Photos of the Power of Trans pride and Unity

Florence Law offers a refreshing look at solidarity, freedom and acceptance through an LGBTQ+ lens over at Gay Times.

Gay Times has teamed up with Skittles, Getty Images and Queer Britain to find 10 emerging queer photographers and help them break into the world of arts, media or advertising.  One of the winners, Florence Law, was on the ground at London Trans+ Pride 2023 to capture this spirit of the event.

She says:

“I loved my experience shooting London Trans+ Pride 2023; it was a day filled with love, Queer Joy, and I felt honoured to be both a photographer and a supporter participating in the parade. The photos I managed to capture hold power and meaning, and I hope they truly depict the scale and beautiful diversity of the march this year.“

More here!

You can see her whole Trans Pride portfolio here.

Kenya: When you have to sleep on the ground in a refugee camp with anti-LGBTQ gangs

We wrote about Nakafeero and her crew of lesbian activists helping queer and trans refugees from Uganda back in May.

They take care of some 100 queer and transgender refugees and their kids living in the so-called Block 6 of the camp. Yeah, it sounds like a term out of a prison movie, and in some way this is a kind of prison. Still, it is safer than staying in Uganda, which recently implemented severe anti-LGBTQ legislation, inspired by American right wing fanatics.

These refugees face a lot of challenges, though. They do not get enough food, and lack money for clothes, medicine, clean drinking water, hygiene products and other essentials.

The most urgent problem right now, however, seems to be the lack of shelter. It is hard to believe, but they have to sleep outside on the ground, without proper shelter, and without a fence to protect them against the homophobic and transphobic gangs that threaten LGBTQ-people.

Kenya has anti-LGBTQ laws as well, so there is no help to get from the local police.

According to a post on their fundrazr site, they want to use donations to buy and build a fence around their camp.

What can we learn from all of this? Homophobia, transphobia and anti-LGBTQ activism are global phenomena. This means that queer and trans people (and their friends) need to help each other in the face of bigotry.

More:

• You can donate to Nakafeero’s LGBTQ refugees here
• LGBTQA-refugees in Kenya celebrate Pride
• A lesbian refugee from Uganda is doing her best to assist LGBT people living in a refugee camp in Kenya. You can help her.
• Report from a young Ugandan lesbian refugee in Kenya

Puberty blockers have almost universally been shown to result in positive outcomes and to be safe

Over at CDL Lost247365 answers a question about the safety of puberty blockers in the treatment of transgender kids, and provides some really useful references to relevant science papers.

She writes:

Puberty blockers have almost universally been shown to result in positive outcomes and to be safe.

QUOTE: “Studies reviewed had samples ranging from 1 to 192 (N = 543). The majority (71%) of participants in these studies required a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to qualify for puberty suppression and were administered medication during Tanner stages 2 through 4. Positive outcomes were decreased suicidality in adulthood, improved affect and psychological functioning, and improved social life. Adverse factors associated with use were changes in body composition, slow growth, decreased height velocity, decreased bone turnover, cost of drugs, and lack of insurance coverage. One study met all quality criteria and was judged ‘excellent’, five studies met the majority of quality criteria resulting in 'good’ ratings, whereas three studies were judged fair and had serious risks of bias.”

https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/news-r … -blockers/

QUOTE: “Researchers found a 60% decrease in moderate and severe depression and 73% decrease in suicidality among transgender and non-binary youth who received puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones over a 12-month period, according to a study abstract presented during the virtual American Academy of Pediatrics 2021 National Conference & Exhibition.”

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics … redirected

QUOTE: “This is the first study in which associations between access to pubertal suppression and suicidality are examined. There is a significant inverse association between treatment with pubertal suppression during adolescence and lifetime suicidal ideation among transgender adults who ever wanted this treatment. These results align with past literature, suggesting that pubertal suppression for transgender adolescents who want this treatment is associated with favorable mental health outcomes.”

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/land … cestitle70

QUOTE: Gender incongruence in children and adolescents is complex, and medical treatment raises several ethical considerations. Clinical decision making has been fostered by research efforts, but there are still substantial knowledge gaps that warrant examination to inform best clinical practice (panel 4). The limited available evidence suggests that puberty suppression, when clearly indicated, is reasonably safe. The few studies that have examined the psychological effects of suppressing puberty, as the first stage before possible future commencement of CSH therapy, have shown benefits.

