Tag: transgender

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Transphobia in Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer”

By Jeremiah Ancheta

On October 5, 2021, Netflix released “The Closer,” a comedy special performed by Dave Chappelle. Throughout the entirety of the special, Chappelle makes comments about and towards women and the LGBTQ+ community. These comments have been met with criticism for being misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic.

This post will be the first of a two-part series about “The Closer.” Although Chappelle’s remarks throughout the film are misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic, this first piece will focus on the latter remarks and explain why his ‘jokes’ are transphobic. The second piece will talk about the communicative harm that the special has on the transgender community.

Team TERF

Around the 52:00 mark of the special, Chappelle mentions J.K. Rowling’s comments about transgender women and that she was called a TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) in response. 

Chappelle then says he looked up what a TERF was, saying what it was an acronym for, and proceeds to explain their ideology. In doing so, he claims that TERFS “look at transgender women the way we [Black people] might look at Black face,” that TERFS believe that transgender women are “doing an impression” of women. 

Black face is a racist practice going as far back as the 18th century in American theatrical performances to ridicule black people. The practice involved white theatrical performers painting their face in black and speaking in an exaggerated African American vernacular, painting a caricature of African American appearance and behavior. In making an analogy between Black face and transgender women, TERFs are claiming that transgender women are a caricature and mockery of women.

After giving this explanation of what a TERF is, Chappelle ultimately claims that he is “Team TERF.” In other words, Chappelle agrees with TERFS that trans women aren’t ‘real’ women and that trans women are ridiculing women just in virtue of being trans women.

What it is to be a Woman

Just before the 54:00 mark, Chappelle claims that “gender is a fact.” On its own, it isn’t clear what is exactly meant when Chappelle says this. However, he clarifies what he means by proceeding to talk about a woman’s capacity to give birth and have periods, as well as their genitalia.

Chappelle brings up the fact that Caitlyn Jenner, a transgender woman, won the Glamour Woman of the Year Award in 2015. Immediately after, he sarcastically remarks “ain’t that something” and says “[she] never even had a period.” Furthermore, he says “I’d be mad as sh*t if I was a woman.” In making such comments, Chappelle expresses his surprise and disapproval that a person who has never had a period can win a Woman of the Year award.

Around the 55:00 mark, Chappelle reasserts that “gender is a fact” and immediately starts talking about the capacity for women to give birth. He says “Every human being… had to pass through the legs of a woman… that is a fact.” Chappelle then ties this point about birth to the genitals of women.

Chappelle begins talking about the genitalia of transgender women. He says, “I’m not saying [a transgender woman’s genitals] is not pussy, but that’s like Beyond Pussy or Impossible Pussy… It tastes like pussy but that’s not quite what it is, is it?”

Chappelle’s joke of calling a transgender woman’s genitals as “Beyond Pussy” and “Impossible Pussy” is a reference to Beyond Meat and Impossible Meat, plant-based alternatives that look and taste similar to meat. Such plant-based food is often called imitation meat or fake meat. In making the joke, Chappelle is claiming that transgender women who went through vaginoplasty or vulvoplasty have “fake” genitals or “imitation” genitals.

All these remarks reveal that Chappelle believes that what it is to be a woman necessarily involves the capacity to give birth, have periods, and have genitals of  a certain sort. However, these beliefs are absolutely false, as it goes against what various academic and professional fields have to say about gender. 

The World Health Organization does not define gender in the same way that Chappelle does. The Yale School of Medicine made the distinction between sex and gender, which is at odds with Chappelle’s beliefs. A vast amount of literature in academic philosophy points out problems with conceiving of gender the way Chappelle does (e.g. see the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article “Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender”).

Chappelle’s Defense

Starting from the 56:00 mark of the special, Chappelle brings up a transgender woman he knew named Daphne Dorman. Chappelle describes Dorman as a transgender woman who was a big fan of his and found his transphobic jokes to be funny, the latter point being greatly emphasized. Unfortunately, Daphne Dorman died by suicide.

In emphasizing that Daphne, a transgender woman, found his jokes about transgender people to be funny, Chappelle is making the argument that his remarks about the transgender community aren’t transphobic because a transgender person approved of them.

However, it’s important to note that the transgender community is not a single monolith with a single opinion that is shared by all who are transgender. Rather, the trans community, much like other socially recognized groups, consist of various individuals with differing beliefs about what is appropriate and inappropriate. So Chappelle’s defense that he isn’t transphobic because a single trans woman found his transgender jokes funny is unwarranted.

