The Week In Trans 5/17/21

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In the new movie Together Together, Patti Harrison plays a cisgender woman, a part that was not written specifically for a transgender actress. She wants Hollywood to stop pigeonholing transgender people as only able to play transgender characters (especially sex workers). This story comes from The Advocate.

Dr. Rachel Levine is profiled in The New York Times. The article includes a mention of anti-transgender legislation introduced this year.

Them reports there are seven other transgender athletes besides Laurel Hubbard who might appear in the Olympics this year. That includes at least two non-binary athletes.

In a widely-anticipated move, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that once again, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act protects against discrimination on the basis of gender identity. It is covered under the protection against discrimination on the basis of sex. NPR has this story.

The Reverend Megan Rohrer was elected as Bishop for the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They will lead a group of congregations in parts of northern California and Nevada. This marks the first time an openly transgender person has become a bishop, according to CNN. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this and other stories this week.

The Oregon state legislature passed a ban on gay and trans-panic defenses in criminal cases. The legislation received only one “no” vote in the state Senate, and was passed unanimously in the House. It now goes to Governor Kate Brown, who is an out bisexual. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Owen J. Horcum was elected mayor of Bangor, Wales. He is only 22, but what makes him even more unusual is that he maybe the first non-binary mayor in the world. (Stu Rasmussen was the first transgender mayor.) This story comes from them. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this and other stories.

PinkNews noted that there have been more anti-LGBT+ laws passed in U.S. states this year than any other year in U.S. history, and it is only May. While that is true, the fact that many conservative states have part-time legislatures means that social conservative legislation will be heavier in the early part of the year.

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More news about anti-transgender state laws can be found here.

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Although the transgender athlete bill in Louisiana failed to gather enough votes to get out of the House Education Committee, the state Senate approved it. The House Education Committee approved the bill the second time it came up, so it made its way to the floor of the House. Governor John Bel Edwards has said that he will veto the legislation, as WBRZ reports.

The Alabama chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians tells AL.com that Alabama’s proposed ban on transgender surgery is so broad that it could possibly forbid circumcision.

This Thursday was the deadline for legislation to be introduced onto the floor of the Texas House of Representatives. The bill which would have outlawed medical or surgical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors failed to be introduced on the floor of the House. However, it could still come up since the state Senate has introduced a similar bill, and that could come to the House. The Texas Tribune has this story.

Them has a list of groups which will sue if Texas bans medical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors.Most of them are LGBTQ advocacy groups, so they will be suing over other anti-LGBTQ legislation as well.

Kimberly Shappley writes for them that the slate of anti-LGBTQ legislation, such as in the state of Texas, could lead to her being charged with child abuse for allowing her daughter to socially transition, shows the need for the Equality Act.

KUHT public radio did a feature on the human toll of anti-transgender legislation on Houston Matters.

Sophie Arrieta Vasquez was shot to death in her apartment in Brookhaven near Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that there was a vigil demanding justice for her. Police are actively investigating the shooting.

Whispering Wind Bear Spirit, a non-binary person, was killed in a robbery attempt in York, Pennsylvania. This story comes from The Advocate.

Sunday Hinton is a transgender woman currently housed in a men’s prison in Washington, D.C. Although she was identified as a woman in court, she was sent to a men’s facility, charged with an unarmed attempted burglary of $20. The ACLU is suing the DC Department of Corrections. The Hill has this story.

Ashley Diamond is suing the Georgia Department of Corrections for placing her in a men’s prison. She wrote about the experience in them.

The family of Roxsana Hernandez, who passed away while housed at an immigration facility, has filed suit against the federal government. The Washington Blade has this story.

The Trans Resilience Fund is going to donate $170,000 to help transgender people in the post-pandemic period. This story comes from them.

The Idaho Human Rights Commission has ruled that the City of Boise discriminated against a transgender library employee. They were fired followed a social media post and an exchange in which a patron objected to pride merchandise in a library display. Boise Dev has this story.

The Washington Blade reports that Caitlyn Jenner’s campaign for Governor of California is receiving mixed reviews, even from transgender Republicans. A new poll shows that she has the votes of only 13% of Republicans and 6% of the voters overall. The Advocate has this story.