All of this should also show that puberty blockers are not experimental and are life saving:

QUOTE: “Puberty delaying medications are currently provided off label to adolescents affected by gender dysphoria and this particular use cannot be investigated by a RCT. We have shown that this does not mean they are experimental drugs or are provided experimentally. Whether or not these (or even approved drugs) are ethically prescribed depends on whether they are likely to serve the patient’s health interests based on the evidence available at the time of prescription.

"The published literature provides insight into the likely benefits of GnRHa. In summary, they reduce the patient’s dysphoria (Cohen-Kettenis & Pfäfflin, 2003, p. 171; Kreukels & Cohen-Kettenis, 2011, p. 467), reduce the invasiveness of future surgery (for example, mastectomy in trans men; treatment for facial and body hair, thyroid chondroplasty to improve appearance and cricothyroid approximation to raise the pitch of the voice in trans women) (Cohen-Kettenis & Pfäfflin, 2003, p. 171); GnRHa is correlated with improved psychosocial adaptation (Cohen-Kettenis & Pfäfflin, 2003, p. 171; Kreukels & Cohen-Kettenis, 2011, p. 467) and reduced suicidal ideation and attempts. Hembree noted increased suicidal ideation where blockers were not given (Hembree, 2011; see further, Imbimbo et al., 2009; Kreukels & Cohen-Kettenis, 2011; Murad et al., 2010; Spack, 2008).”

Some people think that puberty blockers might cause kids to think they are transgender and convince them to wrongfully go on to take HRT. The research shows this not to be true:

QUOTE: “In this cohort study of TGD adolescents, GnRHa use was not associated with increased subsequent GAH use. These findings suggest that clinicians can offer the benefits of GnRHa treatment without concern for increasing rates of future GAH use.”

Puberty blockers are in fact a wonder drug. Extremely safe and they can prevent trans kids from experiencing irreversible changes to their body due to the wrong puberty while they reach an age where they are old enough to consent. Similarly, they prevent confused Cis Children (who make up only about 2% of all the kids pursuing puberty blockers) from making a mistake that would create irreversible changes to their body as well. Meaning that this drug helps both trans and cis kids!

You can read the whole post here.

Hari Nef gives us a transgender Barbie, and that matters because…

Right wing sexists are going crazy over the new Barbie movie, mainly because it is transforming the concept of Barbie from being a sexy airhead to an independent feminist with agency. However, the fact that the actor playing Dr. Barbie is transgender does not help.

And that tells us that even if the movie is clearly part of the the American business machinery of consumerism and profits, Barbie has had a positive impact on how many Americans see the role of women, trans women included. The fact that Ben Shapiro get so angry proves this.

We suspect that one of the reason so many misgynists and sexists get annoyed is that the movie, especially in the first part, presents Barbie Land as a matriarchy, i.e. a world ruled by women and where the Kens are reduced to “beaching at the beach”. This reverse image of our world makes the injustice of the patriarchy all the more glaring.

Hari Neff wrote about the role over at Instagram:

Barbie’s the standard; she’s The Girl; she’s certainly THE doll. Me and my girlfriends–okay, yeah, me and my other transgender girlfriends– we started calling ourselves “the dolls” a couple of years ago, though the phrase stretches back into the language of our foremothers in the ballroom scene. “The Dolls.” Maybe it’s a bid to ratify our femininity, to smile and sneer at the standards we’re held to as women.

It’s a joke, of course; we throw our voices: “the do-o-lls!” But underneath the word “doll” is the shape of a woman who is not quite a woman–recognizable as such, but still a fake. “Doll” is fraught, glamorous; she is, and she isn’t. We call ourselves “the dolls” in the face of everything we know we are, never will be, hope to be. We yell the word because the word matters. And no doll matters more than Barbie.’

The movie makes no point of Dr. Barbie being transgender. She is simply treated the same way as all the other Barbies, also by all the Kens.

