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BREAKING: Rachel Levine is 1st openly transgender person to be confirmed in the Senate; she'll take the role of assistant secretary of health. Vote: 52-48 Republicans Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) joined all Democrats in voting yes

<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania legislator shared on Facebook an image mocking the appearance of the state’s recently departed health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who has been nominated to serve in the Biden administration, and then offered a general apology Saturday.</p>

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up an appeal from parents in Oregon who want to prevent transgender students from using locker rooms and bathrooms of the gender with which they identify, rather than their sex assigned at birth. The case came from a school district near Salem, Oregon’s capital city. The federal appeals court in San Francisco had upheld a Dallas, Oregon, school district policy that allows transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. Parents sued over the policy in 2017, saying it caused embarrassment and stress. A lower...

A Lebanon County Republican lawmaker is adding his voice to the calls for the immediate resignation or removal of Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. Rep. Russ Diamond said Levine needs to go. He cited “the horrific results of the department’s COVID-19 policy” in regard to the number of cases and deaths that have occurred in nursing homes and other facilities under the department’s oversight. More than two-thirds of the state’s coronavirus deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities. Diamond has introduced a resolution calling for Levine’s ouster or for Gov. Tom Wolf to demand the health secretary’s resignation. Last...

After a campaign ad touted the ex-NYC mayor as “incredibly sensitive” to the LGBTQ community, a video resurfaced of Bloomberg referring to transgender people as “he, she or it” and “some guy in a dress” — the second time he’s been caught making such comments. Bloomberg used the language to warn 2020 Democratic hopefuls against stressing transgender issues, arguing that they wouldn’t play well in middle America. “If your conversation during a presidential election is about some guy wearing a dress and whether he, she, or it can go to the locker room with their daughter, that’s not a winning...

An Obama-appointed federal judge is forcing Wisconsin taxpayers to provide costly sex reassignment surgery and hormonal procedures for low-income transgender residents who get free medical care from the government. In a recently issued ruling U.S. District Judge William M. Conley writes that Medicaid, the publicly funded insurance that covers 65.7 million poor people, cannot deny the medical treatment needs of those suffering from “gender dysphoria.” Officials estimate it will cost up to $1.2 million annually to provide transgender Medicaid recipients in the Badger State with treatments such as “gender confirmation” surgery, including elective mastectomies, hysterectomies, genital reconstruction and breast augmentation....

A blog post published Thursday on the Huffington Post's South African version of the site advocated stripping white men of their right to vote. Shelley Garland is an activist and feminist completing a Master of Arts degree in philosophy and "working on ways to smash the patriarchy." "Could It Be Time to Deny White Men the Franchise?" she asked Thursday in the title of her blog post. "It is time to wrestle control of the world back from white males, and the first step will be a temporary restriction of the franchise to them," according to Garland. "If white men...

FULL TITLE: Transgender woman, 23, who was brutally beaten by a mob that shouted 'homophobic slurs' on camera is found murdered a month later A transgender woman who was brutally beaten in April by a mob in a viral video was found shot dead on Saturday morning. Muhlaysia Booker, 23, was found laying face down on the 7200 block of Valley Glen Drive at approximately 6.40am. Booker was pronounced dead at the scene and Dallas Police Department said at a press conference she was the victim of 'homicidal violence'. Police did indicate that the death was not tied to the...

All they had to do was make average tasting cookies at competitive prices. Instead, Chips Ahoy decided it’d be a good idea to do this. What in the… I’m not even sure what this is supposed to mean. Even if someone believes being a drag queen makes a man suddenly become a woman, they don’t become suddenly become a mother in the process. That’s kind of separate aspect of feminism that you can’t just appropriate. Also, aren’t drag queens a different thing than transgenders, i.e. they don’t claim to be the opposite sex? None of this makes any sense. There’s...

When two high school athletes who were born male but identify as female took first and second place at Connecticut’s girls indoor track championship this year, it wasn’t just a local news story. To some, it was a story of triumph and courage. The winner, a junior from Bloomfield High School, set a girls state indoor record of 6.95 seconds in the 55-meter dash, and went on to win the New England titles in both the 55-meter dash and the 300-meter dash. To others, it was a story of shock and disappointment: Is this the end of women’s sports? To...

Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning wants out of a Virginia jail — and is getting support from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Manning, 31, who was jailed on March 8 on contempt charges by a federal judge for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks, wants to be released as the judge’s order is appealed. Manning, 31, is also asking to not be required to testify, reiterating her stance earlier this month to Virginia federal Judge Claude Hilton that she has no intention of doing so. Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday that Manning has been “trapped in solitary confinement” for refusing...

I’m Arizona Congresswoman Debbie Lesko. I’m a survivor of domestic violence from my ex-husband, who I left over 25 years ago. I am voting no on the Democrats’ version of the Violence Against Women Act because it is a radical bill that I believe will actually hurt women more. This bill, under the weight of federal law, would force domestic violence shelters to take in biological males who identify as women. This could be in showers. This could be in beds. Can you think of this? We have women that are placed in shelters that have already been abused, some...

In a press conference with Gov. Greg Abbott and newly-elected Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the controversial "bathroom bill" brought up in the last Texas Legislative session will not resurface. "When you win the battle, you don't have to fight the battle again," Patrick said when asked if the bill would be on this year's agenda. "The truth is, the purpose of that legislation was to stop school districts from forcing boys and girls to share showers and locker rooms, and that stopped," Patrick added... "The people have spoken, loudly and clearly

A woman has appeared in court accused of raping a man. Katie Brannen, 26, of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, is said to have attacked the alleged victim in January. She appeared today at Newcastle Crown Court accused of two offences of rape.

North Carolina’s controversial law overturning local government protections for gays and lesbians could cost it some business with California state agencies. Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a bill that prohibits state agencies from compelling their employees to travel to states with laws that allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The effect is to ban state-funded travel to North Carolina and other states that may adopt policies like its HB2, the law that struck down local measures protecting gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination and prohibited cities from passing new anti-discriminatory policies.

On a good day, transgender people can expect entirely well-meaning journalists and commentators to screw up what pronoun to use when describing one of their own in the news. (The Times and Associated Press are at least trying.) But Fox & Friends leaped into the lead this morning for the most bigoted and insensitive handling of Chelsea Manning by a major news organization when it played the Aerosmith song "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" to tease a segment. In case you didn't catch the subtle reference, the song's title was displayed in the upper left corner of the screen. "That's...

On the same day that Bradley Manning finally took to the stand and apologized for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks - the army he betrayed released a picture of the troubled soldier wearing a blond wig, makeup and lipstick. He addressed the court after a day of testimony about his troubled childhood in Oklahoma and the extreme psychological pressure that experts said he felt in the 'hyper-masculine' military because of his gender-identity disorder — his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man's body.

Rocker DEE SNIDER has lashed out at U.S. vice presidential hopeful PAUL RYAN for allegedly using his popular tune WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. Ryan, who is currently touring America to support Mitt Romney's bid for the White House, reportedly tried to boost morale during a political rally on Tuesday (21Aug12) by blaring the classic Twisted Sister hit to pump up the crowd. However, Snider has taken issue with the politician's use of the song and has lodged a formal complaint with Ryan's camp. A statement from the 57 year old reads, "I emphatically...

The Bay Area Reporter is reporting that a parish in the Castro, a gay neighborhood, is saying drag queens are not allowed in the parish for a fundraiser for an addiction recovery group's fundraiser that caters to gays. This isn't your typical fundraiser though. It's got drag queen performances. It would seem this refusal has a lot to do with Archbishop-elect [Salvatore] Cordileone. A local gay recovery group will not be holding its annual fall fundraiser in the social hall of the Castro neighborhood's Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church after officials said that no drag queens would be allowed.For the...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A transgender woman who wants to be Miss Universe said Tuesday that a rule requiring contestants to be born as women should be dropped, whether or not she gets a chance to compete. "I do not want any other woman to suffer the discrimination that I have endured," said Jenna Talackova, who underwent a sex change four years ago.