BROADview in Brief

Wishcasting reality

Wait, it’s Friday? This week, I was so busy writing about how and why most news outlets failed so spectacularly to cover gender affirming care and trans kids well, I hardly noticed what was happening now. I looked at New York Times stories from over 10 years ago, which used language like “a boy, identifying as a girl,” and at recent stories, which may say “trans girl” or just “girl.”

Then I thought about this recent news story, shared by Ben Appel on Twitter:

It’s about a teenager—clearly male—who identifies as female, and who has encountered “hate” from a local mom. What hateful thing did that mom say?

She said that the high school was allowing a male who identifies as female to be in and change in the girls’ locker room, while the girls are there. The “hate” she expressed? Stating facts.

So much about the set of gender beliefs we sometimes refer to as “gender ideology” is rooted in supernatural ideas about language: that to speak about gender identity as the overarching truth makes it so—and thus, to speak the actual truth is to break the spell. The fact that this reporter a) found this story newsworthy and b) accepted the spell as reality—reinforced the spell—is a sign of how much the media has woven these supernatural beliefs into everyday practice.

More on how that happened coming soon.

In the meantime, Alejandra Q is back with summaries and headlines! Phew!

Summaries:

National

• New Hampshire’s House Bill 1205 (known as Fairness in Women’s Sports) passed both of the state’s legislative houses and is now at Governor Chris Sununu’s desk. The measure would ban males in grades 5 to 12 from participating in female sports. This comes after Maelle Jacques, a trans-identified male high school athlete, has accumulated multiple titles in girls’ high school track. Several protestors against the legislature gathered Wednesday at the New Hampshire State House.

• South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed the ‘Help Not Harm’ bill into law Wednesday. The legislature will disallow any healthcare professionals from providing “gender affirming” interventions to patients under 18.

• Ohio Supreme Court rejected Attorney General Dave Yost’s request to overturn a temporary restraining order preventing HB 68 from going into effect. HB 68 would ban both “gender affirming” interventions and trans-identified males from female sports. On April 16, Judge Michael Holbrook of Franklin County’s Common Pleas Court ruled that HB 68 violated the Ohio single-subject rule.

• Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a motion to uphold the state’s 2022 Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act (VCAP), which bans transgender surgery in the state. While the law went into effect in May 2022, it was blocked a few days later by U.S. District Judge Liles Burke. 

• The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an appeal by three Maryland parents challenging their school district’s policy regarding transgender “support plans.” 2020 school guidelines for their district allow for “support plans” that affirm students’ gender identities in school.

• Parents Defending Education has released incriminating emails concerning a healthcare organization working within Seattle Public Schools that offers students cross-sex hormones and other forms of “gender-affirming” interventions. The health program, Neighborcare Health (which planned to offer services through "a small pilot available to students and families"), operates inside public middle and elementary schools. 

• Ohio Democratic lawmakers are challenging a state law requiring candidates for public office to disclose any legal name changes from the past 5 years. Two trans-identified candidates, Bobbie Brooke Arnold and Arienne Childrey, will appear in the ballot this fall, while a third candidate, Vanessa Joy, was disqualified for failing to list a legal name. The three candidates testified before Ohio’s House Government Oversight Committee Tuesday in favor of a bill that would exempt them from having to disclose legal name changes. 

• The California ballot initiative originally known as the “Protect California Kids Act” failed to qualify for California’s November ballot after not getting enough signatures in support. The proposal would have notified parents of name or pronoun changes in school and barred health care professionals from transitioning minors. While the campaign gathered 400,000 signatures, a measure needs half a million signatures to qualify for the ballot. According to Jonathan Zachreson, who led the initiative, “If we had a little more time and a little more money, we would have easily qualified for the ballot.” Meanwhile, California legislators voted to approve AB 1955, a bill which would ban districts from passing parental notification policies concerning students who change their gender status in school. According to the sponsor of the bill, San Diego Democratic Assemblyman Chris Ward, “forced outings” add to the “suffering and the challenges that LGBTQ youth are feeling.”

• Aayden Gallagher, a trans-identified male student athlete at McDaniel High School, won the 200-meter race at the Oregon Girls’ 6A finals, leading to booing from those viewing the event. In a similar incident, Veronica Garcia, another trans-identified male high school athlete, won the 400-meter dash at the Washington State Championship on Saturday. Garcia, who won the race a full second ahead of the closest rival, is a student at East Valley School District in Spokane. While some in the crowd cheered when Garcia crossed the finish line, boos and cheering broke out as Garcia ascended the podium, while the female participants stood stoically in protest. Riley Gaines criticized Garcia’s victory, stating on X, “Had he ran with the boys, he wouldn’t have even managed 16th place.”      

