healthcare and other lgbtq rights take centre stage in many states. tonight we're taking a look at some of the most pressing issues facing trans americans, from different perspectives to bring you insight into some of the country's most complex issues. according to the human rights campaign, which supports and advocates for lgbtq issues, there have been a record number of bills against the trans community. as of may this year, more than 220 bills targeting transgender and non—binary people have been introduced in state legislatures, 15 laws banning gender—affirming care for transgender youth have been enacted, 45 bills banning transgender students from playing school sports were introduced, and 30 "bathroom bills" that target transgender people were filed this year. the human rights campaign also reports 20 states have enacted bans on gender—affirming care for minors. almost all of these states have republican—led legislatures, and only two have

democratic governors — arizona and kentucky. in both of those states governors katie hobbes and andy beshear have attempted to counter trans healthcare bans by signing executive orders that carve out protections for minors within their state. in response to these bans, liberal states like california and new york have passed shield laws protecting access to transgender healthcare. but how many adults and youth identify as transgender in the us? according to the ucla school of law williams institute, a research centre on sexual orientation and gender identity law, there are about 1.3 million adults in the united states who identify as transgender — that's about 0.5% of the entire adult population. but about 1.4% of youth ages 13—17 identify as transgender, the largest number of all the age groups. for more on this, i spoke to us navy admiral rachel levine about transgender rights.

she is the assistant secretary for health for the us department of health and human services, and the highest ranking openly transgender us government official. admiral, thank you very much forjoining us in our studios today. you were confirmed by the us senate in 2021. since then, how have you worked with the us department of health and human services to protect and also further lgbtqi+ rights? one of the absolute priorities for the department of health and human services under our secretary is health equity and that includes health equity for many communities, communities of colour in the united states, but also for the lgbtqi+ community and so we have been working on many different fronts for health equity and to address health disparities for our community. what are some of those disparities, and how have you tackled that? there are a number of different health disparities we see in the lgbtqi+ community,

challenges in terms of cancer screening for lesbian women, issues in terms of potential cancers for gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men — of course, ending the hiv epidemic is critical. one of the things we have been doing now is trying to respond to many of the attacks that our community has faced in a number of states across the country. we will talk about that in a moment but i want to ask you what more you think the biden administration can do on a federal level to continue to protect those rights? we are working across the administration under the leadership of president biden and vice president harris for the advocacy for and trying to protect equality for the lgbtqi+ community. i have spoken with some members of the department ofjustice who have been weighing in from a legal perspective on a number of these regressive laws that have passed.

i know the department of education is looking in terms of title ix protections for lgbtqi+ students in schools, and we have been doing the same in terms of considering regulations to protect health equity for the community. so, one of the issues that has risen to the political stage has been gender affirming care, particularly in youth, and that is something you have been working on as well and at least 18 have passed laws for this. do you think state legislators are the right people to regulate this question? no, i really don't. this is really an issue forfamilies, for the parents of transgender and non—binary youth to be addressing with medical and psychological professionals. for example, much of the agenda affirming care for youth is done by expert children's hospitals and i'm a paediatrician,

so this is an issue between a young person and theirfamily and their doctor and other medical professionals, and i don't feel that it should be addressed in state legislation by governors. why has it risen to this political level? there are many articles that highlight that this is a specific strategy along think tanks in washington for political and ideological purposes, that the lgbtqi+ community had made so much progress in the past, particularly about marriage equality, is that they are trying to use the issue of these vulnerable youth and their families and their medical providers as wedge issues. do you think there is space for questions about that kind of care and how that should be dealt with on a federal level? i think again, it really should be in the medical community and the psychological community about how to address that. we are trying to advocate for

those youth and their families at the federal level, and there is work being done by the justice department in terms of regulations. we are trying to promulgate a regulation regarding the affordable care act that says that when you cannot discriminate on the basis of sex it includes sexual and gender identity, and so all ourfocus is in terms of health equity. you mention some of the attacks the lgbtqi+ community is facing. what worries you the most about what you are seeing? we know that trans youth have a higher rate of mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety and an increased rate of suicidal ideation and even suicide attempts. i want to be clear, there is nothing inherent with being transgender or being lgbtq that would predispose a young person towards those mental health challenges. it is the bullying, it is the discrimination

and harassment those youth and those families have that can predisposed towards both mental health challenges. these laws and actions being taken by states are exacerbating an already big challenge and so i want to make it really clear — gender affirming care is medical care. gender affirming care is mental healthcare. gender affirming care is literally suicide prevention care. it is a well—established part of medicine. it is done according to standards of care published by wpath, the world professional association for transgender health, with new guidelines just in september of 2022. and it is being done by paediatricians and other paediatric experts throughout the country at children's hospitals. 0k. the governments of the states should not get in the way between a young person and their family and their doctor. they should not be

