#forced outing

It's called H.R. 8705.

Note: the bill is also racist.

"Here are the names of the eight Democrats who voted for what the House Equality Caucus condemned as the "Don't Say Trans" bill:

Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas

Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina

Rep. Cleo Fields of Louisiana

Rep. Laura Gillen of New York

Rep. Vicente González of Texas

Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington

Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia"

I beg of you to please contact your senators regardless of party. Say what you have to say to get them to vote against. This is incredibly dangerous.

If one of the Democratic quislings in the House represents you, please call them to tell you exactly how you feel about racist and transphobic censorship and their decision to endanger the lives of children through forced outing.

If you can’t safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

And another: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

Ryan Adamczeski at The Advocate:

Texas is being sued over its "Don't Say Gay" law that not only bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, but goes even further by completely outlawing LGBTQ+ student clubs. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) announced Monday that they will be filing a lawsuit against Senate Bill 12. Signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday, the law is scheduled to take effect September 1 and be implemented in the 2025-2026 school year.

S.B. 12 flatly states that "a school district or open-enrollment charter school may not authorize or sponsor a student club based on sexual orientation or gender identity." The law bans all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, which it incorrectly defines as "differential treatment" based on race. The bill also contains a forced outing policy "prohibiting an employee of the district from assisting a student enrolled in the district with social transitioning," which it defines as "a person’s transition from the person’s biological sex at birth to the opposite biological sex through the adoption of a different name, different pronouns, or other expressions of gender that deny or encourage a denial of the person’s biological sex at birth." “This ban on education harms Texas schools by shutting down important discussions and programs that mention race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation,” Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. “Students should be free to learn about themselves and the world around them, but S.B. 12 aims to punish kids for being who they are and ban teachers from supporting them. It sends the false message that Black, Brown, LGBTQIA+, and other students don’t belong in the classroom or in our state." The law is similar to Florida's colloquially named "Don't Say Gay" bill which prohibited public school staff from discussing LGBTQ+ identities in any capacity. Texas' S.B. 12 states that "a school district, open-enrollment charter school, or district or charter school employee may not provide or allow a third party to provide instruction, guidance, activities, or programming regarding sexual orientation or gender identity to students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade."

The ACLU of Texas and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) file a lawsuit against the State of Texas over its Don’t Say Gay or Trans law SB12 that includes bans on LGBTQ+ student clubs and DEI programs and mandates student safety-harming forced outing policies.

See Also:

S. Baum at Erin In The Morning:

Over 400 Washingtonians joined Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-7) and other community leaders under the glimmer of a spinning disco ball in the name of fighting transphobia. Jayapal led the crowd in a call-and-response chant: “No hate in our state!” The rally, in Seattle, marked the Pride Month kickoff of the “No Hate in WA State” campaign against a pair of ballot measures that will be put to a vote this November: IL-001 & IL-638. The former is a reboot of a prior “Parental Bill of Rights”-style policy previously gutted by the state legislature that would institute dangerous forced-outing provisions for transgender students. The latter ballot initiative could force tens of thousands of student athletes each year to undergo invasive genital exams just to play on girls’ sports teams; like many such policies, cisgender boys will be exempt from any such interrogations of their gender or bodies. “It’s disgusting,” said King County Executive Girmay Zahilay at the rally. “That’s not the kind of world that I want my daughters to grow up in.” Another voice off camera can be heard chiming in, “Can you say, ‘sexual assault’?”

No Hate in WA State is Washington’s response to Brian Heywood, a Seattle-area hedge fund founder who has spoken openly about his plans to pour millions into voter referendums to advance his conservative agenda. The oligarch is a recurring figure in the local political scene. “[Heywood is] funding anti-trans initiatives and trying to rob our state of the revenue to take care of basic services for all Washingtonians. It’s not just about transphobia. It’s about money and politics and the ability of one rich man and oligarchs to usurp our democracy,” said Jaelynn Scott, executive director of the Lavender Rights Project and a candidate for state office. “Do not let them divide us.” Indeed, the No Hate campaign has a steep hill to climb against the anti-trans financier. No Hate has generated $736,000 this year while Heywood’s PAC—Let’s Go Washington—has raked in almost $2 million, Jake Goldstein-Street reports in the Washington State Standard.

Anyways, they all look pretty, but omfg, Alex in that SUIT at the New Year’s party?? Omgggg-CHEF’S KISS BESTIEEE-!! The EMBROIDERY ALONE!? HOD!! Henry I feel you. I, too, would kiss this man without care for any of the consequences if I had the chance looking like THAT-

Btw, Henry’s ROBES!? My god. And like. He doesn’t have traditional Japanese robes or whatever, I mean his bath/sleepingrobes?? FUCKING STUNNING BITCH!!

