(NEW YORK) — More than 26 million Americans from the Heartland into the South are under a severe weather threat Saturday.
Severe thunderstorms are possible from Illinois to Texas through the evening, affecting cities including Houston, New Orleans, St. Louis and Little Rock, Arkansas. Numerous severe thunderstorms are possible in a region along the Missouri and Arkansas border.
The primary hazards will be strong, potentially damaging wind gusts and large hail — though brief, isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out. Frequent lightning is another concern.
The severe weather threat is expected to last from 4 to 10 p.m. ET, as a line of storms develops and moves through the threat area.
Areas of heavy rain and strong thunderstorms have started to sweep through parts of the northern Gulf Coast Saturday. A flood watch is in effect for cities including New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi. A severe thunderstorm watch is also in effect from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama.
This storm system is forecast to continue to move up across the Great Lakes on Sunday, strengthening as it does so. A few scattered, strong thunderstorms could sweep through the central Appalachians into parts of the Southeast — all associated with the trailing cold front. Snow, strong winds and plummeting temperatures are also expected to target parts of the Upper Midwest.
A winter storm watch has been issued for much of Wisconsin and extending into extreme southeastern Minnesota and portions of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
As much as 4 to 6 inches of snow is possible in parts of Wisconsin by Sunday night into Monday morning, while a light snow accumulation of 1 to 4 inches is possible across parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Blowing snow will likely lower visibility in areas and could lead to travel impacts in the region.
(NEW YORK) — Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old junior enlisted airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, who has been charged as being behind the leak of classified U.S. military and U.S. intelligence documents had a high-level top security clearance that raises even more questions about why he had access to such documents in his work as an IT specialist.
The criminal complaint against Jack Teixeira released Friday disclosed that he possessed a high-level top secret clearance known as TS-SCI, Top Secret – Sensitive Compartmented Information, since 2021.
Teixeira worked as a full time active-duty Air National Guardsman at Otis Air National Guard Base, near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, as a “Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman” — essentially providing IT support for the 102nd Intelligence Wing.
Defense officials told ABC News that having a TS-SCI clearance is typical for Air Force personnel who in order to provide IT support might need access to classified spaces, computers and networks so they could do their jobs.
But the fact that you have a clearance does not mean you have access to everything at that level. That access is based on your “need to know” the information for your job.
That term refers to someone with a security clearance who is allowed to see certain levels of classified documents only if they “need to know” that information to carry out their jobs.
To service the computers and networks he worked on, Teixeira would’ve had access to highly sensitive networks, but if he wanted to access highly classified documents on that network for his job he could do so only if he had that clearance.
The “need to know” status is standard across the U.S. military and U.S. intelligence and means a top security clearance is not enough to be able to view specific intelligence documents.
The criminal complaint provides a description of how investigators used information from an unnamed U.S. government agency that “has access to logs of certain documents” to track how Teixeira allegedly used his clearance in February to look for a specific document that he later posted on a small Discord channel the following day.
Another logging system from another U.S. government agency that “can monitor certain searches conducted on its classified networks” indicated that Teixeira may have been concerned about the initial news reports that classified intelligence documents had begun to appear on Twitter and Telegram.
Teixeira on April 6 “used his government computer to search classified intelligence reporting for the word ‘leak,'” according to the complaint.
“The first public reporting regarding the Government Information appeared on or around April 6, 2023,” it added. “Accordingly, there is reason to believe that TEIXEIRA was searching for classified reporting regarding the U.S. Intelligence Community’s assessment of the identity of the individual who transmitted classified national defense information, to include the Government Document.”
Teixeira, who was arrested without incident at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts, on Thursday, has yet to enter a plea to the charges.
Social media sites filled with locals describing what they had just witnessed.
While these are usually the tell-tale signs of crisis, the small city of Harriman, Tennessee, witnessed a different kind of community-wide commotion on Wednesday when a local man’s pet emu escaped and prompted a slow-speed police chase to capture the giant bird.
