The Week In Trans 12/13//21

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Lisa Middleton

Lisa Middleton was sworn in as mayor of Palm Springs, California. She is the first openly transgender mayor in California, and only the third in U.S. history. She will serve for one year, before giving way to the next member of the City Council. The Palm Springs Desert Sun has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Liliana Bakhtiari won a runoff election for the Atlanta City Council. They are the first non-binary member of the council, as well as the first queer Muslim person elected to office in Georgia. This story comes from The Advocate.

Nikai David was killed in Oakland, California, last weekend. Her murder brings the total for the year to 50 transgender people killed in the United States. Gay City News has this story.

The family of Jenna Mitchell, who died in a Georgia prison, have settled their lawsuit. They will receive $2.2 million, much of which will likely go to their lawyers. This story comes from CNN.

Video from a correctional facility in Baltimore shows an officer using a choke hold on a transgender woman before dropping her on her face and dragging her. The lawyer for the trans woman gave the footage to CNN.

A class action lawsuit seeks to prevent the transfer of women from Rikers Island to a state prison. Several transgender women are among those to be transferred. WCBS-TV news has this story.

A group of far-right Republicans voted against the National Defense Authorization Act because of their opposition to paying for the medical expenses of transgender people. They attempted to pass an amendment to block paying for transgender medical care, but that failed, so they opposed the entire bill. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Tori Cooper

Tori Cooper is the Director of Community Engagement for the Human Rights Campaign. She was named by The Advocate as one of their People of the Year. They cite her advocacy for transgender people.

The Transgender Justice Initiative of the Human Rights Campaign, which Tori Cooper heads, attempts to enforce hate-crimes laws. However, LGBTQ Nation points out that hate crimes are often not prosecuted, because the laws are more show than substance.

The Florida Department of Education took down its information on an anti-bullying policy, apparently because the original text included links to some LGBTQ organizations that oppose bullying. The Advocate has this story.

The ACLU of Virginia has filed a lawsuit against the Hanover County School Board because that board voted against protections for transgender students. Get the story from the ACLU website.

Christynne Wood settled with a gym in Southern California, after the gym denied her access to the women’s locker room. US News And World Report has the AP’s story on this. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

The case of Scout Schultz, a non-binary student who was shot to death at Georgia Tech in 2017, was settled. The family will receive $1,000,000 in compensation for dropping the suit. This story can be found at LGBTQ Nation.

A lawmaker in the New York state Senate has proposed setting aside a certain percentage of licenses for transgender and non-binary people. The current law sets aside 50% of licenses for minority applicants, women, distressed farmers, and veterans. State Senator Jeremy Cooney proposed an additional percentage of licenses, so that transgender men and non-binary people do not have to choose between their gender identities and the marijuana license. The Gothamist has this story.

An article in Calcalist tells of troubles that transgender people have in the tech industry in Israel.

An editorial in The Dallas Morning News suggests we should follow the science on transgender care. Yet, the editorial brings up the rise in the number or transgender males as though this were unexpected, and claims that the connection between gender-affirming care and improved mental health is questionable, when in fact the statistics show that those transgender youth who are accepted by family and medical personnel have much less depression and anxiety than those who are not supported.

The struggles of transgender people to get medical and mental health care in prison are the subject of an article in Psychiatric Times.

Lia Thomas

Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania, gave an interview to SwimSwam. It appears to be the first interview she has done since attracting so much attention.

Canadian soccer star Quinn, who became the first out non-binary person and the first out transgender person to win an Olympic gold medal, has been named one of The Advocate‘s People of the Year. They talked about their goals for the coming year.

Isis King is one of the performers who appears in the new romantic comedy With Love, which is available on Amazon Prime. During the five-episode run of the show, King’s character might or might not find the love of her life. The Baltimore Sun has this story.

A new trailer for The Matrix Resurrections has been released, and it tells us more about what to expect in the movie. You can find out more at Out.com, if you don’t want to be surprised.

Stephen Spielberg’s version of West Side Story was released this weekend. In the classic, the character of Anybodys is a tomboy, but in the new version Anybodys is a transgender male. The change is in keeping with the description of the character by the late Arthur Laurents, who wrote the dialogue for the original play. Yahoo Entertainment has this story.

Two or three of them‘s Best Queer Films of 2021 have transgender themes.

Kim Petras

Kim Petras talked about the problems she had getting accepted in the music industry during an interview with Buzzfeed News.

Netflix has decided not to order any more episodes of Cowboy Bebop, less than a month after the series debuted. Out.com has this story.

Audrey Kriss of Sister Wives has come out as transgender. This story comes from Screen Rant.

Poppy Liu, the non-binary actor who plays Kiki on Hacks, is one of the People Of The Year according to The Advocate. They gave the magazine an interview.

Wil Wheaton wrote a long post explaining how watching a comedy routine allowed him as a teenager to internalize anti-LGBTQ feelings. He apologized for his past homophobia, and chastised those who defend Dave Chappelle, as well as the comic himself. PinkNews has this story.

Corey Rae

Corey Rae looks back on a manicure that she got at age 5 as the beginning of something. She is now 28 and a transgender model, who is also a writer, actress, and activist. She talked about becoming the person she is today in an interview with Refinery 29.

Pastor Craig Duke, a Methodist pastor who was featured doing drag on We’re Here, has been fired. The Advocate has this story.

A new petition to get the U.K. government to change the rules for listing transgender parents on their children’s birth certificates. This story comes from PinkNews.

