The Week In Trans 4/13/20

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.

Abby Stein

Film production company Rogo Productions has sold the distribution rights for a new film/series called Abby to a company called Fugitive. The project is based on the life story of Abby Stein, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbi who transitioned into a female. This notice comes from Variety.

The state of Virginia will get a third gender option on driver’s licenses and state ID cards on July 1. Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill into law last week. While The Washington Blade refers to this as a “non-binary” option, it will use a “U” for “undefined” or an “X” for the gender.

CNS News finds that Joe Biden’s plan entitled “A Plan to End Violence Against Women” includes a “push to provide federal funding for local efforts to meet the needs of transgender communities.” The plan explains that the push is needed because transgender people are often the victims of domestic violence.

A week after Idaho got a new law banning transgender and intersex women from participating in sports for school teams of girls or women, them talked to Dr. Vinny Chulani, the Director of the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Adolescent Medicine Program and a doctor who often deals with LGBTQ+ patients. As might be expected, he sees several problems with the new law. He points out that there is no medical evidence that transgender women have an athletic advantage. Arizona’s state House has passed a similar bill.

Idaho Governor Brad Little talked to KTVB-TV about recently-passed legislation, including the two anti-transgender bills he just signed into law. He admits to only reading parts of the Attorney General’s opinion, stating that the law forbids updating the sex listed on birth certificates. Apparently, he doesn’t mind signing a law which is likely unconstitutional and which is certain to be challenged in court, at significant expense to the state.

Christine Halquist

Christine Hallquist, who ran for governor of Vermont, has tested positive for COVID-19, according to The Advocate.

The State Press, a student newspaper of Arizona State University, has a story about how the experiences of transgender students can be different for each individual, and what services are available to them.

A lieutenant in the Navy is suing to prevent being forced out of the service after transitioning from male to female following the President’s ban on transgender people in the military. This story appears in Minnesota Lawyer.

Gay Star News researched statements by President Trump’s new press secretary. They found that she supports bathroom bans of transgender people, on grounds that trans people in the bathroom pose a safety threat to cisgender children.

We are saddened to report that Henrietta Robinson, a transgender woman and an activist, passed away from complications of COVID-19, which she contracted in the hospital after hernia surgery. Pink News has this story.

Jamii Erway was ready to board a plane at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina. She had a ticket and valid ID, and her mother was there with her. But, the TSA would not let her board the plane after the scanner gave a false positive reading. According to her lawsuit, the agents would not rescan her after she said she is transgender, but instead they made her go to a private room and let the supervisor touch her genitals. NewNowNext has this story.

Martins

J F do Nacimento Martins went out drinking with friends, but never came home. The Brazilian transgender woman was gunned down in the street. Pink News reports that police are continuing to search for a suspect, but are hampered by uncooperative witnesses. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

The Trevor Project has put out a new guide on how to be an ally to transgender and non-binary people, and it reached the mainstream press in the form of an article in Forbes.

Two doctors from Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami did a review of their charts, for a paper to be presented at the Endocrine Society’s meeting. They looked at the prevalence of mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and PTSD, in adolescents with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The results are summarized in Healio.

The Leading Innovation for Transgender Women’s Health and Empowerment study took a look at how many transgender women are practicing PrEP. The answer was, not enough. Pharmacy Times has am overview of this study.

The COVID-19 crisis has hit transgender people especially hard. The Advocate notes that LGBTQ+ youth are often at rick, and that transgender youth are experiencing ever greater burdens. Pink News has a story about a letter sent from seven groups to the U.S. government and the government of California, urging them to provide special assistance to transgender people during this crisis.

Saff Saffery

Esquire has an interview with Saff Saffery of the popular show Tiger King.

Money Heist dropped some new episodes on Netflix. One of the characters was revealed to be transgender. Since it seems that this plot twist was in the plans from the start, people have taken to social media, asking if the producers couldn’t have hired a transgender actress for the part. The Sun has this story.

