Features

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S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem releases national ad targeting transgender student athletes

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem released a national advertisement on Thursday promoting legislation that targets transgender youths. Without saying the word “transgender” or “trans,” the ad promotes a bill that Noem, a Republican, introduced last month. The measure would prevent trans girls from playing on any female sports teams at school, including club teams.  Noem, the first woman to serve as South Dakota governor, said it would be “the strongest law in the nation protecting female sports.” “In South Dakota, only girls play girls’ sports,” the ad begins. “Why? Because of Gov. Kristi Noem’s leadership. Noem has been protecting girls’ sports for […]

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In a win for trans veterans, VA adds gender identity to medical records

Veterans’ health records can now include their gender identity, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday. The department said it began including gender identifiers in its national medical record system last month “to help VA providers better understand and meet the health care needs of Veterans,” including transgender and gender-diverse veterans. It added the categories “transgender male, transgender female, non-binary, other or does not wish to disclose” as options in its gender identity field. Nonbinary refers to an individual whose gender identity is neither exclusively male nor female.  Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, said in a statement that the VA’s […]

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Andrea Jenkins makes history as 1st openly transgender city council president

During their meeting Monday, city councilmembers elected their fellow Councilmember Andrea Jenkins to serve as the Minneapolis city council president. She was the first out Black trans woman ever elected to a major city council in 2017. Jenkins is now the first Out Trans person to hold such an elected position in the nation on a city council, although Lisa Middleton was sworn-in as Palm Springs mayor last month. Middleton became the first out Trans mayor in California and just the third out transgender mayor in U.S. history. The mayor’s office in Palm Springs rotates among councilmembers who serve one-year […]

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Dion Manley becomes Ohio’s first openly transgender public official

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Dion Manley made Ohio state history last Thursday when he was sworn into Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools’ board of education, becoming the first openly trans public official in the state.  “I really think Gahanna deserves a lot of credit,” Manley told the Columbus Dispatch. “They’ve been inclusive and open as a district. I’ve seen that in the years I’ve lived here, and the voters choosing to be a voice for diversity and moving forward is really special.” In November, Manley was voted onto the school board – located in the Columbus suburb of Gahanna, Ohio – along with Sue Horn and Kara Coates.  He was […]

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Early access to gender-affirming hormones linked to better mental health, study finds

Access to gender-affirming hormone therapy in adolescence is associated with better mental health outcomes for transgender adults, according to a new study. The research, published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, was based on data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Surveyconducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality, which surveyed more than 27,000 trans people across the country. It compared the psychological distress and suicidal thoughts experienced by 12,738 trans adults who had access to gender-affirming hormones during early adolescence, late adolescence or adulthood with 8,860 trans adults who desired hormones but never had access to them.  Trans people who had access […]

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Trans woman could be first American in federal prison to receive gender-affirming surgery

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A trans woman currently incarcerated in Texas could become the first American to receive gender-affirming surgery while in federal prison. Cristina Iglesias, 47, is a trans woman who has been incarcerated in Texas’ Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for 27 years. glesias made prison officials aware that she was transgender when she was first sent to prison, in 1994, and has been working to access gender affirmation surgery since 2016. Just last year, after she launched legal action against the BOP, she was finally moved to a female facility after suffering “severe physical and sexual violence”, according to the ACLU of […]

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At least 7 states proposed anti-trans bills in first week of 2022

Throughout the first week of the year, state lawmakers in at least seven states proposed laws that would limit the rights of transgender and nonbinary youths. Republican lawmakers in Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and South Dakota introduced at least nine measures that target trans and nonbinary youths, such as their ability to participate in sports, receive gender-affirming care or use the bathroom. The legislative push within the first few days of 2022 quickly follows what some advocates have labeled the “worst year in recent history for LGBTQ state legislative attacks.” “Unfortunately, I think we’re getting ready to […]

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Republican senator rings in the new year with two bills attacking trans kids

An Arizona lawmaker is ringing in the new year by introducing two new bills targeting trans youth in the state. Republican senator Wendy Rogers proposed Senate Bill 1045 (SB 1045) to prohibit gender-affirming surgeries on trans youth. The proposed law would also ban medical staff in Arizona from prescribing, dispensing, administering or supplying hormone treatments to trans people who are under 18. Any healthcare professional who violates the law would be guilty of a Class 4 felony, which carries a one to three-year prison sentence, AZ Mirror reports. SB 1045 would also compel any “nurse, counsellor, teacher, principal” or any other “public or private […]

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FDA slow in responding to calls for end to ban on gay men tissue donors

As of early this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had yet to respond to a Nov. 29 joint letter by 52 members of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate calling on the FDA to end its policy of restricting the donation of human tissues such as corneas, heart valves, skin, and other tissue by men who have sex with men, or MSM. The letter is addressed to Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. The FDA is an agency within the HHS. The letter says the FDA’s restrictions on MSM […]

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Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church, donates $600,000 to LGBTQ group

Jeff Green, a billionaire thought to be the richest person from Utah, resigned from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, writing in a letter to the church’s president that he believes the institution has “hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights,” according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Green, the chairman and CEO of The Trade Desk, a technology marketing company, informally left the Mormon church, as the LDS church is commonly called, a decade ago. But in a letter Monday to church President Russell Nelson, he officially resigned and requested the removal […]

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