Over at The Collider Lisa Laman writes:

In her Barbie performance, “doll” Hari Nef indulges in her gifts for comic timing and committing to extremely absurd mannerisms (the latter quality hysterically featured in her intense depiction of faux-vomiting) throughout her role as Dr. Barbie. Even better, it’s a role that doesn’t force Nef to occupy harmful stereotypes that dominate many roles trans folks are cast in. 

If you haven’t seen it already, you might want to watch Barbie. It is not a perfect film, but it is extremely original, definitely though provoking and also entertaining. And it has normalized the term “the patriarchy”.

Pink News reports:

//Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday (28 July) with host Joe Scarborough, [actor Jamie Lee] Curtis slammed the “demonisation” of trans people as “awful and terrifying”.

“This life is about love. Being a parent is about love, and I love Ruby. Love her.” Curtis said.

Ruby Guest came out as a trans woman in 2020, and she and Curtis gave an interview about their journey in October 2021.

Curtis told Morning Joe: “People have said, ‘You’re so great to accept her!’ [I say] what are you talking about?

“This is my daughter. This human being has come to me and said, ‘This is who I am.’ And my job is to say, ‘Welcome home.’ I will fight and defend her right to exist to anyone who claims that she doesn’t.”//

You can listen to what she said about her and Ruby in this video:

Photo: Instagram: @jamieleecurtis

Costa Coffee puts up mural celebrating transgender man

A Costa Coffee mural depicting a trans-masculine person with top surgery scars is a “breath of fresh air” in a time when trans rights are under attack, says artist Fox Fisher to Pink News.

Costa, Britain’s largest coffee chain, explains that they “want everyone that interacts with us to experience the inclusive environment that we create, to encourage people to feel welcomed, free and unashamedly proud to be themselves. The mural, in its entirety, showcases and celebrates inclusively.”

The fact that they do this in this year of transphobic hysteria gives them credit.

Needless to say transphobes are calling for a boycott of Costa, using the opportunity to present life saving top surgery as a mutilation.

Eli Erlick writes over at twitter: Even if you hate trans people, how do you think cis cancer survivors feel when you call their mastectomy scars “mutilation”?

Fox Fisher puts it this way:

“To some, it might seem that top surgery scars are horrific, but to those who have it, it’s a sign of liberation.

“For me, having top surgery 12 years ago was an act of self-love and I’m grateful every day for taking the steps to give myself more euphoria on a daily basis, every time I pull on a t-shirt without having to wear a binder.”

How did a biologist like Richard Dawkins end up dismissing real science, becoming an ally of transphobes?

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins ha published a podcast where he has a friendly chat with the transphobic TERF Helen Joyce regarding the identities of transgender women.

Dawkins find it “distinctly weird that people can simply declare that ‘I am a woman, though I have a penis’”. He sees this as “a strange distortion of language.”

He backs the anti-trans gospel of reducing gender to biological sex, while defining biological sex on the basis of X and Y chromosomes.

The more he speaks the clearer it becomes that he has not read up on studies of gender incongruence and gender dysphoria, he does not understand contemporary science on social and cultural processes and he has a pretty banal understanding of how science works. He does not even grasp what biology – his own discipline – says about gender identity variation. So how on Earth has he gotten the standing he has?

Being an expert in a narrow field does not make you an expert in another

In the article Why is it so hard for a scientist like Richard Dawkins to understand the difference between sex and gender? we make the following observation:

Science is about looking at specific observable phenomena, trying to explain why they are as they are and to understand their role in larger systems. Science is not limited to physical objects that can be weighed and measured. Science also look at behaviors,  emotions and thinking.

Transgender identities are real. They are observable.  There are people who persistently and strongly experience that their gender is not in harmony with the gender role they are forced to play. This is a scientific fact. And trans people  have been around for millennia. 

Gender incongruence is real. Gender dysphoria is real. This is clearly not about people just deciding, on a whim, that they are male or female.

So would it not make sense for a curious scientist to try to understand this phenomenon  instead of dismissing it is a “distortion of reality”?

The reason is that scientists like Dawkins may succeed academically as long as they stay inside the narrow silo of their own sub-discipline. As soon as they step outside that community it becomes clear that they do not have the knowledge and experience needed to critically address phenomena that goes across disciplines, social systems or that are encompassing the whole complexity of the mind, the body and the environment that surrounds them

Scientists are as caught up in prejudices and self-interest as everybody else. If they do not use the scientific method to look at all their beliefs, they may also end up as bigots.