Conclusion

The contents of “The Closer” consisted of Dave Chappelle’s transphobic beliefs and comments about and towards transgender people. His exclamation that he is a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (at least, what he takes them to be) is in itself transphobic, as he admits to essentially claiming that transgender women are not ‘real’ women. Chappelle’s comments have also consisted of false information about gender and womanhood, again excluding transgender women from genuinely having the latter.

Cloud Dancers does not condone Dave Chappelle’s comments about the transgender community, and hope that Chappelle and his fans eventually understand why “The Closer” is problematic. If you or someone you know has been personally harmed, either directly or indirectly, by the special, we note the Trans Lifeline below for anyone who needs it.

Trans Lifeline – US (877-565-8860); Canada (877-330-6366)

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Petra Wenham: A Life-long Journey to Being Her True Self

By Meghan Serceki

Petra Wenham came out as transgender at age 68, began transitioning, and now in her mid-70s, is committed to educating people on what being trans really means. Her story is one of finding acceptance and of accepting herself.

She felt signs of her transness at a young age: she suspects between the ages of three and five when children develop a sense of self. When she started school, she recalls not “clicking” at all with the boys but rather with the girls. However, Petra recalls, “slowly the girls drop you because you’re seen as a boy. But you do not connect with the boys, therefore, you tend to become a loner.” She got bullied and called names, and when her mother got the sense that something was different about her she was sent to an all-boys school at age 11.

At the all-boys school, she felt even more isolated, struggling to find anyone she related to. She realizes now that others were doing the same. Although she wasn’t close with them, she says of the boys that she did get to know there, “it wouldn’t surprise me at all if some of them had been somewhere in the LGBT umbrella.”

Receiving her degree. Source: Petra Wenham

Things got better for her when she met her wife, Loraine. After she got her degree, she started a successful career as a cybersecurity expert for British Telecom, where the two met. She is Petra’s support system, her soulmate. Even before they got married, Loraine knew that Petra would cross-dress and was comfortable with that. She still had not yet had her “egg-cracking moment” (that is, the moment when she realized she was transgender)and wrote off the cross-dressing as an occasional occurrence which could at other times be suppressed.

In 2001 she guessed she was transgender, but media coverage of LGBTQ+ individuals at the time was more focused on homosexuals, drag queens, and transvestites, not on transgender people like her. As a result, she still felt somewhat alone and unseen. Even though this thought lived in her mind, she says “what I did and what quite a few trans people do is you bury it; you try to ignore it and you sort of try and carry on.”

The stress of burying and suppressing a huge part of herself built up for years. When her home got broadband, she remembers realizing, “Oh, hang on, I’m not unique. There are other people out there like me.” Reading other trans people’s stories, she became more and more aware that she in fact is trans, starting to be more comfortable with her transness but still not accepting it.

It wasn’t until 2015 at age 68 when she was hospitalized with colitis, was in urgent condition, and was reevaluating her life that she had her egg cracking moment. While in the hospital, she came across an opinion piece by Jennifer Finney Boylan, “How a Sliver of Glass Changed my Life” in which Boylan compares hiding transness to a glass shard lodged in your foot, causing great pain and feeling almost instant relief when taken out. Petra decided then and there that she had to live fully as the woman she is.

Coming home from the hospital, she sat down with Loraine and told her that she is a transgender woman. She immediately recognized the “tremendous stress” that had been building up by keeping this from her wife, her soulmate, herself. Like the shard of glass, “trying to push it away only really caused it to fester,” and being open about it, removing that shard, provided the relief she had always needed. Loraine accepted her with open arms, and Petra references author Amanda Jetté Knox when she recounts it, saying “love is genderless, it’s sexless. It’s human being to human being.” Next January, the two will celebrate their 49th anniversary together.

Petra’s mission now is to educate people. Source: Petra Wenham

Petra holds that “the trans community in (the UK) and, I suspect in America, we estimate we’re about 10 to 15 years behind where the gay community is, in terms of the public acceptance.” Looking forward after her transition, she has one simple goal: to educate people. She says, “What we’ve got to do is to show people that we’re not a subspecies, we are human beings. Women should be totally and completely equal with men. It is equality. And we as trans women, we do not want anything over and above anybody else. We want to be initially treated completely as women. We will then work with the women to lift us up to make sure that we are equal with the men.”

Petra’s story shows that it is never too late to accept yourself in your entirety, to live the kind of life you want to live and to make a truly significant impact on the world by being exactly who you are.

