Judge Orders State to Resume Hormone Therapy for Trans Prisoner

[A]n Ohio judge ordered the state to permanently continue a transgender woman’s hormone therapy while she is incarcerated.

After being denied her hormone therapy in 2012, transgender prisoner Whitney Lee filed suit against the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, asking for an order that required the organization to resume her treatment on a permanent basis.

Lee, 36, who is serving out the final seven months of a three-year sentence on forgery and theft charges, claims that after having prison officials denied her the doctor-prescribed hormone treatment, she lost breast tissue, began to grow facial hair, that her skin became rougher, and her voice deepened.

Read more on Advocate.

Will Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance Pass or Fail?

The Houston city council is delaying a vote on the proposed Equal Rights Ordinance by one week while members review various amendments to the measure.

The proposal would ban discrimination based on sex, race, age, and religion, and expand anti-bias protections for gay and transgender residents. The ordinance would apply to private businesses, housing, city employment and city contracting. Churches would be exempt.

Officials say Houston is the only major metropolitan city in the country that doesn’t prohibit discrimination by businesses such as restaurants, bars and hotels.

Continue reading over at Houston Matters.

Is Beyonce an ‘Anti-Feminist Terrorist?’ These Black Feminist Scholars Weight In

“If hooks’ analysis held Bey’s humanity at the center, she would necessarily come to different conclusions about whether Bey is a terrorist or not,” said Brittney Cooper, a professor at Rutgers University and co-founder of the group of feminist bloggers Crunk Feminist Collective.

Cooper said she’s disappointed that hooks’ analysis “conflated Beyoncé’s brand and image with Beyoncé the person.”

“She trots out the ‘what about the children argument’ as a way to police how Beyoncé styles and presents her body. Black women should be able to be publicly grown and sexy without suffering the accusation that our sexuality is harmful, especially to children,” Cooper said.

More on Fusion.

5 Stories Of LGBT People Being Unfairly Treated By The Criminal Justice System

A new report released Wednesday offers a comprehensive list of recommendations for reforming the criminal justice system to protect the LGBT people and people living with HIV who are disproportionately impacted by it. Woven into the report are many personal stories that demonstrate how those disparities play out.

Read their stories here.

Report Released on African American / Black LGBT Consumers

Community Marketing & Insights ( CMI ) has released a breakthrough report on the attitudes and consumer behaviors of over 2,000 African American / Black LGBT residents of the United States. The study, produced in partnership with the Center for Black Equity, focused on participants who interact with media, events and organizations representing the African American / Black LGBT community, especially Black Pride festivals.

The research report was presented on April 24th by Earl Fowlkes, President of the Center for Black Equity, during the 7th Annual LGBT Marketing Conference at the New York Times Conference Center. “This survey is a major break though for the African American/Black LGBT consumer market. We finally have data that provides insight on the African American/ Black LGBT purchasing power in the United States,” said Mr. Fowlkes.

A sample of key findings for African American LGBTs living in the United States: 75% of participants feel positively toward corporations that include African American imagery in their communications. Only 3% of participants feel that corporate America does a good job outreaching to the African American LGBT community. African American LGBT participants are trending higher in interacting with LGBT websites over the past 12 months, while interaction with LGBT print media is holding steady. Facebook is very popular with African American LGBT participants across all age ranges, with 52% liking a business on Facebook in the past seven days.

Read more on the Windy City Times.