The Week In Trans 8/17/20

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Ashlee Marie Preston

The Advocate has a profile of Ashlee Marie Preston, the transgender woman who is editor-in-chief of Wear Your Voice, among other accomplishments.

In 2018, U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale told the state of Idaho that their lack of a method whereby transgender people could update the gender on their birth certificates was unconstitutional. The state of Idaho replied this year by passing a bill which specifically said that transgender people are not allowed to change the gender on their birth certificates. This week, Judge Dale ruled that the new Idaho law that prevents transgender people updating their birth certificates is unconstitutional, and she forbade its implementation. The state will likely appeal this ruling. The Hill has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Drew Adams was a high-school student in Florida when his school told him that he must use either the girls’ restroom or a single-user restroom. Two years ago, a district court held that this was not a satisfactory arrangement. This week, an Appeals Court upheld that decision. This story comes from The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Newsday has a story from Bloomberg, which says that the Supreme Court’s decision that discrimination against transgender people is discrimination on the basis of sex has not been adopted by other parts of government yet.

Rollbacks in government protection for transgender people is the subject of a story on WESA public radio.

Some people in government get it. Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey tweeted this week, “Trans women are women. Pass it on.” He received some praise, and the expected criticisms. Shore News Network has this story.

Ashley Moore

Ashley Moore was found dead in Newark, New Jersey, on April 1 of this year. The police did not notify the victim’s mother, but rather, she had to call the police to find out what had happened. As she got more information about her daughter’s condition, her experience as a nurse told her that this was not a car accident, as the police reported. The police have reopened the case. Tap Into Newark has this story.

A vigil was held tor Tiffany Harris, who was murdered in the Bronx last month. The Bronx has the story of the vigil, while Spectrum News says that police made an arrest in the case.

The National Center for Transgender Equality says that there have already been more transgender people reported murdered this year than in any previous year. The total so far is 26, according to a story in Pink News.

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) and their partners at NYCLU and pro bono partner BakerHostetler have announced a settlement agreement for their client Jena Faith, a transgender woman and military veteran who was wrongfully housed in a men’s facility at Steuben County Jail where she experienced abuse, sexual harassment, and denial of prescribed medication. Learn more on the TLDEF website.

KTRK-TV reports that a new billboard on I-10 in Houston simply says, “Protect Black Trans Lives.”

Police in Durango, Colorado, are looking for video of Wesley Devilbiss, who became confrontational when a transgender rights protest came past the outdoor cafe where he was dining (and, apparently, drinking). The Durango Herald has this story.

Jae Bucci (left) and Gabriela Amaya Cruz.

Two transgender women, Jae Bucci and Gabriela Amaya Cruz, were arrested in Miami while protesting in support of the rights of Black transgender and gender non-conforming people. They say that the police discussed their genitals with them quite a bit, and housed them according to their genitals. This story can be found at The Miami Herald.

WBUR public radio has an interview with Aria Sa’id regarding the Transgender District in San Francisco.

Jan Brown let us know about Nicole Gress, a gender voice specialist who does a monthly free workshop series. This month on August 22 the focus is on relieving vocal tension and freeing up the voice with special guest, Christine Schneider, manual laryngeal therapist. To RSVP and learn more visit her website.

Alfonso David said that the Human Rights Campaign is trying to see things through “an intentional, inclusive, intersectional lens.” That emphasis on intersectionality has caused the group to get interested in racial as well as LGBTQ rights, and has led to the establishment of a transgender justice initiative. You can read about their expanding efforts at The Advocate.

Equality Virginia will host their Transgender Information and Empowerment Summit online this year, October 14-17. Racial justice will be a theme, according to a story in The Washington Blade.

Equality California will host the Golden State Equality Awards next month. At that time, honorees include Pete and Chasten Buttigieg, the late John Lewis, and the film Disclosure. The Advocate has the story of this September 13 event.

Kim Young-rong

To Kim Young-rong, a pioneering drag entertainer at the centre of South Korea’s drag scene, drag is just a way of expressing another side of himself. Kim works to make drag more acceptable and was shocked that Covid-19 brought out haters who claimed drag performers were spreading the virus. Get the story from South China Morning Post.

Rebecca Solnit wrote a column for The Guardian US in which she says that transgender women are not a threat to cisgender women, but the attitude of some cisgender women makes them a threat to transgender women.

