National
Poll: 6 in 10 Americans oppose ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws
62% of Americans oppose while 37% support it. Respondents who identify as LGBTQ overwhelmingly oppose this type of legislation, at 87%

A new ABC News/Ipsos poll published Sunday found that more than 6 in 10 Americans oppose legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school.
According to ABC News, 62% of Americans oppose such legislation, while 37% support it.
BREAKING: More than six in 10 Americans oppose legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school, according to a new @ABC News/Ipsos poll. https://t.co/Oj7cgglRjj
ā ABC News (@ABC) March 13, 2022
The results found that Republicans are more likely to support legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school, with 61% of GOP identifiers supporting it compared to only 20% of Democrats and 35% of independents.
The polling was conducted within days of the Florida Legislature giving final approval to H.B. 1557, legislation that is titled āParental Rights in Educationā but widely labeled as the Donāt Say Gayā bill, which would bar Florida schools from āinstructionā about sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3 and otherwise not at āage-appropriateā levels.
The ABC News/Ipsos poll found; “Support for this type of legislation increases with age, but doesnāt reach majority support in any age group. Among those 65 and older, 43% support the ban, while it falls to about a third among those under the age of 50.”
ABC News also took note that respondents who identify as LGBTQ overwhelmingly oppose this type of legislation, at 87%. The poll oversampled people who identify as LGBTQ, with their responses then weighted to match their correct proportion in the general population. Among those who do not identify as LGBTQ, a majority (59%) also oppose the legislation.
National
Trump administration sues California over trans student-athletes
Lawsuit claims state policy violates federal law on school sports

President Donald Trump is making good on his threat to punish California officials for allowing transgender female student-athletes to compete with cisgender girls in school sports.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it is suing the stateās Department of Education, claiming Californiaās policy to allow trans students to compete with other girls violates Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. The DOJās suit says Californiaās rules āare not only illegal and unfair but also demeaning, signaling to girls that their opportunities and achievements are secondary to accommodating boys.ā
As the Washington Blade reported in June, this lawsuit follows a warning by the Trump administration to end the trans participation policy within 10 days or face referral to the DOJ as well as the loss of federal education funding.
And California may merely be the first to face legal action, according to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who warned that the 21 other states which permit trans girls to compete in female athletics could also face challenges by the federal government.
āIf you do not comply, youāre next,ā she said in a video posted on the DOJ website. āWe will protect girls in girls sports.ā Bondi was joined by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.Ā
The DOJ suit named Californiaās Education Department and the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports. A spokesperson for the CIF told the Associated Press the organization would not comment on pending litigation.
A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom deferred to the CIF and the Department of Education in declining to comment on the lawsuit since the governor was not named a defendant. But Newsomās office told the AP that the Trump administrationās attacks on its policies protecting transgender athletes are āa cynical attemptā to distract from the federal governmentās withholding of funds for all students who benefit from after-school and summer programs.
Newsom, however, has come under criticism ā most notably by the Human Rights Campaign ā for remarks he made in March, that allowing transgender athletes to compete in womenās sports was ādeeply unfair,ā as the Blade reported.Ā
For more than a decade, California law has allowed students to participate in sex-segregated school programs, including on sports teams, and use bathrooms and other facilities that align with their gender identity.
But headlines about AB Hernandez, an out trans female high school student-athlete who won titles in the California track-and-field championships last month, drew condemnations from Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, and President Trump himself.Ā
Following the meet, Dhillon wrote in a letter to the California Interscholastic Federation that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by allowing trans girls to compete against other female athletes.
As for the lawsuit, DOJ claims Californiaās policies āignore undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favor of an amorphous āgender identity.āā
āThe results of these illegal policies are stark: girls are displaced from podiums, denied awards, and miss out on critical visibility for college scholarships and recognition,ā the suit says.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases challenging state bans on trans student-athletes, as the Blade reported. More than 20 states have limited trans girls from participating on girls sports teams, barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors and required parents to be notified if a child changes their pronouns at school. More than two dozen states have laws barring trans women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Challenges to some of those policies are still being decided by courts across the country.Ā
Back in February, the president signed an executive order that bans trans girls and women from participating in sports that match their gender identity, as the Blade reported.
Supporters of banning trans girls and women from competing include the conservative California Family Council, which has posted a petition online, arguing a ban would restore fairness in athletic competitions. Opponents like Equality California say bans are an attack on transgender youth.
āLocal schools and athletic associations are the ones who should be handling these issues, and they are already creating policies that protect transgender youth and ensure a level playing field for all students. A federal ban that overrides those rules could require young girls to answer inappropriate personal questions or even be subjected to genital inspections by strangers if they want to participate in sports,ā the organization said in a statement in February.
