#pinknew

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A new landmark study has found that access to gender-affirming healthcare significantly reduces rates of depression, gender dysphoria, and suicidality among transgender people.

While it’s no secret that providing gender-affirming care to transgender individuals who ask for it can greatly benefit their well-being, an increase in transphobic rhetoric and bans on gender-affirming healthcare has prompted thorough medical studies into the impact of such care.

Now, brand new research conducted in Melbourne, Australia, has found that allowing transgender people to access the care they’re after can reduce suicidality by a stunning 55%.

As part of the first-ever randomized controlled trial (RCT) on gender-affirming care, researchers took 64 transgender and gender-diverse adults who had been looking to start testosterone therapy and randomly split them into a treatment group and a control group.

While the treatment group was allowed to begin hormone therapy that week, the control group waited three months for their treatment to begin.

Before the study began, both groups were evaluated on depression, gender dysphoria, and suicidality. Three months later, the two groups were evaluated again.

RCTs for medical care can often be hard to conduct due to practical and ethical concerns. However, researchers of this study found a way to hold an RCT for this study by incorporating a shorter follow-up period. Rather than giving the control group a placebo drug, or no treatment at all, they were simply given a longer wait time.

The results showed a notable decrease in gender dysphoria, depression, and – most significantly – suicidality.

The group that received gender-affirming care right away saw a 55% reduction in suicidality compared to a 5% drop within the control group.

Depression scores in the treatment group decreased by half, while gender dysphoria rates also significantly decreased.

Breaking down their findings, researchers Brendan J. Nolan MBBS, Sav Zwickl, PhD, and Peter Locke wrote: “There was a statistically significant decrease in gender dysphoria in individuals with immediate [access to gender-affirming care] compared with delayed initiation of testosterone therapy.”

“A clinically significant decrease in depression and a decrease in suicidality also occurred with immediate testosterone therapy.”

“The findings of this trial suggest that testosterone therapy significantly decreases gender dysphoria, depression, and suicidality in transgender and gender-diverse individuals desiring testosterone therapy.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time that research has shown significant drops in depression and suicide rates among transgender individuals who receive gender-affirming care.

A 2022 medical study showed that young transgender people who have access to puberty blockers are 73% less at risk of suicide and report improved well-being.

But, as anti-trans activists advocate for further bans on gender-affirming care, one of the key arguments is that the evidence in support of the care isn’t up to scratch with GRADE (Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) standards.

So research like this landmark RCT is so significant to the transgender community and its allies as the fight for their healthcare rights rumbles on.

[frameacloud]

Maria Morava (March 31, 2023). "Most anti-trans adults don’t actually know a trans person in real life, new study reveals." PinkNews. https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/03/31/trans-day-visibility-report-just-like-us/

tl;dr: Some of the things that a large study by the UK charity Just Like Us found: most adults who don't support transgender people don't know any. Meanwhile, "personally knowing a trans person doubles the likelihood of trans allyship." Lesbians have the greatest tendency to do so of all LGBTQ people. Nearly all lesbians know and are supportive of transgender people.

[antiqua-lugar]

Just heard about the Netflix's Dorian Gray adaptation and yes I know it's the usual "bullshit with a tie-in to an existing property because money" but it still makes me mad, if nothing else because it's extremely annoying to have Oscar Wilde write in big letters "BASIL WAS IN LOVE WITH DORIAN AND HIS LOVE COULD HAVE SAVED HIM" only for big modern adaptations to disregard all of that.

And also because c'mon.

Shout out to PinkNews for going "Well it could still be gay, have you seen Games of Thrones"

[queerliblib]

“This year has seen countless attempted book bans across the US, and many banned titles come from authors dealing with LGBTQ+ themes, with activists explaining that pushes to ban books is “harmful to students from historically marginalised backgrounds”.  One project, the Queer Liberation Library (QLL), is now aiming to combat this, launching in October with an entirely online catalogue that can be accessed anywhere in the country – even in states enacting bans on certain titles."

-How this online library is fighting back against US book bans, by Emily Chudy, PinkNews

[phoebesbridgers]

we should have delayed last week’s blinkblr discourse about reclaiming the word dyke until this week (lesbian visibility week)

[evangelineartemiasamos]

Fascists wanting to "protect families" by stabbing families in the back

[go-sullivan]

I know everyone likes to clown on ImagineDrsgons and even if it’s the most basic thing because the bar is in hell.

This man went and got a bass guitar done in trans flag colors.

And they straight up said this is the most basic thing anyone can do. (Dan Reynolds is “adamant that the band has “done very little” and aren’t “righteous warriors looking to be heroic”) like the bar is in Hell and people are going lower.

