[ad_1]
Over the past several months, the rights and acceptance of transgender and gender-nonconforming people have increasingly been the subject of both legal challenges and heated public debate. The Onion sifts through the many essays published by lesser news organizations to find the smartest and most worthwhile reflections on the battle over trans rights.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Tallahassee, Fla. — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down Florida rules championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis restricting Medicaid coverage for gender dysphoria treatments for potentially thousands of transgender people.
“Gender identity is real” and the state has admitted it, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle wrote in a 54-page ruling.
He said a Florida health code rule and a new state law violated federal laws on Medicaid, equal protection and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination.
They are “invalid to the extent they categorically ban Medicaid payment for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the treatment of gender dysphoria,” Hinkle wrote.
The judge said Florida had chosen to block payment for some treatments “for political reasons” using a biased and unscientific process and that “pushing individuals away from their transgender identity is not a legitimate state interest.”
An email seeking comment from the DeSantis’ office wasn’t immediately returned.
Hinkle’s harsh language echoed that in his ruling two weeks ago over a law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers. Hinkle, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, issued a preliminary injunction so that three children could continue receiving treatment.
“We’re gonna have to live in fear”: The fight over medical care for transgender youth
The DeSantis administration and the Republican-controlled Legislature had banned gender-affirming treatments for children, and a law that DeSantis signed in May made it difficult – even impossible – for many transgender adults to get treatment.
Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda / Orlando Sentinel / Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The latest ruling involved a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of two adults and two minors but advocacy groups estimate that some 9,000 transgender people in Florida use Medicaid to fund their treatments.
Hinkle also addressed the issue of whether gender-affirming treatments were medically necessary and noted that transgender people have higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicide than the general population.
Transgender medical care for minors is increasingly under attack – Florida is among 19 states that have enacted laws restricting or banning treatment. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.
Gender issues in general have increasingly become culture war flashpoints in the United States, ranging from brawls over the celebration of Pride Month to attempts to bar transgender youths from taking part in women’s sports.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions.
U.S. District Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law, which would have prohibited doctors from providing gender-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18.
Arkansas’ law, which Moody temporarily blocked in 2021, also would have prohibited doctors from referring patients elsewhere for such care.
Republican lawmakers in Arkansas enacted the ban in 2021, overriding a veto by former GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson, who left office in January, said the law went too far by cutting off treatments for children currently receiving such care.
The ruling affects only the Arkansas ban but may carry implications for the fates of similar prohibitions, or discourage attempts to enact them, in other states.
At least 19 other states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors following Arkansas’ law, and federal judges have temporarily blocked similar bans in Alabama and Indiana. Three states have banned or restricted the care through regulations or administrative orders.
Florida’s law goes beyond banning the treatments for youth, by also prohibiting the use of state money for gender-affirming care and placing new restrictions on adults seeking treatment. A federal judge has blocked Florida from enforcing its ban on three children who have challenged the law.
Children’s hospitals around the country have faced harassment and threats of violence for providing such care.
The state has argued that the prohibition is within its authority to regulate the medical profession. People opposed to such treatments for children argue they are too young to make such decisions about their futures. Major medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, oppose the bans and experts say treatments are safe if properly administered.
The state is likely to appeal Moody’s decision to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which last year upheld the judge’s temporary order blocking the law.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Hutchinson’s successor, in March signed legislation attempting to effectively reinstate Arkansas’ ban by making it easier to sue providers of gender-affirming care for children. That law doesn’t take effect until later this summer.
A roughly two-week trial before Moody included testimony from one of the transgender youths challenging the state’s ban. The teenager testified in October that the hormone therapy he has received has transformed his life and that the ban would force him to leave the state.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that bans trans athletes from participating on collegiate sports teams that match their gender identities on Thursday. The new law will take effect in September.
S.B. 15 — also called the “Save Women’s Sports Act” by its supporters — builds on legislation passed in the state in 2021 that banned trans women and girls in K-12 schools from participating on sports teams aligned with their gender identities. It forces athletes to compete on teams on the basis of their “biological sex,” or the sex that was “correctly stated” on their birth certificate, according to the text of the legislation.
The bill includes provisions that prevent trans athletes who have had their sex changed on their birth certificates from participating on sports teams aligned with their gender identities by defining sex as what was “entered on or near the time of the student’s birth,” and only recognizes changes made to birth certificates that were done to correct a clerical error.
“Today is an important day for female athletes across the state of Texas, including little girls who aspire to one day compete in college sports,” said Abbott in a press release. “The Save Women’s Sports Act protects young women at Texas colleges and universities by prohibiting men from competing on a team or as an individual against them in college sports.”
Abbott has consistently called trans women and girls “men” and “biological boys” in his messaging around the bill — the latter of which LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization GLAAD calls “a term to avoid.”
“‘Biological boy’ is a term anti-trans activists often use to disregard and discredit transgender girls and deny them access to society as their authentic gender identity,” writes GLAAD.
