//Organisers announced the 2023 campaign, called ‘Never March Alone: Championing Trans Allyship’, on Friday (26 May) as part of an effort to stop discrimination against transgender people.//
The message is clear: London Pride won’t accept any of that transphobic, TERF-fuelled «LBT without the T» hate propaganda.
Pride has put up a very helpful overview over all the pride flags they know about.
You can read the article here: Here’s The Complete Guide To All The Queer Pride Flags We Fly
Here are two flags to get you going:
Progress Pride Flag
This new flag seeks to take Philadelphia’s inclusive approach a step further. Daniel Quasar, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, designed this flag. The white, pink, and light blue reflect the colors of the transgender flag, while the brown and black stripes represent people of color and those lost to AIDS. “When the Pride flag was recreated in the last year to include both black/brown stripes as well as the trans stripes included this year, I wanted to see if there could be more emphasis in the design of the flag to give it more meaning,” Quasar explained on his Kickstarter.
Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag
The addition of the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag in 2021 adds the intersex community to the progress Pride Flag and represents the most up-to-date LGBTQ+ flag, created by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK.
See also: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Progress Flag
Trigger warning: Transphobic violence
Killings of transgender people doubled between 2019 and 2021, as anti-trans legislation and rhetoric accelerated.
Insider has an important report on the killings of transgender people in the US.
The increase in deaths follows the increase in anti-trans propaganda and policies. The next time a TERF or a right wing bigot tells you they are not to blame, show them this story.
Insider writes:
“Just because someone is assigned a male gender at birth based on their biological sex does not mean that they identify as a man, “ the AI chatbot from OpenAI explains.
We have now AI applications that can write an article for you, if you want them to.
Over at Reddit Molly Inanna used ChatGPT in order to test its writings about transgender people
“For the sake of conversation, I tried a number of hoops for the sake of conversation, but was unable to get it to generate transphobic reasons,” she writes.
Artificial Intelligence chatbots like this one makes use of its access to large amounts of text to generate their responses. We would guess that much of that text is factual, science based, and therefore transgender positive.
CHATGPT PROMPT: You are a friend of mine at a party. You tell me that transgender women are men. Give me some good arguments that I could reply to my friend why he is wrong.
CHATGPT RESPONSE: It’s important to approach discussions about transgender individuals with empathy and understanding. Every person’s experiences and journey with their gender identity are unique, and it’s not for anyone else to judge or determine how someone else should identify. Here are a few points that you could consider sharing with your friend to help them understand why it is not accurate or fair to say that transgender women are men:
1. Gender and sex are not the same thing. Gender refers to a person’s internal sense of their own identity, while sex refers to the biological characteristics that determine whether someone is male, female, or intersex.
2. Just because someone is assigned a male gender at birth based on their biological sex does not mean that they identify as a man. Transgender people are those who identify as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth.
3. It is important to respect and use the names and pronouns that transgender individuals prefer, as misgendering someone can be hurtful and invalidating.
4. Transgender women are not “pretending” to be women or trying to deceive anyone. They are simply expressing their true gender identity.
5. It is not up to anyone else to decide how someone else should identify or express their gender. Everyone has the right to live authentically and be accepted for who they are.
6. Transgender individuals experience discrimination and marginalization in many areas of life, including in healthcare, employment, and housing. This can lead to worse health outcomes and a lower quality of life for transgender individuals.
7. Many transgender individuals face violence and abuse because of their gender identity. In the United States, transgender women, especially transgender women of color, are disproportionately affected by violence.
8. The concept of gender is complex and can include a wide range of gender identities and expressions. It is not as simple as just “male” and “female.” By limiting the way that people can express their gender, we can exclude and marginalize those who do not fit into narrow gender stereotypes.
9. Society and culture have a significant impact on how we understand and express gender. In some cultures, there is a long history of recognizing and accepting gender diversity. By rejecting the validity of transgender identities, we are imposing our own narrow understanding of gender on others.
10. It is important to listen to and learn from transgender individuals about their experiences and perspectives. By opening our minds and hearts to their stories, we can gain a deeper understanding of gender identity and expression. We can also work together to create a more inclusive and accepting society for all.
11. Many transgender individuals have undergone significant challenges and struggles in their lives. They may have faced rejection and discrimination from their families, friends, and communities, and have had to navigate complex social, legal, and medical systems to express their gender identity.
12. It is important to recognize that transgender individuals are not a monolithic group. They come from diverse backgrounds and have a wide range of experiences, identities, and expressions. It is not fair or accurate to make sweeping generalizations about transgender people.
13. The medical community, including major organizations such as the American Medical Association and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, recognizes that transgender individuals have a legitimate medical need for gender-affirming healthcare. This can include hormone therapy, surgery, and other treatments that help transgender individuals align their physical bodies with their gender identities.
14. Many transgender individuals have made significant contributions to society in various fields, including art, activism, science, and politics. By denying the validity of their gender identities, we are erasing their contributions and experiences.
