- All articles

All articles

- When Trans Issues Become ‘Ideology’

- Iowa’s Legislators Want Final Say In Civil Rights

- These Blue State Attorneys General Are Fighting for Your Rights

- Did the AMA Release a Statement Cooling Support for Trans Youth Surgeries?

- TWIBS: Former TX Senator Ruins Texas Tech

FEB 11, 2026, 10:54 AM EST | ASSIGNED | SOURCE

When Trans Issues Become ‘Ideology’

Two surveys of Americans, published just days apart, reveal the limitations and revelations of polling.

Analysis, by Billie Jean Sweeney

Two polls published within 10 days of one another in January offered markedly different windows into Americans’ perception of the major parties on a range of issues, notably those involving trans people.

A poll published Jan. 29 by Fox News showed that voters backed the Democratic Party’s handling of trans issues by a wide margin, 22 percentage points. A week earlier, on Jan. 20, a survey published by YouGov was murkier.

Transphobia was identified by 44 percent of YouGov respondents as a top problem for the Republican Party, but its survey also introduced an ill-defined and highly politicized term in its questions: Transgender ideology.

When offered that term and “gender ideology” among 23 potential problems for each party, a sizable percentage of respondents, over a third, chose them as top concerns for both the Democratic and Republican parties.

But what exactly is “gender ideology”? The Trans Journalist Association describes it as “a charged term commonly deployed by anti-trans commentators and activists that implies trans people, merely by being trans, are participating in a political activity or have a political agenda.”

It has longstanding roots in right-wing circles. The term “gender ideology” has been wielded by conservative activists for three decades, depicted as a threat to family and biblical authority, the scholar Judith Butler noted in her 2024 book “Who's Afraid of Gender?”

The Fox poll, by contrast, uses the more neutral terminology “transgender issues” in its examination of Americans’ perceptions of how each party is handling 50 policy areas. Journalist Erin Reed dug deeper into the Fox data to show that voters across a broad spectrum of America — whether by race, geographic location or religion — preferred Democrats’ approach to trans issues. Only among white Evangelicals do Republicans hold an edge.

The political commentary surrounding polling on trans issues has vastly overstated what’s in the actual data, according to an analysis by Alys S. Brooks for Assigned Media found in November. Her analysis of four major pollsters, YouGov among them, showed that YouGov’s respondents frequently had higher levels of uncertainty than Gallup’s, though it did not include polls from Fox News. This suggests wording and methodology could have a particularly big influence on results.

In a response to my queries about the Jan. 20 YouGov poll, Carl Bialik, the organization’s US politics editor and vice president of data science, said the goal was to offer a wide range of options as potential concerns for each party.

He said YouGov based the inclusion of "transgender ideology” in its list of possible problems for each party because the term had been widely used by conservative commentators after Charlie Kirk’s killing in September.

Bialik disagreed, at least in part, with my suggestion that other potential concerns on YouGov’s list, such as misogyny, fascism and anti-Christian bias, are better defined and more easily understood by respondents on their face.

“I think Americans would have a wide range of definitions for many of the terms,” he said. “What is and isn't fascism is a major current topic of discussion.”

Bialik did note that YouGov might be interested in doing a followup that “probes this question further, perhaps with open-ended questions.”

YouGov’s online surveys employ opt-in methodology, which has drawn criticism, but the organization is prolific and often quoted. It is not included among The New York Times list of “select” pollsters, though Nate Cohn, the Times’s chief political analyst in charge of demographics and polling, noted in an analysis that it stands above the field of online surveys and has produced solid results.

The polls produced by Fox in conjunction with Beacon Research and Shaw & Co., on the other hand, rely on the traditional methodology of random sampling. Despite the news division’s near-daily production of anti-trans propaganda, the polling by Fox and its partners is generally well regarded.

It’s important to delve into the details of any polling to understand both its limitations and its revelations, Kae Petrin, president of the Trans Journalists Association, said in an interview. Methodology affects results, as well as a pollster’s language and framing.

“Did people interact with different language differently? Well, they probably did because that’s how polls work,” Petrin said.

“Sometimes people assume that data, because it is produced through scientific methods, is inherently more accurate than, say, a quotation from a person. But data is still designed by people. In the case of polls, someone decides, ‘How are we going to write the language for this question?’”

