Trans News Now 4/22/24

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Becky Pepper-Jackson

A federal appeals court granted Becky Pepper-Jackson an exemption from West Virginia’s ban on transgender athletes. The court did not take the next step of striking down the law as unconstitutional, as the plaintiff’s attorneys asked, but, by a 2-1 vote, they did say that the plaintiff had “no real choice at all,” since she could either participate on the boy’s team or not participate in sports. This story comes from NBC News.

The Department of Education has released its rule on Title IX. The rule strengthens protections for transgender students, as well as protecting against sexual harassment. It does not protect transgender athletes from being banned. Politico has this story.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit which would have supported the Nassau County ban on transgender athletes. With that lawsuit dismissed, state Attorney General Letitia James can take steps to block the ban on transgender athletes. The Advocate has this story.

In Ohio, a court has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the enforcement of the state’s ban on gender-affirming care on transgender youth. This sets the stage for a larger legal fight over the matter, as LGBTQ Nation points out.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has vetoed a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The state legislature says it will override the veto. This story comes from Them.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the state’s Women’s Bill of Rights, passed by the legislature. The bill would have replaced “gender” with “biological sex” throughout state law, and would have forbidden transgender people from accessing a restroom which does not match their “biological sex.” The Washington Blade has this story.

Elliot Page

Elliot Page was among the famous people on TIME magazine’s “Most Influential” list. LGBTQ Nation notes that at least two anti-LGBtQ politicians also made the list.

Two trans women have filed suit against Montana, due to the state’s ban on changing the gender listed on state ID and driver’s licenses without surgery. The Hill has this story.

A judge in Missouri decided that Planned Parenthood must turn over the records of transgender patients to the Attorney General. Planned Parenthood is appealing the decision. This story comes from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, on a party-line vote, found that the Republican attorneys general of Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas have made “abusive legal demands” to obtain the medical records of transgender patients. >LGBTQ Nation has this story.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction which would have stopped the state of Idaho from enforcing its ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors. Arguments on the law itself will be heard later, and likely will take years to get to the Supreme Court, but Idaho will be allowed to enforce the law int he meantime. The two plaintiffs, however, will be allowed to continue to receive gender-affirming care, according to PBS NewsHour.

The Center for American Progress has found five similarities between Poe v. Labrador, the case over Idaho’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and Idaho v. United States, the case against Idaho’s anti-abortion law. One similarity: both are being pushed by the Alliance Defending Freedom.

As states wind up their part-time legislative sessions for the year there is a surprising lack of new anti-transgender laws among legislation passed. While Orion Rummler of The 19th thinks this may mark a turning point, I for one think that state legislators had already passed the laws that they wanted, and saw little need to pass bills which at most added an exclamation mark at the end of the already-enacted legislation.

One of the beauty queens.

A military recruitment center in Thailand was shocked when two drop-dead gorgeous beauty queens arrived on registration day. The women were selected to enlist for military service in the county’s annual recruitment lottery. The ladies caused quite a stir and were ultimately exempted from the army. Learn more from scmp.com.

Tee Arnold, a trans man, was shot to death in Florida at age 36. This story comes from Them.

A trans woman in New York City had to have her legs amputated after she was pushed in front of subway train. Friends have set up a GoFundMe campaign to help her out. The Advocate has this story.

A new study seems to show that the threat of violence against transgender people is rising, as we become more visible. The statistics come from Los Angeles, but seem to apply anywhere. This story comes from The Advocate.

Did you know that the Smithsonian sponsored a drag show? Well, they did until they got some nasty feedback. The New Republic has this story.

In international news, Scotland is pausing prescriptions for puberty blockers for transgender minors, partly due to the Cass Report. This story comes from NBC News.

Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf, confirms that the new misogyny law will protect transgender women as well as cisgender women. PinkNews has this story.

Nymphia Wind

RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 finale picked Asian American queen Nymphia Wind as America’s Next Drag Superstar.

The Canadian Pediatric Society is very concerned with some of the findings in the Cass Review. They disagree with the finding that there is a “lack of high-quality research” in defense of puberty blockers, though admittedly more research would be helpful. But, withholding treatment from some patients just to see what the results would be like is unethical, even though it would produce more reliable results. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has this story.

Sweden will soon allow 16-year-olds to change their legal gender. Previously, the minimum age was 18. Those younger can still change their legal gender designation with the consent of parents or guardian. This story comes from PinkNews.

The term “transvestigating” refers to the phenomenon of people claiming that famous people are secretly trans, and you can tell because of certain anatomical clues. Recently, the first lady of France was the subject of a conspiracy theory that held that she is secretly trans, even though there are many people who have known her since she was a school girl. Michelle Obama has also been the subject of such a thing, even though she gave birth to two daughters. TeenVogue has this story.

The Advocate has a story about a Republican mother, and former member of Congress, coming to accept her transgender son.

Trans News Now 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.

Tags: featured, news, Transgender