The Week In Trans 6/22/20

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Brianna Titone

State Representative Brianna Titone is running for reelection in Colorado. She talked to The Bay Area Reporter about campaigning during a pandemic.

Mimi Lemay is the mother of a 10-year-old transgender son, and an advocate for transgender children in Massachusetts. She was named an Unsung Heroine by Wicked Local Marblehead.

Lizette Trujillo talked to People magazine about her experiences with her transgender son.

Khary Payton of The Walking Dead told the world that he has a transgender son. USA Today has this story.

CNN has a long article on their website that looks into why and when the idea of women showing body hair became unacceptable. It wasn’t always so and visible body hair on women may be making a comeback. Learn everything you wanted to know about body hair on the CNN website.

A new health service for transgender people and the gender nonconforming has launched on the web. It’s called Transclinique and they offer tele-health visits that include HRT and basic primary care. Learn more on the Transclinique website. Thanks to Jan Brown for the link.

In a YouTube video, Dr. Danielle Jones, a.k.a. Mama Doctor Jones, dismantles the “biological male/biological female” argument, showing that science is about more than genetics, and genetics is not destiny. Pink News has this story.

Evelyn Carroll

Dr. Evelyn Carroll is a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic, who recently came out as transgender. She shared her coming-out moments in tweets, which Pink News turned into a story.

The Supreme Court decided by a 6-3 margin that Title VII protects workers from being fired because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. CNN has this story. The decision included three cases, one of which was the first ever in which the Supreme Court ruled on the rights of a transgender person. That case is covered by The Detroit Free Press. In his opinion, Justice Gorsuch noted that this only talks of hiring or firing decisions based on gender identity or sexual orientation, and does not prejudge matters like religious exemptions, restrooms and locker rooms, or dress codes in general.

While the Supreme Court decision on Title VII covers three cases specifically, it can be applied to other cases, sometimes giving them a new life. The New York Times has this story.

In another decision, the Supreme Court overturned President Trump’s attempt to do away with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. LGBTQ Nation points out that many of the children in the program would face discrimination if sent back to the nations that they came from. The decision, written by Chief Justice Roberts, cites specifically the need for a better reason for the move, calling the President’s action “arbitrary and capricious.”

Although Justice Gorsuch’s written decision on Title VII mentioned that other factors were not prejudged by this decision, many legal experts see this decision as having ramifications in those cases, as The New York Times noted.

One particular area where the decision will come up is the ban on transgender people in the military. While this decision does not automatically settle those cases (which are legally grounded in the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution), it will be brought up by those attempting to litigate the cases. Military.com has this story.

This Supreme Court decision will have a particular impact on transgender workers, because they have often had difficulty with employment, according to The Conversation.

Kim Petras

Kim Petras talks of how, early in her career, she was viewed as transgender rather than a musician–“minimized to my genitals,” as she puts it–in an interview with iNews.

Naomi Schoenbaum notes in Slate that the same stereotypes about gender which hold transgender people back are also the stereotypes which hold cisgender women back.

LGBTQ Nation has a rundown of reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The story is told of Howard Smith, a segregationist, introducing the phrase, “on the basis of sex” into Title VII in an attempt to sink the legislation. But there is more to the story, as Slate notes.

The Supreme Court’s decision on Title VII comes one weekend after the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would change its interpretation of “sex” in the Affordable Care Act “to the plain meaning of the word ‘sex’ as male or female and as determined by biology.” Reaction to that announcement is still pouring in, according to CBS News.

Joe Biden said of the decision to cut out the Affordable Care Act’s protections for transgender people, “Donald Trump’s cruelty truly knows no bounds,” especially as the announcement came “[o]n the fourth anniversary of Pulse” and “in the middle of Pride month, during a global pandemic.” Pink News has this story.

In a tweet the day after the decision was announced, Senator Susan Collins said, “The Trump Administration’s decision to eliminate protections for transgender patients is simply wrong. I’ll work to overturn this discriminatory policy.” Newscenter Maine has this story.

Dr. Jerrica Kirkley

Plume is a Denver-based startup that provides hormone replacement therapies and medical consultations tailored to the trans community. It is primarily a tele-health service. Dr. Matthew Wetschler and his co-founder Dr. Jerrica Kirkley are the people behind Plume. Learn more about their services from TechCrunch.

