The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to ban conversion therapy in a ruling that gives the governor more power over how state laws are enacted, NBC News noted. In a four-to-three ruling, the court decided that a Republican-controlled legislative committee’s rejection of a state agency rule that would ban the practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people was unconstitutional. The decision takes power away from the state legislature to block the enactment of rules by the governor’s office that carry the force of law. The provision banning conversion therapy in Wisconsin has been blocked twice by the legislature’s powerful Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules—a GOP-controlled panel in charge of approving state agency regulations.
Openly gay former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke out against the so-called “big, beautiful” federal budget bill, The Advocate noted. Among other things, the bill will extend the tax cuts from Trump’s first term and slash about $1 trillion from Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income people and those with disabilities. It also includes cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income Americans buy food, as well as to the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Planned Parenthood. On Instagram, Buttigieg said, “[President Trump] will create some of the biggest tax breaks for billionaires in history, even more wealth to the wealthiest Americans. And the way they’re paying for it is to cut health care for working-class Americans, to cut food that would go to veterans and children in this country. To shut down rural hospitals and make an entire generation worse off.”
And speaking of that measure, an anti-trans measure was dropped at the last minute in a small victory for the LGBTQ+ community, PinkNews noted. The legislation removed the ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care after the Senate parliamentarian found it did not comply with the Byrd Rule. Human Rights Campaign Deputy Director of Communications Delphine Luneau told Rolling Stone, “There [are] a lot of other elements of the bill that are concerning, but for me and for other trans folks, it’s a huge relief to see this out of the bill.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold free access to preventive healthcare services under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Instinct noted. The decision in Kennedy v. Braidwood ensures that essential services like HIV prevention medication (PrEP), cancer screenings and vaccines will continue to be covered by insurance companies at no cost to patients. In a statement, GLAD Law Senior Director of Litigation and HIV Law Bennett Klein said, “The ability to rely on medical experts to recommend key preventive health measures is critical to individual and public health in the U.S. Today’s decision means access to PrEP is safe—for now. Ensuring individuals can access PrEP without financial barriers is essential to ending the HIV epidemic, addressing racial disparities in healthcare, and ensuring people have the care they need to live healthy lives and thrive.”
In D.C. is a more-than 200-year-old cemetery where members of Congress who died while in office are buried—and it’s also home to a little-known final resting place for some trailblazing LGBTQ+ icons, NPR noted. A tour of Congressional Cemetery that points out the gravesites has taken on special meaning as the Trump administration has issued a series of executive orders targeting the community, particularly those who identify as transgender and non-binary, as well as those serving in the military. The spot contains the graves of Barbara Gittings, the mother of the modern queer-rights movement; the founding father of the Harlem Renaissance, Alain Locke; Ken Dresser, who designed Disney theme-park parades and shows; and Leonard Matlovich, who created a stir when he became the first military member to come out publicly.
Openly LGBTQ+ U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) announced that he’s unlikely to launch a primary challenge to fellow Democrat, Gov. Kathy Hochul, in the next race for New York governor, surprising an MSNBC panel, Yahoo! News noted. “I’m unlikely to run for governor,” Torres said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I feel like the assault that we’ve seen on the social safety net in the Bronx is so unprecedented. It’s so overwhelming that I’m going to keep my focus on Washington, D.C.” Torres’s decision comes after speculation fueled by a May poll from the Honan Strategy Group, which found him nearly tied with Hochul among likely Democratic voters in New York City; however, a separate Siena College poll showed Hochul with a much broader lead.
Social-justice activists are creating a queer history archive that celebrates Bayard Rustin, an openly gay major organizer in the civil rights movement and key architect of the March on Washington, the AP noted. The Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice will launch a digital archive this fall featuring articles, photos, videos, telegrams, speeches, and more tied to Rustin’s work. Rare footage of Rustin speaking at a 1964 New York rally for voting-rights marchers who were beaten in Selma, Alabama, was recently uncovered and digitized by Associated Press archivists; other AP footage shows him addressing a crowd during a 1967 New York City teachers strike. Rustin and figures such as trans activist Marsha P. Johnson continue to inspire the LGBTQ+ community because they “were super intentional and unapologetic in the ways in which they showed up,” activist David J. Johns said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, after he ordered the Navy to strike the name of the pioneering gay-rights activist from the ship, per ABC 7 Chicago. “We are taking the politics out of ship naming,” Hegseth said on X. “We’re not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration. Instead, we’re renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be.” Peterson, Hegseth said, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during an attack on the USS Neosho by Japanese bombers during the Battle of Coral Sea in World War II.