• May 28: Colorado Springs Democrat Responds to Republican Attack on Public Schools “Rep. Stephanie Vigil (D-Colorado Springs) responded yesterday to Colorado GOP Director of Special Initiatives Darcy Schoening’s recent party-wide email urging parents to remove their kids from public schools and claiming Democrats want to “turn more kids trans.” Schoening’s emailspecifically identified legislation sponsored by Vigil, this year’s House Bill 1039, Non-legal Name Changes in Schools." (Colorado Times Recorder)

• May 24: Trial on gender-affirming care ban likely delayed to October—The judge also lifted a deadline to produce a document, after previously requiring attorney to hand it over or face potential jailing. “U.S. District Judge Liles burke hinted Thursday that a trial on the merits of the lawsuit challenging Alabama’s law banning gender-affirming care may be pushed back to late October. Attorneys for the plaintiffs supported pushing the trial back for a multitude of reasons including similar lawsuits making their way through the courts in other states. They are also still waiting to hear back on a request for an ‘en banc’ hearing to have the case heard by the entire 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.” (Alabama Political Reporter)

• May 28: Transgender athlete ban challenged in Utah lawsuit “A ban on transgender athletes playing on girls’ sports teams is being challenged in court in Utah, one of more than a dozen states that have passed similar bans throughout the last two years. Two anonymous families who sued Tuesday said the ban wrongly keeps their children from playing the sports they love with their friends.” (Associated Press)

• May 28: ACLU asks judge to let trans people change sex markers on official identity documents “ACLU of Montana filed for a preliminary injunction against a pair of policies that effectively bars trans people from updating the sex markers on their birth certificates or driver's licenses. In April, the organization first filed suit against the state in the Lewis and Clark County District Court, naming Gov. Greg Gianforte, the state health department and its director Charlie Brereton and the Department of Justice and Attorney General Austin Knudsen as defendants.” (The Independent Record)

• May 28: Missouri AG looks into social workers, therapists in transgender clinic investigation “Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey is looking into the influence of social workers and therapists as part of his investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center. According to documents arising from lawsuits regarding the investigation, Bailey is casting a wide net to uncover the web of medical professionals who have a hand in pushing children toward transition, including social workers and therapists.” (Washington Examiner)

• May 27: Recent South Dakota policy threatens professors who include their pronouns or tribal affiliations over email. It's part of a concerning 'longer-term agenda' overtaking the US. (Business Insider)

• May 23: Youth gender transition bans split red and blue states (UnHerd)

• May 28: Trans Activists Quietly Build ‘Gender-Affirming’ Monopoly On Centers For Abused Children— Trojan horse ‘accreditation’ bills are stealthily pushing transgenderism in child abuse proceedings and foster care. “A sophisticated, nationwide ‘accreditation’ campaign by the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) is covertly building a “gender-affirming” monopoly over official child abuse proceedings managed by child advocacy centers (CACs) in every state.” (The Federalist)

• May 23: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discusses views on gender-affirming care with Scripps News (Islander News)

• May 27: Here are the states protecting abortion and gender-affirming care (The Advocate) 

• May 26: Family, friends mourn after transgender woman’s body found along river “A transgender woman from St. Louis has been identified as the victim whose body was discovered along the Mississippi River. Family and friends of 23-year-old Darri Moore said they are suspicious of the circumstances around her death and that she never would have committed suicide.” (WHSV3)

• May 28: Chopped Off! - Senators Argument Against Transgenders In Sports Deleted “An Op-Ed on transgender athletes written by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) was deleted for ‘inflammatory’ language. The Op-Ed on transgender athletes was published across multiple Gannett-owned newspapers in the state and later quietly deleted, according to an article by the Tampa Free Press. Now you may be asking yourself, 'What did Kennedy say that would make Gannett delete his work?' Well, it is not as bad as some may think.”  (MRCTV)

• May 27: Gun safety organizations draw attention to death of transgender teen in Mobile—Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action attributed a Mobile teenager’s death to anti-transgender bigotry and easy access to guns. (Alabama Political Reporter)

