It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head show where I cover the multiple MAGA attacks on transgender health care—such as Ohio banning trans youth and adults  on Medicaid from accessing mental health resources or Pam Bondi’s DOJ subpoenaing medical records from 20 Blue state doctors and hospitals that treated trans patients. But there’s always some light, and I note how the famous Billy Jean King is an ally to trans athletes, saying, “I don’t think people have any idea of how hard it is for trans people. Just listen to their stories. Listen—not tell them.” Yeah, we need a whole lot more allies like the great Billy Jean!

This is an encore of episode 6 from January 11, 2025:

The Big Story this week is Meta’s decision to discontinue fact checking and how, inevitably, that will result in more transphobic postings and the risk of cascading marginalization of transgender and gender expansive people. The Big Interview is with Leigh Finke, the first out transgender person elected to the Minnesota Legislature, who offers unique perspective on the legislation that she sponsored to make MN a trans refuge state. Finally, this week’s Random Acts tips its hat to Chris Hayes of MSNBC for his incredible allyship!

It’s a live show from Pride 2025 at Loring Park in Minneapolis! I share about how it was Pride 2008 when I first went out in public as my true self, as Ellie. I visited a bar named Pi (now long closed) where the doorway person said, “Welcome, we’re happy that you’re here.” It made all the difference in the world to then-terrified me! I also talk about the damage to LGBTQ+ humans wrought by the Supreme Court’s recent decisions. Despite all that, Happy Pride!

We spend most of the show talking about US v. Skrmetti, in which the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tennessee’s ban on gender affirming care (GAC) for transgender minors and youth under 18. This was a horrible decision for my community, and we have Terri Nelson, the Legal Director for the MN ACLU, to talk about the legal details. Me, on the other hand: I talk about the emotional impact of the decision. It’s simply devastating and likely will lead to efforts for a national GAC ban.

The Big Story is about the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital deciding to shutter gender affirming care services for youth and younger adults, all because its CEO has become fearful of threats by the Trump administration; this most certainly will chill other s Blue state clinics that provide similar care. Ugh! The Big Interview is with Jose Abrigo from Lambda Legal re: a recent preliminary injunction entered in favor of the San Francisco Aids Foundation and other LGBTQ+ heath care providers that resisted Trump’s executive orders targeting trans humans and DEI. Yea!! In Newsbites, I report on how Trump is shutting down 988 suicide prevention services for queer youth. Of course, why not?

This is an encore of episode 10 from February 8, 2025:

We begin with Trump signing two more executive orders this week. One banned trans girls/young women from participating in women’s sports across the country (and the NCAA immediately agreed to ban trans athletes). The second EO creates a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” with Attorney General Pam Bondi heading it. The EO in part references how Christians have been “forced” to “affirm radical transgender ideology”—no doubt signaling that soon there will be federal licensing of religious discrimination again trans people. The Big Interview is with Vanessa Tennyson, who shares her touching and authentic story about coming out as female and how it wasn’t a ‘choice.”

This week’s Big Story is about how the California Interscholastic Federation has buckled to anti-trans athlete pressure by announcing that any cisgender female athlete who loses to a transgender female athlete will be automatically deemed to have made the cut/placed for purposes of qualifying for a competition. Given how California leads the nation in so many ways, this isn’t good! The Big Interview is with a transgender man, Henry Fiximer, who is newly-elected as Trustee in Dundee Township, Illinois; he was part of a slate of Democrats that totally flipped the former all-Republican Trustee board.

The Big Story comes out of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and how in the dead of night, MAGA Republicans added a provision to strip gender affirming care from every transgender person on Medicaid. God. The Big Interview is with Katelyn Burns, a political reporter/journalist who offers her take on what’s happening to trans people in Trump’s America. And for a treat, in Random Acts, I read from my forthcoming book, Being Ellen: A Second Chance at Life, sharing how AM950 supported my advocacy during the post-George Floyd unrest.

This week’s Big Story is about last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dissolves a federal court injunction that barred the Defense Department from dismissing thousands of transgender service members. Even though the Supreme Court didn’t fully adjudicate the issue (an appeal for the district court’s ruling will continue), the Court’s ruling effectively gives the Trump Administration what it wanted—there will be no trans service members left by the time the appeal is head. Horrible! The Big Interview is with Adrien Lawyer from the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico.

This is a replay of our inaugural show from December 7, 2024:

I lay out the show’s mission, share a little of my background, and address why “Illegal” is part of the show’s name (hint: Project 2025 seeks to outlaw “transgender ideology” whatever the hell that is…). We also cover this week’s oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which deals with the question of whether a state can prohibit gender affirming care for transgender youth—and from how the court asked questions, it doesn’t look good. The show will be one of my vehicles to advocate for transgender and gender variant humans everywhere!