Trans News Updates of 2009 (Jan-June):

This page links to news of general interest to the trans community during the first half of 2009.  This running log of news also serves as a window into areas of media focus and public interest regarding trans issues during 2009.  Let us know if you hear of news to include in this list. To access to a wide range of trans news, we recommend "Google News", searching on keywords such as transgender, transsexual, sex reassignment, sex change, gender variance and gender transition.

2009:   Jan,  Feb,  Mar,  Apr,  May,  Jun

Link to second half of 2009

Lynn Conway

http://www.lynnconway.com

Click here to access the currrent Trans News Updates

June 2009

6-30-09:  "6th Annual March for Transgender Pride"  ( Links to pages of photos: 1, 2, 3, 4 )

"This year's march marked San Francisco's sixth year since the event began in 2004 when it was first established to honor Gwen Araujo, a young transgendered woman who was brutally murdered in Newark, California in November of 2002."

6-30-09:  The National (UAE re Pakistan): "Pakistan to recognise eunuchs"

"After decades of ignominy and exploitation as painted dancers, singers and beggars, Pakistan’s “third sex” is to be officially surveyed and registered under the direction of the Supreme Court. Iftikhar Chaudhry, the liberal-minded chief justice, ordered the establishment of a commission to conduct the survey after a prominent jurist filed a petition drawing attention to the plight of Pakistan’s several hundred thousand eunuchs. Until the registration takes place, the number of eunuchs is unknown. Community leaders estimate it is at least 400,000."

6-30-09: Townhall.com: “My Idea and Your Consequence” (posted 6-24), by Mike Adams (print version, mirrored by the American Family Association)

“One really bad idea that is thriving in higher education is the so-called trans-gendered rights movement. It is thriving not because of the work of trans-gendered persons but because of feminists who are willing to use them to advance their own ideas about gender and equality. . . The fact that feminists have few children helps facilitate their silly views concerning the “social construction” of male/female differences. Of the six most radical feminists in my department, one has no children and the other five have only one child each . . . Feminists applaud, rather than treat, trans-genders who go to the extreme of permanently mutilating their genitals. And they do so in the name of gender equality. It’s almost as bad as applauding the dismemberment of children in the name of sexual liberation.”

[Note: Adams is the University of North Carolina-Wilmington faculty-member whose hateful transphobic rants were exposed by Lynn Conway and Leandra Vicci in an online investigative report in 2005 ( PDF ). Adams is still lashing out against the professional ostracism he faced following that exposure. Meanwhile, the 'Christian' right loves his quirky rhetoric, and apparently think it's helping their cause!]
 

6-30-09: MyFoxBoston: "State House debates "Bathroom Bill""

"This bill will make the protection of transgender people explicit, uniform, and visible to the general public. It will include gender identity and expression in the state's non-discrimination statute and will amend existing hate crime laws to explicitly protect people targeted for violence and harassment."

6-30-09:  Transgender Legal Defense Fund: "Transgender Woman Brutally Beaten in Queens Bias Attack - TLDEF Demands Full Investigation Into Hate Crime"

"We're sad to bring you the news of another brutal attack on a transgender woman, this one coming during the height of LGBT Pride month. On June 19, 2009, at approximately 2:30 am, Leslie Mora was walking home from a nightclub on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens when she was accosted by two men who brutally beat her with a belt . . .Throughout the attack, Leslie’s assailants called her a “faggot” in Spanish. The attack left Leslie with multiple injuries, including bruises all over her body, and stitches in her scalp. Police called to the scene found Leslie nearly naked and bleeding on the sidewalk. They also recovered a belt buckle from the assailants that was covered in blood. We want you to know that we're working with Leslie to ensure that the perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice."

6-30-09:  NBC Philadelphia News: "Transgender Riders Take On TransPass"

"The transgender community takes on SEPTA’s TransPass (ironically enough) Tuesday. That little “M” or “F” sticker identifying a rider’s gender is enough to cause economic hardship, harassment and lack of access to public transportation for the transgender community, according to Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE)."

6-30-09:  WZZM13 (Kalamazoo, MI): "Kalamazoo passes protection for gay, lesbian and transgender people" (more, more)

"It's now illegal for landlords and employers in Kalamazoo to discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."

6-30-09: YouTube: "Church Does Gay Exorcism On Teen"

[More videos of the Gay Exorcism reported on 6-26-09: more, more, more]

6-30-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Pain, progress and a pride march" (more, more)

"Shielded by a considerate contingent of police personnel and volunteers, the 4 km long march, “couldn’t have taken place, if not for the support of the state government and the police commissioner,” said Sunil Menon, a health activist, part of the organising committee . . . Mallika, a transsexual from Anna Nagar, was overwhelmed and as her eyes welled up she said, “When I was growing up, I was abused, beaten and ragged. Today, to see people supporting us, hugging us and making us a part of their mainstream lives is touching.”" 

