Trans and non-binary people in New Jersey will no longer have to take out a newspaper advert telling the public that they have legally changed their name after a discriminatory rule was finally overturned.
The New Jersey Supreme Court amended the rule on Tuesday (15 December) after LGBT+ advocacy organisations detailed the harm the harm the policy could cause to trans people.
Under the terms of the rule, all people who legally changed their name in New Jersey were obliged to take out a newspaper advert detailing their new name and their deadname.
LGBT+ rights activists and advocacy organisations warned that the policy could jeopardise the safety of trans people by forcing them to out themselves in a public forum, and that it created a financial barrier to those who cannot afford to take out newspaper adverts.
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision was broadly welcomed by campaigners, who said it would make it easier for trans and non-binary people to legally transition.
“We applaud the New Jersey Supreme Court for recognising the safety and privacy considerations that are often barriers for transgender name change petitioners,” said TLDEF’s name change project counsel Charlie Arrowood.
“Removing the publication requirement for name changes not only makes the process more accessible and affordable to those who need it, but also removes the safety burden of publicising private and personal information.
“At a time when violence against our community continues to break records, granting legal name changes and protecting private medical information will save lives.”
The decision was also welcomed by Garden State Equality, an LGBT+ organisation in New Jersey.
We commend the court for taking this initiative in the name of social justice
“Removing the requirement for people to publish name changes in the newspaper gives transgender and non-binary people the dignity and privacy they deserve,” said the group’s executive director, Christian Fuscarino.
“Eliminating the see financial and social barriers ensures that trans people of all socio-economic backgrounds have one less obstacle in the way of living full and healthy lives.”
The Transgender Legal Defence & Education Fund (TLDEF), along with Garden State Equality and the law firm Lowenstein Sandler, submitted comments to the New Jersey Supreme Court in October arguing that the policy should be scrapped.
Matthew Hintz and Zachary Berliner, attorneys with Lowenstein Sandler, said the Supreme Court’s decision will have a significant impact on the lives of trans and non-binary people from low income backgrounds in New Jersey.
“They will also have greater access to legal name changes without the fees required for two publications,” the attorneys said in a statement.
Biden will hold the event with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in Wilmington, Delaware, around 11:45 a.m. ET. An advisory from the Biden transition team described Buttigieg, the openly gay former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, as “a barrier-breaking and transformational public servant from the industrial Midwest who embodies a new generation of American leadership.”
If confirmed by the Senate, the Biden transition said, Buttigieg would work to implement Biden’s agenda by “rebuilding modern, sustainable infrastructure nationwide and creating millions of good-paying union jobs.”
Buttigieg would also be the first openly gay person confirmed to lead a Cabinet department.
The former mayor, 38, ran against Biden and Harris in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, but ended his bid just before the Super Tuesday primaries. He then quickly endorsed Biden for president.
Biden and Harris also will meet virtually with governors in the afternoon.
In other transition news:
Biden plans to nominate former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to lead the Department of Energy and is expected to name Gina McCarthy as his domestic climate coordinator, NBC News reports. McCarthy — a former EPA chief under President Barack Obama — will work with former Secretary of State John Kerry, whom the president-elect has tapped as his climate czar.
Trump called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for defying him Tuesday when he congratulated Biden on his election victory and called him the president-elect. In a tweet after midnight, Trump shared a story about his allies slamming McConnell and added, “Mitch, 75,000,000 VOTES, a record for a sitting President (by a lot). Too soon to give up. Republican Party must finally learn to fight. People are angry!”
The president has come so close to firing FBI Director Christopher Wray in recent months that the White House counsel’s office has warned him not to do so because it could put him in potential legal jeopardy, NBC News reports.
Trump is set to hold a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, his first since May, at 11:30 a.m. ET. The meeting is closed to the press.
In an interview on CNBC on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the general public will receive the Covid-19 vaccine “by the end of February into March.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a member of “the squad” in the House, spearheaded a letter signed by more than 40 House lawmakers and representatives-elect calling on Biden to end the federal death penalty on his first day in office.
