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An independent news website about trans issues, by trans journalists. assignedmedia.org

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@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 10 PinkNew:
The 146 women's, gay, and LGBTQ+ orgs in Trans+ Solidarity Alliance send letter to PM warning that single-sex spaces and groups in UK must continue to trans inclusive.
Protect trans-inclusive spaces, LGBTQ+ orgs tell Starmer
A coalition of nearly 150 LGBTQ+ and feminist organisations have told Keir Starmer to protect trans-inclusive spaces.
www.thepinknews.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:38 AM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 10 PinkNews:
110-y/o UK Women's Institutes announce will only allow members based on biological sex (ironically apparently opening them to trans men). Several branches close rather than comply: "[we won't] accept marginalization and oppression of trans people..."
Women's Institute branches shutting down over trans ban
Several branches of the Women's Institute (WI) have declared they will suspend activities following the organisation's ban on trans women.
www.thepinknews.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:36 AM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 10 KCCI:
Lawmakers advance bill that would prevent cities and counties from offering civil rights protections to transgender Iowans, blocking them from enforcing any civil rights protections that go beyond state law.
Iowa lawmakers advance bill blocking local civil rights protections for transgender Iowans
House Study Bill 664 would block local governments from enforcing civil rights protections that go beyond what is written into state law.
www.kcci.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:30 AM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social [suicide con't]: For years the UK govt had dismissed claims of increases in trans kids' suicides after NHS banned GAC, with an NHS-sponsored independent report covering the same period even claiming "The data do not support the claim..." and reporting just 12 suicides.
2/2
Review of suicides and gender dysphoria at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust: independent report
www.gov.uk
February 10, 2026 at 1:08 AM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 9:
Good Law Project's Freedom of Information requests find spike in trans kid's suicide following NHS stopping GAC: from just 9 for 2019 thru 2020 to 32 for 2021 thru 2022-- an increase of 256%. [This is a correction of an earlier post which wrongly said 800%] 1/2
New data shows surge in trans kids’ suicides following healthcare rollbacks | Good Law Project
A freedom of information request by Good Law Project has found that deaths by suicide of trans young people under 18 surged following the withdrawal of gender-affirming healthcare
goodlawproject.org
February 10, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Assigned Media
In the media, the anti-trans idea that trans patients are medicalized and pushed into unnecessary interventions has become the dominant frame.

In that frame, the context of a larger deemphasis of surgery never occurred. Trans people are imagined to be on a conveyor to surgery - but that's not true.
February 9, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Assigned Media
This question is weirdly hard, bc the starting place itself is a result of anti-trans propganda shaping the debate.

Trans surgeries, for all ages, are vastly rarer than hormone therapy only, which is itself rarer than social adjustments alone.

Youth trans surgeries are *incredibly* rare.
Genuinely curious: I thought that was the general guidance all along? Puberty blockers or hormone prescriptions for youth, but surgery later on?
February 9, 2026 at 2:09 PM
A strange and confusing tale from the bowels of (where else) the New York Times.

Has the American Medical Association changed position on trans youth care? A New York Times headline says they "endorsed restrictions" on youth surgeries. Other outlets, including NPR, report they did no such thing.
Did the AMA Release a Statement Cooling Support for Trans Youth Surgeries? — Assigned
Leading Off: The New York Times and NPR release contradictory American Medical Association statements, and California AG Rob Bonta sues a children’s hospital for ending gender affirming care.
www.assignedmedia.org
February 9, 2026 at 1:49 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 9: DOE finds new CA law allowing schools to not forcibly out trans students to hostile parents violates federal law/policy on parental rights. A fed judge had ruled against the law, but was overturned on appeal. CA maintains it is not violating any fed laws.
February 9, 2026 at 1:14 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 9 Zenit: Brazil, whose Supreme Tribunal ruled in 2019 that transphobia/homophobia are crimes, charges prominent online with "transphobia” & “misgendering” govt Secy who is trans. Brazil has led the world in the most trans/queer people killed since 2013.
Brazil attacks influencer for criticizing the government for funding LGBT+ organizations - ZENIT - English
In the video, Nine criticised Brazil’s LGBT National Secretary – a man who identifies as a woman. Shortly after the post, the Secretary filed a complaint, triggering a criminal investigation into Nine
zenit.org
February 9, 2026 at 1:03 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 9: WSJ op-ed page goes after Mellon Foundation, which has been funding trans studies (among other things) for backing "University of Utah Transformative Intersectional Collective created workshops on transgender and queer of color critique, prison abolition, etc.
Opinion | The Mellon Foundation’s Idea of ‘Social Justice’
America’s biggest funder of the humanities subsidizes ‘Ecowomanism,’ ‘Black Trans Studies’ and the like.
www.wsj.com
February 9, 2026 at 12:44 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 8 Advocate: Proving yet again that anti-GAC animus is immune to science, UT House passes 3 bills banning hormones & stopping them even for minors already taking them after its own exhaustive study by the U of Utah found no medical basis for such actions.
Utah Republicans, ignoring their own study, pass ban on gender-affirming care for youth
Utah Republicans have passed a bill restricting gender-affirming care for youth, ignoring research they commissioned.
www.advocate.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Assigned Media
This is an important read. I don't want to take anything away from it. However:

It really should have been a news item informed by the Good Law Project's data. It isn't bc the British press has shut out any story that contradicts anti-trans talking points.