“People were calling in that it was in their yard, and the first part of the morning, officers would go check and wouldn’t see him,” Harriman police chief Baron Tapp said. “And then somebody else would call and say, ‘Hey, the Emu is in my yard now’ or ‘It’s going over here over there.'”
“People were calling in that it was in their yard, and the first part of the morning, officers would go check and wouldn’t see him,” Harriman police chief Baron Tapp said. “And then somebody else would call and say, ‘Hey, the Emu is in my yard now’ or ‘It’s going over here over there.'”
The emu at the center of the commotion was MeeMoo of Harriman. Software programmer Harry McKinney helped hatch MeeMoo five years ago when a local hatchery’s incubator broke. McKinney described raising the emu on his 40-acre farm alongside sheep, turkeys, ducks, and other animals as a joy, or at least when MeeMoo stays in his enclosure.
He said that Wednesday’s escape began when MeeMoo hopped over his seven-foot enclosure fence.
“They have a flight or flight reflex, and he chose flight,” McKinney said. “He chose to run.”
Nearby residents tried to help spot MeeMoo, but after initial efforts failed, McKinney turned to social media for help locating the tall bird.
“The only thing we could do was put it on Facebook and just wait until somebody saw, and that did not disappoint,” McKinney said.
Steven McDaniel was planning on taking his dog for a car ride on Wednesday when he noticed the commotion in the normally quiet town.
“I went over, looked out, and there’s cop cars driving by at about three miles an hour,” he said.
McDaniel took out his phone to film and post a video of four police cruisers slowly driving behind the emu to capture the bird. The chase ended when the officers cornered MeeMoo near a local home surrounded by hedges. McKinney was enlisted to end the pursuit, calling his pet emu back to safety.
“I whistled, and he realized that dad was there,” he said. “And I went up, and I gave him a big hug.”
According to McKinney, the entire search took seven hours and stretched across 20 miles. No one was injured, and most residents appeared delighted by the affair, though some were slightly intimidated by confronting the five-foot tall bird.
“He just would hold its feathers like hold its wings straight out and come at you like ‘oh gosh, did it get mad or what,'” Tapp said about some of his officers’ encounters with MeeMoo.
While McKinney spoke affectionately about MeeMoo, he conceded that the emu could be intimidating.
“For us, he’s like a dog,” he said. “But for people that had never seen any emus before, it was a T-Rex coming down the sidewalk at them.”
Upon returning to his enclosure (now being reinforced with higher walls to prevent another escape), McKinney said MeeMoo immediately returned to his nest to care for his eggs. MeeMoo and his partner MeeMee are caring for multiple eggs, meaning that a new generation of emus might be antagonizing police in Harriman soon.
With video of the incident circulating widely on social media, many community members reacted with laughter and joy; even Tapp, whose police force had to confront the large bird, described the incident as a “good time” that brought the community together.
“We’ve had a lot of stuff going on here in Tennessee – the shootings in Nashville – we’ve had a couple of shootings here…,” McDaniel said. “It’s been a great thing for us as a community to be able to have a couple days [that bring] a smile on your face instead of just heartbreak.”
(NEW YORK) — A new financial disclosure report filed by Donald Trump shows that the former president has doubled his number of business holdings since leaving the White House.
The 101-page disclosure report, filed with the Federal Election Commission as part of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, details his personal wealth and income since January of 2022 and offers a first look at the state of his vast business interests since he returned to private life.
The report, which was filed weeks late even after Trump was given two 45-day extensions, shows that Trump has acquired hundreds of new assets — but it’s unclear exactly how the former president’s businesses have been faring because much of financial information is only reported in broad ranges, per FEC requirements.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, which has served as a destination spot for his supporters and allies, brought in over $5 million over the last 15 months according to the report. The club brought in more than $24 million in the final year of his presidency, according to his disclosure report from 2021.
The Trump Hotel at the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., which also served as a popular spot for Trump’s allies during his presidency, also brought in more than $5 million last year in the months prior to its sale in May, per the filing.
Trump also reported bringing in over $5 million from each of his other major properties, including his golf clubs in Virginia, New Jersey, Palm Beach, and Scotland, as well as other signature properties in New York and Chicago, according to the filing.
