by Maximillian Alvarez | Mar 13, 2026 | LGBTQ, Podcast, Politics and Movements: US
As their public approval sinks lower and lower, the MAGA right is leaning harder and harder into policies of abject cruelty directed at vulnerable populations that have been turned into sacrificial scapegoats; that is especially true when it comes to immigrants and trans people. In the state of Kansas, for instance, Republicans just rammed through one of the most extreme anti-trans bills in the country. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with journalist and LGBTQ+ policy analyst Erin Reed about how the new law is affecting trans Kansans and about the explosion of anti-trans policies around the country.
Additional links/info:
Erin Reed website, Substack, Facebook page, Bluesky page, TikTok, and Instagram
Erin Reed, Substack, “Anti-Trans National Legal Risk Assessment Map: Feb 2026”
Erin Reed, Substack, ““You outlaw it”: Heritage Foundation President announces intent to outlaw all trans adult care”
Sherman Smith & Morgan Chilson, Kansas Reflector, “Trans Kansans struggle with Legislature’s ‘cruelty’ as driver’s licenses are invalidated”
Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector, “Trans men file lawsuit over Kansas law that restricts bathroom use and invalidates driver’s licenses”
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome everyone to the Real News Network podcast. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. I’m the editor-in-chief here at The Real News, and it’s so great to have you all with us. Between the federal government’s coverup of the Epstein Files, President Trump’s catastrophic decision to plunge the US into a war with Iran, an economy that’s crushing working people while hurling money at billionaires and corporations, and the daily litany of rampant and jaw-droppingly blatant corruption throughout the Trump administration.
by Sam Donndelinger | Mar 8, 2026 | HIV, ICE, immigration, LGBTQ, Minneapolis, News
For two weeks, Albé Sanchez didn’t leave their house in South Minneapolis. “[I was] forced into survival mode,” Sanchez told Uncloseted Media and Rewire News Group (RNG). “I felt like there was an invisible wall [to the outside world] that I couldn’t cross unless I really wanted to put myself in a place where there was a chance that I might not be able to come back,” they added.
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by Erin Reed | Mar 7, 2026 | bathroom bans, gender identity, GOP, Kelly Ayotte, LGBTQ, New Hampshire, News, Trans Rights
Bathroom bans targeting transgender people have been spreading rapidly across the United States. In previous years, adult bathroom bans in public buildings were limited to a handful of states with extreme laws. This year, they have become one of the primary vehicles for anti-trans legislation nationwide. Kansas was the first to act, passing a bathroom bounty hunter system and invalidating…
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by Erin Reed | Mar 3, 2026 | Gender-Affirming Care, Ken Paxton, LGBTQ, LGBTQ Rights, News, Texas, Trans, Trans Health Care, trans youth
Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas announced on Monday a new interpretation of state law that would extend the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors to mental health providers, declaring that any therapist who affirms a trans youth’s gender identity is “facilitating” illegal treatment and committing child abuse. Under his interpretation, therapists, counselors…
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by October Krausch | Feb 18, 2026 | Article, LGBTQ, Prison Industrial Complex, prison reform, Prisons and Policing, Reprint
This story was originally published on Truthout on Feb. 16, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
In the United States, it is possible to be unhoused even inside a prison. At the South Central Correctional Center in Tennessee, people sleep in doorways, closets, or even in the showers. “Anywhere that’s pretty much off camera,” said Bishop, a man imprisoned in the facility who chose not to use his last name out of fear of retaliation.
Atticus, another man in the prison, told Truthout he knows at least a couple people living within the prison “who are actually homeless on a more permanent basis, people bouncing around from place to place.” These folks have no bed to sleep in at night, and no place to leave their belongings.
Sources imprisoned at South Central described a different sort of housing crisis, one that takes place inside the walls of the institution that is charged with providing for them. The prison is run by CoreCivic, and, like other CoreCivic prisons in Tennessee, has been the subject of recent investigations because of the rampant violence and extortion that gang members in the prison perpetrate on newer or unaffiliated people. LGBTQ+ people in the prison say this violence often targets them specifically.
Conditions at South Central are just one example of the broader problem that LGBTQ+ people face inside prisons, particularly around housing issues. Although prisons claim to take seriously the safety of the people they confine — CoreCivic’s website highlights that they operate “safe facilities” — the people inside tell a very different story.
Instead, people inside are organizing to protect themselves. Bishop and Atticus are both part of
by Erin Reed | Jan 26, 2026 | Donald Trump, foreign aid, Funding ban, LGBTQ, Mexico City, News, Trans, Trump Administration
On Monday, the Trump administration published a new rule in the Federal Register that could affect more than $30 billion in U.S. foreign aid distributed to international organizations. The funding — supporting hospital clinics, HIV/AIDS programs, educational institutions, and more — would be conditioned on sweeping new restrictions barring “social transition” and gender-affirming care at any…
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