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REUTERS/Daniel BecerrilLONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - Drugs that combat obesity could for the first time be included on the World Health Organization's "essential medicines list," used to guide government purchasing decisions in low- and middle-income countries, the U.N. agency told Reuters. A panel of advisers to the WHO will review new requests for drugs to be included next month, with an updated essential medicines list due in September. The request to consider obesity drugs was submitted by three doctors and a researcher in the United States. The majority – 70% - live in low- and middle-income countries. EXPANDING ACCESSIncluding obesity drugs among the WHO's essential medicines could have great significance for that population.

☆ Some Republicans are suggesting that the Nashville shooter's reported trans identity played a role in causing the deadly incident
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Nashville shooter identified as transgender, according a police statement Monday that was later walked back. Some Republicans, including JD Vance and Marjorie Taylor Greene, are suggesting the shooter's trans identity played a role. We aren't aware of the shooters intentions in terms of gender identity," a Metro Nashville Police Department spokesperson said. As details of the shooter's identity began to emerge, some prominent Republican elected officials zeroed in on Hale's reported transgender identity. "How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking?"

On TikTok, trans adults and supportive parents of trans youth have spoken emotionally about the heartbreaking decision to move. I moved to 3 major cities, each time with $400 or less in my pocketIn 2010, I moved to Chicago for college at 19 years old. Five years later, in 2015, I moved to New York City with no job, housing plans, or savings. Call LGBTQ organizations in your desired state to find housing supportMany LGBTQ organizations across the country, like the Los Angeles LGBT Center, offer social services and housing for people experiencing homelessness or housing instability due to these anti-trans bills. When you arrive to your destination, connect with local LGBTQ organizations or organizations that help the unhoused in that city.

☆ How drag was pushed back into the shadows in Tennessee
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Now, a Tennessee law restricting drag in front of minors is due to come into force on April 1. Several planned drag events were canceled over the winter after protests, and many venues felt forced to make previously family-friendly drag shows into adults-only events. Drag performers and venue owners say they are worried about their livelihoods and their rights of free expression. The Starbucks say there is no such thing as family-friendly drag; drag performers cite Bugs Bunny, Shakespeare's cross-dressing comedies and the Robin Williams film "Mrs. Doubtfire" among counterexamples. Outside of public Pride events, most Tennessee drag performers largely work in clubs and bars that admit only those over 18.

☆ Arkansas enacts law restricting school bathroom use by transgender people
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Mike SegarMarch 21 (Reuters) - Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday signed a law targeting the trans community, prohibiting transgender people from using the restroom that matches their gender identity at public schools. The law requires schools to provide reasonable accommodations, that include single-person restrooms and changing areas. School authorities that violate the law can face fines of at least $1,000, and parents can also file lawsuits to enforce the measure. Similar laws directed at transgender youth have been enacted in Alabama and Oklahoma. read moreRepublican legislators across the United States have escalated a campaign to ban certain healthcare for transgender youth, in some cases seeking to charge parents and doctors with child abuse if they provide treatment.

International researchers published a pre-print report based on their interpretation of the data on Monday, after leaks of their findings in the media last week and a meeting with the World Health Organization involving both the Chinese and international scientists. The data comprised new sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and additional genomic data based on samples taken from the Huanan market in Wuhan in 2020, according to the international researchers who accessed it. "This adds to the body of evidence identifying the Huanan market as the spillover location of Sars-CoV-2 and the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic," said the report. As of March 11, it was no longer accessible on the database, where it was found by the international scientists, their report said. "Other raw sequencing data from environmental samples from the Huanan market exist and could contain further clues," Debarre told Reuters.

