Emma Powys Maurice

/ /

Republican Governor Launches Supreme Court bid to Deny Trans Prisoner Surgery

Idaho governor Brad Little, the person responsible for some of America’s most transphobic laws, has appealed to the Supreme Court to avoid paying for a transgender inmate’s gender confirmation surgery. Little filed a petition after being ordered to provide surgery for 31-year-old Adree Edmo, a trans woman who is being housed in a men’s facility in Idaho. She is serving 10 years for sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy when she was 22, and is not eligible for parole. Edmo was diagnosed with gender dysphoria while in prison and her condition has grown so severe that she has reportedly attempted to […]

/ /

Joe Biden Pledges to Make Sure PrEP; Gender Affirming Surgeries are Covered by Insurance

Joe Biden has reaffirmed his commitment to LGBT+ healthcare, vowing to make PrEP and gender affirming surgeries covered by insurance plans. The presumptive Democratic nominee described gender affirming surgeries as “medically necessary” as he vowed to reverse Donald Trump’s attacks on trans and non-binary people during a virtual town hall event with the Human Rights Campaign on Wednesday (May 6). He also pledged to remove the price barrier which prevents many people from accessing PrEP. “As president, I’m going to protect and build on Obamacare with a public option,” Biden said. “That’s the fastest way to get to universal coverage. Reverse Trump’s […]

/ /

Scientist who Debunked Myth Homosexuality is ‘Curable’ Dies

Dr Richard Friedman, the psychoanalyst responsible for debunking the myth that homosexuality can be cured, has sadly passed away at the age of 79. As a young man Friedman stood out in his field by becoming the first to combine findings in psychobiology, gender identity and family studies with psychoanalytic theory. His revolutionary 1988 book, ‘Male Homosexuality: A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective,’ showed that sexual orientation was largely biological, not mental. It had a major impact at a time when most other psychoanalysts were continuing to describe homosexuality as a “perversion”, even though the American Psychiatric Association had stopped classifying it as an illness […]

/ /

Tunisia the first Arab Country to recognise Same-sex marriage – but There’s a Catch

The Republic of Tunisia has become the first Arab state to recognise a same-sex marriage, a Tunisian LGBT+ rights organisation has announced. According to Association Shams, a marriage settlement between a Frenchman, 31, and a Tunisian man, 26, was legally recognised in Tunisia for the first time on Friday. Homosexuality is illegal in the north African country and same-sex marriage is not yet permitted, but the marriage in question was formalised in France. It was officially noted in the birth certificate of the Tunisian registry, allowing the Tunisian man to obtain a visa for family reunification. Both men have remained anonymous for […]

/ /

Third Trans Woman Murdered in a Week as ‘Epidemic of Anti-LGBT+ Violence’ Worsens in Puerto Rico

LGBT+ advocates are mourning three trans women who were tragically murdered within a single week in Puerto Rico. The bodies of Serena Angelique Velázquez Ramos, 32, and Layla Pelaez Sánchez, 21, were found together in a charred car on April 21. Their deaths were preceded by Penélope Díaz Ramírez, 31, who was killed in a correctional centre on April 13. Her death was not reported until April 27. It marks the ninth violent death of a transgender person in the US this year, and comes as Puerto Rican activists desperately warn: “They are hunting us.” “There is no longer any doubt, this […]

/ /

School District Sued for ‘Gay Bashing’ Campaign that led to Suicide Attempt

A mother is suing a school district which she claims did nothing to stop the relentless homophobic bullying that drove her son to attempt suicide. Traci Matuschek has launched a federal lawsuit against Warren Consolidated Schools over an alleged campaign of abuse at Sterling Heights High School in Michigan. Her 15-year-old son came out as bisexual to his football teammates in August 2018, believing they’d support him as “he thought they were his friends, like family”. Unfortunately his peers weren’t as supportive as he’d hoped and he was subjected to vicious homophobic bullying, with some of his teammates at the […]

/ /

Trump’s new Press Secretary, who Opposes Marriage Equality; Trans-inclusive Bathrooms

This week Trump welcomed his new White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, a combative TV pundit with a long history of anti-LGBT+ comments. McEnany has previously worked as Trump’s spokesperson for his re-election campaign and as a pro-Trump commentator on CNN during the 2016 presidential election. She’s frequently appeared on television to defend him and his policies, revealing some particularly unsavoury views as she does so. The LGBT+ advocacy group GLAAD has compiled a list of her most egregious comments, which include opposing a bill to ban conversion therapy and repeatedly framing the issue of transgender bathroom access as a “predatory” threat to women and girls. McEnany has previously […]

/ /

Trans Groups Push for Urgent Government Funding

Multiple transgender organisations have joined calls for the US government to provide urgent funding to support trans people through the coronavirus pandemic. The California-based groups have written to governor Gavin Newsom proposing the creation of an Emergency Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund to address the urgent and long-term needs of the trans community. Trans people are among the most marginalised groups in the country, the open letter explains, and face significant barriers in society which have have only been exacerbated by the coronavirus. “The structural and institutional change that must occur to counter these barriers means an investment in trans-led organisations and services, […]

/ /

Top HIV Scientist Dies from Coronavirus in ‘Huge Blow’ to the Global Fight

Professor Gita Ramjee, a highly acclaimed scientist who dedicated her life to fighting and preventing HIV, has sadly died of coronavirus. Ramjee, 64, was a South African researcher internationally renowned for her work expanding disadvantaged women’s access to HIV treatment. On March 31 she tragically passed away from coronavirus complications, having just returned from a symposium in the UK. She was working on trials for a gel that could potentially reduce HIV infection. “The passing of professor Ramjee comes as a huge blow to the entirety of the healthcare sector and the global fight against HIV/AIDS,” the deputy president of South Africa, […]

/ /

Lawyer Dedicated to Fighting for LGBT+ People Dies from Coronavirus

Richard Weber Jr, an attorney who dedicated his life to fighting for LGBT+ community, has died of coronavirus complications shortly after reassuring colleagues that he was improving. The lawyer, 57, was a member of the LGBT Bar Association of New York, or LeGal, and a partner at the law firm Gallo Vitucci Klar. He specialised in false arrest claims and helped spearhead the LGBT+ community in New Jersey. He undertook many cases pro bono and had volunteered and fundraised for LeGaL’s free weekly legal clinic for the past seven years. Speaking to the New York Daily News, LeGal executive director Eric Lesh described […]

«‹ 12 13 14 15›»