In related news, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced that a tribute to Harvey Milk is officially on track to become a reality on the corner of Market and Castro, per KTVU. Harvey Milk Plaza will stand in the heart of the Castro, where Milk lived during his groundbreaking time as a San Francisco supervisor—and where the fight for gay rights largely took shape. “It is a promise that we will stand firm in our values and ensure that the next generation knows who Harvey Milk was, what he stood for, and why he still matters today,” said Lurie.
The ACLU is urging trans+, non-binary and intersex people who need to update their passports to do that “as soon as possible,” according to Them. Those individuals can again obtain passports that match their gender identity—for now, at least—as the State Department complies with a preliminary injunction issued in June. On July 2, the government released a new attestation form—an option explicitly laid out in the June 17 order itself—that is currently required for any passport applicant requesting a gender marker change, either from a previous passport or birth certificate. Applicants who need a different gender marker must complete any relevant forms and include both pages of the attestation when applying.
A Florida judge dismissed a case against 21-year-old Illinois trans woman Marcy Rheintgen, who used a restroom in the Florida Capitol in protest of a 2023 law, per The Advocate. That happened after state prosecutors failed to properly charge Rheintgen, who was arrested in March. Rheintgen notified police and Republican leaders of the state legislature of her intent to use the women’s room at a particular time and date; police arrested her for allegedly trespassing. “Charges against Ms. Rheintgen in the above-styled case are to be dismissed and she is to be discharged because the speedy trial period has expired,” Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans wrote.
President Donald Trump has ordered changes at national parks that will impact visitors, per USA Today. A new executive order calls for charging non-U.S. residents higher fees for park entry and recreation passes, such as the year-long America the Beautiful pass. The order also revokes a presidential memorandum signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2017 that promoted a range of DEI efforts in the management of national parks and other public lands.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been utilizing a tool to locate former Nazis who lied their way into becoming citizens—but that power, under the new Trump administration, may be broadening, CNN noted. According to a memo issued by the department last month, attorneys should aim their denaturalization work to target a much broader swath of individuals—anyone who may “pose a potential danger to national security.” As a result, some of the millions of naturalized U.S. citizens may be at risk of losing their status and being deported. Critics say that while those who have committed violent crimes are prioritized, a side effect of this newer use is to strike fear in the hearts of legal immigrants across the country—particularly those who are at odds with Trump himself.
A KOSU article reported that six years after Aubrey Dameron—a 25-year-old transgender Cherokee woman—disappeared from a popular summer destination on the Cherokee Nation reservation, multiple law enforcement agencies in the state have worked on her case, but have come up empty regarding details of her death. The dearth of info has occurred despite a thorough search for answers from Dameron’s loved ones and Lissa Yellow Bird, a well-known Indigenous investigator. Among other things, Yellow Bird has expressed concern about how Dameron’s case was handled because of her identity. Dameron’s aunt Pam Fencer worried Dameron may be a target of a hate crime because she was in the process of transitioning, per NBC News.
Equality Texas will present the first-ever Barbara Jordan Garden Party on Sunday, July 27, at the Houston home of Angela Blanchard, OutSmart noted. The event will celebrate the legacy of the late congresswoman while honoring contemporary leaders in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. Jordan, born and raised in Houston’s Fifth Ward, made history as the first Black woman elected to the Texas Legislature in 1966 and the first Southern Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972. Although she never publicly came out, her long-term partnership with Nancy Earl has made her an important role model for many in the queer community.
Owen McIntire, a trans 19-year-old from Kansas City, pled not guilty to charges that he firebombed a Tesla dealership in his hometown in March, per LGBTQ Nation. McIntire allegedly set two Tesla vehicles ablaze with a Molotov cocktail while at home on spring break. He faces one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce; the maximum sentence for both charges is 30 years in prison. His trial is set for August 2026.
Indianapolis church leader Justin Zhong doubled down on a sermon delivered at the Sure Foundation Baptist Church that called on gay people to “blow yourself in the back of the head,” LGBTQ Nation noted. Zhong endorsed the remarks delivered by lay pastor Stephen Falco during a Men’s Preaching Night service on June 29, including his assertion that, “There’s nothing good to be proud about being a f*g. You ought to blow yourself in the head in the back of the head. You’re so disgusting.” LGBTQ+ people and allies called the screed “theologically irresponsible” and “pastorally dangerous.” YouTube has since removed the video of the sermon for violating its terms of service.
