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.

Advocates for Michigan's LGBTQ community are calling lawmakers' move to expand the state's civil rights law to include them a victory that's "been a long time coming."

The measure, Senate Bill 4, turns a series of court rulings into codified law, giving protections from bias based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

Tracy Hall, executive director of OutFront Kalamazoo, a community resource center, said that because the state's Democrat-controlled Legislature put the law on the books, LGBTQ rights can't easily be undone.

"We had a court ruling, we had local ordinances - but now, we actually have field protections in our state statute that do protect us when it comes to hiring and firing, public accommodations and housing," she said, "and these are big things."

Michigan joins 22 other states and Washington, D.C., to extend basic civil rights to the LGBTQ community. It was approved 64-45 in the House, and immediately signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Most but not all Republicans opposed the legislation, calling it a threat to religious freedom.

Halls said previous attempts to pass LGBTQ-rights legislation have stalled in Republican-controlled legislatures. She said the rising conservative tide that is pushing anti-transgender measures in other states makes the new Michigan law even more important.

"It's a huge deal, and especially in a time where you see anti-LGBTQ laws all over the country," she said. "So, for Michigan to stand out like that, it means the world to me."

According to Equality Michigan, more than 30 groups across the state advocate for the rights of LGBTQ citizens. Hall said her group, OutFront Kalamazoo, serves as both a gathering place and a community resource.

"We are an LGBTQIA community/resource center, and we provide programs, services, support groups, we put on events," she said. "I try to, and I think our team tries to, make this that 'safe space.'"

A new study from the University of New Hampshire found New England's LGBTQ+ residents experience higher rates of food insufficiency, the measure of whether a household generally has enough food to eat, than other people.

Research shows the overall food insufficiency rate in New England is more than 7%, yet it is nearly double for LGBTQ+ residents, and nearly triple for transgender people.

Isaac Leslie, extension assistant professor of community development at the University of Vermont who was a research associate at the University of New Hampshire, said while New England has a lower food insufficiency rate compared to the rest of the U.S., the study showed not everyone has the same advantage.

"Poverty and systemic discrimination are really at the center of the story here," Leslie asserted. "You see that reflected in food insufficiency rates."

Leslie noted researchers used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, which in 2021, became one of the first national surveys to include measures of gender identity and sexuality.

LGBTQ+ New Englanders of color experience even higher rates of food insufficiency, with one in three Black transgender New Englanders not having enough food to eat in the past week. Researchers found LGBTQ+ people may be eligible for food assistance programs but feel unsafe providing detailed documents to enroll.

Leslie pointed out there are clear examples of systemic discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, even in progressive New England.

"And you don't find those until you start looking underneath the hood at rates like food insufficiency," Leslie explained.

Leslie added the findings suggest policymakers should address the ways in which racism and discrimination create an ongoing food crisis for LGBTQ+ New Englanders, especially those who are people of color. The findings are published in the journal Agriculture and Human Values.

Both chambers of the Maryland legislature have passed a bill that would require the state's Medicaid program to cover gender affirming care.

While some gender affirming treatments are currently covered by Medicaid, the Trans Health Equity Act would expand coverage to all forms of gender affirming treatment that are consistent with current clinical standards.

Last year - the Williams Institute at the University of California, LA - estimated there are 24,000 Transgender Marylanders.

The legislation was introduced in the House by state Del. Anne Kaiser - D-Montgomery County - and she said she sees it as telling Trans Marylanders they are part of the community.

"I like to think," said Kaiser, "that this legislation tells trans Marylanders, as I said at the hearing on Valentine's Day, 'We love you, you are welcome here, you are our neighbors, you're our friends, you belong, you're welcome' - which is obviously quite different from what is happening in some other states."

An amendment put forward on Friday by state Del. Mark Fisher - R-Calvert County - would have prevented Medicaid from providing gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, to qualified patients under age 18.

Supporters of the amendment believe the science surrounding puberty blockers is not settled, but the amendment was rejected after an hour of debate.

The current standard of care in medicine including in Maryland allows children to access gender affirming care with the approval of parents and doctors.

Each bill will now be considered by the opposite chamber before going to the governor.

A similar bill passed the Senate last year but failed in the House. This time around supporters include Gov. Wes Moore - who, Kaiser said, is in favor of the measure.

"The governor spoke in favor of this legislation by name during the campaign and put out supportive documentation at the time," said Kaiser. "I spoke with his staff at the time and so we've connected with him now he's ready to sign the bill into law. "

If signed into law, the bill would take effect October 1.





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