The Indian Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in favour of same-sex marriage this week.
As part of a set of petitions issued by two same-sex couples, the New Delhi court will hear arguments for the recognition of same-sex marriage on Friday (6 January).
The lead petition, filed by gay couple Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dange, has argued that denying LGBTQ+ citizens the right to marry is an affront to their right to equality.
Abhay Dange and Supriyo Chakraborty celebrate their wedding ceremony. (Twitter/@jsuryareddy)
Currently, India does not officially recognise same-sex marriage, but allows couples to engage in an “unregistered cohabitation.”
This effectively means that same-sex couples aren’t legally permitted to inherit assets or adopt. It can also complicate hospital visits if one-half of the couple is under strict visitation rules when hospitalised.
The petitioners have argued that, since inter-faith heterosexual couples are protected via Supreme Court rulings, then LGBTQ+ couples would naturally follow.
The second petition, filed by Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj, argues that barring LGBTQ+ couples from marriage equality violates several articles of the constitution.
“If the petitioners, as a same-sex couple, enjoyed access to the civil institution of marriage, they would not face untold practical difficulties, both vis-a-vis each other and their children,” the petition read.
“The denial of the fundamental right of marriage to persons like the petitioners is a complete violation of constitutional law.”
As part of the 6 January hearing, the Indian government is expected to voice its opinion on both petitions, as well as its current position on same-sex marriage.
Indian government unlikely to support same-sex marriage
Prime minister Modi’s government previously declared that same-sex couples in India “cannot claim a fundamental right for same-sex marriage” during a similar hearing in 2021.
It clarified its stance to the Delhi High Court, where it said that LGBTQ+ couples do not deserve the same rights as “traditional” heterosexual couples.
“Living together as partners and having a sexual relationship by same-sex individuals is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, wife and children,” the government told the High Court.
While the government’s position is unlikely to change, a shift in public perception toward LGBTQ+ couples could see a victory for petitioners in a similar fashion to the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships in 2018.
Robert Garcia, soon to be the first gay, immigrant US congressman, will take his oath of office on three unique items.
The California Democrat will be sworn in to Congress as soon as a new House speaker is elected, and when doing so, will hold “underneath the Constitution… three items that mean a lot to me personally”.
“A photo of my parents, who I lost to COVID, my citizenship certificate, and an original Superman #1 from the [Library of Congress],” he tweeted on Tuesday (3 January).
The comic book holds a special place in Garcia’s heart.
“Congressman Garcia learned to read and write in English by reading Superman comics so it’s especially exciting he was able to borrow this rare copy from the kind folks at the Library of Congress,” said his spokesperson Sara Guerrero.
The politician came to the US from Peru with his family at five years old, and has said that migrating was “his proudest moment” and a huge reason for his career in politics.
It’s unclear when Garcia and fellow members of Congress will be sworn in, as the House has so far failed to elect a new speaker – something that hasn’t happened in more than a century.
A group of Republicans are refusing to back majority candidate Kevin McCarthy. The House’s tight split means that without their support, no candidate can get over the line.
Voting will continue on Wednesday, but there’s no telling when or if McCarthy will be able to unite his party.
Robert Garcia’s political career began in 2009 – having been politically active long before then – when he served as a member of the Long Beach City Council until 2014.
He eventually assumed higher office, becoming the mayor of Long Beach between 2014 and 2022.
During that time, he became known for his socially progressive politics and his efforts to mitigate the environmental impact of local businesses.
After gaining access to the Library of Congress, Garcia tweeted that he was “freaking out” about having found both the first issue of Superman and the first issue of Spider-Man.
“I’m going to have a hard time deciding which one to check out first,” he said.
When he’s eventually sworn in, Garcia will also bring a photo of his parents.
Gaby Elena O’Donnell and Greg O’Donnell passed away in July and August 2020 respectively from COVID-19 complications.
Garcia honoured both his parents after their deaths on Twitter, saying that the two were “just totally in love. They were always happy’.
“I think about, during these times, my mother’s optimism in us building a better future and a better community,” he said. “She always said to me and to my brother that we’ll never be able to give back to our country what our country has given to us.”
The Gender Recognition Reform bill introduced by the Scottish government last spring was passed in the country’s Parliament in a final 86-39 vote Thursday. The sweeping reform bill modifies the Gender Recognition Act, signed into law in 2004, by allowing transgender Scots to gain legal recognition without the need for a medical diagnosis.