Nothing but respect for my hometown heroes.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A federal court judge has ruled that parents in Ohio don’t have the right to challenge a trans-inclusive school bathroom policy.

A case brought by parents and students in the Bethel Local School District (BLSD) in November sought to prohibit trans and non-binary students in the region from using toilets and other facilities consistent with their gender identity.

But, in a ruling issued on Monday (7 August), Judge Michael Newman decreed that the accusations brought by the group did not “pass legal muster” to warrant further consideration.

“Not every contentious debate concerning matters of public importance presents a cognisable federal lawsuit,” Newman wrote in his ruling opinion.

During a school board meeting in January 2022, BLSD announced it had implemented policies allowing transgender students to use communal toilets consistent with their gender identity.

Several months later, a group of parents filed a legal challenge, arguing that their parental rights were being infringed upon by not having a public meeting to discuss the matter.

They further argued that a previous policy, which had no protections for trans students, did not violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which states that no person in the US shall exclude or discriminate against students on the basis of sex.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing for the Title IX claim and that citing parental rights did not immediately require the school to adhere to the group’s demands.

Dismissing the case, Newman wrote that parents do not have a “constitutional right” to revoke school policies on toilet usage.

ACLU Ohio deputy legal director, David Carey, said the ruling reaffirmed that the Constitution is not a vehicle to “compel discrimination.”

He explained: “Nothing in the constitutional guarantees of parenting rights, equal protection or free exercise of religion, mandates that transgender students be excluded from gender-appropriate communal restrooms on the basis of their classmates’ beliefs and values.”

“For public schools to function, one student’s or family’s religious beliefs cannot provide a basis to exclude another student from full participation in the school environment.”

In its legal intervention arguments, the ACLU wrote that it believed the public has a “strong interest” in advancing policies that affirmatively protect transgender students and create inclusive school environments.

The LGBTQ & HIV Project staff attorney at the ACLU, Malita Picasso, said the court’s decision made it “resoundingly clear” that the rights of trans students are “not in conflict” with the rights of their peers.

“No student should have to fear discriminatory treatment every morning they walk into school, and this ruling brings us closer to the day no transgender student has to,” she added.

[archivlibrarianist]

Gaines is creating a big stink about this article, too. So you definitely shouldn't read it.

[troonwolf]

Happy for him and he was definitely exploited but his actions were also instrumental in fuelling the antagonism and laws against trans people in the UK. I’d like to see him take responsibility for that and work towards correcting the misinformation he spread throughout his time as a TERF. Irreparable damage was done to trans rights in the UK and that doesn’t just go away.

You walk into the house, destroy all the furniture, leave, then you come back with “sorry my friends peer pressured me to destroy all the furniture :)” and then sit down in the wreckage not bothering to clean it up.

[invertedaquariumperson]

love this image of the what to buy section of the pinknews site.

like. what a bizzare collection of artists to think are like, specifically gay people artists. here's my guess of how each of these happened:

aespa: people saw that KPOP has a big deep passionate fanbase full of young people and assumed it was a gay thing, & picked the first artist that came up alphabetically ATEEZ: picked the second artist that came up alphabetically Billy Joel: "oh yeah, that one artist from the seventies whos been out for almost fifty years and wrote I'm still standing & Rocket Man. Billy Joel i think it was" Coldplay: listened to Coldplay and simply decided that it HAD to be gay music

[spookydarlings]

Some important clarifications to be made here. Yes, this is pretty bad. Yes, the Tories are dickheads.

However, NONE of this is actually law. It is literally all just blustering by the aforementioned Tory dickheads.

Trans women have not been ‘banned’ from anything. As you can see from the second screenshot, nobody has even complained about trans women in hospital wards. Steve Barclay does not have the power to ban them unilaterally - he’s the health secretary, not King of the NHS. What he ACTUALLY said was that he would open a consultation into changing the NHS constitution. This simply cannot happen without oversight from patients, staff, etc. and this is what people who CAN make these changes have said about it:

As far as I can tell this consultation has not materialised. Steve Barclay has now lost his job as Health Secretary and is now Secretary of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. Assuming the entire Tory party has not been launched into the sun by next year’s conference, I suppose he’ll have to do a new speech about banning trans women from farms. (Equally stupid and infeasible.)

Equally, the Tories cannot ‘force’ schools to out trans pupils. They *have* published a DRAFT of some extremely shitty guidance, which does use dehumanising language (it’s also riddled with spelling and grammar errors, which is just deeply embarrassing.) There is an open consultation where students, parents, teachers and medical professionals can all respond to this draft and give their feedback. If that’s you, go respond!

