Tag: transgender

Florida Senate approves ban on transgender treatments for kids

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Yarborough’s bill was approved on party lines. The measure is now headed to the House, where the similar HB 1421 is awaiting consideration on the chamber floor. There are differences between the two bills, but both measures would also grant state courts with temporary emergency jurisdiction in child custody cases where a child in Florida is receiving “or being threatened” with taking prescription hormone blockers or undergoing surgeries under the care of a parent in another state.
Senate Democrats also brought up testimony from people who spoke against the bill during committee meetings, saying that the bill and last year’s agency rulemaking have led some transgender children to consider suicide. Democratic state Sen. Shevrin Jones, who is the first Black openly gay legislator in state history, said transgender children think the Legislature has rejected who they are.
“They’re committing suicide because of how they’re treated,” Jones said. “Do we want to be that type of body where we’re continuing on pushing, pushing, pushing these young people who may look different and there may not be like your child?”
Health advocacy groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association support gender-affirming care for adults and kids. Medical experts also said gender-affirming care for children rarely, if ever, includes surgery. Instead, doctors are more likely to recommend counseling, social transitioning and hormone replacement therapy.
Yarborough’s bill expands on similar policies enacted through new health care regulations that were pushed by DeSantis last year. In August, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which DeSantis oversees, banned the state’s Medicaid program from covering gender-affirming surgeries and hormone therapy treatments after the agency published a report that concluded there was not enough evidence to show that the risks outweigh the benefits.
Using that AHCA report, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who is one of DeSantis’ top health advisers, subsequently convinced the state’s two medical boards to adopt rules known as care standards that barred all doctors from treating minors with the surgeries and prescription treatments in November.
The bans that were established by the medical boards and AHCA are each facing legal challenges filed by a coalition of transgender rights groups in Tallahassee federal court. Both court cases were ongoing as of Tuesday, federal court records show.
Florida is one of 13 states in the U.S. that have enacted bans on transgender care. Another 19 states are considering similar measures, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 5, 2023
Veto stands: Transgender pronouns OK in North Dakota schools

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In a letter to state lawmakers announcing his veto, the governor said, “The teaching profession is challenging enough without the heavy hand of state government forcing teachers to take on the role of pronoun police.” The First Amendment already protects teachers from speaking contrary to their beliefs, and existing law protects the free speech rights of state employees, Burgum added.
Republican lawmakers across the U.S. have drafted hundreds of laws this year to push back on LGBTQ+ freedoms, particularly seeking to regulate aspects of transgender people’s lives including gender-affirming health care, bathroom use, athletics and drag performances.
“Ask yourself, does Senate Bill 2231 treat others the way you would want to be treated?” Democratic Rep. Emily O’Brien of Grand Forks said on the House floor, adding that overriding the veto would perpetuate “discrimination, hatred or prejudice.”
Republican Rep. SuAnn Olson of Baldwin said the bill protects freedom of speech for teachers and keeps “inappropriate” topics out of the classroom.
North Dakota will consider other bills this session about transgender students, she said.
Olson said that if lawmakers “are firm on this bill, on girls’ athletics, on separate bathrooms, we will strengthen public schools.” But allowing what she called an “emphasis on sexuality” in schools would cause students and teachers to abandon the public education system.
State representatives voted 56-36 to override the governor’s veto, but 63 votes were required.
All 12 Democrats in the House voted against the bill, as did 24 Republicans. One was Rep. Eric Murphy, of Grand Forks, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of North Dakota.

“I’m tired of these bills. I’m tired of both sides,” Murphy said on the House floor. “If a student wants to be called a different pronoun, does that really matter? Is this earth-shattering?”
In 2021, Burgum vetoed a bill that would have barred transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams in public schools. Lawmakers didn’t override that veto, but they’re considering new legislation this session to replicate and expand that bill — including at the college level.
Last week, President Joe Biden denounced what he called hundreds of hateful and extreme state laws that target transgender kids and their families.
“The bullying, discrimination, and political attacks that trans kids face have exacerbated our national mental health crisis,” Biden said. “These attacks are un-American and must end.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 4, 2023
Florida proposal targets transgender bathroom use