6-30-09:  Express Buzz (India): "‘We don’t encourage transgenders’"

"Magdalene Jeyarathnam, Founder, Center for Counselling in Chennai, attributes the lack of sustainable employment to “prejudice of the management and a largely intolerant workforce.” . . . A HR professional from a software consultancy firm who requested anonymity said, “We don’t encourage transgenders because we have a diverse workforce and it often offends their religious belief systems and this can lead to lesser productivity.” 

6-29-09:  Straight.com (Canada): "Bill Siksay: Sex reassignment surgery deserves full coverage across Canada"

"I’ve put a motion before the House to call on the federal government to ensure appropriate health care is accessible across Canada to transsexual and transgender people. Anything less than explicit, full, and comprehensive protection of trans Canadians diminishes Canada’s commitment to equality and diversity. And the failure to fully cover SRS within medicare diminishes the fundamental Canadian vision of public health care . . . Bill Siksay is the member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas and the federal New Democrat critic for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and transsexual issues."

6-29-09:  SheWired.com: "Kerry Washington Comes Out on Top in 'Cracktown'"

" . . . she tackles her heaviest role to date -- Marybeth, the male-to-female transsexual, heroin-addicted prostitute she plays to perfection in Life Is Hot in Cracktown. From her walk to her talk, Washington nails the part -- and it’s a sure sign her best roles have yet to come. Washington sat down with Advocate.com to talk about the film . . . and how she found her femininity in paying trans."

6-28-09:  New York Times: "It’s Time to Learn From Frogs"

"Some of the first eerie signs of a potential health catastrophe came as bizarre deformities in water animals, often in their sexual organs. . . Now scientists are connecting the dots with evidence of increasing abnormalities among humans, particularly large increases in numbers of genital deformities among newborn boys. For example . . . up to 1 percent of boys in the United States are now born with hypospadias, in which the urethra exits the penis improperly, such as at the base "

6-28-09:  Gay Wired: "Remembering Stonewall: 40 Years Later" (more, more, more)

6-28-09:  Chicago Sun-Times: "Nearly a half-million expected at Gay Pride Parade"

"Actor and activist Alexandra Billings is the parade's Grand Marshal. Considering that Billings, a former Chicagoan who now lives in Hollywood, is a transgender woman and the Stonewall rebellion was fueled in large part by transgender people, parade organizers say it is especially fitting that she is this year's Grand Marshal." 

6-28-09:  New York Daily News: "Memories of Stonewall are still alive"

"A bartender who was slinging drinks at the Stonewall Inn the night it was raided 40 years ago says young people need to know how far the gay-lesbian bisexual-transsexual movement has come - and what the previous generation sacrificed to get here. . ."They have no idea the older generation went to jail for them . . ."

6-28-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "Sex change ops on the NHS have trebled... since the procedure became a 'right'" (more)

"Sex changes on the NHS became a right in July 1999 after the Appeal Court recognised that those who believed they were born into the wrong body were suffering from a legitimate illness. In 1999, the year sex changes became free, 49 people had the operation on the NHS in England. But last year that figure had increased to 137, according to the latest figures from The NHS Information Centre. . . In addition to the NHS figures . . . last year at least 150 Britons had their sex-change operations privately, either abroad or in the UK."

6-28-09:  The Hindu (India): "Transgender groups demand right to life" (more)

"BHUBANESWAR: People belonging to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups took out a rally here on Saturday, demanding their right to life and dignity. . . “Those with alternative sexualities and gender identities are expressions of diversity of humanity. We are not suffering from physical or mental illness. Our sexualities and gender are not the result of western culture or media influence; nor are they indicators of cultural degradation,” Subham Mishra, a leading gay activist, said. . . At a seminar earlier, experts and activists hailed the boldness with which these people started pressing for their rights."

6-28-09:  The Gleaner (Jamaica): Block loopholes in proposed sex laws - Senator" (more)

" . . . another parliamentarian is urging her colleagues to block every loophole to prevent a man who undergoes a sex change from seeking coverage under the definition of sexual intercourse in the proposed law. . .  Government Senator Hyacinth Bennett said the vagina and penis should in the bill, be stated as the natural sex organs as defined at birth . . . She argued that a man could claim to change his gender to that of a woman by having a vagina surgically constructed and then seek coverage under the definition of sexual intercourse."

