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

SCOTUS TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON WHETHER SCHOOLS CAN TAKE MONEY AND TURN AWAY LGBTQ+ FAMILIES: On November 3rd, Election Day, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in St Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a Colorado case with major implications for LGBTQ+ families nationwide. At stake: whether religious schools participating in Colorado’s state-funded universal pre-school program can refuse to enroll children of LGBTQ+ parents or kick out students who come out as LGBTQ+ while those schools are taking taxpayer dollars. Two lower courts already ruled the state’s nondiscrimination requirements are constitutional. Now it’s up to SCOTUS. A ruling is expected next year. 

SIX DAYS OUT, BENTLEY HUDGINS POISED TO MAKE HISTORY IN GEORGIA: Bentley Hudgins, former HRC Georgia state director, organizer, ACLU alum, and the Deep South’s first Japanese American state legislative candidate, is days away from making history as the first out transgender and nonbinary member of the Georgia legislature. Their outlook is characteristically grounded: “Hope is a discipline, and cynicism is a luxury that I cannot afford.” Read their full story in The Advocate. 

NEW ON HRC SUBSTACK

HBCU STUDENTS ARE MAKING SURE THEIR VOICES ARE HEARD: When North Carolina A&T students found no early voting sites on campus, they marched an hour to the nearest polling location. One week later, hundreds more gathered to celebrate LGBTQ+ visibility and get out the vote in partnership with HRC for HBCU OutLoud Day. As Tyronae Smith writes: “We are stronger when we band together. Our demands are clearest when we vote together.” Make your voice heard by November 3rd: hrc.im/vote. 

SPOTLIGHT STORY

LGBTQ NATION – THE LEGACY MATTHEW SHEPARD LEFT BEHIND: Today marks 17 years since President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law. Matthew Shepard was just 21 when he was murdered in 1998, a loss that would forever change the LGBTQ+ movement. This December, he would have turned 50. In an LGBTQ Nation story, Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld reflects on teaching students who weren't terribly familiar with Shepard, not because they didn't care, but because their stories are too often missing from what they're taught in school. Three days after Shepard's death, Blumenfeld delivered a memorial address in his honor, underscoring the importance of remembering the lives behind the headlines.