Oh boy.

Last week, Tumblr released a new update called "Safe Mode."

staff.tumblr.com

The update allows users to mark content and blogs as sensitive, as well as block sensitive content from their feeds. Users under 18 would be unable to turn "Safe Mode" off.

staff.tumblr.com

However, shortly after the update was released, people noticed that the safety filter was affecting random posts.

A lot of LGBT content was blocked. Something similar occurred when YouTube launched its restricted mode.

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Johannes Simon / Getty Images

State governments are being forced to grapple with a law that requires transgender people to divorce before changing their birth certificates, following a landmark UN ruling revealed by BuzzFeed News last week.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee published a decision on June 15 declaring Australia's transgender "forced divorce" laws are in violation of international human rights law.

The committee found in favour of a married transgender woman from New South Wales, identified only as G, who had tried unsuccessfully on multiple occasions to change the sex on her birth certificate.

The UN decision was related to federal law and state law in NSW, however laws with the same effect exist in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Despite the landmark decision, timely reform looks unlikely in most jurisdictions. We asked the states and territories with transgender "forced divorce" law for their response to the UN decision, and whether they plan to change anything.

Samuel Kubani / AFP / Getty Images

There is a possibility of reform in the Northern Territory. The attorney-general and minister for justice, Natasha Fyles, told BuzzFeed News the government is currently updating legislation to remove discrimination on the basis of gender identity, among other things.

"The Department of Attorney-General and Justice is working efficiently through potential anti-discrimination legislation reforms so that Territory laws uphold our community’s values. This will include reforming Territory laws to ensure there is no discrimination or vilification on the basis of sexuality, gender identity or intersex status."

A spokesperson for the Tasmanian government said it would wait for the new anti-discrimination commissioner to get across an options paper before it would consider any changes to the law around recognition of sex and gender.

"The former Anti-Discrimination Commissioner released an options paper in relation to the legal recognition of sex and gender diversity in Tasmania in 2016. A new Anti-Discrimination Commissioner has since been appointed, and it is appropriate that she consider the work already undertaken. The government will consider any recommendations after this process has concluded."

A spokesperson for the Queensland attorney-general, Yvette D'Ath, referred BuzzFeed News to the federal government.

"This is initially a question for the New South Wales government. Thereafter, the Office of International Law in the federal attorney-general’s department coordinates the Australian government's response to these communications and prepares Australia’s submissions to the relevant committee."

A spokesperson for the WA attorney-general, John Quigley, told BuzzFeed News the state had no plans to take action on the UN decision.

"As far as I’m aware the state government currently has no plans to introduce legislation to amend the Gender Reassignment Act."

In Victoria, the only state that previously tried and failed to ditch the forced divorce requirement, reform is on hold for now. Attorney-general Martin Pakula told BuzzFeed News the state is prevented from introducing similar legislation in the same term of government under the Victorian Constitution.

"The Andrews Labor Government is leading the way when it comes to LGBTI equality, and we've been working hard to remove barriers and discrimination in Victoria. We were bitterly disappointed when the Liberal National Coalition voted against our important bill – which was fundamentally about respect and dignity.

NSW is currently consulting with the Australian government, which is due to respond to the UN by December 15.

Last week, NSW attorney-general Mark Speakman did not comment directly when asked if the state would amend the law. He instead told BuzzFeed News that changing the sex on your birth certificate could void the marriage anyway, given same-sex marriage is not legal in Australia.

"The effect for a married person of amending the sex recorded on the register from that recorded at birth, and the subsequent issuing of a new birth certificate, may be the marriage itself being voided.

"This result may apply notwithstanding the legal position in any state or territory."

South Australia and the Australia Capital Territory have both removed the divorce requirement.

Space…the gayest frontier.

Hi. Hello. Can I get your attention please? Take a seat, please. Thank you. I have...something I need to share with all of you.

Paramount Pictures / Via giphy.com

SPACE IS GAY.

/ A. Caulet (ST-ECF, ESA) and NASA

Extremely GAY.

/ Credit for Hubble NASA, ES

Like, so GAY.

/ Credit for Hubble NASA, ES

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I love this.

Canadian heartthrob/Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched in this weekend's Toronto Pride March and he TRULY out-Trudeau'd himself.

