TNN: Trans News Now – Feb 17, 2025

Links will open in this window. To return to this page use the Back button on your browser. If the link opens in a new tab, close the tab to return to this page.

This week, Judge Brendan Hurson of the District of Maryland paused enforcement of President Trump’s executive order banning gender-affirming medical care for those under the age of 19. The pause also stops the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from hospitals and providers who serve transgender patients under the age of 19. The Associated Press has this story.

Corewell Health announced that it would resume providing gender-affirming medical care to transgender patients under the age of 19. They had stopped treatment of transgender patients under age 19, to follow President Trump’s executive order, but changed their minds. This story comes from Erin Reed.

A couple of transgender athletes in New Hampshire are suing in federal court to overturn the state’s ban on transgender athletes in women’s and girls sports. This week, their lawyers petitioned the court to expand their lawsuit, to also challenge President Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports. GLAD Law has this story.

A federal judge ordered the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services to restore web pages that were taken down to comply with President Trump’s executive order on “gender ideology.” While this is a pre-trial ruling, it shows that the court feels that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed. This story comes from The Advocate.

Seven transgender people are suing the State Department over delays in issuing their passports. They say that the State Department did not give the customary sixty days for comments from the public before implementing the new policy. This story comes from Them.

A court in New Jersey has ruled that schools must follow the state law, which forbids teachers and school administrators from telling parents when their child changes gender at school, rather than obeying a new executive order, which forces teachers and school administrators to inform parents when their child changes gender at school. Erin In The Morning has this story.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced policies aimed at implementing President Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from openly serving in the U.S. military. Transgender people are not allowed to enlist in the military, and those who are already in the military will find that their health insurance no longer covers gender-affirming medical care. This story comes from Them.

New polling from Gallup shows that a majority of Americans support transgender people serving openly in the military, but the percentage who support it has declined. Among Republicans, support for open transgender people in the military fell from 43% to 23% in the past three years.

The city of Worcester, Massachusetts, has become a sanctuary city for the transgender community. While there is some question as to what this actually means, it is nice to have some support. The Advocate has this story.

Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas has once again vetoed a bill which would have banned gender-affirming medical care for minors in the state. This story comes from The Advocate.

The National Park Service has removed the words “transgender” and “queer” from the web page for the Stonewall National Monument. They also replaced the acronym “LGBTQ+” with “LGB.” CNN has this story.

The Department of Justice has dropped a case in which they charged the state of Utah with discrimination against a transgender prisoner. The Advocate has this story.

The Department of Education announced that it will stop all programs which support transgender students. This story comes from Them.

The Department of Education is urging the NCAA to strip all transgender athletes from awards and records that they received. The Advocate has this story.

The Department of Defense Education Activity sent a memo to members of the armed services with children in the schools which the agency runs. They are instituting their own form of “Don’t Say Gay” policies, including a ban on material discussing gender identity (which the President refers to as {gender ideology). They also will ban certain books from their school libraries. This story comes from Erin In The Morning.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it will stop enforcing a rule which forbids discrimination against transgender women at homeless shelters. PinkNews has this story.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was told that it would lose its funding if it continued to mention that certain missing or exploited children are transgender. They complied to the demand. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

An article in Mother Jones looks at why so many agencies are agreeing to follow President Trump’s executive orders, even though he does not have the authority to stop funds to them.

A transgender veteran committed suicide by hanging themselves while draped in a transgender pride flag. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Hundreds of drag queens and activists protested at the Kennedy Center. They were reacting to President Trump’s announcement that he was appointing Richard Grenell as the new head of the Kennedy Center. President Trump specifically mentioned drag shows as a reason for replacing the head of the Kennedy Center. The Advocate has this story.

Julia Sweeney has addressed criticism that her Saturday Night Live character, Pat, is transphobic. According to Ms. Sweeney, Pat is not transgender, and does not identify as non-binary. The point of the bit was how other people reacted to not being able to tell if Pat was male or female. This story comes from Them.

Although news reports circulated this week that the Labour party was going to withdraw its promise to update the Gener Recognition Act, the party clarified later in the week that they still intend to update the GRA. PinkNews has this story.

Argentina’s government has announced that it is banning gender affirming care for transgender people under 18. This story comes from PinkNews.

One of Canada’s largest LGBTQ+ groups will no longer come to events in the U.S., due to the Trump administration’s anti-transgender policies. This story can be found through Them.

Last week, we reported that the Human Rights Campaign was laying off 1/5 of their employees. This week, GLSEN, an LGBTQ+ non-profit agency specializing in education, announced that they will lay off 60% of their staff. The Advocate reports that they refer to this as a “restructuring.”

Tags: featured

Category: Transgender Community News