The A.M. READ

The A.M. READ newsletter is a news tipsheet highlighting LGBTQ+ news and HRC updates. It covers a wide range of topics from breaking news to politics to LGBTQ+ pop culture to sports and everything in between.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

HRC BLASTS DEPT OF ED FOR STOPPING ANTI-LGBTQ+ BULLYING TRACKING: The Department of Education has quietly stopped collecting data on bullying of LGBTQ+ students. HRC President Kelley Robinson issued a pointed statement yesterday: “If bullying and harassment are not tracked, they cannot be prevented or stopped – which is exactly what the Trump administration wants.” While Washington abandons LGBTQ+ kids, HRC’s Welcoming Schools program continues reaching nearly 750,000 students nationwide. 

STUDENTS SUE VIRGINIA SCHOOL BOARD FOR BLATANT ANTI-LGBTQ+ DISCRIMINATION: The King George County School Board illegally blocked middle school students from forming a gay-straight alliance (GSA) after pushing them to change its name to a “Kindness Club” or “Safe Space”, a new federal suit alleges. The board created new rules which distinctly barred the GSA from existing, while creating exceptions for other clubs, including a Christian athletic club. This suit comes after a year-long dispute between students and administration over rising anti-LGBTQ+ remarks and bullying on school grounds. Read more about the case in the Advocate. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO HRC-ENDORSED MICHIGAN STATE SEN. JEREMY MOSS, who won last night’s Democratic primary for Michigan’s 11th Congressional District. “As Michigan’s first openly gay state senator, he didn’t rest on his laurels as a trailblazer, he rolled up his sleeves and led efforts to amend the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to add nondiscrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity - and he won,” Lynne Bowman, Human Rights Campaign Vice President, Campaigns, said when HRC endorsed his candidacy. “Our country needs leaders who actually make change happen and make lives better, and that’s why the Human Rights Campaign is thrilled to endorse Jeremy Moss for Congress.”

SPOTLIGHT STORY

THE GLARING PROBLEM WITH WNBA’s ANTI-TRANS SPORTS PANIC: A sharp piece from Defector cuts through the WNBA’s manufactured trans athlete controversy with a simple observation: there is no trans woman playing in the WNBA. Not one. The entire debate, introduced by Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunnigham’s anti-trans comments, is about a hypothetical person who doesn’t exist. The right’s perfect trans athlete is one who can’t fight back or garner sympathy – because she only exists in someone’s imagination.