Which transgender celebrity recently asked the Supreme Court to strike down bans on gender-affirming care?
Elliot Page
Actor Elliot Page and 56 other trans adults signed a letter asking the Supreme Court to hear a case challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors. Since coming out as transgender in 2020, Page has publicly opposed similar bans in Texas and Arkansas.
What major anti-LGBTQ+ provision was removed from the NDAA, which funds the military, before the House and Senate passed it?
A ban on TRICARE reimbursing gender-affirming care
This year, House Republicans attached an amendment to the NDAA to ban TRICARE from paying for gender-affirming care for adults or children. TRICARE is the health care plan for servicemembers, their families, and the National Guard. The removal was part of a compromise with the Democratic Senate.
Many House Republicans refused to vote for the law because this and other conservative priorities were removed in conference.
“Democrat trans policy, Democrat abortion policy, 300 million for Ukraine is back in the NDAA,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) ranted in a video posted to X.
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This week, right-wingers expressed outrage that Elon Musk's AI chatbot is not transphobic enough. What is the name of that chatbot?
Grok
On Sunday, conservative commentator Tim Pool tagged Musk – who is notoriously anti-trans – on X and wrote, “your Grok is broken,” adding a screenshot of a conversation between Pool and Grok in which Pool asked, “are trans women male.” Grok, which was created to be “anti-woke,” replied simply, “No.”
The post was part of a fury of right-wing outrage over the respect the bot has demanded for trans folks, and now transphobes are trying to manipulate Grok into changing its answers.
Which federal lawmaker just introduced a bill to fight anti-LGBTQ+ book bans?
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and her newly introduced bill, the “Books Save Lives Act,” would require all federally funded public and school libraries to maintain a diverse collection of books and would classify discriminatory book bans as violations of federal civil rights laws.
“People of all ages, especially our children, should feel at home in their public libraries by having access to books that reflect the diversity of lived experiences,” Pressley wrote.
Lawmakers in Wisconsin introduced pro-LGBTQ+ legislation this week. What are they hoping to achieve?
Removing anti-marriage language from the state constitution
The Wisconsin Constitution has defined marriage as between one man and one woman since 2006, when 59% of voters approved an amendment to include the definition. For the LGBTQ+ caucus’s proposal to remove that language to succeed, it has to pass in two consecutive legislative sessions and then be passed by voters. The caucus is also trying to update parentage laws to recognize LGBTQ+ couples as equal to heterosexual couples.
Which social media platform recently highlighted it policies against misgendering and deadnaming trans people?
Discord
Discord recently updated its Hateful Conduct Policy to explicitly forbid misgendering and deadnaming. The policy applies to its estimated 350 million registered users and 150 million monthly active users.
The LGBTQ+ media organization GLAAD praised Discord for its policy, writing that misgendering and deadnaming have become the "common modalities for expressing contempt and hate toward trans and nonbinary people across all social media platforms."
Which pop singer recently praised their hometown school board for fighting conservative book bans?
Pink
Pink reposted an image of the newly installed president of the school board of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, taking her oath of office on a stack of banned books instead of a Bible. Pink wrote alongside the image, “Makes me proud of my hometown!”
The district’s old conservative-dominated board had persecuted LGBTQ+ youth by banning books and creating anti-LGBTQ+ school policies. The newly elected school board reversed these policies.
Which politician vowed to root out corruption in Congress this week, despite the fact that they are facing their own corruption charges?
Former Rep. George Santos
In his first interview since he was expelled from the House of Representatives, former Rep. George Santos (R-NY) claimed he has been the one fighting to stop corruption in Congress and said he plans to continue his quest as a private citizen.
Over and over, he maintained that it is not he who is corrupt, but rather the rest of Congress. He said that he has experienced “how the sausage is made” and he is determined to expose the rampant corruption to the American people.
23-year-old Jamie Gumbrell has become the first out trans woman to win a world championship in any sport. Which sport's championship did she win?
Croquet
Gumbrell beat 55 other women from 16 different countries. The Australian ultimately won the championship against Rachel Gee from England.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was angry that the Court didn't take up an LGBTQ+ case. What was that case challenging?
A state conversion therapy ban
In a 6-3 decision, the Court refused to hear a case challenging Washington state's conversion therapy ban, which bans attempts by licensed mental health professionals to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Thomas said that these laws are likely unconstitutional because of free speech, a theory that could permit licensed officials to spread all sorts of medical misinformation to their patients.
“If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein,” Thomas wrote in his dissent. “Yet, under S.B. 5722, licensed counselors cannot voice anything other than the state-approved opinion on minors with gender dysphoria without facing punishment.”
