Category Archives: Transgender

Brad Battin says Liberals ousted Greens in Prahran by ‘listening to locals’ – as it happened

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Coalition backs healthcare package

Gallagher welcomed the opposition backing Labor’s package for women’s health this morning. She said on ABC Insiders:

We know Peter Dutton wanders around saying he’s going to cut a whole range of things. He’s clear he sees a lot of our investments in Medicare as wasteful spending. But these are really good investments into women’s health. And it will make a difference for millions of people across the country including women who are going through men who really have felt left behind by the health system and hopefully these new measures will address all of those issues.

It’s come down quite obviously for women across the country, the use of contraception, going through different stages of your life, including menopause, that these are areas that either haven’t been addressed for decades, or haven’t been met appropriately through the Medicare system. So, you know, we have landed the hospital deal, keep investing in the public health system, we have got a lot of initiatives about strengthening Medicare and this builds on that.

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Thousands march at trans youth rallies opposing Queensland puberty blockers ban, organiser says

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‘A lot of parents are feeling really angry and frustrated with the government,’ director of Trans Justice Project says

Thousands of people attended rallies across Australia on Saturday to show solidarity with transgender youth and their families, after the Queensland government’s decision to pause essential healthcare for trans minors.

Twenty rallies were held, including a crowd of 5,000 gathering in both Brisbane and Melbourne, 2500 in Sydney and more than 200 in Cairns, lead organiser Jackie Turner said.

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Queensland’s puberty blockers ban has potential to cause harm, sex discrimination commissioner says

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Anna Cody raises concerns over halt to hormone treatments for gender dysphoria as youth service labels it ‘discriminatory’

The Queensland government’s ban on puberty blockers for new patients seeking treatment for gender issues is “discriminatory”, according to the state’s only dedicated LGBTQI youth service, as the national sex discrimination commissioner warns the decision may harm young people.

Sex discrimination commissioner, Anna Cody, said the decision “has the potential to harm the physical and mental wellbeing of children in Queensland who are currently awaiting care”.

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Mexicans make Emilia Pérez parody poking fun at French stereotypes

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Spoof fires back at supposed inauthenticity of Oscar-tipped screen musical with a song-and-dance tale of boulangeries at war

The war of words between Mexico and France over trans gangster musical Emilia Pérez has heated up even more after the release of a spoof film called Johanne Sacreblu poking fun at French stereotypes.

Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard and which is up for the best picture Oscar along with a best actress nomination for its star Karla Sofia Gascón, is the story of a cartel boss who hires a lawyer (played by Zoe Saldana) to enable a gender transition, and has attracted much criticism in Mexico, where it is supposedly set.

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Queensland halts prescription of puberty blockers and hormones for children with gender dysphoria

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Pause comes as Crisafulli government launches independent review after reports gender-affirming hormones were given without proper consultation

Children with gender dysphoria will be denied puberty blockers as a state government reviews hormone therapies for minors.

The Queensland government launched the investigation after reports gender-affirming hormones had been given to children as young as 12 without authorised care.

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Gender dysphoria diagnoses among children in England rise fiftyfold over 10 years

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Study of GP records finds prevalence rose from one in 60,000 in 2011 to one in 1,200 in 2021 – but numbers still low overall

The number of children and young people in England with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria recorded by a GP has risen fiftyfold over 10 years, researchers have found, though numbers are still relatively small.

The growing number of birth-registered females seeking referrals to gender clinics has raised concerns in recent years, with tensions over how best to tackle gender dysphoria in children resulting in the Cass review last year.

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Tory and Reform MPs accused of ‘weaponising trauma’ of grooming victims, as Farage calls for inquiry into Pakistani men – UK politics live

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Prime minister told Commons any new inquiry into child abuse would delay progress however spokesperson says he has not ruled one out

Reform UK has also tabled a reasoned amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill motion tonight. It says:

That this house declines to give a second reading to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill because the secretary of state for the Home Department has not launched a UK-wide public inquiry into grooming gangs and has not committed to updating Members of this House every quarter on the progress of the inquiry.

The Conservatives are using the victims of this scandal as a political football.

The Conservatives alongside Reform, goaded along by Elon Musk will be voting for a motion which will not secure a national inquiry for victims of child sexual abuse, but instead it would kill these crucial child protection measures completely.

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Curbs on transgender rights were proposed for Australia’s 2004 Marriage Act, cabinet papers show

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John Howard’s government legislated that marriage must be ‘the union of a man and a woman’, but excluded any reference to birth gender

John Howard was given the option of adding extra words to his 2004 Marriage Act amendment that would have limited transgender people’s ability to marry by making eligibility based on gender at birth, but chose not to pursue it.

Cabinet papers from 2004, released by the National Archives, show the Howard government was advised it could go beyond the formal definition of marriage it ultimately enshrined in law, and stipulate that a couple must have been born male and female respectively to be allowed to marry.

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Transgender woman wins record payout in China after electroshock treatment

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Case marks first time a trans person has successfully challenged use of such conversion practices in country

A transgender woman in China has won a record amount of compensation from a hospital that subjected her to several sessions of electroshock conversion practices without her consent.

Changli county people’s court in Qinhuangdao, a city in Hebei, approved a 60,000 yuan (£6,552) award to Ling’er, a 28-year-old performance artist who was recorded male at birth but identifies as a woman. LGBTQ+ activists described the award, approved on 31 October, as a victory for trans rights in China.

