3/2/24

APA overwhelmingly passes policy condemning transgender healthcare bans

APA Trans Affirming Healthcare
APA YouTube Screenshot

The American Psychological Association, the world's largest of its kind with 157,000 members passed a policy supporting transgender Psychological and medical care. The new policy which passed overwhelmingly by a margin of 153-9 also takes the extraordinary measure of condemning transgender healthcare bans.

This policy statement affirms APA’s support for unobstructed access to health care and evidence-based clinical care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents, and adults.

Furthermore, this policy statement addresses the spread of misleading and unfounded narratives that mischaracterize gender dysphoria and affirming care, likely resulting in further stigmatization, marginalization, and lack of access to psychological and medical supports for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals.

“The adoption of this resolution reaffirms APA’s dedication to promoting inclusivity, dignity and access to quality health care for all individuals, regardless of their gender identity or expression,” said APA President Cynthia de las Fuentes, PhD. “It sends a clear message that state bans on gender-affirming care disregard the comprehensive body of medical and psychological research supporting the positive impact of such treatments in alleviating psychological distress and improving overall well-being for transgender, gender diverse and nonbinary individuals throughout their lives.”

Click the link for the four page APA Policy Statement on Affirming Evidence-BasedInclusive Care for Transgender, Gender Diverse,and Nonbinary Individuals, Addressing Misinformation,and the Role of Psychological Practice and Science

BREAKING! The results of the USTS 2020 survey of 93,329 trans and gender-diverse people have just been released. The survey indicates that 98% of respondents said that trans-affirming care has had a positive effect on their lives. However, nearly half of those surveyed said that they were either contemplating moving from their home state or already have due to trans care bans.

Indiana Federal Court Lifts Stay on Trans Health Care Devastating Hundreds

On Tuesday an Indiana federal Appeals Court without so much as an appeal lifted a stay on a legislative ban on transgender youth health care. This unilateral action signals the weaponization of the court by far-right anti-LGBT politicans in successfully circumventing established procedures for their war on transgender people.

.

3/1/24

PFLAG Responds to Texas Demand For Information

PFLAG National CEO Brian Bond

PFLAG National CEO Brian Bond said on Instagram that he will not comply with TX AG Ken Paxton's unprecedented, and outrageous demand for information on trans youth in Texas.

ACLU National is suing to stop a request from office of the Texas Attorney General for PFLAG to turn over information about their support of families in Texas seeking gender-affirming medical care for their trans youth.

Breaking An Austin judge issued a temporary injuction blocking Paxton from collecting information about transgender children from PFLAG National

KSAT reports that Travis County District Court Judge Maria CantĂș Hexsel said in an order that providing the information would harm PFLAG and its members in several ways, including violating their rights of free speech, association and protection from unreasonable searches. Additionally, the judge said, it would be a “gross invasion” of privacy. A hearing was scheduled for March 25 to give the attorney general's office a chance to make the case for why Friday's order shouldn't continue.

2/17/24

President Biden: Florida Trans People are dying! Act now to stop this travesty

Florida Transgender DMV Die in
Dozens of activists held die-ins at Florida DMV's



A Trans Floridian with a driver's license correctly identifying their legal gender is now committing fraud and soon a felony. Biden can stop this by enforcing The Real ID Act which is currently set to go into effect in 2025.

Up until Feburary 2024 trans Floridians were free to amend gender on legal documents, including state IDs and driver's licenses. But that has changed, illegally, under the fascist Desantis regime.

In a written statement to WMFE News, FLHSMV Director of Communications Molly Best said the agency requires satisfactory proof of identity, including biological sex, to obtain a driver's license.

“In Florida, you do not get to play identity politics with your driver license,” Best said. “No changes have been made to the process of establishing gender on a newly issued Florida credential, governed by s. 322.08, F.S.”

And according to the Jan. 26 memo from FLHSMV Deputy Executive Director Robert Kynoch: “misrepresenting one’s gender, understood as sex, on a driver license constitutes fraud,” and can lead to criminal and civil penalties.

When asked what the change means for Floridians who have already changed the gender marker on their driver’s license, per the previous guidance, Best did not respond to WMFE directly, only saying the previous guidance is not supported by statutory authority.

Right now, Florida lawmakers are considering a House proposal (HB 1639) that would enshrine the recent agency memo in state law: by requiring licenses to reflect a person’s sex, based on “the person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.”

Florida Dem Congresspeople To Biden: Block Trans License Ban With Real ID Act

If the Biden administration remains silent this will spread like a cancer to other states. You will not only fail them but the nation as a whole. Now we understand that the orange thug isn't an option but you got our votes in 2020 by a statement that you understood that transgender rights are the civil rights issue of our generation. It's time for you to put up or get the hell out of the way.

