The Week In Trans 8/3/20

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Sheila and Kelli.

The Richland Source profiles Sheila Matthews and Kelli Quail, two transgender women who have been working together on local resources for transgender people in Virginia.

The United States House of Representatives has passed an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill which would overturn President Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military. The amendment is unlikely to survive in the Senate, but it serves as a symbol in this election year. Forbes has this story.

Earlier in the week, The Washington Post ran an editorial which said the Supreme Court’s recent decision on Title VII sex discrimination gives the military a reason to reexamine its policy on accepting transgender people.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill DeBlazio of New York City have joined in the condemnation of the way that plainclothes officers of the New York Police Department arrested Nikki Stone. The 18-year-old transgender woman was shoved into an unmarked grey van, giving the entire arrest a feeling of kidnapping. This story comes from KTVU-TV.

A lawsuit against the New York Police Department says that undercover officers “misgendered, assaulted and sexualized” a Black transgender veteran. His confrontation with the police happened when he tried to find a parking space, according to Pink News. Thanks to Ayssa Washington for a link to this story.

Adree Edmo

Adree Edmo received her gender confirmation surgery. As an inmate at a jail in Idaho, her gender confirmation surgery had been the subject of legal proceedings. CNN has this story.

Tiffany Harris of the Bronx was found stabbed to death. As is all too common, police identified her as male. Gay City News has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to the story.

The Advocate of Baton Rouge reports that Queasha Hardy, a local hair stylist, was found shot to death. Police feel that this was probably not a hate crime due to her transgender identity.

Back on June 13, police in Akron, Ohio, found the body of a man who had been shot to death. He has now been identified as Brian Powers, a trans man who worked as a cook. The Akron Beacon-Journal has this story.

Alec McKinney, a young trans man who was involved in a school shooting in Denver last year, has been sentenced to life in prison. He pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and related charges. His story is in Pink News.

Tykira Spurill has been in prison twice. She tells WY Daily that prison officials in Virginia had no idea how to handle a transgender inmate.

Back in 2002, Ukea Davis and Stephanie Thomas were shot and killed in Washington, D.C. Now, police finally have said that it was a hate crime, and they have a suspect. The suspect died three years ago, according to Pink News.

Dayana Mena López

Dayana Mena López was born in Cuba, but is living in Jacksonville, Florida. She was held by ICE for eight months, before she was granted asylum. She is profiled by The Los Angeles Blade.

The Community College of Philadelphia hosted a virtual panel “teach-in” on violence against transgender people in the United States. The Pennsylvania Capital-Star has a preview.

Trans Stitchin’ is a new charity which helps transgender people in Omaha to find clothing. It is the subject of a story from KMTV-TV.

The Daily Mail has the story of a couple from Florida who married as lesbians, but are now man-and-wife.

The San Francisco Transgender District is the subject of a story in Thrillist, which tells of the impact that a district like this can have.

A new study seems to show that media coverage of transgender and gender diverse topics is connected to an increase in requests for appointments with gender counselors. Contemporary Pediatrics has an overview of this article.

Recently, Twitter had some Brits making remarks along the lines of “only women get cervical cancer.” That reaction came to the United States this week, in response to a post from CNN which began, “Individuals with a cervix.” (The post was about the recommendation that cervical cancer screenings every five years, between the ages of 25 and 65.) There were some who thanked CNN for the inclusive language, according to Pink News.

We told you last week about World Rugby considering a ban on transgender women in the sport. It turns out that a ban is just one of several possibilities for handling the issue, and that perhaps some national rugby associations will simply impose restrictions on transgender women who wish to play. Outsports has this story.

Lindsay Hecox

Lindsay Hecox is a runner for Boise State University, and a transgender woman. She is a part of the lawsuit against Idaho’s new law, and she is profiled in The Washington Post.

Zaire Wade gave his sister Zaya Wade an athletic challenge. She was to do eight cartwheels, with a flip after each two cartwheels. She did it so easily, her brother decided to try it himself–and failed. LGBTQ Nation  has this story.

Social media continues to have some nasty remarks concerning Zaya Wade and her parents, Dwayne Wade and his wife, Gabriele Union, continue to show their love for Zaya. This story can be found in Out Sports Magazine.

The Emmy Award nominations have been announced. Notably, the transgender members of the casts of Pose and Euphoria were both shut out of the acting nominations. NBC News has this story.

While the transgender cast of Pose got snubbed by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the got some love from GLAAD. Transparent’s finale also won an award, according to The Advocate.

During the GLAAD virtual ceremony, Demi Lovato said, “I know things are crazy hard right now, and you may not have your usual support system around you. But don’t let anyone, especially our government, fool you into thinking you are anything less than perfect and meant to be.” She pledged to keep raising her voice for transgender youth, as Pink News.

Gigi and Gottmik.

Gigi Gorgeous and Gottmik are on the cover of Out magazine and appear in a photo spread, with an accompanying article.

The first ten seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race are all available to stream on CBS All Access, according to Out.com.

Janet Mock will direct and co-write a new movie called Scandalous! It will tell the story of a love affair between Sammy Davis, Jr., and Kim Novak. Jeremy Pope is signed to play Mr. Davis. Out.com has this story.

The folks behind My Genderation are now working on a new documentary, Inverness Or Bust, which tells of twelve transgender people on a road trip to Scotland in 1975. The trip was to see Dr. Martin Whittet, a medical professional who was willing to treat transgender patients. You can read about it in Pink News.