Advocacy organizations were quick to condemn the new law, with the ACLU of Texas tweeting that the law is “unfair, unconstitutional, and just plain cruel.”
“Trans students deserve to participate in the sports they love,” the ACLU of Texas added.
“Even as elected officials ignore their duty to serve Texans and instead target a vulnerable minority, create problems that do not exist, and use our taxpayer dollars to do so — transgender lives can never be erased,” said Marti Bier, vice president of programs at the Texas Freedom Network. “No matter what laws are passed by the extremists currently in power, our communities will find love and support within each other.”
Earlier this month, Abbott signed a law banning gender-affirming care for trans youth in Texas. That law also will go into effect on September 1.
According to Best Colleges, at least 16 other states have similar restrictions on trans athletes participating in collegiate sports, and at least 22 states have bans on K-12 trans athletes from participating on sports teams consistent with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks legislation impacting the LGBTQ+ community.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Washington — Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld — an anesthesiologist, Navy veteran and father — made history this week when he was inaugurated as the new president of the American Medical Association, becoming the first openly gay leader of the nation’s largest group of physicians and medical students.
“So after three years of experiencing so much stress, with COVID, you know, we’ve had a ‘twindemic:’ a pandemic of the disease, plus a pandemic of misinformation, and bad information,” Ehrenfeld told CBS News of some of the top issues facing physicians today.
Facing doctor burnout, soaring medical costs and an influx of legislation targeting the LGBTQ community, Ehrenfeld is taking over at a difficult time.
“We have a health care system in crisis, I hear that from my physician colleagues,” Ehrenfeld said.
“Today, there are so many backseat drivers telling us what to do…You know, we’ve got regulators that are discarding science and telling physicians how to practice medicine, putting barriers in care,” he explains.
He says those barriers include what he considers the criminalization of health care.
“Well, in at least six states, now, if I practice evidence-based care, I can go to jail,” Ehrenfeld said. “It’s frightening. When a patient shows up in my office, if I do the right thing from a scientific, from an ethical perspective, to know that that care is no longer legal, criminalized and could wind me in prison.”
He says that criminalization has occurred in areas including gender-affirming care and abortion services.
“Health care has been a target as of late in a way that has been deeply damaging, not just to the health of patients who are seeking specific services, but to every American,” Ehrenfeld said. “So we see patients who no longer can find an OB-GYN because OB-GYNs are leaving a state where they have criminalized certain aspects of care. That affects all women in the state.”
Ehrenfeld hopes to improve health equity for all underserved groups and be a role model for any young doctors, as well as for his own sons.
“I hope that they learn that they shouldn’t let anything get in their way of following their dreams,” Ehrenfeld said. “And for anybody who’s different out there, I hope that they see themselves, my children, the example that I’ve set, that they shouldn’t let anybody tell them that they can’t just because of who they are.”
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Missouri on Wednesday became the 20th state to pass a law aimed at limiting transgender rights, bringing the total number of anti-trans laws passed this year to 66. That number shattered the record of 20 similar laws passed across 12 states in 2022.
Arkansas was the first state to enact a ban on gender-affirming care for young people. One Little Rock family is now dealing with the fallout as they raise their transgender teenage son.
Lizz Garbett, an operating room nurse, said that things were tough before her son, Simon, transitioned a few years ago.
“We couldn’t figure out what was going on, and it was not a happy place,” she said. “After he transitioned, our home got calm again. Everybody felt like themselves and I’ve been able to watch him blossom to his true self. And I never saw that before.”
Simon, now 17, first transitioned socially — cutting his hair and changing his clothes. He has since legally changed his name and started hormone replacement therapy. He has also become an activist for the rights of trans youth.
He said the work is “nerve-racking” and gives him a lot of anxiety, but that he has to do it.
Getty Images
Simon said seeing the wave of anti-trans legislation passed in the last few years has been “really hurtful.”
“The people making this legislation don’t know trans people and haven’t met trans people,” he said. “And to be frank, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
A new survey from The Trevor Project showed that half of transgender and nonbinary young people seriously considered suicide in the past year.
Simon told CBS News that his transition has improved his mental health.
“Before, I was suicidal,” he said. “I was miserable. I didn’t take pictures of myself. I didn’t take pictures of my face.”
Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for young people is currently on hold after a federal judge temporarily blocked it in 2021. But the state has passed eight more laws this year restricting transgender rights.
Republican state Representative Mary Bentley sponsored some of that legislation. She denied that the laws were a message to transgender youth and their families that they aren’t wanted in Arkansas.
“We care,” she said. “Gender-affirming care is not decreasing suicide. In fact, cross-sex hormones and those are increasing the stress that folks go through.”
But at least 30 national medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have objected to legislative restrictions on gender-affirming care, some noting improved mental health and lower suicide rates after its application.
