PFLAG Votes

October is going to be a big month for PFLAG advocates. As Election Day approaches, we’re gearing up to support get-out-the-vote efforts across the country and ensure LGBTQ+ voters and their allies have what they need to cast their ballot this election.

We have three opportunities coming up for you to help mobilize voters. 

October 7 | Text bank with the League of Women Voters
6 pm ET / 3 pm PT
We’re teaming up with the League of Women Voters for a national text bank focused on reaching young voters to help them make a plan to vote. Register here.

October 21 | Phone Bank With One Colorado
6 pm MT / 8 pm ET
This November, Coloradans will vote on two anti-trans ballot measures that would impact trans youth and their families. We’ll join One Colorado to reach voters and help them understand what’s at stake. Register here.

October 28 | Phone Bank With Progress Arizona
5:30 pm MST / 5:30 pm PDT/ 8:30 pm ET
Arizonans will also be facing an anti-trans ballot measure in November. We’ll join Progress Arizona to educate voters across the state and make sure they have a plan to cast their ballot in November. Register here.

Take Action

Californians
Governor Newsom signed SB 934—Senator Scott Wiener’s critical bill to ensure conversion “therapy” cannot be practiced in California—on Saturday the 26th. SB 934 ensures state law conforms to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2026 guidance in Chiles v. Salazar to ensure that California continues to protect young people from these harmful practices. Thank Governor Newsom for protecting LGBTQ+ youth!

PFLAG in Action

PFLAG National earns three Shorty Award nominations for “Fighting for our Pride” campaign. The campaign, launched in Fall 2025, supports nationwide advocacy efforts by local community members, offering insight into how to use the power of your personal story in meetings with elected officials and how to participate effectively in town halls, school board meetings, and more. The Shorty Awards, which celebrate innovation in social media and digital content, nominated “Fighting for our Pride” in three award categories: Civic Engagement, LGBTQ+ and Youth & Family.

LGBTQ+ voters, including PFLAG members and supporters, show enthusiasm to show up to the polls. A study by the HRC Foundation found that 92% of registered LGBTQ+ voters “definitely” plan to vote in the upcoming midterms, compared to 68% of non-LGBTQ+ voters who say they will “definitely” vote. PFLAG’s VP of Advocacy, Katie Blair, described the enthusiasm she is seeing for PFLAG’s  Turning Pride Into Power campaign to mobilize chapters and supporters to vote, saying that members and supporters are “more motivated than ever.” Blair went on to say that “Our families know firsthand what’s at stake this election,” and that they are “feeling [the impacts of anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric] in their communities, at their schools, in their conversations.”

PFLAG Storm Lake, SALUD co-host candidate forum. PFLAG Storm Lake, Iowa, and SALUD!, a local nonprofit focused on community health and well-being, hosted a candidate forum on September 30th at Buena Vista University. Several candidates participated, giving attendees the opportunity to hear them discuss issues impacting the community and their policy priorities.

Remembering South Carolina LGBTQ+ advocate, Harriet Daniels Hancock. The Harriet Hancock LGBT Center announced that Hancock passed away. She was a longtime LGBTQ+ advocate in South Carolina, having worked with PFLAG and many other organizations.

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.

Kansas - Transgender Kansans set to testify in lawsuit challenging ID, bathroom ban law. Transgender Kansans, represented by the ACLU, will testify in court to challenge the constitutionality of SB244, which stripped 1,700 transgender Kansans of their driver’s licenses that accurately reflected their gender identity.

New York - Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani visit LGBTQ+ archive and community center. Jetten, the Netherlands’ first openly gay Prime Minister, joined Mayor Mamdani for a visit to New York City’s LGBT Community Center, where the two learned about the center’s archive of LGBTQ+ historical materials and met with young people involved in the center’s programs. 

Pennsylvania - Community shows up to Fairview School Board meeting to support transgender homecoming queen. Fairview High School upperclassmen elected a transgender girl, Sammi, as homecoming queen. Sammi received harassment online as a result, so a Fairview teacher organized a group to attend the school board meeting on September 28th, where dozens spoke out to support Sammi.

West Virginia - Disaffiliated United Methodist churches in court to try to keep church property. After the United Methodist Church’s General Conference voted to end its condemnation of homosexuality and lift its ban on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy in May of 2024, thousands of churches disaffiliated from the denomination. Thirty-three of those disaffiliated churches in West Virginia are now arguing at the Supreme Court of Appeals that they, rather than the United Methodist Church Conference, should own their church’s property. A decision is expected before the end of the Court’s fall term.

Federal News

Supreme Court (SCOTUS) allows Trump Administration to move forward with modified voter verification database. On September 25th, the Court paused a lower court ruling which blocked use of a centralized database to verify voters’ citizenship (called the SAVE system) on the grounds that it violated federal privacy laws. SCOTUS held that the lower court order “inhibits the Federal Government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections.” The majority acknowledged in its ruling that the National Voter Registration Act bars state and local governments from systematically removing voters from their election rolls in the 90-day run-up to federal elections; however, state and local officials can conduct “individualized inquiries” about voter eligibility.

SCOTUS allows Trump Administration to resume third-country deportations. The Court paused a lower court ruling which blocked the Administration from deporting migrants to countries where they are not citizens. The Administration will be allowed to resume this policy while SCOTUS considers the merits of the lawsuit challenging its constitutionality during its upcoming term, which begins on October 5th.  

Trump Administration asks SCOTUS to allow implementation of healthcare ban for transgender inmates. On September 28th, the Administration asked the Court to block a lower court ruling which prohibits the Federal Bureau of Prisons from implementing a new policy denying gender-affirming care and other accommodations – such as wigs and makeup – to transgender inmates in federal custody. The new policy, which was finalized in February, is part of the Administration’s broader push to implement Trump’s January 2025 executive order redefining “sex” as binary and immutable.  

Federal judge rules Trump Administration illegally withheld funding to organizations combating domestic violence and sexual assault. In a September 29th ruling, Judge Melissa R. DuBose held that the Administration illegally attempted to withhold federal grants from over two dozen domestic violence and sexual assault prevention organizations by imposing arbitrary conditions on the grants. One such condition was that grantees could not promote “gender ideology.” 

Trump Administration rescinds Biden Administration sex discrimination rule. The Biden Administration rule interpreted Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination in education to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as widening the range of sexual harassment complaints that schools would be responsible for investigating. The Biden-era rule has been blocked in federal court since January, 2025 and now has been repealed by the Trump Administration.

Global News

Colombia - Government withdraws from international coalition for LGBTQI+ rights. The Equal Rights Coalition is a group of more than 40 countries formed in 2016 to fight for LGBTQI+ rights. Shortly after the newly elected president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, took office, the government decided to withdraw from the coalition, which the country had previously co-chaired with Spain.

Serbia - World’s first openly lesbian head of state takes office. Ana Brnabić has taken office as Serbia’s acting president following the resignation of President Aleksandar Vučić. Brnabić previously served as Serbia’s Prime Minister and the president of the National Assembly. She is the first openly lesbian woman to serve as any country’s head of state.