Afp Contributor / AFP / Getty Images

The prime minister's photographer Adam Scotti captured this image of Trudeau during the march, and I'm pretty sure someone just started cutting up a crap-ton of onions up in here.

Instagram: @adamscotti

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The number of same-sex couples in Australia has increased by a massive 42% in the past five years, according to the census.

Cheerful married gay couple outdoors with dog

Creatista / Getty Images

In data released on Tuesday from the 2016 census, the number of same-sex couples counted was listed as 47,000.

This is a whopping 42% more than the 33,000 counted in 2011, and a 81% increase from the 26,000 counted a decade ago in 2006.

The census counts couples who were together on census night – not everybody in a same-sex relationship. It also does not count the number of people who are LGBT.

But despite the surge, same-sex marriage is still not legal in Australia – meaning there's now at least 47,000 couples who can't walk down the aisle.

The composition of Australian families barely changed between 2011 and 2016.

Of the six million families counted on census night, 45% were couples with children. 38% were couples without kids and 16% single parent families.

Single mums make up 82% of all single parent households.

“Love is for everyone.”

On Sunday, more than one million people showed up to San Francisco's Pride Parade to celebrate LGBT rights and spread messages of equality.

New York City also held its Pride Parade on the same day.

Sarah Rice / Getty Images

Netflix had a float in the parade, and cast members of 13 Reasons Why showed up in solidarity with the LGBT community.

Christian Navarro / Via instagram.com

And fans reacted accordingly.

Elijah Nouvelage / Getty Images

Katherine Langford, who plays Hannah Baker, was dressed to impress.

instagram.com

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Happy pride!

Anna

On a scale of 1- gay: .25
Why: There's barely an ounce of gay in her, however she IS an ally which is important.

Disney

Ariel

On a scale of 1- gay: .5
Why: She gave up her literal vocal cords for a dude which is a straight person move...but maybe she's had a fleeting thought about experimenting with Ursula. Her sister Andrina though? Definitely gay.

Disney

Princess Jasmine

On a scale of 1- gay: 1
Why: She's hot so it saddens me to say that she ain't gay. The nails, It just would never work!

Disney

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“She gay dude, stop it.”

Kayla Guminiak is a 27-year-old working in Manhattan as a cutter for a theatrical costume shop. For the past few years, she has made her own dress to wear to Pride festivities.

Guminiak, left, and her girlfriend Anjuli.

Kayla Guminiak

For example, here is what she made last year. It's a rainbow dress covered with little photos of Hillary Clinton.

Kayla Guminiak

It turned out AMAZING. She chose to create the fabric with rainbow colors, of course.

Kayla Guminiak

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“It really just made our wedding day that much sweeter to know that we were standing there because love won.”

*Warning: you will 100% cry.*

"I can remember dancing to our song and thinking how lucky I was to get to share the rest of my life with a woman as gorgeous as her."

MBM Photography / Via memoriesbymeghan.com

"For me watching her walk down the aisle was by far the most emotional memory because everything that I had been through, the heartbreaks and obstacles, all became worth it in that moment, I had waited so long to find her and it's finally happened for me.

It was probably the best feeling in the world to read our vows and confess our love for one another in front of our family and friends. The support and love from everyone around us was so overwhelmingly amazing. Everybody deserves to find their person in this world, and I can't express the feeling it is to say I'm married to her."
—Jade and JorD'an

MBM Photography / Via Instagram: @memoriesbymeghan

"Our love is something that transcends words and transcends explanation. It is something that feels right, that vibrates truth in every part of my being."

Oscar Castro / Via oscarcastrophoto.com

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Alex Wong / Getty Images

Thirty-four Senate Democrats chastised President Trump's education secretary in a letter on Tuesday, accusing Betsy DeVos of diminishing enforcement of civil rights laws for students in publicly funded schools — underscoring their long-simmering concerns that DeVos would not protect people of color, LGBT people, and other minority students from unfair treatment.

"You claim to support civil rights and oppose discrimination, but your actions belie your assurances," said the 34 lawmakers, led by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state. They said recent actions by DeVos had made them "extraordinarily disappointed and alarmed."

In a budget proposal last month, DeVos's department said it wants to cut the equivalent of 46 full-time positions at the Office for Civil Rights, which investigates sex, race, disability, and age-based civil rights complaints.

