The Week In Trans 3/14.22

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Amy Schneider

Amy Schneider finally revealed some details about how she and partner Genevieve Davis became engaged. PinkNews has this story.

Amy Schneider is also profiled in People magazine as one of People’s Women Changing the World in 2022.

On Wednesday, the Texas Third Court of Appeals threw out the state’s appeal of a judge’s order to keep the Texas Department of Child and Protective Services from investigating a family with a transgender child. Although the state will probably appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, there is no certainty that that court will even take the case, and even if they do, the decision from the appeals court will carry a good bit of weight. The Associated Press has this story.

On Friday, Judge Amy Clark Meachum extended her temporary injunction stopping the investigation of a family with a transgender child for “child abuse.” The temporary injunction now forbids the Texas Department of Child and Protective Services from investigating any family for “child abuse” just because the family allows their child to receive gender-affirming care. This story comes from The Texas Tribune.

CNN reports that Texas was investigating nine families for “child abuse” because they approved gender-affirming medical care for their transgender child.

Amber Briggle, who once had Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife as dinner guests, with the hope of showing him that transgender kids are not the scary monsters that he makes them out to be, says that the “child abuse” nonsense is causing her hair to fall out. Her family has been investigated by the Texas Department of Child and Protective Services. She says, “Raising a transgender child in Texas has been one long political emergency.” The Advocate and The Texas Standard talked with her about this case.

NPR talked to two Texas mothers with transgender children about the emotional toll that comes from raising a transgender child in Texas. Mind you, that emotional toll is felt by parents of transgender children in several other states.

Some Texas families are trying to raise money online to move out of the state. LGBTQ Nation has this story. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this and other stories in this week’s round-up.

At the hearing on the legality of Governor Abbott’s classification of gender-affirming care for minors as “child abuse,” Assistant Attorney General Ryan Kercher said, “Despite the frankly breathless media coverage of these important issues, there has been no call to investigate all trans youth or all youth undergoing these gender affirming procedures or therapies. That’s not the case.” That seems to be true at the moment, but might not be true for long. The Dallas Morning News has this story.

Lia Thomas

A teammate of Lia Thomas gave an anonymous interview to News Nation Now in which she criticized the NCAA and others for allowing the transgender swimmer to compete as a woman. The National Review makes a lot out of this story.

Lawmakers in some other states are hoping to enact policies similar to the one in Texas. One such state is Ohio, where the SAFE act is currently under consideration in a legislative committee. (It seems as though members of the committee do not want to to deal with the measure, so they are stalling it.) Two pediatricians wrote to The Cleveland Plain Dealer in opposition to the SAFE act.

Idaho’s bill to outlaw gender-affirming care in minors passed the state House of Representatives. It threatens doctors with life in prison for offering to medically treat gender dysphoria in minors. It also threatens to punish parents who take their child to another state to receive medical care for gender dysphoria. The Human Rights Campaign has more on this bill. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

A doctor in Idaho talked to KTVB-TV about the importance of gender-affirming care in treating gender dysphoria in minors.

Mj Rodriguez

Michaela Jae Rodriguez was named one of Time magazine’s Women Of The Year, in a list that came out in connection with International Women’s Day. You can find the story at Time magazine. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

Although several Republican lawmakers are quite determined to pass these bans on gender-affirming care for minors, a new poll showed that self-identified Republicans are nearly evenly split on the issue. You can read about this in The 19th.

Lawmakers in Alabama are also are considering a ban on medical care of gender dysphoria in minors. A letter to The Montgomery Advertiser says that one family would move out of the state if they cannot get their daughter the transgender medical care that she needs.

Laws about transgender student athletes are also on the agendas of several state legislatures. Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox has said that he will veto that state’s measure. The votes in the legislature indicate that the measure does not have sufficient support to survive such a veto. NBC News has this story. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

Republicans in the Minnesota state legislature offered four bills as a so-called “Parents Bill of Rights.” KSTP-TV reports that there was a rally at the Capitol to show opposition to the measures.

South Dakota legislators have passed a bill that, if signed by Governor Kristi Noem, would ban the teaching of certain “divisive concepts” in colleges and universities. Gender identity and sexual orientation are among the “divisive concepts.” The Advocate has this story.

Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has passed both houses of the state legislature, and is headed to Governor DeSantis. It is the ultimate expression of the idea that sexual orientation and gender identity are choices. The Advocate has this story.

A “Don’t Say Gay” bill filed in the Georgia legislature also bans talk of “critical race theory,” which seems to be reclassified to cover a lot more material. This story comes from The Advocate.

Idaho also is considering a bill which could lead to jail time for librarians who allow minors to check out “objectionable material.” It reminds LGBTQ Nation of Russia’s law prohibiting LGBTQ “propaganda.” Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

An article in them lists all of the anti-LGBTQ measures htat are advancing in state legislatures.

An article in The Conversation observes that anti-transgender legislation is part of an agenda among Republicans.

Republican legislators in Arizona seem to be going in a different direction. So far, three anti-transgender bills have been defeated in the legislature, with just enough votes from Republicans to keep them from getting to the Governor. Among these are a bathroom bill and a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Matthew Spampinato, a 21-year-old trans man from New Castle, Delaware, was killed in a hit-and-run accident. This story comes from The Advocate. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

Isa Dessalines

People magazine put a story online about efforts to find a missing transgender woman named Isa Dessalines. Later that day, she turned up, telling a story about being kidnaped. 

