A boundary-breaking beauty queen! Filipino-American becomes the FIRST transgender woman to be crowned Miss Nevada – and will now go on to make history as the first-ever trans Miss USA contestant.

• Kataluna Enriquez, 27, was named Miss Nevada at Sunday’s pageant, which was held at South Point hotel-casino in Las Vegas
• Next up, she’ll head to Oklahoma for the Miss USA contest on November 29, where she will also be the first trans woman to vie for the national title
• She qualified with a win in the Miss Silver State pageant
  Kataluna, who was emigrated to the US at age 10, recalled facing discrimination in past pageants
• Angela Ponce, the 2018 Miss Spain, was the first trans Miss Universe contestant; if Kataluna wins Miss USA, she will be the second
• In 2012, Miss Universe reversed a long-standing policy that participants must be ‘naturally born’ women

The Miss Nevada pageant has crowned its first ever transgender winner, who will go on to compete for the title of Miss USA later this year.

Kataluna Enriquez, 27, was named Miss Nevada at Sunday’s pageant, which was held at South Point hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

Next up, she’ll head to Oklahoma for the Miss USA contest on November 29, where she will also be the first trans woman to vie for the national title. . . .

On paper, there should be little pushback to transgender activism in the United Kingdom. Britain has strict hate speech laws and no First Amendment, and British police have arrested people for “misgendering” others on social media. Britain also lacks a religious right: In 2018, the Church of England adopted a policy of “unconditional affirmation of trans people,” instructing clergy to use parishioners’ preferred names.

Yet critics of trans activism have gone mainstream in the United Kingdom. Britain has seen a flowering of feminist organizations opposed to the activists’ excesses, which they argue hurt women and young people, especially girls. At the same time, British courts are becoming more critical of hate speech claims: In May, a U.K. judge ruled that skepticism of trans identity is a “protected philosophical belief” under Britain’s Equality Act, the same law that protects trans people from discrimination.

The British medical community is also becoming more critical of childhood gender transition. After a whistleblower alleged that the National Health Service (NHS) was prescribing puberty blockers without proper psychiatric screening, Britain’s High Court in December effectively banned their use, ruling that children under 16 couldn’t consent to the drugs. A few months later, U.K. health regulators concluded that the evidence for puberty blockers was “very low.”

How did the pushback across the pond survive the legal and cultural forces arrayed against it? The answer is that trans activists in the United Kingdom are fighting an uphill battle of their own—not just against British feminists but also British institutions, particularly the socialist ones.

Britain’s socialized health care system encourages a more conservative approach to gender reassignment than some U.S. clinics, removing the profit motive that drives the American on-demand treatment model. And British trade unions have fomented resistance to trans activism by providing a template for grassroots organizing, one being used to great effect by mothers worried about their kids. . . . .

Advocates for incarcerated women are calling on California political and correctional leaders to halt and reverse the transfer of male-to-female transgender and nonbinary prisoners into the state’s women’s prisons.

SB 132, which took effect Jan. 1, lets prisoners choose their gender identity for purposes of placement — and even bodily searches — regardless of sex reassignment surgery or hormone therapy.

Though transfers were a trickle in the first few months, they have “sped up dramatically in recent weeks, and the safety of these women has become more and more compromised,” a spokesperson for the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) told Just the News.

“Under the law as written, there is no method to screen out males who genuinely self-identify as transgender from those who are using the system to prey on women,” the group wrote in an open letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and the heads of the corrections department and two women’s facilities Monday.

A nonprofit started by formerly incarcerated women also said Monday it had received “hundreds of distressed messages from our sisters inside” since SB 132 took effect.

“They are scared, angry, confused and in disbelief that legislators completely left them out of a decision that affects their mental health and safety 24 hours a day,” Woman II Woman wrote, highlighting stark differences in the social dynamics between men’s and women’s prisons. “Anyone can gender self ID to get a transfer, and who wouldn’t?”

“Irreversible Damage” author Abigail Shrier profiled the nascent Woman II Woman in The Wall Street Journal in May, arguing the Equality Act championed by congressional Democrats would nationalize SB 132. She interviewed current and former female inmates, one of whom said many incoming transgender inmates aren’t even on hormone therapy and could get a “full erection” in a cell with women. . . .

WASHINGTON —

A biological male was barred from competing in the women’s 400-meter Olympic hurdle event due to high testosterone levels.

CeCe Telfer, a transgender runner who previously won the NCAA title as a ‘woman,’ is now trying to compete as a woman in the Olympics.

Telfer used to compete in the men’s division at Division II Franklin Pierce, but after losing, he ‘transitioned’ into a female and became a superstar.