2/11/24

Father: bullying targeting his daughter by Utah state school board might have led to her suicide

Natalie Cline, a member of the Utah State Board of Education. Image Salt Lake Tribune

In a since-deleted Facebook post, Natalie Cline, a member of the Utah State Board of Education since 2020, posted a photo of the high school basketball player on Tuesday and falsely implied the student is transgender, writing: “Girls’ basketball…” reports CNN.

The intense bullying of the cisgender student could have resulted in her taking her own life if not for her caring and supportive family her father said in a statement.

“What if our daughter didn’t have that strong character and have our support, and community support to where she internalized this? Worst case scenario, she could’ve ended her own life,” Al van der Beek said in a statement to KSL TV.

Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson condemned Cline for her social media posts in a joint statement Wednesday. They urged the state’s board of education to hold her accountable. They also praised the Granite School District “for taking swift action to protect this student’s safety and well-being.”

Following the joint statement, the Utah State Board of Education said in a news release Thursday it can vote on actions to reprimand or censure a member, but it does not have the power or authority to unseat them. The board’s leadership is “very concerned” about Cline’s post and “the harm it has caused to students and families in Utah. We are deeply saddened by the events that may have taken place and will be taking prompt action regarding this matter as determined by the full Board.”

The hypocrisy expressed in the school board statement is mind-blowing. Do they only care about cisgender students? What about the UTAH population that isn't cisgender? Is it ok to bully trans and non-binary students causing their death? Because, obviously, that is what the school board implied.

Tragically, more than half of transgender youth do not have supportive families.

The just released results of 92,329 Transgender and non-Binary people surveyed in 2022 indicated that among 16- and 17-year-old respondents who said that some or all of their immediate family knew that they were transgender, 27% said their family members were “supportive” of them being transgender, and 17% said they were “very supportive.” 

Fifteen percent (15%) said their immediate family was “unsupportive” of them being transgender, 14% had “very unsupportive” immediate families, and 28% reported that they were “neither supportive nor unsupportive,” in other words, they didn't know.

Related: AP: Kansas attorney general sends directive to schools to out trans kids despite having no legal requirement.

2/3/24

Iowa Judiciary committee halts latest attempt to strip civil Rights from transgender people

Screenshot One Iowa Action

The latest attempt by the state of Iowa to strip rights from transgender people failed Wednesday when the three-member House Judiciary subcommittee said they would not advance the bill.

If HF 2082 had passed the legislature Republican Governor Kim Reynolds indicated she would have signed it.

A tragedy of epic proportions averted at least temporarily.

If passed this would have marked the first time in American history that civil rights had been removed from a protected class of people. The bill would have regulated gender other than that assigned at birth as a disability under Iowa law.

Executive Director Cortney Reyes of One Iowa Action, an organization that aims to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ Iowans, released a statement on Thursday following the announcement of the subcommittee hearing.

"Once again, we find ourselves grappling with the disgraceful attempts by Iowa Republicans to strip fundamental rights away from a group of Iowans. The privilege of navigating daily life without the weight of discrimination might be taken for granted by those who’ve never faced it, but make no mistake. These protections are not just essential but non-negotiable. If this bill passes, transgender people will be able to be discriminated against in every way imaginable. Landlords will be able to deny them the ability to rent an apartment legally, banks will be able to legally deny them a car loan, and hotels will be able to turn them away, all for no other reason than because they are transgender. That is cruel, and it is wrong. We call on Iowa legislators, Iowa business leaders, and every Iowan with a moral compass to stand up against this harmful proposal. We are all created equal, and no group of Iowans should be relegated to second-class status. Every Iowan must stand against this blatant assault on equality."

The Iowa Civil Rights Act remeins intact still prohibiting discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, ancestry, disability and gender identity reports USA Today. Lawmakers added the protections for gender identity in 2007 when Democrats held the Iowa Legislature and governor's office.

1/28/24

Florida Bills to compel Gender Conversion and legal detransition

A terrified child surrenders to Nazies. Florida white nationalists under the fascist Gov. Ron DeSantis have already passed laws targeting children and parents of trans kids criminalizing their medical care, forcing those who can to flee in terror .

As reported by the advocacy group Truth Wins Out, (CS/HB 1639: Gender and Biological Sex) gives free rein to unethical charlatans to practice gender conversion, a debunked, medically unsound practices that are rejected by every respected medical and mental health association in the world.

