Trans News Now 7/31/23

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Erica Rose

Michael Elgin Travis is a bartender and a ghost tour guide in Key West, Florida. Twice a week, he performs as Erica Rose, a drag queen. And now, he is also a candidate for the Florida state House of Representatives. If he manages to win election, he will be the first professional drag queen in the Florida state legislature, according to LGBTQ Nation. Even if he does not win, he figures he will inspire others, and that’s a victory in itself.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan signed legislation into law which outlaws conversion therapy on minors. Michigan is the twenty-second state to outlaw conversion therapy on minors, which has never shown itself to succeed. The Advocate has this story.

We reported last week that the Virginia Department of Education released its guidelines for school policies to deal with transgender students. They differed greatly from the guidelines set forth by the federal government. It did not take long for one school district superintendent to announce that his district will not follow the guidelines. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.

Two transgender patients have filed suit against Vanderbilt University Medical Center, for turning over their medical records to Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. The Attorney General’s office says that it is examining a claim of fraudulent billing, but it seems suspicious that transgender patients have had their medical records turned over, given the climate of anti-transgender legislation in Tennessee, The Associated Press has this story.

Camdyn Rider

Camdyn Rider, a 21-year-old transgender man, was shot to death by his partner, who then killed himself. Mr. Rider was eight months pregnant at the time of his death, according to Them.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government held a hearing on “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors.” No doctors testified. Instead, the witnesses included a swimmer who felt cheated because a transgender woman was allowed to compete, a detransitioner, and a few others who are more activists than experts. The Advocate has this story.

The House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee hearing was so full of misinformation that The Human Rights Campaign took the time to refute several of the things that were said.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation which would rewrite many laws to make them gender-neutral. This story comes from The Advocate.

A report by Axios found that Florida transgender teens had to go the furthest from home in order to find medical care given the state bans on gender-affirming care for minors.

Quinn

Quinn, a midfielder for Canada’s women’s soccer team, is the first transgender player in the Women’s World Cup tournament. Quinn identifies as both non-binary and transgender. Quinn is profiled in People magazine.

Senators John Fetterman and Tina Smith have introduced a bill which would require credit-reporting agencies to only use the current name of a person in their reports. this would be significant for those who have legally changed their names, according to The 19th.

The TRUE Center for Gender Diversity at Children’s Hospital Colorado announced that they will stop treatments for patients over the age of 18. They will refer those patients to other gender clinics. The Advocate has this story.

World Aquatics, the international governing body for swimming, announced that it would have an “open” category, in addition to male and female categories. This story comes from Forbes.

Dylan Mulvaney

Dylan Mulvaney released a new video as she celebrated her 500th day of girlhood. Out.com has this story.

Two teachers at First Baptist Academy in Baytown, Texas, were fired for attending a drag show, then sharing pictures of the event on social media. The school fired the teachers for breaking the morals clause in their contracts. This story comes from Them.

The Labour Party of Britain is no longer promising to push for self-declaration of legal gender. PinkNews has this story.

The Conservative Party of Britain has had to issue denials that their proposed laws would stop students from socially transitioning their gender at school. This story comes from PinkNews.

Last week, it was announced that transgender women would not be allowed to compete for the title of Miss Italy. This week more that 100 trans men signed up to compete in the pageant. The Advocate has this story.

In Kansas, conservatives have been running state politics for some time. They overrode Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of their anti-transgender legislation. However, the city commission of Lawrence voted unanimously to make it a sanctuary city. While it is hard to say how much they can push back against the laws being passed, at the very least, the desire to oppose them has been expressed. LGBTQ Nation has this story.

In light of the anti-transgender legislation being passed, the Associated Press took to figuring out how many transgender people there actually are in the United States.

Peppermint

Drag queen Peppermint is playing a part written for and inspired by her in the Netflix series Survival Of The Thickest, and she is also performing standup comedy. She talked to Out.com about the projects.

Reuters reports that Pope Francis told a young transgender person, “”God loves us as we are.” This seems to indicate an acceptance by God, if not by the Catholic Church, of transgender people.

Sinead O’Connor passed away this week. PinkNews reports of a time when she donated clothes to a trans youth charity, in a gesture of ally-ship with trans people and the LGBTQ community.

Trans News Now is assembled by Cecilia Barzyk with additional content and editing by Angela Gardner.

Tags: featured, news, Transgender

Category: Transgender Community News