Republican Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador issued an opinion telling schools not to allow teachers to post signs that say “Everyone is Welcome Here”—claiming that the message that public education is for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or other categories is Democratic in nature and is illegally partisan, per LGBTQ Nation. “These signs are part of an ideological/social movement which started in Twin Cities, Minnesota, following the 2016 election,” Labrador said. “Since that time, the signs have been used by the Democratic party as a political statement.” Earlier this year, the state’s West Ada School District banned middle-school student Sarah Inama from displaying a sign that says, “Everyone is Welcome Here”; it showed a drawing of people’s hands with different skin tones, each with a heart on it.
In New York State, the leader of one of the North Country’s largest LGBTQIA+ organizations has stepped down, per North Country Public Radio. Kelly Metzgar resigned June 26 as executive director of the Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance (ANCGA), the nonprofit she co-founded in 2016 to support and advocate for LGBTQ+ people across Franklin, Essex and Clinton counties. Her resignation follows tensions within the group in the lead-up to this year’s Tri-Lakes Pride celebration in Saranac Lake. The transgender advocate, who has lived in Saranac Lake for more than 35 years, said she intends to continue that work even as she leaves the gender alliance group.
Waco, Texas-based Baylor University will rescind its acceptance of a $643,000 grant that it had recently been awarded to study the inclusion of women and LGBTQ+ people in the church, NBC News noted. In a letter posted to the university’s website, Linda Livingstone, the president of the Baptist school, said the move “is the appropriate course of action and in the best interests” of the school,” adding, ““We remain committed to providing a loving and caring community for all—including our LGBTQIA+ students—because it is part and parcel of our University’s mission that calls us to educate our students within a caring Christian community.” The announcement was issued just nine days after the university announced its Center for Church and Community Impact had been awarded a sizable grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation “to help foster inclusion and belonging in the church.”
A group of queer arts organizations and artists has launched a new Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Arts & Culture Coalition—representing a network of dozens of LGBTQ+ artists, arts workers, culture bearers and allied nonprofit organizations across Los Angeles County, per a press release. Founded in March in response to President Trump’s attacks on LGBTQ+ communities through executive orders as well as federal, state and local budget cuts, One Institute convened a group of dozens of LGBTQ+ and allied artists and arts nonprofits to respond to the multiple crises. The Coalition’s inaugural convening will take place Tuesday, July 15, at The Village at Ed Gould Plaza, located at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The meeting will feature a keynote presentation on “The State of LGBTQ+ Arts in Destructive Times,” which includes a distinguished panel of queer arts thought leaders including activist Badly Licked Bear, advocate Álvaro D. Márquez, artist Paul Outlaw and and moderator/educator Ricky Abilez.
Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released his memorandum for Pulse Remembrance Day—while omitting LGBTQ+ and Latino people from his statement, Watermark Out News reported. In 2024, he included the communities in his memo. Rep. Anna V. Eskamani wrote on Facebook to call out the changes from DeSantis memorandum, stating, “Please know that despite the actions of some politicians, we see you and are standing right alongside you.” On June 11, family members were given the opportunity to visit the site for the first time just before its demolition.
Watermark Out News also noted that the Central Florida Softball League announced it was updating its team roster requirements after players voiced their concerns over a “reverse discriminatory rule.” The league shared a new policy with players that limits the amount of straight people on a team via a survey, intending to allow five straight people per team—the first time it formally set a cap on non-LGBTQ+ player participation per team. In the updated version, the policy only applies to the Open Division and there is an exemption for players who have been in good standing since spring 2021.
Jevaughn Mark was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for running what prosecutors called a “prolific drug delivery service” that led to the fentanyl overdose deaths of two men in D.C.’s gay community, The Washington Blade noted. The 15-year sentence came three months after Mark, aka “Ledo,” pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams or more of cocaine, as well as unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. As part of the plea deal, Mark accepted responsibility for causing the deaths of Brandon Román and Robert “Robbie” Barletta. U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan also ordered five years of supervised release following his prison term.
The Fourth of July featured the 50th anniversary of the Fire Island Invasion of the Pines, which pays homage when Cherry Grove drag queen Panzi was initially denied service at the Blue Whale in the Pines in 1976, Queerty noted. The tradition now features an annual boat load of queens in daytime drag arriving in the Pines where they are welcomed with a red carpet and cheering crowds.