The new filing also shows that Trump Media, one of Trump’s new ventures that includes his Truth Social platform, is worth between $5 million and $25 million — but that the business brought in no more than $201 over the past 15 months.
The disclosure report also shows Trump is still earning royalties from his books, including between $100,001 and $1 million from his 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal.”
(UVALDE) — Lawyers representing former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo in multiple lawsuits stemming from the massacre last year at a Texas elementary school are being paid by the Uvalde school district’s insurance carrier, the district confirmed Friday.
“We are not writing checks for his legal fees, but our insurance coverage is paying,” interim schools Superintendent Gary Patterson told ABC News.
Patterson said he could not say how much the fees have run so far.
Mandy Gutierrez, who was principal when a gunman stormed Robb Elementary school on May 24, 2022, has also been awarded money from the insurance company for legal fees, Patterson said. Like Arredondo, Gutierrez is the defendant in a series of lawsuits stemming from the rampage. Nineteen students and two of their teachers were killed in the shooting.
The payments were first reported by the San Antonio Express-News.
Arredondo was fired last August after investigators found that he failed to properly lead police in responding to the active shooter situation as it unfolded at Robb. He has offered varying explanations about what happened and said he was being made a scapegoat. Arredondo’s conduct that day is being investigated and the local district attorney plans to have a grand jury review the events of May 24 to determine if anyone could be charged criminally. The gunman was killed when police, after more than an hour, stormed the classroom where he was holed up.
Despite the criticism of Arredondo, the superintendent said the district’s insurance carrier had no choice but to cover the former chief’s legal fees.
“He has not been charged with any crimes that I’m aware of,” said Patterson. “There was no reason, from the insurance perspective, not to provide him coverage.”
The claims awarded to Arredondo and Gutierrez will not affect the insurance rates paid by the district, Patterson said.
Neither Gutierrez or Arredondo – nor their lawyers – responded to requests from ABC News for comment.
(NEW YORK) — Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday he is not running for president in 2024.
“The time is not right for me and my family,” Pompeo said in a statement.
Pompeo, 59, said he and his wife Susan made the decision “after much consideration and prayer.”
Pompeo served under former President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2018 and as secretary of state from 2018 to 2021. He was considered a potential Republican candidate for president as the 2024 election shapes up.
Republicans who have thrown their hat into the ring include Trump, Nikki Haley, who served as a U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in the Trump administration, and Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas.
Among Democrats, Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have announced bids for the White House.
President Joe Biden has repeatedly said he intends to run for reelection in 2024 barring some major issues such as his health. However, the Democrat has not officially announced a decision.
Biden told reporters Friday that he plans to announce his plans “relatively soon.”
“I’ve already made that calculus,” Biden said on the tarmac as he departed Knock, Ireland, when asked whether his trip to the country has changed or influenced his plans on seeking re-election. “But the trip here just reinforced my sense of optimism about what can be done.”
When pressed on the decision, Biden added, “I told you my plan is to run again.”
In January, Pompeo told CBS News he was considering a 2024 run for president but was still undecided on whether to throw his hat in the ring.
The former Kansas congressman also announced his decision not to run during an appearance on Fox News Friday evening.
“While we care deeply about America, and the issues that I’ve been talking about this last year and a half, and frankly for decades, matter an awful lot, this isn’t our moment,” he said about himself and his wife.
Pompeo hinted at potential future bids for president in his statement Friday.
“To those of you this announcement disappoints, my apologies,” Pompeo said. “And to those of you this thrills, know that I’m 59 years-old. There remain many more opportunities for which the timing might be more fitting as presidential leadership becomes even more necessary.”
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
(TEXAS) — Four motorcyclists were shot, three fatally, at two locations along a Texas highway Friday in what appear to be connected incidents involving “outlaw motorcycle gangs,” authorities said.
The first incident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. local time on Interstate 45 in Spring, north of Houston, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Responding deputies found a 32-year-old man who had been shot with what initially appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries. The victim was transported to a local hospital but died Friday afternoon “despite extensive medical efforts,” the sheriff’s office said.
