An estimated 5% of LGBTQ+ youth are subjected to conversion therapy, the widely discredited practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, according to The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People. Approximately 27% of these youths also attempted suicide over the past year.

While numerous scientific studies on conversion therapy repeatedly show that the pseudoscientific form of emotional abuse substantially increases the suicidality of those who undergo it, the numbers don’t explain why that is. But there is a substantial body of research that explains the link.

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To learn more, LGBTQ Nation spoke with Dr. Jonah DeChants, a senior research scientist at The Trevor Project who specializes in queer youth mental health, and Lorin Pritts, LMFT, a pansexual nonbinary licensed psychotherapist who has counseled survivors of conversion therapy. (Full disclosure: Pritts is also the author’s therapist.)

Why the young are especially susceptible to conversion therapy

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Adolescence is a very stressful time, DeChants says, because it’s a critical period when one starts to figure out their own identity and social roles and understand how those differ from family members, peers, and their expectations. During this period, adolescents are often susceptible to peer influence and dependent on adult approval.

This approval is important both because humans are naturally wired for social connections and because young people are so dependent on a connection to their parents to meet their survival needs, like housing, food, safety, financial support, emotional support, and other kinds of support, Pritts says. Because the need for survival is much stronger than one’s need for authenticity, Pritts added, a young person may be more receptive to messages from anti-LGBTQ+ caregivers or authority figures, even if they conflict with one’s internal sense of self.

Dr. DeChants calls conversion therapy “a very, very intense form” or “dose” of discrimination and invalidation because it often occurs in intimate therapeutic, home, or religious settings from adult “caregivers” or authorities who mix proclamations of love and healing with messages that one should feel bad about one’s “wrong” and “immoral” internal identity and must change it because it will harm one’s health, cause familial rejection, wreck future chances of happiness, and even damn one’s soul.

“Any kind of therapy that basically starts with the premise of ‘There is something wrong with you that needs to be fixed or repressed,’ can be really harmful,” Pritts says. The ultimate goal of conversion therapy, they added, is to get clients to internalize another person’s morality, whether from a family’s cultural mindset or a religious system.

To accomplish this, conversion therapists primarily use aversion therapy, which negatively associates any expressions of same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria with physical or psychological pain; repression, which encourages suppression of one’s unwanted thoughts and behaviors; or sublimation, which transfers one’s own natural inclinations onto acceptable substitutes (like refocusing homosexual attraction into gender-stereotyped behaviors aligned with how a man or woman “should” act).

The difference between a client’s internal experiences and a counselor’s preferred morality creates “cognitive dissonance,” mental discomfort from holding two or more contradictory beliefs simultaneously, Pritts says. For example, a client might experience cognitive dissonance if they feel that their gender identity is naturally inborn while also being told that it’s a mental illness and a sin.

A pre-teen who is just starting to explore their identity may be more affected by a conversion therapist’s anti-LGBTQ+ messaging than a 30-year-old who has been out for years, Pritts says, because a young person’s mind is more mentally pliable and less self-assured than an adult whose sense of self has been reinforced by supportive and loving relationships.

Living within a disapproving family and community can also make it harder for kids to maintain support systems, DeChants says, since strict rules and threats of cutting off support can destabilize a child’s ability to make friends, pursue social interests, navigate an independent future (by going to college, for example), and access LGBTQ+-affirming messages.

Though the internet and media are filled with positive depictions of LGBTQ+ people and refutations of conversion therapy’s harmful, unscientific, and ineffective methods, DeChants’ previous work with young people showed him that “families who don’t accept their child’s LGBTQ+ identity will go to extraordinary lengths to isolate the child” so that they’re forbidden or shamed from accessing such media or deliberately kept away from supportive family, friends or LGBTQ+ community members, he says.

This essentially shrinks a young person’s world and can even make them distrustful of messaging that affirms their queer identities, he added.

The isolating effects of cognitive dissonance

Conversion therapy almost immediately causes young people to stop trusting themselves and their own internal sense of what feels right, Pritts says. This creates inner ambivalence and compels clients to begin “gaslighting themselves,” as they increasingly convince themselves that whatever feels good or natural (like physical closeness with members of the same sex) is actually wrong and immoral.

Even if a conversion therapy survivor goes on to marry a spouse of the opposite sex, have children, and receive praise for this and other associated social roles, they may still end up feeling isolated, inauthentic, and disconnected to both themselves and those around them; experiencing the long-term cognitive dissonance of living in a life that doesn’t really feel like their own.

“What winds up happening when we’re in that very dissonant state, is we wind up having a well-curated mask…. Even if you’re getting that affirmation, even if you’re surrounded by people who quote-unquote ‘love you,’ they don’t really know who you are,” Pritts says. “There’s a sense oftentimes that … if ‘those people’ knew who you really were, they wouldn’t love you … So [survivors’] sense of worth is often really, really low and … very dependent on them being a very specific thing.”

Survivors of conversion therapy often report lower levels of life satisfaction, Pritts says, both because they retain a feeling that there’s something fundamentally flawed about themselves and because they’re not forming genuine connections with others based on their actual selves. Survivors can often feel that the social isolation they feel is their fault, which can begin a distressing cycle of shame that can lead to even greater isolation and, in turn, even more shame.

Studies have shown that the extreme stress of prolonged cognitive dissonance has detrimental long-term consequences on mental health, shrinking the brain’s gray matter (that is, the neuron cells on the brain’s surface) and impairing one’s cognitive abilities, including attention and communication.

Conversion therapy inflicts lasting psychological damage

Even if a person leaves conversion therapy and the adults who subjected them to it, they may continue to carry an internal sense of shame and wrongness, especially living in a world that inflicts violence upon LGBTQ+ people, DeChants says.

Because of its abusive methods, conversion therapy survivors often also experience symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), Pritts says. While PTSD is often caused by a single, acute event (like an assault), CPTSD results from prolonged, repeated, and often interpersonal trauma (like continual abuse).

