The Week In Trans 5/2/22

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Dr. Rachel Levine said to NPR that she is saddened by legislative attacks on transgender youth. “Trans youth in particular are being hounded in public and driven to deaths [sic] of despair at an alarming rate,” she said. She says that medical professionals “need to stand up and be more vocal–and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

Dr. Helen Webberley, who has been running an online gender clinic for children has been the subject of an investigation, and this week, the medical tribunal conducting the investigation concluded that she is “competent to provide treatment,” but criticized her lack of follow-up care. PinkNews has this story.

Anti-Transgender Activities by State Politicians

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill outlawing non-binary gender markers on birth certificates. He says, “We want clarity and truth on official state documents,” apparently signaling that he is unwilling to accept that truth includes intersex people. This story comes from them.

Governor Brian Kemp signed a transgender athlete bill into law, and also signed his state’s version of a Parental Rights in Education bill (popularly known as a “Don’t Say Gay” bill). Georgia’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill is known as the “Protect Students First Act,” and it covers “divisive topics,” which include not only gender identity and sexual orientation, but also includes racial relations. So, you can’t say that slavery was racist, no matter how much it obviously was. As for transgender athletes, the bill creates a ten-member committee, which will decide on a case-by-case basis which athletes can compete in women’s sports. Changing America from The Hill has this story.

Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee signed another transgender athlete bill. Tennessee already outlaws transgender athletes. This bill increases the penalties for allowing transgender women to play on girls’ sport teams. Mind you, there have been no violations, so the total difference this makes is zero. This story can be found at PBS Newshour.

Republican lawmakers in Michigan are trying to enact a transgender athlete ban in a sneaky way. They put it into the school aid budget. They don’t mention the word “transgender,” but do say that “boys” cannot play on girls’ teams, which is not happening unless those “boys” are transgender females. (Even then, it does not happen much.) Chalktalk Detroit has this story.

Dozens of Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives want to enact a national ban on transgender athletes in girls sports. This story comes from Politico.

We reported last week that Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas vetoed that state’s transgender athlete bill, for the second year in a row. This week, for the second year in a row, the state legislature was unable to override the veto. The Topeka Capital Journal has this story.

In Utah, where the legislature did override the governor’s veto of a transgender athlete bill, students have been demonstrating to support transgender athletes. This story comes from The Deseret News.

In Tennessee, a bill to protect teachers who refuse to use a pronoun “not consistent with the student’s biological sex” has passed the state House of Representatives. The necessity of such a law is questionable, and it may fail in court, but Republicans think it will win at the polls, even though the people who are most drawn to this are already Republican voters. NBC News has this story.

In Other News

LGBTQ Nation reports that Donald Trump used transgender lessons in school as a talking point at a rally in Ohio.

KLFY-TV has a story about the murders of transgender women.

A transgender woman who is a prisoner at Rikers Island has been sentenced to an additional seven years for attempted rape of a female prisoner. The New York Post has this story.

The United States Air Force will allow transgender airmen to skip their annual physical fitness test right after they undergo gender confirmation surgery. This is less a new policy and more a declaration of what has been the de facto policy. Stars And Stripes reports this story.

This week, Twitter’s board of directors agreed to accept Elon Musk’s bid for the company. Elon Musk once tweeted, “Pronouns suck,” as them reminds us. He also once tweeted, “Take the red pill,” apparently unaware that the reference in The Matrix was to estrogen. (You can find that in them as well.) His claim that he will allow unfettered free speech on the social media platform scares many LGBTQ users, who feel this means Twitter will no longer punish those who express even extreme anti-LGBTQ views. There are concerns that previously suspended accounts may get reinstated, according to Changing America from The Hill.

The city of Palm Springs approved a pilot plan to offer a so-called minimum income to transgender and non-binary residents. Notice that this is a minimum income, not a livable income. The monthly payments likely will not be enough to cover food and shelter. The Pride has this story.

Last week, the Florida Department of Health, and Florida’s Surgeon General, advised against youth transitioning gender, both medical transition and social transition. Florida’s former Surgeon General, Scott Rivkees, disagrees with this recommendation. He is among 300 doctors who signed an open letter, published in The Tampa Bay Times disputing current Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo on the benefits of transition for youth. His disagreement with his successor was significant enough that The Tampa Bay Times wrote about it in a separate article.

A new study from the Williams Institute finds that 55% of transgender college and vocational school students feel their mental health is poor. You can read about the study in The Hill.

MIT Technology Review reports that a new technique shows promise in harvesting eggs from trans men, even after they have been on testosterone for years.

LGBTQ+ youth and adolescents who also have autism have mental health challenges that are different from other LGBTQ+ youths and adolescents, and also different from other autistic youths and adolescents. Transgender females and non-binary people assigned male at birth have the highest rates of autism within the LGBTQ+ community. This story comes from Changing America from The Hill.

