This is my weekly roundup of the background radiation I am exposed to. It’s usually the bad and ugly of how the world treats LGBT folks, with a heavier emphasis on the T’s. I like to leave the full links exposed because then you can see where the article is.
I am a big news consumer, and these are just a small sampling of what’s been going down in the past week.
Headline: Incarceration Rates and Traits of Sexual Minorities in the United States: National Inmate Survey, 2011–2012
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303576
This falls under good news and bad news. It’s very good news we are even doing these studies. I like reading studies from the source material because it’s so common for news sources to distort findings.
In this case, let me lay down the brief abstract:
- “Results. Sexual minorities (those who self-identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual or report a same-sex sexual experience before arrival at the facility) were disproportionately incarcerated: 9.3% of men in prison, 6.2% of men in jail, 42.1% of women in prison, and 35.7% of women in jail were sexual minorities. The incarceration rate of self-identified lesbian, gay, or bisexual persons was 1882 per 100 000, more than 3 times that of the US adult population. Compared with straight inmates, sexual minorities were more likely to have been sexually victimized as children, to have been sexually victimized while incarcerated, to have experienced solitary confinement and other sanctions, and to report current psychological distress.”
I kind of knew that this was a thing, but to see it laid out in start numbers is still startling.
Headline: Men more concerned about trans women using bathrooms, study finds
This study is hard to read easily on it’s site, but Pink News does a pretty good job on the findings. They also were fantastic in detailing the studies limitations.
That said, it’s not shocking that men are more worried about transgender women using women’s restrooms than women are. This falls in line with what I see about the people freaking out about transgender women in the bathroom. Most folks don’t even realize there are transgender men like me using men’s restrooms. It’s just a way to harass and attack transgender women.
Headline: North Carolina Senate rejects repeal of transgender bathroom law
Because of course they did. I have no words for the idiocy here.
Headline: Man found guilty of murdering ex-girlfriend because she was transgender in landmark case
This is bitter sweet. Horrifically, the 29 year old murderer killed his 17 year old transgender girlfriend because he feared reprisals from other gang members because he was with a transgender girl. The silver lining is he was convicted. He is the first person to be convicted under federal hate crime laws.
Can we also spare a thought to the fact that he was 29 and she was 17?
Headline: Black transgender subway rider slashed after offering his seat
http://nypost.com/2016/12/26/transgender-black-man-slashed-after-offering-his-seat/
She had a problem with him being black, and attacked him after he offered his seat.
This article:
points out the assailant lives in a women’s shelter and has psychiatric issues, and is now claiming self defense despite following the victim to his new seat to attack him, with witnesses. This is sad all over.
Headline: 8-year-old transgender boy asked to leave Cub Scout pack, mother says
Yeah yeah, I know, this is a Fox news, but I thought they did a great job on the article. I read that the mother had called the Boy Scout troop in question to make sure it was okay before taking her son to the troop. He attended for a month, then Boom! she gets a call saying he can’t come back.
I picked this article out of about a dozen for the last line:
- “The Boy Scouts did not respond to questions about whether the group would accept a transgender girl whose birth certificate indicates she is male.”
I mean, it’s a good question.
Accidently Gay 