About an hour after the first incident, a second shooting was reported on I-45 in Huntsville, about 50 miles north, local police said.
Three male motorcyclists were found suffering from gunshot wounds, according to the Huntsville Police Department. Two of the victims — aged 43 and 69 — were pronounced dead at the scene, while a 61-year-old man was air-lifted to a Houston hospital, police said. No further information on his condition was released.
All three victims were “wearing clothing and insignia that indicated they were part of an outlaw motorcycle gang,” Huntsville Police said.
The first shooting also involved individuals “believed to be affiliated with outlaw motorcycle gangs,” the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities believe the two shootings are related, according to Huntsville Police, who said they are coordinating with the Texas Rangers on their investigation.
“These shootings appear to be gang-related and it is believed there is no threat to the general public at this time,” the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.
Huntsville Police also said they believe there is no threat to the public and that the shootings “appear to be a gang-related targeted attack.”
The incidents are under investigation and no arrests have been announced.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — A fellow tech executive killed 43-year-old Cash App founder Bob Lee earlier this month with a kitchen knife after driving him to a secluded area, prosecutors said in a court filing Friday.
Police arrested the suspect on Thursday and identified him as Nima Momeni, 38, who appears to be the owner of an Emeryville, California-based company called Expand IT.
In a motion filed on Friday to hold Momeni without bail, prosecutors offered new details about the events leading up to the alleged murder.
Lee, an executive at cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin, was killed in the early morning hours on April 4 in the San Francisco neighborhood of Rincon Hill, the San Francisco Police Department said last week.
During the previous afternoon, Lee spent time with Momeni’s sister and a witness, who identified him or herself as a close friend of Lee, prosecutors said.
Later in the day, at Lee’s hotel room, he had a conversation with Momeni in which he asked Lee about whether his sister was “doing drugs or anything inappropriate,” the witness told the police, according to the document.
Lee reassured Momeni that nothing inappropriate had taken place, the witness said to police.
Early the following morning, at about 2 a.m., camera footage showed Lee and Momeni leaving Lee’s hotel and getting into Momeni’s car, a BMW Z4, prosecutors said.
Video shows the BMW drive to a secluded and dark area where the two men got out of the car. Momeni “moved toward” Lee and the BMW drove away from the scene at high speed, according to the court document.
Police later found a roughly 4-inch blade at the scene that appeared to have blood on it, the document said.
The doctor who conducted the autopsy found that Lee had been stabbed three times, including one strike that penetrated his heart, the document said.
“Mr. Momeni was taken into custody without incident in Emeryville and transported to San Francisco County jail and booked on a charge of murder,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said at a briefing on Thursday. “Our investigators have been working tirelessly to make this arrest.”
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Thursday applauded the efforts of the SFPD.
“While in some cases we do immediately have as suspect, that was not the situation here,” she said. “Mr. Lee’s killer has been identified, arrested, and now will be brought to justice.”
“He positively affected millions of people throughout his life. He had an overarching need to make technology accessible, and to help out everyone,” Bob Lee’s brother Timothy Oliver Lee said in a statement Thursday. “Bob’s dream was to make technology free and available.”
“Every day around the world, people interact with technology that Bob helped create. Bob will live on through these interactions and his dreams of improving all of our lives,” Timothy Oliver Lee’s statement continued. “As a family, we’re very thankful to the hard working Detectives at the SFPD for bringing his killer to Justice.”
London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, said in a statement to ABC News last week that Lee’s death marks a “horrible tragedy.”
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Space Force, operating under the Department of the Air Force, became the nation’s newest branch of the military after then-President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act in 2019.
“Now is the time to establish a team, a separate service totally focused on organizing, training and equipping space forces,” Barbara Barrett, Secretary of the Air Force, said at a Pentagon press conference at the time.
Under President Joe Biden’s 2024 budget request unveiled last month, funding to the Space Force would increase to $30 billion to “meet evolving threats” and “protect U.S. interests in space,” a Space Force statement said. Maj. Gen. John Olson, mobilization assistant to the chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, spoke to ABC News’ Linsey Davis about why the U.S. military is preparing for potential conflict in space.