☆ Vaccine makers prep bird flu shot for humans 'just in case'; rich nations lock in supplies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jennifer Rigby | Thomson Reuters | Jen Reports On Health Issues Affecting People Around The World | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

There has also been a push among companies to develop a bird flu vaccine for poultry, a market potentially far larger than that for humans. Many countries' pandemic plans say flu shots should go first to the most vulnerable while supply is limited. The agreements include six of the largest seasonal flu manufacturers, such as GSK, Sanofi and CSL Seqirus, the WHO said. NEW APPROACHESIn a pandemic, vaccine manufacturers would shift production of seasonal flu vaccines and instead make shots tailored to the new outbreak when needed. The results will be closely watched, as the data on Moderna’s seasonal flu candidate was mixed.

☆ A Georgia employee requested their county include gender-affirming care as part of their health coverage. Instead, the county spent $1.2 million fighting the effort: report.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Georgia county was accused of refusing to include gender-affirming care as part of their health coverage. The county spent $1.2 million fighting it, ProPublica found — significantly more than the cost to cover care. Anna Lange, a sheriff's deputy in Georgia's Houston County requested her county expand its healthcare coverage to cover her gender-affirming care, according to court documents reviewed by Insider. "You knew right then and there that no matter what I said, that it wouldn't matter," she told ProPublica. "It was a slap in the face, really, to find out how much they had spent," Lange told ProPublica.

☆ A rash of proposed Florida laws use 'genocidal rhetoric' to attack trans people, legal experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

If passed, the bills would restrict access to gender-affirming care and classify it as child abuse. Experts told Insider the bills are posturing ahead of the 2024 presidential race. New legislation 'short circuits existing law'The proposed new bills go further to expand anti-trans legislation than others across the nation, disrupting established custody and health care precedent, legal experts told Insider. "I think that's important, just to note how brazen the language has become — it's genocidal rhetoric," Caraballo told Insider. "This is all about politics, and this is all about bolstering DeSantis is run for the presidency," Caraballo told Insider.

☆ Kansas legislature passes bill to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Transgender rights activist waves a transgender flag at a rally in Washington Square Park in New York, U.S., May 24, 2019. REUTERS/Demetrius FreemanMarch 9 (Reuters) - Kansas' Republican-led legislature on Thursday passed a bill that would ban transgender athletes from playing girls or women's school sports if they were born male. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, is expected to veto the bill, as she vetoed two similar measures in the previous two years. Opponents and LGBTQ advocates say the laws are unnecessary, given the small number of transgender athletes in school sports. At least 18 states have passed or enacted legislation preventing transgender students from playing on school sports teams matching their gender identity.

☆ Competing Women's Day rallies expose rifts in Spain's feminist movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Madrid Town Hall is lit in purple as people take part in a protest to mark International Women's Day in Madrid, Spain, March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Susana VeraMADRID, March 8 (Reuters) - Several Spanish cities will host competing rallies for International Women's Day, reflecting diverging ideologies within the feminist movement and a deepening rift within the leftist coalition government. The ruling Socialists and their far-left junior coalition partner Unidas Podemos are also divided over whether to abolish prostitution. Unlike in previous years, Sanchez did not attend an event hosted by Equality Minister Irene Montero, of Unidas Podemos, whose ministry drafted the law that came into effect last year. Montero was heckled by one woman who accused her of prioritising trans rights at the expense of women.

☆ Ted Cruz keeps dodging on whether he agrees with his former podcast co-host's call to eradicate 'transgenderism'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Conservative personality Michael Knowles called for the eradication of "transgenderism" in a CPAC speech. "I think the extreme left's ideology has been very harmful," Cruz initially told Insider on Tuesday before boarding an elevator in the Capitol building. "I get that you have a story you want to write," Cruz told Insider. "The press is being silly and deliberately taking him out of context," Cruz told Insider when first asked about the issue on Tuesday. But even so, Knowles' comments go well beyond what most Republican lawmakers have articulated.

☆ A Tennessee high school club tried to put up flyers for transgender awareness month. The school said they were illegal.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Yelena Dzhanova | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A school club in Tennessee tried to put a flyer that defined the word "transgender" in November. But the principal of Northeast High School rejected it, a 17-year-old member of the club said. After the poster was rejected, Elizabeth came up with other ideas in an effort to get the word out about Transgender Awareness Month. Elizabeth said the experience raised her awareness about the extent to which trans rights are threatened in the state of Tennessee. The Tennessee law is part of a wave of legistion focused on trans people largely fueled by anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the United States.

