'WNBA's Brianna Turner - Policies scapegoating trans women and athletes are distractions, don't protect women's sports' & other Mon/Tue news briefs

WNBA star Brianna Turner

I'm a WNBA player. Don't use athletes like me to exclude trans women - 

 The IOC has a documented history of refusing to actually protect women in elite sports, and their current invocation of protection does anything but. 

Policies that single out transgender women and athletes with intersex variations do not protect women’s sports. They manufacture a scapegoat while the real challenges to women’s sports go unaddressed: unequal funding, limited access to training and facilities, pay disparities, male-dominated leadership, gender-based violence and harassment across race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. Focusing on who should be allowed to call themselves a woman distracts from the structural inequities that actually limit women’s opportunities. 

 This policy also invites unequal scrutiny for women who already face heightened suspicion; Black and Brown athletes and competitors from the Global South will be unfairly targeted. 

New report shows affirming adults are critical to the success of LGBTQ+ students - 

 LGBTQ+ students with access to more supportive educators, anti-bullying policies that explicitly mention sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBTQ+-inclusive learning, and GSA presence reported a higher sense of belonging and higher GPAs, the survey revealed. 

The good news is that about 70% of LGBTQ+ students reported having six or more adults at school they could count on for support. These adults help by displaying “safe space” stickers, advising GSAs, or giving LGBTQ+-inclusive lessons, among other actions. That support, in turn, led to better student outcomes, including a lower likelihood of absenteeism due to safety concerns, less harassment or assault, higher GPAs, and a sense of belonging among LGBTQ+ students. 

Conservative Parents Are Suing a Minnesota School District for Letting Trans Kids Use Bathrooms -

 A conservative parents’ group is suing a Minnesota school district over its transgender-inclusive bathroom policy, one month after the Trump administration announced its own suit against the state’s Department of Education.

 . . . Minnesota has emerged as a major battleground in the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against trans students’ rights, which Trump has waged since the first day of his second term. The president’s offensive against Minnesota also comes on the heels of this year’s disastrous “Operation Metro Surge,” during which ICE agents swarmed Minneapolis neighborhoods and killed at least two people, including queer resident Becca Good. 

LGBTQ+ groups score legal victory over Trump, restoring Pride flag at Stonewall National Monument - 

 The rainbow Pride flag will return permanently to the Stonewall National Monument after the federal government agreed to reinstall it as part of a legal settlement ending a high-profile lawsuit over its removal.

LGBTQ community explores arming up during heated political times - 

 “I want to be able to defend my community, especially being in political spaces and queer spaces,” said Snively, a trans woman. “It’s just having that extra line of safety, having that extra peace of mind would be important to me.” 

Snively is among what some say is a growing number of LGBTQIA+ gun owners across the United States. Gun rights organizations and advocates say interest in gun ownership appears to have increased in that community since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. It began with outrage. It ends, for now, with a guarantee.