Attorney General Pam Bondi is getting attention online for her bizarre way of dodging questions at a House Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday.

At the hearing, which was ostensibly for the House to provide oversight of the Department of Justice, Bondi raged at Democrats for wanting to talk about convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged associates who are now a part of the Trump administration, like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who visited Epstein’s island in the Caribbean, according to recently released documents.

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Sometimes she would answer questions about Epstein with non sequiturs to show Congress what she thought they should discuss.

One particular exchange stood out. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) asked Bondi about the lack of indictments of potential Epstein co-conspirators, citing “concrete evidence of disgusting criminality revealed in the Epstein files,” and Bondi started quoting stock prices.

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“The Dow is over 50,000,” she shouted. “I don’t know why you’re laughing! You’re a great stock trader, Raskin.”

“The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. American 401(k)s and retirement savings are booming. That’s what we should be talking about.”

“What does the Dow have to do with anything?” she continued, still dodging the question about Epstein. “That’s what they just asked. Are you kidding?”

Bondi crashes out over Epstein: "The Dow is over 50,000 dollars! I don't know why you're laughing. You're a great stock trader as I hear, Raskin. The Dow is over 50,000 right now. The S&P at almost 7,000, and the Nasdaq smashing records. That's what we should be talking about."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-11T16:06:13.158Z

People have been critical of Bondi’s response.

Because Pam Bondi is the most corrupt and depraved Attorney General in American history, she doesn't seem to care that it's her job to bring rapists of girls and young women to justice–not be a cheerleader for the fucking Stock Market.

— Mary L Trump (@maryltrump.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T23:30:12.289Z

"Yes, maybe these rich old men raped children, but they are MUCH richer now, so it all evens out" is Pam Bondi's attitude about the Epstein case and the survivors of his abuse in a nutshell. She is a horrible, shallow person.

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T17:07:41.660Z

“It’s okay to rape children as long as someone is making money”? Is that what she’s saying?

— (@harrylanders.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T16:55:21.029Z

BondI reminding everyone that money is always more important than people

— I speak fluent Karen – let me translate for you (@mazhole.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T16:55:37.741Z

The staggering contempt for the constitutional order exhibited by DOJ leadership and the complete absence of any sense of personal or professional decorum continues to blow me away.

— Euphman210 (@euphman210.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T16:11:39.581Z

If there are any survivors of sexual assault out there, don’t worry, Pam Bondi wants you to know the stock market is doing GREAT!

— Dana Goldberg (@dgcomedy.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T21:34:26.946Z

Bondi has spent this entire hearing crashing out, talking about the stock market, and trying to do anything but talk about Epstein. The American people see through this bullshit.Innocent people don’t act this way.

— Angry (@angrystaffer.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T18:26:00.994Z

What a thing to hear as a rape victim. It didn’t matter what was done to you because the stock market is doing so well.

— Tigernan Pournelle, Furious Irish (@tigerpournelle.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T16:27:26.354Z

This DOJ hearing is insane. AG Bondi is rationalizing not pursuing the arrest of rich pedophiles because the stock market is doing well for the rich pedophiles she's protecting.

— Tea Pain (@teapainusa.bsky.social) 2026-02-11T16:05:22.751Z

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An 18-year-old trans woman has been identified by police as the suspected shooter responsible for nine deaths in the small Canadian town of Tumbler Ridge.

The tragedy has sparked an alarming wave of anti-trans rhetoric, with influential right-wing figures using it to spread dangerous misinformation on the prevalence of trans-perpetrated violence.

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“This will just get uglier now for us and for our community as a whole, when our attention should be on the care of these victims and to support communities,” Marni Panas, an Edmonton-based trans activist, told the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC).

“We feel the same things,” she continued, adding that in addition to the agony she feels over what happened, she now must also deal with feeling less safe as a trans person. “We feel the sorrow, we feel the compassion, we feel the grief that all Canadians are for these families and these victims.”

