Rajdeep Singh

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Trans Teen Banned from School until She Adheres to a Male Dress Code

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Sanay Martinez, a trans student from Louise, Texas, has been kicked out of her school until she abides by the male dress code.

With in-person teaching reopening for the autumn semester, Louise Independent School District prohibited Martinez from adhering to the school’s female dress code after she alerted officials that she is trans.×

Administrators told her that unless she cuts her hair, takes out her earrings, and dresses in accordance with the “male handbook”, she cannot return.

Martinez was just a typical student at who enjoyed her classes and loved spending time with her friends, but told ABC13  that the experience has made her feel almost like a pariah.

“It’s my senior year and I would love to go back to Louise ISD, but I don’t feel welcome at all,” she told the outlet.ADVERTISING

She and her close friend are even considering transferring to a school some 10 miles away in El Campo in protest. School officials sought to stress that as much as they “accept” Martinez, she must abide by their rules.

Trans teen and her best friend may have to transfer to another school due to anti-trans dress code.

The 18-year-old said: “[The school administrators] don’t have to accept it, but they should respect it”.

“They told me I can’t come back until I cut my hair and take out my piercings. And I do not like that because as a female, I should follow the female handbook and not the male handbook.”

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Due to the school’s inability to respect as well accept Martinez, she and her friend Alexis Mendoza will most likely have to be transferred to El Campo High School, in the neighbouring town of El Campo.

Mendoza said: “They’re being really disrespectful. They know [Sanay] since [she] was in Pre-K.”

She said that the school was “fine” when Martinez came out as gay, “but when [she] came out as trans, that’s when everything changed.”

The superintendent of Louise Independent School District said how they “accept” and “love” Sanay, but she must follow the rules.

Martinez continued “I’m here to tell everyone, that transgender students should be allowed for their education.

“It is their rightful purpose for them to go into the school and get their education. It doesn’t matter what race, gender or sexuality.”

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WeHo’s Gold Coast Beloved, Iconic Gay ‘Dive Bar’ Closes Doors after 39 Years

Gold Coast, one of West Hollywood’s most popular gay bars, has closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, its co-owner confirmed Thursday (24 September).

With many queer bars already in decline or having to permanently shut amid the coronavirus pandemic across the globe, the 8228 Santa Monica Boulevard bar has become the fourth queer bar in the area to shutter due to COVID-19.

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Writing in a Facebook post announcing its closure, co-owner Bryan Worl lamented the loss of what was a “home” to much of west Hollywood’s queer community as well as the bar’s own staffers.

“We do not have a choice,” he said. “We have fought and tried everything in our power to keep this bar and dealing with pressure from very, very selfish and heartless people.”

Rage and Flaming Saddles are also among the bars to be closed. All three were owned by real estate mogul Monte Overstreet, a gay man who earned the rightful nickname of “The king of Boystown” among locals, according to WeHoville.ADVERTISING

Gym Bar, the other bar to have been closed, was owned by Elias Shokrian.

‘This is heartbreaking for all and especially the employees,’ says co-owner.

Bob Hastings opened Gold Coast in 1981. Throughout the decades, the bar became popular for its down-to-earth, family-like vibe and price-friendly drinks.

Worl, who had been Hasting’s partner in the enterprise for 26 years, reflected on the bar’s staffers: “They were so loyal and worked so hard.

“I can’t even start with the customers right now and what unconditional love you gave to this little neighbourhood dive bar.”

He added: “If you want to stop by and say hi or come in for a quick pic or last goodbye… I feel a lot of people would like that.

“A lot of people called the GC home, and we just want everyone to have a chance to say goodbye.”

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Gay bar Gold Coast was known for its iconic annual Red Dress Party.

Many years ago, two Gold Coast bartenders, Mark Ferguson and Yves-Claude, made a vow, in classic gallows humour.

The two men were living with HIV and constantly in and out of the hospital due to the lack of treatment at the time. They vowed that when one of them died, the other would show up at the memorial service in a red dress.https://lockerdome.com/lad/13296932562903654?pubid=ld-5883-3439&pubo=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk&rid=www.pinknews.co.uk&width=572

Mark Ferguson died from HIV-related complications in 1997. And Yves-Claude happened to be out of town.

But he kept his vow and took it to the next level. Yves-Claude decided to celebrate his friend and co-worker’s life with a party at Gold Coast at which everyone was invited to wear a red dress.

Subsequently, the Red Dress Party has been held at Gold Coast in July ever since. And staffers hope it will hopefully be celebrated somewhere else to remember the history that Gold Coast has harboured for so many years.

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Vulnerable LGBT+ Teens Feel Less Supported by their Parents than 20 Years Ago, Study Finds

Parents of LGBT+ teens are less accepting of their children than 20 years ago, an alarming study has found.

Research published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies found that parental behaviours toward LGBT+ youth have steadily worsened for nearly two decades, a result which “surprised” the report’s top researchers considering the overall rise of acceptance towards queer people in recent years.

“This increasing societal acceptance really doesn’t filter down to youth who are still in school, who are still being discriminated against or victimised by their classmates,” the report’s co-author Hilary Rose, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia, in Canada, said.

“And it doesn’t trickle down to parent-child relations. Frankly, we were surprised by that.”

LGB young people say they feel ‘disconnected’ from their parents. 

The study found that parents of LBG teens in particular were less supportive of their children than those from 20 years ago, compared to parents of heterosexual teens, whose support has increased.

Researchers looked at data from the McCreary Centre Society, a non-profit youth health organisation which conducts anonymous surveys of high school students in British Columbia every five years.

The authors of the study wrote that while “heterosexual boys and girls reported more family connectedness and mother/father support across all four survey years in general… there were many instances where bisexual, gay and lesbian youth reported lower levels of family connectedness and mother/father support”.

Co-author Rose suggested that because social norms surrounding sexual minorities have eased, youths are finding it easier to come out at younger ages – sometimes even before young people go through puberty.

Explaining her findings further, Rose suggested parents’ decreasing acceptance might be a symptom of a wider backlash to social norms easing around sexual minorities. In recent political debates, Rose said, marriage equality and LGBT+ issues have been discussed, thereby exposing LGBT+ issues in households.