An 83-year-old transgender woman in Brooklyn was charged with murdering and dismembering a woman. She has been convicted of murder and manslaughter previously. The Advocate has this story. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

More than 60 companies have urged Texas to drop its investigations into families with transgender children. Among them are Apple, Google, Meta, Johnson & Johnson, and Ikea. They signed an ad in The Dallas Morning News, according to Axios has this story.

Texas Children’s Hospital has decided to “pause” gender-affirming services for minors. This means that they are not issuing new prescriptions or refilling existing prescriptions. This story comes from them.

The LGBTQ&A podcast this week talks to Tanya Asapansa-Johnson about the problems of finding and receiving gender-affirming medical care. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

An article in The Des Moines Register says that transgender athletes may have little advantage or even no advantage over cisgender athletes.

Jamie Clayton

Eddie Izzard will play the title role in Doctor Jekyll. This time, though, it’s Dr. Nina Jekyll  who transforms into Ms. Hyde. This will be the actor’s first time on screen in a female role. Out.com has this story.

Jamie Clayton is playing Pinhead in the upcoming Hellraiser remake. It seems that the original book describes Cenobites, of which Pinhead is one, as androgynous demons with no human gender, according to Out.com.

Naked And Afraid has its first transgender woman contestant, Terra. They had a trans man as a contestant, but not a trans woman until now. This story comes from Yahoo.

Jackson Fox, the first Survivor contestant who is out as transgender at the start of the season, was eliminated early. He was sent home by the producers, according to Out.com. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

Tyler DiChiara will play Cullen Row, a transgender teen, in the new Batman spin-off series, Gotham Knights. This story comes from PinkNews.

Cullen Row is one of six transgender or non-binary heroes in a list by Out.com.

Blu Hydrangea talks to Out.com about the end of RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K. vs. the World and how toxic some Drag Race fans are.

KimChi

The drag queen KimChi has a new line of cosmetics, which will be sold at CVS. Out.com has this story.

Tahoe Pride is coming up later this month, and will feature drag queens skiing. You can read about it in Gay Cities.

In Britain, the Cass Review issued an interim report, urging that health care service to young transgender people be expanded significantly. A quick review of the report says that it failed to mention puberty blockers. PinkNews has this story.

The first wellness festival for “queer, questioning and curious women,” including transgender women and non-binary people, will be held in Wales on Pride weekend. This story comes from PinkNews.

The new Scottish reform of the Gender Recognition Act includes a penalty for “fraudulently” changing gender. Some supporters of reform are worried about how that term might be interpreted, according to PinkNews.

We think of health insurance for transgender people as an issue unique to the United States, but in fact, it is also an issue in India. MoneyControl has this story.

The Constitutional Court of Colombia has ordered the government to allow a non-binary marker on ID documents. This story comes from The Advocate.

Bulgarian television was interrupted for 20 minutes to show a cartoon of Vladimir Putin in drag, with the caption, “Make love, not war.” We are displeased at the thought of debasing drag through an association with Vladimir Putin, but we know how he hates LGBTQ people, so we are not too displeased. Out.com has this story.

We mentioned above (and will mention in the TWITs) how various state legislators and governors are disrespecting transgender people. PinkNews has a story from a South Dakota student, about how exhausting it is to fight the government so often.

The Catholic Church is rather split in attitude towards transgender people, sometimes accepting us (often as “frail”, “sinful” humans), often deriding us as “sinners” (despite the fact that the verses they use to defend the gender binary do not seem to say the same thing in the original Hebrew). A story from The AP shows transgender people being both accepted and rejected by Catholics in various parishes.

Sheri Swokowski

A transgender woman living in Wisconsin is the highest-ranking out veteran of the U.S. armed services. Sheri Swokowski retired as a full colonel. WTMJ-TV has a profile of her.

A story on NPR tells of how an aunt made a transgender person feel comfortable.

A transgender Texan wrote to Governor Abbott after his reclassification of gender-affirming medical care for minor as “child abuse”. The open letter tells the Governor that we transgender people will continue to exist, even if he and his state refuse to believe that we will exist.

TWITs

The Nebraska Family Alliance has gathered enough signatures to put the new revision to the Lincoln City Charter anti-discrimination law to the ballot. The revisions enhance the rights of veterans and the disabled, but the group objects most to protections given to transgender people. If the revision is rolled back, the previous version will be in place again, affecting several other groups of people. For demanding a right to discriminate, and for not caring who else gets hurt, the Nebraska Family Alliance gets a TWIT. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Florida state Senator Ileana Garcia defended voting for the “Don’t Say Gay” bill with the argument that being LGBTQ+ “is not permanent.” For ignoring the vast majority of research, state Senator Ileana Garcia gets a TWIT. This story comes from The Advocate.

J.K. Rowling again showed her TERF side, tweeting, “Apparently, under a Labour government today [International Women’s Day] will become We Who Must Not Be Named Day.” For overreacting so much that she goes into hyperbole, and for assigning bad intentions to others, J.K. Rowling gets another TWIT. The Advocate has the story of her tweet, while PinkNews mostly looks at reactions. Alyssa Washington sent us a link to this story.

The state of Texas filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, opposing their guidance on gender-affirming care to minors. For opposing every major medical group, and for opposing the science behind the opinions of those medical groups, the Texas Attorney General’s Office gets a TWIT. This story comes from The Advocate.

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