The Parliament of New Zealand unanimously passed a bill which allows transgender people to self-identify their genders. PinkNews has this story.

Canada just passed an updated version of its ban on conversion therapy. The bill which just became law does not have an exemption for adults who voluntarily agree to undergo conversion therapy. This story comes from the CBC.

A group of First Nations tribes in Canada voted to form a 2-Spirit LGBTQ+ Council. This story comes from them.

The government of India withdrew a manual for teachers on how to deal with transgender students. Conservative and right-wing politicians criticized the manual. The Washington Blade has this story.

When an online review of a restaurant in Texas complained about long hair and painted nails on a server, the owner responded by writing, “At Dakota’s Steakhouse, we support our staff 100%. No matter their religion, race, criminal history or sexuality.” LGBTQ Nation has this story.

In a new article for Transgender Studies Quarterly, Marta E. Vincente of the University of Kansas talks of how language needs to keep evolving to express the multiplicity of gender identity, feeling, and expression. If the article is too technical, you can read about it here.

Alexia Garcia

The Nash Bridges reboot will feature a trans woman as one of the detectives. Alexia Garcia, who appeared in Pose, will play “badass, no-nonsense” detective Chloe Zane. Thanks for Alyssa Washington for the link. Learn more from Out.

If the holidays and visits to family (and supposed friends) makes you insecure about your body (either during or before the visit), perhaps some tips from them can help you.

Spectrum News has an article about a transgender Florida teen who started a new group for LGBTQ youth.

Once again this year, the Rainbow Sheep Ornament Project will send a free personalized Christmas tree ornament to transgender people, which will have your name–not your dead name–on it. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

TWITs

Although Pope Francis came out this week with a statement that sexual sins were not the worst sins (see this story at PinkNews), the Diocese of Marquette, which covers all or almost all of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, has announced that transgender people and those in same-sex relationships cannot receive the sacraments of the Catholic Church in that diocese. For putting man-made rules ahead of God’s law (and basing those rules on a questionable translation from the Hebrew), the Bishop of Marquette gets a TWIT Award. NBC News has this story. An editorial in LGBTQ Nation says that the anti-transgender attitude of many Catholic higher-ups shows that the Church is still persecuting St. Joan of Arc, long after her canonization.

Skylar Sanders of LeRoy, New York, was kicked out of the Boy Scouts after transitioning genders. Now 14 years old, Skylar had been a scout for six years. Although girls are now accepted for membership in the scouts, they are required to form their own troops, and there is no all-female troop in Genesee County, where Skylar lives. For discrimination on account of gender, the Boy Scouts gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from WHAM-TV.

We mentioned above how the new movie version of West Side Story sees Anybodys as transgender. Even though the dialogue does not specify that Anybodys is transgender, some news reports have mentioned this. That was enough for six predominantly Muslim countries to ban the movie. Although Anybodys spends perhaps five minutes on screen, that is enough to make the entire movie unacceptable to these countries. For overreaction, and for “protecting” their citizens (and their religion) from a threat which is no threat, the countries of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait get a TWIT Award. The Times of Israel has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link. And a huge pat on the back to Disney Studios for refusing to supply an edited version of the movie for foreign release, and refusing to allow countries to edit it on their own.

Jason Whitlock, a conservative radio host, compared being transgender to “marrying a cat” while on Tucker Carlson’s show. The word “satanic” was thrown around, even though Jesus said that judging others was evil. For calling others evil while not removing the pole from his own eye, Jason Whitlock gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from The Independent.

In addition to agreeing with James Whitlock when he made those comments, Tucker Carlson made the claim that COVID-19 “feminizes” people, and went on to say that the virus “takes away the life force.” (You can find this exchange at Media Matters.) The following day, he referred to Senator Mitch McConnell as “the nastiest old lady in town.” For implying that cisgender females have significantly less “life force” than males, and for implying that being female is an insult (obviously a backhanded insult to transgender females), Tucker Carlson gets a TWIT. The latter statement can be found at LGBTQ Nation.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Uber has frequently rejected transgender applicants because their documents have gender inconsistencies. For not realizing that transgender people would have such inconsistencies, and for not fixing this problem, Uber gets a TWIT.

Remember Jeff Younger? His wife divorced him because he lied to her about his employment, his education, his military experience, and even his number of previous marriages. He sued for joint custody, citing the fact that his ex-wife has allowed one of their twins to change gender. A jury ruled against him, but the judge agreed to let him have joint custody anyway. He lost that custody for not paying his child support. Oh, and he also ruined his ex-wife’s career as a pediatrician, which probably has something to do with the need for child support. Anyway, he is back, and now, he is running for the Texas House of Representatives. His entire platform appears to be transphobia. For turning hate a virtue, and for attempting to make all others run their lives according to his misinformed views, Jeffrey Younger gets a TWIT Award. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

For much of this week, the best-selling “LGBT+ book” on Amazon was Johnny The Walrus, an anti-transgender book set to be published in March for which Amazon is taking pre-orders. The book tells of the story of a mother who arranges surgery for her son that would change his feet into fins. No such surgery exists, but it is a “metaphor” for gender confirming surgery–which is never offered to children as young as the boy in this story. On Friday, Amazon re-classified the book as “Political and Social Commentary,” rather than “LGBT+” For initially listing this book as “LGBT+” rather than “fiction,” and for continuing to sell the book Amazon gets a TWIT. This story comes from PinkNews.

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