Category: News

March 21, 2023 transverseadmin

J.K. Rowling compares transgender activist to Death Eaters in latest anti-trans comments

On the podcast ironically called the Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, the staunchly anti-trans author equates transgender advocates to Death Eaters, the villains from the Harry Potter series. She says that, in her books, “The Death Eaters claimed, ‘We have been made to live in secret, and now is our time, and any who stand in our way must be destroyed. If you disagree with us, you must die.”

This is typical of the false statements and assertions by Rowling and the anti-trans movement that trans people are part of some movement to take away the rights and safety of women, with the most incendiary and egregious part of her quote insinuating that the trans community wants those against us to die. 

One of the issues many of us have with her statement is the phrase “disagree with us”. This is harmful because it perpetuates the myth that being transgender is a choice based on an ideology and doesn’t acknowledge the fact of our actual existence. There’s nothing to agree with. Trans people are here, we exist, we push back against harmful rhetoric and the people that spew it because it’s dangerous and we need it to stop. The problem in so many of these cases is the internet. The anonymity of the internet often leads to conflict and threats, which people like Rowling then take to be the public voice of the “movement” and evidence that the community is violent by nature and thus worthy of violence in return.

Sources: Inside the Magic

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March 21, 2023 transverseadmin

Proposed Florida bill would ban diversity and inclusion at universities

Florida representatives put forth a bill that would ban diversity and inclusion programs on university campuses. In an epic pendulum swing away from the affirmative action moves initiated in the 1960s under President Kennedy, HB 999 bars postsecondary educational institutions from funding “any programs or campus activities that espouse diversity, equity, or inclusion or Critical Race Theory rhetoric” either directly or “through a contract, grant, or agreement.” 

It also interestingly removes language from the state requiring that schools provide students with an opportunity to be politically active and civically engaged as well as removing non-profits and community organizations from the list of internship opportunities that should be provided to students. 

VaultedPolitics on Twitter stated in a tweet that students should plan ahead for this bill and the resulting removal of more than 15 fraternities and sororities that support diverse student inclusion, Jewish studies, feminist theory, and gender studies courses as well  as centers and programs for black, latinx, Asian, and LGBTQIA+ students.

Source: The Hill

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March 21, 2023 transverseadmin

Vermont bans school from future tournaments after forfeiting over trans opponent

Last month we reported on a Christian school in Vermont who forfeited a game in a girl’s out of state basketball tournament because the opposing team had a transgender player. Now the VPA, Vermont’s governing body for school sports has barred Mid Vermont Christian school from future tournaments claiming the rationale for forfeiting did “not meet the expectations” for a valid complaint.  

Lauren Thomes, assistant ED of the VPA said in a statement that “We already had the policy in place,” she said, later adding, “The policy is not new, it’s not reactionary. It’s been out there for a while. People are aware of it.” The policy, in effect since early 2021, prohibits discrimination “based on a student’s actual or perceived sex and gender.” 

The school is appealing this decision. 

None of the articles I found about this story cited anything about the transgender player including anything about their skill level or even if they are a starting player. Anti-trans folks claim that their stance is about fairness, but then have staunch reactions like this to the mere existence of a trans player with no regard as to any actual evidence. This is also another example of backlash against a trans person who is competing within the bounds of an established policy and following the rules correctly as set forth by that policy.

Source: Valley News

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March 21, 2023 transverseadmin

Allegations against non-binary TikToker spark violent clash online and vandalism IRL

A major clash broke out online this month in the national attack against trans people when a TikTok comedian made allegations that another TikTok creator was targeting kids. Shamirun Nessa put out videos alleging that Jeffrey Marsh was targeting children, playing up the false anti-trans narrative that trans people are after your children. Marsh’s content centers around embracing a positive self image, and dealing with and recovering from childhood trauma brought on by parental abuse or neglect. 

In her first video, Nessa stitched with a gritted teeth video from Marsh calling for people to “stop telling trans people they are inspirational” adding her comment “Stop telling kids to go on your Patreon and chat privately without their parents” as a way alarm parents and anti-trans folks alike.  One of her later posts picked out a few instances where Marsh started a video by saying “hey kids” and one where he said “I want to talk to the kids” as evidence that the creator was “targeting kids” with the assertion being that kids were being spoken to for some nefarious purpose. Later she points to definitions on Jeffrey’s own Patreon about the types of trauma that they deal with as evidence that the creator themselves are the groomer. 

Nessa’s videos attempt to paint Marsh as a predator and a pedophile to dog-whistle members of the anti-trans movement and turn them against the creator. This caused an online clash between the anti-trans movement and the trans community and their allies resulting in death threats to both creators. The worst offenders vandalized Nessa’s car and sent her terrifyingly detailed descriptions of her schedule and where her kids go to school. 

