Almost half (46 per cent) of LGBT+ school students in England do not feel safe to be themselves at school, a study has revealed.
LGBT+ education charity Diversity Role Models released its “Pathways to LGBT+ Inclusion” report Wednesday (18 November), which quizzed 6,136 students and 5,733 adults from 90 schools, which were all “at the start” of their journey towards LGBT+ inclusion.
It found that across the board, 46 per cent of LGBT+ students would not feel safe coming out at school. Of secondary school students, this figure jumped to almost three quarters (73 per cent).
In a foreword for the report, presenter Clare Balding said: “Just let that sink in. The place you are relying upon to prepare you for the world, the place where you are supposed to get an all-round education is not currently a safe space if you are LGBT+.”
The report also highlighted a huge disparity between the experiences of LGBT+ students and what the teachers responsible for their care were willing to admit.
While 42 per cent of year five and six primary school students and 54 per cent of secondary school students said that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language was common at their school, just 26 per cent of teachers admitted this was the case.
When this language did come up, just 67 per cent of primary school teachers and 78 per cent of secondary school teachers said they challenged it.
But, according to students, the situation is even worse. Less than a third (32 per cent) of secondary school kids said that staff challenged anti-LGBT+ language.
Balding added: “The report has discovered that parents, staff and governors tend to underestimate the occurrence of bullying compared to the pupils themselves.
“This is crucial because what adults may think and how adults may react to language will naturally be more considered and resilient. We grow stronger as we grow older but children don’t have those layers of protective experience.
“They respond and react as if stung or burnt and it’s why it is so important that we take these findings seriously and we, as adults, react quickly to protect the most vulnerable.”
Researchers spoke to “selective and non-selective schools, independent, faith schools and non-denominational schools, local-authority-maintained schools, academies, free schools and mixed- and single-gender schools” in London, the West Midlands and the South East of England, to compile the report.
Discrimination and bullying at school can have tragic consequences for LGBT+ youth, who are already at greater risk for mental health problems.
LGBTQ candidates once again made history in terms of the overall number elected to Congress and state legislatures across the country. However, many of them had to contend with homophobic and transphobic attack ads this election cycle.
“There is little doubt that millions of dollars in homophobic and transphobic attacks ads devastated our candidates in key swing districts during the final weeks of their campaigns,” said Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which trains and advocates for queer candidates at all levels of government. “Bigoted politicians and operatives who thrive in the politics of hate were able to peel away support from voters who don’t yet know our community.”
Bigoted ads did not spell defeat for all LGBTQ candidates they targeted, but even the candidates who overcame the attacks did have to invest resources to respond to them.
Impacts ‘hard to quantify’
When it comes to homophobic and transphobic political attacks, “it is hard to quantify the effects,” according to Gabriele Magni, an assistant professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
“When you have an incumbent president who is such a polarizing figure, it becomes harder to disentangle what is the effect the homophobic attack ad and what is the effect of having Donald Trump on the ballot,” he said.
He also explained that “voter suppression efforts that target constituents that are generally most supportive of Democratic candidates,” also hurt LGBTQ candidates, as the lion’s share of them run as Democrats (at least 90 percent, according to LGBTQ Victory Fund’s estimate).
Whether a candidate won or lost may not be indicative of the impact of the bigoted attacks either, as Magni said the bar tends to be higher for LGBTQ candidates who make it to the general election, so “the exceptional quality of some of these candidates allowed them to overcome the negative effects of some of these attacks.”
Nonincumbents and purple districts
Homophobic and transphobic attacks produced mixed impacts on congressional races, with nonincumbents and those in purple districts most likely to suffer defeat.
In New Hampshire, Democrat Chris Pappas — who in 2018 became the first openly gay man to represent the state in Congress — was able to stave off what supporters called homophobic challenges to his integrity to win re-election against Republican challenger Matt Mowers.
During a debate Oct, 21, Mowers brought up Pappas’ alleged relationship with a lobbyist and accused the candidate of impropriety. Pappas denied the claim, and in a statement after the debate, he said Mowers’ behavior was “despicable” and that he had “crossed a line.”
Mowers’ campaign manager, John Corbett, called the homophobia claims “untruthful accusations” designed to divert public attention from policy issues and obscure Pappas’ relationship with the lobbyist.
“Matt Mowers learned the hard way that his desperate homophobic dog whistle attacks cost him votes amongst Republicans and independent voters in the closing days of the campaign,” Lucas Meyer, campaign manager for Pappas, said in an email to NBC News after his election victory. “Granite Staters saw right through his baseless attacks and rejected his blatant bigotry that he made the focus of his closing message.”
