National
Group demands hormones for trans Georgia inmate
Southern Poverty Law Center threatens lawsuit
(Image public domain)
David Dinielli, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, writes in a letter to Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens that personnel at Valdosta State Prison where Ashley Diamond has been incarcerated since March 2012 have refused to provide her with “constitutionally-required medical treatment in the form of hormones.”
Dinielli notes Diamond has received hormone therapy since she was 17. He writes the Georgia Department of Corrections “abruptly halted” these treatments once she entered the system — in spite of its own policy that mandates “maintenance” of a prisoner’s hormone therapy while in custody.
The Southern Poverty Law Center also claims prison personnel placed Diamond in solitary confinement for more than a week last December for “pretending to be a woman.”
“GDC’s continued refusal to provide necessary medical treatment violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, widely accepted protocol on health care standards in correctional settings, the rules and regulations of the state of Georgia, and GDC’s own internal policies concern ing the treatment of transgender people,” writes Dinielli.
The Southern Poverty Law Center also threatens to take legal action against the Georgia Department of Corrections unless it begins to provide Diamond with “appropriate medical and mental health care relating to her transgender status” by May 30.
“Ashley Diamond has been tortured and the U.S. Constitution does not allow this,” said Dinielli during a Monday conference call with reporters. “Three years of torture is enough.”
Diamond had already filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections before the Southern Poverty Law Center agreed to represent her.
A federal judge in Georgia earlier this month ruled a trans inmate at the same prison in which Diamond is housed had a viable constitutional claim against state corrections officials who had refused to treat her gender-identity disorder. Another federal judge on May 2 ordered the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to provide hormones to a trans woman who had received them since she was 18.
A federal appeals court in 2010 ruled the Florida Department of Corrections’ refusal to provide a trans man hormone treatment while incarcerated violated the Eighth Amendment. Massachusetts prison officials last week told the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that a trans woman serving a life sentence for killing her spouse more than two decades ago does not need taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery.
Janetta Johnson of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, a group that works with low-income trans people who are either in prison or were once incarcerated, told reporters during the Southern Poverty Law Center conference call that she did not have access to hormone treatment while serving her sentence.
She said she and other trans inmates were “constantly mocked and mistreated” while in custody. Johnson added she also suffered emotional and psychological abuse “on the inside” until her May 2012 release.
“It’s common sense to most people that adequate, culturally competent health care for transgender people is so vital, no matter where you are,” she said. “The prison system needs to be held much more accountable.”
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution on Tuesday reported the Georgia Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Federal Government
UPenn erases Lia Thomas’s records as part of settlement with White House
University agreed to ban trans women from women’s sports teams
In a settlement with the Trump-Vance administration announced on Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania will ban transgender athletes from competing and erase swimming records set by transgender former student Lia Thomas.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found the university in violation of Title IX, the federal rights law barring sex based discrimination in educational institutions, by “permitting males to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletics and to occupy women-only intimate facilities.”
The statement issued by University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson highlighted how the law’s interpretation was changed substantially under President Donald Trump’s second term.
“The Department of Education OCR investigated the participation of one transgender athlete on the women’s swimming team three years ago, during the 2021-2022 swim season,” he wrote. “At that time, Penn was in compliance with NCAA eligibility rules and Title IX as then interpreted.”
Jameson continued, “Penn has always followed — and continues to follow — Title IX and the applicable policy of the NCAA regarding transgender athletes. NCAA eligibility rules changed in February 2025 with Executive Orders 14168 and 14201 and Penn will continue to adhere to these new rules.”
Writing that “we acknowledge that some student-athletes were disadvantaged by these rules” in place while Thomas was allowed to compete, the university president added, “We recognize this and will apologize to those who experienced a competitive disadvantage or experienced anxiety because of the policies in effect at the time.”
“Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the university for future generations of female athletes.”
Under former President Joe Biden, the department’s Office of Civil Rights sought to protect against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in education, bringing investigations and enforcement actions in cases where school officials might, for example, require trans students to use restrooms and facilities consistent with their birth sex or fail to respond to peer harassment over their gender identity.
Much of the legal reasoning behind the Biden-Harris administration’s positions extended from the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that sex-based discrimination includes that which is based on sexual orientation or gender identity under Title VII rules covering employment practices.
The Trump-Vance administration last week put the state of California on notice that its trans athlete policies were, or once were, in violation of Title IX, which comes amid the ongoing battle with Maine over the same issue.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition
On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform
Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
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