Contextualizing polls is vital, especially so for journalists, Petrin said. “Sometimes we do need to say, ‘They asked about the phrase gender ideology. Here is the context in which that phrase is being used by people who have openly advocated for the extinction of trans people.’”

In her Assigned Media analysis, Brooks offered this advice: “Ultimately, polling doesn’t dictate what to advocate for or how to fight for it. It doesn’t reveal objective truths about us or prove our legitimacy. What it does, however, is illuminate the ground we’re fighting on.”

Until now, the relatively scarce polling on trans issues has had an outsized effect on the political landscape. An issue that has been seized upon by pundits and supposed strategists as a weakness for Democrats may ultimately be a strength for the party – at least if you believe the polling by Fox and its partners.

Billie Jean Sweeney (she/her) is a freelance editor, reporter and advocate. She helped direct international news coverage for The New York Times and coverage of New York City for The Associated Press. She also served as editorial director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, where she defended international press freedom. At The Hartford Courant she led an award-winning investigation into the deadly use of restraints in mental health institutions. For Assigned Media, she’s written about the right wing’s attacks on young trans athletes and how mainstream media adopted and spread anti-trans disinformation.

This article was downloaded from https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/trans-ideology-polling-yougov-misleading at Feb 11, 2026, 6:23 PM EST.

FEB 11, 2026, 6:00 AM EST | ALYSSA STEINSIEK | SOURCE

Iowa’s Legislators Want Final Say In Civil Rights

After lawmakers removed transgender Iowans from the Iowa Civil Rights Act last year, some cities in Iowa enacted their own civil rights ordinances. Those same lawmakers want to change that.

by Aly Gibbs

Lawmakers in Iowa, after seeing their bigotry rejected by hundreds of thousands of Iowans, have cooked up a bill that will ensure their citizens have no say in their own governance.

Thanks to reporting from Robin Opsahl at Iowa Capital Dispatch, we know all the unpleasant details about Iowa’s House Study Bill 664, which would prevent local municipalities from passing laws or ordinances lending legal protections to certain groups of people, if those protections conflict with state law. Specifically, this is a response to the fact that 13 cities in Iowa (and some unincorporated areas of Johnson County) have passed their own local laws protecting transgender Iowans from discrimination in housing and employment, after Iowa last year became the first state to repeal anti-discrimination protections previously written into state law by removing trans Iowans from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

Iowa state legislators, having seen an outpouring of support for trans Iowans, decided that they had to act quickly and nip that common decency in the bud. One of the thirteen cities to pass local laws protecting trans citizens is Ames, who passed a vote regarding the new ordinance 5-1 just a few weeks ago. Presently, no part of Iowa Code or the Iowa Civil Rights Act prevents sub-state governments, like city councils, from expanding the Act’s coverage to citizens it has excluded. Unfortunately, that may soon change.

When Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law the bill that removed trans Iowans from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, she claimed it would “[safeguard] the rights of women and girls.”

“[It is] common sense to acknowledge the obvious biological differences between men and women,” she said, at the time. “It is why we have men and women’s bathrooms, but not men and women’s conference rooms; girls’ and boys’ sports, but not girls’ math and boys’ math; separate men and women’s prisons, but not different laws for men and women. It is about the biological differences, and that is all. It is also why Iowa has enacted laws protecting girls’ sports for girls and women’s private spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms.”

Never mind that the “biological differences” between differently sexed people are blurry at the best of times, or that intersex people exist and commonly defy these stereotyped differences. Forget that, when it comes to schools, trans youth are at a higher risk of assault than their cisgender peers. Ignore that these exclusion laws have killed trans kids. Now, state governments want to interfere in your city. They aren’t satisfied with control over their own domain; they intend to force anybody who disagrees with them to submit to their will, or else. Feels a bit dystopian, doesn’t it?

House Study Bill 664 has been recommended for passage by the Iowa House Judiciary Committee, and still has three steps to go before it can be signed by Governor Reynolds.

Representative Steven Holt, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said that removing trans Iowans from the Iowa Civil Rights Act actually promoted equality. Somehow. He said, “transgender Iowans have exactly the same rights as everyone else in the state of Iowa,” which is a deeply asinine statement. Trans Iowans do not have the same civil protections provided to other queer Iowans by the state, but face demonstrable and measurable discrimination in their private and public lives. Ergo, trans Iowans do not have “exactly the same rights as everyone else in the state of Iowa,” you Temu Dick Cheney looking creep.