While Pappas was in a purple district, which President Donald Trump carried in 2016, he had the advantage of incumbency this year. “Homophobic attacks are less effective against well-known candidates, because voters already know them,” Magni said.
Nonincumbent congressional hopefuls in purple districts had a tougher time trying to flip red to blue districts.
Two races for which LGBTQ advocates and Democrats had high hopes — Gina Ortiz Jones and John Hoadley — did not pan out.
Hoadley lost against incumbent Republican Rep. Fred Upton, who voted against the Equality Act last year and for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2004 and 2006.
Former U.S. Air Force Capt. Jones lost to Republican Tony Gonzales, a Navy veteran, failing to flip Texas’ 23rd Congressional District for Democrats.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spent millions of dollars on attack ads against both of these candidates.
“If you are running for congress as a nonincumbent,” Magni said, “not so many people know who they are.” This means that voters may “rely more heavily on stereotypes or homophobic tropes,” especially in the context of Covid-19 in which personal contact is even more limited.
By contrast, derogatory comments directed at Rep.-elect Ritchie Torres did not harm his chances of becoming the first Afro-Latinx LGBTQ person elected to Congress. He easily won the general election for his congressional seat against his Republican opponent in one of the most progressive districts in the country. Magni said the attacks are “less consequential” in heavily Democratic districts like New York’s 15th.
Hateful messages
Magni explained that the diverse candidate pool, with many women, people of color and transgender candidates are “especially vulnerable targets” for anti-LGBTQ messaging.
Jenna Wadsworth, an outspoken progressive, lost her bid for North Carolina’s agriculture commissioner. In October, Wadsworth became the target of online vitriol after she posted a video asking viewers if Donald Trump’s diagnosis with Covid-19 was their “favorite or most favorite October surprise.”
Wadsworth, who described animosity toward her prior to the video as “minimal,” quickly became inundated with thousands of messages on social media.
Many of the hateful messages, however, were not about Wadsworth’s controversial remarks about Trump’s health — they were about her being unfit for office because of her sexual orientation, gender identity and sex.
“That does a lot to you emotionally, psychologically. It’s very draining,” she said.
Some of the messages made Wadsworth fear for her physical safety. “I received gang rape threats after that video,” Wadsworth said. “Until election night, I was not able to stay in my own home for three weeks.”
Magni described North Carolina as a “deeply divided state when it comes to LGBTQ attitudes” and added that part of the electorate “is receptive to these kinds of attacks.”
Wadsworth, who at 31 would have been the youngest LGBTQ statewide elected official in the country’s history, lost the race and said she believes her campaign suffered due to the bigoted attacks. She said she has not decided what is next for her politically.
Unexpected boost?
Several candidates experienced an unexpected boost in support and financing as a result of homophobic and transphobic attacks.
Shevrin Jones easily won his race for Florida Legislature last Tuesday to become Florida’s first LGBTQ state senator.
In August, a blood bank rejected Jones when he sought to donate plasma after recovering from Covid-19 because he is in a same-sex relationship. A robotext, whose sponsor remains unknown, was sent to voters saying Jones was “discriminated against for recent homosexual contact,” and linked to ShevJones.com, which is not Jones’ website and does not appear to ever have had any information on it. Jones was also the subject of a homophobic flyer with a photo of himself and his partner on vacation and asked, “Is this who you want for your next state senator?”
The attacks did not stop Jones, and paradoxically may have helped in terms of support and funding.
“We raised over $1 million,” Jones said. “When those attacks were coming people just gave more.”
Brianna Titone, who won her bid for re-election to the Colorado Statehouse, experienced several transphobic attack ads.
The group Take Back Colorado released a Facebook ad this month that misgendered Titone and referred to her by her “deadname,” the name she used before her transition. The ad also claimed Titone has “always supported violence” and sexualizes children. Then Republican state Rep. Stephen Humphrey voiced a robocall paid for by the Colorado Family Values Victory Fund attacking Titone’s gender identity.
Magni said transgender candidates may be more likely to become the target of attacks because “public support for trans rights is still lower” than for lesbian and gay rights.
Titone triumphed over the attacks, which led to increases in volunteer support and campaign contributions. “The attacks I had to endure didn’t create any obstacles for me that I didn’t already have,” she told NBC News. “If anything, it helped me with raising money and it convinced some people to support me based on the ads.”
She also feels that her attackers were emboldened by the Trump administration that has “given permission to be rude.”
