Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco’s death spared outcry for typifying the failures of the criminal justice system for trans women of colour. (Facebook/Polanco family attorney) Officers swung open the iron doors of the cell of Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco and called her name. They believed the Latinx trans woman was simply asleep while in solitary confinement. She was
Trans
Liz Truss gives a speech at think-tank ‘Onward’ on March 19, 2019 in London. (PLuke Dray/Getty Images) Topping off a dispiriting few years for trans Britons, vital plans to reform legislation around legally changing one’s gender have been reportedly abandoned. But ministers hope to, nevertheless, “placate” the LGBT+ community by introducing a state ban on
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) Joe Biden spearheaded a blistering backlash against the Trump administration that on Friday (June 12) “cruelly” erased precious healthcare protections for trans patients less than two weeks into Pride Month. The Department of Health and Human Services finalised a rule that effectively means gender identity
Donald Trump holds an LGBT+ Pride flag given to him by supporter. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty) On the four year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting – when a man laid siege onto a queer Latinx club killing 49 people, many LGBT+ – the Trump administration Friday evening (June 12) brutally rolled-back healthcare protections for trans patients. …Happy
Hungarian trans couple Tamara Csillag and Elvira Angyal. (Tamara Csillag/ Facebook) A Hungarian trans couple have described their life in limbo, after the country’s government passed a cruel and devastating law to legally erase them. Evaluations of Hungarian trans people’s applications to have their gender or name changed have been withheld since 2018, a ban
JK Rowling. (Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images) JK Rowling has responded to the piles of criticism stacked at her for her recent string of anti-trans tweets, but she leap-frogged over two very important criticisms levelled at her. For weeks, Twitter timelines were vastly the same. A patchwork of users anxiously sharing the latest coronavirus death tolls, while
Emma Watson restored the eroding hopes of Harry Potter fans Wednesday night (June 10) when she shattered her dayslong silence towards JK Rowling and her tirade of anti-trans tweets. While the British author of the beloved children’s series issued a meandering essay that nobody asked for on her opinions towards trans rights – many based
Eddie Redmayne with JK Rowling at the European premiere of “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them” in 2015 (Samir Hussein/WireImage) Eddie Redmayne has become the latest actor from JK Rowling’s Wizarding World to take a stand against the author’s views on trans people. As outrage builds over the author’s statements on trans people, Redmayne
A Black Lives Matter protest in Washington DC. (GettyYasin Ozturk) A leading LGBT+ rights organisation has said that the Black Lives Matter movement must do more for murdered Black trans women. Widespread protests against ongoing police brutality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have spread across America. But the Human Rights Campaign
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe spoke out (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Turner) Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has made his unwavering support for trans equality clear, in response to anti-trans comments from the series’ author JK Rowling. Rowling spent much of the weekend infuriating her own fans with an anti-trans tirade, insisting that “erasing the
Katie Leung (L) has reacted to the firestorm caused by JK Rowling’s comments on the trans community. (Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty) In the wake of criticism pelting JK Rowling over her comments on trans people this Saturday (June 6), Harry Potter readers reignited the debate over the author’s racial stereotyping in her books and Katie Leung
Munroe Bergdorf speaking at the Pride In London Gala Dinner 2019. (Venla Shalin/Getty Images for Pride in London) Munroe Bergdorf has broken her silence on L’Oréal’s controversial Black Lives Matter message that said “speaking out is worth it”. The company has been widely and heavily criticised for the June 1 message, given it abruptly dropped
A trans man described by British authorities as “out of control” has been locked up in a women’s prison for 21 months. Jay Lee Layton, 25, entered his ex-partner’s house in Spennymoor, County Durham, at 8pm on April 6 and threatened to stab her, breaching a civil order in the process. His partner refused to
Terry Reintke, lesbian German MEP and co-president of the European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup. (Twitter/TerryReintke) Lesbian German MEP Terry Reintke says “hateful” anti-trans language used by radical feminists in Britain is spilling into other countries. Reintke, 33, a Green politician who has been an MEP since 2013, made the comments in an Instagram Live with UK children’s
