Conversion therapy is now illegal in Canada
Rachel Aiello

Conversion therapy is now illegal in Canada, marking a major milestone in LGBTQ2S+ rights in this country.

After parliamentarians came together to unanimously pass legislation to eradicate the harmful practice in late 2021, the Criminal Code sanctions came into force on Jan. 7.

That means that now, anyone who looks to subject someone of any age, consenting or not, to so-called conversion therapy could face up to five years in prison.

As well, if someone is found to be promoting, advertising, or profiting from providing the practice, they could face up to two years in prison.

Conversion “therapy,” as it has been called, seeks to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender. It can include seeking to repress someone’s non-heterosexual attraction, or repressing a person’s gender expression or non-cis gender identity.

These practices can take various forms, including counselling and behavioural modification, and they have been opposed by numerous health and human rights groups. There continue to be calls for further mental health and educational supports for those who have survived conversion therapy.

After years of calls for action and past failed attempts to pass a bill to ban conversion therapy, the accelerated all-party effort—despite some after-the-fact concerns raised by a few Conservative MPs—has been praised by political leaders as well as by LGBTQ2S+ advocates both in Canada and abroad.

Few countries have criminalized conversion therapy, and Canada now has what the federal Liberal government has described as ....

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/conversio ... -1.5731911

Kid of the Year Finalist Kai Shappley, 11, Takes on Lawmakers in Her Fight for Trans Rights
MADELEINE CARLISLE



Kai Shappley didn’t feel scared when she sat before the Texas Senate committee in April 2021. Wearing a flowing yellow blouse, floral skirt and cowboy boots, the then-4th grader calmly introduced herself.

“I love ballet, math, science and geology. I spend my free time with my cats, chickens, FaceTiming my friends and dreaming of when I finally get to meet Dolly Parton,” she testified. “I do not like spending my free time asking adults to make good choices.”

Shappley urged lawmakers to vote against Senate bills 1311 and 1646, which banned doctors from providing gender-affirming treatment to transgender kids like herself. One of the bills even went as far as to define the treatment as “child abuse.” (Both bills ultimately failed.)

“It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids like me to get votes from people who hate me just because I exist,” she continued. “God made me. God loves me for who I am. And God does not make mistakes.”

Beneath her composure, Shappley says she felt furious. Lawmakers were ...

https://time.com/6128490/kid-of-the-yea ... -activist/

Munroe Bergdorf makes history as first trans woman on cover of Cosmopolitan UK
SJ ZHANG



Munroe Bergdorf has become the first out trans woman to grace the cover of Cosmopolitan UK.

The model and activist appears on the cover of Cosmopolitan UK’s 50th anniversary edition, beaming next to the caption: “Munroe Bergdof shows us how to change the world”.

Inside the magazine, which hits stands 21 January, Munroe discusses their career, the climate, cancel culture, pronouns and the future of trans rights, fielding questions from sustainability writer Aja Barber, PinkNews‘ own gender and identity reporter Vic Parsons and filmmaker and intersex right activist River Gallo.

“I hope there’s a young trans girl looking at this cover thinking: ‘I can do it too and who I am is not going to hold me back,'” she says.

On their hopes for the future, Bergdorf adds: “I believe the people want ...

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/14/m ... olitan-uk/

Elliot Page ‘absolutely, 100% knew’ he was a boy as a toddler
Elliot Page has said he “absolutely, 100 per cent” knew he was a boy when he was a toddler.
PATRICK KELLEHER

The Umbrella Academy star opened up about when he first started to understand his gender identity in an interview with trans journalist Thomas Page McBee for Vanity Fair, saying that when he was young, he couldn’t understand why adults kept telling him he wasn’t a boy.

McBee told Elliot Page that he knew hew was a trans kid growing up, explaining: “I wasn’t born in the wrong body – I was born in a trans body. Is that how you felt about yourself as a child?”

“All trans people are so different, and my story’s absolutely just my story,” Page replied.

“But yes, when I was a little kid, absolutely, 100 per cent, I was a boy. I knew I was a boy when I was a toddler.

“I was writing fake love letters and signing them ‘Jason.’ Every little aspect of my life, that is who I was, who I am, and who I knew myself to be. I just couldn’t understand when I’d be told, ‘No, you’re not. No, you can’t be that when you’re older.'”