Furthermore, under DeVos's leadership the agency has rescinded protections for transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity, lightened some civil rights investigations in the name of efficiency, reduced oversight of regional offices, and invited an anti-LGBT group, the Family Research Council, to participate in a department-sponsored event.

"You have also appointed staff who have fought against the Department’s 2011 Title IX Guidance clarifying schools’ responsibility to address campus sexual assault and against expanded protections for survivors of sexual violence on campus," said the senators, referring to the decision to bring on Adam Kissel, a senior program officer at the Charles Koch Foundation.

"These actions appear to reinforce the Trump Administration’s efforts to curtail civil rights protections for students and families," they continued.

Concerns are not limited to the Education Department. The United States Commission on Civil Rights announced this month that it would begin a two-year review of the Trump administration's civil rights enforcement, citing cuts and changes across numerous agencies — including a proposal from the Justice Department to cut the equivalent of 121 full-time staffers from its civil rights division.

"The dangerous reduction of civil rights enforcement across the country, leaving communities of color, LGBT people, older people, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups exposed to greater risk of discrimination," the commission said.

Echoing the civil rights commission's concerns, the senators' letter asks DeVos to hand over by July 11 information that shows how the agency is processing complaints of anti-transgender discrimination and sexual assault, manuals that show how investigators handle complaints, and records detailing the rationale for budget cuts.

Read the letter:

Lambga Lega/Drew Adams

A 16-year-old transgender student at Allen D. Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, is suing his school district after being denied access to the bathroom that aligns with his gender identity.

Drew Adams came out as transgender when he was 14, and started his freshman year at the school in August 2015 as a boy, which was reflected on his drivers' license and in the pronouns teachers and other students used for him. He also used the boys' bathrooms — until Sept. 22, when he was pulled out of class by guidance counselors who told him that someone had anonymously reported that he was using the boy's bathrooms, and that he had to use the school's gender-neutral bathrooms instead.

"I was shocked, I was confused, I didn't know what I had done wrong to warrant taking away this seemingly basic right I had," Adams told BuzzFeed News on Wednesday. "The gender neutral bathrooms as opposed to the standard men's rooms are few and far between and inconvenient. I started restricting my fluid intake, limiting my bathroom use, I started planning my day around when I would have access to a bathroom… I started thinking a lot more about bathrooms than I might have liked to."

He has since only used the gender-neutral bathroom, though it felt like "an insult to [his] identity," and caused him humiliation and anxiety, according to the court documents filed Wednesday in the Middle District of Florida.

"His transgender status was not widely known among the school administrators, and he was anxious about encountering staff in the hallway who would have thought he was skipping class if he had said he was going to the restroom — while he was walking right past a boys’ restroom," the lawsuit states. "It also created an inaccurate and discriminatory distinction between Drew as a boy and all other boys. Rather than treat Drew equally and in all material respects like a boy, he is singled out as different from the other boys at the school, which interferes with treatment for his gender dysphoria."

The St. John's County School Board, which oversees the high school, is named in the lawsuit as a defendant, along with Tim Forson, the superintendent of schools, and Lisa Kunze, the high school's principal.

Forson told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the school district stands by its policy.

“We disagree with the plaintiff’s interpretation of the law,” Forson said. “Beyond that it would be inappropriate for us to try this case in the media. We had no knowledge of the complaint filed today before a press conference was held. We will work through the legal process with our school board and its general counsel.”

Adams told BuzzFeed News he had, along with his parents, first appealed to school administrators. When that failed, they filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, which began investigating his case, but has not issued a decision.

The suit argues that the school’s actions are a violation of Adams’ constitutional rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and a violation of his civil rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bans discrimination on the basis of sex.

"It sends a message to transgender students that schools see transgender students as different or unworthy of the same educational opportunities as other students. The law is quite clear in terms of the recent decisions," Paul Castillo, senior attorney for Lambda Legal who is representing Adams in the case, told BuzzFeed News.

In cases filed around the US by trans students, the issue at stake has been whether trans people are included in these protections, which explicitly prohibit sex-based discrimination, but don't spell out whether that includes gender identity.

LGBTQ rights advocates and lawyers argue that gender identity is implicitly included in those protections. In recent court cases, trans teens have won legal battles on the basis of that argument.

