Howard Brown Health sign. (WTTW News)

This move is part of the proposed settlement from Region 13 of the NLRB, which found merit to charges of unfair labor practices from the queer health care organization in July. Part of the charges stem from the firing of 61 unionized workers earlier this year.

Howard Brown Health sign. (WTTW News)

The National Labor Relations Board found merit or partial merit in the union’s allegations, which include Howard Brown Health participating in bad faith bargaining, creating the impression of surveillance, failing to provide information and declaring impasse and refusing to bargain over layoffs.

Flower Nichols, an 11-year-old transgender girl, eats with her mother at a restaurant during a visit to Chicago on June 13, 2023. (AP Photo / Teresa Crawford)

At least 20 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for trans minors, though several are embroiled in legal challenges. For more than a decade prior, such treatments were available to children and teens across the U.S. and have been endorsed by major medical associations.

Lorie Smith, a Christian graphic artist and website designer in Colorado, right, accompanied by her lawyer, Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom, second from left, speaks outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, after her case was heard before the Supreme Court. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik, File)
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The court ruled 6-3 for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith had argued that the law violates her free speech rights.

Howard Brown Health sign. (WTTW News)

Twenty states have passed laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for youth, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Howard Brown said it saw an increase of 5,000 patients last year — 5% of that being out-of-state patients seeking gender-affirming care.

Art Johnston and Pepe Peña in the documentary “Art and Pep.”

Art Johnston and Pepe Peña, owners of the iconic gay bar Sidetrack in Northalsted, are the subjects of a new documentary. The film follows their love story — spanning 50 years — and the history of the Sidetrack bar amid the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Chicago.

Protesters stand outside of the Senate chamber at the Indiana Statehouse on Feb. 22, 2023, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo / Darron Cummings, File)

Sounding the alarm about the current political environment, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans said advisories warning against travel to dangerous places aren’t enough to help people already living in so-called hostile states.

A Selena tribute show at the National Museum of Mexican Art. (Courtesy of National Museum of Mexican Art)

This weekend, the Queen of Tejano Music is being celebrated with “Bidi Bidi Boom Boom: The Selena Tribute Dance Party” at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, where a group of performers and drag artists are bringing some of Selena’s legendary music to life for Chicago audiences.

People attend a rally as part of a Transgender Day of Visibility, Friday, March 31, 2023, by the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The proposed rule sends a political counterpunch toward a wave of Republican-led states that have sought to ban trans athletes from competing in school sports that align with their gender identities. If finalized, the proposal would become enshrined as a provision of Title IX, the landmark gender-equity legislation enacted in 1972.

(WTTW)

On Friday, people around the world came together for the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, a day to celebrate the resilience of transgender and nonbinary people.

Pictured is a transgender rights protest outside of the White House in Washington in 2018. (Sarah Silbiger / The New York Times / Redux via CNN)

In a presidential proclamation on Thursday and a subsequent statement on Friday, Biden acknowledged “a wave of discriminatory state laws” aimed at trans Americans, squarely blaming “MAGA extremists” for “advancing hundreds of hateful and extreme state laws that target transgender kids and their families.”

Customers inside UpRising Bakery and Cafe in Lake in the Hills. (WTTW News)

UpRising Bakery and Cafe owner Corinna Sac plans to relocate her business after months of harassment, protests and threats. The attacks came after the cafe announced plans last July to hold two family-friendly drag shows as part of an event series.

A pile of challenged books appear at the Utah Pride Center in Salt Lake City on Dec. 16, 2021. (AP Photo / Rick Bowmer, File)
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More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the American Library Association began keeping data 20 years ago.

The ice is lit in rainbow light for Pride Night before an NHL hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings, Monday, April 26, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo / Ashley Landis, File)

The Chicago Blackhawks will not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys before Sunday’s Pride Night game against Vancouver, a person with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press, because of security concerns involving the law that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in December.

Tubes direct blood from a donor into a bag in Davenport, Iowa, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. (AP Photo / Charlie Neibergall, File)

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced draft guidelines that would do away with the current three-month abstinence requirement for donations from men who have sex with men. Instead, all potential donors would be screened with a new questionnaire that evaluates their individual risks for HIV.

Russia Brown, a former CTA employee, is now suing the transit agency and his union alleging discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. (WTTW News)

In 2019, WTTW News covered his successful push for the CTA to add gender affirming care to its health insurance policy. The employee behind that push has since been fired and is now suing the agency and his union.