āThe head of the NCAA, himself a former Republican Governor, recently told a U.S. Senate panel that he knew of less than 10 out transgender athletes among the 510,000 currently competing in college sportsāless than .002 percent of all NCAA athletes.
āStudies confirm that participation in sports provides kids with invaluable life skills such as teamwork, leadership, discipline, and cooperationāfundamental lessons that every young person deserves the chance to experience. Beyond the field, sports also contribute significantly to studentsā overall well-being, fostering better mental health, boosting academic performance, and enhancing self-esteem and confidence.ā
Federal Government
Treasury Department has a gay secretary but LGBTQ staff are under siege
Agency reverses course on LGBTQ inclusion under out Secretary Scott Bessent

A former Treasury Department employee who led the agencyās LGBTQ employee resource group says the removal of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) from its discrimination complaint forms was merely a formalization of existing policy shifts that had already taken hold following the second inauguration of President Donald Trump and his appointment of Scott Bessent ā who is gay ā to lead the agency.
Christen Boas Hayes, who served on the policy team at Treasuryās Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from 2020 until March of this year, told the Washington Blade during a phone interview last week that the agency had already stopped processing internal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints on the basis of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
“So the way that the forms are changing is a procedural recognition of something thatās already happening,” said Hayes. “Internally, from speaking to two EEO staff members, the changes are already taking place from an EEO perspective on what kind of cases will be found to have the basis for a complaint.”
The move, they said, comes amid the deterioration of support structures for LGBTQ workers at the agency since the administration’s early rollout of anti-LGBTQ executive orders, which led to āa trickle down effect of how each agency implements those and on what timeline,ā decisions ātypically made by the assistant secretary of management’s office and then implemented by the appropriate offices.ā
At the end of June, a group of U.S. House Democrats including several out LGBTQ members raised alarms after a Federal Register notice disclosed Treasuryās plans to revise its complaint procedures. Through the agencyās Office of Civil Rights and EEO, the agency would eliminate SOGI as protected categories on the forms used by employees to initiate claims of workplace discrimination.
But Hayes’s account reveals that the paperwork change followed months of internal practice, pursuant to a wave of layoffs targeting DEI personnel and a chilling effect on LGBTQ organizing, including through ERGs.Ā
Hayes joined Treasuryās FinCEN in 2020 as the agency transitioned into the Biden-Harris administration, working primarily on cryptocurrency regulation and emerging technologies until they accepted a ādeferred resignationā offer, which was extended to civil servants this year amid drastic staffing cuts.
āIt was two things,ā Hayes said. āOne was the fact that the policy work that I was very excited about doing was going to change in nature significantly. The second part was that the environment for LGBTQ staff members was increasingly negative after the release of the executive orders,ā especially for trans and nonbinary or gender diverse employees.
āAt the same time,ā Hayes added, āhaving been on the job for four years, I also knew this year was the year that I would leave Treasury. I was a good candidate for [deferred resignation], because I was already planning on leaving, but the pressures that emerged following the change in administration really pushed me to accelerate that timeline.ā
Some ERGs die by formal edict, others by a thousand cuts
Hayes became involved with the Treasury LGBTQ ERG shortly after joining the agency in 2020, when they reached out to the groupās then-president ā āwho also recently took the deferred resignation.ā
āShe said that because of the pressure that ERGs had faced under the first Trump administration, the group was rebuilding, and I became the president of the group pretty quickly,ā Hayes said. āThose pressures have increased in the second Trump administration.ā
One of the previous ERG board members had left the agency after encountering what Hayes described as āexplicitly transphobicā treatment from supervisors during his gender transition. āHis supervisors denied him a promotion,ā and, āimportantly, he did not have faith in the EEO complaint processā to see the issues with discrimination resolved, Hayes said. āAnd so he decided to just leave, which was, of course, such a loss for Treasury and our Employee Resource Group and all of our employees at Treasury.ā
The umbrella LGBTQ ERG that Hayes led included hundreds of members across the agency, they said, and was complemented by smaller ERGs at sub-agencies like the IRS and FinCEN ā several of which, Hayes said, were explicitly told to cease operations under the new administration.
Hayes did not receive any formal directive to shutter Treasuryās ERG, but described an āimplicitā messaging campaign meant to shut down the groupās activities without issuing anything in writing.