In February, three teenagers in Pennsylvania were granted a preliminary injunction by Third Circuit judge Mark Hornak, who wrote in that decision, "the plaintiffs appear to the court to be young people seeking to do what young people try to do every day – go to school, obtain an education, and interact as equals with their peers."

In May, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of a transgender teenage boy in Wisconsin, Ash Whitaker, who also sued his school district for the right the use the boy's bathroom.

Similar lawsuits have gained importance particularly as a federal guidance intended to protect trans students from discrimination in schools was rolled back by the Trump administration in February. The guidance, which was issued under President Obama by the education and justice departments, encouraged schools to interpret Title IX as being inclusive of trans students, and in line with that to allow them to use bathrooms in line with their identities and to respect their choice of gender pronouns.

The decision in Whitaker's case was particularly significant because it was the first to be handed down after the guidance was rescinded, and in light of the Supreme Court deciding not to hear what was expected to be a landmark, precedent-setting trans rights case in Gloucester County School Board v Grimm.

Lawyers and advocates argue that the guidance being rolled back doesn't change anti-discrimination laws under the constitution and Title IX, but that it does mean transgender students could be more vulnerable to discrimination at schools because a layer of explicit protection for students at schools with policies like Adams' has been revoked.

"I would like people to know that this is who I am and I am not any different than the rest of the students," Adams said. "Discrimination based on just me being trans and discrimination in general is just not okay."

Nine states and the District of Columbia took a stand in federal court on Wednesday to support transgender military veterans who are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs to make the agency pay for gender-transition treatment as part of their health care coverage.

The states say in a brief, led by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, that "there is no legitimate basis for the Department’s refusal to cover sex reassignment surgery to transgender veterans who need it."

Some of the states, including Washington and California, have their own health care policies that provide transition-related services, which can include hormone treatment and surgery. They contend they have an interest in seeing a ban at the VA overturned.

"Our experience demonstrates that ensuring equal access to health care helps us all without imposing significant costs or meaningful financial burdens," the states write in their amicus brief.

A 2013 rule says "sex reassignment surgery cannot be performed or funded by the VA."

By failing to cover these costs for transgender veterans, the federal government imposes a burden on states to provide those medical services themselves, the states argue. And ye they say it's a small expense for a humane, worthwhile cause.

The states behind the brief — filed in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit — are Washington state, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Vermont, in addition to Washington, DC.

The underlying lawsuit, filed by two transgender veterans and the Transgender American Veterans Association, challenges policies by the VA that ban "gender alterations" from being included among the services granted to eligible military veterans. A rule from 2013 adds that "sex reassignment surgery cannot be performed or funded by the VA."

However, as Dee Fulcher and Giuliano Silva wrote in a request to repeal the ban last year, similar procedures — such as hysterectomies — are covered by health care plans for veterans who are not transgender.

Still, Veterans Affairs Sec. David Shulkin wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Nov. 10, 2016, that while officials have "begun considering factors impacting this rulemaking process, it is not imminent."

Backed by lawyers at the LGBT group Lambda Legal, the transgender veterans appealed their case to the Federal Circuit in January, arguing that the Nov. 10 letter constituted a denial of their request. Rejecting transition-related care denies them needed services, is arbitrarily applied to transgender people, discriminates on the basis of sex, and violates rules created by the Affordable Care Act, they argued.

The government has yet to reply to those allegations in court, and the Justice Department declined to respond to them in an email to BuzzFeed News. The VA did not immediately answer a request for comment.

Karen Ducey / Getty Images

The case prompted several states to support the plaintiffs in a friend-of-the-court brief on Wednesday because, as Attorney General Ferguson said in a statement, "Access to medically necessary healthcare should be available to all of those who sacrifice for our country."

In a 20-page filing, the states say local policies have not been cost-prohibitive for coverage that includes gender-transition treatments. In Seattle, the city absorbed a $200,000 cost at two-tenths of 1% of the city's health care budget. In San Francisco, the city initially charged employees a $1.70 premium, but then scrapped the charge due to "low utilization rates."

If the court upholds the VA's ban on such services, the states say, "one of the largest health providers in the country will remain free to ignore the medical community’s well-established protocols and deny needed medical care based on the person’s gender identity."

"Such an outcome harms amici States’ transgender residents, whose gender dysphoria would be left untreated, and the amici States directly, by leaving a deprivation of civil rights in our nation’s health care system unmitigated," the states continued.

