New York enacts legislation that requires single-person bathrooms to be gender neutral
School, restaurants, and state-operated facilities in the Empire State will have to make single-occupancy restrooms open to anyone, regardless of gender.
LGBTQ+ rights & well-being
Bhutan Parliament votes to decriminalize homosexuality
Sixty-three of the 69 members of the Bhutan Parliament voted in favor of making gay sex legal; the other six were absent.
U.S. Supreme Court hands victory to transgender students in locker room case
The Supreme Court has declined to take up a case brought by Oregon parents who want to exclude transgender students from school locker rooms and restrooms.
Switzerland is set to be the next country to legalize marriage equality
The Council of States passed a law that would legalize marriage equality with a 22-15 vote, with seven abstentions. The lower house passed the bill this past June. The bill now goes back to the National Council for final approval and it is expected to pass before the end of the year.
Nasdaq to mandate diversity requirements for listed companies
The diversity requirements would mandate that each of the Nasdaq’s 3,249 companies have at least one female director and at least one director who identifies as an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+.
New HIV diagnoses in British gay and bisexual men hits 20-year-low
A new report shows that there were 1,700 new HIV diagnoses in gay and bisexual men in 2000. In 2019, new HIV diagnoses stood at 1,500. HIV transmission has fallen by 80% between 2011 when there was an estimated peak of 2,700 cases and 2019 when there was an estimated 540.
Joe Biden becomes the first President or President-elect to mention trans people in official remarks
It seems that the eventual 46th President is beginning to follow through with his campaign promise to trans people that he believes “that Trans Lives Matter,” as he wrote in an article for LGBTQ Nation last month.
Delaware Democrat Sarah McBride to become nation’s first-ever transgender state senator
McBride, a former spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, overwhelmingly beat Republican candidate Steve Washington in Delaware’s 1st District, a heavily Democratic district that includes the city of Wilmington.
Texas reverses rule allowing social workers the “right” to refuse LGBTQ clients
In 2010 and 2012, the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners passed protections that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Over the past two years, state Republicans have pushed to repeal these measures.
Austin Quinn-Davidson to become Anchorage’s first gay and first woman mayor
The city of Anchorage, Alaska will have its first woman mayor and its first gay mayor as Austin Quinn-Davidson is set to become the city’s acting mayor after Mayor Ethan Berkowitz (D) announced his resignation amidst sexual harassment allegations.