15. It is important to support and uplift transgender individuals, rather than trying to deny or invalidate their identities. We can do this by listening to their stories, learning from them, and standing up for their rights and dignity. By creating a more inclusive and accepting society, we can help transgender individuals live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Illustration: PhonlamaiPhoto
The Cambridge Dictionary makes it absolutely clear that transgender women are women.
Right wing media is already up in arms about the addition of transgender women to the entry. We guess the dictionary editors have made their point.
By the way, Merriam-Webster has a definition of “female” that is transgender inclusive.
Ah, the 1950s. When we revered traditional Western culture and men dressing as women wasn’t considered acceptable children’s entertainment
[Snapshot from Bugs Bunny movie, with a crossdressing Bugs Bunny riding a white horse with a pink mane and tail.]
See also:
Gender Variance in the Movies: The Bugs Bunny Story
Bugs Bunny as a Positive Transgender and Queer Role model
CNN reports that many transgender Ukrainians within the country and abroad find it hard to get access to hormones and other types of treatment.
Eric, a 23-year-old transgender man from Ukraine, explains:
“The clinic had closed because of the danger of airstrikes. I had the testosterone, but no way of getting [it administered]. I didn’t have the needles and there were huge shortages of everything in pharmacies, even the most basic stuff, because obviously, during the war, there’s a big need for things like syringes.”
The Ukrainian transgender rights group Cohort says it has helped more than 1,500 people since the start of the war, assisting them to move to safer areas and helping them pay their bills, CNN writes. The NGO also works with shelters to make sure they have the basic supplies they need.
Getting access to hormones has become a major challenge. The war has interrupted supply chains.
The Russian government has become increasingly homophobic and transphobic since the beginning of the war, blaming queer folks for waging a gender war against “traditional values”. This has become the normal excuse for fascist terror these days, it seems, on both sided of the Atlantic.
This has, ironically, helped the transgender cause in Ukraine, as support for queer people is now seen as part of an overall effort to protect humanistic and democratic European values in Ukraine. The discriminatory Russian rhetoric has pushed more Ukrainians to speak up.
More than 7.8 million Ukrainians have left the country. Some of them are trans.
CNN explains:
The rights of trans people are weaker in some European Union countries than they are in Ukraine. For example, the Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, Hungary and Romania still require trans people to undergo sterilization if they want to change their gender – despite a 2017 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found such laws violate Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. A bill seeking to overturn the requirement is currently making its way through the parliament in Finland.
Poland and Hungary, two countries that border Ukraine and have seen a large influx of refugees, have both seen a pushback against LGBTQ rights in recent years – so much so that the European Commission launched legal action against them over the issue in July 2021.
In a country like Norway, transgender refugees will find it non-problematic to get their real name and gender respected legally (including getting correct ID-cards), but they face the same problems as everyone else when it comes to getting access to hormones. A gender dysphoria diagnosis from Ukraine is not automatically accepted by all doctors.
According to a report by Transgender Europe, waiting times for an initial appointment with a specialist can stretch to years in several European Union countries, including Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Transgender Ukrainians abroad need to get in touch with the local LGBTQA organizations, which – in many countries – have put in place extra measures aimed at helping queer refugees.
Photo of Anastasiia Yeva Doman, the co-founder of Cohort, a Ukrainian trans rights group by Kateryna Kryuchkova (via CNN)
We Got Tgis Covered reports that the newest trailer for the forthcoming move Transformers: Rise of the Beasts quite possibly introduces the first-ever transgender character in the Transformers cinematic universe.
In the IDW comic series Anode and Lug were presented as transgender robotic characters.
But there is more! Misty Contreras writes:
The recent cartoon series Transformers: EarthSpark featured a scene where Nightshade’s pronouns were explicitly stated as they/them, marking a premiere for a nonbinary character in the series.
No, I do not know how robots become transgender. Something in the programming, perhaps? I guess many of us can relate to that.
Pride presents seven transgender movies to watch during trans awareness week here.
We made a note of ‘Transfinite’, “a sci-fi omnibus feature film composed of seven standalone short stories where supernatural trans and queer people from various cultures use their powers to protect, love, teach, fight and thrive.”
Nevada is set to become the first US state to to include protections for historically marginalized people, including trans people, in its constitution.
The measure, Question 1, was supported by 57.5 percent of Nevada voters, while 42.5 percent opposed it at the time of publication, with 83 percent of the vote counted.
A wide-ranging amendment to the Nevada state constitution that would include antidiscrimination protections covering gender identity and sexual orientation was on the ballot on Tuesday. Voters could adopt or reject the most comprehensive state version of the Equal Rights Amendment.
When this post is written 90 percent of the ballots have been counted, and the numbers are roughly the same.
No other state has explicitly prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, says Nnedi Stephens, the campaign manager for Nevadans for Equal Rights to Nevada Current.
The cities voted yes, the rural areas no. Urban areas are more diverse, which means that people are exposed to real LGBTQA people as opposed to the feverish scaremongering images produced by those who have never met one.
In general the US midterm elections represents a big setback for extremist anti-LGBTQA MAGA Republicans. There is still hope for America.
Illustration: Vlatko Radovic
