Movies, television shows and ads can help change attitudes about and erase prejudices towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.
That’s the big takeaway from a new study conducted by advocacy group GLAAD and Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest advertiser. It found that 48 percent of non-LGBTQ people became more accepting of gay and lesbian people over the past few years because of their representation in media, significantly higher than reported for those who did not see LGBTQ people in the media. Seventy six percent said they were comfortable seeing LGBTQ characters in films like “Love, Simon” and shows like “Pose.”
Moreover, 80 percent of those surveyed said they had become more supportive of equal rights for LGBTQ people after being exposed to them on television or at the movies, while only 70 percent of those not exposed to LGBTQ people in the media felt this way. The survey was conducted online between Nov. 20 to Dec. 3, 2019, and polled more than 2,000 non-LGBTQ American adults.
“The findings of this study send a strong message to brands and media outlets that including LGBTQ people in ads, films, and TV is good for business and good for the world,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, when media consumption is up and when media outlets serve as lifelines for LGBTQ people in isolation, companies should recognize that now is the right time to grow the quality and quantity of LGBTQ people in advertising.”
The poll also found that 45 percent of respondents who had been exposed to LGBTQ people in the media say they are more accepting of bisexual people over the past few years, while 41 percent are more accepting of nonbinary people. Some 72 percent of respondents were more likely to be comfortable learning that a family member is LGBTQ compared to the 66 percent of respondents who had not been exposed. That shift in attitudes comes as more people report having LGBTQ people in their social circles. Eighty six percent of non-LGBTQ people say that they know someone who is LGBTQ.
That move towards broader acceptance is manifested in other ways. Seventy nine percent of respondents who had been exposed to LGBTQ people in the media are comfortable having a new LGBTQ family with children move into their neighborhood, while roughly 70 percent of respondents are comfortable starting a conversation with a person whose gender is unclear, and 81 percent are comfortable chatting with a person whose sexual orientation is different than their own.
Non-LGBTQ people have been far more exposed to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people on film and television than in advertising. Within the past three months, 70 percent were exposed to members of the LGBTQ community in movies and on the small screen, whereas 52 percent saw LGBTQ people in advertisements.
The Hallmark Channel may have made waves last year for pulling TV ads featuring same sex couples (it later re-instated them under public pressure). Despite the controversy, people looked favorably upon companies who included LGBTQ people in their advertisements. Some 86% of respondents believe it reflects the company’s support of LGBTQ rights, while 85 percent of respondents believe it illustrates the company’s commitment to offering products to all types of customers. Some 75 percent of people were comfortable with ads that showed LGBTQ people and 70 percent were comfortable with seeing commercials with LGBTQ families with children.
On a conference call with media on Wednesday, Ellis said that the results should embolden marketers and companies to highlight LGBTQ consumers.
“This is a permission slip for brands to go out and embrace the LGBTQ community,” said Ellis.
A new study has revealed that nearly a third of trans and non-binary young people have attempted suicide in the past 12 months.
More than 25,000 queer young people between the ages of 13 and 24 were surveyed for the peer-reviewed study by researchers at The Trevor Project, which has been published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Of the trans and non-binary youth young people responding to the survey, 78.2 per cent said that they have experienced discrimination because of their gender identity.
Trans and non-binary youth report depression, physical abuse and thoughts of suicide.
Asked about their experiences over the past 12 months, 29.7 per cent of trans and non-binary youth said they had been physically threatened or harmed.
82.8 per cent reported a depressive mood, 54.2 per cent had seriously considered suicide, and 28.6 per cent had attempted suicide.
Four in five trans and non-binary youth reported a depressive mood – while a quarter have attempted suicide
Even compared to their cisgender LGB+ peers in the Trevor Project survey, young people who identify as trans and non-binary are still more than twice as likely to experience depressive symptoms, seriously consider suicide, and attempt suicide – adjusting for age, family income and ethnicity.
Young people who identify as trans and non-binary are most at risk of depression and suicide. Trans males are the the highest-at risk group, with 35 per cent having attempted suicide in the past 12 months – but trans females and non-binary youth were also significantly more likely than cisgender LGB+ youth to report seriously considering suicide, according to the research.
Transgender young people ‘particularly vulnerable to poor mental health’.
The study corroborates findings from previous research on the issue, which has long indicated that trans youth have a greater risk of suicide.
