The Week In Trans 11/15/21

Links in TWIT will open in this window. To return to this page use the Back button on your browser. If the link opens in a new tab, close the tab to return to this page.

Kimi Cole

Kimi Cole, a transgender woman who chairs the Nevada Democratic Rural Caucus, has announced a run for the position of Lieutenant Governor. The position is currently open. This story comes from Politico.

The 19th reports that there are only five Black transgender people who have been elected to public office in the United States.

Activists erected a statue of Marsha P. Johnson in a New York City park. The city had announced plans to erect a statue of Ms. Johnson, and one of Sylvia Rivera, but those plans have been delayed, and activists doubt that the city will erect the statues, so they took matters into their own hands and created a plaster statue. The statue is situated in front of a statue commemorating the Stonewall Riot, which Marsha P. Johnson participated in. Out In Jersey has this story.

Earlier this year, the Virginia Department of Education requested all school districts to pass a policy regarding transgender students, in compliance with the federal court ruling in the Gavin Grimm case. The Hanover County School Board has refused to pass such a policy for two months, and this week, they voted to disapprove the policy as proposed by the state. WRIC-TV reports that the school board could be in for a legal battle.

Two transgender students in Indiana are suing their school board over restroom use. Indiana is in one of the U.S. circuits which has already ruled that transgender students have a right to use the restroom in accordance with their gender identity. The Advocate has this story.

Them reports that the case in Indiana is part of a trend of school districts resisting court rulings that give transgender students rights.

Target’s Gay Nutcracker.

Among this year’s new nutcrackers at Target, one has a hat with the Rainbow Pride colors, and holds a LGBTQ Progress Pride flag. His uniform has light blue pants, a light blue collar on his jacket, and light blue epaulettes on his shoulders, while his goatee is pink. There is some trouble finding this particular nutcracker at local Targets, according to LGBTQ Nation.

The California Supreme Court will take up a case that considers whether a law prohibiting the deliberate misgendering of transgender patients in senior care is an infringement of the rights of workers at senior care facilities. Bloomberg Law has this story.

The Biden administration has proposed a revision that would reduce the religious exemption for companies seeking contracts with the federal government. President Trump broadened the use of a religious exemption in his last days, and the revision would return the religious exemption policy to what it was prior to that broadening. This story comes from The Advocate.

The Denton Public Library in Texas has planned a transgender story time for November 20. The event will feature a reading of the book I Am Jazz. The Texan reports that some local citizens are upset about the event.

The House of Pain is a gym in the St. Louis area. To some members of the local transgender community, it is more than just a gym; it is a place where they are accepted as they are, and for that reason, it has become a gathering place. Fox 2 Now has this story.

Them has a list of LGBTQ+ organizations you can donate to, and several of them are transgender-led, often with a mission to help transgender people.

Last week featured Veterans Day, and WKYC-TV has a story about transgender veterans.

Former judge Roxanne.

Lisa Ling has the story of a transgender judge who says she lost everything. It is a part of This Is Life.

A jury in Dallas County found Ruben Alvaradon guilty in the 2019 murder of Chynal Lindsay, a transgender woman. He was sentenced to 37 years in prison. This story comes from WFAA-TV.

Marquiisha Lawrence was fatally shot in Greenville, South Carolina, on November 4. Her identity as a transgender woman was only discovered this week. She is the 45th transgender person murdered this year, as them reports. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

The reports of 45 transgender people murdered in the United States this year makes 2021 the deadliest year for transgender people. This caught the attention of The Hill. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

McKinsey And Company has a longer story about transgender people in the workplace. Transgender people are more likely to be unemployed, and often are more grateful for getting a job. Transgender people do not need tremendous accommodations at work.

The Human Rights Campaign released new data about LGBTQ people and the COVID-19 vaccines. LGBTQ Nation points out that 91% of LGBTQ adults are fully vaccinated, compared to 70% of the overall population. According to them, 20% of those on HRT have concerns about how the COVID vaccines mix with HRT. Those on HIV treatment also worried about drug interaction.

A new study by the Williams Institute finds that Native American and Native Alaskan people who are LGBTQ have very high rates of mental health issues, including depression. They also are vulnerable to the temptations that lead to substance abuse. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Mj Rodriguez

The Advocate has named Michaela Jae Rodriguez as their Person Of The Year.

Intersex people are nearly 2% of the population. So, why are they so invisible?  The Advocate wonders.

Last week featured Intersex Awareness Day, and LGBTQ Nation suggested five films to see to explore the topic of intersex people.

The Gender Cool Project has created Play It Out, a campaign to tell the stories of transgender student athletes. Yahoo has the story.

Brian Michael Smith is the first transgender man to make the list of “Sexiest Men Alive” issued by People magazine. More specifically, he was listed among the “25 Sexiest Men You Can Watch On TV Now.” He can be seen on 9-1-1 LoneStar. This story comes from Yahoo.

Billy Bragg’s song Sexuality is about gay rights. However, he just rewrote the lyrics to include transgender people. The Independent has this story.

Mara Gomez

Mara Gomez, a transgender soccer star from Argentina, made a commercial for Nike. The Advocate has the story.

The documentary series Always Jane has been released on Amazon Prime Video, and Jane Noury sat for an interview with The Advocate.

JR and Vanessa Ford have written a children’s book titled Calvin. The title character is a transgender child. The authors talked with NPR about the book.

A nominee for Oklahoma Teacher Of The Year told OCPA about the importance of having a book about transgender people available to children.

Bob the Drag Queen’s HBO show, We’re Here, featured an amazing wig reveal. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

The BBC has been getting criticized over an article which accused transgender women of either tricking or forcing lesbians into having sex. This is just the latest manifestation of a long-standing problem, according to Vice World News. Several trans people have quit recently, and other LGBTQ people have resigned in solidarity. A recent session with the BBC’s LGBTQ group failed to stop the prolem.