Read the whole article here.

Science tells us that sex is not a binary, and nor is gender identity

In the article Richard Dawkins has abandoned science to justify his transphobia Hermant Mehta writes:

The podcast episode dropped days after Dawkins wrote an essay for the British magazine The New Statesman answering the question, “What is a woman?” Dawkins’ reductive response boiled down to “A woman is an adult human female, free of Y chromosomes,” as if the absence of a single chromosome answers the question. That flies in the face of what many scientists have said about the subject.

“There are cisgender women who have XY sex chromosomes, and many other exceptions to binary sex. Around 1 in 1,000 people are intersex,” said Jey McCreight, a science communicator with a Ph.D. in genomics who has consulted on trans inclusivity for biotech companies. McCreight added in an email: “That’s pretty common as far as biology goes. A study may treat sex as binary out of practicality, but scientists understand that reality is more nuanced.”

Despite acknowledging those exceptions exist, Dawkins casually dismisses them, just as he dismisses the genetic influences many experts believe contribute to the development of trans identities. Those exceptions and influences are reasons the American Medical Association and other major medical organizations have supported gender-affirming care.

Maybe trans people are an exception to a common binary. I do not think this is that simple, but let for the sake of argument say that it is so. That does not make the exceptions to the rule, which will be intersex and transgender people, less real. That does not make their identities and their experiences a figment of their imagination.

We cannot let the common use of both everyday and scientific language stop us from understanding what being trans is and means. Because the only reason for doing that would be to force intersex and transgender people into hiding, so that the dogma of fearful people can continue to rule us all. That is not science. That is toxic politics.

See also:
Science and Transphobia: Ray Blanchard is Now Assisting White Supremacists. Why?
Do animals have genders? Are there transgender animals? A scientist find some clues among chimpanzees.
On the social selection theory of evolutionary biologist Joan Roughgarden.

Queer Brits do not use the LGB acronym preferred by transphobes

YouGov presents a new survey that documents that queer people in Britain consider the T a natural part of the LGBTQ+.

LGBTQ is the most popular version of the abbreviation, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. An added plus sign refers to other sexual orientations and gender identities.

Here are the numbers:

LGBTQ+ 29%
LGBTQ 13%
Combined: 42%

LGBT 21%
LGBT+ 8%
Combined: 29%

LGBTQIA+ 11%
LGBTQIA 2%
Combined: 13%

Only 3% chose the transgender excluding LGB acronym, often used by gender critical TERFs and transphobic gay activists. They have clearly close to no support in the British LGBTQ community.

Top illustration by VectorArchive

Dr James Barry, the Transgender Man who Became British Colonial Medical Inspector in 1822

ALT

The Vagina Museum tells the story of the transgender man who became a famous military surgeon in Britain in the 19th century.

Dr James Barry (circa 1789-1865) was a renowned military surgeon who is probably better known for the speculation about his gender than his illustrious career. So let’s set the record straight about the work of this brilliant healer.

A famous surgeon outed after death

James Barry was assigned female at birth. This was only revealed after his death. The fact was made public as the woman who laid his body out after his death was disgruntled at not being paid for her work, so she ended up taking a story about his body to the press.

The story was somewhat newsworthy because in his lifetime, Barry was a famous surgeon, something of a rockstar in the military and surgical worlds.

It’s hard to tease out details of Barry’s early life due to posthumous speculation - once the news broke, several people claimed they’d known all along, or told stories about his supposed femininity, and the whole story was viewed through the lens of 19th century gender politics.

Even Barry’s precise date of birth is not known - the likely date seems to be around 1789, but it may have been as late as 1799. Barry is known to have lied about his age, because his appearance was very youthful, and he sometimes passed himself off as younger than he was.

His life

Barry studied at the University of Edinburgh, and received his qualification as a doctor of medicine in 1812, when he would have been about 19 or 20 years old (or 10, according to his own account of his age!). After this, he studied in London and qualified as a surgeon in 1813.

He proceeded to join the British army, enlisting as a hospital assistant just four days after qualifying as a surgeon. During his 46 years of service, he gained huge renown as a surgeon and a doctor.

