The Week In Trans 10/7/19

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Faye Kinely

A trans woman from Scotland named Faye Kinely was annoyed to note that a man she did not know sent her a picture of his “junk” by way of introduction. The offending photo popped up and though she said she gets that type of thing often, this time she decided to return the favor and sent him a picture of her equipment. Apparently the fella did not know she was transgender and quickly blocked her. Learn more about the story and how it went viral from Pink News. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for the story tip.

More that a thousand people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the National Trans Visibility March on Saturday, September 28. WUSA-TV has a story with video, while The Southern Poverty Law Center talks about the current state of transgender law and place in society.

The president of the Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, spoke at the National Trans Visibility March, and the HRC released a statement, announcing an expansion of their efforts to protect transgender people. While some will say that we’ve heard this before, it is nice that they noticed us.

Asbury First Methodist Church in Rochester, New York, held a forum which allowed cisgender people to meet and talk with a transgender person. The idea was to dispel some misconceptions about what a transgender person is or how one changes gender. WXXI Public Radio was there to cover the event.

Aimee Stephens

This coming Tuesday the Supreme Court will hear Aimee Stephens’ case. Ms. Stevens lost her job at a funeral home when she came out as trans and the case has worked its way up for several years. For more on the case read the article in News Times.

In Pittsburgh, there was a conference for health care professionals who deal with transgender people. There were a dozen seminars at this conference, according to WESA Public Radio.

Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania, held a presentation for education majors dedicated to the voices of transgender children. The student newspaper, The Merciad, covered the event.

Nightline took a look at the rash of violence against transgender people. You can see a five-minute clip on Yahoo.

A federal judge, William Jung, has ruled that the ban on conversion therapy to minors in Tampa, Florida, is unconstitutional. The practice is protected on the grounds of free speech, according to the judge, because the defense failed to show that the practice is actually harmful. This amazing story can be found in The Advocate.

Tammie Brown

Keith Glen Schubert has been playing his drag character, Tammie Brown, for twenty years now, and he talked to The Advocate about his career so far.

LGBTQ Nation reports that Facebook is making money by selling ads to organizations which are listed as hate groups by the SPLC. The two biggest of these are the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council.

A father who has the names of his children tattooed on his arm asked Reddit if he is wrong to not amend the tattoo so that it no longer has his transgender daughter’s deadname. Pink News has this story, along with some of the responses.

Hillary Clinton was asked on the view about staying married to Bill in spite of his affairs with other women. After describing it as a difficult decision, she compared it to a situation in which a friend had to determine what to do about a transgender child. You can read more at LGBTQ Nation.

The American Medical Association has called the many transgender people murdered in the United States an “epidemic.” The New York Times has this story.

A transgender woman was tied to a minivan and dragged for a couple of blocks in Jacksonville, Florida. Police arrested Eric Shawn Bridges for the crime. The Florida Times-Union had to amend their story to note the gender identity of the victim, because police first identified the victim as a male.

The state with the most transgender murders this year is not Florida, but Texas. Half of those transgender murders in Texas happened in the Dallas area. The Dallas Morning News ran a story about how some local transgender people are coping with the situation.

Daniela Calderon

While the F.B.I. continues to investigate the shooting of transgender woman Daniela Calderon, who continues to recover in a Dallas hospital, the shooter, Domingo Ramirez-Cayente, has posted bond, and is back on the streets. The Dallas Morning News has this story.

While the medical examiner has not yet made a ruling on the death of Elisha Stanley, whose body was found in downtown Pittsburgh on September 16, her friends say that it was a murder. The Advocate talked to some of those friends.

The latest murder of a trans woman happened last week in Kansas City. Ja’leyah-Jamar was identified as a trans woman by her friends in the local trans community while her parents insisted she was male. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for pointing out the story in the Advocate.

Andrew Martinez committed suicide on September 4. The 19-year-old had been taken into foster care by Los Angeles County shortly before his death. His family is understandably upset, and looking for answers, as Pink News.

We have reported the story of Naomi Rosales-Ramirez, a transgender woman who has lived in the United States since she was five, was arrested at a light rail station in Phoenix and handed over to ICE. The incident has given new life to fears of racial profiling happening at public transportation depots in Phoenix, according to The Arizona Republic.

Bobrisky

Nigeria is behind the times when it comes to acceptance of transgender and gay people. Which makes it odd that there is a popular social media star there known as Bobrisky who is, in U.S. terms, an out trans woman. Okuneye Idris is in the Nigerian news all the time and there they call her “him” and a “crossdresser.” Bobrisky is reputed to have rich male lovers and is like a Nigerian Kardashian. Read more and see a video on the Gistreel website.

Representatives Mike Quigley and Katie Hill have introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to condemn the transphobic remarks of HUD Secretary Ben Carson. The Advocate has this story.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is the latest presidential candidate to talk with Mara Keisling about transgender issues. The Advocate has this story, with links to this interview and all the candidate interviews.

The City of Philadelphia is on the verge of passing a bill which would extend the acceptance of a student’s gender identity from schools to other youth organizations. There are questions as to whether this can extend beyond the public schools, as ABC 27 Philadelphia explains.

Apostle Dallin H. Oaks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints told church officers that God created gender to align with “biological sex at birth.” The Salt Lake Tribune describes this as a “dark day for transgender Latter-day Saints.”

Peter Vlaming, who was fired as a teacher in Virginia last year when he refused to use a student’s preferred pronouns after the student transitioned genders, has filed a suit for wrongful termination. You can find the background to this development at Slate.

Sgt. Anna Lange

Sergeant Anna Lange, A sheriff’s deputy in Georgia who found the department’s health insurance did not cover the medical needs of her transition, has filed suit against the county for which she works. NPR has her story, which we have covered here before.