…my god, is this my bisexual awakening-

Like. I was kind of hesitating to put a label, ‘cause I wasn’t sure about anything other than I probably like both and I’m definitely queer, RIP. But I’m. You know what. This is my official definite QUEER awakening then. Fuck it, we roll. Everyone say THANKK YOUUU RED WHITE AND THAT ROYAL BLUE ASSSS-!! Tihi. ;)

Also. Obligatory; Miguel is a fucking bitch for outing them, but I predicted he was going to do it the SECOND his grin flickered slightly up and then down again after seeing Henry together with Alex at the cafe. Siggghhh-I was like. …they’re gonna get outed because Alex was distracted by how pretty Henry is and couldn’t focus?? What the hell??😭 But honestly it was gonna happen eventually because Miguel is a bitch and already WAYYYY too plot relevant to not be the villain-I fucking knew it. We just can’t have a gay/queer show without at least ONE of the queer people being evil, can we??👁️👄👁️

Also, yes, I watched this movie to the end, and yes I was immediately on TikTok to watch edits and play HayDay on my iPad, and YES I do believe the theory that Miguel already had access/hacked Alex’s email, tho why did he wait so long?? Hmmmm…maybe to do it at the worst possible moment? To make sure Alex’s mom didn’t win again, to make sure Alex blamed himself for everything, so he’d have no more privilege and lose the Prince and come crawling back begging to Miguel who could then either reject him or graciously accept him (not that this would ever actually happen because has too much self-respect, but you know. Evil gay person fantasies and all that, RIP-) or maybe to make sure it wouldn’t immediately be tied back to him?? Sighhh…I don’t fucking know, but there’s a million reason and they all tie back to Miguel being a bitchy little asshole.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk!!

TLDR; they’re all pretty, I’m probably bisexual, RWRB is my official queer awakening and Miguel can fuck right on off to rot for outing someone. Okay, byeee-!!

PS: didn’t know I was gonna be watching TWO whole new media’s so soon after one another?? Huh. And they’re both queer and related to Heated Rivalry. Huh. Yay!!

PPS: Alex is Ilya and Henry is Shane, but they’ve switched circumstances, except that Henry won’t actually outright DIE for coming out. Oh; and there’s more politics involved lolz. And all that. Xoxo.

After a record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation, 2025 is shaping up to be even more challenging for transgender and queer people across the United States. A legislative tracker maintained by Erin In The Morning and other volunteers has found that nearly 120 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills have already been filed in states nationwide ahead of the 2025 legislative season. This far surpasses the 80 bills filed by this time in 2023, signaling another historic wave of legal attacks on the ability of transgender people to move, live, and exist freely as themselves in public.

The bulk of the bills so far come from Texas and Missouri, two of the earlier states that release prefilled legislation ahead of the 2025 session. However, states like South Carolina, New Hampshire, Georgia, Wyoming, and Montana all feature multiple anti-LGBTQ+ bills, with more being added every day. Thirteen states in all have seen anti-trans bills filed: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.

This year, several state bills aim to strip legal recognition from transgender people entirely. Between 2022 and 2024, ten states passed such legislation or enacted similar policies, with devastating consequences for affected communities. In Kansas, Florida, and Texas, transgender individuals are now unable to update their driver’s licenses, and in some cases, states have begun reverting gender marker changes that were made years or even decades ago. Transgender people who have lived as their legal gender for years may face forced reversion of their identification documents if these new bills are enacted. Similar legislation has already been introduced in Texas, Missouri, South Carolina, and Wyoming.

In many states that have passed such legislation, bathroom bans have also been attached. Indeed, in the initial rush of bills, several bathroom bans can be found that target transgender adults. Two Texas bills would allow lawsuits if transgender people are encountered in bathrooms. One bill in Montana would bar transgender people from publicly owned bathrooms of their gender identity. One bill in Missouri would even make it “unlawful public discrimination” to allow a transgender person in bathrooms of their gender identity.

Book bans are seeing a resurgence in the prefiled bills. In 2024, PEN America found 10,046 instances of individual books banned, affecting 4,231 unique titles. Banned books include The Handmaids Tale, Flamer, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Gender Queer, and more. Texas features several such bills this year, despite the state being rebuked by higher courts for book bans in 2024.

Another common type of anti-trans legislation that is common is sports bans. Many bills aim to expand existing restrictions to even broader contexts. In Texas, one proposed bill seeks to deny private sporting events access to the state’s Events Trust Fund—a source of professional funding for major sporting events—if they allow trans athletes to compete. Other bills aim to extend sports bans to new age groups. For instance, a bill in Wyoming would expand its current ban, which applies to students in grade 7 and above, to include kindergarteners.

Several other categories of bills have seen activity, such as drag bans, forced outing of transgender students, “don’t say gay” bills, birth certificate gender change bans, drivers license gender change bans, and more.

According to the ACLU, legislative attacks on transgender people grew “exponentially” over 2023 and 2024. These anti-trans laws have directly caused an increase in suicide attempts in some states by up to 72%. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in four transgender youth have attempted to take their own life in the last year, with many of those attempts requiring medical treatment.

In the coming months, a landmark Supreme Court decision will determine the constitutional fate of bills targeting transgender people. While the case centers on a law restricting transgender medical care, its broader implications go far deeper—addressing whether discrimination against transgender people qualifies as sex discrimination warranting heightened scrutiny. The Court may also weigh whether transgender individuals are granted equal protection around their transgender status. This ruling has the potential to either shut the door on many of these bills and laws or swing it wide open, unleashing a flood of legislative attacks that could make 2025 a historically devastating year for transgender rights.

The first was feeding my abusive mum things I said about her during sessions. The second outed me as queer to my (Catholic!) sixth form college. And the third told me my grandad died of cancer because he didn't have enough self belief.