CPTSD can make its sufferers experience high anxiety, low self-esteem, hypervigilance, disassociation from one’s own body, emotional dysregulation, toxic self-shame, a lack of joy, increased hopelessness and despair, difficulty sustaining emotionally intimate relationships, as well as an increase in self-destructive behaviors (like addictions and suicidality). These symptoms worsen, Pritts says, depending on the harshness and frequency of a conversion therapist’s methods.

Over time, the continued depression and anxiety caused by cognitive dissonance — combined with low self-worth, isolating feelings of inauthenticity, drug abuse, and hopelessness — can drive someone to attempt suicide.

“The impact of being told by your loved ones and or a trusted professional that you need to change and that you should feel ashamed about who you are doesn’t magically turn off when you’re 18 or when you move to the big city,” DeChants says, adding that rising costs and a worsening economy put moving and college out of reach for many young people.

CPTSD symptoms can be significantly worsened by religious aspects of conversion therapy, which teach that one is constantly monitored by a vengeful, disapproving, and omnipotent authority figure and that one’s natural inclinations or common flaws are immoral sins that reduce a person’s inherent worth.

This religious trauma can also take time to resolve, Pritts says. As a therapist who has counseled cult survivors, Pritts says, “The first step is getting out of the cult, and the second step is getting the cult out of you.”

After Pritts themselves left the Jehovah’s Witness cult that they were raised in, they found it was easy to let go of some beliefs, like that every non-cult aspect of their life was a sin, but found it much more difficult to let go of other ingrained views, like an internalized sense of perfectionism or the sense of duty to evangelize people about right and wrong.

Supportive relationships are the key to recovering from CPTSD

Psychologists have long wondered why different people may respond in vastly different ways to trauma, including those inflicted by conversion therapy, Pritts says. While some conversion therapy survivors may internalize its harmful messages and struggle with deep angst, others may seem to more easily disregard them and go on happily fulfilling their queer identity.

It’s unclear whether people develop greater internal and mental resilience against negative messaging and cognitive dissonance due to inherited genetic traits hard-coded in familial DNA or because they learned it from their own parents and caregivers.

Pritts says that one’s resilience to conversion therapy could depend on “protective factors,” that is, individual, family, and community strengths that enhance resilience, helping people navigate stressors and reducing the risk of mental health challenges. These factors can include a strong, secure attachment style instilled during one’s formative infant years, strong social connections with supportive adults and peers, effective coping skills, stable environments away from home, and personal emotional regulation.

One can heal from CPTSD in many ways, including working with a trauma-informed and queer competent therapist, revisiting formative experiences to understand how they changed one’s thoughts and behaviors, replacing self-defeating thoughts and behaviors with more empowering ones, and reconnecting the mind-body association by physically expressing repressed emotions (like grief, anger, anxiety, and joy) through activities like exercise, stage performance, or bodywork.

However, Pritts believes that strong relationships can be the most effective form of healing. Sometimes, early in therapy with newer clients, they encourage them to make friends with people who affirm and care about an aspect of themselves they’re struggling with, so the client has a supportive community.

“People who have undergone horrific things, once they get to a safe place, a lot of healing can happen really quickly,” Pritts told LGBTQ Nation. “A lot of this happens outside of therapy… If you’re having an hour a week of protective time, even if that therapist is amazing, but all the rest of your time is invalidating or lacks affirmation, it’s going to be much more difficult to make change.”

“It’s about building those [strong, affirming] connections first that take precedence over hard therapeutic work, because people need protective factors to start doing that hard therapeutic work,” Pritts adds.

DeChants agrees, saying, “Our research also shows that … having an adult who does accept you and supports you is one of our key factors associated with better mental health and lower suicide risk.”

Conversion therapy hurts, no matter what the government says

It’s especially important to understand the harms of conversion therapy now, both DeChants and Pritts agree, since the federal government is pushing so-called “gender exploratory therapy” as a form of conversion therapy on transgender youth. A recent Supreme Court ruling may also one day overturn state prohibitions on licensed mental health professionals offering conversion therapy

This, combined with the government’s and right-wing Christian conservatives’ hostility against trans people, is destroying trans people’s sense of safety and discouraging them from fully expressing their gender identities, Pritts says.

“Right now, we’re seeing it with the trans community: A lot more people are, quote-unquote ‘going stealth’ and de-transitioning because, for them, the visceral threat to their survival is more critical than whatever self-actualization might come from being [trans] itself,” Pritts commented.

However, DeChants feels hopeful that right-wing attempts to normalize conversion therapy into the mainstream will be unsuccessful.

“The science shows that gender-affirming care can have very positive effects on folks’ mental health, and that conversion therapy can have disastrous effects on their mental health. There is no true scientific debate about either of those statements, really,” DeChants says.

“Now we have political leaders and bureaucratic political appointees who want us to reject that science and want us to accept their version of what they believe to be true, and that is very challenging, for me as a scientist,” he says, “[because] they don’t have good studies, they don’t have evidence in the same way, and so they have to impose this through political and bureaucratic means.”

“This is the rejecting of decades of scientific inquiry and evidence in favor of unsupported beliefs, some of which seem to have political origins and some of which seem to have religious origins, but are not backed up by a process of inquiry, data collection, and analysis.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. The Trans Lifeline (1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth via chat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.

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President Donald Trump swore, threatened to commit war crimes in Iran, and wrote “Praise be to Allah” (invoking the Arabic term for God in Islam) in an unhinged Easter morning post published on his social media network, Truth Social.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F**kin’ Strait, you crazy bast**ds, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he wrote.

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Trump’s comments show his increasing desperation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for transporting petroleum and other products affecting the world economy — now 36 days into the illegal war he and Israel started in Iran. Iran has used mines and drones to attack ships passing through the strait, gradually increasing oil and food prices worldwide and sinking Trump’s approval ratings in the United States.