Malcolm Kenyatta, Pennsylvania state representative and “rising star” of the Democratic party, played a crucial role in officially ousting Donald Trump from office.
Kenyatta was one of 538 electors who officially gave Trump his marching orders when the Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden as president-elect on Monday (14 December).
Biden won 306 electoral votes compared to the outgoing president’s measly 232, putting some of the final nails in the coffin of Trump’s desperate bid to subvert the will of the American people.
The results will now be sent to Washington DC, where they will be tallied in a joint session of Congress on 6 January, presided over by the outgoing vice president Mike Pence.
In Pennsylvania, Malcolm Kenyatta led his state’s delegation by making an official motion for the electors to cast their votes for Biden.
He celebrated the incredible moment on Twitter, writing: “HUGE HONOUR. I just made the official motion to deliver Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes to Joe Biden!”
Kenyatta has been called one of the “rising stars” of the Democratic party, and was one of the 17 people selected to deliver a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Speaking at the event, where he appeared with his fiancé, Kenyatta said: “Joe Biden was the first national figure to support me and my family.”
His fiancé, Matthew Miller, added: “I appreciate you, man.”
Speaking to LGBTQ Nationearlier this year, Kenyatta, who is the first gay Black man to be seated in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, reflected on the many ways in which “systems are broken” in the United States.
“As somebody who inhabits all of these intersections, growing up in an incredibly poor neighbourhood to a working poor family, as one of only two openly LGBTQ members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the only one that’s a person of colour, I see all the different ways that frankly our systems are broken,” he said.
Hungary amended the definition of family in its constitution Tuesday to allow an effective ban on adoption by same-sex couples, another win for the ruling conservatives but decried by one pro-LGBTQ group as “a dark day for human rights.”
The nationalist Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has worked to recast Hungary in a more conservative mold since winning a third successive landslide in 2018, and anti-gay verbal attacks and legislation have become common.
In recent years Orban, facing a unified opposition for the first time, has doubled down on propagating his increasingly conservative ideology, deploying strong language against immigrants and Muslims who he says could upend European culture.
Adam Hanol and Marton Pal play with their four year old adopted son Andras at a playground in Budapest on Nov. 19, 2020.Krisztina Frnyo / Reuters file
The new Hungarian constitution defines family as “based on marriage and the parent-child relation. The mother is a woman, the father a man.” It also mandates that parents raise children in a conservative spirit.
“Hungary defends the right of children to identify with their birth gender and ensures their upbringing based on our nation’s constitutional identity and values based on our Christian culture,” it says.
Hungary has never allowed gay marriage but still recognizes civil unions. Adoption by gay and lesbian couples was possible until now if one partner applied as a single person.
Although there are exceptions when single people or family members can adopt children, “the main rule is that only married couples can adopt a child, that is, a man and a woman who are married,” Justice Minister Judit Varga wrote.
The legislation passed on Tuesday follow the passing of a new law earlier this year banning gender change in personal documents and ideological battles over children’s books showing diversity positively.
Nearby Poland’s ruling nationalist PiS party also made homophobia a key plank of its campaign in an election this year, endorsing “LGBT-free zones” despite European Union criticism.
As per the new law, single people in Hungary must get their adoption requests approved by the family affairs minister, a post held by ultra-conservative Katalin Novak, who promotes the traditional family model.
“Do not believe that us women should continuously compete with men,” Novak said in a video published on Monday. “Do not believe that in every waking moment we must measure up and have at least as high positions or as large salaries as (men).”
‘Dark day for human rights’
Rights groups denounced the changes and called on European leaders to raise their voices.
“This is a dark day for Hungary’s LGBTQ community and a dark day for human rights,” said David Vig, director of Amnesty Hungary.
Masen Davis, executive director at Transgender Europe, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen should pay attention to the issue as the EU reviews Hungary’s rule of law record and a connected punitive legal procedure.