Them has a theme titled, “Beyond the Tipping Point.” They have profiles of three transgender actresses, all of whom are also activists, under this banner.

The first transgender actress profiled in them is Eva Reign, who will be seen in Billy Porter’s first film as a director, Anything’s Possible. The movie is a rom-com that was shot in Pittsburgh last July.

Also profiled in them is Michaela Jae Rodriguez who always seems to have something going on. She discusses upcoming projects, as well as some of her past work.

Finally, them has a profile of Laverne Cox. In another story in them, Laverne Cox remembers meeting the writer bell hooks.

Vico Ortiz, who plays Jim on Our Flag Means Death, says that fan art was the inspiration for them getting top surgery. Out.com has this story.

Megan Fox has decided to support her nine-year-old child, assigned male at birth, who likes to wear dresses. She has even bought her child at least one book on being transgender, according to People magazine.

Demi Lovato came out as non-binary almost a year ago, but just quietly updated their pronouns on Instagram. Out.com has this story.

Thunderbird was a first-nations superhero and one of the X-Men, who was quickly killed off, the first of the X-Men to die in battle. Now, 45 years after his demise, he returns. And one of the loudest voices urging his return was Nyla Rose, the transgender wrestler. This story comes from them.

RuPaul’s Drag Race has crowned its new winner. If you don’t want to know who it is, please don’t click on this story from Out.com.

This year’s winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race only won one maxi-challenge. Out.com reports on all of the winners who had only won one maxi-challenge.

Out.com has a list of the highest earnings for winners of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Drag Race Belgique, based in Belgium, is the latest entry in the international collection of shows. Out.com has a list of all the international versions of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

If you’d like to see a new drag show that is not part of the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise you might like Generation Drag, featuring teen drag performers. It’s on Discovery+ starting next month. The Advocate reports that Tyra Banks will host.

Last week, we reported that Kornbread was quitting drag, for a while. She clarified that this week, saying she had been misinterpreted. This story comes from Out.com.

Taco Bell is introducing Drag Brunch. Only a few locations will host these events, so plan accordingly. Out.com has the story.

British MP Nadine Dorries says there will be a “major intervention” on transgender athletes in British sports. It seems likely they will ban all transgender women, regardless of testosterone level. PinkNews has this story.

Author and poet Harry Josephine Giles finds it sad that transgender people have to resort to online fundraising to afford the sorts of money it costs to change genders. Nonetheless, she and her partner are using online fundraising to cover medical costs. This story comes from PinkNews.

The University of Reading is getting scolded in some corners for hosting a lecture by a “gender critical” scholar, who feels that conversion therapy will help assure that transgender children do not make a terrible mistake by heading into a medical transition they will regret. Dr. Holly Lawford-Smith, the lecturer, teaches political philosophy at the University of Melbourne, which may explain why she does not understand the statistics from the Dutch Clinic which show that regret is actually pretty rare among those who transition medically. PinkNews has this story.

Jamie Wallis, known as the “first transgender MP” in Britain, has been ordered to appear in court, to explain why he fled from the scene of a car crash last year. This story comes from PinkNews.

Canada’s recent census shows that 0.33% of Canadians identify with a gender not assigned at birth. The Associated Press explains what this means.

The CBC has separate stories about how transgender information from the census will affect policy in each province. British Columbia is the one we feature here.

Many developing countries, such as Zimbabwe, are trying to get western-style medicine into their countries. However, one piece of western medicine which Zimbabwe has not picked up is transgender medicine, according to Global Press Journal.

Russia is obviously hurting financially, though the country will not admit it. They are asking other countries to pay for oil and natural gas in rubles, which means that other countries have to buy rubles, giving Russia some non-Russian currency. Also, they just fined Meta (parent company of Facebook) and TikTok thousands of dollars for allowing LGBTQ+ content to appear on their platforms because those materials are illegal in Russia. The Advocate has this story.

If someone you know still uses the terms “sex” and “gender” interchangeably (or worse, argues that there is no difference), this video from The Hill will at least try to set them straight.

“What Does It Mean to be Transgender?” Angelica Ross helps them answer that question, with the history and the current meaning of the term.

For those who may need it, LGBTQ Nation has five tips on coming out to your parents.

A new kit for tucking called “Unclockable” is reviewed in Autostradle.

Pink Flowers talks about her life as a Black trans woman in Belonging.

Miralazine writes about “Finding and Losing My Worth as a Trans Woman in Autostraddle.

Kai Shappley, 11-year-old activist is profiled in Yahoo Life.

As you will see in the TWIT section below, a teacher in Watertown, South Dakota, handed out a letter in which he claimed that gender identities that do not conform to the sex assigned at birth are invalid. Watertown Public Opinion talks about the community’s response, which turned out to be far more open-minded and loving than one might expect.