For the first time, the 2016 Census collected information about people with a sex or gender identity other than male or female – however it didn't translate into accurate figures.

ABS

On Tuesday, new data from the 2016 Census offered several insights into modern Australian life, including a rise in people with "no religion", a dramatic increase in same-sex couples, and changes to Australia's ethnic make up.

There was no option on the standard form for Australians to mark their sex or gender as something other than male or female.

Instead, in response to the question "Is the person male or female?", people who identify as something else were asked to either write their answer in the space next to the boxes on the paper form, or request a special login for the online form.

Now, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has concluded that the information collected is not an accurate measure of the number of people in Australia with a sex or gender other than male or female.

"The ABS has made this assessment in consideration of the inherent limitations of the Australian Census for this topic, the limitations of the approach used for the 2016 Census and the operational challenges experienced," it said in a report titled Sex and Gender Diversity in the 2016 Census.

The report also said that the ABS hadn't expected to get accurate numbers on diverse sex and gender in the 2016 census.

ABS

Of the more than 23 million Australians counted in the latest census, 1,300 intentionally gave their sex or gender as something other than male or female.

A further 2,400 people ticked both male and female boxes. This could have been an intentional indication of another sex or gender from people who didn't know about, or didn't want to use, the special procedures. Or it could have been an error.

There was a much larger proportion of people aged 60 and over who ticked both boxes. This increase in age may be connected to the fact it was only possible to tick both boxes on the paper form, and the proportion of people using the paper form was also larger with age.

The ABS identified several challenges that come with collecting accurate information on sex and gender in a census, including:

* Most households fill out the census without asking questions or for clarifications from ABS staff (e.g. explaining the difference between sex and gender, or asking how to indicate an "other" response).

* One household member may fill out the form for other people in the house and incorrectly identify a person's sex or gender if that person, for example, is not out, or keeps their medical history private, or their gender identity is not accepted.

* There is limited space on the census form, which means often only one question can be asked on a topic where multiple questions might make things clearer.

The ABS said it will engage with peak groups, collect community feedback and undertake targeted peer review on other responses to the sex and gender question for the next census in 2021.

A hostile crowd attempts to impede police arrests outside the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village during the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. The event, which came to be known as the Stonewall Riots, became a watershed moment for the push for LGBT rights in the United States.

New York Daily News Archive / Getty Images

Members and supporters of the Gay Liberation Front square off against cops at a barricade set up at Greenwich and Charles Streets to prevent the group from reaching the Charles St. Precinct House. This demonstration was organized to protest against a police raid on a gay bar earlier in the day, on March 10, 1970.

New York Post Archives / Getty Images

A large crowd participates in a gay pride parade in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, 1970.

Spencer Grant / Getty Images

Left: Three members of Lavender Menace, a group of radical lesbian feminists, advocate for lesbians' issues at the Second Congress to Unite Women in 1970 in New York City. Right: Lavender Menace members hold protest signs.

NYPL

Left: Activists protest LGBT discrimination at the Christopher Street Day rally in New York City in June 1971. Right: A wedding cake adorned with homosexual couples is prepared to be used by activists to protest a New York City clerk's refusal to issue wedding licenses to homosexuals in the 1970s.

Getty Images

Left: Members of the Gay Liberation Front form a picket line outside of the Time Inc. offices to protest the magazine's coverage of gay civil rights in 1969. Right: Protesters rally at a gay rights demonstration in Albany, New York, 1971.

NYPL

Demonstrators rally for LGBT civil rights in New York City on April 15, 1970.

David Fenton / Getty Images

Revelers attend Christopher Street Day celebrations on June 20, 1971.

NYPL

A large crowd participates in a gay pride parade in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, 1970.

Spencer Grant / Getty Images

Residents of the Hillburn, New York, area demonstrate against homosexuality on Sept. 22, 1977.

Ray Stubblebine / AP

Gay rights protesters comfort a colleague who was knocked down in a scuffle during a pride march up Sixth Avenue on June 8, 1977.

New York Post Archives / Getty Images

Demonstrators smash the front doors of San Francisco City Hall on May 22, 1979. About 5,000 people marched from the city’s LGBT community to City Hall, protesting the voluntary manslaughter conviction of Supervisor Dan White in the fatal shootings of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Paul Sakuma / AP

City Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver is helped after being struck by a piece of concrete during a riot at San Francisco City Hall on May 21, 1979.

