On Tuesday, Democratic House members released their plan for a “Transgender Bill of Rights” in an attempt to provide federal protections for transgender and gay Americans.The bill will attempt to codify the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, which established employee protections for gay and transgender workers. If passed, the bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include gay and trans people.The amended Act would ban conversion therapy, protection for gender identity and sex characteristics, and expand access to gender-affirming care. In addition, the bill would require the attorney general to designate a liaison to oversee the enforcement of civil rights for transgender people while also investing in services to prevent anti-transgender violence.Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Co-Chair of the Transgender Equality Task Force, was a major player in getting the bill created. “As state legislatures across the country target our trans community with hateful, bigoted, and transphobic attacks, we are standing up and saying enough is enough,” Jayapal said in a joint statement with David Cicilline (RI), Marie Newman (IL), Mark Takano (CA), and Ritchie Torres (NY).
Summer Camp Demands Transgender Teen Leave Due to “Life Choice”
14.06.2022 - 05:55 / metroweekly.com
WALB. She also objected to the camp’s framing of her gender identity as a “life choice.”“If it was a choice, I wouldn’t choose to be a part of the LGBTQ community or be trans because I wouldn’t want to put myself through the struggles that other people don’t have to go through,” Clark said.Connie Bivens, the counselor at Connect Camps who sent the message, noted that the organization is a faith-based camp that travels around the world and holds week-long camp sessions for elementary school children ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade. But she denied that Clark’s gender identity had any influence on the decision.Rather, Bivens said, she had overheard other girls at the camp talking about Clark in a negative way, prompting the counselors to hold a meeting to discuss the situation.
She said the counselors decided it was best that Clark not return, for her own safety.“Our choice, our decision was based on ‘can we keep her safe and can she have a wonderful time at camp,'” said Bivens. “We felt we couldn’t do that, and it had nothing to do with Lizzie being transgender.”She noted that the girls who were talking about Clark were also asked to leave the camp, and that Clark could come back as a camper, but not as a volunteer leader.Daabes says it was difficult to hear the reasoning behind the camp’s decision to ask her daughter to leave.“It was hard…it was really hard.
I just wanted to know why, why you singled out my child home why not address the bad behavior,” she said.“I know that we’re seen as outcasts and different. I hope that people will open their eyes and realize we’re just the same as everybody else,” Clark said.
“We bleed red and we’re all human. We deserve the same treatment as anybody else.”
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Twitter suspends Jordan Peterson for tweet about Elliot Page’s trans ‘sin’
posted online show the tweet in question from the Canadian clinical psychologist’s account, which reads: “Remember when pride was a sin? And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician.”Page came out as transgender in 2020, announcing he would now be known as Elliot. Many are now calling out Peterson for “deadnaming” the 25-year-old “Umbrella Academy” star.Peterson, 60, who joined the staff of conservative podcast outlet Daily Wire on Thursday, is infamous for his anti-trans stance. He once claimed on Joe Rogan’s podcast that being transgender is a result of a “contagion” and similar to “satanic ritual abuse.”Conservative political commentator Dave Rubin posted screenshots of the removed tweet online, writing, “The insanity continues at Twitter,” and claiming that Peterson “just told me he will ‘never’ delete the tweet.
‘Sister Wives’ star Leon Brown comes out as transgender in Instagram post
in a poignant Instagram post, revealing that they have known from a young age that they were not a girl.Brown, 26, is the only child of Kody Brown and his first wife, Meri, whose polygamous family is at the center of the long-running TLC reality TV series, which aired its 16th season earlier this year.“Someone recently told me that i didn’t have to have all of my s–t figured out in order for me to share myself with the world,” Brown wrote on their Instagram account Tuesday.“So here’s me, definitely not having almost any of my s–t figured out, to let you know that i am trans. my name is Leon or Leo (i love both) and my pronouns are they/them.”The 26-year-old shared a photo of themselves standing in a pair of brown shorts and sandals in a doorframe.Brown had come out as lesbian in Season 11 of “sister Wives.”“I remember the first time that i knew i wasn’t a girl,” the reality show cast member wrote.