Simon — who plays the French horn and wants to go to law school — said it all comes down to one distinct feeling.
“Just hate is the obstacle,” he said. “Just hate.”
Lizz Garbett said that being trans is “just a tiny little piece of who [Simon] is. And he just wants to be allowed to live his real, authentic self.”
A desire that’s being made more difficult than ever.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
An Adidas campaign featuring a model who appears to be a biological male wearing a women’s one-piece swimsuit has ignited anger on social media.
The advertisement on Adidas’ website features a male-presenting model with chest hair and a noticeable bulge sporting the brand’s “Pride Swimsuit,” a colorful, geometric-patterned one-piece. The $70 bathing suit is part of the Adidas x Rich Mnisi Pride Collection, which launched May 15 in connection with this year’s upcoming Pride month, a celebration of the LGBTQ community.
South African designer Rich Mnisi, who partnered with Addias on the Pride-themed apparel line, said in a statement that the collection is “a symbol for self-acceptance and LGBTQIA+ advocacy.”
But not everyone is celebrating the campaign. Some social media users accused the product line’s advertisement of contributing to the “erasure” of women.
“We women will not be erased,” one Twitter user posted. “Quit trying to replace us with male models!!! We’ve fought hard to be heard. Quit attempting to erase us again!!!”
Others said Adidas is too “woke,” a term for those with progressive social justice views.
“Go woke, go broke. Time to boycott Adidas,” another Twitter user wrote, citing a catchphrase conservatives have adopted as a call to boycott companies espousing progressive values.
Riley Gaines, a professional swimmer and known critic of transgender women competing in women’s sporting events, also weighed in on the controversy.
“What the image says to me is that women don’t matter, is that we’re not good enough to model even our own swimsuits made specifically for women,” Gaines told Fox News.
The gender identity of the model featured in the advertisement is unclear. Adidas did not immediately return CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment.
Adidas shares have fallen 3% to $86.10 over the past 24 hours.
In recent years, several popular brands have come under fire for using transgender or gender-fluid people in their advertising or for rolling out products that defy traditional gender norms.
In April, Bud Light received backlash for partnering with transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney on a March Madness advertisement. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns Bud Light, put the brand’s marketing vice president and her boss on leave after the promotion resulted in a boycott, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Target also drew criticism last summer for embracing the LGBTQ community when it rolled out an intimate apparel collection featuring chest binders and unisex underwear and swimsuits for Pride month.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed several anti-transgender bills Wednesday which ban gender-affirming care for minors, ban children from attending drag shows, and target how students learn about and engage with the LGBTQ+ community.
Senate Bill 254 outlaws gender transition surgeries and medication, such as puberty blockers, for minors. It also makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for physicians and health care workers to provide gender-affirming medication or conduct these surgeries, and gives state courts the ability to obtain a warrant to take physical custody of a child who is “being subjected to sex-reassignement prescriptions or procedures.”
DeSantis also signed an expansion of the Parental Rights in Education bill, which prohibits the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill, initially signed into law in March 2022, applied to students in third grade and under. But with the expansion, it now applies to those in eighth grade and under.
The expansion, House Bill 1069, also defines in the state’s education code that “sex” is either male or female, and that teachers can’t be required to use a child’s or co-worker’s preferred pronouns “if such personal title or pronouns do not correspond to that person’s sex.”
It’s an action that Republicans argue promotes parental involvement in education, while LGTBQ+ advocacy groups say it promotes unjust censorship and is discriminatory towards the communities they represent.
Other bills signed Wednesday include bans on minors from attending drag shows, strip clubs or other “sexually explicit adult performances,” and a bill titled “Ensuring Women’s Safety,” which bans trans people from using restrooms, locker rooms or other public facilities that match their identified gender.
Florida is one of at least 19 Republican-led states that have banned youth gender transition surgeries or other forms of gender-affirming care, including Arizona, Missouri, Georgia, Montana and Iowa, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Trans youth between the ages of 13 and 17 make up about 1.32% of that age group’s population in Florida, according to numbers tracked by the Williams Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law.
In a bill signing ceremony Wednesday, DeSantis said the expansion of the Parental Rights in Education bill “crucially makes sure that Florida students and teachers will never be forced to declare pronouns in school or be forced to use pronouns not based on biological sex.”
“We never did this through all of human history until like, what, two weeks ago? Now, they’re having third graders declare pronouns. We’re not doing the pronoun Olympics in Florida,” DeSantis said.
“If a parent wants to engage in that with their kid at those ages, then that’s up to them, but we should not be putting that in the curriculum in schools,” DeSantis added.
Florida state Sen. Clay Yarborough, a Republican who authored the expansion — and who on Wednesday endorsed a 2024 presidential run by DeSantis — told CBS News earlier this month that the bill was encouraged after hearing from parents about sexual orientation being taught in middle schools.
