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Days after ICE agents were reportedly instructed to specifically target trans people, they have been deployed to airports to assist with the TSA agent shortages caused by Republicans holding their pay hostage. This has increased fears around travel for many people who are already considering fleeing the country, as well as for those traveling to the US. I’m planning a trip to Canada and even flying there direct makes me fear bad weather or otherwise being re-routed. I con
The Lemkin Institute issued it's third warning about the ongoing trans genocide in the US, waving the red flag alert. We've been saying we are in the "early" stages of genocide for a long time. It is safe to say we are beyond that. They are making lists. Trump is ranting to the press about forcing sex changes on kids.
Meanwhile, a New York Times reporter took to the comments on his own article to signal agreement with a far-right conspiracy theory that major medical journals have been ideologically captured, attempting to explain away the overwhelming evidence in favor of gender-affirming treatments.
It's getting to the point where I couldn't possibly cover all the advancing bills and legal battles. I'm often afraid of how bad things are going to get. So I am appreciating the little things in my life, and doing my best to show up every day to help prevent as much of the bad as I can. Keep showing up with me?
A few notes. We won't be linking to PinkNews anymore. Now more than ever, please support indie journalism.
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A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration overstepped in trying to ban trans care federally and pressure providers to stop offering it. A federal court in Connecticut ordered preliminary relief for trans plaintiffs in a class action against Aetna, blocking the insurer from enforcing its categorical exclusion of gender-affirming facial surgeries while the case proceeds.
Dr. Oz tried to pressure major medical societies into opposing trans youth care, though most groups defended their support for medical intervention. The Trans News Network reports on the human toll of the Catholic Church's trans healthcare ban, which affects one in seven hospital patients in the US. In brighter news, the Connie Norman Transgender Health Care Clinic opened in Los Angeles, offering full-service health care at the community center that is "open for all."
Idaho's House passed a trans bathroom ban carrying a five-year prison sentence, one of the harshest bills criminalizing trans people in the nation. In Colorado, anti-trans ballot measures have been certified with backing from evangelicals and the archdiocese, and voters will decide whether to ban trans kids from gendered sports and gender-affirming surgery for children, along with three other states. A Missouri poll found that a ban on transgender care is the strongest selling point in a ballot measure that would outlaw abortion.
Despite the right doing everything in their power to spread their anti-trans agenda globally, a US attempt to define gender in the UN with the binary terms of man and woman alone has failed. Unfortunately, a sweeping anti-trans bill is advancing in Portugal, built on the template constructed by the US far-right. Another in India. Similarly, anti-trans legislation is spreading in the Canadian prairies, where the Canadian Medical Association has applied to intervene against the Saskatchewan government's "parental rights" bill barring trans youth from changing the name or pronouns they use at school without parental permission.
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Fight forced conversion "therapy." This is urgent: forced conversion "therapy" on trans people in prisons is under way. Later this month I'll be reviewing a pair of books that reveal the long history of the US prison system as a site of medical experimentation.
Warn your clients. This is your regular reminder that not all people who study trans health actually care about trans people's health. The scientists behind the "Social Contagion" myth of gender and the pseudoscience of "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria" are recruiting trans youth for the AYAGDOS project.
Defy quietly — or loudly. Florida professors are refusing to alter syllabi on race and gender, even as the state targets how inequality is taught.
Support parents to support their trans kids. Whether that means helping to create third spaces where trans kids can be themselves, connecting to vital networks of mutual aid and community care, or assisting families with relocating to another state or country, parents of trans kids need your help.
Back lawsuits and help parents fight. Denver Health is backing Children's Hospital Colorado in a gender-affirming care lawsuit filed by parents arguing that losing access to care is both dangerous and discriminatory. How can you advocate for hospitals, major clinics, and medical organizations to which you belong to participate in and support these efforts?
The Ratchet — A data-driven analysis of anti-trans legislation documenting the most sustained legislative assault on a minority population in modern American history, mapping the architecture of a coordinated campaign of elimination.
Trans Kansans Sue for Their Rights — Imara Jones highlights trans Kansans who filed a lawsuit after a state law revoked their driver's licenses, covers four anti-trans Democrats in North Carolina losing their primaries, and shares how New York AG Letitia James mandated hospitals resume gender-affirming treatment for trans youth.
Blue States Retreat on Trans Youth Health Care — Imara Jones examines the wave of hospital networks in blue states abruptly ending gender-affirming care programs despite legal mandates, speaks with GLAD Law's Jennifer Levi about legal implications, and talks resistance strategies with Kei Williams of New Pride Agenda.
As a trans therapist, my trans clients teach me how to build a better future — Therapist Leigh Hendrix writes about holding space for trans clients while sharing their fears, finding antidotes to despair in trans resilience, and why believing in a collective trans future is part of the work.
On Hold — Photographer Prins de Vos documents people waiting for gender-affirming care in the Netherlands, where average wait times have reached three years. The ongoing photo series continues until trans and nonbinary people have the right to self-determination.
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Scheduling mishaps with sources this week means no weekend column, so instead you get a bonus article sourced from an argument I needed to stop having on Facebook, ha. We’re talking about how trans people use the words “transgender” and “transsexual” and how this usage features in transmedicalism.
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