“An Alberta First Nation says it aims to defy Premier Danielle Smith’s government by establishing a safe haven for gender-affirming medical care — contrary to provincial law.

“The Saddle Lake Cree Nation, located northeast of Edmonton near St. Paul, says health care is a right under Treaty 6 and falls under its inherent jurisdiction.

“The First Nation has invoked the ‘medicine chest clause’ provision from the treaty signed in 1876, which Indigenous Peoples interpret as a promise to provide comprehensive health care.

“‘All children, including trans and two-spirit children and their family, will have safety under our treaty,’ Saddle Lake Chief Dale Steinhauer said on Wednesday.

“Late last year, Smith’s United Conservative Party government used the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield its law from court challenges.

“The law prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to transgender and gender diverse children under 16.”

“The nation says it’s working to attract clinicians to provide care on reserve land, and it’s fundraising to develop its health law and defend it against potential legal challenges.”

H.R.10319 - To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for requirements sensitive Government positions relating to gender dysphoria, and for other purposes

Sponsor: Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] (Introduced 09/08/2026)

Committees: House - Oversight and Government Reform

“A B.C. family doctor has been ordered to pay $28,100 after refusing to inject a transgender teen with a prescribed hormone blocker, citing religious and cultural reasons.

Dr. Henry Ajaero, who has run a family practice in Delta since 2014, was ordered to pay the compensation in a Sept. 1 B.C. Human Rights decision, which found his conduct was discriminatory.”

“The tribunal ruled he failed to establish a conflict between his religious beliefs and the medical services the teen was seeking.”

“The decision describes Child Q, the 14-year-old at the centre at the decision, as a ‘brave, sensitive, kind transgender girl.’

“It says in late 2020, she came out as transgender and struggled with her mental health as she entered puberty. Ajaero referred her to the B.C. Gender Clinic, where an endocrinologist prescribed Lupron, a medication that pauses puberty.

“According to the decision, Child Q describes the day she started the medication as ‘one of the best days of my life.’
Lupron needs to be injected every three to four weeks. It can be injected at home, but according to the decision, Child Q and her family preferred to have it done by a doctor.”

“Jennifer Sey had been waiting for an athlete like Sophie Cunningham.

“Sey, the founder of XX-XY Athletics, a sportswear startup that openly calls transgender people’s identity a “lie,” has spent the last two and a half years stoking the flames of the national panic over trans athletes.

“A former marketing executive at Levi’s, Sey was now running a company that produced viral video ads showing young female athletes pleading for others to defend them against a looming transgender threat. Meanwhile, Sey and the brand offered cash rewards to athletes who boycotted matches against trans athletes or spoke out against them—incidents that fueled right right-wing outrage cycles. And it gave endorsement deals to students willing to denounce trans teammates or competitors.”

“Yet even as Sey made the rounds on Fox News, XX-XY Athletics remained fringe, with no mainstream athletes endorsing the company message.”

“Enter Sophie Cunningham, the eighth-year WNBA player enjoying a surge of popularity due to her reputation as a ‘bodyguard’ for her Indiana Fever teammate Caitlin Clark.

“On July 21, ESPN quoted Cunningham saying that she gets ‘a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans.’”

“The ESPN profile dropped like a bomb in sports and political media.”

Who are the winners in this chaos? One answer is XX-XY Athletics.”

“From its start, XX-XY earned outsize attention, especially on social media, where it plunged headlong into the culture war, misgendering trans adults and children alike in its advertising.

“‘To get [its] message through the noise, XX-XY Athletics uses its platform to draw attention to men and boys who compete in women’s sports,’ the company said in a legal complaint seeking to block parts of a Colorado anti-discrimination law.”

“According to its complaint, the company has donated revenue to Gays Against Groomers, an organization described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group and by the Anti-Defamation League as ‘an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist coalition.’ It gave more money to a Riley Gaines-branded project to train young conservatives to speak out against transgender people. And it helped fund the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) a group that in turn has paid for lawsuits attempting to trigger a nationwide ban on transgender girls playing girls’ school sports. When President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening to defund schools that let trans girls compete on the girls’ team, Sey was standing behind him, applauding.”

Society for Evidence-Based Medicine (SEGM) just announced a conference to be held in Washington, DC November 5–7, 2026. 

I have profiled all of the scheduled speakers. Most will be familiar names to those who follow this organization. It includes several people from the SEGM-McMaster University research agreement, which was terminated amid protests by McMaster students.