In the wake of this, much of the content from both creators regarding this incident has been removed and Nessa put out an emotional plea for the violence between both factions to stop. Many content creators have pushed back on this call saying essentially that she’s thrown gasoline on a fire and now wants to take no responsibility for her part. 

There is no news about any anti-defamation action taken by Marsh against Nessa, so for now this is just another case of irresponsible allegations against someone causing major controversy and violent threats.

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February 21, 2023 transverseadmin

Arsonist endangers lives over hateful ideology

A drive-by arsonist set fire to a pride flag in an act of hate in New York on Monday, February 20th. The rainbow flag adorned with the words “Make America Gay Again” was flying in front of The Little Prince restaurant in the SoHo area of the city. There’s good video of the perpetrator with straight, burgundy dyed hair pulled back into a ponytail, getting out of a white Honda CRV (2020-2022 model), walking over quickly and lighting the flag on fire before hopping back into the passenger seat of the SUV while the driver speeds off. The fire burned much of the facade of the restaurant as well as the fire escape for the apartments above.

The fire started shortly after 1:35 am at the building on Prince street. According to officials, 12 Fire Department units and 60 firefighters and emergency medical responders in total were called in for the incident. Luckily, they were able to extinguish the fire before anyone was hurt and only the outside of the building was damaged, including some cracked windows.

Fire burns the facade of The Little Prince restaurant as fire fighters work to put out the flames.

“What we saw in the video was a hate crime,” Councilmember Erik Bottcher said in a statement to the press. “Someone who intended to strike fear into our entire community…Our resolve is only strengthened when acts like this happen.” Botcher helped show the solidarity of the community by putting up an even larger pride flag in front of the restaurant. “We are standing up in the face of this hate and reasserting our pride in ourselves and our community. That’s why we hung the flag again.”

D and C Landscaping also stepped forward, donating their services and replacing the flowers hanging on the front of the restaurant. With the quick response of the community and workers getting the place back in shape, the restaurant was nearly ready to open later that same day.

The news of this incident is all over social media and with clear video of her face, the hateful arsonist will hopefully be caught and brought to justice fairly quickly.

If you have any information regarding this incident, please call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.

Sources:
TizzyEnt

New York Times

ABC 7 News

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January 30, 2023 transverseadmin

Former TTS guest attacked and brutally beaten

A friend of The Transverse and former guest on season 2 of The Transgender show was attacked and brutally beaten on Thursday, January 26. Known on Instagram and Twitter under the account @Estrozeneca as “Lana eats pizza”, Lana was on her walk home in Brooklyn when the attack occurred. We’re still gathering details and will update this article soon, but as a result of the altercation Lana suffered a skull fracture, broken teeth, and lacerations on her face requiring many stitches.

She is currently off work while she recovers and like so many of us, is therefor in need of help paying for food and covering her bills. She is asking for support via her Venmo and Cashapp under her user name, Lanaeatspizza.

by Emily Michelle
1/30/23 10:00am

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November 14, 2022 transverseadmin

Transgender actress and model Livia Wolfe starts hunger strike for equality

Transgender actress and model Livia Wolfe is tired of what she and the community has to endure in the United States today. The 54 year old is going on a hunger strike in November of 2022 to protest the injustices, falsehoods, discrimination, hatred, and violence faced by herself and her trans siblings every day. 

She was the victim of domestic abuse from her partner, however it was her partner that filed abuse charges against her. In the ensuing legal battle, law enforcement and members of the court misgendered her throughout the case and the judge ignored Livia’s proof to the contrary of the claims and ruled in favor of the abusive partner. 

She had already began her hunger strike on November 5th but realized she had more writing and preparation to do to make her efforts the most effective. She plans on restarting the strike within the next few days. 

What is she asking for? Real change from politicians and schools. She is looking for people to report on her story and the aim is to get audience with politicians and school officials who will agree to implement policy changes to improve the lives of trans students and properly educate others with the truth about being transgender. 

She says “Public officials across the nation have chosen harm and death for us as individuals, and as a people…we have little meaningful equality in society. At the root of the solution to this problem is education.”

For her hunger strike she is following a guideline that the State of California produced in response to incarcerated prisoners who went on hunger strike. She will be ingesting only water and green tea with lemon and a crushed up multivitamin throughout the day. To limit her intake, she will stop taking her hormone replacement therapy medications. While the guidelines recommend regular doctor visits and blood/urine labs, she says that’s very unlikely to happen until she is hospitalized. 

There is risk of organ damage at 15 days and by the 21st day, patients are typically provided with info regarding advance directives as patient care will start to get intensive at that point. She says at the 30-day point everything gets “really harsh” 

Follow along with her at LadyLiviaWolfe on Instagram and visit her LinkTree from there for all of her information and updates. 

by Emily Michelle
11/14/22 4:00 pm

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