By Karen Ocamb | WEST HOLLYWOOD – The great Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

So why do so many people shrug off Donald Trump’s dangerous proclamations of near divinity and absolute immunity from the rule of law? 

Recently, in response to an avalanche of reports about his “authoritarian bent” and dire warnings of an “increasingly inevitable” Trump dictatorship in a second term, Trump – who’s already been convicted of fraud in a New York civil lawsuit and faces up to 91 charges in four significant criminal cases –  told Fox’s Sean Hannity that he won’t be a dictator, except on Day One. 

“I love this guy,” Trump said. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than Day One. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”

After that? Does anyone believe Trump hasn’t already developed a taste for dictatorship, having long boasted: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

The twice impeached Trump is doubling down on Watergate-disgraced former President Richard Nixon’s assertion: “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”

And Trump has friends in high places. Democracy Docket’s Marc Elias notes that newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson “was a ringleader” in the coup attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “He used his position as a lawyer and member of Congress to legitimize the fringe legal theory underpinning the ‘Big Lie.’ Other than former President Donald Trump, he is arguably the most culpable federal elected official in what transpired on Jan. 6, 2021.”

The Brennan Center for Justice notes: “Johnson has ties to a movement that incorporates election denial into evangelical Christianity. Members of the movement held prayer sessions in which they asked for divine intervention to reverse the 2020 result….In 2024, Mike Johnson will hold the gavel. That should scare us all.”

Johnson is now doctoring footage of the January 6^th riot against the Capitol to prevent the Department of Justice from identifying and investigating the insurrectionists. Trump has already promised to pardon “a large portion” of Jan. 6 rioters convicted and jailed on federal offenses. Those rioters include Proud Boy whose members have shown up at drag readings and school board meetings, sometimes prompting anti-LGBTQ violence. 

LGBTQ people should be seriously concerned. For nearly a decade, Johnson worked at Alliance Defending Freedom, “the far-right Christian group that has recently sought to ban the abortion medication mifepristone and public drag performances,” according to The New Republic.   

Additionally, one of Johnson’s clients was anti-gay activist and former radical Christian preacher Grant Storms. Johnson “helped convince New Orleans officials to grant Storms a permit for a protest against an annual Pride celebration. Storms’s protest ended up getting national attention when an anti-gay protester attempted to murder a man with a steak knife. Storms said the attacker was not part of his organization, but the assailant later told police he went to Storms’s event because he wanted to ‘kill a gay man.’”

LGBTQ people have long been targets for cruelty and hate. But the Trumpification of America has made it worse. 

Last June, the New York Times reported: “There were more than 350 incidents of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. harassment, vandalism or assault in the United States from June 2022 through April 2023, according to a new report [by the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD], reflecting a climate in which bias against gay and especially transgender people has become widespread.”

Another report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino “shows a 52 percent increase in anti-L.G.B.T.Q. hate crimes around the country in 2022 and a 28 percent increase in the narrower anti-transgender category,” and “a 47 percent increase in hate crimes against gender-nonconforming people, which the report defines as including drag performers.”

When out progressive MSNBC host Rachel Maddow interviewed former Rep. Liz Cheney, the staunchly conservative Republican who co-chaired the House Jan. 6 Committee, they both were adamant about setting aside their serious political disagreements to join forces to stop Trump and prevent a Republican House majority in the 2024 election. 

Cheney described it as “the cause of our time.”

This is essential for LGBTQ folks, especially as we continue to be ignored unless we somehow make news. We are still considered an “issue,” not an intersectional minority that deserves equality. Even the Supreme Court ruled against us based on a hypothetical possibility where the key document turned out to be fake. 

We need to take a lesson from Stonewall and ACT UP and FIGHT BACK however we can. 

And that includes me. 

Last year Max Huskins – a straight Millennial friend of mine – and I decided to produce the YouTube series “Race to the Midterms,” in partnership with the Los Angeles Blade. This fall, I realized we needed to do another series for the 2024 elections. 