“We still had non-compliance with current law, like materials in the library that were pornographic,” Yarborough said. “If we can’t show certain content on a nightly newscast … why would we let fourth graders sit in the corner of a library to look at that?”
“We’re not saying you can’t learn about these topics at all, we’re saying parents need to be in the driver’s seat,” he added.
In response to the bills, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said that DeSantis “has made clear that demonizing LGBTQ+ people will be the center of his legislative agenda and presidential run.”
“The rights of millions of Floridians are being rolled back by politicians who are attacking the LGBTQ+ community at a breakneck pace to pander to the most extreme fringes of their base,” she said in a statement.
Joe Saunders, a former Democratic state lawmaker who is now the senior political director at the Equality Florida group, argued that the numerous anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed during this session are being used by DeSantis to appeal to Republican primary voters in a potential 2024 presidential run.
“His ambition and his extremism is ruining Florida,” he said. “It’s clear that the DeSantis political machine has decided that attacking the parents of LGBTQ kids … attacking drag queens, who are just trying to make a living, is somehow part of the math for that.”
Saunders pointed to impacts from the version of the Parental Rights in Education bill passed last year — such as the Miami-Dade County Public School Board striking down a resolution to recognize LGBTQ history month — despite passing a resolution to do so before the law went into effect.
Anti-trans rhetoric, particularly as it relates to education and school sports, have been a frequent topic in DeSantis’ out-of-state political speeches in recent months.
“It is wrong for a teacher to instruct a student that they were born in the wrong body, or that their gender is a choice. We should not have transgender ideology in our schools, and in Florida, we have eliminated it,” DeSantis said at a fundraiser in Sioux Center, Iowa last Saturday. He added that youth gender transition surgeries are “barbaric.”
— Ed O’Keefe contributed reporting.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Actor Elliot Page got emotional while unboxing the first copies of his upcoming memoir, “Pageboy.”
The 36-year-old actor shared a video of himself on Instagram opening the first box containing physical copies of the book.
“Pageboy is real and I can’t wait for everyone to get their copy in a few weeks,” he captioned the clip.
In the video, Page smiles as he holds a copy of the book, saying: “Wow, it’s real. I can’t wait for you to read it.”
The memoir is set to be released on June 6.
Page announced that he is transgender in December 2021. “I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive,” said Page. “To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.”
Since coming out, Page has been vocal about transgender rights and activism. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the actor said he was focused on using his privilege to uplift the community.
“I wanted to share with people just how much it has changed my life,” Page said. “And I want people to know that not only has it, you know, been life-changing for me. I do believe it’s life-saving, and it’s the case for so many people.”
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in
for more features.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed one of the most draconian bathroom bills in the country into law on Wednesday, subjecting anyone in the state over the age of 18 to criminal trespassing charges if they don’t use the public bathroom that matches the sex they were assigned at birth.
The new law, which DeSantis signed just weeks before he is widely expected to announce his 2024 presidential run, applies to government buildings, schools, colleges and detention centers. A previous draft had included private businesses such as restaurants and gas stations.
“This is heavy-handed government interference into the most private aspect of our lives,” Kara Gross, the legislative director and senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, told HuffPost.
The new law says someone can be charged if they don’t leave a bathroom when another person asks them to, meaning it allows anyone to police who belongs in which bathroom — a dangerous prospect in a country beset by gun violence and vigilantism.
Advocates say the law is written in a confusing and vague way, and they are concerned about how it will be enforced. It’s unclear what steps need to be taken in order to charge someone with criminal trespassing after they are asked to depart a bathroom. “There’s no good way to enforce the law without invading everyone’s privacy,” Gross said.
“It feels as though the law is unenforceable and instead deputizes extremists to harass people in the bathroom,” said Brandon Wolf, the press secretary for LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Florida. “You have a heavily-armed populace who has been whipped into hysteria and now you’ve told them to go confront people in the bathroom.”
“It feels as though the law is unenforceable and instead deputizes extremists to harass people in the bathroom.”
– Brandon Wolf, press secretary for Equality Florida
Anyone who uses a public restroom could be targeted if they don’t ascribe to traditional modes of gender expression, advocates say. “The intention is to empower and embolden bigots to stand watch in the bathroom and decide who they don’t think [is] feminine enough for the women’s restroom or masculine enough for the men’s,” Wolf said.
Florida’s bathroom law mirrors North Carolina’s H.B. 2, which Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed in 2016. The state faced widespread backlash and boycotts after the law went into effect, including from the NBA, which relocated its All-Star Game in response. McCrory lost his reelection bid to Democrat Roy Cooper, who campaigned against H.B. 2, and the law was repealed the following year.
But a dizzying array of anti-LGBTQ bills have been passed in GOP-controlled state legislatures since North Carolina’s bathroom bill, including those that ban gender-affirming care for trans youth and prohibit transgender children from playing sports at school.
