Host: Noah Parrish, Gender Justice Communications Director

Guest: Nicki Hangsleben, QUEERSPACE Collective

“Your program is saving my kid’s life.”

Through mentorship, training and advocacy, Minnesota’s QUEERSPACE Collective creates a space where LGBTQ+ youth can show up as their authentic selves.

We recorded this episode a little over a week before the 2024 election, with major stakes for LGBTQ+ rights in the balance. We thought it was a good time to focus on the power of community and how we protect one another and stand together, which we’ll need to do regardless of election outcomes — our conversation with QUEERSPACE Collective executive director Nicki Hangsleben will give you a jolt of hope.

Links to resources mentioned in the show:

Queerspace — mentorship | merch | social

Minnesota School Outreach Coalition (MNSOC)

RECLAIM! Mental health support for queer and trans youth
Trevor Project Suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ young people

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Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com⁠

Host: Noah Parrish, Gender Justice Communications Director

Guests: Erin Maye Quade, Gender Justice Special Projects Advisor, and Miraya Gran, Minnesota Building Families Coalition infertility advocate

At Gender Justice, we advocate for gender equity under the law. We also subscribe to the philosophy of reproductive justice, a concept developed by Black women advocates in the 1990s defined as “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, to have children, to not have children, and to parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.” Access to infertility treatment and services is a key component of this right.

Though specifics on state laws vary widely, 22 states and the District of Columbia require insurance to cover some kind of fertility treatment — but Minnesota isn’t one of them.

In this episode we talk with Miraya Gran, a leader of the Minnesota Building Families Coalition, and Gender Justice Special Projects Advisor Erin Maye Quade, who in her role as a Minnesota legislator is lead Senate author of the Minnesota Building Families Act, which would align Minnesota law with the position of the medical community as well as the reproductive rights, health, and justice communities.

Links to resources mentioned in the show:

• Minnesota Building Families Coalition

• • Sign up for action alerts

  • Follow the Minnesota Building Families Coalition on Facebook and Instagram

• Infertility insurance coverage by state

• Minnesota Building Families Act legislation

• 2024 letter to the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee from Gender Justice in support of the Minnesota Building Families Act

• Disparities in access to effective treatment for infertility in the United States: an Ethics Committee opinion | American Society for Reproductive Medicine

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  Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

  The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com⁠

  
  

Host: Noah Parrish, Gender Justice Communications Director

Guests: Christina Sambor, Gender Justice North Dakota State Director and Marc Hearron, Center for Reproductive Rights Senior Counsel

Victory in North Dakota!

On September 12, 2024, a North Dakota state court ruled that the state’s total abortion ban is unconstitutional.

“All North Dakota citizens, including women, have the right to make fundamental, appropriate, and informed medical decisions in consultation with a physician and to receive their chosen medical care among comparable alternatives. Such a choice is a fundamental one, central to personal autonomy and self-determination. Those choices belong to the individual, not the government. That is the essence of what liberty and happiness require.” — South Central Judicial District Court Judge Bruce Romanick, in his order

We talk with two of the attorneys who have been involved with the case filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, and Gender Justice.

Links to resources mentioned in the show:

• Statement on the ruling from the Center for Reproductive Rights and Gender Justice

• North Dakota judge vacates state abortion ban, ruling it unconstitutional, by Mary Steurer and Jeff Beach, North Dakota Monitor

• Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother's Death Was Preventable, by Kavitha Surana, ProPublica
  Read the full opinion (pdf)

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  Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

  The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com⁠

Host: Noah Parrish, Gender Justice Communications Director

Guests: Christy Hall, Gender Justice Senior Staff Attorney, and Dave Edwards, Founder of Gender Inclusive Schools

In this back-to-school episode, Christy Hall reviews state and federal laws protecting transgender and gender expansive students in a conversation with Dave Edwards, an educator and former client of Gender Justice who has just published a new book called Gender Inclusive Schools: How to Affirm and Support Gender-Expansive Students—an invaluable resource for educators, parents, and anybody who works with kids.

For an extensive discussion of the state and federal laws protecting trans students, be sure to listen to our interview with Christy Hall on the August 26, 2023, episode of The Gender Justice Brief: Back to School: Know Your Rights.

Links to resources mentioned in the show:

• Gender Inclusive Schools (organization) and Gender Inclusive Schools (book)

• Gender Justice’s work with the Edwards family to secure safe schools for trans students

• The Minnesota Department of Education’s 2017 Toolkit for Ensuring Safe and Supportive Schools for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students

• Know Your Rights: Resources and Legal Advocacy Tools for Transgender Students

Transforming Families Minnesota, an inclusive safe-space for families with transgender and questioning youth.

