The Week In Trans 1/28/19

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Staff Sgt. Patricia King

The big news from last week in the SCOTUS decision about President Trump’s ban of transgender people in the military. Army Staff Sgt. Patricia King has served in the military for 20 years, but it was not until recently that she was able to serve openly as a trans woman soldier. She feels that the ban will eventually be done away with and even if it’s not the military will not be able to keep out those who wish to serve. Read her thoughts on the CNN website.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court overturned injunctions by three lower courts on the ban against transgender troops in the military.

• As Pete Williams of NBC News points out, the Supreme Court “very rarely” intervenes before the lower courts have heard the case. The case has been sent back to the district courts, who will now hear arguments on the merits.
• As Bloomberg News points out, the Mattis Plan can go into effect. It supposedly keeps transgender troops who have transitioned in place, while any other troops seeking to transition can be dismissed.
• Military Times points out that the nationwide injunction on the ban that was put in place by a federal court in Maryland was not a part of this suit, and therefore is still in place. The Pentagon does not plan to put the ban in place at this time because of the one remaining injunction.
• 

  Beck

  Kristen Beck told Business Insider that eighteen other countries allow transgender people to serve in their country’s military, and none report any problems with transgender people serving.

• The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that the same reasoning that was used by the Trump administration was used by those who opposed accepting transgender troops in the Australian Defense Force, and the reality proved them wrong.
• Chase Strangio wrote up thoughts on the ruling for The Advocate.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, a second member of the House of Representatives has placed a transgender pride flag in the hallway outside her office. Deb Haaland of New Mexico has placed a transgender pride flag at the entrance to her office. The Hill has this story.

In that same article, The Hill reports that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that she plans to introduced legislation in the Senate which would allow transgender people to serve in the U.S. military openly.

Calpernia Addams

Another military veteran who feels the Trump ban is not good for the country admits she thought that when the Obama administration declared it was okay for trans people to serve she stopped focusing on the issue and was taken by surprise when Trump issued his anti-trans military tweet. Calpernia Addams, noted Los Angeles area entertainer and musician, served in the Navy. She tells her story to Esquire magazine.

Utah state Representative Merrill Nelson has introduced a bill that would prevent transgender people born in Utah from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates. The argument boils down to the idea that a birth certificate is supposed to record the sex at birth, not the gender that one expresses later in life. You can read more at Utah Policy.

The Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that challenged the ban on state Medicaid funds being used for transgender medical care. The Gazette of Cedar Rapids has this story.

As we reported last week, a bill was introduced in the South Dakota legislature which would overturn the South Dakota High School Athletic Association’s policy on transgender athletes. The bill would require students to compete according to the sex listed on their birth certificates. Samantha Allen of The Daily Beast wrote about the bill. This week, a panel of the state Senate rejected the bill, as KOTA-TV reports.

In her first news conference since announcing she will run for president, Senator Kamala Harris was asked about briefs she wrote as California’s attorney general, which argued against gender confirmation surgery for transgender prisoners. She says that she privately disagreed with what she wrote, but felt that her job required her to make that argument. She also said that she takes “full responsibility” for the briefs, according to The Washington Blade.

Danielle VanHelsing

Danielle VanHelsing, 36, is a transgender woman from Maine. Last week she announced that she is running to take the seat of U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. Ms. VanHelsing is the second trans woman to announce a run against Collins but the other woman has put her campaign on hold. Learn more from the Sun Journal.

Harry Brewis is a gamer who uses the handle Hbomberguy when he makes Youtube videos. In response to the recent anti-transgender comments of writer Graham Linehan, Hbomberguy played a marathon of Donkey Kong on the Nintendo 64, and asked people to sponsor him with donations to the British charity for transgender children, Mermaids. He raised over $350,000 for the charity, and got some celebrities to make quick appearances during his live stream. Most notable of the celebrities was Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Gizmodo has this story.

Graham Linehan also inspired protestors to show up outside RTÈ, a communications network in Ireland which had included the writer in a panel on transgender rights. You can read more in The Guardian.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also mentioned transgender people in her speech at the Women’s March. Munroe Bergdorf and Laverne Cox also spoke at that global event. Out Magazine has this story.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a story about how big a difference using the right pronouns can make.