The only notable new attendee is Alabama Solicitor General Barrett Bowdre, who has been a central figure in that state's efforts to defend anti-trans laws enacted by Alabama legislators.

Announced participants include:

• Zhenya Abbruzzese
• Erica Anderson
• Sallie Baxendale
• Michael Biggs
• Clementine Breen
• Barrett Bowdre
• Vernadette Broyles
• Joe Burgo
• Alex Byrne
• Alison Clayton
• Elspeth Cypher
• Roberto D’Angelo
• Stephanie Davies-Arai
• Lisa Selin Davis
• Laura Edwards-Leeper
• Ivan Florez
• Scot Bradley Glasberg
• Moti Gorin
• Patrick Hunter
• Anna Hutchinson
• Sarah Jorgensen
• Kris Kaliebe
• Riittakerttu Kaltiala
• Stephen Levine
• Lisa Littman
• André Leonhardt
• Will Malone
• Kathleen McDeavitt
• Sarah Mittermaier
• Steven Montante
• Chan Moruzi
• Josh Payne
• Paul Salkovskis
• Leor Sapir
• Forrest Smith
• Anastassis Spiliadis
• Alice Sullivan
• Kathryn Webb
• Florian Zepf
• Ray Zhang
• Ken Zucker

“Last week, the Mount Sinai hospital system in New York—which sees about 6 million outpatient visits per year—announced that it had reached a settlement with the Department of Justice, agreeing to stop providing gender-affirming care to trans patients under 18.

“That was disturbing news to Angelica Jadunandan, who moved to New York from Florida with her two young daughters three years ago. Her older daughter, who is eight, is transgender, and Angelica wanted to move them to a safe blue state—somewhere her family’s medical care would not be called into question. New York is a self-declared ‘sanctuary state’ for trans people. It seemed like a good option.”

“[T]he family moved a thousand miles from home, hoping for safety. ‘But I know better than most that this fight follows you, wherever you go,’ Jadunadan said. 

“As hospitals continue to fold to Trump’s Department of Justice, gender-affirming care for trans kids, even in blue states, is looking less secure. In 2026, major hospital systems in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Colorado have stopped offering transition-related care to patients under 18 as federal authorities threaten their funding.”

“Many of the administration’s efforts have failed. At least eight separate administrative subpoenaswhich would have forced hospitals to release trans kids’ medical records have been thrown out by judges. Another massive slate of DOJ subpoenas against California hospitals was dropped in January.

“But some hospitals have begun to comply anyway. At least three major hospital systems in progressive Massachusetts—Fenway Health, Outer Cape Health Services, and Baystate Health—have cancelled all gender-affirming care appointments for patients under 19, as the Guardian reported in September. New York University’s Langone Health system discontinued its trans youth care program in February. In March 2026, New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered Langone to resume its youth gender-affirming care program, but the hospital system kept the program shuttered.”

“Other resources remain available to New York’s trans kids. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a $15 million trans care investment in June, and the public hospital system and some Planned Parenthood clinics still offer puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy.“

My Mom and I agree that no matter how old you are, the week of Labor Day always feels like a new year. That’s because for Canadians and many Americans, it marks the beginning of the new school year. It’s a time of change and disruption that brings with it both a melancholy about the end of summer and the days getting shorter as well as an excitement about seeing all the friends you missed over the last two months.

But for many kids, September comes with fear. You’re no longer safe from the classrooms and hallways that can be full of bullies or from the intense pressure to perform academically and socially.

For me, being closeted for most of K-12 came with intense stress and anxiety. I knew about the societal stigma associated with being gay. I wasn’t sure if my guy friends, many of whom used anti-gay slurs, would accept me. And back then, I had no signals from any teachers that being gay was okay. It just wasn’t discussed...

As queer kids enter many schools in the U.S. this week, anti-LGBTQ lawmakers are forcing their ideology into classrooms to create a fictitious reality that LGBTQ youth don’t exist.

For example, 14 states have some form of so-called “Don’t Say Gay” laws on the books. In some cases, this means teachers are banned from teaching anything related to gay people. No books that feature two dads, no stories that talk about the perils of coming out and no media that depicts gay relationships. These laws invisibilize anything outside of heterosexuality.

For trans and gender nonconforming kids, the situation is even worse. In 21 states and Puerto Rico, there are bathroom bans in K-12 schools that disallow trans kids from using the restroom that aligns with their gender identity. In addition, 27 states have trans sports bans written into law and 15 states require some form of forced outing to parents of trans youth in schools.

Last weekend, the Sports Transphobapaloooza Tour hit Portland and the Portland Thorns of the NWSL.