The US Supreme Court has voted to issue a stay of injunction that will allow President Donald Trump’s ban on trans people serving in the military to go ahead.
The US’ highest court delivered its decision early on Tuesday morning (22 January). However, it will continue to debate the matter before making a final decision on the issue.
High Court Justices voted along party lines issuing a 5-4 win in Trump’s favor. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kegan dissented from the vote.
LGBTI advocates have started speaking out against the decision.
‘Allowing Trump and Pence’s trans military ban to go into effect harms active duty transgender troops and our national security. We will fight this harmful and discriminatory ban until it is fully defeated,’ wrote Human Rights Campaign president, Chad Griffin, on Twitter.
US LGBT military organization OutServe SLDN’s executive director, Andy Blevins also condemned the ruling.
‘For the past two-and-a-half years, thousands of qualified, transgender individuals have made our nation’s armed forces better, in every measurable quality, with their authentic service,’Blevins said.
‘The Court’s decision to allow the Trump-Pence Administration to institute their wanting and discriminatory practices while the litigation proceeds is disappointing – our siblings-in-arms deserve better.
‘We look forward to continuing our representation of these proud and selfless patriots, and reminding this Administration that military policy cannot be defined by baseless and discriminatory rationalizations.’
Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, called today’s decision a ‘setback.’
‘Not only is the Trump Administration creating a dangerous environment for transgender service members,’ she said, ‘but they are also weakening the strength of our military and setting a dangerous precedent that puts the safety of our soldiers and nation’s military readiness in jeopardy.’
Trump first instituted the ban in 2017 and received widespread backlash to his decision. A month after that, he issued a memorandum declaring the end of trans service at the start of 2018.
A conservative Christian group in the US has urged a district judge to block trans women from using a faith-based women’s shelter.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) sued the city of Anchorage in Alaska to stop the authorities from applying a gender identity law to the Hope Center women’s shelter.
The ADF – which has been labeled an anti-LGBTI ‘hate group’ by some rights organizations – argues that issues of privacy and religious freedoms are at risk.
The case was brought about after a trans woman was turned away from the shelter last year.
ADF attorney Ryan Tucker argued that a number of women who used the shelter had been survivors of abuse or violence, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports.
He went on to say that allowing biological men to stay in the same shelter would be highly traumatic for some of the women, adding that some ‘would rather sleep in the woods’ in sub-zero temperatures rather than use the shelter which allowed trans women.
Tucker argued that there were other shelters available for biological men in the city.
ADF protesting marriage equality at the Supreme Court | Photo: Facebook/Alliance Defending Freedom
The shelter operators filed a lawsuit against the Equal Rights Commission last year after a trans woman complained that she was turned away in August last year.
The shelter argues that this was not because of her gender identity, but because she was intoxicated and had been fighting in a different shelter.
The operators say they are suing to clear their names of any wrongdoing.
Assistant municipal attorney Ryan Stuart countered that the legal moves were premature as the Equal Rights Commission had not finished their investigation.
The investigation is currently on hold, in part because of the shelter’s lack of cooperation, Stuart added.
The ADF is a controversial organization in the US, and in the past have argued that LGBTI rights infringe on religious freedoms.
They have been labeled a hate group by legal advocacy organization, The Southern Poverty Law Center, who say the ADF wants to push transgender people ‘back into the shadows’.
LGBTI rights group the Human Rights campaign described the ADF as ‘one of the nation’s most dangerous organizations working to prevent equality for LGBT people’.
The group is most commonly known for defending Jack Philips, a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
The case went to the US Supreme Court, which sided with the baker. However, the court ruled in a limited capacity and said that their ruling might not apply to other cases.
This case is another instance of trans rights recognition, which has become a major talking point in the US.
There have been many recent arguments over whether trans people can use toilets in line with their actual gender, and whether trans women prisoners should be housed in male or female correctional facilities.
Conflict over trans rights has increased amid the deeply polarised climate of Donald Trump’s presidency.
