LGBTQ+ rights roundup: June 23, 2023

This series is a weekly roundup of LGBTQ-related news, covering various laws and bans, as well as efforts to push back against them.

This week, a federal judge struck down an Arkansas law banning gender-affirming care for minors, California schools are once again the focus of anti-LGBTQ backlash, Twitter CEO Elon Musk declared the word cisgender is now a slur, and a new report from the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD documented at least 356 “anti-LGBTQ+ extremist and non-extremist incidents motivated by hate” between July 2022 and April 2023.

Rulings on gender-affirming care and drag show bans

State-level Republican lawmakers’ attempts to curtail access to gender-affirming health care are falling apart under scrutiny by federal judges.

In two separate cases this week, U.S. district judges have struck down restrictions on gender-affirming care that were passed by Republican-led state governments.

On June 20, Judge James Moody Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas struck down Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for minors. On June 22, Judge Robert Hinkle of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida struck down Florida’s ban on Medicaid payments for gender-affirming care.

These two rulings aren’t the only ones in recent weeks affecting the LGBTQ+ community. Judge James Patrick Hanlon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana struck down an Indiana law that banned gender-affirming care for youth on June 16. On June 2, Judge Thomas Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee declared Tennessee’s “drag ban” law unconstitutional, though the ruling only applied to Shelby County, where a lawsuit over the ban was filed.

The judges in the Arkansas and Florida cases were both appointed by former President Barack Obama, but Hanlon and Parker were appointed by former President Donald Trump.

School board flashpoint

The Glendale Unified School District in Glendale, California, continues to be a focus for anti-LGBTQ activists and advocates.

Protests over a resolution issued by the school board recognizing June as Pride month turned violent on June 6, resulting in arrests. According to a press release from the Glendale Police Department, several hundred protesters gathered outside the school board meeting, including demonstrators both for and against the resolution.

CNN reported punches being thrown in the crowd before officers could separate the clashing demonstrators.

Glendale police said a small group of protesters “engaged in behavior deemed unsafe and a risk to public safety” and three people were taken into custody on charges including unlawful use of pepper spray and obstructing officers.

On June 20, protesters supporting and opposing the resolution attended the school district’s first board meeting since the earlier protests.

The board president, Nayiri Nahabedian, started off the meeting by calling for calm, according to station ABC7 Los Angeles, though her plea was not entirely heeded. Police officers present at the meeting intervened in at least one brawl.

Musk: “Cis” and “cisgender” are now considered slurs on Twitter

In a tweet posted early on June 21, Twitter CEO Elon Musk declared that using the words “cis” and “cisgender” on the social media site would be grounds for suspension.

“Repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions,” Musk said in his tweet. “The words ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’ are considered slurs on this platform.”

Musk made the declaration in response to an anti-trans commentator, James Esses, who complained about the use of the word “cis” on the site.

“Yesterday, after posting a Tweet saying that I reject the word ‘cis’ and don’t wish to be called it, I receive a slew of messages from trans activists calling me “cissy” and telling me that I am ‘cis’ ‘whether or not I like it,’” Esses said in his June 20 tweet. “Just imagine if the roles were reversed.”

Report on anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes

A new report from the Anti-Defamation League and LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD says that there were at least 356 incidents of hate and extremism directed at LGBTQ+ communities in the United States between June 2022 and April 2023.

According to the two organizations, there were 305 instances of harassment, 40 instances of vandalism and 11 assaults. Some 148 of the reported incidents targeted drag events and performers, according to the report. The rest were directed at schools, health care providers and facilities, and elected officials and government buildings.

“The baseless ‘grooming’ conspiracy theory was the most-cited anti-LGBTQ+ trope, with at least 191 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault making explicit references to ‘grooming’ or ‘pedophilia,’” the report says.

The incidents were documented in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.