Elliot Page On How His Transition Was Incorporated Into The Umbrella Academy Storyline
Elliot Page came out as transgender in December 2020 and his real-life transition was mirrored on the latest season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy.Note: Plot Spoilers Ahead.In Season 3, viewers were introduced to his character Viktor Hargreeves in season 3. Page came out as trans weeks before production for season 3 was set to commence. The series show runner recruited trans writer Thomas Page McBee to aid in curating a storyline that felt authentic and sensitive to the trans journey of Page and his character, Viktor. Page praised the showrunner Steve Blackman and writer Thomas Page McBee for handling Viktor’s transition and the character’s storyline with care, stating that he believed the arc “ultimately, and in retrospect, has been really clear in so many ways.” “Viktor’s discomfort and the walls that he puts up, I think without realising, he’s just so folded in on himself and meeting Sissy and getting to feel more embodied and self-assured, and it was really, really quite special to actually reflect on that.” The actor added that he thought the conversations with McBee ensured that they were “really able to feel what that honest progression is.”Transition Is Life Saving, Elliot Page tells Oprah WinfreyPage referenced Viktor’s siblings’ reactions as ones that echoed his own lived experience.
Trans Health Experts Say Gender-Affirming Care Can Begin Earlier
The Associated Press, which WPATH provided with an advance copy of its update ahead of publication in a medical journal later this year, the group acknowledged some risks associated with beginning gender-affirming care at younger ages, but stressed that each patient being treated for gender dysphoria must be judged on an individual basis, rather than a strict set of one-size-fits-all guidelines. WPATH also called it “unethical” and “harmful” to withhold gender-affirming treatments from youth who identify as transgender. Youth who do not identify with their assigned sex at birth may start on drugs known as “puberty blockers” which temporarily prevent the development of secondary sex characteristics that may lead to heightened feelings of gender dysphoria.
‘Queer Eye’ Cast Begins Filming in New Orleans
The Queer Eye cast touched down in New Orleans earlier this week and have started filming season 7 of the popular lifestyle and fashion makeover show. The “Fab Five” team consists of Antoni Porowski, Karamo, Jonathan Van Ness, Tan France and Bobby Berk. Each member has a specialty in a particular field, including fashion, culture, lifestyle and interior design and are hoping to engage in conversations with men and women and offer advice to help them restore their lives. A sneak peek of what the show was shared on social media on Wednesday.“The Fab 5 just arrived in The Big Easy and are already dripping in Mardi Gras beads.
NSW Government Provides $2.3 Million To Support Trans and Gender-Diverse Communities
The NSW Government will provide $2.3 million to support trans and gender-diverse communities as part of the 2022-23 NSW Budget.According to the NSW Health Ministry, the $2.3 million includes $1.3 million for ACON’s new Trans Mental Health and Wellbeing service, which will provide trans women, trans men and non-binary people with up to 12 counselling sessions, free of charge. $725,400 will go to expand youth counselling service, Twenty10’s counselling and support programs for trans and gender-diverse youth and their carers, and $300,000 will go to Equality Australia in order to develop leadership in trans and gender-diverse communities.“This funding boost will enable ACON, Equality Australia and Twenty10 to respond to the needs of the trans and gender diverse community and ensure access to safe, inclusive and responsive services.”Independent Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich welcomed the initiative saying, “The NSW LGBTIQ+ Health Strategy identified significant poor health and mental health across all LGBTIQ+ communities as a result of stigma, discrimination and social isolation.“Outcomes for trans and gender diverse people were found to be the worst with shocking rates of attempted self-harm and suicide, with the strategy identifying this cohort for priority action.“I strongly welcome the NSW Government’s support for our state’s trans and gender diverse communities through the funding of key and targeted services to support and promote their health and well-being.”ACON CEO Nicolas Parkhill noted that the funding “would help ACON establish a tailored service that will deliver safe, inclusive, and affirming counselling and mental health peer support services to trans people (binary and non-binary).”In addition to health
Swimming Organization FINA Bans Trans Females from Women’s Events
“gender inclusion” policy was approved on Sunday during FINA’s extraordinary general congress in Budapest following a report from a task force — comprised of medical, legal, and sports figures — that examined the issue of transgender participation and the physical advantages that trans female athletes enjoy compared to cisgender women. After hearing the report, 71.5% of FINA members from 152 delegations voted in favor of the 24-page policy, which effectively bars most, if not all, trans females from competing in women’s events if they have undergone male puberty, reports the Australian Broadcasting Company.FINA also set up a working group that will spend the next six months crafting a policy that would allow transgender athletes, and others, to compete in a third “open” category not designated for a specific gender.The new policy comes after the International Olympic Committee issued a “framework” around transgender participation, but left eligibility criteria to be determined by individual sporting bodies.Under the newly approved FINA policy, transgender or intersex females athletes may only compete in women’s events if they can provide evidence that they experience “complete androgen insensitivity and therefore could not experience male puberty” or are “”androgen sensitive but had male puberty suppressed beginning at Tanner Stage 2 or before age 12, whichever is later.”Transgender and intersex females will also be required to produce evidence they have continuously maintained their testosterone levels below 2.5 nanomoles per liter since transitioning.
