🏳️‍⚧️⚕️⚖️ On August 14th, a federal appeals court panel of judges ruled to overturn a lower court’s blocking of a U.S. Department of Justice subpoena against the telehealth gender-affirming care clinic Queerdoc, sending the case back to the lower court and reviving the DOJ’s effort to obtain the records of trans youth who accessed care from the clinic.

• More information:

  • "Appeals court allows Trump DOJ investigation of transgender telehealth provider to resume" 

    • https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/trump-queerdoc-investigation-court

  • "Court allows Trump administration to access trans patients’ records" 

    • https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/08/court-allows-administration-to-access-trans-patients-records/

🏳️‍⚧️⚕️⚖️ On August 14, a federal judge overturned a provision of a 2025 federal rule that would have prevented Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace health insurance plans from treating certain gender-affirming procedures as essential health benefits, which receive additional coverage and cost protections under the ACA.

• More information:

  • "Trump cannot strip Obamacare protections from trans people's healthcare, judge rules" 

    • https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/judge-upholds-obamacare-transgender-care

  • "Federal judge shuts down Trump’s attempt to end ACA’s gender-affirming care coverage" 

    • https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/08/federal-judge-shuts-down-trumps-attempt-to-end-acas-gender-affirming-care-coverage/

🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏫 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏫 A report on trans middle and high school students in the U.S. released on Tuesday found that having more supportive and affirming teachers was associated with a higher GPA.

• More information:

  • "Affirming teachers can have the biggest impact on trans kids' success in school, new study finds"

    • https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/08/affirming-teachers-can-have-the-biggest-impact-on-trans-kids-success-in-school-new-study-finds/

  • "Hostile school policies are keeping transgender students out of class"

    • https://www.advocate.com/news/education/trans-students-hostile-absenteeism

  • "School Experiences and Outcomes Among Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender-Expansive Young People"

    • https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/school-experiences-and-outcomes-among-transgender-nonbinary-and-gender-expansive-young-people/

🏳️‍⚧️🪪 This week, without warning, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced that it no longer allows gender marker changes on driver’s licenses or state IDs unless an individual shows an updated birth certificate or passport. Ohio does not allow a nonbinary designation on driver’s licenses or state IDs, and trans people cannot currently update the sex marker on their U.S. passports.

• More information:

  • "‘Intentional harm’: Ohio quietly makes it harder for trans people to obtain accurate IDs"

    • https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/08/intentional-harm-ohio-quietly-makes-it-harder-for-trans-people-to-obtain-accurate-ids/

  • "Ohio abruptly blocks transgender people from changing gender markers on IDs"

    • https://www.advocate.com/politics/states/ohio-gender-marker-change-ban

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️📊 A new analysis of 2021-2024 Census Bureau data found that 12% of U.S. adults are LGBTQ+, 2.3% of U.S. adults are trans or gender expansive, and almost a third of adults ages 18-24 identify as being LGBTQ+.

• More information

  • "LGBTQ+ People Are Now 12% of the Adult U.S. Population"

    • https://www.them.us/news/lgbtq-people-united-states-population

  • "LGBTQ+ Adults in the United States: New Population Estimates"

    • https://www.hrc.org/resources/lgbtq-population-estimates

  • "LGBTQ+ Adults in the United States: New Population Estimates" [Report]

    • https://communityinsights.hrc.org/research/lgbtq-population-estimates

🏳️‍🌈⚕️ The Queering Medicine Provider Directory is a community resource that helps LGBTQ+ individuals in the Greater Lansing Area connect with affirming healthcare providers and services by maintaining an up-to-date, reliable, community-informed directory. Know an affirming provider around Lansing? Please share the provider submission form with them so they can apply to be included in our directory!

• More information:

  • “Queering Medicine Provider Directory”

    • https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Mw3ekLyS6UMDPVNSI-bNsSYwJ6z1qB9mzPc1Vv_SXJ8/edit?gid=319484595#gid=319484595 

  • “Queering Medicine Provider Directory Submission Form”

    • https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1alQRVQP0rK6QRgcxKQ-OiJS-x6nt0o4NRdyX_soPeFo/edit