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Books To Help Us See and Be Seen (Mid-Level Fiction)

By Meghan Serceki 

I recently began working at a bookstore, and part of my job is helping customers find new books to read. The other day, while I was shelving books in the kids’ section, I was approached by a mom who asked me if I knew of any books for young readers that had LGBTQ+ representation. She explained to me that she and her child read books together, and that they had asked her if they could read something about “someone like them.” While there has been more representation in recent years, I realized that the majority of titles that jumped out at me were for young adults, and that most of them involved romance which doesn’t always appeal to younger children.

I decided to do some research and compile some lists of books for different age ranges that represent LGBTQ+ individuals in positive and constructive ways. Books are a great way to bring people together. They can connect generations in beautiful ways as they share intimate experiences and provide hope through difficult journeys and internal struggles. With the holidays approaching, it may be a wonderful gift that makes a loved one feel seen.  #weseeyou

George, by Alex Gino

When George’s class puts on a class play of “Charlotte’s Web,” George wants to audition for the part of Charlotte. But her teacher sees her as a boy, and tells her she can’t get the part. She comes up with a plan to not only play Charlotte but to show the world who she really is.

Gracefully Grayson, by Amy Polonsky

Like George, a school play prompts six-grader Grayson to question the boy gender identity that people have imposed on her. In this thoughtful and heart-felt novel, we see her navigating the challenges of coming out and finding solace in being herself.

Lizard Radio, by Pat Schmatz

Lizard Radio is a quirky science fiction novel for young teens. The main character, 14-year-old Kivali uses she/her pronouns and presents as female, yet while they are living in an all-female camp, they gradually realize that they aren’t male or female, but rather fall somewhere in between. 

The Moon Within, by Aida Salazar

Celi Rivera experiences changes in her body, struggling to make sense of them. At the same time, her best friend grapples with being genderfluid. She seeks to make sense of the changing relationship with herself as well as with those around her. It is written in verse, giving it a beautiful cadence, and the representation of various Latinx cultures provides an added layer of significance and visibility.

Do be aware, though, that some scenes depict anti-trans bullying, depictions of menstruation, and descriptions of the body. 

The Deep & Dark Blue, by Niki Smith

This graphic novel follows the story of two twins, grandchildren of a noble lord, who disguise themselves as sisters when a coup rises up against their family. While waiting out the rebellion, Grayce gets to experience her life as the girl she is, and must soon decide how to live her life as her most authentic self.

Doodleville, by Chad Sell

Doodleville is another graphic novel for mid-level readers. As main character Drew’s artwork comes to life, a wide range of characters present themselves. As they go on adventures together, they accept their gender identities and support each other through various mental health challenges that arise. 

These are just a few of many, and I hope to share more in the future. Happy reading!

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Transitioning in the Workplace

By Jeremiah Ancheta 

In our previous article,“Cultivating a Trans-Inclusive Work Environment,” we noted what companies and employers can do to make their workplace more trans-inclusive. However, those who have transitioned may find themselves confused as to what they should do and how to approach their employers about being transgender. This article provides suggestions on how to proceed in the workplace post-transition.

Careful Consideration

Many of those who have transitioned have likely already looked into their conditions and social context, but this guide may still be helpful for some.

Before revealing your transition to anyone in the workplace, it is important to consider the material conditions and context of how you are situated. For instance, consider these questions:

  • What is the general attitude towards transgender people in the state or city that I work in?
  • What are the relevant transgender discrimination laws in the state that I work in?
  • What are the relevant transgender discrimination policies in my particular workplace?

Asking these questions is essential to determining whether or not to reveal your transition at all. This is a personal decision, and one that may affect your situation in the workplace. The Cloud Dancers Foundation founder, Robina Asti, often talked about leaving her financial job in New York City during her transition because it was not acceptable at her place of work. Robina ended up leaving her job and working at the makeup counter at Bloomingdales following her transition. 

While times have changed since Robina transitioned, there is still progress to be made. In accordance with Title VII as well as the 2020 Supreme Court Decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, it is federally prohibited for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. However, transgender discrimination is still a problem in the workplace and unfortunately, some caution may be needed post-transition (See our post “Cultivating a Trans-Inclusive Work Environment” which briefly goes into the issues that transgender people face at work).

Finding an Ally

Finding  an ally to offer support during or after a transition is advised by the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy and political lobbying organization. This step may differ on a case-by-case basis, such as whether you remain in a job post-transition or leave to find another job. Your decision and ability to find a co-worker ally will also depend on the existing relationship you have with co-workers.

If you know a co-worker who is strongly supportive of transgender rights, then you might consider revealing your transition to that person (and keeping it confidential between them at first, if one so wishes) to have an ally.