ALT

Surgeon in South Africa

In 1816, Barry went on his first overseas posting as an assistant surgeon. He was posted to Cape Town, and quickly became friends with the governor, Lord Charles Somerset. The friendship began because Barry treated Somerset’s sick daughter spectacularly well.

Later in his life, in 1829, Barry went absent without leave from the army when Somerset himself became sick. He spent two years treating his friend until Somerset’s death.

Colonial Medical Inspector

In 1822, Somerset promoted Barry to the role of Colonial Medical Inspector, which was an astronomical leap in Barry’s career. Sometimes, though, the friendship raised eyebrows. In 1824, Somerset and Barry were accused of having sex with each other.

Barry’s renown grew hugely during the ten years he spent in South Africa. He is sometimes credited as the first doctor to successfully perform a C-section in Africa where both survived, though that credit may better go to indigenous Africans

Throughout his long surgical career, Barry was posted all around the world, serving in the West Indies, Europe, America, and Africa. Following him was a reputation for excellence. Wherever he went, sanitation greatly improved, and soldiers and local people alike became healthier.

A bit of a jerk

Barry achieved all of this by being kind of a jerk. He was known to be quick-tempered, heavy-handed, argumentative and tactless. He rubbed his colleagues up the wrong way.

Barry’s career wasn’t a completely upward trajectory, because he sometimes got himself court-martialed or demoted due to his behaviour. He famously won a duel against a colleague, and shot the man’s hat clean off his head.

Quarreling with Florence Nightingale

One of his most famous arguments was with Florence Nightingale herself during the Crimean War. When writing about it, years later, Nightingale doesn’t specify the cause of the argument, but Barry lived rent-free in her head following it.

[Florence Nightingale  was an very famous English social reformer, a statistician and the founder of modern nursing.]

Loved by his patients

Barry’s patients loved him, though. As well as being a talented physician and surgeon, he reputedly had a good bedside manner.

Barry’s military career came to an end in 1859. He didn’t leave, and he wasn’t sacked for being a difficult person to work with. He was forcibly retired because he was old, and his health was failing. Six years later, he died in London, from dysentery.

In the century and a half since his death, discussion of James Barry has mostly focused on speculation about his gender. But that, perhaps, is one of the least interesting things about this remarkable doctor.

Top photo of Barry (centre), his dog and John, his servant, circa 1862, via Wellcome Images. Second photo: Portrait claimed to be of Barry, ca. 1820s

Thread from twitter (which we refuse to call X as long as Elon Musk is deadnaming his transgender daughter).

How the horrible anti-transgender policies of Russia became a reality

Putin has decided to make queer and trans people scapegoats for his own failure as a leader. He has signed legislation that bans people from officially or medically changing their gender. It annuls marriages in which one person has transitioned and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

Over at eX-twitter Jeannie the Gaywyck Owl 🏳️‍⚧️ has written a thorough and very helpful thread about what has happened and the reasons for it.

Yes, this is depressing reading, but given that transphobes all over the world is inspired by Putin’s bizarre traditionalist and violent fakery, we must learn from what is happening, and do whatever we can to help transgender people everywhere, including Russia. Putin is to blame for the war and the oppression, not the Russian LGBTQIA community.

Here are some extracts from the thread. You can read it all, with additional comments, here.

Jeannie the Gaywyck Owl 🏳️‍⚧️ writes:

//Okay, a lot of people asked for it, so here I go: Russian government is approving the biggest anti-trans law RIGHT NOW, featuring COMPLETE BAN of all documental and medical transition for trans and intersex people: A THREAD With great help of @TomoAyu13 and @aalien.

The previous pro-trans ID law

Let’s start a bit earlier: not so long ago, in 2018, Ministry of Justice approved new changes to medical laws made by the Ministry of Healthcare of Russia. It stated the new form of approval and procedure for issuing a gender change document by a medical organization.

Here’s the document itself: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001201801220016?index=0&rangeSize=1… The form itself allowed a lot of people to change their documents faster and more freely after they are approved by a medical commission, either governmental or private, and allowed trans people to transition easier.

