The Week In Trans 7/15/19

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Sarah McBride

Activist and author Sarah McBride who is currently the national press secretary for Human Rights Campaign is running for the state Senate in Delaware. If elected she would be the first out transgender state senator in U.S. history. Forbes has the story by Dawn Ennis.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill which would overturn the ban on transgender people joining the military. The Hill has this story.

During his confirmation hearings to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley of the U.S. Army was asked his views on the policy of open transgender service. He responded with, “If you meet the medical, the behavior health, the conduct standards, and the physical standards, etc., then it’s my view that you should be welcomed and allowed.” He added, “I don’t believe there’s anything inherent in anyone’s identity to prevent them from serving in the military. It’s about standards, not an identity.” This story comes from The Hill.

The Atlantic has a short video in which a transgender asylum seeker talks about her experience in the pod where ICE houses transgender immigrants.

Phoenix New Times spoke with some transgender migrants about the conditions in the transgender pod.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has created a new panel to advise him on which are the human rights that the U.S. should expect of other nations in foreign policy. The Commission on Unalienable Rights is made up of anti-LGBTI activists. You can read about them in LGBTQ Nation.

Ruby Corado

Ruby Corado of Casa Ruby talked about her relationship with Zoe Spears, who was murdered recently. This interview appeared on NBC 4 Washington.

Business Insider has a rather long article about the various medical procedures which some transgender people go through, and how expensive it can be to go through all of those procedures.

The American Medical Association Litigation Center has submitted a brief to the Supreme Court, stating that the physical and mental health of transgender people would be well served by a ruling which protects workers from being fired for their gender identity. You can read about this on the AMA’s website or listen to the AMA’s podcast.

A jury in Cleveland, Ohio, convicted Gary Sanders of involuntary manslaughter in the murder of transgender woman Phylicia Mitchell in February 2018. The prosecutor said that the shooting was not related to the victim’s gender identity. Cleveland.com has this story.

The state of Colorado reached a $170,000 settlement with a transgender woman who said she was assaulted, harassed, and raped while in a men’s prison. State corrections officials say that the settlement is not an indication of a change of policy regarding transgender prisoners, but it is hard to see it as not an admission that their policy failed in this case. This story comes from KDVR-TV.

Strawberry Hampton

A transgender inmate who says she was mistreated in a prison in Illinois has been released. Strawberry Hampton was sentenced to ten years for burglary, and served five-and-a-half years. ABC 7 Chicago has this story.

In Britain, one in 50 male prisoners self-identifies as transgender. That is a bit higher than the percentage of the general population which identifies as transgender, which caught the notice of those who oppose self-identification of gender identity in the Gender Reform Act. The Telegraph has an example of an article which claims that transgender prisoners get “special treatment,” and implies some prisoners claim trans status looking for that treatment.

KUNR has a new podcast on transgender prisoners, especially Adree Edmo, a prisoner in Idaho who is suing over denial of gender confirmation surgery.

Filter Magazine has a story on the need for harm reduction programs aimed at transgender people.

A new survey by sociologist Natasha Quadlin and her colleagues at Ohio State University found that people were more likely to view transgender people as the gender assigned at birth, but that changes if the person passes as the gender they identify with. This survey of 4000 people was summarized by Cleveland Scene.

Yang as his drag character Hurricane Kimchi.

Heezy Yang talked about doing drag in South Korea and about using performance to bring awareness of LGBTI issues in an interview with Gay Star News.

Last week, we told you about a transgender teen in Brussels who was overtaken by three men who raped her until she got away by biting one in the genitals. It seems that justice came fast, thanks to DNA evidence. This week, The Brussels Times reports that the men have been sentenced to five years in prison.

Kadence Krei, a 24-year-old who worked for the state of Nebraska for nine months, has filed a suit claiming that the state illegally refused to cover her gender-confirmation surgery after her doctors deemed it “medically necessary.” Nebraska does not cover gender confirmation surgery, although the Affordable Care Act does seem to require it be covered. The Kearney Hub has this story.

Russell Toomey, a professor at the University of Arizona, has filed suit against the university for not covering his hysterectomy. So far, the university has spent roughly $50,000 defending their decision. That would be more than the cost of the procedure. Campus Reform has this story.

A digital producer at Fox 13 in Salt Lake City because the subject of a story when she sat down and talked about what it was like to transition in Utah. You can find the story at Fox 13 Now.

Two health care professionals who are also transgender women share what they found to be ways  the medical profession can better care for transgender patients in an article in The Advocate.

A doctor in Britain was fired for refusing to refer to transgender people in the gender with which they identify. The Independent has this story.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

Stonewall veteran Miss Major Griffin-Gracey suffered a stroke. She is having some trouble with speech, but she is still very much alive at age 78. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

A foster mother in Arizona was disappointed that her child will not be able to go to summer camp, despite getting the cost paid by a program for foster children. It seems that the particular camp is not currently set up to handle transgender children, but they are going through training this year, so that they won’t have to turn away a child in the future. ABC 15 in Phoenix has this story.

The Wall Street Journal has an article entitled, “Catholics Grapple With Transgender Issues,” but it is behind a pay wall.

