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Mother Jones •

Montana Republicans say no to prosecuting parents for trans care

Five days after President Donald Trump declared “gender ideology” to be “one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse,” Montana’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives killed a bill that would have enshrined much the same idea into state law by criminalizing parents and medical providers.

Montana Senate Bill 164 would have made it a felony for any adult to help transgender children under 16 to gain access to gender-affirming medical care—including hormones, puberty blockers, and surg...
Mother Jones •

He claimed God sent Hitler to create Israel. Now he's speaking at the pro-Israel rally. What?

He claimed God sent Hitler to create Israel. And on Tuesday, he is prominently featured in one of the country’s biggest pro-Israel demonstrations since the conflict began on October 7.

John Hagee, a mainstay in right-wing politics for decades, is reportedly invited to speak on Tuesday at the March for Israel event alongside Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), former CNN personality Van Jones, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). It’s expected to garner an attendance in the tens of thousands and will reintrod...
Mother Jones •

While fallen soldiers returned home, Trump hit the golf course

President Trump’s absence at the dignified transfer of four US servicemen who died during a training exercise in Lithuania is being noticed. While thousands gathered in Lithuania—including the Lithuanian president—to send the soldiers off, our commander in chief was busy (as he has been for over a quarter of his second presidency) playing in his Saudi-backed golf tournament at Mar-a-Lago.

This is not the first time that Trump has missed a dignified transfer—he only attended four out of 96 durin...
Mother Jones •

"We're going to do whatever it takes to keep her safe"

On Susan’s birthday five years ago, her 10-year-old slid a note under her door. Today, she can recite it from memory: “Hey Mom, I wanted to ask, when you talk about me in the future, if you could use he/him or they/them pronouns because she/her pronouns make me really uncomfortable.” Then, “Happy Birthday.”


Susan, the mother of two kids in Connecticut, remembers letting out a deep breath. She had been deeply worried about Kai, her youngest, who had been severely depressed and struggling with...
Mother Jones •

Tesla's hometown has a message for Elon Musk

Across the nation, citizens have been protesting unelected budget-cut overlord Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency”—in part at Tesla auto dealerships, where, this weekend, Musk’s former neighbors in Palo Alto took a stand.

The Bay Area city was home to Musk and his electric vehicle empire for more than a decade. Both have since relocated to Texas, where Musk can draw even bigger paychecks, create his own SpaceX company town, and launch rockets over the Gulf-that-shall-not-be-...
Mother Jones •

Democrats are furious with Chuck Schumer

In the wake of votes by a handful of key Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to pass a GOP-led continuing resolution funding federal operations through the end of September, fissures have expanded within the Democratic Party on how best to counter Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s ongoing assault on government agencies.

The resolution, which cuts non-defense spending by $13 billion and increases defense spending by approximately $6 billion, includes—among other steep cuts—a 57 pe...
Mother Jones •

"Pure ignorance": Veterans slam Trump's trans military ban

Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting transgender members of the armed services.

In 2017, President Trump banned transgender Americans from the military, though with an exception for those already serving. His new order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” goes much further—it bans all transgender service members, stating that the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and...
Mother Jones •

“Dystopian”: Trump issues new order to stamp out trans youth healthcare

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order attempting to sharply curtail access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, up to and including 18-year-olds.

The executive order does not impose an immediate ban on gender-affirming care. Instead, it directs federal agencies to begin taking steps to end gender-affirming treatments for children. By defining “children” as individuals under the age of 19—including 18-year-olds, who exceed the age of majority—the order goes furt...
Mother Jones •

For scientists studying environmental health, Trump's diktats are a slow-moving disaster

Gabriel Filippelli opened up his email inbox on Monday to encounter some unexpected news: a notice that his $300,000 grant from the State Department was no more.

Filippelli is the Chancellor’s Professor of Earth Sciences and executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University. Previously a senior science advisor to the State Department, he has dedicated his career to understanding and improving environmental health. “I work on issues related to pollution and air q...
Mother Jones •

Can the rule of law save the IRA?

In 2022, President Biden and Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, securing over $370 billion for climate infrastructure. According to an oversight report from June 2024, only 12 percent—or $4.4 billion—of the funding had been spent. Biden rushed to “Trump-proof” another $96.7 billion in his last days of office by signing between the government and recipients.

But that preparation may have not been successful.

On day one, Trump countered with an executive order that includes halting fed...
Mother Jones •

“Beyond terrifying”: What it is like being the parent of a trans child with Trump in office

Five years ago Minna Zelch and her then-15-year-old daughter, a transgender student, were elated when the state of Ohio granted her permission to play on her high school softball team. Just weeks later, legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports was introduced in the statehouse. As the only transgender athlete who fit this category, Zelch says, her daughter overnight, “became the face of trans athletes in Ohio.” Now a 20-year-old college student out of state, he...
Mother Jones •

America will pay dearly for the NIH’s mindless war on wokeness and DEI

One Sunday in January, biologist Mark Peifer, a professor at the University of North Carolina’s medical school, got a call from campus police. Rising temperatures in a malfunctioning cold room at his lab had tripped an alarm. Materials he needed for his work—which has furthered the understanding and treatment of colorectal cancer—were in danger of being compromised.

He was able to get the cold room repaired that same day, and had the funding to do so, so the disruption was minimized. But now Pe...
Washington Blade •

Aime Wichtendahl becomes Iowa's first trans legislator

Aime Wichtendahl first made history as the first openly trans woman to be elected to government in the state of Iowa when elected to the Hiawatha City Council. She made history again this Election Day, becoming Iowa’s first trans legislator.

