Trans Legislators

There is a quiet revolution going on which is quite special, we are getting elected to office. Here in Connecticut there are a couple trans people who have won office.

8 transgender politicians who are changing politics
Insider
By Talia Lakritz
June 1, 2021


Danica Roem was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, winning against an opponent who called himself "Virginia's chief homophobe."

She also became the first trans politician to win reelection in 2019.

Roem worked as an award-winning journalist before pivoting to politics. She serves on several committees including Transportation and Communications, Technology and Innovation. She also helped Virginia become one of the first Southern states to remove "trans panic" as a defense in criminal proceedings, and she encourages other people of trans experience to run for office.

They are according to the article...

• Sarah McBride is the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the US.
• In 2020, Honey Mahogany became the first Black openly transgender person to win an elected post in California.
• Representative Taylor Small is the first openly transgender person to serve in the Vermont Legislature and the fifth elected trans state representative in the US.
• After teaching in public schools for nearly three decades, Stephanie Byers became the first openly transgender elected official in Kansas.
• Brianna Titone is Colorado's first openly transgender legislator.
• Lisa Bunker is one of the first two openly transgender state representatives elected in New Hampshire, making it the only state with more than one transgender lawmaker.
• Gerri Cannon serves in the New Hampshire House of Representatives alongside Bunker.

And let us not forget the appointed trans people…

• Dr. Rachel Levine who is the first openly transgender person confirmed by Senate to federal post

Then the Obama administration…

• Dylan Orr – Special Assistant for the Labor Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy
• Amanda Simpson – Executive Director of the U.S. Army Office of Energy Initiatives (OEI)
• Shannon Minter – the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships
• Raffi Freedman-Gurspan– White House Staff

Here in Connecticut as the Executive Director of the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition I have been appointed to the governor’s Council on Hate Crimes we have been tasked with advising the governor and the legislature on hate crime. I am also on the LGBTQ Health and Human Service Network which is tasked with advising the legislature on LGBTQ issues.

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Some good news!

Even though it will not sway any Republicans, it will sway many independent voters.

AMA reinforces opposition to restrictions on transgender medical care

The American Medical Association (AMA) today strengthened its established position opposing the governmental intrusion into the practice of medicine that is detrimental to the health of transgender and gender-diverse children and adults.

Legislatures in 20 states this year proposed banning physicians and other health care professionals from providing medically necessary gender-affirming care to transgender and gender-diverse youth. In response to this legislative trend, physicians and medical students at the AMA’s House of Delegates meeting voted to meaningfully expand the organization’s strong opposition to undue restrictions on medical care to populations that have been politicized in state legislatures.

“The AMA opposes the dangerous intrusion of government into the practice of medicine and the criminalization of health care decision-making,” said AMA Board Member Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA. “Gender-affirming care is medically-necessary, evidence-based care that improves the physical and mental health of transgender and gender-diverse people.”

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Endocrine Society Applauds AMA Resolution Supporting Access to Gender-Affirming Care

State legislation should follow the science on transgender medicine

News Wise

15-Jun-2021

The Endocrine Society—a professional organization of more than 18,000 health care providers and scientists worldwide—praised the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates for passing a resolution opposing efforts to criminalize medical care for transgender youth.

The resolution, which cites the Endocrine Society’s Clinical Practice Guidelines on transgender care, makes it AMA policy to oppose the criminalization and otherwise undue restriction of evidence-based gender-affirming care.

The Endocrine Society opposes legislative efforts to prevent transgender and gender diverse adolescents from accessing gender-affirming medical care. These bills do not conform to medical evidence and clinical practice.