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Amelia Newbert, the co-executive director of Calgary-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group Skipping Stone, added that the politicization of the shooting is “only harming.”

“They’re only going to continue to inflict deeper wounds and deeper scars towards not just the trans community, but towards our country in general,” Newbert said.

James Densley, co-founder of The Violence Prevention Project, which tracks mass shootings in the United States, spoke with CBC about the extreme rarity of transgender mass shooters and how people often overassign significance to the unusual cases.

“When a shooter is transgender, that fact becomes the story, especially on social media,” Densley explained. “Whereas when the shooter is male, their identity is never really mentioned because it’s just unremarkable.”

“That creates an asymmetry in the coverage, where people will recall all the unusual cases because they were unusual.”

Densley shared Violence Prevention Project data, which has found that 97.5 percent of mass shootings are perpetrated by cisgender men, two percent by cisgender women, and only half a percent by trans people.

Another group that tracks U.S. mass shootings, the Gun Violence Archive, cites an even smaller percentage of trans mass shooters. The group found that of the 5,748 that took place between Jan. 1, 2013, and Sept. 15, 2025, only five perpetrators, less than one tenth of one percent, were confirmed to be trans.

But that hasn’t stopped the anti-trans hate machine from using the Tumbler Ridge tragedy to call for the eradication of trans people. Not only that, but folks on the right had decided the shooter was trans before police had even shared the identity of the suspected shooter.

Hours before the press conference in which Canadian police revealed the suspected shooter to be trans 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, far-right commentator Matt Walsh declared, with no evidence, that “trans people are the most dangerous and unstable group in existence and it’s not close.”

“The entire gender transition industry must be forcibly shut down immediately,” he wrote, stoking hatred among his four million followers on X. “Not just for the sake of the gender confused people it preys upon, but for the safety of the general public.”

The viciously anti-trans account Libs of TikTok, run by notorious stochastic terrorist and anti-LGBTQ+ internet troll Chaya Raichik, speculated about the shooter’s identity a full day before police revealed any information.

“Police in Canada are referring to the shooter as a ‘gunperson,'” Raichik wrote. “The shooter was also described as a ‘woman in a dress.’ Is everyone thinking what I’m thinking?”

Conservative influencer Nick Sortor echoed a similar sentiment. “Local police are referring to the shooter as a ‘gunperson.’ Yeah, we all know this is yet another trans mass shooter,” he posited.

Densley of the Violence Prevention Project said this kind of rhetoric is part of a “long and ugly history” of people scapegoating an entire marginalized group, despite the reality shown in the data.

“It happened with Muslim Americans after 9/11, for example. It’s happened with young Black men for decades, and now it seems to be happening with transgender people as well,” Densley said. “In some ways, the perceived pattern is speaking more to the politics of the moment than to any actual causal relationship.”

This phenomenon, he said, is called “base rate neglect.”

The Tumbler Ridge shooting took place on February 10th. One adult educator and five students aged 12-13 were found dead at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, police said. At least 25 others were injured. One 12-year-old student remains in critical condition.

Van Rootselaar’s mother and stepbrother were also found dead at the shooter’s family home. Both are believed to have been shot and killed by Van Rootselaar prior to her rampage at the school.

Van Rootselaar began her social transition six years ago, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). She was identified among the dead in the school’s library, where all but one of the victims at the school were shot and killed.

According to an RCMP spokesman, local police visited the suspected shooter’s home on several occasions over several years. The visits included mental health assessments under provisions in Canada’s Mental Health Act.

Firearms were also the subject of at least one call to the family’s home. A number of weapons were seized but later returned to the rightful owner, according to police.

The RCMP spokesman clarified that Van Rootselaar was assigned male at birth and was identified in early reports according to how she identified and presented. Soon after the shooting was called in at 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, police put out an alert for a “female in a dress with brown hair.”

According to the spokesman, police discovered one deceased individual on a staircase and the rest of the dead, including Van Rootselaar, in the school library.

Police said they have not uncovered a note authored by the shooter, nor have they identified a motive.

