Last Night, the Politics of Division Lost 

Statement on 2026 Midterm Election Results from Shannon Minter, National Center for LGBTQ Rights Legal Director   For the past year, anyone paying attention to conversations about the midterm election heard the same prediction: candidates who refused to distance themselves from transgender people would pay for it in November. President Trump and his allies spent nearly $400 million on ads containing anti-transgender attacks, more than they spent on similar ads in 2024 and more than they spent...

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LGBTQ History Month – Donna Hitchens

An LGBTQ History Month conversation with lawyer and NCLR co-founder Donna Hitchens, the first openly lesbian person to be elected to a judgeship in the U.S.  The National Center for LGBTQ Rights started as the Lesbian Rights Project in 1977 by a law student. That law student was Donna Hitchens who would later go on to become the first openly lesbian judge elected to the bench in the United States. This is the story of her early days of activism, why she started NCLR, and the community...

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Finding Home: NCLR’s Immigration Program Needs You

Hogar {Home}, NCLR’s immigration program, was launched in 1994, the same year the U.S. recognized that immigrants facing persecution on the basis of their sexual orientation could seek protection as refugees and asylees in the United States. Since then, Hogar has advanced immigration law and assisted thousands of LGBTQ immigrants facing the risk of abuse, violence, and even death in their home countries for being who they are, in obtaining legal status in the U.S.   Clients like...

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What the Supreme Court Did Not Decide in West Virginia v. B.P.J.

Today’s narrow ruling leaves the door open for inclusive policies On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court held in West Virginia v. B.P.J. (decided together with Little v. Hecox) that neither Title IX nor the Equal Protection Clause prevents states from barring transgender girls from girls’ sports. But the majority opinion, written by Justice Kavanaugh, is a narrow one, and its limits are significant. Here are the most important. It permits these bans—it doesn’t require them The Court held that...

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NCLR Has Two 2026 Grand Marshals!

This year, President Imani Rupert-Gordon will be honored at San Francisco Pride as one of six community grand marshals. Director of Racial and Economic Justice Initiatives TyrONE Hanley will be representing NCLR as a community grand marshal at San Diego Pride. From Imani: How does it feel to be chosen as a grand marshal?   Serving as a grand marshal for SF Pride is the honor of a lifetime. I am grateful for the work I have the opportunity to do in San Francisco every day as President...

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The Supreme Court Just Gutted 60 Year-Old Voting Rights Act Protections Against Discriminatory Gerrymandering

Lawmakers most likely to push anti-LGBTQ+ legislation — bans on healthcare, restrictions on transgender students, “Don’t Say Gay” laws, attacks on marriage equality — are often the same lawmakers elected from heavily gerrymandered districts that dilute Black and Hispanic votes Today, in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt the most serious blow to the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in its 60-year history. In Louisiana v. Callais, the Court ruled that Louisiana’s...

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Shannon Minter Named to TIME100

There are advocates who chase the spotlight, and those who simply do the work. Shannon Minter, one of the most consequential civil rights attorneys of our generation, is unambiguously the latter. This past year I watched Shannon, the legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, argue in Talbott v. USA, representing transgender service members in their battle to continue to serve our country, while working in deep collaboration with partners including GLAD Law’s Jennifer...

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The Federal Bureau of Prisons Is Running a Conversion Therapy Program. We Must Not Let It Stand. 

On February 19, 2026, the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a new policy on the “Management of Inmates with Gender Dysphoria.” The title sounds clinical. The reality is brutal: the federal government has now officially placed itself in the business of punishing transgender people for being who they are — by withdrawing their medical care, confiscating their personal belongings, and subjecting them to forced psychological treatment. It is, in every meaningful sense, a blueprint for a...

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The Supreme Court Is Deciding the Future of Conversion Therapy Protections. Here’s What You Need to Know. 

More than 30 years ago, the National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) began its fight to end conversion therapy — a dangerous practice that claims to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, causing devastating harm to LGBTQ+ youth and their families. In the decades since, that work has grown into NCLR’s Born Perfect, a national effort that has helped pass protections in 27 states, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico,...

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Why We’re Fighting a Dangerous Federal Rule That Would Cut Off Health Care for Transgender Youth

By Shannon Minter, Legal Director at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) and Jennifer Levi, Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights at GLAD Law On February 17, 2026, NCLR joined GLAD Law and COLAGE in filing formal comments opposing a proposed federal rule that would devastate health care access for transgender young people across the country. Here’s what you need to know – and why this matters. What is this proposed rule? In December 2025, the Centers for Medicare...

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