However, not everyone knows their co-workers very well. Research the transgender discrimination policies for your workplace. If you feel protected, you  may look into contacting the Human Resources department. As the Human Rights Campaign advises, “you may come out to your organization’s management or human resources representatives in order to create an action plan for transitioning at your workplace. If your organization has a coming out guide or non-discrimination policy, consult it for advice specific to your workplace.”

Updating Personal Information

The Human Rights Campaign also suggests updating personal information once you are comfortable doing so. If you found an ally in management or human resources, update personal information within the workplace such as name, pronouns, or official identification documents. The HRC also suggests looking into your workplace insurance policy to check for any changes that may occur post-transition.

Coming Out

With an ally and knowledge about your workplace’s policies, hopefully you will feel protected from transgender discrimination. At that point, the next step would be to update personal information and consider fully coming out to everyone in the workplace.

How this is done is ultimately up to each individual. A transgender person may speak to their co-workers privately to tell them, or they can choose to have group meetings and reveal their transition. 

Of course, one should be quite sure that they have full support of their transition by upper management and human resources in case there are any negative reactions during or after one’s reveal. Any discrimination that occurs during or after reveal may be reported to higher ups so that the proper procedure can take place dealing with such issues.

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What “Equal” Opportunity Means

By Meghan Serceki 

November 19th is the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address and has since been established as Equal Opportunity Day: a day described in 1959 by the New York Times as “an annual national observance dedicated to a basic democratic belief in the equality of opportunity for all our citizens.” Everyone has the ability to make a meaningful impact on society, but the vast majority of Americans face obstacles and barriers to even have the opportunity to do so. 

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination “on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin,” it wasn’t until the 2020 Supreme Court Case Bostock v Clayton County that sexual orientation and gender identity was added to this list of federally-protected characteristics. This doesn’t mean, though, that this discrimination has disappeared. Trans* individuals in particular face a very unique set of challenges in the workplace which need an equally-unique set of solutions (see “Cultivating a Trans-Inclusive Work Environment”).

For trans* individuals, too, this occupational discrimination greatly affects other aspects of their lives.  It may impact their decision to come out or to transition. While companies cannot fire or deny employment to people explicitly because of their gender identity, they sometimes still do so, covering up the discrimination by giving other explanations which are not tue. This makes trans* people especially vulnerable to layoffs and disadvantages them in the hiring process.

Beyond this, there are those who may feel uncomfortable at work, fearing their coworkers will judge them. The average person spends 13 years of their life at work, and most people see the same colleagues every day. If these people express hatred or otherwise make a trans* individual feel uncomfortable, it can have far-reaching effects on their mental health, their drive to advance within the company, and their overall well-being. In this event, the individual may choose to find new means of employment. While it is in no way their responsibility to leave a company because their coworkers are intolerant, work can be extremely uncomfortable for trans* people, even bordering on unsafe. Leaving might remove them from a bad situation, but there is then the same gamble at a new company. 

In addition to this, a main factor in advancing within a company is the amount of time someone has been with said company. Leaving essentially restarts the clock, often moving them back in their careers, making them prove themselves once again, putting them at a disadvantage when up for promotions, and leading to an economic disparity. Benefits may be lesser, too, as some companies require a person to work there for a set number of years before being eligible for retirement aid.

Even if someone makes the decision to transition anyways, they may choose to keep it a secret from the people at their work. This idea of “going stealth” may work fine for a time, but keeping transness a secret gives it a certain sense of taboo, and plays into the idea that it is a deviant identity. My friend Magdalene recalls a long while where she was taking hormones and developing breasts, but was “boymoding” to work — what she describes as her “transmasculine era.” She wore baggy clothes, practiced chest-binding, worrying that someone there would notice differences in her body.

Having equal opportunities is not only a factor in one’s career, but it has innumerable implications on the rest of many trans* people’s lives. The way an individual identifies should be no one’s choice but their own. Coming out is already such a difficult and complex process; fear of it hurting one’s career should not be yet another obstacle. Legal protections are so important, but creating a world in which everyone is granted the same opportunities requires us all to take part and hold ourselves, and others, accountable.

If you believe an employer has discriminated against you, seek outside help and consider filing a complaint here with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. 