The remote community of around 2,400 people lies 600 miles north of Vancouver near the Alberta border in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The shooting in Tumbler Ridge is the third deadliest mass shooting in Canada, along with a 1996 shooting in Vernon, British Columbia, with an equal number of deaths.

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Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out Donald Trump’s egocentric motivations for actions that may tank the U.S. economy.

“Today, work has stopped on America’s biggest construction project in transportation,” Buttigieg said in a video posted to social media, referring to the Gateway Tunnel that would connect New York and New Jersey, which Buttigieg called “critically important” but “badly damaged,” so there’s a project to create a new tunnel without disturbing the previous tunnel.

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“If those tunnels became unavailable, you would feel the economic consequences as far away as the backyard of my home in Michigan.”

“President Trump stopped the funding for the project,” Buttigieg explained. “Not for any valid reason. He’s actually said he’ll start the project again if he gets to rename Dulles Airport and Penn Station after himself.”

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“This is what happens when the president of the United States is out of control.”

Today, construction on the nation’s largest infrastructure project came to a halt – with hundreds laid off – because Donald Trump is out of control.The good news: political pressure still works, and we can use our voices to make sure he doesn’t have the last word.

— Pete Buttigieg (@petebuttigieg.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T01:36:30.311Z

Buttigieg was referring to the $16 billion Hudson River Tunnel Project, which began in the Biden administration after the tunnel was badly damaged during a 2012 hurricane. The Trump administration has frozen $205 million in funding for the project since October 1, 2025, in what states that sued for the funding called a “brazen act of political retribution,” since the bridge would connect two states that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024.

Trump told reporters that he talked to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last week about how he wanted New York’s Penn Station and D.C.’s Dulles Airport to be named after him in exchange for unfreezing the federal funding for the tunnel that was allocated by Congress.

“Chuck Schumer suggested that to me about changing the name of Penn Station to Trump Station,” he said on Air Force One. “Dulles Airport is really separate. Dulles Airport is really not too involved with Congress. That’s a separate kind of a deal, as you know.”

A federal judge gave the administration until February 12 to resume payments for the project, noting that the states that sued proved that the shutdown would have an “immediate and severe” impact.

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For many LGBTQ+ people, starting to think about family-building can feel both exciting and overwhelming. There’s often a sense of real possibility paired with big questions about where to start, what’s realistic, and which information can be trusted.

After years of working with hopeful LGBTQ+ parents and hearing these same questions come up again and again, it’s clear that what many people need first isn’t pressure to decide, but rather space to understand.

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There’s no single right way to become a parent, no one path is better than any other, and there’s no universal timeline for figuring it out. What can be especially helpful early on is a clear, practical understanding of how different family-building paths work in real life, not just in theory.

What follows is a grounded introduction to the two primary paths to family-building for most LGBTQ+ people today: biological family-building and adoption.

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Adoption

Adoption refers to building a family by welcoming either a baby or a child who is not biologically related to you. Many people feel especially called to adoption because of personal experience, familiarity with adoption, or deeply held values around providing permanency and family connection.

It’s important to understand that adoption in the U.S. is centered around birth families, particularly in its early stages. In domestic infant adoption, expectant or biological parents play a central role in decision-making during pregnancy and before legal finalization, and many adoptions involve some level of ongoing openness. In foster care and adoption from foster care, birth families and the child welfare system are deeply involved, with reunification typically the first goal before adoption becomes an option.

The 3 Adoption Paths

Domestic infant adoption is often a wonderful path for those hoping to start their parenting journey by caring for a newborn or young baby. In some cases, adoptive parents may be involved during pregnancy or at birth, while in others, a child may be placed for adoption soon after birth.

Adoption from foster care involves caring for children of varying ages, from infants to teens, who have entered the child welfare system through no fault of their own. This path focuses on providing children with safety, stability, and permanency when reunification with their family of origin is no longer possible. It often calls for patience, flexibility, and a trauma-informed approach to parenting.

