Erin Rock

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Reckless NY Times reporting fuels disinformation about trans youth

While public sentiment toward transgender people in the U.S. continues to warm, anti-transgender campaigners are exploiting the public’s uncertainty about trans youth to promote Florida-style bans on gender-affirming care. Claims about the irreversible dangers of transition-related care were once the bread and butter of far-right pundits, they have officially entered the mainstream with Monday’s front-page story in The New York Times: “Pressing Pause on Puberty. Drugs Can Buy Time for Trans Youth. Is There a Cost?” And the stakes couldn’t be higher. Boston Children’s Hospital has been on the receiving end of at least three bomb threats this year due to misinformation about health care for transgender […]

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Conversion therapy is costing the United States billions of dollars every year

When an LGBTQ person is subjected to so-called “conversion therapy,” society pays a steep price. All told, the impacts of the widely discredited practice are estimated to cost the United States $9.23 billion annually. According to a first-of-its-kind study published in JAMA Pediatrics, efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity create direct costs and, as well, indirect costs associated with anxiety, severe psychological distress, depression, alcohol or substance abuse, suicide attempts, and fatalities. Related link: Conversion therapy practice forced to pay $3.5 million after losing appeal in historic lawsuit “Conversion therapy causes the kind of lingering lifelong harm that we […]

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Groundbreaking trans journalist alleges bias in termination from South Dakota Public Broadcasting

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A transgender journalist is filing for wrongful termination after being fired from South Dakota Public Broadcasting, alleging the state-run media outlet treated them with bias. Stel Kline shared on Twitter April 18 that they had been let go from their position with SDPB News on the grounds they are “not objective” and “have a problem with authority.” But the reporter said their most recent job review didn’t include any areas for improvement. Kline suggested that the concerns about “objectivity” are directed at their efforts to defend against anti-transgender attacks lobbed against them on Twitter. “I was encouraged by the comms […]