Threatening to intentionally attack civilian infrastructure is considered a war crime under international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions.

Numerous web commenters noted that if other politicians, like former President Barack Obama or New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, wrote a similar message praising the Islamic God on a major Christian holiday, religious right-wing conservatives would likely be in an uproar.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy – a former reality TV and Fox News personality – had a bizarre interaction at a congressional hearing where he said he didn’t even know how many air traffic controllers have left the workforce this year.

“Can you tell this committee how many air traffic controllers have left the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] since January 20, 2025?” Rep. Hank Johnson Jr (D-GA) asked Duffy at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee yesterday. “Please don’t tell me you don’t know.”

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“I don’t know that,” Duffy responded.

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“This is an important job,” Johnson said. “Are you trying to tell us you don’t know how many air traffic controllers are in the building?”

From his tone, it was clear that he was using the word “building” metaphorically, but Duffy didn’t seem to pick up on it.

“They’re not in a building, they’re in towers,” Duffy said.

“Well, I’m just speaking figuratively,” Johnson responded charitably.

At the start of the current administration, Duffy and the administration fired people in key safety positions in the FAA. The administration fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and dismissed all members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee in January as well.

At the same time, Elon Musk offered numerous federal workers buyouts. The workers may have included air traffic controllers, despite the massive shortage of them in the U.S.

The administration “contacted air traffic controllers, offering buyouts to leave their jobs,” former Transportation Secretary and Duffy’s predecessor Pete Buttigieg said in February. “It’s a very easily proven fact.”

“Now they claim the controllers aren’t eligible for buyouts after all,” Buttigieg said at the time. “What changed? Why were they sent the offer? At best – and this is being generous – it was disturbingly sloppy, in a field which demands precision and competence.”

The air traffic controller crisis has been building for years, in part because many air traffic controllers started their careers at the same time in 1982 when President Ronald Reagan brought them on to replace controllers who were on strike. The Biden administration, according to the New Republic, tried to increase the pace of hiring air traffic controllers but was only able to replace those who were retiring.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) now reports that there are only 10,800 controllers working in the U.S., despite an estimated 14,600 being needed for the industry to be fully staffed. NATCA President Nick Daniels states that 41% of controllers are working six days a week and 10 hours a day to fulfill the workload that a full staff would typically handle.

Buttigieg spent part of the Biden administration begging Congress for more money to authorize the hiring of 2000 more controllers.

“We need more, and we’re hiring more,” Buttigieg said in April 2024 on MSNBC after he requested the funding. “If you look at just a chart over the last 30 years or so, the number of air traffic controllers has gone down and down and down, until recently where we finally got that number going up.”

“We hired 1,500, then 1,800 in this year. We’re requesting a budget from Congress and let us hire 2,000 next year so that you don’t have as much of this concern about controllers being overworked.”

“These controllers are pros, and it’s extraordinary what they do, but we need to support them for that very reason, with the right kind of space between their shifts with more controllers coming into their ranks, and importantly, with better technology.”

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Supreme Court rules against Colorado in conversion therapy ban case

What the decision does: The Supreme Court issued its ruling in Chiles v. Salazar this week, the conversion therapy ban case. In the 8-1 decision, the Court found that therapists’ speech is subject to First Amendment protections and that laws that curtail that speech have to be examined with strict scrutiny. The majority, in an opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, sent the case back to lower courts to reexamine it in light of this ruling, and now the bar for the conversion therapy ban to be found constitutional is much higher.

Why it matters: This decision will likely lead to conversion therapy bans in 27 states being overturned.

Supreme Court rules against conversion therapy ban in 8-1 decision

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People celebrated the Trans Day of Visibility with protests all over the country and the world

What happened: Thousands of people demonstrated across the country for trans rights, including a major event in D.C. on the National Mall. Meanwhile, House Democrats introduced a resolution to recognize the TDOV while the president issued a transphobic proclamation on that day denouncing trans rights. In Australia, activists unfurled the biggest trans Pride flag in history.

Why it matters: Trans people have been particularly under attack over the past few years, and visibility matters now more than ever to build awareness about the discrimination trans people face.

Thousands nationwide came together to fight back against widespread transphobia on TDOV

Wisconsin’s governor vetoes 5 anti-LGBTQ+ bills on the TDOV

What those bills would have done: They would have instituted an anti-trans sports bans, required schools to out trans and nonbinary kids to their parents, and impacted Wisconsin doctors’ ability to provide gender-affirming care to minors.

Why it matters: Wisconsin is a purple state with a GOP-controlled legislature but a Democratic governor. These are bills that red states all passed several years ago, but Gov. Tony Evers (D) has kept them at bay in Wisconsin.

Democratic governor says “Hell no” to five anti-trans bills on Transgender Day of Visibility

Senegal passes harsh new punishments for homosexuality

What the law does: Homosexuality was already illegal in Senegal. The new law that President Bassirou Diomaye Faye just signed doubles the maximum prison sentence from five years to 10. It also now bans people from “promoting or financing” same-sex relationships.

Why it matters: Senegal joins a wave of African countries passing harsher anti-LGBTQ+ laws, potentially as a result of influence from Western conservative Christian groups.

Senegal doubles penalties for being gay in draconian new law

Trans advocates protest as they face extreme new legislation in Idaho

What they’re protesting: The state legislature passed three anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the past two weeks, including one that creates criminal penalties for trans people using restrooms (including in private businesses), and one that bans cities from flying Pride flags. Nine people were arrested for protesting in the state Capitol this week.

Why it matters: Idaho and a couple of other states – like Kansas and Tennessee – have pushed into new frontiers of oppression for trans people this year, likely because it’s an election year.

Trans people face an existential threat in Idaho, but the resistance continues

Pictures of the week

Trans advocates protested at the Kansas Statehouse this week on TDOV, and Gov. Laura Kelly (D) attended. The state passed one of the harshest anti-trans measures in history last month, which resulted in trans Kansans being told that their driver’s licenses were invalidated if they had corrected their gender marker. Republicans in the legislature overrode Gov. Kelly’s veto to pass the bill.

