Appeals Court Rules Transgender Military Ban Unconstitutional

Approximately one thousand honorably serving transgender military members have been involuntarily discharged during Trump’s second term.

On June , 1, 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled 2-1 that Hegseth’s policy to discharge people who are currently serving was motivated by animus against transgender people, violating their constitutional rights.

How did the transgender military ban get back to the appeals court?

When the troop ban reached reached the Supreme Court emergency docket on March 6, 2025, the court in a divided ruling kept Trump’s transgender ban in effect while lower courts ruled on it. Three judges who are unbeholden to Trump, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — noted dissents but provided no reasoning.

The appeals court panel’s 2-1 decision partially upholds a March 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C. Reyes who concluded in a scathing ruling that Trump’s executive order to exclude transgender troops from military service likey violated their constitutional rights.

The administration appealed after Reyes issued a preliminary injunction that was requested by attorneys for several transgender people who are active-duty service members and others seeking to join the military. The appeals court’s majority decided that the injunction applies to the plaintiffs currently serving in the military but not those trying to enlist, the AP reports.

Sec. Def. Pete Hegseth in accordance to Trump’s Executive Order issued a memo targeting approximately one thousand transgender military members for involuntary discharge.

Related: Hegseth moves US Military dangerously towards Christian Nationalism

Republicans force Vote to Erase Transgender Students

LGBTQ Pride is celebrated every June in honor of the Stonewall riot.

H.R. 2616: PROTECT Kids Act would force transgender students to publicly out themselves to their school and their parents. The bill would require public elementary and middle schools that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to obtain parental consent before changing a minor’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form or sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.

On April 29, lawmakers voted 216-210 along party lines to advance a rule allowing consideration of the bill, along with several other measures, including an agriculture funding package, budget proposals, a Clean Air Act amendment, and legislation addressing misidentified American-Jewish service members buried overseas.

The rule allows consideration of the PROTECT Kids Act under a closed process, with one hour of debate, meaning no amendments can be offered before an up-or-down vote. A final vote is expected in the coming weeks, Metro Weekly reports.

H.R. 2617 Say No to Indoctrination Act: would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prevent the use of funds under such Act to teach or advance concepts related to “gender ideology”,and for other purposes.

This bill would require public schools to follow trump’s toxic anti transgender executive orders or risk losing federal funding.

HR 2617 has a 60% chance of being enacted according to Gov.track.

How you can help protect the angels.

Download the 5calls app to your phone and select “Oppose Attacks on LGBTQ+ Students” and make the call.

Texas Children’s Hospital Capitulates to Paxton: to Hold “Detransition Clinics” and halt GAC

Texas Children’s Hospital in a devastating betrayal choose money over children’s lives agreeing to stop Gender Affirming Care (GAC) for children suffering from gender dysphoria. In addition the hospital has agreed to hold free “Detransition Clinics” where “conversion therapy” would likely be the only option.

Texas Children’s Hospital in a statement said:

“Today, we made the difficult decision to settle with the Texas attorney general and the Department of Justice, closing a chapter that has been wrought with falsehoods and distractions,” the statement read, adding, “To be clear — we are settling to protect our resources from endless and costly litigation. This settlement will allow us to redirect those precious resources to focus on life-saving care and groundbreaking discoveries of our exceptional clinicians and scientists.”

That statement appears to have since been deleted from the Texas Children’s website, Them US reports with the original hyperlink returning a 404 error. As of this writing, it has not been reposted to the hospital’s media release page.

Conversion therapy when performed on minors it is considered to be a form of child abuse. It has been described by experts as torture; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; and contrary to human rights. Laws on conversion therapy vary, ranging from constitutional protection to a criminal offense.

“Paxton is blackmailing a hospital system into creating a resource that no one is asking for,” Equality Texas CEO Brad Pritchett said in a statement to the AP. “It ignores the actual science and years of data about the overwhelming benefits of gender-affirming care.”

Under Trump, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has moved to use its regulatory power to block gender-affirming care for minors, and the DOJ has demanded access to providers’ records. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Friday that the DOJ would “use every weapon at its disposal” to stop gender-affirming care for children.

Governor Abbott is obviously delighted that his promise to end transgender people in Texas is being fulfilled despite the fact that every American Medical Association supports Gender Affirming care for all ages.

Vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Trump may Steal Midterm elections

Rachel Maddow on MS Now

Senator Mark Warner told Rachel Maddow on MS Now that he is terrified at the prospect of Trump interfering with the Midterm Elections. Perhaps not so much because he might get away with it, but more so the irreparable damage it would cause to our belief that every vote counts.

Senator Warner voiced a dire warning in the >New York Times that Trump is trying to override our elections. The Washington Post reported that a draft Executive Order being circulated claiming that there is currently a national emergency due to foreign election interference.

“There is now clear and compelling evidence from court cases and forensic analysis that these threats have not been mitigated but instead have intensified,” reads the proposed draft, dated April 2025. “This constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

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“We’ve been raising the alarm for weeks about President Trump’s attacks on our elections and now we’re seeing reports that outline how they may be planning to do it,” Warner said in a statement in response to the Washington Post's article. “This is a plot to interfere with the will of voters and undermine both the rule of law and public confidence in our elections.”

We still have questions about Trump’s new executive order on elections. A national voter list is illegal, inherently flawed, and unworkable, but perhaps that is on purpose. Trump has demonstrated time after time that he thrives in chaos. Since he failed to force the Save Act through Congress perhaps this is manufactured national emergency that Trump feels could warrant invalidating the Midterms and nationalize voting.

Trump's DOJ Didn't Gather Evidence after Epstein's Death They Destroyed It : Report

Screen Grab MS NOW’s Ari Melber Youtube video

Trump's Bureau of Prisons sent a rapid response team to investigate the death of Jeffery Epstein but instead of gathering evidence they shredded documents, bails of documents, according to a guard whistleblower.

MS NOW’s Ari Melber hosts the Miami Herald’s Julie K. Brown, the journalist who broke the story, who said that none of this was included in the final IG report, compiled by one of the only Inspectors General that Trump didn't fire.

Federal Judge Rules Against RFK jr's Latest Attack on Trans Youth Gender Affirming Healthcare

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., speaking with attendees at the Memorial for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona / Wikipedia

A federal Judge in Oregon ruled Friday that RFK jr overreached when he issued a declaration that prohibited hospitals from administering gender-affirming care to minors. The Health and Human Services department has subsequently opened investigations of 13 hospitals and threatened those who did not comply with the loss of Medicare and Medicaid funding.

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— Planet Trans (@kellibusey.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 4:59 PM

After a six-hour hearing in the case in Eugene, Ore., on Thursday, Judge Mustafa Kasubhai of U.S. District Court said that Mr. Kennedy had not followed normal procedures before publishing his declaration on the issue, the NY Times reports.

The judge, who was appointed to the bench by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said that the case spoke to broader tactics that threatened to undermine democracy.

“The notion that ‘I will go forward and issue a declaration and see if we can get away with it’ is not a principle of governance that adheres to the overarching commitment to a democratic republic that requires the rule of law to be regarded and respected and honored as sacred,” the judge said.

A coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia had sued HHS, Kennedy and its inspector general over the declaration, alleging that it is inaccurate and unlawful and asking the court to block its enforcement, the AP reports.

Major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people have sharply criticized the report as inaccurate, and most major U.S. medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, continue to oppose restrictions on transgender care and services for young people.

Trump adds Anti-Trans riders to voter Suppression Save Act

Photo by cottonbro studio

President Donald Trump just added banning life saving gender affirming transgender care to the Save Act, saying he will refuse to sign any legislation if the Senate doesn't acquiesce to his demand.

According to The 19th* the Save Act could keep over 70 million people, mainly women and trans people, from voting in the midterm elections.

Voting rights groups maintain the SAVE America Act would pose a barrier for millions of women and others who have changed their legal names. An estimated 69 million American women and 4 million men do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name.

With or without the SAVE America Act, trans Americans’ ability to vote has been jeopardized as more states restrict whether trans people can access accurate IDs and birth certificates, advocates say. In Kansas (and in Texas), trans residents’ licenses are being invalidated because of a new state law that requires gender markers to match a person’s sex at birth. Kansas requires a state ID to vote.

Why the push now to disenfranchise voters, and why did Trump add the anti-trans provisions?

Trump knows the Republicans are doomed in a fair midterm election and face a strong Democratic party that will likely take control of the House. The best chance the GOP has is to cheat by limiting who can vote. Both Speaker Johnson and Trump recently said they will be impeached for betraying the American people should the Republicans lose in the Midterms.