Wichtendahl kept the seat blue by beating Republican opponent John Thompson 52 to 48. She will succeed Art Staed (D), who ran successfully for a state Senate seat, with unanimous support from the Democratic base.
Washington Blade •

More than 35 trans, genderqueer candidates running across U.S.

When Jennifer Williams was collecting signatures for her first political campaign in 2022, people told her, a transgender woman, “I think you would do an awesome job, but you got no chance to win.”


Their hesitancy was not unfounded. Williams won her seat on Trenton, N.J.’s City Council by a single vote.


This round she is running unopposed with broad community support. She attributes this to the fact that she got her job done. “Things have gone so well,” she says, “I think I delivered on ev...
LGBTQ Nation •

Parents across the political spectrum are banding together to save their trans children

Eric Childs says he joined the army because “serving my country was a defense of freedom.” 
“I live in a small town in South Carolina,” he declares in a video while at a shooting range with his son. “I absolutely believe in protecting my rights. And I absolutely love my trans child.”
The video is the first in a series by GRACE – Gender Research Advisory Council and Education – a non-profit founded by trans veteran Alaina Kupec with the goal of reaching across the aisle on transgender rights. The...
Washington Blade •

A trans president? March organizer dares to dream

The fifth annual Transgender Visibility March returned to D.C. on Saturday, Aug. 24. This marked the first time the march has been back in D.C. since the inaugural event in 2019, which featured “Pose” star Angelica Ross and then-Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David. 
The Washington Blade caught up with Hope Giselle-Godsey, executive director of the march, as she got ready for the festivities. 
BLADE: Would you mind telling me a little bit of background about yourself? How did you end u...
Mother Jones •

An epic battle over 1 mile of land in Wisconsin is tearing environmentalists apart

Judge William M. Conley watched as the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line inched toward the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge—a 240,000-acre bird sanctuary through which the fully funded power project lacked the permits to pass. By January 2022, he’d seen enough. It “amounts to little more than an orchestrated trainwreck,” Conley, an Obama-appointed federal judge from the Western District of Wisconsin, wrote in a scathing 23-page opinion that delayed construction.

More than
Mother Jones •

The UK's new study on gender affirming care misses the mark in so many ways

Last month, the UK’s four-year-long review of medical interventions for transgender youth was published. The Cass Review, named after Hilary Cass, a retired pediatrician appointed by the National Health Service to lead the effort, found that “there is not a reliable evidence base” for gender-affirming medicine. As a result, the report concludes, trans minors should generally not be able to access hormone blockers or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and instead should seek psychotherapy. While t
Mother Jones •

Not even a child's death can stop these lawmakers from spewing hate

Trans teen Nex Benedict died after an altercation in the girl’s bathroom of his public high school in Owasso, Oklahoma a bathroom he was required to use because of the state’s 2023 legislation forcing students at public and charter schools to use bathroom and changing facilities that match their biological, sex rather than their identity.

The exact cause of Benedict’s death—which occurred less than 24 hours after he was “jumped” by three other students who, in Benedict’s words, were “beating th
Mother Jones •

A 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed inside his home

The family of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy who was fatally stabbed inside his home in Plainfield, Illinois, is preparing to bury him today. Police have accused the family’s landlord, 71-year-old Joseph Czuba, of stabbing the boy 26 times with a knife, a brutal murder the Justice Department is now investigating as a hate crime.

Wadea’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, also suffered serious injuries after police officials say she was stabbed over a dozen times. According to W
Mother Jones •

The irony of Jewish activists facing anti-LGBTQ backlash for supporting Palestinians

“Mr. President, you care about Jewish people. As a rabbi, I need you to call for a cease-fire right now,” called Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg last week, interrupting Biden at a campaign reception in Minneapolis.

Biden responded with “I think we need a pause.” It was the first time Biden had wavered from his unconditional support for Israel, though he clarified that “a pause means give time to get the prisoners out. Give time.”

Rosenberg, a Reconstructionist rabbi, author, and organizer, is a member
Mother Jones •

Rep. Becca Balint becomes the first Jewish congressperson to back a ceasefire

On Thursday, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) became the first Jewish congressperson to join the congressional call for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. A first-term representative, Balint made history last year as the first woman and LGBTQ person to represent Vermont in Congress.

Her call for a ceasefire comes one week after activists from the Vermont chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace protested outside one of Balint’s campaign events and days after a meeting between Balint and rabbis from Rabbis for Ce
Mother Jones •

Republican senators who ditched their jobs to make a point can't have those jobs back, state court rules

The Supreme Court of Oregon on Thursday ruled that 10 Republican and Independent state senators cannot run for reelection this year. Their transgression? Not showing up for work.

Since 2019, Republicans, Oregon’s minority party, have been staging walkouts to prevent the majority party from passing progressive measures, like a proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and to protest Covid restrictions. The AWOL senators were facing fines of $500 for every day of missed work, but that didn’t
Mother Jones •

16 young people in Montana just won a historic climate lawsuit

A healthy climate is included in your constitutional rights, at least if you live in Montana. On Monday, District Court Judge Kathy Seeley sided with the 16 young plaintiffs who sued Montana three years ago, arguing that its pro–fossil fuels legislation violated their right to a safe environment. Seeley ruled in the case, Held v. Montana, that “plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate as part of the environmental life support
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