This week’s Big Story is a groundbreaking look at a legal win for our community in Big Sky Country. I break down a massive Montana Supreme Court decision that upholds the state constitution’s promise of individual dignity, proving that trans discrimination is—at its core—sex discrimination. The Big Interview features Sarah Waller from Big Hill Books and novelist Swathee Avasthi, the leader of Authors Against Book Bans. We discuss the deceptive “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act” and the vit...
Apr 20, 2026•45 min
For the Big Interview this week I welcome Jules Langlois to the show as he talks about the upcoming nationwide strikes on May 1. Also, I talk about two horrific bills that have been passed in Idaho attacking our trans community. plus News Bits and Random Acts. The post The Illegal Trans Woman – Ep. 71: May Day Strike first appeared on AM 950 .
Apr 13, 2026•45 min
This week, The Illegal Trans Woman celebrates a major milestone as we officially expand our reach to the humans of Chicago on WCPT 820 AM. For our Big Interview, I sit down with Asheville journalist David Forbes to discuss a truly eye-opening report on the Catholic Church’s quiet grip on the American healthcare system. We explore how these religious institutions, which control up to 40% of hospital beds in some states, have implemented a draconian, total ban on gender-affirming care for both you...
Apr 06, 2026•45 min
This week, I’m preparing to head West to Fargo and Moorhead, continuing my mission to bring visibility to places where our community is often kept in the shadows. In this “Talking Head” show, the first Big Story focuses on a disturbing new trend of anti-trans ballot measures in Washington and Maine that seek to ban trans girls from sports and mandate invasive medical exams for children. I also discuss the “preemptive compliance” at Boston University, where Pride flags were recently scrubbed from...
Mar 30, 2026•47 min
This week’s Big Story is a series of draconian hits to the trans community, starting in Idaho where the legislature passed HB 752, a bathroom bill that attaches a felony charge and up to five years in prison for a second “offense” of a trans person simply using a restroom that aligns with their identity. It’s a terrifying escalation of state-sponsored discrimination. From there, I discuss a heartbreaking Texas Supreme Court ruling that allows Attorney General Ken Paxton to subpoena PFLAG records...
Mar 23, 2026•49 min
I’m diving deep into a West Virginia federal appeals court ruling that has me absolutely floored. The court decided to deny Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgeries, and what’s truly chilling is the judge’s reasoning. He essentially argued that it’s rational for a legislature to encourage citizens to “appreciate” their sex rather than becoming “disdainful” of it. This feels like a terrifying attempt to legislate how we’re even allowed to think about our own identities. For the Big Interv...
Mar 16, 2026•49 min
This week’s Big Story is a heavy one as we look at the literal onslaught of anti-trans legislation sweeping through statehouses and even reaching the Supreme Court. We’re tracking over 700 bills—from Utah’s move to allow housing discrimination to Wisconsin’s attack on trans students’ names. It is a firehose of oppression, but we aren’t backing down. For the Big Interview , I’m checking back in with Isaac Johnson from the Trans Lawrence Coalition in Kansas. We’re diving into the fallout of SB 244...
Mar 09, 2026•46 min
This week’s Big Story is a sobering look at how history is repeating itself in America. Ellie breaks down the chilling similarities between current anti-trans legislation in states like Kansas and the Nazi-era Nuremberg Laws that systematically stripped Jewish people of their dignity and legal identities. The Big Interview features Lee Wade, a transgender radio host from WYSO in Ohio who hosts the show Translucent . Lee shares his moving journey of coming out to his father and the vital role of ...
Mar 02, 2026•47 min
In this week’s Big Story, I dive into the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” and the alarming comments made by its president, Kevin Roberts, regarding the future of gender-affirming care for adults. We listen to a chilling clip where Roberts suggests outlawing transition-related healthcare entirely, regardless of age. I also cover the disturbing shift in ICE tactics as agents move their enforcement efforts into suburban and rural Minnesota, creating a new wave of trauma for immigrant families....
Feb 23, 2026•47 min
This week’s Big Story starts with a bit of a sidebar on ICE purportedly drawing down its agents in Minnesota. While the Trump administration claims it’s because the state has finally started “cooperating,” the reality on the ground in Chaska tells a different story. The much heavier news is that Children’s Minnesota—the largest children’s hospital in the state—is ending gender-affirming care for patients under 18 starting February 27. It’s a heartbreaking result of new federal rules threatening ...
Feb 16, 2026•48 min
Ellie discusses the new guidance from the American Association of Plastic Surgeons now recommending no gender-affirming care for peopel under 18; Isaac Johnson of TransLawrence Coalition in Lawrence, Kansas is the Big Interview; Trump administration diminishing the history of the murder of Medgar Evers. The post The Illegal Trans Woman Ep. 62 – Alarming New Guidance on Gender Affirming Care for Minors; Isaac Johnsom of TransLawrence Coalition first appeared on AM 950 ....
Feb 09, 2026•48 min
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 was just plain up cruelty toward people who had diligently risked their lives to protect us. God. The Big Interview is with Brianne Bricker, a trans woman who transitioned in her mid-fifties an...