Amy E Green, director of research at The Trevor Project, said: “Prior to this study, there was a clear lack of research on the differences in mental health and suicidality within different sub-groups of LGBT+ youth.
“These results underscore that transgender and non-binary youth are particularly vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes and suicide risk compared to their cisgender peers within the LGBT+ community. Furthermore, they show how LGBTQ-based discrimination and victimisation contribute to these increased mental health disparities.”
Research scientist Myeshia Price-Feeney, added: “At The Trevor Project, we hear from trans youth in crisis every day and we understand the detrimental impacts discrimination and harassment can have on their mental health and well-being.
“We hope this data will encourage more robust nationwide data collection on LGBT+ youth mental health, and that policymakers and health care providers will use these insights to create policies and safe spaces that protect and affirm trans youth everywhere.”
If you are in the UK and are having suicidal thoughts, suffering from anxiety or depression, or just want to talk, you can contact Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. If you are in the US call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
Ben Rimalower, 44, has been vacationing on New York’s Fire Island since 2005. The island’s Pines section, a popular beach destination for gay men dating back to the 1920s, has been a reliably safe and sunshine-filled locale for Rimalower and his friends, primarily other gay men, to spend the summer.
“I first fell in love with Fire Island from afar while in college in California during the early ‘90s,” he told NBC News. “It seemed like Shangri-La to me.”
Rimalower said even on the “queerest blocks” of New York City, where he lives, he’s “uncomfortable kissing or holding hands” with another man, “but on Fire Island, I’m free.”
Ben Rimalower, center, with friends in Fire Island Pines the summer of 2019. Courtesy of Ben Rimalower
This year, however, his annual trip to Fire Island Pines is shrouded in uncertainty.
“If we can go at all, it will be with lots of changes,” he lamented. “I hope we can be safe on the beach, because that’s my favorite part.”
“This is all so new and complicated,” he said, adding there’s still a chance he and his friends will cancel their trip. “We haven’t even broached the topic of house rules yet, but I imagine at least at first we won’t be having any hookups or friends over.”
With the typically busy summer season kicking off, LGBTQ beach destinations in the Northeast — a region particularly hard-hit by the global coronavirus pandemic — are bracing for a new normal, and some of their loyal patrons are apprehensive.
New York’s Fire Island
Fire Island is a narrow, car-free, barrier island just south of Long Island and not far from the ritzy beaches of the Hamptons. While Fire Island boasts 15 communities, two of them have long been popular with LGBTQ beachgoers, with the Pines historically catering to gay men and Cherry Grove to lesbians.
The Pines only has one hotel, which is currently closed, so nearly all visitors rent houses during their stay. According to a community newsletter published May 14, brokers shared that vacation renters “have generally made their last payments and are planning to come to the Pines this summer, even if bars and restaurants are not open.”
Scenes from the Invasion of the Pines in Fire Island Pines, N.Y., on July 4, 2008.Julia Weeks / AP file
P.J. McAteer, a co-owner of the Outpost Pines, which make up the majority of the Fire Island Pines’ commercial businesses, opened two of his restaurants May 15 for to-go service, and he plans to continue opening additional venues and expanding services as Suffolk County and Gov. Andrew Cuomo allow.
At his businesses, there will now be temperature and hand sanitizing stations at the entrances, a 50 percent capacity maximum and a mandate that employees wear masks and other personal protective equipment.
McAteer, who typically employs about 40 people during the summer months — from event photographers to drag queens — said his employees are eager to get to work.
“All of my staff and entertainers are chomping at the bit to come back,” he said. “They all cannot wait to be back here and bring back the life that is Fire Island Pines.”
“The gay community is very creative and inventive, especially in a crisis … We survived the HIV epidemic and made a comeback. I think the same thing about this. Those same creative energies will be out this summer.”
JAY PAGANO, FIRE ISLAND PINES PROPERTY OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION
And when beachgoers return to the island for the summer, they won’t be alone. Jay Pagano, president of the Fire Island Pines Property Owners’ Association, said occupancy has been higher than usual over the past few months, because many homeowners opted to quarantine on the island starting in mid-March.
“A large number of residents chose to spend the pandemic in the Pines,” he said in early May. “They thought it would be a safer or nicer venue to be locked down in. I’m guessing that’s probably 200 to 250 homes are occupied full-time right now, and that’s unusual this early.”