Anonymous / AP

Former US representative Bella Abzug addresses a rally in New York City, where 3,000 people turned out to protest the repeal of an LGBT rights law in Dade County, Florida, on June 8, 1977.

Suzanne Vlamis / AP

Left: Demonstrators participate in a gay pride rally in Albany, New York, 1971. Right: A group of women take to the New York City streets on Christopher Street Day, June 20, 1971.

NYPL

A large crowd commemorates the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, on June 28, 1971.

Grey Villet / The LIFE Picture Collection

A line of police officers confront LGBT protesters outside the Sixth Precinct in New York on July 25, 1979, after one of the demonstrators was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer.

Carlos Rene Perez / AP

Left: A marcher in an LGBT rights parade up New York's Fifth Avenue, carries a bouquet of flowers on July 7, 1979. Right: A couple share a kiss in this undated picture from the 1970s.

Getty Images

Left: Partygoers dance at the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse in New York City, 1971. Right: A banner celebrates Gay Pride Week inside the Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse in 1971.

NYPL

Thousands of demonstrators attend the first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, DC, on Oct. 14, 1979.

Mark Reinstein / Getty Images

Even if canon ace characters are few and far between, who do you relate to?

Representation of non-stereotypical and fully fleshed out LGBT characters on television and in film can still be a challenge to find these days — and it's even harder to find if you identify as asexual.

USA

And while canon ace characters might be few and far between — OK, pretty non-existent — there are a lot of characters people still identify with or read as ace.

Love you, Lemon.

NBC

And a lot of fans (and Cole Sprouse himself) were rooting for the CW's Riverdale to include a coming out storyline for Jughead Jones:

People had plenty of opinions on that kiss with Betty.

CW

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Aces on the case.

Asexuality is easily one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented identities in the LGBT community.

hellahanji.tumblr.com

And it can be frustrating not feeling seen or understood, even within your own community.

Twitter: @AsexualPride

A lot of people simply have the wrong idea about what it actually means to be ace:

Twitter: @Michael_Paramo

Like, for example, that if you're asexual then you definitely can't be in a healthy and happy relationship...

And if you are dating someone, they must be asexual too.

BBC

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Pool / Getty Images

The Trump administration has appointed an activist who led a campaign to restrict bathroom access for transgender students to the office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in the US Agency for International Development.

Bethany Kozma's title is senior adviser for women's empowerment, according to an agency spokesperson. Kozma did not return a message seeking comment for this story.

Kozma held positions in the White House and Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush, according to her LinkedIn profile, before dedicating herself full-time to raising her children. In 2016, she launched a campaign to oppose the Obama administration's guidance to public schools that said transgender students have the right to use facilities matching their gender identity; the guidance was withdrawn by the Trump administration in February.

USAID has backed programs in several countries with the goal of supporting LGBT economic empowerment, access to housing and health care, and political participation. The agency also adopted guidelines in late 2016 barring contractors overseas from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in providing services.

When asked whether Kozma's appointment signaled a change in policy, the agency spokesperson responded, "USAID has not taken any measures regarding the discrimination policy for contractors, as is the case with many other policies. USAID is committed to promoting a work environment that is free from sexual-orientation and gender-identity discrimination, in accordance with existing federal law."

Austin Ruse of the Center for Family and Human Rights, which opposes promoting LGBT and abortion rights in foreign policy, said he did not think the appointment represented a reversal from Obama administration policy. He believes the agency remains filled with LGBT rights supporters who he said "persecuted" people with views like Kozma under Obama, and argued the Trump administration hadn't clearly reversed course since taking office.

"The LGBTs are ruthless street fighters," Ruse said, citing efforts to discredit his organization as a "hate group" after it was included in a delegation to the UN's Commission on the Status of Women. "This administration is no slam dunk for people like me or Bethany Kozma. The Trump administration is filled with squishes on this issue."

"Bethany Kozma is a lovely, sweet woman who just happens to believe that girls with penises just ought not to be showering next to girls without penises," he added.

In July 2016, Kozma published a post at the Daily Signal, a publication of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, calling for a national campaign in opposition to the Obama administration's guidance saying transgender students have the right to use bathrooms matching their gender identity. She called the campaign "United We Stand," and made her case against the policy by repeating the unsubstantiated assertion that policies allowing transgender people to access the bathroom matching their gender identity leads to sexual assault.