But the scope is too large to do as a cause/hobby to my full-time job. So I talked with my friend Steve Ralls (formerly with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Immigration Equality) – the VP of External Affairs who recruited me to Public Justice – and we worked out an arrangement where I will step away from my full-time staff position there and instead, be under contract to work exclusively on the Public Justice Emeritus Legacy Project, allowing me to devote the majority of my time to this new initiative.

This is our fight. Parental rights? These are our LGBTQ kids who’ve already suffered too much trauma, assaults and death by suicide.  As Harvey Milk said: “We must give them hope.”

We need to not only re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – but determined candidates for elective and public office who see us as a people deserving of equality, decency and the fundamental right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

See you in the trenches next year as we Race to Save Democracy!

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Karen Ocamb is the former news editor of the Los Angeles Blade. She is an award-winning journalist who, upon graduating from Skidmore College, started her professional career at CBS News in New York.

Ocamb started in LGBTQ media in the late 1980s after more than 100 friends died from AIDS. She covered the spectrum of the LGBTQ movement for equality until June 2020, including pressing for LGBTQ data collection during the COVID pandemic.

Since leaving the LA Blade Ocamb continues to advocate for civil rights and social, economic, and racial justice issues.

She lives in West Hollywood, California with her rescue dog Pepper.

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By Erin Reed | MISSOULA, Mt. – Whenever I travel from state to state to discuss the latest wave of anti-trans legislation, one of the most common questions I am asked is about the people who made the biggest impact on me. I never answer with the names of famous politicians or influential activists.

Instead, I think back to the stories of the people we lost along the way in pursuit of a world where transgender people can feel safe and dignified. Brianna Ghey, a young British trans girl who had been heavily bullied, who was murdered on her walk back from a local park. Eden Knight, who successfully escaped brutal oppression in Saudi Arabia by fleeing to the United States, only to be trafficked back there, leading to her suicide. Ariyanna Mitchell, a trans girl, who was gunned down at a party after she was asked about her gender identity.

Every transgender person you meet has lost someone; most of us have lost many. This is a reality I believe is often misunderstood by most cisgender individuals. The cold statistics of suicides and murder rates, frequently cited in studies and debates against right-wing media figures, can obscure the personal impact.

For us, these statistics represent living, breathing individuals we knew: Discord users whose status no longer turns green, phone numbers that will never send another text or call, faces in photographs that resurface every November 20th, only to be gradually overshadowed by newer images of more people who we’ve lost.

On days like today, my thoughts turn to Ariyanna Mitchell, a vibrant and beautiful young black teenager who excelled in dancing. Cherished by her friends, Ariyanna’s courage shone brightly when a gunman invaded the party she was attending. Bravely stepping between the assailant and her fellow partygoers, she was asked about her gender: “Are you a boy or a girl?” Tragically, her response led to her being shot. Ariyanna’s only ‘crime’ was protecting those around her while embracing her true self. She was just 17 years old.

Ariyanna’s story brings to mind the numerous 17-year-old transgender individuals I’ve met while speaking with parents. Witnessing the joy on their faces upon being recognized for who they truly are is a profound experience. I’ve seen parents who, after a journey of understanding, not only accept but also celebrate their child’s gender identity. Reflecting on my own days as a 17-year-old, unable to transition, I think about our collective efforts to create a world where young people like Ariyanna could freely do so. The injustice of stripping away such joy and light from a person is immeasurably cruel.

In March 2023, I learned about a transgender girl named Eden Knight who tragically took her own life in Saudi Arabia. Her story went viral as numerous trans individuals who knew her turned to Twitter, pleading for media coverage of her death. This story resonates with me profoundly because, when mainstream media failed to amplify her friends’ voices, they approached me, hoping I could bring her story to light. I did just that when I became the first journalist to cover her story, a story that would leave a mark on me for the rest of my career. The narrative they shared about Eden was both beautiful and heart-wrenching. As I listened and wept, I connected with those who had witnessed her vibrant life and felt the profound injustice of its loss.

Eden Knight was the daughter of a wealthy Saudia Arabian official. When she went to school in the United States, she came out as transgender, and quickly realized that her identity was incompatible with a government that refuses to recognize the existence of transgender people and incompatible with her father’s role in that government. So she fled, transitioned, and was fully embraced by her queer friends and family.