28 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos concerning the department’s apparent threat to defund school athletic conferences which allow transgender females to participate in girls’ sports. You can read about it in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

In addition to those proposals, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a proposed rule change which would allow shelters for the homeless to separate people by “biological sex.” this story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Gloria Steinem and S. Mona Sinha wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times to complain about the Trump administration rewriting the definition of “sex” within the Affordable Care Act.

An article in The New York Times notes that the coronavirus economy is particularly hard for transgender people, but the text of the article seems to say that transgender people had a hard time in the economy before the virus, and it only got worse once the virus hit.

Black Lives Matter protestors held a Black Trans Lives Matter protest last Sunday. Protests were held in The Bronx, Boston, New Orleans, and other cities, according to Out magazine and Pink News. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Chicago had a slightly different protest. They had a march in drag, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. Out magazine has Shea Coulee’s speech from the Chicago Drag March for Change. (See Julie Slowinski’s report on the march.)

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

This is not the first protest for transgender rights. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy tells her first-hand recollections of the Stonewall riots to Teen Vogue, and she connects them to the Black Lives Matter protests today.

A person who was shot by a Colorado State Patrol trooper has now been identified as Jayne Thompson. The Human Rights Campaign has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Riah Milton, a Black transgender woman, was shot to death during a robbery. You can read about it in USA Today.

Selena Reyes-Hernandez, a black trans woman, was shot to death by Orlando Perez, who came back later to shoot her again. Perez has since confessed to Chicago police. The Chicago Sun-Times has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

USA Today has a story about the murders of trans people, especially black women, with the headline, “We Need To Shine A Bright Light On This.”

An arrest warrant has been issued in the case of Rem’mie Fells, whose body was found near the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. WPVI-TV News has this story.

Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco

We have told you the story of Layleen Xtravaganzz Cubilette-Polanco, who died in a New York jail. A story out this week says that prison guards were unwilling to help as she died, according to a story in LGBTQ Nation.

A new project in New Orleans is trying to give transgender men access to haircuts. Smithsonian magazine has this story.

Geekwire has a story about an app that helps people find services and items that they need or want for their gender transition.

A new study from the Netherlands says that transgender people’s vulnerability to suicide shows up at any time during a transition. PsyPost has this story.

COVID-19 and the efforts to contain it have had a negative impact on the mental health of LGBTQ people, according to a study in Outlife.

Reaction to J.K. Rowling’s tweets and essay on transgender people continue to pour in. Scott Turner Schofield, a transgender actor who has been nominated for an Emmy touches on his reaction to Ms. Rowling in an interview with People magazine.

Charlotte Clymer

Charlotte Clymer writes in USA Today about how being transgender makes her afraid of public perception, and how J.K. Rowling is increasing that problem.

The Guardian points out that, while attitudes towards transgender people do change with generations, there is more going on than that generalization shows.

Elliott Kozuch, a press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, talks about his relationship to the Harry Potter books while growing up, and how he feels betrayed by their author. You can find this in The Advocate.

J.K. Rowling has a new children’s book coming to stores soon. Some of the staff at her publishing house, Hachette, have asked to work on other projects rather than her book, The Ickabog. The Daily Mail has this story.

Many transgender activists have expressed sympathy for J.K. Rowling on the matter of The Sun giving her first husband a platform. Pink News tells of an open letter on the matter.

With J.K. Rowling’s comments still in the news, and with the Supreme Court’s decision on transgender people being covered by Title VII, Riki Wilchins looks back at how difficult it was to get gay-rights groups to consider linking up with transgender issues in the 1990s. Her writing appears in The Advocate.

Ela Xora

A transgender actress named Ela Xora appears in some of the videos used on rides at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. She has asked that her scenes be removed, according to Pink News.

John Cleese asked if J.K. Rowling’s comments were accurate, in what he called, “a genuine request for information.”

The Advocate finally gets around to writing about Jenny Boylan’s new book, Good Boy: My Life In Seven Dogs.

A report in the Sunday Times last week said that the British government has decided not to go ahead with plans to allow transgender people to self-declare their gender. While self-declaration remains popular with the public, the current government does not share that view. Pink News has this story.