“I’m curious to see how my new colleagues will treat me. Will they be towing the line of those messages, or will they realize that that is not productive and move away?,” she said.
Omar Leos, who won his race for North East School District board in San Antonio, had a similar experience.
“I think it helped energize the campaign. It mobilized more people to come out to volunteer and it definitely helped me financially too,” Leos told NBC News.
“In my personal opinion, it backfired on them,” Leos said.
Texas Family Action, a political action committee affiliated with the conservative San Antonio Family Association, sent a mailer to voters in Leos’ district describing him as being “‘married’ to same-sex man” and noting he has “no children” in the school district. In contrast, the mailer described Leos’ opponent, Ione McGinty, as a “wife and mother of 6.”
While Leos still won, Magni said that such attacks can “force the campaign to redirect the resources and shift media focus,” he said. “The campaign has to respond.”
Leos did say the homophobic attacks prompted him to shift his campaign message to highlight the unwillingness of his opponent to be an advocate for LGBTQ students.
“Before on my signs was ‘Keep Omar Leos,’” he said. After the homophobic attacks he shifted his message to “A voice for all.”
“I’m a voice for all students, for all people,” Leos said.
‘Soldier on’
There is no reason to believe LGBTQ candidates have seen the last of homophobic and transphobic attacks, but Magni said a swift response by candidates and their allies is important to prevent their opponents from defining the narrative of the campaign.
LGBTQ candidates also need to remember that they are targets because they are strong candidates who have the potential to win, Magni added.
“That should encourage them to soldier on and to keep in mind the ultimate goal — that is, that they are running to serve their constituents.”
Bias attacks based on gender identity rose significantly in 2019, according to a new FBI report on hate crimes.
Released this week, the annual Uniform Crime Report indicates that, last year, 227 hate-crime incidents were motivated by gender-identity bias. That’s up 20 percent from 2018, when 189 such incidents were reported.
Drilling into the data, there were 175 victims of anti-transgender bias and 52 victims of anti-gender-nonconforming bias reported last year, compared to 160 victims of anti-trans bias and 29 victims of anti-gender-nonconforming bias the year prior.
Civil rights advocates have long criticized the report for failing to represent the full number of hate crimes in the United States, since reporting isn’t mandatory. Last year, only 2,172 law enforcement agencies out of about 15,000, or less than 15 percent, reported hate crime data, the FBI said.
Since 2018, the number of agencies submitting hate crime statistics actually decreased by 451.
More than 70 cities with populations over 100,000 either failed to report data or affirmatively reported zero hate crimes. The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group, said cities of that size not having a single hate crime all year “is clearly not credible.”
“The lack of mandatory reporting means that the FBI data, while helpful, paints an incomplete picture of hate crimes against the LGBTQ and other communities,” the organization said in a statement.https://dataviz.nbcnews.com/projects/20200714-trans-homicide-annual-barchart/index.html?initialWidth=560&childId=embed-20200128-coronavirus-us-count&parentTitle=Anti-transgender%20hate%20crimes%20soared%2020%20percent%20in%202019&=
In 2019, at least 27 transgender or gender-nonconforming persons died by violence, according to the group. Again, the real number is likely higher, as not all deaths are accurately reported, nor are all victims accurately identified.
In 2020, that figure has risen to 36, the most since the group began tracking these deaths in 2013, with more than a month left in the year.
“This year, we saw a tragic new record of fatal violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people in this country, particularly against Black and Brown transgender women,” HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement. “These alarming statistics represent real trauma for individuals and families across this country who have to bear the brunt of these hate crimes.”
In a statement released prior to the election, Biden vowed to “put forward comprehensive solutions to help empower the transgender and gender-nonconforming community and prioritize the prosecution of anti-transgender violence.”
The FBI’s annual report defines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on a person’s race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, among other categories.
In all, the bureau received 7,314 reports of hate crimes in 2019, up from 7,120 in 2018 and approaching the record 7,783 in 2008.
Reported attacks based on sexual orientation dipped slightly, from 1,445 in 2018 to 1,429 in 2019. They represented 16.8 percent of all hate crimes, the third largest category after race and religion.
Crimes involving religion-based bias rose, with attacks targeting Jewish people and institutions increasing 14 percent and those targeting Muslims increasing 16 percent. For the fourth year in a row, there was also a significant uptick in hate crimes targeting the Latino community, increasing 9 percent from last year.
Hate crimes against Black Americans dropped slightly, from 1,943 to 1,930.
Join us in Downtown San Rafael to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, 2020. We will have powerful speakers, live music, and will read the names of the transgender people who have been killed over the last year due to anti-trans violence.
