A California teacher who has previously promoted that the school has a “transition closet” students can use is a member of the drag queen group The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), according to the teacher’s TikTok account.
Thomas Martin-Edwards, a transgender Spanish teacher at Fremont High School, has promoted on TikTok that the school offers “gender support plans,” a “gender affirming wardrobe” and stocks chest binders for students. Martin-Edwards is also a member of SPI, the drag group that was controversially honored at the Los Angeles (LA) Dodgers’ Pride Night and describe themselves as a “leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns,” according to Martin-Edwards’ TikTok account.
Martin-Edwards, who is also known under the drag queen name Sister Eva Lynn Goode, joined the drag group as an “initiate” on April 28, 2021, according to the organization’s website.
https://www.tiktok.com/@sister.eva.lynn.goode/video/7118410357894352174
Martin-Edwards explained in one TikTok video that it can take members between “a year and a half and two years” to become a full SPI member, and that they must complete a “novice project.” Martin-Edwards’s project was called “Eva’s Shop Til You Death Drop,” the video caption reads.
“I brought a group of trans and non-binary and gender exploratory youth from the Bay Area on an all expenses paid shopping spree where they met with drag kings, drag queens and a few drag quings, and went on a shopping trip out of the closet to buy all their back to school clothes so they could have clothes that fit the gender that they wish to express,” Martin-Edwards said in the TikTok video. “And all of this was with parent consent.”
The LA Dodgers faced backlash when the team agreed to honor SPI during its Pride Night, which resulted in the baseball team rescinding the invitation. The team later offered a second invitation to the drag queen group after “thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities,” the LA Dodgers said in a statement.
Martin-Edwards said to have started the “first school-based gender affirming wardrobe in K-12,” which provides students with clothing aligned with their self-identified gender identity, according to one TikTok video. The closet was approvedby the Fremont High School principal in February 2022, Martin-Edwards said in another video.
“The goal of the transition closet is for our students to wear the clothes that their parents approve of, come to school and then swap out into the clothes that fit who they truly are,” said Martin-Edwards, according to The Post Millennial. Martin-Edwards compared the clothes changing tactic to Clark Kent changing into Superman in a phone booth, the outlet reported.
Martin-Edwards has also expanded transitioning projects at other schools, including “outfitt[ing] three other high schools with gender affirming care,” and has offered to work for free with summer camps and schools to “get gender support plans through,” according to the teacher’s TikTok videos. Martin-Edwards also said to visit other schools to make sure they are using “gender support plans effectively,” including schools as young as middle school, according to the video.
“During my downtime I go to other schools and support them on how they support their trans and non-binary kids,” Martin-Edwards said in one TikTok video. “So today, it’s a middle school to make sure they’re using gender support plans effectively.”
Fremont High School, Martin-Edwards and SPI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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]]>Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the legislation into law March 3. Parents were sent an email from VUMC confirming the clinic will no longer be serving patients, according to the Nashville Post.
“Your current medication prescription is affected by the laws coming into effect regarding gender affirming care,” according to an email obtained by the Post. “VUMC will not fulfill refill requests for medication prescribed for gender affirming care after June 1, 2023. … All medications dispensed for gender affirming care must have a completion date that is prior to 7/1/23.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against Tennessee challenging the law in April, leading the Department of Justice to submit a complaint almost a week later to try to prevent it from going into effect.
Tennessee is one of 11 states that has legislation restricting sex change procedures for children.
“Gender-affirming care would remain legal during the course of our challenge if we get a preliminary injunction from the judge blocking enforcement of any part of the law before the 7/1 effective date. Similar laws have been blocked in Alabama and Arkansas while those trials proceed,” ACLU of Tennessee spokesperson, Gillian Branstetter, told the Nashville Post.
The Tennessee law threatens to revoke a doctor’s medical license if they treat minors with sex changes and offers a way for parents to sue if their child receives care without their approval.
“With regard to gender-affirming care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, we continue to fully comply with all federal and state laws and are carefully following the legal proceedings challenging the constitutionality of Tennessee’s new law,” VUMC spokesman, Craig Boerner said in an email, according to the Nashville Post.
VUMC and the Tennessee ACLU chapter did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
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