On Monday, January 23, 2024, Florida Today reports that the Florida House Select Committee on Health Innovation OK'd legislation (HB 1639) on a 11-4 vote that would require driver's licenses to display the carrier's sex at birth rather than their gender identity.

It would also require all insurances, health benefit plans and health maintenance contracts in the state that cover trans-related health care to also cover detransition care, defined as discontinuing or seeking to reverse gender-affirming medical or surgical interventions.

11/14/23

School Board overrules superintendent: Trans youth to play lead roll in Oklahoma!

Sherman High School theater students will get their roles back in Oklahoma! Watch the NBC report below.
Dallas Morning News reports "After an emotional school board meeting Monday night, trustees emerged from a lengthy closed session and voted on a total reversal: They directed the superintendent to reinstate Sherman High students in the roles they held at the beginning of the month, prior to a decision to revoke their parts based on gender. They also directed the school to return to the original script, rather than an abbreviated “youth” version."

7/13/23

Texas Transgender Families File Lawsuit To Stop Youth Healthcare Ban

Parents of children being treated for gender dysphoria and others are suing Texas over a recently passed bill that bans such medical care.

The parents of transgender youth filed a lawsuit asking for A temporary  injunction halting the trans youth healthcare ban that is set to begin on Sept. 1, 2023.

The complaint reads in part:

On June 2, 2023, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law Senate Bill 14 (“SB14” or the “Ban”), categorically banning the provision of necessary and often lifesaving medical treatment to transgender adolescents in Texas. The law passed despite the sustained and robust opposition of medical experts and the Texas families that stand to be severely negatively impacted. Absent intervention from this Court, the Ban will take effect on September 1, 2023.

Read the full complaint HERE

7/4/23

Michigan To Outlaw Misgendering in New Bill Passed By The House

The Michigan House of Representatives has passed a bill that will make intentionally misgendering a person a felony. If passed by the Democrat-controlled Senate and signed by Governor Whitmer House Bill 4474 will replace Michigan's existing Ethnic Intimidation Act, expanding the existing law to cover sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or expression, and physical or mental disability.

According to News Week, religion, ethnicity and race were already included in the previous legislation and will still be covered under the new law. The bill would make it a hate crime to cause someone to "feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened" with words—including by deliberately misgendering them.

Republicans naturally oppose expanding the hate crime law. Republican State Rep. Steve Carra tells CBS News Detroit he's concerned the expansion goes too far. "Threats and violence and things of that nature and protecting against crime is certainly something that we absolutely should be doing in Michigan. But we shouldn't be building that around an individual's feelings of being frightened," Carra said.

3/11/23

Dallas Band The Vandoliers wear dresses to protest Tennessee Drag Ban

The Vandoliers
The Vandoliers, a punk rock country music band from Dallas Texas.

The Vandoliers, a punk rock country music band from Dallas Texas performed in dresses while on tour in Tennessee. They did this in protest of Tennesse's drag ban just a few hours after the state's top drag queen, now a republican shill, Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law.

The law prohibits adult cabaret performances from taking place on public property or in any place where minors might be present, and it threatens performers with misdemeanor charges for breaking the rules — or even felony charges for repeat offenses.

Their propensity for social activism earned them a feature in the Rolling Stones posting on Instagram "Fuck a drag bill. đŸ–•đŸœ Gonna auction off the dresses we wore on stage in Tennessee tonight and donate the money to a couple of LGBTQ charities in this state. Details soon. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️".

Vandoliers multi-instrumentalist Cory Graves said that it was originally his idea to wear a dress during the show as his own act of solidarity. But once the rest of the band caught wind of Graves' planned personal protest, they quickly decided to join in on the effort with him.

"Whenever I told our bass player, 'I'm gonna do this,' he was like, 'That's a good idea,'" Graves told WFAA. "And then I told our guitar player, and he was like, 'I'm doing it too.' And then our fiddle player's like, 'I'm doing it too!'"

It wasn't long before all six Vandoliers were on board.

The Vandoliers are currently on tour in Europe and the USA with appearances in Denton, and Fort Worth Texas. The very affordable tickets can be purchased thru their website.

This is the stuff legends are made of.

3/5/23

Gov Bill Lee to appear in Drag on Billboards across Tennessee

Gov Bill Lee Drag Bill Board
Anti LGBT Tn Gov Bill Lee who did drag in 1977, will appear on billboards similar to this mockup on electronic billboards

TN Governor Bill Lee signed into law a bill that would criminalize drag shows and transgender people who attend them.

And unbelievably Tuesday a state lawmaker requested an amendment to add "hanging by a tree" to a bill authorizing firing squads for state executions.

