JUDGE SAYS IMPLEMENTATION OF TRUMP-PENCE TRANSGENDER TROOP BAN STILL BLOCKED: According to  report in BuzzFeed, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in a decision issued Tuesday “rebuked officials for insisting a court order blocking the ban since 2017 had been lifted.” Her notice in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. said, “Defendants were incorrect in claiming that there was no longer an impediment. Defendants remain bound by this Court’s preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo.” More from BuzzFeed.

DISGUSTING -- TRUMP COZIES UP TO BRAZIL’S VIRULENTLY ANTI-LGBTQ PRESIDENT DURING JOINT WHITE HOUSE NEWS CONFERENCE: In his Washington Post piece headlined, “President Trump, Our Fake News Ambassador,” Erik Wemple (@ErikWemple) lays out President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-LGBTQ comments in the Rose Garden Tuesday, and Trump’s history of embracing dangerous demagoguery. “We have many views that are similar,” Trump said after Bolsonaro’s bigoted comments. More from The Washington Post and Washington Blade.

• And the day before Trump stood alongside Bolsonaro, more than 30 United Nations member states called for “a swift, thorough and impartial investigation into the alleged persecution” of LGBTQ people in Chechyna. The U.S. did not sign the statement, again remaining silent on these human rights violations. Read the full statement here.

WHAT WE’RE READTRUMP CLAIMS HE WANTS TO ACHIEVE AN HIV-FREE GENERATION. SO WHY IS HE ATTACKING HEALTH CARE FOR THOSE MOST AFFECTED?: The New York Times’ Donald G. McNeil Jr. reports on the obstacles to an HIV-free generation, from the Deep South to coastal cities such as San Francisco. Said David Stacy, HRC Director of Government Affairs of Trump’s stated intention to eliminate domestic HIV transmissions by 2030: “This administration simply cannot achieve this goal while, at the same time, charging forward with attacks on health care for the communities most impacted by HIV. The American public deserves a real commitment from their government to end the HIV epidemic.” More from NYT.

“‘People don’t come back to clinics where the nurse makes you feel guilty for sleeping with men, or keeps saying ‘he’ when it’s ‘she’ …’ [a doctor] said. 'People with HIV are still people.'”

Yes, they are. ✊��

On the fight to stop AIDS in the South: https://t.co/t0Bf4eWNeC

— Planned Parenthood Black Community (@PPBlackComm) March 18, 2019

ICYMI -- HRC FOUNDATION AND UCLA LUSKIN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS TO HOST 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FORUM: The conversation will take place on the UCLA campus on Thursday, October 10, 2019 --  the eve of National Coming Out Day. It will give candidates an opportunity to speak about their policy platforms and plans to move LGBTQ equality forward. More from Variety, The Hill, Los Angeles Blade, NBC and The Washington Post

STATEHOUSE ROUNDUP -- HRC LOBBIES AT THE TEXAS CAPITOL: Advocates in the Lone Star State are fighting back against anti-LGBTQ bills that could grant businesses a “license to discriminate” against LGBTQ Texans and visitors, and prevent municipalities from protecting LGBTQ workers from discrimination. More from Washington Blade and OutSmart Magazine.

.@HRC & our local partners fanned out across the Texas State Capitol in Austin today to urge lawmakers to ensure that all LGBTQ people are treated equally under the law. #yallmeansall #txlege pic.twitter.com/j1CHMyMiBc

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) March 18, 2019

• In Oregon, the Oregon State House passed a bill that removes and replaces outdated and anti-LGBTQ language from state laws. More from The Associated Press.
• More than 100 religious leaders in Tennessee are taking a stand against a “slate of hate”of anti-LGBTQ bills. More from The Tennessean.
• After more than five attempts, a bill to protect LGBTQ youth in Colorado from dangerous “conversion therapy” has passed a state Senate committee. More from KOAA.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING WEDNESDAY -- SINGER-SONGWRITER SAM SMITH COMES OUT AS NON-BINARY GENDERQUEER IN AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMEELA JAMIL: “You are a mixture of all these different things. You are your own special creation,” Smith (@samsmith) said. “That is how I take it. I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between -- somewhat on the spectrum.” The interview was captured on Jamil’s Instagram. More from The Georgia Voice.

 

 

 

 

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In the premier episode of I Weigh Interviews, Jameela Jamil discusses fame, body image and the daily practice of self acceptance with musician Sam Smith.

A post shared by Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamilofficial) on Mar 15, 2019 at 12:58am PDT

TODAY IS NATIONAL NATIVE HIV AND AIDS AWARENESS DAY: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Native community had the fifth highest rate of HIV diagnoses in the U.S. in 2015 -- higher than both Asian and white communities. Furthermore, gay and bisexual men accounted for 79 percent of HIV diagnoses among Native individuals. More from HRC.

AZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY IN CALIFORNIA REVERSES POSITION ON SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS: The religiously-affiliated institution previously banned same-sex relationships on campus, only to strike the rule, reinstate it and finally strike it again. More from Inside Higher Education.

ANTI-LGBTQ FLYERS ATTACK OPENLY LESBIAN WOMAN RUNNING FOR CHICAGO MAYOR: More from The Chicago Sun-Times.

 READING RAINBOW - Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!

The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph interviews members of the local trans community about their struggles to find inclusive health care; HRC interviews Timothy LeDuc and Ashley Cain (@icegirlash), 2019 U.S. National Champions in pair skating

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