Trans News Friday: The Sports Bra Holds the Line
A Portland bar showed everybody what standing with trans women looks like, six states promised to keep paying for trans kids' care when federal Medicaid money stops, and the Pentagon started combing medical records to find trans troops. Here's the week.
The Sports Bra and the Thorns Show Anti-Trans Agitators the Door
Providence Park in Portland, home of the Thorns. Photo: Steve Morgan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
At the Thorns' match against the Washington Spirit at Providence Park on Sunday, September 6, a group wearing XX-XY Athletics gear, a brand built around pushing trans women out of women's sports, was removed for distributing unapproved materials. The group then went to The Sports Bra, the women's sports bar on NE Broadway, where staff asked them to cover the anti-trans messaging or leave. They left.
The bar didn't hedge. "Trans girls are girls, and trans women are women," said Deborah Pleva, The Sports Bra's senior VP of marketing and operations.
This is what it looks like when a business puts its values into practice instead of a Pride month post. The best thank-you is your business. Go watch a game there.
Read the full story at Portland Mercury →
Six States Commit to Covering Trans Kids’ Care When Federal Medicaid Money Stops
The Massachusetts State House in Boston. Photo: Ajay Suresh via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, California, New Mexico, and Maryland told GBH News they'll keep covering minors' gender-affirming medications through Medicaid after the new federal rule cuts off federal funding on October 13. Massachusetts will pay from its Affirming Health Care Trust Fund. Young people already in treatment keep federal support for six more months, and counseling stays covered.
Connecticut and Rhode Island wouldn't say. Oregon wasn't on the list. Oregon is suing over the rule, and state law protects this care, but families need to know what happens on October 13 if the court doesn't step in.
This is the most practical question in trans health care right now: will your state pay?
Read the full story at GBH News →
The Pentagon Is Searching Medical Records to Find Trans Troops
The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Photo: Staff Sgt. Brittany A. Chase, U.S. Air Force via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Commanders are getting notices to start separating service members whose records show a history of gender dysphoria, apparently pulled from the military's health records system, Federal News Network reports. The trans service members' group SPARTA Pride and attorney Priya Rashid of the National Institute of Military Justice say several hundred active-duty and reserve troops, including cadets, have been outed this way in the past two months.
An internal Air Force email dated July 31 says the Office of the Secretary of Defense identified members with a "history of" or "symptoms consistent with" gender dysphoria. Medical records were supposed to be about care. Now they're being used as a list.
If you're serving or recently separated and figuring out what comes next, reach out. Nobody should have to land on their own.
Read the full story at Federal News Network →
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More This Week
Mount Sinai became the latest hospital to settle with the Justice Department and stop providing puberty blockers and hormones to minors, even though a federal judge's order already protected its patients' records (The Advocate). In Alabama, new state library rules require libraries to move books about being transgender out of youth sections or lose state aid (The Advocate). In Texas, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico said he'd now oppose trans athletes in girls' sports "if it risks safety or fairness," reversing his votes in the Texas House (Texas Tribune). And California lawmakers passed funding so the state can run its own LGBTQ+ option on the 988 crisis line after the federal government cut it (The Advocate).
Up north, Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta announced it will defy the province’s ban on puberty blockers and hormones for kids under 16, citing the medicine chest clause in Treaty 6 and recruiting clinicians to provide care on its land. Alberta shielded its ban from court challenges with the notwithstanding clause, so if you're looking at Canada, remember it's not one policy coast to coast. And some joy: the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles named longtime members Alana Balagot and Corinne Burch as co-artistic directors for its 12th season.
What This Means for Portland
Want to back The Sports Bra? Show up as a customer on a regular night, and tell your friends. If anti-trans agitators come back looking for a fight, don't give them the clip they came for. Keep yourself and your people safe and let the bar run its own door.
On health care, ask your OHP coordinated care organization (CCO) what happens after October 13, and call OHP Client Services at 1-800-273-0557 if you can't get a straight answer. Then ask Gov. Tina Kotek and your legislators one question: will Oregon join the states that have already said they'll pay?
What This Means for Our Work
When the Pentagon outs people and states pull back care, people start looking for somewhere safer to land. TRFAN, our emergency relocation program, helps them get here, Safe Haven Home Share helps them find housing with people who've got their back, and our Peer Support Services team helps families navigate OHP and find care, alongside partners like Dian’s Well, Folktime, and The Peer Company. Trans Town PDX keeps the community part of community going.
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