Speaker Johnson was just caught on a hot mike acknowledging that Trump’s voter suppression “Save Act” would lower voter turnout out by 12% to 18% and “that would be huge for us.” Historically Republicans win elections when they can keep voter turnout low.

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— Planet Trans (@kellibusey.bsky.social) March 21, 2026 at 5:34 AM

Trump has resorted to using transgender children as political pawns in a Hail Mary play, hoping to get the Save Act past the filibuster in the Senate. The Filibuster is just another word for the 60-vote threshold that bills normally must have to pass.

Schools Cancel Class Photos After Leon Black named in Epstein Files

Jeffrey Epstein, Pepe Fanjul and Leon Black attend Sony Pictures Classics Presents "Capote"in New York, Sept. 28, 2005. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images, FILE

High Schools across the US canceled photo day after it was learned that the former CEO and chairman of Apollo Global Management, Leon Black name was recently found in the Epstein files.

Lifetouch, the largest school photography company, is owned by Apollo Global, opening the possibility that those photographs could have ended up sold to pedophiles or even among classified documents on Trump's bathroom floor, or any random place for that matter.

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Districts in Texas, Arizona, New Jersey, and California launched reviews or canceled photo days “out of an abundance of caution.” Parents flooded social media with fury, raising fears — often without evidence — that sensitive student data could be misused.

“Imagine pedophiles having a shopping list of children,” one viral post warned.

As sickening as this is, the possibility of your child's picture being shared among Epstein co-conspirators didn't make NPR's top Epstein news of the week.

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Ken Murphy, Lifetouch Group CEO said in a public statement, "When Lifetouch photographers take your student’s picture, that image is safeguarded for families and schools, only, with no exceptions. Lifetouch does not – and has never provided – images to any third party.

Black had a long, verifiable relationship with Epstein, so what's with all the parental outrage?

Occupy Democrats put it very succinctly in a Facebook post: "When billionaire financiers tied to a convicted sex offender sit atop companies embedded in schools nationwide, parents are right to demand transparency. Even indirect links to Epstein are enough to shatter confidence — especially after years of elite institutions shrugging off his crimes until it was too late."

Brasil Once Again Tops The List with 80 Transgender Murders

Bruna Benevides, ANTRA president, will be the keynote speaker at the University of Chicago on March 31, 2026, on the Transgender Day of Visibility. Click here to register.

Brasil, which has long held the number one spot for transgender murders, recorded 80 such deaths during 2025, down from 122 in 2024, a 34% decrease according to Agência Brasil

The figures come from the latest edition of a dossier produced by the country’s National Association of Transsexual and Transgender People (ANTRA), released this week.

The result represents a drop of 34 percent from the previous year’s 122 murders – but does not remove Brazil from the top of the ranking, a position it has held for almost 18 years.

"The data is a reflection of an entire system that normalizes oppression against transgender people," said ANTRA’s President Bruna Benevides.

Bruna Benevides, also an author of the dossier, believes that the association’s report “is an embarrassment to the state,” educates society, and breaks the silence.

“We must recognize that policies to protect women need to be accessible and available to transgender women, for instance. We need to think about making what already exists accessible and implementing what has not yet been properly achieved. There is a lot of production, including data, but a lack of action on the part of decision-makers,” she added.

If trans people didn't report on the violence targeting our community, our murders would go unnoticed.

These numbers align with TransLivesMatter, which reported 73 murders during 2025. The potential under-reporting by the UK-based Translivesmatter project could be attributed to Brasil's unique language, Português Brasileiro. It is difficult to translate even for someone from Portugal, and murders often are not reported using Google search.

Cities Church MN: Epicenter Center Of Evangelical Awakening

The pass you see around my neck is proof of our success: at first, they had burly guards at the doors barring our entry, and then, by a miracle, the Methodist hierarchy granted us unfettered access and we greeted people at the doors. Photo / Kelli Busey Author Activist / Methodist General Conference Fort Worth Texas, June 4, 2008.

Back in the day, I participated with Soulforce and the Reconciling Ministries Network in actions meant to bring attention to the harm being done by religions that opposed equality. Our purpose, in my view, was to help conservative churches understand what they were doing and to help them return to the ways of Christ. Our acts of civil disobedience were always peaceful and most often planned with the knowledge of the Churches and local law enforcement.