“Telfer was entered in this week’s trials but was ultimately not allowed to compete because of guidelines World Athletics released in 2019 that closed off international women’s events of between 400 meters and a mile to athletes who did not meet the eligibility requirements. Among those requirements was that their testosterone levels had to be below 5 nonomoles per liter (nmol/L) for a span of 12 months.” – AP reported.

“CeCe has turned her focus towards the future and is continuing to train. She will compete on the national — and world — stage again soon,” Telfer’s manager David McFarland said.

“Following notification from World Athletics on June 17 that the conditions had not yet been met, USATF provided CeCe with the eligibility requirements and, along with World Athletics, the opportunity to demonstrate her eligibility so that she could compete at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. According to subsequent notification to CeCe from World Athletics on June 22, she has not been able to demonstrate her eligibility.” – USATF said in a statement.

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law Thursday that allows New Yorkers to amend their stated sex on official documents.

The new law, signed in the middle of Pride Month, simplifies the process for transgender and LGBTQ persons to change their names and sex on birth certificates. New Yorkers who wanted to change their names previously had to publish both their old and new name, address, and date and place of birth in a newspaper, according to a press release from the governor’s press office.

The Gender Recognition Act eliminates that practice, according to the press release, and “creates a process to petition a court to change an individual’s sex designation or recognize their gender identity” that can be sealed to protect “against fear of reprisal or retaliation.” . . . .

Loudoun County, Va., has become ground zero in the debates over Marxist critical race theory (CRT) and transgender orthodoxy in education. Parents have spoken out against the unjust attempted suspension of PE teacher Tanner Cross and the threat of CRT masquerading as “sensitivity training.” After a meeting of the Loudoun County School Board devolved into a shouting match on Tuesday night, police arrested two men, reportedly parents. The board chair then castigated parents for engaging in “dog-whistle politics.” . . . .

After seeing transgender Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard break her national records in New Zealand, a recently retired female lifter is now warning against the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s sports.

‘It’s honestly going to knock women out of sport,’ former Olympic weightlifter Tracey Lambrechs told Fox News on Wednesday. ‘Women are not going to want to participate in something where there isn’t opportunity for them to win medals or go to international competition.

‘In a strength sport, where there are reasons for having a male and female category, you can’t just do away with categories,’ she continued. ‘I look at a lot of young athletes around us. There are 14, 15-year-old boys lifting what our females lift.’ . . .

TOKYO — Japanese soccer player Kumi Yokoyama said they are transgender — a revelation praised in the U.S. where they play in the National Women’s Soccer League but an identity not legally recognized in Japan.

The 27-year-old forward for the Washington Spirit said they felt more comfortable with their own gender identity while living in the United States, where teammates and friends are more open to gender and sexual diversity.

“I’m coming out now,” Yokoyama said in a video talk on former teammate Yuki Nagasato’s YouTube channel. “In the future, I want to quit soccer and live as a man.”

Yokoyama’s revelation was praised by President Joe Biden.

“To Carl Nassib and Kumi Yokoyama – two prominent, inspiring athletes who came out this week: I’m so proud of your courage. Because of you, countless kids around the world are seeing themselves in a new light today,” Biden tweeted. Nassib is the first active NFL player to come out as gay.

The Spirit also expressed the team’s support and pride in Yokoyama. “Thank you for showing the world it’s ok to embrace who you are!” the team tweeted, adding that the player uses they/them pronouns.

Support and awareness of gender and sexual diversity has slowly grown in Japan, but LGBTQ people lack many legal protections and often suffer discrimination, causing many to hide their sexual identities. An equality law pushed by rights groups was scrapped recently due to opposition from the conservative ruling party.

Transgender people in Japan also must have their reproductive organs removed to have their gender recognized on official documents — a requirement that human rights and medical groups criticize as inhuman and unnecessary and say should end.

In a society where pressure for conformity is extremely high, disclosure of an LGBTQ sexual identity is rare, especially in sports, which rights activists say remains unfriendly to LGBTQ people because of its gender specificity.

Yokoyama said they weren’t enthusiastic about coming out but it was a choice made while thinking about the future and that it would be harder to live closeted. “I would not have come out in Japan,” they said.

They thanked their teammates, friends and girlfriend for their support and courage.

Yokoyama played for Japan at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France and moved from Japanese club AC Nagano Parceiro to the Washington Spirit.

Yokoyama said they felt a strong pressure to conform and remain closeted in Japan but hoped to live as a man after retiring as a professional soccer player and to help raise awareness for sexual minorities in Japan.

