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Transgender Rights

Governor Signs Executive Orders Barring Transgender Athletes From Women’s Sports

March 31, 2021 Lexi Lonas, The Hill. , , ,
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has signed executive orders barring transgender athletes from women’s sports in the state. “Only girls should play girls’ sports,” Noem tweeted on Monday. “Given the legislature’s failure to accept my proposed revisions to HB 1217, I am immediately signing two executive orders to address this issue: one to protect fairness in K-12 athletics, and another to do so in college athletics.” The executive orders direct the state’s Department of Education and Board of Regents to align its policies so only those who are biologically female can participate in women’s sports.  Last week, Noem refused to sign the GOP bill barring transgender athletes from women’s sports.

College Athletes Demand NCAA Pull Championships From States With Anti-Trans Sports Legislation

March 11, 2021 Julie Kliegman, SI.com. , , ,
Nearly 550 collegiate athletes from across the nation signed onto a letter sent to the NCAA on Wednesday demanding that the association stop holding championships and events in states that have passed or are considering passing laws that effectively ban transgender women and girls—and, in at least one case, trans boys and men—from participating in youth and college sports aligned with their gender identity. Idaho passed such a bill last year, while ones in Mississippi and South Dakota are awaiting governors’ signatures. Similar laws in other states are expected to follow. “We, the undersigned NCAA student-athletes, are extremely frustrated and disappointed by the lack of action taken by the NCAA to recognize the dangers of hosting events in states that create a hostile environment for student-athletes,” the letter opened. Addressing NCAA President Mark Emmert and the NCAA Board of Governors, it continued...

The Major Struggle For The Rights Of Transgender People Is In The States

March 8, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
While the Equality Act that passed recently in the House is getting attention, the critical struggle for the rights of transgender people is taking place in state legislatures. This year, 26 states have legislation that would criminalize the provision of gender-affirming care to youth, ban transgender students from participating in athletics and more. This is an increase from 20 states last year. These bills are being pushed through by conservative Christian groups. Clearing the FOG speaks with Chase Strangio, a lawyer with the ACLU LGBT project, who is tracking the bills and working to stop them. We discuss what these anti-transgender rights bills would do, where they are imminent and what people can do to stop them.

Attacks On The Rights Of Transgender People Are Rising; Fight Back

March 7, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. , , ,
A growing and coordinated attack on the rights of transgender people is taking place through state legislation and sadly it is receiving support from people across the political spectrum. The attack is successful because its proponents are using myths about transgender people to cloak their efforts under a veneer of feminism and concerns about children's health. In reality, this attack is anti-feminist and threatens the well-being and lives of not only the transgender community, particularly the youth, which is one of the most vulnerable communities in our society, but also of all of us. It is necessary to understand where this attack is coming from and the facts that dispel these myths so we can all take action to protect the rights of transgender people. The media is largely silent about what is happening. We need to raise awareness and halt these bills.

Health Care For Trans Youth Is Under Attack In The UK

March 3, 2021 Heron Greenesmith and Mallory Moore, Truthout. , , ,
Fourteen years ago, Susan Evans left her job as a psychiatric nurse at the UK’s Tavistock GIDS clinic (the Gender Identity Development Service for child and adolescent patients) where she’d been working between 2004 and 2007. Her reason for leaving, she said, was her discomfort with the clinic providing hormone replacement care to older trans teens. She thought the clinic should be providing psychotherapy rather than “affirming” trans youth. Following the British government proposing reforms for the Gender Recognition Act in 2015, a wide range of new anti-trans organizations were formed targeting different areas of trans rights, health care, sex education and inclusion policies in schools. Within this growing interest in organizing against trans rights and health care, twelve years after she left the Tavistock clinic, Susan Evans connected with a parent (named in the case as Mrs. A) who claimed she was concerned that her child might one day be referred to the Tavistock for treatment.

Backlash Over The Equality Act Is Fueling State-Level Attacks On Trans Youth

March 2, 2021 Chase Strangio, Truthout. , , ,
The Equality Act — the landmark piece of LGBTQ legislation passed for a second time by the House of Representatives this week — faces near insurmountable odds to pass and become law as currently written. Support for it in the Senate is currently nowhere near the 60-vote threshold that would be needed to pass the bill with the filibuster. And though, if passed, the Equality Act, would codify critical and comprehensive updates to our federal civil rights laws, it’s reintroduction at this time is fueling a harmful backlash against transgender people as we contend with systematic governmental assaults on trans youth in state legislatures. It has been incredibly moving to see our representatives in Congress speak out against anti-LGBTQ discrimination and defend trans lives in the face of cruel efforts to demean and dehumanize us.

Five Action Items To Stop Anti-Trans Bills

February 20, 2021 Chase Strangio, Medium. , ,
Over the past six years, state legislatures have made it a priority to attack transgender youth. This year, we are witnessing a record number of bills proposed in states across the country with many moving quickly through the legislative process. Most of the bills propose doing two main things: (1) bar trans women and girls from women’s athletics; and (2) criminalize (or otherwise ban) gender-affirming health care for trans youth. The underlying goal of these efforts is to entrench in law restrictions on self-determination for all youth and ultimately to prevent people from being trans at all. They are animated through a well-funded and developed infrastructure that weaponizes misinformation about transness to capitalize on people’s fears of gender variance.

Florida Teen Wins Transgender Rights Suit In Federal Court

August 12, 2020 By Tim Fitzsimons, NBC News. ,
After a three-year legal battle, a transgender teen in Florida has emerged victorious in a federal lawsuit over equal access to restrooms. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a lower court ruling in favor of the teen, Drew Adams, 19, ordering the school board in St. Johns County, Florida, to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Adams enrolled at Allen D. Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, a seaside community in northeastern Florida, in the fall of 2015. Because he is transgender, the Jacksonville-area school prohibited him from using the boys' bathroom, instead of requiring him to use the girls’ restroom or single-stall bathrooms. Adams, who has since graduated, filed suit in 2017 and won his case in federal court in 2018. In 2019, his school district appealed, and over a dozen major corporations sent an amicus brief supporting Adams’ Title IX claim. Title IX bans sex discrimination in "any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
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