Home » The Week In Trans 8/2/21

The Week In Trans 8/2/21

ceciliab | Aug 2, 2021

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Mariah Moore

Mariah Moore would like to add to the number of LGBTQ elected candidates. She is a Black transgender woman, and she is running for city council in New Orleans. She is profiled by LGBTQ Nation.

A judge in Virginia dismissed the case a faith-based group brought against the current rules for accommodating transgender and non-binary students. The judge ruled the group did not have standing to bring the suit. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has this story.

A panel of judges in the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals found that a Colorado web designer who refused to provide her services for a same-sex couple’s wedding, was guilty of discrimination under state law. The law she violated also protects against discrimination on the basis of gender identity as well as sexual orientation. This story comes from them.

A transgender woman in Houston is paralyzed after being shot by a man she met online. Police have made an arrest in the incident, which occurred in May. The Houston Chronicle has the story.

In Philadelphia, Troy Bailey was convicted of third-degree murder in the death of transgender woman Michelle “Tameka” Washington. He could receive up to 40 years in prison, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Toronto Police have admitted they made a series of mistakes during the investigation into the murder of Alloura Wells, a transgender woman who dies in 2017. Details of the mistakes came be found in the CBC podcast The Village.

The Movement Advancement Project released a report on hate crime laws in the U.S. The big finding is that they are inconsistently enforced, which is especially a problem since national statistics are really a compilation of local data. The Advocate has other highlights, and a link to the full study.

The White House issued a press release about a recent roundtable with advocates for transgender women of color.

The Chicago suburb of Des Plaines has finally decided it’s time to remove a law from its books that forbids crossdressing. The law dated to the early 1960s. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Anastasia modeling the top she wore.

Anastasia Bolychevtsev was told the top she wore to Henry’s Diner in Burlington, Vermont, was too revealing, and the server said she needed to cover up before she could have a seat. Her housemate wore the same top to the same restaurant a few days later, and was seated without incident. Now, the top was worn by a different woman, who may have fit the top differently. Also, the two incidents involved the discretion of different servers. Even so, Anastasia Bolychevtsev cannot help thinking the fact that she is transgender had something to do with the different treatment. The Vermont Digger reports that the restaurant apologized for the incident, and promised to do better.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund reports that 986 LGBTQ officials in the U.S. hold elective office. Every state except Mississippi has or had at least one LGBTQ individual hold elective office. Them has this story.

A new poll by the Pew Research Council found that the number of Americans who say they know a transgender person is growing. A new high of 42% of respondents say they personally know someone who is transgender. Sadly, the same survey finds that 56% of respondents say gender is determined by the sex assigned at birth, a finding identical to previous studies. The 19th has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

As the world moves towards more remote work, some people wonder if this trend might be a disadvantage to LGBTQ people. You can find out why in LGBTQ Nation.

The New York Times reports that several laboratories and scientific journals have adopted a new policy whereby transgender people can update their names on papers that they authored.

An article in USA Today explains what Trans Broken Arm Syndrome is and why it is so harmful to transgender people.

Canadian Olympian, Quinn.

The current Olympics in Tokyo are the first to feature transgender athletes. The AP has a story about the two transgender athletes, as well as four who didn’t get to Tokyo.

American opinion is split on whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in the Olympics, according to Axios.

The International Olympic Committee praised the “courage and tenacity” of Laurel Hubbard just before the games began. The Guardian has that story.

As you might expect, trolls are targeting Laurel Hubbard. This story comes from France 24.

In addition to Laurel Hubbard and Quinn, non-binary skateboarder Alana Smith is participating in the games. PinkNews tells us of how proud Alana is to represent the U.S., but they were misgendered by NBC, according to them.

Kimberly Daniels, a canoe slalom judge from Canada, is the first non-binary judge at the Olympics. PinkNews has this story.

Some school children had questions about transgender athletes. Chris Mosier is a transgender athlete, and he answered their questions. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

The latest episode of Muppet Babies features Gonzo as a gender-variant child. Out.com has this story.

Outfest will be returning to Los Angeles this month, and there will be some transgender representation, according to The Advocate.

Birdie Silverstein

A new show on Amazon called With Love will star Birdie Silverstein, the 12-year-old non-binary child of Busy Philipps, playing a non-binary character. Out.com has the story.

Jamie Lee Curtis just announced that her 25-year-old child is transgender. This story comes from Yahoo. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to the story.

We told you last week that Tommy Dorfman had announced she is transgender. The story continues this week, with a lot of support, including a lovely note from her husband, Peter Zurkuhlen. Them has this story. Out.com covers the support shown by some transgender and non-binary stars.

Filip Kaleta writes in PinkNews about how Tommy Dorfman’s announcement was an inspiration for him to explore gender even more.

Kate Bornstein is still a gender outlaw. She talks about aging, the pandemic, and other topics in LGBTQ&A.

Katherine Waterston, who stars in the Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them films, reminded us this week that she, and other stars of the movies set in the Harry Potter universe, disagree strongly with J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender people. This story comes from Out.com.