Eden Knight’s intention to seek asylum was tragically undermined. Her hopes were shattered when she was allegedly lured back to Washington, D.C., by two American fixers, Michael Pocalyko and Ellen Cole. Subsequently, she was sent back to Saudi Arabia, where she faced the terrifying ordeal of forced detransition. The anguish of being forced off of her medication and forced into a male identity proved too overwhelming, leading to her taking her own life. Eden left behind a community that had stood with her throughout her entire ordeal and had grown to love her. Her memory is a driving force in our continued fight against such injustices.

In February of this last year, news made it around the world of a young teen trans girl who was murdered on her walk through a park. Brianna Ghey, a 16 year old girl who made TikToks about her day to day life set to beautiful music, had her life taken by two people her same age. We would later learn that she was heavily bullied in school. When news of her death became widespread, her videos became makeshift memorials with millions of likes. Her life and the way that it was taken shook the community.

Her death did not occur in a vacuum. In the years surrounding her death, the United Kingdom had become a harsh place for trans people. Trans youth like her face waiting lists for medication that can be up to 20 years long. Legal documents are impossible to obtain for those under 18, and the dignity of trans people is debated daily in the UK Media. Just before he death, Scotland passed a measure that would have lowered the minimum age for legal gender recognition to 16 years old… this would have been old enough for Brianna to be recognized. However, the United Kingdom overturned Scotland’s efforts and kept its own age for gender recognition as 18 years of age. As such, Brianna Ghey’s death certificate officially recorded her as male. Sadly, the government rejected a campaign with the hashtag #DignityForbrianna which would have given her posthumous gender recognition.

On Trans Day of Remembrance, we remember Brianna for who she actually was. We remember her gender, regardless of what final indignity her government did to her. We remember all the lives lost, and all of the people who were misgendered in their deaths by their family or on their official documents. We remember these things to try to make the world better for kids like her. In an interview with Vice, one of her close friends stated, “If Bri would have wanted anything from her passing, it would be change.”

Each of these stories has profoundly impacted me. They all depict trans individuals enduring injustices that remain unresolved. Today, black trans women continue to face rampant violence, with gun violence affecting them disproportionately. The misgendering of trans individuals in death reports persists, a situation worsened by recent legislative actions in states like Montana and Kansas, where laws mandate the incorrect legal gender designation for trans individuals.

The neglect of trans and queer refugees continues, and the same system that facilitated Eden Knight’s tragic trafficking out of the United States remains in place. Currently, thousands of trans youths are being forced into detransition by laws banning their care, enduring the same trauma as Eden. Our efforts must persist until the day we no longer need to add another photograph to the memorial of those lost to such injustices on the day we honor the memory of the trans individuals who are no longer with us.

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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.

Follow her on Twitter (Link)

Website here: https://www.erininthemorning.com/

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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.

Los Angeles Blade featured columnist, Rose Montoya, is a hugely popular YouTube, Instagram & TikTok creator with her ‘Trans 101′ 1 minute video shorts which offer tips, advice, and support for Trans people and solid information for Trans allies and others seeking answers.

By Rose Montoya | LOS ANGELES – Real allyship is daily action, not an identity. Trans people need you to show up everyday. Educate yourself, stand up for us, vote in favor of our rights, call out hate, donate to organizations like @translifeline and @aadyarising, donate to our fundraisers, etc.

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Rose, is a Hispanic, bisexual, nonbinary transgender woman. Rose’s pronouns are she/her/hers and they/them/their/theirs. She works as a model, actor, public speaker, makeup artist, advocate, and content creator.

Rose is also a board member of Aadya Rising, a nonprofit working to fill in the gaps to help the transgender community. She has been in campaigns and featured by TomboyX, Savage X Fenty, Yandy, FX Networks, New York City Pride, Planned Parenthood, and more. Their goal is to spread love and education about their community as they share their story.

