Tag: transgender

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Alaska: Organization Sues To Deny Shelter To Trans Women In Freezing Temperatues

Virulently anti-LGBTQ legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom, is representing a ‘Christian’ women’s shelter that is suing to deny transgender women shelter from the freezing winter cold.
(image via Depositphotos)

Virulently anti-LGBTQ legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom, is representing a ‘Christian’ women’s shelter that is suing to deny transgender women shelter from the freezing winter cold.

The conservative law firm, which represented Colorado baker Jack Phillips in his fight to deny services to gay people, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the ironically named Downtown Hope Center against the city of Anchorage, Alaska, to deny services to transgender women.

The issue arises from an incident that occurred in January 2018, when a transgender woman was turned away from the shelter, according to local news station KTUU.

Downtown Hope Center says the woman, identified in court papers as “Jessie Doe,” was denied shelter because she was allegedly inebriated. The shelter claims she was put into a taxi and sent to a hospital for treatment for a cut on her forehead.

But the same woman showed up the next day and again was turned away.

The average temperature in Anchorage at night during January is 9 degrees.

In September 2015, the Anchorage Assembly passed AO-09, a city ordinance which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

The ordinance added protections to Anchorage’s equal rights laws for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people in housing, employment and public accommodations and includes exemptions for religious groups and those with ministerial duties.

In a press release, ADF asserts the ordinance exempts homeless shelters like the Hope Center. ADF attorney Ryan Tucker told U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason that the homeless women in the shelter would “rather sleep in the woods” than spend a night in a shelter with a transgender woman.

In a further slap to trans women, the ADF also says that because many of the women at the shelter have been battered or sexually abused by men, they shouldn’t have to sleep in proximity to ‘men.’ ADF calls the idea of trans women sleeping in the shelter ‘dangerous.’

But the Southern Poverty Law Center disagrees.

“There is simply no evidence that transgender people are more of a threat to anyone whether that be in bathrooms, locker rooms or homeless shelters,” David Dinielli, Deputy Legal Director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, told KTUU. “In fact we know transgender people are among the most, if not the most likely to be targeted for abuse, sexual abuse and physical abuse.”

It’s worth noting that the Hope Center receives some of its operating funds from public tax payer monies via a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The ADF, which has represented so-called ‘religious freedoms’ lawsuits in more than a dozen states, has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group which works to push trans people “back into the shadows.”

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News Round-Up: January 7, 2019

• The hunky Alex Landi, who plays out Dr. Nico Kim on Grey's Anatomy, tells Attitude Magazine that he just wants to do his best when portraying roles regardless of his sexuality or his character’s.
Alex Landi (promo photo: Grey’s Anatomy/ABC)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Buff Alex Landi, who plays out Dr. Nico Kim on Grey’s Anatomy, tells Attitude Magazine that he just wants to do his best when portraying roles regardless of his sexuality or his character’s.

• Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signed a new directive banning LGBT-based discrimination in state services or by state contractors. The new executive order does not include a loophole exemption for religious organizations that receive state funds.

• Virulently anti-gay Texas Pastor Donnie Romero resigned last week after it was revealed he has a deep history of gambling, hiring prostitutes and smoking marijuana. At the time, Romero actually cheered the Pulse Nightclub shooting wishing the gunman had ‘finished the job.’ Ye who protesteth the loudest, do it the mosteth.

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has changed her position on healthcare for transgender people in prison saying she now supports access to all “medically necessary services, including transition-related surgeries.”

• Donald Trump may think Special Counsel Robert Mueller might wrap up his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election soon, but Mueller just extended his grand jury in Washington, D.C., for another six months.

• Tony Award winner (Kinky Boots) and Golden Globe nominee (Pose) Billy Porter dropped a new music video for “Love the Pain Away,” a song he wrote in 1999.

Billy shares he recently came across the song again and realized it still applies to what’s happening today in the U.S.

Note how Billy extends the video to give all of his band and chance to shine. #Class

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News Round-Up: December 26, 2018

Do not forget to watch the Kennedy Center Honors tonight on CBS at 8pm as Cher, Philip Glass, Reba McEntire, and Wayne Shorter receive the 41st Annual Kennedy Center Honors. Hamilton co-creators Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler, and Alex Lacamoire receive a special Honors for groundbreaking work.
The 2018 Kennedy Center Honors air tonight on CBS at 8pm

Some news items you might have missed:

• Do not forget to watch the Kennedy Center Honors tonight on CBS at 8pm as Cher, Philip Glass, Reba McEntire, and Wayne Shorter receive the 41st Annual Kennedy Center Honors.

