The Week In Trans 1/27/20

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Jin Xing

Thompson Reuters Trust reports that China’s top transgender performer, a dancer named Jin Xing, is looking at getting into politics.

This week, The AP came out with an article about the various bills being introduced in state legislatures which are aimed at transgender children. They spend a lot of the article on the bills that would limit the treatments that doctors could offer to transgender patients under the age of 18. The bill in South Dakota has passed in committee, and is now headed to the floor of the House. CNN tells us that almost half of the state’s legislators are co-sponsors of the bill. The Washington Post tells us that only four doctors in South Dakota have prescribed puberty blockers, and none are known to perform gender confirmation surgery, both of which the bill bans. NBC News points out that the bills in South Dakota, Florida, and Colorado would provide criminal penalties for doctors who provide these treatments, while the bills in Illinois, Oklahoma, and South Carolina only threaten their licenses. Human Rights Watch has a common-sense argument against such bills. All of the stories from the major news outlets also discuss the bills that would affect transgender students who play school sports.

Fred Grimm, a veteran journalist, writes an opinion piece in the South Florida Sun-Sentinal about these bills.

One of the states not mentioned is Utah. Last week, state Representative Brad Daw did introduce a bill on the topic, but he has since withdrawn it, after an opinion article written by his sister (who is the mother of a transgender child, spouse of a transgender adult, and a fierce transgender rights advocate) appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune. Representative Daw was quoted in The Washington Post story as saying that he learnt a lot from criticism of his bill, and now realizes that the issue is not black-and-white.

Utah did pass a law that affects transgender children this week. Utah now bans conversion therapy on LGBTQ children. The governor signed an administrative rule to make this illegal. Fox 13 News has this story.

Also this week, New Jersey’s legislature passed a bill which outlaws the gay and trans panic defenses. Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law. You can read about it at NBC News.

Virginia’s state Senate passed several bills which affect LGBTQ people, including a ban on conversion therapy for minors, a call for the creation of a uniform state policy on transgender students in schools, and an easier path to change gender markers. The Virginia Mercury has this story. Jamie Roberts found another story in The Washington Post.

We told you last week about a bill in Missouri which threatened to arrest any librarian who scheduled Drag Queen Story Hour. This week, LGBTQ Nation tells us of a planned protest of that bill–by drag queens. The queens will descend on Jefferson City on March 4, so there is still time to sign up to join them.

Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien

Mark Steele-Knudslein has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his transgender wife, Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslein, on January 4, 2018. She was a founder of New England Trans Pride, according to WWLP.

We told you last week about a letter from some members of Congress which calls on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to release all transgender immigrants in their custody. This week, ICE received another letter with the same request, this one signed by over 80 advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign. They specifically talk about Kelly González Aguilar, a trans woman from Honduras whom ICE has been holding for more than two years. The Washington Blade has this story.

The Gothamist has a story on the case of Yimy Aldair Benitez Lopez, another transgender immigrant from Honduras, who has been denied HRT while being held by ICE.

A committee of the California state Senate tabled a bill which would have ended the practice of surgery to make intersex infants and children resemble one of the binary sexes. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

San Francisco has just opened a transitional housing unit with 13 apartments, specifically for transgender and gender non-conforming adults. The residents will be allowed to stay in the apartments while finding employment and a place to stay on a longer-term basis. You can read about it in The San Francisco Examiner. Thanks to Ms. Bob who found a story about the apartments in The Bay Area Reporter.

A complaint by the mother of a transgender student in Orlando, Florida, shows that even when there is a policy regarding transgender people, the policy is not always followed. Orlando Weekly has this story.

Nikki de Jager

Last week’s big buzz was that Nikki de Jager, the make-up artist who does NikkiTutorials on YouTube, came out as transgender, in response to a blackmail scheme. This week, she talked about it on Ellen, and Buzzfeed covered the appearance.

In Austin, Texas, a man who apparently was high on psilocybin mushrooms hit a transgender woman with his gun several times, until the woman took the gun away from him, hid it, and called the police. KXAN-TV has this story.