involved in that. a final question for you — you are the first openly trans woman to be conferred by the senate. how has your story informed your role? well, i was so proud and honoured to be the first and so my goal is i don't want to be the last. and so what i want to do in my public—health capacity is to really work for health equity for all communities and health equity including the lgbtqi+ community. thank you so much forjoining us on our show, admiral. my pleasure. it was great to be here. we just heard admiral levine talk a little bit about healthcare in the trans community. at least 30 leading professional medical associations have issued statements supporting care for transgender people and youth. but americans have mixed views on how to handle transition healthcare for transgender youth. according to a pew research centre poll last year, about 46% of us adults would favour making it illegal for healthcare professionals to provide youth with gender transition care. when it comes to requiring

healthcare insurance companies to cover transitional medical care, 44% of adults oppose doing that, while 27% of adults would favour covering this form of medical care. we heard admiral levine mention wpath, the world professional assocation for transgender health. for the medical perspective, i spoke to the president of wpath, dr marci bowers, a gynaecologist and surgeon who specialises in gender affirmation surgeries. great to have you on the programme. what are the steps to providing gender affirming care responsibly?— to providing gender affirming care responsibly? assuming we all want what _ care responsibly? assuming we all want what is _ care responsibly? assuming we all want what is best _ care responsibly? assuming we all want what is best for - care responsibly? assuming we all want what is best for our - all want what is best for our children, and that means, whether they are in childhood or adolescence, whether they are in childhood oradolescence, or whether they are in childhood or adolescence, or adulthood, they are still our children. and when a child presents as gender diverse, i think the important thing is first of all

not tojudge, and to important thing is first of all not to judge, and to see where your child is at. so fortunately, most medical communities now have professionals who are knowledgeable in the area of gender diversity, and they should assess a child. you want to rule out things that are confounding like mental health issues, you also want to be responsible in making sure the rest of their lives are in order. but gender affirming care refers to meeting the individual when they are. so whether that is with pronouns even, just a simple matter of respect is really all that is required. and then letting the individual explore their feelings. individual explore their feelin95-_ individual explore their feelinas. �* ., ., ., feelings. and i want to ask you about one _ feelings. and i want to ask you about one aspect _ feelings. and i want to ask you about one aspect of— feelings. and i want to ask you about one aspect of gender - about one aspect of gender affirming care. there is a lot of questions about the use of puberty blockers with young

children. what considerations do you think parents or family should take before deciding for the child to take them? i should take before deciding for the child to take them?- the child to take them? i think sometimes. — the child to take them? i think sometimes, and _ the child to take them? i think sometimes, and this _ the child to take them? i think sometimes, and this may - the child to take them? i think sometimes, and this may be l the child to take them? i think sometimes, and this may be a j sometimes, and this may be a problem with the medical community to, is that sometimes parents feel under pressure. that puberty is this cliff that their child might be going off, let's say, if they are presenting early enough, where the onset of puberty would be an issue. the important thing isjust to take an issue. the important thing is just to take time. this isn't a race, this isn't a rush. it doesn't necessarily mean waiting until adult hood or whenever, and bills that limit options for children during adolescence are going to harm, not help, children and families. crosstalk so you do support the use of puberty blockers in specific cases? cases ? every cases? every case is individual and thatis

every case is individual and that is another important component to the standards of care. wpath has laid out guidelines by which an individual is evaluated. and mental health professionals and paediatric endocrinologist, we all follow this, these guidelines. they are meant to individualise and again, in this gender affirming approach, there is not a rush to doing blockers, there is not a rush to doing hormones. puberty blockers offer a unique opportunity to delay puberty in a way that gender can be further explored. so they are not, and they are fully reversible. i not, and they are fully reversible.— not, and they are fully reversible. ., ., ., , ., ., reversible. i want to ask you a personal— reversible. i want to ask you a personal question _ reversible. i want to ask you a personal question as - reversible. i want to ask you a personal question as well - personal question as well because you were the first woman to hold a personal transgender history while performing a transistor —— transgender surgery. how does that impact you before, during and after such a procedure.