Loved Heartstopper? Give These Queer Movies and TV Shows a Try
In Dating Amber, we see two closeted teenagers in 90s Ireland decide to fake-date in order to stop speculation about their sexualities. Eddie and Amber respond to persistent homophobia by attempting to convince those around them that they are in a relationship.
MICAH SCOTT: CHAMPION FOR LGBT YOUTH
“Asking for help is the most important thing you can do.” Micah Scott is the Chief Executive Officer of Minus18, an organisation that supports LGBTQ young people in Australia through preventative mental health support, education, advocacy and leadership development. Scott grew up near Victoria’s Dandenong Mountains and moved to Melbourne when he was 20 years old. He found life in Dandenong rather isolating: “I was the only gay kid that I knew… I’m not aware of anyone in my social circles from back then who is queer themself,” he said. These days, when not working, Scott enjoys spending time with his friends, his partner, his chosen family.
Victorian Greens Rocked By Transphobia Claims Again
The Greens party in Victoria has once again been internally rocked by claims of transphobia – this time over the election of its new state convenor Linda Gale. Gale has been accused by Greens members of making anti-transgender comments in the past. Trigger Warning: This story discusses transphobic comments, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.While Gale reiterated that she would uphold the Greens policy with regard to trans rights, many in the party pointed out that she hadn’t yet retracted or apologised for her past views, which remain in the public domain.
South Carolina Lawmakers Approve Anti-Trans Health Care Provision
continuing to hammer out compromises between the House and Senate versions of the budget this week.During last week’s negotiations, the conference committee adopted a provision that prohibits state funds allocated to the Pediatric Transgender Clinic at the Medical University of South Carolina from being used to pay for transgender-affirming health care procedures for people under the age of 16. The provision does not prevent the clinic from providing medically necessary treatment so long as it is unrelated to gender transition, and does not prevent the clinic from offering mental health services to transgender youth.The adoption of the provision comes just a month after Gov.
