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Today β€” 18 May 2024Main stream

Emilia Perez review – Jacques Audiard’s gangster trans musical barrels along in style

18 May 2024 at 14:40

A thoroughly implausible yarn about a Mexican cartel leader who hires a lawyer to arrange his transition, but is carried along by its cheesy Broadway energy

Anglo-progressives and US liberals might worry about whether or not certain stories are β€œtheirs to tell”. But that’s not a scruple that worries French auteur Jacques Audiard who, with amazing boldness and sweep, launches into this slightly bizarre yet watchable musical melodrama of crime and gender, set in Mexico. It plays like a thriller by Amat Escalante with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and a touch of Almodovar.

Argentinian trans actor Karla Sofia Gascon plays Juan β€œManitas” Del Monte, a terrifyingly powerful and ruthless cartel leader in Mexico, married to Jessi (Selena Gomez), with two young children. Manitas is intrigued by a high-profile murder trial in which an obviously guilty defendant gets off due to his smart and industrious lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana); she is nearing 40 and secretly wretched from devoting her life to protecting unrepentant slimeballs, who go on to get ever richer while she labours for pitiful fees. Manitas kidnaps Rita and makes her an offer she can’t refuse: a one-off job for an unimaginably vast amount of money on which she can retire.

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Β© Photograph: Shanna Besson

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Β© Photograph: Shanna Besson

Before yesterdayMain stream

Milton Diamond, Sexologist and Advocate for Intersex Babies, Dies at 90

8 May 2024 at 14:19
He pushed back against doctors who recommended surgery on infants born with ambiguous genitalia, arguing for acceptance of diversity.

Β© Molly Romanov

Milton Diamond in 2010. He rewrote the guidelines on raising intersex children, arguing that surgery should not be a requirement.

Teaching others how to speak, a voice falls silent

Zoey Alexandria, voice actor, singer, and instructor for transgender voices, has passed away at the age of 29. She spent much of her adult life dedicated to helping other trans people navigate their way through finding new voices and addressing vocal dysphoria. Her YouTube channel is a valuable resource for others during and after transition.

Zoey had a moment of fame when she voiced the character of The Unknown from the computer game Dead By Daylight. Unfortunately, the role included transphobic tropes that resulted in controversy, such as trans women being depicted as monsters or for shock value. Zoey apologized for the situation and explained that she was given insufficient information to know how transphobic the depiction would be. She accused the game developers of tricking her with the role. Just a short time afterwards, Zoey chose to stop treatment for encephalitis. She died on April 30th.

Lori and George Schappell, Long-Surviving Conjoined Twins, Die at 62

22 April 2024 at 12:57
They were distinct people who pursued different lives. β€œGet past this already, everybody,” Lori said, β€œget past it and learn to know the individual person.”

Β© John A. Secoges/Reading Eagle, via Associated Press

The conjoined twins Lori, left, and George Schappell in 2003.

Scotland Pauses Gender Medications for Minors

18 April 2024 at 13:22
The change followed a sweeping review by England’s National Health Service that found β€œremarkably weak” evidence for youth gender treatments.

Β© Iain Masterton/Alamy Live News

The Sandyford Central Gender Services clinic in Glasgow, Scotland.

Long-Acting Drugs May Revolutionize H.I.V. Prevention and Treatment

17 April 2024 at 18:46
New regimens in development, including once-weekly pills and semiannual shots, could help control the virus in hard-to-reach populations.

Β© Grant Hindsley for The New York Times

Kenneth Davis, a patient in an H.I.V. treatment trial, undergoes a routine exam with the assistance of Phoebe Bryson-Cahn, a research clinician, at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Youth Gender Medications Limited in England, Part of Big Shift in Europe

10 April 2024 at 09:46
Five European countries have recently restricted hormone treatments for adolescents with gender distress. They have not banned the care, unlike many U.S. states.

Β© Tori Ferenc for The New York Times

The Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service in London, which until recently was the National Health Service’s sole youth gender clinic. In 2018, 10 clinicians there complained that they felt pressure to quickly approve children for puberty blockers.
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