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Rainbow Reflections: 7 LGBTQIA+ People Share Their Experiences with Labels

By Olivia Williams

When my friend Hannah was about ten years old, she found herself unable to look away from the sight of Christina Ricci on her television. “I panicked that I was a lesbian,” she reveals, before mentally rationalizing away that identity by focusing on the attraction she felt for men. In fact, it took her until freshman year of college to “finally admit I love women and feel comfortable in that,” an identity she said she hid from herself  “probably from age 13 to 18.” Hannah is now happy in her bisexuality. She says, “I’m comfortable being like, ‘Oh, she’s hot’ when watching TV with friends and not feeling like I have to hide that part of myself.”

Hannah is not alone in her struggle to correctly identify her sexuality. According to Gallup, 5.6% of the population in the United States of America today identify as part of the LGB community: either Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual. The Williams Institute found 0.6% of the population is transgender. Within these scientific labels, however, there are other identities, ranging in terminology and definition. Each person who makes up these statistics has a story, just like Hannah, and just like The Cloud Dancers Foundation founder, Robina Asti. Their stories differ just as much as their subjects do, and exploring them helps us to connect to each other. In fact, that same little ten-year-old on her couch says today that finding a community helped her claim her sexuality. 

Curious as to the differences and similarities in stories like these, Cloud Dancers sat down with seven members of the LGBTQIA+ community from around the world. We spoke about how they have found the identities that they inhabit now, their personal experiences with internalized homophobia, their coming out journeys, and the advice they’d give to the next generation. Compiled into our Rainbow Reflection series, these stories give voice to some of the myriad of experiences held by members of the LGBQTIA+ community.  

For most of the interview participants, distilling their identity down to a few words was nearly impossible, and many of them use multiple identities. In fact, even the process of finding accurate labels for oneself and deciding what labels to use is a deeply personal process, according to MK, who asked to be identified only by their initials. “The limited information I had growing up gave me only so many labels I could use for myself,” MK said, so they had the “impression that I needed labels [in order] to be valid.” 

Even now, some of MK’s description of their identity is marked by their audience. “In terms of sexuality specifically, I use bisexual as well as queer to say I’m attracted to any gender and that gender doesn’t really influence how I feel about people. [Bisexual is] a more known and recognized term and so outwardly, with other people, I use it, but I don’t always feel it internally,” MK said. 

When not editing for a social audience, however, MK tends to focus on three terms: queer, non-binary, and gay: “I basically use these terms because they seem to be the more vague and broad versions of labels and terminology within queer circles.” Using general labels such as queer helps MK to “distance myself from gender and be aware in my otherness.” 

In fact, the universality of the term “queer” seemed to resonate with several participants, including Miriam. “[Q]ueer is the word that overall resonates with me the most because it can encapsulate more than sexuality,” she says. “Destroying the notions of binaries and sex as [just] a reproductive act appeals to me on philosophical and everyday life levels. For now, I’m trying to change the narrative and be more playful around my identity and presentation.”

Emerson also welcomes the freedom of the queer label, and, like Miriam, turns away from the bigender binary by identifying specifically as genderqueer, an identity that is associated with the rejection of the traditional gender binary. As for sexuality, he identifies as quoiromantic. “For me, being quoiromantic is being unable to tell the difference between platonic and romantic attraction. For most people, there’s a clear line between ‘I want to be friends with this person’ and ‘I want to date this person.’ But for me, that line has always had to be explained.” According to LGBTA Wiki, people who identify as quoiromantic, also known as Whatromantic or even WTFromantic, do not want to or cannot define their romantic orientation. It is a “disidentification with the romantic/nonromantic binary.” 

Although the “queer” moniker specifically was not used by the other four participants, three of them had a similar experience while trying to define themselves. “I went with heteroflexible at one point because it feels the most comfortable and accurate,” says Edward, adding that he has also used the “bisexual” label, as well as “pansexual.” “Most of the time I’ll just say straight if asked,” Edward said. “I don’t want to get into the queerness, which I think might be something of a privilege.” 

Similar to Edward, both Kat and Hannah have experimented with calling themselves bisexual. Hannah has kept the definition, saying, “To me, this just means that I’m sexually and romantically attracted to more than one gender.”  “For a long time I identified as bi,” Kat said. “I had inadvertently excluded non-binary people from the narrative I was telling myself.” She now likes the label “pansexual,” which means “I love and am attracted to people without gender or genitalia being a deciding influence. The gender of a potential partner isn’t a factor in entering into relationships for me.”  

Kathryn, who identifies as “graysexual, demisexual, pansexual” acknowledges that her identity might be quite a mouthful to those who aren’t used to it. Going in order of her labels, she explains, “For me, these three labels explain that I rarely experience sexual attraction, that I require an emotional connection to a person before my brain even considers sexual attraction to be an option, and that I have experienced attraction to both men and a genderfluid lesbian (my fiancée).” 

