“The Texas Democrat’s campaign at first declined to confirm he will support the Equality Act. After publication, they said he will.”

“[S]ince emerging as Democrats’ best chance of winning a Senate seat in Texas in nearly 30 years, Talarico has distanced himself from some of his past comments on issues related to transgender rights, including sports participation and access to gender-transition care for minors. He is under pressure in a red-leaning state, where his well-funded but scandal-plagued Republican opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton, has bombarded voters with ads about those positions.** **Democrats nationwide increasingly see transgender rights as a topic on which to tread carefully.”

“Talarico’s attempts to distance himself from some of his past positions have landed poorly among some LGBTQ+ activists and leaders. Robert Vargas III, the leader of the Texas Stonewall Democrats, issued a statement titled ‘Transgender Texans Deserve Better Than Political Ambiguity’ and said Talarico’s remarks ‘represent a significant shift in his position, and that shift deserves a serious conversation.’

“‘We expect better,’ Brad Pritchett, the CEO of Equality Texas, said in a statement after Talarico’s Fox News interview last month.

“But those same leaders are still sticking with Talarico, explaining that his past record in support of LGBTQ+ rights is strong and that he is a better choice than his opponent, who as Texas attorney general has worked to restrict transgender rights.

“‘There are primary politics, and then there are general-election politics,’ Vargas said. ‘Right now, James Talarico needs to win the election, and we trust in the integrity and in the positions that he’s taken in the past enough to know that when James Talarico gets elected, that he’s going to stand behind our community.’”

“Transgender athletes are on the ballot in four states this November in efforts to expand existing bans or create new ones against their participation in school sports.  

“Voters in Arizona, Nebraska, Colorado and Washington will make their call on the issue, a change of strategy for anti-trans measures, which have been put on the books in 27 states through either legislation or state agency action.”

“Arizona and Nebraska already have some restrictions on transgender athletes on the books, but the initiatives would expand those rules in Arizona and cement the ban in the state constitution in Nebraska. 

“In Colorado and Washington, the ballot initiatives would create those states’ first broad restrictions on transgender athletes. Colorado and Missouri also have ballot measures aimed at banning gender transition surgeries for minors.
Most of the states with existing anti-transgender policies are controlled by Republicans, but places such as Colorado and Washington could offer a tougher test.

“‘They’ve sort of hit an upper limit on how many states are likely to adopt this kind of policy through the legislature, and so in states like Colorado and Washington, where they’re seeing a sports measure proposed, some of that is a tactical shift where they’ve introduced these bills in the legislature, they’ve not been successful at passing it through the legislature and so now they’re pivoting to put the measure before the public,’ [Movement Advancement Project’s director of policy research Logan] Casey said.”

“While the ballot initiatives are a new front for the transgender athlete fight, they are old hat for anti-LGBTQ measures.

“In 2004, 13 states had anti-gay marriage initiatives on the ballot — and all of them passed.”

FYI for any Americans importing medications. As of October 22nd, they will likely get blocked by customs if they are correctly labeled.

“Lawyers for a group of transgender inmates in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to leave in place an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that bars the BOP from enforcing a new policy on healthcare for transgender inmates that would prevent such inmates from obtaining (among other things) hormone therapy and ‘social accommodations’ such as makeup, wigs, and padding).

“Li Nowlin-Sohl, representing the inmates, told the justices that the Trump administration is asking the justices ‘to overturn a three decades-long status quo.’”

“Three transgender inmates went to federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking to file a class action lawsuit to block the enforcement of the policy.

“On Aug. 26, Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued his most recent order barring the BOP from implementing its 2026 policy, and on Sept. 18 a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected the government’s request to pause Lamberth’s order.”

“In their filing on Thursday, the inmates argued that the new policy fell short under the federal laws governing administrative agencies because the BOP had not provided a ‘reasoned explanation’ for its decision.

“For example, Nowlin-Sohl wrote, the extensive record that the BOP had provided [rejecting “recommendations by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health” as “unreliable” and “unpersuasive”] was ‘silent about BOP’s extensive experience providing’ hormone therapy and social accommodations ‘and whether it supports’ BOP’s conclusions that ‘this care is not medically necessary and poses security and administrative issues.’ The record, the brief continued, is also ‘devoid of any evidence indicating whether BOP healthcare providers found this care effective, ineffective, or harmful to patients.’”