My Passport Gender Request Was Denied. It Could Have Been Much Worse.
Mar 11, 2025, for The New Republic
Four days into Trump’s second term, I became the first person in California to have their request denied to update the gender marker on their passport.
After I learned more about the larger machinations of the state department, I’m glad I my passport stayed how it was.
How Florida Twisted Science to Deny Healthcare to Trans Kids
Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s health department sent out a memo to healthcare workers full of disinformation about caring for transgender children. I contacted every researcher cited in the memo—most were shocked and said that the Florida Department of Health had taken their researcher wildly out of context.
I appeared on VICE News Tonight to talk about it.
This story was cited in Dekker, et. al. v. Waida, et. al., a lawsuit challenging the Florida’s prohibition on Medicaid coverage for transgender medicine.
The court ultimately ruled in favor of the transgender patients, ending the ban and further nullifying the broader transgender health ban.