Please share information about the event widely with your networks: we encourage all to show up in support of trans people in Marin County and beyond!
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
TDOR founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith, says “Transgender Day of Remembrance 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. 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.” If you cannot attend the event in-person, it will also be live-streamed over Zoom. You can register for the Zoom meeting at bit.ly/TDORMarin. Please note this is the link to register, and then you will be emailed the actual meeting information. In case of rain, we will be holding the event entirely virtual, so check the weather the day of the event!
Nearly 1 in 10 transgender Americans are turning to nonprescription sources for gender-affirming hormones — including friends, relatives and internet pharmacies — according to a new study.
While the Affordable Care Act has extended health care to millions, many trans people are still uninsured or are denied coverage for transition-related care, including hormones and gender-affirming surgery.
According to the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, only 24 states explicitly require private insurance companies to cover gender-affirming treatment. And nine states, according to the fund, have explicit exclusions for trans-related coverage under Medicaid.
On Thursday, two West Virginia men denied hormone replacement therapy filed suit in federal court, challenging the blanket ban on gender-affirming care in state-funded health insurance plans, including Medicaid.
“Every time I go to someone who’s not my doctor, I get misgendered, I get uncomfortable questions. So if I’m not dying, I’m not going to the doctor.”
CECILIA GENTILI
It’s uninsured and underinsured individuals who are more likely to turn to alternative avenues to get hormones, according to Dr. Daphna Stroumsa, an OB-GYN with Michigan Medicine, and the lead author of the new report in Annals of Family Medicine.
“The lack of coverage is a combination of insurance companies being discriminatory in rejecting claims, and in creating excessive layers of [red tape] for something that is very straightforward and actually cost-effective,” Stroumsa told NBC News. “We know gender-affirming hormones immensely improve mental health and lower the risk of depression.”
Among the 27,715 study respondents who said they were interested in gender-affirming hormones, Stroumsa’s team found 15 percent were uninsured, and 21 percent of those with insurance said their claims were denied.
In all, more than 9 percent of the people in the study — 992 individuals — said they were taking nonprescription hormones.
Denied access to treatment, some individuals seeking to transition will use estrogen or testosterone prescribed to a friend, according to Stroumsa. Others will take birth control pills or buy medication off legally questionable internet pharmacies.
While the trend cut across demographics, turning to illicit hormone sources was slightly more pronounced among transgender women, as well as among younger respondents and biracial or multiracial individuals. There was no difference, however, based on education or economic level.
“It actually surprises me that [the number] is so low,” said Latinx trans advocate Cecilia Gentili, principal at Transgender Equity Consulting. “I’d expect it to be much higher.”
At the gender-affirming treatment clinic Gentili launched at New York City’s Apicha Community Health Center, demand always outweighed supply. “I started with nine clients, and by the end we had 650,” she said.
Transgender Americans face systemic barriers to care, and increased rates of unemployment and homelessness. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could deny coverage for transition-related treatments by labeling transgender identity a pre-existing condition.
The Trump administration has tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and, in June, revoked health care discrimination protections for transgender Americans. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, a court injunction currently keeps those protections intact.
“Despite the administration’s best efforts, the ACA hasn’t been undermined to date,” Stroumsa said. “And more people are covered under Medicaid.”
‘If I’m not dying, I’m not going to the doctor’
Insurance isn’t always the issue. Outside of large, urban areas such as New York, Miami and Los Angeles, the odds of finding a caregiver who is culturally competent about transgender health become exceedingly low.“That’s why many of us find other ways to procure HRT,” Gentili said. “If you’re going to be misgendered, insulted or mistreated by a doctor, and you can get your meds from India or Colombia, then f— the doctor. I understand it.”
These days, Gentili works with a “terrific” primary care provider, but if she needs treatment in off-hours, she said she thinks twice about going to urgent care.
“Every time I go to someone who’s not my doctor, I get misgendered, I get uncomfortable questions,” she said. “So if I’m not dying, I’m not going to the doctor.”
Taking hormones not prescribed by a medical professional comes with a variety of risks. Not only because they may not be checked for content, quality, formulation or dosing, but because treatment isn’t likely to be monitored.
Estrogen therapy has been linked to blood clots in the lungs and legs, increasing the risk of stroke and possible long-term risk of breast cancer.
A 2018 Kaiser Permanente study found transgender women on hormone therapy were twice as likely as cisgender men or women to have the blood clot condition venous thromboembolism, which can cause shortness of breath, chest pain, lightheadedness or even fainting.
