The Week In Trans 12/6/21

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Clair Farley

Clair Farley has announced she will leave her job as Executive Director of the Office of Transgender Initiatives for the City of San Francisco. She plans to turn her attentions to the national scene. KGO-TV has this story.

40 states and the District of Columbia have chosen sides in the lawsuit concerning the right of a student to use the restroom which corresponds to the student’s gender identity. The student, Drew Adams, has since graduated and gone on to high school, but the case drags on. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case, and ruled for Adams, but then the entire court decided to hear the case. This story comes from the News Service of Florida.

Iowa looks to be the next site of a battle over transgender students in the restroom. Ethan Stucker, a transgender student at Spirit Lake High School, was told he cannot use the boy’s restroom, despite having used that restroom for a year and a half. The statement from the superintendent seems to say that there were complaints, though it is unclear who exactly made the complaints. KCCI-TV has this story.

In California, a school board voted down a proposal to exclude transgender students from the restroom and locker room of the gender with which they identify. This proposal failed to meet the requirements of the state. Both sides intensified their positions. This story comes from The Daily Bulletin.

The Nashville Tennessean reports that a local school board voted not to update its policy on transgender athletes. THe old policy is not in line with the state’s new law.

Dr. Marci Bowers

Recent comments by some clinicians, including Dr. Marci Bowers, regarding the amount of time and the quality of time spent with patients (younger patients in particular) prior to diagnosing gender dysphoria. Of course, this was red meat to those who believe in “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” and such. Meanwhile, people on the other side of the debate are concerned, because the comments can be misinterpreted as supporting the opponents of transgender medicine. This prompted an article on Web MD.

In Hastings, Minnesota, the chair of the school board lost a re-election bid. The chair then told CNN how she was glad to be out of the job, given the nasty turn the election took. She also said she would be leaving the town to protect her transgender child. Locals have been leaving their porch lights on in support of the former chair of the school board. Fox 9 News has this story.

In North Carolina, a teen is at the center of a debate over how and when to update the birth certificate of a transgender person. This story comes from WTVD-TV.

Transgender people are more common in prisons that they are in the general population. NBC News reports that transgender men in prison are often subjected to strip searches and violence. LGBTQ Nation has the story of some people who are working with LGBTQ prisoners.

Former employees of Google are suing the tech giant for discrimination based on their gender identities or sexual orientation. This story comes from The Advocate.

A personal account of the debate over detranstitioning is found in The National Post. This article needs a bit of a content warning, as it tells of a detransitioner, while missing her family’s role in the decision to detransition.

Chris Blehar

Chris Blehar, a 65-year-old transgender woman who was a veteran of the Air Force, was stabbed to death in Kentucky. This murder happened in May, but, as is far too common, she was not identified as transgender until later–in this case, half a year later. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this and other stories.

Myles Utz was attacked as he got off a municipal bus in Cleveland. He believes that he was targeted for assault. Police are searching for a suspect. WOIO-TV has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

19 years ago, a reportedly intoxicated Nizah Morris got a courtesy ride from police. She was found dead on the street shortly after that. To this day, there are many questions about what happened that evening. Philadelphia Gay News has been following this story from the start, and has an update.

A new meta-analysis of several studies shows that HIV is more common in transgender people than in cisgender people. The findings show that trans-masculine individuals are at risk of HIV infection to a far greater extent than was previously thought. News-Medical has this story.

A new study finds that transgender women are more likely than cisgender women to have type 2 diabetes. The study found no connection between HRT and diabetes. This story comes from Newswise.

Lia Thomas

Lia Thomas, a 22-year-old transgender female, swims for the University of Pennsylvania. For three years, she swam as a male, but this year, she is swimming as a female. The headline in The Daily Mail claims that she is “SMASHING women’s competition records,” but the body of the article says she would have won a silver and a bronze at the NCAA championships (though it does not mention which year). Indeed, in its round-up of tweets, one of those supporting her points out that she did not break any record. However, people see what they want to see in her performance.

An article by KXAN-TV points out that the new advice on transgender athletes from the International Olympic Committee shows very different evidence from what we saw in the Texas legislature.

Amy Schneider has won more than half a million dollars in her 13 victories on Jeopardy!. The show will feature a professors tournament this week and next, giving her a bit of a break. Uproxx points out that she wore a transgender flag pin on Thanksgiving, and talked about it a bit on Facebook.

Hunter Schafer, a transgender woman and model who plays Jules on Euphoria, is profiled in Harper’s Bazaar.

The reboot of Saved By The Bell has returned, and Out.com reports that Josie Totah is funnier than ever as Lexi.

Mj Rodriguez

Lin-Manuel Miranda has directed his first film, tick, tick. . .boom! The movie tells the story of Jonathan Larson, the creator of Rent, who died far too young. He talked with The Advocate about why he cast Michaela Jae Rodriguez in the film.

