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Our Voices

La Ropa Sucia se Lava en Casa. Dirty Clothes are Washed in the House.

Growing up, I was taught there are things you don’t talk about. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, I learned that subjects not meant for polite conversation were many and varied. Topics such as mental health, sexual orientation, and familial hardships were off the table. It is a generational silence, passed down from generation to generation, transported across borders and finding new soil in the United States. It is a silence that kills.  One example of where this silence has profoundly...

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In Florida, “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” Keeps Queer Students from Seeing Queer Futures for Themselves

A few weeks ago, I got an unexpected Facebook notification. My high school had newly formed an alumni association, and they were reaching out to me to gauge my interest in speaking at my high school about my life and career.   I was excited – my high school was a Title I school and most of us who attended were low-income and disadvantaged. Despite that, the school had an International Baccalaureate program for some students to earn early college credits. That program’s rigor made me...

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Join us in welcoming NCLR’s Newest Legal Assistant, Bailey Henderson! 

Bailey Henderson (He/him) – Legal Assistant After graduating from U.C. Berkeley with degrees in Political Science and Global Studies, Bailey Henderson was motivated to work for NCLR because of his desire to improve LGBTQ equity. He’s excited to both make an impact and learn more about law in his position.  Where do you currently reside? Oakland, CA What is your educational background? I went to UC Berkeley for my B.A.s in Political Science and Global Studies Where did you work...

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NCLR’s Legal Director Shannon Minter testified in a U.S House of Representatives hearing on medical care for transgender youth, urging members to respect the freedom of parents of transgender youth to obtain essential medical care for their children. Shannon was joined by Myriam Reynolds, the mother of NCLR’s 2022 Courage Awardee, Cameron Wright. NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter in the United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Hearing Room In his statement, Shannon helped...

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The Effects of Title 42 And The New Asylum Ban On LGBTQ Migrants

In 2020, Trump used the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to invoke Title 42 – an existing public health law – to severely restrict migrants’ entry into the United States. This means that Title 42 was legislation created in the past, but what exactly does it do or why was it created? Title 42 is part of a public health emergency law enacted in 1944 called the Public Health Service Act. The law was enacted to prevent the spread of communicable diseases and allows health authorities to deny individuals...

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Join us in welcoming NCLR’s Newest Philanthropy Assistant, Ana Garcia!

Ana Garcia (she/her) – Philanthropy Assistant As a UC Berkeley alumni, Ana Garcia comes to NCLR after working for the Pacific School of Religion. She’s committed to working on issues that concern youth development and is inspired by the legal work that NCLR does on behalf of LGBTQ kids.  Where do you currently reside? Oakland, CA What is your educational background? Graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in English and Religious Studies, and the University of San Francisco with an MA...

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AFTER 303 CREATIVE: What the Supreme Court’s Ruling Means for LGBTQ+ Rights

On June 30, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled that certain businesses that involve customized expressive messages may turn away same-sex couples or other customers. The ruling came in the case 303 Creative v. Elenis, in which the Court addressed whether a website designer in Colorado could refuse to design wedding websites for same-sex couples. Watch this webinar with Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon, Legal Director Shannon Minter, and Federal Policy Director Julie Gonen for a...

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“Now, Henceforward, and Forever Free”

Juneteenth commemorates the anniversary of Union General Gordon Granger’s belated announcement of freedom from slavery in Texas on June 19th, 1865, delivered over two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In directing Confederate states to “recognize and maintain the freedom” of formerly enslaved Black Americans, and to refrain from repressing “any efforts they may make for their actual freedom,” President Lincoln understood that he could not impart actual freedom...

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Join Us Today as We #HonorThemWithAction

We invite you to join NCLR today as we honor the 49 lives lost – and the countless others forever changed – at the tragedy at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL on June 12, 2016. On the anniversary of that horrific night when so many of our community were murdered in a senseless act of gun violence, we not only remember those taken from us, we also join those who pledge to Honor Them With Action.  As a young queer Latino and  Orlando native who frequently visited Pulse, the nightmare of that...

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NCLR is Fighting the Wave of Transgender Healthcare Bans Sweeping the Nation

“An Exercise in Politics, Not Good Medicine” This year, in a coordinated attack on the LGBTQ community, legislators in states across the country have passed scores of laws that threaten and endanger LGBTQ people, their families, and their communities. NCLR has been at the forefront of the fight against anti-LGBTQ laws for decades, but we have never seen such an aggressive campaign against LGBTQ youth and their families.  NCLR will keep fighting these unconstitutional laws,...

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