Hamilton co-creators Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler, and Alex Lacamoire receive a special Honors for groundbreaking work.

• An unhinged Catholic priest claimed Satan designed the Pride flag.

• Legal pot was a popular Christmas gift in California this year as cannabis businesses reported up to 5x normal foot traffic in the days leading up to the holiday.

• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi trolled Donald Trump and his infamous wall telling USA Today he’s now shifted from a concrete structure to “a beaded curtain or something.”

• The transgender teen who was bullied by an assistant principal in a bathroom speaks to the press about the hideous experience.

• A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll asked Democratic and Independent voters who would excited them the most in the 2020 presidential race.

“Someone entirely new” garnered 59%, followed closely by former Vice President Joe Biden (who is the exact opposite of that) at 53%.

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News Round-Up: December 18, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• Who’s getting ready for Christmas? (image via Instagram)

• Michael Critchfield, a transgender boy in West Virginia, was harassed while using the boys room at his high school by a vice principal. According to reports, Lee Livengood, the vice principal, kept yelling over the bathroom stall door, “Why are you in this bathroom?” Even though the bathroom was empty, the encounter left Critchfield in tears.

• After suggesting that immigrants are making America “dirtier” last week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has lost 14 advertising sponsors to date.

• The White House has now signaled it will back off a threat of shutting down the federal government if Donald Trump doesn’t get the funds he wants to build his infamous wall along the Mexican border. Wasn’t Mexico was going to pay for the wall???

• Earlier today I wrote about the passing of director and actress Penny Marshall, but you really should click over to Matt Rettenmund’s much more comprehensive obituary at Gr8erDays. Matt knows his TV history like no one.

• Queer as Folk is getting the reboot treatment on Bravo! According to my Instinct Magazine colleague, Mickey Keating, we’re getting all new characters in a new setting which follows a group of club going friends who find support in the gay community after a tragedy.

• Gus Kenworthy wins the award for yesterday’s funniest tweet after Donald Trump accidentally referenced a gay movie in one of his Twitter rants.

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Trans Woman Wins Lawsuit Against NY Jail After Being Denied Prescribed Hormone Treatment

(image via Geoff Sterns/Flickr – CC License)

A transgender woman has successfully sued a county jail in New York state for denying her medically-prescribed hormone treatments for 16 months while incarcerated.

From Gay Star News:

In 2013, Jessica Sunderland sued the Suffolk County in New York state. She served a 16 month sentence at the Riverside Correctional Facility.

Sunderland said the jail refused to give her her prescribed hormone therapy even though she had started transitioning two year prior.

‘I had been transitioning for two years prior, and to have everything reverse itself… it was horrible,’ she told The Appeal.

In October, Sunderland won her case against the jail and its medical director, Vincent Geraci. A jury found the jail and Geraci had violated her constitutional rights. The court awarded her $280,000 in damages and $75,000 in punitive damages against Geraci.

According to the The Appeal, the jail kept giving Sunderland excuses about why it was not giving her hormones.

‘It was very uncomfortable to deal with the physical changes,’ she said. After multiple stalling tactics, the jail confirmed that Geraci decided she shouldn’t have hormone treatment.

‘I was told I wasn’t going to get it—at all,’ Sunderland said.

Geraci originally refused to prescribe Sunderland hormones because he claimed it would damage her liver. But also wrote in her medical records it was his ‘preference’.

According to The New York Times, the doctor had shared several anti-trans posts on social media.

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High School Officials Break Into Bathroom Stall Being Used By Transgender Student

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A video posted to social media appears to show school officials breaking into a bathroom stall as a transgender high school student is using the bathroom.

According to The Daily Dot, the student originally posted the video to their social media but it has since gone viral. Her name isn’t being used as she’s apparently a minor.

The one-minute video, shot from the student’s perspective inside the stall, shows a crowbar or broomstick being used to reach over the door of the stall and unlatch it.

As this is happening the student says, “I’m using the bathroom, and look at them; I’m using the bathroom and they just violated me!”