And while there hasn’t been much to do over the past two months, there’s always the beach.
“The beaches are open, and they will remain open,” Pagano explained. “We have a wonderfully wide beach this summer. We are going to encourage the residents to use it, but the requirements for social distancing and masks will be implemented on the beach as in the community, and the police will be enforcing those requirements.”
An American flag and an LGBTQ Rainbow flag are displayed on the ferry dock in the Fire Island community of Cherry Grove, N.Y. , on June 23, 2013.Seth Wenig / AP file
In neighboring Cherry Grove, the beach is also open to sunbathers, swimmers and strollers.
“It’s as safe here as it is anywhere,” Diane Romano,president of the Cherry Grove Community Association, said, adding that “the people in Cherry Grove have been really great at implementing social distancing.”
And for those thinking about heading to Fire Island’s Cherry Grove section, Romano said, “We want to make sure you’re someone that will follow guidelines and work with the community to make sure you protect yourself and others.”
In order to ensure everyone’s safety, Romano said local law enforcement, starting in mid-June, will patrol the beach to make sure everyone is following proper social distancing guidelines, which include limiting large groups from congregating.
Fire Island regulars, such as Rimalower and Zach James, who reserved a house for a week in July, are preparing for a different Fire Island experience than they’re used to, which typically includes large beach dances, drag shows and house parties.
“It’s going to be an isolated house trip without the fuss, which will be just fine,” James said. “We will change what we do out there to be in line with the world we live in.”
Two vacationers wear masks as they visit the Cantine in Fire Island Pines. Courtesy of Alexander Kacala
Arguably the most popular event in the Pines — the annual Pines Party dance and fundraiser, which is typically held the last weekend in July and draws an estimated 3,000 attendees — will not go on as planned this year. However, Guy Smith, the event’s creative director, said his group is “hard at planning” an alternative “to bring together our community and continue the Pines Party magic.” He said this year’s event will include live performances streaming from the Fire Island Pines that will “broaden the reach of our event and raise much-needed funds for our 2020 beneficiary, Stonewall Community Foundation.”
As for ferry service — the only way in and out of Fire Island unless you own your own boat — the schedule is more limited than recent years due to a decline in ridership amid the pandemic. The boats will be running at a maximum of 50 percent capacity, and all passengers must wear face coverings.
“Fire Island has so much beauty, and there’s so many things out here to do,” McAteer said, looking ahead to the next few months. “Whatever the new normal is, it’s going to be OK; we’re going to figure it out.”
“Summer 2020 is not canceled in my book,” he added. “Summer 2020 is just going to be done differently.”
New Jersey’s Asbury Park
Asbury Park, a 1.6-square-mile city located along the Jersey Shore, has been attracting an increasing number of LGBTQ homeowners and beachgoers since the ‘50s, when New Yorkers started purchasing and restoring Victorian homes, leading to the city’s rejuvenation.
While the city’s beach and boardwalk had been closed due to the pandemic, they recently opened ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. In order to ensure everyone’s safety, officials have put a number of new measures in place.
“We know our residents are looking forward to summer, and Asbury Park has always welcomed visitors — we know how much they help our economy,” Mayor John Moor said in a statement. “That said, this is not a normal summer season. We are in the middle of a pandemic, and we need to be smart. We are going to have to limit numbers, practice social distancing, wear face coverings and masks, and make the experience as contactless as possible for the safety of beach visitors and our staff.”
People visit the beach during Memorial Day weekend on May 26, 2019 in Asbury Park, N.J.Kena Betancur / Getty Images file
The city’s measures, which can be found on its website, will include the limited sale of beach passes, which are required for beach entry; one-way travel in each direction on the boardwalk; and a face mask requirement except when sunbathing or swimming.
“The next few weekends are going to be our tests to figure out how to do this, because all of this is so new, and we are learning as we go,” Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn said. “If people do not respect these rules, we will make changes.”
Michael Cook, who has lived in Asbury Park since 2005, said he’s preparing for a “Jersey Shore summer with a twist.”
“We all will learn a slightly new way of living this summer,” he said.
As for the shops and restaurants that line the city’s downtown area — including the popular gay venue Paradise — they remain closed.
“Right now, the music isn’t playing, and the cocktails are not flowing, but this is simply a moment,” the last post on Paradise’s Instagram reads. “We will all dance together again.”
