The Week In Trans 12/2/19

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.

Hera Jay Brown

Hera Jay Brown just became the first transgender woman to receive a Rhodes scholarship, or at least, the first to be openly transgender at the time she was awarded a Rhodes scholarship. Forbes has Dawn Ennis’s story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Thanksgiving was this week. Some transgender people are not welcome by family, so they make their own celebration. You can read about Transgiving in Sacramento, California, at Fox 40. A similar story can be found in The Houston Chronicle, and Pink News has memories of such an event at an LGBT center on Long Island.

Ms. Bob Davis told us about the honors bestowed on some San Francisco LGBT leaders by the city’s Board of Supervisors. One of them was jazz singer, writer, and longtime Glen Park resident Andrea Horne. Learn more in The Bay Area Reporter.

Laverne Cox has teamed up with Band-Aid and RED to fight the spread of HIV. The actress finds it “insane” that AIDS is still a major problem in 2019. Learn more about her commitment to the cause from the Daily Mail.

Just in time for holiday air travel, Allure has an article on how transgender people can improve their chances of getting through security, and what to do if the TSA requires extra scrutiny.

Janette O’Sullivan

A transgender woman named Janette O’Sullivan was found in her apartment in New York City, after she had not been seen for ten days. Although the police currently suspect she died of either an overdose or an illness, the autopsy report is not yet in. Despite the fact that police did not see signs of foul play, friends suspect that a man whom she brought to the apartment killed her. The New York Daily News has this report.

A group of transgender people are suing the state of Illinois, because the state will not allow a convicted felon to change names, even after punishment for the crime is finished. You can read about this at CBS Chicago.

A transgender woman in Philadelphia is suing her pharmacy. They delivered her prescriptions, leaving them in a common mail room in her apartment building, which she agreed to. However, this time, not only her name, but the names of the medications were clearly visible. This meant that she was outed as transgender and as an HIV patient. WHYY-TV has her story.

In a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, which is the largest study ever conducted on transgender children to date, researchers surveyed 317 transgender kids ages 3 to 12 who had “socially transitioned,” or who live as the gender they identify with. The researchers found no significant differences between the trans and cis kids’ gender development, or how they grew to understand and formulate their gender. Learn more from Insider.

Somaya Gupta is gender-fluid, and has been wondering about HRT. So, Somaya talked with nine transgender people about it, and wrote about their experiences and advice in The Advocate.

Chelsea Manning

At a recent press conference, President Trump responded to a question about his presidential pardons with a long, rambling rant about President Obama’s pardon of Chelsea Manning. The president deliberately misgendered Ms. Manning, calling her a “young gentleman.” She responded with two words: “ok boomer.” Pink News has this story.

A cisgender lesbian asked her trans and non-binary friends on Twitter what they want to say to cisgender people, including “helpful hints on how to support u better, etc.” You can read some replies at Pink News.

A short film about transphobia in the media and online stars an 11-year-old trans female. It is being promoted by Mermaids, the British group for transgender youth. The film itself is on Mermaids’ website, and you can read about it at Pink News.

The Insider has an article on how to support transgender men and non-binary individuals when they are pregnant.

Andreja Pejic at the gala.

Trans model Andreja Pejic attended the NGV Gala in Melbourne, Australia which is an all-inclusive black tie celebration featuring art, performance, fine food and wine. Ms. Pejic brought the glamour. She arrived to walk the red carpet in an intricate gown that featured a hip high slit. See the outfit and learn more from the Daily Mail.

First Event 2019, is looking for trans attendees who are in successful relationships with cis-gender partners and would be willing to talk about their experiences at First Event. The conference would like to recruit five couples made up of one gender fluid person, and one cis-gendered person. If you are attending First Event and are interested in being on the panel contact Christine at First Event.

Addison Rose Vincent uses a “human-centered design” approach to help some transgender teens recover from family violence. You can read about the project in California Health Report.

Angelica Ross

Angelica Ross, of Pose and American Horror Story, was chosen to be the final speaker at the celebration of the tenth anniversary of The Root. She chose to praise The Root for talking about transgender issues, a topic dear to her own heart for obvious reasons. A profile of her appears in Your Tango.

A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan found that almost 80% of respondents aged 14-24 feel that transgender people should use whichever restroom they feel comfortable in. LGBTQ Nation took notice of this. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Scarlett Johansson did an interview with Vanity Fair, which turned into their cover story. In it, she was asked abut Rub & Tug, in which she was to play a transgender man. She said that she learned from the backlash to the announcement, and adds, “to feel like you’re tone-deaf to something is not a good feeling.”

Annette Benning gave an interview to AARP magazine, which landed her on the cover of that publication. In the interview, she mentions how proud she is of her transgender son, Stephen. “He’s managed something that’s very challenging with great style and great intelligence,” she said. This caused publications including People magazine, The New York Daily News, and The Daily Mail to come out with stories about Stephen.

