Last week in LGBTQ+ rights: US Senate narrowly rejects pride flag ban

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

Last week, the Senate failed to pass an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 that would have banned pride flags from government buildings.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s Democratic governor signed bills banning conversion therapy for minors, Missouri was sued over its ban on gender-affirming care for the state’s youth, and a Texas Unitarian Universalist congregation announced someone targeted it in a firebomb attack that it said could be related to an anti-LGBTQ+ YouTuber’s video.

Pride flag ban vote

All Senate Republicans and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin voted on July 27 to approve an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 that would have banned the flying, draping or display of any flag other than the U.S. flag over public buildings.

The amendment, which failed, is similar to one that passed in the House of Representatives on July 14 that some saw as directed at the display of LGBTQ+ pride flags. All House Republicans and two House Democrats voted for that amendment.

The National Defense Authorization Act, sans flag amendment, passed 88-11 in the Senate on July 27.

The Senate’s vote lays the groundwork for a fight with the Republican-led House, whose version of the National Defense Authorization Act includes not just the flag-banning amendment, but also other measures restricting LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive rights.

The House’s version, which passed on July 13, includes provisions that ban medical coverage of gender-affirming care for service members and ban schools run by the Department of Defense from buying or providing books with transgender characters or themes.

“Extreme MAGA Republicans continued their relentless attacks on LGBTQ+ people today by using the National Defense Authorization Act to push their anti-equality agenda,” House Equality Caucus Chair Mark Pocan (D-WI) said in a statement the day the House’s version passed. “They showed their complete disregard for our LGBTQ+ servicemembers by adopting amendments that strip medically-necessary care from transgender servicemembers and their families, censor LGBTQ+ servicemembers by prohibiting the display of Pride flags, and ban books that include transgender people or discuss gender identity.”

Michigan’s new ban on conversion therapy

Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed two bills on July 26 that will ban conversion therapy for minors throughout the state.

H.B. 4617 defines conversion therapy as “any practice or treatment by a mental health professional that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation.” H.B. 4616 bans such therapy, subjecting any mental health provider caught engaging in conversion therapy to disciplinary action, including suspension or revocation of the provider’s license.

Conversion therapy is both ineffective and harmful to LGBTQ+ youth and can cause or exacerbate mental health conditions in the person receiving treatment, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The ban will take effect in October, 90 days after Whitmer signed the two bills.

Missouri sued over gender-affirming care ban

A coalition of families, health care providers and LGBTQ+ civil rights groups on July 25 filed a lawsuit against the state of Missouri over its ban on gender-affirming health care for minors.

The law, set to go into effect at the end of August, bars health care providers in Missouri from prescribing puberty blocking drugs or hormone treatments if they are prescribed for gender transition. It provides an exception for minors who are intersex or have medical conditions that affect sexual development.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that the ban will cause irreparable harm to trans youth in the state. Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Missouri, and the law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, who are the families of three transgender Missourians; St. Louis-based Southampton Community Healthcare and two associated providers; and the LGBTQ+ ally group PFLAG and the LGBTQ+ health care provider group GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality. 

“SB 49 is the latest chapter in Missouri’s relentless attacks on transgender people, and the stories of the families challenging the law demonstrate the immense, devastating harm it is already inflicting on their lives,” Nora Huppert, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal, said in the group’s joint press release with the ACLU of Missouri. “SB 49 would deny adolescent transgender Missourians access to evidence-based treatment supported by the overwhelming medical consensus. This law is not just harmful and cruel; it is life-threatening.” 

The law is not Missouri’s first attempt to roll back the trans community’s rights in recent months. In April, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed an emergency restriction on access to gender-affirming care, even for adults. Bailey rescinded the rule after a judge blocked it, shortly before the Missouri State Legislature passed its ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Texas church firebombed after being targeted in video by anti-LGBTQ+ YouTubers

Community Unitarian Universalist Church, a Dallas-area congregation, caught fire on July 23 as a result of what members called a firebomb attack, just a few weeks after an anti-LGBTQ+ YouTube creator criticized the church in a video.

“Church officials have been reviewing building security and working with the Plano Police Department since the intrusion of a hate group in the church building during and after Worship Service on Sunday, June 25,” the church said in a statement posted to Facebook. “That group has posted video of their activities inside the church on various social media sites.”

A church board member told NBC News that the church was visited by right-wing influencer Bo Alford.

Alford posted a video July 12 called “We acted LGBT at LGBT Church.” The video, in which Alford and two other men call the church “pagan and satanic,” has since been set to private.

Local police have not determined whether the incident was a hate crime, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.