Delaware’s Rehoboth Beach
Rehoboth Beach along Delaware’s coast has for decades been a popular beach destination with LGBTQ travelers from Philadelphia down to Washington, D.C. The resort town boasts over 200 gay-owned businesses, according to GayCities, and its Poodle Beach section is particularly popular with queer beachgoers.
While Delaware has not been as hard hit by the coronavirus as New York and New Jersey, Rehoboth Beach Mayor Paul Kuhns said the town is taking precautions and heeding the governor’s guidance on reopening.
“About 80 percent of the homes in Rehoboth are owned by people from out of town. What we have seen is a lot of those second-home owners have come to Rehoboth in order to get away from where they were, but they have been very positively practicing social distancing,” Kuhns said earlier this month. “It has been very manageable, but as we get more crowds coming in, it will be a difficult situation.”
Crowds enjoy Rehoboth Beach in Delaware on July 2, 20011.Chuck Snyder / AP file
As of 5 p.m. Friday, beaches along the Delaware coast will be open for exercising, sunbathing and swimming. Guidelines, which can be found on the state’s website, require social distancing among those from different households and encourage face coverings. There is a catch, though: Those who reside out-of-state will have to maintain a 14-day quarantine upon entering Delaware in order to enjoy what its beaches have to offer.
Kuhns, however, said, “We will not have police at the entrances of Rehoboth checking your ID and making sure you live in town or not.”
As for the town’s shops and restaurants, many will be open with restrictions, with most offering only curbside pick-up.
Massachusetts’ Provincetown
As the artist’s colony in Provincetown began to thrive in the early 20th century, so did its gay community. By the 1970s, the bohemian village at the tip of Cape Cod became known for its cabaret and drag scenes. Today, Provincetown boasts around 300 businesses that are part of the Provincetown Business Guild, an organization that focuses on drawing LGBTQ visitors to the destination.
“We are spending a lot of time talking about what the P-Town experience is going to look like this summer and trying to reimagine the Provincetown experience, because we believe there will still be people that come here,” Bob Sanborn, executive director of the Provincetown Business Guild, said. “We have a lot of these large-scale events and theme weeks that won’t happen as they have historically happened. With that said, we aren’t expecting the up-swells and crowds that traditionally happen here week to week.”
Crowds fill Commercial Street in downtown Provincetown, Mass. on July 10, 2019.John Tlumacki / Boston Globe via Getty Images file
During the typical summer peak season, Provincetown has a population of about 30,000 to 50,000, with peak holidays and events seeing nearly 100,000.
“Eighty percent of the homes are second homeowner owned, so those people will still come with their house guests,” Sanborn speculated. “And we still believe there will be some tourists. So it’s going to be a slower but steady summer.”
Both of the region’s most well-known beaches — historically gay beach Herring Cove and Race Point — are part of the Cape Cod National Seashore and have not been closed amid the pandemic, though their operations have been limited. The area’s smaller beaches, those around the harbor, have been closed, but will open on Memorial Day. Social distancing will be expected on all beaches: Household clusters will be allowed to gather, but larger groups, especially with 10 people or more, will be prohibited.
“This summer will still be uniquely Provincetown,” Sanborn explained. “It will be a special summer. Many people are saying this will be like Old Provincetown, before the big theme weeks became such a part of our culture. People used to flock here years ago for the sun and the fun and the joie de vivre and the simple, colorful life. We believe it will be a summer like that.”
And, just like in years past, Sanborn and other community leaders acknowledged the resiliency of the LGBTQ community when unforeseen threats arise.
“The gay community is very creative and inventive, especially in a crisis,” Pagano said. “We survived the HIV epidemic and made a comeback. I think the same thing about this. Those same creative energies will be out this summer.”
GlaxoSmithKline said an injection every other month of its cabotegravir drug was shown to avert an HIV infection more effectively than Gilead’s daily Truvada pill, potentially giving its ViiV unit a foothold in HIV prevention.
The drug trial involving men who have sex with men was stopped early by an independent monitoring board after cabotegravir was found to be 69 percent more effective than the current standard of care, Truvada, the British drugmaker said on Monday.
But the market segment GSK is eyeing is about to become more competitive as cheaper generic versions of Truvada are expected to be launched in the United States in September, as the patent expires.
Gilead, for its part, hopes that Truvada users will opt against the cheaper copies and switch to its new daily pill Descovy, approved in October 2019 after it was shown to be less toxic to the kidneys and bones.
