New York City Hall – Photo: @NYCMayor, via Twitter
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has issued an executive order establishing New York City as a safe haven for transgender people seeking gender-affirming health care.
Known as Executive Order 32, the order bars city officials from complying with out-of-state requests to detain individuals who have violated other states’ laws banning gender-affirming care for specific populations, so long as the treatments would be legal in New York State.
The order also prohibits city officials from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into individuals who have received or provided gender-affirming treatments banned elsewhere, so long as the procedure or treatments would be legal in New York.
Gender-affirming care, which encompasses a range of healthcare services designed to treat gender dysphoria, including mental health counseling, puberty blockers, hormones, and surgical interventions, is recognized as valid by most mainstream medical and mental health organizations.
But opponents of gender-affirming care often argue that the procedures or treatments involved are experimental and should not be undertaken without considering the longstanding side effects of such care.
As part of a larger conservative backlash against transgender rights, bans on gender-affirming care have been passed in 20 other states — primarily those in which Republicans control all levers of government.
Some of those laws seek to enlist out-of-state law enforcement authorities by having them arrest and detain doctors or parents who have fled states after assisting transgender youth in accessing gender-affirming treatments so that they may be prosecuted.
In response to those bans, more liberal-leaning states and cities have adopted “shield” laws or executive orders, like the one signed by Adams, that are intended to blunt the impact of the restrictive laws and ensure that people for whom gender-affirming treatments have been deemed “medically necessary” can continue to receive such care.
One of those jurisdictions is Maryland, where Democratic Gov. Wes Moore recently signed a nearly identical executive order establishing Maryland as a sanctuary for trans individuals seeking gender-affirming care.
“As states across the nation continue their onslaught of attacks on our LGBTQ+ neighbors, New York City is doing what we have always done — standing up for justice and against discrimination,” Adams said in a statement.
“This executive order reaffirms the fact that hate has no place in our city and that all people deserve the right to gender-affirming care and protection against prosecution for being who they are. To LGBTQ+ people across the nation feeling hurt, isolated, or threatened, we have a clear message for you: New York City has and will always be a welcoming home for you.”
Lawmakers in New York State’s Democratic-led legislature recently passed a measure to establish the state as a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming care who have fled from states with laws blocking such practices.
The bill now heads to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is expected to sign it into law.
“Right-wing lawmakers across the country are waging a war against the LGBTQ community, and their number one target is trans kids,” State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan), the sponsor of the statewide legislation, said in a statement praising the city’s actions. “New York City reaffirms its role as a beacon for the LGBTQ community.”
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the LGBTQ civil rights organization, has released a report highlighting the ongoing trend of violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals and memorializing those who have died in the past 12 months.
The report's release coincides with today's Transgender Day of Remembrance, which memorializes those transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary individuals who have lost their lives since November 2022.
Since 2013, HRC has recorded the deaths of 335 transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals due to violence, including at least 33 who were killed over the past year. That differs significantly from the number of transgender people killed by violence reported by the National Center for Transgender Equality -- 53 -- although HRC only counts confirmed homicides.
Michael Knowles is sounding the alarm over undercover videos showing employees of Aylo, the parent company of the popular site Pornhub, admitting to steering gay and transgender content to reportedly "straight" users.
The video clips, part of a larger investigation into Pornhub by former actress Arden Young for the undercover journalism outfit Sound Investigations, show employees of Aylo talking on a wide range of topics that critics of the company typically raise.
These include age verification of users and concerns about minors using the site, the presence of revenge porn on the site, getting people's images or videos removed from the site after they didn't consent to uploading content, and the marketing of LGBTQ content.
An Alabama pastor committed suicide last Friday after a conservative blog published a story alleging he wore women's clothing as a "hobby."
According to 1819 News, F.L. "Bubba" Copeland, the mayor of Smiths Station, Alabama, and the pastor at First Baptist Church in Phenix City, apparently cultivated an online persona named "Brittini Blaire Summerlin," who referred to herself as a "Transitioning Transgender Curvy Girl."
As Summerlin, Copeland frequently posted to Reddit and had a private Instagram page, where he encouraged people to follow him. He regularly commented on other posts, and encouraged trans-identifying individuals to pursue hormone therapy.
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