National Center for Transgender Equality

New federal protections for transgender students at U.S. schools and colleges have launched, but not everywhere, including in Alabama. Most Republican-led states challenged the rule from President Joe Biden's administration, took effect Thursday. In response, judges have blocked enforcement in 21 states plus hundreds of individual schools and colleges.

New federal protections for transgender students at U.S. schools and colleges will take effect Thursday with muted impact because judges have temporarily blocked enforcement in twenty-one states and hundreds of individual colleges and schools across the country. The regulation also adds protections for pregnant students and students who are parents, and details how schools must respond to sexual misconduct complaints. That does not include Alabama where the federal protections are set to take effect.

A federal appeals court has overturned a West Virginia transgender sports ban, finding that the law violates Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools. Alabama is among the States with a similar ban.

A federal judge declined to pause litigation challenging Alabama's ban on gender-affirming care for minors as similar cases wind upward toward the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Judge Liles Burke said no to a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to put the Alabama case on hold.

Druid City Pride is creating a more inclusive community within West Alabama though the 8th Annual Druid City Pride Festival.

More than 6,000 United Methodist congregations — a fifth of the U.S. total — have now received permission to leave the denomination amid a schism over theology and the role of LGBTQ people in the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination. The departures have been particularly large in the South and Midwest, with states such as Texas, Alabama, Kentucky and Ohio each losing hundreds of congregations.

The second Friday of every month always attracts a crowd for the LoDa ArtWalk in Mobile, but the latest event took on additional meaning for the LGBTQ+ community.

House Bill 261 or The Women’s Sports Protection Bill restricts collegiate athletes to teams consistent with their biological sex.A bill that restricts Alabama’s transgender community will be enforced starting Aug. 1.

A federal judge struck down Arkansas' first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions. An Alabama judge blocked a similar measure in this state.

A pair of proposals that would restrict classroom conversations around so-called “divisive concepts” failed to pass this legislative session. However, activists are concerned they may return in 2024.