A 17-year-old was charged with the murder of Dejanay Stanton (Dejanay Stanton/Facebook)
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of 24-year-old transgender woman Dejanay Stanton in Chicago.
The teenager, who was charged as an adult, was identified in local news outlets such as the Chicago Sun Times as Tremon T. Hill.
Speaking at a bail hearing on Sunday (January 13), prosecutors said Hill knew Stanton and the two had been involved in a sexual relationship since July.
Investigators found a text Hill sent Stanton the morning of her death, asking her to meet him in a lot in the 4000 block of South Calumet Avenue, where her body was found later that day.
“This young lady was special and so innocent. One of the sweetest presence I’ve seen and known!”
— Dejanay Stanton’s friend Trisha Holloway
The more than 400 messages exchanged between the two between July and the day of Stanton’s murder also indicated Hill was uneasy with Stanton being a trans woman.
Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Britt Steinberg said that, at one point, Hill asked Stanton to delete photos of him from her phone, which she did, and told her their relationship was making him feel suicidal.
Steinberg also said a police search of Hill’s home found pants with “small red stains” and other clothing matching the outfit he was wearing on the day of the murder, as filmed by surveillance cameras.
Judge Mary C. Marubio ordered Hill to be detained without bail, but the teen is scheduled for a review of his bail on Monday (January 14).
Several friends of Stanton welcomed news of the arrest on social media, hoping that the trial would bring justice to the victim and her family.
The murder of transgender Chicago woman Dejanay Stanton
Stanton’s body was found laying on the ground outside of her car, which was left with its doors open and a bag and mobile phone inside, on August 30 morning. She had a gunshot wound to the head.
Her family and friends held a vigil in her honour and dozens of people left tributes on social media remembering the young woman, who also had a Facebook account under the name De’janay Lanorra.
The teen accused of murdering transgender woman Dejanay Stanton had a relationship with her, investigators said. (Dejanay Stanton/Facebook)
Friends described her as a sweet, kind and loving person. “This young lady was special and so innocent. One of the sweetest presence I’ve seen and known!” her friend Trisha Holloway wrote.
Stanton’s murder took place on the same day as that of another young trans woman, 18-year-old Vontashia Bell. Their deaths marked the 17th and the 18th known killing of a transgender person in the US in 2018.
Black queer activist LaSaia Honey Wade remembered both women in a touching statement on Facebook.
“My sisters are being killed, Vontashia Bell in Shreveport, LA and Dejanay Stanton here in Chicago tonight we mourn, we cry and we tell the ancestors to now watch over them. My heart is hurting so much,” she wrote.
Commenting on the two killings, LGBT+ rights group Human Rights Campaign said in a statement: “The deaths of Dejanay Stanton and Vontashia Bell underscore the urgent need to address the epidemic of violence against the transgender community across the U.S.”
Police were called to a shooting at 11pm on January 6, where they found Martin with a fatal gunshot wound in a car in a ditch.
The paper did not mention Martin’s gender.
However, LGBT+ activists in Montogmery told Attitude that she was a trans woman.
Meta Ellis and Harvey McDaniel, who work for Montgomery Pride United, told the publication that they have been in touch with police about using Martin’s correct gender.
The actual number, however, could be higher as there is no official data collection on crimes against trans people, and trans murder victims have been known to be misgendered by local press.
Dana Martin was murdered on the 3900 block of Brewer Road, Montgomery. (Google Maps)
In November, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released a report looking at the high levels of violence against America’s transgender community.
It found that 74 percent of identified transgender murder victims were misgendered (referred to using their birth gender) or deadnamed (referred to using their birth name) in initial police or media reports surrounding their deaths.
“Transgender people face devastating levels of discrimination and harassment in the workplace,” reads the report.
“These barriers are even higher for Black transgender people, who have double the unemployment rate of all transgender people, and four times that of the US general population.
“Transgender people face devastating levels of discrimination and harassment in the workplace.”
“With limited access to workplaces that are affirming and inclusive, transgender and gender-expansive people are put at greater risk for poverty, homelessness and involvement with criminalised work.
