Alexander Chen

Governor Maura Healey’s administration on Monday stepped into what has quickly become a political minefield: transgender student participation in school sports. Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler…

A number of women are in search of non-traditional relationships too, as seen in TLC’s latest show Seeking Brother Husband. The six-episode series focuses on…

Somerville secured its place as a supportive hub for people in polyamorous relationships Thursday night when the City Council unanimously approved an antidiscrimination ordinance to…

It all began with Dungeons & Dragons. In a club for enthusiasts of the fantasy role-play game, Nate met Ashley and Erik, a married couple.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ Vital Registration Office has introduced more accessible and safer policies for transgender people seeking to amend…

The federal government will begin enforcing protections for LGBT Americans in health care again, reversing a ban put in place by the Trump administration, the Health and Human Services Department said Monday. The decision to do so was made in light of the Supreme Court’s findingin Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that LGBT people are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the Civil of the Civil Rights Act of 1964... Obamacare’s anti-discrimination protections are based on Title IX, which bans discrimination in education and programs that receive federal funding, but courts typically look to Title VII when interpreting Title IX. “It’s very logical and clear that the interpretation the Supreme Court used in Bostock is going to apply to every single federal civil rights statute that bars sex discrimination,” Alexander Chen, founding director of Harvard Law School’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic, previously told Bloomberg Law.

A legal fight is looming over Arkansas’s new law banning doctors and other health-care professionals from providing transgender minors with gender-affirming care. The law threatens to discipline and potentially revoke the licenses of doctors who flout it. It also bars state and local funds from going to doctors who provide people under the age of 18 with gender-affirming care and allows private insurance companies to deny coverage for gender transition procedures, which is broadly defined to include prescription drugs like hormone treatments...The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution requires states to treat individuals equally under the law. But Arkansas’s law bans providers from prescribing puberty blockers, which LGBTQ advocates say give children, parents, and their doctors more time to assess best treatment options. Puberty blockers are used in all sorts of children who are experiencing precocious puberty, or puberty too soon, said Alexander Chen, founding director of Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. “This law says it’s so bad for transgender kids to get puberty blockers that doctors have to lose their licenses for it, but it doesn’t say anything about the the use of puberty blockers for cisgender children to treat precocious puberty,” he said.

An op-ed by Alexander Chen: “Where are your gym clothes?” “I lost them.” “Again?” my mom said, exasperated. I knew it would be frustrating for her, replacing my gym clothes for the third time that year as a single mom. I hadn’t really lost my gym clothes, though. I knew exactly where they were—wedged behind the tall bush at the back of the school property, where I’d lobbed them right before PE class. The last two sets had been “lost” in similar fashion—tucked under a stairwell, secreted behind a tree—each time so I wouldn’t have to go to PE that day. The reason I dreaded going to PE was that, although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was a transgender boy. All I knew was I hated the changes that were happening to my body during puberty. I hated that we had to change in the locker rooms. I hated having to wear the gym clothes because they were more revealing than the bulky clothes I wore to school every day. And I hated the gender-segregated teams and activities, where I was forced to play “girls” sports rather than “boys” sports. The thing was, aside from the gender dysphoria, I really liked PE. I liked running and hiking. I was an excellent third baseman. I enjoyed developing teamwork and camaraderie with my friends. But the gender-related anxiety would build and build, culminating in these moments of blind panic where I would chuck my gym clothes into a bush right before class.