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Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand has unveiled a comprehensive plan to protect the rights of LGBTQ people to mark the start of Pride Month. If elected, the New York senator says she'd direct the Justice Department to consider gender identity and sexual orientation a protected class. She would also ban discrimination against transgender members of the military and federally recognize a third gender in identification documents, denoted by an "X'' on ID cards. (6/1)

President Trump, who appeared to break with Republican orthodoxy in 2016 by pledging to be a “real friend” of gay, lesbian and transgender Americans, is facing fresh attacks from Democrats and advocates who say his administration has instead become their worst enemy. Trump and his aides have issued a wave of regulations, executive orders, legal briefs and personnel appointments aimed at reversing large parts of the Obama administration’s civil rights agenda, winning plaudits from religious conservatives who form the bedrock of Trump’s political support. (Olorunnipa, 5/31)

A judge this week ordered the state to house a transgender female inmate in a cell separate from male inmates and to protect her from harassment. The decision for inmate Brandy Hall is believed to be a first in Oregon at a men’s prison, both state officials and Hall’s attorney said. It paves the way for other transgender inmates to make the same request unless the Oregon Department of Corrections creates an overarching housing policy for transgender and intersex prisoners, said attorney Tara Herivel. (Bailey, 5/31)