PENTAGON HARMS MILITARY READINESS BY DELAYING NEW TRANSGENDER-INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT POLICY: “Each day that passes without the policy in place restricts the armed forces’ ability to recruit the best and the brightest, regardless of gender identity,” said Stephen Peters (@StephenPeters2), HRC National Press Secretary and Marine veteran discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. “We are disappointed in this needless delay because the thousands of highly trained and qualified transgender service members openly and proudly serving our nation today have proven that what matters is the ability to accomplish the mission, not their gender identity.” Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Friday delayed by six months the implementation of the final piece of a policy that allows qualified transgender people to serve in the armed forces. While transgender service members serve openly today thanks to a change implemented last year under the Obama administration, a final piece of the policy that will allow qualified transgender people to enter the military had been scheduled to be implemented July 1. More from HRC.

• Sixteen House Democrats sent a letter to Secretary Mattis urging him to not delay the implementation of the final piece of a policy that allows qualified transgender people to serve in the armed forces. More from  Rebecca Kheel (@Rebecca_H_K) at The Hill.

4TH CIRCUIT SETS ORAL ARGUMENT IN GRIMM CASE FOR SEPT. 12: Grimm, a transgender teenager, filed suit against the Gloucester (Va.) County School Board alleging it violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by denying him use of the boy’s restroom. HRC filed a “friend of the court” brief signed by 59 major U.S. companies supporting Gavin in this case. More from HRC.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING WEDNESDAY: We Are Mitú spoke to Equality March Co-Chair Catalina Velasquez about the barriers that exist for LGBTQ undocumented people like her. Velasquez -- the first undocumented transgender woman to attend Georgetown University -- shares the heartbreaking story of being separated from her family. “I have not been able to hug my mom in nine years,” she says. Watch at We Are Mitú.

• Velasquez also sat down with NPR’s Ari Shapiro (@AriShapiro) to talk about the future of the LGBTQ equality movement. More from NPR.

DID TRUMP EVER DECLARE JUNE LGBTQ PRIDE MONTH? No. More on what that means for the LGBTQ community in a piece by Adam D. Chandler, a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer, in USA Today.

FOR YOUR RADAR -- TRUMP IS MEETING WITH PUTIN FRIDAY: Questions we’re asking before the leaders meet at the G20 conference in Hamburg: Will Trump address the anti-LGBTQ atrocities taking place in the Russian republic of Chechnya? Will he call on Chechen and Russian authorities to investigate the crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable? More from The Guardian.

• Also in Russia: A television host is offering to pay LGBTQ people to leave the country. Huh? More from Newsweek.
• A group of elected officials are launching the LGBTQI Elected and Appointed Officials Experts Group to support governments promoting equality in their countries. More from Washington Blade.

SENATORS INTRODUCE BIPARTISAN RESOLUTION CONDEMNING ANTI-LGBTQ ATROCITIES IN CHECHNYA: Just days after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the horrific persecution of gay and bisexual men in Chechnya, a bipartisan group in the U.S. Senate did the same. More from HRC.

FORTY-THREE PERCENT OF HOMELESS YOUTH IN WASHINGTON, D.C., ARE LGBTQ: Casa Ruby (@CasaRubyDC) Executive Director Ruby Corado shares strategies on how to combat this epidemic with Julie Strupp (@struppj) in the Washingtonian.

BOOKMARK FOR WHEN YOU NEED A GOOD LAUGH THIS WEEK: Anti-equality trolls tried to make #HeterosexualPrideDay a thing on Twitter. To say it didn’t work would be an understatement. More from The Guardian.

WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES SPREADS ANTI-LGBTQ HATE IN THE CARIBBEAN: The notorious anti-LGBTQ hate group World Congress of Families (WCF) had its fourth regional Caribbean conference in St. John’s Antigua last week.  Check out the misleading theme of the rabidly anti-LGBTQ hate group’s regional conference: Notorious American exporters of hate such as Sharon Slater, Brian Brown, Don Feder, Sharon Slater and Scott Stirm are listed as featured speakers for this event. More from HRC.

NYT -- ‘NO COUNTRY FOR BANGLADESH’S GAY MEN’: Bangladeshi human rights advocate Raad Rahman (@rad_rahman) published a powerful piece in the Times looking at the anti-LGBTQ violence in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi authorities recently arrested 27 men on suspicion of being gay or bisexual. This report comes a year after Bangladeshi LGBTQ advocate Xulhaz Mannan was murdered. Bangladesh is one of at least 72 countries that criminalize same-sex sexual activity. Read the full piece at The New York Times.

• In Indonesia, recent police raids on LGBTQ spaces are driving the community back into the closet. More from Reuters.
• The fight for LGBTQ equality in Poland continues. Agata Chaber, an HRC Global Innovator, is at the frontlines. More from euobserver.
• A Chinese man forced to undergo so-called “conversion therapy” has won a lawsuit, entitling him to compensation and a public apology from the hospital. More from Newsweek.

READING RAINBOW

Mashable highlights 10 young transgender people of color advocating for equality; HRC breaks down how repealing the Affordable Care Act would devastate Alaska; Advocate thanks 25 television shows for making LGBTQ history; The New York Times recaps the 2017 World Pride Celebration in Madrid;

Have news? Send us your news and tips at AMEquality@hrc.org. Click here to subscribe to #AM_Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for reading!