In the last few weeks in Florida alone, the legislature has passed its own ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, as well as a measure that expands the “Don’t Say Gay” law that restricts what educators can say about gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis (Fla.) is prepared to sign a law that says people in government buildings or schools must use the bathroom that matches the gender they were assigned at birth — or they will be committing a misdemeanor.
It’s just the latest law passed in the United States that targets transgender people. DeSantis, who is widely believed to be launching a bid for the presidency in the coming days, has been on the forefront of anti-LGBTQ laws. It’s part of a pattern being seen across the country as the GOP has made anti-trans policies one of their top priorities.
But as DeSantis looks toward the White House and Republicans look toward the 2024 elections, is the embrace of transphobic policies a political winner, or is it cruelty for cruelty’s sake?
In the state houses controlled by conservatives, proposals that ban gender-affirming care for minors, attempt to bar transgender people from public life under the guise of drag bans and prevent trans people from using the bathroom or playing on sports teams that match their gender identity are at the top of their to-do lists.
But recent polling shows that the majority of voters oppose laws that dictate what kind of health care a trans person can receive — or, at least, that there is no large swell of voters eager for these regressive policies.
A March NPR/PBS/Marist poll found that among adults, 54% of them opposed laws that would criminalize gender-affirming care for minors. A March Data for Progress poll of likely voters found that 64% of respondents thought that the number of anti-trans bills was excessive and amounted to political theater. And in an April Fox News survey of registered voters, 54% said attacks on trans families were more problematic than trans women in sports.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images
In Florida, DeSantis has packaged the assault on LGBTQ rights as a war on “woke” and posited the state as the place where “woke goes to die.” But a March Ipsos/USA Today poll found that 56% of Americans believed “woke” to be a positive term. Only 39% of Republicans agreed with the negative definition.
“People have this mistaken idea that these bills are to get political wins or votes or red meat for their base, but legislators pass policies they want to see enacted,” John Cluverius, a polling data analyst and a political science professor at University of Massachusetts Lowell, told HuffPost.
Much of the legislation that Republican lawmakers introduced this year targeted trans children. In Tennessee, Oklahoma and Idaho, elected officials introduced laws that banned gender-affirming care for children.
Focusing on kids has been a tried-and-true way to gin up a moral panic, and it’s certainly how the GOP can make inroads with support for these bills.
The American Medical Association has said that gender-affirming care for transgender minors, which runs the gamut from social transition to puberty blockers, is an appropriate course of treatment.
“Americans as a whole have very retrograde attitudes when it comes to how children should be raised,” Cluverius said.
But when states take it even further, that’s where support wanes. In Missouri, the attorney general created an emergency ruling that would essentially ban adults from receiving gender-affirming care. The state is currently being sued.
“I think they’re overplaying their hand and pushing to the limits,” Cluverius said. “Restricting gender-affirming care for adults, the attempted erasure of trans adults in public life, probably falls flat with the majority of Americans.”
And it’s not just bills. Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender lawmaker in Montana, was punished for saying Republicans would have “blood on their hands” if they passed a gender-affirming care ban.
In Nebraska, a Democratic lawmaker who opposes anti-trans laws is being investigated for a conflict of interest because she has a trans child.
There’s a popular assumption that Republicans are only going all-in on transphobia because there’s a political goal at the end. But perhaps all these bills are coming down in red states because eradicating civil rights for trans people is a sincerely held belief. “It’s not just an opportunistic move,” Cluverius said. “Otherwise, they would not be so headstrong on it.”
Abortion is a perfect example of enacting unpopular right-wing laws. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion, in June 2022 several states rushed to make abortion illegal within their jurisdiction.
In the fall election, Democrats held on to the U.S. Senate, denied the GOP a large majority in the U.S. House, and Republicans were defeated in down-ballot races in swing states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. Polling shows that the majority of Americans are against laws that restrict abortion care and may have cost them big in the 2022 elections.
But the GOP is still pushing anti-abortion laws.
The way state legislatures are structured also contributes to the major focus on anti-trans policies that aren’t likely to secure votes. Legislative sessions are short and the pay is dismal, meaning state houses are more likely to attract Republicans who are extreme — and independently wealthy.
And then there’s the issue of gerrymandering.
“A lot of these legislatures are so politically gerrymandered that there are few swing districts where the Republicans are under threat,” Cluverius said. “If you don’t have political risk, why not run wild on it?”
But while the state houses focus on anti-trans laws, there is already evidence that anti-trans views won’t help Republican lawmakers win elections in 2024.
Several high-profile candidates ran explicitly far-right campaigns in 2022, attempting to gin up fear about trans people — but still fell flat. “It didn’t matter in 2022,” Cluverius said. “You never know what’s going to drive people off the edge, but I think they’re looking for political points they’re not going to get.”
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Hundreds of demonstrators filed into the Texas Capitol in Austin on Tuesday to protest S.B. 14, a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for trans youth in the state. Some demonstrators were forcibly removed from the building by police, sparking outrage from LGBTQ+ rights groups.