Truvada generated $2.8 billion in sales last year, both from treatment and preventing an HIV infection.
Kimberly Smith, ViiV’s head of research, said a long-acting injection was a better route of administer because users have shown to struggle with a strict routine of daily pills, heightening the infection risk.
“Individuals have to show up every eight weeks in the clinic for the injection but in-between there is not a need to take a pill daily, so you really change the equation for adherence with a long acting (drug),” Smith said.
GSK, which is trailing Gilead in the HIV treatment market, will speak to drug regulators about a possible approval of cabotegravir based on the prevention trial, a spokesman said.
Prevention “has turned into a multi-billion opportunity for Gilead but we think consensus estimates include little or nothing for GSK in this market,” UBS analysts said in a research note.
GSK has won approval in Canada for cabotegravir as one of two key ingredients in long-acting HIV treatment combination Cabenuva, whereas in the United States, the company has run into delays seeking the go-ahead for Cabenuva.
An initial readout from the trial, which started in late 2016, was previously not expected before next year.
A similar trial to test the cabotegravir injection to prevent HIV in women, is still ongoing.
Pfizer and Shionogi & Co Ltd hold small stakes in GSK’s HIV-focused ViiV Healthcare division.
Today we are all adapting to the complications of COVID-19 and its impact on our daily life. As we abide by current “stay-at-home” orders, we are learning how this reality may affect others in our communities. Researchers have found that social isolation and the subsequent feelings of loneliness can be lethal. The AARP Foundation put some perspective on this when it announced that social isolation can cause similar health effects to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
While we are all experiencing some level of isolation, the difficulty truly is compounded for some at-risk communities. Perhaps these feelings are no greater than for our LGBTQ older adults, who already have a higher percentage of health issues (Williams Institute) that could lead to more serious risks from COVID-19. Their need for accessible connected technology may exceed those of other communities; a high-speed broadband connection to shop for groceries at home, communicate with healthcare providers without leaving home, and stay informed with news and information from the immediate community as well as broader public health updates.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed existing inequalities, and exacerbated struggles already present for vulnerable populations. Reports estimate that there are around 3 million LGBT adults over age 50, and by the end of this decade the number will grow to around 7 million. LGBT older individuals’ loneliness and isolation are compounded by several factors: they are twice as likely to live alone; four times less likely to have children; often confront discrimination and social stigma; and are more likely to face poverty and homelessness and be in poor health. The Williams Institute has revealed that older LGBT adults face social and health disparities in a number of critical areas, resulting in worse physical and mental health compared to heterosexual older adults.
The current economic conditions add another layer of stress to an already burdened community. While many have experienced financial hardship during this pandemic, LGBT people collectively have a poverty rate of 21.6%, which is much higher than the rate for the cisgender straight people of 15.7%.
All of these factors contribute to the health and wellbeing of the LGBTQ older adults during this COVID-19 pandemic. For all LGBTQ individuals, going online has always been a “must-do” activity. Research conducted by The LGBT Technology Partnership has revealed that 80% of LGBTQ respondents participate in a social networking site (such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) compared to 58% of the general public. Searching the internet for health information is particularly important for lesbians whose unique health needs are often overlooked.
The LGBTQ older community are a critical at-risk segment within the larger digital divide plaguing our aging population. With only a little over half of those age 65 who now have broadband at home (Pew Research), the opportunity for older “at risk” communities existing in isolation without a tech “lifeline” raises great concern.
We suggest that a multi-pronged approach is essential to serve this underserved community. First, the policy world needs to increase efforts to expand telehealth services, especially for older patients, to help combat the realities of the coronavirus.
Additionally, as the country moves to contact tracing it is vital to remember that any tech-heavy solution may have a disparate impact on seniors who may be less tech savvy than other populations.
Finally, support must be maintained and even increased to community and social organizations that target older LGBTQ individuals. Community centers, places of worship and social organizations that cater to this community need to receive special training, education and resources that can help protect this vulnerable population.
The COVID-19 virus will continue to affect each of us, but the increased vulnerability of our senior and LGBTQ communities requires unique strategies to ensure everyone stays as safe and healthy.
Carlos Gutierrez is Deputy Director & General Counsel for the LGBT Technology Partnership & Institute, which works to improve access, increase inclusion, ensure safety and empower entrepreneurship for LGBT communities around technology. Debra Berlyn is executive director of the Project to Get Older Adults onLine (Project GOAL) and president of Consumer Policy Solutions.
