Tag: Trans Rights

Transgender individuals face unique discrimination, stigma, systemic inequality and attacks on their ability to live freely. Care and safety must be protected. Rights for trans people are at the heart of gender justice for all.

Transphobia in Women’s Sports Is Dangerous for All Women

Olympic athlete and women’s boxing gold medalist Imane Khelif recently became a target for anti-trans activists and know-it-all couch potatoes. They decided Khelif was a man based on her perceived appearance and strength, rather than actual facts. So hyped are the anti-trans police that any woman who doesn’t seem to conform to gender norms is suspect and fair game, particularly if she’s public and successful. This is dangerous for all women, no matter their gender identity, and especially women of color.

If we accept transphobes’ arguments against all trans women in all sports, we inevitably accept a set of assumptions that harm women, trans and cis alike.

Misogynist Manifesto: Project 2025 Says Yes to ‘Biblically Based Marriages’ and No to Reproductive Rights

Part one of a three-part series about the 900-plus-page right-wing “misogynistic manifesto”:

Project 2025 promotes traditional heterosexual marriage, stigmatizing single parenthood and same-sex spouses, and cutting programs to support single mothers and their children. It directs the next president to develop policies and programs to “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.” Proposals to restrict reproductive rights pervade Project 2025’s policy agenda, focused not only on abortion but also on contraception, sex education and gender-affirming healthcare.

(This article originally appears in the Fall 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

Democratic Party Platform Centers Women’s Rights

At the DNC in Chicago, party leaders approved the 2024 Democratic party platform Monday evening, promising to protect and strengthen women’s rights. The 91-page document is a stark contrast to the Republican platform, which promises to continue the dismantling of women’s rights started during Donald Trump’s first term in office.

Here are some of the parts of the Democratic party platform focused on women’s rights—including restoring abortion access, protecting contraception access, and making the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land.

Chromosome Count: Who Gets to Decide Which Athletes Are ‘Feminine Enough’ to Compete?

At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, a right-wing media firestorm spread disinformation that Imane Khelif of Algeria was transgender. As this article from the October 1988 issue of Ms. reminds us, sex testing in women’s sports is nothing new—and its origins are blatantly unscientific.

“Sports are not democratic. They’re elitist. The tallest play basketball. The shortest are jockeys. The ultimate would be to break the Olympics into biological classes and run them like the Westminster Dog Show.”

The Real Menopause Movement Is Behind Bars

The number of women experiencing or soon experiencing menopause behind bars has skyrocketed to more than 40 percent of incarcerated women today.

Many women experiencing menopause must manage uncomfortable symptoms, but for incarcerated women, the environmental hazards of prison life—excessive heat and denial of fans, unhealthy food, harsh lighting, loud noises, lack of access to fresh air and sunlight, and limited opportunities to exercise—severely exacerbate these symptoms, reduce an individual’s ability to manage them, and significantly compromise their basic quality of life.

Keeping Score: Kamala Harris Launches Presidential Campaign; JD Vance’s Extreme Abortion Views; Republicans Attack Voting Rights, Title IX and DEI

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign with Biden’s endorsement; Trump’s VP pick JD Vance’s anti-abortion extremism; women’s health is suffering in the Southeast; the Supreme Court blocked an EPA air pollution plan; House Republicans attack voting rights and Title IX; rest in power, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Dr. Ruth Westheimer; and more.

DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Allow Most of the New Sex Discrimination Rule to Go Into Effect

The Justice Department went to the U.S. Supreme Court this week in defense of the Biden administration’s new Title IX sex discrimination rule that includes transgender protections—arguing strongly that the logic of the rule is “compelled” by the Court’s ruling in Bostock.

The rule, issued under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, is set to go into effect on Aug. 1.

Title IX: Upholding Justice for Student Survivors in a Historic Election Year

This year marks the 52nd anniversary of Title IX, a landmark civil rights law that has transformed the landscape of U.S. education. The Biden-Harris administration’s new Title IX regulations, set to take effect Aug. 1, represent a significant step toward acknowledging and addressing the unique challenges faced by student who face discrimination and sexual violence, especially female, LGBTQ+ and pregnant or parenting students. But Republicans hope to block these Title IX revisions and revert them back to the restrictive Trump-era Title IX guidelines.

In this historic election year, with President Biden stepping down from the presidential campaign and Vice President Kamala Harris stepping up as the new candidate, the stakes are even higher.

House Republicans Are Jeopardizing the Rights of Women and LGBTQ+ Students

On April 19, the Biden administration released new Title IX guidelines that increase protections for assault victims, LGBTQ+ students, and pregnant students by providing schools more flexibility in how they conduct investigations.

Almost three months later, on July 10, House Republicans passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution—House Joint Resolution 165—that would block the Biden administration’s Title IX revisions and revert them back to the restrictive Trump-era Title IX guidelines.