transgender rights

Transgender youth in the United States, including in Alabama, have been flooding crisis hotlines since the election of Donald Trump, who made anti-transgender themes central to his campaign. Many teens worry about how their lives could change once he becomes president.

A Birmingham-based nonprofit that preserves LGBTQ history in the Deep South is offering an educational lecture during LGBT History Month. Invisible Histories invites the public to take part in "Extra! Extra!" Queer All About It: Southern LGBTQ Newpapers and Magazines. The event is set for 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 17.

October is LGBT History Month, where each year the history and achievements of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are celebrated. Oct. 11 is Coming Out Day. It's an annual observance, in Alabama and across the country, dedicated to celebrating and supporting individuals in the LGBTQ+ community as they share their authentic selves with the world.

The Supreme Court took the bench again on Monday, ready to hear cases on ghost guns, a death sentence and transgender rights. The justices also heard their first case dealing with pandemic-era unemployment claims filed in Alabama.

A divided federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a decision allowing Alabama to enforce its ban on treating transgender minors with puberty blockers and hormones.

At least five Republican state attorneys general are challenging a new federal regulation that mandates protections for transgender students at schools. The federal rule opposes sweeping policies to allow transgender people from using the school bathrooms that align with their gender. At least eleven states, including Alabama, have such laws in their books already.

Alabama lawmakers have advanced legislation to define who is considered a man or a woman under state law, saying it must be based on reproductive systems and not gender identity. The Alabama House of Representatives voted 77-24 for the legislation.

Alabama lawmakers are advancing legislation that would define who is considered female and male under state law. A Senate committee approved definitions based on reproductive systems on Tuesday, and a House committee planned to take up similar legislation Wednesday.

A federal appeals court ruled that Alabama can enforce a ban outlawing the use of medications to treat transgender children. That’s the second such appellate victory for gender-affirming care restrictions that have been adopted by a growing number of Republican-led states. The eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a judge's temporary injunction against enforcing the law. The judge has scheduled trial for April of next year on whether to permanently block the law.

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.