The president used an anti-trans slur three times against South Carolina Senate candidate Dr. Annie Andrews, who isn't trans. Today on Listen Up Girl, what that attack says about the campaign strategy behind it, and why distancing yourself from trans people doesn't buy protection.

Also today: Justice Samuel Alito's new book, So Ordered, calls the Obergefell marriage equality ruling "perhaps the decisive point" in the country's turn against religious liberty. The Oklahoma Supreme Court rules 6-3 that state law never allowed changes to the sex on a birth certificate. Taipei police raid the gay bar Commander D and detain 51 people, sparking protests weeks before Taiwan Pride. Thabatta Pimenta becomes the first trans woman from Brazil's northeast elected to Congress. And Livingston, Montana suspends, then reinstates, the permit for a pro-ICE film re-creating the killing of Renee Good.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

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Can a Democratic House actually protect trans people with the orange convicted felon still in office? Today on Listen Up Girl, Vermont Rep. Becca Balint, the only out LGBTQ+ member of the House Judiciary Committee, lays out the tools: subpoenas, oversight hearings, and the power of the purse. She also calls out Democrats running anti-trans ads.

Also today: students and teachers at Fairview High School in Pennsylvania rally behind trans homecoming queen Sammi Gutierrez, and the district refuses to bow to online backlash. Gay Punjabi makeup artist and influencer Mad Sandhu is shot and killed outside a car wash in Amritsar, India, in what police call a planned attack. Pittsburgh's Blue Moon Bar apologizes for a blackface drag performance at its weekly Open Stage, then cancels the next show after death threats. And the man who killed 17-year-old trans girl Tayy Dior Thomas in Mobile, Alabama, pleads guilty and is sentenced to 25 years, in a deal her family says falls short.

Listen Up Girl is a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman. New episodes every day. 🌐 http://listenupgirl.com 📲 @TheRealZachRE

#LGBTQ #LGBTQNews #TransRights #ListenUpGirl #QueerNews

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are fewer young people queer, or are fewer willing to say so out loud? Today on Listen Up Girl, new federal youth survey data shows the share of ninth graders identifying as gay or bisexual dropped from 17% to 11% in two years, while older teens and young adults are holding steady.

Also today: Minnesota Republican state House candidate William Beck repeats the conspiracy theory that chemicals in the water are changing frogs' sex. Jonathan McKinsey, a transgender father and software engineer, is shot and killed in Dublin, California, days before a custody hearing, and his in-laws are charged. Advocates for Trans Equality lays off 12 workers to close a $2.4 million deficit as its union says management rejected alternatives. In Canada, the queer punk band Rougaroux walks out of a Charlottetown venue after its trans singer is blocked from the women's washroom. And Dr. Anthony Fauci receives Equality Forum's International Role Model Award for his HIV/AIDS work, presented by activist Peter Staley.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: Becca Good and Renee Good's family file two federal lawsuits over Renee's killing by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, naming Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and other senior officials. Elliot Page joins the Gender Liberation Movement to demand that NYU Langone, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian restart gender-affirming care for trans youth and apologize to the families they turned away. The South Carolina Arts Commission denies grants to the Greenville Gay Men's Chorus and Proud Mary Theatre Company, the only two LGBTQ+ groups under review, and the chorus is weighing legal action. Dame Esther Rantzen, founder of the UK's Childline, dies at 86. Grindr buys online PrEP clinic Freddie for $250 million. And Richmond, Virginia renames a street for Vicky Hester, longtime owner of Babes of Carytown.

Listen Up Girl is a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman. New episodes every day. 🌐 listenupgirl.com 📲 @TheRealZachRE

#LGBTQNews #ListenUpGirl #QueerNews #TransRights #LGBTQ

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: The "Press 3" option for LGBTQ+ youth is back on the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, after Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote it into federal law. But The Trevor Project was shut out of running it, and the administration won't say how counselors will treat trans kids. In Pennsylvania, Republican state Rep. Aaron Bernstine reportedly hurled a slur and an AIDS smear at gay Democratic Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta in a crowded Harrisburg bar. Turkey's crackdown widens as prosecutors indict queer pop star Mabel Matiz for a music video showing two men dancing, and the government shuts down news site T24 over "LGBT propaganda." A federal judge in New Hampshire sends trans machinist Lillian Bernier's discrimination case against Turbocam to a jury. Georgia teen Riley Williams fights to run for homecoming queen. And Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris reveal they've been married since summer 2025.

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed six LGBTQ+ bills into law, including AB 1930, which blocks state agencies from helping federal investigators access trans people's medical records. A new Human Rights Campaign Foundation survey of 826 educators finds that teachers in states with anti-LGBTQ+ policies are afraid to step in when LGBTQ+ students are bullied. In the Netherlands, a national youth survey shows positive views of gay people among teenagers have dropped sharply, and researchers are pointing to manosphere influencers. Japanese volleyball player Rui Takahashi becomes the first out gay athlete in Japanese men's pro sports, with support from his brother Ran. The producers of Heated Rivalry launch the Irina Foundation to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports and the arts. And LGBTQ+ History Month begins today.

Listen Up Girl is a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman. New episodes every day.
🌐 listenupgirl.com
📲 @TheRealZachRE

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today on Listen Up Girl: The Education Department formally rescinded the 2024 Title IX rule protecting LGBTQ+ students and restored the 2020 rules with no public comment period. The administration asked the Supreme Court to let the Bureau of Prisons cut off hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care for trans people in federal custody. Ana Brnabić became Serbia's acting president, the first out gay president in the Balkans. A federal appeals court reversed a ruling that let nonbinary Puerto Ricans get an "X" marker on their birth certificates. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Marcia Gay Harden, André De Shields, and Junior LaBeija took the stage at the HRC National Dinner. And a designer's lawsuit over Antoni Porowski's Queer Eye LEGO jacket moves forward.

Listen Up Girl is a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman. New episodes every day.
🌐 listenupgirl.com
📲 @TheRealZachRE

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ken Paxton spent a week attacking Drag Race star Alyssa Edwards to score points against James Talarico. She answered with an open letter and one line: Texas is big enough for all of us. Today on Listen Up Girl, Zach Randles-Friedman breaks down the exchange and what it says about the Texas Senate race.

Also today: FCC Chair Brendan Carr fires back at 68 House Democrats over TV warning labels for trans and nonbinary themes, citing a Muppet Babies episode where Gonzo dresses as a princess. Colombia withdraws from the Equal Rights Coalition it was co-chairing with Spain. A transgender man in Tokyo sues to be recognized as the legal father of his genetic child. Last Ditch, the lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, goes from a local mask fight to a national story. Charlottesville radio host Fievel Crane quits live on air. And the 43rd annual Folsom Street Fair takes over San Francisco's South of Market.

Listen Up Girl is a daily LGBTQ+ news podcast. Grounded, direct, and every single day.

🎙️ Subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts 🌐 listenupgirl.com 📱 @TheRealZachRE

Hosted by Zach Randles-Friedman

https://www.listenupgirl.com/

Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/therealzachre/

Podcast music: https://dillonderosa.com/ Thank you Dillion!!!

GayBFF: the app where making LGBTQ+ friends is finally as easy as swiping — no dating pressure, just your people.

https://gaybff.app/

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gaybff-make-real-friends/id6795699619

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.