Though the risks of testosterone have been less studied, it can cause the blood to thicken, increasing chances of stroke or heart attack if too high a dose is administered or the dosage increases too quickly.
“The risks are on several levels,” Stroumsa said. “Where are you getting this from? Are you using the best regimen for you? Are we guiding you? Everyone deserves to be able to talk to their physician about their treatment.”
Gentili knows firsthand what getting hormones through less-than-official-routes can be like.
“My mom used to send me hormones from Argentina,” she recalled. “One time they made a mistake and sent me testosterone by accident. And I shot testosterone twice — it was a horrible experience.”
Still, she understands why many go outside the system.
“We have to define risk. What risk means to a white, cis[gender] man is totally different than what it means to someone like me. As a trans woman of color, I’ve been navigating risk as long as I can remember. If I can take a pill without dealing with a doctor who’s going to make me miserable — who’s going to attack my mental health, who I am — it’s worth it.”
Overlooked cardiovascular risks
Even if patients have insurance and go to medical professionals for transition-related care, the risk factors may not be fully appreciated.
A separate report presented last week at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2020 conference found many transgender patients already receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy had unaddressed risks for cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, hypertension and high cholesterol.
“We get hyper-focused on the specific care they come for … and maybe we should spend more time looking at the larger picture of cardiovascular health,” said lead author Dr. Cecile Ferrando, director of the Cleveland Clinic Transgender Surgery and Medicine Program in Ohio. “There’s a big assessment on mental health before transition, but we’re not looking at the higher [heart-disease] risk.”
Of the 427 adults who sought care at the clinic’s Center for LGBTQ+ Care, nearly 7 percent had undiagnosed high blood pressure and more than 11 percent had undiagnosed high cholesterol. Their risk for stroke or heart attack in the next 10 years was significantly higher than that of cisgender Americans in the same age group.
Among those who had been previously diagnosed with cardiovascular conditions, many were not receiving recommended treatment. Thirty to 40 percent were smokers, another serious risk factor for heart disease.
“If you’re going to start someone on this treatment, you need to know their risks,” Ferrando said. “In general, marginalized groups that have less access to health care or who are stigmatized fall into higher risk groups.”
Unanswered questions linger
There’s been a boom in transgender health in recent years, and yet there are still many unanswered questions.
“Before trans health care was politicized, it was invisible,” Stroumsa said. “We have one or two robust studies on cardiovascular disease on trans women, but we don’t know the long-term risks, because we don’t have the data from people [on hormone replacement therapy] for 20, 30 or 40 years.” When her patients ask which is better — estrogen pills, injections or patches — Stroumsa said she has to tell them she doesn’t know.
“I can extrapolate from hormone we give cisgender women, but I owe them better answers,” she said.
Still, she added, when people get their hormones from unsanctioned sources, they miss out on a chance to interact with knowledgeable medical providers. “Access to hormones can be a doorway to better care on a range of issues, from overall wellness to HIV/STDs,” Stroumsa said.
Gentili would like to see all trans people go to licensed health care providers for their transition care, too. But, she added, it’s up to the medical community to bridge the divide.
“It’s a cycle: If you’re treated like s— by [by your doctors], you don’t go see them, and you start to treat yourself like s—,” she said. “But if you’re affirmed by your providers, you’ll not just go to the doctor you’ll follow up on referrals and tests and everything. You’ll engage with the medical community.”
John Auten-Schneider and David Auten-Schneider came out about their finances about two years after they started dating.
The conversation started while they were looking to buy land in Winter Park, Colorado, to build a weekend home. As they planned, they realized they couldn’t afford to buy land, purchase an existing home or even rent there.
Together, they had more than $50,000 in debt, even though they had more than 15 years of combined experience in financial services at the time.
“It kicked off a conversation of, ‘Why do we know so much and are doing so little?’” John said.
The couple realized that growing up gay in communities that didn’t accept them played a part.
“We were using money to make ourselves feel better from the past,” said John, adding that it was also a tool to fit in once they did find the gay community.
Once they addressed those issues and envisioned the future they wanted — a comfortable retirement, means to travel and the ability to give back — they were able to pay off their debt and work toward other goals. They also established protections for each other, such as creating a trust and having health care proxy forms, to solidify their family.
It also brought about a career change. In 2015, the couple started Debt Free Guys, a personal finance site. A year later, they also launched Queer Money, a podcast about financial issues in the LGBTQ community.
They got married in 2017, after more than 13 years together. While they’d already taken steps to be recognized legally as partners, marriage brought further benefits such as tax breaks by filing jointly, survivor rights and access to spousal Social Security benefits if one were to die.