“More people in Japan are becoming familiar with the word LGBTQ and it’s seen more (in the media), but I think awareness won’t grow unless people like myself come out and raise our voices,” Yokoyama said.

Brett Favre is not a fan of transgender athletes competing against biological women.

New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is set to be the first transgender woman to ever compete in the Olympics, and the legendary Packers quarterback thinks that’s a problem. . . .

Women weightlifters are set to compete with a transgender athlete in the Olympics. But her admission to an Olympic women’s sport is drawing a lot of attention from female athletes and organizations, saying it isn’t just. . . .

Transgender high school swimmer who was barred from using the boy’s locker room after he transitioned is awarded $300,000 in damages

• The Anoka-Hennepin School District agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit with Nick Himley
• He swam for Coon Rapids High School in 2015-16 and had used the boys’ locker room for much of that season before he was told he could not any longer
• District also agreed to make several policy changes, including a rule that allows every student to use all facilities consistent with their gender identity
• Training on the policies will be provided for school board members, staff and students

President of the American College of Pediatricians is concerned transgender ideology has infiltrated her field and is producing large-scale child abuse. “Our job as parents and physicians is to help children embrace their healthy bodies. And when this is done, once they get past puberty into late adolescence, as many as 95% will come to embrace their bodies and identify with their biological sex.” ~ Michelle Cretella, MD, FCP

by Mary Margaret Olohan

A gay Milwaukee judge arrested on child pornography charges formerly served as the president of a Drag Queen Story Hour club.

Police arrested 38-year-old Brett Blomme Tuesday and held him overnight in Dane County Jail, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He was charged Wednesday with seven counts of possession of child pornography showing abuse of young boys, the publication reported, noting that each count carries a minimum of three years in prison and a maximum sentence of 15, plus 10 years of supervised release.

Last fall, Blomme allegedly uploaded as many as 27 images and videos of sexual abuse of children using the messaging app Kik under the username “DomMasterbb,” the Sentinel reported from the criminal complaint.

He reportedly uploaded the child porn from his Cottage Grove, Wisconsin home that he shares with his husband and their two adopted children, the Sentinel reported. Blomme’s children are not featured in the child pornography and Child Protective Services is working to place the children in another home, the Sentinel reported.

From our family to yours, Happy Holidays! pic.twitter.com/R0XA3hZ50l

— Judge Brett Blomme (@JudgeBlomme) December 22, 2020

From June 2017 to August 2020, Blomme served as the president and CEO of Cream City Foundation, an organization that offers [ they have deleted their page – Here is the archive ] Drag Queen Story Hours among other services intended to mobilize “philanthropic resources by harnessing the pride, passion, and commitment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies.”

Blomme’s name has been removed form the Cream City Foundation website, but a version of the page archived Tuesday lists him as a past president.

He left the post in August 2020 when Gary A. Balcerzak was selected to lead Cream City Foundation.

Cream City Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding Blomme’s departure or about the child pornography charges against him.

Drag Queen Story Hours started out as niche events on the West Coast but have spread to libraries and schools across the U.S. The official Drag Queen Story Hour website boasts over 40 independently operated chapters across the U.S., including in New York City, D.C. and Chicago, as well as international chapters in Tokyo, Australia, Europe, and Mexico.

The events are designed to be about 45 minutes long for children aged 3 to 8 years old and intend to capture children’s imagination and help explore their gender fluidity through “glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models,” according to the Drag Queen Story Hour’s official website.

The organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

A court commissioner set a signature bond requiring Bloome not have unsupervised contact with any children, except for his own, and that he not use social media or file sharing services, the Sentinel reported. He was released by 4 p.m. Wednesday, and a preliminary hearing is set for May 29.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court also announced later Wednesday that Blomme is suspended without pay from judicial duties, the Sentinel reported.

– – –

Mary Margaret Olohan is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Drag Queen Story Hour” by San Jose Public Library. CC BY-SA 2.0.

Amazon . com Inc. said it recently removed a three-year-old book about transgender issues from its platforms because it decided not to sell books that frame transgender and other sexual identities as mental illnesses.

The company explained its decision in a letter Thursday to Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The senators had written last month to Chief Executive Jeff Bezos requesting an explanation of why “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment” was no longer available on Amazon nor on its Kindle and Audible platforms.

“As to your specific question about When Harry Became Sally, we have chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness,” Amazon said in the letter, which was signed by Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, referring to sexual identities that include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, among others.

“When Harry Became Sally,” written by the conservative scholar Ryan T. Anderson, was published in February 2018. The book focuses on a variety of issues including gender identity. . . .