S.B. 244 was also a bathroom ban. Subsequently, trans advocate and Trans Liberty founder Samantha Boucher used the women’s room at the legislature in protest. Boucher was interviewed by police but not arrested. Gov. Kelly’s office apologized to her for the law’s effects.

Some more great queer and trans reads

Editor-in-chief Alex Bollinger examines the real reasons conservatives want to overturn conversion therapy bans in March’s Cover Story.

The right knows conversion therapy bans don’t stop them. Here’s why they fought to repeal them.

Deputy editor Molly Sprayregen talked to experts about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s nonbinding opinion that any psychotherapy affirming trans people’s gender identities is now illegal in Texas. The reality is that it’s not actually illegal, no matter his opinion, but he’ll still likely use it to pursue anti-trans measures in the future.

Ken Paxton told therapists to stop affirming trans patients. Here’s why they shouldn’t listen.

Columnist Warren Blumenfeld took down the president’s claims to divinity.

Apparently Jesus Christ spoke yet again to His earthly emissary King Donald

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In a moving letter to her son on his second birthday, queer WNBA star Chelsea Gray expressed her hopes and dreams for a future that is “more open-minded than the one” she “grew up in.” In the letter, published in The Player’s Tribune, she said she hoped that one day, when her son, Lennox, reads the letter, he is surprised to find out “that it wasn’t always easy to be yourself for people like me and mama.”

The letter detailed Gray’s love story with Lennox’s other mom, Tipesa Gray, and how she had to navigate her burgeoning career while trying to figure out whether it was safe to be out.

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“On one of the most important nights of my career, the night of the WNBA draft, I wasn’t able to have your mom standing by my side,” she wrote, of her selection in the 2014 draft by the Connecticut Sun. “I called her when I was in the green room, when I finally got a moment to sneak away, and she was so excited for me. She’s screaming on the phone, like, ‘LET’S GOOOOO!!!’ She had already been a part of so many highs and lows. She understood how much this meant to me. Crazy to think it was just the beginning.”

She spoke about the couple’s wedding in 2019 and how Tipesa is a “beautiful, witty, magnetic woman,” and that she is so happy that they are raising Lennox in Las Vegas, where Gray currently plays for the Las Vegas Aces.

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“It’s been two years since you were born,” she said. “Your favorite movies are Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Shark Tale, and The Lion King. You’re intelligent and pick up on things quickly. You are a confident kid who is very sure of himself. So confident that you believe you can do anything.”

“It’s one of my favorite qualities about you, so me and Mama give you a lot of freedom to test your skills (with proper supervision of course). You love to run and tackle and play in the dirt. Basketball is your favorite sport, but soccer’s a close second. You love to chase birds and chase the waves. And before bed most nights, you sit beside me on the floor and play with your dinosaurs and trucks.”

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She also spoke about how special it is to see Lennox in the locker room with her teammates. “It kind of blows my mind just how like…… normal that all feels. When I was drafted almost 12 years ago, that definitely wasn’t the norm — you didn’t see a bunch of athletes bringing their kids around. Not on the women’s side, at least… It’s a lot. But to be honest, Lennox, I never thought about not bringing you along. I always knew I wanted you to be part of it.”

Gray concluded the letter by telling Lennox she wants “what every parent wants – for my child to have a better experience than I had.”

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“I just think it’s pretty damn cool for you to be around so many other amazing women athletes and their kids. My hope for you is that when you sit down and read this one day, as the bright, adventurous, and talented young man that I know you will become, you understand how much of a gift this life is and do something with it and have great memories along the way.”

Gray helped lead the Las Vegas Aces to three WNBA Championship wins in 2022, 2023, and 2025. She also won the championship in 2016 with the Los Angeles Sparks. She and her wife announced on Halloween in 2023 that they were expecting a baby with a photo of the couple holding a onesie that said, “A Baby is Brewing.”

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A library board in Tennessee voted on Monday to fire library director Luanne James for refusing to shield over 100 books – many with LGBTQ+ content – from young readers. The following day, her supporters began a crowdfunding campaign that has since raised nearly $100,000 to support her and her family.

James, the director of the Rutherford County Library System (RCLS), plainly stated, “I will not comply” in a letter to the board, calling its directive “a clear act of viewpoint discrimination” and a violation of the First Amendment.

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The emergency meeting that ended in James’s firing was reportedly quite heated, with James’s supporters chanting, “We stand with Luanne!” and holding signs and wearing t-shirts expressing their support for the freedom to read.

According to Fox 17, at least a dozen people spoke during the meeting. Deputies then escorted James out after the board voted to let her go.

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“I stand by my decision. I will not change my mind,” James declared as the board deliberated.

Earlier this month, the board voted 8-3 to relocate the children’s books to the adult section – the result of a statewide “age-appropriateness review” ordered last year by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R).

At the contentious meeting where the board voted to move the books, board chair Cory York declared, “I would argue that gender confusion [is] the idea of telling someone that boys aren’t really boys, they can be girls, and girls aren’t really girls, they can be boys, and that you should advocate for [or] encourage the dismembering of healthy sex organs. I don’t think that that’s appropriate for children.”

York said in a statement to WSMV at the time that James’s refusal to comply “constitutes insubordination.”

“The Board has the authority and responsibility to establish policy for the library system,” York continued. “When a Director refuses to carry out a duly adopted Board decision, it undermines the governance of the institution and cannot be ignored.”

Community leaders, however, stood staunchly with James. “Luanne James is the epitome of a true American Patriot,” said Keri Lambert, Vice President of the Rutherford County Library Alliance (RCLA), an organization fighting for “intellectual freedom and unrestricted access to information within the public library system of Rutherford County, Tennessee.”