Religion News Service: Evangelicals divided over what faith demands as immigration tensions deepen

The individual who was the reason for the peaceful action by BLM and others is David Easterwood, a pastor at the Cities Church and the acting director of the St. Paul ICE field office. As the ranking local ICE official, Easterwood is, by association, complicit in the execution of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti by masked ICE agents. This would have been unthinkable back in my day, that is to say, after the KKK stopped hanging people in the name of our lord.

RMN Statement: This Is Not Enforcement. This Is State Violence.

The Justice Department’s swift investigation into the church disruption stands in contrast to its decision not to open a civil rights investigation into Good’s killing by an ICE officer. The department has not said whether it will open a civil rights probe into the killing of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by federal officers, Religion News Service reports.

Ban on deporting U.S. citizens removed from DHS funding bill

Rachel Maddow Show / Screen grab

Ban on deporting U.S. citizens removed from DHS funding bill, congresswoman warns.

Rachel Maddow relays a warning by Rep. Veronica Escobar that her amendment to the bill to fund Homeland Security that would ban the deportation of Americans citizens was stripped out of the bill by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller before the bill was voted on.

SAVE ACT: Republican law would make millions stateless and unable to vote

Photo by Edmond Dantès: Pexels

Millions of cisgender women and transgender people would be kept from voting or proving their citizenship under legislation being pushed by Congressional Republicans.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would require all American citizens registering to vote or updating their registration information to present documentary proof of citizenship in person. For the vast majority of Americans, this would be a passport or an original birth certificate, American Progress reports.

Government-issued driver’s licenses—including REAL IDs—as well as military or tribal IDs do not satisfy the bill’s requirements.

Women who have taken their husbands' surnames and transgender people who have made a legal name change would not be allowed to register to vote unless they have in their possession a valid passport.

84 percent of women who marry change their surname, meaning as many as 69 million American women do not have a birth certificate with their legal name on it and thereby could not use their birth certificate to prove citizenship. The SAVE Act makes no mention of being able to show a marriage certificate or change-of-name documentation.

On November 6, 2025, Lambda Legal reports that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that means that new passports issued by the State Department will show a person’s sex assigned at birth, rather than their gender identity. There will not be a choice of an X gender marker. This applies to new passport applications, renewals, and replacements for lost or damaged passports.

The SAVE ACT passed the House last session under the auspices of keeping republican politicans in power, but that was before Trump's goons were roaming US streets, randomly executing legal observers, using children as bait, and imprisoning US citizens who don't have a valid passport or birth certificate in their possession.

Related: Experts Warn U.S. in Early Stages of Genocide Against Trans Americans

The Save Act is a direct threat to our existence. Please call your lawmaker today. The Save Act isn't listed on the 5calls app, but it's an excellent tool to expedite the process.

HHS to stop demanding Hospitals Halt GAC While Lawsuit Moves Forward

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaking with attendees at the Memorial for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona / Wikipedia

HHS has agreed to stop threatening funding for hospitals and providers offering health care to transgender adolescents while a lawsuit by 22 states moves forward.

That means providers can keep caring for patients, and families can focus on what matters most: helping their trans kids thrive, GLAD Law said on Instagram.

However, the damage has been done as some hospitals complied in advance when threatened by HHS.

The American Academy of Pediatrics position is clear: The Prohibition of Gender-Affirming Care as a Form of Child Maltreatment.

Dr. Susan J. Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said HHS was departing from “the longstanding principle that health care policy should be grounded in scientific evidence, clinical expertise, and the needs of children and families.”

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You can comment on CMS-2451-P anonymously, if you wish, until February 17, 2026.

The following is my comment and my opinion. I submitted it on 1/11/2026 and received an email that it would be reviewed prior to publication.

"I oppose the proposed rule CMS-2451-P, a rule that would deny gender afirming care to patients under the age of 19 who are receiving this life-saving care through Medicare and Medicaid. The denial of such care is contrary to the positions of every major US medical association."

"The position of the American Academy of Pediatrics is that the prohibition of gender-affirming Care (GAC) is a form of child maltreatment, and denying GAC is medical neglect, emotional abuse, and child abuse. The weaponization of child abuse in the discourse around GAC is fallacious and counterproductive, and it has led to numerous real threats to children’s safety and well-being. (Pediatrics published December 20, 2023)

"As a transgender adult who has benefited from gender afirming care for the past 30 years, I implore U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reconsider this rule."

I realize testifying in front of your executioner is counterintuitive, but I had to take a stand for our children.