Having a handle on finances is important for LGBTQ individuals, as many start off behind their non-LGBTQ peers. Some may not have had supportive families and incur more debt for education, can face discrimination in the workplace, may need to protect financial assets from family and may experience higher costs associated with family building.
“Putting money aside is going to give you freedoms that a lot of folks don’t have, especially LGBTQ folks,” said John. “The more money you have for your own self and security, the more money and time and energy you can give back to the community.”
Marriage brings benefits and responsibilities
LGBTQ people also face a shifting legal landscape that can add steps in financial and family planning. It was legal to fire someone for being gay or transgender in some states until this year, and LGBTQ couples were only granted the right to legally marry in 2015.
“When you’re married it’s a different set of structures for planning the major issues,” said certified planner Jennifer Hatch, president of Christopher Street Financial, which specializes in LGBTQ finance.
“By marrying someone you become their next of kin — that is very important if people have very little family or hostile family,” Hatch said.
Marriage also brings about certain responsibilities, because you’re bound to your partner legally said Hatch. If you’re not married there are things you should do to make sure you protect each other in the event of death, disability or divorce.
As unromantic as those things are, they’re important to plan for, Hatch said, especially for LGBTQ newlyweds that tend to be older than non-LGBTQ peers when they enter a marriage and bring in more assets and potentially children.
Hatch recommends couples have detailed plans for what should happen in the event of death or disability which include medical proxy forms and account access information. In the event of divorce, Hatch says that couples can draw up a pre- or post- nuptial agreement that spells out how assets should be divided and addresses spousal support.
Those documents basically say despite the law, this is how we’re going to manage the relationship, she said.
The price of parenthood is high
LGBTQ people also have a lot of planning to do around building families, which is on the rise in the community. Nearly 80 percent of LGBTQ people aged 18 to 35 are already parents or are thinking about having children, a 44 percent increase over older generations, according to a 2018 survey from Family Equality, a nonprofit organization that aims to advance the rights of LGBTQ families.
The path to parenthood can be costly and require careful planning as many LGBTQ families plan to expand through foster care, adoption and assisted reproduction technology, according to the survey.
Jess Venable-Novak and their partner, Dory, are in the middle of family planning. The couple married in a small wedding in November 2019 after starting the process of having a sibling for their 7-year-old daughter, Dottie.
“The few gifts we did get for getting married we put right into a savings account for a fertility journey,” said Venable-Novak, who is nonbinary and uses “they” pronouns. The couple has since put any extra money in the same account, such as their tax refund and Covid-19 stimulus checks. Their parents have also helped with expenses.
So far, the Venable-Novaks have spent upwards of $15,000 out of pocket and are not yet pregnant.
“We weren’t anticipating spending this much money when we started,” said Venable-Novak, family engagement manager for Family Equality.
The original plan was for Dory, who will carry the baby, to get pregnant through a process called intrauterine insemination. But after five unsuccessful procedures that cost about $7,000, the family switched to in vitro fertilization, or IVF, which is more expensive.
There are other expenses that the family is saving for at the same time. The couple is working on putting away $6,000 so Dory can take 12 weeks off work after giving birth. Her job only guarantees five weeks of family medical leave with short-term disability pay and the couple is budgeting for legal fees and paperwork for second-parent adoption.
Even though the couple lives in Vermont, where they can both be listed on the baby’s birth certificate, Jess will have to legally adopt the baby to make sure they are recognized as a parent in other states.
They’re also balancing trying to get pregnant with other financial goals, including paying off credit card bills, student loan debt and looking to move.
Deciding to expand their family forced them to take a hard look at finances and talk about their goals, said Venable-Novak. “That was a moment of re-setting and reevaluating,” they said.
The benefits of being financially prepared
There are resources available to help LGBTQ people with financial planning and building a family. Many employers offer benefits for employees looking to create families, such as help with the adoption process, coverage for some fertility treatments or surrogacy fees and paid leave for both primary and secondary parents.
Others offer financial planning help, such as access to advisors or attorneys. John and David were able to see an attorney who helped them with legal documents before they were married by accessing a workplace benefit.
Same-sex couples can also forge their own path when it comes to money and family, as they generally don’t feel pressured to adhere to typical gender roles and are able to be on more equal footing when it comes to a relationship.
“You don’t have to imitate your parents and merge everything,” said Hatch, adding that she recommends a yours, mine and ours approach to finances. For many families, this means having a system that works for them and their unique needs.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights this week held a hearing in the case of a transgender woman who was murdered in Honduras during a 2009 coup.