Several interviewees also struggled with reconciling their identities with the world around them, which operated on a baseline of heterosexuality. Kat details how her mom “wanted grandbabies, wanted us to settle down with nice men. My whole family’s default with heteronormative, so I grew up with the idea that straight relationships were the only relationships in my family.” This was only compounded by Kat being “a child of the 80s” and thus experiencing “a lot of deeply concerning conversations around the AIDS crisis,” which made it “hard not to walk away with the idea that straight relationships were safer and more normal/appropriate.” 

Emerson describes being raised in a rural Catholic town. “In school, I was singled out as ‘the queer kid’ [and] bullied often.” Edward remembers “off-handed comments” made by family members which “definitely altered my perception of queerness to some extent, by making it seem out-of-bounds.” He credits the acceptance and tolerance of his friends in his late adolescence for challenging these beliefs.  

For Hannah, who admits to being raised “in a very liberal and left household” with parents who “had friends that were gay” and ensured that she “always grew up knowing it was an okay thing to be,” the world outside of her house was not as accepting. “Outside of my parents, however, I lived in a really small, rural town in Illinois, and homophobia was pretty common,” she says. Stacked against the accepting ideals of her parents, this made for “a weird dichotomy, because I had really supportive parents and lots of my friends were gay, and I consumed a lot of queer media, but kids at my school and adults in the community were pretty homophobic.” 

There is even bias among the LGBTQIA+ community. Speaking for the asexual community, Kathryn says, “[T]he ace narrative is [not] a big enough part of the LGBTQIA+ community or conversation yet,” she says. “It is so common that we are left out, and when you already feel broken or like something is wrong with you, being excluded from conversations or campaigns or charities or communities adds to that feeling. It’s so lonely.” 

It is this kind of loneliness that the Rainbow Reflections series aims to combat.  Visit CloudDancers.org to sign up for email updates and be first to know when the next article in this series is available. The next topic: addressing internalized homophobia. 

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The History of Transgender Military Access

By Jeremiah Ancheta

The United States has a long history of changes concerning transgender people being allowed to serve in the military. Transgender people were banned from serving in the military for over 50 years. It was only in the last five years when this ban was lifted, only to be revoked again the following year, with another reversal earlier this year. This article explores the history of policies concerning transgender people in the United States military.

In 1960, former U.S. President Eisenhower put into effect Executive Order 10450. The order stated that “the interests of the national security require that all persons privileged to be employed in the departments and agencies of the Government, shall be reliable, trustworthy, of good conduct and character.” As such, it was permissible for people to be terminated or denied from being in the military insofar as they were not deemed “reliable, trustworthy, or of good conduct and character.” The order explicitly states what qualities don’t count, citing “sexual perversion” as one of those qualities. 

According to Outserve-SLDN, “scholars today note that this [sexual pervesion] was applied, at least as early as 1960, to ban transgender individuals from serving as well. In other words, the U.S. Government deemed transgender people as not being reliable and trustworthy or as people with good conduct and character, just for being being transgender. This policy remained in place for over 50 years.

In June of 2016, the Obama Administration made a revolutionary decision when they “officially ended the US military’s ban on openly serving transgender troops.” In support of this decision, Defense Secretary Ash Carter stated that “only soldiers’ qualifications for service should be relevant to the military, not their gender identity.”

In a series of now deleted tweets from July 2017, former U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Twitter, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.” After nearly two years of dealing with lawsuits, the transgender military ban would officially go into place in April of 2019.

In support of this stated reason that transgender personnel would burden the military with “tremendous medical costs,” Missouri Representative Vicky Hartzler said that “this policy hurts our military’s readiness and will take over a billion dollars from the Department of Defense’s budget. However, a 2016 study by the Rand Corporation debunked this claim, finding that “related health care coverage to transgender personnel indicated that active-component health care costs would increase by between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually, representing a 0.04 to 0.13 percent increase in active-component health care expenditures.” In other words, transgender related health care would cost millions rather than billions as stated by Hartzler. Furthermore, the study states that “even upper-bound estimates indicate that less than 0.1 percent of the total force would seek transition-related care that could disrupt their ability to deploy.” Finally, the 2014 fiscal year showed that the Department of Defense spent $49.3 billion on all health care costs for military personnel, which was 586,804% greater than transition related care in the military.

These findings show that the 2017 transgender military ban was unjustified, and transgender folk were denied a right that other Americans had due to false premises. Despite these findings, the transgender military ban would still be in place for a couple of years.

