Texas is suing the largest college sports governing body in the country in the hopes that a court will order the organization to “immediately begin screening the sex of student athletes.”  Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has already barred transgender women from playing in women’s sports, Texas’ attorney general has accused the group of using loopholes to allow such competition. The state attorney general, Ken Paxton, is asking for a temporary injunction that either orders the screenings or requires that the NCAA and […]

Published 2025-02-21 09:23 9:23 February 21, 2025 am Federal judges are regarding President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender Americans with skepticism and, in some instances, outright disdain. As lawsuits against the administration unfold, judges have dismissed and questioned the legal arguments supporting these orders while pointing to the larger effect of the Trump administration’s actions: the attempted erasure of trans people as a whole.  In the past few weeks, four judges — a Reagan appointee, a Clinton appointee and two judges appointed by former […]

Published 2025-02-21 08:55 8:55 February 21, 2025 am Applications for the next Frances Ellen Watkins Harper fellowship cohort are now open. Apply today! On February 22, 1911, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper — author, poet, abolitionist and suffragist — died at 85. As the “mother of African American journalism,” Harper has inspired generations of Black writers and activists, and The 19th’s HBCU fellowship program is named in her honor.  Our five fellows are a living testament to Harper’s enduring legacy, and to mark the anniversary of […]

Published 2025-02-21 07:00 7:00 February 21, 2025 am A push by Republican attorneys general in 17 states to strike down part of a federal law that protects disabled people from discrimination has prompted an outcry from advocates, parents and some local officials. The GOP-led lawsuit targets certain protections for transgender people. But some experts warn it has the potential to weaken federal protections for all people with disabilities. Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the federal government in September over the Biden administration’s addition of a […]

Published 2025-02-20 14:15 2:15 February 20, 2025 pm Vice President JD Vance’s memoir became a political lightning rod that propelled him to office, but now “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” has been caught up in a censorship controversy sparked by the White House. The 2016 bestseller, adapted for film by Netflix four years later, is one of over a dozen books reportedly pulled from the shelves of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) school libraries. The DoDEA runs 161 […]

Holocaust Remembrance Day, marked in January, served as a solemn reminder of the necessity for marginalized groups, particularly Jewish people, to retain agency over their histories and narratives. During the Holocaust, the erasure of Jewish voices allowed external forces to dehumanize and distort their identities, culminating in systemic genocide. Today, as firsthand Holocaust testimonies transition to archives, the risks of denialism, distortion and revisionism underscore the critical importance of Jewish agency in combating antisemitism. Efforts to appropriate Jewish identity and history for political gain remain […]

Published 2025-02-20 13:13 1:13 February 20, 2025 pm President Donald Trump late Wednesday directed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to disband a committee to identify and reduce systemic barriers that people of color, LGBTQ+ people and rural Americans encounter when trying to access government health care programs. The directive came as part of an executive order on “commencing the reduction of the federal bureaucracy.” Trump directed the heads of relevant agencies to disband within two weeks entities that include the Health Equity […]

Published 2025-02-20 10:21 10:21 February 20, 2025 am Colleen Thomas’ son was born missing a part of his immune system. The Indiana mother didn’t know that immediately, but there were signs. The little boy was always sick — constant congestion and respiratory infections. Thomas had to hold a breathing mask over her son’s face as he slept and wheezed. “That was just for a cold,” Thomas recalled. “It was horrible.” Thomas’ son was 3-years old when he was diagnosed with an immunodeficiency that made him […]

Published 2025-02-20 05:00 5:00 February 20, 2025 am Shaunna Thomas has spent more than a decade at the forefront of many of the biggest cultural and political fights over sexual and gender-based violence. Now the co-founder and executive director of the gender justice organization UltraViolet is stepping aside to make way for the next generation of leaders.  “It was really becoming clear to me that how we were thinking about organizing women and advancing gender justice needs to evolve,” she said. “We’re in a dangerous […]

Published 2025-02-19 13:46 1:46 February 19, 2025 pm Senators questioned Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Donald Trump’s pick for labor secretary, for hours Wednesday on her support for unions, a national paid leave policy and child labor laws.  Chavez-DeRemer is one of eight women out of Trump’s 22 Cabinet nominees. While Democrats view her more favorably than most of his other picks, her nomination has been on somewhat shaky ground given her strong pro-labor tendencies. In particular, committee members honed in on her previous support for the […]

Published 2025-02-19 10:46 10:46 February 19, 2025 am President Donald Trump issued an executive order he said would lower the cost of in vitro fertilization and protect access to it. But the order doesn’t clarify how it would lower costs, let alone eliminate them, particularly as his administration is trying to slash budgets.  Trump promised during his campaign to make IVF available at no cost to all Americans. Multiple health policy researchers told The 19th that cutting out-of-pocket costs for IVF would likely require involving […]

Published 2025-02-19 10:11 10:11 February 19, 2025 am Sabreen Dawud is a 2024-2025 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper reporting fellow. Applications for the next cohort are now open. Apply today! After Selena Williams had a child, she found that along with her excitement of a new baby was disappointment due to insufficient postpartum support. Williams describes leaving the hospital with concerns about the lack of follow-up care she would receive.  “I’m a single mom by choice,” Williams said. “I was in the hospital for about three […]