• May 29: San Diego school hosts drag queen and LGBT-activist theatre group promoting legal name changes for trans students (The Lion)

• May 28: Milwaukee man, accused of killing transgender woman, changes plea to guilty—Jury selection for the trial of Clayton Hubbird was set to start Tuesday (WISN)

• May 28: How Does Dwyane Wade’s Translatable Online Community Support Transgender Youth? “He expressed, ‘I’ve felt a disconnection from the support that once embraced us,’ highlighting the challenges his family faced in a society grappling with anti-trans legislation. Dwayne Wade’s advocacy is fueled by a father’s desire to forge a better path for his daughter and others like her.” (Hiptoro)

• May 28: DISD Organized LGBTQ Trainings at Elementary Schools “Dallas ISD organized LGBTQ training sessions at elementary schools in coordination with an employee of a local transgender clinic. According to internal communications obtained in a public information request by The Dallas Express, that same employee expressed concern about potential backlash from parents and the Texas government.“ (The Dallas Express)

• May 24: What should public schools tell parents about LGBTQ students? San Diego lawmaker’s bill would ban ‘forced outing’ policies—Assemblymember Chris Ward said the bill is needed to clarify state law amid conflicting court rulings regarding student privacy (Encinitas Advocate) 

• May 28: In ‘Free To Be,’ A UCSF Doctor Dispels Myths About Trans Youth “Dr. Jack Turban, one of the nation’s most respected authorities on transgender youth, nearly missed this calling and became a dermatologist. A gay son of a strongly unaccepting father, he took the tried-and-true path of trying to win family love through perfection. ‘There’s a lot of pressure to become a dermatologist in medical school,’ he tells me via video interview. ‘People don’t realize that it’s considered a very prestigious thing. I think I also had ‘best little gay boy in the world syndrome’ — like where you grow up thinking this thing is so bad and wrong that you should be perfect in every other way.’” (KWED)

• May 29: The Current Controversy of Utah’s Transgender Bathroom Bill—Despite claims of protection, the H.B. 257 has come under controversy from the public, legal experts and the State Auditor’s Office. “On Jan. 31, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed H.B. 257 into law, affecting transgender individuals’ access to public spaces. The law prohibits transgender individuals from using bathrooms, dressing rooms and locker rooms that do not correspond to their sex assigned at birth.” (The Daily Utah Chronicle)

• May 29: "Zaya has been Zaya from Day 1"- Dwyane Wade shuts down doubters over "traumatic" experience with daughter being transgender (Sportskeeda)

International

• The UK’s Department of Health and Social Care has posted on its official website new regulations restricting the use puberty blockers for minors under 18: “The government has today introduced regulations to restrict the prescribing and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones, known as ‘puberty blockers’, to children and young people under 18 in England, Wales and Scotland. The emergency ban will last from 3 June to 3 September 2024. It will apply to prescriptions written by UK private prescribers and prescribers registered in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.” Worth noting is that the emergency legislation will prevent prescriptions of puberty blockers from private clinics. This includes the polemic gender clinic Gender GP despite it being based in Singapore.

• 26 female hospital nurses working for the NHS have issued a formal complaint after having to share a changing room with a trans-identified male colleague. According to the complaint, the colleague had taken a "keen interest" in other hospital staff while they were undressing. Hospital HR managers reacted to complains by telling hospital nurses to "broaden their mindset" and "be educated." Six of the nurses are planning to take legal action at an employment tribunal.

• Oxford sociologist Dr Michael Biggs accused the publishers of the British Medical Journal (The BMJ) of 'abandoning science' for rejecting studies over researcher’s views on transgender issues. Dr Biggs claims to have been “blacklisted” for claiming that data on the number of transgender people in the UK was unreliable (according to Dr Biggs, the census the data it is based on confusing wording). The journal is also accused of rejecting a paper by Dr. John Armstrong over his posting in social media in support of JK Rowling. Another researcher was taken offline by BMJ staff following a student paper that labeled him “transphobic”. These accusations are based on discussions from BMJ staff discovered after a Freedom of Information request. 