He went on to say, “I think having a patchwork of different ordinances really creates a lot of confusion for businesses, it creates a lot of confusion for schools. We did what we did last year to ensure equal rights for everyone, and that is what we’re doing here today.”

Holt, and every other Iowan lawmaker in favor of this bill, is lying through their teeth. They are not so dimwitted that they truly believe allowing for the discrimination of a previously protected class of Iowan is, somehow, a win for equality. They are, like all conservatives across America, simply towing the line in Donald Trump’s culture war against trans Americans.

In the process, they are denying nearly one million Iowans’ express desire to protect their trans friends, family and neighbors. If that isn’t a failure of democracy, I don’t know what is.

Aly Gibbs (She/They) is a trans writer who reports on news important to the queer community.

This article was downloaded from https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/iowa-civil-rights at Feb 11, 2026, 6:23 PM EST.

FEB 10, 2026, 9:11 AM EST | ASSIGNED | SOURCE

These Blue State Attorneys General Are Fighting for Your Rights

A coalition of state AGs have come together to challenge the worst assaults of the Trump regime on trans people’s equal rights.

by Valorie Van-Dieman

Over this last year, we have seen a constant assault on the rights and safety of transgender people in America. Upon taking power, the Trump regime hit the ground running with executive orders and policy changes designed to strip trans people of their rights and dignity. These actions, in turn, have empowered their allies in Republican led states and organizations to follow suit, attacking trans people at every level that they are able.

Numerous institutions have caved to pressure from the administration, turning their backs on trans rights. A couple prominent Democrats have even made a show of reducing their support for their trans constituents, perhaps imagining that this will curry favor with voters on the right. However, one group stands out in having vigorously defended the rights of trans Americans: Attorneys general in Democrat led states. The AGs from Illinois, New York, and Oregon in particular stand out as leading the way.

Since some of the earliest of the Trump regime’s anti-trans policies, Blue state AGs have formed coalition after coalition, repeatedly filing lawsuits, amicus briefs, and official comments disputing the legality of these discriminatory actions. These actions have included an amicus brief supporting a block of Trump’s transgender troop ban, a lawsuit challenging cuts to coverage of gender affirming care by the Affordable Care Act, a joint letter of comment opposing the FTC’s proposed investigation into gender affirming care providers, and a lawsuit against the HHS for conditioning school funding on the application of anti-trans policies.

Actions like these are very welcome and necessary in the midst of the constant deluge of hatred from this regime. “We see how important attorneys general are when it comes to fighting and pushing back,” Mike Ziri of Equality Illinois explained in an interview with Assigned Media, “with the White House not standing up for civil rights protections and defending human rights, it's incumbent on the state to do that work”

While the specific makeup of the blue state coalitions show some variation from action to action, virtually every blue state AG has participated in at least some of these. A few have shown up regularly as the leaders spearheading these actions, with Kwame Raoul, Letitia James, and Dan Rayfield being among the leading names. Assigned Media reached out to several of these AGs in order to better understand what has driven these actions in defense of trans people.

AG Dan Rayfield of Oregon is listed as the lead attorney representing 19 states plus the District of Columbia in a lawsuit challenging a recent HHS declaration that gender-affirming care is unsafe and ineffective for youth. In a statement sent to Assigned Media, Rayfield wrote, “What brought us together is a simple principle: healthcare decisions belong with families and their doctors,” further explaining that actions like the one they were challenging “undermine fundamental rights and [it] is our responsibility as attorneys general to step up.”

This feeling of responsibility towards transgender people was echoed by AG Kwame Raoul of Illinois. In addition to being a party to the lawsuit above, Raoul has also been the co-leader on numerous other actions, including the comment disputing the FTC’s investigation of GAC providers and the filing of an amicus brief in a lawsuit against Trump’s anti trans executive orders by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. to Assigned Media, explaining “Since coming into office, the Trump administration has relentlessly targeted individuals who are transgender, attacking transgender youth and their medical providers, attempting to illegally withhold funds from states that support access to gender-affirming care, and openly discriminating against transgender members of the military who have honorably served the American people.”

The symbolic nature of such defenses of trans rights are meaningful enough on their own, but they have also proven to be effective. The majority of the actions taken by these various blue AG coalitions have resulted in blocks to and reversals of anti-trans policy, with the regime seemingly unable to meaningfully fight back when met with any resistance to their discriminatory actions.