He continued: “You feel it. Now I’m finally getting myself back to ...

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/04/28/e ... h-winfrey/

Have to say that when conversion therapy was banned in Canada (#266 above) I was surprised that the vote was unanimous. I expected at least a few dissenters.

Conservative MP ‘Disappointed’ By His Party’s Support For Fast-Tracking Conversion Therapy Ban
Ted Falk said he is “deeply disappointed” that his party helped fast-track a bill that banned conversion therapy before hearing out “concerns” about the ban.

Conservative MP Ted Falk said he is “deeply disappointed” that his party helped fast-track a bill that banned conversion therapy before hearing out “concerns” about the ban, the Winnipeg Free Press reported Tuesday.


On Dec. 1, the Conservative Party sought unanimous consent in the House of Commons to fast track Bill C-4, which outlawed the practice.


One (now former) Conservative MP, Tamara Jansen, sparked outrage after quoting a Bible passage that cited “unclean” people during a debate with a gay Liberal MP over a previous version of the bill back in ...

https://www.readthemaple.com/conservati ... erapy-ban/

Jazz Jennings Reflects on Her Childhood as a Beacon for the Trans Community
Jennings rose to fame at the tender age of six. Now 20, she recently told Variety about what it was like growing up in the public eye.
BY MOLLY SPRAYREGEN

Jazz Jennings first became a beacon for the transgender community at the tender age of six. In 2007, Jennings appeared in a now famous 20:20 interview with Barbara Walters, and became one of the youngest transgender people to publicly document her life.

The interview skyrocketed Jazz and her family to ...

https://www.them.us/story/jazz-jennings ... -community

video at source

Social Security Opens to Survivors of Same-Sex Couples Who Could Not Marry
Challenging a policy that limited survivor’s benefits to married couples, even though some couples were legally barred from marriage, took years.
By Paula Span

Helen Thornton and Margery Brown began dating in 1979. After just a few months, Ms. Thornton said, “I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this person, and Margie felt the same way.”

Over three decades, they bought a home in Olympia, Wash., took out loans together, shared a checking account and attended family gatherings and community events. They raised a son whose birth certificate carried both their names. They talked about traveling after retirement, maybe kayaking in Ireland.

But in 2003, Ms. Brown received a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Ms. Thornton cared for her through repeated rounds of chemotherapy and intensifying illness until Ms. Brown died in 2006, at age 50.

In 2015, shortly before Ms. Thornton turned 60 — the age at which most widows and widowers are eligible for survivor’s benefits from Social Security — she walked into the agency’s local office, carrying bank statements and the title to their house, and applied.

“I figured I’d be rejected,” she said, because under Social Security, spousal survivor’s benefits were limited to married couples. She and Ms. Brown would have married had they been able to, Ms. Thornton said. But same-sex marriages didn’t ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/23/heal ... e-sex.html

There's a discussion of banned books elsewhere but figured this particular one deserved to be commented on here

Mississippi mayor withholds library funds unless LGBTQ+ books are purged
Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee says books about LGBTQ+ people offend his faith
HEMANT MEHTA

There’s a battle brewing in Ridgeland, Mississippi over whether LGBTQ+ literature should be available in the public library, and naturally, Jesus is involved.

The controversy centers around Mayor Gene McGee, who recently withheld a $110,000 payment to the Madison County Library System — roughly 5% of its yearly budget. When the library system’s director Tonja Johnson inquired about the money, she was told that McGee wouldn’t release it unless the system purged its shelves of all “homosexual materials.”

McGee defended his authoritarian demand by citing the Christian God, as reported by ...

https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/miss ... re-purged/

Not from The Onion

Top Noem adviser makes terrorism comparison during transgender sports bill hearing
By Lee Strubinger

A House panel is endorsing a bill that prevents transgender girls from playing girls sports. It’s one of the bill’s last steps before reaching the governor’s desk.

Meanwhile, comments on the bill by the governor’s top adviser are sparking criticism.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association has had a transgender athlete policy in place since 2013. Since then, one transgender girl athlete has played sports in South Dakota.

