Features

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Trans teen with a ‘bright smile’ killed by her own father

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A trans teenager was shot and killed by her own father in Georgia, United States, in what has been described as a “horrific tragedy”. Kathryn “Katie” Newhouse, 19, was killed on 19 March, according to officers at Cherokee County Police who found both her and her father, Howard Newhouse, 57, dead in their home. According to Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, who wrote a blog post about Newhouse’s death, the teen was a “Minecraft and UberSpire enthusiast, an advocate for trans rights” and “had a bright smile”. The blog post continued: “A native of Illinois, Kathryn was most recently living with her family in […]

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Disney ‘pressured’ animators to censor same-sex kiss in Nimona movie, staffers say

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Former staffers of animation studio Blue Sky have claimed they were pressured by Disney into censoring an LGBT+ scene from the movie adaptation of Nimona.  Nimona was originally published as a webcomic by ND Stevenson – the trans writer, cartoonist and animation producer behind acclaimed projects like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Lumberjanes.  The fantasy comic about a shape-shifter named Nimona was eventually published as a graphic novel by HarperCollins and won an Eisner award in 2016. Nimona was picked up by Disney-acquired Blue Sky and was set to become a film before Disney closed the animation studio in 2021.  Three ex-Blue Sky workers told Business Insider that Disney didn’t fully […]

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Trans-focused sexual health clinics are quietly revolutionising care for the community

For years, Mandy (not her real name), a trans sex worker, used to commute two hours from Bristol to London just to access non-judgemental sexual healthcare. “When I went to Bristol’s central clinic for a sexual health check-up, they told me they ‘don’t know how to deal with people like me,’” she tells PinkNews. “I even experienced having a student nurse brought in to look at my post-operative vagina.” This humiliating experience made her determined to find more inclusive services, but doing so was far from easy. In Mandy’s eyes, “finding clinicians that are able to handle my trans body and […]

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Twitter deems Texas AG’s ‘malicious’ transphobia as ‘hateful’ but ‘in the public’s interest’

Twitter has refused to take down Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s hateful tweet deliberately misgendering Dr Rachel Levine as it’s within the ‘public interest’.  Paxton – whose career has been marred by misconduct allegations and a state bar complaint – has pushed to classify gender-affirming care as “child abuse” and is currently appealing a court order to conduct “necessary investigations” into the parents of trans kids.  On Thursday, the Texas attorney general decided to continue his anti-trans campaign by intentionally misgendering the nation’s only openly trans four-star admiral in a cruel statement on Twitter.  Despite immense backlash on social media, Twitter decided to let the tweet remain up […]

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GOP Indiana Governor Vetoes Anti-Trans Sports Bill

The Washington Post reports: Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, struck down a bill on Monday that would have banned transgender girls from competing in female sports at school — making him an outlier in a party that has passed similar laws in nearly a dozen states. In a letter addressing his decision, Holcomb wrote that the bill “leaves too many unanswered questions.” He also challenged the need for state intervention. “It implies that the goals of consistency and fairness in competitive female sports are not currently being met,” Holcomb said. “After thorough review, I find no evidence to support either claim […]

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Disney employees across the U.S. are walking out today. Here’s why.

Walt Disney Co. employees at corporate locations across the U.S. plan to get up from their desks and head to the exits Tuesday to protest CEO Bob Chapek’s response to Florida legislation that LGBTQ advocates have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. LGBTQ workers and allies are expected to participate in a general walkout at office locations in California, Florida and elsewhere, a group of employees announced last week on a website that calls out Chapek by name. In recent weeks, Chapek has come under intense internal criticism and public scrutiny for not having taken a more forceful stand against HB 1557, […]

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Body of trans rights activist Elise Malary found on shore of Lake Michigan

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A body found on the shore of Lake Michigan in a suburb of Chicago has been identified as trans rights activist Elise Malary. Malary was last heard from on 9 March, and on 11 March she was reported as a missing person. Although she was missing and her apartment had been left unlocked, police initially said there was no indication of foul play. On Thursday, 17 March, a body was discovered by 19-year-old Tristan Lambach on the lakefront in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois. Policy later confirmed that it was Malary. She was just 31 years old. Malary was a passionate […]

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Harmful conversion therapy app pulled by Google Play for being ‘functionally impossible’

Google Play Store has removed a conversion therapy app developed by the Malaysian government that claimed to help LGBT+ people “return to the right path”.  The app, called Hijrah Diri Homoseksualiti, was originally released by the country’s Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM) in 2016. JAKIM sparked an international outcry after tweeting about the app on 9 March and disclosed that it was available to be downloaded from the Google Play Store.  Google has now pulled the controversial conversion therapy app from its store for violations against the digital giant’s policies. Under Google’s guidelines, apps cannot “attempt to deceive users” or “enable dishonest behaviour […]

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Disney staff stage week of walkouts over ‘utter failure’ to fight ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill

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Disney employees are staging a week of walkouts over CEO Bob Chapek’s response to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. Disney has faced stiff criticism for its muddled response to the bill, which would ban the discussion of LGBT+ lives in classrooms. Disney initially refused to make a public statement and defended its political donations to Republicans who helped push the bill through before apologising and pausing donations. Organising as the Disney Do Better group, LGBT+ people and allies working for the company are urging bosses to do more, including by ending all donations to lawmakers who supported the law indefinitely. “By supporting […]

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Transgender woman, 79, can claim Maine nursing home discriminated against her

A 79-year-old woman has reasonable grounds to claim that a Maine assisted-living facility discriminated against her for being transgender when it rejected her as a potential resident, the Maine Human Rights Commission found.  The commission’s 3-2 vote on Monday sets in motion a process that could result in a lawsuit being filed against Sunrise Assisted Living in the town of Jonesport on a claim of violating state nondiscrimination law by denying Marie King’s application for residency. King’s attorneys say the case has already made legal history as the nation’s first known discrimination complaint filed by a transgender person against a […]

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