Features

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Teacher banned from profession after outing trans kid by name on social media

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A teacher in the U.K. has been banned from the profession indefinitely for outing a transgender student on social media. According to The Daily Mail, in May 2023, a whistleblower alerted the unnamed Manchester school where 54-year-old Camilla Hannan had been teaching since 2001 that Hannan had posted offensive and anti-trans sentiments on X, then known as Twitter. In one of her posts, Hannan even outed a transgender student by name. “Where I teach we have gender identity policy,” Hannan wrote in one post alongside an eye-roll emoji. “It’s a load of nonsensical rubbish, as you’d imagine.” In another post, Hannan […]

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Meet Vivian Smotherman, who is running to be Colorado’s first trans state senator

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Vivian Smotherman is out to not only make history for transgender Coloradans but flip a district from Republican to Democratic. Smotherman is running for the state’s Senate in District 6. It’s located in southwestern Colorado, a region that has traditionally been red or at least purple, and is the largest Senate district by area in the state. She’s facing Republican Cleave Simpson Jr., a first-term incumbent who was elected before the district was redrawn last year. She would be Colorado’s first out trans state senator; Rep. Brianna Titone, running for a fourth term this year, was the first out trans person in the Colorado House. She’s a Navy […]

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Here are the 28 transgender Americans lost to violence so far this year

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Fatal violence against transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary Americans continues at an alarming rate. While the number of reported deaths has come down somewhat since 2021’s record of 57, it should be noted that this number is almost always an undercount. In any given year, the majority of those who’ve died by violence are trans women of color, Black women in particular.  Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative at the Human Rights Campaign, previously told The Advocate that media outlets and authorities aren’t always the best at covering and handling cases involving LGBTQ+ people, specifically trans and nonbinary people. “There have been times when we have […]

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Intersex youth have worse mental health, and ‘harmful’ nonconsensual surgeries may play a part

Intersex young people struggle with their mental health at higher rates than their peers, and how they’re treated by their families and doctors seems to play a part.  Over half of intersex LGBTQ+ youth (55 percent) reported seriously considering suicide in the past year, according to a new report from the Trevor Project, compared to 39 percent of endosex LGBTQ+ youth — those who do not have an intersex condition.  There are several factors that could be contributing to this disparity, says lead author Jonah DeChants, including a “combination of stigma and misplaced shame and embarrassment among individuals and researchers as well.” “Historically, intersex identities have been […]

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First openly transgender lawyer to argue at Supreme Court

An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer will make history in December as the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, opposing Tennessee’s Republican-backed law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. The ACLU’s Chase Strangio, 41, represents a group of transgender people who pursued a lawsuit challenging the measure that prohibits medical treatments including hormones and surgeries for minors experiencing gender dysphoria. In one of the most consequential cases of the court’s current nine-month term, the nine justices will hear arguments on Dec. 4 in an appeal by President Joe Biden’s administration of a lower court’s decision upholding Tennessee’s ban. The […]

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Conservatives tried to start a boycott of LGBTQ+-friendly businesses. Their efforts backfired.

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Several small business owners in Lancaster, Ohio, say they saw an increase in new customers after a local anti-LGBTQ+ group tried to start a boycott campaign against them. According to local NBC affiliate WCMH, the group Fairfield County Conservatives began circulating a list of local small businesses on social media following two September city council meetings at which members protested drag performances hosted during Lancaster’s family-friendly Pride celebration the same month. Members characterized the events as “pornographic,” an anti-LGBTQ+ tactic that has become all too common in recent years. Fairfield County Conservatives member Chuck Burgoon, who is also the executive director of […]

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Anti-trans murderer makes history as first convicted under federal hate crime law

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Convicted killer Daqua Lameek Ritter was sentenced to life in prison following a guilty verdict in the death of Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe, a 24-year-old Black transgender South Carolina woman who Ritter was in a relationship with. Ritter is the first individual to be tried and convicted for a hate crime motivated by gender identity under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. In 2019, Ritter’s relationship with Doe was discovered by his girlfriend, which prosecutors said motivated him to take Doe’s life. Prosecutors said Ritter, in a fit of rage fueled by the news […]

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How should Democrats respond to the GOP’s anti-trans attacks?

Republicans have spent tens of millions on transphobic political ads and used anti-trans attack lines during debates. Democrats’ responses have been varied. Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, recently defended trans people and slammed Republicans for “demonizing” them. Vice President Kamala Harris has responded by saying she would continue to enforce federal laws protecting trans people from discrimination. However, two congressional candidates have recently released ads responding more negatively to anti-trans attacks against them. Senate candidate Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) released an ad saying, “I don’t want boys playing girls’ sports.” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) also released an ad saying that policies on trans athletes should be […]

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Texas AG sues doctor accused of providing transgender care to 21 minors

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a Dallas doctor Thursday accusing her of providing transition-related care to nearly two dozen minors in violation of state law. Paxton alleged that Dr. May Chi Lau, who specializes in adolescent medicine, provided hormone replacement therapy to 21 minors from October 2023 to August for the purpose of transitioning genders. Texas enacted a law, Senate Bill 14, last year banning hormone replacement therapy and other forms of gender-affirming care for minors. “Texas passed a law to protect children from these dangerous unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects,” Paxton said in a statement Thursday. “Doctors […]

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Roz Keith, Ally-Founder of Michigan-Based “Stand with Trans,” Kicks-Off Transgender Empowerment Month by Going “Beyond the Binary”

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Stand with Trans, founded in 2015 by Roz Keith, is a nonprofit based in Farmington, Michigan helping trans youth “build resilience, gain confidence and find hope for a future filled with joy.” Keith launched the organization when she was in search of resources for her own child who, in 2013, came out as transgender.  Since the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual programming with a blend of in-person programming has helped to maximize their reach and potential as an organization. As a result, the group has expanded accessibility to be a global force for transgender empowerment and erase stigma surrounding trans identities, all […]

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