Vicky Hernández was killed in the city of San Pedro Sula on June 28, 2009.
Hernández was the former director of Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa, a San Pedro Sula-based trans advocacy group, and a sex worker. Her murder took place on the same day then-President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from power.
Cattrachas, a lesbian feminist network based in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, in 2012 filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Hernández’s family. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights joined the case in 2015.
The commission on Dec. 7, 2018, published a ruling in favor of Hernández’s family that, among other things, recommended the Honduran government provide them with access to physical and mental health care and continue the criminal investigation into Hernández’s murder “in a diligent and effective matter within a reasonable time in order to completely clarify the events, identify all those who bear possible responsibility and impose the appropriate penalties for the human rights violations declared in this report.” The ruling also called for legal protections for trans Hondurans.
The commission in 2019 referred the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after the Honduran government did not respond to the recommendations.
The Organization of American States created the Costa Rica-based court in 1979 in order to enforce provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights. Honduras is among the countries that currently recognize it.
Hernández’s murder was ‘extrajudicial execution’
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Program Officer Kacey Mordecai on Wednesday described Hernández’s murder to the Washington Blade as an “extrajudicial execution” and noted Honduran authorities have not thoroughly investigated it. Mordecai also said authorities in the Central American country interviewed Hernández’s mother for the first time two years after her daughter’s death.
“What we’re arguing is she was a victim of an extrajudicial execution,” Mordecai told the Blade.
“There was also a curfew in force that night, so the only people that were on the street were military and police officers,” she added, referring to the coup. “So Vicky was found shot in the head the next morning, completely in public, on the street and 11 years later no one has made any headway in her case.”
Mordecai confirmed reports the Blade received from activists in Honduras who said a Cattrachas staffer was threatened after the first part of the hearing ended on Wednesday.
“Cattrachas, you have already launched your pronouncement,” said the person who threatened the Cattrachas staffer, according to Mordecai. “Are you now going to respect my religion? Are you going to respect my church? Or is it that Jesus was a woman?”
A press release the court issued on Thursday notes the person who threatened the Cattrachas staffer “lobbed insults” that “were related to the activity that she was doing in defense of the rights of transgender people.” The court also unanimously ordered the Honduran government to “immediately adopt all necessary measures” to protect Hernández’s family and Cattrachas staffers.
Honduran government representatives who participated in the hearing confirmed a member of the Honduran National Police contacted Hernández’s mother on Wednesday. The court’s protection order notes they indicated the Honduran National Police representative did not speak to Hernández’s mother “in a threatening manner.”
Violence and discrimination based on gender identity remains widespread in Honduras.
A press release that Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights issued on Monday notes at least 117 trans women have been killed in Honduras since the 2009 coup.
Bessy Ferrera, the sister of Rihanna Ferrera, a former Honduran congressional candidate who is the director of Asociación de Derechos Humanos Cozumel, a trans advocacy group, was murdered on July 8, 2019. Ferrera told the Blade in January during an interview in Tegucigalpa that Cattrachas offered to pay for her sister’s funeral because her relatives didn’t “want to bury a faggot in front of all my relatives.”
Ferrera told the Blade that Roxsana Hernández, a trans Honduran woman with HIV who died in a New Mexico hospital in 2018 while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, left the country, in part, because she wanted access to better antiretroviral drugs. Claudia Spellman, a trans Honduran woman and activist who testified on Wednesday during the Inter-American Court of Human Rights hearing, fled to the U.S. after she received death threats.
Mordecai noted to the Blade the case contains the same demands the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights complaint had.
Cattrachas and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights have demanded Honduran law enforcement officials undergo training “about the threats and risks LGBTQI individuals face.” The complaint also calls for the Honduran government to open a center in San Pedro Sula that will offer health care, HIV testing, legal representation, job training and other services to the city’s LGBTQ community.
“We’re talking about a death that happened in 2009, but in 2020 we’re finding a lot of the same themes,” Mordecai told the Blade.
Gay Rep. Ryan Fecteau is set to become speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.
Democrats nominated Fecteau as speaker Thursday, and because they hold a majority in the House, he is “all but assured” of election to the position when the House votes in December, the Portland Press Herald reports. He will be the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community to be Maine speaker and one of about two dozen to have held such leadership positions nationwide. Also, at age 28, he will be the youngest speaker of the House in Maine history.
“The speaker controls the flow of action on the floor, sets the agenda and can have sway over which bills are brought to a vote or not,” the Press Herald notes. The person in that role is often a prominent player in budget negotiations between the legislature and the governor, the paper adds.