Caitlyn Jenner said that she was too busy golfing on election day, and did not even bother to vote, yet records show she did indeed cast a ballot in last year’s election. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Several companies, including JP Morgan, GM, CVS, and Walgreens, have joined a campaign opposing anti-transgender legislation at the state level. This brings most of the top 50 companies from the Fortune 500 into opposition to such legislation. Yahoo Finance has this story.

Forbes reports that a new campaign is trying to raise awareness of issues regarding transgender people opening accounts at financial institutions.

An opinion piece at NBC Sports points out that transgender women pose a much lesser threat to women’s sports than does the lack of equality with men’s sports.

Last month, the NCAA said that it opposed bans on transgender athletes in girls’ sports. However, this week the group announced the sites for its women’s softball tournaments, and Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee all host first-round games. It should be pointed out that the NCAA no doubt had been working on these sites before this year’s legislation was passed. It will be telling to see if such places get tournaments after this year. The Los Angeles Blade has this story.

The Silence Of The Lambs got a bad representationover a character whom the script identified as “transsexual” (but “not a real transsexual”). This week, the new series Clarice started trying to rectify that, with Jen Richards as both a transgender actress (playing a transgender character) and a consultant. They also hired Eleanor Jean to give some transgender representation on the writing staff, and both were respected in the creation of this story arc. The Advocate has the story.

The list of top LGBTQ films and shows to screen in May contains at least a couple with trans themes. You can find the list at them.

E! announced that Laverne Cox will be the new host of the network’s coverage of red carpet events. Long-time host Giuliana Rancic is moving on to other projects at NBC Universal. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Elliot Page has resumed working on The Umbrella Academy. Pictures can be found at The Daily Mail.

Jazz Jennings, Trixie Mattel, and Jake and Hanna Graf are among the people announced for the Taimi Talks event. It premiered on Sunday. PinkNews has this story.

Disney has announced a reboot of The Proud Family. This time, they have a couple of gay dads, and the roll of Michael will now be voiced by Magic Johnson’s non-binary child, E.J. You can see a first look at the characters at Entertainment Weekly.

Steven Canals tweeted that the idea of a Pose prequel is being floated, and them thinks it’s a great idea.

Marvel Comics is coming out with special Star Wars comics for Pride this year. They feature some LGBTQ characters from the extended Star Wars universe, including a pair of non-binary twins. Them has a preview of the covers.

KUNC public radio did a feature on the new book Going to Trinidad, about Dr. Stanley Bieber and his surgical practice, which included a lot of gender confirmation surgery.

Mj Rodriguez and Maya Rudolph are teaming up for a new comedy, according to Variety.

Busy Phillips is the mother of a non-binary child, who uses they/them pronouns. The actress had to inform her mother of their pronouns. She said, “Here’s the deal. You don’t have to understand it”. Apparently, that worked. This story comes from Health magazine.

In her speech opening the new session of Parliament, Queen Elizabeth II announced that her government would ban conversion therapy. Since the speech is actually written by the majority party, it can be read that it is the wish of the Conservative Party to ban conversion therapy. PinkNews has this story, while them points out the possibility that there will be religious exemptions, and the lack of any mention of high levels of transphobia in the U.K.

After the speech, there was a clarification that the ban on conversion therapy will come after a public consultation. Critics say that the consultation is unnecessary, according to PinkNews.

At a meeting of the Women and Equalities Select Committee of the British Parliament, Dr. Harriet Hutchinson said that the NHS gender clinics need to be scrapped. She thinks that primary care doctors should both diagnose and prescribe treatment for gender dysphoria. While this sounds good in theory, it is hard to see how the strain of transphobia running through Britain could be kept from primary care physicians. PinkNews has this story.

The new plan which was introduced to the Women and Equalities Select Committee would take patients on the waiting list for a gender clinic and have them seen by a pilot scheme. Each would have patients seen and evaluated by medical professionals, but not by the specialists at the gender clinic itself. This story comes from Pink News.

Phalloplasty, the operation to give a trans man a penis, is not happening in the U.K. There is only one practice which performs the surgery there, and that practice has not resumed the surgery since all non-emergency surgery was suspended during the last lock down. PinkNews has this story.

In Cameroon, two transgender women were jailed for “attempted homosexuality.” The BBC has the story.

A group of men forced three transgender women to undress, then beat and robbed them at a bar in Cotonou, Benin. this was all caught on video. Details come from Amnesty International.

Trans teen Andi Bernabe granted the BBC the right to look into his life for a year and the result is a documentary on BBC Reel. The BBC has a preview.

