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Tag: Transgender

Austin Free Press: Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Leads to HateLGBTQIA rights still matter when resisting tyranny
Pride Flag - Kate CC NC Flickr
November 6, 2024
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Austin Free Press: Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Leads to Hate

Posted in Austin, and Journalism

Murder, assault, bomb threats, and verbal threats were some of the worst anti-LGBTQ+ hate incidents occurring in the greater Austin area over the last three years, according to data that the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD documented as the basis for a recent report on such incidents nationwide. Austin Free Press used GLAAD’s Texas data to analyze incidents in the Austin area.

Even as violent crime falls nationwide, threats against the LGBTQ+ community are on the rise nationally, in Texas, and in Austin. In explaining that contradiction, experts say anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is helping to drive those trends.

“We’re seeing this really massive rise in anti-LGBTQ incidents all across the U.S.,” said Sarah Moore, GLAAD’s senior manager of news and research. Moore’s research shows that between Pride Month in June of 2023 and that same time this year incidents increased by 112% nationwide. In Texas, the increase was 44% during that period.

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The Barbed Wire: Jonny Garza Villa on Censorship & Writing for Queer KidsJonny Garza Villa, an nonbinary Latine person with thick dark hair in a top knot and bandanna and short beard and moustache, wearing a khaki jacket over a white tee. They are sitting on a bench with red and blue pillows behind them along with a potted palm.
Jonny Garza Villa in Austin Kit O'Connell
September 20, 2024
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The Barbed Wire: Jonny Garza Villa on Censorship & Writing for Queer Kids

Posted in Austin, Journalism, LGBTQIA, and The Barbed Wire

“The most rewarding part of stories,” said author Jonny Garza Villa at a book signing hosted by Austin’s Little Gay Shop, is “realizing that I can write something that’s hyperspecific, a Mexican-American experience in a specific city in Texas, and how what that character is going through can relate to anyone, anywhere.”

Garza Villa’s young adult fiction is imbued with rich cultural details of Latiné Texas life, including the perhaps unlikely queer joy one can find here, despite the hostility that LGBTQ+ Texans face. One rising form of such hostility is book bans. Since 2021, Pen American found Texas has banned more than 1,500 books in public schools and libraries, many of which featured LGBTQ+ identities. In the U.S., only Florida has banned more books. And, as Garza Villa has experienced first-hand, that antipathy may be extending to authors.

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Austin Free Press: Transgender Community Responds to Shut Down of Texas Driver’s LicensesA drag queen sings into a microphone in a hot pink faux fur jacket, with bright, sharp yellow nails and bright red hair.
The Trans Era is one of the performers at the upcoming 'Transistence' drag show.
September 19, 2024
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Austin Free Press: Transgender Community Responds to Shut Down of Texas Driver’s Licenses

Posted in Journalism, and LGBTQIA

Austin’s trans community is girding itself to fight back legally – and on the catwalk – against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to stop transgender and gender nonconforming Texans from updating their genders on state identification documents.

On Sunday, the Local Queer Foundation is organizing to help its community apply for passports to thwart Paxton’s draconian measures to collect the names of anyone asking the state for a gender update, said Caleb Armstrong, a founder of the Austin nonprofit.

“I think it’s very dangerous, and people are scared, mostly because having mismatched documents can affect their work, their ability to get on a plane, or to show someone who they are,” Armstrong told the Austin Free Press.

Until last month, trans Texans could update the name and gender on their driver’s licenses or other state records by presenting the Texas Department of Public Safety with a court order. A similar process existed for updating birth certificates through the Department of Vital Statistics. That changed in August, when DPS began refusing court orders for gender marker changes, under orders from Paxton. Reports soon surfaced of the state refusing to update birth certificates, too.

Read moreAustin Free Press: Transgender Community Responds to Shut Down of Texas Driver’s Licenses
Review: The Queen vs. Texas (at SXSW)Drag queen Hermajestie the Hung holds a microphone under bright stage lights, in dramatic drag makeup and a red fishnet outfit.
Courtesy of Emil Lozada
March 14, 2024
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Review: The Queen vs. Texas (at SXSW)

Posted in Austin, Journalism, LGBTQIA, SXSW, and The Texas Observer

When the drag queen known as Hermajestie the Hung  reached her breaking point, she transformed into the Joker, becoming the  scourge of patriarchy, homophobic lawmakers, and anti-transgender  bigots everywhere.

“She’s that queen that’s just had enough,” Hermajestie told the Texas Observer.

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Are You OK? Visiting With Young Trans TexansC smiles and looks directly at the camera. They have wavy blonde hair with dark roots showing and are wearing a red tank top with a cartoon bee on it, along with blue jeans. C's parents stand behind, each with a hand on C's shoulder.
The "Are You OK?" project features portraits of transgender young people. Jesse Freidin/Are You OK?
November 18, 2022
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Are You OK? Visiting With Young Trans Texans

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

In 2021, Jesse Freidin began traveling across the country to photograph transgender youth for a photo project called “Are You OK?” He’s been to more than half the states in the country, meeting with dozens of trans kids.

In August, Freidin made his second visit to Texas. In the intervening year, legal and policy-based attacks on LGBTQ+ people in the United States have reached feverish heights. Governor Greg Abbott even launched child abuse investigations into parents who seek gender-affirming healthcare for their kids. Though nonprofits like Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union have responded with multiple lawsuits against the policy, which has been partially blocked in court, it still left many families fearing for their safety. Kai Shappley, a trans girl known for her outspoken activism, fled the state with her family a month before Freidin planned to photograph her.

“I want to tell those stories before they disappear, before these families leave the country or state, before these families have to go underground,” Freidin said.

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Trans Lives Are Not Up For DebateA close-up of a white person's closed eyelid and nose, with the eyelid painted with the transgender flag.
Mainstream media articles like Emily Bazelon's New York Times article hurt transgender people. (Unsplash / Kyle)
July 22, 2022
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Trans Lives Are Not Up For Debate

Posted in Journalism, and The Texas Observer

On June 15, the New York Times Magazine published “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” an investigation into gender-affirming care for young people by staff writer Emily Bazelon. Since its publication, transgender-rights advocates, medical experts, and other journalists have condemned the article for inaccurately portraying such care as controversial, misrepresenting scientific research, and quoting anti-trans activists without proper context.

Now, the state of Texas is using it as evidence in an ongoing attempt to investigate trans-supportive healthcare as “child abuse.”

Read moreTrans Lives Are Not Up For Debate