☆ Texas congressman who broke with GOP is censured
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

That independent streak includes opposing a sweeping House GOP immigration proposal over the U.S.-Mexico border, which includes a large portion of his South Texas district. Gonzales was defiant before the vote and did not attend the meeting of Texas GOP leaders and activists in Austin. "The Republican Party of Texas would be wise to follow his lead and do some actual work." Last year, former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West stepped down from the job to mount a faint primary challenge against Republican Gov. The state party in 2018 also censured a former moderate Texas House speaker who opposed bathroom restrictions for transgender people.

☆ Finland to allow gender reassignment without sterilisation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

COPENHAGEN, March 3 (Reuters) - Finland will allow transgender people to change their legal gender at their own request and without undergoing sterilisation, new legislation signed by the Finnish President confirmed on Friday. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2017 that requiring sterilisation in order for individuals to change the sex on their birth certificate is a violation of human rights. Medical examinations and sterilization will no longer be required to legally change one's gender, it added. On Friday, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto ratified the new legislation which is will enter into force on April 3. The Czech Republic, Latvia, and Romania currently require individuals to undergo sterilization before legally changing their gender, according to Transgender Europe (TGEU).

☆ Tennessee takes lead in Republican effort to restrict drag shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Tennessee lawmakers will debate on Thursday whether to restrict drag performances in public or in front of children, one of more than a dozen bills limiting drag advanced by Republican politicians in at least 15 states in recent months. They see the bills as part of a Republican effort to advance laws limiting LGBT people's conduct across the country. Drag performances typically do not involve nudity or stripping. Established in 2015, Drag Story Hour, in which costumed drag performers read to children, has expanded to at least 20 states. Drag performers say they are just as able to tailor their act to their audience as other artists, like an actor who might appear in both a sexually explicit R-rated movie and in a children's movie.

☆ Virginia Woolf´s 'Orlando' inspires transgender film at Berlinale
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( James Imam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Orlando: My Political Biography", Preciado's playful debut film, explores the struggles of trans and binary people through Woolf's novel "Orlando". In its opening scene, two young non-binary people sit reading a book in the woods. I didn't want to go into that tradition, but I didn't want to go into the victim setting either," Preciado said of his film, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday. Woolf's 1928 novel tells the story of Orlando, a young Elizabethan-era nobleman, who one night turns into a woman living three-hundred years later. Preciado says Woolf's vision resonates in the contemporary West, where people are only now beginning to accept the notion of non-binary categories.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 frees platforms from legal responsibility for content posted online by their users. In a major case to be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, the nine justices will address the scope of Section 230 for the first time. A ruling against the company could create a "litigation minefield," Google told the justices in a brief. Some have targeted the way platforms monetize content, place advertisements or moderate content by removing or not removing certain material. A California appeals court dismissed the lawsuit, citing Section 230, because it sought to hold Twitter liable for content Murphy created.

☆ A transgender pharmacist says she felt 'dehumanized' after an Arkansas GOP lawmaker asked her about her genitalia during a public hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An Arkansas GOP lawmaker asked a transgender pharmacist about her genitalia during a bill hearing. "That's horrible," Gwendolyn Herzig replied when McKee asked her, "Do you have a penis?" McKee asked Herzig, who was testifying against the bill at the time, prompting her to respond, "A trans female, yes sir." "You're the one that brought that into the discussion," McKee told Herzig, who shot back: "I never said anything about genitalia." Herzig told Insider on Wednesday that she felt "shock" and "disgust" when McKee asked about her genitalia.