GlaxoSmithKline said an injection every other month of its cabotegravir drug was shown to avert an HIV infection more effectively than Gilead’s daily Truvada pill, potentially giving its ViiV unit a foothold in HIV prevention.
The drug trial involving men who have sex with men was stopped early by an independent monitoring board after cabotegravir was found to be 69 percent more effective than the current standard of care, Truvada, the British drugmaker said on Monday.
But the market segment GSK is eyeing is about to become more competitive as cheaper generic versions of Truvada are expected to be launched in the United States in September, as the patent expires.
Gilead, for its part, hopes that Truvada users will opt against the cheaper copies and switch to its new daily pill Descovy, approved in October 2019 after it was shown to be less toxic to the kidneys and bones.
Truvada generated $2.8 billion in sales last year, both from treatment and preventing an HIV infection.
Kimberly Smith, ViiV’s head of research, said a long-acting injection was a better route of administer because users have shown to struggle with a strict routine of daily pills, heightening the infection risk.
“Individuals have to show up every eight weeks in the clinic for the injection but in-between there is not a need to take a pill daily, so you really change the equation for adherence with a long acting (drug),” Smith said.
GSK, which is trailing Gilead in the HIV treatment market, will speak to drug regulators about a possible approval of cabotegravir based on the prevention trial, a spokesman said.
Prevention “has turned into a multi-billion opportunity for Gilead but we think consensus estimates include little or nothing for GSK in this market,” UBS analysts said in a research note.
GSK has won approval in Canada for cabotegravir as one of two key ingredients in long-acting HIV treatment combination Cabenuva, whereas in the United States, the company has run into delays seeking the go-ahead for Cabenuva.
An initial readout from the trial, which started in late 2016, was previously not expected before next year.
A similar trial to test the cabotegravir injection to prevent HIV in women, is still ongoing.
Pfizer and Shionogi & Co Ltd hold small stakes in GSK’s HIV-focused ViiV Healthcare division.
Trans students in Philadelphia have been assured that their correct name and pronouns will always be used, as the city’s school board moves to address issues thrown up by coronavirus.
In Philadelphia, trans students already have the right to be addressed according to their wishes.
After a landmark policy was passed in 2016, trans students in the state are also backed in using the bathroom and playing on the sports team that corresponds to their gender identity — whether or not they have their parents approval or have taken steps to medically transition.
But when coronavirus hit and schools closed, there was a hitch: Google Classroom, the preferred virtual classroom used by Philadelphia schools, was outing students as transgender and publishing their deadnames on virtual registers without their permission.
School officials had said technology wasn’t fixable.
Initially school officials blamed technology and said they were unable to fix the problem.
But deadnaming and misgendering are serious issues for trans youth, as non-binary teacher Maddie Luebbert explained at a school board meeting last month.
“This public display can become a serious threat to a student’s physical, emotional, or mental well-being,” said Luebbert.
“I hope I do not need to explain how vulnerable queer youth are — more likely to be homeless, more likely to face abuse, more likely to be dealing with mental illness, more likely to attempt suicide.”
Trans students speak out against deadnaming.
Elias Musselman, a trans student, also spoke out about the pain of being misgendered by Google Classroom.
“My whole class, who knew me as Eli, suddenly heard my birth name, and I would start having an anxiety attack and crying,” Musselman said.
“Some students don’t get support from their families, and to have support from school is such a big thing,” Musselman added.
To be called a name you don’t want to be called really affects you.
After an outcry from students and teachers, the Philadelphia School District has moved to assure transgender students that their correct name and pronouns will be used consistently going forward.
The move was announced via email to school principals this week and is expected to be presented at a virtual meeting of the school board today.
“We’re at a time where so much is out of our control, but this is something that is in our control,” Fix Lopez said.
“To me, it’s not so much about a name, but an identity.”
A transgender service member in the US Navy has been granted a waiver to present as the correct gender for the first time since Trump’s trans military ban became law.
Trump’s infamous ban came into force in April 2019, almost two full years after the president first announced his intention to exclude all trans people from the military.
The Navy confirmed that a trans service member has been granted a waiver in a statement provided to CNN on Friday (May 15).
