National LGBTQ+ Task Force Responds To House Vote On Hr734

In an unprecedented move yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass HR734, which would bar transgender girls and young women from participating in student-athletic programs of their choice. This is the first specifically anti-Trans bill to pass at the Federal level. parents in nearly every state – no state is immune. Hate does not recognize state lines. But neither does love. Together we can turn the tide. We have a collective duty regardless of our zip code to dispel misinformation, advocate for civil and human rights of all people and to make our voices heard. This country is ours. It is time to flex and claim it.”

Said the Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force:

“There are so many ways to protect children and create opportunities for women and girls if our elected officials are truly trying to do so. HR734 is not it. This legislation is founded on transphobia and misinformation, pure and simple. This bill is an unnecessary and costly solution for a nonexistent problem, meant only to stoke fear and use trans youth as political pawns at a time when the so-called “culture wars” are being used to distract voters and are causing harm to the LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities. Too many of us have been living with a false sense of security after years of progress for LGBTQ+ people but the pendulum has swung back, with extremists weaponizing religion and government to eradicate LGBTQ+ people from every state across the country. I hope this is a wake-up call for anyone who thought they could ignore what is happening in Florida and Texas. I hope we recognize that we are all Kentucky and Tennessee and that our fates are tied together. They are coming for children, teachers, doctors, and

In 2023 alone, there have been 400+ bills introduced that target trans youth and the wider LGBTQ+ community. If HR734’s companion bill is passed in the U.S. Senate it will bar participation in school sports by transgender, non-binary, and intersex youth; erode local authority over school policies about extracurriculars; and continue to undermine medical and social science understandings of sex, gender, gender presentation and expression.

The National LGBTQ+ Task Force is committed to building partnerships with other advocacy organizations on the ground as well as in congress to ensure that bills like this do not become law.”

For more information go to: www.thetaskforce.org

Florida Republican Admits During Speech His Party Has Hatred for LGBTQ People

by Chris Walker, TRUTHOUT

AGOP member of the Florida state House of Representatives recently admitted that people in his party hate gay people while defending a piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Republican state Rep. Jeff Holcomb made the admission on Monday while arguing that opposition to a GOP bill to bar the U.S. military from implementing more inclusive policies was an attack on the military.

“I just can’t let our military be labeled as racist and discrimination [sic] without any, without a response,” Holcomb said.

He then claimed that the bill isn’t truly anti-LGBTQ because the Florida Republican Party is less hateful toward LGBTQ people than al-Qaeda or ISIS, describing the extremist groups as “folks that discriminate.”

“We bombed a building in 2017 like we never usually do. We bombed it because they threw homosexuals off that building,” Holcomb said.

“Our terrorist enemies hate homosexuals more than we do,” he went on, drawing audible gasps in the chamber.

Holcomb’s words come as Florida Republicans have introduced a barrage of anti-LGBTQ legislation over the past years, much of it under the guise of protecting children.

In April, Florida legislators expanded Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) discriminatory “Don’t Say Gay” law, restricting discussions on LGBTQ issues in K-12 public schools across the state. The state House of Representatives also recently approved a bill that would allow state courts to intervene in custody disputes and remove children who are receiving gender-affirming care from supportive families with whom they live — a measure that LGBTQ advocates have said essentially amounts to legal kidnapping.

In recent days, LGBTQ lawmakers in Florida have spoken about the effect that laws targeting LGBTQ people have had on their mental health.

“I have enough tears in my car to fill a lake,” state Sen. Shevrin Jones (D), who is gay, said in an interview that was published last week.

“I’m literally trying to exist,” said state Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby (D), a lesbian in the state legislature, adding that “the harsh things [Republicans are] saying” in promoting their anti-LGBTQ agenda “are to prop up a governor’s political ambition, and their desire and quest for power.”

Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, and is based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on both national and local topics since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing the issues of the day and their impact on the American people. He can be found on Twitter: @ thatchriswalker

“SAVE THE RAINBOW FLAG” - Campaign Launched to Fight Dangerous Trend of Banning LGBTQ Pride/ Rainbow Flag

Adisturbing new trend is emerging across the US of banning the Rainbow Flag, the global symbol of LGBTQ+ equality, on a community level and in local schools. The Gilbert Baker Foundation has responded with an aggressive multi-part national campaign.

The flag bans are part of a larger and insidious rise in American conservative censorship, including book banning, school curriculum changes, language shaming, and restriction of reproductive rights.

Addressing this dangerous development, “Save the Rainbow Flag” is a lifeline to those under fire, offering a dynamic tool kit to help push back against conservative groups who are trying to ban the public display of the flag. Since 2022, more than 15 communities and school departments across the country, bowing to right-wing group pressure, have passed regulations to remove all Rainbow Flags. They include cities and towns from NY to California including Cold Spring, NY; Stoughton, MA; Davis, UT; Newburg, OR; and Morgantown, WV. And Huntington beach CA

“Save the Rainbow Flag” provides First Amendment and LGBTQ+ rights supporters with tools to challenge this alarming censorship trend. At www. savetherainbowflag.com, concerned citizens will find fact sheets and tactics for how to challenge these homophobic efforts on the local level, through community hearings, media interviews, petitioning, and by mobilizing neighbors.