Happy New Year 2025

Tag: fighting

Hiding kids’ ‘gender identity’ from parents is common in blue state fighting Trump on trans issues

More than 50 school districts in Maine have policies that allow minors to hide their gender identity from their parents, according to a new watchdog report.

Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization tracking gender ideologies in schools across the country, filed public records requests to confirm that at least 57 of the state’s 192 school districts have policies excluding parents from knowing whether their children identify as another gender.

The report comes after President Donald Trump chastised Democrat Maine Gov. Janet Millis last week over her refusal to enforce Trump’s “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order.

TRUMP VOWS TO CUT OFF FEDERAL FUNDING TO MAINE OVER REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH ‘NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS’ ORDER

President Trump and the Department of Education building. (Getty Images)

“It was totally unsurprising to see the governor of Maine go to the mat to keep males in women’s sports when over 50 school districts in Maine have written policies to deceive parents about their own child,” PDE spokesperson Erika Sanzi told Fox News Digital Friday.

“We have seen a groundswell of parents in Maine speaking out about this now that they are aware of it, and it is our hope that districts begin to roll back these policies, not only because of the executive orders from the Trump administration but because nearly 80% of their constituents oppose them,” she said.

In one example from the state’s largest district, Portland Public Schools, district policy on “transgender and gender expansive students” requires that if “a student and their parent or legal guardian do not agree with regard to the student’s gender identity or gender expression, the school shall abide by the wishes of the student with regard to their gender identity and gender expression while at school.

“School staff shall comply with the student’s wishes regarding disclosure of their transgender status to others, including but not limited to parents or guardians, students, volunteers or other school staff, unless the student has explicitly authorized the disclosure or unless legally required to do so.”

MAINE FEMALE ATHLETE ‘GRATEFUL’ FOR TRUMP’S FOCUS ON TRANS COMPETITORS AFTER LOCAL LEADERS ‘FAILED’ GIRLS

A student leads a group of demonstrators in Knoxville, Tenn., in protest of the state’s 2022 transgender athlete ban. (Saul Young/Knoxville News-Sentinel /USA Today)

Policies like Portland’s are also still in place after Trump signed an executive order at the end of January, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which states that “steering students toward surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent or involvement or allowing males access to private spaces designated for females may contravene Federal laws that protect parental rights.”

Trump has already threatened to cut off Maine’s federal funding if it continues to defy his orders.

“I heard men are still playing in Maine,” Trump told to a gathering of Republican governors in Washington last week.

“I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give them any federal money. They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports,’ and I cannot believe that they’re doing that. … So, we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up.”

MAINE STATE REP TALKS ‘EXTREME’ TRANSGENDER ATHLETE POLICY

President Donald Trump told Maine Gov. Janet Mills her state needs to comply with an executive order on transgender athletes in school sports during a Feb. 21, 2025, event at the White House. (Reuters Photos | Pool)

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Trump signed the executive order barring men from women’s sports earlier this month, which directs federal agencies to review grants, programs and policies that fail to align with efforts to block male participation in women’s sports “as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.” The order mandates strict enforcement of Title IX and threatens to revoke federal funding from noncompliant educational institutions and athletic organizations.

After the order, several other blue states indicated they would not be complying with it, including California and Minnesota.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Maine Department of Education for comment.

Jamie Joseph is a U.S. Politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering transgender and culture issues, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and stateside legislative developments.

March 2, 2025
International Childhood Cancer Day 2025 Date & Significance: Key Facts and Other Details You Should Know About Raising Awareness, Support & Fighting for Kids’ Lives
Every year the world comes together to observe International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD). This global initiative is dedicated to raising awareness about childhood cancer, providing support for affected children and their families, and advocating for better treatments and resources to improve survival rates. Although childhood cancer is a topic often overlooked in public discourse, it remains one of the most significant causes of childhood-related death worldwide. Let’s explore everything you need to know about International Childhood Cancer Day 2025, its date, significance, key facts, ways to get involved, and how to help make a difference in the fight against childhood cancer. February 2025 Holidays and Festivals Calendar: Get Full List of Major Events in the Second Month of the Year.

International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) Date & Significance

International Childhood Cancer Day is celebrated annually on February 15 to honor children diagnosed with cancer and to raise awareness about the unique challenges they face. This day serves as a platform for global collaboration among families, medical professionals, advocates, and organisations to ensure that childhood cancer remains a top priority for governments, healthcare systems, and researchers. World Cancer Day 2025 Date and Theme: Know History and Significance of the Day That Raises Awareness About Cancer and Encourages Its Prevention.