This week, Joe Biden announced his choice of California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. She comes with baggage regarding her record on transgender issues, including the time when, as the state’s Attorney General, she fought against the state paying for gender reassignment surgery for a prisoner. Angelica Ross says that Senator Harris invited her to hold her responsible on the topic, and she plans to do just that. Pink News has this story.

The Democratic National Convention will be held this week. Danica Roem and Sarah McBride will have a role in the event. LGBTQ Nation has an overview of LGBTQ people who will be prominent.

Two transgender teens are suing Arizona’s Medicaid agency, because the state has chosen not to cover transgender medicine through Medicaid. The suit is specifically about not covering chest reconstruction surgery for transgender males. This story comes from NBC News.

A study in Sweden looked at the prevalence of mental health diagnoses among transgender people. They found that transgender people were more than six times as likely as cisgender people to have a mood or anxiety disorder, but that this went down sharply with time after their last gender-affirming surgery. The American Journal of Psychiatry has an overview.

Aaryn Lang

Aaryn Lang, who is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter and a leader of Black Trans Liberation Tuesday, is profiled in The Advocate.

We have been telling you about the tweet “Only females get cervical cancer.” This week, an article in Contemporary OB/GYN finds that transgender men are significantly less likely to know about cervical cancer than are cisgender females. This story can be found in Pink News.

Dr. Natalia Zhikhareva wrote a web article about the self-lubricating vagina, busting several myths about what it does and doesn’t do.

When the Supreme Court ruled that transgender people are protected from discrimination under Title VII, it was obvious that several other lawsuits were going to be filed by transgender people who were fired. One such is Chamar Peterson, who is suing because he lost a coaching job at a high school due to his gender identity. This story is found in Idea Stream.

Camp Aranu’tiq’s music directors, Julie Be, and Anya Rose form the group Ants On A Log. They just released an album of music for transgender and non-binary children, called Trans & Nonbinary Kids Mix. They were interviewed for Morning Edition.

Nikkie de Jager, who appears as NikkieTutorials on YouTube, was robbed at gunpoint. She is fine, though still a bit shaken up. This story comes from Pink News.

Rain Valdez

Rain Valdez writes in The Hollywood Reporter about taking charge of her career as an actress.

A new film called Gossamer Folds tells the story of the friendship between a Black transgender woman and a white cisgender boy. It is showing at virtual film festivals, according to The Advocate.

Chloe x Halle has joined some other drag queens to form Spice Girls 2.0. Out.com has this story.

Meanwhile, Pink News reports that Bob the Drag Queen, Shangela, and Eureka have a new show in which they are traveling through the United States, especially to places where Donald Trump is still popular.

A new Nielsen study showed that about 10% of all gamers are LGBTQ. They tend to spend a bit more money (roughly 8% more) on games than their non-LGBTQ counterparts. Out.com has this story.

A group in Britain has called for a large protest to show support for reforming the Gender Recognition Act. The protest will begin on the fifth of September. This story is in Pink News.

After the Labour Party received pressure from within and without to do something about the anti-transgender tweets re-tweeted by their member Rosie Duffield, she has issued a long but not seemingly deep apology. Pink News has this story.

Munroe Bergdorf

Munroe Bergdorf talks about what gives her hope even in this bleak year in an interview with British Vogue, according to Pink News. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

A new survey shows that a strong majority of people in Britain believe that discrimination against transgender people is wrong, yet the same survey shows that the percentage who support transgender women’s access to single-sex spaces is declining. This is despite the fact that transgender women have had the right to access single-sex spaces for several years with no problems reported. This story can be found in Pink News.

David Isaac, who recently stepped down as the chair of the Equality and Human rights Commissions, said in an interview that the “toxic debate” over transgender rights would damage policies in the U.K. Pink News says that it is already happening.

Jamie Rose Dee went to have drinks and a romantic time with her boyfriend at a restaurant in Manchester, England. Unfortunately, the evening turned sour; Staff misgendered her and were unconcerned by their error. When she spoke to the manager, he seemed at first like he might be sympathetic, but he soon sided with his staff. So, Jamie took the entire incident to social media, where word got to the general manager, who offered to let her do a training session with staff. The Manchester Evening News  has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

A library in Cork, Ireland, removed the book Beyond Magenta, which tells the stories of some transgender teenagers, from its shelf, after a complaint that the book supports “the eventual acceptance of Pedophilia as a sexual orientation.” The book does relate the sexual experiences of one of the transgender children, without mentioning that sex with or among minors is illegal. A library official reviewed the book, and made the decision to keep it off the shelf for now, according to a story in Pink News.

