The Week In Trans 11/23/20

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In the election that never ends, Gina Roberts was elected to the Valley Center Fire Protection District and to the parks and recreation district. These two wins make her the first transgender person to win an election in California as a Republican. The Times Of San Diego has this story.

Restrictions in North Carolina’s HB-142, the anti-transgender bill which superseded the even-more-transphobic HB-2, will expire on December 1. Local communities will be able to include sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrimination laws once again. WTTD-TV has this story.

The Bibb County Commission in Georgia, the home of Macon, just passed a nondiscrimination law which includes gender identity and sexual orientation. This prompted WMAZ-TV to look at who transgender people are and what the non-discrimination law would mean to us.

Pink News has a list of the transgender politicians making waves this year.

Mauree Turner did not make the list of transgender politicians, but they did win a seat in the Oklahoma state legislature. A 28-year-old Black Muslim, Turner is quite different from the redneck Republican majority in that state’s legislature. The non-binary politician is profiled in LGBTQ Nation.

An editorial in The Advocate urges President-Elect Biden and Vice-President-Elect Harris to keep intersex people in mind.

A new study claims that, if LGBT+ voters had not voted in the election, Donald Trump would have won Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin–and thus won the election. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

A transgender teacher explains the importance of policies which look out for LGBTQ students in an article in LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

New York announced that they will allow a gender marker of “X” on driver’s licenses and state ID cards. The Advocate has this story.

Raquel Willis was selected as one of the Out 100. She is profiled in Out magazine.

Narcity has a list of four transgender Canadians who are making history, including a hockey player, a judge, a beauty queen, and a mayor.

A non-binary witch named Raynie Castaneda performed a Marriage-A-Thon for five couples. The event was timed to occur before the even-more-conservative Supreme Court reconsiders same-sex marriage, according to CBS-19 in Tyler, Texas.

An article in Harvard Business Review is entitled, “Transgender, Gender-Fluid, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming Employees Deserve Better Policies”.

USAA is proud of their handling of transgender employees. They write about it in LGBTQ Nation, including several quotes from transgender employees.

IBM issued a formal apology for firing transgender pioneer Lynn Conway. The apology comes 52 years after the company terminated her employment, but at least they finally made a formal apology. Forbes has this story.

There is much speculation as to top-level hiring decisions that President-Elect Biden will soon be making. LGBTQ Nation reports the rumor that Dr. Rachel Levine, currently the Secretary of Health in Pennsylvania, could be the next Surgeon General.

The Conversation looks at why we need to reexamine our approach to healthcare for transgender and non-binary people.

An article in The Lancet talks of the need for social support for transgender people. The article specifically looks at transgender people in China, but is applicable to a wider audience.

A study by the Trevor Project finds that Native American and Native Alaskan LGBTQ youth are at high risk of a suicide attempt, due to a compounding of anti-LGBTQ and racist attitudes. The study also found that roughly half of the LGBTQ youths were either transgender, non-binary, or gender-questioning, with another one-in-five identifying as two-spirit. The Advocate has this story.

Healthline has a story about the need to get past misconceptions about transgender men getting pregnant. (They forgot to include non-binary people, who can also get pregnant. That is all the more reason why the misconceptions need to be cleared up.)

Seven transgender and non-binary people talk about having periods in an article in Teen Vogue.

CNN caught up with the story that one in ten transgender people use HRT that is not prescribed by a doctor. We covered this story last week, but when someone like CNN notices the story, it is news again.

More reviews appear for Born To Be, including The Daily Beast, The Guardian, and Hyperallergic.

Born To Be is one of nine new films and TV shows with transgender themes in a list at IndieWire.

J.J. Hawkins will play a transgender character on the reboot of Charmed. He joins the series as it starts its third season on the CW. Deadline has this story.

Josie Totah is also going to play a transgender character in a reboot. Totah plays Lexi, a popular girl at Bayside High school, on the reboot of Saved By The Bell, which is on the Peacock streaming service. This story comes from Out.com.

The new ABC series Big Sky features a nonbinary character, played by Jesse James Keitel. The Advocate has this story.

Sam Smith claims that they were not “prepared for the amount of ridicule” they got when they came out as non-binary. This comes from an interview with CBS This Morning.

Sade’s son tweeted the scars from his double mastectomy, saying “My scars are here. They set me free. To be who I was born to be.” Yahoo Life has this story.

A new play titled Overflow will open next month in London. The play features a transgender woman taking a tour of women’s restrooms. Travis Alabanza, the writer of the play, interviews Reece Lyons, the star, for Pink News.

Billy Porter announced that he will direct What If?, a story of a transgender teen finding love. Deadline has this story.

NBC News has a profile of transgender musician Teddy Geiger.

Call Of Duty released a new non-binary character option for players, and as expected, some people just didn’t understand why such a thing is needed. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

A non-binary version of The Flash, known as Kid Quick, will be introduced as a part of the Teen Titans in an alternative universe, in a new release from DC Comics. This story comes from NBC News.

Last Friday was Transgender Day of Remembrance. Everytown For Gun Safety says that 2020 is already tied for the most murders of transgender people, according to CBS News.