Hungary and Poland last week escaped the immediate prospect of losing EU funding because of rights transgressions seen as contrary to the European mainstream, leaving potential counter-measures weakened and delayed in time.
“We are deeply concerned for the health and safety of trans children and adults in Hungary in such a hostile climate,” Davis said.
Katrin Hugendubel, advocacy director at international gay rights group ILGA, said the changes meant “LGBTI children will be forced to grow up in an environment which restricts them from being able to express their identities.”
As pro-Trump supporters descended on D.C. for the second MAGA march Saturday, some men wearing Proud Boys gear were seen sporting yellow kilts…to the shock of the kilts’ maker.
The owner of Verillas in Fredericksburg, Allister Greenbrier, said his business produced the yellow kilts seen in the photo snapped by NPR reporter Hannah Allam.
Other videos have circulated social media showing the same men mooning the crowd, with the words “Fuck Antifa” written on their butts in sharpie markers.
Allister Greenbrier, the owner of Verillas, tells Yahoo Life that when the team saw a photo of the men wearing the kilts, “we thought we were doomed.”
“Our voice is small, and even a business as large as Fred Perry [a British clothing label whose polos were adopted by the Proud Boys earlier this year] has said little about this kind of thing,” Greenbrier says.
“But when we donated the proceeds, and then some, from this unfortunate sale, the support pouring in behind our message has been tremendous.”
The company later confirmed it has now pulled the yellow kilts from sale and is offering a free color exchange for anyone who has previously purchased one but does not want to be inadvertently associated with the far-right group. The Proud Boys appear to have chosen the kilts to match their uniform of black and yellow polo shirts.
A number of organizations, schools and businesses with either a history of anti-LGBTQ advocacy or policies that explicitly discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals have received millions in pandemic relief funding, according to an NBC News analysis of data released last week by the Small Business Administration.
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — which was intended to help small businesses amid the Covid-19 crisis — gave nearly $5.3 billion in the potentially forgivable loans to 5,160,000 recipients, with the average loan being $101,409.
The lion’s share of that money went to the American Family Association, which received nearly $1.4 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds. The Mississippi-based organization uses its resources, in part, to combat what it calls the “homosexual agenda.” Through its One Million Moms initiative, the organization rallies its supporters to boycott brands and media outlets that promote “homosexuality and transgenderism.”
Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst at the SPLC, criticized the Trump administration for “letting millions of Americans and small businesses suffer” while providing “financial support to groups that tear at the fabric of our democracy.”
“Extremist movements thrive in climates of political uncertainty,” she said. “Now, the government is doing even more to help hate groups by handing them millions of dollars in forgivable loans.”
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The American Family Association, Ruth Institute and Pacific Justice Institute did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on the SPLC’s “hate group” designation and how they used their Paycheck Protection Program funds. The other four groups all disputed being labeled a “hate group,” and two of them shed light on how they used their relief loans.
The American College of Pediatricians said it used the loan to “fund the covered payroll period as designated.” It called the SPLC’s hate group designation a “mischaracterization” of its organization and pointed to its detailed response to the criticism. Liberty Counsel, which said it used its funds to avoid laying off any of its 35 employees, accused the SPLC of wanting to “destroy those with whom they disagree.”
Dr. James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family, offers a prayer before an appearance by President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Feb. 20, 2020, in Colorado Springs, Colo.David Zalubowski / AP file
At least four other organizations that received Paycheck Protection Program funding — Concerned Women for America, Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, Family Leader and First Liberty Institute — have a demonstrated track record of anti-LGBTQ advocacy or espousing an anti-LGBTQ ideology, though they have not been designated “hate groups” by the SPLC. These organizations received nearly $2 million in pandemic relief money combined.
The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, Concerned Women for America and Family Leader did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on how they used the aid and their response to assertions that their organizations have a track record of anti-LGBTQ advocacy. First Liberty Institute’s general counsel, Mike Berry, sent a brief response saying his organization “advocates for the religious liberty of people of all faiths” and said “First Liberty repaid, with interest, all PPP funds by June 30.”
