Supreme Court sides with parents seeking opt-outs from LGBTQ books in schools 

The Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines Friday ruled in favor of parents in Montgomery County, Md., who sought to opt out their children from instruction that uses books with LGBTQ themes.

It hands another win to religious rights advocates, who have regularly earned the backing of the high court’s conservative majority in a series of high-profile cases. 

Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the six Republican-appointed justices, found the lac...

Trump agenda bill would block Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care

A provision in House Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” passed Thursday would ban Medicaid from covering gender-affirming health care for transgender people of all ages, a last-minute addition to the measure with the potential to upend care for hundreds of thousands of trans Americans. 

An earlier version of the bill would have also barred coverage for transition-related care, but only for minors. House Republican leadership unveiled the change and several others late ...

Supreme Court appears inclined to rule for parents seeking opt-outs for LGBTQ-themed instruction

The Supreme Court appeared inclined Tuesday to side with a group of parents objecting to their school district including books with LGBTQ themes in its elementary school curriculum.

Across more than two hours of arguments, a majority of the justices sympathized with the Montgomery County, Md., parents’ claims that the lack of an opt-out option substantially burdens their First Amendment rights to freely exercise their religion.

“What is the big dea...

West Virginia asks Supreme Court to allow Medicaid to deny coverage for gender-affirming surgery

West Virginia will take its fight over whether its Medicaid program must cover gender-affirming surgeries to the Supreme Court, the state’s Republican attorney general announced Thursday. 

“Once again, the state of West Virginia is going to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said at a news conference in Bridgeport, W.Va. 

The announcement is the latest development in a legal battle that's been ongoing since 2020, when three...

Judge blocks Biden administration’s new transgender health protections

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked enforcement of a new Biden administration rule bolstering health care protections for LGBTQ people, handing a preliminary legal victory to more than a dozen Republican-led states that challenged it in court. 

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in May unveiled a final set of sweeping changes to Section 1557, the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act. The changes, which had been slate...

Texas, Montana sue Biden administration over LGBTQ health protections

Texas and Montana are suing the Biden administration over a new rule that would prohibit state Medicaid programs from banning gender affirming care. 

The lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), filed Monday, asks a federal court to vacate a sweeping final rule aimed at bolstering health care protections against discrimination for gay and transgender people. 

“Through a sweeping new rule promulgated...

Federal judge blocks Biden’s Title IX transgender protections

A federal judge in Texas halted President Biden’s proposed changes to the interpretation of Title IX on Tuesday, which added protections for transgender students. The changes are the subject of multiple lawsuits from GOP attorneys general nationwide.

The Education Department in April unveiled a final set of sweeping changes to Title IX, the civil rights law preventing sex discrimination in schools and education programs that receive government funding. The new rule, which was ...

Transgender care polices in W.Va., NC are discriminatory, judge rules

State health care plans and government-funded insurance programs cannot exclude coverage for gender-affirming medical care, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 to affirm two lower court rulings ordering North Carolina and West Virginia to roll back policies that exclude coverage for gender-affirming care. North Carolina’s state health plan does not cover treatment “in connection with sex changes or modifications and relate...