Queering the News for the Week of 8/23
Florida rainbow crossings, federal gender affirming care, and constitutional drag
I’m considering changing the name of the newsletter. If anyone has any ideas, shoot me a message. In the meantime, the news this week is a mixed bag, but with how things have been of late, I’ll take it.
Let’s get into it.
Florida paints over Pulse nightclub shooting memorial crosswalk
Before sunrise on August 21, the Florida Department of Transportation painted over the rainbow crosswalk outside Pulse nightclub, where it's been since 2017. The crosswalk stood as a memorial of the 2016 shooting, where 49 lives were needlessly lost.
“In the middle of the night, FDOT painted over our rainbow crosswalk at the Pulse Memorial,” Florida state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando, posted on Twitter. “A tragedy that we have worked so hard to find power in pain. A rainbow crosswalk that sparked joy and showed our love for all people.”
Many advocates and survivors are speaking out against the change, which is part of a larger movement in Florida to outlaw rainbow crosswalks. Cities have been ordered to remove them or face penalties.
“We just discovered that the Florida Department of Transportation, in the middle of the night, ripped the rainbow colors off of this city crosswalk,” State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith said, recording a video standing before the crosswalk. “They illegally vandalized city property without providing the City of Orlando notice or getting their approval.”
Smith is the first openly gay Latino elected to the Florida legislature.
Since the removal, activists swarmed to the area and colored in the crosswalk, filling in the removed rainbow.
“The DeSantis regime may have ripped the colours off of the crosswalk at the Pulse Nightclub Memorial, but we will NOT be erased,” Smith wrote on Twitter.. “If the state gets their way, there will be a rainbow mural nearby that is bigger, queerer, and more colourful than they ever imagined.”
Gender affirming care ending for federal workers
Starting in 2026, gender-affirming care will no longer be covered by insurance for federal employees.
On August 15, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Healthcare and Insurance sent a letter outlining policy changes for federal insurance plans. The letter stated that the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) and Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) Programs will no longer cover “chemical and surgical modification of an individual’s sex traits through medical interventions (to include ‘gender transition’ services),” regardless of age.
It offers ‘alternatives’ though.
“As an exception, counseling services for possible or diagnosed gender dysphoria must still be covered,” the letter reads. “Covered counseling services must be provided by a licensed mental health provider and may include those who provide faith-based counseling.”
Faith-based counseling is often a euphemism for conversion therapy.
The policy change does at least offer exceptions for individuals in the middle of surgical and hormonal regimens, but only on a “case-by-case basis.”
“The exclusion on hormone treatments only pertains to chemical and surgical modification of an individual's sex traits (including as part of "gender transition" services),” the letter reads.
They plan on still covering hormonal treatments for cis individuals for things like IVF, endometriosis, prostate cancer, and tumor growth.
“The federal government cannot simply strip away essential healthcare coverage from transgender employees while providing comprehensive medical care to all other federal workers,” Lambda Legal Counsel and Health Care Strategist Omar Gonzalez-Pagan said in a statement.
“We will not stand by while the federal government tramples on the civil rights of hardworking transgender public servants,” concluded Gonzalez-Pagan. “Lambda Legal is exploring all options to respond to this discriminatory policy and protect the rights of transgender Americans, including those serving our country.”
Federal court rules that drag shows are likely protected by the First Amendment
On August 18, a federal appeals court ruled that a 2023 drag show ban at West Texas A&M was likely unconstitutional. They stated that the shows are likely protected by the First Amendment.
A 2-1 decision by the 5th US Circuit of Appeals reversed a lower court’s ruling that sided with the college’s president, Walter Wender. Wender cancelled a student-organized drag show in 2023, stating that drag was “misogynistic behavior portraying women as objects,” even comparing it to blackface. The show, which was eventually held off campus, was intended to raise money for the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ suicide prevention nonprofit.
“FIRE is pleased that the Fifth Circuit has halted President Wendler’s unconstitutional censorship and restored the First Amendment at West Texas A&M,” FIRE Supervising Senior Attorney JT Morris said in a statement. “This is a victory not just for Spectrum WT, but for any public university students at risk of being silenced by campus censors.”