By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
Hello!
Today's newsletter focuses on the LGBT rights rollbacks in the United States during Pride Month. The Supreme Court has upheld a Tennessee law banning youth transgender care and U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has ended funding for an LGBT suicide prevention hotline.
There has been resistance to some of the president's moves on LGBT rights, as a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from refusing to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans nationwide that reflect their gender identities.
People attend the "International Rally + March on Washington for Freedom" in support of LGBTQ+ rights as part of WorldPride In Washington, D.C., U.S. REUTERS/Leah Millis
Gender-affirming medical care case
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Republican-backed ban in Tennessee on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors in a setback for transgender rights that could bolster efforts by states to defend other measures targeting transgender people.
The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative justices, decided that the ban does not violate the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment promise of equal protection, as challengers to the law had argued.
The ruling affirmed a lower court's decision that backed Tennessee's law, which bars medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormones for people under age 18 experiencing gender dysphoria. The Supreme Court's three liberal justices dissented.
Gender dysphoria is the clinical diagnosis for significant distress that can result from an incongruence between a person's gender identity and the sex assigned at birth.
Chase Strangio, a transgender American Civil Liberties lawyer who represented some of the challengers in the case, called the ruling "a devastating loss for transgender people, our families and everyone who cares about the Constitution."
LGBT suicide prevention hotline
Meanwhile, Trump's administration is ending funding for an LGBT suicide prevention hotline that it says encourages "radical gender ideology," a move that the project running the service called "devastating."
The Trevor Project, a non-profit that provides free, specialized support to LGBT youth, said that its hotline would soon close as a result of the funding not being renewed.
A spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget said funding would continue for 988 Lifeline, a wider suicide prevention hotline.
"The president's Budget funds the 988 at $520 million – the same number as under (former President Joe) Biden. It does not, however, grant taxpayer money to a chat service where children are encouraged to embrace radical gender ideology by 'counselors' without consent or knowledge of their parents," the spokesman added.
The hotline had serviced over 1.3 million young people since its inception in 2022, Black added.
'An irrational prejudice'
There was a win for LGBT advocates this week as a federal judge blocked Trump's administration from refusing to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans that reflect their gender identities.
U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston expanded a preliminary injunction she issued in April that allowed six transgender and nonbinary individuals who challenged the policy to obtain passports consistent with their gender identities or with an "X" sex designation while the lawsuit moves forward.
Kobick did so after concluding the policy the U.S. Department of State adopted pursuant to an executive order Trump signed likely discriminated on the basis of sex and was rooted in an irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans that violated the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment.
Li Nowlin-Sohl, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the ruling "a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law."
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly in a statement called the decision "yet another attempt by a rogue judge to thwart President Trump's agenda and push radical gender ideology that defies biological truth."
Talking Points
A police officer fires a weapon during a demonstration over the death of Kenyan blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody, in downtown Nairobi, Kenya. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya
Kenya's police brutality: Boniface Kariuki, a 22-year-old man, was shot at point blank range by a Kenyan police officer during protests in the capital Nairobi against extrajudicial killings by security forces. The victim's father Jonah Kariuki says his son is alive but in intensive care. Protests broke out in Nairobi and Kenya's second-largest city, Mombasa, over the death of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang in police custody on June 8.
Unilever Ivory Coast: Unilever workers in Ivory Coast are protesting, claiming the company is breaching their collective bargaining agreement by not guaranteeing severance pay if layoffs occur following the sale of its local unit to a consortium led by Société de Distribution de Toutes Marchandises Côte d'Ivoire (SDTM). The British-based company, which plans to sell its struggling Ivory Coast business that employs about 160 people, faces concerns over job security as turnover has declined and fears grow that the loss of the international brand will lead to job cuts.
Private aid: Fogbow, a private U.S. company owned by a former U.S. diplomat, a Marine Corps veteran and an American businessman, has been distributing food in conflict zones like Gaza and Sudan. For some aid sector veterans, the demand for Fogbow's services points to a worrying shift toward a more politicized aid model that they say sacrifices humanitarian principles like neutrality and, by extension, its credibility with beneficiaries. Click here for the full Reuters feature.
NAACP v xAI: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has sent a notice to billionaire Elon Musk's xAI, signaling its intention to sue the company over air pollution from the AI startup's data center in Memphis. The letter, sent by Southern Environmental Law Center on NAACP's behalf, alleges xAI has violated federal law by using methane gas turbines at its South Memphis data center without acquiring permits or "best available" pollution controls.
Happy Juneteenth! Juneteenth, a day that marks the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans, is always observed on June 19 each year. It became a U.S. federal holiday in 2021, following the signing of a bill by former President Joe Biden. Click here for a Reuters explainer to learn more.
ESG Lens
Americans are becoming less supportive of U.S. President Donald Trump's approach to immigration as his administration cracks down, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. The survey, conducted online, gathered responses from 4,258 U.S. adults and had a margin of error of about two percentage points.
Click here for a Reuters article on how immigration raids are affecting business owners in California.
ESG Spotlight
Visitor Jess Tinton embraces a cow during a "Cow Cuddling" experience at Dumble Farm in Arram, Britain. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Ever wanted to swap your milk for a cuddle with a cow?
Well, that's a question one dairy farm in England has answered with a resounding yes as years of floods and low food prices have driven them to stop milking their cows and instead charge visitors to cuddle them.
Dumble Farm started as a dairy farm in the 1970s, but in recent years flooding washed out crops and killed off the type of grass the cows like to eat, while milk prices below cost of production proved an insurmountable challenge.
For 95 pounds ($127.80), visitors can cuddle, brush and stroke the cows as they lie down on a straw-covered enclosure inside a barn.
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Sustainable Switch was edited by Alexandra Hudson.
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