Not only have these AGs met in united defense at federal levels, many have also been active in protecting rights and maintaining access to healthcare within their own states. Immediately following the first wave of anti-trans executive orders last year, AG Letitia James issued a warning to New York hospitals that they would be held in violation of state law if they capitulated to Trump’s discriminatory orders. And, just this week, CA AG Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against a California children’s hospital for ceasing gender affirming care, marking the first action taken at ground level to protect this type of care.

These attorneys general have not only been loud in their defense of trans people, but in the defense of minorities more broadly, with the AGs of Illinois and Minnesota each bringing lawsuits against the DHS and ICE in response to the department’s invasion of major cities in each of the states.

As the regime has continually escalated attacks against minorities, many trans people have expressed feeling as though there’s no one standing up in defense of the vulnerable. Democratic Attorneys General demonstrate at least one segment where meaningful pushback against an increasingly authoritarian state continues on.

Raoul concluded his statement to Assigned Media with a sentiment that appears to be shared by each of these AGs, “Every American deserves to live authentically, and I will push back against the administration’s repeated and cruel attempts to erase transgender Americans.”

Valorie Van-Dieman (they/she) is an Associate Editor at Assigned Media. @valorievandieman.bsky.social

This article was downloaded from https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/blue-state-attorney-general-fighting-for-rights at Feb 11, 2026, 6:23 PM EST.

FEB 9, 2026, 8:00 AM EST | ASSIGNED | SOURCE

Did the AMA Release a Statement Cooling Support for Trans Youth Surgeries?

Leading Off: The New York Times and NPR release contradictory American Medical Association statements, and California AG Rob Bonta sues a children’s hospital for ending gender affirming care.

by Assigned Media

The Trump regime celebrated in response to a statement released Tuesday by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, asserting that gender affirming surgery be deferred until at least the age of 19. The group’s statement referenced the widely discredited Cass Review from the UK. This position, and the regime’s endorsement of it, were met with immediate backlash, with people across the internet responding to it in outrage. Plastic surgery including breast reductions and enhancements are performed on cisgender minors for cosmetic and mental health purposes.

Following the ASPS’s statement, the New York Times, as well as numerous right-wing publications, claimed the American Medical Association has released a statement agreeing with ASPS. However, the AMA has not released any publicly available announcement, and the NYT did not provide any supporting link. The excerpt NYT quoted read “In the absence of clear evidence, the AMA agrees with ASPS. that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”

Following the NYT story, Becker’s Hospital Review quoted a slightly different statement from the AMA, which read, “In the absence of clear evidence, surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood. Treatment decisions should be made between the physician, patient and family based on the best medical evidence and clinical judgment.”

In a similar statement to NPR, the AMA said, “the AMA supports evidence-based treatment, including gender affirming care,” going on to say “surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.” Confusingly, neither of these latter statements endorsed the position of the ASPS. According to the AMA, these statements do not represent a change in policy but a clarification of their prior position. This clarification lines up with existing guidance by WPATH, with regards to age for gender affirming surgery.

In a major first, California AG Rob Bonta has filed a lawsuit against a California children’s hospital for discontinuing gender affirming care for minors. The hospital in question, Rady Children’s Hospital, recently cut access to gender affirming care for its patients up to the age of nineteen, capitulating to the demands of the Trump regime.

In the suit Bonta argues that the hospital is in violation of a contract it signed last year in a merger with Children’s Hospital of Orange County. The angle of this suit comes seemingly as a way of avoiding pushback from the Trump regime’s opposition to gender affirming care, framing it as an issue of contract law rather than one of civil rights.

Rob Bonta is one of a number of AGs from Democrat run states that has been consistent in defending the rights of trans Americans, having joined in a number of coalitions of AGs in lawsuits, statements, and briefs in support of trans rights.

Assigned Media is one hundred percent supported by our readers. Become a member today and get a members-only essay every Thursday.

This article was downloaded from https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/leading-off-nyt-npr-ama-statement-bonta-sues-childrens-hospital at Feb 11, 2026, 6:23 PM EST.

