According to cnn.com at least twenty-two people, mostly black trans people, have been killed in 2019. Believe or not, these numbers may be low as no U.S. jurisdiction or agency routinely collects information about a person’s gender identity when they die. The Williams Institute, a think tank focusing on LGBT policy at UCLA School of Law, estimates that 1.5 million Americans identify as transgender.
Trans Healthcare Rollback Temporarily Stopped
The American Medical Association calls it an “epidemic.” While the killings haven’t stopped, in other areas like health care, progress has been made. Last Monday, August 17, 2020, a Washington federal judge blocked the Trump Administration from enforcing a new regulation that would have rolled back health care protections for transgender people.
The Human Health and Services (HHS)’s rule wanted to overturn Obama-era sex discrimination protections for transgender people in healthcare. Obama’s law relied on a broader understanding based on a person’s inner sense of being whether it be male, female, neither, or combination. In other words, sex is not determined by biology as Trump defined it.
The preliminary Injunction at the eleventh hour came from the U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block in Brooklyn and bars the administration from enforcing the Trump Administration’s “transgender rule.” It’s invalid until a Court case can be heard. Last June, a similar case was judged with similar issues involving job discrimination against the LGBT population.
Another Temporary Injunction Benefits Trans Athletes
Also, last week, CBS News.com reported that a federal Judge in Idaho issued a temporary injunction to stop Idaho from enacting a law banning transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports. Female trans athletes can participate in sports that match their gender identity this fall in secondary schools and at college level.
The lawsuit was filed because Lindsay Hecox, a trans student at Boise State University wanted to try out for a cross country team. Lindsay doesn’t want to be subjected to what she regards as an “invasive” sex verification testing.
Supporters said the law was needed because transgender female athletes have physical advantages over heterosexual ones. The transgender community says it doesn’t take into account identity issues.
Last week, the U.S. Magistrate Candy Dale reported that Idaho’s latest attempt to ban transgender people from changing gender on their birth certificates violates a court order she issued two years ago.
Inching Forward For Trans Military Members
Senator Joseph Kennedy III of Boston has spearheaded efforts in Washington to stop the present administration’s ban on transgender troops that was put into place in April 2019. (In July, 2020, the House voted to end Trump’s Transgender Military ban.) Kennedy, a leader in the Transgender Equality Task Force told President Trump to end and revoke all of his attacks on trans people.
When Your Child Is Gay: What You Need To Know
For more detailed advice, see book, co-authored with a mother of a gay son and a psychiatrist, Jonathan L. Tobkes, M.D.
Wesley’s book is wonderfully written. She is knowledgeable about the subject and, in it’s telling, very sensitive.