Another documentary film tells the story of Hannah and Jake Graf, and their daughter Millie. ITV News has the story behind this documentary.

Hilary Baxter had her membership in the Women’s Equality Party rescinded. She says it’s because she tweeted support for J.K. Rowling, but the party says otherwise. You can read about this in Pink News.

Last month, we reported that the BBC quietly removed all four transgender charities from their list at BBC LGBT+ Pride. Several LGBT+ charities have signed a letter to the BBC, protesting the move. Pink News has this story.

Pink News reports that one of the charities, Mermaids, got several donations this week, in commemoration of J.K. Rowling’s birthday.

Red Lady Couture

Red Lady Couture has died. She was the co-host of the long-running Hey Qween L.G.B.T.Q. talk show from Los Angeles that began on YouTube and is now also available on Amazon Prime. Out.com has this story. Ms. Couture also got an obituary in The New York Times.

A trans woman who was the subject of a vicious verbal attack at Gatwick Airport in London has won her case. The man who shouted insults at her has been ordered to pay £400, plus court costs. This story comes from Pink News.

Last month, the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre put out a request for “self-identifying to join our amazing helpline and e-mail support volunteer team.” The message on Twitter received several responses which questioned whether transgender women should be allowed to do this sort of work. The Cambridge rape Crisis Centre noted that transgender women get raped, too. Pink News has this story.

40-year-old Dorothy de Lima was sitting at a bar in Brazil when three gunmen came in and shot her to death. While drinking at a bar in Brazil in the middle of that country’s COVID-19 epidemic is not a good idea, that’s no excuse for shooting her to death–nor is it the reason why she was shot to death. Brazil is experiencing quite a few murders of transgender women, as Pink News reports.

The Moscow Times has several transgender Russians tell their own stories.

Syrian transgender women, as well as gay and bisexual men from that country, tell of the horrors of rape in Al Monitor. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Pakistani transgender women tell of their rapes in Gulf News.

Three police officers in El Salvador have been sent to jail for an incident in which a transgender woman was thrown out of a moving car and died. Reuters has this story.

Natalie Zamani

Bored Panda has the story of Natalie Zamani, who is posting before-and-after pictures of her transformation from male to female. (Actually, some of the “before” picture are more accurately described as “during” pictures.)

Owl confesses to a fascination with conspiracy theories, and especially transgender conspiracy theories, in Metro.

Austen Hartke has written a book entitled Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians. At 214 pages, it is not long. However, it covers not only transgender Christians today, but shows how some people in the Bible were gender-variant. The Presbyterian Outlook has a review.

If you’ve always wanted to go to Provincetown in the summer but were deterred by the gigantic crowds that normally pack the town, this is the year you could go. The pandemic has much of the Cape shut down but there are still things to do, and the smaller crowd makes it easy to social distance. Check out an article on the situation in The New York Times.

TWITs

We long for the time when J.K. Rowling stops tweeting about transgender issues and just moves on. This week, she predicted a coming “medical scandal” from the use of puberty blockers on transgender children. She also shared a paper which criticizes bans on conversion therapy. She therefore gets another TWIT Award. LGBTQ Nation has this story. (By the way, Dr. Jack Turban has a criticism of some of the papers she shares at Psychology Today. Dr. Turban is a former protege of Dr. Kenneth Zucker.)

A gender-critical feminist named Posie Parker put up a billboard at Edinburgh railway station, expressing her support for J.K. Rowling. She is well known for her vocal opposition to transgender people. Although she spent money on the ad, it was taken down soon after it went up. The railway agency says that it violated ad standards. For supporting the suppression of the rights of others, Parker gets a TWIT Award. You can read about the poster at Pink News.

Elon Musk tweeted “Pronouns suck” this week. The comment, which came during a flurry of political posts, sparked outrage on Twitter. For a comment which is hard to interpret as anything but anti-transgender, Elon Musk gets a TWIT. Forbes has this story.

Madeleine Kearns of National Review describes the storyline involving a transgender child in the reboot of The Babysitters Club as an “endorsement” of transgender people. For loaded language, Madeleine Kearns gets a TWIT Award.

Pennsylvania state Representative Russ Diamond mocked Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine’s call for tolerance, and also defended his refusal to wear a face mask. For the continuing and outrageous criticism of Dr. Levine, Representative Diamond gets a TWIT Award. You can read about it at the Morning Call.

The Daily Signal has a long interview with Abigail Shrier, the author of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. The book expands on Dr. Lisa Littman’s article, which was criticized in Contemporary Pediatrics (posted above). For promoting bad research, The Daily Signal gets a TWIT Award.

We reported last week that the European Union threatened to defund some towns in Poland that claim to be “LGBT-Free zones.” Poland’s Minister of State Assets, Janusz Kowalski, responded by suggesting that the entire country declares itself to be a “LGBT-Free zone.” For promoting bigotry and for suggesting an outright lie, Minister of State Assets Janusz Kowalski gets a TWIT Award. Out.com has this story.

A group of Trump supporters at a pro-police rally in Shaler township, Pennsylvania, broke into a chant of “Kill transgenders.” For advocating violence against a group which gets enough violence as it is, attendees of this rally get a TWIT Award. You can find this story in 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