“Together, these factors put transgender people at an increased risk of violence and danger.”
Last year, the HRC Foundation and the Trans People of Color Coalition released a report documenting violence against trans gender people. It found that 2017 was the deadliest year on record for transgender people, particularly for trans women of colour.
A federal appeals court has sided with President Trump on his attempt to ban transgender people from the military, marking the first court victory for the administration on the anti-trans policy as litigation against it moves through the courts.
In a five-page decision, a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly barring the Trump administration from banning transgender service members.
Although the D.C. Circuit has lifted one preliminary injunction against the transgender military ban, three more orders against the policy remain in effect. Transgender people will be able to continue to serve in the U.S. armed forces as litigation moves forward in the courts.
The unsigned ruling was a per curiam decision, which means it was unanimous. The three-judge panel consisted of U.S. Circuit Judge Stephen Williams, a Reagan appointee; U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith, a George W. Bush appointee; and U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee.
The opinion indicates Wilkins and Griffiths plan to issue a longer opinion at some time in the future and Williams plans a concurring opinion.
The order might also not be the D.C. Circuit’s final word on the transgender military ban. The opinion itself notes “today’s decision is not a final determination on the merits,” but a decision on a whether a preliminary injunction should remain in place as litigation continues.
Cited as the D.C. Circuit’s reason for lifting the order is the plan issued by former Defense Secretary James Mattis seeking to implement Trump’s 2017 tweet and subsequent order against allowing transgender people to serve “in any capacity” in the military.
The court concludes Kollar-Kotelly “made an erroneous finding that the Mattis Plan was not a new policy” because she ignored certain nuances about the plan.
“The government took substantial steps to cure the procedural deficiencies the court identified in the enjoined 2017 Presidential Memorandum,” the order says. “These included the creation of a panel of military and medical experts, the consideration of new evidence gleaned from the implementation of the policy on the service of transgender individuals instituted by then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (‘the Carter Policy’), and a reassessment of the priorities of the group that produced the Carter Policy.”
The Mattis plan allows transgender people to continue to serve in the military if they “have been stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex” and do not seek transition-related case, such as gender reassignment surgery, are not diagnosed with gender dysphoria or came out as transgender during the period of open service under former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during the Obama administration.
Although transgender advocates have made the case gender dysphoria is a defining characteristic of being transgender and thus the policy amounts to a full-fledged ban, the court disputes that notion.
“We can find nothing in the record to support this definition of being transgender, as all of the reports supporting both the Carter Policy and the Mattis Plan defined transgender persons as ‘identifying’ with a gender other than their biological sex,” the order says. “Indeed, those reports repeatedly state that not all transgender persons seek to transition to their preferred gender or have gender dysphoria.”
The order also cites legal precedent requiring courts to give deferences to the military on whether individuals are eligible for combat.“We must recognize that the Mattis Plan plausibly relies upon the ‘considered professional judgment’ of ‘appropriate military officials,’ and appears to permit some transgender individuals to serve in the military consistent with established military mental health, physical health and sex-based standards,” the order says.
The ruling was handed down in the case of Doe v. Trump, the case against the transgender military ban filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Advocates & Defenders.
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement the ruling is “a devastating slap in the face to transgender service members who have proved their fitness to serve and their dedication to this country.”
“We will keep fighting this cruel and irrational policy, which serves no purpose other than to weaken the military and punish transgender service members for their patriotism and service,” Minter said.
Minter told the Blade the legal team is considering asking the D.C. Circuit for an en banc rehearing, adding, “This is not a final decision on the merits, and we are very confident of our ability to make our case in the district court as the case proceeds.”
Jennifer Levi, director of the Transgender Rights Project for GLBTQ Advocates & Defenders, said in a statement the opinion is “based on the absurd idea that forcing transgender people to suppress who they are in order to serve is not a ban.”
