New York Times: “The dilemma is reflective of the Democratic Party’s broader struggles with identity politics as it dissects its losses in 2024. Recovering its standing with voters, many in the party believe, requires coming to terms with the party’s transformation during the Obama and first Trump presidencies, when American liberals broadly embraced what had previously been vanguard positions on a range of social and cultural issues, including gender and race, immigration and policing.”

“The Trump administration on Wednesday sued California’s Education Department and the entity that oversees the state’s high school sports, accusing them of violating federal laws against sex-based discrimination by allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports,” the New York Times reports.

“Several longtime corporate sponsors of San Francisco’s Pride celebrations are pulling their funding for the festivities, leaving Pride organizers searching for another way to raise $300,000,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A Texas state bill could charge transgender people with “gender identity fraud,” making it illegal to identify as trans on official documents and potentially leading to jail time, NBC News reports.

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a pioneer for LGBTQ+ rights who decades ago upset leaders in his own party when he defied state law and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples, suggested Democrats were in the wrong in allowing transgender athletes to participate in female college and youth sports,” Politico reports.

Said Newsom: “I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.”

“The National Park Service has removed references to transgender and queer people on its web page for the Stonewall National Monument, which marks the site of the New York City inn where LGBTQ rioters – including now-legendary transgender activists – galvanized a movement for LGBTQ rights,” CNN reports.

“On the NPS web page, the term ‘LGBTQ+’ was also shortened to ‘LGB,’ according to an archived version of the page.”

“Government agencies are moving with lightning speed to implement President Trump’s directives to roll back transgender rights, prompting a series of lawsuits unfolding by the day,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Axios: All of the anti-trans executive orders Trump has signed.

“Since 1793, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request by President George Washington to offer legal guidance on foreign relations, the court’s justices have steered away from weighing in outside the context of a formal lawsuit,” the New York Times reports.

“That has not deterred lawmakers in Idaho, however. This week, a State House committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to undo Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 decision that gave same-sex couples the right to marry, and to hand the power to regulate marriage back to the states.”

“The resolution would still need approval by the full House and the Idaho Senate before any request could be sent to the Supreme Court. Both chambers in Idaho are controlled by Republicans.”

“President Trump has ordered federal prisons to house inmates who are transgender women in men’s facilities and halt medical treatments related to gender transition,” the New York Times reports.

“The move was part of a wide-ranging executive order issued by Mr. Trump on his first day in office meant to limit government recognition of an individual’s gender to their sex at birth.”

Washington Post: “It’s not so much that they’re worrying about something in particular happening; it’s the unknown that’s freaking them out.”

“The Republican-led House narrowly passed legislation designed to force public institutions to prohibit transgender girls and women from competing in female sports categories,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The measure passed the House in a 218 to 206 tally, with one lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina, voting present. Democratic leadership issued guidance to vote against the bill, but two Texas Democrats, Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar, joined all Republicans in voting in favor.”

“Republicans’ first response to Sarah McBride’s election to Congress was to ban her from using women’s restrooms throughout the Capitol. But their early treatment of the first openly transgender House member is likely just a preview of how they’ll navigate transgender politics and policies for the next two years,” Politico reports.

“Believing voters in the 2024 elections rejected Democrats’ more inclusive positions on transgender rights, Republicans appear ready in 2025 to double down in support of executive orders and provisions in spending bills that would make it harder for transgender individuals to get health care, serve in the military or participate in school activities.”

Marshall Project: “Earlier this fall, Florida officials ordered transgender women in the state’s prisons to submit to breast exams. As part of a new policy for people with gender dysphoria, prison medical staff ranked the women’s breast size using a scale designed for adolescents.”

“Those whose breasts were deemed big enough were allowed to keep their bras. Everyone else had to surrender theirs, along with anything else considered ‘female,’ such as women’s underwear and toiletry items.”

Washington Post: “As Trump’s inauguration nears, some LGBTQ+ people are anxiously preparing for what they fear will be a rollback of their rights. Some in same-sex relationships are making plans to marry or to adopt children. Others are moving to states that they believe will offer them more protection. Transgender people are stockpiling medications, worried that their access to gender transition care will be cut off.”