ICCD is not just about spreading awareness; it’s about taking action to improve the lives of children diagnosed with cancer and providing the necessary resources for their families. The day is recognised by various organisations, including the International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisations (ICCCPO), who are instrumental in ensuring that the voices of those affected by childhood cancer are heard.

Key Facts About Childhood Cancer

Childhood cancer is more common than many people think. Here are some important facts to consider:
- Cancer in children is not the same as in adults: Children’s cancers are biologically different and require specialised treatments that are often distinct from those used for adults.
- Cancer is the second leading cause of death among children worldwide, after accidents.
- Survival rates have improved: Over the past few decades, survival rates for childhood cancer have significantly improved. The survival rate has risen from 30% in the 1960s to over 80% in many high-income countries today. However, survival rates can vary depending on the type of cancer, country, and available medical resources.
- The types of cancers commonly seen in children include leukemia, brain tumors, lymphoma, neuroblastoma, and Wilms’ tumor, among others.
- Despite these improvements, childhood cancer remains a critical issue that requires further research, better access to treatment, and global attention.
International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) serves as a vital reminder that childhood cancer should not be ignored. It’s a call to action for individuals, organisations, and governments to prioritise the health and wellbeing of children diagnosed with cancer. By raising awareness, providing support, and advocating for continued research and improved treatments, we can work together to improve survival rates and offer hope to the children and families affected by this devastating disease.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 15, 2025 07:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
February 15, 2025
High school trans athletes fighting Trump’s executive order protecting girls’ sports in court

The families of two transgender high school athletes in New Hampshire have added President Donald Trump’s administration to a lawsuit challenging laws that prevent the athletes from competing in girls’ sports.

The teenage plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, originally filed the lawsuit last year to challenge a current New Hampshire state law prohibiting trans athletes from participating in girls’ sports. On Wednesday, a federal judge granted a request to add the Trump administration to the list of defendants over the president’s recent executive order.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5, which prohibited any federal funding for educational institutions that allow biological males to compete on women’s or girls’ sports teams.

New Hampshire was already one of 25 states with a law in place to enforce similar bans on trans inclusion, but Tirrell and Turmelle have been allowed to compete on girls’ teams anyway, thanks to the ruling of a federal judge in their state.

“The systematic targeting of transgender people across American institutions is chilling, but targeting young people in schools, denying them support and essential opportunities during their most vulnerable years, is especially cruel,” Chris Erchull, a GLAD attorney, said.

The lawyers claimed Trump’s executive order, along with parts of a Jan. 20 executive order that forbids federal money from being used to “promote gender ideology,” subjects the teens and all transgender girls to discrimination in violation of federal equal protection guarantees and their rights under Title IX.

NYC OFFICIAL REMOVES POST SUPPORTING TRUMP’S TRANS ATHLETE ORDER AFTER ‘GUIDANCE’ FROM MAYOR’S CHIEF OF STAFF

The lawyers also claimed the executive orders unlawfully subject the teens’ schools to the threat of losing federal funding for allowing them to play sports.

The situation involving the two trans athletes has also prompted a second lawsuit after parents wore wristbands that read “XX” in reference to the biological female chromosomes, and were allegedly banned from school grounds for wearing them.

Plaintiffs Kyle Fellers and Anthony Foote sued the Bow School District after being banned from school grounds for wearing the wristbands at their daughters’ soccer game in September.

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In the lawsuit filed by Fellers and Foote, they alleged they were told by school officials to remove the armbands or they would have to leave the game.

Both of the fathers say the intention of the armband was not to protest Tirrell, but to support their own daughters in a game that featured a biological male.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 13, 2025
Former Lia Thomas teammate calls out Democrats still fighting for trans athletes in women’s sports

EXCLUSIVE: Former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Grace Estabrook was one of the many young women who shared a pool and locker room with transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 2021-22 season.

From 2019, when she was first told Thomas would be joining her team, until her senior year in 2022, Estabrook alleged she was repeatedly pressured by the university not to oppose Thomas’ inclusion on the team. Estabrook told Fox News Digital that administrators tried to convince her that she would never get a job or get into grad school if she spoke out against it and that any issue she had with the situation was because she had a “psychological problem.”

And in between the practices and meets that made her feel “uncomfortable” and “powerless,” Estabrook says she also witnessed the mainstream media celebrate Thomas as a civil rights icon and even be nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.

