UPDATE: 7th Cir. has vacated the below decision, blocked the district court's injunction, and ordered that the case be heard initially en banc, meaning they're taking it away from the merits panel. A bad sign for AAP, which is trying to stop Florida from accusing them of RICO for trans advocacy.

Since this WaPo story is paywalled, you might also enjoy as a substitute reading my reporting on the same situation in May. assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

A huge wave of trans people have fled red states for Seattle at a time when the nonprofits who help them are seeing big declines in grants and donations. The Seattle LGBTQ commission asked the mayor to declare a state of emergency. My story (gift link!): wapo.st/3SGc4dY

I just broke out crying in my apartment while updating my tracker because I stopped to read this piece by @caseyparks.bsky.social on drag king Elsie Saldaña. This was so beautifully and sensitively told, if you missed it last week read it now. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/...

Biruté Galdikas, authority on orangutans, has died. She was one of ‘Leakey’s Angels. Along with Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, Dr. Galdikas, 79, made ground-breaking discoveries about one of humankind’s closest primate relatives. By Casey Parks Gift link! @caseyparks.bsky.social

Expanding my Washington Post reporting job a little to include more coverage of young people generally -- up to around age 26. Send me any story ideas you have! I especially love deep profiles that explain a broader issue. I'm less into trend stories, more into news-related things. Hit me up!

My colleague @byelliesilverman.bsky.social has a great story out about Jan. 6. I don't want to give too much away, but you should definitely read this gift link: wapo.st/4jqPmQa

A year and a half ago or so, I read that an entire stadium in Tacoma had booed a trans runner. I wanted to know more. She was 16, and she had stood on a podium in one of the country’s most liberal states and listened to 10,000 people boo her. What I learned surprised me: wapo.st/49lnBUK

"The win had changed her life, but not in the ways she had hoped." A devastating, deeply moving story by my dear friend @caseyparks.bsky.social about how poverty, politics, and cruelty shaped a trans teenage runner's world.

In discussing her "Protect Children's Innocence Act" / nationwide trans ban today, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene keeps referencing surgeries. Genital surgeries almost never happen on minors (I know of only one from the last decade) and top surgery is also rare. 1/

I'm looking to follow a young couple as they decide whether to get married. I'd love to talk to people where one person in the couple is ready and the other thinks they need to have more financial stability. Think The Ultimatum but with data and facts instead of soap-y edits. Any leads?

Portland: I'll be out Saturday documenting the fallout if SNAP does indeed not go out. Where should I go? Some of my coworkers are going to food banks, so I'm looking for different ideas.

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

If you're curious about what's going on outside the Portland ICE administrative building, a local station is livestreaming for 24 hours today: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE-W...

White House: “The Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland ends now, with President Donald J. Trump mobilizing federal resources to stop Antifa-led hellfire in its tracks.” www.oregonlive.com/portland/202...

Cassandra Wilson is a military veteran and the primary caregiver for her Trump-supporting family. She is determined to change negative perceptions about trans people. @caseyparks.bsky.social

She's a veteran of the Marine Corps and the Navy, the caregiver to three Trump-loving relatives, and a transgender woman. @caseyparks.bsky.social interviewed Cassandra Williamson about her satirical blog: “A Day in the Life of a Transgender Terrorist" www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

“'War-ravaged' Portland was having an unseasonably sunny September day..a long line at the homemade bread stand, cherry trees still blooming..It was the kind of day [that] called for rosé, not federal force." @caseyparks.bsky.social on Trump's latest crusade www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

A judge in Massachusetts today issued what I think is the first judgment against the DOJ's attempt to subpoena doctors who treat trans patients. The judge quashed the subpoena the DOJ issued against Boston Children's Hospital, home to the country's first gender clinic for adolescents.

Subpoenas made public this week show the government is demanding doctors turn over a wide range of sensitive, identifiable data about its trans patients — everything from social security numbers to Zoom records, notes, addresses, "everything written or recorded." Our story: wapo.st/4lAnkRy

This decision "goes further than Skrmetti, rejecting the plaintiffs' parental rights claim — the issue not decided by the Supreme Court in Skrmetti — and a First Amendment claim brought by medical providers."

A story designed to break my heart specifically: "The Phelans ran the only bookstore in Vermillion, South Dakota. They sold it and moved after a new law would have required their daughter to use a boy’s bathroom."

An amazing piece in the @washingtonpost.com about a family with a trans daughter, driven out of South Dakota by a bathroom law. The good journalism will keep coming no matter what. It can't be stopped. Gift link 🎁 wapo.st/4m3PuFP

You really should appreciate the fact there are good people working at the Washington Post, yes Bezos’ and Post leadership have been cowards, but little by little if these stories make it out, we’ll all be better for it. Saying you won’t read the Post is no different than book banning.