Two private schools that made national news over the past two years due to their anti-LGBTQ policies — and their high-profile conservative backers — were also on the Paycheck Protection Program recipient list.
Immanuel Christian School, a private K-10 in northern Virginia where Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, teaches, received $724,900 in aid funding. As NBC News reported last year, the school explicitly bars its employees from engaging in or condoning “homosexual or lesbian sexual activity” and “transgender identity.” And in its parent agreement, the school states that it may “refuse admission” or “discontinue enrollment” of a student whose household condones “sexual immorality,” such as “homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity.”
Trinity Schools, a group of private Christian schools where newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was once a trustee, received over $1 million. As The Associated Press reported in October, the schools effectively bar admission to children of gay parents and make it clear that openly LGBTQ teachers are not welcome in the classrooms.
Immanuel Christian School did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment. Trinity Schools President Jon Balsbaugh sent an email saying his institution used the funds to “ensure that economic disruption of our employees and staff due to the pandemic would be lessened” and said Trinity Schools does not “unlawfully discriminate with respect to race, color, gender, national origin, age, disability, or other legally protected classifications under applicable law.”
Several companies and organizations that have been at the center of high-profile lawsuits regarding their policies of excluding LGBTQ people have also received Paycheck Protection Program funding.
Catholic Social Services, which received over $2 million, is at the center of a case currently before the Supreme Court. Fulton v. City of Philadelphia stems from the faith-based child welfare agency’s policy of not considering same-sex couples as potential parents for foster children.
R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, which received more than $150,000, was part of a landmark Supreme Court case that resulted in the justices ruling that workplace discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity violates federal civil rights law. The Michigan funeral home’s involvement in the case stemmed from its termination of an employee after she came out as transgender. In November, the business agreed to pay $250,000 to the estate of the terminated employee, who died earlier this year, to settle the lawsuit.
Roncalli High School, which received nearly $1.8 million, was sued by two lesbian guidance counselors last year who said they were terminated when the school discovered they were married to women. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indiana, which oversees the school and was also named in the women’s suits, received over $2.4 in pandemic relief funds. In response to the lawsuits, which are still active, the Indiana archdiocese told NBC News last year that it has “a constitutional right to hire leaders who support the school’s religious mission.”
Catholic Social Services, R.G. & G.R Harris Funeral Homes, Roncalli High School and Arlene’s Flowers did not respond to requests for comment.
‘Warped priorities’
Kyle Herrig, president of government watchdog Accountable.US, said it’s “shameful” that the Trump administration provided pandemic relief funds to “organizations promoting bigotry, intolerance, and hate” with “so many small businesses forced to shutter since the start of the pandemic.”
“It is hard to find a clearer example of the Trump administration’s warped priorities than allowing countless mom-and-pop shops to go under without proper relief while bailing out wealthy and well-connected anti-LGBTQ enterprises on Americans’ dime,” he said in an email.
Justin Nelson, co-founder and president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, shared a similar view.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said, “that the Small Business Administration led by the Trump administration would put the needs of avowed anti-LGBT organizations before hardworking small-business owners.”
Nelson said he’s seen first hand how LGBTQ-owned small businesses have struggled during the pandemic and how many have been unable to receive government relief.
“These folks are worried about keeping the lights on,” he said. “We had a number of businesses that applied, and only a small number that received funding.”
Nelson, whose organization works with thousands of LGBTQ-owned businesses around the country, said it’s frustrating to see large, well-funded organizations with anti-LGBTQ track records collect large sums of relief funding while thousands of small businesses have had to close their doors permanently. He noted that his chamber did not apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan so as not to take away resources from the businesses most in need.
The Small Business Administration said in a statement that it does not comment on individual borrowers or loans. An agency spokesperson said the agency designed a “robust loan review process to ensure that only eligible borrowers received loans that fully complied with the program requirements” but added that just because a loan was issued, doesn’t mean the recipient was eligible or that the loan will ultimately be forgiven.