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To follow Rose:

rosemontoya.com 

TheTrans101.com

Instagram.com/TheRoseMontoya

TikTok.com/@rosemontoya

 

Los Angeles Blade featured columnist, Rose Montoya, is a hugely popular YouTube, Instagram & TikTok creator with her‘ Trans 101′ 1 minute video shorts which offer tips, advice, and support for Trans people and solid information for Trans allies and others seeking answers.

By Rose Montoya | LOS ANGELES – Having a dog makes me wish that people would treat me and other trans people more like they treat my dog. Everyone asks for Hera’s gender/name/pronouns. No one actually cares about her genitals. But when it comes to me and other humans, people care so much about our body parts but rarely ask for our genders/ pronouns. 

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Rose, is a Hispanic, bisexual, nonbinary transgender woman. Rose’s pronouns are she/her/hers and they/them/their/theirs. She works as a model, actor, public speaker, makeup artist, advocate, and content creator.

Rose is also a board member of Aadya Rising, a nonprofit working to fill in the gaps to help the transgender community. She has been in campaigns and featured by TomboyX, Savage X Fenty, Yandy, FX Networks, New York City Pride, Planned Parenthood, and more. Their goal is to spread love and education about their community as they share their story.

********************

To follow Rose:

rosemontoya.com 

TheTrans101.com

Instagram.com/TheRoseMontoya

TikTok.com/@rosemontoya

Los Angeles Blade featured columnist, Rose Montoya, is a hugely popular YouTube, Instagram & TikTok creator with her‘ Trans 101′ 1 minute video shorts which offer tips, advice, and support for Trans people and solid information for Trans allies and others seeking answers.

By Rose Montoya | LOS ANGELES – Cis straight men are attracted to trans women. Many live in fear and shame of this attraction. Many project those feelings onto us in the form of violence. This must end. There’s an alternative. Being trans amorous is to love trans women openly, with respect, patience, honesty, and understanding. Trans women deserve this love.

To learn more read my op ed in TIME Magazine today

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Rose, is a Hispanic, bisexual, nonbinary transgender woman. Rose’s pronouns are she/her/hers and they/them/their/theirs. She works as a model, actor, public speaker, makeup artist, advocate, and content creator.

Rose is also a board member of Aadya Rising, a nonprofit working to fill in the gaps to help the transgender community. She has been in campaigns and featured by TomboyX, Savage X Fenty, Yandy, FX Networks, New York City Pride, Planned Parenthood, and more. Their goal is to spread love and education about their community as they share their story.

********************

To follow Rose:

rosemontoya.com 

TheTrans101.com

Instagram.com/TheRoseMontoya

TikTok.com/@rosemontoya

Los Angeles Blade featured columnist, Rose Montoya, is a hugely popular YouTube, Instagram & TikTok creator with her‘ Trans 101′ 1 minute video shorts which offer tips, advice, and support for Trans people and solid information for Trans allies and others seeking answers.

By Rose Montoya | LOS ANGELES – Happy Trans Awareness Week! Society teaches men to feel shame and fear of their attraction to trans women. Projecting that onto trans women in the form of disrespect, dehumanization, and violence is unacceptable. Being attracted to us is normal, common, and beautiful. DL men shouldn’t exist. A message to them: please recognize that the shame and fear we experience and the lack of societal acceptance we experience is exponentially higher. We deserve to be treated with love and respect.

To learn more read my op ed in TIME Magazine today

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Rose, is a Hispanic, bisexual, nonbinary transgender woman. Rose’s pronouns are she/her/hers and they/them/their/theirs. She works as a model, actor, public speaker, makeup artist, advocate, and content creator.

Rose is also a board member of Aadya Rising, a nonprofit working to fill in the gaps to help the transgender community. She has been in campaigns and featured by TomboyX, Savage X Fenty, Yandy, FX Networks, New York City Pride, Planned Parenthood, and more. Their goal is to spread love and education about their community as they share their story.

********************

To follow Rose:

rosemontoya.com 

TheTrans101.com

Instagram.com/TheRoseMontoya

TikTok.com/@rosemontoya

Los Angeles Blade featured columnist, Rose Montoya, is a hugely popular YouTube, Instagram & TikTok creator with her‘ Trans 101′ 1 minute video shorts which offer tips, advice, and support for Trans people and solid information for Trans allies and others seeking answers.