Anti-trans laws don’t only affect trans people and their families. In Vermillion, South Dakota, a bathroom ban nearly cost a town its only bookstore. Then a young trans couple stepped up. My latest for @washingtonpost.com — wapo.st/4m3PuFP

Wow. The Florida AG has subpoenaed a restaurant in Vero, Florida, that hosted a drag event — and he is demanding the restaurant turn over the name of everyone who attended. Did you attend or know someone who did? Hoping to find someone to interview about this unparalleled ask.

So yesterday I learned about Ava Cordero, a transgender woman who, in 2007, sued Jeffrey Epstein alleging he sexually abused her when she was 16. Her lawsuit was filed in 2007 while Epstein was negotiating a plea deal in Florida for abusing other girls, but her claims were mocked and dismissed

Half a dozen gender care providers in blue states have announced in the last week or so they are shuttering their programs. I'm hoping to talk to families who uprooted their lives and moved to one of these states for care and now face losing it again. Happy to find ways to protect your identity!

I've been watching the FTC workshop in which government officials and others laid out the reasons they believe doctors who treat trans kids are committing "fraud." Some examples? Miriam Grossman, a child psychologist who has opposed gender care for nearly 20 years, says pronoun stickers are fraud.

Last week, Children's National Hospital in DC shut down its gender transition care program for adolescents due to "escalating legal and regulatory risks." Today, UChicago announced it was shuttering its program, too.

My colleagues followed a trans asylum seeker as she self-deported back to Honduras: wapo.st/40WtTq6

The DOJ has issued “nearly 20 subpoenas” to clinics that provide gender-affirming care, per DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle, who spoke at an all-day FTC workshop focused how the federal government might continue its crusade against trans health care. I watched: www.statnews.com/2025/07/09/d...

I love the way this story is written. Did not know I cared about this issue but then I could not stop reading because Jesse did such a great job. One of my favorite colleagues!

Looking for new stories to report/write this summer! Send me tips for anything gay, trans, or teenager-related! I’d love to find a family that is moving because of anti-trans laws and follow the kid as they start a new school. We can discuss privacy concerns! The Post is usually good about that.

Houston has a really awesome trans community and I'm glad to see it featured here.

I have a new story out! It's about a woman transitioning and finding hope in ... Houston, Texas. I hope y'all will read it! www.washingtonpost.com/nation/inter...

Nice little story by @shaneisland.bsky.social on Pattie Gonia -- www.washingtonpost.com/style/2025/0...

For the last six months, I have been profiling a trans girl in Washington who runs track. She was heartbroken when Gavin Newsom called trans girls' participation in California "deeply unfair." Last month, she won 1st place in the Washington girls 400M and 10,000 people booed her. But ...

One bright spot for trans people in Montana: Today's SCOTUS decision does not touch Montana. That's because Montana overturned its gender affirming care ban through the state Supreme Court. States are allowed to have protections that go beyond the US constitution, and thus that ruling is unaffected.

Last night, hours before SCOTUS allowed a ban on trans young people's healthcare, the Trump administration told @thetrevorproject.bsky.social it has to shut down its suicide and crisis hotline. The government announcement calls it an "LGB" hotline - eliminating the people who may need it most today

We are updating the @washingtonpost.com story now on the Skrmetti ruling, but I wanted to share a few feeds from my interviews today. First, HRC's senior legal director says there are still MANY pathways for fighting laws that target trans people.

Fewer gay people are getting married, according to a new poll from Gallup. We're working on a story about why that is. If you or someone you know would be willing to talk with me for it, please DM me!

We reported on the last-minute add to the Trump agenda bill in Congress that bans Medicaid funding for gender transition care for adults, not just children. Here’s what a transgender man on Medicaid told @caseyparks.bsky.social wapo.st/4k3HsvD

Things are bad, so I'm donating $50 to @transjournalists.org again. They do great, necessary work to improve media coverage of trans issues and communities, including the TJ Stylebook and scholarships. If you can, please match my donation. You can also sign up to give monthly: bit.ly/tja_pride

Meta's advisory board approves videos containing disparaging remarks about trans people, in a first test of looser content rules introduced in January.

🚨 BREAKING: US Department of Education has started the process to TERMINATE all federal funding for Maine K-12 schools. This is in direct response to Maine Dept of Ed refusing to comply with Trump's Anti-Trans Executive Orders. Full release here: www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

"The Draggieland performance scheduled for 3/27/2025, in the Rudder Theatre, may proceed as originally scheduled." Judge Lee Rosenthal, a George H.W. Bush appointee, issues a preliminary injunction against Texas A&M, which tried to block a drag show. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Over the weekend, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tweeted about the Judge Ana C. Reyes, the federal judge who issued a preliminary injunction against what Hegseth previously described as a ban on trans troops. He suggested she's not a judge.

Judge Reyes has ruled in the trans troop ban. She granted the preliminary injunction, blocking the Department of Defense from kicking out any trans troops at this time. More in a bit!