According to the report in the Sunday Times, while the plan to reform the Gender Recognition Act are dead, the government will go ahead with a long-promised but never-enacted ban on conversion therapy. This story can be found in Pink News.

A peaceful protest of the British government’s planned reforms of gender laws (which would include a ban on transgender women using ladies’ restrooms and changing rooms) is planned for July 4 in London. the organizers have put information about it on Facebook.

Dominique Jackson

A petition on change.org has called for Dominique Jackson of Pose to play the part of Storm in the next X-Men movie, assuming that there is another in that franchise. Even the actress felt the buzz, as Out magazine reports.

More than 8,000 women in Britain signed an open letter which petitions Minister of Women and Equalities Liz Truss to change her direction on transgender rights. Of the plans for keeping transgender women out of “women-only” spaces, the open letter says, “We do not need protection.” The plan would mark a step backwards for transgender rights, despite no reports of problems arising from the current law. Pink News has this story.

Owl wrote about the problems with the proposals on transgender rights in the law for Metro.

TWITs

Senator James Lankford cited J.K. Rowling’s complaints about transgender people in his speech opposing the attempt to get the Senate to consider the Equality Act. Senator Lankford is hardly a fan of J.K. Rowling; he was speaking up for the religious right-wing folks, a group that is far from aligned with J.K. Rowling. (They are the same folks who could not get past the use of witchcraft in Harry Potter to see that the story was full of Christian themes.) For citing someone he previously condemned, and more specifically, for using her plea to be heard as an excuse to silence the many others calling for a re-evaluation of the rights of others, Senator James Lankford gets a TWIT Award. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

In his dissenting opinion on the Title VII cases this week, Justice Samuel Alito listed several dictionary definitions of “sex.” He noted that three dictionaries include “sexual urge” as a definition of “sex,” and asks if this means that Title VII protects sexual urges, and thus gives rights to rapists. This definition is certainly well down the list in dictionaries, and calling this argument strained is complimenting it. For a reducto-ad-absurdem that is itself absurd, Justice Samuel Alito gets a TWIT Award. You can read about this in The Advocate.

In Kansas, there are three candidates trying to get the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat of Pat Roberts, who is retiring. All three Republican candidates tried to out-do each other in denouncing transgender people and announcing their support for laws which would curtail transgender rights. For promoting bigotry and denouncing diversity, Kris Kobach, Roger Marshall, and Bob Hamilton share a TWIT Award. The Kansas City Star has this story.

YouTube took down a video from a former-transgender person, with the statement, “Our hate speech policy prohibits videos which assert that someone’s sexuality or gender identity is a disease or mental illness.” The Heritage Foundation, which produced the video, responded through The Federalist with a statement from Walt Heyer, saying that, “children suffering from gender dysphoria should not be encouraged to try experimental hormones in surgery.” The hormones that he describes as “experimental” have a better track record than Walt Heyer will ever admit. For lying about medical outcomes, and for ignoring the actual charges from YouTube, Walt Heyer gets another TWIT.

A new video game, The Last Of Us Part II, introduces a transgender character, who gets deadnamed and is a victim of violence because of his gender identity. For using transgender trauma in a video game, the makers of the Last Of Us Part II get a TWIT Award. Pink News has this story.

A service called the Gender Critical Support Board helps parents and families find therapists who encourage transgender patients to live in the gender assigned them at birth. For rejecting what the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Medical Association, among other groups, have found to be most likely to work, and instead using practices which have much poorer track records, the Gender Critical Support Board gets a TWIT. Teen Vogue has this story.

A policeman in New York state wrote a new rap song, which he posted online. The lyrics include, “There’s only two genders, and Trump’s still your president.” The town he works for has announced an internal investigation. For spreading lies and encouraging hatred, Robert Sisco gets a TWIT Award. You can find this story at LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Facebook deactivated ads associated with Donald Trump’s and Mike Pence’s personal pages on the service. The ads featured an inverted red triangle, a symbol used by the Nazi party to denote enemies of the party, including communists, Freemasons, and, in the form of a pink triangle, homosexuals. For recycling a symbol of hatred, the people behind these ads get a TWIT Award. 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