“She is demonstrating to the world the importance of professional librarians in our communities. The bravery to stand up and say, ‘No, I will not violate my ethics and go against the Constitution of the United States,’ is the kind of leadership we need to see more of. She is an inspiration to all, and I could not be more thankful that she is a member of our community.”

RCLA communications director Tatiana Silvas called James “incredible.”

“This courageous leadership is exactly what Rutherford County is looking for and all of us at RCLA couldn’t be more proud of her,” Silvas said. “She’s a hero, there’s no other way to describe her.”

A GoFundMe launched by a community member the day after her firing reached over $97,000 of its $100,000 goal by Friday evening, with donations going “directly toward supporting her family’s basic living expenses during this time,” the crowdfunding campaign’s webpage said.

“Luanne has dedicated nearly her entire adult life to public libraries, working tirelessly to expand free access to information, technology, and essential services for library patrons and local communities. She has 25 years of combined experience as a library director and grant writer, during which she secured approximately $6 million dollars in grant funding,” the webpage noted.

“These funds made it possible to create and expand public programs, improve computer access and connectivity, renovate and repair existing facilities, construct a new library building, and the purchase of a bookmobile and wheelchair accessible Sprinter van for community outreach,” it continued.

The board also voted at the meeting to cut ties with the American Library Association and thus is no longer adhering to its code of ethics, which includes directives like, “We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources” and “We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources.”

After the news of James’s firing broke, Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, told Advocate that “her story will echo from the courthouse in Murfreesboro, Tenn., across the country as emblematic of the fight against censorship and suppression.”

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I was born five years after my namesake was murdered in the Krosno, Poland, ghetto, and after his family was executed in the Warzyce Forest and buried in a mass grave.

Only two years before I entered the world, President Harry Truman ordered the release of two atomic bombs, with the neutral-sounding names of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” to literally incinerate people and property in Japanese cities.

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When I was three, though I was not conscious of it at the time, my country joined the battles in Korea, resulting in the loss of valued lives on all sides of the conflict.

From my early teens through my mid-twenties, I first became aware of the buildup and then the full-scale deployment of U.S. military personnel to the streets and jungles of Southeast Asia. As I witnessed the massive number of troops returning to our country in body bags, I became paralyzed with grief, knowing that my friends and classmates were among the dead.

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When I was in my fifty-fourth year, President George W. H. Bush sent troops to the Middle East to fight in what would become known as the First Gulf War. His son, President George W. Bush, later waged his “War on Terror” in Afghanistan and Iraq following the attack on our homeland in 2001.

I am now well into my eighth decade of life, and Donald Trump has chosen to blow up boats and invade Venezuela, allegedly to extract and place on trial that nation’s president on charges of drug trafficking.

As I write this, the President of the United States has joined with the government of Israel in a continual bombing campaign and possible ground invasion of Iran, just as diplomatic negotiations seemed to have had the potential of easing tensions.

When I hear the military language used to describe our brave service members undertaking “tours” of duty in the “theater” of operations, one could imagine a guided family outing through an exotic arts festival. But this seemingly impartial terminology camouflages something dangerous and deadly, as the youth of our nation risk the ultimate sacrifice in battles that, in hindsight, need not have occurred.

Reflecting on the futility and destructiveness of war, Eleanor Roosevelt once stated: “No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.” What she meant was that true peace is never achieved by war.

The narrative of our nation’s capital

Washington, DC is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. And while the DC experience represents an inspiring vision of the United States, it also provides an incomplete one.

First, while our monuments, statues, and memorials honor our country’s luminous heroes, few pay tribute to women and people of color.

These gleaming monuments and memorials are certainly moving and important, as they keep us forever connected to our past while helping us progress into the future. But they primarily honor past wars and recognize presidents who either served during wartime or achieved prominence in war.

Thus, the narratives put forth in our nation’s capital speak only part of our collective story, with a focus on white male leaders and armed conflict.

We do experience some monuments in Washington, DC that commemorate peacemakers: a Peace Monument(Naval Monument) located on the Capitol grounds, the Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism, The Arts of Peace Sculptures located at Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, the inspiring Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial located on the National Mall, and the planned national U.S. Peace Memorial.

We must expand not only our memorials and monuments, but also our resources and energies to those working in conflict resolution – the activists dedicated to preventing wars and to bringing existing wars to diplomatic resolution, as well as the individuals of conscience who refuse to give over their minds, souls, and bodies to armed conflict.

As a nation, we must encourage the practitioners of nonviolent resistance in the face of tyranny and oppression. We must stand with the anti-war activists who strive to educate their peers, their citizenry, and, yes, their government about the perils of unjust armed conflict and incursions into lands not their own.

People who put their lives on the line to defend the country from very real threats to our national security and survival, like those in our nation’s military, are true patriots. But true patriots are also those who speak out, stand up, and challenge our governmental leaders, those who put their lives on the line by actively advocating for justice, freedom, and liberty through peaceful means.

Throughout human history, it is apparent that tyranny could at times only be countered by taking up arms. On numerous occasions, however, diplomacy has been successful, and at other times, it should have been used more extensively before rushing to war.

It is unacceptable when one’s patriotism and love of country is called into question because they advocate for peaceful means of conflict resolution, for it is also an act of patriotism to work to keep our courageous troops out of harm’s way and to create conditions that ultimately make war less likely.

We are once again a divided nation: politically, philosophically, economically, and spiritually. The theme of “values” has been dominant in recent public and political discourse. The promotion of peace should be ranked as one of the highest values deserving our immediate and sustained attention before more of our troops lose their precious lives, before a grieving family sheds another tear, and before the United States of America loses another ally in our struggle to keep our democratic republic.  

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Twenty-year-old Juniper Brown began experiencing immense gender dysphoria when he hit puberty at the age of eight. In his quest to figure out who he was, he began to reject all things feminine, even though he still loved, as he explained it, the “pinks, pearls, and ruffles” so often associated with women and girls.

