A couple from Utah face parental kidnapping charges after being accused of taking a 10-year-old child to Cuba amid a complicated custody fight involving the child’s gender identity. Court document show someone from the child's family raised concerns the child had been taken to Havana for gender-affirming surgery. It’s not clear if the defendants, who include the child’s biological father, actually planned on surgery for the child. The return of children kidnapped by a parent and taken overseas often is settled through negotiations or legal petitions. In the Utah case, federal officials worked with Cuba to deport the defendants and sent a government aircraft to retrieve the child.
The Trump administration has carried out on a threat to sue the state of Minnesota and its school athletics governing body for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. The Justice Department alleges in a lawsuit filed Monday that the state Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are violating Title IX, a federal law against sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal money. The administration has filed similar lawsuits against Maine and California, and threatened the federal funding of some universities, including San Jose State in California and the University of Pennsylvania.
A new AP-NORC poll finds that men and women have different views on who has the advantage when it comes to earning competitive wages. Equal pay emerged as the biggest source of concern for women in the poll — compared to getting an education, a job or a promotion — and an area where men and women are far apart in their perception of gender equity. About 3 in 10 working women say they've personally experienced wage discrimination, compared to about 1 in 10 working men. The findings come at a time when men’s earnings are rising faster than women’s, and the gender wage gap is widening. It also comes as President Donald Trump’s administration dismantles federal agencies and legal tools designed to investigate wage discrimination.
Pride Month, a global celebration of LGBTQ+ people, is starting this weekend in many places. It's always a mixture of party and protest. Some of the celebrations this year will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed same-sex marriage nationally. A lot of the protest in the U.S. are expected to be against President Donald Trump's efforts to impose restrictions across several fronts on transgender people. The event emerged in 1970 as a response to the violent police raid of New York City's Stonewall Inn in 1969.
As the rhetoric around transgender athletes grows more heated, one organization is trying to create a safe space. The National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs allows trans and non-binary athletes to self-select their gender at its annual national meet. A dozen gymnasts opted into the category at the recently completed 2025 nationals. Ray Hung, a student at Northeastern University, is non-binary trans masculine. Hung called the NAIGC a “shield” for trans gymnasts. NAIGC director of operations Ilana Shushansky says the organization's mission is to create an environment for gymnasts to compete into adulthood in a place that feels comfortable and supportive.
President Donald Trump has signed a slew of policies aimed at wiping transgender people out of government records, sports and even history. That means a different tone for Monday's annual Transgender Day of Visibility. Trump's policies follow what many social conservatives have pushed for in the U.S. and around the globe. They are being challenged in court, but already are having a major impact on transgender people. But why is he dedicating so much energy to restricting a group that makes up around 1% of the nation's population? Some experts say it could be because the group is so small that many people don't know any of its members.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order Thursday "aimed at eliminating” the U.S. Education Department. Meanwhile a federal judge ordered the administration Thursday to provide more information about flights that took deportees to El Salvador, or make a formal “state secrets“ claim. The Justice Department has resisted, accusing the judge of encroaching on the executive branch’s “absolute and unreviewable” authority relating to national security and foreign policy. Trump's border czar has tallied 40,000 immigration-related arrests since Trump got into office. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has negotiated the release of an American hostage held for more than two years by the Taliban.
President Donald Trump began his second administration with a blitz of policy actions to reorient U.S. government priorities. He has covered issues from trade, immigration and U.S. foreign aid to demographic diversity, civil rights and the hiring of federal workers. Some have an immediate policy impact. Others are more symbolic. Some already are being challenged by federal lawsuits. In total, the Republican president’s sweeping actions reflect many of his campaign promises and determination to concentrate executive branch power in the West Wing, while moving the country sharply rightward.
Vice President Kamala Harris has decided on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. The 60-year-old Democrat and military veteran rose to the forefront with a series of plain-spoken television appearances in the days after President Joe Biden decided not to seek a second term. Walz has made his state a bastion of liberal policy. He won the governor's office in 2018, and Democratic control of the Legislature has allowed Walz and lawmakers to repeal abortion restrictions, protect gender-affirming care for minors and legalize recreational marijuana use. Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard.
