The Week In Trans 5/24/21

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Caitlyn Jenner’s campaign for Governor of California continues to receive the wrong kind of publicity. A right-wing podcast, Ruthless, called her campaign a “completely unorganized s***show” and a “disappointment of the highest order.” LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Twitter announced this week that it would add pronouns to user profiles. It will be alongside other details like date of birth, job title, and current location. PinkNews has this story.

A new study shows that 9.2% of teenagers do not identify as a part of the gender binary. This contrasts with the CDC’s figure of 1.8% of teenagers identified as transgender. The new study shows that many who do not use the label “transgender” to describe themselves nonetheless do not identify with either male or female exclusively. This study comes from Pediatrics, and the results are summarized in them.

Homecoming is usually held in the fall, but this year. the University of Oklahoma held homecoming in the spring. (They will likely have another homecoming in the fall; this one was delayed from last fall.) They did away with “homecoming king” and “homecoming queen,” and instead had “homecoming royalty.” When Oklahoma is doing away with gendered titles, it must be a trend. Them reports the first pair of “homecoming royalty” are both male.

Last Monday was International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. Recently, Intersexphobia has been added to the list. President Biden and Secretary of State Andrew Blinken tweeted about this day, which is quite a departure from the former president. President Biden’s statement even acknowledges “an epidemic of violence still rages, with a particular impact on the transgender community, specifically transgender women and girls of color.” He also called on the Senate to pass the Equality Act. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this and other stories this week.

The Alabama legislature adjourned for the year, without passing a ban on medical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors. Alabama was the first state to propose such a ban, but the state House of Representatives did not pass the bill. This story comes from the Associated Press. LGBTQ Nation reports that another bill which died as the Alabama legislature adjourned would have forced teachers to inform the parents if their children exhibited transgender behavior. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

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More stories about the anti-transgender laws being introduced at the state level may be found here.

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Currently, a lawsuit joined by more than two dozen students and the Department of Education, seeks to stop religious schools from discriminating against LGBTQ students while accepting federal money. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Washington, D.C., passed a ban on gay–and transgender–panic as a legal defense. However, the city has to have its laws reviewed by Congress, and there was a delay in delivering this legislation for review, due to a new security fence around the Capitol. The upshot is that no one knows when this legislation will take effect, according to The Washington Blade.

Violence against transgender people, especially transgender women of color, continues to be a problem. Puerto Rico has had a large problem with anti-transgender violence. This became a talking point in a USA Today podcast.

Serenity Hollis, a 24-year-old Black transgender woman, was killed in Albany, Georgia. Find the story on them.

Murders of transgender people are not limited to the U.S. Ebeng Mayor was a trans man who was raped and killed in the Philippines. Out magazine has this story.

Police in Brookhaven, Georgia, have a suspect in the murder of Sophie Vasquez earlier this month. Federal, state, and local police are looking for the suspect according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The 19th reports that some experts say that LGBTQ-inclusive sex education could be a help in reducing homicides of transgender people.

A new app called Lavender Book could help black LGBTQ people to find safe places, and warn them when a place is unsafe. This story comes from them.

A jail in Washington, D.C., has decided to move Sunday Hinton, who is accused in the attempted theft of $20, to the women’s area of the jail. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

CNN reports that a transgender prisoner in New Jersey, Rae Rollins, is suing over the way she was placed in a men’s prison, despite being listed as a woman in the state’s records.

A federal judge in Washington has ruled that the records of transgender inmates in that state’s prisons be sealed, pending a fuller review. News agencies had been asking to obtain those records, for a story on these transgender prisoners. Wenatchee World has this story.

A man claims that the New Orleans police did not hire him simply because he is transgender. Records show that he was initially hired before being rejected, according to WDSU-TV.

A federal judge in West Virginia denied a motion to throw out a lawsuit demanding that the state cover transgender healthcare as part of Medicaid. Metro Weekly has this story.

USA Today has a story about transgender men who gave birth.

The Center for Applied Transgender Study has been founded by several universities, including Northwestern University. This caught the attention of The Daily Northwestern.

The House of Rebirth is a resource center for transgender women in Dallas. It has information on plenty of topics of interest to transgender women, and it allows some transgender women to stay while they work on some needed changes in their lives. The Dallas Morning News has more.