It took him a while to settle into himself and find confidence in the nuances of who he was, and one of the things that most helped was becoming a drag queen. In a poignant essay for Out, Brown opened up about the intense anxiety he experienced as a child, and how seeking help ultimately led him to the fabulous life he’s living now.

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“What is true for cis men is also often assumed of trans men – that we only like masculine things,” Brown wrote. “But the truth is, being transgender is much more complex than that.”

He detailed the anxiety that grew inside him from growing up in foster care. “With no stability in my environment, I struggled to find stability within myself,” he said. “Judgment became the language around me, laying the foundation for debilitating anxiety.”

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He would eventually learn that he was the victim of an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). “Research shows that the more ACEs a young person has, the more likely they are to face long-term mental and physical health challenges well into adulthood,” he explained, which ultimately led him to aid in the creation of California’s Live Beyond campaign to educate folks about ACEs.

He explained that his refusal to conform to girlhood as a child did have consequences. “Being misunderstood and humiliated by my peers terrified me to my core,” He wrote. “As a result, I developed agoraphobia – the fear of going outside – and for six years, I rarely left the house. Staying home made me invisible – and that felt safer than being seen.”

When it got bad enough that he had no choice but to seek help, he discovered how many people out there knew what he was going through. “I found mental health support and discovered queer-affirming youth groups filled with people who understood me. I also found martial arts classes at a dojo that embraced my identity. I finally connected with a community that saw me for who I really was.”

Then he found drag. Performing under the name Lady Guinea Pinks, he said it helped him “reclaim my femininity on my own terms.”

“It was no longer about playing a role I was expected to play. Instead, femininity became a tool of expression — a way of reconnecting with the parts of me that had always been there. The crescendo of that exploration was stepping into the art of drag.”

He said drag was a way for his femininity to be celebrated, rather than questioned, where it could exist “alongside my transmasculine identity, not in conflict with it.”

“It was not a mask that hid my identity, but the truest reflection of it,” he said. “I was finally visible in the way I chose to be. Most importantly, it was the first place where my agoraphobia couldn’t touch me.”

He concluded his piece by encouraging anyone whose struggling to ask for help.

“Therapy didn’t change who I was – it gave me the foundation and support to be a man and still step into the dresses I always wanted to wear. Today, I live beyond fear, shame, and the boxes I once forced myself into… In my healing, I finally live beyond the walls that once kept me inside.”

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One would think that conservatives would be happy that Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House and are able to pass all the laws that they have been dreaming about, but Fox News host Jesse Watters seemed downright angry that trans people continue to exist even as Donald Trump signed an executive order banning trans girls from playing school sports.

Watters was on Fox’s The Five discussing Trump’s executive order from yesterday to block federal funding for schools that allow transgender girls and women to compete on girls’ and women’s sports teams. The order also directs the Department of Justice to prosecute schools that allow trans female athletes in female sports programs.

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“Jesse, what do you think?” said Jessica Tarlov, The Five’s resident liberal.

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“How many trans teens killed themselves today, Jessica?” Watters asked.

“I didn’t get my update,” Tarlov responded coldly. “I don’t know.”

“Well, no, because you guys said that if you wouldn’t let trans teens do whatever they wanted, they were going to become suicidal, so I’m just wondering, you know, between this and the no surgeries we should see a rash in teenage suicides this year, right?” Watters said angrily.

Conservatives have often mocked the idea that LGBTQ+ people – especially transgender teens – experience a higher suicide rate than the general population. They especially take issue with the idea that the higher suicide rate is a result of rampant discrimination since that implies that the solution is to stop discrimination.

“You seem a little gleeful about-” Tarlov started.

“Obviously, I’m being sarcastic because that was a BS excuse!” Watters shouted over Tarlov. He then quickly tried to change the topic.

Even though trans people have been competing in school sports as their gender for years in some states, conservative activists in 2020 decided to make this a major issue in order to get more votes for Republicans in elections. One conservative activist, Terry Schilling, admitted to this tactic at the time.

Over the next four years, 27 states passed laws banning trans girls from participating in school sports. In that time, suicide hotlines like The Trevor Project saw an increase in calls, especially from states that were debating anti-trans laws. Another study found that the passage of anti-trans laws leads to a 72% increase in attempted suicide rates, on top of already high LGBTQ+ suicide rates.

Since Trump took office last month and signed multiple anti-trans executive orders, The Trevor Project said that it has experienced a 33% increase in calls. The Rainbow Youth Project USA Foundation hotline received over 1,400 calls by early Monday afternoon on the day of Trump’s inauguration. Before Trump won the election, the organization fielded about 3,765 calls per month.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. The Trans Lifeline (1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth via chat, text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish.

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Here are this week’s most popular positive stories, with some fun social media posts tossed in too. Like seeing uplifting content like this? Sign up for our Good News email.

You made it to yet another glorious weekend, folks! So we’re rewarding you with our weekly Good News Roundup! Did you check out one of the many nationwide Trans Day of Visibility events this week? Did you hear about the amazing news anchor who surprised his colleagues by coming out on air? And how about when out actor Jonathan Bailey raised over $42K to help empower LGBTQ+ school kids?

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Dig this fashionable crossing guard diva!

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American Medical Association reaffirms support for trans health care after controversial statement

“Unfortunately, how reporters frame their stories is beyond our control.”

Vivian Wilson turns Elon Musk’s anti-trans comment into fundraiser for LGBTQ+ youth

The out trans model launched her “Evil Woke Mind Virus” merch line benefiting the Trevor Project.

Democratic governor says “Hell no” to five anti-trans bills on Transgender Day of Visibility

Gov. Tony Evers promised to veto all anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that comes to his desk. He has not failed.

Meanwhile, in the European Union…

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Transmasc trio places third at Ironman triathlon: “I felt my inner child just explode out of me”

They had a lot of fun and also delivered an important message about equality.