Police in the Pittsburgh area have arrested a woman who set fire to the headquarters of SisTersPGH, a group which advocates for the rights of black transgender and non-binary people. In a bit of karma, she trapped herself in the burning building, which she had to exit through a second-story window, according to Metro Weekly.

In the same week when state legislators introduced bills to punish doctors for treating transgender children with what are recognized as best medical practices, a non-binary eight-year-old talked about gender. Pink News has the story.

If you’re in Gainesville, Florida on February 22nd you can drop into the T4Tea Party: a queer drag show and dance party being held at The Atlantic, 15 N. Main St., Gainesville, Florida 32601. Visit their Facebook page for more info.

Tarana Burke, the founder of the MeToo movement, tells Dazed magazine that her biggest failure was not responding well when her daughter came out as non-binary. She also describes her daughter as her greatest success.

Cami Richardson

KPCW had an interview with Cami Richardson, a transgender retired fire fighter, who lives in Park City, Utah, and who seems to be happy with how things are going in her life.

Dr. Joe Kort tells us Transgender Sexuality Is Less Complicated Than You Think in an article for Psychology Today.

A new study shows that transgender teens who had access to puberty blockers at an appropriate age are less likely to struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts later in life, while those transgender people who did not have access to puberty blockers were more likely to have depression and suicidal thoughts. CNN and Newsweek have stories on this study, which comes out as state legislatures discuss banning the medication. Thanks to reader Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

On the subject of transgender student athletes, Dr. Gregg Bloche writes in The Hill that the underlying question is what athletic traits do we consider to be “talent” or “a gift,” and which are “cheating” or “unsportsmanlike.”

Jamie Roberts was kind enough to inform us that Sarah McBride, a trans woman from Delaware, who is running for a seat in the state senate, has her campaign website up and running.

Which side will we see?

RuPaul will be the first drag queen to host Saturday Night Live. However, it was not announced if RuPaul will host in drag or not. You can read about it in Out magazine.

Out magazine also has a spread on all the drag queens who will appear on the new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Do you like it or hate it when drag queens get into a cat fight? Pink News tells us that Carmen Carrera, who appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race, recently released a series of tweets attacking the host over the issue of transgender drag queens. The nastiness includes the line, “RuPaul is the Hitler, false prophet, anti-Christ of the LGBTQ community.” We guess someone won’t be watching a certain episode of Saturday Night Live next month.

Maybe Carmen Carrera will prefer Trinity the Tuck’s new show. She bought her own pageant, and is creating a television show around it, according to Out magazine.

In a strange twist, a science fiction webzine withdrew an article it had published titled “I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter.” While the title does allude to a bad anti-transgender argument, the story itself was designed to refute that argument. It was even written by a transgender woman, and transgender people reviewed the story prior to publication and approved of it. However, apparently some readers got the wrong message, and complained that it had an anti-transgender bias. The story was withdrawn because of the complaints. Reason magazine has this story.

Trans author Abby Stein.

Two Jewish women have written books about leaving their former lives behind because of gender. One is Abby Stein, a trans woman, and the other is a mother whose child is transgender. Their books are reviewed together in New York Jewish Life.

Lizzo is on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview, she said that she wants black transgender women to feel good when they hear her music. “I’m making music that hopefully makes people feel good and helps me discover self-love. That message I want to go directly to black women, big black women, black trans women. Period.”

The Women’s March happened around the country again last week, and Caitlyn Jenner showed up to speak at the Los Angeles event. She spoke out about the dangers facing black transgender women, and she said that she had been wrong about Donald Trump. Yahoo Lifestyle has this story.

Last week, we told you about a South Korean soldier who had gender confirmation surgery. The army decided to dismiss her for failing to follow instructions. She has threatened to sue, according to The BBC. The New York Times also reported the story.

In Pakistan, transgender people can receive free health care. Pakistan still has the death penalty for homosexuality. LGBTQ Nation has this story. Thanks to contributor Alyssa Washington for bringing this story to our attention

Maya Haddad

Israeli model and transgender activist Maya Haddad passed away this week at the age of 27. That sad news is made even sadder by the fact that Pink News reports her family would not take part in the funeral.