[Beware: Jamaica is an incredibly homophobic/transphobic society.]

6-27-09:  The Catholic Exchange (posted 6-25): "Legalizing Deception: Why “Gender Identity” Should Not be Added to Anti-discrimination Legislation"

"Certain national and international groups are pushing for the addition of “gender identity” and “gender expression” to anti-discrimination laws. . . Such persons deceive themselves, deceive others, and are being deceived by mental health professionals and surgeons. . . One lie leads to another. A clearly male person presents himself in public as a woman. He has had surgery and hormone treatments to perfect his impersonation and he demands that we pretend this makes him a woman . . . 

Those who are obsessed with the idea of being the other sex often resist therapy. They refuse to look at the psychological reasons for their desires. . . Lawrence also points out that when autogynephiles are not accepted as the sex they want to be they can be vulnerable to narcissistic rage . . . If you want to understand the full potential of such wrath, consider the case of John Michael Bailey, whose book The Man who would be Queen provoked retaliation from a small group of persons who didn’t like being labeled autogynephiles. They used the Internet to make outrageous accusations against Bailey, attacking his children, trying to turn colleagues against him, and to have him fired from his job. . . Even if only a small number of autogynephiles are prone to narcissistic revenge, they could cause incredible harm to anyone who speaks the truth . . .

And it gets worse. . .  children who think they are the other sex are given puberty-blocking hormones so that secondary sexual characteristics do not appear. Then they are given hormones proper to the other sex, so that at age 18 they can be surgically mutilated. In other words, the entire educational, psychological, and medical establishment is conspiring to see that these children never receive proper treatment."

[This is serious stuff: In the run-up to ENDA, the Catholic Church is escalating its attack on trans people by exploiting the Blanchard/Bailey/Lawrence terminology to defame transitioned women as "autogynephiles."  In the process, they are lionizing trans-demonizer J. Michael Bailey as a great scientific truth-seeker whose life was 'ruined' by a tiny group of such witch-like people, citing the historical fiction writing of Bailey-defender Alice Dreger as their 'evidence'.  Does this remind you of something? Like when the Church condemned thousands of women as "witches", and produced scholarly tomes to 'prove' that they were 'possessed'?]

6-27-09:  WBT (posted 6-26): "Catholic Church as Anti-Trans Hate Group: The Smoking Gun"

6-26-09:  Truth Wins Out: "Church’s Exorcism of Gay Teenager Is Child Abuse and Fanaticism Disguised as Faith  (CNN story; video of exorcism)

"Shocking Video Reveals Underbelly of ‘Ex-Gay’ Ministries . . . The exorcism video shows a teen writhing on the ground as adults implore so-called “homosexual demons” to get out. The leaders yell at the boy on the ground saying, “Right now in the name of Jesus, I call the homosexuality, right now in the name of Jesus.” This scene unfolds for 20 minutes with the boy in a near seizure, even vomiting."

6-27-09:  The Day (Connecticut): "Echoes Of 1969 Still Sound 40 Years Later"

"How could so much happen in one year? And how could it remain so relevant today? There are landmark years, and 1969 was certainly one of them. Forty years ago Sunday the Stonewall riots in New York City marked the start of the modern gay rights movement, and today's continuing debate over same-sex marriage illustrates that while the cause of tolerance has made impressive gains, the fight for equal treatment continues."

6-27-09:  AARP: "Stonewall 40th Anniversary"

"What Was Stonewall? Considered the official start of the gay-rights movement, the demonstrations started after police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969."

6-26-09:  The Times of India (India): "Transgenders spread the Khwaja's message at Urs"

"If one visits the bus stand or railway station during the night, he will be surprised to see beautiful girls chatting fearlessly on the road." I saw them last night while returning home. They were as beautiful as bollywood actresses. I realized later that they were kinnars," said Laxman Singh Rathore . . . Transgenders have gathered at the Urs since ages. "Khwaja Garib Nawaz gave us the power to bless people," said Sonali . . ."

6-26-09:  Centralia Chronicle (Washington): "Becoming a Woman"

"Transgender: Centralia Resident Relives the Hardship, Joy and Process of Changing Her Gender Forever"

6-26-09:  BBC News (UK): "Transexual wins surgery funding

"A transsexual from Nottinghamshire has won her fight with the NHS to be given hormone treatment and surgery to change sex from a man to a woman"

6-25-09:  Bay Windows: "Local activists among 40 ’transgender heroes’ honored at Stonewall bar"

"Scott . . . feels that the list is an important step in reversing a longstanding trend of erasing transgender people from LGBT history. Many gay people believe that Stonewall was a rebellion led largely by gay white men, he said, and there is a larger perception that the transgender community is a relatively recent addition to the LGBT rights movement. "There’s a lot of history that we’ve been written out of, particularly in the early gay rights movement. ... That whole assumption that we just showed up and started doing activism is so dismissive and not true," said Scott . . . "It’s just about who controlled that conversation, who controlled that message and who gets counted as history.""