A Gofundme is raising money to put Bill Lee's drag performance on electronic billboards across the state. According to organizer Zachary Heath Stampera on Friday it raised $65,196 with a billboard scheduled for a performance on the following weekend.

If Bill Lee had performed in drag as he did in 1977 to audiences he knew minors were attending, he would have been guilty of violating the law he just signed and sentenced to years in prison. Lee became upset when questioned about his drag performances and tried to excuse it as 'light-hearted fun'.

2/28/23

Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee calls photo of him in 'drag' a 'light-hearted school tradition'

Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee in drag
Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee in drag second from the left.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has said that he will consider signing a bill making drag and transgender people who appear in public where minors "could" be present a felony.

SB 3/HB 9 makes it a felony for those who "provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration."

What is "prurient interest"? It is material "having a tendency to excite lustful thoughts." as discussed in Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957)

The problem is a picture has emerged of Lee performing in drag publicly as a high school student during his senior year at Franklin High, Tenn. This image can be found in his yearbook 1977, on page 165.

I graduated about that time and I recall those events. They were held yearly at my high school. I found them disgusting as the spectacle denigrated femininity, and explicitly portrayed women as defenseless sexual toys while legitimizing white supremacy and toxic masculinity. (Lee appeared in a Confederate Uniform but has since called that a mistake)

Would Lee's drag performance appeal to prurient interests of his fellow minor high school students? I wasn't there, but really, that was what it was all about.

The New Republic reports that House Bill 9 is headed to Governor Bill Lee, who has said he will decide whether to sign the bill once it reaches his desk. If he does, the measure will go into effect on April 1, two months ahead of Pride Month. The bill bans “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to prurient interest,” meaning of a sexual nature, either in public or if there is a minor present. The language is vague and makes no distinction between drag performers and transgender people.

When H.B. 9 was first introduced in November 2022, the ACLU of Tennessee noted that “dance, fashion, and music—essential components of a drag performance—are all protected by the First Amendment. Yet, these laws are written so broadly and vaguely that they would allow government officials to censor performers based on their own subjective viewpoints of what they deem appropriate on any given day.”

“So, let’s call this what it is—a malicious attempt to remove LGBTQ people from public life,” the group said in a statement.

The bill’s vagueness could also affect Pride celebrations, which last for the month of June. Drag performers or trans people appearing in public could be charged with felonies simply for existing.

2/17/23

Demand the NYT cease lying about trans people

Why I Signed the New York Times Letter (And You Should, Too)

If you care about journalism, if you care about fairness, and you care about the truth, it should matter to you that "the paper of record" is constantly lying about trans people.

AND YOU CAN SIT BY AND WATCH OR YOU CAN REALIZE THAT YOUR FREEDOM IS TIED UP WITH OURS.

Trans activist Mara Glubka transcribed these important and brilliant words that were posted on Twitter 2 days ago by ACLU attorney Chase Strangio:

"In 2016 I began lobbying against anti-trans bills in state legislatures. At the time we were fighting back against the proliferation of the anti-trans bathroom bill and the false and weaponized narrative that trans people posed a threat to women and children in bathrooms.

In the years that followed, those pushing these bills (and ballot initiatives) admitted that the "safety" narrative fueling the bills in public discourse was entirely fabricated (which... of course it was). They shifted to focusing on privacy.

By shifting from "safety" to "privacy" the rhetoric fueling anti-trans bills placed the "problem" squarely on the body and existence of trans people. It was not something we *did* but just who we are and how we look that was the problem.

After Bostock and Biden's election, the escalation of attacks was swift. It began with the discourse around sports and quickly moved to healthcare. Fueled by global movements combating "gender ideology" (read: marshaling in fascism), this rhetoric took hold even more.

What started as "we just have concerns about competitive advantages in sports" quickly morphed into "aren't there really too many trans people and shouldn't we cut off the pathway from trans adolescence to trans adulthood".

From the pages of the New York Times to the legislative hearings across the country to kitchen table conversations - trans people became the endless fixation of those looking for a place for their fear about a changing world of increasing possibility.

Since at least 2016, I and many others have been raising the alarms about where this was all heading. It was never about bathrooms or sports or even healthcare. It is about what we represent - possibility outside of binaries, outside of notions of fixedness and essentialism.

If structures of power are dependent on us believing in the limits of what is possible - trans people represent an inherent threat to power.

We represent a freedom and possibility that is always a threat to the status quo.

I have been deep in this work for a long time but I will confess that I am surprised and horrified at where we find ourselves now in 2023. The sheer volume of bills and the prioritization of them. The coverage fixation at the Times and elsewhere.