Pose had a nod to the epidemic of violence against transgender women of color when one of the characters became a victim. This story in The Washington Post contains a spoiler.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went with friends to see a drag show. She was invited to the stage, where she told the audience, “You are beautiful! You are accepted!” LGBTQ Nation reports that she also posed for photos with the performers.

A group of drag queens drowned out various far right groups, including Proud Boys and neo-Nazis, who had gathered in Washington, D.C. You can find a link to the video of the “hand fan dance” at Gay Star News.

Singer Lucia Lucas recently played Don Giovanni.

The New York Times had a lengthy story about transgender opera singers.

Can you imagine an underwear campaign featuring plus-size transgender females? Well, Free The Body uses sex workers and a web model in their underwear campaign. Gay Star News has this story.

The Advocate has a story on how transgender people are changing porn. The topic is covered in more depth on their podcast, The Ten.

Mattel has created a Barbie doll fashioned after David Bowie and his character Ziggy Stardust. The limited-edition doll celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Space Oddity. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

A new video game called Pride Run was announced this week. Players get to join a pride march, keep in beat to the disco music, and at the end of the parade, there is a dance-off against an opponent. The game will come out this fall, according to LGBTQ Nation.

In Malaysia, Rania Zara Medina has been appointed to a government position to fight HIV/AIDS. This appointment has received some negative reaction, as expected. The Star has this story. The Prime Minister who approved the appointment says that he does not know if she is transgender, as he has not met her, according to this story.

Three transgender women were murdered in Honduras so far in July, including television personality Santi Carvajal. The New York Daily News has this story.

In El Salvador, three police officers have been charged in the murder of a transgender woman who was denied asylum in the U.S., according to The Washington Blade.

Billie Lee

Billie Lee of the reality series Vanderpump Rules talked of what to say and what not to say to a transgender person in an interview with Personal Space.

Identical twins from San Jose, California, who both transitioned from female to male, were profiled in The Mirror.

Aliswha Cacace grew up in a Catholic family in England, and joined the priesthood, but left to transition. She was profiled by BarcroftTV, which no longer has the story. A summary of it can be found on The Blaze.

Recently, we gave Elizabeth Johnson, a.k.a. “the Activist Mommy,” a TWIT for being the buzzkill of Storybook Pride Prom, which was to be held at a library in Jacksonville, Florida. The Storybook Pride Prom got a storybook happy ending, as the event was held at a different location–a local Unitarian Universalist church. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

In an article for The Boston Globe, S.I. Rosenbaum suggests that, since gender is not in either DNA (chromosomes have many more variations than just XX and XY), and not in the brain (as there is no absolute and foolproof way to differentiate the brain of a male human from the brain of a female brain), then perhaps gender rests in the soul. If so, then one’s gender identity is as much a deeply-held spiritual belief as anything that is protected by religious freedom laws.

Scarlett Johansson did an interview with As If magazine, in which she said, “As an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job.” While many commentators quickly remembered the controversy around her casting as a trans man in Rub & Tug, some like Rolling Stone remind us of the controversy around Ghost In The Shell, where she took a role which in the original had been a person of color. [The anime source material features an Asian as the character Johansson plays in the movie.]

Gigi and new spouse Nats share a kiss.

Youtube star Gigi Gorgeous married Nats Getty, a granddaughter of J. Paul Getty. The Sun has the story, along with pictures.

Vice has a list of top five films that represent a transgender person’s coming of age, in some way or other.

A gay politician in Maryland headed up the effort to get Montgomery County to formally recognize June as Pride Month. In May he announced the Pride events he would be hosting and the abuse from the public began. Thanks to Jamie Roberts for the story which can be found in The Washington Post.

TWITs

LGBTQ Nation reports that over 30 towns and cities in Poland have declared themselves to be free from “LGBT ideology.” These towns never do say what LGBTQ ideology is, but they know that they don’t have it. For sheer ridiculousness, these towns and cities get a TWIT Award.

Tony Perkins writes in LifeSiteNews that New York City’s new policy for accepting transgender students will create such havoc that it will resemble “the Wild West.” Actually, the NRA’s idea of arming teachers is closer to the Wild West than is the New York City school policy on gender. The sort of things which Tony Perkins predicts have not happened anywhere else that allows such policies, but facts like that are of little use to a true believer. For false prophecies, Tony Perkins gets a TWIT.

Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies attempts to compare transgender women competing in women’s sports with the way that the East Germans used to used to dope their athletes. What the East Germans did was to give their athletes testosterone–essentially, females given male hormones to make them perform better. Here, we have athletes being given medications which decrease the very thing which was being given to the East German athletes to improve their performance. For complaining about people getting medication which decreases their performance, Sharron Davies gets a TWIT Award. The Telegraph has this story.

A grocery cooperative in Britain is getting complaints because they allow their members to help them choose which charities will receive their corporate giving, and some members happen to choose a charity which supports transgender people. They do have an ad for strawberries which does feature a transgender woman, and does mention that the transgender charity is among those which members can choose to support. Still, the reactions were over the top. For making corporate donations to charity an issue, those making nasty comments on the ad get a TWIT Award. This story comes from 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