Laverne Cox joined the cast of Uglies, which is filming for Netflix. But, them wants to know which part she plays.

The Matrix Resurrections is coming to theaters this month. Out.com has a list of seven transgender easter eggs you may have missed in the trilogy.

Keanu Reeves revealed that in the original script for The Matrix, there was a character who changed sex while in the matrix. He said, “I think the studio wasn’t ready for that.” That is just one story from an article in Entertainment Weekly.

Variety has a story about Some Women, a film which premiered at the Singapore International Film Festival. The subject of the film is the rarely-talked-about transgender history of Singapore.

Jesse James Keitel

The new version of Queer As Folk announced its cast and the characters they play, as well as some other information. The cast includes Jesse James Keitel and Candace Grace as non-binary characters. Out.com has more on this.

Sasha Allen continues to wow audiences on The Voice. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Kataluna Enriquez still has the title of Miss USA Nevada, but the transgender beauty queen was eliminated early in the Miss USA competition. This story comes from The Hill, which barely noted that Miss USA Kentucky, Elle Smith, won the pageant. In another story, The Hill reports that the new Miss USA went out of her way to defend the inclusion of Kataluna Enriquez or any transgender woman in a beauty pageant.

The queens for the next season of RuPaul’s Drag Race were announced, and it is said that one of them is billed as “the first out cisgender, heterosexual queen” in the history of the show. The Advocate has this story.

RuPaul’s Christmas movie The Bitch Who Stole Christmas is available from VH1. It features 20 veterans of Drag Race, according to them.

Krystal Versace

Krystal Versace won RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K. At age 19, she is the youngest winner of a Drag Race show. This story comes from Out.com.

Lagoona Bloo, the Mermaid Queen, released a Christmas drag song, Bloo Christmas. Out Traveler recommends the song.

A new drag competition which stresses singing rather than lip syncing is called Queen Of The Universe. It is on Paramount+. This story comes from Out.com.

Councillors in Oxford who tried to raise awareness of transgender people faced abuse from their constituents (and others) online for their efforts, according to The BBC.

The government of the Netherlands apologized for a law which required transgender people to undergo surgical sterilization before their gender markers would be changed. That law was overturned in 2014. ABC News has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for the link.

The Taipei High Administrative Court is waiting for clarification of when transgender people can update their ID cards. The cabinet has been looking into this for six years, but has not yet come up with an answer. In the meantime, someone has initiated a lawsuit, asking the court to act where the cabinet has not. This story comes from The Taipei Times.

Lina Axelsson-Kihlbom

Sweden just appointed its first female head of Parliament, Prime Minister Magdelena Andersson. Her cabinet is majority female, including Education Minister Lina Axelsson-Kihlbom, the first transgender person to receive a cabinet position in Sweden. PinkNews has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

A small town in Bangladesh elected the country’s first mayor who is a member of the “third gender.” Nazrul Islam Ritu, a 45-year-old Hijra who belongs to no political party, was elected mayor of Trilochanpur. Al Jazeera has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

An editorial in The Baltimore Sun tells us that jokes at the expense of transgender people are not funny.

An editorial in The Chicago Sun-Times, aimed largely at the media and police, reminds us that deadnaming and misgendering causes harm to transgender people.

An article in Miami New Times points out the need to expand transgender awareness beyond Transgender Awareness Week.

Transgender people in the U.S. military have been a political issue for almost a decade. NPR has a long story on the subject, in which they talk to some of the transgender people in the military.

Jay Cambridge, a trans man and military veteran, works with fellow veterans, teaching yoga and getting to know people. He is profiled by VAntage.

Five LGBTQ and two-spirit Native Americans who are making the world a better place are profiled in LGBTQ Nation.

Maureen Raisch

Maureen Raisch, the graphic designer and content producer who led the design of the logo for next year’s Super Bowl, came out as transgender during Transgender Awareness Week. She talked about it with Dawn Ennis of Forbes.

If you are having trouble getting into the holiday spirit, LGBTQ Nation has a list of ways to “spark queer joy” this time of year.

If you are looking for somewhere deserving of a year-end donation. TransSanta is here. Them has a profile of the charity.

TWIT

In Britain, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service suspended Dr. Adrian Harrop, because they deemed some of his tweets opposing anti-transgender bigots to be “offensive.” In fact, the term “venomous transphobic bigot” was one of the tweets which caused this suspension. While the suspension will only last one month, the fact that he continues to oppose those who fight against transgender rights makes it possible that he will be suspended again, and likely soon. For suspending the pro-transgender advocate, thus seeming to take sides in the debate, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service gets a TWIT Award. 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.

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Category: Transgender Community News