The Week In Trans 7/8/19

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Elle Hearns

Elle Hearns of Washington, D.C., is very concerned by the violence towards transgender women of color, and she created a digital space called the Marsha P. Johnson Institute specifically to allow black trans women in the D.C. area to have a place to talk. She also is pushing for passage of the Marsha P. Johnson Safety Act, which would encourage local lawmakers to talk to black trans women before writing laws that affect them. WUSA-TV took notice.

Medical organizations in the U.S. and U.K. encourage their members to learn how to care for transgender patients. In the U.S., Annals of Internal Medicine called on primary care physicians to learn how to prescribe for transgender patients as well as the use of preferred names and pronouns. In the U.K., the Royals College of General Practitioners wrote a note to its members, saying that they are often the first health care professionals a transgender person will talk with, and they should know how to handle the general health needs of transgender patients, and how the system needs improvements. Patient Engagement has a review of what is in the article in Annals of Internal Medicine, while Pink News talks about the state of transgender medicine in Britain.

Jamie Roberts found this editorial in The Washington Post on the need for better resources for trans women of color in the D.C. area.

A new survey by the Black Futures Lab found that, while low wages were the primary concern of most black people, among black transgender people, the big concern was the treat of violence. These results were published in The Nation.

The Audre Lourde Project organized the Trans Day of Action in New York City, and roughly 500 activists showed up to protest. They held signs with the faces and names of murdered transgender women, along with the phrase, “Black trans lives matter.” It was noted lower in a story about Lady Gaga at the Stonewall Inn written by Reuters.

There are other sites beside the Stonewall Inn in New York City that were important to the fight for LGBT rights. The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is in the process of compiling a comprehensive online map of places where historic events important to the LGBT rights movement occurred, and places where that history is still unfolding today. Thanks to Jamie Roberts for the tip.

Bre Kidman

Bre Kidman is a 31-year-old lawyer who is also non-binary. To that, they now add being a candidate for U.S. Senate, the first openly non-binary person to run for that office. They are running in Maine, and were profiled by The Huffington Post, and got a story on Pink News.

Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker took note of the violence against transgender women, and addresses the issues around it in an article in The Advocate.

AM2DM at Buzzfeed had a short interview with Laverne Cox, who told them, “Your attraction to me isn’t a reason to kill me.” They also have a clip from Syzygy, who told us, Drag is a political act.”

There was an incident at a Denny’s restaurant in Shelby, North Carolina. A man called the police to complain when a transgender woman went into the restroom while his wife was in there. The police officers told the man that the law permits that, which did not please him, though he did calm down some. However, while he kept going on, the transgender woman spit on him, and that got her arrested. This story comes from The Charlotte Observer.

The subject of traveling while trans, and specifically interacting with the TSA, was covered by The LAist.

At the General Synod of bishops in York, the Church of England agreed to accept the marriage of a couple where one of the spouses has since undergone a gender change. However, they stipulate that the two spouses must have been opposite sexes when the wedding took place. The Huffington Post has this story.

Woman in the film.

A new short film focusing on five transgender undocumented immigrants in the South (all were in North Carolina when they were interviewed) is available to view online. The Advocate has a link to Entre Nosotras.

Popsugar took notice of the character of Jules on Euphoria, and the actor behind the character, Hunter Schafer.

The controversy around Martina Navratilova narrating a documentary on transgender athletes was covered by Baseline.

Pink News has a list of seven new books with transgender themes, some fiction and some non-fiction.

Jamie Roberts pointed out this article in The Washington Post business section on how employers will have to prepare for a non-binary world.

The New York Post has a story of a couple who met as boyfriends but are now girlfriends.

Hailie Sahar as Jazmin.

Good Trouble has done an episode in which a transgender Latina character celebrates a belated quinceañera (a “double quince” as the character turns 30). The episode aired on July 2, but is available on demand on many cable systems. Mashable talks to actor Hailie Sahar and the creative staff of the show about this.

Police in Montgomery, Alabama, performed what patrons considered to be a raid on a bar that was hosting a drag show. The police say that it was a standard visit to a place where alcohol was served, and they informed the owner that local law requires that they close by midnight. LGBTQ Nation notes this was during Pride weekend, and there had been some confusion about how late they could stay open.

After one student who lost a scholarship to attend the University of Texas due to the fact that he is transgender, the Caitlyn Jenner Foundation has delivered him a $25,000 check to help him finish school. Find the story on the KVUE ABC website.

U.K. Women’s Minister Penny Mordaunt said that the results of the public consultation on updating the Gender Recognition Act is done, and that she hopes to announce the results before the summer recess. She spoke to Pink News.

Precious and Myles Brady Davis have announced that they are expecting a child this winter. The Advocate has this story.

Casil McArthur

Miley Cyrus’s new video features transgender model Casil McArthur and black trans disabled model Aaron Philip, among others. The video, which has reference to the singer’s (purported) gender fluidity, can be found here, and there is also a link in an article on LGBTQ Nation.