In a landmark change to existing policy, the United Kingdom will allow sexually active gay and bisexual men to donate blood, with the new criteria focusing on individual behaviors and lifting the outright ban on blood from men who have sex with men.
“This is such a fundamental change and victory,” Ethan Spibey, a blood donation advocate, said. “It’s a groundbreaking, pioneering new policy for gay and bi men in the U.K.”
Under the new guidelines, donors who have had only one sexual partner for more than three months will be eligible to give blood. A health check questionnaire completed prior to donating will be used to assess eligibility and safety. The criteria will apply to all people interested in giving blood, regardless of their gender, their partner’s gender or the sexual activity in which they engage.
The new criteria was born out of a report by the “For Assessment of Individualised Risk” (FAIR) steering committee, a collaboration of British blood services and LGBTQ nonprofits. After two years of research, the group proposed a move to identify a wider range of risk behaviors that apply to all donors, according to the U.K.’s Department of Health and Social Care.
Sexually active gay and bisexual men who fall under the new guidelines will be able to donate blood in England by summer 2021. The rollout plans for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not yet known.
“Patients rely on the generosity of donors for their lifesaving blood and so we welcome the decision to accept the FAIR recommendations in full,” Su Brailsford, associate medical director at the U.K.’s National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the governmental body that will implement the new guidance, said in a statement.
The existing British policy requires men who have sex with men to abstain from oral and anal sex with another man for three months prior to donating. This is similar to the current policy in the United States, which earlier this year had changed the donation deferral period from 12 months of abstinence to three and had once been a lifetime ban on any man who ever had sex with another man since 1977. The policies date back to the 1980s during the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis. However, the blood shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic has reignited calls for a change to these policies. The ban prevented sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating plasma to a coronavirus research trial in the U.K. over the summer.
“The U.K. is seen as leading in this policy area,” Spibey said. “We genuinely believe this will impact thousands here and millions around the world.”
Spibey is the founder of FreedomToDonate, a coalition of nonprofits working to change policy so men who have sex with men are more easily able to donate blood. His team sits on the FAIR working group to push forward this policy. He said his organization regularly speaks with teams in the U.S. working to adjust blood donation policies there to an individualized risk assessment format.
The new guidelines will still ban individuals who have a known exposure to a sexually transmitted infection and those who use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the HIV prevention medication. Spibey said his organization got the U.K. government to agree to reconsider the guidelines regarding PrEP as soon as more U.K.-based research on the medication is published.
“Gay and bi men have that recognition to make that small but lifesaving gesture,” Spibey said of the new donation rules. “That recognition and that inclusion is hugely significant.”
Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard has introduced a “blatantly transphobic” bill to deny trans-inclusive schools funding, despite claiming to support the LGBT+ community.
On Thursday (10 December), representative Gabbard introduced a bill to the house, co-sponsored by Republican representative Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, called the “Protect Women’s Sport Act”.
The bill aims to clarify Title IX rights (outlawing sex-based discrimination in federally-funded education) as “based on biological sex”, and prevent schools from receiving federal funding if they allow trans girls and women, as well as non-binary people, to compete on women’s sports teams.
In a statement, Gabbard said: “Title IX… led to a generational shift that impacted countless women, creating life-changing opportunities for girls and women that never existed before.
“However, Title IX is being weakened by some states who are misinterpreting Title IX, creating uncertainty, undue hardship and lost opportunities for female athletes.
“Our legislation protects Title IX’s original intent which was based on the general biological distinction between men and women athletes based on sex.”
Gabbard is the US representative for Hawaii’s second congressional district, who also ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.
During her campaign she came under fire for her history of opposed marriage equality and having called LGBT+ activists “homosexual extremists”.
However in a grovelling apology she insisted that her views had changed and that she was now an LGBT+ ally.
She was swiftly criticised for the new legislation, especially as just last year she insisted that would “work toward passing legislation that ensures equal rights and protections on LGBT+ issues”.
Activist Charlotte Clymer wrote on Twitter: “Tulsi Gabbard is now introducing a blatantly transphobic piece of legislation aimed at trans and non-binary young people.”