The University of Georgia has settled a lawsuit with an employee, who felt that the health insurance should cover medically-necessary transgender care. As of September 1, that is the policy under the University’s insurance, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe just became the first Native American tribe to have hate laws that specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

The city of Ames, Iowa, decided to paint the four crosswalks of one intersection in pride colors, including one crosswalk in pink, white, and baby blue. The Federal Highway Administration wrote to them, saying that the crosswalks do not meet federal code. The city has refused to repaint them. If this comes to court, it is likely that the town could mount a defense on the grounds of free speech. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Dani Farrell, a trans man from Prince George’s County, Maryland, created Trans In Color, a guide for transgender men of color. It can be found on Instagram, and was featured in For The Culture on WUSA-TV.

A paper in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery finds that insurance companies have different policies which have different practices for covering top surgery for transgender people. Of 57 insurers, only two had coverage which met the recommendations of WPATH. You can read about this at News Medical.

Pastor Paula Stone Williams

On Red Table Talk, one of Jada Pickett-Smith’s guests was Pastor Paula Stone Williams, a transgender woman and pastor.

A study entitled Your Voice! Your Health! in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found, among other things, that transgender people of color have a harder time getting the medical care that they need. Medical Xpress has this story, while the full article can be found here.

A study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that transgender people who receive gender-affirming surgery are less likely to need treatment for mental health issues than are those who do not get surgery. You can read about it in Newsweek.

The Australian Professional Association for Trans Health has issued a statement, saying, “The term ‘rapid onset gender dysphoria’ is not, and never has been, a diagnosis or health condition but has been used in a single report describing parental perception of their adolescent’s gender identity without exploration of the gender identity and experiences of the adolescents themselves.” Pink News covered this story.

The City of Anchorage, Alaska, agreed to pay $100,001 to settle a lawsuit against the Hope Center. The city was suing the homeless shelter, because they refused to serve a homeless woman, which violates the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, but a judge ruled that the city’s ordinance does not extend to a private homeless shelter that is run by a church. This story appeared in The Anchorage Daily News.

Brandon Allen

Brandon Allen was elected into the homecoming court at White Stallion High School in Memphis. The non-binary title “Homecoming Royalty” was created for Brandon, who wore a gold floor-length gown for the occasion. CBS News has this story.

Barbara Davidson decided to look up the most common gender-neutral names during the last century. First, it was necessary to define a gender-neutral name, and the definition was that at least 20% of the children who received the name must be assigned male, and at least 20% of the children receiving the name must be female. The records of the Social Security Administration were used as the database. You can find the results at LGBTQ Nation.

Transgender people often wonder when in a job search is the right time to disclose that we are trans. Joan Westenberg wrote about this, with an emphasis on the tech industry, in Wired magazine.

Nyla Rose

Nyla Rose is a transgender woman and a professional wrestler. The Washington Post has a profile.

Twins Dane, a trans male, and sister Stephanie appeared on The Voice, singing a duet. Blake Shelton and John Legend both wanted to be their coach, and they chose to join Team Legend. This story was noticed by Yahoo Entertainment.

Laverne Cox tells LGBTQ&A that she is done debating the existence of transgender people.

Jill Soloway received an award at the Equality Awards, and joked in her speech that heterosexuality is “disgusting.” The Advocate has this story.

Dame Helen Mirren said in an interview with Radio Times that she does not believe in a gender binary. She has known a lot of actors with feminine qualities, and actresses with masculine qualities.

Lilith in Germany.

Deutsche Welle profiles a Pakistani woman named Lilith who has found refuge in Germany.

Dr. David MacKereth has lost his employment tribunal. The British doctor was fired for refusing to use the patient’s pronouns, which the tribunal felt was a valid reason for firing. “[L]ack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals.” The decision was unanimous, according to The Independent.

TWITs

Fox News and The Daily Wire are among the many conservative web entities which went out of their way to pronounce how the world was going to come to an end because of the ruling that in Britain, a doctor can be fired for not using a patient’s preferred pronouns. For hyperbole, these conservative web sites get a TWIT.

The Sunday Times ran a story in which they reiterated many of the claims about how transgender women have a natural advantage when playing sports against cisgender women. They keep relying on anonymous people who say that they quit the league because of fear of being injured by “bearded men.” Perhaps there are some who are quitting over fear of injury, but they won’t get hurt by the player whose picture illustrated the piece. That player quit playing in a women’s league when he transitioned. Yes, that is a trans man. For not factchecking their story, The Sunday Times gets a TWIT Award. Pink News has this story.

A real estate firm in Fort Myers, Florida, caught fire for a Facebook message, since deleted, which said, “Please all real estate agents take the time to make sure you know who you are selling homes to. Is that Jethrine or Jethro?” Illustrated with a picture of Max Baer Jr. as Jethrine, it was obvious that this was a reference to The Beverly Hillbillies, and equally obvious that it was meant to compare transgender people to that fictional character who was created as a joke. Transgender people are not a joke. For attempting to make transgender people into a joke, ReMax Downtown Fort Myers gets a TWIT Award. This story came from The Advocate.

One Million Moms has condemned the new gender-neutral doll, saying, “Mattel is confusing our innocent children by attempting to destroy very definite gender lines.” They do not note that society created these “very definite gender lines,” and they seem to turn a deaf ear to the fact that biological gender is in fact not binary. They go on to say, “Mattel should avoid aiming to please a small percentage of customers,” while the group itself is aimed at a small percentage of the population. (One Million Moms has far fewer members than their name would imply.) For insisting that everything should revolve around their own standards, One Million Moms gets a TWIT. LGBTQ Nation carries 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