By Rose Montoya | LOS ANGELES – Happy Trans Awareness Week! A few months ago I went through a challenging targeted media attack. I was harassed, doxxed, and received death threats daily. I’m no stranger to receiving hateful comments online, but this experience was unprecedented. Everything I posted in June was met with over-sexualized comments, transphobic rhetoric, and hateful vitriol. I found it paradoxical how the same people could slut-shame me for being a woman, while simultaneously calling me a “man”.

This later led me to have conversations and to journal about my feelings of being over-sexualized and harmed due to trans misogyny. Thus came my Op-Ed, “The Desire to Cruelty Pipeline: The Oversexualization and Violence Toward Trans Women.”

Go read it and then comment here what you thought!

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Rose, is a Hispanic, bisexual, nonbinary transgender woman. Rose’s pronouns are she/her/hers and they/them/their/theirs. She works as a model, actor, public speaker, makeup artist, advocate, and content creator.

Rose is also a board member of Aadya Rising, a nonprofit working to fill in the gaps to help the transgender community. She has been in campaigns and featured by TomboyX, Savage X Fenty, Yandy, FX Networks, New York City Pride, Planned Parenthood, and more. Their goal is to spread love and education about their community as they share their story.

********************

To follow Rose:

rosemontoya.com 

TheTrans101.com

Instagram.com/TheRoseMontoya

TikTok.com/@rosemontoya

By Erin Reed | WASHINGTON – It’s a familiar scenario: A new documentary emerges, championed by every right-wing social media account, claiming to “blow the lid off” the supposed scandal of allowing trans individuals to obtain life-saving medical care.

Figures on the right and obscure interviewers craft footage with a deceitful slant. In the aftermath, trans and queer voices flood Twitter, revealing how they were misled into participating, their words warped and deceptively edited to serve an anti-trans agenda. This cycle can be broken. There are concrete measures you, your colleagues, and your friends can implement to avoid being exploited in such a manner.

Though deceptive tactics and invitations to documentaries put on by obscure companies predates trans issues, it has been used often to push for bans on gender affirming care. Matt Walsh famously employed them in order get people to participate in his “What Is A Woman” documentary.

A recent Seven News documentary in Australia did the same. Just this week, we learned that a Dutch documentary brought on a Lucy Kartikasari, a detransitioner who does not feel regret over her transition. She has since released a TikTok stating that editing decisions completely changed her story to make an anti-trans point, closing off with “fuck transphobia.”

Watch her talk about her experience:

@luckartikasari Here’s my response to my portrayal in the #zembla episode. I hope I have made myself clear. This video consists of my opinions on my portrayal. #detransition #detransitioning #detranstok #transhealthcare #hormoneblockers #protecttranskids #endtransphobia ♬ original sound – Lucy Kartikasari ✨

These kinds of documentaries have been foiled before. Transgender activist Eli Erlick shared an experience where she was solicited via email to speak in a documentary about “the issues facing children in the trans community.” When coordination for the interview ensued, there was a pressing insistence that she travel to Nashville, Tennessee—a state known for its antagonism towards trans individuals. Eli evaded the trap, partly because the producer inadvertently included Robby Starbuck, a well-known anti-trans figure, in the automatic calendar invitation, exposing the ruse.

What measures should you take if you’re invited to participate in an interview or documentary on transgender issues? From my experience, having accepted numerous interview and documentary invitations and declined many, I’ve established a set of guidelines to help gauge the legitimacy of a request:

