Hi there

📚 Republican state senators in Georgia on Thursday passed a bill that would force state libraries to cut ties with the American Library Association. Their issue? The ALA is led by a lesbian who also happens to be a Marxist. Two things that the Georgia GOP apparently can't stand. Emily Drabinski has been outspoken against book bans — yes, the same book bans that many GOP lawmakers seem to love. Several states including Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, and Texas have announced or enacted some form of disassociation from the ALA, but the Georgia bill passed by the Senate this week would be the first to effectively ban nearly all association with the group.

🚨 The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has initiated an investigation into Owasso Public Schools in Oklahoma following the bullying and death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict. The trans teen's death hasn't been revealed by the local medical examiner, but questions have emerged about a fight he was in the day before his death. The announcement comes after the Human Rights Campaign and other groups have pushed for the federal government to get involved. 🚨

❗Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to be obsessed with trans people, especially trans youth. The state official has tried to get details of trans members of the LGBTQ+ rights group PFLAG — that is, until a court this week said he couldn't. Paxton, an intensely anti-LGBTQ+ Republican, issued a demand in early February for the organization to turn over documents, communications, and other information related to its work with these families. This would include the names and addresses of trans youth members. PFLAG National is a plaintiff in two lawsuits filed against Texas’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans youth — its ban on this care and an order from Gov. Greg Abbott that families allowing their children to undergo it be investigated for child abuse. Responding to the latest demand, PFLAG National filed a new lawsuit against Paxton’s office and sought a temporary restraining order to keep him from obtaining the information. Travis County District Court Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel granted the order Friday. How's that, Ken? ❗

See you Tuesday!

Onward and upward,

Alex Cooper