Pakistan’s transgender community, already forced to the fringes of society, are being deprived of crucial support during the country’s coronavirus lockdown. (ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images) Existing inequalities that mean trans people are more likely to have mental and physical health problems are being exacerbated by coronavirus, according to scientists who are urging governments to act. The
Minh Khang with his new baby. (Vietnam Insider) Vietnam’s ‘first trans dad’ has given birth to a baby, with his wife at his side. Minh Khang and Minh Anh became parents on May 16, to baby girl Thiên An. Khang, 24, and Anh, 21, are a well-known trans couple in Vietnam, who met in 2017
The ‘genderbread person’ helps children to understand the differences between gender and anatomy (Genderbread.org) A high school has dropped an LGBT+ educational tool after a transphobic mother complained it was targeting “vulnerable children” like her own transgender son. The school in Australia showed 15-year-old students an image of the ‘genderbread person‘, a well-known teaching resource
Ruth Hunt, “unequivocal dyke”, giving her maiden speech in the House of Lords. The Baroness of our hearts, Ruth Hunt, has come out as an introvert and admitted that she didn’t expect to end up in the House of Lords. The ex-Stonewall boss, 40, also spoke about growing up gay, still wanting a cigarette and
The parents of a nine-year-old trans girl have spoken out about their journey to understanding, to try to help other parents of trans kids with theirs. Rina came out as trans to her parents when she was five, and socially transitioned to living as a girl when she was seven. “When I was about five,
Cynthia Nixon has a trans son called Samuel. (Bryan Bedder/Getty) Cynthia Nixon, the Sex and the City star who lost a bid to be New York governor in 2018, has opened up about her transgender son. Nixon revealed that her 23-year-old son, Samuel, is transgender in 2018 – the same year she made her bid
A transgender service member in the US Navy has been granted a waiver to present as the correct gender for the first time since Trump’s trans military ban became law. Trump’s infamous ban came into force in April 2019, almost two full years after the president first announced his intention to exclude all trans people
Sam Smith performs on stage during Lollapaloosa Sao Paulo, 2019. (Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images) Sam Smith was “ridiculed” by a Sunshine Radio presenter last year in a programme that regulator Ofcom says was a breach of the broadcasting code. Paul Ellery, who has since resigned from Sunshine Radio, made the comments in his breakfast show on
Aimee Stephens with her wife, Donna, outside the US Supreme Court on October 8, 2019, before judges heard her historic case. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) Aimee Stephens, the woman who brought the first-ever transgender civil rights case to the Supreme Court, has tragically died. Stephens, 58, had kidney disease and had been receiving hospice
Mizz June eventually recovered from COVID-19 but she is still scared she could contract it again. (Mizz June/ Facebook) A trans woman who contracted coronavirus has described how she was told to stay home by first responders while coughing up blood, highlighting healthcare barriers for LGBT+ people, especially queer people of colour. Singer and actress Mizz
A police officer asks for documents at a checkpoint on April 21, 2020 in Bogota, Colombia. (Guillermo Legaria/Getty Images) Gender-based lockdown rules in Bogotá, Colombia, will be lifted after they fuelled a wave of violence against transgender people living in the city. Bogotá’s mayor, Claudia Lopez, said in a virtual press conference on Friday (May
Aimee Stephens outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, October 8, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) Aimee Stephens, the woman who brought the first-ever transgender civil rights case to the Supreme Court, is receiving hospice care at home after her health took a turn for the worse. Her case was one of a
Health secretary Matt Hancock has denied laughing at non-binary people when asked why a coronavirus announcement included a reference to “certain genders”. In an interview with Talkradio’s Julia Hartley-Brewer, Hancock was questioned about a tweet from the Department of Health which highlighted “the emerging evidence that coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on some ethnic
Freddy McConnell. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival) Trans man Freddy McConnell has lost a ruling today in his fight to be registered as the father of the child he gave birth to. McConnell, a journalist who gave birth to his child in 2018, has been fighting a drawn out and highly publicised legal
What is the difference between sex and gender identity, exactly? Whether you want to brush up on your knowledge or you’re questioning your gender identity yourself, you’ll find the answers here. Sex and gender have historically been used interchangeably, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the same thing. “We don’t know how to measure gender,”
Dr Rachel Levine giving a live update on the coronavirus crisis in Pennsylvania (Facebook/Pennsylvania Department of Health) Pennsylvanians have united in support of Dr Rachel Levine, the transgender secretary of health who’s leading the state through the coronavirus crisis. A graduate of Harvard College and a specialist in paediatrics and adolescent medicine, Dr Rachel Levine