“The acting secretary of the Navy has approved a specific request for exemption related to military service by transgender persons and persons with gender dysphoria,” said spokesperson Brittany Stephens.
Stephens said the transgender service member “requested a waiver to serve in their preferred gender”, including “obtaining a gender marker change… and being allowed to adhere to standards associated with their preferred gender, such as uniforms and grooming”.
Transgender people have had a chequered history in the US armed forces. They were prevented from serving until 2016, when the Barack Obama administration put an end to the ban.
In July 2017, Trump announced on Twitter that he intended to ban all trans people from serving in the military.
“After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military,” he wrote.
“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Trump’s ban means trans people who come out will be discharged.
The legislation was eventually enacted in April of last year – following four failed injunctions — and plunged an estimated 13,700 transgender service members into uncertainty.
Under the law, a trans person who comes out or is outed while serving in the military will be discharged, unless they agree to suppress their identity.
The Navy subsequently announced that service members would be allowed to live in their correct gender while off duty, but the US Naval Academy later said that it would bar trans students from enrolling for 2020.
My phone buzzed the other day with a long missive from a friend to a group Facebook chat we share with my husband and his fiancé. Earlier in the day, he had invited me and my husband over for dinner at their apartment. In the spirit of social distancing, I responded by suggesting maybe we do something outdoors—perhaps a picnic or a walk in the park?
He was furious. He felt like we were avoiding their “COVID germs.” After a series of angry messages, he left the group chat—the digital equivalent of a gauntlet-drop.
I looked at my husband, speechless. Had COVID-19 just caused a different kind of loss, our friendship?
We all manage and respond to risk differently—and with varied emotions. Most of us are becoming well acquainted with the small daily frustrations of encountering people engaging in behaviors once considered perfectly normal but now labeled as risky: shopping for groceries without a mask, walking too closely to others, or coughing without covering your face. But as my friend made clear, we can also find frustration in others we believe are being overprotective or too risk-averse.
As a sociologist who has studied how gay men practice and manage HIV risk, I think a lot about the way diseases shape our behaviors, emotions, and, ultimately, our social worlds. HIV is fundamentally different from COVID-19 in that it cannot be transmitted through casual contact like handshakes or shared Uber rides. Nonetheless, in order to navigate HIV risk, we engage in a similar kind of mental calculus.
Some gay men think the risk of contracting the disease is well worth the potential pleasures of eschewing condoms with a one-night stand. Other gay men recoil at the thought, so wary of HIV that they meticulously practice condom use or even avoid casual sex altogether (indeed, that recoil can at times translate into shame projected onto anyone who doesn’t take the same precautions). As anyone who has spent time cruising for sex online knows well, clashing views on risk and pleasure can lead to plenty of hurt feelings and libidinous disappointment.
HIV and COVID-19 risk can both put distance between us, but the pleasures interrupted are of a different stripe. For HIV, we take risk in search of human connection and sexual pleasure. For COVID-19, even the most ordinary of behaviors have become suddenly risky: sharing a meal, taking a walk, going to a movie. Avoiding COVID-19 is forcing us to deprive ourselves of all the many pleasures of life, both sexual and platonic.
Our new marching orders for our now-COVID-ridden lives seems straightforward enough: avoid gatherings, wear masks in public, wash your hands vigorously. But for most of us, the truth is more complicated. We are faced with a social isolation that hurts. And the promise of connection is not trivial or superfluous: we crave it. We need it.
Whether we are aware of it or not, we’ve all been doing a sort of risk-calculus in our heads these last few weeks. Is it OK to take a walk with my friend? Do we need to wear masks? Should I say yes to the invitation from my parents to come stay with them for a long weekend? For those of us that are single, is dating even possible anymore?
A tipping point in those risk-equations we all have been making these last few weeks is coming. As the loss of human connection and intimacy takes an ever-greater emotional and psychological toll, the potential risk of contracting COVID-19 won’t be enough to keep us away from those we love. For some, especially those suffering from depression, isolation will become unbearable to the point of even becoming deadly.
As restrictions lift and we come out of our isolation, many of our phones will buzz with eager invitations from friends asking to get together and connect—for dinner, a walk, or to get coffee. But we won’t all be ready to take those risks at the same time.
Try not to take it personally. The truth is we are all aching from the pain of isolation. We miss you. And in the words of Queen Elizabeth, I long for the day that “we will meet again.”