• Conduct thorough research on the producer and your primary contact. Examine their LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter profiles to discern any affiliations with right-wing groups. Use Google to aid your search. Also, evaluate their production history. Be wary of new studios without a track record or individuals who haven’t previously engaged with this subject matter.
• Inquire about their track record with LGBTQ+ reporting or topics. If they lack experience, proceed with caution. Crews that have never reported on LGBTQ+ issues are riskier than those who have covered them accurately.
• Verify if queer and/or trans individuals are part of the production team. It’s common for credible crews documenting trans and queer lives to include members from these communities. Given the prevalence of LGBTQ+ professionals in the film industry, an absence of such individuals on a team is a concerning sign. Ask this upfront.
• Find out about other participants. It’s crucial to know who else will be featured. Will the documentary give a platform to anti-trans voices, or will it represent informed voices from within the community?
• Inquire about framing. Will the piece present a “both sides” argument? Reflect on the potential pitfalls of such framing. Frequently, anti-trans documentaries feature, for instance, a fringe doctor counterposed against the consensus of the American Academy of Pediatrics, attributing equal credibility to both, which can be misleading.
• Reach out to a reliable contact within the industry. Feel free to ask me about the authenticity of any documentary inquiry you receive. Organizations like GLAAD and local LGBTQ+ groups can also provide valuable insight.

These tactics are valuable not only for vetting documentaries but also in other contexts. They can help you decide whether to accept an interview request, even from “respectable” news organizations. Some of these outlets, notorious for subpar reporting on LGBTQ+ matters, often cycle in journalists with little recognition to cover the topic poorly. It’s crucial to confirm that you’re engaging with a journalist who has a solid track record when discussing these sensitive issues.

Lately, dubious groups and right-wing documentaries have shifted their tactics. They’re no longer pursuing high-profile activists, who’ve become adept at recognizing their ploys. Instead, they’re targeting those less accustomed to such attention: local activists, healthcare professionals, and individuals outside the circles familiar with those operating in bad faith against transgender rights and care.

This shift underscores the importance for all my readers to be knowledgeable about these deceptive strategies and to disseminate this awareness to their networks to prevent anyone from becoming an unwitting victim.

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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.

Follow her on Twitter (Link)

Website here: https://www.erininthemorning.com/

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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.

By Andrew Beaver | LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Lambda Legal, the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit dedicated to advancing the legal rights of LGBTQ+ people celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala event in New York City that was live-streamed to watch parties in multiple cities across the country including Los Angeles. 

My husband Giovanni and I attended the Los Angeles party held at The Lot at Formosa in West Hollywood. Along with 200 or so guests in attendance were the staff of Lambda’s Los Angeles based Western Regional office, Regional Director, Shedrick Davis and several members of Lambda’s Board of Directors. 

Central to the night’s planned program of entertainment was a video timeline of Lambda Legal’s 50 years of achievements – on its face not exactly party fare – so Giovanni and I mingled and spotted the amazing drag queen Kim Chi from season eight of RuPaul’s Drag Race holding court near the stage. Learning that she would be performing we figured the open bar and her performance would be enough to get us through the history lesson.

But something unexpected happened. The timeline presentation wasn’t the dry history lesson we were prepared for. 

It was in fact the compelling story of an organization not given to parties and flash, made up of hundreds of dedicated lawyers and volunteers across the country, that through their decades of hard work made it possible for two gay men to live openly and freely as a married couple in the United States today. 

Founded in 1973, Lambda Legal literally created the foundational legal protections that has allowed the LGBTQ+ Community to live and thrive. The list of Lambda’s accomplishments is breathtaking. 

In 1973, Bill Thom founded Lambda Legal with only $25 in the bank and the organization’s name taped to his apartment mailbox with a Band-Aid. The goal was to focus on litigation first, and education second.

The basic freedom of LGBTQ+ people to publicly organize be it a softball league or a Trans-Rights organization, Lambda made it possible. Adopting and raising a family, the repeal of sodomy laws, protections for people living with HIV, LGBTQ+ inclusion in fair housing laws, overturning the Defense of Marriage Act… And of course, in 2015, Lambda was a key player on the legal dream team that made marriage equality the law of the land. 

The fact is everyday in unseen ways my husband and I and the entire LGBTQ+ Community are beneficiaries of Lambda Legal and its 50 years of hard work and achievements.

When I shared this sentiment with the Western Regional Director, he was quick to point out that Lambda had many partners. 