Fox Fisher has created a work of art in the colors of the LGBTQ Pride flag, to be used to promote Skittles during Pride season. You can find out more at Gay Star News.

In the week after they dropped plans for Munroe Bergdorf to be a Childline ambassador, the charity received an unusually high number of cancelled donations, while Mermaids, the charity for transgender children, saw an increase in donations the same week, according to Pink News.

A new poll found that a majority of people in Britain are in favor of transgender people self-identifying their gender. The Independent has this story.

Only 28% of Conservative MPs think that transgender people should be allowed to self-identify. 37% said that they strongly oppose self-identification, and another 16% said they tend to oppose self-identifying. This YouGov poll was the subject of a story in Yahoo Style UK.

In an editorial in Pink News, Jo Sinson, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, says that her party is dedicated to letting people live as themselves, and that they support transgender people self-identifying their gender.

Trans Pride will take place in Brighton on July 20. New restrictions, such as bag searches and a ban on liquids, have raised concerns among some potential attendees as well as organizers, according to Gay Star News.

Edwards with her eye shadow palette.

Drag Race star Alyssa Edwards has launched a new line of makeup. She talks about how drag was once, not all that long ago, an underground entertainment genre. Now it’s mainstream and in danger of being co-opted by corporate moguls. Read about her new color palette with Anastasia Beverly Hills, and more in InStyle.

A group of TERFs protested outside the annual Stonewall Children and Young People Conference in London. They held signs with pictures of bloody transgender surgery. This was outside of a conference on LGBT children in schools. Gay Star News has more.

The BBC reports that there are shortages of hormones for transgender people in Venezuela. This should not be a surprise, as there are shortages of a great number of things in Venezuela, including food, and almost all medicines.

A transgender woman was found shot in the head in Brazil, reminding us that violence against transgender people is not a phenomenon unique to the United States. Gay Star News has this story.

The Advocate reports that the man in Pakistan who killed his transgender daughter (as reported last week) has been arrested.

A transgender teen in Antwerp, Belgium, told police that she was forced into a taxi and gang raped. She says that she eventually got away by biting the penis of one of her alleged assailants. DNA evidence seems to match the accused. The Sun has this story.

Pride gnomes.

Here’s a story which could be an elaborate hoax. Police were called to a store in Britain when a man became hysterical at the sight of garden gnomes with Pride flags. Yes, it is possible that such a thing simply happened. However, it is also possible it was staged to get some publicity for the fact that this particular store is selling garden gnomes which carry pride flags. You can read it and decide for yourself by going to LGBTQ Nation.

San Francisco’s City Attorney Dennis Herrera forced the Trump administration to delay implementation of a rule that would allow health care staff to refuse to provide medical treatment to LGBTQ people, even in emergencies. Find the story in The Bay Area Reporter. Thanks to Ms. Bob Davis for the story tip.

Jamie Roberts let us know about a story in The Washington Post on how to be “transgender friendly.”

Yahoo News UK has a story about trans couple Hannah and Jake Graf on how to treat transgender people.

In celebration of this year’s World Pride (and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots), a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to NYC was chosen as the official Pride Flight. A family of four, mom, dad, and two kids, had booked their flight long before it was designated as the Pride Flight. Virgin called and told them the flight theme but they couldn’t change their plans. The whole family loved it. Get the details of the ensuing fun from Fatherly via Yahoo News.

TWITs

Karen Townsend of Newsbusters takes the touching story of Jazmin’s quinciñera from Good Trouble (see above) and turns it into something of pure evil. The reason for this is simply that the character is transgender, and to the social conservatives at Newsbusters, all transgender people are evil. For demonizing others instead of sympathizing, Karen Townsend gets a TWIT Award.

Two transgender women were making a film about violence against transgender women–and they themselves were attacked in New York City. The police refused to arrest someone who used pepper spray on the filmmakers, telling them that they should film somewhere else. LGBTQ Nation has this story. TWIT Awards are given to the attackers and the NYCPD.

Fresh off getting a TWIT two weeks ago for suggesting that the high rates of anxiety and depression experienced by transgender people prove that society should shun us until we become cisgender, Mercatornet does it again. This time, they use bad logic to “prove” that, while being compassionate to transgender people sounds good, it is actually a bad idea. For forcing evidence to fit a pre-written conclusion, Michael Cook of Mercatornet gets a TWIT.

In Alberta, Canada a new education law is a danger to school clubs like the Gay/Straight Alliance. Under the new law there will be no deadline for school administrators to grant a student’s request to establish a club, and students will no longer be assured the right to use words such as “gay” and “queer” in the names of their clubs. This earns the the United Conservatives who fought for the new law a TWIT Award. Get the full story from The Washington Post.

A number of laws that passed in the Tennessee legislature during the spring went in to effect on Monday. One of them, a so-called “Indecent Exposure” law is negatively impacting the transgender community. The Tennessee legislature and the governor are collecting TWIT Awards. Learn more from the Fox 13 website.

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