☆ Fact Check-Video does not show Joe Biden making transphobic remarks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A clip that seemingly shows U.S. President Joe Biden making transphobic remarks has been shared on social media as if authentic. There is no evidence that Biden ever made these remarks. Footage of this speech (bit.ly/3XbOjH5) shows Biden wearing similar clothes and the same flags behind him as in the manipulated video. Neither this clip nor the official transcript of this speech (here) include any of the remarks made in the video being shared online. There is no evidence that U.S. President Joe Biden made a series of transphobic remarks.

☆ In a first for India, transgender couple become biological parents
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A transgender couple are the first in India to become parents biologically, after one of the partners gave birth on Wednesday in Kerala state. The birth of the baby is a milestone for the South Asian nation, where transgender people continue to face discrimination and stigma despite being officially recognised as a "third gender" since 2014. Both Ziya Paval, who was born a man, and her partner, Zahad, who was female by birth, were going through hormonal therapy to change their sex when they conceived. Zahad gave birth at a government hospital on Wednesday and, along with the newborn, is currently under observation in the hospital's intensive care unit. Today is the day I got to hold my baby," Paval told Reuters partner ANI, smiling widely.

☆ Colorado baker loses appeal over transgender birthday cake
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The Colorado baker who won a partial U.S. Supreme Court victory after refusing to make a gay couple’s wedding cake because of his Christian faith lost an appeal Thursday in his latest legal fight, involving his rejection of a request for a birthday cake celebrating a gender transition. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that that the cake Autumn Scardina requested from Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop, which was to be pink with blue frosting, is not a form of speech. Scardina, an attorney, attempted to order her cake on the same day in 2017 that the Supreme Court announced it would hear Phillips’ appeal in the wedding cake case. Phillips then filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado, accusing it of a “crusade to crush” him by pursuing the complaint. In March 2019, lawyers for the state and Phillips agreed to drop both cases under a settlement Scardina was not involved in.

NFL Hall of Famer and NBC Sports analyst Tony Dungy is facing renewed criticism for his history of anti-LGBTQ statements after he tweeted an anti-transgender conspiracy theory last week. That’s the criteria for avoiding hell.”In another tweet from 2020, Dungy wrote that being “LGBTQ is a lifestyle,” a sentiment that suggests being queer is a choice. . . things will happen.’’Cyd Zeigler, an LGBTQ advocate and a co-founder of the LGBTQ sports site Outsports.com, has been raising the alarm bells on Dungy’s anti-LGBTQ sentiments for years. “I’ve never called for Tony Dungy to be fired or lose his job or his ability to provide for his family,” Zeigler said. Zeigler said he isn’t convinced that Dungy’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric would stop anytime soon.

☆ Sanders’ Latinx ban delves into a generational, cultural Latino debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

— One of Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ first acts as Arkansas governor was to ban most state agencies from using the gender-neutral term Latinx, tapping into a debate that’s divided Hispanics along generational lines. Sanders’ order adds to the debate over a word that’s found little widespread support among Latinos and even prompted backlash from some Democrats. The Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBT members of the party, praised Sanders’ order. I’ve never met someone who says ‘thy.’”Hernandez called Sanders’ order “an attempt to erase” the LGBTQ Latino community. Castillo Reyes uses both Latinx and “Latine,” another gender-neutral term that’s been used by some in the Latino community to describe their ethnic identity.

☆ Under West Virginia bills, exposing minors to transgender people could be a crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Two West Virginia bills aim to protect minors from obscene performances and materials, which the bills define, in part, as anything that includes exposure to or performances by transgender people. People who violate the bill regulating venues and performances, SB 278, could face a misdemeanor, a fine of up to $1,000 and/or jail time. Advocates in the state say the bills declare transgender people’s existence as inherently sexual and harmful to children. In West Virginia, legislators have introduced at least 10. Another West Virginia bill would allow 15% of voters in a city to recall “any ordinance or city code provision previously enacted by the governance.” Schneider said this bill, though it doesn’t explicitly name LGBTQ issues or people, could be used to repeal local nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, which have passed in 18 cities in West Virginia.

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