Fortunately, this ban was revoked earlier this year. On January 5, 2021, just five days after being inaugurated as the President of the U.S., “Joe Biden signed an executive order to repeal a Trump-era ban on most transgender Americans joining the military.”

With Biden’s recent decision in reallowing transgender personnel in the U.S. military, transgender people are one step closer towards achieving equal rights when it comes to serving our country. Cloud Dancers wholly supports this decision and we hope that this policy remains in effect indefinitely. 

According to the NCTE, “It’s estimated that over 134,000 American veterans are transgender, and over 15,000 trans people are serving in military today.” Today on Veterans Day 2021, we salute all our current and former military members, including our late founder, Robina Asti, who served in World War II. Robina was a pioneer of the LGBTQ+ community, who fought against transgender discrimination after her time serving in the military. Here is a video by ABC News highlighting Robina’s story. 

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Discrimination Against Hopeful Parents

By Meghan Serceki 

November is National Adoption Month in the United States, a time for us to grow an understanding and appreciation of the adoption process and for those who have been impacted by adoption. Adoption is an important practice for the LGBTQ+ community, as it allows couples who may not be able to conceive traditionally to start a family and provide a good and fulfilling life to their child. Unfortunately, these individuals face many barriers to accessing this resource.

Adoption comes in many forms, be it through the child welfare system, second-parent adoption, private adoption, international adoption, or the like. Each of these comes with its own set of challenges and obstacles for LGBTQ+ couples. This article focuses ondomestic adoption through agencies — that is, the adoption of infants or children within the United States through state-licensed adoption agencies. These agencies receive public funds and are therefore subject to state and federal laws. In a sense, they are representations of what parental rights the government sees fit to protect.

LGBTQ+ individuals throughout the country were rejected from adoption applications solely because of their homosexuality until 1978, when New York was the first state to stop this discrimination. However, the last state to do so, Florida,  only put it into law in 2010, demonstrating this great battle that was only the beginning of the fight for the parental rights of same-sex couples. 

Still, loopholes to these protections existed, and there was very little focus on the rights of trans* individuals, a term which encompasses all gender identities. Family Equality states that adoption agencies still could require prospective parents be married, effectively excluding same-sex couples in certain states from consideration up until the federal legalization of gay marriage in 2015. It was not until 2017 that both same-sex parents earned the right to be legally recognized as parents. According to Family Equality’s guest writer, Dana Rudolph, the impacts of this “goes doubly for transgender parents, about whom much less has been written.”

Still, with all these laws and protections, and all the progress that has been made, adoption agencies in many states can claim religious freedom as a reason to reject hopeful parents simply for being LGBTQ+. In the argument for religious freedom, it is important to note that the agencies in question are state-licensed, that they are funded by the state and receive special benefits because of this status. They are not private religious companies but essentially extensions of public programs.

The Movement Advancement Project tracks protections against discrimination in the adoption process state-by-state. Their most recent data finds that the majority of states do not provide full protections, some with no explicit state statutes against discrimination, others allowing agencies to make decisions based on their religious affiliations, and more providing protections for same-sex couples but not limiting discrimination based on gender identity. 

Adopting a child is not a decision one makes lightly. It is done out of a deep desire to care for a child, to start a family, and to provide for that family emotionally, physically, and financially. LGBTQ+ individuals have fought for the right to even be considered as parents and to take on this responsibility. The discrimination did not end in 1978 when New York passed the first statute. It did not end in 2017 when same-sex couples were both able to be recognized as parents. And in the 43 years since this legal battle began, trans* individuals have not been made a priority in this important discussion. We must continue this fight not only for those in same-sex relationships but for all those with identities which challenge the heteronormative system.

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Isolation, COVID-19, and Transgender Seniors

By Jeremiah Ancheta

Nearly two years have passed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the world has seen some progress towards returning to the way things once were, various issues remain that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Particularly, the harmful effects of loneliness and isolation within the transgender community, especially transgender seniors (65 and older), in the U.S. and abroad. This issue, which has always existed, has been made worse by the pandemic. Here is a look at what has been done to address the issue and further measures to consider in the future.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 54 million senior citizens living in the United States; this accounts for 16.5% of the nation’s population. A report by the Williams Institute at UCLA notes that about 0.5% of seniors in the U.S. identify as transgender. However, this statistic only captures the seniors who openly identify as transgender, and it is probable that there are many more transgender seniors who have simply not been open about their identity. The number of seniors is expected to grow, with a projected 85.7 million seniors in the U.S. by 2050. 