goodlawproject.org/new-data-sho...
New data shows surge in trans kids’ suicides following healthcare rollbacks | Good Law Project
A freedom of information request by Good Law Project has found that deaths by suicide of trans young people under 18 surged following the withdrawal of gender-affirming healthcare
goodlawproject.org
February 7, 2026 at 1:49 PM
In the name of protecting students from the evils of DEI, Texas Tech has been forced to censor anything that might hurt the feelings of straight, white, cis men.
@alyssaur.bsky.social brings you this week's TWIBS
TWIBS: Former TX Senator Ruins Texas Tech — Assigned
Another belt notch for conservatives in their culture war against people who are different: making it impossible for students and teachers to get by at Texas Tech.
www.assignedmedia.org
February 6, 2026 at 5:30 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 6 Advocate:
Texas A&M prof fired after Christian student objected to her saying there are more than 2 genders is suing, saying officials of violated her First Amendment rights. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences & head of English Dept were fired too.
Texas A&M fired a professor for teaching about gender identity. Now, she's suing
After being fired for a lesson on gender identity, Melissa McCoul is suing Texas A&M; for violating her First Amendment rights.
www.advocate.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:38 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 6 Guardian:
For Women Scotland is challenging govt policy that trans women be housed after individual risk assessment, pushing for blanket housing of all men. Govt has responded that it would violate European Human Rights Convention.
Blanket rule on trans women in men’s prisons would deny their identity, says Scottish government
SNP’s lawyer argues the ‘mental health and rehabilitation’ of prisoners is more important than their biological sex
www.theguardian.com
February 6, 2026 at 4:20 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social [ASPS cont]
Reed also notes ASPS standards continue allowing nose jobs, top surgery & other gendered procedures for cis minors. Also inexplicably that the incoming head of _WPATH_ testified FOR the plaintiff in a case likely to be copied and weaponized against care. 2/2
The Cowardice Of American Medicine On Trans Youth Care
After capitulation by hospitals across the country, the ASPS and AMA have both thrown trans kids under the bus on surgical care.
www.erininthemorning.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:13 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social l 2026 Feb 6 EITM
Reed eviscerates Amer. Society of Plastic Surgeons for throwing trans kids under the bus noting ASPS donates heavily to Reps, their President is big Rep donor, & they didn't even go for age 18 but 19-- which just coincidentally is in Trump Exec. Order. 1/2
The Cowardice Of American Medicine On Trans Youth Care
After capitulation by hospitals across the country, the ASPS and AMA have both thrown trans kids under the bus on surgical care.
www.erininthemorning.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:10 PM
The United States is tearing itself apart, and the occupying forces have made it clear that queer folk and minorities have no stake in this new world. Nearly a century and a half ago, a trans man for the Union sent his own response to that sentiment in lead.
Comic by @piperbomb.bsky.social
February 5, 2026 at 6:52 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 5 EITM:
Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO), always throwing red meat to the base, used his time during merger hearings to attack Netflix's CEO: “Almost half of your content for minor children promotes a transgender ideology." No evidence was provided to befuddled CEO.
Republican Senator Attacks Netflix Over “Trans Ideology” In Hearing
…but children’s programming that actively promotes the cisgender, heterosexual nuclear family is apparently not “indoctrination.”
www.erininthemorning.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:58 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 5 Independent:
Landmark meta-analysis of 50 studies (2943 trans women, 2309 trans men, 568 cis women 665 cis men ages 14-41 ) finds that following 1-3 yrs of hormone therapy, trans women have similar fitness levels to cis women.
Trans athletes may not have fitness advantage in women’s sport, landmark study finds
Findings suggest physical performance in trans women converges toward that of cis women over time
www.the-independent.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:26 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 4 NatlReview:
In statement to right-wing outlet, AMA says evidence for surgery in minors is "insufficient for a definitive statement" & agrees w/ America Society of Plastic Surgeons new stance that "in minors it should be generally deferred to adulthood.”
First Major Medical Org Comes Out Against Trans Surgeries for Minors | National Review
www.nationalreview.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Assigned Media
It got to a point at the place that I was working at that I started going to the gas station nearby to use the bathroom, because they became just unreasonable. This was after I had surgery.

I quit shortly after. Life is too short to waste your energy and effort for for folks who just don't care.
February 4, 2026 at 8:12 PM
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 3 ErinReed:
In groundbreaking move CA Atty Genl sues Rady Children's Hospital for dropping GAC by charging it w/ breach of contract for abandoning ~1.5k trans patients. The strategy
sidesteps often-hostile federal courts & keeps jurisdiction in state courts.
California AG Bonta Files Groundbreaking Lawsuit Against Rady Children’s Hospital for Dropping Trans Youth GAC
“If my child had a different diagnosis, they would likely have a surgery date tomorrow. But because of who my child is, the door was closed.”
www.erininthemorning.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Assigned Media
It's almost exactly a decade since SC's northern neighbor tried to establish bathroom discrimination and got boycotted by sports leagues and companies alike. A decade of billionaire fascists and their friends in media and academia pouring money into pushing transphobia and anti-feminist politics.
"Nothing preserves a child’s dignity like being forced to trek to the other side of school in the middle of a class to pee in the only room they’re legally allowed to use without fear of being assaulted, Tom. Thanks for that."

By @alyssaur.bsky.social

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
South Carolina Set to Make Bathroom Ban Permanent — Assigned
The South Carolina state legislature is working diligently to turn a temporary anti-trans bathroom ban into a permanent one, to the detriment of all.
www.assignedmedia.org
February 4, 2026 at 7:42 PM