Elle has a list of 34 transgender people murdered in the United States this year, and notes that there may be more, as some are not identified as transgender in media reports.

Transgender Versus Transphobia Worldwide tracked 350 murders of transgender people worldwide in the year ending this September 30. This is a 6% increase over the previous year, according to The Advocate.

Central and South American have been hotspots of transgender murders, with 152 transgender murders in Brazil alone. Pink News has this story.

President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris tweeted about the murders of transgender people on Transgender Day of Remembrance. This caught the attention of Pink News. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Many politicians tweeted about Transgender Day of Remembrance. However, Pink News finds it interesting that some politicians, such as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, did not tweet about the murders of transgender people.

Just the day before Transgender Day of Remembrance, Yuni Carey (full name Yunieski Carey Herrera) was stabbed to death in Miami. Her husband, Ygor Arrudasouza, has admitted to the crime. WPLG-TV has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Earlier this week, Lea Rayshon Daye and Scottlynn DeVore were belatedly added to the list of transgender people murdered this year. Lea Daye died in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County Jail in August, but was misgendered in official reports. Scott DeVore was found dead along a highway in Georgia on March 30, but was added this week when it was discovered that they were non-binary. The Advocate has this story.

Ashley Moore was murdered on April 1. Her body was found outside the YMCA in Newark, where she lived. Her murder has not been solved, and Kane In Your Corner from News 12 New Jersey feels that the police are not taking the investigation seriously.

In connection with Transgender Day of Remembrance, the Human Rights Campaign released a report entitled, “An Epidemic of Violence: Fatal Violence Against Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People in the United States in 2020.” This story is found in The Advocate.

Murders are just a part of the anti-transgender hate crimes that are reported. 2020 saw a 20% increase in anti-transgender hate crimes according to the FBI, but it is noted that not all police departments report hate crimes. NBC News has this story.

November 20 also marks Transgender Day of Resilience. Six transgender choirs joined in concert to celebrate. You can read about it in Pink News.

USA Gymnastics released their new guidelines for transgender athletes. It seems that transgender athletes will be much more able to compete.

Tuck Woodstock, the host of the Gender Reveal podcast, is the latest person interviewed for LGBTQ&A.

Drag queen Courtney Act spoke about identity, kindness, and acceptance in a television show for CBBC, the BBC’s service for children. Pink News has this story.

West Dakota, a drag performer and activist from Brooklyn, had an idea for a march to draw attention to violence against Black transgender women. It became the Brooklyn Liberation March, the biggest such demonstration. She made the Out 100. You can read a profile at Out magazine.

Jo Mama and Lucy Stoole are drag queens from Chicago, who organized the Drag March for Change. They are also among the Out 100. Out magazine has this story.

Drag queens and the great outdoors are not a combination one immediately puts together, but Pattie Gonia has combined the two. She is profiled at Out Traveller.

Braunwyn Windham-Burke is one of the Real Housewives of Orange County, and now, the mother of a drag performer. The show captured the moment when she first saw her 14-year-old son, Jacob, as Divine Devon. The Advocate has highlights of the episode.

Another international version of Drag Race is coming, this time in Spain. Out.com has this story.

Cameron Diaz credits RuPaul’s Drag Race with saving her life. That’s a bit of hyperbole, but she did find the show uplifting when she needed something to cheer her up, according to Out.com.

John Waters donated his art collection to the Baltimore Museum of Art. To thank him, they are naming the restrooms after him. When asked about this, he said he hoped there would be a transgender restroom, as a joke. (Of course he’s cool with transgender people; he was great friends with Divine.) The museum does have a plan to go with all gender-neutral restrooms. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Waiting times to see a doctor at a gender clinic in Britain are still long, and some activists are taking matters into their own hands. They have founded We Exist, to make people aware of the existence of transgender people. Pink News has this story.

Caroline Paige, who spent a career in the Royal Air Force, talked of struggling to hide her gender identity. She gave this interview to The BBC.

Although the U.K.’s top court has rejected Freddy McConnell’s request to review its ruling that he be listed as the mother on his child’s birth certificate, he is not done fighting. He will take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights next. Pink News has this story.

The European Union has announced a plan to protect LGBTQ rights in member countries. The plan includes fighting discrimination, ensuring safety, protecting the rights of families with LGBTQ people, and supporting LGBTQ equality, according to Out.com.

Members of Russia’s parliament withdrew a pair of bills which would have eliminated recognition of people’s gender identity, but the fight is not over. Pink News has this story.

RNZ has a story about a transgender woman in New Zealand who was kicked out of her parents’ house with three hours notice, because she is transgender.

In a happier story, four transgender candidates won elections to seats on city councils in Brazil. This election marked the first time that transgender people did not have to run under their deadnames, according to Out magazine.

We have told you recently about the first madrasa specifically for transgender people in Bangladesh. This Islamic school has caught the attention of CBS News.

Revry has a docuseries abut Transgender Day of Remembrance, entitled Them. The Advocate has a link to the first episode.