“We have worked with some of the best legal organizations, law firms and individual attorneys”, Davis said. “But our most important partners are the millions of individuals living Out proud lives. When we live as our true selves we have the power to change the hearts and minds of those around us. 

There were moments when things dragged and you heard a few folks dash to the bar. In my experience, watch parties are usually more watch than party. But there were a couple moments when the room became very still and very quiet. 

The first was the telling the 2015 gay marriage victory. 

A decade before the 2015 Obergefell decision Lambda had been methodically implementing a legal strategy that involved dozens of lawsuits, the marshaling hundreds of lawyers who put in 1000’s of hours of hard work. There were courtroom victories and crushing defeats but Lambda just kept going.

And ultimately Lambda Legal and their partners stood before the U.S. Supreme Court and argued the State of Ohio’s refusal of a simple request by man named James Obergefell, to put his name on the death certificate of the man he had loved for over 20 years, was nothing more than the government deciding who’s love is real and who’s isn’t. The High Court agreed these were matters of the heart not the government and gay marriage became reality. 

The room fell silent for good reason. It seems gratitude doesn’t make a sound.

With the timeline up to date Lambda Legal’s CEO, Kevin Jennings came on screen. Jennings’ gave well deserved thanks to the donors, law firms, volunteers and staff who are indispensable to Lambda’s mission.

But Jennings’ quickly moved on to  a clear-eyed explanation that the nearly 600 anti-LGBTQ+ laws proposed across the US today is a coordinated campaign of hate that explicitly targets the lives of our trans brothers and sisters but with the ultimate goal the repeal gay marriage. “Everything we have fought for over 50 years is at risk”, Jennings said. 

The room fell silent again but it was the kind you want someone to break and Jennings did. He  definitely explained Lambda Legal will do what it has done for the past 50 years – they will fight with everything they have for as long as it takes to protect and expand the rights and freedoms for everyone in the  LGBTQ+ Community. 

The evening ended with a bawdy performance by the diva Kim Chi. 

There’s no question the challenges facing the LGBTQ+ Community in 2023 are very real but if the past is prologue with Lambda Legal supported by millions of OUT queers and a few fierce drag queens the Community is in good hands.

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Andrew Beaver is a former New York City-based advertising account executive. Beaver is an events planner and special projects coordinator for the Los Angeles Blade and with his husband Giovanni, now calls West Hollywood home.

By Erin Reed | WASHINGTON – On Monday, several prominent anti-trans accounts announced the republication of a previously retracted paper supporting the notion of “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria,” a pseudoscientific explanation for gender dysphoria.

Notably, the republication didn’t appear in the original journal, The Archives of Sexual Behavior, but rather in a nascent, scarcely known journal titled The Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences. Established merely two months ago, this journal aims to challenge “progressive bias” and “academic capture” by “radicals and activists.”

A closer look into the journal’s history exposes questionable practices and underscores yet another instance of those opposing gender-affirming care for trans youth erecting facades that mimic unbiased scientific rigor, only to camouflage an ulterior motive against transgender care.

The journal article, titled “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases,” was published by researcher Michael Bailey. Bailey is widely known for pushing harmful theories of transgender identity that center on the idea that a large number transgender people transition for sexual or fetishistic purposes.

Additionally, he has collaborated with disgraced researcher Ken Zucker, whose clinic was shut down after accusations that it practiced conversion therapy. The article was retracted by Springer Nature following criticisms that it did not have IRB approval, lack of consent from participants, and a deeply biased sample collection method (responses were drawn from the anti-trans Parents Of ROGD Kids organization).

The article pushed the idea that a significant driver in transgender identification is “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria,” which centers on the idea that being trans is “socially contagious” and that transgender youth transition because they “following a trend.” This theory has been soundly refuted by numerous medical experts and major peer-reviewed journals.

For instance, an article in the journal Pediatrics highlights that transgender youth, on average, are aware of their identity for 4 years prior to disclosing it to their parents. The perceived “rapid” disclosure is often because these youths hesitate to share due to apprehension. This and similar articles have resulted in over 60 psychological organizations calling for the dismissal of the term, citing a glaring absence of scientific backing.