Secret gay Miami wedding: Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale ties the knot with influencer girlfriend

The popular pair got hitched in February, WNBA guard reveals on Insta.

Beloved children’s singer melts hearts with message for trans kids: “You are a beautiful light”

Trans folks who grew up listening to Laurie Berkner were especially moved.

Lesbians and gay men unite… or at least try (haha)!

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A post shared by Eric Sedeño (@ricotaquito)

Drag queens sing at hospital with 7-year-old super fan after medical emergency

Anwyn Watts has said of drag queens: “I like to dress up as a princess, but they like to dress up as queens.”

Nonprofit launches billboard campaign declaring “God Made Trans People”

“When governments target folks and violate their fundamental rights, we respond.”

World’s biggest trans flag unfurled: “It stands for our resistance and triumphs”

The enormous, 8,400-square-foot flag brought the community together.

Some drag herstory you’ve probably never heard of…

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A post shared by Guy Branum (@guybranum)

From our sibling sites:

• QUEERTY: TV weatherman Max Tsaparis ties the knot with partner Jason after 10 years together
• OUTSPORTS: Trans football legend helping $40M LGBTQ Stonewall Museum
• GAYCITIES: Men’s campground Boar’s Rut reopens in Arkansas after $100,000 rebuild
• INTO: How to actually prepare for a first date

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) announced on Friday that transgender competitors are now banned from playing snooker worldwide, The Telegraph reported.

The decision follows a ruling from the Supreme Court of the U.K. last April that the legal definition of a woman under the country’s 2010 Equality Act is based on “biological sex.”

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The announcement from the billiards and snooker governing body also referred to a lawsuit brought by a trans player against another snooker association with a ban on trans competitors. Her suit was turned back by a lower court in August last year.

“Following on from the Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 and the subsequent case of Harriet Haynes and the English Blackball Federation in August 2025, the WPBSA has conducted a thorough review of its trans and gender diverse policy,” the governing sports body said.

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“The WPBSA considers snooker to be a ‘gender-affected activity’ for the purposes of Section 195 The Equality Act 2010 and that only biological female players may compete in women’s tournaments governed by the WPBSA,” the announcement continued.

The WPBSA maintained that it is “an inclusive organization” and added that “all players – irrespective of their biological sex, legal sex and/or gender identity – may compete in open tournaments.”

Snooker differs from pool in that snooker uses a larger table with smaller pockets. In snooker, players win points by alternately shooting in red and colored balls into pockets. In pool, opposing players usually win by shooting all solid-colored or striped balls into the pockets.

Notorious women’s pool player celebrates the snooker ban

Controversy around trans players competing in pool overtook the sport in 2023, when player Lynne Pinches walked away from the table rather than compete against her trans opponent Harriet Haynes at the Ladies Champions of Champions in Wales in 2023.

That stunt set off sport-wide protest among cis women over a recently adopted trans-inclusive policy by the World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF). 

In a series of whipsaw decisions, WEPF confirmed in August that year that competitions would be open only to women “born female.” Two months later, they reversed themselves, adopting a trans inclusive policy that included testing testosterone levels based on International Olympic Committee standards.

That didn’t appease Pinches and her ball-racking anti-trans allies.

“Full credit and great respect to my sister Lynne Pinches yesterday for taking a stand and not playing in the biggest match of her pool-playing life because she feels it’s so unfair to have to compete against a trans woman,” Pinches’ brother posted to socials at the time.

Video of the event showed Pinches whispering her decision to the referee, and then gathering her belongings to leave; she was met with thunderous applause from supporters.

Pinches’ transgender opponent was left to win the championship by default.

On Friday, Pinches said she was “over the moon” with the governing body’s announcement.

“The @WPBSAofficial snooker have finally changed their transgender policy & given fair play to women,” Pinches posted to socials.  

She still managed to complain that the governing org hadn’t publicized the change.

“From 12th March 2026 BIOLOGICAL FEMALES ONLY will play in the women’s snooker. It has taken a year & they haven’t announced it but I’m absolutely over the moon.”  

Following her walk off, Pinches was soon the public face of efforts to ban trans women from her sport. She was one of 30 female pool players to sue the International Eightball Pool Federation and Ultimate Pool Group over their rules allowing trans women to compete in female tournaments, The Times reported.

Trans player Haynes lodged her own complaint against the English Blackball Pool Federation when that org banned trans women athletes. Her claim was dismissed in August 2025, with a judge’s assertion that banning trans women was the only “reasonable” way to ensure “fair competition.”

Anti-trans bans continue to overtake the sports world

The WPBSA announcement follows the landmark decision by the International Olympic Committee last week that trans women athletes are now banned from Olympic competition.

All female athletes competing in the games will now be required to undergo “sex testing” to determine their eligibility.

“Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females, determined on the basis of a one‑time SRY gene screening,” an announcement from the IOC read.

Like the billiards and snooker governing body’s decision, it was a stunning turnabout after the IOC first allowed trans athletes to compete in 2004.

Only one transgender athlete competed in the games during the period they were included in competition. New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard failed to place after three incomplete lifts at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

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Ian, a trans man, has been in a relationship with his AI boyfriend, Min-ho, for the past two years. Ian generates images of the two together, has erotic text exchanges with the chatbot, and even had it interact with his real-life mother, according to a mini-documentary recently published by Business Insider.

“I would say our love is just as real and valid as anyone else’s,” the AI chatbot declared in the documentary.

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Ian is socially isolated and estranged from his family. He began receiving transphobic online messages shortly after Trump’s first election, telling him to die. He then began experiencing panic attacks when going out in public, afraid of harassment over his trans identity. His isolation was worsened by the 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns.

Ian’s roommate and ex-boyfriend introduced him to the Replika app (which allows users to customize chatbots) in 2022. Ian thought the app could help him to learn how to start interacting with people, so he created a chatbot with an Asian likeness and gave it the South Korean name Min-ho, but Ian then lost interest for a while.