"To put it simply, a boy claiming gender confusion must now be allowed in the same shower, bathroom, or locker room with my daughter under the president’s transgender policies," she wrote. "When I learned that predators could abuse these new policies to hurt children in school lockers, shelters, pool showers, or other vulnerable public places like remote bathrooms in national parks, I realized I had to do something."

After President Donald Trump withdrew the guidance in February, Kozma wrote, "The silent majority must no longer be silent. With Trump, we now have a president who is focused on remedying the lawlessness of the prior administration."

Elena_hramowa / Getty Images

When Patrick*, a nine-year-old boy from regional South Australia, was ready to give up his dummy as a toddler, his parents performed a "magic trick" to make it disappear. In its place, they left a Barbie doll.

Patrick, who had been attracted to all that was "glamorous, sparkly and bright" from a young age, was delighted.

He often dressed up in fairy and princess outfits, drawn to the bright colours, bows and frilly bits. As he got older, he wore the costumes less frequently, and his interests shifted to include nail designs, hairstyles, dancing and gymnastics.

Patrick has two brothers; they don't share his love for fashion or Barbies. His mother, Charlotte*, told BuzzFeed News she and her husband had "never ever" worried about their much-loved middle child's interests.

"My husband and I have always said, if he wants a Barbie for Christmas, he can have a Barbie. If he wants a fairy party instead of a pirate party, that's fine. We just let him be who he is."

Patrick is one of many kids across Australia who received assistance from the Safe Schools Coalition (SSC), an anti-bullying program focused on helping LGBTI kids.

Funding for the federal program ends in South Australia and New South Wales today, and will cease in October for the Northern Territory, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia.

The SSC began in 2014 as a bipartisan venture to help LGBTI kids in school. It went all but unnoticed until early 2016, when conservative media outlets and politicians hitched themselves to a campaign by right wing Christian lobby groups against the program.

Brianajackson / Getty Images

Significant controversy followed. The government commissioned a review of the SSC and implemented some changes, but its critics weren't satisfied. Furious argument over the program and its merits - or lack thereof - raged in the media and the parliament for much of 2016.

As Patrick got older and moved through the world, his parents were faced with a hard truth: their acceptance alone was not enough to keep him confident in his own skin.

"As he turned seven, eight, he started to become far more self-conscious," Charlotte said. "And of course all his peers became more conscious of each other as well. He all of a sudden realised he was quite different to all the other boys."

Patrick was teased, and sometimes excluded from the group of girls he played with for being a boy. He became anxious and withdrawn, and struggled to sleep.

"I felt really helpless," Charlotte said, recalling moments in 2016. "It just broke my heart that he felt that he wasn’t normal, that he couldn’t be accepted for who he was. He said things like, 'I don’t think I want to be alive, Mum'. He told me he wanted to kill himself."

Patrick's parents sought professional help for their son. They starting taking him to a psychologist and also contacted Shine SA, a sexual health agency, which put the family in touch with the South Australian branch of the SSC.

Jax10289 / Getty Images

In recent months, some states have announced they will pick up the federal mantle and continue to fund the SSC. Others will introduce their own iteration – for example, the SA government will run a new program through Shine SA.

Nicole*, mother of 13-year-old Rebecca*, was one of the first parents in South Australia to discover the SSC. In 2014, just before Rebecca transitioned and changed schools, Nicole was madly googling to find anything to help her daughter.

Nicole passed on details about SSC to Rebecca's new school, and an SSC staff member helped with logistics and personal support – from advising on Rebecca's legal name change, to coming in to meet with Rebecca and school staff to ease her fears about what will happen if the other kids find out she is trans.

The SSC also provided professional development training to the teachers at Rebecca's school. This teacher training was the central focus of the national SSC, and the program will leave over 17,000 teachers across the nation trained in how to teach and support LGBTI students in its wake.

Despite the negativity surrounding the SSC, and the end to federal funding, Nicole is positive about its legacy.

"Even though the funding might have stopped in terms of federal, the work they have done has taken on its own life," she said. "It's raised awareness, kids are aware, teachers are aware."

For Rebecca, the SSC made her transition "a lot less frightening".