Fiona Dawson created a quick explainer about who transgender people are, and the science behind respecting gender identity. It can be found at LGBTQ Nation. If you want or need a longer version, you can find that at Net Doctor.

An article in Fatherly examines the question of at what age children become aware they are transgender.

The Mental Health Commission of Canada asks everyone to be a better ally to transgender people.

If you are an ally with some money to donate, Pink News has some ideas of where to give your money.

Some publications looked to individual writers and activists to reflect on Transgender Day Of Remembrance. The Daily Hampshire Gazette has a column from Mariel Addis, while Yahoo Life has an interview with Mila Jam.

The Black Trans Foundation is working to make social progress for black transgender people. Their first mission is in healthcare, where they find that Black transgender people do not get the same opportunities as other people, according to an article in Pink News.

A group of Black transgender artists, led by Peppermint, Mila Jam, and Deja “Lady Davenport” Smith, created a visual tribute to the victims of violence against transgender women, and also, they hope, show the strength and resilience of Black transgender women, who keep on being their true selves in spite of the dangers around them. LGBTQ Nation has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Pink News introduces us to Trans Actual, a group dedicated to countering misinformation about transgender people.

Sam Brinton and Keygan Miller of the Trevor Project talked to Refinery 29 about what it takes to be an advocate for the transgender community.

Pink News talked to comedian Sofie Hagen, writer Travis Alabanza, and actor Ki Griffin about thriving as a transgender person in a cisgender-dominated world.

Jody Davis writes in LGBTQ Nation that she is a nurse, she is a veteran, and she is a transgender woman.

Pink News has the story of four transgender couples in love.

Robin Dembroff and Dee Payton write about the differences between gender identity and racial identity in an essay for Boston Review.

Some sad news from Britain. Jan Morris, the travel writer whose career soared when she covered the British Mount Everest Expedition led by Sir Edmund Hillary, has died. She was 94. You can read about her extraordinary life courtesy of Pink News.

On a bright note, LGBTQ Nation tells us of the Rainbow Sheep Ornament Project, which attempts to spread some holiday cheer by giving transgender people ornaments with their new names, not their deadnames, on them.

TWITs

We gave out a TWIT last week to The Blaze, for its excited and somewhat misleading reporting of the fact that Target will sell the book Irreversible Damage through its website, but not stock it on shelves. The same sort of excited and misinformed reporting on the same topic occurs this week at Fox News and Patriot Post. They share in the TWIT Award we already awarded to The Blaze.

The Daily Mail reports that a “gang of transgender women drop-kicked then stamped on [a] 19-year-old man in Tube attack after he told them they needed to have female genitalia to be women.” The “gang” consisted of three or four transgender women, and the report seems to gloss over the attitude of the 19-year-old. That said, the response by the transgender women was not commendable, and only gives people with anti-transgender attitudes more ammunition. These transgender women, the young man who yelled at them, and the Daily Mail all get a TWIT Award, and all are encouraged to behave better next time.

Kevin Whitter quit her job as a cashier at Publix, a grocery store, in downtown Miami. She was not allowed to dress as a woman, and was harassed by supervisors. She is now suing for discrimination on the basis of gender identity. For deliberate rudeness the supervisors at this Publix get a TWIT. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel has this story.

While doing a Vogue cover shoot, Harry Styles wore a dress for some pictures. As might be expected, some social conservatives, led by Candace Owens, had bombastic reactions to a man wearing a dress. Owens began her opening remark with, “There is no society that can survive without strong men.” For calling all the more attention to something that she wants to oppose, Candace Owens and other critics of Harry’s photoshoot get a TWIT Award. You can read some of the reaction in LGBTQ Nation.

The Denver Post reports on a bunch of parents in Boulder, Colorado, who have sued the school district over lessons that talked of the science behind gender identity. They say that the science conflicts with their religious beliefs. We have seen in the past that science beats religious beliefs; the Earth does go around the Sun, and evolution is far more scientifically robust than creationism, even when creationism calls itself “intelligent design.” For pressing religious beliefs on children without acknowledging science, these parents get a TWIT.

A supposedly Christian group calling itself Truth In Science (a certainly Orwellian name choice) sent British schools a DVD with a 28-minute presentation opposing “the Transgender Agenda.” The DVD seems to claim that the entirety of civilization will fall apart if we do not treat gender identity as completely governed by genitalia. For hyperbole and for oversimplification, Truth In Science gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from The Courier.

Two judges from a U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a law in Palm Beach County, Florida, which forbad conversion therapy on minors. Evidence shows that the therapy does not work, and that it does a great deal of harm, but according to these judges, the First Amendment still allows such speech. For permitting great harm in the name of Freedom of Speech, these judges get a TWIT. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

As the Trump administration becomes increasingly irrelevant, they nonetheless continue to act as though they will continue to wield power indefinitely. As a case in point, the Justice Department filed an amicus brief in the case of Hecox v. Little, which is attempting to overturn Idaho’s ban on transgender women playing in women’s sports. For gall bordering on abuse of power, the Justice Department gets a TWIT. This story comes from Pink News. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to 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