Our society has accepted as legitimate our loss of healthcare, our frequent victimization, our death. As many as 14 States could ban healthcare for trans adolescents by mid-year. Almost half the country bands trans girls from sports.

If there is a "debate" about us among those in power - we are not a part of it. We are a spectacle for your consumption. That said we cannot be made on trans. There is no policy imperative that can change the fact of our existence. We are here as we always have been.

Governors Noem, Abbott, DeSantis, Cox, Hutchinson, Ivey. You may think you can sign off on our demise but we will rise stronger. To everyone who thinks we are worthy of concern but not agency, of your skepticism but not your respect, you write us off at your own peril.

None of this starts or ends with us.

Two governors have signed off on taking away our healthcare this session and it is not yet mid-February.

More of this is coming.

And you can sit by and watch or you can realize your freedom is tied up with ours."

1/20/23

George Santos performed as Drag Artist in Rio: Report

Newly elected right Wing extremist George Santos is a Drag artist who performed as Kitara Ravache in Rio de Janeiro according to MSNBC columnist Marisa Kabas

Eula Rochard (L) Kitara Ravache (R)
Kabas said that she spoke to Brazilian Drag Queen Eula Rochard who said through a translator that Republican George Santos alias Anthony Devolder alias Anthony Zabrovsky has another nom de guerre, that of Kitara Ravache.

To be clear this article isn't a hit job. Drag artists have my highest regard. Many artists perform for charity causes undeterred by the proud boys and their ilk armed with M-15s who try to shut down these events. George Santos ran on a far-right platform paling up with the likes of Margaret Green and the GOP platform that vehemently opposes LGBTQI rights.
Santos who has gone on record calling LGBTQI people 'Groomers' despite being gay himself said that reports of him performing as a drag queen were 'categorically false'.

8/22/22

With a “feeling of betrayal,” one family flees Texas in search of safe home for their transgender daughter

Watch: With a “feeling of betrayal,” one family flees Texas in search of safer climate for their transgender daughter

"Watch: With a “feeling of betrayal,” one family flees Texas in search of safer climate for their transgender daughter" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Watch more video.

Having trouble viewing? Watch this video on texastribune.org.

Ess Welsh spent her entire life in Texas. It’s where she fell in love with marching band, where she found a community of fellow Dungeons and Dragons players, and where she faced the looming threat of her family being investigated for child abuse.

In February, Gov. Greg Abbott told the Texas Department of Family Protective and Services to investigate families providing their transgender children with gender-affirming care. The directive is still in legal limbo.

[What is gender-affirming medical care for transgender children? Here’s what you need to know.]

For the Welsh family, leaving Texas means facing huge financial risks, severing community ties, and breaking bonds with trusted therapists and care providers. However, staying carries the threat of investigations, family separation and a loss of the crucial gender-affirming medical care that leading medical organizations have deemed medically necessary.

The Welsh family was just one of many grappling with this difficult decision.


The full program is now LIVE for the 2022 The Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 22-24 in Austin. Explore the schedule of 100+ mind-expanding conversations coming to TribFest, including the inside track on the 2022 elections and the 2023 legislative session, the state of public and higher ed at this stage in the pandemic, why Texas suburbs are booming, why broadband access matters, the legacy of slavery, what really happened in Uvalde and so much more. See the program.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/08/22/family-with-transgender-daughter-flees-texas/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

 

8/1/22

Transgender woman fatally Shot in East Houston Friday

 Marisela Castro / Houston Chronicle

A Transgender woman was shot in the back of her head and left for dead on a street in East Houston Friday morning.

The Houston Chronicle has identified the victim as Marisela Castro, who recently moved to Houston from North Carolina to be closer to her Family.

Houston police detectives told ABC13 that the shooting happened very quickly, in just 10 seconds.

The victim was shot in the back in the middle of Wood Shadows Drive near the East Freeway around 1:45 a.m. Friday, police said.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives said the victim was driving her car -- a four-door maroon Chrysler 200 -- with two other people also inside.

Police said the woman stopped the car on Centerwood Drive at Wood Shadows Drive, and she and a man got out.

That's when the suspect fired one shot from behind before getting back in the car and taking off, according to HPD.

"Our victim stepped out of the vehicle, was driving another person - it's hard to say - they were dressed in black, possibly a male," Det. Sgt. Thomas Simmons said. "They got out of the backseat. There was one gunshot fired. The victim fell. The suspect returned to the back of the vehicle. The vehicle left."

According to the TDoR TransLivesMatter website, Castro is the 55th trans person murdered in the USA since the 2019 TDoR.

Rest in Peace Marisela Castro.

Investigators are urging anyone with information about the incident to contact the HPD Homicide Division at (713) 308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-8477.