PFLAG Votes

PFLAG Votes Together: The Power of Relational Organizing

As part of PFLAG Votes: Turning Pride Into Power, PFLAG National is partnering with Red Wine & Blue to teach PFLAG advocates how to engage people they already know in civic participation this November. Join us on Wednesday, September 23rd at 8:30 pm ET/5:30 pm PT to learn how relational organizing can help you connect with friends, family, neighbors, and others in your network and build collective power. Register now!

Take Action

Californians
Tell Governor Newsom to sign SB 934! This critical bill works around the Supreme Court’s ruling in Chiles v. Salazar to ensure that California continues to protect young people from conversion “therapy” practices. The bill will update the definition in California’s current conversion “therapy” ban to ensure mental health providers will not engage in these practices in California. Reach out to the Governor TODAY and tell him to sign SB 934!

Coloradans 
Join PFLAG Fort Collins and partners from The Lavender Guild, Lupa Health, and Hands Off Colorado on September 22nd for their event: Knocking On Hearts: One Vote at a Time. The event will feature education and open discussion regarding upcoming ballot initiatives related to transgender rights, what they would mean for Coloradans, and how to talk about voting NO with your friends and family. We hope you can make it to The Love Shack in Loveland for this important event! Register to attend!

Massachusettsans 
Join PFLAG Greater Boston, GLAD Law, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Safe Schools for their “Back to School: LGBTQ+ Students’ Rights in MA” webinar on September 29th. This free webinar will cover LGBTQ+ student rights and protections in Massachusetts public schools, key federal and Supreme Court developments, resources for LGBTQ+ students, families, educators, and caregivers, and more. Register today!

PFLAG in Action

PFLAG National announces launch of PFLAG Connects: Two-Spirit & Indigenous Circle, relaunch of PFLAG Native Metro Phoenix chapter. The PFLAG Connects: Two-Spirit & Indigenous Circle will be a monthly virtual meeting space for Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Indigenous people and their relatives while the Native Metro Phoenix chapter is a relaunch of a chapter that first opened in 2011. Both spaces were created thanks to the work of PFLAG National’s Two-Spirit and Indigenous Parent and Family Advisory Council. Sarah EchoHawk, Vice Chair of the PFLAG National Board and convener of the Two-Spirit and Indigenous Parent and Family Advisory Council, said that “Meeting the needs of our Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Indigenous relatives and their families requires deeply immersive work. I am proud to help PFLAG National strengthen its service and partnership with the addition of the Two-Spirit & Indigenous Circle to the PFLAG Connects: Communities program.” 

State News

Here is a sample of what’s going on around the country. You can share news from your state with [email protected] for possible inclusion in a future newsletter.

Idaho - Boise School District to pay settlement in case surrounding transgender student restroom access. The school district will pay $34,000 to a student who sued after a transgender classmate was allowed to use the girls’ bathroom. SB 1100 requires public schools to segregate sex-separated facilities by sex assigned at birth and creates a private cause of action giving students the right to sue if a school district does not comply with the law.

Kansas - Cisgender women face long lines for the bathroom at State Fair after anti-trans bathroom ban goes into effect. Cisgender women were deterred from using the men’s restrooms to avoid long lines for the women’s restrooms by signage that read “Pursuant to Kansas Senate Bill 244, this multiple-occupancy private space is designated for use by individuals of the corresponding sex.” 

Michigan - Ann Arbor Public Schools threatened with legal action, loss of federal funds over policy concerning trans and nonbinary students. Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, wrote to the district instructing them to "immediately cease its ongoing, substantial noncompliance" with the Administration’s interpretation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA). At issue is the district’s policy not to proactively disclose a student’s transgender status unless authorized to do so by the student.

New Jersey - Chatham School Board members receive death threats over policy concerning trans and nonbinary students. A policy adopted in 2024 requires students and staff to respect a student's right to be identified by the gender and name the student chooses. The policy further provides that transgender and nonbinary students will not be forcibly outed to their parents. The policy is the subject of a lawsuit, and board members reported that they have received death threats and have required heightened security since the policy was challenged in court.

Virginia - Gov. Abigail Spanberger kills proposed rule banning transgender students from restrooms, sports. In October of 2025, then-Governor Glenn Youngkin asked the Virginia Board of Health to promulgate a rule banning trans girls from girls’ restrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams. Governor Spanberger, in consultation with Attorney General Jay Jones, determined that the proposed rule was outside of the Board of Health’s authority, and was therefore withdrawn. Governor Spanberger told a crowd at Virginia Pridefest that she was moved to kill the proposed rule, in part, because of a story she heard about a transgender child and the difficulties that child and their family face.

Federal News

Federal judge blocks Trump Administration rule limiting duration of  international students’ and journalists’ stay in U.S. The rule would have capped the stay of international students, researchers, and professors at four years; foreign journalists would have been limited to visas of 240 days. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV ruled that the Administration’s reasoning behind implementing the rule was unlawfully arbitrary and blocked enforcement of the attempted visa caps. 

University of Wyoming sorority sisters ask federal appeals court to reverse decision dismissing lawsuit over admission of trans woman. A group of six Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters from the University of Wyoming chapter sued the sorority in 2023 after a trans woman was admitted to the chapter by a vote of its members. The U.S. District Court in Wyoming dismissed the case twice, ruling that the government cannot interfere with how a private, voluntary organization determines its membership. The plaintiffs are appealing those dismissals to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

Trump Administration launches new investigation into Children’s Hospital Colorado. Attorneys for Children’s Hospital Colorado stated in court that the Administration launched a new investigation into its services providing medically necessary care to trans and nonbinary youth. The investigation is reportedly seeking billing records and diagnostic codes to look into providers of gender-affirming care.

FBI Director Kash Patel suggests FBI agents may be sent to polling places during Senate hearing. In a heated exchange with Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), Director Patel said under oath that “[The FBI has] election crisis coordinators manned at all 56 field offices. Election integrity is of paramount importance. This F.B.I. will not shy away from that effort.” Federal law prohibits armed federal officers or military personnel from being deployed “at any place where a general or special election is held.”

Global News

Canada - Saddle Lake Cree Nation positions itself as safe haven for transgender people seeking medical care. In 2024, Alberta banned medically necessary care for trans and nonbinary youth under 16. On September 9th, leaders of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation invoked an 1876 treaty establishing the nation’s right to comprehensive healthcare, which its leaders say includes gender-affirming care. Saddle Lake chief Dale Steinhauer announced that the Nation, located 100 miles northeast of Alberta’s capital Edmonton, will recruit doctors to provide gender-affirming care services on its land reserve, so that youth within its borders and in surrounding provinces can legally and safely access the care they need.

Indonesia - Islamic clerical body proposes criminalizing same-sex sexual relations, LGBTQ+ advocacy. The Indonesian Ulema Council’s Fatwa Commission, an Islamic clerical body, is preparing a proposal which would criminalize same-sex sexual relations and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community. As part of this effort, the clerical body is proposing replacing the term “LGBT” in government documents with “LGSP,” meaning “Lesbian, Gay, Sodomy and Obscenity.” 

Turkey - Authorities arrest dozens of people as part of crackdown on LGBTQ+ activists. Arrests began on September 13th when security forces in Istanbul, Ankara, and other Turkish cities detained more than 60 people in their homes, at gay bars, and at the offices of gay rights organizations. On the 14th, demonstrators protesting those arrests were themselves arrested in Istanbul.

United Kingdom - Bill to ban “conversion therapy” practices debated in Northern Irish parliament. The bill would impose penalties of up to two years in prison for practitioners of so-called “conversion therapy.”