“It ignores the reality of transgender people’s lives, with devastating consequences and rests on a complete failure to understand who transgender people are,” Levi said. “It is also destabilizing to the military to so dramatically reverse a policy that has been in place for over 2 years that senior military officials acknowledge has operated with no problems.”
Asked for a reaction from the Trump administration to the D.C. Circuit decision, Kelly Laco, a Justice Department spokesperson, replied, “DOJ is pleased. Thanks!”
The D.C. Circuit issues the order less than a month after hearing oral arguments on whether to dissolve Kollar-Kotelly injunction against the transgender military ban. At the time, the three-judge panel didn’t give a clear signal on which way they’d rule on the issue.
The order is handed down as the Justice Department has two requests pending before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking intervention in three transgender military cases, including Doe v. Trump. The other two cases are Karnoski v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump, which are pending before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
One request calls on the Supreme Court to take the rare step of granting review of the cases on an interlocutory basis to allow enough time for justices to issue final decision on the policy before the end of the year. The other seeks a stay on the preliminary injunctions against the policy, which would essentially allow the Trump administration to bar transgender service members as litigation moves forward.
Minter said the D.C. Circuit decision moots the Justice Department’s request for cert before judgment and a stay in the Doe v. Trump case, but doesn’t directly affect the Trump administration’s requests before the Supreme Court in other cases.
With respect to those cases, Minter said the D.C. Circuit decision “may weigh against the court granting cert” because the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to consolidate all of them.
“It does not directly affect the government’s motion for stays of the injunctions in Karnoski and Stockman, though it certainly raises the stakes of that request, since the injunction in Doe has now been dissolved by the D.C. Circuit,” Minter added.
Husband and wife Jake and Hannah Graf are both trans | Photo: Paul Grace
18 December 2018 19:07 GMT
Six leading publications aimed at lesbian and bisexual women have issued a joint statement in support of trans people.
Representatives of DIVA, Curve, Autostraddle, LOTL, Tagg and Lez Spread The Word signed the statement.
They state, unequivocally, ‘That trans women are women and that trans people belong in our community.
‘We do not think supporting trans women erases our lesbian identities; rather we are enriched by trans friends and lovers, parents, children, colleagues and siblings.’
It said it was issuing the statement in the wake of anti-trans reporting across much of the media. There have also been a number of lesbians who have spoken out against trans rights.
Pride protest over trans rights
Last summer, lesbian protestors briefly halted the Pride in London march. Among their objections, the protestors claimed that some younger, butch lesbians were rushing to identify as trans men instead of embracing their lesbian identities.
They also objected to trans women with penises gaining access to female-only spaces such as changing rooms.
In the press, many media commented on the UK’s recent consultation on changing gender recognition laws. Even the left-wing Guardian was criticized for an editorial cautioning against changing the law.
‘We strongly condemn writers and editors who seek to foster division and hate within the LGBTQI community with trans misogynistic content, and who believe “lesbian” is an identity for them alone to define,’ says the statement.
‘We condemn male-owned media companies who profit from the traffic generated by these controversies.’
Trans rights advocates march at Glasgow Pride, 14 July 2018 | Photo: David Hudson
‘Concerned about the message these so-called lesbian publications are sending to trans women’
The statement continues:
‘We also strongly condemn the current narrative peddled by some feminists, painting trans people as bullies and aggressors – one which reinforces transphobia and which must be challenged so that feminism can move forward.
‘We are really concerned about the message these so-called lesbian publications are sending to trans women and to young lesbians – including trans lesbians – and we want to make in clear this is not in our name.
‘As the leading publications for queer women, we believe it is our responsibility to call out scaremongering conspiracy theories levelled at the trans community, and make it clear that DIVA, Curve, Autostraddle, LOTL, Tagg and Lez Spread The Word will always be safe spaces for the trans community.
‘Forty years ago, to be a lesbian was to be questioned and persecuted. Today things are better for cis lesbians but there are still places where to be a lesbian is impossible.
