The Week In Trans 9/20/21

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Lady Feral

Alana McLaughlin, known as Lady Feral, won a MMA match. She is the first openly-transgender fighter in MMA in seven years. And of course many people used her victory as proof that cisgender women cannot compete in athletics against transgender women. Business Insider has this story.

Several social conservatives used the victory of Alana McLaughlin as “proof” that cisgender women cannot beat transgender women at athletics. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene went a step further, as she often does when on a rant. She tweeted, “Cheering on a biological man while he beats a woman is not exactly a sport, that’s exactly what the Taliban does.” (True enough, but while the Taliban does beat transgender women it’s not in sporting events.) In the U.S., many transgender women are beaten and murdered, and social conservatives have turned a blind eye to that problem. LGBTQ Nation has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

A bill to overturn Florida’s ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports has been filed. However, the legislature will not meet until next January, and there is no certainty that the bill will even get serious consideration in committee, according to Florida Politics.

The Independent Women’s Forum has come out with a new study, which claims to show that cisgender women cannot compete with transgender women in athletics. While it looks like an academic study, it makes the mistake of starting with its conclusion, and doing research to find the data to justify that conclusion. The fact is, in several cases, transgender women have lost athletic contests to cisgender women.

A new report finds there are really not many LGBTQ people in school sports, in part because they are afraid of being harassed. This story comes from them.

The Creative Arts Emmy Awards were handed out last week and Pose won three awards. They include one for costuming, one for hairstyling, and one for make-up. The Advocate has this story.

RuPaul Charles

The Advocate also reports that RuPaul picked up another Emmy as host. The show also picked up Emmys for editing and directing.

This just in: RuPaul’s Drag Race won the Emmy for outstanding competition program. Which means RuPaul just won his 11th Emmy making him the most-awarded Black artist in Emmys history.

On appeal, the High Court of the United Kingdom found that transgender people under the age of 16 can indeed make an informed decision on whether to take puberty-blocking medication. This overturns the decision reached by the court in the Keira Bell case. The decision which was overturned has been used to push laws forbidding gender-affirming medical treatment for minors in some U.S. states. The BBC has this story.

The California legislature has passed a bill which would track LGBTQ suicides in that state. Coroners and medical examiners would generate this data. This would allow for a better understanding of the suicide rate among transgender people, according to them.

The U.S. Department of Justice is examining the possibility of returning to the policy it had under President Obama of housing federal prisoners according to their gender identities. The Hill reports that the Trump administration went back to housing prisoners according to their sex assigned at birth.

D’isaya Monaee Smith

D’isaya Monaee Smith, a 27-year-old Black transgender woman, was shot to death in Chicago. NBC Chicago reports that her brother was shot to death three years ago this month. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this and other stories.

A new poll finds that most Americans would like Congress to define the limit of “religious freedom,” especially in regards to civil rights of LGBTQ people. This story comes from them.

Utah’s state legislature is taking up the possibility of limiting transgender people from changing the gender marker on their birth certificates, despite a ruling from the state’s Supreme Court that said that transgender people have a legal right to change the gender marker on their birth certificates. Fox 13 Now has this story.

WYPR devoted 40 minutes of radio time to looking at protecting the rights of transgender people in Maryland.

The state of Iowa is trying to appeal a ruling which allowed a corrections officer to use the ladies’ restroom after a gender transition. The Des Moines Register has this story.

The 19th reports that Texas has introduced more anti-transgender bills than any other state. They also say that these bills are likely to spur violent reactions among those who already think of transgender people as evil. There has also been an uptick in calls to transgender suicide prevention hotlines. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

The laws passed against transgender people will also apply to intersex and non-binary people, according to LGBTQ Nation.

Suspended: Joie St. Hubert.

A transgender student who was suspended from Lee University claims that the school has been applying the code of student conduct differently towards him than towards others. The Chattanooga Times Free Press points out that the student has engaged in some questionable behavior.

The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that requires Southeastern Oklahoma State University to reinstate a professor who was denied tenure because of her gender identity. The Oklahoman has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to the story.

NPR had a segment on “The Pervasiveness Of Transgender Health Care Discrimination.”

A study which concludes that transgender people are at greater risk for chronic conditions than cisgender people appears in Health Affairs.

A transgender man in Vancouver, British Columbia, thought he was gaining weight during lockdown, but in fact, he had a giant ovarian tumor which has now been surgically removed. The Daily Mail has this story.

Dr. Janine Fogel manages a transgender health center in Indianapolis. Indiana Business Journal tells how the center create a “safe haven” for transgender patients.

Carl Clemons-Hopkins of the HBO Max series Hacks is one of the first non-binary people to be nominated for an acting award. They talked to The Advocate about it.

Asia Kate Dillon wants to do away with the gender divisions in acting categories at awards shows. PinkNews has this story.

Mj Rodriguez

Mj Rodriguez does not want to be limited to playing trans characters. She wants to be able to play cis women, superheroes, even aliens as well. This comes from an interview with PinkNews.

The song This Was Me from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is “a touching tribute to queer history, and the movie’s moving heart,” according to them.

A new talent agency which is owned and operated by transgender people for transgender people has the additional aim of trying to improve both the quantity and quality of transgender characters in movies and television shows. Deadline has this story.