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Trans children’s charity told to rewrite guidance on puberty blockers

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Charity Commission investigation also said there had been mismanagement within Mermaids

A charity supporting gender-questioning young people has been told to rewrite its guidance about the risks of puberty blockers, after a two-year Charity Commission investigation, which also concluded that there had been mismanagement within the organisation.

However, the investigation found that the charity, Mermaids, had appropriate safeguarding policies in place and there was no evidence that it provided medical advice to children, which would have been outside its remit.

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Georgian president refuses to sign anti-LGBTQ+ rights bill into law

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Salome Zourabichvili opts not to advance bans on same-sex marriages and on adoptions by same-sex couples

Georgia’s president has refused to sign into law a bill aimed at severely curtailing LGBTQ+ rights, weeks after the controversial legislation was passed by the country’s parliament.

Last month Georgia’s parliament was heavily criticised after it approved the legislation, which sets out sweeping bans on same-sex marriages, adoptions by same-sex couples and curbs on gender-affirming treatments.

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London’s fourth plinth artwork aims to ‘unite trans community around the world’

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Trafalgar Square piece by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles is made of masks depicting faces of transgender and non-binary people

A towering cuboid made of more than 300 masks depicting the faces of transgender and non-binary people, this year’s fourth plinth artwork, has been described as a piece designed to “unite the trans community around the world”.

The Mexican artist Teresa Margolles was flanked by members of her country’s trans community as Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) was unwrapped in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday.

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Sale of chemical used in suicides of three transgender women should be restricted, Victorian inquest finds

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Sodium nitrite has been used in dozens of deaths in the state and federal government should take action, coroner says

The sale of a chemical used by three transgender women who took their own lives should be restricted by the federal government, the Victorian coroner says, after an inquest heard it has been used in dozens of suicides in the state.

Victoria’s coroners court last year held an inquest into the suicides of five transgender women who died between 2020 and 2021, including that of Matt Byrne, 25, who took her life after a botched back yard surgery.

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‘Witch-hunt’: BMA tries to identify who leaked planned opposition to Cass review

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Doctors’ union has been in turmoil since it voted to in effect reject findings of transgender healthcare report

The British Medical Association (BMA) has been accused of undertaking a “witch-hunt” to try to identify which senior figure leaked that it was set to oppose the landmark Cass review on transgender healthcare.

It has warned its ruling council’s 69 members that whoever tipped off the media about its stance should own up or face their non-cooperation being seen as “an act of dishonesty”. Critics said its action is “disgraceful”, “Orwellian” and “witch-hunt-like”.

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Eggs and water balloons thrown as protesters face off at Women Will Speak rally in Melbourne

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Victoria police said 20 protesters were outnumbered by 150 from another group, which hurled ‘water balloons at the speakers’

Projectiles were thrown at speakers and one person arrested as protesters and counter-protesters faced off outside Parliament House in Melbourne on Saturday.

About 20 people initially attended the planned #WomenWILLSpeak rally that commenced at about 11am, Victoria police said in a statement.

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NHS plans review of adult gender services following Cass criticisms

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Workers in adult gender clinics allege ‘chaotic’ administration and ‘out of control’ waiting lists

The NHS has set out plans for a review into the safety of adult gender services, in response to detailed concerns raised by the author of the Cass report on gender care for children and young people.

Dr Hilary Cass, the leading consultant paediatrician, listed 16 separate points of concern about the quality of treatment being offered to adults with gender dysphoria in a strongly worded letter to NHS England.

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Transfemicide becomes a crime in a ‘watershed’ moment for Mexico City

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Galvanized by the 2016 murder of trans sex worker Paola Buenrostro, activists applaud law as critical for feeling safe

When the trans sex worker Paola Buenrostro was killed by a client in Mexico City, her friend Kenya Cuevas grabbed the man to stop him fleeing and recorded the scene as police arrived amid sirens, screams and red and blue lights.

Despite the footage and witness testimonies, a judge considered there was insufficient evidence to hold the man and released him after 48 hours, since which time he has been on the run.

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Review dismisses claims youth suicides rose after NHS curbed puberty blockers

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UK government adviser’s report says claims not supported by data and could prompt under-18s to take own life

A government-ordered review has dismissed claims that suicide rates in young people with gender dysphoria have risen sharply since the NHS restricted access to puberty-blocking drugs.

A report by the government’s adviser on suicide prevention also found that the claims – made by the campaign group the Good Law Project – were not supported by data and could prompt children under the age of 18 to take their own life.

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Wes Streeting expected to tell parliament why he backs puberty blockers ban

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Health secretary understood to be ‘minded’ to make ban permanent as Labour MPs criticise move to retain Tory policy

Wes Streeting is expected to tell MPs his reasons for supporting a ban on puberty blockers being prescribed to children for gender-based reasons, amid discontent in his own party.

After growing criticism among some Labour MPs, the health secretary used social media to defend his backing of an emergency ban on the drugs’ use, imposed by his Conservative predecessor Victoria Atkins, which is being challenged in the high court.

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Family of missing woman in Bahamas shielded trans identity over fears of bias

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Family of Taylor Casey, missing since 19 June, say Bahamian officials left them with ‘more questions than answers’

The family of Taylor Casey, a 42-year-old transgender woman who went missing in the Bahamas, said they initially shielded the media from her gender identity because they feared it would undermine efforts to find her.

Casey, who lives in Chicago, went missing on 19 June while on a month-long yoga retreat on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

Her family has since worked to involve city, state and federal officials in the search for her – and said Bahamian officials left them with “more questions than answers”.

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