Category: Gender Equity Forum - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Free Pride Month film series at the Figge-Of Interest to Our Community

6/9/2026

Free Pride Month film series at the Figge
Thursdays in June at 5 pm

Figge Art Museum
225 W 2nd ST
Davenport, IA (map)

Gender Equity Forum

The Figge Art Museum is offering their Free Pride Month movie series on Thursdays in June. Here are the movies in the series:

Thursday, June 11 at 5: Dallas Buyers Club
Thursday, June 18 at 5: Paris is Burning
Thursday, June 25 at 5: Angels in America

Check their complete calendar of events here.

Alta Price (she/her)

Pride in Motion-Of Interest to Our Community

6/9/2026

Discover Pride in Motion

Gender Equity Forum

Pride in Motion calls itself the QC LGBTQIA+ Rec League but it is so much more! Watch this short video explaining who they are. If you want to watch (or participate in) local sports click here. Check out QC June Pride activities here. Find information about their book club here. And they have a fantastic list of local LGBTQIA+ resources here.

Alta Price (she/her)

QC Pride Festival-Of Interest to Our Community

5/27/2026

QC Pride Festival
Friday, June 5th at 5 pm and Saturday, June 6th at noon

Schwiebert Riverside Park
101 17th ST
Rock Island, IL (map)

Gender Equity Forum

The Gender Equity Forum encourages you to attend the 2026 Quad Cities Pride Festival, sponsored by the QC Pride Alliance. The Festival returns to beautiful Schwiebert Riverfront Park in Rock Island. Celebrate two days of love, community, and unapologetic Pride with live entertainment, vibrant vendors, food trucks, family-friendly activities, and space for everyone to be their authentic selves.

Stay tuned to our Facebook page here for more details, announcements, and exciting updates.

Alta Price (she/her)

Book bans are on the rise in the US-No Hate In Our States

5/9/2026

They’re trying to narrow the worldview of young people: how book bans are on the rise in the US

Gender Equity Forum

From The Guardian

‘They’re trying to narrow the worldview of young people today’ … a pride parade with marchers protesting about banned books. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

Maia Kobabe wrote Gender Queer as a tender attempt to explain non-binary identity and the journey of sexual discovery to immediate family. “I tried to make it as sensitive and thoughtful as possible, especially given that I knew that my mother would read it,” the author says. “I was trying to build bridges, trying to connect with people, trying to be understood as my full authentic self by my family and my friends and my community.

...To the authors and advocates on the frontlines, book banning is not merely a debate about social taboos but a glaring symptom of democratic backsliding. Kobabe says: “This is no longer parents trying to defend the right of what their children can read. This is now large groups trying to implement social control and attack diverse voices and increasingly attack teachers, librarians, library funding and the freedom of public education in our country at a fundamental level. I definitely see book bans as the canary in the coalmine of the rise of fascism. Many authoritarian governments attack books, journalism, education and sources of information first because an uneducated and uninformed populace is easier to control."

Read the rest of this important article online at the Guardian here. And consider supporting independent journalism by subscribing here.

Good LGBTQIA+ news from Montana-Of Interest to Our Community

4/28/2026

Finally, some good LGBTQIA+ news!
Montana Supreme Court blocks state's anti-Trans ID policy

Gender Equity Forum

Them.us

The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that two state agencies violated the state constitution by not allowing trans residents to change their gender markers on identity documents, per the Daily Montanan.

In a 5-2 decision, the court blocked the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, as well as the Department of Justice, which runs the state’s Motor Vehicle Division, from refusing to update trans people’s identity documents, siding with two trans plaintiffs.

In its finding that anti-trans discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, the Montana Supreme Court has reinforced the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found in a 6-3 decision that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity was a form of sex-based discrimination. Read more at Them.us here.

PACG Webmaster

Action Alert to Protect Care for Trans Youth

2/11/2026

Help Protect Care for Trans Youth Action Alert!

Gender Equity Forum

The federal government has proposed new rules that would effectively ban care for trans youth at hospitals across the country. We’re asking our community to make public comments in opposition to the proposed rules. The deadline for public comment is Tuesday, February 17.

You can get help submitting your comments here or here.

Relevant links:

RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people

How To Submit Public Comments To Oppose Proposed Rules Restricting Transgender Health Care Access

Human Rights Campaign - Protect Trans Youth Healthcare

David Anderson (he/him)

ACLU Illinois and Indivisible Power to the People: Quad Cities, January 13, 2026

12/20/2025

Power to the People: Quad Cities
Tuesday, January 13 at 6 - 8 pm

Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council - East Moline
424 Carpenter Ct
East Moline, IL (map)

Illinois ACLU, Indivisible QC, and other organizations

The Civil Rights and Gender Equity forums of PACG urge everyone to attend this event!

Please join the ACLU of Illinois, Indivisible Quad Cities, Indivisible Illinois, Clock Inc, NAACP Rock Island County Branch, Quad Cities Alliance for Immigrant and Refugees (QCAIR), and the Quad Cities Alliance for Retired Americans for a community town hall on what the ACLU, Indivisible, and our partners are doing in response to the federal abuse of power and what role you can play in the fight ahead.

The event is designed to allow supporters to gather to express concerns about the Administration’s effort to wield all federal power without checks and balances of Congress or the courts – and the harm that the reckless and lawless policies are having on our communities. The program will include an update on the nationwide civil liberties landscape, highlight state and local responses, and explore the role we can each play in our communities in the fight ahead. And, you’ll have a chance to talk with others who share your concerns about the pivotal moment our country is in.

Light refreshments will be provided. We hope you can join us!

The event is free, but RSVPs are appreciated! Go to this site to register.

Questions? Please reach out to [email protected].

There is an attached flyer for your use at the end of this post.

Alta Price (she/her)

pttp_quad_cities_flyer.pdf
File Size:	14764 kb
File Type:	pdf

Ruling allows trans bullying - No Hate In Our States

11/13/2025

6th Circuit Rules Cis Students May Bully Trans Students By Repeatedly Misgendering Them

From Erin in the Morning

The Circuit also seemed to suggest that trans students could not misgender their bullies in return.

In a devastating ruling for transgender students across Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that cisgender students may repeatedly and intentionally misgender their transgender peers in the classroom, striking down an Ohio school board’s policy that prohibited the practice. The court drew no distinction between accidental misuse and targeted, ongoing harassment, concluding that even that conduct does not “materially and substantially” disrupt school activities—the threshold that would allow schools to intervene. In doing so, the panel elevated what it called “biological pronouns,” a term with no prior grounding in U.S. caselaw. The decision also seems to bar transgender students from misgendering their cisgender bullies in return. The result is a newly recognized right to bully transgender students in the 6th Circuit, achieved by reframing their identities as a “political topic” rather than acknowledging the clear and harmful disruption this conduct causes.

Read more at the link: 6th Circuit Rules Cis Students May Bully Trans Students By Repeatedly Misgendering Them

Kat Fitzgerald (she/her)

Heritage pushes to class Trans as terrorists - No Hate In Our States

9/30/2025

Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification

by Dell Cameron and Andrew Couts

Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification

By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category.

Kat Fitzgerald (she/her)

LGBTQ Students Speak Out

9/24/2025

5 LGBTQ UVU Students Speak Out After Charlie Kirk's Murder

No Hate in Our States

From Uncloseted Media

5 LGBTQ UVU Students Speak Out After Charlie Kirk's Murder
“I am extremely disappointed with how the media has been approaching this.”

Kat Fitzgerald (she/her)