The measure further stipulates that age limit for legal recognition is lowered to 16.
Colin MacFarlane, director for Stonewall Scotland and Northern Ireland at the U.K.’s largest LGBTQ advocacy and rights organization, in a statement released after the vote called the bill’s passage “a tremendous step forward for trans rights and for LGBTQ people in Scotland.”
“It brings Scotland into line with international best practice and once again establishes itself as a world leader on human rights, by making a small change which brings dignity to trans people who deserve to be legally recognised for who they are,” MacFarlane said.
“The U.K. government must now follow and introduce legislation to ensure that trans people U.K.-wide have access to the same standards of human rights,” he added.
Passage of the measure on which Holyrood (the Scottish Parliament) commenced debate earlier this week, was acrimonious and at times heated PinkNewsUK reported, as Tories opposed to the measure forced a vote on the timetable late Tuesday into the early morning hours of Wednesday for considering the amendments to the legislation and raised further motions as well as points of order before the debate on the more than 150 amendments to the bill began.
The measure in Scotland was introduced after years of delay in Westminster by the U.K. government and its Parliament. PinkNewsUK journalist Maggie Baska noted:
“At present, trans people in the U.K. must apply to a gender recognition panel and present a diagnosis of gender dysphoria — a laborious process that can take years due to the incredibly long wait times at NHS gender clinics. People can only apply to be legally recognized as male or female — nonbinary genders are not legally recognized in the U.K.
Applicants must provide two medical reports, and at least one needs to include details of any gender-affirming treatments or healthcare the individual plans to have. It also needs to confirm a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
The individual must also prove they’ve lived in their ‘acquired’ gender for at least two years, and they must swear they intend to do so for the rest of their lives. This can include evidence showing they’ve used a different name in official documents or changed their gender on their driving license or passport.
Additionally, the period in which applicants need to have lived in their acquired gender will be cut to three months or six months for people aged 16 and 17. There is also a new requirement of a ‘waiting period’ of three months after applying when an individual must reconfirm their wish to receive the GRC.
It will no longer be a requirement to submit detailed evidence of the individual living as the other gender.
Trans people wanting to change their legal gender will still need to swear an oath about remaining as their authentic gender for life, and it will continue to be a criminal offence to knowingly make a false application for a GRC.”
Proponents of the GRA Reform Bill put forth in Holyrood argued that the current process is too invasive and causes distress to trans people, who already face marginalization and stigmatization.
With today’s vote, Tories are vowing to block its signature into law by King Charles III, known as Royal Assent, by use of a Section 35 order. In the U.K. system of government, a Section 35 order is intended to prevent laws passed by the Scottish Parliament having “an adverse effect on the operation of the law as it applies to reserved matters.”
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has defended her government’s action on the GRA Reform legislation and speaking before the vote said that [she] “will never apologize for trying to spread equality.”
“Removing the need for medical diagnosis for a trans person who wants to legally change their gender is one of the purposes of this legislation because that is one of the most traumatic and dehumanising parts of the current system,” Sturgeon said.
Addressing the opposition and Tory arguments that the GRA Reform bill harms women and girls the first minister said:
“As a woman, I know what it’s like to live with the fear at times of potential violence from men.
“I’m a feminist and I will do everything that I can to protect women’s rights for as long as live, but I also think it’s an important part of my responsibility to make life a little bit easier for stigmatised minorities in our country, to make their lives a bit better and remove some of the trauma they live with on a day-to-day basis and I think it is important to do that for the tiny minority of trans people in our society and I will never apologise for trying to spread equality, not reduce it, in our country.”
In London, U.K. Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch has made it clear she is against reforms. Badenoch suggested the Scottish bill could have a detrimental impact on the rest of the U.K. because it would not be possible for the legislation to be “fully contained” within Scotland.
According to the Guardian newspaper, Alister Jack, the U.K. government’s Scottish secretary, has hinted that Whitehall might block the gender recognition reform. In a statement released after the vote Jack said:
“We share the concerns that many people have regarding certain aspects of this bill, and in particular the safety issues for women and children.
We will look closely at that, and also the ramifications for the 2010 Equality Act and other U.K. wide legislation, in the coming weeks — up to and including a section 35 order stopping the bill going for royal assent if necessary.”
Growing up, Nyasha knew she was different from her peers.
By the time she was just eight or nine years old, she knew with certainty that she was a lesbian. The problem was that she was living in Zimbabwe, where homosexuality is not accepted.
