Fascinating tidbit in this interview with former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), he says that Texas Republicans anti-transgender ads aren't "resonating." "What Republicans are talking about is just not what the swing voter is really interested in." www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Huge loss for LGBTQ+ rights coverage in Congress -- hire Eric!!!

Eric Michael Garcia@ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 2w ago

Some ~personal~ news: After five years, I have been laid off from @the-independent.com. I am grateful for the time I have had there. With that in mind, I am absolutely looking for new work opportunities, especially ahead if the midterms. My email is EMGarcia2009@gmail.com. My signal is emgarcia.85

Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out. I'd love to get more voices from trans folks in Ohio, Iowa, South Carolina and Florida for this piece -- if you live in any of those states and have thoughts on how Democratic candidates there are treating trans people, I'd love to hear from you.

Brooke Migdon@bmigdon.bsky.social · 2w ago

For The 19th, I'm looking to speak with trans voters in states where Democratic candidates have adopted more conservative rhetoric (& policy positions) around trans people. How are you feeling? Has this changed how you plan to vote in November? I'd love to listen. DM or email: brooke@19thnews.org!

Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out. I'd love to get more voices from trans folks in Ohio, Iowa, South Carolina and Florida for this piece -- if you live in any of those states and have thoughts on how Democratic candidates there are treating trans people, I'd love to hear from you.

Brooke Migdon@bmigdon.bsky.social · 2w ago

For The 19th, I'm looking to speak with trans voters in states where Democratic candidates have adopted more conservative rhetoric (& policy positions) around trans people. How are you feeling? Has this changed how you plan to vote in November? I'd love to listen. DM or email: brooke@19thnews.org!

I spent time with two trans candidates running for office in two very different Georgias: Atlanta, a Dem stronghold, and Cartersville, in a district that hasn't elected a Democrat since 1996. Neither wants to discuss identity politics — they are focused on data centers, groceries and healthcare.

In Georgia, two trans candidates believe voters are ready for them

For Bentley Hudgins, running could mean a historic first in the Georgia House. For Bella Bautista, it starts with giving voters a choice they haven’t had in 16 years.

19thnews.org

For The 19th, I'm looking to speak with trans voters in states where Democratic candidates have adopted more conservative rhetoric (& policy positions) around trans people. How are you feeling? Has this changed how you plan to vote in November? I'd love to listen. DM or email: brooke@19thnews.org!

lol

gwen howerton@kissphoria.bsky.social · 2w ago

Wrote about this yesterday - by a quirk of how expensive campaigning in Texas is, Ken Paxton and his soon-to-be-ex-wife were all your TV no matter what part of the country you live in lol www.chron.com/culture/arti...

For The 19th, I'm looking to speak with trans voters in states where Democratic candidates have adopted more conservative rhetoric (& policy positions) around trans people. How are you feeling? Has this changed how you plan to vote in November? I'd love to listen. DM or email: brooke@19thnews.org!

The 988 suicide prevention hotline's Press 3 option — which provides specialized services to LGBTQ callers — has been restored more than a year after the Trump administration shut it down. Confirmed by HHS and the office of Senator Tammy Baldwin, who led on legislation that forced its restoration

Absolutely wild that the position of the U.S. government is explicitly “no trannies” and there’s still democrats that want to lean into the “no boys in women’s sports” phrasing about us.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

Hegseth: "It's worth saying again so the fake news understands it. We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that -- no fatties no trannies no beardos no weirdos no wimps no radicals. Just warriors."

Republicans across the country are campaigning to keep trans student-athletes out of sports — even in states that already ban them from competing. New @19thnews.org 19thnews.org/2026/09/repu...

Republicans can’t stop talking about banning trans athletes

They’re campaigning on keeping them out of sports, even in states where trans students have been blocked from competition for years.

19thnews.org

Republicans across the country are campaigning to keep trans student-athletes out of sports — even in states that already ban them from competing. New @19thnews.org 19thnews.org/2026/09/repu...

Republicans can’t stop talking about banning trans athletes

They’re campaigning on keeping them out of sports, even in states where trans students have been blocked from competition for years.

19thnews.org

👀 In a new memo, the conservative American Principles Project, which has urged Republicans to adopt anti-trans messaging, says focusing just on cultural issues "may not be sufficient" to win the midterms americanprinciplesproject.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/u...

One conservative group's website, for instance, claims without evidence that the proposal to strike Virginia's same-sex marriage ban from the constitution would “enshrine gender ideology into our state constitution, threatening girls’ safety and sports.” www.familyfoundation.org/protectmarri...

Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage hasn’t been enforceable since 2014 but has remained part of its constitution since voters adopted it in 2006 — at least, marriage equality advocates hope, until November. 19thnews.org/2026/09/virg...

Bob and Bob have been married for 12 years. They’re ready for their state constitution to change.

Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage hasn’t been enforceable since 2014, but it’s still on the books — at least until November.

19thnews.org

And now they are down again for an unspecified "policy violation."

Brooke Migdon@bmigdon.bsky.social · last mo.

Google briefly took down the ads after @jazzmyth.bsky.social and I asked whether they violated its mandatory disclosure policy for AI-generated imagery in political ads. They have since been reinstated. 19thnews.org/2026/09/elon...

In an incredible move, Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, Canada has announced a gender-affirming care clinic for trans youth, asserting tribal sovereignty and defying the region's ban. It is one of the biggest cross-movement solidarity moments in Canada. Subscribe to support our journalism.

Canada First Nation Leaders Announce They Won’t Comply With Alberta Trans Care Ban

“This is about more than one health service,” officials wrote. “It is about Indigenous sovereignty. It is about our responsibility to care for one another.”

erininthemorning.com

In less than a week, Elon Musk’s super PAC has pushed out dozens of ads vilifying trans people and accusing Democratic Senate candidates of backing a “radical trans agenda.” In at least two of the ads, the people portrayed as trans women don’t even appear to be real. 19thnews.org/2026/09/elon...

Political ads with made-up trans people are being used to bash Democrats

Elon Musk’s super PAC dropped dozens of ads this week in key Senate races, and the majority of them focus on trans people.

19thnews.org

Shevrin Jones, who is not HIV positive, says he was “disgusted” by the text because there’s “nothing shameful about living with HIV.”

Text Blast Falsely Claims Gay Florida Candidate Is HIV Positive: “I Knew Exactly What They Were Trying to Do”

them.us

When I think about trans people in sports, I don’t think about lobbies or legislation. I think about my friends. Wrote about pick-up hoops, queer community and love:

Column: When I think about transgender people in sports, I think about my friends

Despite the rabid fixation upon the concept of trans women in sports, those who beat the drum the loudest for exclusive policies rarely seem to care about trans people themselves.

chicagotribune.com

In a recent statement the league said, "there are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.”

The WNBA ‘felt like a lifeline’ for LGBTQ+ fans. Anti-trans attacks are testing that refuge.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham’s remarks opposing transgender athletes in women’s sports injected political debate into a league with no openly trans women players.

19thnews.org

I'm looking to speak with LGBTQ+ WNBA fans about their thoughts, feelings and responses to Sophie Cunningham's comments on trans athletes and the league's response thus far for a story @19thnews.org. My DMs are open and I'm ready to listen! 👂🏀

I'm looking to speak with LGBTQ+ WNBA fans about their thoughts, feelings and responses to Sophie Cunningham's comments on trans athletes and the league's response thus far for a story @19thnews.org. My DMs are open and I'm ready to listen! 👂🏀

Similar initiatives will appear on the ballot in Arizona and Colorado but unlike those measures, which would broadly require schools to designate athletic programs as definitively male, female or co-ed, Washington state’s initiative applies to only girls’ sports.

How Washington state’s sports ballot measure will impact all girls

A ballot initiative to bar transgender girls from girls’ teams would require all girls to ‘verify’ their identity.

19thnews.org

Lawmakers in left-leaning states have repeatedly rejected attempts to bar transgender student-athletes from competing in line with their gender identity. This fall, the question will go straight to voters in two blue states and one swing state. New @19thnews.org: 19thnews.org/2026/07/tran...

The fight over trans girls’ sports participation moves to the November ballot

State ballot measures seeking to restrict transgender student-athletes’ participation in school sports will appear before voters in November.

19thnews.org

Some personal news: I've made the difficult decision to leave @thehill after 4 years. I've loved so much of my time here, and feel beyond lucky to have been able to tell the stories I did alongside some incredible journalists. I’m not entirely sure what’s next for me yet. Hopefully more news soon💛

In Puerto Rico, the age of majority, or legal adulthood, is 21, making its ban on care for minors one of the most restrictive of any U.S. state or territory. (Most U.S. laws ban care up to 18 years old. Laws in Alabama and Nebraska ban care up to 19 years old) thehill.com/homenews/lgb...

"Trans people are going to die, and they don’t care. Humor helps us look at it. ...We don’t have to look away if we can laugh at it.” With LGBTQ+ rights in peril, trans and queer comedians' stars are rising. They're making us laugh in bleak times & reimagining how comedy can be a tool for change

With their rights in peril, LGBTQ+ comedians are using humor to dilute fear

The 19th spoke with four queer comedians about making the world seem funny right now through looking for jokes in the horrors, dissociating, and rethinking how to talk to straight people.

19thnews.org

ICYMI: This morning, Hegseth confirmed the Navy is renaming the ship named for Harvey Milk, a Navy lieutenant, gay rights activist and the first gay person elected to public office in California before he was killed. "People want to be proud of the ship they're sailing in." x.com/SecDef/statu...