The Week In Trans 9/6/21

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LGBtQ Nation has an interview with Deja Alvarez, who is campaigning to be the first transgender Latinx member of the Pennsylvania state legislature.

A federal judge upheld Washington’s state ban on conversion therapy. This story comes from them.

Pooh Johnson, a Black transgender woman who had talent as a makeup artist, was shot to death at age 25 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Police are investigating, but admit that they have little to go on. PinkNews has this story.

Hate crimes based on sexual orientation declined last year, but hate crimes based on gender identity rose. Overall, the number of hate crimes is on the rise. The Advocate has this story.

The transgender woman who was at the center of a controversy in the Los Angeles area has been charged with multiple counts of indecent exposure at a spa for women. This story comes from The Los Angeles Times.

Attorneys General from twenty states have filed a suit against the Biden administration, in an attempt to overturn the requirement that transgender employees be allowed to use the restroom which matches their gender identity. While the states argue that the agencies overstepped their authority, the guidance is in line with the Bostock decision. Reuters has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

An appeals court in Indiana denied a transgender teenager’s request to update the gender marker on the teen’s birth certificate. The application had to be made by the teen’s mother, because the teenager is a minor. The AP’s story can be found at WANE-TV.

Stephanie Battaglino wrote a new book, Reflections From Both Sides of the Glass Ceiling. The Advocate has this story.

A new bill in California, if passed, would require colleges and universities to update their records to use a student’s preferred name on class lists, transcripts, and diplomas. That would include transcripts of alumni and diplomas of graduates. This story comes from them.

North Carolina state employees can sue over the state’s ban on the state’s employee health insurance covering transgender medicine, according to a state appeals court. This story comes from The Raleigh News & Observer has this story.

Although last week’s news told us that Gavin Grimm was awarded $1.3 million in settlement of his lawsuit, he is still not rich. He only got one dollar of the settlement. The rest went to lawyers’ fees. He sat for an interview with them.

The Proud Boys tried to hold a “Straight Pride” in Modesto, California. Police stopped the event, and arrests were made, after fights broke out. The Modesto Bee has this story.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley has created the Black Trans Archive, which is working to preserve Black transgender history. This story comes from them.

Dr. Rachel Levine talked to Morning Call about how her position in the Department of Health and Human Services put a spotlight on transgender people.

Almost one-fifth of LGBTQ+ renters are behind on their rent, according to them. House Beautiful reports that three organizations led by Black transgender women are attempting to solve transgender homelessness through their organizations.

A badly-worded headline, repeated in several places, quotes a Lancet article as saying that transgender women are at “twice as likely to die as cisgender people.” Actually, everyone has a 100% risk of dying, eventually. What the study actually finds is that the risk of dying of heart attack, stroke, lung cancer, HIV-related illness, and certain other causes, is greater, and at a younger age, when compared to cisgender people. The real takeaway is that these risks, which were known over 30 years ago, have not decreased significantly in recent years. There was hope that advances in transgender medicine could have put a dent in at least some of these risks, but apparently not yet. Forbes has this story.

Despite the findings in the Lancet study, many transgender people find that transitioning is good for their mental health. Some also find that surgeries make them feel better. Verywell Health has an article about what to expect after gender confirmation surgery.

Johnson and Johnson has announced the early end of their trial of a vaccine to prevent infection by HIV. They are continuing a trial of a variant of that vaccine, which is being tried on transgender people in Europe. The discontinued trial is the result of a failure by the vaccine, LGBTQ Nation reports. Moderna is continuing trials on their HIV vaccine.

An article in The Huntington News of Northeastern University puts the problems of transgender athletes in the perspective of the problems of being a transgender person, or for that matter, anyone who does not meet society’s standards of gender.

An article on ESPN takes a look at some of the transgender student athletes who are in the spotlight of the lawsuits about transgender athlete laws.

Open Democracy wonders what will happen when the International Olympic Committee begins new discussions of transgender athletes.

The second special session of the Texas legislature has ended, without a transgender student athlete bill. It hardly matters, since the state’s athletic association already insists that students participate in athletics according to the gender assigned at birth, and they have no intention of changing things. Spectrum News has this story.

Chris Moiser wants the media to treat transgender athletes fairly. His writing appears in them.

Robyn Lambird won the bronze medal in the women’s 100 meter race at the Paralympics, becoming the first non-binary person to win a medal at the Paralympic games. This story comes from them.

Mashable has an excerpt from Shon Faye’s new book The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice.

Out.com has a list of twelve television series with transgender men in the cast played by transgender actors.

There are at least two non-binary performers in the reboot of Queer As Folk, according to Out.com.

Elliot Page just released a new album, including a new single. You can read about it in them.

Billy Porter said in a recent interview that he doesn’t mind if he never plays another straight role again. Out.com has this story. He is in Cinderella, which just opened.

Hunter Schafer has agreed to appear in the upcoming horror film Cuckoo, along with John Malkovich. This story comes from Out.com.

Noted producer Cameron Mackintosh claimed that casting transgender actors is “a gimmick.” Admittedly, he was responding to a question about the possibility of a “transgender twist” in Mary Poppins. Still, Alexandra Billings then responded, pointing out that she is currently playing Madame Morrible in Wicked, a character which was not written as transgender. Mr. Mackintosh then issued a long clarification. The Hollywood Reporter has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

There will be a Transgender March on Broadway on September 6, in response to Mr. Mackintosh’s comments, and to the lack of transgender performers in casts. There will also be a concert at the march, with the title “You Gotta Have A Gimmick.” This story comes from them.