Queer woman Renée Good murdered by ICE in Cold Blood

Find a protest and go there. Say her name, Renée Good.

Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot three times through Good's car window as she drove away, has served with ICE for ten years in Minneapolis in its apprehension and deportation division. Ross, who had previously been dragged by a car, circled Good's car and stood in front of it while she was being given orders from multiple agents.

DOJ use of force policy. He broke the law and murdered a US citizen. Full stop.

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— Angry (@angrystaffer.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM

Minnesota county attorney says 'We have jurisdiction' in fatal ICE shooting.' However, they have been barred from doing so by the Federal Government. Without a local investigation, we will never know why Renée Good told Ross she "wasn't mad at him". Did she recognize him from a previous encounter? Was this a revenge killing?

CDC quietly changes Covid-19 recommendations for 65+ and Immunocompromised People

fernandozhiminaicela / Pixabay

With little fanfare the CDC has updated its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations, according to Dr. Leana S. Wen, who writes an opinion column for the Washington Post.

Dr. Wen observed that "Careful, evidence-based vaccine guidance now arrives with little fanfare."

"One of the most common questions readers have asked me in recent months is whether older adults can receive a second dose of the 2025-2026 covid vaccine. The confusion is understandable; federal health officials have narrowed the government’s recommendations for younger and lower-risk groups, with little clarity on what those changes mean for seniors."

"As it turns out, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not only permits a second dose but recommends it. The agency quietly updated its guidance in November to encourage adults 65 and older to receive two shots of this season’s vaccine, ideally six months apart to optimize protection. (People can get them as soon as two or three months after the first shot, depending on which vaccine they received.)"

"The same guidance applies to those who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, who are also eligible to receive two doses of the 2025-2026 covid vaccine. Importantly, individuals do not need documentation to prove immunocompromised status, and vaccinators are explicitly instructed not to deny vaccination because of a lack of medical records or other paperwork," Dr Wen wrote.

Arlington TX Suspends Anti-discrimination Ordinance over LGBTQ Protections

Mayor Jim Ross asked what kind of message they are sending to their children by removing these protections. "I would not be able to live with myself if I didn't vote yes on this ordinance," he said. / WFAA

The Arlington, TX City Council voted not to reinstate LGBTQ protections, and as a result, the city's entire anti-discrimination ordinance remained suspended.

The 5-4 vote gives Arlington the distinction of being the first US city to cave to Trump's demand to strip its citizens of civil rights protections, WFAA previously reported.

The vote bars language in the city’s ordinance passed in 2021 that prevents employers and lodging businesses from discriminating against people for their sexual orientation or gender identity. The council suspended the ordinance in September amid worry that more than $60 million in federal dollars the city planned to use on city services, including public safety, parks, and roads, could be lost if they kept it.

The hate group "Texas Values" lobbied against the inclusion of Sexual orientation and gender identity in the ordinance, arguing it would be in violation of state and federal laws.

Councilmember Rebecca Boxall described the 2021 ordinance as “bad policy,” saying it was a symbolic gesture at best and unenforceable at the city level. She argued existing laws give everyone the same protections.

“We already have the protections under our federal and state laws,” she said.

This is unequivocally false

Many Transgender Texans, myself included, weren't present at that council meeting because we had already left Arlington as the state legislature passed a law that invalidates our licenses. Another measure passed this year, a bathroom bill, makes overnight waits to testify against anti LGBT measures in Austin impossible. 

Another bill is pending that would make it a state felony to present yourself authentically to an employer or law enforcement.

Folk Singer Who Cancelled Kennedy Center Show to Perform Live From Home

Kristy Lee sings "Message from Kate" / Clear Wave Recording Studio

Alabama folk singer Kristy Lee, perhaps in a wake-up call to artists still scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center, announced on Monday that she was canceling her January 14 performance, citing concerns for institutional integrity. In an Instagram post, she said that instead, she would perform live online on Facebook from home on the same day.

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Powerful words from Kristy Lee:"...the legal threats that's being talked about by the Kennedy Center isn't really about contracts or damages it's about control".... "when an institution answers concious with retaliation instead of reflection, that tells you exactly what it's become, that doesn't sit right with me."

Being a new fan of Kristy Lee, I took a deep dive into her music and surfaced tears streaming, with "A message from Kate" I'm not sure who she wrote it for in 2017, but her decision to publish it now is spurred by her desire to live brave. Enjoy.

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