Once her family found out about her sexuality, she started suffering the consequences. Throughout her childhood and teenage years, Nyasha was subjected to the abusive practice known as “corrective rape” by her uncle.
Corrective rape is essentially a form of conversion therapy – the idea is that a person’s sexuality can be changed through sexual assault.
She got away from her family when she married a man in her early 20s, but the marriage failed when he found out she was a lesbian too. She was sent back to live with her family once more, and an already bad situation immediately became even worse.
“At the age of 23, I had my daughter on my hand back home, and my uncle – who was used to raping me – tried to do it again.
“I hit him back so thoroughly, then I got hit by my cousins that were staying at home. That’s when my mother came, she didn’t take any action or do anything.
“I decided it was high time for me to leave.”
Nyasha’s story is just one that PinkNews is sharing this holiday season as part of the LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign. The series will put a spotlight on the painful realities LGBTQ+ people across the world face that force them to leave their homes, from familial violence to anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
Lesbian refugee had to leave her daughter in Zimbabwe
Leaving Zimbabwe was a painful and terrifying decision for Nyasha, but she knew she had no other choice. By the time she fled, she had endured years of sexual violence. Even worse, her entire family knew of the abuse she was being subjected to – and nobody stopped it.
“My mom knew, my family knew, and they were OK with it because it was perceived to try to make me straight,” she says.
What made the decision to flee even more painful for Nyasha was that she couldn’t take her three-year-old daughter with her. She left her child in Zimbabwe and made the journey to South Africa. There, she got a job working for a fast food company, and her bosses helped her with her asylum papers.
A member of the South African LGBTQ+ community gestures during the annual Gay Pride Parade, as part of the Durban Pride Festival. (AFP via Getty/RAJESH JANTILAL)
She had dreams of bringing her daughter to South Africa so they could live their lives together, but her hopes were dashed when she found out that doing so could result in her asylum application being terminated. She was told that officials wouldn’t believe she was a lesbian if they found out she had a daughter.
For years, Nyasha lived out her life in South Africa. She was safe, but the distance from her daughter – and the impact that had on their relationship – was a constant thorn in her side.
Finally, a year ago, Nyasha wrote a letter to her daughter in which she laid out the truth for her in crystal clear detail. She explained why she was no longer able to be at home, and she told her daughter why she had no choice but to flee.
Before long, Nyasha’s daughter – now grown up – made the journey to South Africa so they could be together. They’re now living together in Cape Town, and they’re building the relationship that was robbed from them so many years before.
“It’s been a rollercoaster, I won’t lie,” Nyasha says. “I’m now getting to make up for 15 years. It’s a long time. I’m getting to know her, what she likes, what she doesn’t like.”
Nyasha is more than her trauma
In the background, Nyasha has become involved with an organisation called the Dream Academy, an initiative that offers classes to those who need them.
“I was broken – very, very broken,” Nyasha says as she reflects on her life before she came into contact with the Dream Academy.
A lot of things have been taken away from me.
“I had never been loved before, but when I came into the family of the Dream Academy, I felt embraced. It made me want to do more. It gives you the passion to say, ‘Who’s the next person who needs me to carry them, to listen to them and tell them everything’s going to be OK?’”
“A lot of things have been taken away from me. Love, material things, my whole being was taken away from me. But when I was able to be in the Dream Academy, reclaim myself and be myself, I now know that no one can really take anything away from me and I can be the person that I want.
“Now I wake up every morning and tell myself, you’re beautiful. I tell myself, today you’re going to reach your highest peak. Before, I never loved myself that much – I just saw my scars. I thought when people looked at me all they saw was the rape, what I’ve been through.
“But now I’m stronger, and I’m ready to give love to the world.”
It’s because of people like Nyasha that PinkNews launched the LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign. The initiative is raising funds for Micro Rainbow, a charity that provides safe housing for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum, and for OutRight Action International’s LGBTIQ Ukraine Emergency Fund, which distributes money to activists on the ground in Ukraine.
But that’s not all – the series will also show how a person’s life can change radically when they’re granted asylum. When they can get to safety, LGBTQ+ people have the chance to thrive.
PinkNews wants to show how living without the threat of violence or persecution can help queer people build beautiful, kaleidoscopic lives – but they can only do so if they’re given the proper support.
Ireland has been ranked the worst place in the EU for accessing trans healthcare, with the system being “bogged down by waiting times” cited as an area of concern.