A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that one fourth of seniors are considered socially isolated. Although loneliness and isolation in itself is troubling, there are also problematic health issues that arise from them.

Various studies have shown that senior folk who are isolated and suffer from loneliness are more at risk for debilitating health conditions. This includes issues such as dementia, heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, and even death. 

This issue was aggravated in recent times due to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to restrictions on family members seeing senior relatives in medical care settings. Even now in 2021, some restrictions are still in place that limit visits in some capacity.

The pandemic has also affected transgender seniors in a two-fold manner. As seniors, they face the same debilitating health conditions as the rest of the population. However, the pandemic has also affected access to resources that are vital to transgender health.

A 2020 article by the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry notes that “The COVID-19 pandemic has diminished [Transgender and Gender Non-Binary (TGNB)] individuals’ access to the critical emotional and instrumental social support networks that are vital to their well-being… With school and university closures, TGNB youth may be living at home with family members who are struggling to accept and understand, or who do not accept their identities. TGNB adults also have diminished access to supportive communities given the limited number of online and virtual resources for TGNB people.”

Unfortunately, an article by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center points out how “loneliness and social isolation are rarely considered or addressed in health and mental health care settings.” However, the article also points out that such risk factors are the most addressable. So what exactly can be done to address the problem?

Studies point out that loneliness and social isolation issues vary on a case-by-case basis. As a result, different individuals will require different forms of intervention. One such intervention involves cognitive components, by helping seniors change their mindset about their social situation. This method may involve cognitive behavioral theory or mindfulness meditation to modify their mindset. Another intervention involves increasing social support or social interactions through community programs.

Ultimately, an article by the BMC Public Health concludes that “future research should be aimed at discerning what intervention works for whom, in what particular context and how.” As such, Cloud Dancers is interested in promoting more research on loneliness and social isolation among seniors, especially within the transgender community, as well as bringing more visibility for transgender seniors.

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International Trans-Inclusive Healthcare: India

Source: sangath.in/transcare/

By Jeremiah Ancheta

Two weeks ago, Cloud Dancers published a blog post overviewing the experiences of transgender people with the American health care system. In that post, we shared that, in the United States, it is currently prohibited by law for health care providers to discriminate against transgender people due to their transgender identity.

In this week’s post, we want to share more news on transgender health care access in other countries. Recently, India has taken multiple steps in making health care access for transgender people easier and more adequate. 

According to a piece by Fenway Health, The Fenway Institute in collaboration with the John Hopkins University School of Medicine established the ACCELERATE Program, an initiative that “aims to ensure comprehensive health services for transgender communities in India in a safe environment, free from stigma.” Through this program, two clinics were established that attend to the specific medical needs of transgender people. The Mitr Clinic launched in Hyderabad, India in January 2021, with a second clinic opening in the same city in July 2021.

With the first two clinics launched so far, the ACCELERATE Program hopes that more sites will open up throughout all of India that are particularly designed to attend to the medical needs of the transgender community.

Furthermore, July 2021 saw the launch of “TransCare: MedEd” in India that aims “to promote trans-inclusive healthcare and to educate healthcare professionals on transgender health,” as reported by The Times of India. This project comes after the passing of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act in India in 2019, “which mandates governments to take measures for ‘review of medical curriculum and research for doctors to address their [transgender] specific health issues.’” In response to the passing of this Act, Sangath, a public health research NGO, launched this initiative in collaboration with Kasturba Medical College and was funded by the University of Chicago.

This is a huge step for the transgender community in India, who have previously voiced their concerns with the inadequacy of the Indian health care system. For instance, this piece by Al Jazeera in 2014 noted issues with the system such as “transphobia in India’s healthcare system” and health care professionals being familiar only with the traditional gender binary. 

But that’s not all! On October 6, 2021, The Economic Times reported that the Ayushman Bharat, the national public health insurance scheme in the Indian Government that is free for low-income earners, “will now provide medical cover to transgenders and support medical intervention like sex change operations.” Those covered by Ayushman Bharat receive “free treatment at all public and empanelled private hospitals.” What this means is that with the inclusion of the aforementioned services, transgender people will receive free health care servics, including sex change operations, if they are covered by Ayushman Bharat.

With the establishment of medical facilities specifically designed for transgender people, further education for health care providers on transgender health and being trans-inclusive, as well as a national reform of Indian health insurance that provides free health care services for transgender people, India has seen a lot of progress in advancing transgender rights. Cloud Dancers hopes that other countries will take notice of India’s intervention in transgender health care and follow along in providing adequate and stigma-free health care for the community.