trans rights
Beneath the Surface — Transgender Oberlin College diver speaks out on trans athlete bans
The anatomy of a dive is equal parts art form and anguish. “It’s simultaneously terrifying and freeing,” said former Oberlin College diver Lucas Draper. “In the moment, if I mess this up, I might hurt myself. You want to be as pretty as you can, but also, eventually, you’re going to hit the water.” It’s […]
“An attack on all trans people,” transgender youth speak out against Ohio legislation
Nathan Alvarez is used to people laughing or snickering at him when he uses the men’s bathroom. Despite that, the 15-year-old says his high school is one place he doesn’t have to worry about that happening because they have a couple of gender neutral bathrooms and anyone can use the men and women’s restroom. But […]
Attacks on Ohio transgender community a calculated political ploy to scapegoat the vulnerable
The right to exist is being erased for transgender kids and adults. You know it. There is always another bill or law being passed in dozens of Republican-controlled state legislatures, including Ohio’s, targeting the transgender community. It’s a vulnerable community. No match for the aggressive national campaign launched against it by the GOP and an […]
Sponsor of Ohio trans youth health care ban claims no religious motive. Sermon suggests otherwise.
A four-year-old recorded sermon given by Ohio state Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, may shine a light on the religious motivations behind Ohio’s proposed health care ban for trans youth. The sermon, which was posted on the YouTube channel of Fremont Baptist Church, where Click is a pastor, shows Click defending conversion therapy and suggesting that […]
U.S. House approves bill banning transgender student athletes in girls sports
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans voted Thursday to prohibit transgender student athletes from competing on girls sports teams consistent with their gender identity, at the same time multiple GOP-dominated states are making similar moves. The bill, H.R. 734, which would apply to K-12 schools as well as colleges that receive federal funding, passed on a party-line […]
House GOP member reintroduces bill to deny gender-affirming health care to Ohio youth
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. An Ohio bill to limit health care for LGBTQ+ youth that was postponed by […]
Transgender people in rural America struggle to find doctors willing or able to provide care
This story was originally published in Kaiser Health News. For Tammy Rainey, finding a health care provider who knows about gender-affirming care has been a challenge in the rural northern Mississippi town where she lives. As a transgender woman, Rainey needs the hormone estrogen, which allows her to physically transition by developing more feminine features. […]
LGBTQ kids need protection from bullies and violence, not adults targeting and bullying them too
I grew up in a struggling, post-industrial Ohio town in the 1990s where ignorance and intolerance often reigned. I stood up to bullies my whole life, and when put under physical threat, I fought them. No bully can intimidate me, and so even though I was definitely a weird kid, I was also funnier, smarter, […]
Birth certificate gender changes for trans Ohioans are at discretion of judges in each county
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. The ability to change the gender marker on a birth certificate in Ohio […]
Ohio bill limiting health care for LGBTQ+ youth would create registry of trans kids, activist says
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Ohio Republicans updated a bill that severely limits healthcare for LGBTQ+ youth with […]
The heart expands again during Pride month
Over the last few years, I’ve turned into a bit of a Pride Grinch. Being a Black queer and trans historian and observing the celebration of a radical anti-police protest turn into an excuse to hawk rainbow-tinted goods or watch twinks dance on the floats of banks that fund war and oil pipelines leaves a […]
Ohio Republicans celebrate Pride by creepily bullying female athletes and trans people
Transgender people — especially transgender people of color — have been leading the activist charge toward LGBTQ+ equality since the beginning, literally throwing the first bottles at the Stonewall riots. And since the beginning, they’ve been the most victimized. They remain so, and Ohio Republicans have devised a savagely creepy, abhorrent way to target and […]