• Several outlets reported on the first trans-identified actor to receive an award at the Cannes Film Festival. This year’s Best Actress award was shared by the ensemble cast of the Jacques Audiard's “musical crime comedy” Emilia Pérez. The cast of the film includes Karla Sofía Gascón, who identifies as transgender, along with Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, and Adriana Paz. Gascón accepted the award on behalf of the female members of the cast and addressed the topic of trans rights during an acceptance speech, dedicating the win to “all transgender people who suffer and must keep faith that changing is possible.” According to The Guardian, French right-wing politician Marion Maréchal posted on social media reacting to Gascón’s win, “So a man has won best actress. Progress for the left means the erasure of women and mothers.” Gascón’s lawyer has filed a legal complaint against Maréchal for “sexist insult on the basis of gender identity”.

• Medical experts appear to be unwilling to give evidence in cases concerning gender issues, with courts struggling to find experts to testify in family law disputes dealing with minors who want hormonal interventions. Judges in two UK High Court rulings this month highlighted the lack of medical experts willing to provide evidence. One judge noted that, “There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behavior.”

• Peruvian health authorities issued an official decree with the intention of expanding privately insured mental health care access for transgender individuals. The decree has caused backlash for labeling trans identity a “mental health problem,” leading activists and advocates to claim that the decree will increase transgender discrimination. Peruvian health officials believe the anger is a result of miscommunication. 

• The Telegraph reports on a new study that found that many trans-identified females in their 20s are suffering of problems more commonly associated with post-menopausal women. The symptoms described include bowel and bladder problems such as pelvic floor dysfunction and urinary incontinence as well as “orgasm disorder” and pain during intercourse. 

Headlines

National

May 28: Biden nominates judge who put transgender rapist in women’s prison “Judge Sarah Netburn, nominated by President Biden to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, faces a rocky path to confirmation after Republicans exposed her decision to move a sex offender who is a transgender woman to a women’s prison. Judge Netburn, who has served as a magistrate judge for 12 years, disregarded the recommendation of the Bureau of Prisons and ordered prison officials to move July Justine Shelby, who was imprisoned under the name William McClain, to a women’s prison.” (The Washington Times)

May 29: GOP introduces resolution to overturn HHS rule that forces taxpayers to fund transgender surgeries (the Washington Times) 

May 24: Lawmakers’ rejection of gender-affirming care ban protects Kansas patients and providers(Kansas Reflector)

May 29: ‘Happiest I’ve ever seen her’: the sports teams giving trans kids a safe place to play—Inclusive clubs provide a supportive environment for LGBTQ+ children amid growing antagonism toward transgender inclusion in athletics “Like many seven-year-olds, Gregory’s daughter discovered her love for soccer on the playground at recess. She started coming home talking about the sport and asked to join her friends’ recreational team. Gregory, an attorney in Portland, Oregon, whose name we’ve changed to protect his family’s safety and privacy, signed her up. But his daughter ended up getting assigned to a different team than the one her friends were on.” (The Guardian)

May 29: DOJ investigating violence against Latino, transgender students at Norview HS (WTKR)

May 29: Transgender wrestler Konner Vaughn fights for rule change in Oklahoma, sidelined for two years—Konner Vaughn, a transgender man who was granted a license to wrestle in 2022, claims the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission is preventing him from competing with its rules (The Irish Star)

May 29: Family of Black transgender woman who died in custody sues Dallas officers, paramedics—LaDamonyon “DeeDee” Hall became unresponsive May 26, 2022, after she was restrained. (The Dallas Morning News)

May 29: Starbucks Gets Transgender Barista Bias Suit Sent to Arbitration—Starbucks Corp. demonstrated that a transgender ex-barista who alleges a hostile work environment and retaliation agreed to arbitrate claims against the company when he took the job. (Bloomberg Law)

May 30: Transgender Worker Wins Health Care Fight – Plus $60K “The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling that an employer cannot exclude gender-affirming coverage for a transgender plan participant under its employee health insurance plan. The decision is binding in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Here’s what happened – and why the court sided with the employee.” (HR Morning)

May 30: At Upstate church, GOP officials celebrate ban on trans youth care that Democrats decry (The Post and Courier)

May 30: HOWARD UNIVERSITY'S JAY JONES MAKES HISTORY AS FIRST TRANSGENDER STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT (Blavity News)

May 30: Trans woman gunned down on side of road, Texas cops say. Man arrested months later “It’s been over two months since 36-year-old Diamond Brigman was shot and killed while standing on the side of a Houston road, Texas police said.”  (Tri-City Herald)

May 21: Catholic monk comes out as trans man with permission of his bishop: ‘Deal with us’ (The New York Post)