Transgender Europe (TGEU), a network of more than 200 trans-rights organisations, found of 27 EU member states, Ireland had the worst provision of healthcare for trans people, with Malta coming out on top.
The countries, laid out on a colour-coded map, were ranked by six criteria, with Ireland scoring just one point out of a potential 12.
The countries were ranked on the types of trans healthcare available, if a psychiatric diagnosis is required before hormonal treatment or surgery, waiting times, if any group is excluded or made to wait longer to access trans healthcare, and the ages of those allowed hormones and puberty blockers.
Ireland’s single point was given for the provision of trans healthcare, however, it scored worst in the EU on waiting times.
TGEU claimed that in Ireland, trans people could expect to wait “between two-and-a-half and 10 years from requesting to see a specialist in trans healthcare to seeing one”.
TGEU said in a statement: “Access to trans-specific healthcare varies widely in the EU.
“For instance, Malta has implemented a model of healthcare that is grounded in self-determination and based on informed consent… In Ireland, the system is bogged down by waiting times of over seven years to see a healthcare professional.”
“At the same time, the need for trans-specific healthcare and the very existence of trans identities are also facing growing attacks from anti-gender and anti-rights groups,” TGEU said.
“This constitutes a real threat to the delivery of accessible, affordable, and quality depathologised trans-specific healthcare and risks undoing the decades of progress that the community has fought hard to achieve.”
Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin (TIPD) told PinkNews in a statement: “We are not shocked by the news that Ireland has the lowest score in Europe for trans healthcare. Trans people have been saying this for years. Trans healthcare is only getting worse.
“With only one clinic in Ireland for trans adults, the current waiting list to be seen is estimated to be six years or more. When you’re finally seen, you’re put through a dehumanising and humiliating assessment and asked invasive questions.
“Trans people have reportedly been denied HRT due to numerous reasons, such as having a diagnosis of autism, ADHD, or a personality disorder, for being on social welfare or not answering those highly sexualised questions ‘the right way.’”
TIPD added that due to “failures” of trans healthcare provision, trans people are left with the alternatives of private clinics, crowdfunding, receiving care abroad, or even “self-administering” hormones purchased online.
“Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin advocates for the implementation of an informed consent-based model and for gender-affirming care to be GP-led,” the group added.
“Trans people should be empowered to make decisions about their transition themselves.”
A trans royal reportedly fled from Qatar to the UK in 2015, fearing persecution in his home country.
According to leaked documents obtained by The Sunday Times, the unnamed royal is a trans man who escaped from his security during a family trip to London in 2015 and went into hiding with his girlfriend. He was then granted asylum in Britain.
The leaked documents showed that the royal told the Home Office that “growing up in Qatar has been the most difficult thing I have had to do”, because “I never wanted to be put in this body”.
He added: “I am born a female but was male on the inside. Being gay in Qatar is considered punishable by law and death. Qatar is extremely strict in Sharia.”
The leaked asylum application, which was reportedly granted in December 2015, contained an application for a name change, The Sunday Times reported.
Letters included in the Home Office application reportedly claimed the royal had been “depressed ever since I can remember simply because my outside never matched my inside”.
He added that he wanted to start a new life away from Qatar, “where I would have the life that I always wanted, which was to be a boy”.
He claimed that restrictions were placed on his freedom of movement by his family due to his identity.
“I felt as though my life had been thrown in the garbage. I never wanted to marry my male cousins like the rest of my family. I am terrified for what my brothers are about to unleash. I am scared,” the unnamed royal wrote.
LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar
In Qatar homosexuality is illegal, and being found guilty of same-sex relations can result in a lengthy prison sentence, while under Sharia law it is possible for men to face the death penalty if they are found to have engaged in same-sex intimacy.
Captains from seven European teams were to wear the OneLove armband but ultimately backed down. (Getty)
Former Wales captain Laura McAllister was asked to “take her rainbow hat off” – which was designed by LGBTQ+ football organisation The Rainbow Wall – before entering the World Cup stadium.
“I pointed out that FIFA had made lots of comments about supporting LGBT rights in this tournament, and said to them that coming from a nation where we’re very passionate about equality for all people, I wasn’t going to take my hat off,” McAllister told the outlet.
“They were insistent that unless I took the hat off we weren’t actually allowed to come into the stadium.”
PinkNews contacted the Home Office for confirmation of the royal’s story, which said it would not comment on individual cases.
In August this year, Suella Braverman (then attorney general, now Home Secretary) said it was “lawful” for schools to deadname trans kids in education.
In July, Nadim Zahawi (chairman of the Conservative party) sparked fear of a new Section 28 for trans people when he said he wanted to protect young people from “damaging and inappropriate nonsense being forced on them by radical activists.”
That’s why people like 29-year-old George White are so important in UK schools.
George is trans, and he teaches religion education at St Paul’s Catholic School in Evington, Leicestershire – where he went to school when he was a teen.
He says it’s “really important” that kids hear about LGBTQ+ issues from a young age and hopes his journey and openness about being trans will help others struggling with their gender identity.
George White contributed to this book which is structured around the Equality Act.
“Regardless of what the child or the family’s beliefs are, at some point in life, they’re going to encounter someone who is different,” he tells PinkNews.
“I think it’s pretty much impossible to follow the Christian call to love your neighbour if you don’t know what your neighbour might be going through.”
He acknowledges that not everyone has to understand each other entirely, but he says it’s important to be “compassionate” and “recognise you’re speaking to another human and not to a statistic or something you’ve read about in a book”.
“When I tell my story, I’ve noticed a real shift in attitudes from kids that you wouldn’t necessary expect it from.
“That story aspect gives us a level of humanity that makes compassion easier.”
‘It doesn’t make you less of a Christian because you reach out and include LGBTQ+ people’
George believes there is a “misunderstanding of what faith is asking us to do”, when it is used in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and says he finds the negativity around faith and the catholic religion “particularly disappointing”.
“I think there’s a view that you can get these things [being part of the LGBTQ+ community] away from people,” he says.
“Look at conversion therapy which believes you can remove these things from people.
“It’s an unhealthy way of looking at it, it’s not recognising the vast diversity that God can create people in, and it’s not recognising the call to love one another.”
George White works to ensure the catholic region is inclusive. (George White)
The 29-year-old says he’s involved in “liberal Catholic circles” which “pay attention to stuff that’s coming through in society”.
George refers to Pope Francis, who is the head of the Catholic Church, as an example of how religion can adapt to become more accepting.
He mentions some of the Pope’s kind acts gleefully, which he says include “gifting funds to trans people who are struggling and telling a gay person God has made them like that and doesn’t have a problem with it”.
“It doesn’t make you any less of a Christian because you reach out and include LGBTQ+ people.
“You’ve got to separate what the rules are from the human experience of what people are living.”
‘Include’ don’t just ‘tolerate’
George explains that Catholic Church teaching says: “LGBT people should be accepted with sensitivity, compassion, and respect, and any sign of unjust discrimination in that regard should be stopped”.
He says all religions should do their best to “include” rather than “just tolerating” those who are are from the LGBTQ+ community.
In order to move forward he believes it’s important for churches to open up to LGBTQ+ inclusion which includes recognising people’s pronouns, celebrating the community through inclusive prayers, and offering leadership roles for women.
Offering advice to young queer people who are discovering themselves, George said it’s important to “take your time and figure out what’s important to you”.
“I went through a phase of thinking I have to be one or the other,” George shares, while referencing the decision he felt he needed to make between his religion and gender identity.
“It sounds cliche but everything is going to be OK. There are far more accepting spaces than you realise, there’s places online, in-person, but take your time to figure out what’s important to you.”
He also shares a great tip for those who aren’t supported by those around them: “If you’re somewhere where people don’t respect your identity and your journey, go somewhere else.
“Do not stay anywhere you aren’t wanted, because there are plenty of spaces where you will be recognised as having full human dignity and being a special creation.”
Ky Schevers was confused about her gender, and detransitioned after being “sucked in” by “gender-critical feminism”. Now, she’s rebuilding her life.
Schevers, who is transmasculine, genderqueer and uses she/ her pronouns, began medical transition by taking testosterone when she was 20, after coming out as a trans man.
But Schevers soon realised that her gender wasn’t binary.
“I had tried living as a more binary trans guy but that didn’t really work out, and I felt more genderqueer,” she tells PinkNews. “Then I thought I felt more like a butch dyke, and I kind of wanted to explore that part of myself.”
Looking for support, she turned to online forums.
“I was expressing these doubts and in a psychologically vulnerable place.”
She was approached by a woman who Schevers describes as “fairly TERFy” (TERF stands for trans exclusionary radical feminist) and had, like her, been reading some content online about detransition.
“I feel like we both got sucked in towards transphobic or gender-critical feminism because, firstly, those are the people who were trying to latch on to stories [like ours],” Schevers explains.
“It kind of made sense to me, like I wasn’t sure how to reclaim the female or butch parts of myself without drawing on some of the stories I’d already heard – that there’s pressure on butch lesbians to transition, or they’re transitioning because of internalised misogyny.”
Over the next few years, Schevers descended down an anti-trans rabbit hole. She found a community in circles of detransitioned radical “feminists”, and was held up as an example of transness being a result of internalised misogyny, homophobia and trauma.
“It was very well-attended a whole lot of TERFy lesbians who showed up to hear about the poor lesbians who got sucked in… they just ate that up. Now looking back, I can see I got love-bombed, there was lots of positive attention.”
Schevers describes this sense of community and support as “intoxicating”, and adds: “It felt like we were doing this important work, and helping people. A lot of us had gone through this sort of intense conversion experience, converting to this particular interpretation of radical feminism, lesbian feminism.
“But I feel like most of us were in some kind of real distress and believing in this stuff felt good. We did find connection with each other, we were just connecting over transphobic beliefs and also, I would say, self-harm.”
It was very cult-like, it was very controlling.
Schevers is clear that there is nothing wrong with detransition, and that everyone’s journey of gender discovery is different. The problem is that when those people search for support, they are more often than not finding radicalised, anti-trans communities to lean on.
“This is one of the reasons I feel like there needs to be more talk about these issues outside of transphobic groups, if they’re the only people talking about it, it’s easier for people to get sucked in and radicalised and end up believing a bunch of transphobic crap.”
The process of extricating herself from the group she found herself embedded in was gradual, Schevers says: “It was very cult-like, it was very controlling. It’s one of those things where it’s easy to join the group, harder to leave.”
Once, before she even admitted to herself that she wanted to get out, she happened to attend a book reading by a gay man who had been through conversion therapy.
“The way he described his experiences resonated with me,” she says.
“A light bulb went off, but I was also like, ‘Oh, s**t.’ You don’t necessarily want to believe you accidentally created an ex-trans community, that you’ve been doing conversion therapy on yourself.”
Ky Schevers realised links between TERFs and the far-right
It wasn’t the first time right-wing Christians has “misused” her writing, she says.
“But at the time has book came out, I was already saying: ‘My transition didn’t really hurt me.’ I was trying to make peace with being genderqueer and trans. I couldn’t say that yet, because I would have gotten too much backlash from other detransitioned women.”
The book helped her to realise the ties between trans-exclusionary radical feminism and the far-right, as she saw that Anderson was parroting “a lot of the same arguments that these supposed feminists were making”.
“I was horrified because I thought the point of radical feminism was to fight the patriarchy and dismantle it, not like ally [with the right] to go after trans people.
“But when you’re siding with the Christian right just to go after trans people, you’re just a transphobe. You do not care about fighting the patriarchy, sexism, or homophobia, you just want to go after trans people.”
Anderson’s use of her writing made Schevers think.
“If telling my story is supposed to help uproot the patriarchy, and the patriarchy is using it, well there’s a problem here.”
As time went on, Schevers began to feel more at peace with herself and her transition, and consequently began feeling much happier.
I kind of realised that a lot of these like supposed feminists are just using me.
But what surprised her was that the anti-trans radical feminists around her were “threatened” by her happiness.
“It was actually a disturbing experience, because I’m feeling happier, but they didn’t really care. Obviously, I knew conservative Christians never had my best interests at heart, and I kind of realised that a lot of these like supposed feminists are just using me, and then I realised these other detransitioned women in my own community just want to use me.”
Getting out meant cutting off most of the people around her, Schevers says, and it took her a long time to speak out publicly about her experience.
“I felt comfortable actually sharing my story and speaking out and talking about this stuff because I don’t want people to suffer like I did,” Schevers says.
“I don’t want people to fall prey to toxic communities.”
And to those people who may be thinking about going through detransition, Schevers remarks: “People should be asking, ‘What do you need? What do you need to be well?’ We need to help people figure out if it’s transition that’s the problem, or if it’s living in a society wants everyone to see transitioning as harmful.”
A trans woman won a major Delhi region for her party during an election on Wednesday (7 December).
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Bobi won the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election after votes were counted this week.
The trans politician won Sultanpur-A ward against Congress candidate Varuna Dhaka by 6,714 votes according to Indian Express.
Her win came just hours before it was announced that the AAP crossed the finish line with 134 seats, winning against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The win means that the AAP now holds a strong majority over the municipal corporation, which makes up one of the three municipalities in Delhi, overseeing the region.
Voters line up to cast their vote in the MCD elections. (Getty)
Sultanpur’s new representative, who is often nicknamed Bobi “Darling”, has routinely said she would work in cleaning up the corruption within the MCD and “beautify” the constituency.
“I want to dedicate my victory to the people who worked so hard for me,” she said.
“I would like to thank everyone. Now I just have to work for development in my area.”
A long-time social worker, Bobi originally ran as an independent candidate during the 2017 MCD election, but later joined up with the self-proclaimed “anti-corruption” party.
She is also well known for her work toward improving education and social mobility in and around Sultanpur.
Her victory was incredibly close during pollings, with BJP regularly overtaking AAP multiple times before votes were fully counted.
In the end, BJP failed to win the constituency and the wider election, finishing with 104 seats according to NDTV.
Bobi’s win is a huge step for LGBTQ+ representation
The victory is another huge step for LGBTQ+ rights and representation in India.
While the country has many rights in place for queer minorities, it still has a long way to go in actualising true equality.
Same-sex marriage is still forbidden, despite routine attempts by activists to reverse the government’s policy.
Lead petitioners Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dange argued that not extending the rights of marriage to LGBTQ+ couples is an affront to their human rights.
The inability to marry means that the couple cannot adopt together, nor can they inherit each other assets.
Additionally, it means that hospital visits for medical emergencies could be refused since the two are not legally recognised as family.
As part of Trans Awareness Week, the community honours those we’ve lost on Trans Day of Remembrance every year.
Candlelit vigils take place worldwide each year commemorating the trans lives lost to transphobic hate crimes each year. This year, those vigils will happen on Sunday (20 November).
As well as a time to remember those lost to violence, and to raise awareness of hate, Trans Awareness Week is also about honouring those who fought so hard for the community and for their right to exist.
From Mexican revolutionaries to New York drag queens, these trailblazers prove that trans and non-binary lives have always mattered.
Rita Hester
Trans woman Rita Hester’s tragic death in 1998 sparked the existence of Trans Day of Remembrance as it’s known today.
Hester was a popular part of the Boston trans community and was intertwined with the city’s rock scene. Described as a magnetic personality who “was out for good times,” there was rarely a moment when she wasn’t dancing the night away with friends
On November 28, 1998, she was killed at her home in Massachusetts in a horrendous crime that still hasn’t been solved. In response, a candlelight vigil was held, with 250 people attending.
This later inspired activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith to create a web project named Remember Our Dead which honoured trans people who were victims to horrible hate crimes.
This became Transgender Day of Remembrance and has been held in cities across the world ever since.
Lucy Hicks Anderson
Lucy Hicks Anderson was born in 1886 and became a socialite and hostess. (Twitter/@historyteller)
The story of Lucy Hicks Anderson proves that, no matter your background, the struggles of trans people across the world are ubiquitous.
Anderson was born in Kentucky in 1886. From an early age, she expressed a desire to present as female and socially transitioned in her teens under advice from doctors despite the term transgender not yet existing.
After leaving school at age 15, Anderson worked in various jobs until she was able to buy a California brothel, becoming a well-known socialite and hostess.
When claims that an outbreak of disease came from her establishment, Anderson was forced to undergo a medical examination that outed her to authorities.
Attorneys tried her for perjury, claiming that she had deceived the government about her gender. During the trial, she stated: “I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman. I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman.”
The court convicted Anderson and sent her to a men’s prison. After serving her sentence, Anderson relocated to Los Angeles where she lived until her death in 1954.
Amelio Robles Ávila
The amazing thing about trans activism is it can take several forms – from street protests to simply correcting pronouns. In Mexican trans colonel Amelio Robles Ávila’s case, it was holding a pistol to a transphobic soldier until they correctly gendered him.
Born in 1889, Robles’ life was defined by the bloody conflict of the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s.
He joined the army in 1911 and was sent to the Gulf of Mexico to obtain money from oil companies for revolution efforts. Two years later, aged 24, he began to identify as a man and demanded to be treated as such.
Historical accounts detail Robles’s lengths to combat transphobia, including threatening those who called him Doña or madam with a pistol.
Robles was eventually promoted to colonel, commanding 315 men during the Agua Prieta Revolt. He donned the nickname “el coronel Robles,” and was described as a capable military leader. He died aged 95 on 8 December 1984.
SOPHIE
SOPHIE performs at Mojave Tent during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival. (Getty)
Sophie Xeon, better known as SOPHIE, is one of the most significant trans musicians of all time and well-known for defining the hyperpop genre.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland on 17 September 1986, she became obsessed with music at a young age after her dad played electronic music in the car.
Her music became incredibly influential and is one of the foundations of hyperpop. Her song “Immaterial” has been listened to over 22 million times on Spotify.
She died on 30 January 2021 after falling from a cliff while trying to take a picture of the moon. Artists including Charli XCX, Sam Smith, and Rihanna expressed their condolences.
Not a huge amount is known about Jens Andersson, but what is known is that of a life defined by transphobia and a lack of understanding about non-binary people.
Born in the 1760s, Andersson began presenting as male when he moved to Strømsø, Norway in 1778.
After getting married, his wife later privately told a minister she thought her “husband might be a woman” and as such, Andersson was accused of sodomy.
During the trial, when asked about his gender, an associate answered: “He believes he may be both.”
After awaiting punishment “by fire and flames,” Andersson somehow escaped prison before a verdict was reached, the rest of his life is a complete mystery.
Blake Brockington
A photo of Blake Brockington before his death in 2015. (Twitter)
Trans male high school student Blake Brockington gained popularity after being the first trans high school homecoming king in North Carolina.
After coming out while in tenth grade, Brockington struggled with his parent’s disapproval, eventually joining a foster family.
In 2014, he collected $2,555 during a charity drive at his school in East Mecklenburg and became the first openly trans high school homecoming king.
He his platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ youth issues and spoke during a Trans Day of Remembrance service at Charlotte Independence Square.
Brockington took his own life at just 18 years old in March 2015. He was laid to rest in South Carolina.
Sylvia Rivera
LGBTQ+ activism just wouldn’t be the same without Sylvie Rivera, a trans woman born in 1951 who was involved with the Gay Liberation Front along with icon Marsha P Johnson and fellow activists.
Born in New York City, she was abandoned by her father as a child, living on the streets in 1962 before being taken in by a local community of drag queens.
While she did not attend the Stonewall riots, Rivera still spent much of her life advocating for the rights of LGBTQ+ people in and around New York, including after Johnson’s death.
She died in 2002 due to complications with liver cancer. After her death, her activism was celebrated with a street sign in her name.
Rusty Mae Moore
Rusty Mae Moore was a trans rights activist who ran a de facto homeless shelter in the late 1990s and early 2000s known as the Trans House.
A trans woman herself, Moore ensured that trans people in New York were taken care of and protected.
She was described as a “second mother” to patrons of Transy House, with resident Antonia Cambareri saying: “She paved the way, recording our culture, allowing us to survive.”
Moore died in February 2022 in Pine-Hill, New York home at 80 years old.
Thomas Baty
One of the only images of Thomas Baty available today. (Bains News Source)
English scholar Thomas Baty, also known as Irene Clyde, was a gender binary-crushing visionary who defined his life around a rejection of societal gender norms.
Modern writers have described Baty as non-binary, though it is unclear if he identified with the term.
Baty published several books under the name Irene Clyde, most of which were feminism-based critiques of the gender binary in the form of essays or science fiction. Most notable was his book Beatrice the Sixteenth – a utopian novel set in a postgender society.
He died aged 86 in 1954 in Ichinomiya, Chiba, Japan.
Anderson Bigode Herzer
Trans man Anderson Bigode Herzer was a profound trans writer from Brazil whose experiences were used to create the film Vera by Sérgio Toledo.
Born in 1962, much of Herzer’s life was noted in a book titled A queda para o alto or Descending Upwards. He was institutionalised at 14 years old in a youth state detention centre until 17, when politician Eduardo Suplicy hired him as an intern.
Herzer struggled with mental health issues and trauma due to his detainment, taking his own life at just 20 years old.
Angie Xtravaganza talks during a clip of the documentary Paris is Burning. (Paris is Burning)
If you’ve watched the emotionally heavy documentary Paris is Burning, then Angie Xtravaganza needs no introduction. The trans performer was prominent in New York’s gay ball culture.
Xtravaganza was born in the South Bronx in 1964 where she was raised in a Catholic house of 13 children.
She started doing drag in 1980 and performed at balls at just 16. Her performances became well-known enough that she established the House of Xtravaganza in 1982.
She was diagnosed with AIDs in 1991 and died two years later at the age of 28.