A married lesbian couple have won a lengthy legal battle against a retirement community that refused them housing due to the owners’ religious beliefs.
Mary Walsh, 72, and Beverly Nance, 68, have been together for 40 years and married for 10. In 2016 they applied to move to the Friendship Village senior living facility in St. Louis, where they hoped to spend their last years surrounded by friends with help on hand if they needed.
But once Friendship Village staff learned they were married they refused them, saying the home did not condone homosexuality. The letter they received said that the only married couples they accepted were those in unions between “one man and one woman”.
This blindsided the couple, who had already paid the $2,000 deposit under the assumption that their relationship was not an issue. They’d chosen Friendship Village for financial reasons, as the community offered care options they would need that weren’t available elsewhere without substantially extra costs.
Walsh and Beverly sued Friendship Village alleging housing discrimination, only to have their case dismissed last year when a judge found that the centre had indeed discriminated against them, but that it wasn’t illegal.
But the couple refused to back down, and their case was reinstated in July following the recent Bostock v. Clayton County ruling that determined sexual orientation was protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Walsh and Nance finally got their hard-won victory on Tuesday (8 December), after reaching a confidential settlement with the home.
“This has been a harrowing experience and one that I hope no other same-sex couple has to face,” Walsh said after the ruling was announced. “Bev and I are relieved that this case is now behind us and that we have closure after our lives were thrown into chaos.”
Their focus now is only “on their health and each other,” and trying to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
After training for hours on end, year after year, some women athletes – particularly those competing on the world stage – are getting their careers and successes ripped away because of “sex testing,” practices, which are invasive and medically unnecessary procedures based on disputed science that dictates what “natural” testosterone levels can be for women, and the role it plays in performance. Women from the global south are disproportionately targeted. Sporting officials demand that these women undergo irreversible sterilization surgeries or hormone therapies to have a chance at competing again. Philippa Stewart spoke to Dr. Payoshni Mitra, who has worked for years with affected athletes, about a new Human Rights Watch report, “‘They’re Chasing Us Away from Sport’” and why these tests have to end.
What is it that singles women out?
Often it is just that they look different, less “feminine” than men, and it often is men, in charge of the national or international sports federations, who think they should.
These policies disproportionately target women from the global south, specifically black and brown women. It is important to note that there aren’t any similar rules governing men’s bodies.
There is evidence of research studies by doctors affiliated to the World Athletics where women’s bodies have been investigated and operated on. They treated these women like guinea pigs. They would not have done this to an athlete from Europe or America.
Do the athletes give consent to be tested?
Not informed consent. They are normally not told exactly why they are being tested or what is going to happen. In the case of one athlete, she was told it was about high performance, others are told various things that aren’t true.
There is also no privacy, the coach is there when the physical exams are done. Then the women are pressured into surgery or hormone therapy as the only ways they could possibly be allowed to compete in their preferred event.
Often these women start competing because the prizes are a way to survive, to pull their family out of poverty. They love sports and see it as the thing that can change the fate of their family. And then suddenly they are told they don’t have a chance unless they take irreversible medical steps.
They are also told not to talk about it and to come up with some excuse about why they are not competing. This creates a feeling of shame for them, like there’s something wrong with them and they shouldn’t talk about it. It makes them feel inadequate, like they’re not the “correct” kind of woman. Athletes told me it feels like a way of telling them they aren’t good enough.
Are doctors willing to perform these tests without consent?
This isn’t a normal doctor-patient relationship. The athletic federations that are directly connected to the doctors are both requesting the invasive treatment and being given information by the doctors about the athletes. The athletes don’t have any autonomy around this process. Their medical information is passed on from the doctor to the athletic federation that decides their future and whether they will be allowed to compete.
Some people believe that if a woman doctor performs the test then it is fine. But it isn’t necessarily so. It is still an extra pair of eyes and hands on your body in a way you haven’t consented to. That is not fine.
