The Scythian Transgender Priestesses

The YouTube video titled “Exploring the remains of an ancient trans priestess” delves into the archaeological discovery of a burial site believed to belong to a Scythian transgender priestess from approximately 2,000 years ago.

The video examines the grave goods found at the site, providing insights into the individual’s societal role and the cultural context of gender diversity in ancient times.

Sophie, who has made many videos on the the history of transgender lives and culture, offers a well-researched narrative, shedding light on historical instances of transgender identities and their recognition in past societies.

Sophie has actually made several videos on Scythian enarei (also referred to as enaree or anaray) priestesses.

Here is a general overview:

The Scythians were a group of ancient nomadic peoples who inhabited the steppes of Eurasia, particularly the region stretching from modern-day Ukraine and southern Russia to parts of Central Asia, from around the 9th century BCE to the 4th century CE.

Known for their exceptional skills in horseback riding, archery, and warfare, the Scythians played a significant role in the history and cultural exchanges of the ancient world.

Scythian tiara depicting the goddess Artimpasa surrounded by priestesses, including an enarei on the right.

The enarei were associated with an orgiastic cult dedicated to the goddess Artimpasa and the Scythians’ ancestral Snake-Legged Goddess.

These deities were heavily influenced by Near Eastern fertility goddesses. The enarei’s rituals combined indigenous Scythian shamanistic practices, which were similar to those of Siberian peoples, with elements imported from Levantine religions.

Transgender Travel Guide: Bathroom Bans in the US

Pride & Precedents has made an overview over transgender bathroom bans in the US.

Data from January 2025. The main report (link below) will be updated.

Read the whole report here.

Transcend Freedom to Love

“Sandra Chen Weinstein, an award-winning Taiwanese American photographer, unveils her latest photo book, a powerful and intimate collection of images that challenge assumptions about LGBTQ+ life in Taiwan, Japan, Iceland, Australia and the US.”

The Guardian: ‘I had to transcend my fear’: LGBTQ+ lives – in pictures

400 American Civil Rights Organizations Urge Congress to Reject Trans Athlete Ban

The Hill reports that more than 400 American LGBTQ and civil rights organizations have urged Congress to reject proposed legislation that would bar transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

Led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the coalition argues that such a ban would harm women and girls and undermine civil rights for all students.

The proposed legislation, known as the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, seeks to amend Title IX to define sex based solely on reproductive biology and genetics at birth, effectively excluding transgender female athletes from women’s sports. The bill has garnered support from 97 Republican lawmakers.

Opponents, including the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD, contend that the bill’s language is discriminatory and could lead to the exclusion of cisgender women and girls with intersex traits. They argue that instead of addressing genuine issues in women’s athletics, such as unequal facilities and resources, the bill targets transgender individuals under the guise of protecting women’s sports.

The coalition emphasizes that inclusive policies are essential for the well-being of all students and warns that marking some students as outcasts fosters an environment where no student feels safe or included. They call on Congress to focus on strategies that genuinely support women’s athletics without discriminating against transgender athletes.

From the letter:

“Targeting and excluding transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students from participation in school programming, including athletics programs, alongside their cisgender peers is harmful to all students and undermines the learning environment for everyone. If schools mark some students effectively as outcasts, they foster an environment where no student is included and safe.”

More here: More than 400 civil rights groups call on Congress to reject transgender athlete ban

Press Release: 400+ Civil Rights Groups Reject Anti-Trans Legislation, Demand Congress Vote NO on H.R. 28

The full text of the letter.

Photo: Getty

Meta’s new moderation policies will harm LGBTQ people,Judd Legum says

In a recent interview with Uncloseted Media, Judd Legum, founder of the accountability journalism newsletter Popular Information, discussed Meta’s recent policy changes under CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

(For more about the new Meta policy, see our article Facebook, Threads and Instagram open the gates to anti-LGBTQ haters.)

Legum highlighted that Meta has eliminated its fact-checking program and introduced guidelines permitting users to label LGBTQ individuals as mentally ill due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Legum noted that the fact-checking program, initiated around 2018-2019, was inherently flawed due to minimal investment and the inclusion of publications with questionable records, such as The Daily Caller.

He emphasized that the program served more to shield Meta from criticism over misinformation than to effectively curb it. The decision to terminate the program, accompanied by rhetoric aligning with anti-fact-checking sentiments prevalent in certain political circles, signals a cultural shift within Meta towards right-leaning ideologies.

Legum said:

The other part of this announcement that really stuck out and underscores that, was Zuckerberg saying that they’re going to continue some content moderation about certain topics, but they’re moving their content moderation team to Texas because Zuckerberg says that Texas is a place where people have less concern about bias, which is also something that Musk talks about a lot, that Texas is the greatest place. He’s moved the headquarters of Tesla to Texas. He moved the headquarters of X to Texas. And that somehow is this neutral place and California is just full of biased people. And so all of that is pretty ridiculous on its face. The only way that it’s preferable is if you are trying to pander to the right.

Legum expressed concern over Meta’s new guidelines that allow users to accuse LGBTQ individuals of mental illness based on their identity. He warned that such policies could exacerbate hate speech and discrimination on the platform, especially with the upcoming inauguration of President Trump.