Paramount has decided to reboot the Power Rangers franchise, even though the movie released three years ago failed to find its audience. This time, one of the Power Rangers will be a transgender female, sources told We Got This Covered.

Andy Winder, a sophomore at Brigham Young University, wrote a blog post about how Star Trek, and specifically Spock, helped him to realize he was a transgender man. This is in spite of his Mormon faith. You can find a story about this at Comic Sands.

Although Britain’s lockdown has postponed Scotland’s efforts to reform the Gender Recognition Act, CNN has an article about those efforts.

Marin

For the first time ever, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled that a country is guilty of torture against the LGBT community. The case involved a transgender woman who was raped while being detained by police in Peru. Azul Rojas Marin will receive monetary compensation from the government. This story comes from the Thompson Reuters Trust. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Marni Panas, a transgender woman, says she was repeatedly misgendered when she made a 911 call to ask police to look into why her transgender friend had not checked in with her as they had arranged. The dispatcher misgendered Ms. Panas, and assumed her friend was a sex worker. When she made a complaint to a police officer she knows, she says the officer was apologetic when talking with her, but did not bother to file the paperwork for a formal complaint. The matter is now before the Alberta Human Rights Commission. You can read the entire story at The Edmonton Journal.

In Faisalabad, Pakistan, a transgender boy was raped and murdered. Police have arrested a suspect, but have not identified the suspect. The young transgender man who was killed was a Christian, in a country where most of the people are Muslim. You can read about this in UCA News.

The lockdown to prevent the COVID-19 virus has been especially hard for transgender people who are lucky to have jobs in beauty parlors or other low-paying service jobs. The closure of these jobs means a loss of income for them, the normally luckiest among transgender people. The Express Tribune has this story. Transgender people in India are in also in a particularly bad spot, according to The Hindu.

Our Lady J

Bollywood actress Shruti Haasan is using quarantine time to host an Instagram talk show. She is interviewing female artistes from music and film and one of her first guests is transgender musician Our Lady J. Learn more from Mid-Day.

In the Indian state of Karataka, the High Court ordered the government to pay each transgender person two months worth of pension in advance, to make up for earnings lost due to the lockdown. This report comes from News Minute.

Governor Ralph Northam has signed the Virginia Values Act, making Virginia the first state in the South to enact comprehensive protections for the LGBTQ community against discrimination in housing, employment, public spaces, and credit applications. MSN News has more information.

TWITs

A transgender woman in Indonesia was doused in gasoline and set on fire. Police in Indonesia have identified six suspects, but have not charged them with murder, as the police do not believe that the suspects meant to kill the woman. For rushing to reduce the charges, the Indonesian police get a TWIT Award. NBC News has the Reuters story.

Six candidates are suing the Brooklyn Democratic Party, alleging that the party filled in their genders when they had deliberately not put a gender on their candidate applications. Since there is no office in New York which is specified to be reserved for one gender, the listing of a gender is unnecessary. For falsifying the forms of these candidates, the Brooklyn Democratic Party gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from Pink News.

Jonathon Van Maren writes in LifeSiteNews, “When a real crisis hits transgender silliness is revealed for what it is.” He still hasn’t felt that this crisis shows how bad it is to fail to listen to experts who know what is going on, especially doctors. And, in proclaiming medical science’s findings on gender “silliness,” he shows that he still does not acknowledge experts. For projection, and using a crisis as an excuse to continue to bully, Jonathon Van Maren gets a TWIT Award.

Andrea Jones writes in The Washington Examiner that “Ideology is endangering transgender lives from coronavirus.” However, the ideology she bemoans is not the ideology of a White House and Senate which just cannot bother to care about how its policies affect the people. No, it is “radical gender ideology” which is endangering us. “Radical” in this case means that which science has found works better than the ideology which Andrea Jones, the Heritage Foundation, and the Washington Examiner believe in. For putting their own ideology ahead of what is best for people, and for projection, Andrea Jones and the Washington Examiner get a TWIT.

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