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Legislators advanced the bathroom bills through introductory hearings along party lines Thursday in the Senate, by a 15-3 vote, and Tuesday in the House, by a 11-3 vote. The proposals come as Republicans in Florida push culture war bills this year focused on how gender identity and sexual identity intersect with parental rights and education.
State lawmakers have either passed or are considering similar “bathroom bills” in Iowa, Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee. In 2016, North Carolina enacted a similar bill but faced widespread blowback from businesses, the NBA and NCAA and eventually repealed the law.
The administration of Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022 also enacted a similar policy for the state’s schools that require transgender students to use the bathrooms that correspond to the sex they were assigned to at birth.
Under the Florida legislation, any person 18 years or older could be charged with a second degree felony if they enter a restroom or changing facility designated for the opposite sex and refuse to “immediately depart” when asked by someone else. It also requires local school districts to craft code of conduct rules to discipline students who do the same.
These policies would be enforced at educational institutions, hurricane shelters, substance abuse providers, health care facilities and public accommodations, which by law include lodgings, restaurants, gasoline stations entertainment spaces and more.
There are carve outs in the bill outlining certain instances where someone could be legally allowed to enter a restroom designated for the opposite sex, such as to accompany another person to chaperone a child, elderly or disabled person, for law enforcement purposes or for emergencies.
But those protections are not enough to quell concerns from LGBTQ advocates and Democrats who argue the legislation amounts to harassment for people simply trying to use the restroom. They contend that the proposals would force transgender people to make the “impossible decision” of breaking the law or revealing their private medical information.
“Are we not creating a bathroom patrol where people can stand … and call law enforcement, creating very dangerous situations for trans individuals?” said Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D-Plantation). “I am very concerned about what this does, or the implications or … the consequences of something like this.”

The legislation goes further to require that entities seeking operating licenses in Florida must prove their compliance with standards for restrooms and changing facilities, ensuring they have designated spaces for exclusive use by females or males, or unisex facilities.
Businesses that fail to comply with these rules could face fines up to $10,000 levied by the state attorney general. The misdemeanor tied to using a bathroom of the opposite sex misdemeanor could result in up to 60 days in jail or up to a $500 fine.
Lawmakers, who are advancing the bills, acknowledge that they expect to tweak and update the proposals in future committee hearings.
“There are just places where we should be comfortable to do the business that needs to be done in those spaces,” said Sen. Erin Grall (R-Fort Pierce), who is sponsoring the Senate legislation. “And we need to figure out how to get that right.”
The Senate’s bathroom bill, FL SB1674 (23R), is slated for one additional hearing in the Fiscal Policy committee before it would be eligible for a vote from the full chamber. The House bill, FL HB1521 (23R), is assigned to two additional committee stops.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 31, 2023
Republican lawmakers override veto of transgender bill in Kentucky

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Nineteen people were arrested and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, Kentucky State Police said. Officers gave each person “the option to leave without any enforcement action or be placed under arrest,” said Capt. Paul Blanton, a police spokesperson.
Republican House Speaker David Osborne later said it was a decision by state police to remove and arrest protesters.
“I think it’s unfortunate that it reached that level and certainly they were given, as I’ve been told since then, multiple opportunities to either quiet their chants or to leave voluntarily,” Osborne said.
The bill’s opponents framed the issue as a civil-rights fight. Democratic Rep. Sarah Stalker declared: “Kentucky will be on the wrong side of history” by enacting the measure.
The debate about the transgender bill will likely spill over into this year’s gubernatorial campaign, with Beshear’s veto drawing GOP condemnation as he seeks reelection to a second term. A legal fight also is brewing. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky reaffirmed that it intends to “take this fight to the courts” to try to preserve access to health care options for young transgender people.
“While we lost the battle in the legislature, our defeat is temporary. We will not lose in court,” said Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.
In praising the veto override, David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, said the bill puts “policy in alignment with the truth that every child is created as a male or female and deserves to be loved, treated with dignity and accepted for who they really are.”
Activists on both sides of the impassioned debate gathered at the statehouse to make competing appeals before lawmakers took up the transgender bill following an extended break.

At a rally that drew hundreds of transgender-rights supporters, trans teenager Sun Pacyga held up a sign summing up a grim review of the Republican legislation. The sign read: “Our blood is on your hands.”
“If it passes, the restricted access to gender-affirming health care, I think trans kids will die because of that,” the 17-year-old student said, expressing a persistent concern among the bill’s critics that the restrictions could lead to an increase in teen suicides.
Bill supporters assembled to defend the measure, saying it protects trans children from undertaking gender-affirming treatments they might regret as adults. Research shows such regret is rare, however.
“We cannot allow people to continue down the path of fantasy, to where they’re going to end up 10, 20, 30 years down the road and find themselves miserable from decisions that they made when they were young,” said Republican Rep. Shane Baker at a rally.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 30, 2023
Kerala’s first transgender lawyer wants to be voice of the poor, marginalised

