The court ruled Tuesday that Idaho and Virginia did not discriminate against runner Lindsay Hecox or high school shot-putter Becky Pepper-Jackson in barring them from playing on teams that align with their gender identity.

No one is appointed with the power to tell you who you are. I still see you.

This is the absolute coolest thing I have ever seen. I love you, @transjournalists.org. And CONGRATS to every single one of this year's finalists and winners 🎉

A women’s college faces a federal investigation over its trans-inclusive admissions @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social writing for @19thnews.org

Trans people could soon be banned from homeless shelters: Shelters would have to house people based on their birth sex or lose federal funding, according to a new HUD proposal. reporting by @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social 19thnews.org/2026/05/trum...

A heads up that starting in mid-May, I will be taking a 6-month leave from reporting to hang with my very sweet family and reset. I’m grateful to The @19thnews.org for this time. A contract reporter will capably fill my role while I’m out. ❤️🙏🏻

come work with me!

Have you ever thought you wanted my job? Well, you can have it for six months! HMU if you have questions 19thnews.org/2026/04/cont...

My very beloved college is closing, and I'm oh so sad and grateful for all it gave me. gazettenet.com/2026/04/14/h...

some important history to start the week with, from @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social

Why does this feel so familiar?

well worth the read, and don't miss the underlying academic article that informed this. i certainly didn't know FDR sent gay men to prison and ruined their lives via an undercover network of, essentially, male Navy sex worker spies: direct.mit.edu/tneq/article...

100 years later, FDR’s plan to entrap gay Navy sailors is coming to light @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social - buff.ly/1DiMqtA

I bring you the most important reporting of my career. 19thnews.org/2026/04/fdr-...

Given there’s a good jobs report this month that will almost certainly be revised down significantly I would like to remind people I am actively looking for work and am available to help your organization TOMORROW.

“I know this is a time when I really need to do this job, and I need to do it well, and I need to do it with purpose. That means that I need to pace myself.” @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social (2025) niemanstoryboard.org/2025/10/17/j...

A few weeks ago, I had a really serious nightmare that my wife insisted we celebrate New Year's Eve by going out. I'm still not recovered.

I am looking to interview a trans athlete who self identifies as not that good at their sport but enjoys it anyway. Is that you? HMU!

are there transgender sports stories you feel haven't been told yet? what are they?

We urgently need to address the fact that queer media has been decimated over the last year. Them has been sold. NBC Out dissolved. INTO shuttered. At a time when they are needed most, most queer and trans journalists have no platform or income.

What are the stories about trans people in sports that are not being told? What do you wish we would report? 🎾

Reporting fellows cover issues through the lens of gender, politics and policy. The audience fellow connects our journalism to readers, while the news product fellow builds digital tools and products that support The 19th’s journalism and help us reach new audiences.

We cannot allow colleagues to be subjected to spurious and unwarranted arrest for committing acts of journalism. www.thecity.nyc/media-outlet...

BREAKING: The Trump administration choosing now to go after Minnesota for... trans girls in sports. 19thnews.org/2026/01/minn...

Fox News really into covering the winter storm these past two days

I promise to teach my children this history

Cecil Elvir-Quinonez, who is still breastfeeding her youngest child, is awaiting deportation in a Louisiana ICE facility states away from her family and children.

Don't sleep on @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social and their take on SCOTUS and trans sports - I guarantee some part of this convo will surprise you slate.com/podcasts/wha...

Justices hear arguments on gender and exclusion in 2 cases on transgender athletes @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social for @19thnews.org

The All Things Considered segment with @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social is up on the @npr.org website.

"And while any place we were together was home, there was a strong shared sense here in Minneapolis that we were looking out for each other. Here, I had finally found peace and safe harbor. That has been taken from me forever." www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

NEWS: In a heartbreaking video, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, a woman who was in the same SUV cries out: “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do." “We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs. www.advocate.com/news/minneso...

“We have a six-year-old at school,” she says, almost unable to breathe, as a chaotic scene in which federal officers prevented at least one doctor who was on the scene from assisting the shot victim unfolds. “We’re new here,” the distraught woman says in despair. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Happy New Year, all. Back at work and back on the beat. What stories do you want us to be covering this year in LGBTQ+ news?

On December 30, 1975, Minneapolis became the first city to adopt a trans-inclusive LGBTQ+ non-discrimination ordinance. Fifty years later, the U.S. still lacks similar protections on a federal level. https://bit.ly/4aAEWLF

Hiya! a note that due to the very generous benefits of @19thnews.org, today is my last day of the year. Taking a much-needed break. I will see you all next year. ❤️ And thank you.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to dismantle protections for trans and intersex people in federal, state and local prisons, jails and youth detention facilities, according to a government memo. 19thnews.org/2025/12/trum...

ICYMI from me yesterday: a DOJ memo shows that the Trump Administration plans to roll back prison rape protections for queer and trans people, including in youth detention facilities. More here 👇🏼

The Supreme Court will not hear a case to overturn marriage equality, it announced on Monday. The justices have rejected a petition from Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue licenses in the state a decade ago. @19thnews.org

“In January 2021 after the politics section had broken our traffic records with coverage of the COVID pandemic, George Floyd protests, election, and Capitol insurrection, Anna Wintour asked [news and politics editor] Lucy Diavolo if we still needed a politics section. After all, Joe Biden had won.”

Today, is my last day with my editor @chiefrebelle.bsky.social who has shepherded me and my work for the last 3 years. I will miss her so much, and I'm so grateful to her. ❤️

Activists have returned to October 26 time and again when looking for a foundation from which to launch protests in the name of intersex justice. 19thnews.org/2025/10/inte...

A fantastic Carly Stern conversation with @shoeleatherkate.bsky.social at @niemanstoryboard.org, about covering trans issues and not burning yourself out as a journalist.

Look at this weirdo niemanstoryboard.org/2025/10/17/j...

To so many people, Miss Major was the first grandmother to love them for who they are & who they must fight every day to be. She was our anchor, and she didn't care who was in the room; she always spoke truth to power. Not going to lie, this grief is tough. But I know her legacy will be forever.

Rest in power, Mama Major! 💜🙏🏽 It was a blessing to live in the same earthly timeline as you. A true freedom fighter, you never stopped reminding trans people—especially Black trans people—of our worth and our power. Because of Major, our foundation is unshakeable and our liberation inevitable.