May 30: 'They look like linebackers with boobs.' Female inmate reveals the horror of being locked up with 'aggressive' trans cellmates “An ex-inmate of a California women's prison has spoken of the terror of being locked up with 'big, burly and aggressive' male-to-female transgender detainees thanks to a recent state law.”  (The Daily Mail)

May 29: Restrictions on transgender students’ pronouns, names clear Louisiana Senate—Rules would apply even if students legally change their name and gender (Louisiana Illuminator)

May 29: GOP introduces resolution to overturn HHS rule that forces taxpayers to fund transgender surgeries (the Washington Times) 

May 29: Top radiologist is kicked off state's board of medicine by the governor when he publicly backed banning transgender surgeries on children “A top Wyoming doctor has been kicked off the state's board of medicine after he publicly backed a ban on transgender surgeries for children. Dr Eric Cubin, the son of a former congresswoman and leading radiologist in the city of Casper, was booted from the board by Republican Governor Mark Gordon last month after he urged state lawmakers to back the ban.”  (The Daily Mail)

May 30: The Status of Health Care for Transgender People: Successful Legal Challenges and a Dangerous Expansion “The landscape on health care access for transgender Americans seemingly shifts by the day. Here’s a summary of the most recent movement in state legislatures and the courts” (GLAAD)

May 30: Family sues DPD, DFR in death of transgender woman “The family of LaDamonyon DeeDee Hall, 47, a Black transgender woman, is suing Dallas Police and paramedics for her death while being transported to Baylor Hospital. Hall died on May 26, 2022.” (Dallas Voice)

May 30: Connecticut Transgender Track Athlete Wins Girls’ State Championship “A male athlete who identifies as transgender won a high school track state championship in Connecticut this week. Conard High School junior Lizzy Bidwell is a male who identifies as a transgender girl. Bidwell won the triple jump (36 feet, 8 inches) at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL girls’ outdoor track and field state championship on Thursday, May 29, according to Athletic.net. The distance was 14 inches longer than the runner-up’s best triple jump.” (New Boston Post)

May 30: GOP lawmaker defeated over rejection of gender-affirming care for minors “Rep. Shawn Thierry, a Texas Democrat with a history of supporting her party’s stances, was ousted in a primary runoff after backing a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Thierry’s defeat underscores the growing influence and mobilization of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, reflecting broader national tensions over transgender rights and healthcare policies.” (The Independent Singapore News)

May 30: The Impact of the ACA 1557 Final Regulations on Gender-Affirming Care “Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability, or any combination thereof, in a health program or activity, any part of which is receiving federal financial assistance.” (The National Law Review)

May 20: Tennessee governor OKs penalizing adults who help minors receive abortions, gender-affirming care “Tennessee's governor has approved legislation designed to block adults from helping minors get an abortion or receive gender-affirming care without parental consent, proposals that are both likely to face immediate legal challenges when they go into effect later this year.” (Decatur Daily)

International

Australia

May 27: Bad law—An Australian "equality" bill would reduce gender medicine safeguards for minors “Under the rubric of ‘equality’, a draft law in Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales would allow gender-distressed minors aged 16-17 to authorise their own irreversible hormone treatment, with risks including sterilisation and sexual dysfunction. The Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023 would also permit doctors in some circumstances to give children under 16 puberty blockers without the knowledge or consent of parents. Multiple systematic reviews of the scientific literature—including those most recently undertaken for England’s Cass review—have found the evidence for these hormonal treatments to be very weak and uncertain.” (GCN)

May 22: Art Gallery of SA responds to concerns about transgender sculpture “One Nation MLC Sarah Game has concerns about a sculpture on display at the Art Gallery of SA ‘that has very prominent genitalia and it's right opposite Mother Mary and baby Jesus’s’. ‘Parents have a right to decide what is appropriate for their children’, Game said to Sonya & Jules. Assistant Director of the Art Gallery of SA, Dr. Lisa Slade responded saying, ‘We can't make assumptions about one type of body being better or more normal than another type of body’.” (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 

Canada

May 28: Dave Snow: The groundbreaking Cass Review on transgender care is shifting the debate abroad. Yet it was barely reported by Canadian media —The CBC and Canada's national media are showing their bias in the lack of coverage (The Hub)