Maxine Heron

Transgender model Maxine Heron’s family accepted her when she revealed that she is transgender. She encourages families to react the same way if one of their own comes out as transgender. Pink News has this story.

The Dallas Morning News reports on two plays about transgender people to be presented next year. One, entitled Andi Boi, has received a $150,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. It will be presented by Dallas Children’s Theatre, which commissioned it.

Earlier this year, Ardel Haefele-Thomas released Introduction to Transgender Studies, the first textbook to cover the historical and political aspects of transgender lives. In RVA Magazine, the author picks thirteen films about transgender lives. Somehow, the list fails to include Boys Don’t Cry.

Paris Lees goes blonde.

Paris Lees has gone from redhead to blonde, and tells about why she did it and how it was necessary to make the change in a column for British Vogue.

Charlie Martin, the race driver who wants to compete in the 24-hours at Le Mans, talked with Pink News about how important transition was for her mental well-being.

Mel C, of the Spice Girls, has been touring with a drag group called Sink The Pink. She has been shocked by the levels of anti-transgender sentiment that she has found in her native Britain. She spoke out about it, and Pink News reported on her efforts.

Caitlyn Jenner is appearing on another reality show, this one called I’m A Celebrity. . .Get Me Out Of Here and is on ITV in Britain. Pink News declared her Queen Of The Jungle after week-one, but they also noted that a television commentator misgendered her.

Anaya Sheikh

Anaya Sheikh is a transgender comedian in Lahore, Pakistan. She got mercilessly heckled on stage, as Pink News reports.

In a place like Pakistan, where society looks down on transgender people so much, even something as simple as a beauty shop can be a dream come true. Economic Times has this story.

Jamaica is getting better at accepting transgender people, but it still has a long way to go. The Jamaica Observer has this story.

Two trans women were beaten to death with bricks in Colombia, according to Pink News.

A trans woman in Brazil was shot in the head, in an apparent drug deal. Pink News has this story.

On Monday, the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of India’s Parliament, tabled the controversial Transgender Rights bill. There was hope that the bill would be sent back to committee, for some much-desired rewriting. Instead, the bill was brought up again on Tuesday, and passed in almost identical form to what the Lower House, the Lok Sabha, had approved in August. A good review of the problems with this bill can be found at Quartz India.

Trans positive Jupiter.

Some recent pictures from Jupiter seems to show the planet in the light blue, pink, and white stripes of the transgender pride flag, although this is the result of UV lighting. Nonetheless, this photo made its way back onto social media, where it was interpreted as a sign of transgender rights, as Pink News reports.

TWITs

The BBC devoted an hour program to detransitioners. Thanks to the increasing acceptance of transgender people, doctors are able to compile better statistics. We are quite confident that detransitioners are less than 2 percent of thee transgender population. For devoting an hour to such a little-seen phenomenon, with little regard to how this stokes all-too-common anti-transgender sentiment, The BBC gets a TWIT Award. Pink News has the story of the BBC’s attempt to defend airing this program.

Several conservative sites are jumping on the bandwagon to defend a conservative writer named Andy Ngo, who was temporarily banned from Twitter for anti-transgender statements. Most of these articles, in publications such as The Federalist and The Washington Examiner claim that what he tweeted were “facts” and “objective.” These so-called objective facts are about chromosomes, which biologists insist are not as binary nor as determinate as transgender opponents claim. For repeating oversimplifications as though they are absolutes, these conservatives get a TWIT Award. (The one point that Andy Ngo’s defenders have is the fact that Twitter has been reluctant to enforce its ban on transgender bashing, as Pink News reports.)

The transgender pride flag was flown for five minutes or less at the Iowa state capitol on November 20. Iowa state Representative Skyler Wheeler complained that he was not told of this in advance, which meant that he could not protest it before or as it happened. So, he wants to protest the state symbolically opposing the murder of transgender people. He complained that the transgender pride flag “fuel[s] division,” yet he seems ignorant of the fact that his own comments fuel division. For doing the very thing he is complaining about, Iowa state Republican Skyler Wheeler gets a TWIT. Towleroad has this story. Alyssa Washington was kind enough to point out a story about this at LGBTQ Nation.

A local activist attempted to talk to Ann Ennis, a member of the local school board in Indiana, about the importance of accepting transgender people in their gender identities. When told of the high rate of suicide among transgender children, Ennis responded, “Oh, cry us a river about the kids who have died?” For lack of sensitivity, and for gloating about her lack of sensitivity, Ann Ennis gets a TWIT Award. You can read about her rant in Newsweek.

Failed Senate candidate Roy Moore is saying that America needs to turn back the clock several decades and go back to a time when LGBTQ people had no rights. In a recent speech to a Republican group Moore said it was time the country returned to the values of the ’60s and ’70s when LGBT people had no rights. For leading the regressive charge into the past Roy Moore gets a TWIT Award. Get the story from LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for telling us about it.

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