Holding Hands, Inaccessible to Most Queer Australians
Holding hands in public – it’s such a simple human gesture, capable of telegraphing so much and yet this elementary gesture of friendship, love, affection, support and so many other basic human needs is off-limits, in public at least, to the majority of queer people in Australia and especially for gay men.A study conducted by ANZ in honour of their 11-year association with Mardi Gras back in 2017 showed that “members of Australia’s LGBTQI community are three times more likely to feel uncomfortable holding hands in public than other Australians” and that while 94% of respondents agreed that everyone should feel comfortable holding hands in public, only 43% of the LGBTQI community actually felt comfortable and confident enough to do so.And let’s face it, we’re not talking about the horrors of seeing two people eating each other’s faces on a train platform or dry humping in a library, this is two people engaging in the most innocuous forms of Public Displays of Affection possible and yet the sight of two men holding hands is enough to make this 42-year-old gay man blush with the romanticism and braveness of it all, having never walked down the street holding another man’s hand.Will this ever change? Will this simple gesture of love and affection ever truly be an accepted declaration between two men on the streets of rural or suburban Australia? Hopefully one day, Australians of all persuasions will feel safe to perform that most simple act of human connection – basic skin-on-skin contact with another human being of our choosing.© Star Observer 2022 | For the latest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTIQ) news in Australia, be sure to visit
Louisiana Lawmakers Pass Transgender Sports Ban into Law
law, dubbed “The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” requires Louisiana K-12 schools, as well as universities, to designate all sports teams as for males or females, as determined by a person’s assigned sex at birth. Its passage into law makes Louisiana the 18th state to explicitly pass such restrictions into law, although Georgia effectively has a ban in place, having handed off responsibility to the Georgia High School Association, which implemented a restoration of its own.Under the Louisiana bill, coeducational, or mixed, teams will be open to both males and females, as long as a school does not disband a female-designated team for the purpose of creating a coed team, which the new law says would place cisgender females at an athletic disadvantage.
Justine Lindsay Is the First-Ever Transgender NFL Cheerleader
March 30 post on her Instagram. While the NFL doesn’t keep records of cheerleaders’ gender identity, Lindsay is believed to be the first transgender cheerleader in the league, and is certainly the first “out” one.“Cats Out the Bag you are looking at the newest member of the Carolina Panthers TopCats Cheerleader’s @topcats as the first Transgender female,” she wrote.
The Legendary Troughman Streams Onto ABC Iview’s ‘You Can’t Ask That’
“There was a guy pissing and I got down on my knees and he got the signal and and and he started pissing on me.”The legendary Troughman, AKA Barry Charles, discusses his watersports origin story on the most recent season of ABC’s, You Can’t Ask That.“I came back from United States in 1978, having been to the Mineshaft and discovered watersports as a sexual activity; being pissed on.”Charles explained, “I went down into the basement of that club (Mineshaft) and there was a bathtub. There was a guy in the bathtub and about five or six guys standing around, pissing on him.“About 20 minutes later I was in the bathtub.”(The Mineshaft was a members-only BDSM club in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District from 1976 to 1985.)As there was no watersport scene in Australia, once he got back, he visited a leather bar that was in Kings Cross.Charles explained, “I was there one night and I went to the toilets to the urinal.
Employers’ Health Insurance Must Cover Gender-Affirming Care, Court Rules
sued in court, arguing that the insurance exclusion in the county’s employee health plan is discriminatory and unconstitutional. Specifically, she argued that the policy discriminates against her (and other transgender individuals) on the basis of sex, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, and violates her right to equal protection under the law, as guaranteed by both the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Georgia Constitution.Chief Judge Marc Treadwell, of the U.S.
Scottish Football Referees Come Out Together
Craig Napier, a Category one official, went public with his announcement in a video that was posted from the Scottish Football Association account.“We need to see the climate change so that people feel they can be their true self and live happily and comfortably in their own skin.”An important conversation with Category One referee Craig Napier. pic.twitter.com/bYygya2k23— Scottish FA (@ScottishFA) June 2, 2022In conversation with Scottish FA, Napier spoke of the importance of sharing this with the world because, “we need to see the climate change so that people do feel that they can be their true self and live happily and comfortably in their own skin.”Napier became the first openly gay figure in Scottish football since late Hearts forward Justin Fashanu in the mid-1990s.“It’s been really inspiring to see what happened recently, with Josh Cavallo and Jake Daniels”, said Napier.
What’s On: The Victorian Pride Centre
While the weather has cooled, the Victorian Pride Centre continues to spring to life in St Kilda. Pride Month is coming to the centre this June with a vibrant mix of events to recognise and celebrate the spirit, determination, courage, and creativity of LGBTIQ+ communities. It’s a timely message of positivity and togetherness in the wake of recent public debates that have negatively impacted LGBTIQ+ people, particularly the Trans and Gender Diverse communities.It’s an opportunity for our communities to come together and connect in a lively, welcoming environment.