NEW YORK -- Immigrants held in crowded Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers are extremely vulnerable to the spread of infectious diseases including COVID-19, and the risks can be especially high for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people.

The Free Them All Campaign is a joint effort by immigrants' rights groups across the country. It has called for the release of everyone in immigration detention to reduce the risk of the deadly virus spreading among the detainees.

Ian Zdanowicz, co-director of the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, said discrimination and harassment faced by those in the LGBTQIA community magnify those risks.

"They go through sexual violence on a daily basis," Zdanowicz said. "Trans women are housed in solitary confinement for weeks, sometimes months, sometimes years."

Q-DEP works to find pro-bono lawyers for LGBTQIA detainees and finds them sponsors to help expedite their release on parole or bond.

Zdanowicz noted that detainees living with HIV are in the high-risk category for infection and death from COVID, and detention centers have a poor track record for providing medical care.

"We hear too many stories about them not having access to their medication, sometimes for months," he said. "And very often people are not provided HIV tests inside of detention."

The Free Them All campaign is working with lawyers to secure the release of detainees living with HIV as soon as possible.

Those efforts have been getting results. Zdanowicz said before the COVID pandemic, they had 160 members in immigration detention. That number has been reduced to 60. And, he added, they continue to get assistance once they're released.

"We provide post-relief support to folks who are eligible for free housing in New York City," he said. "We also connect people with medical care; we have mental-health and healing-support programs."

He said releasing immigrants from detention also frees up taxpayer dollars for the fight against a public health crisis that continues to grow in many parts of the country.


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Earlier this spring, Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed a GOP-authored bill banning transgender girls from school sports. Now, Holcomb's own party is poised to override the veto and force the bill into law next week.

Chris Paulsen, CEO of Indiana Youth Group, said her organization has resources for transgender teens who may be facing mental-health difficulties because of the bill and its surrounding political rhetoric, including one-on-one counseling and peer-to-peer support groups.

"They can choose which group they feel comfortable in," Paulsen explained. "We have a trans and nonbinary discussion group, we have a queer and trans people-of-color group, and then there's groups that just allow youths to relax and feel good about themselves."

Republican leaders say they will use next Tuesday's Technical Corrections Day to override Holcomb's veto. According to its authors, the bill aims to guarantee fair play in school sports.

In his veto message, Holcomb pushed back against the assertion, essentially writing the bill was attempting to address a nonexistent issue and could open the state to lawsuits.

Indiana's bill is part of a nationwide wave of such measures, as 16 states have enacted laws banning trans students from sports.

Paulsen pointed to data from the Trevor Project indicating even the introduction of such bills can have serious impacts on trans kids' mental health.

"Statistics say that 85% of trans and nonbinary teens will be negatively impacted by just the bill being heard, and we're seeing that," Paulsen pointed out. "We're trying to support those youths by letting them know they are valued, and their identities are real, and we see them as they are."

While the Indiana Youth Group is based in Indianapolis, Paulsen said the organization provides remote support to students across the state via its Virtual IYG program.

New Mexico and 18 other states have announced plans to introduce legislation they say will be needed to protect transgender kids from civil and criminal penalties when seeking gender-affirming care.

The proactive response follows proposed legislation in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Alabama and other states criminalizing such care.

Havens Levitt, chair of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of New Mexico, said the dehumanizing language increasingly used to describe trans students takes a toll on kids' mental health.

"It's really heartbreaking to know that students hear some of the incredibly hateful things that are being said about them from adults," Levitt explained. "When our students in New Mexico hear those things, I know that it impacts them."

At a news conference in California last week, a coalition of LGBTQ legislators, health providers and civil-rights groups, including representatives from New Mexico, announced plans to pass laws to provide safe havens for trans youths and their families.

For nearly 20 years, New Mexico has had a law to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Three years ago, legislators also passed the "Safe Schools for All Students Act" which required schools to enact anti-bullying policies. Nonetheless, Levitt noted some areas of the state could use more resources to keep students safe.

"Transgender people have incredibly high rates of suicide attempt and completion," Levitt pointed out. "That just contributes to that sense of not belonging and not having the right to live the way they want to live and be who they want to be."

Upon taking office, President Joe Biden reversed several anti-LGBTQ executive orders issued under President Donald Trump, but Levitt worries with the new attacks, the fight for civil rights is not over.

"There's so many things happening right now that feel like we're going to live in this universe of two Americas," Levitt lamented. "It feels like we're going to be playing defense for I don't know how long, but it's definitely not very comfortable."

There were more than 300 bills introduced targeting the LGBTQ community nationwide in 2022, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Silence? Yes. Inaction? No. Today marks the annual Day of Silence, led by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, to raise awareness about the discrimination and harassment LGBTQ+ students face in schools.

Hundreds of anti-trans bills have been introduced across the nation in 2022 alone, including in Missouri.

Katy Erker-Lynch, executive director of PROMO Missouri, noted one bill the Legislature is considering would prohibit gender-affirming health care for trans children, and another would ban transgender girls from participating in girls' sports.

"It's not really about saving women's sports," Erker-Lynch asserted. "It's about discrimination. So it's really, 'OK, can we ban kids from athletics? Can we ban kids from health care?' And the question that really begs, is whether LGBTQ+ people should be treated fairly across all areas of life."

Last week, the Missouri House advanced the school sports bill by including it in a separate bill on how elections are run. Missouri is also among the states introducing legislation similar to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which prohibits including topics around gender identity and sexual orientation in school curricula.

In addition to being discriminatory, Erker-Lynch added the health care bill represents a gross misunderstanding about what gender-affirming care really is. According to psychologists and pediatricians, it starts with mental health care, and can include treatments like puberty- or hormone-blockers.

But despite language in the bill regarding surgeries for minors, it's not the care trans kids get, experts maintained. Whether to undergo a gender confirmation surgery is a decision they make as adults.

"The fact of the matter is denying best practice medical care and support to transgender youth can be life-threatening," Erker-Lynch asserted. "Politicians are playing a really dangerous game with the health care and mental wellness of trans youth."

She pointed to studies showing this type of care saves lives. Trans and nonbinary youth experience anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation at far higher rates than their cisgender peers.