Transgender teen to sue over license photo
The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) has plans to sue South Carolina after the state refused to issue a driver’s license to a 16-year-old transgender citizen in the city of Colombia.
Chase Culpepper, the teen in question, was told that no license would be issued unless the teen removed all makeup for the photo. The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) cited a policy that bans license pictures in which someone is purposefully altering their appearance.
The TLDEF believes that the DMV decision, and the rule that backs it up, is unconstitutional and vague, allowing DMV employees themselves – with potential biases – to decide what is “purposeful alteration” of appearance, as opposed to an average amount makeup.
British Ebola patient discharged
William Pooley, the first British citizen to contract Ebola in the outbreak in West Africa, was recently discharged from hospital.
Pooley, 29, was working as a volunteer nurse in Sierra Leone when he contracted the virus. Upon his relocation to the Royal Free Hospital in London, Pooley was given an experimental drug called ZMapp, and has made a full recovery.
Pooley, who was still in the early stages of the disease when he began treatment, received an experimental 12-hour infusion of antibodies – a treatment that has only been given to seven patients to date.
While it remains unclear the official role the ZMapp infusion played in Pooley’s recovery, the levels of virus in Pooley’s bloodstream fell significantly following the daylong treatment.
Estimates suggest that upwards of 20, 000 people will be infected during the outbreak. As of now, 51 per cent of those infected have died – counting Pooley among the fortunate minority.