National
Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation launches fund to support transgender community
In addition to grant funding, the TransPLUS Initiative will seek to amplify voices of TGNCNB leaders and build greater public awareness of the community’s socio-economic and political challenges.

In response to what it calls the unprecedented challenges facing transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary (“TGNCNB”) members of the LGBTQ+ community, the Connecticut-based Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation has announced the launch of its new TransPLUS initiative. The program is intended to provide financial and other support for organizations and individuals whose work focuses on those most impacted in the current political and cultural environment.
“The name is very deliberate,” said Foundation Trustee Robyn Schlesinger, who will be spearheading the initiative. “We seek to emPower the TGNCNB community, and we believe that every Trans Life Matters. We know that we are strongest when we are Unified, and—now more than ever—we must prioritize the Safety of our community by responding to hate with radical love.”
In addition to grant funding, the TransPLUS Initiative will seek to amplify voices of TGNCNB leaders and build greater public awareness of the community’s socio-economic and political challenges. “We are all fortunate to be growing in our understanding of the nuanced, socialized, and evolving experiences of gender identity and expression,” said Executive Director Colin Hosten, “especially as they intersect with racial and economic justice.”
Through its Community Grant fund, the Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation has already awarded grants to a number of Trans-led and Trans-focused organizations, such as the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project and Power Safe Resource Center of Virginia. The TransPLUS Initiative aims to provide dedicated support to many more organizations, and has already identified its first recipient: The Sam and Devorah Foundation for Transgender Youth will receive a multi-year grant to support its unique Trans Mentorship Program that pairs TGNCNB youth and young adults with trained and supervised TGNCNB mentors.
“We felt it was time to step up, as more and more of our transgender friends were being singled out for discrimination and abuse,” said Founding Trustee Elliot Leonard. “I am grateful to Robyn for leading this effort, and look forward to helping to recognize the neediest fund recipients, as well as supporting the most impactful programs for the community.”
“Hopefully this will only inspire more individuals and organizations to do what they can to support our trans family in this time of urgent need,” added Trustee Andrew Mitchell-Namdar.
The Leonard Litz LGBTQ+ Foundation is committed to helping LGBTQ+ people achieve their full potential by funding organizations working in advocacy, programming, and service on behalf of our community, particularly in the areas of Health and Wellness, Crisis Intervention, Racial Justice, Advocacy and Community Engagement, and Social Assistance and Programming.
Learn more about the Leonard Litz TransPLUS Initiative at www.leonardlitz.org/
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.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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