The Week In Trans 3/30/20

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West in the Pantene spot.

Drag queen Nina West, best known for her participation in season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, is the star of the newest commercial for Pantene, according to LGBTQ Nation. It’s a comedic spot that shows off West’s Pantene hair while she drives a tractor.

March 31 is the date for Transgender Day of Visibility. However, this year, many people are under stay-at-home orders. Many places, such as San Francisco, have postponed their Transgender Day of Visibility events. The Austin Chronicle reports that Gender Unbound will be held online this year. Transgender Student Education Resources has a list of things one can do on Transgender Day of Visibility. Obviously, many of us can’t go to a local event, so that first item is out. There are other things on the list, though.

Transgender Day of Visibility is important for transgender people, but it also is important for cisgender people. As UCLA Professor of Sociology Abigal C. Saguy explains in a commentary for LGBTQ Nation, visibility makes people aware that there are lots of us, and that makes it harder to support discrimination against us.

Alysa Washington sent TWIT a link to a YouTube video she says will help us stay elegant while we are trapped in our homes. And, for those who can doll up anytime they like why not be a lady of leisure instead of moping around the house in your sweat pants and t-shirt? The presenter is a cisgender lady and her video is called How To Look Elegant At Home.

March 31 is also Equal Pay Day. C. Nicole Mason, the president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, is calling attention to the fact that wage discrimination happens, and it often happens because of gender identity or sexual orientation. This story comes from The Advocate, who reminds us that transgender people have an unemployment rate three times higher than the national average.

Mona Foot

Nashom Wooden, who had a career in the New York City drag scene as Mona Foot, has died, apparently from COVID-19. Out magazine has this story.

The United States Justice Department filed a brief in the lawsuit that attempts to forbid transgender females from competing in girls’ athletics in Connecticut. The brief makes clear that the Department sides with the plaintiffs, who want to discriminate against transgender females. It refers to these transgender females as “biological males” who “publicly present as female.” Outsports has this story. Thanks to contributor Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

The Idaho state legislature has adjourned for its session, and the Governor has 10 days from adjournment to veto any bill that the legislature passed, before it becomes law. One such bill would prohibit transgender females from playing school sports, a matter which has not been shown to be a problem in the state of Idaho. The other prohibits the state from altering the listed sex on a birth certificate. John McCrostie, a state Representative in Idaho, urges the governor to veto these bills and to take action in an editorial for The Advocate.

Last year, a federal judge questioned whether the Illinois Department of Corrections was doing enough to provide a safe environment for transgender inmates. This week, a psychologist who works with the Department of Corrections told The Illinois Times that they are looking out for transgender inmates, and that they are doing things which might not occur to most people, but that “it takes time” to change the way things have always been done.

As we mentioned last week, transgender surgeries are being postponed during the current outbreak. This week, that even caught the attention of NBC News.

The disruptions caused by this virus can have special consequences for transgender people. Some rely on medical offices to help them administer their hormone injections, while for others the disruption to their social interactions could mean that they are stuck in an indifferent, unaccepting, or even hostile environment at home. Newsweek has that story.

Dr. Charlene McGowan

While Marvel Studios has been known to have tiny nods to LGBTQ characters, Marvel comics is unafraid to talk about the sexual orientation or gender identity of a character. In the comic The Immortal Hulk #32, a supporting character, Dr. Charlene McGowan, drops the announcement that she is transgender. It’s slightly complicated, because the story also includes a character who can implant false memories in people. Bounding Into Comics has this story.

The Pharmaceutical Journal has an article about how pharmacists and doctors should treat transgender patients.

We reported last week about a study of cancer broken down among cisgender men, cisgender women, transgender men, and transgender women. The transgender men had a higher rate of cancer than did cisgender men, and transgender people have a higher rate of diabetes and cardiovascular disease than do cisgender people. Those are among the findings from the study which were highlighted in CURE Today. They also point out that the study did not separate those who had hormone therapy from those who did not, nor those who had gender confirmation surgery from those who did not.

CURE also reports that textured breast implants from Allergan have been found to be associated with a new type of lymphoma. These implants were removed from the market last year, but removal from patients is not currently deemed necessary.