thank you. i think it allows me to relate well and to hold also a credibility. i know what it was like to be a gender diverse child, and an adult. in my day, i had to wait until adult hood. but how i have the opportunities and the support, i am quite sure i would have pursued things much earlier. you mentioned some of the bands we are seeing in some states for gender affirming care, what do you think the consequences are going to be the young people in those states? well, we are in _ people in those states? well, we are in a — people in those states? well, we are in a mental— people in those states? well, we are in a mental health - we are in a mental health crisis in this country anyway for adolescents, and these bills, make no mistake, they are not designed to protect children. these are cruel, this is legislative cruelty. and it is legislative cruelty. and it is meant to deny these children access to care and basically

punish them for expressing gender diverse feelings. so it has been a real devastating blow to the more than 50,000 children in states where these bands have already been enacted, and families are scrambling for what to do. these are families that want the best for their children, they are not trying to pull the child along, they are just trying to seek medical care for their child.— their child. and at the same time as we _ their child. and at the same time as we are _ their child. and at the same time as we are seeing - their child. and at the same time as we are seeing this l time as we are seeing this movement in some states, there was a report released as you know by the williams institute last year showing the number of young people who identify as transgender has nearly doubled in recent years. why do you think that is, that we are seeing that phenomenon. there are many that question that, that they somehow believe media or social circles, or social media for extending this — but really, these are real numbers and it's a fact that the world

is diverse. genitalia are diverse, in theirformation, and there are many examples where genitalia actually are neither male nor female, so the diverse numbers of inputs that go into generate entity, that is the maleness and femaleness that one feels internally, of course there will be diversity, so at this point in history, we are realising that there are a number of people who do feel differently than their assigned gender at birth. it's nothing to be scared of. there is still going to be male and female, most people are going to be at the extremes of the binary, but this generation is showing us that there is a larger number than we thought that actually lies somewhere in between and that fits with other measures in nature. really interesting

conversation, thank you so much forjoining us. thank you for having me, thank you for taking on this challenge. meanwhile, laws focusing on trans youth athletes have also made headlines across the us. back in april, us house republicans voted to prohibit transgender student athletes from competitng on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. the legislation would put violators at risk of losing taxpayer dollars. supporters say it is necessary to ensure "competitive fairness" and support female athletes disadvantaged by having to compete against those whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth. the legislation is not expected to pass the democratic—controlled senate, and would not make it to president biden�*s desk to sign into law. we've seen more than a dozen states ban transgender athletes from playing on girls�* or women's sports teams. one of those states, wyoming, had legislation enacted for that ban in march. i spoke with one of the sponsors of that bill,

republican state senator wendy schuler. very good to have you in the programme, thanks forjoining programme, thanks for joining us programme, thanks forjoining us this evening. why was it important to you to ensure that transgender women and girls don't compete in female sports and high school? the real reason is personal to me, to some degree. i was one of those female athletes that was born pre—title 9. i had to sit on the sidleines and watch my brothers, cousins, all of the males in my life compete and i didn't have that opportunity, because there wasn't anything title 9 was passed and i was able to compete for the university of wyoming in a number of sports, it was like the whole world opened up for me, and from that point on,

after i graduated i went into coaching as well as teaching and i coached both females and males, and ifelt legislation that as females that we could have had passed in our country, it provided us a level playing field, giving us the same opportunity as the man, it was amazing, so i have always been an advocate, i taught for many years in coast for many years for girls, and it was great for them to have their own opportunities, so that was really my personal reason. what is the specific challenge that you saw that transgender women and girls would bring to that achievement as you described it? when i had constituents reach out to me about it, they felt like they have gone to other states to complete, and we saw examples on our own state of both middle school and high school level where some of our female athletes were being left off the podium and left back at the starting date

because we had some transgender athletes that were taking their place, and so that was the bottom line, they reached out to me. i want to ask you about what your governor has said, mark gordon, a republican, he let the bill go into effect without signing it and he wrote the following, said why i support and agree with the overall goal of fairness and competitive female sports, i am concerned the ban included in this legislation is overly draconian, discriminatory without attention to individual circumstances or mitigating factors and pays little attention to fundamental principles of equality. are you worried about the impact of this legislation on transgender women and girls? i certainly disagree with our governor and i have the greatest respect for him but i don't think this is draconian because my bill, i have a section in there that if we are enjoined or if this lawsuit comes forward

as a result of our bill, we have a party or a fallback plan which basically says we will have a 5—member commission appointed by the association that will determine on individual basis who can compete and who can't based on a variety of different issues. this bill has drawn criticism, not only in wyoming but also beyond the. how do you feel about the criticism? honestly, when you are a politician, just like when i was a coach, you get thicker skin. i felt like i was doing the best thing i could for our biological girls and i will stand by that, i will advocate for them from now until the end of time, and it's nothing, i mean i am not transphobic, i have never coached a trans— athlete but i would treat that the same as they would any other athlete. i just think it's a fairness and equity issue. we have one athlete, i give you one example, a trans—athlete that