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Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com

SCOTUS Chat: Court Reform Edition

Host: Erin Maye Quade, Gender Justice Special Projects Advisor

Guests: Christy Hall, Gender Justice Senior Staff Attorney, and Hayley Durudogan, Alliance for Justice Durot Fellow

Court reforms proposed by the Biden-Harris administration are popular across the political spectrum.

In this episode of The Gender Justice Brief, Christy Hall and Erin Maye Quade talk with Hayley Durudogan, Alliance for Justice Durot Fellow, about the background of these specific measures, what they would entail, and how reforming the judiciary could strengthen democracy.

Gender Justice is one of over 130 members of Alliance for Justice, a judicial advocacy organization that works toward a fair and independent judicial system. Together we’re building power, transforming courts, and creating a multi-racial democracy that secures justice for all.

Additional links

Alliance for Justice 2023-2024 Supreme Court Term Review

Full Text of the No Kings Act

Fact Sheet on President Biden’s Supreme Court Reform Proposals
Reforming the Supreme Court Should Be Commonplace, by Keith Thirion, interim co-president of Alliance for Justice, published in Ms. Magazine, August 12, 2024

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Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com⁠ & Audra Grigus.

Justice for Reyzl: Standing up to LGBTQ Workplace Discrimination

Host: Noah Parrish, Gender Justice Communications Director

Guest: Brittany Stewart, Gender Justice Senior Staff Attorney

In August 2024, Gender Justice and co-counsel Wanta Thome PLC filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Academy of Holy Angels, a Catholic high school in Richfield, Minnesota, and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis after they effectively terminated Reyzl Grace, a staff librarian, when she came out as trans.

Reyzl Grace’s story highlights the importance of ensuring that no employer in Minnesota has carte blanche to discriminate against employees simply because of who they are.

We believe the school violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) by refusing to allow Grace, who served as a secular librarian at the school, to reapply for her position on the basis of gender identity and sex. While the MHRA does permit limited exemptions on religious grounds, the Legislature never intended for these exemptions to apply to secular employees.

In this episode of The Gender Justice Brief, Reyzl Grace’s attorney, Brittany Stewart, outlines our case seeking justice for her:

Background and context on Reyzl Grace's case

Grace v. Academy of Holy Angels — Fact Sheet

Read the complaint here

Sign up to stay informed on Reyzl Grace’s case

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Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com⁠ & Audra Grigus.

SCOTUS Chat: Recorded live with Jess Braverman, Gender Justice Legal Director and Erin Maye Quade, Gender Justice Special Projects Advisor

On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Idaho v. United States and Moyle et al., or the “EMTALA” (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) case, which centers on whether state abortion bans supersede the federal EMTALA law mandating that hospital emergency departments receiving federal funding must stabilize a patient whose life or health is at risk.

In its long-awaited decision, the Court sent the case back to the lower courts, where. It also reinstated a lower court’s ruling permitting doctors to provide emergency abortion care even where such care conflicts with Idaho’s abortion ban—but not before several patients had to be airlifted out of Idaho to receive emergency health care because of the Court's initial decision.

By punting on what should be a straightforward ruling, the Supreme Court effectively condones the denial of emergency abortion care.

In this SCOTUS Chat, Gender Justice Special Projects Advisor Erin Maye Quade and Legal Director Jess Braverman share their analysis of the Supreme Court ruling.

References from the podcast and additional resources:

Supreme Court opinion

Gender Justice statement on the EMTALA opinion

Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com⁠ & Audra Grigus.

Host: Noah Parrish, Gender Justice Communications Director

Guests: Ash Tifa, Rainbow Health Legal Services Program Coordinator, and Annie Van Avery, Family Tree Clinic Executive Director

“No health plan that covers physical or mental health services may be offered, sold, issued, or renewed in this state that excludes coverage for medically necessary gender-affirming care.”

This is the simple language underlying one of the major accomplishments from Minnesota’s 2024 legislative session: the Gender-Affirming Care Act, Representative Leigh Finke’s 2024 bill codifying Minnesota’s existing mandates for insurance coverage of gender-affirming care. The policy was included in the omnibus Commerce policy bill that passed this session.

Our guests for this episode bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussion, describing the urgent need for codification, the process of drafting and passing this law, and the impact that the policy will have on the many people for whom gender-affirming care is an essential aspect of their healthcare.

References from the podcast and additional resources:

Rainbow Health

Family Tree Clinic

Quarterly Name and Gender Marker Change Clinic - Rainbow Health in partnership with Family Tree Clinic

WPATH: The World Professional Association for Transgender Health

Minnesota Departments of Human Rights, Human Services, Health, and Commerce: Joint Administrative Bulletin 2023-1 (pdf)
'Trans refuge' law draws some to Minnesota, and providers are struggling to meet the demand

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Visit the "Gender Justice" Website ⁠here⁠ and "Unrestrict Minnesota" ⁠here⁠.

The GJB is produced by Michael at ⁠www.501MediaGroup.com⁠ & Audra Grigus.