In video captured by CBS affiliate KEYE-TV’s Michael Adkison, Department of Public Service officers were seen corralling demonstrators and forcing them out of the building. The officers could be heard yelling “Move, let’s go!” at protestors, who were chanting “Trans rights” in support of LGBTQ+ youth.
Some of the demonstrators refused to leave, prompting “heated scuffles” and leading to advocates being forced out of the building, KEYE reported. At one point, a group of counterprotesters got into shouting matches with LGBTQ+ rights supporters before leaving the premises, KEYE reported.
“We are deeply disturbed by and closely monitoring what has happened at the Texas Capitol. We witnessed violence and arrests today against Texans, many of whom are queer and transgender and who would be harmed directly by this bill,” All In For Equality, a group comprised of the ACLU of Texas, Equality Texas and other advocacy groups, said in a statement.
The Texas Freedom Network tweeted that prominent trans activist Sofia Sepulveda, the Community Advocacy and Engagement Manager at Equality Texas, has been banned from entering the Capitol building for a year after dropping a banner in the rotunda that read “let trans kids grow up.”
“Loving families, community members, and advocates were here peacefully protesting an extremist ban on transgender healthcare that puts the lives of our youth at risk. None of them deserved criminalization or brutality,” the group wrote in another tweet.
“LGBTQ+ people are here to stay — and we won’t let anyone roll back our rights,” wrote the Human Rights Campaign, adding that the bill represented “attempts to harm our community across the Lone Star State.”
The bill, which has already passed the state Senate, was surprisingly sent back to committee in the House following the demonstrations, KEYE reported. A substitute bill was considered and approved by a 6-5 vote. It was not clear when that bill would be reintroduced.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Atlanta Police arrested a 17-year-old on Thursday in connection with the murder of Black transgender woman Rasheed Williams, who was featured in the Sundance Film Festival documentary “Kokomo City” in January 2023.
Williams, 35, who performed under the stage name Koko Da Doll, was found shot to death in southwest Atlanta on April 18, according to police. She “was not alert, conscious or breathing, and pronounced deceased on scene,” a statement from the Atlanta Police Department read.
Atlanta Police said homicide detectives were able to secure arrest warrants for murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm against 17-year-old Jermarcus Jernigan, who is being charged as an adult under Georgia law.
“On April 26, 2023, Mr. Jernigan turned himself in at the Zone 1 Precinct,” a separate police statement said. The statement confirmed that Jernigan was transported to the Fulton County Jail and placed into custody without incident.
While the police statement did not identify Williams, “Kokomo City” director D. Smith wrote on Instagram that the victim was Williams.
“On Tuesday night, Rasheeda Williams was shot and killed in Atlanta. Rasheeda, aka Koko Da Doll, was the latest victim of violence against Black transgender women,” Smith wrote on Instagram. “I created Kokomo City because I wanted to show the fun, humanized, natural side of Black trans women. I wanted to create images that didn’t show the trauma or the statistics of murder of Transgender lives.”
The Atlanta Police Department noted in its statement that it was “actively investigating three violent crimes involving transgender women this year.”
It added, “While these individual incidents are unrelated, we are very aware of the epidemic-level violence black and brown transgender women face in America.”
The department told CBS News that it was not able to release further information about the incident at this time.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in
for more features.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Montana’s House speaker canceled a Tuesday floor session a day after seven protestors were arrested for disrupting proceedings with demands that Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a transgender Democrat silenced by lawmakers for comments against bans on gender-affirming care, be allowed to speak.
The cancellation is the latest development in a standoff over whether Montana Republicans will let the lawmaker from Missoula speak unless she apologizes for her remarks last week on a gender-affirming care ban proposal.
Speaker Matt Regier did not take questions on Tuesday or explain why lawmakers were not returning to the floor, but in a brief statement called the disruptions a “dark day for Montana.”
“Currently, all representatives are free to participate in House debates while following the House rules,” Regier told reporters. “The choice to not follow the House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made. The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied.”
Under Regier’s leadership, the House has not allowed Zephyr to speak since last week when she said that those who voted to ban gender-affirming care for young people would have “blood on their hands.” He and other Republicans said the remark was far outside the boundaries of appropriate civil discourse and demanded she apologizes before being allowed to participate in legislative discussions.
Zephyr’s remarks, and the Republican response, set off a chain of events that culminated in a rally outside the Capitol and seven arrests Monday after protestors interrupted House proceedings demanding Zephyr be given the right to speak. The scene at the Statehouse galvanized both those demanding she is allowed to speak and those saying her actions constitute an unacceptable attack on civil discourse.
Much like developments in the Tennessee Statehouse weeks ago — where two lawmakers were expelled after participating in a post-school shooting gun control protest that interrupted proceedings — Zephyr’s punishment has ignited a firestorm of debate about governance and democracy in politically polarizing times.
