samanthAAAH! riedel
@samanthawrites.net
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very tired freelance word girl | member, @transjournalists.org pic by @phobia.bsky.social | banner by @jukeboxcomix.bsky.social Signal (for confidential tips): sriedel.90
![[Text from linked Them.us article:]
Does the new DV rule affect trans people already in the U.S.?
After the new rule’s adoption, speculation spread online that the changes would also be used to increase harassment of trans people regardless of immigration status. Some worried that the rule would effectively create a justification for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to profile trans people on the assumption that their identity documents contain mismatched gender markers — the trans equivalent of a “Kavanaugh stop,” the doctrine established last year when Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh allowed ICE agents to racially profile people they claim are undocumented immigrants.
While U.S. law enforcement agencies do have a long history of anti-trans profiling (nicknamed “walking while trans”), Picasso tells Them that the new DV program rules alone don’t change the likelihood of whether ICE agents could detain trans immigrants and asylum seekers over their documents.
“Given ICE's lawlessness, some may also be concerned that this new policy will out the applicant as transgender to DHS, and that ICE may engage in some general harassment. But I don't see that being tied to this rule specifically, and it's a bit presumptuous to assume that transgender people (especially those of color) are not already being targeted,” Picasso said.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:w4jrt437icvztjsl42oh46mt/bafkreia7eezf5cx2fcefffavndzbrmx6pvxvrab5ueyd4knyropxjv7bny)
!["have brought it if Defendants had shown that they were working in good faith to promptly comply
with the Court’s order. As Plaintiffs informed Defendants before filing this Motion, if Defendants
provided a date certain by which the Preliminary Injunction would be implemented, or sufficient
information about why there is an unexplained delay, Plaintiffs would reevaluate the Motion. But
Defendants are slow-walking compliance, stonewalling class counsel’s and class members’
requests for basic information, and continuing to issue passports with incorrect sex designations
in violation of the Preliminary Injunction. Because time is of the essence for many class members,
Plaintiffs are forced to seek relief from this Court.
The Court prohibited Defendants from enforcing their unlawful Passport Policy against
members of the Classes who are likely to suffer irreparable injury during pendency of this case
(the “Preliminary Injunction Class” or “PI Class”) and ordered Defendants to “permit members of
the PI Class to self-select a sex designation—‘M,’ ‘F,’ or ‘X’—that is different from the sex
assigned to those individuals under the Passport Policy.” Preliminary Injunction at 1–2. The
Preliminary Injunction took effect “immediately.” Id. at 3. Yet passport offices—apparently
following orders from the Department of State—have turned PI Class members away, refused to
issue passports to PI Class members bearing sex markers that differ from the sex assigned to them
under the Passport Policy, stated that all applications seeking such a sex marker are not being
processed, and continue to only issue passports to PI Class members if they accept the sex marker" [cont. next image]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:w4jrt437icvztjsl42oh46mt/bafkreifshd4j7zbk2k37msll5qhrbruagcbrovi3z2tqrn4tpzkuopzkry)
![Excerpt from Them.us article by the author, linked in first post in this thread:
Casting a shadow over the document’s release is Brian Christine, an Alabama urologist nominated last month to become HHS’ assistant secretary of health — the position formerly held by Dr. Rachel Levine. As the Washington Post reported this week, Christine has been an advocate of “corrective care” for trans youth for years, pushing against medical care in favor of talk therapy and “pastoral care,” a type of religious Christian counseling.
“Give them good counsel and pastoral care, and the vast majority of these kids are happy in their skin by their late teens,” Christine, a Catholic, said during a podcast appearance in 2023, apparently referencing long-debunked claims that a large number of trans youth will later “desist” and regret medically transitioning.
Christine is also a COVID-19 conspiracist who, per the Post, pushed against COVID vaccine mandates and claimed that the pandemic was “weaponized” by the government to destroy small businesses. His nomination for HHS has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, but a hearing had not been scheduled at time of writing.
[Inset: a link to another article, with an image of speakers at a rally standing behind a trans flag printed with the words "Protect trans kids." Headline: "Trump Administration Announces Special Investigative Team to Root Out Trans Athletes" Subhed: "The Title IX Special Investigations Team is a collaboration between the Departments of Education and Justice."]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:w4jrt437icvztjsl42oh46mt/bafkreibcwwsfmz3m3zip6zyvovcqqxdtaimq54ws34ybx7mdwu6ptd57dq)
![Excerpt from linked article: "The “fact sheet” also references parts of the January order that have since been blocked by federal courts, and its statements appear to contradict other claims the administration has made in various court filings. Section Four of the order directs HHS to “take appropriate steps to ensure that [medical] institutions receiving federal research or education grants” end access to gender-affirming care for people 19 and younger. The sheet asserts that HHS has now “eliminated 215 such grants” totaling $477 million, including efforts to make a teen pregnancy program inclusive of trans boys and a Boston Children’s Hospital initiative to improve the mental health of trans teens.
But a Maryland district court, in the ongoing case PFLAG v. Trump, blocked that section of the order, and barred the administration from "conditioning, withholding, or terminating federal funding" based on whether a medical entity or institution provides gender-affirming care to people under 19. That court later denied PFLAG’s motion in March to immediately enforce that injunction, finding the administration had at that point only moved to “review [...] policies, grants, and programs,” and had not yet violated the injunction by actively canceling funding.
In response to Them’s request for comment, an attorney at legal nonprofit Lambda Legal — which is involved in arguing the PFLAG v. Trump case — agreed that the administration appears in the “fact sheet” to be bragging about canceling grants in violation of the Maryland injunction, while claiming compliance in court."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:w4jrt437icvztjsl42oh46mt/bafkreibq6cxxte2ji2jwsaqlz76eugpbixmrlotpserlyllpjadgr2eeim)
![Two panels from ACTION COMICS #1 (Siegel & Schuster). Lois is accosted by macho dingus Butch Matson and stands up for herself when Clark Kent won't.
Caption: Reluctantly, Kent adheres to his role of a weakling.
Clark: "Be reasonable, Lois. Dance with the fellow and then we'll leave right away."
Lois: "You can stay and dance with him if you wish, but I'm leaving NOW!"
Butch: "Yeah? You'll dance with me and like it!"
[Lois slaps Butch in the face.]
Butch: "Why, you--!"
Clark: [whispering] "Good for you, Lois!" [louder] "Lois--don't!"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:w4jrt437icvztjsl42oh46mt/bafkreihjdpgn2lpjqclksntegua7gccc3wj6oaxbilxfmiaezqa3yyjd6q)
