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The OutLook is our weekly roundup of political issues that affect the LGBTQ+ community.

  • Rep. Sarah McBride condemned the Trumpโ€‘Vance administrationโ€™s ban on transgender military service in her first House floor speech, calling it “appalling.” She warned the policy is already forcing trans service members out and urged Congress to act.
  • Californiaโ€™s new crisis line is live, but details on LGBTQ+ training for counselors remain unclear. Advocates call for more transparency and oversight.
  • The U.S. Olympic Committee has banned transgender women from competing in womenโ€™s sports, citing Trumpโ€™s executive order on gender and athletics.
  • Andry Hernรกndez Romero, a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who was deported by ICE to El Salvador before his U.S. hearing, spent 125 days in that countryโ€™s notorious CECOT prison. He was freed July 18 in a U.S.โ€“Venezuela prisoner swap, and has now been returned to Venezuela. Advocates say his safety and asylum claim remain in limbo.