It has showcased the growing power of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of right-wing lawmakers that has spearheaded the charge to discipline Zephyr. The caucus re-upped its demands and rhetoric Monday. In a statement, they said that Zephyr’s decision to hoist a microphone toward the gallery’s protesters amounted to “encouraging an insurrection.”
It’s unclear if Regier and House leaders will follow the Freedom Caucus’s demand. Rep. Casey Knudsen, a rancher and a Freedom Caucus member, said the cancellation gave leadership time to respond to Monday’s events. House Democratic Leader Kim Abbott said she saw leadership’s decision to cancel as giving lawmakers “some time to regroup.”
Though several resisted law enforcement officers trying to arrest them, Abbott pushed back at characterizing the activity as violent. She acknowledged it was disruptive, but called the demonstration peaceful. She said public protests were a predictable response to a lawmaker representing more than 10,000 constituents not being allowed to speak and questioned bringing in officers in riot gear to handle the chanting protestors.
“It was chanting, but it absolutely was not violent,” she said. “Sometimes extreme measures have a response like this.”
There were no reports of damage to the building and lawmakers were not threatened.
On Monday, Zephyr said the seven arrested were “defending democracy” and in an earlier speech said that the sequence of events that followed her remarks illustrated how they had struck a chord with those in power.
“They picked me in this moment because I said a thing that got through their shield for a second,” she told a crowd of supporters gathered on the Capitol steps near a banner that read “Democracy dies here.”
She said she does not intend to apologize and argued that her “blood on your hands” remark accurately reflected the stakes of such bans for transgender kids.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
As Republican leaders in the Montana legislature doubled down on forbidding Rep. Zooey Zephyr from participating in debate into a second week, her supporters on Monday interrupted proceedings in the House by chanting “Let her speak!”
Zephyr, a first-term Democrat from Missoula, wanted to speak about a proposal that would restrict when children could change the names and pronouns they use in school, with their required parents’ consent.
When lawmakers voted to continue subjecting Zephyr to a gag order, denying her the chance to speak, the gallery, made up mostly of her supporters, erupted, forcing legislative leaders to pause proceedings and clear the room.
It was the latest development in a three-day fight over Zephyr’s remarks against lawmakers who support of a ban on gender-affirming care. Zephyr, who is transgender, hasn’t been allowed to speak on the statehouse floor since Thursday because she told her Republican colleagues last week they would have “blood on their hands” if they banned gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.
Supporters were escorted from the gallery above the state House floor, including several by force. Leaders cut the sound on the video feed and Zephyr remained on the floor holding her microphone.
“For the third consecutive day, I have been denied the opportunity to represent my constituents in the Montana legislature and speak on their behalf,” Zephyr said in a statement Monday night. “When my constituents and community members witnessed my microphone being disabled, they courageously came forward to defend their democratic right to be heard — and some were arrested in the process. I stood by them in solidarity and will continue to do so. As an elected representative, I am devoted to supporting those who speak in defense of democracy, as it is my duty to ensure their voices are heard and respected.”
The display followed a promise Zephyr made earlier on Monday when she told supporters on the statehouse steps that she planned to continue to speak against legislation that some experts and members of the transgender community, including herself, consider a matter of life and death.
“I was sent here to speak on behalf of my constituents and to speak on behalf of my community. It’s the promise I made when I got elected and it’s a promise that I will continue to keep every single day,” Zephyr said before walking into the House chamber.
Supporters waved pride flags and chanted “Let her speak!” while she connected the transgender community’s plight against gender-affirming care bans to the political fights animating other marginalized groups throughout the United States.
“When those communities who see the repercussions of those bills have the audacity to stand up and say, ‘This legislation gets us killed,’ those in power aren’t content with just passing those hateful harmful bills,” she said. “What they are demanding is silence. We will not be complicit in our eradication.”
Ban proponents see Zephyr’s remarks as unprecedented and personal in nature. She and her supporters say they accurately illustrate the stakes of the legislation under discussion, arguing that restricting gender-affirming care endangers transgender youth, who many studies suggest suffer disproportionately from depression and higher suicide rates.
Zephyr was silenced and deliberately misgendered by some Republican lawmakers in response to her remarks last week. She planned to keep trying to speak on the House floor Monday despite Republican leaders insisting that won’t happen until she apologizes. House Speaker Matt Regier and his Republican colleagues had indicated they have no plans to back down. Near the start of the proceedings Monday, they pushed an item Zephyr requested to speak on to the end of the agenda.
After speaking and before the House convened, Zephyr spoke to some in the crowd who had gathered at the statehouse to support her. A 21-year-old from a small southwest Montana town teared up as he told her about his fears of coming out as trans in his community. Others hugged her, thanked her for fighting and apologized that she had to do so.