LINSEY DAVIS: As humanity continues to reach for the stars, the U.S. is trying to keep pace with nations like China and Russia in space. And joining us now for more is Maj. Gen. John Olson, who is the mobilization assistant to the chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force at the Pentagon. Thank you so much for your time, General Olsen. Appreciate you joining us here.
JOHN OLSON: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be with you, Linsey.
DAVIS: So let’s just start for the viewers at home who are saying, “Why should I care about potential conflict in space?” What’s the answer?
OLSON: Well, you know, space is absolutely essential to every part of our life. You know, we wake up in the morning, we check the weather, we drive to work with position navigation and timing, which is GPS. We have all of our banking and transactions done. So it’s really pivotal to every part of our life. But it’s also critical to the modern way of integrated deterrence and defense and national security. So it’s vitally important that we maintain our leadership in space. And so that’s really what the Space Force is focused on. It’s bringing that sense of stability, security and safety to the environment.
DAVIS: And you mentioned GPS, for example. Obviously, this relies on critical satellites that are there in space. Should we be concerned? Are those under threat?
OLSON: Well, you know, our global positioning system, we’re celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. So it’s really a big milestone for us. And as we already mentioned, it’s so critical to almost every facet of our life. So we are really focused on a resilient and effective space architecture, not just with the global positioning system, but also with all of our space architectures. And so that’s our paradigm that we’re pursuing through our investments to transform into a much more resilient and effective space architecture.
DAVIS: You know, when we talk about countries like China and Russia, and they seem to be really trying to fast track their increased space technology. And there are some who fear that the U.S. is losing that race. Would you agree?
OLSON: No, I wouldn’t. I think we have had a strong leadership position in space, and that’s civil, commercial, national security in international space through our close partners and allies. But we’re trying to keep pace, not just with our ground systems, but our launch vehicles and our satellites and on orbit systems, through not just Earth-centric — through geosynchronous orbit, low Earth orbit — but also looking at cislunar and lunar space and further.
DAVIS: What kind of resources would you say that the Space Force needs?
OLSON: Well, the Space Force has been genuinely pretty well blessed. Our president’s budget submit is about $30 billion a year, which represents $2.6 billion more than last year. And I think that’s a real recognition of the critical importance to not just our nation, but our national security and defense. And so as we look at the funding and investments, I think we’ve got a huge amount of modernization and development transformation to do and that also ties to our people, the most important facet of what we’re doing. We really have three lines of effort: fielding capable and ready combat forces, driving our guardian spirit, and last, it’s partnering to win.
DAVIS: And so I think you kind of just answered the question I was about to ask, but I am curious, because there are going to be people who say, “well, look, we have hunger and homelessness down here on this planet. What are you doing with the $30 billion?” Can you kind of give us an applicable way that people would say, “Oh, OK, I guess I understand why that’s necessary”?
OLSON: Sure. Absolutely. Well, Earth imaging helps us leverage and use our scarce resources in the most efficient and productive way. It allows us to operate more safely and more securely and more efficiently here on Earth. So that which we spend in space safeguards all the aspects and attributes of our life here on Earth. And it also is an important enabler, because as we look at the, you know, that innate desire to explore and discover, I think the information and new knowledge that we’re learning benefits all of humankind.
DAVIS: It feels like a big job. I’m just curious, with all of the wealth of knowledge that you have, is there anything in particular, if there’s one thing, that keeps you up at night, what is that?
OLSON: Well, you know, it is a big job. But we’ve got a great group of people. And, you know, our guardians and airmen across the portfolio are extremely capable, talented and qualified. But the one thing that I think keeps me up at night and that is, as we look at cybersecurity, there is no space without cyber. And so we need to ensure that we’re continually investing and being vigilant and diligent in that domain. And so that’s a core part of our broader national security imperatives, and so that’s what we’re focused on. And I think you should sleep well knowing that our guardians and airmen are hard at work.