Tyler Titus is a member of the school board in Erie, Pennsylvania; he was the first transgender person elected in Erie. He is now running for the Erie County Executive, and he won his primary this week. This story comes from Go Erie.

A new survey by YouGov finds that only half of U.K. workers are certain their employer is LGBTQ inclusive. The same survey found that only about five percent said they would be “very uncomfortable” if an LGBTQ co-worker discussed their identity at work, while another nine percent said they would be “fairly uncomfortable” in that situation. PinkNews has this story.

Out magazine tells how United Airlines helped a transgender flight attendant find her voice.

An editorial in The Lancet provides arguments against laws which ban the medical treatment of gender dysphoria.

The New England Journal of Medicine has an article which outlines a defense for the medical treatment of gender dysphoria in certain transgender youth.

Research has found that transgender men have been discouraged from getting exams for cervical cancer, despite the risk. PinkNews has this story.

Mental health among transgender people is the topic of an article in Medical News Today.

An article in Men’s Health says that the transgender community lacks good nutrition advice.

Nordstrom has agreed to fund hormone therapy for some transgender people, as its contribution to Pride. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Hailey Davidson won a golf tournament in which some professional golfers were playing, and hopes to soon be eligible to play in the LPGA. Her story is in Golf Week.

Former WWE star Gabbi Tuft hopes that her story helps to educate other people. Yahoo News has a profile of her.

The French Rugby Federation has broken with World Rugby, and will allow transgender women to compete as women, under certain conditions. The Associated Press has this story.

Charlie Martin, who is still trying to become the first transgender woman to compete in the Le Mans auto race, came out in defense of transgender girls in sports. This story comes from CNN International.

In the documentary movie Changing The Game, transgender student athletes explain what sports mean to them, and why they want to participate. Them has this story.

A professor of ethics tries to find a way that transgender athletes can compete while preserving fairness in an article for The Conversation.

The New York Liberty have cut Layshia Clarendon, the first out non-binary transgender person to play in the WNBA. This news appears in them.

The Popcast for The New York Times looks at the re-emergence of transgender musician Beverly Glenn-Copeland.

Demi Lovato declared they are non-binary this week. Some of us noticed a few hints before this, but were not entirely sure. Thanks for clearing this up. Them has this story.

Nikkie De Jager–known as NikkieTutorials on YouTube, has become the first out transgender person to host the Eurovision Song Contest. She hosted the first semifinal round last Tuesday. This story comes from PinkNews. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for the link to this story.

The film Joychild is a documentary about transgender youth, focusing on one particular transgender child telling their story. It had its premiere at the Milwaukee Film Festival, according to WISN-TV.

The reboot of Sex and the City added non-binary actor Sara Ramirez to the cast. the Advocate has this story.

Kacen Callender wrote a book called Sunset Springs specifically for the audiobook format. In the story, a transgender man returns to his hometown. It is available on Audible.com, and is reviewed by The Advocate.

The Advocate has a list of podcasts they like, including podcasts from Laverne Cox and Shakina Nayfack.

Mj Rodriguez told Stephen Colbert this week that she is working on a comic book. Out.com has this story.

Billy Porter will appear as the Fairy Godmother in a new musical version of Cinderella. A preview of the character appears in Entertainment Weekly.

The upcoming film Everybody’s Talking About Jamie tells the story of a high school student who wants to perform as a drag queen. The movie has had its release date delayed at least three times due to the pandemic, but now it’s back to being a fall release, on Amazon Prime Video. Them has this story.

Felicia “Flames” Elizondo, a drag queen and transgender activist, passed away at age 74. Originally from Texas, she moved to San Francisco and appeared in the Queen’s Revue. HIV-Plus has a story about her life.

Trixie Mattel has a TV show coming up called Trixie Motel, on which she will create a drag motel in Palm Springs. The show will appear on Discovery+, according to Out.com.

Bimini Bon Boulash is a drag queen who appeared on Drag Race UK this year. They made headlines when they announced they are non-binary. In an interview this week, they announced they were certain at a young age that they are non-binary. PinkNews has this story.

Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union told Entertainment Weekly that they pushed Zaya to live authentically from age three.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Beast, Stephen King talks of how J.K. Rowling blocked him after he came out in support of transgender women.

Although the pandemic is getting better, and some things are returning toward normal, WorldPride and EuroGames, which will be held in Copenhagen and Sweden, will scale back events, at the requests of the Danish and Swedish governments. The events are scheduled for August 12-22, as Out Traveler.

PinkNews reports that sweeping reforms of the Gender Recognition Act were planned, but those plans were dropped because of objections from the Government Equalities Office. PinkNews has this story.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government do not have plans to recognize the gender identity of non-binary people, as they feel it is too “complex” to introduce at this time. This story comes from PinkNews.

May is the month of Louise Lawrence’s 109th birthday. She was a transgender pioneer who began living full-time as a woman in 1942, first in the Berkeley, CA, then San Francisco. The Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive is dedicated to her and is available to anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the transgender community. The Archive is running a fundraiser all month and needs your support. Make a donation online.

A judicial review in Northern Ireland found that a transgender person could change their legal gender marker without a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. PinkNews has this story.

Girlguiding, the British version of the Girl Scouts, proclaimed it is “proudly trans inclusive.” They say, “Simply being trans does not make someone a risk.” PinkNews has this story.

In the United States, we sometimes talk of a Blue Wall, voters in the upper midwest who vote for Democrats. In Britain, they have a Red Wall, ridings which vote for the Conservative Party. The view has been that voters in these areas tend to be socially conservative, especially on issues such as transgender rights. In reality, the percentage who oppose reform of the GRA is about the same in Red Wall areas as it is in the rest of the country, according to a new survey by YouGov.

Timothy Brown, of the Metropolitan Police Force in London, was given what he was told is his final warning that he had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour by insulting a transgender person. He also breached the standard by calling into question a fellow officer’s ability to do her duty, according to The Evening Standard.

A hearing of a committee of Parliament was told that some doctors told transgender women to wear more makeup or wear more “feminine” clothing, in order to receive medical care. Business Insider has this story.

A general practitioner in Britain upset some people by posting a picture of “TERF repellent” to Instagram. This story comes from The Express.

A pride flag painted on a crosswalk at a Canadian school was vandalized with anti-LGBTQ graffiti. The Advocate has this story.

The San Francisco Bay Times has a first-hand account of coming out as a trans man in Israel.

The Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council fined a streaming service and forced them to remove a program which presented a transgender woman in a positive light. The show was an interview with actress and model Cagla Akalin. PinkNews has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

The Indian Express has a story about a drive to register transgender people for COVID vaccinations.

Some Iranians are wearing the Rainbow Flag to register their displeasure with the government for beheading a gay man. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Iran’s government allows transgender people to receive medical treatment, including gender confirmation surgery, but has not allowed social transitioning. Deutsche Weldt has a story about transitioning in a very conservative country.

Benny Briolly, a trans woman who was elected to a City Council in Brazil, wrote on Twitter that she is in temporary exile due to death threats she has received. This story comes from PinkNews. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Kelsey Sproat is an influencer on social media. She began her gender transition in her late 40s. CBC News has her story.

This week, the New York City Pride board decided that uniformed police should not participate in Pride. Chelsea Manning told the story of how she and others were “attacked with riot gear and pepper spray” at a 2020 Pride event. PinkNews has the story.

The Christian Medical and Dental Associations has come out with a statement which urges its members to be more sensitive to their transgender patients, while at the same time urging them to hold firm to personal and professional convictions around biological sex. It sounds like a baby step forward. This story comes from Christianity Today.

An editorial in The Advocate asks who is fighting against the economic oppression of LGBTQ people.

A story in UNAIDS has a story about how a grandmother in Lesotho changed her transgender grandchild’s life with her love, which spread to community acceptance.

A story in LGBTQ Nation tells of the direct line from the Stonewall Riot to the first Pride, while another story in LGBtQ Nation connects Pride events of the 1970s with LGBTQ activism.

Lego introduced its first Pride-themed set, and it includes figures and blocks in the colors of the Transgender Pride Flag, as well as the rainbow colors of the LGBTQ Pride Flag, plus black and brown. The theme is, “Everyone is awesome.” Out.com has this story.

