Louisiana passes Trans sports ban, Ohio poised to do worse
Reuters reported on June 3 that Ohio's House of Representatives passed a bill that would not only ban Trans girls from girls' sports but require verification of "internal and external reproductive anatomy" from a doctor if a student's sex is "disputed." The bill will move to the senate in several months.

LGBTQ rights group Equality Ohio said in a statement that the provisions "target a handful of Ohio students and their families who simply want to play sports like everyone else." Over the last 10 years, the Ohio High School Association has had a Transgender policy in place that has approved "fewer than 20 Transgender girls" to play high school girls' sports," the organization said.

Meanwhile Louisiana has passed its own ban, as reported on June 7, with enough votes in the Republican-controlled state legislature to override any veto from Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, who has joined Trans rights groups in criticizing the bill as bigoted and unnecessary.

"I hope we can all get to a point soon where we realize these young people are doing the very best they can to survive," Edwards said of Trans youth. "I just think we can be better than that bill."

UFC star punches back at critics of rainbow shorts
LGBTQ Nation reported June 6 on American UFC star Jeff Molina's response to his critics, after he was mocked for wearing rainbow shorts during a fight against Kazakh martial artist Zhalgas Zhumagulov. The shorts were mostly gray, with Molina's name in a rainbow font.

"I picked the colors because I thought it looked cool, and then it also supports a good cause," Molina said. "I'll support anything of a community that's been oppressed and ostracized for some time for something they can't help."

Critics on social media said Molina was "virtue signaling," among other things, but he wore the shorts to raise money for the LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada, a LGBTQ charity to which the UFC is donating sales from a special Pride month shirt.

Molina added, "It's not even about being an ally — I'm not saying I'm not — but it's just like, just be a decent fucking person. Just be a decent human being. Judging someone, and then trying to justify it with religion, and saying all sorts of spiteful, hateful shit is just crazy to me."

LGBTQ Nation noted that Molina's comments stand out against UFC athletes' history of making homophobic and transphobic comments online.