Feature image of an x on a passport by golibtolibov via Getty Images
This is Trans News Tracker, a biweekly Autostraddle roundup and analysis of the biggest trans news stories.
We’ve been hit with our fair share of terrible news this Pride Month, particularly in regards to healthcare for trans youth. The ruling in the U.S. vs. Skrmetti, which Drew wrote about for us last week, took over most of the LGBTQ+ news-related and rightfully so. Then, Trump’s attacks on Iran and familiar consent manufacturing for another foreign war took over everything else. And now, it’s the final week of what feels like one the most emotionally bizarre Pride Months of all time. This week’s Trans News Tracker is a bit of a mixed bag, as it usually is, so I beg you to find the places where you can stick your head out to keep fighting.
Judge Orders That Trans People Can Get the Correct Passport While the Case Moves Through the Courts
The biggest news of the last couple of weeks aside from the ruling in the U.S. vs. Skrmetti case is actually positive. On June 17th, a Boston U.S. district judge Julia Kobick issued a preliminary injunction to expand her April order that ruled against the Trump administration’s executive order requiring that a person’s gender marker on their passport must match their gender assigned at birth. The case against the Trump administration is ongoing but this new order goes above and beyond the April order in a way that benefits all trans people in the U.S.
In her decision, Kobick wrote, “The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny. That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.”
The new, expanded order allows trans people to change their gender marker on their passports to their correct one, even as the case proceeds through the courts. Per the decision, “The ruling applies only to those people who are currently without a valid passport, those whose passport is expiring within a year, and those who need to apply for a passport because theirs was lost or stolen or because they need to change their name or sex designation.”
In theory, everyone who applied for a passport and received one with the incorrect gender designation over the last several months should be able to apply for a passport with their correct gender marker. Some groups have expressed concern over whether or not this injunction will actually make a difference and if the mandates will be applied at the Federal level as soon as the judge says they should be. Although it would be illegal for the administration to go against the injunction, we all know that hasn’t stopped them from doing anything in the past 7 months. We’ll have to keep our eyes on what’s happening, but for now, at least we have yet another instance of people standing up against these unjust executive orders.
Some (More) Good News For Once
Federal judge strikes down Trump cuts to NIH medical research grants linked to diversity, gender. In another judicial win for trans people and basically everyone in the U.S., Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration’s cuts to the research being done at the National Institutes of Health are completely unconstitutional and must be reversed “immediately.”
The Oregon GOP tried to force an anti-trans sports ban. It immediately backfired. Earlier this month, Oregon Republicans tried to force a vote on House Bill 2037, a bill that would ban trans participation in sports at the recreational and educational levels. Despite loud Republican outcry over the bill and a litany of sob stories from the bill’s civilian supporters, “Oregon’s legislature holds a liberal majority and has passed several laws protecting trans youth through the Oregon Equality Act,” so the bill didn’t really stand a chance, thankfully.
Santa Fe bus tour against trans athletes moves locations, and protesters follow. This is a great story about a group of trans people, queer people, and their allies just absolutely harassing transphobes until they stopped doing their transphobic actions. We need more of this energy everywhere.
Strangers raise more than $70K for transgender woman hospitalized after shocking West Philly acid attack. Whenever I’m losing faith in what’s happening on the national level, I try to look for hyper-local stories where community prevails. This is one of those stories.
How this Democrat fights Marjorie Taylor Greene’s transphobia in Congress with smart preparation. If you’ve been reading my work here, you know I’m not really into giving Democrats much credit, especially right now. But I do think it’s important for people to see establishment politicians sticking up for trans people right now. In this case, it’s Democratic U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury from New Mexico who, in a congressional hearing about trans rights, said to Marjory Taylor Greene, “Your obsession with this is weird.”