Feb 02, 2026•48 min
This week’s Big Story is split into two disturbing reports: the escalating and ominous actions of ICE agents in Minnesota—including the abduction of observers—and the Trump administration’s targeting of transgender gun owners through potential changes to federal forms. For the Big Interview, I’m thrilled to be joined by acclaimed author and writer Lyz Lenz to discuss her powerful blog post “Why Minnesota,” exploring the cultural and political reasons our state has become a target for federal cra...
Jan 26, 2026•48 min
This week’s Big Story covers the terrifying ICE raids sweeping the Twin Cities and my concerns regarding the Supreme Court’s recent arguments on transgender student athletes. For the Big Interview, I speak with Becky and Monique, two courageous activists from Carver County who detail how they successfully rallied their community to stop the local Sheriff from signing a contract to house ICE detainees. In News Bites, I report on the Trump administration launching Title IX investigations into scho...
Jan 19, 2026•48 min
This week’s Big Story focuses on the tragic murder of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent, a horrific act that highlights the dangers facing our community and the need for accountability. For the Big Interview, I speak with Gwen Howerton, a reporter for Chron.com , about the city of Arlington, Texas, inexplicably repealing its LGBTQ+ protective ordinance under the guise of “inclusivity.” In News Bites, I cover a report showing 400,000 trans people have fled red states and celebrate the Children’s ...
Jan 12, 2026•48 min
I kick off 2026 by diving into a disturbing story at the University of Oklahoma where a trans teaching assistant was fired after giving a zero to a student who used AI to write a hateful, religiously charged paper—absolute insanity! The Big Interview features investigative reporter Lauren McGaughy, who joins me to expose how the Texas Department of Public Safety is secretly tracking transgender people who attempt to change their driver’s license gender markers. In News Bites, I celebrate hospita...
Jan 05, 2026•47 min
This episode originally aired December 21, 2024: 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 affirming care for transgender youth/dependents of U.S. service members. The Big Interview is with Jules Rayne of Equality ...
Dec 29, 2025•44 min
I admit right away that I am not in the holiday spirit because our community is facing a “ten-alarm fire” with the passage of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s horrific “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” and a new HHS rule threatening hospital funding. My Big Interview is with Ryan Cooper from The American Prospect, who joins me to discuss his piece “The Transphobic Mask is Off” and how the GOP’s obsession has turned into open hatred and fascism. I cover news about hospitals fighting DOJ subpoenas and a ...
Dec 22, 2025•47 min
In this episode, I dedicate the Big Story to the political firestorm surrounding Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which aims to federally criminalize gender-affirming care for minors and is set for a floor vote next week—a shocking display of hypocrisy and an architecture for a police state. I then introduce my Big Interview with Tre’vell Anderson, Executive Director of the Trans Journalists Association, who talks about the organization’s great work and the release of...
Dec 15, 2025•48 min
It’s the show’s first anniversary! We do a review of the year, highlighting various interviews with the likes of U of Chicago behavioral scientist Nick Eppley and friend-of-the-show, Vanessa Tenneyson. The Big Interview is with Bella and Trish Tousignant, who talk about how their 39-year marriage not only survived, but blossomed when Bella came out as transgender in 2016. (Bella is also the author of a newly released memoir, The Uninvited Passenger.) We close the show out with excerpts from my f...
Dec 08, 2025•47 min
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 Francis and a brave man in Sylva NC who stood up to white supremacy. The post The Illegal Trans Woman – Ep. 52 (Encore): When Politics Trumps Science (A...
Dec 01, 2025•46 min
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 No. 2 is about how a small telehealth that provides gender affirming care to trans kids/youth, Queer Docs, fought a DOJ subpoena for privileg...
Nov 24, 2025•48 min
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 person in your life that you love them, that they matter, and that they have value! The Big Interview is with journalist Laura Pappano to talk about her recent S...
Nov 15, 2025•48 min
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 “religious freedom,” kids now have the right to misgender trans kids regardless of the emotional harm that causes. From there, I discuss a U.S. Sup...
Nov 10, 2025•48 min
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 providers that provide puberty blockers and hormones to trans kids/youth—horrible! The Big Interview is with Sheryl Weikal, an Illinois lawyer who encountered massive discrimina...
Nov 03, 2025•48 min
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 the Trump administration from penalizing states that include gender identity as a topic within their sex education curriculums. The Big Interview is with Sara Jane Baldwin of Gender Justice, who r...
Oct 26, 2025•47 min
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 is with cherished friend of the show Vanessa Tenneyson, who offers sage advice about enduring the onslaughts of Trump and MAGA. I also talk about my op-ed in the Minnesota Star Tribu...
Oct 20, 2025•48 min
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 about recent poling that organization conducted—the results of which showed that more Americans are resistant to children/youth, and even adults, accessing gender affirming care. Ugh—why does someone ...
Oct 13, 2025•47 min
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 fact that a person needs surgery due to gender dysphoria/for their emotional well-being). It’s a cruel senseless policy that comes after ...
Oct 06, 2025•48 min
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 cases! The Big Interview is with The New Republic writer Melissa Gira Grant who details MAGA efforts to designate trans advocates as domestic terrorists. In ...
Oct 01, 2025•46 min