The bill seeks to stop that. Mark Miller is Gov. Kristi Noem’s chief of staff. He said during a legislative committee hearing that the legislation is preemptive, to stop what's happening in other states from happening in South Dakota.

“By putting it in law we are ensuring that what we’re seeing all over the country does not happen in South Dakota," Miller said. "It’s sort of like terrorism. You want to keep it over there, not let it get to here.”

After the committee hearing, Minority Leader Jaime Smith said Miller’s comments were “awful.”

“It is absolutely dumbfounding that somebody would use that analogy for something," Smith said. "It’s absolutely insensitive to the topic. I believe he was way out of line.”

Committee Republicans ultimately approved the legislation. It now heads to the House floor.

Some Republicans there say the governor’s bill is not strong enough in its enforcement mechanism. Republican Rhonda Milstead said she plans to bring an amendment to the bill, bringing it closer in line with her own legislation. That bill allows people to sue for monetary damages.

https://listen.sdpb.org/politics/2022-0 ... ransgender

Another country bans conversion therapy ....

France bans barbaric conversion therapy – no ifs or buts – while UK dithers and delays
EMILY CHUDY

France’s law banning conversion therapy has passed its final stages, with president Emmanuel Macron declaring “being yourself… is nothing to be cured”.

The sweeping ban, which gives no exemptions for religious conversion therapy, was voted in by parties on both sides of the political spectrum in December 2021, and has now been formally approved by Macron.

The bill bans all “practices, behaviours, and repeated statements with the intent of modifying or repressing a person’s real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, and having the effect of a material alteration to their mental or physical health”.

Macron tweeted after the bill was passed: “The law prohibiting conversion therapy is adopted unanimously!

“Let’s be proud, these unworthy practices have no place in the Republic. Because being yourself is not a crime, because there is nothing to be cured.”



Conversion therapy will now carry a potential penalty of two years in prison and €30,000 (around £25,000) in fines. If the victim is a minor, or otherwise considered “vulnerable”, or the person practicing conversion therapy is a parent or grandparent of the victim, the punishment increases to three years in prison and a €45,000 (around £38,000) fine.

Medical professionals found guilty of conversion therapy in France could have their medical licence stripped for ...

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/01/26/f ... el-macron/

Talk about moving backwards

South Dakota passes two horrifying anti-trans bills in one fell swoop: ‘These votes are shameful’
MAGGIE BASKA

South Dakota lawmakers have passed two bills targeting trans students’ ability to play sports and access school bathrooms in one day.

The state’s House of Representatives passed ....

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/02/s ... ort-house/

From FB ...

Trying to NOT appear discriminatory (snort), United States Powerlifting Association (USPA) 's policy makes sure that *ANY* athlete using hormones, "regardless of medical necessity or choice", is banned from competing.

This includes birth control pills, IUDs, and hormone treatments to help manage diabetes for cisgender athletes as well.

NOW do you care about policies like these? I've been screaming this forever, y'all: if we don't step up for trans folx, it's just a matter of time before the rules that govern their bodies start to govern yours, too.

This U.S. powerlifting association quietly unveiled policies limiting trans athlete participation
The rules also apply to all lifters taking hormones, including for birth control or diabetes medications
By Nico Lang

Angel Flores, a 22-year-old powerlifter, had been training for the 2022 Violet Crown Classic in Austin, Texas, for weeks when a sudden phone call changed everything. Her local gym informed her that the United States Powerlifting Association (USPA) had changed its policies on inclusion of trans athletes, and she would no longer be able to compete in the upcoming meet, which was scheduled to be held in just over three weeks.

Flores says she felt “defeated” and “at a loss” after learning she would no longer be able to compete. Although USPA Texas offered to compromise by allowing Flores to participate in the Jan. 29 event as a “guest,” her scores would essentially be symbolic. If she broke any records, the achievement would only count toward her personal goals.

The day of the meet, Flores was forced to sit on the sidelines while she watched her colleagues earn what she had worked so hard for.

ADVERTISEMENT


“It was a challenge to see my friends and my peers go up and accept their medals, take their pictures and celebrate,” she tells Xtra. “Any athlete who has had any sort of competition taken away from them, either through COVID-19, injury or anything else, they understand how it feels to have that pulled away at the last second.”