Amidst this backdrop, the BBC announced that it was leaving the Diversity Champions program from Stonewall. It seems a strange move to make at a time when LGBTQ people are feeling ill-at-ease within the organization. PinkNews has this story.

There was another protest at the BBC over the article accusing transgender people of misbehaving around lesbians. This story comes from PinkNews.

Alaska

Legendary drag queen Alaska has written a new memoir, Gender Is A Lie. The book talks about her gender fluidity, among other topics. Them has an interview with the author.

Lily Cade, the lesbian porn star whose incendiary comments about transgender people were featured in the BBC article and later removed, had written a long and not-well-organized article expressing her displeasure with transgender women. An article in them says that her writings reflect what is up with TERF mentality in general.

Open Global Rights says that a transgender man in Egypt died because that society would not confront its internalized transphobia.

The government of Russia has labeled the Russian LGBT Network as a “foreign agent.” The designation, which they are fighting in court, would give the organization many new bureaucratic burdens. The Advocate has the story.

China also shut down the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the country. LGBTQ Nation wonder when the Biden administration will stand up for LGBTQ rights worldwide, as the President said his administration would do.

An editorial at Stuff says that transgender people just want to know that we belong.

In People magazine, a mother talks about raising a transgender 5-year-old.

Psychologist Ofer Sapir shares some tips for parents of transgender children in Haaretz.

The Conversation has an article about how to support transgender and gender diverse teens. One suggestion is to listen to them.

Rev. Dr. Erin Swenson

Dr. Erin Swenson transitioned in the mid-1990s, and nearly lost her job as a Presbyterian priest. However, she is still preaching, now in Lexington, Kentucky. She is profiled in The Presbyterian Outlook.

A panel discussion over Zoom titled “Learning from Transgender History: Will We Continue Repeating the Past?” was held recently. Cal Times talked to the facilitator about what the panel discussed.

Fifty years ago, a court case involving Ewan Forbes set the standard for the rights and legal treatment of transgender people. Long Reads tells us that we are still living with the verdict of that trial.

TWITs

A transgender student in Pennsylvania, Willow Andring, was attacked at Armstrong High School, and the incident was not only recorded, but shared to social media. Thankfully, the school seems to be taking action against those involved in the assault. However, Willow Andring, the victim, suffered a concussion. The students who attacked a fellow student in such anger, and with such ferociousness that a concussion occurred, get a TWIT Award. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to the story.

In North Carolina, a transgender boy was recorded while using the restroom. His parents reported the incident, but the school board has so far taken no action. The child and his sister have taken to wearing signs pleading “Help protect me.” For failure to address the concerns of a student who is being targeted by others, the school board gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from WRAL-TV.

A social conservative group in Virginia has created a “transgender incident report form.” Parents can go online and fill out a form to tell this group about any incident that involves their child and a transgender child. For harassment and intimidation based on prejudice, the group behind the form, the Virginia Family Foundation, gets a TWIT Award. WWBT-TV has this story.

PinkNews reports that a group of anti-transgender activists in Britain are proposing banning pronoun-sharing in the workplace. The idea here is pretty obvious–if no one tells you their pronouns, you can’t be accused of misusing the information that was not shared. For attempting to turn ignorance into a virtue, and for shockingly bad manners, the people behind this campaign get a TWIT Award.

Graham Linehan, the former comedy writer who has become a full-time anti-transgender campaigner, came up with the idea of a new “holiday”–celebrating the anniversary of the day that J.K. Rowling came out as a TERF. The event is to be called “TERFmas,” and PinkNews reports it is getting a lot of criticism, except on Mumsnet. For promoting a holiday celebrating hate and non-acceptance, Graham Linehan and his supporters get a TWIT.

Marjorie Taylor Greene sent out a tweet in which she defended Kyle Rittenhouse by saying that the media members who “claim He/Him in their profiles that are attacking Kyle and defending a monster who sexually assaults children.” This does not even address Kyle Rittenhouse’s actions; at best, it says that someone else did some other action which is seen as evil. (In logic, this is called a “tu quoque.”) Since she mentions pronouns, it seems she is thinking of transgender people when she talks of “a monster who sexually assaults children,” but the number of transgender people who have been accused of sexual assault is vanishingly small, while far more transgender people are victims of sexual assault. For bad logic, and for attacking a group who had nothing to do with the incident, Marjorie Taylor Greene gets at TWIT Award. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Two gay Republicans were elected to office from Staten Island. In their victory speeches, the two declared that “identity politics” is dead and deserves to be a thing of the past. They also used the term “gay lifestyle,” which seems to imply that being gay is a choice. For using all the buzzwords that show they have bought into someone else’s privilege, and for demonstrating a willingness to leave others behind as long as they get what they want, these two gay Republicans get a TWIT Award. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster jumped on the “pornographic” library books bandwagon. The particular book he referred to as “pornographic” is Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe. The author identifies as non-binary and asexual, and talks about those identities in the book. For hyperbole, and for presuming his opinion matters more than reality, Governor Henry McMaster gets a TWIT. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma made an agreement to support a non-binary option on the state’s birth certificates. The agreement was a way of settling a lawsuit over the issue. In his instructions to the Department of Health, he referred to the issuing of non-binary birth certificates as an “unauthorized action.” For failing to follow through on an agreement, for unilaterally rejecting what he told a court he would do, and for attempting to deny that he ever agreed to something that he did indeed agree to, Governor Kevin Stitt gets a TWIT. PinkNews 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.

Tags: featured, news, Transgender, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News