06/17/25

Hi there,

🚨 The Trump administration’s cancellation of National Institutes of Health grants for research projects on diverse populations amounts to racial discrimination and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, a federal judge ruled Monday.

🩺 In whispered hallway conversations and encrypted texts, and with rainbow pins discreetly clipped to lanyards, an underground resistance is taking shape within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After the Trump administration stopped providing gender-affirming care for transgender veterans in March, some physicians within the VA system around the country are risking their careers — and safety — to defy the rollback quietly, chart by chart, patient by patient.

The underground resistance to the department's anti-trans policies was described to The Advocate in interviews with three different VA doctors and one transgender patient, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity. The doctors fear retaliation from supervisors and the Trump administration; the trans patient fears harassment. Read the story here.

🌈 On the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling for marriage equality, join The Advocate editors who covered it as they share stories of their professional and personal experiences. Catch the discussion via livestream on June 20, 11 a.m. Eastern.

Onward and upward,

Alex Cooper

Editor-in-Chief, The Advocate

P.S. Support The Advocate's journalism. Find out how here.

Inside the Veterans Affairs Department’s underground resistance to Trump’s care ban for transgender vets

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San Francisco is fighting opioid overdoses by giving out Narcan at drag shows — and this queen started it

YouTube SFGovTV; SF Entertainment Commission

Oh, to dream the impossible dream of being a ‘normal gay’ like Richard Grenell

Shannon Finney/Getty Images

Man arrested for killing Minnesota Democrat gave anti-LGBTQ+ speech in Africa

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Trump's termination of health research grants shows anti-LGBTQ+ and racial bias, judge rules

The Advocate

Lesbian, gay, and bi medical students more likely to leave school than straight peers: study

Drazen Zigic/shutterstock

LGBTQ+ elders are more likely to live in poverty. Here's how we can change that

Julia Zavalishina/shutterstock

Spa can't discriminate against trans women, federal appeals court rules

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Federal appeals court says transgender girl has right to bathroom access in Wisconsin school district

©2025 google maps data

Rise in anti-LGBTQ+ content on Meta platforms since rollback of protections: GLAAD study

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