May 26: ‘Disturbing’ footage of a transgender contestant should not be ‘glamorised’ “Women’s Forum Australia’s Stephanie Bastiaan says footage of a transgender contestant on the popular television series RuPaul’s Drag Race is ‘one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen’. The footage shows a transgender contestant walking down the runway in a graphic display that referenced the contestant's surgery.” (Sky News Australia)

May 28: Transidentité des mineurs : le Senat adopte la proposition de loi LR dans une ambiance houleuse—Mardi dans la soirée, le Sénat a adopté la proposition de loi de la droite sénatoriale visant à encadrer les transitions de genre chez les mineurs. Les débats ont parfois été tendus. Le texte a été largement décrié sur les bancs de la gauche car considéré comme « transphobe (Transidentity of minors: the Senate adopts the LR bill in a stormy atmosphere—Tuesday evening, the Senate adopted the senatorial right's bill aimed at regulating gender transitions among minors. The debates were sometimes tense. The text was widely criticized on the left because it was considered “transphobic) (Public Senat)

UK

May 28: Over 95pc Scottish secondary schools allow children to self-identify gender—Report finds only 4pc of institutions always inform parents when child discloses identity ‘distress’ (The Telegraph)

May 28: ‘Strike’ Star Tom Burke Requested BBC Media Training To Prepare For J.K. Rowling Trans Questions “Tom Burke has admitted that he requested media training from the BBC to help him handle questions about J.K Rowling’s strident views on transgender rights. Burke is currently on the publicity trail for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, but he has recently filmed Season 6 of BBC/HBO series Strike, which Rowling pens under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.” Deadline)

May 27: SU launches gender expression fund “The Student Union (SU) has launched a gender expression fund for trans and gender-diverse students to purchase gender-affirming products. This follows a motion that was passed at the week 7 Student Council in Michaelmas 2023 mandating its creation.” (Oxford Student)

May 29: J.K. Rowling Says Colleagues Who Have Publicly Trashed Her Transgender Views Have Privately Emailed To Check They Remain Friends “In an extract from the book The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht, published by The Times of London newspaper, Rowling said she had been surprised by colleagues who had condemned her views in public, only for them to email her privately to check they remained friends.”

May 28: JK Rowling: Why I decided to stand up for women—In exclusive extracts from a new book The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht, the Harry Potter author, a broken-hearted mother and a former prison governor tell the inside story of their fight for rights (The Telegraph)

May 30: JK Rowling: Why I decided to stand up for women In exclusive extracts from a new book—The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht, the Harry Potter author, a broken-hearted mother and a former prison governor tell the inside story of their fight for rights (The London Times)

May 30: J.K. Rowling says in new book of essays that loved ones begged her to keep trans views private—J.K. Rowling appears in an essay collection featuring contributions from so-called 'gender critical' writers, in which she shares that her loved ones had pleaded with her to keep her polarising views on transgender women to herself. She also hits out at her hypocritical critics. “The Harry Potter author has contributed to an essay collection, ‘The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht’, and in an extract published in The Times said that ‘people around me, including some I love, were begging me not to speak.’” (Euro News)

May 27: NHS staff ordered to apologise for using ‘wrong’ pronouns under trust trans policy—Health Secretary condemns the instruction from bosses in Lewisham and Greenwich, London (The Telegraph) 

Other International

May 30: It’s game over for trolls complaining about transgender Nintendo characters (MSM)

May 30: Pubertad interrumpida: niños trans inician tratamiento hormonal en medio de controversias (Interrupted puberty: trans children begin hormonal treatment amid controversies) (BBCL)

May 30: LGBTQ RIGHTS/Court rules in favor of trans man's ID card gender change request “The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a transgender man who sought to alter the gender specified on his identity card and ordered household registration authorities to make the change.” (Focus Taiwan)

May 29: "Irresponsibility of this is off the charts...it's criminal" - Martina Navratilova backs J. K. Rowling's case against gender-transitioning children “Martina Navratilova has backed J. K. Rowling's take on a doctor over his approach to gender-transitioning children. The doctor in question is Dr. Robert Garofalo, a Professor of Pediatrics at Chicago's Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital.” (MSM News)

Opinions

May 28: The Tide Is About To Turn Against Gender Activists Abusing America’s Kids (The Daily Caller)

May 29: LGBTQIA+ Education in Schools: What the new guidance means, and why it’s so dangerous (Oxford Student)