Katy Spence, a constituent of Zephyr’s who drove to the Capitol from Missoula on Monday, said the standoff was about censoring ideas, not decorum.
“She’s been silenced because she spoke the truth about what these anti-trans bills are doing in Montana, to trans youth especially,” she said.
Months after Zephyr became the first openly transgender woman elected to the Montana Legislature, the state joined a list of legislatures in passing new restrictions on transgender kids. Legislation this year has addressed issues ranging from the health care they can access to the sports teams they can play on, to the names they can go by.
The dispute started last Tuesday when the House was debating Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s proposed amendments to a measure banning gender-affirming care for minors. Zephyr spoke up in reference to the body’s opening prayer.
“I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” she said.
House Majority Leader Sue Vinton, a Republican, immediately called Zephyr’s comments inappropriate and disrespectful. That evening, a group of conservative lawmakers known as the Montana Freedom Caucus demanded Zephyr’s censure and deliberately referred to her using male pronouns in their letter and a tweet. That’s known as misgendering — using pronouns that don’t match a person’s gender identity.
The bill banning gender-affirming care for minors is awaiting Gianforte’s signature. He has indicated he will sign it. The bill calls for it to take effect on Oct. 1, but the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal have said they will challenge it in court.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Helena, Mont. — Montana’s House speaker on Thursday refused to allow a transgender lawmaker to speak about bills on the House floor until she apologizes for saying lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if they supported a bill to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, the lawmaker said.
Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who was deliberately misgendered by a conservative group of lawmakers demanding her censure after Tuesday’s comments, said she would not apologize, creating a standoff between the first-term state lawmaker and Republican legislative leaders.
Speaker Matt Regier refused to acknowledge Zephyr on Thursday when she wanted to comment on a bill seeking to put a binary definition of male and female into state code.
“It is up to me to maintain decorum here on the House floor, to protect the dignity and integrity,” Regier said Thursday. “And any representative that I don’t feel can do that will not be recognized.”
Regier said the decision came after “multiple discussions” with other lawmakers and that previously there had been similar problems.
Democrats objected to Regier’s decision, but the House Rules committee and the House upheld his decision on party-line votes.
“Hate-filled testimony has no place on the House floor,” Republican Rep. Caleb Hinkle, a member of the Montana Freedom Caucus that demanded the censure, said in a statement.
Zephyr said she stands by what she said about the consequences of banning essential medical care for transgender youth.
“When there are bills targeting the LGBTQ community, I stand up to defend my community,” Zephyr said. “And I choose my words with clarity and precision and I spoke to the real harms that these bills bring.”
MPAN
Regier also declined to recognize Zephyr Thursday when she rang in to speak about another bill, which was unrelated to LGBTQ+ issues and seeks to reimburse hotels that provide shelter to victims of human trafficking.
“The speaker is refusing to allow me to participate in debate until I retract or apologize for my statements made during floor debate,” Zephyr said.
The issue came to a head Tuesday when Zephyr, the first transgender woman to hold a position in the Montana legislature, referenced the floor session’s opening prayer when she told lawmakers if they supported the bill, “I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”
She had made a similar comment when the bill was debated in the House the first time.
House Majority Leader Sue Vinton rebuked Zephyr on Tuesday, calling her comments inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for.
Later, the Montana Freedom Caucus issued its censure demand in a letter that called for a “commitment to civil discourse” in the same sentence in which it deliberately misgendered Zephyr. The caucus also misgendered Zephyr in a Tweet while posting the letter online.
“It is disheartening that the Montana Freedom Caucus would stoop so low as to misgender me in their letter, further demonstrating their disregard for the dignity and humanity of transgender individuals,” Zephyr said in a statement Wednesday.
Zephyr also spoke emotionally and directly to transgender Montanans in February in opposing a bill to ban minors from attending drag shows.
“I have one request for you: Please stay alive,” Zephyr said then, assuring them she and others would keep fighting and challenge the bills in court.
The legislature has also passed a bill stating a student misgendering or deadnaming a fellow student is not illegal discrimination, unless it rises to the level of bullying.
At the end of Thursday’s House session, Democratic Rep. Marilyn Marler asked that the House majority allow Zephyr to speak on the floor going forward.
“This body is denying the representative … the chance to do her job,” Marler said.
Majority Leader Vinton, before moving for adjournment, said: “I will let the body know that the representative … has every opportunity to rectify the situation.”
The House meets again Friday afternoon.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
[ad_1]
The Kansas state legislature has overridden a veto by the state’s Democratic governor to pass a ban on transgender students participating in sports, which could be enforced with mandatory genital inspections. What do you think?
“Let me guess, these snowflake kids don’t want their genitals examined.”
Heath Maisto, Systems Analyst
“Can’t we just examine kids’ genitals without it getting all political for once?”
Gus Moen, Co-puppeteer
“Well, don’t look at me. I only vote Republican because I’m racist.”
Beth Witten, Textiles Expert
[ad_2]
