The Week in Trans 5/6/19

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Estrelitta; gained asylum.

Ten transgender women who traveled to the U.S. in the caravan that President Trump targeted in the midterm elections last year have won their asylum cases and been released from a Texas detention center. There were 30 trans women in the caravan when it arrived at the southern border. Some are still waiting for a hearing and others have been deported. Get the full story from the CBS News website.

After much anticipation, the Trump administration this week issued a new rule which defends health-care professionals who refuse to provide certain treatments to certain patients because of religious or conscientious objections. NPR Health Shots has the story.

The Equality Act has passed a vote in the House Judiciary Committee, and now comes to the floor of the House for debate. The vote split along party lines, with Republicans asking for the entire bill to be read into the record twice, according to LGBTQ Nation.

A ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court holds that courts can compel parents to provide counseling, therapy, and other expert help to transgender children, although such legal intrusion on parental rights can only occur when the child would be “at risk for physical danger or [would be] significantly impaired emotionally” were the child denied those services. This is above the standard of “best interest of the child” that is often used by family courts. The Arizona Republic discusses the specifics of this case in its article. In this particular case, while the court upheld the general principle of legal intervention in such a case, they felt that such intervention was not necessary in this particular case, as the child’s needs were being met.

Nixon and her son Seph.

Actress Cynthia Nixon’s eldest child came out last year as a trans man. Samuel Joseph Mozes (called Seph) graduated from college last year and is now living in Chicago and following in his mother’s footsteps by working in theater. Get more information from the Us Magazine website.

Gwen Smith in LGBTQ Nation tells of a survey by the AARP which found that 46% of grandparents agreed and 43% strongly agreed with the statement, “If my grandchild came out as LGBT, I would accept him/her regardless.” That leaves only 11% or so to divide between neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree.

The Iowa legislature has passed legislation which forbids the state or any local government from using taxpayer dollars to pay for medical or social services for transgender people. It now awaits the decision of the governor. This story comes from The Des Moines Register.

Stephanie Hayden

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could easily stop harassment online? In England you can take the cyber beef to a judge. A trans woman lawyer, Stephanie Hayden, was being harassed by a Catholic journalist and she got an injunction against the woman’s Twitter rants. The judge said the journalist had “crossed the line” and banned her from mentioning the lawyer on Twitter. Get the full story from BBC News.

Gavin Grimm’s case is due to be heard by a court for the Eastern District of Virginia in July. Four school districts from the area have submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Mr. Grimm. The Root has this story.

Lee Livengood, the assistant principal who was suspended for an altercation with a transgender student, has won an appeal and will keep his job. This story appeared in The Hill.

In Tennessee, a bill which supposedly clarifies that current indecent exposure laws cover incidents occuring in locker rooms, restrooms and dressing rooms, has passed both houses of the state legislature, and goes to the governor. The House also passed a bill which seems to encourage school districts to forbid transgender students from using the restroom or locker room of the gender with which they identify, and  forces the state’s Attorney General to defend the case in court if lawsuits are filed. The legislation is being called the “Slate of Hate.” The Advocate has this story.

April Welsh-hormones put her in the hospital.

A transgender woman from Wales reports that the hormone therapy she received from a local prescriber hit her “like lightening.” She has since been transferred to the Tavistock and Portman clinic, where she is under the care of more experienced providers. The BBC has this report.

Illinois and Wisconsin are being sued due to laws which prevent a transgender person with a criminal record from getting a name change. The AP’s story can be found in The State Journal-Register.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled that Caster Semenya must reduce her testosterone level in order to be eligible to run in certain women’s races. Ms. Semenya is a South African woman whose body happens to produce more testosterone than is typical. She is rumored to have some intersex traits. You can read more about how this affects transgender and intersex athletes at NBC News.

The entire confirmation class of the First United Methodist Church of Omaha decided not to join the Church at this time, in protest of the recent decision of the General Assembly opposing same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. LGBTQ Nation reports that their congregation gave them a standing ovation when they read an open letter.

Lucia Lucas

Last weekend, transgender baritone Lucia Lucas made her American debut in the title role of Don Giovanni with the Tulsa Opera Company. She was auditioning for composer Tobias Picker, who is writing an opera based on The Danish Girl, and he liked her so much that he offered her the role in Mozart’s opera, according to the AP.

The new film The Garden Left Behind features a young transgender Latina and her grandmother as they deal with both teenager Tina’s transition, and a new life as undocumented immigrants in New York City. Not only is the part of Tina played by a transgender actress, but several members of the cast and crew are transgender as well. The Advocate reports that it will be shown at the Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival.