But now, in 2025, Estabrook is one of three former UPenn swimmers who have filed a lawsuit against the university, the Ivy League and the NCAA over its handling of the situation as the tides on the issue turn in the court of public opinion.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Penn’s Lia Thomas waits to swim in a qualifying heat of the 200-yard freestyle at the Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Harvard University, Feb. 18, 2022, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Fox News Digital reached out to UPenn for comment.

Recent data suggests the vast majority of Americans now oppose trans athletes in women’s sports. The NCAA recently changed its policy to prevent them from competing in the women’s category after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to address the issue last Wednesday.

Still, many Democrats continue to fight for trans inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports, and multiple states have not complied with Trump’s order.

For Estabrook, who says she lived through the experience of changing her clothes with Thomas in the room and being threatened not to complain about it, the thought of elected officials still fighting for a cause that ensures other women experience what she did is “depressing.”

“That’s just really depressing,” Estabrook said. “I just don’t know why anyone would want to perpetuate abuse to women on large scales like this. I think that’s why we are doing what we’re doing. It’s because we want a clear court decision that will help institutions be able to set clear policies to make sure this never happens again. We want that enduring legal precedent. … It’s depressing, but that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

Estabrook’s journey throughout the situation with UPenn has featured frequent “depressing” moments.

Her locker was only a few feet away from Thomas in the locker room, forcing her to back herself into a corner for the sake of her own comfort.

NEVADA VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WERE PRESSURED WITH ‘LEGAL ISSUES’ TO PLAY SJSU TRANS PLAYER DURING FEUD WITH SCHOOL

“I would kind of back into a corner that had low visibility and just try to change as quickly as I could, and I had other teammates who would go into the bathroom stalls and change in there,” Estabrook said.

“We were the ones that were forced into hiding, it was very uncomfortable, and there was just this constant fear and disruption of peace of like, ‘OK, I just don’t have a safe environment here anymore,’ not only physically but emotionally and psychologically, and it was just incredibly stressful. I look back on it and I don’t know how I endured that.”

Estabrook added that the situation put “incredible” stress on both her mind and body, and it disrupted her swimming ability.

The positive media coverage of Thomas was the insulting cherry on top of the situation for Estabrook. She said that many times when she and her teammates traveled to a meet, they not only had to deal with the anxiety of Thomas in their space but also a horde of reporters there to cover the trans athlete in a positive light.

“I just remember feeling, ‘This is so alien,’” Estabrook said. “It just felt like it was this whole celebration of Thomas and the whole transgender ideology movement.”

“All of the media I remember seeing or reading at the time was celebrating Thomas as this groundbreaking figurehead of the transgender community … there was just such a celebration of it that it was really pushed in our faces and forcing us to accept it.”

Estabrook said the hardest moment of the experience came at the 2022 Ivy League championships. She hoped that Thomas would be ruled ineligible to participate. However, the Ivy League allowed Thomas to swim. Thomas ultimately set pool records in every individual event the athlete competed in and topped the victor’s podium four times.

Thomas went on to put up a similar performance at the 2022 NCAA championships. There, Thomas ended up in an infamous tie with former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines. That tie ultimately sparked the seeds for change that gave Estabrook and countless other women hope when the experience prompted Gaines to speak up and become a prominent advocate for women’s athletes seeking protection from trans inclusion.

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Former UPenn swimmer Grace Estabrook (Grace Estabrook)

“I was just so grateful for her bravery,” Estabrook said. “I really do feel empowered by the work that Riley Gaines has been doing and seeing women jump on that same train and start to speak out. … It empowered me to be able to do the same.”

More hope came this past year after Trump pledged during a Fox News town hall interview in October that, if elected, he would ban trans athletes in women’s sports. Trump won the election, and exit polls suggested the issue of trans inclusion played a prominent role in the decision of many moderate voters.

Trump quickly made good on his promise, signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order last Wednesday. For Estabrook, seeing this come to fruition has gone a long way in affirming her political beliefs.

“I was very excited to hear that and even more excited when that became a reality last week so quickly after he took office,” Estabrook said. “It’s just very encouraging to see that we have a president who is just so supportive of us and is also seeing this in accordance with reality.”

Estabrook’s lawsuit, which has been filed alongside former teammates Ellen Holmquist and Margot Kaczorowski, seeks to have all of Thomas’ records and accolades as a woman swimmer revoked.

In addition to Estabrook’s lawsuit, Trump’s Department of Education has launched an investigation into potential Title IX violations that occurred at UPenn and has also advised the NCAA to discard Thomas’ accolades in the women’s category.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 12, 2025