‘So it is for trans men and women, as well as non-binary people, many of whom identify as lesbian, bisexual, gay or queer. We know something of these struggles. And just as they and other allies have supported us, so we must support those among us who are trans, or risk ending up on the wrong side of history.
‘The sooner we stop focussing on what divides us and instead focus on our commonalities, the stronger we will be to confront the other injustices imposed on us.
‘We won’t be divided.’
Toxic ‘debates’ and tackling hurtful systems
Signing the statement are: Carrie Lyell (Editor, DIVA magazine); Linda Riley (Publisher, DIVA magazine); Riese Bernard (Co-founder and editor-in-chief, Autostraddle); Merryn Johns (Editor, Curve); Silke Bader (Publisher, Curve and LOTL); Eboné F. Bell (Editor-in-chief, Tagg Magazine); and Florence Gagnon (Founder and president, Lez Spread The Word).
Lyell told Gay Star News why she hoped to happen going forward.
‘I hope the LGBTQI community can move past these toxic “debates” about what it means to be a woman or to be a lesbian and to actually get down to tackling the structures and systems that really hurt us. We can’t do that if we aren’t united.’
She also spoke of the importance of speaking out.
‘We can’t achieve equality without visibility, and therefore it’s so important that trans people and their allies are louder than our detractors.’
A group of 29 Senate Democrats led by Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) is calling on the U.S Office of Personnel Management to restore to its website guidance ensuring fair treatment of transgender federal employees, which was deleted during the week of Thanksgiving.
“We request that you immediately make the guidance available online, so the managers, supervisors and employees are equipped with accurate information and fully understand their responsibilities in the federal workforce,” the letter says.
Among the 29 senators who signed the letter are Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), the only out lesbian in the U.S. Senate, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is leading Democrats in calling on OPM to restore trans employee guidance. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
As Think Progress reported last month at the time the guidance was deleted, the information was put in place during the Obama administration and spelled out the definition of terms for transgender identities and exceptions for respecting transgender employees. The guidance ensured transgender people could dress according to their gender identity, be addressed by their preferred gender pronouns and use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.
But the Trump administration deleted that guidance from the OPM website the week of Thanksgiving. What replaces it is a 404 notice indicating “Page Not Found” on the OPM website.
An executive order signed by President Obama in 2014 barring discrimination against transgender employees — as well as workplace discrimination both on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity among federal contractors — remains in effect. Additionally, OPM recognized June as Pride month in a blog post asserting the importance of a federal workforce that is “aware, accepting, inclusive and respectful of our diversity.”
The senators urge OPM to “continue this commitment by making the original guidance supporting transgender employees available online in order to promote safe and positive workplace conditions across the federal government.” The letter also calls on Weichert to provide information on further actions she’ll take “to ensure the privacy and rights of transgender federal employees.”
An assistant principal bullied a trans boy and challenged him to prove his gender by using a urinal, according to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The student at Liberty High School in West Virginia was using a stall on November 27 when he was allegedly confronted by the senior staff member, Wave 3 News has reported.
“When he came out of the stall, the principal was essentially blocking him in so he could not leave.”
— ACLU West Virginia executive director Joseph Cohen
ACLU West Virginia executive director Joseph Cohen said: “He misgendered him, at one point challenged him to come out and use a urinal, essentially to prove that he was a boy.
“When he came out of the stall, the principal was standing in front of the exit, essentially blocking him in so he could not leave.”
The trans boy has reportedly returned to the school in Clarksburg, in the north of the state, but is suffering from anxiety and has experienced at least one panic attack since the bathroom incident.
The ACLU has sent a letter of complaint to the Harrison County Board of Education, in which it is also alleged that the trans boy was deliberately misgendered at school.
Cohen called on the school and the state to better address trans issues, saying: “More than 50 percent of male trans teens attempt suicide.
“This really is a life or death issue and it’s time that West Virginia schools take LGBTQ issues seriously.”
Superintendent Mark Manchin said that due process was needed, but added: “The preliminary information that I have received is perhaps, it does appear from what I’ve been able to confirm that our employee did not act in an appropriate manner, and was not sensitive to the needs of one of our students.”
