The Illegal Trans Woman

This episode originally aired May 3, 2025: It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head Show! The Big Story is about how Robert Kennedy Jr.’s HHS has issued a report on gender affirming care for transgender youth and—surprise—it claims that that crucial medical care is harming children! Other stories have transgender people participating in the funeral for Pope…

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We begin this Ellie’s Talking Head show by remembering President John F. Kennedy on the 62nd anniversary of his assignation and contrasting his leadership with that of Donald Trump. The first Big Story is about how the Trump administration is preventing transgender and nonbinary persons from obtaining passports that match their gender identities. Big Story…

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We’ve hit the half-century mark with Episode No. 50! I begin by highlighting Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20th every year, and share about how TGDOR came into existence (in 1999, to honor transgender and nonbinary persons lost to violence or suicide in the preceding year). This November 20th, please tell a trans or nonbinary…

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It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head show, and we start with a just-delivered 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding that an Ohio school district could not discipline students who claimed that their religious beliefs prevented them from according pronouns to transgender students that align with their gender identity. In other words, under the guise of…

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This week’s Big Story is how the Trump Dept. of HHS plans to issue three rules that will bar federal Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements to any hospital/medical facility that provides gender affirming care to any trans person younger than 18 (and in one case, 19). This is essentially an attack on all blue state hospital…

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We split the Big Story between two stories; one is about a landmark civil rights case where the MN Supreme Court held in favor of an adult female trans weightlifter who was barred from competing with other women due to her gender identity. The other case is about an Oregon federal judge ruling to block…

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It’s No Kings Day No. 2 and I urge listeners to get out and exercise their First Amendment rights! The Big Story is about the current status of a federal lawsuit seeking to block MN transgender student athletes from competing on teams that align with their gender identity. (So far, we’re winning!). The Big Interview…

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Today is National Coming Out Day, to honor members of the LGBTQ+ community who have come out to the world as their true, authentic selves. For this week’s Big Story, I talk about the historic origins of NCOD dating to October 11, 1988. The Big Interview is with Orion Rummler from The 19th who talks…

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Our Big Story this week is how the Veterans Administration has prohibited its therapists and doctors from providing referral letters for transgender Vets who seek to obtain gender confirmation surgery using their own funds or via private insurance. Without a referral letter, a surgeon who performs confirmation surgery won’t go forward (such letters confirm the…

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This week’s Big Story is about transgender people fighting back—two female trans athletes suing universities and the NCAA for denying them the right to compete, and five trans youth/their families and adults suing the University of PA Medical Center for denying them gender affirming care. Good for them and for the brave lawyers taking their…

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This is my first chance to talk about Charlie Kirk’s murder—how horrific, and my condolences to his family and friends! Violence is never the answer! I talk about how MAGA desperately wants to tie transgender people to Kirk’s murder, and they’re doing so by asserting that the alleged shooter was poisoned by the ideology of…

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With this Ellie’s Talking Head show we cover how Boston Children’s Hospital convinced a federal judge in my old stomping grounds (Boston is where I learned to be a civil trial lawyer) to quash a Trump DOJ subpoena that sought to intimidate BCH into dropping its gender affirming care program for trans kids/youth. Way to…

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We begin with the Big Story of how some public school systems are fighting back against Trump’s DOJ/Department of Education edicts that seek to bar trans students from restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. Some  districts in Virginia are suing and in Denver, the school superintendent, Dr. Alex Morrero, has issued…

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It’s a very somber show in the wake of the Annunciation Catholic church/school shooting—my heart goes out to the victims of that senseless attack! What horror for them and for our community! However, the attack, by a transgender person, may turn out to be the watershed moment MAGA extremists have been looking for; they could…

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On this Ellie’s Talking Head show we begin with how Trump’s MAGA DOJ has subpoenaed multiple Blue state hospitals seeking confidential patient information of transgender children and youth who have received gender affirming care. It’s all an effort to chill those hospitals from providing such care. I also share an influencer’s take about Maslow’s Hierarchy…

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The Big Story is about the US Air Force retracting pension-award letters to a dozen transgender service members with 15-18 years of service who were being drummed out of the military due to Trump’s ban. The Air Force said it had “made a mistake” in granting the service members pensions; my take is that it…

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This episode originally aired March 8, 2025: The Big Story is about politicians who do the right thing (Senate Democrats who blocked a national trans youth sports ban) and those who don’t (CA Gov. Gavin Newsom, who in a podcast interview with right wing pundit Charlie Kirk threw trans athletes under the bus). The Big…

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It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head show, beginning with how the Trump administration is targeting 50-60 colleges and universities with investigations for alleged antisemitism—which is a ploy to simply control how the schools admit students and create curricula. First Columbia caved; this week it was Brown University; undoubtedly there will be many others, which will send…

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Unfortunately, the Big Story is about how multiple Blue state health care providers are closing their gender affirming care clinics for transgender children and youth despite there being no federal law mandating closures; they’re just caving to fear of federal subpoenas and investigations. Horrible! The Big Interview is with award-winning journalist Varsha Bansal who reports…

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This week’s Big Story is about how US Secy of Defense Pete Hegseth’s efforts against “wokeism” resulted in passing over a rear admiral for promotion because nearly a decade ago there were drag shows on the aircraft carrier the admiral commanded. Hegseth also ordered that a Navy oil tender named after gay rights icon Harvey…

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It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head show where I cover the multiple MAGA attacks on transgender health care—such as Ohio banning trans youth and adults  on Medicaid from accessing mental health resources or Pam Bondi’s DOJ subpoenaing medical records from 20 Blue state doctors and hospitals that treated trans patients. But there’s always some light, and…

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This is an encore of episode 6 from January 11, 2025: The Big Story this week is Meta’s decision to discontinue fact checking and how, inevitably, that will result in more transphobic postings and the risk of cascading marginalization of transgender and gender expansive people. The Big Interview is with Leigh Finke, the first out…

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It’s a live show from Pride 2025 at Loring Park in Minneapolis! I share about how it was Pride 2008 when I first went out in public as my true self, as Ellie. I visited a bar named Pi (now long closed) where the doorway person said, “Welcome, we’re happy that you’re here.” It made…

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We spend most of the show talking about US v. Skrmetti, in which the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tennessee’s ban on gender affirming care (GAC) for transgender minors and youth under 18. This was a horrible decision for my community, and we have Terri Nelson, the Legal Director for the MN ACLU,…

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The Big Story is about the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital deciding to shutter gender affirming care services for youth and younger adults, all because its CEO has become fearful of threats by the Trump administration; this most certainly will chill other s Blue state clinics that provide similar care. Ugh! The Big Interview is with…

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This is an encore of episode 10 from February 8, 2025: We begin with Trump signing two more executive orders this week. One banned trans girls/young women from participating in women’s sports across the country (and the NCAA immediately agreed to ban trans athletes). The second EO creates a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias”…

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This week’s Big Story is about how the California Interscholastic Federation has buckled to anti-trans athlete pressure by announcing that any cisgender female athlete who loses to a transgender female athlete will be automatically deemed to have made the cut/placed for purposes of qualifying for a competition. Given how California leads the nation in so…

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The Big Story comes out of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill and how in the dead of night, MAGA Republicans added a provision to strip gender affirming care from every transgender person on Medicaid. God. The Big Interview is with Katelyn Burns, a political reporter/journalist who offers her take on what’s happening to trans people in…

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This week’s Big Story is about last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that dissolves a federal court injunction that barred the Defense Department from dismissing thousands of transgender service members. Even though the Supreme Court didn’t fully adjudicate the issue (an appeal for the district court’s ruling will continue), the Court’s ruling effectively gives the…

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This is a replay of our inaugural show from December 7, 2024: I lay out the show’s mission, share a little of my background, and address why “Illegal” is part of the show’s name (hint: Project 2025 seeks to outlaw “transgender ideology” whatever the hell that is…). We also cover this week’s oral arguments in…

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It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head Show! The Big Story is about how Robert Kennedy Jr.’s HHS has issued a report on gender affirming care for transgender youth and—surprise—it claims that that crucial medical care is harming children! Other stories have transgender people participating in the funeral for Pope Francis and a brave man in Sylva…

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The Big Story this week is about the Mississippi Supreme Court refusing a sixteen-year-old transgender teen boy’s application for a name change, despite his parent’s consent to the change. The Court rationalized that the youth wasn’t “mature enough,” and additionally, to allow the name change would assist with his gender transition in violation of MS…

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We start with the Big Story of how the UK Supreme Court ruled that transgender women aren’t included in the definition of female “sex” under the UK’s Equality Act, meaning that trans women can be excluded from all female spaces and sports in the UK. No doubt, MAGA will latch onto this! Ugh. The Big…

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This week’s Big Story is about how a Florida school district is non-renewing a well-loved high school English teacher’s contract because she had the audacity to use a transgender student’s name that aligns with the student’s gender identity; apparently, that’s illegal in FL (of course!). The Big Interview is with Sam Chapman from the SD…

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The Big Story picks up from last week with a list of the mega-sized American law firms that have caved to Trump, and those that have resisted. The Big Interview is with Max Kozlov, a science reporter who wrote about the National Institute of Health gutting all research around transgender health, and instead mandating a…

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I start the show’s Big Story with talking about fear—those who are afraid of what Trump 2 will do; and those who so care about me that they’ve required a list of emergency contacts in case I go missing. The Big Interview is with Jordan Rubin from MSNBC and the curator of Deadline: Legal Blog…

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This week’s Big Story is about federal Judge Ana Reyes and her stinging rebuke of the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender service members; wow! The Big Interview is with Nick Epley, a University of Chicago behavioral scientist who talks about social isolation and the rewards of taking a risk to reach out to someone who…

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It’s the first Live TITW show, ever! The Big Story is how TX Attorney General Ken Paxton has ordered TX state agencies to ignore court orders re: changing gender markers and birth certificates for transgender people—the rule of law is now dead in the Lone Star state! Other stories include highlighting the bravery of attorney…

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The Big Story is about politicians who do the right thing (Senate Democrats who blocked a national trans youth sports ban) and those who don’t (CA Gov. Gavin Newsom, who in a podcast interview with right wing pundit Charlie Kirk threw trans athletes under the bus). The Big Interview will rock you—it’s with Pastor Luke…

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It’s completely unfortunate and heart-wrenching that this week’s Big Story is about how Iowa—my beloved home state—this week rolled back legal protections for transgender humans, literally altering its state civil rights act to remove our us from the law! Unbelievable. The Big Interview is with NYT columnist/mainstream media commentator, Jamelle Bouie, who talks about the…

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This week’s Big Story is about former MN Vikings punter Chris Kluwe and his act of civil disobedience when the Huntington Beach CA library system decided to go all-MAGA—we need more leadership like that! The Big interview is with USA Today sports journalist Nancy Armour, who talks about the unfairness (and ridiculousness) of banning transgender…

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It’s me broadcasting from home as I get over a mild case of pneumonia! The Big Story is how the National Park Service has removed “TQ+” from “LGBTQ+” at the Stonewall Inn National Monument—it’s more about erasing trans people from public life. The Big Interview is with Dr. Donald Haider-Markel, a University of Kansas professor…

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We begin with Trump signing two more executive orders this week. One banned trans girls/young women from participating in women’s sports across the country (and the NCAA immediately agreed to ban trans athletes). The second EO creates a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” with Attorney General Pam Bondi heading it. The EO in part…

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We taped the show on January 31, which marked the 35th anniversary of when my father took his life, so the Big Interview is with Ryan Fouts, the executive director of Reclaim, a Twin Cities mental health nonprofit that serves LGBTQ+ youth. Ryan shares some grim statistics re: the attempted suicide/completed suicide rate for queer youth,…

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We spend most of the show talking about the destruction since the Inauguration, via Trump Executive Order 13988 re: “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” aka, “The Let’s-Hound-Transgender-People-Out-of-Existence order.” The Big Interview is with attorney Jess Braverman from Gender Justice who talks about some of the legal…

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It’s a great show with my interview of Dr. Harry Barbee from Johns Hopkins who reports on research showing that that the regret rate for gender confirmation surgery is much, much less than that for cisgender (non-transgender) people. In News Bites, I talk about an empowered man who attacked a woman, and how the Montana…

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The Big Story this week is Meta’s decision to discontinue fact checking and how, inevitably, that will result in more transphobic postings and the risk of cascading marginalization of transgender and gender expansive people. The Big Interview is with Leigh Finke, the first out transgender person elected to the Minnesota Legislature, who offers unique perspective…

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The first show of ’25 for a podcast fighting Project 2025! The Big Story is about Costco pushing back at efforts to shut down its DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs. The Big Interview is with Aime Wichtendahl, the first transgender person ever elected to the Iowa Legislature. I also rail against J.K. Rowling because…

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This week’s Big Story is about Trump’s vow to end “the transgender lunacy” and promise to define gender as only “male” and “female,” which would effectively erase transgender-identifying humans from official governmental recognition. We also talk about how this makes “reversion” possible—where the government takes away your true gender identity, like the gender marker on…

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The Big Story this week is a continuation of last week’s BS (literally, that’s what it is BS) with 37 Democratic Senators voting to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, including MN’s two Senators, Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar. As with the House version, the bill passed by the Senate included a provision wiping gender…

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In this week’s show, we cover how 81 Democrats—Including MN’s Dean Phillips—voted along with House Republicans to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (e.g., the U.S. Defense budget), which included a provision that prohibits TRICARE, the medical provider for service member family members, from offering gender affirming care to trans youth. This defection of support/loss…

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Our inaugural show. I lay out the show’s mission, share a little of my background, and address why “Illegal” is part of the show’s name (hint: Project 2025 seeks to outlaw “transgender ideology” whatever the hell that is…). We also cover this week’s oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, which deals with the question of…

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Is America at risk of erasing transgender people? Host Ellie Krug tackles this urgent question in her show, The Illegal Trans Woman, while confronting the growing threats to the LGBTQ+ community and the very existence of trans and gender variant individuals. A transgender woman herself, Ellie is a passionate advocate for her community, dedicated to…

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