“Given all the events that are happening in Indiana, I thought it would be good to clarify my position. I would veto RFRA legislation in Michigan if it is a standalone piece of legislation.”
— Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), according to the Detroit Free Press. Snyder’s remarks come after lawmakers in Indiana and Arkansas were forced to narrow the scope of religious freedom measures in those two states in response to national outcry that the bills would allow LGBT discrimination and pressure from corporate America.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has overhauled its moderation policies to allow users to use anti-LGBTQ rhetoric or insult LGBTQ people in the name of "free speech."
Meta announced the change on January 7, noting that it was eliminating its third-party fact-checking system and replacing it with a user-based "Community Notes" model similar to the one employed by X.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg further announced the company would be relocating its content moderation teams from California to Texas to "help remove the concern that biased employees are overly censoring content."
Lance Bass recently claimed his career opportunities dried up after he came out as gay in a 2006 People cover story.
The former member of the boyband NSYNC appeared on the Politickin' with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch and Doug Hendrickson podcast, and recounted how his plans for his post-boyband pivot to acting were waylaid by his decision to come out.
"It was definitely a career killer," he said, adding that there has been increased acceptance of gay and lesbian actors, artists, and performers in the eighteen years since he came out.
Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced at least 120 bills explicitly targeting the transgender community or seeking to roll back rights or legal protections for trans individuals, according to transgender journalist Erin Reed.
Reed, who has been tracking anti-transgender legislation for her Erin in the Morning Substack, reported that the number of bills introduced before the start of 2025 state legislative sessions is 120 -- a 50% increase from the 80 bills pre-filed before the start of the 2023 legislative calendar.
The bulk of the bills have been introduced in Texas and Missouri, but lawmakers in 11 other states have also embraced anti-transgender legislation as a priority for the upcoming year.
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