{"id":928974,"date":"2025-02-18T10:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T15:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/?p=928974"},"modified":"2025-02-19T09:34:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T14:34:19","slug":"good-news-lgbtq-youth-activists-in-texas-curb-censorship-and-new-jersey-law-protects-transgender-students-from-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/good-news-lgbtq-youth-activists-in-texas-curb-censorship-and-new-jersey-law-protects-transgender-students-from-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"GOOD NEWS: LGBTQ Youth Activists in Texas Curb Censorship and New Jersey Law Protects Transgender Students from Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major legal victories break through the anti-LGBTQ fury of the current administration and anti-LGBTQ politicians against youth and teen populations across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Texas, the student-led policy organization Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) championed additional temporary injunctions on a Texas law barring freedom of speech for minors. Meanwhile, <\/span>New Jersey Superior Court upheld an injunction<\/span><\/a> blocking three Monmouth County school districts from implementing policies that would\u2019ve forcibly outed transgender, Two-Spirit and gender nonconforming students.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of its education and advocacy \u201cGoing Local\u201d programming across the country, the <\/span>GLAAD Media Institute<\/span><\/a> (GMI) \u2013 GLAAD\u2019s training, research and consulting division \u2013 convened meetings with local leaders and community advocates in Texas and New Jersey in recent months and years. Attendees who completed a program or session with the GLAAD Media Institute were immediately deemed GLAAD Media Institute Alumni, who are equipped to maximize community impact by leveraging their own story for culture change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On August 16, 2024, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) <\/span>sued<\/span><\/a> Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on behalf of three plaintiffs from SEAT who use the internet to communicate with young Texans and keep them informed on issues that affect them, shared FIRE and SEAT\u2019s joint press release.<\/span><\/p>\n

With that said, Judge Robert Pittman, in a 37-page decision, ordered a <\/span>stop to the enforcement<\/span><\/a> of three provisions<\/span> of <\/span>Texas law \u201cSecuring Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act\u201d (also known as the SCOPE Act or HB 18). Blocked provisions include <\/span>required content monitoring and filtering, targeted advertising bans, and age-verification requirements.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED: GLAAD Institute Alum and Texas Activist is Fighting LGBTQ Censorship in the Lone Star State and the U.S.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n

\u201cIf we think we\u2019re actually right, we have to take it up to the courts because our direct advocacy and organizing can only go so far,\u201d GLAAD Media Institute Alum, Teen Vogue’s 2024 20 Under 20<\/a>, and Deputy Executive Director of SEAT Da\u2019Taeveyon Daniels<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/b>said in opposition of the SCOPE ACT. \u201cGetting the ruling back that we have right now, it sends a really strong message that young people\u2019s rights matter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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A post shared by Da’Taeveyon Daniels (@dataeveyond)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n