“We must continue to fight against the lingering shadows of bigotry, hatred and inequality that still haunt us today,” said Collins, the first Black mayor in Montana. “Today we celebrate the freedom to love and to be loved just as we are.”

In some states, new laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth are dissuading health care providers from offering mental health services and other medical care that isn’t explicitly banned by those laws.

The law, which goes into effect in October, will gut patients’ ability to take legal action if they believe they didn’t receive proper care due to a conscientious objection by a provider or an institution, such as a hospital.

Monday, he said law enforcement officers responded to a call about a rainbow flag being ripped up at the Miles City church, affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ.

The church is “open and affirming,” or supportive of members who are LGBTQ+.

“When our Republican colleagues allege that gender-affirming care raises particular dangers or due process issues, that is fearmongering at its worst,” the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania, said. “Picking on already vulnerable kids in order to stir up chaos that they hope to ride to success at the ballot box.”

The ACLU said Deernose has helped fight for the civil rights and liberties of Montanans in state and federal courts since January 2021.

An all-male panel of anti-abortion religious leaders from around the country met last week to discuss the strategies that should be used to end abortion in every state at any stage of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape and incest, and with criminal punishment for the pregnant person in line with existing criminal penalties for murder, which includes the death penalty.

A federal court judge temporarily blocked the enforcement of Montana’s ban on drag performances on public property two days before Montana Pride events are set to begin.

“The City of Helena faces the untenable choice between ‘infring[ing] upon plaintiff[s’] constitutional rights’ and ‘subject[ing]’ the city employees tasked with reviewing Montana Pride’s application ‘to civil and criminal liability under the provisions of HB 359.’”

The bill, first introduced in the previous session of Congress, would make reproductive health care more accessible for disabled people and increase the number of disabled people in the reproductive health workforce. Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) are introducing companion legislation in the House.

But Quinn Leighton, director of external affairs for Planned Parenthood of Montana, said Knudsen’s letter raises concerns that Montana providers could be open to prosecution if they care for patients who can’t legally get the procedures performed in their home states.

Montana’s attorney general and Republican officials from 18 other states are opposing a federal effort to strengthen medical privacy regulations, arguing that states with abortion bans should be able to obtain reproductive health care records for criminal investigations, including when a patient travels to another state.

Montana Pride, which has hosted an annual pride celebration in the state’s capital city for eight years, joined a lawsuit earlier this week questioning the constitutionality of House Bill 359, which banned any drag performances in public spaces, and was signed into law this session. It also bans drag performances in schools and libraries and features consequences for private businesses.

The attorneys, which include the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Montana, Lambda Legal and Perkins Coie of Seattle have asked Marks to stop the law from going into effect, saying that it could irreparably harm the youth, force families out of state and force doctors to abandon part of their practice, or risk losing their medical license.

The new accusations from the Helena-based Montana Pride organizers are part of a lawsuit originally filed in early July in federal court. The plaintiffs in that case, including a transgender author, a public school teacher, local arts organizations, nonprofits, a brewery and a bookstore, argue that the Republican-sponsored House Bill 359 is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.

Earlier this year, Daines raised questions about the funding and purpose of a 'Drag Queen Story Time' event held on Malmstrom Air Force Base that was held two years ago.

The event was held in 2021 and put on by the newly formed Diversity and Inclusion Council (D&I Council), a group comprised of Airmen from a variety of different backgrounds.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill. The daily oral contraceptive is called Opill. And NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin is here to tell us all about it.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first over-the-counter contraceptive pill, paving the way for millions of women in the country to purchase birth control without prescription.

The approval comes as more states ban abortion following a ruling by the Supreme Court last year that overturned the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize the procedure nationwide.

An over-the-counter birth control pill will be available to Americans for the first time early next year — but it’s not yet clear what it will cost or if insurance will cover it.

An amendment to the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act filed by Congressman Matt Rosendale (MT-02) looks to prevent transgender individuals from receiving gender-affirming care through TRICARE and the Department of Defense.

Amendment 194 would prohibit TRICARE from covering and the Department of Defense from furnishing sex reassignment surgeries and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals.