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For Immediate Release
June, 10 2009, 02:53pm EDT
Contact:
Inga Sarda-Sorensen
Director of Communications
(Office) 646.358.1463
(Cell) 202.641.5592
isorensen@theTaskForce.org
ICS media contact:
Nicole Murray-Ramirez
San Diego City Commissioner
(Phone) 619.692.1967
Recognizing Outstanding Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Individuals in the Struggle for LGBT Equality
WASHINGTON
In honor of the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, the International
Court System, in collaboration with the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force, is recognizing 40 transgender and gender- nonconforming
individuals for their contribution toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) equality.
To mark this occasion, the International Court System is showcasing these "40 Trans Heroes" on its Web site at www.impcourt.org/Trans40/
to highlight the importance of the transgender and gender-nonconforming
community as an equal and important part of the broader LGBT community.
The "40 Trans Heroes" were solicited and selected from hundreds of
nominations by a special committee of the International Court Council.
"This is by no means a complete list or a 'best of' or 'top 10'
list. It is merely a beginning tribute to the thousands of transgender
and gender-nonconforming individuals that have made our modern-day
movement possible," says Thom Hansen, president of the International
Court Council. "This momentous tribute to the transgender community is
a long time coming. The International Court System is honored to
partner with the Task Force. Together, we pay tribute to those whose
lives and works have impacted each and every one of us."
"On the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, let's remember the
legacy of those who started our struggle for equality and liberation,"
says Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force. "Recognizing 40 of the many transgender and gender-nonconforming
individuals who have worked tirelessly and passionately in favor of
full LGBT equality throughout these four decades is a reminder of the
determination and persistence of the transgender community and of the
human spirit. Let's continue to honor these important contributions
toward a more just and equal society for all of us."
The International Court System will present a commemorative plaque
inscribed with the names of these outstanding individuals on June 25 to
be placed at the Stonewall Inn.
For more information about the International Court System and "Stonewall 40 - 40 Trans Heroes," please visit www.impcourt.org.
"40 Trans Heroes"
Sylvia Rivera, Shannon Price Minter, Mara Keisling,
Jose Julio Sarria, Ru Paul, Marsha Botzer, Nicole Murray-Ramirez,
Norma Kristie, Masen Davis, Melissa Sklarz, Lady Bunny, Leslie
Feinberg,
Gunner Scott, Lynn Conway, Chi Chi LaRue, Marsha P. Johnson, Riki
Wilchins,
Barbra Casbar Siperstein, Yosenio Lewis, Robin Tyler, Coco LaChine,
Valerie Spencer, Jim Flynn, Nancy Nangeroni, Lady Chablis, Rosalinda
dela Luna, Cecilia Chung, Loren Cameron, Maria Roman, Theresa Sparks,
Karina Samala,
Grace Sterling Stowell, Donna Sachet, Shirley Bushnell, Cole Thaler,
Darcell, Jamison Green, Sister Roma, Billy deFrank, Frank Marino.
To learn more about the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, follow us on Twitter: @TheTaskForce.
The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people. We are building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we've made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. These barriers must go. That's why the Task Force is training and mobilizing millions of activists across our nation to deliver a world where you can be you. Join us!
LATEST NEWS
'Mind-Blowing Corruption': Traders Placed Massive Bets Minutes Before Trump Post on Iran
"Who was it? Trump? A family member? A White House staffer?" asked US Sen. Chris Murphy.
Mar 24, 2026
Just minutes before US President Donald Trump momentarily boosted the stock market—and sent oil prices tumbling—with his disputed Monday announcement of peace talks with Iran, unknown traders loaded up on positions that allowed them to profit from the resulting movement in equities and commodities.
The Financial Times reported that "roughly 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts changed hands between 6:49 am and 6:50 am New York time on Monday, just a quarter of an hour ahead of the US president’s post on Truth Social that there had in recent days been 'productive conversations' with Tehran to end the war in Iran."
FT added that the notional value of those trades was $580 million.
"Trading volumes for Brent and WTI leapt at the same time, 27 seconds before 6:50 am," the newspaper reported. "Futures tracking the S&P 500 share index jumped in price moments after the oil trade, with volumes also rising significantly during that timeframe. It was not known whether one entity or several entities were behind Monday’s trades."
An unnamed trader at a "major hedge fund" told FT that "my gut from watching markets for the last 25 years is this is really abnormal."
"It’s Monday morning, there’s no important data today, there aren’t any Fed speakers you’d want to front-run. It’s an unusually large trade for a day with no event risk," the trader said. "Somebody just got a lot richer.”
A BBC review of market data similarly found that "traders bet hundreds of millions of dollars on oil contracts just minutes before" Trump's announcement of talks with Iran. Iranian officials publicly denied that they are negotiating with the Trump administration, and Iran's top lawmaker accused the US president of peddling "fake news" in an attempt to "manipulate the financial and oil markets."
The suspiciously timed bets ahead of the US president's post heightened concerns that Trump administration insiders are illegally trading on—and profiting massively from—nonpublic knowledge.
Responding to a report that $1.5 billion worth of S&P 500 futures was purchased just five minutes before Trump's Monday announcement, US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) asked: "Who was it? Trump? A family member? A White House staffer?"
"This is corruption," the senator wrote. "Mind-blowing corruption."
Last week, Murphy joined US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) in unveiling legislation that would ban prediction markets on "government actions, terrorism, war, assassination, and events where an individual knows or controls the outcome."
The bill came on the heels of suspiciously timed, highly profitable bets related to US military actions in Venezuela and Iran.
The Guardian reported Monday that several newly created accounts on the online prediction platform Polymarket "laid bets on a US-Iran ceasefire over the weekend that appeared to show signs of insider knowledge, according to experts."
Researcher Ben Yorke told the newspaper that the accounts—which are anonymous—"definitely" look like "someone with some degree of inside info."
The Guardian noted that "online crypto watchers and experts suggested that the bets bore the signs of insider trading—both because they bought their positions at market price, and because some of the accounts looked like they could belong to a single investor attempting to conceal their identity by splitting their bet between multiple wallets."
According to Yorke, "Typically, when you see wallet-splitting and deliberate attempts to obfuscate identity, it’s one of two scenarios: either a very large investor trying to shield their position from market impact, or insider trading."
The Trump White House insisted Monday that any suggestion of insider trading "is baseless and irresponsible reporting."
“The White House does not tolerate any administration official illegally profiteering off of insider knowledge," said White House spokesperson Kush Desai.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders is demanding that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos testify about plans to use robots powered by artificial intelligence to replace human workers.
In a Monday announcement, Sanders (I-Vt.) cited a report published by The Wall Street Journal outlining Bezos' ambitions "to raise $100 billion for a new fund that would buy up manufacturing companies and seek to use AI technology to accelerate their path to automation."
The Journal obtained investor documents describing the new Bezos initiative as a "manufacturing transformation vehicle" that would buy up firms in key industries such as chipmaking, defense, and aerospace, and use AI to boost the efficiency of their operations.
Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, warned that such a plan would risk putting millions of blue-collar manufacturing workers out of jobs.
Because of this, he asked Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chairman of the HELP Committee, to demand that Bezos testify about his new project’s impact on the working class.
"We must demand that Mr. Bezos come before our committee to explain to the American people why he believes it’s a good idea to replace millions of American workers with robots,” Sanders said. "We need to understand what will happen to these workers... will they simply be thrown out on the street in order to make Mr. Bezos even richer?"
Sanders emphasized the vital role of government in ensuring that advancements in technology are not used to further impoverish workers and erode their collective bargaining power.
"Our job is to ensure that this new technology benefits working families and is not simply used as another tool to make the wealthiest people in the world unimaginably richer," Sanders said. "The American people are increasingly apprehensive about the impact that AI and robotics will have on the economy and their lives. Congress needs to act."
In a separate social media post, Sanders described Bezos' plan as "a declaration of war against the working class."
Sanders for months has been raising alarms about the impact of AI on the global working class and democracy itself.
In December, Sanders called upon the US to impose a nationwide moratorium on the construction of AI data centers, warning of a future envisioned by tech moguls such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who has said that humans won’t be needed "for most things" thanks to advancements in AI.
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Georgia Judge Denounces Murder Charge in Abortion Case as 'Extremely Problematic'
States that have criminalized abortion are "getting much more explicit" in pushing to prosecute women for obtaining abortion care, said one rights advocate.
Mar 24, 2026
A state judge in Georgia on Monday set a bail payment at just $1 for a woman who was charged with murder earlier this month after she took abortion pills to end a pregnancy—a charge about which Judge Steven G. Blackerby of State Superior Court expressed extreme skepticism.
“I think that charge is extremely problematic,” Blackerby said during a hearing that the woman, Alexia Moore, attended virtually. “That is going to be a hard charge to convict upon.”
District Attorney Keith Higgins, who is overseeing the case against Moore, also did not appear convinced that the 31-year-old should be imprisoned for the medication abortion she had last December. He told the judge that "whatever bond the defendant can make that will allow her to get out of jail is appropriate," and noted that police in Kingsland, Georgia had brought charges against Moore without his office's support.
Higgins said he was not ready to drop the murder charge altogether, but said he was also not prepared to present the case to a grand jury.
Moore had been in jail for about two weeks when the hearing took place. Investigators in Kingsland accused her of “unlawfully and with malice aforethought [causing] the death of Baby Girl Moore.” In addition to malice murder they charged her with possession of a controlled substance and a dangerous drug.
She was rushed to Southeast Georgia Health Center on December 30 after experiencing severe abdominal pain. Court records showed Moore told the medical staff she had taken about eight pills of misoprostol, a pill that can be used for medication abortion, and oxycodone for pain. She went into labor at the hospital and delivered a baby who was determined to be in the second trimester of development. The baby was declared dead about an hour after birth.
She said she had bought the medication online and believed herself to be less than 14 weeks pregnant.
The Kingsland Police Department did not specifically cite Georgia's six-week abortion ban—which the state Supreme Court has allowed to remain in effect despite a Superior Court ruling that permanently enjoined the ban and found it unconstitutional—but The New York Times reported that documents supporting the department's arrest warrant "echoed aspects of the ban, including saying that 'the baby was well beyond six weeks of conception.'"
The police said Moore was charged with murder because “the victim became a person at the moment of live birth.”
Higgins acknowledged in court that the malice murder charge may not meet "factual and merit" standards, and both Blackerby and Kelly Turner, Moore's defense attorney, noted that Georgia law prohibits the criminalization of someone who has induced an abortion on themself.
The Current, a Georgia-based outlet, also reported that "privacy issues" are likely to be scrutinized in court if the district attorney continues to pursue the case.
"A security guard at Southeast Georgia Health Center in St. Marys called police after medical staff said that Moore had ingested abortion medication and the infant was older than six weeks, according to police records, which also cited Moore’s previous abortion history," reported The Current.
Turner argued in court that Moore legally procured the misoprostol and noted that her blood tests and hospital records did not show Oxycodone in her system.
"Today’s decision is a reminder that justice is not served by accusation alone," said Don Plummer, press officer for the Georgia Public Defender Council, which is representing Moore.
Author and advocate Jessica Valenti of Abortion, Every Day emphasized after Moore's arrest that the murder charge shows how states that have criminalized abortion care are "getting much more explicit" about the anti-choice movement's desire to punish women for obtaining abortions—even though in the past, laws have typically avoided prosecuting them.
A 31-year-old in Georgia has been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly ending her pregnancy with abortion medication.
Here’s what we know: pic.twitter.com/EXAcMqEdak
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) March 16, 2026
The district attorneys of Georgia's four largest counties pledged in 2019, after the passage of the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, that they would not prosecute people who obtain abortions.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, women in states including Kentucky, Ohio, and South Carolina have faced charges for obtaining abortion care and for suffering pregnancy loss. An Ohio woman sued medical providers last year for conspiring with police to fabricate a criminal case against her; she had been charged with felony abuse of a corpse after having a miscarriage, but a grand jury declined to indict her.
"I really hope that people are paying attention to this," said Valenti of the attempt to bring charges against Moore. "They really are counting on us being too overwhelmed to act, so it's incredibly, incredibly important that we let them know we're paying attention."
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