The 2019 Trans Advocacy Awards will take place in New York City on June 11. The awards honor those in the community who have raised vital funds to sustain and grow the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund. Learn more and buy tickets for the gala event here.

Marta Kauffman, creator of the television series Friends, sat down for an interview with USA Today. Asked what jokes no longer play well, she mentioned that Chandler’s transgender parent (played by Kathleen Turner) would be handled differently today. “I think we didn’t have the knowledge about transgender people back then, so I’m not sure if we used the appropriate terms. . .I think that’s the biggest one.”

Pose star Mj Rodriguez

Pose has released several black-and-white photographs of the show’s stars to promote their second season (premiering June 11), and you can see them at The Advocate.

Milo Yiannopoulos has been banned from Facebook. While the social media group mentioned his support for Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and far-right activist Tommy Robinson as some of the reasons for deleting his account, his hateful statements about transgender people might have also played a part in the decision. This is part of a larger article in The Verge.

Kristen Stewart says that she felt an obligation to define herself as “so gay,” but she is delighted that many younger stars today do not feel the obligation to define their identity or their sexuality. NBC News has this story.

Last week brought news that Merriam-Webster has added new words and phrases to the dictionary, including “gender-nonconforming,” “top surgery,” and “bottom surgery.” This week, we are told that 2,862 new words are being added to the Scrabble dictionary, including “genderqueer,” “agender,” “transperson,” “cisgender,” “misgender,” and “transphobia.” So, if someone tries to tell you that “cisgender” is not a word, you can point them to the Scrabble dictionary, or to an article about it in LGBTQ Nation.

Jan Morris

Famed journalist, travel writer, author and trans woman Jan Morris has a new book and when it was serialized on the BBC some of her neighbors in North Wales realized that the elegant 92-year-old woman they have known for years as “Jan” is the Jan Morris who climbed Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary, and had gender reassignment in 1972. Learn more from The New York Times. Thanks to Linda Jensen for the story tip.

The New York Times had an article about new developments in underwear specifically for transgender people. They were kind enough to mention underwear for trans men as well as for trans women.

The growth in the number of trans men has created some interest in how HRT interacts with fertility and with various forms of birth control. As an article in Teen Vogue points out, birth control is not always about preventing pregnancy.

Bangladesh has created a “third gender” category on voting registration. Previously, the local Hijra community had to identify as “male” or “female” to register, according to The Telegraph.

Piyah Martel was born without legs. She is a transgender woman, who says that she has a “wonderful life” with a boyfriend whom she loves. The Mirror has a profile of her.

Lisa Weiss wrote a first-person account of accepting her transgender daughter, who is also deaf. It appeared in Good.Is.

TWITs

Robert Robb, an opinion-page writer for The Arizona Republic, wrote about the Arizona Supreme Court’s unanimous decision that courts can, in limited circumstances, order a family to seek therapy and other expert opinions regarding how to deal with a transgender child. They also held that the evidence in this case showed that the parents had taken the necessary steps in dealing with their child’s gender dysphoria. In his opinion, Mr. Robb claims that the decision was not about transgender rights but about denying rights of parents. If a court told parents that they cannot beat their child physically, would that be overstepping parents’ rights? For failing to consider all parties, Robert Robb gets a TWIT Award.

The National Review uses the amicus curiae brief of four Virginia school districts as an excuse to give the usual anti-transgender arguments that the author wishes were still seen as valid by courts. He uses “on the basis of sex” and “biologically female” to imply that sex and gender always agree, except in cases of mental confusion. For transferring their own confusion of reality into someone else being confused, the National Review gets a TWIT Award.

Carley Shimkus, a reporter for Fox News, stated that Caster Semenya is “transgender.” For getting the facts wrong, Carley Shimkus gets a TWIT. Media Matters For America has this story.

Ohio state Representative Tim Schaffer has introduced a bill to ban drag performances by minors, adding it to the “child exploitation” laws. The particular incident occurred in a gay bar, and saying that a minor should not be performing in a bar is theoretically legitimate. However, charges of “child exploitation” and “pedophilia” do not logically follow. For charging others with going too far when you are doing exactly that, Representative Tim Schaffer gets a TWIT Award. This story appeared in LGBTQ Nation.

Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld wrote an article titled “The Craziest Theories “Experts” Have To Explain Why Some People Are LGBTQ.” Any “expert” who uses any of these theories gets a TWIT. You can read the crazy theories in LGBTQ Nation.

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