The women are told not to speak about it because of “confidentiality,” but this protects the federations and the people performing the tests and not usually the athletes.
The World Medical Association has said these tests shouldn’t be performed. Has that made a difference?
Honestly, no. The WMA made it clear that the sex testing regulations are unethical and instructed doctors not to implement them. But the doctors are not controlled by medical authorities, they do what their collaborators – the athletic federations – tell them to do, and they follow what the international bodies say. There needs to be a change in sporting policy at the international level for these harmful practices to stop.
What happens after women are told they can’t compete?
Often these women start competing because of the prizes. Sometimes the prize is some food, and one woman told me she won a cow as a young girl, which meant her family could have milk every day. Sport, competing for the national team, it’s something to aim for because it pulls you out of poverty, it helps your family. Athletes in many countries get lifetime government jobs after they finish competing if they did well and brought pride to their country.
These policies disproportionately target women from the global south, specifically black and brown women. Dr. Payoshni Mitra
When that goes away, often the woman’s family stops supporting them. Especially because there are all these rumors around why they had to stop competing – that there is something shameful about them. These women can lose their support network overnight and they don’t even get told exactly why.
There are also long-term effects for these women if they try to stay in sports. They are constantly under scrutiny, they start to feel unsafe, people gossip about them constantly. It is a very hard thing to deal with when no one has told you why it is happening in a way that you understand.
South African runner Caster Semenya is probably the most famous case of gender testing. Is that where most people’s knowledge of these examinations comes from?
I am privileged to know Ms. Semenya, and she is a wonderful and extremely resilient champion, both on and off the field, who has a very important story to tell. But she is not the whole story. She was already at the top of her career when this happened and people are, rightly, rallying around to support her. She has support in a way that a lot of these women, at the start of their careers, often young and alone and not aware of their rights, do not have. It is, to my mind, a good thing more people are aware of these horrific tests now, but even with that, people don’t realize how many women it affects and what they go through, what they have to overcome.
She is a wonderful champion, but the media should highlight other stories too, of the women who don’t rise to those heights. The women who are just mid-level, proud to represent their country, and trying to build a better life, and then they have it ripped away.
What can be done to protect those women?
Education on rights – many athletes didn’t even know that the court of arbitration for sport existed, let alone that they could take their case there. I have been working with women athletes for years trying to make them aware of their rights. It is no coincidence that these policies affect women from poorer countries, where they don’t have the same level of awareness about their rights.
I advise athletes not to allow federations to communicate with them verbally. It is important to have evidence of what the federations ask athletes to do in writing. If they ask for every communication to be in writing, federation officials realize that they must take that athlete seriously and treat her respectfully.
Women are now challenging these policies in courts of law, both national and international. This is a recent development and it makes me happy to see that more and more women athletes from Asia and Africa are becoming conscious of their rights.
What about the testing policies?
They need to end. At a national level, and at an international level. There are some women who compete nationally, and then just as they are about to make it to the international stage, they get tested and dropped. There’s major downstream impact from the global regulations. That’s because the national federations or sport ministries see these international federation policies and think they have to test first. All levels of sport need to stop these tests now.
Is there anything that makes you hopeful things can change for the better?
These women have been scrutinized for so long and now, finally, that is being switched and it is the federations dealing with scrutiny for what they have done.
This report is the first time the world is truly hearing the voices of some of the women affected by these policies. Annet Negesa, the Ugandan runner who was sex tested and ruled ineligible, broke her silence for first time in an interview to Human Rights Watch last year. That was incredibly brave. Finally, after more than a decade of work, the world is paying attention.
I believe it is extremely powerful that all the affected athletes I am working with are now refusing harmful medical intervention. Dutee Chand and Caster Semenya have spoken openly about not succumbing to any pressure of taking medical steps. They have inspired athletes across the world to switch to a completely new, unrestricted event, rather than consent to these harmful and irreversible medical interventions. Switching events often outs them as having high testosterone. But that is not deterring them. It is a clear message to the World Athletics: “Enough is enough.”
