„Wachsende Akzeptanz“: dreißig Mal mehr Trans-OPs als 2005
Zuerst am 31.12.2025 in der Stuttgarter Zeitung erschienen. Binnen zwanzig Jahren hat sich die Zahl geschlechtsangleichender Operationen mehr als verdreißigfacht, von 111 (2005) auf 3475 im Jahr 2024. Unsere Recherche beleuchtet mögliche Gründe für diese Entwicklung – und das Schweigen der Fachleute. Worum geht es? Transmenschen fühlen sich nicht dem Geschlecht zugehörig, in das sie geboren wurden.…
Selbstbestimmungsgesetz: w/m/d – aber es bleibt kompliziert
Zuerst am 31.10.2025 in der Stuttgarter Zeitung erschienen. Warum gibt es das Gesetz überhaupt? Das Transsexuellengesetz von 1981 galt als überholt – unter anderem, weil das Bundesverfassungsgericht es in sechs Urteilen teilweise gekippt hat. Unter dem ursprünglichen Gesetz konnte der Geschlechtseintrag frühestens mit 25 Jahren geändert werden; Betroffene mussten sich unter anderem einer geschlechtsangleichenden Operation unterziehen, sich sterilisieren…
Man facing charges for yelling at police officer
First published Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024 in the Dundalk Eagle. An Essex man is facing a 60-day prison stint and/or a $500 fine for yelling at police officers repeatedly. A police officer identified only as T. Kent in court documents stopped a gray Honda in Essex after not using a left turn signal when turning…
Restrictions on chalking implemented to ‘beautify’ campus, UMD says
First published Jan. 23, 2024 in Stories Beneath the Shell. University of Maryland President Darryll Pines announced a new policy for chalking on Nov. 27. Overnight, students at the University of Maryland were prohibited from chalking in all but two places on campus: In front of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union and at Hornbake…
FACT CHECK: Were antisemitic slogans shouted at a UMD pro-Palestine event?
First published Friday, Nov. 10, 2023 in Stories Beneath the Shell. CLAIM: Protesters at a pro-Palestine protest on Nov. 9 shouted antisemitic slogans and chalked messages calling for a second Holocaust. SBS ASSESSMENT: Partially true. Two eyewitnesses confirmed that students shouted slogans calling for revolution and event organizers confirmed that someone chalked a message reading…
Trevor Project in crisis amid financial woes, staff dissension, ‘union busting’: sources
First published Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023 in the Washington Blade. (Editor’s note: This article contains references to suicide and self-harm. If you are having thoughts of suicide or are in crisis, call 988 to talk to a counselor or 911 for medical attention.) He was cutting himself and his mother was worried. Whom should she…
Shell Shocked: Why the rent is so damn high at UMD
Reported for my Advanced Audio and Podcast Reporting class at UMD, JOUR364. I helped report this story, contributing data analysis and the interview with Dennis Passarella-George, the director of resident life at UMD. Nicole Blanchard and Aaron Wright reported as well. Grace Kpetemey and Mat Schumer anchored the episode. Julia Eisen was the executive producer. Molly…
Computer Science Department Reckons With Sexist Culture
First published Dec. 9, 2022 in Stories Beneath the Shell. by Morgan Leason and Joel Lev-Tov More than three-quarters of the University of Maryland Computer Science Department’s undergraduate students are men. “It feels like everyone will think you’re dumb,” said Arwen Ferro, a female sophomore computer science major. “Men in the department act like women…
UMD Journalism Students Feel Out of Place
Reported for my News Writing & Reporting II Class, JOUR320. Senior journalism major Brandie Bland’s class was discussing how to cover situations without mentioning a person’s race about two months ago. She pointed out that communities of color are often written about in a dehumanizing way. Then her classmate chimed in. “There are people in…
Behind the scenes, these employees ran the quarantine and isolation housing at UMD
First published Wednesday, June 30, 2021 in the Diamondback. Donning an N95 mask, Mike Butler drove students from their dorms to their quarantine or isolation housing in his black Suburban, separated by plexiglass. Butler serves as the vice president of Special Events Medical Services, a medical transport company that provides emergency medical and ambulance services…