Manchin continued: “Everybody has certain rights and also responsibilities, and we certainly take this very, very seriously to ensure all of our children are treated fairly and equitably.”
The assistant principal has not been disciplined by the high school, according to the ACLU.
Last month, a trans girl at Osseo Senior High School in Maple Grove, Minnesota, posted a horrifying video which appeared to show staff breaking into a women’s bathroom stall while she was using the toilet.
In the clip, the student is on the toilet with her trousers down while several adults attempt to force their way into the locked stall.
One person can be seen peering over the top of the stall, before a stick is used to unlatch the lock on the stall door, which swings wide open in full view of several male and female staff members.
The student tells viewers: “I’m using the bathroom right now and they just violated me. They’re some perverts.”
A 35-year-old transgender person was fatally shot on the East Side of Detroit.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the unidentified person was found around 6 AM on Friday, 7 December. No other details about the victim have been released at this time.
The body was found on E. McNichols Road, between Brush and Omira. The street remains closed for the investigation.
Police are currently investigating the incident, but do not consider it a hate crime.
Authorities are looking into a claim by a man who was allegedly robbed in the area and fired a self-protection shot. He was unsure who the bullet hit. While both these incidents took place close to each other, police are investigating them separately.
Police have a 46-year-old male in custody, according to ABC7 Detroit.
‘I would say that crimes committed against the (LGBT) community are down,’ said Cpl. Danielle Woods, the Detroit police LGBT Liaison.
Woods’ role in the department is to provide ‘sensitivity, awareness, and terminology training.’
Thankfully, ABC7 Detroit and the Detroit Free Press did not misgender or deadname the victim. Unfortunately, not every news outlet provides the same attention to detail for transgender murder victims. For instance, initial reports of last year’s death of trans woman Stephanie Montez identified her as a ‘man in a dress.’
Transgender Miss Universe contestant Angela Ponce has said that her victory would send a message to the contest’s former owner, US President Donald Trump.
Angela Ponce is set to represent Spain in the Miss Universe 2018 pageant, which is set to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 17.
Her participation is particularly poignant as the contest was owned by Donald Trump until 2015, when he offloaded the business in the run-up to his run for president.
Speaking to TIME, the 27-year-old Miss Spain said: “I’m showing that trans women can be whatever they want to be: a teacher, a mother, a doctor, a politician and even Miss Universe.”
Addressing the Trump administration’s anti-transgender actions, Ponce said her victory would be an important symbol in a contest many still associate with the leader.
“If they give me the crown, it would show trans women are just as much women as cis women.”
— Miss Spain Angela Ponce
She said: “More than a message to him, it would be a win for human rights. Trans women have been persecuted and erased for so long.
“If they give me the crown, it would show trans women are just as much women as cis women.”
Ponce added that she would still have competed in the contest if she had been allowed to when it was owned by Trump.
Transgender Miss Universe contestant Angela Ponce said she wanted to “give a lesson to the world of tolerance and respect towards oneself and towards others.”
The beauty queen said: “I would. I like to think that most people who don’t understand me, it’s not because they’re bad people.
“It’s because no one taught them about diversity. What you don’t talk about doesn’t exist—even though trans people have been here since there were people on earth.”
The contestant has had a long road to the pageant, competing in 2015’s Miss World Spain contest, only to find out the rules barred transgender women.
She said: “It wasn’t easy… I found out on the day of the competition that their rules didn’t allow a transgender woman to win. It crushed me.
“I had to go on and perform, and it felt horrible. But after I got to the Miss Universe final, Miss World changed their rules too. I changed the rules.”
Ponce, who lives in the Spanish city of Seville, wrote on Instagram after her win: “My goal is to be a spokesperson for a message of inclusion, respect and diversity not only for the LGBTQ+ community, but also for the entire world.”
Miss Universe Canada faced legal action in 2012 when model Jenna Talackova was blocked from competing for being transgender.