Trans protesters have been arrested in front of the Supreme Court. I know this headline makes it seem like it should be categorized in “bad news” but I will always consider trans resistance “good news.” Nine organizers from the Gender Liberation Movement, including the organization’s co-founder Raquel Willis, were arrested while protesting last week’s Supreme Court decision in the U.S. vs. Skrmetti case. The demonstration included the organizers taking “hormone-replacement-therapy drugs — some real and some symbolic — either via pills or injections” in public.
Some Good Broader LGBTQ+ News
Trump took stonewall’s trans flags. New Yorkers brought their own. After the Trump administration announced no trans pride flags would be flown during the Stonewall National Monument’s Pride Month celebration, a group of activists in NYC organized to make sure that wasn’t true. It’s good to remember that, sometimes, even the smallest acts of civil disobedience can help people feel held by their community.
Oregon just passed a law stopping schools from banning books just because LGBTQ+ people wrote them. Some more good news out of Oregon this week. Hopefully, other states with more liberal and democratic majorities will follow suit soon.
News I’m Not Sure How to Categorize
The full 2022 U.S. Trans Survey results have been published, and they once again prove what we’ve always known: the small percentage of trans people who “detransition” in some way or another usually do so because they’ve experienced transphobia.
News I Wish I Didn’t Have to Report
After getting the ruling it wanted, New York Times publishes 6 anti-trans articles. It’s almost the end of this year’s Pride Month, so I can’t think of a better time to cancel your New York Times subscription than right now. (If you haven’t already.)
Undeterred by protests, Trump tells ICE to step up deportations in Democratic-run cities. You might be wondering, “How is this specifically trans news?” Well, in an unsurprising turn of events, Trump’s tirade calling for an increased ICE presence across the country includes this utterly absurd bit in it: “….these Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it! There is something wrong with them. That is why they believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s Sports.”
New Hampshire Gov. Ayotte signs universal EFA bill, parental bill of rights. In another hit for trans rights in New Hampshire, Governor Kelly Ayotte signed the “parental rights” bill HB 10 into law, which many advocates say “could require school employees to disclose information about a students’ gender identity or sexual orientation to their parents, even when the student asks the school employee not to.”
Indiana college sports ban on trans athletes starts July 1. LGBTQ+ rights groups in the state are still trying to fight this, but as of right now, trans athletes at Indiana state colleges will be ineligible to play in the Fall.
From across the pond: Trans women banned from using women’s toilets in parliament. As of today, trans people who visit the Parliament offices are required (and will be urged) to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender assigned at birth. Still very unclear how they will fully enforce something virtually unenforceable like this but they’ve put “restrictions” and “rules” in place to try.
Last Bits
We published quite a few pieces by and about trans people here on Autostraddle since the last Trans News Tracker, such as Lío’s coverage of the new documentary Just Kids, Charlie’s profile and review of Liberation Weekend, Lauren’s profile of rapper Chuckie Lee, Fiona’s coverage of the T4T Third Anniversary Spectacular, and a personal essay in The Parlour from Drew.
Nan Goldin sells prints to support at-risk trans people. If you don’t already know, Nan Goldin is an absolute Real One (and one of my favorite artists of all time). She’s currently selling prints to benefit several trans legal assistance funds, and the sale ends soon, so get on it if you have some money to spend!
This historian has seen the future of trans health care. I think everyone should read this profile of Jules Gill-Peterson as soon as they possibly can.
Transitioning under this administration is an act of resistance — and joy. This personal essay written by Noor Noman, a person who began their transition in January of this year (and published in MSNBC, of all places), is incredibly moving and brilliantly written.
Trans athlete singled out by Trump wins gold anyway: ‘I’m not scared of them’. AB Hernandez continues blasting her accomplishments in the face of the Trump administration and the anti-trans crusade that is determined to bring her down. And she continues winning despite their every effort.
These mental health and mutual aid resources are here for trans people post-Skrmetti ruling. Putting this here for everyone who feels weary about the Skrmetti ruling. Put your weariness and anger and sadness to good use and figure out where and how you can help young trans people live the lives they want to live.