Reverend Dr. Paula Stone Williams recently gave a TED talk about what she learned about being a man after she transitioned. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

The Trans Wars of 2022 have come to Michigan, and to the state legislature, according to Lansing City Pulse.

Billboards in Florida proclaim it the “Don’t Say Gay Or Trans” State. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Many states and local school boards are banning certain books. The Brooklyn Public Library has responded by making certain much-banned books available to any teenager in the U.S., through a digital subscription. Since the books are in digital form, they are always in stock. This story comes from them.

TWITs

Lawmakers in several Republican-led states have proposed bans on treating gender dysphoria in minors with medicine. Alabama’s new law on the matter even extends it one year beyond, to cover all under the age of 19. Changing America from The Hill reports that legislators in Missouri are considering extending their ban to cover adults. For the mistaken belief that lawyers know effective medicine better than doctors do, and for practicing the exact opposite of the libertarian “small government” principals that Republicans claim as a motto, those behind the move to outlaw the medical treatment of gender dysphoria in adults get a TWIT Award.

Kansas state Representative Cheryl Halmer wrote in an email that she is uncomfortable with “the huge transgender female who is now in our restrooms in the Capitol.” Mind you, if she and her colleagues were not trying to take away transgender rights, there would be less of a reason for that transgender woman to be there. She stated in the email that women are regularly “raped” and “beaten” by transgender women who attack them in restrooms, even though this does not happen, but is merely a fear that Republicans express. She added, “A doctor can inject meds and dilute but cannot destroy what God has done in the perfection of the HUMAN BEING,” although the existence of original sin shows humans to be less than perfect, and her attitude is far from the inclusion that Jesus called his followers to practice. For spreading false information, and for using that false information to look down on others, Kansas state Representative Cheryl Helmer gets a TWIT Award. NBC News has this story.

The Trevor Project has a video showing its users how to clear their browser history, so that parents will have one less way to find out that their child visited the site. LGBTQ Nation reports that several conservative groups are saying that clearing the browser history is “keeping secrets from parents.” Oh, and some of them claim that the suicide prevention hotline is a “groomer project” promoting “pedophilia.” For spreading lies, and for expressing the opposite of a pro-life position, those making up rumors about The Trevor Project get a TWIT Award. (They also show themselves to be technologically incompetent, as they do not mention a keylogger or other ways that parents could see online activity even if the browser history is cleared.)

We mentioned above, a teacher at Waterton High School in South Dakota, Calvin Hillesland, distributed a letter in which he claimed transgender identities are “a lie.” he calls the binary “biological truth,” apparently unaware of intersex people. He is a teacher of German, not science of any kind. For bigotry, and for defending the bigotry with false experts, Calvin Hillesland gets a TWIT. The New York Daily News has this story.

A school district in Missouri told teachers that they must remove stickers which proclaim their classrooms as a “LGBTQ+ Safe Space.” The district says that it wants all its classrooms to be safe spaces for all its students, but that they remove signs that make it clear that the space is safe for some of the most vulnerable and picked-upon students. For refusing to take steps that would help promote the policy which the district claims to want, this school district gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from The Advocate.

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, was asked about transgender issues in an interview. I went so badly that PinkNews says he denied the idea that transgender women are women. “She is a male who has changed her sex but she has not changed her gender,” Mr. Ross said. For expressing tremendous confusion, and for expecting political gain from a culture war, Douglas Ross gets a TWIT Award.

Jeremy Hanson was arrested this week for threatening to bomb the offices of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It stemmed from their definition of the word “woman,” which he felt was too inclusive, as transgender women do fit the definition. For resorting to threats of violence, and for violating hate speech laws, Jeremy David Hanson gets a TWIT Award. The Advocate has this story.

Donald Trump was asked by Piers Morgan to define what a woman is. He had a very receptive audience in his interviewer, and yet, he refused to answer the question directly. Instead, he simply attacked Lia Thomas. His attack on Lia Thomas showed that he didn’t even know the facts about the swimmer’s performance, before or after transition. For using his prejudice to spread lies, and for not caring how much he hurts others so long as he feels the benefit himself, Donald Trump gets a TWIT. You can read about this in The Advocate.

Megyn Kelly, who left Fox for the Today Show, now has a show on Sirius XM. On that show, she made the absurd assertion that transgender activists are making gay men into trans women. For confusing gender identity and sexual orientation, and for thinking that whatever she makes up is true, Megyn Kelly gets a TWIT. The Advocate has this story.

TWIT is assembled by Cecilia Barzyk with additional content and editing by Angela Gardner. Care to make a comment on this post? Login here and use the comment area below.

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Category: Transgender Community News