will probably break the girls�* the state track record, and that record was held by a girl from my high school and i feel very strongly about that, i don't think that's fair, she's quite a bit larger, there are all those biological things that just takes the fairness and equity away. you spoke about title 9 earlier and the biden administration has proposed a rule change under title know that would prohibit schools from banning transgender athletes from competing teams consistent with the generate identities, and a remainder, title 9 states no person in the us shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation, be denied the benefits of all be subjected to discrimination under any education programme or activity receiving federal financial assistance. are you worried your legislation might be ruled unconstitutional? i don't think so, we had a number of people that weighed in on it, that basically put the bill together and i looked at what other states were doing

and what might work better i think the fallback plan i had takes care of the issues of people saying it's just an all—out band, there is nothing else for those trans— athlete. there really is. we have this fallback plan and i think that takes into account individual differences because you may have an athlete that is in an individual sport that may not have an unfair advantage, where you may have an athlete in a team sport when there is a safety issue, and obviously there are some things in our bill for that. final question, what is your message to trans— youth, trans— athletes who might targeted by this legislation? honestly, i feel for them, as a former educator, i always tried to respect every student and treated them the same. i know there has to be a place for them, i had people ask me this during the year would be working the bell, where could they compete?

maybe they could have their own lane, their own area for them to compete and i'm not sure what the answer is but i want them to feel like they are respected and understand in my estimation that this bill is strictly about fairness and having a level playing field for our bilogical girls and there has to be something for them, i'm just not sure what the answer is. a very interesting conversation, state senator wendy schuler, great to have you with the programme tonight earlier friday, the us supreme court ruled that the constitutional right to free speech allows certain businesses to refuse to provide services for same—sex weddings. the court ruling in favour of a web designer who cited her christian beliefs in challenging a colorado anti—discrimination law. presidentjoe biden in a statement said he was worried the decision could "invite more discrimination "against lgbtq+ americans." earlier this month president joe biden hosted the largest pride celebration in white house history.

more than 1,500 guests picnicked on the white house south lawn, as biden called for new measures to protect the civil rights and safety of lgbtq+ americans. he also urged congress to pass the equality act that would amend the 1964 civil rights act to include protections for sexual orientation and gender idenity, alongside race, religion, sex and national origin. biden made clear that his adminstration stands with the lgbtq+ community. i want to send a message to the entire community, especially transgender children. you are loved. you are heard, you are understood. and you belong! and the us vice president kamala harris made a surprise visit to the stonewall inn, a day after new york's governor signed a bill to protect transgender youth. harris�*s visit marked the first by a sitting vice president to the iconic landmark. the stonewall inn was the site of thejune 1969 riots largely credit as a turning point in the modern gay rights movement. harris also echoed the administration's

support for the lgbtq community, saying during the event "we are fighting for the ideals of our country. we believe in its promise of equality and freedom. we are not going to be deterred, we're not going to tire. we're not going to throw up our hands — we're going to roll up our sleeves. thank you for watching bbc news. hello there. after what we had on friday it's hard to believe that this june could be the warmest on record. across north yorkshire temperatures were around 16 degrees in afternoon, some other parts of the country were colder still. we will find more sunshine over the weekend the start ofjuly in this clearest slot with the thicker lower cloud moving away, taking the rain away as well, we will be left with a north—south split with sunnier, warmer weather in the south, the showers continuing further north and we will have stronger winds as well. it could be a cloudy start for many but we will see the showers in the midlands,

the southeast moving away, sunny skies developing in the south but sunshine and showers will continue in northern ireland, scotland, and northern england, frequent showers in the north and west of scotland where it will be quite windy, it may feel rather chilly but we could make 18 degrees, 23 or 2a in the south, so a bit warmer than it was on friday. for the cricketers, there could be one or two showers left over for the start of play otherwise it looks like it will be a dry, with some sunshine, a bit breezy out there, mind you, and the winds are coming back all the way from iceland and greenland so it will never be particularly warm and that low pressure sitting close to scotland will keep it windy and wet in the far north of the mainland. more showers to come on sunday across other parts of scotland, the odd one continuing in northern ireland and england but for wales and the midlands, southern england, it should be a dry day, plenty of sunshine here. the winds may not be quite as strong on sunday but if anything, those temperatures could actually be a degree or so lower. heading into the beginning

of the new week and that low pressure heading towards scandinavia keeps windy weather going across scotland, that weather front continuing to feed rain into northern scotland, more showers coming into the rest of the country, and while england and wales may start dry, we could see some showery rain moving in from the west and that could arrive later on in the day. swi9 for the start of wimbledon where temperatures will be around 21 degrees, so not a particularly warm start to the week ahead. it will take a while for the temperatures to rise and they may not rise a great deal mind you, and it is still unsettled over the week ahead with showers and longer spells of rain particularly in the north and the west.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme.