Sian Thompson

The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services has released a new report claiming that support for transgender rights is associated with “left-wing authoritarianism” and a greater willingness to justify political violence. Critics have dismissed the 20-page report released on 27 August as “junk science” and accused the administration of using taxpayer money to manufacture a justification for targeting trans people and their allies. The Human Rights Campaign released a statement the same day as the report, writing: “The entities that conducted the supposed ‘research,’ the Manhattan Institute and the Network Contagion Research Institute, are both known conservative-leaning think tanks with track records of producing reports that […]

Massachusetts has vowed to assume the full cost of gender-affirming healthcarefor transgender children and teenagers covered by the state’s Medicaid and CHIP programs if a new Trump administration rule takes effect this October. The federal rule, finalised Tuesday (11 August), would prohibit Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program funds from being used for gender-affirming healthcare for people aged 18 and under. The Trump administration’s Medicaid administrator, Dr Mehmet Oz, described the treatments as harmful and “sex-rejecting procedures” in a statement, while major medical organisations continue to support gender-affirming care as appropriate treatment for some transgender young people. The federal government currently covers around 50 per cent […]

A new study, published this month in the Journal of Adolescent Health, shares data that suggests trans teens who receive gender-affirming care aren’t very likely to regret doing so down the line. The study uses data gathered from 445 young people diagnosed with gender dysphoria under the care of four clinics in Canada between 2012 and 2017.  The clinics were Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Diversity Clinic, IWK Trans Health Clinic at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, BC Children’s Hospital Gender Clinic, and Alberta Children’s Hospital Metta Clinic. Of the sample group, 331 participants were assigned female at birth, and […]

A transgender couple in Louisiana says they were brutally assaulted by a mob outside a public restroom, only to be arrested themselves while their alleged attackers walked free. Aurora Rush and Shae Sanders told Erin In The Morning via Substack in a 5 August interview that they were leaving Cypress Black Bayou Park in Bossier Parish on 31 May when they were surrounded by a group of around 10 people after using the women’s restroom. According to the couple, they were subjected to anti-trans slurs, threats and physical violence.  Sanders says they were knocked unconscious and required four stitches above one […]