“I am so scared and violated right now. They just walked in the bathroom while I was using the bathroom for no reason.”

The video was shared on Twitter by activist Kenidra Woods. Watch below.

You know, most of the people who oppose trans folks using a bathroom say their concern is about being harassed in a stall. And here are folks doing exactly that to a trans student…?

“I’m not personally in touch with the student, but in her video, she asked for people to share it far and wide,” Woods told the Daily Dot. “So, I made it my priority to share it because it infuriated me to my core. No one should be treated in the manner she was treated.”

While it’s possible there’s more to the story, it is difficult to believe that prying open a bathroom stall door on a student is the best possible approach to this situation. The officials or hall monitors couldn’t wait until the student exited the stall?

The issue of bathroom use by transgender students has been in the news frequently in recent years, especially since the Trump administration reversed an Obama-era policies that recommended transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom that aligned with their gender identity.

The student apparently posted follow-up videos to Facebook which appeared to identify the school as Osseo Senior High School in Osseo, Minnesota.

According to The Daily Dot, school officials have not commented on the video.

The story becomes more complicated as LGBTQNation reports someone who claims to be the sister of the student took to her Facebook to criticize the trans student’s actions.

In the sister’s post, misgendering the trans student throughout, the sister says the trans student has “a bathroom of [their] own to use whenever [they] wants to use it because [they] doesn’t feel comfortable using a men’s bathroom[…] because other girls won’t feel comfortable.” She also says her sibling had been in the bathroom for “like, an hour.”

The sister later posted a message from their mother consistently referring to the trans student with male pronouns while claiming to fully support the student being transgender.

The mother goes on to write that the trans student “doesn’t realize is that [she’s] not the only one who has been effected by all [she] has done in the last 24hrs and the rollercoaster [she] brought us on.”

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Today Is Transgender Day Of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. This is a day to pause and reflect on anti-transgender violence around the world. According to The Trans Murder Monitoring research project, between the 1st of October 2017 and September 30, 2018, 369 cases of reported murders of transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people have been reported. That represents an increase of 44 deaths compared to 2017 and 74 more cases than in 2016. Brazil (167 murders) and Mexico (71) lead in violence against trans people. In the United States, there have been 28 murders of transgender people in the past 12 months, up from 25 the previous year. And that figure represents only the deaths we know of.

The rise in violence against trans people comes as the Trump administration continues its assault on protections for trans Americans. In October, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Department plans to redefine transgender people out of existence. Early in Trump’s time in office he announced he plans on banning transgender Americans from serving in the U.S. military. Additionally, the Department of Education reversed an Obama-era policy that held trans students should be allowed ot use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. TDOR is a day not only to mourn those we’ve lost and celebrate the lives they lived, but also bring awareness to the daily struggles and dangers that trans and gender non-conforming people face around the world on a daily basis. The video below was released last year by Shape History who asked trans youth about the labels put on them by society. Take a listen to these trans young people about their feelings on how they are perceived and how they’d like to be seen:

Gwendolyn Ann Smith founded Transgender Day of Remembrance in 1999 as a way to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman who was brutally murdered. In a statement to GLAAD, Smith writes that the observance “seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence.” “I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost,” she continues. “With so many seeking to erase transgender people — sometimes in the most brutal ways possible — it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.” You can participate by attending a vigil on November 20 to honor all those whose lives were lost to anti-transgender violence this year. Vigils are typically hosted by local transgender advocates or LGBT organizations, and held at community centers, parks, places of worship and other venues. The vigil often involves reading a list of the names of those who died that year. Check out a full list of events here. Hillary Clinton and other leaders expressed their thoughts on trans violence via Twitter.

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Short Film: ‘The Real Thing’

What a lovely, thoughtful short film.

The Real Thing, written and directed by Brandon Kelley, captures important moments – big and small – in a quick 7 minute journey.

With very little dialogue Kelley guides his lead actors, Sophie Giannamore and Michael Torpey, up to and through one of the most crucial, life-altering moments a transgender child will have.

From the official description:

When a soldier returns home, things have often changed. For Staff Sergeant Michael Waltze, the ultimate change is in his child. While on his tour of duty, his daughter has transitioned and started living her truth. Today he is coming home to surprise her.
Parental love is unconditional. It transcends a person’s memory of their child. The Real Thing is an infinitely stronger bond.