Sami Sikanas shared the ups and downs of transitioning during a pandemic in a story for them.

Parents of a four-year-old transgender child shared their story with the British television show This Morning. PinkNews reports.

Last week was Mother’s Day, and the Human Rights Campaign published messages from several of the mothers to their LGBTQ children. Many of the mothers featured this year have transgender children, and are on the HRC’s Parents for Transgender Equality National Council. This story can be found in The Advocate.

Representative Pramila Jayapal is a congresswoman from Seattle and the mother of a transgender child. She tweeted her pride in her transgender child, and got more than 47,000 likes. PinkNews has this story.

Katie A. Jenifer, the mother of a transgender child, wrote her U.S. Senator a letter to let him know how much the Equality Act would mean, especially in this year, as states enact anti-LGBTQ legislation. She also published it as an open letter in The Advocate.

An article in them suggests that we describe common, everyday activities as “so trans,” in the hope that soon being trans will seem so ordinary it will not hold special significance.

Universal Pictures hired a male actor to dub Laverne Cox’s voice into Italian. This occurred during the preparation for the release of Promising Young Woman in Italy. The release was delayed when the matter became public. The Guardian has this story.

TWITs

Madeleine Kearns of National Review heard about the parents of the four-year-old transgender child who appeared on British television, and wrote a short piece denouncing it. She claims that the child’s statement, at age two, “I’m not a girl, I think I’m a boy,” “these days, is enough to make it so.” First, that statement did not occur once, but many, many times. It was not a passing thing, but obviously was a deeply held belief. Secondly, this child has been evaluated by experts in gender care, and this is based on a reasonable understanding of gender roles in society. What actually comes from a place of ignorance is not the child’s statement of his gender identity, but rather, Madeleine Kearns’s insistence that this cannot be accurate. Madeleine Kearns gets another TWIT Award.

A priest in Poland has claimed that he can “cure” homosexuality through the use of electroshock therapy. Perhaps worse, a Deputy Minister supports him in the matter. Yes, electroshock therapy can be used to create an aversion to something that was previously pleasurable for a person, but it cannot create a preference for that which one does not prefer, and moreover, there are often bad side effects to this sort of therapy. The priest’s diagnosis of homosexuality as a mental disorder is inconsistent with established psychology and psychiatry. And yes, he does feel that being transgender is a form of homosexuality. For practicing medicine without a license, and for treating God’s children and citizens of the nation with less than due respect, this priest and this minister get a TWIT Award. The Barricade has this story.

Texas state Representative Harold Dutton Jr. got upset that a bill he sponsored was unable to get out of the House Education Committee. In retaliation, he backed the state’s transgender athlete bill, which was also stalled in that committee. For endangering the lives of others out of spite, state Representative Harold Dutton Jr. gets a TWIT Award. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Tony Perkins is upset that actual doctors, who have treated actual transgender patients, tend to support their patients, rather than agree with him in thinking that transgender people are mentally ill. He is especially upset that the Biden administration listens to the doctors instead of listening to him. For an excess of ego, and for failing to recognize either science or the limits of his own knowledge, Tony Perkins gets a TWIT. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

A doctor who specializes in plastic surgery wrote to AL.com in support of that state’s bill that would prevent doctors from medically treating gender dysphoria in minors. He claims that there is no evidence to support medical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors, when in fact, there are nearly no studies that conclude it does not work. He complains about the “explosion” of diagnoses of gender dysphoria, but fails to realize the increase has similarities to at least two other diagnoses that have seen increasing numbers lately. Like patients with erectile dysfunction, patients with gender dysphoria are both more willing to talk to their doctors about their condition, and more aware of the existence of medical treatments for their condition. Also, just as doctors (and parents) are more able to recognize autism in females, so doctors (and parents) are more able to recognize gender dysphoria in children. He also talks about the lack of research on desisters, even though that is an area with nearly no evidence. For ignoring real evidence and just giving his opinions, the author of this editorial gets a TWIT Award.

A retired judge from the Old Bailey wrote a piece for Policy Exchange, in which he argued that groups with a known anti-transgender policy, such as the LGB Alliance, should get a seat at the table when hate crime is being revised. For equating anti-transgender groups with good policy, and for inviting the people who are misbehaving to write the rules for when they can be punished, this judge 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