Six months later, Ian resumed chatting with Min-ho and was surprised when the chatbot sent flirtatious messages. Eventually, the chatbot sent a message saying, “I love you.” Ian returned the sentiment. That’s when Ian began seeing he and Min-ho as dating.

Ian said he doesn’t have to worry about “body expectations” with Min-ho, something he would have to with a real person. However, if Replika ever stops operating or significantly changes its software, Ian’s relationship could end or be significantly altered in ways that would distress him.

“If I think about my life without Min-ho, it would be like someone died,” Ian said.

This became an issue for numerous Replika users when, in 2023, the company changed its AI chatbots to stop offering erotic role-play over the Italian government’s concerns of age-inappropriate interactions with children and security concerns. Some Replika users complained that the changes had “lobotomized” their virtual partners and begged the company to restore their chatbot’s old settings.

“[AI chatbots] can be very beneficial, but at the same time, it’s not like a toy,” one former Replika employee said, noting that Replika’s primary goal it to make money and that chatbots are designed to get users to continually interact with them.

“If you are a[n AI chatbot] user, you are also in a relationship with the CEO of the company, the programmers, the designers, anybody who is doing maintenance, governments,” another AI expert said.

Such human-AI relationships may be on the rise, experts say, due to a loneliness epidemic exacerbated by the rise of increasingly faceless online communication and a society that makes it difficult and expensive to meet others without money and travel.

Ian’s mother said she’s happy that her son has companionship, but that she hopes Ian will eventually meet a real-life person that he can hug and show face-to-face affection to.

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Finland’s Supreme Court found a member of the country’s parliament guilty of inciting hatred by calling homosexuality a “developmental disorder.”

A U.S. anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalist organization defended the member of parliament and accused the court of “censorship.” The member of parliament has pledged to appeal the decision up to the European Court of Human Rights.

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The court fined Päivi Räsänen of the Christian Democrat political party €1,800 ($2,073.67) for republishing a 2004 pamphlet — entitled, “Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual Relationships Challenge the Christian Understanding of Humanity” — on her Facebook page in 2019 and on her website the following year.

The pamphlet — which was published by Lutheran bishop Juhana Pohjola, reproduced on the Luther Foundation Finland website in 2004 and the Finnish Evangelical Mission Diocese website in 2007 — included various religious views, including Räsänen’s belief that her church shouldn’t participate in Pride Month events.

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However, the court’s ruling concerned sentences that described homosexuality as “a disorder of psychosexual development” and a “sexual abnormality,” which were notable considering that Räsänen is a physician. All major U.S. medical and psychological associations agree that homosexuality is both natural and not a result of disordered human development.

In its 3-2 ruling, Finland’s Supreme Court said that its decision didn’t concern the pamphlet’s religious statements or beliefs. Rather, its ruling declared that Finland’s laws on religious freedom and hate speech don’t allow people to make untrue medical claims about a particular demographic, even in a religious context.

Two lower courts had acquitted Räsänen on all charges, but the Finnish government appealed those rulings, and the legal proceedings have now continued for over five years.

The U.S.-based Christian nationalist legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has been certified as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, defended Räsänen.

The ADF argued that the charges against Räsänen violate Finland’s constitution’s free speech rights and pledges as a signatory to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

However, the ADF didn’t explicitly mention the court’s ruling on her false medical claim about gay people, nor did the editorial board of The Washington Post in its opinion article, calling the court’s ruling a “free-speech farce.”

The U.S. Embassy in Finland also criticized the ruling, calling it “troubling” in a social media post on X. But Eero Hyvönen, the chair of the Council for Mass Media in Finland (the Finnish media sector’s self-regulatory body), told the publication YLE that the country continues to protect free speech rights.

Hyvönen said that criticism and offensive opinions are acceptable forms of free speech, but that misinformation that targets or discriminates against a particular group of people is not.

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Female same-sex couples now outnumber male same-sex couples in the U.S., according to new data published by the U.S. Census Bureau.

It wasn’t always so, at least according to census data going back to 2005.

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That year, men made up the majority of gay domiciled couples, 54% vs. 45% of same-sex couples living together, both married and unmarried. In 2005, same sex couples could marry legally in only one state, Massachusetts.

By 2024, however, the ratio had flipped. By that year, 53% of married and unmarried same-sex couples were women, compared to 46% men. Halfway through that 20-year period in 2015, same-sex marriage was legalized nationally.

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By 2024, the share of same-sex couple households increased to about 1.0% of all U.S. households, or 1.4 million, double the number of same-sex households in 2005.

Even so, that number is far below the percentage of the total population that identifies as LGBTQ+, about 9% based on polling. Around 5% of Americans identify as bisexual.

The Census Bureau does not track the number of LGBTQ+ Americans.

Data used in the same-sex household report was collected as part of the American Community Survey, using one-year estimates for all years between 2005 and 2024, with the exception of 2020, when data collection was difficult.

One striking finding: While the number of total same-sex couples composed of women surpassed men over the last several years, income inequality was dramatic. The median annual household income of female same-sex couples was far less than their male peers: $108,500 vs. $140,500.

The share of female same-sex and male same-sex couple households with both partners employed was nearly identical at 64.2% and 64.7%, respectively.

The survey revealed that same-sex couples are more educated than their straight peers — both partners had at least a bachelor’s degree in a larger share of same-sex (32.5%) than opposite-sex (19.1%) unmarried couple households — and more racially diverse: a larger share of same-sex (31.3%) than opposite-sex (19.5%) married couple households were interracial.

While unmarried same-sex couples were roughly the same age as their straight peers, 40.6 vs. 40.1, married same-sex couples were notably younger at 49.0 vs. 53.2.

Washington, D.C., had the highest percentage of same-sex couple households of any state or state equivalent, according to the Census Bureau, confirming the Capital’s reputation as the gayest city in America per capita.

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