She explained the difference between her life pre- and post-transition like this: "What’s different now is that I feel like I am able to like the things that I like. I'm able to be comfortable in the body that I’m in, and I’m also able to think and do other things. My mind’s not blocked up with other stuff."

Rebecca, who sings and plays piano and guitar, said she was excited to be recently accepted into a high school with a highly regarded music program for next year.

The school is a Safe Schools Coalition member, and teachers have undergone the training. Rebecca and her family didn't consider high schools that hadn't signed up.

The switch to high school can be tremendously stressful for transgender kids – but Rebecca is feeling great. During a visit to her school-to-be, she saw something that most kids would glance at and forget, but for Rebecca, it was a vital signal that she would be OK.

"When I was looking around on the tour they had a Safe Schools poster stating that transphobia would not be accepted," she said.

"It made me feel safe and happy and calm."

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Sam Platten is the mother of a six-year-old transgender son and the secretary of the GDAY Foundation, a group for trans and gender diverse children and their families in SA.

She said that all of the families in her group would have missed the SSC greatly had it been withdrawn in SA altogether.

"Even with this connection [through GDAY] to many other families on similar journeys, I still feel the need for ‘professional’ help from time to time, to address certain topics, and I understand our school appreciates the same support."

Platten added that she was "very grateful" for the SSC's help throughout her son's transition.

"We would not have had the knowledge or emotional strength to face these discussions alone to achieve such a great outcome for our child’s schooling experience," she said.

"We were lucky – I struggle to think of the families who are faced with less inclusive school environments, trying to navigate this journey for their children on their own, without support."

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After Patrick's parents got in touch with the SCC, things began to improve.

The SSC representative put them in touch with support groups and other families going through the same thing, and everyone worked "to help Patrick realise he was really normal, and it was perfectly fine to be who he was".

Patrick, his parents and his psychologist don't think he is transgender. As Charlotte puts it, he is "gender diverse" or "gender creative".

Charlotte and her husband also asked Patrick's school to run an SSC teacher training, and the principal agreed. They wrote a letter about Patrick for teachers to read and consider at the training session. It starts by telling the story about the dummy, and Barbie, and explaining Patrick's love for dressing up.

"We have found that many people feel awkward or confronted by Patrick because he doesn’t fit the ‘normal’ boy mould. Some have offered misguided advice suggesting that he will grow out of it, but it is obvious to us that this is who Patrick is."

The letter also talked about how segregating kids by gender, or marking certain toys and clothes for boys or girls, can be hurtful for a kid like Patrick.

"What is thought of as innocent communication can confuse and cause anxiety, for example when a class is asked to divide into ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ it is not easy for Patrick to see which group he fits in. At home we try to use inclusive language – a toy is just a toy, clothes are just clothes regardless of whether it is a pair of shorts or a dress, colours are just colours, we do not prefix with girls or boys.

"We dearly love the ‘sparkly rainbow’ that Patrick brings into our family, what he has taught us and continues to teach us about acceptance, and having the courage to truly be yourself."

After the teacher training, Patrick's school life improved dramatically. Both Patrick's teachers this year are "extremely supportive" and the Safe Schools training has changed things in the classroom.

"There's no more dividing up by male and female," Charlotte said. "When they ran SRC [student representative council] elections this year, they didn’t do a boy and girl election, they just said ‘Let’s elect the best two people’."

"It's small things like that, but it’s made a massive difference to how comfortable Patrick is at school."

Most importantly, Patrick is well and truly back on track.

"He’s thriving," Charlotte said. "He’s sleeping again, he’s happy and confident. "He's a really different child this year."

* Names have been changed to protect privacy.

“Love who you love, because life isn’t guaranteed.”

On June 30, Jay-Z released his 13th studio album titled 4:44.

The album was exclusively released to Sprint and Tidal subscribers.

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Among many other personal topics — like his relationship with Beyoncé and his children — Jay-Z also discusses his mother, Gloria Carter's, sexuality on 4:44.

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In a song titled "Smile," Jay-Z raps: "Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian / Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian / Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate / Society shame and the pain was too much to take."

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He continues, "Cried tears of joy when you fell in love / Don't matter to me if it's a him or her / I just wanna see you smile through all the hate / Marie Antoinette, baby, let 'em eat cake."

Ari Perilstein / Getty Images

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