A new study in Sweden shows that discrimination against transgender people is common in employment. Phys.org has a story on this.

SHI

Drag Out The Vote is a nonpartisan nonprofit with a mission to educate, register, and turn out voters of all types through drag, but especially queer people, 18-25-year-olds, people of color, and queer people of color. They have chosen drag performer SHI as an Ambassador from Georgia. Learn more from Project Q Atlanta.

A very “protective” sex worker in Argentina was murdered by a client who would not pay her for sex. This story is found in Pink News.

A food delivery service in India, called Zomato, is offering up to ten days off per month to female workers, to help them through menstruation-related problems. The company announced that the policy extends to transgender males as well, if they still menstruate. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Busses in Kolkata, India, now have seats reserved for transgender people, according to The New India.

Deutsche Welle has a profile of Hendrika Kelen, the first transgender public official in Indonesia. A practicing Catholic in a Muslim-majority nation, the small-town mayor is not a typical politician.

Mark Latham was once Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament, before he left the Labour party for the One Nation Party. He just introduced a bill to oppose the “promotion of gender fluidity” in Australian schools. The bill has some dreadful side effects, as Pink News reports.

Erin Parisi

Erin Parisi, the transgender mountain climber, is profiled by Westword.

A new report finds that the wait to be seen at a gender clinic in England can be nearly four years long. This is a problem, and one that the NHS would love to solve, but there are only so many people with knowledge of gender issues. Pink News has this story.

TWITs

Some opponents of transgender right  have started a rumor that Mermaids was about to go out of business. As this rumor made its way around social media, it was met with a second rumor that said that Stonewall U.K. was about to drop its support of Mermaids. Stonewall has no plans or even thoughts of dropping support for Mermaids, and Mermaids is not about to go away. This appears to have begun with activist Jameela Jamil deleting some old tweets as a part of refocusing, which Graham Linehan interpreted as meaning that she was dropping support for Mermaids, since many of the deleted tweets showed her support of that group. Then, it was noticed that Stonewall U.K. came out with its own guide to coming out for young people, which got misinterpreted as a sign of a rift between Stonewall U.K. and Mermaids. Jameela Jamil and Stonewall U.K. readily and completely denied the idea that they were withdrawing support from Mermaids. For making unfounded accusations, the people who started this rumor, including Graham Linehan, get a TWIT Award. Mermaids has this story.

A headline in The Daily Mail says, “Transgender woman wins $3.2 million from her dad’s will despite threatening to KILL him with a crossbow because he refused to pay for her sex change operation”. It turns out that, while she did talk of a plan to kill her father, in some detail, she did not go through with it. The plan would have entailed a crossbow shot at him during a Bar Mitzvah. The plan did not mention how she would get that weapon into the synagogue. For sensationalizing this story, and for the use of capital letters to scream part of the headline, the Daily Mail gets a TWIT Award.

An editorial in The Spectator refers to “Labour’s transgender civil war” in its headline, and in the piece, it refers to “the transgender thought police”. It is odd that the word “civil” is being used in the headline of an editorial which praises uncivil behavior. Under the guise of “free thought” they are praising the idea of treating a class of people as less entitled than others. For supporting discrimination, The Spectator gets a TWIT.

Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign adviser, intentionally misgendered Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine. When this was pointed out to her, she refused to apologize, or even issue a correction. For stubbornness that becomes deliberate rudeness, Jenna Ellis gets a TWIT. NBC News has this story. (In what world is a lawyer a better authority of health matters than a respected doctor?)

William Shatner seems to think that the term “cisgender,” and the abbreviation, “cis,” are insults that are used to “debase” and “harass” him. The terms are not meant to be insults, but the fact that he thinks that they are insults shows that some people have made the term cisgender seem to be an insult. For compounding a fundamental misunderstanding with an unwillingness to accept information, William Shatner gets a reluctant TWIT. This exchange can be found in Forbes.

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