Here’s Pravo Trans issue about this document: http://pravo-trans.eu/novaya-forma-spravki-chasto-zadavaemye-voprosy/… With the Note 087/y you were able to change your documents within a year since the date of issuing. If you used it only for gender affirming surgeries/HRT, you could come to commission again asking for reissue

For the first time in its existence, Russian Federation, despite having homophobic and transphobic tendencies since the day of forming, actually was the best country for fast and mostly easy documental and medical transition, especially great for people who wanted to go “stealth”

The transphobic tipping point

Back to 2023: after the news of lack of volunteers and armed forces in Ukraine, the flaming eye of State Duma is seeking for a scapegoat and a potential “living meat” solution for the front. After the “ban on LGBT propaganda” in late 2022, they came for trans women, men, enbies.

May 30, 2023. A draft law has been submitted to the State Duma establishing a complete ban on “medical interventions aimed at changing sex”, as well as “excluding state registration of sex change without surgery”.

The main authors were mrs. Muzulina who actually tried to give that law a chance way back in 2020 and was stopped by other fractions and protests of trans people, and mr. Volodin, the Chairman of State Duma. Let’s dig into it, shall we?

The content of the law proposal

I’ll try to translate it as close to the original as possible.

“Medical workers are prohibited from acting in medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person, including the formation of primary and/or secondary sexual characteristics of the other sex in a person”

“Medical interventions related to the treatment of congenital physiological anomalies of sex formation in children (aka intersex and birth anomalies) are allowed by decision of the medical commission of the the health institution the interventions are done in” Now let’s simplify:

These passages mean:

- complete ban on any medical interventions, including psychiatrists issuing 087/y and F64.0 by ICD v.10 “Transsexualism” (HA60 in International Classification of Diseases v.11), HRT prescriptions and all possible cosmetic and gender affirming surgeries;

- complete ban on any documental changes for a transgender person - you couldn’t change your gender marker in your ID. Ever. Need to inform that due to a complex documentary system Russia inherited from the USSR, you need to change your birth certificate first, passport second.

Due to having that documentary system, every Russian’s main ID is their passport, if they’re going abroad - add a separate “foreign passport” to in. Add to it your individual taxpayer number and social security number.

- this law draft also comes with all ban on gender reassignment surgeries, HRT and changes in gender marker for intersex people. If you’re born intersex and your doctor decides you’re a boy/girl - you couldn’t change ANYTHING when you’re hitting puberty or in your adult life.

Of course, after this law becomes reality, it’s basically governmental restriction of body autonomy. The main motivation for this law? “They’re mutilating children and doing it with America’s money” but also “they’re changing their gender to avoid special military operation”.

For reference: in 2020, due to “sex change” Russia issued 428 passports, in 2021 - 554 passports, in 2022 - 936 passports. The leaders in changing the gender marker were Moscow with the Moscow region and St. Petersburg with the Leningrad region. People are scared of you, Volodin.

Severe transphobia

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin also spoke about anti-trans laws and is very supportive of them. He called men who decided to change sex “on paper” scammers:

“The change of sex on paper is a deception, fraud. If it’s a fraud, this deception violates the interests of the state, our defense capability. … We will act taking into account new realities”:

It was clear that President Putin with his response on “who are they, transformers?” is also not very fond of trans folk existing. May 30 was not a random date - it was right before June 1, The International Children’s Day (or “Day of Children’s Protection” from literal Russian).

Inspired by US right wing

Of course, after literally using the words of American pastors that Mrs. Mizulina and Co used in favor of their “anti-LGBT propaganda law”, they would cover with children - just like judicial society in Florida and other states of America who cleared the way for anti-trans laws.

After the May 30, the law was reconfigured into its current “max ban state” and then everything escalated quickly. June 12, The Day of Russia. State Duma announces that this law will go in hearings without any half-measures - it’s still a full blown ban.

June 13, evening. State Duma issues a note that the hearing will be “out of order because it’s an emergency case”. They’re speeding up the process. At the same time, this law is considered “adjustments” to an existing Federal Law 323 Paragraph 45 - ban on EUTHANASIA.

Before the hearings started, Russian-speaking trans and non-binary twitter users (especially @aalien) tried to gather publicity from the main figures of Russian opposition in emigration. It resulted into ban waves by some of them and bragging about “Putin is oppressing everyone”.