The short was honored as ‘Outstanding Narrative Short Film’ at Outfest 2017, ‘Programmers Choice Award’ for Narrative Short at the Virginia Film Festival, Best Director and Best Drama Jury Award at the New England Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize and People’s Choice Award at the James River Short Film fest and many others.

Kelley released the film earlier this week in observance of Transgender Awareness Week (Nov 12-19).

Kudos to Kelley, his cast and crew for a capturing such a poignant, ‘real’ chapter in so many lives.

I really encourage you to sit back for just 7 minutes and watch The Real Thing below.

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56 Major Companies Denounce Trump Administration’s Attack On Transgender Protections

Fifty-six major companies (including Apple, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, and IBM) have signed on to a letter in support of transgender equality.

The project was headed up by 14 LGBTQ advocacy organizations, led by the Human Rights Campaign and Out Leadership.

The coalition included: Athlete Ally, Freedom for All Americans, GLAAD, GLSEN, Lambda Legal, National Center for Transgender Equality, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, National LGBTQ Task Force, Out & Equal, PFLAG National, The Trevor Project, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF).

In the letter, the companies denounce the Trump administration’s treatment of trans people including the recently discovered plan to ‘redefine’ trans people out of existence.

We, the undersigned businesses, stand with the millions of people in America who identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex, and call for all such people to be treated with the respect and dignity everyone deserves.

We oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations. We also fundamentally oppose any policy or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex.

In the last two decades, dozens of federal courts have affirmed the rights and identities of transgender people. Cognizant of growing medical and scientific consensus, courts have recognized that policies that force people into a binary gender definition determined by birth anatomy fail to reflect the complex realities of gender identity and human biology.

Recognizing that diversity and inclusion are good for business, and that discrimination imposes enormous productivity costs (and exerts undue burdens), hundreds of companies, including the undersigned, have continued to expand inclusion for transgender people across corporate America.

Currently more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 have clear gender identity protections; two-thirds have transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage; hundreds have LGBTQ+ and Allies business resource groups and internal training efforts.

Transgender people are our beloved family members and friends, and our valued team members. What harms transgender people harms our companies.

We call for respect and transparency in policy-making, and for equality under the law for transgender people.

Accenture
Adobe Systems Inc.
Airbnb
Altria Group
Amalgamated Bank
Amazon
American Airlines
Apple
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade
BNY Mellon
Cargill
Cisco Systems Inc.
Citi
Clifford Chance
The Coca Cola Company
Corning Incorporated
Corteva Agriscience [™] , the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont
The Dow Chemical Company
Deutsche Bank
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Facebook
Fastly, Inc.
Google
Hogan Lovells International LLP
HSBC
IBM Corporation
Intel Corporation
Intuit Inc.
Iron Mountain
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co.
LinkedIn
Lush Handmade Cosmetics
Lyft
Marriott International
MassMutual
MGM Resorts International
Microsoft Corp.
Nike, Inc.
PepsiCo
Replacements, Ltd.
Ropes & Gray
Royal Bank of Canada
S&P Global
Salesforce
Sheppard Mullin
Sodexo Inc.
Splunk
State Street Corporation
TiVo Corporation
Trillium Asset Management
Twitter Inc.
Uber
Warby Parker

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Transgender Activists Surprise With Pro-Trans Banner At World Series

During last night’s final game of the World Series, transgender activists somehow snuck a huge banner that read “Trans people deserve to live” into Dodger Stadium and unfurled the massive message during the game.

According to CBS News, the moment was planned by members of the TransLatin@ Coalition, a Los Angeles-based activist organization that advocates for the rights of transgender Latinx people.

It won’t surprise you to learn that Fox Sports didn’t show the sign or its removal on the air.

By the way, the Boston Red Sox clinched the Series by winning the game 5-1. This marks the 4th Series title in 14 years for the Red Sox.

A Facebook video of two activists unfurling the banner was uploaded by The TransLatina Coalition. According to The Los Angeles Blade, the two activists in the video were identified as Bamby Salcedo and Maria Roman.

“Our message tonight was to let the world know that we as Trans people deserved to be humanized, acknowledged and valued,” said Salcedo, according to the Blade.

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