The new USPA guidelines unveiled on Jan. 1 are just the latest instance of U.S. sporting associations limiting the ability of trans athletes to compete. Under its new rules, trans powerlifters are only eligible to compete in “non-tested” USPA events, referring to a category in which competitors are not required to undergo drug testing. While competing federation USA Powerlifting requires all lifters to prove they are not using steroids or other performance-enhancement drugs, USPA does not.

USPA’s updated rulebook goes a step further by banning competitors currently taking “any hormone, regardless of medical necessity or choice” from partaking in tested meets. These regulations don’t just apply to trans athletes but also include women using birth control pills or hormonal IUDs and patients prescribed hormone treatments to manage their diabetes, among others.

The guidelines were met with condemnation by ...

https://xtramagazine.com/power/powerlif ... res-217505

Not all the transphobic assholes are in the US ...

Trans teen scared to leave home after being relentlessly bullied by school kids
A trans 13-year-old has been left too terrified to leave his home after months of relentless bullying.
JOSH MILTON

Riley Rogers lives in fear of the physical and verbal harassment he faces when leaving his home in Denton, Manchester, and of the cyber-bullying he faces when he scrolls on his phone or opens his laptop.

In yet another example of Britain’s slow slide back into anti-LGBT+ hostility, Rogers began facing a wave of ...

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/08/t ... ey-rogers/

What do they know? They didn't go to YouTube law school.

Hundreds of top swimmers rally behind Lia Thomas: ‘Do not let politics hurt athletes’
VIC PARSONS

More than 300 swimmers have rallied behind trans college star Lia Thomas, saying “political pressure” shouldn’t be allowed to “compromise the safety and wellbeing of college athletes”.

In an open letter of support for Lia Thomas sent to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), 322 current and former NCAA, Team USA and international swimmers and divers said they “support and welcome transgender and non-binary athletes in our sport”.

“There are very real, documented threats to women’s swimming, including but not limited to rampant sexual abuse, and an inequitable number of women’s coaches within USA Swimming,” the open letter says.

“The NCAA also faces its own deep and historical challenges with gender equity, as outlined in the detailed report released last year focused on the stark differences between NCAA D1 men’s and women’s basketball. We can and should address these challenges.

“Transgender women are not and have never been a part of these challenges to women’s swimming, and sidelining them from sport does nothing to protect women athletes.”

This season is ...

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/15/l ... inclusion/

Texas parents sue after being investigated for trans child’s care
Russell Falcon

Less than one week after a directive from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to pursue child abuse investigations for parents who help their transgender children get gender-affirming care, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is doing it.

On Tuesday, the parents of a 16 year-old trans child filed a lawsuit after they were informed they were being investigated by DFPS last week. Megan A. Mooney, a Houston-based licensed psychologist, also filed the suit.

“Their actions caused terror and anxiety among ...

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/texas-p ... ilds-care/

‘Investigate Without Exception’: Abbott’s Anti-Trans Order Unconstitutional Judge Rules – Questions of Corruption Remain
David Badash

Texas District Court Judge Amy Clark Meachum Friday evening declared unconstitutional Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order manding state agencies investigate anyone involved in or facilitating medically-necessary gender-affirming care, including parents, for “child abuse” and criminally charged if possible.

Judge Meacham issued a temporary injunction, declaring the order, The New York Times reports, “had been improperly adopted and violated the State Constitution,” She scheduled a trial date for July.

But in a stunning development the Times adds that child abuse investigators “have been told to prioritize cases involving the parents of transgender children and to investigate them without exception, after the state’s governor ordered certain medical care to be treated as abuse, an investigations supervisor said during the hearing.”

That news comes after a report earlier this month in Forbes that found ...

https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.c ... on-remain/

Teacher of the year suspended for showing students a picture of her fiancée wins $100,000 settlement

(CNN)A Texas art teacher who was placed on administrative leave after talking about "her future wife" in class hopes her settlement with a school district will change the lives of other LGBTQ people.

Stacy Bailey, who was on paid leave, reached a $100,000 settlement with the Mansfield Independent School District last week, her attorney said.

More----> https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/27/us/teach ... ment-trnd/

Glad to see this one ....