News spread rapidly on Monday among many of the leading anti-trans voices declaring that the article had been republished. Transgender Trend, a platform that labels transgender identities as “a trend,” shared Bailey’s announcement on Twitter.

Genspect, an organization linked to several policymakers opposing gender-affirming care—including architects of Florida’s trans prohibition—took up the news next. January Littlejohn, influential in shaping Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, amplified the post, as did Helen Joyce, an author who has faced allegations of anti-semitism after stating that “a cabal of billionaires” was behind the transgender rights movement. It was even taken up by New York Times contributor Benjamin Ryan.

What was not shared, however, was much information about the journal in which the publication occurred. The journal, which is entitled The Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences, was first announced in August by Lee Jussim and Cory Clark. The announcement post suggests that it was made due to “progressive bias” in academic journals.

 Another post suggests that that the organization responsible for the journal created it due to “academic capture” by “radicals and activists.” In that same post, Jussim states one of the biggest reasons for the organization’s existence is an opposition to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which Jussim refers to as “endorsement of and indoctrination into far left, even revolutionary, politics.” Jussim is the Editor-In-Chief of the journal.

The journal has not published many studies. At the time of the article’s publication, the journal has only released nine articles. Two of those nine articles are by Cory Clark, who serves as an associate editor for the publication (and who also announced the publication’s launch along with Jussim).

One reader by the name of Igor points out that it appears Clark was unable to get the paper published anywhere, and so seemingly turned to publish at a journal she helped launch instead. This is, notably, not a common practice among scientific journals.

When confronted by this criticism, Jussim claimed that Clark only became an editor after her piece was reviewed. However, looking deep into Clark’s twitter history, two years ago, she conceived of just a concept:

“I am tempted to start my own ‘a-ok’ journal that publishes anything that meets a good enough standard with the approval of just one editor in less than one month. The current procedures are painfully inefficient… Actually, better idea: YOU start this journal so I can submit my papers there :)”

This post was liked by Matt Grawitch, who also holds one of the nine articles published on the “journal.” These are not the hallmarks of a reputable, credible journal and could even be seen as evidence of profound academic dishonesty. At minimum, it gives the appearance of undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Bailey’s publication in the journal, however, was announced as if it were published in credible journal by major names in the fight against transgender rights. When New York Times contributor Benjamin Ryan was informed about issues with the journal’s credibility, he merely reprinted Bailey’s denial of the journal’s issues, who indicated that he is a member of The Society for Open Inquiry in Behavioral Science, the organization responsible for the journal.

See Bailey’s response:

“The article did in fact undergo peer review. It was reviewed by two reviewers and the editor. As I said, we made changes due to the peer review. The journal was created because the organization that sponsors it (Society for Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences—I am a member) believes that academic research is becoming more ideologically biased and less open. Politically-motivated retractions are one sign of that.”

Bailey is indeed a founding member of the organization and sits on the board. He helped found the organization in 2021, when the organization held its first conference after a grant from The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), an anti-DEI organization that rates campuses on “free speech” and has cited pronoun policies in Harvard’s last-place ranking. Bailey’s open-access publication was funded by the Society For Evidence In Gender Medicine, a fringe organization opposing trans care, which maintains it had “no role in the study itself.”

Again, the conflicts of interest are staggering. Could this journal’s entire purpose be a self-publication racket that is also being used to launder anti-trans organization talking points?

In recent times, the discourse opposing transgender individuals has been tainted with academic deceit. Groups like “Genspect” and the “Society For Evidence-Based Gender Medicine” have appropriated the veneer of scientific credibility while peddling pseudoscientific and politically-motivated agendas.

Organizations like the American College of Pediatricians—a fringe conservative entity labeled a hate group by the SPLC—deliberately muddle the waters for legislators and the public, causing confusion with the American Academy of Pediatrics, a reputable institution representing over 60,000 professionals.

It seems that dubious journals peddling spurious science and potential major conflicts of interest are becoming the newest arsenal in this campaign.

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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.

Follow her on Twitter (Link)

Website here: https://www.erininthemorning.com/

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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.