Read the interview here.

Indiana Clergy Oppose Anti-Trans Legislation

A grassroots coalition of 87 clergy from various faith traditions in Indiana has issued an open letter urging the state government to stop passing anti-transgender legislation.

The letter, addressed to the Governor and legislators, emphasizes the moral duty to protect vulnerable communities, including transgender individuals, and criticizes the recent wave of anti-trans bills.

These include laws restricting gender-affirming medical care, amendments to identification documents, and school support for transgender students, as well as interfering with parental decisions about medical care.

Rev. Jeff Miner of LifeJourney Church highlighted that many faith leaders oppose these measures, challenging the misconception that religious communities uniformly support restrictions on transgender rights.

Bishop Cate Waynick of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis (photo) underscored the need for empathy and charity over prejudice and fear, while Brandon Wallace of North United Methodist Church described trans youth as profoundly kind and deserving of equal rights.

The coalition vows to continue its advocacy, gathering more clergy support and mobilizing faith communities across Indiana to resist further legislative attacks. This movement marks the beginning of a broader faith-based effort to protect transgender rights in Indiana.

Press release with letter and more.

How the New York Times failed the transgender community

Billie Sweeney, a trans journalist writing for Assigned Media, has written an interesting article on the New York Times’ increasingly anti-trans slant in its coverage.

Sweeney, who transitioned while working at the NYT, recounts her experiences advocating for fair representation of transgender issues. She resigned early in 2024 after becoming disillusioned with the paper’s leadership, which she claims displayed hostility towards the trans community.

Sweeney highlights a shift in NYT’s editorial tone, particularly after A.G. Sulzberger became publisher in 2018. Critics argue that this shift was part of a broader strategy to attract conservative subscribers, though this remains unproven.

Sweeney recalls being invited to advise on transgender issues and recruitment efforts, including meetings with top management. Despite appearing committed to diversity, the NYT’s attempts to hire trans journalists yielded no hires. Recruitment efforts, though seemingly sincere, faced challenges such as concerns about candidates’ perceived lack of “objectivity” when reporting on trans issues.

Trans activists and contributors, like Riki Wilchins, note that NYT’s coverage of trans issues has deteriorated since 2015, with a growing presence of anti-trans opinions in its editorial section. Sweeney suggests management’s fears of bias from trans reporters were unfounded, pointing to journalism ethics that value lived experience in reporting.

Over and over again we see that the myth about complete objectivity and balance leads to news media forgetting about fact checking and critical social analysis. The truth is not found somewhere between fascists and the people they oppress.

Read the article here.

Billie Sweeney’s web site.

Photo: mizoula

Facebook, Threads and Instagram open the gates to anti-LGBTQ haters

Facebook, Instsgram and Threads now give transphobic and homophobic haters close to free reign on their platforms.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Threads and Instagram, has announced a significant shift in its content moderation strategy by ending its third-party fact-checking program and introducing a community-based model similar to X’s Community Notes.

Meta is using anti-trans terms

The company will also allow users to invalidate trans and gay people using mental illness narratives.

A Meta representative said:

“We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird.’”

In other words: Meta will now allow for hateful content targeting both trans and gay people. Note also the use of the term “transgenderism”. No one, expect, transphobic TERFs and right wingers, use the term “transgenderism”.

Meta will also end its policy of downplaying political content in its algorithms, ensuring that more anti-LGBTQ propaganda will be visible in the feeds of users. And with no fact-checking, we would guess anything can get through.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that this change aims to “get back to our roots around free expression,” emphasizing a reduction in censorship and errors associated with previous moderation efforts.

A moral collapse

Zuckerberg is now down on his knees worshipping Trump and the MAGA-movement. This represents a complete ethical collapse on his part.

Critics argue that relying on community-driven moderation may lead to the spread of misinformation, as the effectiveness of such systems in accurately assessing content is still under scrutiny.

Sure, but the main takeaway her us that Meta now signals to the world that the company thinks it is OK for transphobes and homophobes to harass and invalidate LGBTQ people, their sexualities, their identities and their safety on these platforms.

This will also, for most LGBTQ people, mean that they will have to use these platforms without any defense against haters. It is not that they were not filled with hate speech already. The point here is that LGBTQ-people could always try to use the codes of conduct to reign in the most active bullies. No more.

It seems to us that the only main social media platforms that tries to protect LGBTQ people are Bluesky and Mastodon.

Fewer than 1 in 1,000 US adolescents receive gender-affirming medications

A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics, which found that fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents with commercial insurance received gender-affirming medications, such as puberty blockers or hormones, over a five-year period.

The study analyzed a large insurance claims database and found that only 926 adolescents received puberty blockers and 1,927 received hormones from 2018 to 2022.

The findings suggest that the use of these medications is not as widespread as some might believe.

The study also highlighted that no patients under age 12 were prescribed hormones, indicating cautious medical practices.

“I hope that our paper cools heads on this issue and ensures that the public is getting a true sense of the number of people who are accessing this care,” lead author Landon Hughes, a Harvard University public health researcher, says.

Fewer than 1 in 1,000 US adolescents receive gender-affirming medications, researchers find

Gender-Affirming Medications Among Transgender Adolescents in the US, 2018-2022