In the world of anime and manga, One Piece is adding a transgender character named Morley. Comicbook.com has this story.

Colonial Williamsburg is adding a new musical presentation, based on two women who left Ireland to run away to Wales in the 18th century. They have researchers trying to determine what the attitude of Virginians at the time would have been to LGBTQ people. Yahoo has a couple of story of people whose gender identities seem out of place with colonial times.

Kylie Sonique Love was crowned the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars for this season. She is the first transgender contestant to win a season of any show in the Drag Race franchise. NBC News has this story.

Out.com has a gallery of the five winners of Drag Race shows this season.

Gigi Goode, who became a star on RuPaul’s Drag Race, proudly came out as a “trans, non-binary person.” PinkNews has this story.

Brock Banks, a drag queen who became an adult movie star, and is now an HIV advocate, tells her story to HIV Plus.

The cemetery where Divine is buried have had to ask fans to please respect the gravestones of others buried there. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

A new YouGov poll showed that 85% of respondents from the U.K. said that they would support their child if the child turned out to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual. However, only 71% would support their child if that child was transgender. This finding displeased PinkNews. However, them reports that only 66% of U.S. respondents say they would support their lesbian, gay, or bisexual child, while support for a transgender child was at only 57%.

The U.K.’s Secretary of Health, Sajid Javid, said that the NHS is “failing” transgender men and non-binary people. This came in response to a letter from 200 trans men and non-binary people, describing problems tha they have had with the current system. Things have gotten worse since the start of the pandemic, according to PinkNews.

The Samantha Bee show Full Frontal aired a segment on the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch. That’s where a group of trans women have established an alpaca ranch out west. At first it seemed they would be left alone to tend their animals but soon enough the bullies in the area learned they were there. Watch what happened in this video from the show.

A transphobe tried to attend Manchester’s Pride Protest. He was wearing a t-shirt promoting the LGB Alliance, and recorded his appearance. He encountered chants of “Trans lives matter” and “Trans rights now.” He was eventually escorted away by police. He was not arrested, but was removed from the event. Metro Weekly has this story. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Anti-transgender protestors dressed as suffragettes and booed Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The Guardian reports that this was in response to a debate about reforming the Gender Recognition Act.

Italy came up near to Britain in the poll of support for a child with a non-majority sexual orientation or gender identity. A new book says that the support, in which the country disagrees with the Catholic Church, is the result of one incident, in which a gay Sicilian couple were found dead. The Advocate has this story.

Acceptance of transgender people is especially low in Puerto Rico. Police do not investigate attacks on transgender people, and sometimes even join in attacks. This story comes from CBS News.

A 13-year-old transgender activist appeared on The One Show, and Angelina Jolie was impressed. Specifically, Emily Waldron sent LGBTQ-themed books to school libraries, according to PinkNews.

Because of new laws encouraging the employment of transgender people in India and Bangladesh, some people think that transgender people are being hired there just because of their gender identities. Unilever Bangladesh had to issue a formal statement, saying that they hire people based on their abilities, not their gender identities. TBS News has this report.

When the Taliban was in charge of Afghanistan, it was known to be one of the worst places for women and girls. Things were better under the U.S., but now, the Taliban has returned to power. The Taliban also wrecked the path of “bacha posh,” which translates as a girl “dressed as a boy.” This tradition is examined by CNN.

China has introduced a new mandate banning “effeminate men” from television. The Advocate has this story.

This week, them featured a number of stories about LGBTQ people and their bodies. This featured a great emphasis on transgender people.

Nadine Smith reports that body horror movies, such as Old helped lead to an acceptance of the author’s gender dysphoria. them has this article.

Emma Spector writes that practicing “body neutrality” is not easy, but it is rewarding. This story is in them.

Chloe Toscano wrote a plea to remember disabled people in less gendered fashions. them has this story.

A photo story in them proclaims that girls with bulges belong on the beach.

Aerin Cho writes about experiencing anorexia as a young transgender girl. Her story appears in them.

Elly Belle writes in them how transgender autistic people express joy with their whole bodies.

TWITs

The Supreme Court of Virginia allowed a gym teacher to keep his job, even though he insists that his religion forbids him recognizing a student’s gender identity if it differs from the sex assigned at birth. Some other teachers announced at school board meetings that they also have such “deeply held religious beliefs,’ and will no doubt want to use this ruling to push their religious views on students. For making schools an unsafe place for transgender students, and for ignoring the new state law on the matter, the Virginia Supreme Court gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from us.

A transgender man has filed a complaint against a gym in New York City which required him to wear a female one-piece swimsuit in order to use the pool. For failure to recognize a client’s gender identity, and for not making a sufficient attempt at finding a compromise, Equinox Gym gets a TWIT Award. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for a link to this story.

Tucker Carlson went on another unhinged rant, in which he complained that Jen Psaki is somehow disrespectful of transgender men who get pregnant. This appears to be in response to a comment about abortion, in which the White House Press Secretary used feminine language to refer to pregnant people, even though transgender men can and do get pregnant. For using an issue which he disagrees with in order to attack someone he disagrees with, pretending to defend a group whom he obviously feels do not deserve to be defended, Tucker Carlson gets a TWIT Award. Newsweek has this story.

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