International adoption typically involves toddlers through school-aged children who are living in institutional care and are unlikely to be reunified or adopted domestically. For many of these children, international adoption represents one of the final opportunities to experience long-term stability, permanency, and family connection. Sadly, few countries allow adoption by out gay and lesbian parents from abroad, but several do, including Colombia, South Africa, and certain regions of Mexico.

While all adoption journeys involve a preparation phase that includes a home study, background checks, required paperwork, and training, the total costs depend on the adoption path you choose:

• Domestic infant adoption typically ranges from $40,000–$60,000. 
• International adoption often falls within a similar range, with additional costs related to travel, time spent living in the country, and local legal requirements.
• Adoption from foster care usually has minimal direct costs, with most expenses related to preparing your home to welcome a child. Depending on the state, some legal or administrative fees may be paid out of pocket and reimbursable.

Biological family-building

For LGBTQ+ people, biological family-building refers to paths that involve pregnancy and/or a genetic connection to a child, including:

• Home insemination: Allows LGBTQ+ folks to conceive in a comfortable, private and cost-effective environment.
• Intrauterine insemination (IUI): Sperm is inserted directly into the uterus during ovulation.
• In vitro fertilization (IVF): An embryo is created in the lab using your egg fertilized by donor sperm and then transferred back into your uterus. For those using a surrogate, your donor egg is fertilized with your sperm and then transferred into the uterus of your surrogate.
• Reciprocal IVF: Popular among queer couples as one partner provides the egg and the other carries the pregnancy.
• Fertility preservation: Transgender and nonbinary people may be able to freeze eggs or sperm before transitioning. Depending on individual circumstances,  IUI, IVF, or surrogacy may be possible.

Biological family-building may appeal to people who want involvement in pregnancy and early caregiving, value a genetic connection, and feel comfortable navigating varying degrees of medical or non-medical involvement — from clinical fertility care to at-home or midwife-supported insemination. For some, these paths feel more predictable, as intended parents are generally at the center of planning and decision-making throughout the process.

Biological family-building often involves working with one or more third parties – such as a sperm donor, egg donor, and/or gestational surrogate – as well as coordinating a broader team of family-building partners that may include a midwife, fertility clinic, egg matching service, surrogacy agency, reproductive attorney, therapist, and escrow and insurance providers. 

For gay men, surrogacy with IVF can range from $150,000-$240,000, or even more. For the rest of the LGBTQ+ community, costs vary significantly depending on the approach chosen. Geography, insurance coverage, and workplace benefits can also play a major role.

Key considerations

The following questions are intended to help you identify your priorities and values as you explore family-building options and consider your next steps. There are no right or wrong answers, and your responses may evolve over time. 

• How important is it to you to be involved in pregnancy, birth, or early caregiving?
• Do you feel that a biological connection to your child or children is an important element of family?
• How much does being at the center of decision-making matter to you?
• How do cost differences across paths factor into your thinking?
• How do you feel about involving third parties or maintaining openness with birth families?
• If you plan to parent with one or more partners, how aligned do you feel about your priorities and expectations?

These aren’t the only questions to consider, but they can be a helpful place to start.

Gather, learn, reflect

Many LGBTQ+ people don’t move directly from learning to deciding. Instead, they take time to gather information, reflect on what feels right, and build confidence before making major commitments.

For those seeking structured, affirming education along the way, GWK Academy is a nonprofit organization created to support LGBTQ+ people along all family-building paths and possibilities. You’ll find inclusive educational resources like guided courses on adoption, foster care, surrogacy, and fertility; one-on-one coaching; community and mentorship; and access to a network of vetted, LGBTQ+-experienced family-building professionals.

Working to feel grounded in how the various paths work is often the most useful place to begin.

Brian Rosenberg is the Executive Director & Head Coach of GWK Academy, a non-profit with a mission to support and empower all LGBTQ+ people on their journey to parenthood through comprehensive and inclusive educational resources, peer support, coaching, and referrals to affirming partners spanning all paths and possibilities for family building.

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