Willie Norris is a fashion designer best known for t-shirts. Her latest is a collection of menswear reimagined from a transgender perspective. This story can be found at them.

Lori Duron talked about how she and her husband Matt are raising their gender-creative child, CJ, in an interview with The Advocate.

Thousands of people have signed a petition urging a high school in Georgia to allow a transgender student to have his preferred name on his diploma. This story comes from 11 Alive.

TWITs

Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee signed into law his state’s prohibition on medical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors. He also signed into law a bill that requires businesses to put a public notice on a restroom which can be shared by transgender people in the gender with which they identify. The latter law shows that the former comes, not from a concern for transgender minors who might regret their gender change, but from prejudice. For eagerly signing his prejudices into law, and for deliberately refusing to listen to medical, ethical, and legal reasoning against his new law, Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee gets a TWIT Award. WATE-TV has a report on the second transgender bathroom bill that Governor Lee has signed into law.

Florida Politics reports that a proposal to stop transgender athletes from participating in girls’ school sports is a part of the budget proposal from the Republican Study Committee, a part of the Republican caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. For trying to make athletic participation into a budget issue, and for continuing to insist without evidence that transgender women are a threat to women’s sports, the Republican Study Committee gets a TWIT Award.

A study by Media Matters for America finds that TikTok’s recommendation algorithm promotes some anti-transgender sites. For helping to spread hate, TikTok gets a TWIT.

A transgender woman, Iconic Facce, pled guilty to robbing banks. She said she needed the money to pay for her healthcare. For giving transgender people a bad name, Iconic Facce gets a TWIT Award. PinkNews has this story.

Angela Stanton-King, who was too kooky for even the voters of Georgia to send to Congress, tweeted–with no evidence–that a drag club in Miami sexually abuses children. Of course, the “sexual abuse” refers to allowing them to perform in drag–voluntarily, with their parents escorting them, and not as featured performers, but as an unannounced added act. Marjorie Taylor Greene re-tweeted this accusation, along with some comments of her own. The club has had trouble with death threats. For driving a business to bankruptcy, and for endangering the lives of people, proving that both the “pro-business” and the “pro-life” titles which Republicans give themselves have some distinct limitations, Angela Stanton-King, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others who threatened this club get a TWIT Award. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Emily Hines was kicked out of her sorority for mocking Dr. Rachel Levine on TikTok. She then posted her argument against the punishment, which consisted of a video of her dancing in front of a picture of Dr. Levine, while the Bee Gees tune More Than A Woman played on the soundtrack. In that video, she was wearing a sweatshirt for the sorority which was disciplining her. For proving your critics right, while proving yourself to be too disoriented to realize they were right, Emily Hines gets a TWIT. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Caitlyn Jenner shared a meme by Donald Trump Jr. who posted photos of Jenner side-by-side with Levine under the labels “conservative girls” and “liberal girls” with the caption that “Conservative girls are just better looking.” We guess after as much “work” that Jenner has had she should look better. But, even if she did look more attractive, she most certainly loses the battle of brains. She is not regarded as particularly intelligent, even by other Republicans. (Indeed, as seen with the podcast at the top of the page and other similar findings, both Republicans and transgender people seem to think she gives their group a bad name.) For mocking someone who has achieved her position on the basis of her intellect while showing the shortcomings of her own thinking, Caitlyn Jenner gets a TWIT. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Roger Severino wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek, claiming that the Biden administration is choosing “ideology over science on transgender issues.” An argument that they are choosing ideology over deeply-held religious beliefs might work (depending on the definition of “ideology”), but by mentioning science–which clearly supports transgender identity–he destroys any credibility he had. For claiming to follow science while not recognizing what science says on the topic, and for projecting the following of “ideology” onto his opponents when he is the one following his ideology, Roger Severino gets a TWIT Award.

Opponents of vaccination, especially opponents of the COVID-19 vaccines, are taking to social media to announce, “I identify as fully vaccinated.” For a total denunciation of science, especially medical science, in the service of ridiculing others, and for beating to death what Gwendolyn Ann Smith refers to as “The one joke, COVID-19 edition,” these trolls get a TWIT. LGBTQ Nation 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