DAVIS: All right. Hopefully, we’ll all be able to get a little more rest knowing that. General Olson, we thank you so much for your time and insight. Appreciate it.
(MISSOURI) — The Missouri attorney general announced new limitations Thursday on gender-affirming care for minors and adults in a move that has sparked outrage from advocacy and LGBTQ groups.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s limitations would require adults to attend 18 months of psychological or psychiatric assessments via a therapist before receiving gender-affirming care “to explore the developmental influences on the patient’s current gender identity and to determine, among other things, whether the person has any mental health comorbidities.”
Providers also would need to prove that “the patient has exhibited a medically documented, long-lasting, persistent and intense pattern of gender dysphoria” for at least three years, according to the announcement.
LGBTQ advocates slammed Bailey’s decision to restrict the health care available to both adults and minors, arguing that Bailey’s announcement is based in discrimination and not science.
“The Attorney General’s claims are maliciously cherry-picked and come from unverified sources that allow him to promulgate disgusting, obstructive and misleading information into an emergency rule,” said PROMO, Missouri’s LGBTQ+ public policy and advocacy organization, in a statement to ABC News.
Bailey’s announcement focuses on the risks associated with gender-affirming care, but physicians have told ABC News that all medications, surgeries or vaccines for any kind of treatment come with risk and gender-affirming care is no different.
They say knowing the risks and benefits of treatment – and of not treating a condition – can help families and individuals make an informed decision.
Major national medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and over 20 more agree that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, beneficial and medically necessary.
Due to gender-related discrimination and gender dysphoria, trans youth are more likely to experience anxiety, depressed mood and to think about or attempt suicide. Gender-affirming hormone therapy has been found on average to improve the mental health of transgender adolescents and teenagers, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Gender dysphoria refers to the stress of being in a body that doesn’t feel like one’s own.
Though Bailey calls puberty blockers “experimental” in his announcement, drugs in the class have been FDA approved since the 1990s to treat early puberty. They are not specifically approved to treat gender dysphoria, but have been studied and commonly prescribed for that purpose for decades.
Modern gender-affirming care is based on “decades of clinical experience and research and, therefore, they are not considered experimental, cosmetic or for convenience,” per the World Professional Association for Transgender Health standards of care.
Studies have also shown that it’s rare for people to reverse a transition after undergoing gender-affirming care, according to research in the journal LGBT Health which also found that those who reverse their transition often do so because of pressures from family and social stigma.
Rates of regret for gender-affirmation surgery are extremely low — research shows they hover around 1%, according to the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery medical journal. Rates of regret for knee and hip surgeries are significantly higher, studies show.
Bailey also cited the high mortality rate for transgender people in his announcement. Studies in the Duke University Press, the National Cancer Institute and Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology have shown that transgender people face economic and social marginalization, violence and discrimination at a higher rate than non-transgender people — that research asserts that these issues likely play a role in the persistence of poor health and higher mortality in the community.
The research asserts that these issues likely play a role in the persistence of poor health and higher mortality in the community.
Bailey’s announcement comes amid an investigation into a St. Louis transgender health care center that is accused by a whistle-blower of “using experimental drugs on children,” distributing medication “without individualized assessment” and “without parental consent,” according to the attorney general’s office.
The center said it was “alarmed by the allegations.”
The emergency regulation is effective starting April 27 until February 6, 2024.
“We are taking this matter very seriously and have already begun the process of looking into the situation to ascertain the facts,” Washington University’s Transgender Center said in a statement. “As always, our highest priority is the health and well-being of our patients. We are committed to providing compassionate, family-centered care to all of our patients and we hold our medical practitioners to the highest professional and ethical standards.”
Civil rights organizations including Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri vowed to pursue litigation against the move from the attorney general’s office.
“Gender-affirming care is critical in helping transgender adolescents succeed in school, establish healthy relationships with their friends and family, live authentically as themselves, and dream about their futures,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “We will defend the rights of transgender people through any necessary legal action, just as we have done in other states engaging in this anti-science and discriminatory fearmongering.”
Gender-affirming care for youth has been restricted in at least 12 states.