Jack Daniels is sponsoring its first reality series. Set in Tennessee, the home state of the distillery and the state which just passed three anti-transgender laws, the show features drag queens Bebe Zahara Benet, Trinity the Tuck, and Manila Luzon trying to organize a small-town pride and facing other challenges. The series is called Summer Glamp. The Advocate has this story.

Gotmilk was given an audition for the role of Pinhead in Hellraiser. This story comes from them.

Laganja Estranja

Laganja Estranja talked about the support she has received since coming out as transgender. PinkNews has this story.

Baron Duncan of Springbank, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, talked about losing his brother, a transgender man, to ovarian cancer. His brother was 48 years old. This story appears in PinkNews.

The Labour Party says it is investigating MP Rosie Duffield after receiving complaints of transphobia. It seems as though PinkNews is skeptical about this investigation, given the top of their article.

LGBTQ activists threw a rave outside the office of Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky, to protest his anti-LGBTQ tendencies. They are demanding hate crimes legislation that covers anti-LGBTQ violence, according to them.

Protests in support of LGBTQ rights also took place in the Dominican Republic. Out Traveler has this story.

The Parliament of Ghana has drafted a bill which would punish LGBTQ activists with up to ten years in prison. This story comes from the Advocate.

The new documentary The Legend of the Underground looks at some LGBTQ activists in Nigeria, an African nation that punishes LGBTQ activism. The documentary is available on HBO Max, according to them.

Susan Field, a teacher at Ash Manor School in Surrey, England, was fired after it was learned she had promised to block a transgender student from ever becoming Head Girl. The remarks were made in reference to a particular student. Even so, evidence seems to indicate that this teacher had made several remarks showing disapproval of transgender people in general. PinkNews has this story.

Coral Ridge Ministries Media, a Florida mega-church, lost a lawsuit in which it tried to prevent the Southern Poverty Law Center from calling it a “hate group.” If you don’t want to be called a “hate group,” how about not being such bad people? This story comes from PinkNews.

Rick Wiles has launched a new effort which he calls GODtribe. He claims its goal is to protect young men from being “feminized, criticized, or called racist.” If you don’t want them to be called racist, how about not engaging in racist behavior, and not supporting a racist for president? PinkNews has this story.

Ten years ago, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee started a project to collect an oral history of transgender people. WUWM public radio spoke to the lead historian, to find out what has happened. and what the current state of the project is.

Four parents of transgender boys talked about the challenges and joys of parenthood in an interview with CNN.

Margie’s Thrift Store of Cleveland, Ohio, officially opened on June 5. It caters to transgender people, taking their old clothes they may wish to get rid of, and providing them with new clothes. Them is impressed with the spirit of this non-profit, volunteer-run business.

The Chattanooga Trans Liberation Collective held a rally to show support for transgender people and opposition to the “slate of hate” recently passed by the legislature and governor. This is the first event the group has organized, according to The Chattanoogan.

TWITs

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs has an article about a lecture last month at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The article seems to go against a lot of what the author thinks is wrong with gender-affirming health care, including a lot of talk about “ex-transgenders.” For going beyond bad science and listening to individuals who do not represent typical results, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs gets a TWIT Award.

A Christian-based right-wing group called Stand Up Virginia is heavily involved in organizing protests to Virginia’s new policies on transgender students. These protests are aimed at their local school board, but between President Biden’s executive order, the guidance from the current Department of Education, guidance from the state Department of Education, and the decision in the Gavin Grimm case, it seems that school boards have little leeway in the matter. For encouraging school boards to risk substantial legal costs and huge fines in order to accommodate their prejudices, Stand Up Virginia gets a TWIT Award. Them has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Ex-President Donald Trump conducted one of his events in Phoenix last Saturday. During his long, rambling address to the crowd, at one point he complained about Laurel Hubbard being allowed to compete in the Olympics. His followers at the event ate it up, as expected. He asked the rhetorical question, “If LeBron James ever decided to get the operation, how would he be on the court” Well, he would be without testosterone, and that alone would affect his performance. It is amazing to see that one side of the debate comes in with reams of data, first comparing cisgender males to cisgender females, then looking at transgender athletes before and after transition (and in some cases, during transition), and comparing performances. On the other side, we see people who have obviously closed their minds on the subject, who insist that data is irrelevant because the matter is settled by “nature” and “common sense.” For playing to the crowd, for lack of data, Former President Trump gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from PinkNews.

An article in LGBTQ Nation tells of Bob Cotterell, the president of a city council in Oregon ho called gender identity “magical thinking.” There is a great deal of evidence to show that supporting people’s declared gender identity provides great results. What is actually magical thinking is to oppose gender identity without evidence. For exhibiting his prejudice without evidence, Bob Cotterell gets a TWIT. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

We cited above an article from The New York Times regarding updating names on scientific research. It is rather ironic that during this same week, an article in LGBTQ Nation talks of how the same New York Times continues to use the deadnames of journalists on articles they wrote before coming out as transgender. The very same problems which happen in scientific journals also happen with regard to newspaper articles. According to an article in LGBTQ Nation, the union which represents writers for the Times, The New York Times Guild, has proposed a policy which would allow bylines to be updated, but the Times refuses. For not practicing what it promoted in others, the management of The New York Times gets a TWIT Award.

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.