Time’s arrow marches forward, and so do I. In addition to scheduling new interviews to bring to Professional members in our columns and original reporting for our second year, I have been hard at work over the past week on two major research projects for Well Beings News, and I cannot wait to share the details with you.
In the meantime! If you belong to any professional organizations, social groups for health and wellness workers, or other spaces for allies who might be interested, I would love suggestions for people I could partner with to make this research as diverse as possible. In the next week or two, I will have a survey ready to send to all our subscribers here and to the broader public of care professionals, with the aim of assessing your needs in media, service journalism, and education on LGBTQ+ health and wellness.
Reply to this email if you have suggestions
for where to share the survey link!
The USA
The House passed HR 2616 this week, mandating that schools out trans students ages 5–14 to their parents and prohibiting instruction on gender identity — eight Democrats crossed the aisle to vote yes. The Idaho bathroom bill lawsuit was dismissed after its student plaintiff died by suicide before graduating.
The Trump DOJ's criminal subpoena of NYU Langone and other hospitals for the identities of trans youth patients prompted civil rights leaders — including the HRC, Planned Parenthood, and AIDS United — to call for noncompliance and warn that medical privacy is now a live battlefield. A MAGA-appointed Texas judge ordered a Rhode Island hospital to send him trans kids' records after another judge had already quashed the subpoena.
Trans plaintiffs won preliminary victories in three gender-affirming care lawsuits this week. The Colorado Supreme Court ordered Children's Hospital Colorado to resume youth care in a 5-3 ruling grounded in state antidiscrimination law. A Kansas judge issued a 117-page ruling blocking that state's care ban, methodically dismantling the testimony of anti-trans "experts" Jamie Reed, Chloe Cole, and James Cantor, and documenting 349 facts supporting gender-affirming care — rooted in the Kansas Constitution and insulated from SCOTUS.
Hospitals that voluntarily paused care under pressure from Trump continue to withhold: 65-plus Wisconsin organizations are demanding that UW Health and Children's Wisconsin resume services. Families are weighing moves to access care, and The Conversation reports trans youth are struggling to find providers even in states where care remains legal. Seattle's LGBTQ Commission has formally requested a civil state of emergency to support the surge of trans people fleeing red states.
Vermont passed landmark legislation protecting trans prisoners' rights — a direct rebuke to the Trump administration's policy of forced conversion therapy in federal custody. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bathroom law making the state the 21st to ban trans students from facilities aligned with their gender identity, with portable outdoor restrooms explicitly permitted as an "accommodation." Texas Tech has restricted how faculty may teach on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The CDC quietly deleted its mpox harm reduction guidance for Pride events and sex venues despite a court order requiring its restoration — Dr. Demetre Daskalakis called the removal "high public health treason" and drew a direct comparison to the Reagan administration's silence during the AIDS crisis. HIV experts are alarmed by the administration's move to end CDC support for PEPFAR programs, warning it will cause the global HIV prevention infrastructure to crumble. Law Dork reports the DOJ's campaign against trans care for minors shows no signs of stopping.
International
The UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission laid a new Code of Practice before Parliament, establishing that single-sex spaces must exclude trans people even with a Gender Recognition Certificate — a framework trans advocates warn could roll back inclusion law by more than two decades, and The Guardian confirms single-sex toilets are explicitly covered. India is borrowing the UK's gatekeeping model to limit legal trans recognition through a medicalized route.
Kenya's High Court issued a landmark ruling requiring authorities to fairly consider applications to change gender markers on identity documents. Ghana's civil society groups raised alarms over anti-LGBTQ+ bill hearings that they say have excluded civil society voices and lacked transparency. Senegal's anti-gay crackdown has now surpassed 100 arrests, with prominent citizens among those swept up.
Be an HIV-competent provider — People living with HIV share practical advice on identifying healthcare teams that are current on treatment, non-judgmental, and genuinely affirmative: ask questions, try more than one provider, and prioritize clinics already serving HIV-positive patients.
Know your trans gun rights — The ATF's proposed background check rule changes would target trans people's ability to legally purchase firearms; the Trans News Network breaks down the implications and strategies for fighting back.
Share trans-affirming mental health resources — TransLash has compiled a directory of trans-affirming mental health resources for community members navigating crisis and care in a hostile political climate.
Sleeping in This Body: Trans Dysphoria, Dreams, and Rest — TransVitae examines how dysphoria, trauma, and hypervigilance disrupt sleep for trans people, and offers harm-reduction approaches rooted in trans-specific experience.
Focus on the Family's Complete Track Record of Anti-LGBTQ Hate — Uncloseted Media documents nearly five decades of anti-LGBTQ+ policy advocacy by the Christian nonprofit founded by the late James Dobson.
"I Was Disappearing": Sikhander Coopoo on Trauma, LGBTQIA+ Survival and Healing — Activist Sikhander Coopoo reflects on surviving trauma, finding community, and building queer resilience in South Africa's Eastern Cape.
Meet the trans teenager making a documentary about kids like her — Needle News profiles a young filmmaker determined to document what trans life in the United States looks like right now, in her own words.
In Catholic St. Louis, a nun is building support for parents with transgender children — St. Louis Public Radio reports on a Catholic nun quietly building an interfaith support network for families of trans kids within one of the country's most conservative religious communities.
Trans people have been using gendered spaces for decades — we're not going to stop now — A Metro UK piece on trans people's defiant, matter-of-fact use of gendered spaces in the face of new UK exclusion guidance.
The Pressure to Pass: How HRT Expectations Impact Mental Health — TransVitae examines the psychological toll of societal pressure on trans women to "pass," and recenters transitioning as an act of authenticity rather than conformity.
DOJ has escalated its attack on trans care for minors. Where could it be headed next? — Law Dork's Chris Geidner maps the DOJ's escalating campaign against trans youth care and the legal pressure points still ahead.
Paid subscribers get…
access to the searchable research database
original reporting on the queer trans health
library of downloadable guides, workbooks, and tools
interviews with LGBTQ+ researchers, practitioners, and change-makers
Not yet a paid member? Upgrade to check out the LGBTQ+ health research published last week in our new searchable research database!
Stay strong, friends and allies. Stay fighting that good fight.
BJ Ferguson
Founder, Well Beings News
PS. If you were sent this email by a friend, sign up here!