Following the death of Aimee Stephens — the transgender woman at the center of a high-profile LGBTQ discrimination case pending before the Supreme Court — a different name appeared in several news articles announcing that she had died Tuesday.
The New York Times, The Associated Press and the Detroit News were among the media outlets that published Stephens’ former legal name, the male name she had used prior to her gender transition in 2013. The publication of her previous name, colloquially referred to as “deadnaming,” drew swift and fierce reaction from LGBTQ rights groups and advocates.
“It serves no purpose of integrity to publish a transgender person’s ‘deadname,’ or former name, as the @nytimes did here in Aimee Stephens’s obituary. This should be immediately revised. Aimee deserves better,” Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ legal organization, tweeted Tuesday evening.
“The Grey Lady should know better than this in 2020,” the National Center for Lesbian Rights tweeted later that night. “Deadnaming and misgendering individuals is wrong, and also sends a message to trans or non-binary people that their existence is not valid.”
Both the Times and the AP amended their articles shortly after.
“An earlier version of this obituary included the name Ms. Stephens was given at birth, which she no longer used. That reference has been removed,” an editor’s note in the Times obituary stated.
Times editor Patrick LaForge also apologized on Twitter and said the incident would lead to updated style guidance.
“The first published version of the article our reporter wrote did not include the name,” LaForge wrote. “It was added later in an honest mistake by editors trying to interpret what we now realize is a confusing style rule for obituaries.”
The AP amended its obituary Wednesday and included the following note: “The story has been edited to remove a former name in accordance with AP Style to use the name by which the person lived and avoid former names unless relevant.”
Lauren Easton, a spokesperson for the news organization, told NBC News that the AP Stylebook was updated in June 2019 to include guidance on deadnaming.
The stylebook, which is influential in guiding the way many U.S. newsrooms write about complex topics, now reads: “Use the name by which a transgender person now lives. Refer to a previous name, sometimes called a deadname, only if relevant to the story.”
“The spirit of the entry is to make NOT printing a person’s deadname the default; to assume a person does not want their deadname used unless they say or you confirm otherwise,” Easton wrote in an email. “And then print it only if it’s newsworthy.”
As of Friday morning, the Detroit News’ article still included Stephens’ former name.
“The reality of trans lives is that we struggle against the interpersonal and systemic beliefs that we are only putting on our genders and that beneath them lies some ‘truth’ of who we really are — and that notion fuels violence and discrimination against members of the trans community,” Strangio, who is transgender, wrote.
“To then write about a woman who is trans and remind the reader of her deadname under the pretense that what she was called at birth is important to understanding who she is today actually evokes the image of a man for readers and contributes to the insidious social understanding that ‘this person claimed to be a woman but was really a man,’” Strangio continued.
In a 2019 op-ed titled “Stuck on how to refer to trans people in the past? The answer is actually really simple,” Parker Molloy, editor at large for Media Matters for America, a progressive nonprofit that monitors the media, argued that in the “overwhelming majority” of instances, “it’s completely unnecessary to draw attention to former names or pronouns.”
“The best way to refer to a trans person — even when discussing their past — is to use whatever name and pronouns that individual currently uses,” Molloy, who is transgender, wrote.
Raquel Willis, a transgender activist, writer and former editor at Out Magazine, said in 2020, there’s not much excuse anymore for continued deadnaming in major publications: “We have to call it what it is: ignorance.”
“As a black woman I liken it — and this might get me into some hot water — but I liken it to a news reporter in the ‘70s saying ‘colored’ instead of ‘black’ or ‘African American,’” Willis said. “Sure, we can extend some grace to you not understanding, but it’s also your job to be aware of the communities you’re reporting on and what language they’re using.”
Something as simple as asking an interviewee which pronouns they use no matter your impression of their gender identity, Willis suggested, goes a long way.
So when, if ever, do transgender advocates think it is relevant and acceptable to use a trans person’s former name in a news article?
Willis said there are some “special cases where you would need to use a name that someone doesn’t currently use.”
“Someone who was a public figure, who people knew as one name, and this was about trying to educate the rest of the public about them changing their names or pronouns,” she explained.
However, once the new name of a public figure — Caitlyn Jenner and Chelsea Manning, for example — “becomes common knowledge, it is unnecessary and disrespectful to continue referring to their old name,” Nick Adams, GLAAD’s director of transgender media and representation, said in an interview with Media Matters last year.