FEB 6, 2026, 6:00 AM EST | ALYSSA STEINSIEK | SOURCE

TWIBS: Former TX Senator Ruins Texas Tech

Another belt notch for conservatives in their culture war against people who are different: making it impossible for students and teachers to get by at Texas Tech.

by [author]

This Week in Barrel Scraping (TWIBS) is Assigned Media’s longest running column! Every Friday, Aly Gibbs digs deep from the well of transphobia and finds the most obnoxious, goofy thing transphobes have said or obsessed over during the week and tears it to shreds.

The Texas Tech University system, a series of public universities spread throughout the state of Texas, has been overcome with confusion and jackassery in the wake of their Chancellor’s brave decision to eradicate evil woke DEI nonsense from the schools’ curriculum.

Shortly after taking office as Chancellor of the TTU System, Brandon Creighton issued a December 1st memorandum that prohibits faculty members from “[promoting] or otherwise [inculcating] the belief” that: One race or sex is superior to another; individuals, because of their sex or race, are inherently oppressive; any person should be discriminated against because of race or sex; moral character or worth is determined by race or sex; individuals bear guilt for the actions of members of the same race or sex; or that meritocracy or “a strong work ethic” are racist, sexist, or constructs of oppression.

According to Creighton’s memorandum, “Advocacy or promotion means presenting these beliefs as correct or required and pressuring students to affirm them, rather than analyzing or critiquing them as one viewpoint among others.”

Doesn’t that all sound so nice? No more gender or race-based oppression! Yay! Brandon Creighton has singlehandedly eliminated discrimination in the TTU System, and that’s just so wonderful. Oh no, hold on… I’m getting word now that these rules are actually a thinly veiled suggestion that Black, brown and LGBTQ+ people are widely trying to “oppress” cisgender, heterosexual white men for being so superior and awesome?

Oh fucking no!

This is not a new thing. DeSantis similarly distorted normal inclusivity programs in Florida’s higher education system to “ban DEI” back in 2023, and Texas picked up the same torch the very next year. In fact, Brandon was a Texas Senator when that bill was passed, and he was one of its sponsors to boot! He’s clearly got an axe to grind against the concept of wokeness, or like… common human decency, I guess. No disadvantaged folks will be receiving equity if Charles Brandon Creighton can help it!

As if that wasn’t enough, Creighton of course insists that, pursuant to “state law and federal policy,” only two sexes (male and female) are recognized, and any curriculum relating to gender identity must be sent to the system’s Board of Regents for review before it can be included in a classroom.

The memorandum ends with an ominous threat: “Noncompliance may result in disciplinary action consistent with university policy and state law.”

So, now that the new year is well underway, what are the effects of these policies?

Per Jessica Priest at The Texas Tribune, Texas Tech students are finding pages mid-required reading stamped with DO NOT READ. They’re being assigned, and then abruptly unassigned, textbooks that presumably are discovered to contain heresy after the fact. School staff, when asked for clarification on the new rules, could only shrug their shoulders and gesture at the memo; it was all the information anyone had.

Two classes with a combined 139 enrolled students, Ethnic Minority Psychology and Close Relationships, were canceled. This has impacted students who are set to graduate in May. Other courses have been dramatically altered so as to be functionally useless to the students who wanted to learn from them, thanks to changes in course materials and topics teachers are allowed to discuss in class.

Even worse, no guidance has been provided by the Board of Regents so far… because they aren’t scheduled to meet until later this month.

What we’re looking at is a complete failure to think through the consequences of a political war against science. Textbooks can’t be read because, lo and behold, they contain too much consensus information from modern scientists about queer people. Nobody knows what’s going on because this memo was put into place without a real plan; what guys like Creighton and Governor Greg Abbott want is a blanket excuse to punish anybody who falls on the “wrong” side of their culture war, and this gives them just the excuse to do that. It’s as pathetic as it is despicable.

Here’s my advice: If you have any options at all, do not seek higher education in Texas for the next few generations. You simply won’t find it there.

Aly Gibbs (She/They) is a trans writer who reports on news important to the queer community.

This article was downloaded from https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/twibs-former-tx-senator-ruins-texas-tech at Feb 11, 2026, 6:23 PM EST.

Table of Contents

Assigned Media: 2026 Feb 11

All articles

When Trans Issues Become ‘Ideology’

Iowa’s Legislators Want Final Say In Civil Rights

These Blue State Attorneys General Are Fighting for Your Rights

Did the AMA Release a Statement Cooling Support for Trans Youth Surgeries?

TWIBS: Former TX Senator Ruins Texas Tech