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Kochi: A physics graduate, an insurance agent-cum-law student and finally a full fledged lawyer, this is the journey of Kerala’s first transgender advocate who now aims to use her legal acumen to ensure justice for the poor and marginalised.
The journey was not easy and there were obstacles, but her positive attitude and disregard for negativity propelled her forward to achieve the goal of becoming a lawyer — a noble profession according to Padma Lakshmi, Kerala’s first transgender advocate.
“I ignore all forms of negativity, be it people or their comments. I focus on the positive. I believe that is one of my advantages.
“If I focus on the negativity, I will have time only for that and will never move forward in life,” she told PTI.
She also worked as an insurance agent for a private insurance company and LIC to meet her medical and education costs, which included the voluminous legal textbooks.
However, she is also more than happy and eager to share these books and her knowledge with anyone who wants them.
She slowly stopped working as an insurance agent after joining as a trainee with her senior — advocate K V Bhadrakumari — so that she could focus better on her legal career, Lakshmi said.
Lakshmi, who was interning with advocate Bhadrakumari since last November, said that her senior helped create a space for her among the big-wigs of the legal profession in the Kerala High Court.
“I am very grateful to her for that,” she said and added that her senior always tells her that the Constitution is our biggest weapon.
Of the over 1,500 law graduates who got enrolled on Sunday, March 19, Lakshmi was the first one to get her enrollment certificate.
“It was made possible by the members of the Kerala Bar Council. I am happy to be enrolled here as many big-wigs of the legal profession are part of this council and now so am I,” she said.

On her plans for the future, she said that she neither intends to pursue masters in law nor try for the judicial service presently.
“Taking up cases where there has been violation of fundamental rights and fighting to ensure justice for the marginalised, that is my plan and that is my desire right now,” she said.
There are many like Vishwanathan from Wayanad or Madhu from Palakkad and I would like to fight for them, she said.
Vishwanathan (46), a tribal, allegedly hung himself outside the Kozhikode medical college hospital, on February 11, where his wife was admitted for delivery.
He took the extreme step after he was accused of theft and roughed up by some persons, his relatives alleged in their complaint to police.
Similar was the case of Madhu, another tribal man, who was beaten to death in 2018 by some persons for allegedly stealing food articles.
Moreover, as a budding lawyer there is a lot for her to learn about court proceedings and she intends to imbibe all that knowledge, work hard and thereafter, fight to ensure justice for those who are poor and voiceless, she said.
“I have a lot to learn about managing clients and about the law. I have a lot of responsibilities. Also, I need to prove myself through my actions. For that hardwork and honesty are the tools that I need to hone.”
Her family — a mother who is an advocate’s clerk and a father who used to work at Cochin Shipyard Ltd — has been a great source of support in her journey.
“They always encouraged me to pursue my dreams with courage. So why should I fear anything?” she asked.
Meanwhile, state Law Minister P Rajeev and Higher Education Minister R Bindu congratulated Lakshmi on social media for her achievement.
“Congratulations to Padma Lakshmi who overcame all the difficulties in her life and enrolled as the first transgender lawyer in Kerala. May advocate Padma Lakshmi’s life inspire more people from the transgender community to enter the legal profession,” Rajeev said in a Facebook post.
Bindu took to Twitter to convey her best wishes to the budding lawyer.
“It is a matter of immense pride that Padma Lakshmi’s name will now be etched into the history of Kerala, as the state’s first transgender lawyer.
“No doubt she has faced obstacles galore in this journey. But she persevered, never letting any naysayer deter or weigh her down,” she tweeted.
She too expressed hope that Padma Lakshmi’s success would inspire many more trans persons in the state to enter the legal profession.
While Padma Lakshmi is the first transgender lawyer from Kerala, the first trans advocate in the country was Satyashri Sharmila from Tamil Nadu who got enrolled in 2018.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 21, 2023
Pakistan’s transgender news anchor Marvia Malik escapes death

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Pakistan’s first transgender news anchor, Marvia Malik, cheated death when she was attacked by gunmen outside her residence in Lahore on the night of February 23.
According to Dawn, Malik was returning from a pharmacy when two men opened fire. In a statement to the police, Malik claimed she had been receiving frequent threatening calls and messages from unknown numbers. She also claimed that her activism was a “major factor” behind the assassination attempt.
Malik is currently residing outside Lahore to ensure her safety.
Last year, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) had appealed to the Pakistani government to review the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 as it is not in line with the Shariah,” as “several of its provisions are inconsistent with Islamic principles”.
Who is Marvia Malik
In 2018, Marvia Malik made history by becoming the country’s first transgender news anchor on air. She was born in Lahore in 1997 with two other siblings. She was often bullied and taunted by her classmates as a child and a college student.
“Like other trans people, I did not get any support from my family. On my own, I did some menial jobs and continued my studies. I had always wanted to be a news anchor, and my dream came true when I got selected,” she had said to American broadcaster Voice of America in a telephonic interview.
She worked as a makeup artist to fund her higher studies, before pursuing a career in mass media. She graduated from Lahore’s Punjab University.
In another interview with the news agency Associated Press, she mentioned how even after getting a degree a job was beyond her reach. “Our degrees are of no use…even if we seek jobs, we get rejected due to our identity, I want to change this mindset,” she said.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 25, 2023
Telangana: Transgender persons protest against use of term ‘kojja’

