Trans Formations Project Newsletter ∙ 9/16/22
Hello everyone! It is 9-16-2022, and it’s time for another weekly wrap up of things that are happening with laws and policies affecting trans people in the U.S.
As a reminder, there’s still an action folks can take this week as far as existing legislation is concerned: the ACA Section 1557, which is the section that (on paper) prohibits Medicaid from denying gender-affirmative care (but in practice, this is not absolute), is subject to a motion to expand its interpretations to make banning said care harder. There’s a public comment period on this open until October 3rd, and if you want to submit a comment to help see this become official, here’s how. And just so you know, we at the TransFormations Project (TFP) are partners of the #ProtectTransHealth campaign, and they’ve produced a social media toolkit that you can access here for more information about how to help with this!
The Thing We Won This Week
So, this week has been a bit of a roller coaster in terms of things that have occurred. That said, there is the good news that KiwiFarms is still dead and its attempts to resuscitate itself have thusfar failed. Other good news is that despite trying, Gardner Edgerton School District of Southwest Kansas City, Missouri did not manage to pass a bathroom ban on trans students–however, they have not abandoned the push, but merely tabled it for another day.
What the Heck Happened This Week?!
We’d say “let’s address the elephant in the room,” but this room is packed with multiple elephants. First, there has been an arrest made in connection to bomb threats against Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), made after the hospital was profiled in right-wing news and falsely accused of performing genital surgery on minors. At least that’s been handled? Yet, threats to hospitals are becoming a more common occurrence these days. Keep eyes out on the news as these continue to escalate.
Second, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) released the 8th version of its Standards of Care (SOC) this week. The release of this document (particularly its chapter on Adolescents) was awaited with trepidation by trans scholars, activists, scholar-activists, and laypeople alike given prior associations between its lead author and conversion therapists, as well as the draft chapter’s credence toward discredited pseudoscience (e.g., rapid-onset gender dysphoria; studies of r/DeTrans) and use of unclear, ambiguous language that could be viewed as ceding ground to conversion therapists. We will have a more detailed summary of what we make of the 8th Version of the Standards of Care and what it might mean for U.S. policy next week (particularly the Adolescent and Child chapters) but our initial concerns are that the specific age criteria seem quite arbitrary and inconsistent (e.g, HRT being initiated at age 14 is long after the onset of puberty for most youth; chest surgery and implants have inconsistent age cutoffs in the recommendations, meanwhile the guidance for puberty blockers is rather sound), that the language used is equivocal and lends too much credence to discredited pseudoscience or ill-founded studies, and (perhaps most importantly) a disregard for trans perspectives and an unwillingness to engage with trans researchers. For example: they cite (and only lightly criticize) Lisa Littman’s infamous paper on “Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria,” but do not cite the work of Avery Everhart, Elle Lett, and Arjee Restar, who PROVIDED the “criticism” of Littman’s pseudoscience that WPATH alludes to. While caution is understandable, WPATH SOC8’s efforts to stand against conversion therapy are (in our view) undermined by their caution and equivocation to an extent. More on this next week!
Now, in terms of sadder news on school districts, Jefferson City, Missouri’s Blair Oaks School Board unanimously voted to repeal a policy that protected trans students and their right to social transition, in a painful reminder that no matter what rights we have, they can be overturned, so vigilance must be practiced.
Speaking of vigilance, all eyes on MONTANA. Montana has had a roller coaster of a week: first, Montana Health officials violated an ongoing court agreement by issuing a health policy that permanently banned trans people in Montana from changing their birth certificates, even with the order of a Judge. The Judge in charge of Montana’s ongoing case was decidedly unamused, and immediately struck down this policy. However, Montana health officials have stated their intent to just straight-up ignore the Judge! As of yet, it’s unclear whether or not they’ll actually get away with this, so, all eyes on Montana, because if they CAN get away with it, other red states will try.
Speaking of states trying nonsense: Ohio’s State Board of Education is meeting to attempt to reject Title IX protections for queer and trans students on September 20th. Local groups have issued a call to action here. READ IT.
And, as a reminder, Florida is still at work on its rules aiming to ban transition. The time, and date, of the meeting to argue for such rules is September 30th (details here). If you’re planning to show up and protest, make due preparations now.