Friday, May 07, 2021


Another Out Of Touch, Wealthy, White Woman Is Horrified By Unhoused People

Danielle Campoamor 
R29 6/5/2021


Caitlyn Jenner has had a busy couple of weeks. On April 23, Jenner announced she’s running for governor of California, hoping to unseat current Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last Saturday, she said to TMZ that she believes trans girls shouldn’t be allowed to participate in girls’ sports. And just last night, Jenner appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show to do the difficult work that is required of this country’s politicians during this time: lament the horrors that unhoused people impose on the white, rich, and powerful.

 
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“My friends are leaving California,” Jenner told Hannity while *checks notes* sitting inside her Malibu airplane hangar. “The guy right across, he was packing up his hangar and I said, ‘Where are you going?’ And he says, ‘I’m moving to Sedona, Arizona. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t walk down the streets and see the homeless.'”


Jenner’s comments — coming from an out-of-touch, rich white woman who has never experienced being unhoused in her life — immediately drew outrage. After all, Jenner’s estimated net worth is an egregious $100 million. She lives in a $3.5-million ranch-style home in Malibu, CA. She owns a number of expensive vehicles, including multiple Porsches and an Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. So it’s safe to say that her taking offense with Los Angeles’ large population of unhoused people doesn’t exactly bode well for her bid to become governor of California.

But it’s not just Jenner’s ignorance when it comes to unhoused people that is the problem — it’s her lack of understanding that her own community, the trans community, is also plagued by this issue. Recent data shows that a reported 63% of trans adults and 80% of gender non-conforming adults are unhoused, according to data from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. One 2015 survey examining the experiences of over 27,000 trans people across the country found that one in 10 surveyed experienced violence at the hands of a family member once they came out, and 8% were kicked out of their home because they were transgender. The same survey found that 30% of respondents who had a job had been either fired, denied a promotion, or experienced mistreatment or harassment in the workplace as a result of their gender identity. And the unemployment rate among respondents was three times that of the total U.S. population, while nearly one-third were living in poverty.

Shelters that provide clothing, food, and housing to those experiencing housing insecurity often double as another source of potential danger for trans and gender non-conforming people. Of respondents who had experienced being unhoused over the past year, 70% said they were mistreated in a shelter because they’re transgender, and 26% said they avoid shelters altogether for fear they’ll be harassed or assaulted.

But just like Jenner has no clue what it’s like not to have access to housing or shelter, she doesn’t seem to know much about the many other struggles facing transgender people. Shortly after she shared her gubernatorial aspirations with the world, Jenner supported Republican-led efforts to ban trans students from joining school sports teams that align with their gender identity. “This is a question of fairness,” Jenner told a reporter. “That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”

If Jenner truly cared about the problems of trans people who don’t live in Malibu mansions or fly on private planes, she would know that 43% of trans youth have been bullied on school grounds, and that 60% of trans and non-binary youth have seriously considered suicide. She would also know that studies have shown participation in school sports can lead to greater wellbeing, a reduction in anxiety, increased self-esteem, and improved overall mental health.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that Jenner does know these facts (after all, Google is a thing) and simply doesn’t mind sacrificing children on the altar of partisan politics. It’s clear now, more than ever, that she is making an appeal to conservative Californians — rich, white ones at that — in her effort to gain political power. Unhoused trans kids be damned.



Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

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Caitlyn Jenner In Office Would Hurt Trans People


Samantha Bee Tells Republicans To ‘Stop Policing Other People’s Bodies’ After Transphobic Sports Bills

"At the end of the day, Republicans need to stop policing other people's bodies, mind their own f***ing business, and let trans people live their lives."



Getty Images Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee is slamming Republican legislators in the U.S. after more than 30 states introduced transphobic sports-related bills that would ban transgender students from playing against cisgender athletes.

"Conservatives are staging a co-ordinated attack on trans kids by making up a problem that absolutely doesn't exist," the Toronto-born Bee says during an episode of her "Full Frontal". "They falsely claim trans women automatically have more testosterone and therefore more muscle mass than cis women. But studies don't show a consistent relationship between testosterone and athletic performance."

U.S. senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have spearheaded a federal trans sports bill, which Bee says, is just a tactic to earn themselves more votes. "Just like with the bathroom bills, Republicans are trying to scare their base to vote," she says.

"At the end of the day, Republicans need to stop policing other people's bodies, mind their own f***ing business, and let trans people live their lives."

'Polarizing topic': Sides grapple with fairness of trans women competing on female teams

Jim Morris 
GLOBAL NEWS
6/5/2021

9
© Stephen Groves/The Associated Press A woman demonstrates against a proposed ban on transgender girls and women from female sports leagues in South Dakota in March. Republican lawmakers in several U.S. states have introduced legislature related to…

It's an easy question to ask but finding a conclusive answer is proving difficult.