May 28: Protect Women’s Sports from Transgender ‘Inclusion’ (National Review)

May 28: The Cost of Being Myself: Cosmetics and Gender-Affirming Care (Ms. Magazine)

May 27: Should Trans Women Use Women’s Locker Rooms? Froma Harrop “Planet Fitness foolishly invited trouble when it decided to let men who identify as women use women's locker rooms. A woman in the dressing room at a club in Alaska took a photo of a trans woman shaving facial hair and posted it on social media. The result was some boycotts of Planet Fitness that have hurt the franchisor's bottom line.” (Go Local)

May 27: The NAIA’s Transgender-Athletes Policy Is a Triumph—The college sports association has crafted rules that are both fair and unideological. (The James Martin Center)

May 26: Finally, Transgender Sports Rules That Make Sense “Is it fair to allow athletes who are biologically male to compete in sports for women? Many say that it’s obviously unfair and should not be allowed, while others (“progressives,” mostly) insist that it is a violation of the rights of transgender individuals to exclude them from whatever they want to do. In today’s Martin Center article, Harrington Shaw reports that the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics has written sensible rules to cover this matter.” (National Review) NOTE: this article relates to the one above it

May 26: Sports lessons are life lessons: Let trans Americans play (The Hill)

May 26: Sasha Jane Lowerson Made History as the First Trans Pro Surfer. She’s Just Getting Started—The Aussie athlete is embarking on a new chapter in America following her transition — and riding waves like never before (Rolling Stone)

May 26: If only transgender lives were as rosy as depicted in NCRB data—Data from the National Crime Record Bureau shows a suspiciously low rate of crimes against transgender persons. Activists assert this is gross underreporting and not something to celebrate. (The Leaflet)

May 26: WNBA’s Clarendon and Turner: Let trans NCAA athletes play (CNN)

May 25: Lessons from Riley Gaines on participation trophies and main character syndrome “But it’s A-OK with Republicans that Gaines isn’t the best in her sport — far from it. That’s because she’s turned her failure into a winning right-wing crusade against LGBTQ+ rights because the woman with whom she tied for fifth, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, is transgender. (Again, even if Thomas were disqualified, Gaines would have only come in fourth, which doesn’t even get you on the podium).” (Kansas Reform)

May 26: Susan Estrich: Banning gender-affirming treatment (Daily Independent)May 30: Childbearing People: The Ideological Capture of the NHS (James Esses Substack)

May 30: 10 years since the ‘transgender tipping point’—ANALYSIS: Ten years after the iconic ‘TIME’ cover, trans people are subject to even more widespread hatred and legalized bigotry. If we’ve ‘tipped’ in any direction, it’s backward (Xtra)

May 30: Scottsdale Plastic Surgeon Discusses Things to Consider Before Transgender or Nonbinary Top Surgery (EIN NES Desk)

May 30: How the Legal System Enabled—and Will Curtail—the Transgender Movement (The Gospel Coalition)

May 29: The SNP must never be forgiven for its transgender madness—How did we get here? Trans activists and their allies can be the most horrendous tyrants, often terrifying those speaking out (The Telegraph)

May 29: News of the transgender hermit in Kentucky calls for clarity “One of the truly life-giving teachings of the Catholic Church is its DOCTRINE ON HUMAN SEXUALITY. Through it, we can understand the truth and beauty of the human person, as created male and female by God. We are able to navigate the challenges we encounter in society today — especially same-sex relationships and, increasingly, issues of gender identity — with both clarity and compassion.”  (Catholic Citizen)

May 29: Sorry is the hardest word In the wake of the Cass Report, the hordes are now looking for a face-saving way to recant (The Critic)

May 30: How To Be a Trans Ally as an Educator in 2024 (We Are Teachers)

May 30: NYT Misses What’s True and Important About an Anti-Trans School Resolution “The New York Times has become notorious for its role in laundering right-wing transphobia for its largely liberal audience. A recent article about local school politics serves as yet another example of how the paper’s anti-trans agenda most likely flies under the radar of most readers—making its propaganda that much more effective.” (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting)

May 30: Medical institutions must treat the Cass review as a significant event and act upon it (The BMJ)

Study

Study: A qualitative metasummary of detransition experiences with recommendations for psychological support (Science Direct, April-June)

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction in Transgender Men on Gender-affirming Hormone Therapy: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study (International Urogynecology Journal, April 2024)