After days of trying to get the support from people who, as LGBT community in Russian thought, are seeking for “the great future Russia without Putin”, trans people started to realize that in this battle they’re the lone legion. The hearings are rushed and set to June 14.

Traditionalist “family values”

During the day another stone strikes - Mr. Vitaliy Milonov, famous for his “Orthodoxy or death” t-shirt and immense hate towards LGBT and whose laws about “ban on LGBT-propaganda towards children” later grew into ban on basically speaking about LGBT (even for LGBT themselves).

Of course, Mr. Milonov is a big fan of conservative families and “Domostroy” mindset. He said: “If the (anti-trans) bill is adopted in Russia, it may subsequently cancel the already issued certificates of sex change.” They’re willing to break marriages and people’s lives for it.

SOMEHOW, by his words, “the law will not be retroactive, but the cancellation of certificates can be worked out after the bill’s adoption”. How is that NOT retroactive - cancelling the documents for people who already live in their preferred gender - I can’t understand.

“This bill is an indicator of our attitude to these terrible things. And it’s not just about those who want to avoid military service. There can be no sex change in a normal society, because it’s anti-scientific, obscurantism”:

“I hope that we will be able to further work out this issue and all these fake certificates, which corrupt doctors and so-called psychologists issued about sex change, will be canceled.” He is the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs.

“If we recognize that sex change is an impossible phenomenon, respectively, those who tried to do it on paper will be, I hope, in a hanged-in-the-air position,” Milonov explained. “Emigrate or die trying, we don’t see you as equal citizens” is the “hanged-in-the-air position”.

Stigmatizing health personnel

Again, full pack of documents in Russian is accessible by the link: https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/242098-8 (you might need Russian VPN to download the texts). Some citations from the explanatory note to this law draft: “Currently, there is already a developed sex change industry in Russia“

“It consists of unscrupulous doctors, psychologists, a developed network of LGBT organizations and activists, and other persons. They direct all their destructive activity to teenagers and young people”. So basically DeSantis words, but for “the big evil US gay lobby”.

“The Constitution of the Russian Federation enshrines norms on the preservation of traditional family values and the protection of the institution of marriage as a union of men and women.“ These changes were made in 2020 alongside with extending Putin’s ruling abilities.

Upholding the binary, endless lies

“The basic law of the country provides for only two sexes - men and women, no “intermediate” and “additional” variants of sex or “gender”, neither categories like “parent No. 1” and “parent No. 2” are acceptable, nor the possibility of “sex change”.” No comments.

Diving down:

After that, the explanatory note covers the existing laws about LGBT-propaganda and how trans people’s existence is basically propaganda. They lie about “the existing evidence of parents of affected and mutilated children” - the children are 20+ y. o. lads and lasses.

They lie about “sex change operations for children less then 14 y.o. in the US of A” and “medical commissions taking only several tens of minutes”. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in the period from 2016 to 2022, 2,990 people applied for “sex change” in passports.

June 14 2023, the day of hearings, 1st hearing for full-blown ban on trans & intersex medical help and change of documents. “The worst thing is the corruption of children,” Mr. Volodin said at the plenary session. A lot of media claimed before that he’s a closed gay man himself.

In the United States, where these new pseudo-values are promoted, the share of transgender people among teenagers is already three times higher than among the adult population.” More lies, more covering of absolutely barbaric measures with “children”. But there’s more:

“The number of children receiving hormonal therapy has more than doubled in 5 years. They start pumping children with hormones at the age of 8. From 2017 to 2021, more than 2000 sex reassignment surgeries in children aged 13 to 17 years have been performed.” No statistics added.

More from the State Duma (lower house in parliament)

From this point, I’ll cover the citations that were saved by @Metroff4k3 from live translation on State Duma site: Minister of Health Care supported the bill, said they should have some high-level consiliums of federal institutions and about the need to improve the demography.

Deputy Ostanina began to stuble that he wanted to soften the law, she was shushed. Despite the words about corrections of organs on intersex children (they still want to ban it for people over 18), deputy Tolstoy says about restrictions and forming a list of “approved anomalies”.

Deputy Tolstoy yells that the law has no retroactive effect and that the figure of 2990 trans people changing their docs is growing exponentially, if the bill is not adopted, it will be 5000 next year. Laughter and noise can be heard in the background at the same time.