Republican lawmakers in several U.S. states have introduced more than 100 bills related to transgender issues, many of them aimed at preventing transgender women and girls from competing on female sports team.

Those who support the legislation argue transgender athletes have a physical advantage in women's sports.


So, do they?

"It's a very polarizing topic," said Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, chief executive officer for Canadian Women and Sport.

"There is quite a bit of research on the topic, with more being produced all the time. Our understanding of the research is that it's also divided, therefore quite inconclusive. Everybody's kind of got signs on their side. That's part of what makes this really a tricky conversation to navigate."

Veronica Ivy, a Canadian transgender athlete who is a two-time UCI Women's Masters
 Track World Championship winner, argues there is no advantage.

"The idea that [in] pre-puberty there's any physiological advantage for trans girls is literally nonsense," said Ivy, who was born in Victoria and is an associate professor of philosophy at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. "So, these bills are not scientifically grounded.


"When it comes to post-puberty trans women, there's also no clear advantage, let alone an advantage large enough to justify exclusion. We have to remember that we already allow huge performance advantages within the women's category."


Sandmeyer-Graves' group has joined with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports (CCES) to conduct a review of the research done on whether transgender athletes have an advantage.

"A lot of people assume the answer," Sandmeyer-Graves said. "I think the science tells us that is actually a lot more complex than most people realize."

Caitlyn Jenner recently added fuel to the debate when she said it "just isn't fair" for biological boys who are transgender to compete in girls' sports in school.

Jenner won an Olympic decathlon gold medal as a male at the 1976 Oympics in Montreal.

"It plays into a lot of the fears that people have about how trans women's participation will impact women's sports," Sandmeyer-Graves said. "We don't believe those fears are well founded."

COACHES ARE ABUSIVE
COACHING IS ABUSE
Video: Women abused by ski coach call for protection in sport (Global News)


Ivy said Jenner had previously supported the right for trans girls to participate in girls' sports.

"I suspect her about-face is politically motivated as she seeks the California governor's position as a Republican, tossing red meat to a transphobic voting base," Ivy said. "It's hypocritical to say the least."

'Trans girls are girls'


Six U.S. states have passed bills preventing athletes from competing in categories different than their biological sex at birth. Ivy called the laws "cruel, unfounded and harmful."

"They will do nothing but harm innocent children by taking away their right to play with people of their gender," she said. "Trans girls are girls. They are females.

"When we're talking about children, sports and playing on teams is such an important part of their social and intellectual development. Taking that away from already marginalized kids is nothing but cruel."

In Canada, the CCES has worked to develop policies for transgender athletes.

"That guidance essentially says that a person should have the right to participate in sport in the gender they identify with," said Paul Melia, the CCES's president and chief executive officer. "There should be no requirements for either surgery or hormone therapy imposed upon on individual as a condition of their participation in sports because of the harmful consequence that kind of intervention can cause an individual."

In 2018, U Sports, the governing body of Canadian university sports, released a policy saying transgender athletes can participate on varsity sports team that correspond with their sex assigned at birth or with the gender they now identify with.
Existing concerns

The issue of transgender athletes may not be making headlines in Canada, but concerns do exist. Some high school athletes might fear having a transgender person competing on their team could cost them a chance at a university scholarship.

"We're not receiving complaints from universities or sports organizations directly, but we are hearing some negative feedback," Melia said.

"This is probably more nuanced and complex. Our policy guidance at the community sport level has probably helped a lot of sports organizations. But once the rewards start to be become more significant, that's where the friction comes into the system."

Canada's domestic policies might also face headwinds at higher levels where sports are governed by international federations.

Last year, World Rugby became the first international sports governing body to institute a ban on transgender women competing in global competitions like the Olympics and the women's Rugby World Cup. The ban was introduced because "safety and fairness cannot presently be assured for women competing against trans women in contact rugby."

Rugby Canada has rejected the policy, saying it has a trans inclusion policy and believes everyone deserves "respectful and inclusive environments for participation."

Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weightlifter from New Zealand, has qualified for this summer's Tokyo Olympics. The 43-year-old lived as a male for 35 years and never made it into international weightlifting.

Sandmeyer-Graves said a lack of funding and support for women's sports is a greater threat than transgender athletes.

"I don't think there's going to be a wave of trans women taking over women's sports," she said. "I think the threat might be overstated.

"The real threat to women's' sport is coming back to the idea of there's scarce resources and opportunities. The fact that women's sport isn't supported, funded with equitable opportunities, equitable resources and equitable coverage is a far more significant impediment to women's participation and advancement in sport than trans women's involvement."


WHY DON'T WE EVER HEAR ABOUT TRANS BOYS/TRANS MEN, PLAYING SPORTS 
OR USING BOYS/MENS BATHROOMS?!

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