āThe suggestion was to stop emailing about anything related to the employee resource group, to have meetings outside of work hours, to meet off of Treasury’s campus, and things like that,ā they said. āSo obviously that contributes to essentially not existing functionally. Because whereas we could have previously emailed our members comfortably to announce a happy hour or a training or something like that, now they have to text each other personally to gather, which essentially makes it a defunct group.ā
Internal directories scrubbed, gender-neutral restrooms removed
Hayes said the dismantling of DEI staff began almost immediately after the executive orders. Employees whose position descriptions included the terms ādiversity, equity, and inclusionā were āon the chopping block,ā they said. āThat may differ from more statutorily mandated positions in the OMWI office or the EEO office.ā
With those staff gone, so went the infrastructure that enabled ERG programming and community-building. āThe people that made our employee resource group events possible were DEI staff that were fired. And so, it created an immediate chilling effect on our employee resource group, and it also, of course, put fear into a lot of our membersā hearts over whether or not we would be able to continue gathering as a community or supporting employees in a more practical way going forward. And it was just, really ā it was really sad.ā
Hayes described efforts to erase the ERGs from internal communication channels and databases. āThey also took our information off internal websites so nobody could find us as lawyers went through the agency’s internal systems to scrub DEI language and programs,ā they said.
Within a week, Hayes said, the administration had removed gender-neutral restrooms from Main Treasury, removed third-gender markers from internal databases and forms, and made it more difficult for employees with nonbinary IDs to access government buildings.
ā[They] made it challenging for people with X gender markers on identification documents to access Treasury or the White House by not recognizing their gender marker on the TWAVES and WAVES forms.ā
LGBTQ staff lack support and work amid a climate of isolation
The changes have left many LGBTQ staff feeling vulnerable ā not only because of diminished workplace inclusion, but due to concerns about job security amid the administrationās reductions in force (RIFs).
āPlenty of people are feeling very stressed, not only about retaining their jobs because of the layoffs and pending questions around RIFs, but then also wondering if they will be included in RIF lists because they’re being penalized somehow for being out at work,ā Hayes said. āPeople wonder if their name will be given, not because they’re in a tranche of billets being laid off, but because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.ā
In the absence of functional ERGs, Hayes said, LGBTQ employees have been cut off from even informal networks of support.
āEmployees [are] feeling like it’s harder to find members of their own community because thereās no email anymore to ask when the next event is or to ask about navigating healthcare or other questions,ā they said. āIf there is no ERG to go to to ask for support for their specific issue, that contributes to isolation, which contributes to a worse work environment.ā
Hayes said they had not interacted directly with Secretary Bessent, but they and others observed a shift from the previous administration. āIt is stark to see that our first āoutā secretary did not host a Pride event this year,ā they said. āFor the last three years we’ve flown the rainbow Pride flag above Treasury during Pride. And it was such a celebration among staff and Secretary Yellen and the executive secretary’s office were super supportive.ā
āEmployees notice changes like that,” they added. “Things like the fact that the Secretary’s official bio says āspouseā instead of āhusband.ā It makes employees wonder if they too should be fearful of being their full selves at work.ā
The Blade contacted the Treasury Department with a request for comment outlining Hayesās allegations, including the removal of inclusive infrastructure, the discouragement of ERG activity, the pre-formalization of EEO policy changes, and the targeting of DEI personnel. As of publication, the agency has not responded.
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court to consider bans on trans athletes in school sports
27 states have passed laws limiting participation in athletics programs

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear two cases involving transgender youth challenging bans prohibiting them from participating in school sports.
In Little v. Hecox, plaintiffs represented by the ACLU, Legal Voice, and the law firm Cooley are challenging Idaho’s 2020 ban, which requires sex testing to adjudicate questions of an athlete’s eligibility.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals described the process in a 2023 decision halting the policy’s enforcement pending an outcome in the litigation. The “sex dispute verification process, whereby any individual can ādisputeā the sex of any female student athlete in the state of Idaho,” the court wrote, would “require her to undergo intrusive medical procedures to verify her sex, including gynecological exams.”
In West Virginia v. B.P.J., Lambda Legal, the ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, and Cooley are representing a trans middle school student challenging the Mountain State’s 2021 ban on trans athletes.
The plaintiff was participating in cross country when the law was passed, taking puberty blockers that would have significantly reduced the chances that she could have a physiological advantage over cisgender peers.
āLike any other educational program, school athletic programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLUās LGBTQ and HIV Project. “Trans kids play sports for the same reasons their peers doĀ ā to learn perseverance, dedication, teamwork, and to simply have fun with their friends,ā Block said.
He added, āCategorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth. We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play.”
āOur client just wants to play sports with her friends and peers,ā said Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Tara Borelli. āEveryone understands the value of participating in team athletics, for fitness, leadership, socialization, and myriad other benefits.”
Borelli continued, “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last April issued a thoughtful and thorough ruling allowing B.P.J. to continue participating in track events. That well-reasoned decision should stand the test of time, and we stand ready to defend it.ā
Shortly after taking control of both legislative chambers, Republican members of Congress tried ā unsuccessfully ā to pass a national ban like those now enforced in 27 states since 2020.
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