After that they recite to the claims of the Health Committee and Family Committee. You can read them via Google Translate in this post and links, this is the official position of State Duma deputies.

Ministry of Health Care tries to say that it will lead to waves of suicides and “black market of surgery and pharmacy” Chairman of the State Duma Volodin instructs to promptly finalize the initiative and submit the document to the lower house of parliament ASAP.

Attacking the Russian Ministry of Health for following the WHO health manual

“The initiative is supported by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, but the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation “have not yet decided.” In this regard, when considering the bill in the next reading, we will invite the leadership of the Ministry of Health”

“We need to find out why it is uncertain and why, when signing an agreement with WHO, they made a gross mistake that contradicts our Constitution and the values we must protect,” Volodin says. The “gross mistake” is signing the agreement about implementing ICD v.11 in Russia.

ICD-11 was presented in January 2019 and approved in May 2019. By it, F64.0 “Transgenderism” is no longer a psychic disability snuck in near schizophrenia and epilepsy. ICD-11 is working in Russia since January 1 2022, the transition period to new ICD has been extended until 2027

Mr. Volodin claims that “HRT and operations are blooming in other countries” and that “Europe and the USA are full with them, with complete sodomy”. “The man gets up in the morning, goes to buy a certificate in paid clinics,” he says.

“There are no psychiatrists and psychologists in the commissions - no one who would studied his condition… And then provides a document on the change of sex, surname, first name, patronymic.” Another lie. Every commission has a clinical psychologist, sexologist and psychiatrist.

Mr. Volodin says that the lower house of Duma would like the Ministry of Healthcare, preparing amendments to the law prohibiting sex change in Russia, not to invent changes “by caring for people”. According to him, the caring would be “forbiding all this debauchery.”

Did you see that? “Don’t you dare caring about people, simple governmental medical man, end with this and lay back. If they start killing themselves, well just make suicides illegal and shoot them for unaliving!” At this point it’s an absolute circus of horrors.

Preparing for conversion therapy

The Minister of Health noted that in addition to the said initiative, he is conducting research for conversion therapy. One deputy is concerned that people with a «a different perception» of their gender should be psychologically and psychiatrically «bred to reality» This is hell

“The Minister replied that work in this direction on behalf of the President is already underway, an appropriate institution is being created, where other “behavioral violations” and forms of antisocial behavior will be considered” So it’s back to electric chairs and haloperidol.

Connected to abortion ban

Vice-speaker Tolstoy concludes the meeting and appeals to the Minister of Health. The deputy asked the Ministry to consider banning abortion in commercial clinics and “take control of hormones for sex change, contraceptions and abortion”. THEY’RE ALREADY SPEAKING OF ABORTION BAN.

Before that, in March 2023, First Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs pointed out the need to prohibit abortion for commercial clinics to make it easier for the state to monitor it. They want to “be there to help”, she says.

The vote is not anonymous, everybody’s advised to have their name shown near the vote. First reading, first hearing, ban of trans healthcare and documental transition - Duma agrees unanimously, 365 “yes” out of 369 deputies who signed the original draft (4 people didn’t show up).

IN CONCLUSION: The state ban on any medical help and change of documents for transgender and intersex people is in after the first hearing. Mr. Volodin says they’re gonna come to full sign and conclusion over the spring-summer sessions. That means trans people are now outlaws.

[This is what happened in July. The law has been accepted and signed by Putin. The main changes are that the final version of the law annuls marriages in which one person has transitioned and bars transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. Added by Transgender World.]

PLEASE SHARE THIS THREAD EVERYWHERE YOU CAN. Show it to your mom, to your local liberal party chamber, news, streamers, everywhere. Help trans people of Russia to go through the medical commissions now, while we still have time - you can donate to @QueerSvit or @QueerSvitUK.

You can also donate to individual fundings of Russian trans people I retweet here. You can also donate to @gero444a and her initiative that helps queer refugees in Italy or to queer medias like @kvir_media who help covering this in mass media. Trans liberation now. Stay in touch.//

More comments here.

See also “Russia will ban everything for transgender and non-binary people, leading to an underground surgery market,” say human rights activists (The Insider)