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Hyderabad: After YSR Telangana party president YS Sharmila used the word kojja (slur meant for a transgender person) recently in a political slug fest, the LGBTQ community has condemned the usage and demanded a ban on it.
The community demanded the BRS- led Telangana government to implement a legislation against the usage.
The demand from the community comes shortly after Mahabubabad MLA Shankar Naik and YSRTP founder YS Sharmila challenged each other with the term while discussing good administration in Mahabubabad.
“Such identity further marginalises and dehumanize the transgender community by throwing them into the darkness of violence with their not only physical bodies but also dispel the dignity of pride being the citizen of this nation,” Telangana Transgender Welfare Board member Rachana Mudraboyina said at a press conference.
YS Sharmila however apologised to transgender persons for usage of the slur.
“We respect you and recognise the fact that you have a special place in our society. I offer my apologies to you if someone feels I have hurt them,” she said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 22, 2023
Transgender sanctioned loan under PMEGP for photo studio in Telangana

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Hyderabad: A transgender person has been sanctioned a loan under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme, to set up a self-employment unit in Karimnagar.
Karimnagar collector RV Karnan on Tuesday handed over a loan, worth Rs five lakhs, and a sanction letter to Asha, a Scheduled Caste, who aims at setting up a photography unit in the district.
“She is said to be the first transgender person in the state to get a loan under the PMEGP for setting up the self-employment venture,” a press release said.
Karnan, while speaking on the occasion said, “State Bank of India, Karimnagar branch had sanctioned the loan to Asha to help her in her career as a photographer with a studio.”
The district collector further handed over a four-wheeler driving licence to another transgender person, N.Sindhu, at a meeting held at the Collectorate on Tuesday.
Additional collector Garima Agrawal and Zilla Parishad CEO Priyanka were present.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 22, 2023
Colorado baker loses appeal over transgender birthday cake

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Relying on the findings of a Denver judge in a 2021 trial in the dispute, the appeals court said Phillips’ shop initially agreed to make the cake but then refused after Scardina explained that she was going to use it to celebrate her transition from male to female.
“We conclude that creating a pink cake with blue frosting is not inherently expressive and any message or symbolism it provides to an observer would not be attributed to the baker,” said the court, which also rejected procedural arguments from Phillips.
Phillips, who is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains that the cakes he creates are a form of speech and plans to appeal.
“One need not agree with Jack’s views to agree that all Americans should be free to say what they believe, even if the government disagrees with those beliefs,” ADF senior counsel Jake Warner said in a statement.
John McHugh, one of the lawyers who represent Scardina, said the court looked carefully at all the arguments and evidence from the trial.
“They just object to the idea of Ms. Scardina wanting a birthday cake that reflects her status as a transgender woman because they object to the existence of transgender people,” he said of Phillips and his shop.
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had acted with anti-religious bias in enforcing the anti-discrimination law against Phillips after he refused to bake a cake celebrating the wedding of Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins in 2012. The justices called the commission unfairly dismissive of Phillips’ religious beliefs.
The high court did not rule then on the larger issue of whether a business can invoke religious objections to refuse service to LGBTQ people, but it has another chance to do so.

Last year it heard another case challenging Colorado’s anti-discrimination law, brought by a Christian graphic artist who does not want to design wedding websites for same-sex couples. Lorie Smith, who is also represented by ADF, claims the law violates her freedom of speech.
Scardina, an attorney, attempted to order her cake on the same day in 2017 that the Supreme Court announced it would hear Phillips’ appeal in the wedding cake case. During trial, she testified that she wanted to “challenge the veracity” of Phillips’ statements that he would serve LGBTQ customers.
Before filing her lawsuit, Scardina first filed a complaint against Phillips with the state and the civil rights commission, which found probable cause that he had discriminated against her.
Phillips then filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado, accusing it of a “crusade to crush” him by pursuing the complaint.
In March 2019, lawyers for the state and Phillips agreed to drop both cases under a settlement Scardina was not involved in. She pursued the lawsuit against Phillips and Masterpiece on her own.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 27, 2023