Fecteau, who was just elected to a fourth term in the House, was the lead sponsor of Maine’s bill barring licensed professionals from subjecting minors to so-called conversion therapy, the discredited and harmful practice aimed at turning LGBTQ+ people straight or cisgender. The legislature passed it in 2019 and Gov. Janet Mills signed it into law.
The grandson of French-Canadian immigrants and the son of a single mother, Fecteau grew up in low-income housing and became the first member of his family to graduate from college. Public education was key in shaping his life, he told fellow lawmakers Thursday.
“I’m filled with hope and determination because when Democrats lead, people who are too often forgotten or left at the margins are seen, they are valued and given a fair shot,” he said, according to the Press Herald. “Policymakers like you saw value and gave families like mine a fair shot. I’m a Democrat because we believe in families like mine who come to Maine for a better life. We believe in people who may not look like us or speak the same language or practice the same religion.”
He is finishing a stint as assistant majority leader in the House, serving with Majority Leader Matt Moonen, also a gay man, making them “the first openly gay legislative leadership duo in U.S. history,” the Press Herald reports.
As speaker, he will succeed Sara Gideon, who ran for U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Susan Collins but lost. “Working alongside him the past years allowed me to witness his natural leadership capabilities and his dedication to the people of Maine,” Gideon said regarding Fecteau. “I wish him every success as he takes on this new role.”
“Rep. Ryan Fecteau’s elevation to be Maine’s first out speaker of the House shatters a lavender ceiling in the Pine Tree State,” Elliot Imse, senior director of communications at the LGBTQ Victory Institute, told The Advocate via email. “During his past three terms, Rep. Fecteau has highlighted LGBTQ issues, leading the charge to ban conversion therapy in the state and providing a shining example of LGBTQ leadership for young people. We are excited to see what changes a qualified LGBTQ voice will make in this role and wish Speaker Fecteau the absolute best of luck during his term.”
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito delivered an unusually inflammatory public speech Thursday night, starkly warning about the threats he contends religious believers face from advocates for gay and abortion rights, as well as public officials responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to a virtual conference of conservative lawyers, the George W. Bush appointee made no direct comment on the recent election, the political crisis relating to President Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his defeat or litigation on the issue pending at the Supreme Court.
However, Alito didn’t hold back on other controversial subjects, even suggesting that the pressure Christians face surrounding their religious beliefs is akin to the strictures the U.S. placed on Germany and Japan after World War II.
Alito abandoned any pretense of impartiality in his speech, a grievance-laden tirade against Democrats, the progressive movement, and the United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Alito’s targets included COVID-related restrictions, same-sex marriage, abortion, Plan B, the contraceptive mandate, LGBTQ non-discrimination laws, and five sitting Democratic senators.
Ironically, Alito began his pre-recorded address by condemning an effort by the U.S. Judicial Conference to forbid federal judges from being members of the Federalist Society. He then praised, by name, the four judges who spearheaded a successful effort to defeat the ban—or, as Alito put it, who “stood up to an attempt to hobble the debate that the Federalist Society fosters.”
A lesbian couple in India were allegedly forced apart by their families, who barged into their home and publicly beat one of them in front of their village.
The two women, who are both adults, were living happily in the Baghpat area of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India. On Sunday (8 November) the relatives of one of the women burst into their house and forcibly separated the pair, Times Now reports.
When one woman attempted to resist she was humiliated and beaten in the street, in full view of bystanders who filmed the scene and circulated the footage on social media.
She told local news that she and her partner had made a conscious decision to live together, and that they wanted to work in the field of education but were facing continuous resistance from their families over their relationship.
The lesbian couple had already notified the police of their situation and appealed for safety, she added, but the family took matters into their own hands.
“We had given a written complaint to the police to provide us protection,” she told The Times of India. “But before they could, Shreya’s [name changed] relatives came here and thrashed me publicly and even tore my clothes. And they took her away.”
A senior police official said that the authorities are looking into the matter.
Homosexual relations were decriminalised in India in 2018, but LGBT+ people still face an enormous amount of stigma, particularly in rural areas.
With same-sex marriage remaining a distant hope for queer Indians, some couples are legitimising their relationships by entering into a maitri karar, a type of “friendship contract”.
Unfortunately this didn’t deter the families of one lesbian couple in Gujarat, who persistently harassed the women after learning of their contract.
The couple were forced to file a high court lawsuit to gain protection when their plea for safety was ignored by police. The courts finally granted a protection order in August, giving the women the right to live together in peace.