Veterans from all backgrounds, including transgender vets, are needed for an online study of their health and life experiences. The study is being conducted by researchers at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. Participants will be helping advance LGBT research. Click here to learn more.

Selenis Leyva of the cast of Orange Is The New Black says that working with Laverne Cox helped her to relate to her transgender sister. This story appears in People magazine.

Laganja Estranja

The closures due to the virus have forced some drag queens, such as Laganja Estranja, to do their shows through the Internet. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Michelle Visage, who has been a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race for some time now, says that if it was up to her, transgender drag queens would be welcome on the show, and so would cisgender woman who are drag queens. This story appears in Out magazine.

The closing of places such as pubs has meant that social groups cannot meet in person. This includes transgender social groups, such as transgender support groups. One transgender support group, Diamonds, which met in pubs was the only transgender support group for Cambridgeshire. Cambridgeshire has the story of the Diamonds.

Karachi is on a province-wide lockdown due to the coronavirus. However, a government official has been reassuring the transgender community that the government has not forgotten about them during this time. His efforts caught the attention of Human Rights Watch.

The coronavirus has been hard on transgender people in India and Pakistan. Transgender people in both nations often resort to begging, which they cannot do from home. However, they are trying to spread the word among themselves, and are trying to help each other. The New Indian Express has this story.

A transgender activist in Egypt was profiled by the AP, and the story appears on NBC News.

Jacob Edward made history last year as the first non-binary presenter on the BBC, has launched a new service for people stuck at home during the lockdown in Britain. The name of the service is Validation Station, and that seems to be what it provides as well. Among other things, the service provides a daily feel-good message. Pink News has this story.

Munroe Bergdorf

A man wrote to Munroe Bergdorf, assuming that she would not read what he wrote and if she did, she wouldn’t respond. However, she responded kindly, and it took him by surprise. She suggested he disagreed with her because he did not understand her, and she calmly helped him to understand transgender people better. This story comes from Pink News. Thanks to reader Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

TWITs

Adam Harry is the first transgender man with a pilot’s license in India. However, he received a letter telling him that he was unfit for flying for the time being. One of the listed medical reasons was gender dysphoria. For misunderstanding this condition, the Diroctorate Genera of Civil Aviation’s Medical Assessment Board gets a TWIT. The New Indian Express has this story.

A group in Ghana calling itself Peace Mission has a prayer for relief of COVID-19. The prayer includes a section which blames the virus on “our sins,” including “homosexuality, lesbianism, transgender.” These are said to be among “the most abominable acts.” For failing to confess your own sins, but instead reading someone else’s’ sins as “most abominable,” the people behind Ghana Peace Mission get a TWIT Award.

Lord Lucas filed 21 separate questions on transgender issues, apparently in order to give a sign that he would not be voting in the affirmative on a change to the Gender Recognition Act, if reform of that act ever comes before the House of Lords. For taking up time with a matter not even under consideration at this time, Lord Lucas gets a TWIT Award. You can read about this in Pink News.

Janice Turner, who somehow still is employed by the Times of London as a columnist, accused Mermaids of “a major safeguarding breach” regarding “vulnerable children,” whom she accused the charity of “grooming.” Right away we know this is hogwash, as anyone remotely connected to reality knows that there is no grooming being done (unless one means personal hygiene type of grooming). The charity recently added an escape button, which in their case takes the user straight to Wikipedia. The button can be pressed if one is in fear of being discovered on the site, and one does not want to be out just yet. Ms. Turner accused the site of “Encouraging minors to hide online searches from parents.” Obviously, this escape button only works on their site, so her only complaint is that the children are not letting parents know that they visited this site. (Apparently, she doesn’t know of other ways that parents can find out what sites their children have visited, or of ways that they could block the children from visiting certain sites.) For bad logic and a lack of understanding about the Web, Janice Turner gets a TWIT. Pink News has this story.

Mumsnet has long been a hangout for anti-transgender types, and it seems that some of them are opposed to the whole LGBTQ community. One mother in particular is upset because children in Britain are creating rainbows to put in their windows while in lockdown. Apparently, she assumes that all of these children associate the rainbow with the LGBTQ community, or something. For making too much of something harmless, she gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from Pink News.

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, Laverne Cox, Mona Foot, Munroe Bergdorf, news, Nina West, Transgender, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News