Why is it that those who are the most upset by LGBTQ people are often really secret fans? A prime example is noted “gay cure” therapist David Matheson. A Mormon who worked diligently to “cure” gay people has announced that he is now interested in dating men. Thanks to Ms. Bob Davis for pointing out the story in Gay Times U.K.

Hair from Haired by Harris.

So where to fabulous drag performers get the hair, glorious hair? Some of them patronize a wig company called Haired by Harris. It’s located in Chicago and run by designer Christopher Harris. Harris was going to cosmetology school when he fell in love with the look and fierceness of drag performers in the Windy City. Surprisingly his custom creations are not that expensive. Learn more from Block Club Chicago.

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus has purchased their first home, after forty years of performing at various venues around the world. They plan to make it a LGBTQ media center, with concerts and lectures, and they plan to stream events on the web. You can read more at LGBTQ Nation.

Speaking of LGBTQ: A contributing editor at The Atlantic is convinced the time is right to not just stop adding letters to the “alphabet soup.” He feels it should be shortened. A lot. Thanks to Jamie Roberts for pointing out his editorial in The Atlantic.

Health Shots on NPR reports that medical students are asking med schools to provide them with more information on LGBTQ medicine. Several med students went outside of the curriculum to get more information about treating LGBTQ patients, and have been asking to get some of that information into their lectures.

A new study from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto suggests that transgender patients were less likely to be screened for cancer than were cisgender patients. The study specifically looked at screenings for cervical, breast, and colorectal cancers. The medical team might not realize that a transgender patient needs. Yahoo carried the story from the Canadian Press.

The CDC reports that nearly 2 percent of high schoolers call themselves transgender. This is significantly more than in previous generations. It is just one of the many observations made from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Study. They also noted higher likelihood of being bullied, being victims of violence, and feeling unsafe at school among transgender students. The Advocate has more.

Danni Askini

We have reported on transgender activist Danni Askini, whose passport was suddenly revoked. She is in Sweden now, but her visa is about to expire. This week, PRI reports that the United Nations asked the U.S. about her, but the U.S. State Department is not cooperating with the U.N. (This is part of a larger pattern of behavior by the U.S., according to The Guardian).

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Caio dos Santos de Oliveira was arrested for murder. He had in his possession the heart of a transgender woman known as Mother Laura. Planet Transgender has this story.

In Chile, the first school in Latin America specifically for transgender students is open. It is a part of the growing acceptance of transgender people. You can read the AP story here.

A transgender child in British Columbia is caught between his mother, who supports his transition, and his father, who does not support his transition. His parents are separated and have joint custody, making for a tricky legal situation. The Province has a long story on this case.

Following a recent incident involving Drag Queen Story Time, The Detroit Free Press talked to a local sexologist, who explained that drag is not contagious.

Leslie Feinberg

February is LGBTQ History Month, and in preparation, Pink News has a list of ten LGBTQ history books. Only one of them is specifically transgender in theme: Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, by Leslie Feinberg.

A writer who identifies as nonbinary (but was born with female parts) writes about how she has been taken for male many times and how she opposes the relentlessness of gender-policing, and of how many people—from T.S.A. officers to six-year-old girls—believe they must engage in it. Ms. Bob Davis pointed out the article in The New Yorker.

TWITs

Linda Dominguez

Linda Dominguez filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department, saying that she was arrested for “false personation” and placed in pink handcuffs because of her gender identity. Assuming that this account is true, the officers involved get a TWIT Award. NBC News has the AP story.

A transgender man in Japan lost his case in which he asked a court to change his legal gender status, despite the fact that he has not been surgically sterilized. The court held that the law requires sterilization before the legal gender status can be changed. For still requiring sterilization, the Japanese courts gets a TWIT. You can read more at SBS.

OneNewsNow has published a story about what they perceive as attacks against Christians in Texas by radical left wing LGBTQ activists who have gotten six anti-discrimination bills introduced. They choose to see the guarantee of LGBTQ people’s civil rights as an attack against the rights of Christians. They contend that only a fraction of physical assaults occur due to the victim’s “unnatural sexual orientation.” A TWIT Award goes to OneNewsNow and to writer Michael F. Haverluck for turning the story upside down.

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