A man in India is accused of “forcing” his partner to undergo gender confirmation surgery, with the promise of marriage. You can read about it in Pink News.

A Russian court overturned the conviction of a transgender woman, who had been accused of having Japanese manga-style drawings which were classified as “child pornography.” CBS News has this story.

Kosovo has just issued a passport to someone who has changed gender. The passport also had his new name, according to Pink News.

The Catholic Church has gotten into the debate over the rights of transgender people to define their own gender. Specifically, the issue is under discussion in Scotland, where a spokesperson for the Catholic Church said, “The Catholic Church is steadfast in its conviction that gender cannot be reduced to a mere construct of society that is fluid and changeable.” Pink News has this story.

Jess Phillips of the Labour Party said, “I do believe trans women are women and helped to write the report that suggested changes to the GRA. . .[because the method still in use] seemed bound entirely in 1950s perceptions of men and women. I think it needs reforming.” She said this in an interview with Mumsnet, which has been notorious for hosting anti-transgender material. You can read about it in Pink News.

A woman who wore a tee shirt with the logo of the LGB Alliance was asked to leave a bar in Glasgow. She claimed she was discriminated against, but many others suggest that the woman was the one doing the discriminating. Pink News has this story, as well as two more about the incident and its aftermath.

A transgender woman who left her ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Manchester, England, has given up the legal fight to see her children. This story appeared in Pink News.

Melissa Ede

Melissa Ede, who won £4 million on a lotto scratch card, died last May. She had been estranged from her family, but left a Trust Fund for her four children, among others. The Mirror has this story.

On February 9, the first festival in Britain devoted to transgender and non-binary people will open. You can find details in Pink News.

A spa on Prince Edward Island has announced via Twitter that they would welcome transgender women among their female clients. This attracted the attention of The CBC.

The Eskasoni Winter Carnival holds a beauty pageant in Nova Scotia every winter. This year, the First Nation group will allow a transgender woman to be a contestant in the pageant. The CBC has this story.

TWITs

Madeleine Kearns of The National Review goes to great lengths to try to tell us that South Dakota’s bill to stop minors from receiving transgender medical care was necessary. This despite the fact that a study released last week shows that denying the children this medical treatment can literally cause them to kill themselves. Apparently, suicide is not too high a price to pay to pamper desisters. For turning her back on suicide, and for ignoring research which did not reach the conclusion she wanted, Madeleine Kearns gets a TWIT Award.

The Denver Post fired columnist Jon Caldera, after he wrote an anti-transgender column, which contained the line, “There are only two sexes, identified by an XX or an XY chromosome.” Sites such as Hot Air and The National Review have complained about the firing. Intersex people were recognized as far back as ancient Egypt, and despite the claims of some, the discovery of chromosomes has not reduced intersex people to either male or female, but rather, chromosomes have shown even more sexual diversity than was evident from just genitalia. For getting upset that a man was fired for passing off bad science as “fact,” sites such as Hot Air and The National Review get a TWIT Award. (See Dana Bevan’s column today for the latest science on DNA and chromosomes.)

LifeSiteNews claims that “Transgender propaganda hides scary truth about puberty blockers.” Well, it does ignore some scary stuff about them, but the article claims that they are not “fully reversible.” In fact, it is this article which scares people with not-entirely-truthful information. For accusing others of precisely what they are doing, LifeSiteNews and The Public Discourse get a TWIT.

In a ruling last week from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Dividing 2 to 1, with Trump appointee Stuart Kyle Duncan writing the opinion, the panel not only rebuffed a transgender federal prisoner’s petition for a name change in the prison system to Kathrine Nicole Jett — it rejected her request that the court use female pronoun in referring to her. A TWIT Award goes to the two judges who voted to not use Ms. Jett’s preferred pronouns and denied her name change. Jamie Roberts found an editorial about the decision and the pronoun kerfuffle in The Washington Post.

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