Juliet Jacques reviews Shon Faye’s new book The Transgender Issue in Frieze.

On Christopher Street, an exhibition of Mark Seliger’s photographs of transgender people taken in Greenwich Village, opened at the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis, Tennessee. This story comes from The Memphis Flyer.

The University of Illinois is hosting a photo exhibit, lecture, and film about older transgender people, titled, To Survive On This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. The University of Illinois has a press release.

Munroe Bergdorf

In a new podcast, Munroe Bergdorf says that we need to find humanity even in people who think nasty thoughts about us transgender people. Munroe spoke about the podcast in an interview with PinkNews.

Out.com has a list of transgender and non-binary singers whom they have liked for years.

During Fashion Week in New York, Aaron Potts debuted a new line of genderless fashions. Them has this story.

Chromat and Tourmaline introduced a new line of swimwear for those who choose not to tuck. This story comes from them.

The Met Gala was this week. Many noticed Elliot Page in his tuxedo, wearing a green flower, and associated the look with Oscar Wilde. You can read about it in them.

Nikkie de Jager based her outfit for the Met Gala on Marsha P. Johnson, and went on a trip to pay tribute to the trans icon before the party. PinkNews has this story.

Kim Petras in her horse dress.

Both Out.com and them have lists of the best LGBTQ outfits from the Met Gala, and Elliot Page is at the top of both lists. Mj Rodriguez and Kim Petras also show up on both lists.

Outside the Met Gala, police arrested at least nine protestors. Indya Moore sympathized with the messages of the protestors, according to them.

The Met Gala and Fashion Week coincide with Bushwig, a big drag event in Brooklyn. Out.com has a gallery of photos from that event.

Annie Wallace, an actress from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, said that she did not tell friends about her gender transition until her fiftieth birthday, 26 years after she transitioned. Some already knew, some suspected, and some were surprised. PinkNews has this story.

RuPaul just had a new species of fly named for him. The fly, found in the jungle, has a rainbow pattern on its exoskeleton, according to them.

California held its recall election last Tuesday. Gavin Newsom will get to finish his term. The Advocate reports that Caitlyn Jenner got less than 1% of the vote. She made a statement in which she admitted she lost, but expressed bitterness and alleged surprise that Governor Newsom survived the recall.

MP Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in Britain’s Parliament, accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of using transgender rights to stoke a “culture war,” and said that is unacceptable. He was asked if there were “places in society where biological males can’t go,” and he replied, “No.” This story comes from PinkNews.

Marsha de Cordova is quitting her role as the shadow of the Women’s and Equality Minister. The Labour MP said that her decision to leave the frontbench has “nothing to do with trans rights,” and said she is hoping to concentrate on serving her constituents. The subject of transgender rights has been a source of tension in the Labour party. PinkNews has this story.

An expert warns that colleges and universities in Britain may get sued if they only have two genders on their application forms. This story can be found in PinkNews.

Lincy Sopall

California New Times has an interview with Lincy Sopall, a transgender woman who left Honduras to start a new life in the U.S.

As we mentioned last week, Megan Rohrer was installed as the first transgender bishop to serve in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Get Religion notes that the news stories have pointed out that she is transgender, but seem not to point out that she is Lutheran.

Jackary, who describes himself as “CEO of aggressive allies,” explained in a TikTok video why sharing your pronouns is important. PinkNews has this story.

Carrie Grant is the mother of three non-binary children. She talked about her family in an interview with the Sunday Times, and touched on how to handle it when you accidentally misgender someone. This story comes from PinkNews.

Hope Ryan, a transgender woman who is now 80, tells The Tampa Bay Times that she cannot relate to anyone.

The Brookings Institution declares that “Transgender students’ rights shouldn’t be subject to partisan feuds.”

TWITs

Tim James has decided to challenge Kay Ivey for the Republican nomination to be Governor of Alabama. The businessman claims that the current governor is soft on yoga, critical race theory, and transgender rights. Ivey signed into law a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports. The law to ban medical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors has never passed the legislature. For stoking up the culture war because he has little else to run on, and for not studying the reasons why people support what he does not, Tim James gets a TWIT Award. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

Rosie Duffield, an MP from the Labour Party who seems intent on stirring up division over the topic of transgender rights, published a ten-tweet thread in which she described transgender women as “biological males.” She described herself as “gender critical,” and called transgender men “a very small number of people,” as though the fact that a group is small means their rights are unimportant. For a dismissive attitude about the rights of others, Rosie Diffield gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from PinkNews.

Vice World News has obtained a recording in which Kemi Badenoch, the new Equalities Minister, went on a rant against LGBT rights, referred to transgender women as “men,” and used the word “transsexual”. The recording is from 2018, when she was new in Parliament; she was appointed Equalities Minister last year. For insufficient sensitivity towards a put-upon group, MP Kemi Badenoch gets a TWIT.

Them reports that teachers in Texas are asked to report if they are being asked to teach critical race theory or “gender fluidity.” This is the work of “Save Texas Kids,’ a non-governmental group which appears to try to pester the government until it reacts to their complaints about teaching these topics. For attempting to demonize transgender people by punishing those who see them as people, Save Texas Kids 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.

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Category: Transgender Community News