy Sakimura，NCLR 副主任兼家庭法主任： 许多LGBTQ家庭是使用来自未知捐赠者的精子或卵子组建的。这些捐赠者的病史信息，以及在孩子成年后捐赠者的身份信息，都应该向希望了解的家庭开放，同时还要保护家庭的隐私，并确保家庭在组建过程中得到各方认可。关于精子和卵子捐赠者信息公开的法律必须与尊重通过辅助生殖组建家庭的法律同时通过。我们赞扬科罗拉多州考虑了所有这些重要问题，并通过了SB22-224法案以及另一项HB22-1153法案，该法案扩大了对通过辅助生殖组建家庭的保护。 详细了解科拉奇, 家庭平等, GLBTQ 法律倡导者和捍卫者，以及全国女同性恋权利中心. 详细了解统一亲子法以及整个新英格兰地区的家庭平等努力。

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Many of us ended our night or woke up this morning to the bombshell of a circulated draft Supreme Court opinion that would upend a nearly 50-year-old precedent protecting access to abortion in the United States.

This was a draft and not a final ruling from the Court. Access to abortion remains the law of the land at this time.

But there is no doubt that if the final ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health is anything like the draft circulated, it will cause catastrophic harm to people nationwide. We are in solidarity with all those who are shocked and stunned by the reality that a majority of the Supreme Court has seemingly voted to turn back the clock on reproductive rights.

Rally for Reproductive Rights:
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If the constitutional right to access abortion is stripped away, it would revive bans in at least half the states. That denial of access to abortion healthcare will fall disproportionately on low-income people and people of color, including LGBTQ people who are at least as likely as others to need access to abortion. Such a ruling is not normal. There is no reason to upend a settled precedent giving people, rather than the government, control of how they live their lives.

Speculation has also brewed about the Court dismantling other rights, including watershed Supreme Court rulings that eliminated laws criminalizing same-gender intimacy and affirmed marriage equality. We will fight to ensure these victories remain the law of the land, and we will prevail.

But let’s be clear. Right now, LGBTQ people, and particularly transgender people, are facing an onslaught of horrific state measures across the country, including “Don’t Say Gay” bills and measures to deny transgender youth life-affirming support.

In fact, GLAD is in federal court in Alabama this week fighting for our families there, to ensure parents of transgender children and their doctors are not put in prison for helping them access the lifesaving medical care they need.

We are fighting to protect LGBTQ parents and families by passing updated, inclusive parentage laws like the 马萨诸塞州亲子法 so that children and families are protected in MA and wherever they go.

We are fighting anti-transgender bills in state legislatures throughout New England, including right now in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

We are fighting to expand access to reproductive and abortion health care by supporting efforts to repeal the ban on state funding of abortion care in Rhode Island.

We are fighting to protect LGBTQ-affirming school policies and fighting against laws that restrict what students can learn and talk about at school or that undermine inclusive school climates that are critical to student success.

GLAD has been in the fight for equality for our community for over four decades, including leading the fight for the freedom to marry and to build our families as we choose.

With your support, we will contest any threat to our hard-won rights and we are determined to prevail.