Jessica Hicklin may be best known as the trans woman who took the state of Missouri to court over access to gender-affirming care while incarcerated, with a successful ruling in 2018. Now five years later, as Missouri state legislators are sponsoring an array of bills targeting transgender health care, she describes this as a dark…
Policy
Trans Kids Don’t Need a Savior. They Need Access to Evidence-Based Care
A recent piece by Jamie Reed titled “I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle” frames itself as an exposé of the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, suggesting the program is “morally and medically appalling.” But dig deeper and it becomes clear that this article is filled…
Missouri Courage Scholarship Adds Board of Directors
Sometimes, truly great things emerge from the muck. The Missouri Courage Scholarship, for LGBT students and allies, is definitely one of those things, and it’s come a long way in a short time. This week, the scholarship announced the convening of its first Board of Directors, after two years in existence and more than $25,000…
Illinois’ Ban of the ‘Gay Panic’ Defense Won’t Solve a Problem — But It May Prevent One
If a man were on trial for murder and adopted the “gay-panic defense,” it would sound something like this: I’m sorry I killed the victim, your honor, but he winked at me, and he’s gay, so that’s provocation. I deserve a lesser charge. On August 25, Illinois joined California as one of only two states…
We Need To Talk About Health Care, Fam!
Sick of hearing about health care? In late July, after seven years of promises and drama, congressional Republicans failed to pull off a wholesale repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. Now this week, they’re trying once again. But even if this most recent effort loses steam, that’s no excuse to tune…