Newbery honoree, National Book Award finalist, and two-time Stonewall Award winner Kyle Lukoff has written another queer-inclusive middle-grade novel, and that alone should be enough to convince many to run out immediately and get it. If you want more details about this moving, funny story of family, community, and identity, however, read on.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a bill last week permitting religiously based discrimination in adoption and foster care, his third recent anti-LGBTQ law. At the end of March, he also signed two laws targeting transgender youth.
The Alabama legislature passed bills yesterday making it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to trans youth, banning trans children in K-12 schools from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identities, and banning discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in K-12 classrooms.
Today is the Transgender Day of Visibility, so I want to give greater visibility to a terrific middle grade series with a trans protagonist that you may have missed because his trans identity isn’t the point. He’s just a young man who has adventures through the multiverse via magical suitcases, and happens to be trans. It’s delightful!
Anti-LGBTQ groups have been trying to push the idea that anti-LGBTQ, and particularly anti-transgender, legislation is about protecting children and preserving parents’ rights. As a queer parent, I know that’s a load of bunk. For the Trans Week of Visibility and Action, therefore, here are some actions we can all take to counter the many legislative
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has passed the state Senate and will almost certainly be signed into law. Bills are moving forward in Idaho and Alabama that would make providing gender-affirming care to minors a felony. And these are only three of a growing number of states that have passed or are trying to pass such repressive laws. How can we address this onslaught against LGBTQ children and youth?
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has issued guidance stating that it is illegal to deny minors gender affirming care when “medically appropriate and necessary,” and directing the HHS Office for Civil Rights to investigate violations of the applicable laws.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has told the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate parents of transgender children who give them access to doctor-prescribed, gender-affirming medical care—which he calls “child abuse.” This abhorrent act ignores legitimate science on the matter and will in fact endanger children’s lives and well-being.
A thoughtful and practical new guide is intended to help all parents understand gender identity and expression, have healthy conversations with their children about gender, and create an affirming environment, whether their children are transgender, cisgender, nonbinary, gender expansive, or questioning.
Today marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to honor the lives of those who died because of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. I wish all of my transgender friends and readers love and support on this day of mourning. May those of us who are cisgender rededicate ourselves to safety, support, equality, and justice for transgender people.