This is all really shitty but there are MANY barriers between this awful draft and the final text of the guidance - it will change. Again, the government can’t just decide that everyone has to do things their way - and a lot of people don’t *want* to do things the government’s way.

Even if this guidance is published tomorrow, as-is, with all the same shitty language - schools still don’t have to follow it. It’s not the law. It can be rescinded any time.

Rishi Sunak DID espouse transphobic views at the Conservative Party Conference. However we already knew he’s a colossal twat, so that changes nothing.

Listen - these are all really big problems, and we DO have to speak up about them and let the Tories know that we’re not taking this shit. However, they are not the world-ending catastrophes they are presented as in this post. I’m not saying this to be shitty - I’m saying this because there’s literally no point in making people feel scared before anything’s actually even happened. Drama might bring attention to the cause in the short-term, but it’s killing your chance to actually make change.

If you want to improve things for trans people in the UK:

Complete the consultation for the guidance on trans children in schools. Tumblr isn’t letting me copy and paste links (helpful!) but there’s a link on Stonewall’s website.

Don’t fucking vote Tory and tell everyone you know why you’re not fucking voting Tory. Their biggest supporters are out touching grass and have no idea that these arguments are happening, let alone what they actually mean for trans people. Let them know. More of them have trans loved ones than you think.

Follow organisations like Stonewall, Mermaids and Gender Intelligence. They are on the front lines of this fight. They can tell you how you can join it effectively. Donate if you’re able - they’re all reputable charities.

Show up to Pride, show up for LGBTQ+ History Month (it’s in February here) and show up for your local queer community. Nobody gets anything done alone.

Go on social media (I mean the shitty ones, sorry) and block as many terfs as you can find. This is the only thing that shuts them up. The more people who block them the less reach they have. NEVER retweet/blog/whatever a terf’s shitty opinion, that just spreads the germs around. If you have to tell someone how mad they make you, tell the report button.

Oh, and if you’re from the US: please, please talk about this. OP is right, we hear about your fashy politicians every time they take a shit, and it drowns out important topics in the rest of the world. Please step out of your north american bubble and lend your queer siblings in the rest of the world a hand.

guys why the fuck aren't we talking about what's happening in the uk right now

nobody outside the uk is talking about this. why is nobody talking about it

[churchhouseconf]

Celebrate Diversity at the PinkNews Awards

Join the vibrant celebration of inclusion and equality at the PinkNews Awards! Hosted at the elegant Church House, this prestigious event honors trailblazers championing LGBTQ+ rights. Experience a night of inspiration, recognition, and unforgettable moments. Be part of a movement making a difference! Visit Church House for details.

[astfut]

openlynews || meduza

upd: putin signs russia law banning trans healthcare and adoptions, and annulling marriages. PinkNews || The New York Times || Meduza

upd (July 27, 2023): Center-T and Coming Out LGBTQ+ Group have launched a petition for simplification of asylum procedures in EU for transgender people from Russia. ➡ Please sign and share. ⚠ upd (November 23, 2023): Petition calling for easier access to refugee status for trans* people from russia in Germany created by the activist team "Quarteera" The petition can be signed without being a German citizen. ➡ post // ➡ petition

Please if you have the means consider donating to the following:

➡ Queer Svit - https://queersvit.taplink.ws/

➡ North Caucasus SOS - https://ncsos.io/

➡ Center-T - https://centre-t.com/english

➡ KilkoT-Action (КилькоТ-Действие) - https://boosty.to/kilkota

➡ Delo LGBT+ - https://www.delo.lgbt/ || https://boosty.to/delolgbt

➡ Sphere Foundation - https://spherequeer.org/en/

➡ Coming Out LGBTQ+ Group - https://comingoutspb.org/en/home/

[frameacloud]

Gabriella Ferlita (February 23, 2024). "A third of trans men can ovulate after undergoing gender-affirming treatment, study finds." PinkNews. https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/02/23/do-trans-men-on-testosterone-ovulate/

tl;dr: This is about transgender men and other transmasculine people who had been on T for at least a year, and had stopped having a period. A third of these people continue to ovulate while they are on T, even though they don't have a period. The type or amount of T doesn't matter, so we don't know why this happens for some people and not others. It's more proof that being on T doesn't protect someone from getting pregnant. People who don't want to get pregnant need to use actual birth control or other methods of contraception.

Here's the full text of the study that the news article is about:

Joyce D. Asseler, Julieta S. del Valle, Susana M. Chuva de Sousa Lopes, Marieke O. Verhoeven, Mariette Goddijn, Judith A.F. Huirne, Norah M. van Mello (February 22, 2024). "One-third of amenorrheic transmasculine people on testosterone ovulate." Cell Reports Medicine 5, 101440. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101440 https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(24)00063-6