6-25-09:  EDGE (Boston): "AARP Celebrates Stonewall 40"

"To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, AARP has launched a multiplatform media campaign. Online, television, radio and print content includes contributions from prominent and outspoken members of the LGBT communities."

6-25-09:  Now Toronto (Canada): "When gender is tender: Trannies know who they are; it’s everyone else who’s confused"

“When people are in transition, they bring the outside into alignment with something that already exists. They don’t go through as much of a change as the people around them do. Internally they remain consistent, and much of transition is managing everybody else’s experience. The decisions people make when they transition are based on a very stable, enduring sense of self. They tend to really know who they are. It just confuses the rest of us. People may postpone transition because they don’t want to be shut off from friends and family.”

6-25-09:  Indiana Equality Media Release: "Indiana Equality Praises South Bend Mayor for Executive Order on Non-Discrimination"

"South Bend Mayor Steve Luecke issued an Executive Order on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 to expand the city's non-discrimination policy for city employees to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Indiana Equality thanks Mayor Luecke for his decision and congratulates the entire South Bend community on this step forward." 

6-24-09:  GLAD: "Inclusive ENDA: Passage is Essential"

"Help Ensure ENDA Becomes Law: You can help build momentum for the bill’s passage by contacting your legislator today and asking him or her to become a cosponsor. Becoming a cosponsor shows that the representative will stand firm with our community in support of this important legislation."

6-24-09:  NCLR:  "Action Alert: Take Action NOW to Pass ENDA"   (more)

"This historic bill has bipartisan support in the House, but we need your support to make it a reality. Please take action NOW to contact your representatives and urge them to support this crucial piece of legislation that protects all workers."

Sample meeting request letters, and other talking points and resources for your meetings, are available in the following toolkits (pdf):

o The Task Force ENDA Grassroots Toolkit
o National Center for Transgender Equality’s Making Your Voice Heard
o PFLAG’s Bringing the Message Home

6-24-09:  GID Reform: "Revision Suggestions for Gender Related Diagnoses in the DSM and ICD

[A synopsis of a presentation to The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) 2009 XXI Biennial Symposium, June 19, 2009 by Ehrbar, Randall D., Psy.D.; Winters, Kelley, Ph.D.; Gorton, R. Nicholas, M.D.]

[Link to complete presentation]

6-24-09:  Diversity Rules Magazine (July/Augsut 09): "A Mother's Love: A visit with Kim Pearson, Executive Director, Trans Youth Family Allies, Inc." (cover story)

6-24-09:  Advance for Nurses: "A Sensitive Nursing Subject - Healthcare providers have victimized transgendered patients in many ways."

"Healthcare providers and society have victimized the community of transgendered patients in many ways. Often, these patients are experiencing multiple losses and are surrounded by their own veil of isolation from their families, friends and co-workers.  In addition, they may not seek preventative healthcare or care for acute illness, as it will reinforce their negative experiences or perceptions of how they were treated in the past by healthcare providers. A patient could be bullied, teased or ostracized by members of the behavioral health milieu, including staff, and experience the victim role once again.  Often these patients find themselves without healthcare insurance because of unemployment, homelessness and difficulty obtaining access and insurance coverage for medically-desired procedures and for follow-up once the insurer learns they are transgendered . . ."

[An important article to bring to the attention of  medical care providers]

6-24-09:  Now Toronto (Canada): "When gender is tender"

"Trannies know who they are; it’s everyone else who’s confused"

6-23-09:  New York Times: "New Protections for Transgender Federal Workers"

"Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday."

6-22-09:  Examiner.com: "'Make-over Camp': good for girls?

"A controversial new summer camp teaches girls ages 10 to 14 how to develop their “presence.” The definition of “presence” appears to involve fashion, makeup, hostess skills, table setting, and flower arranging. And while some girls will inevitably want to attend such a camp, it can present dangers. Parents of transgendered or gender-diverse girls might send their daughter to such a camp in the hope of “changing” or “correcting” her, rather than letting her express her true gender identity. For a girl with gender identity issues or a strong male gender identity, such a camp could cause enormous emotional trauma."

6-19-09:  GID Reform: "Revision Suggestions for Gender Related Diagnoses in the DSM and ICD": Presentation by Ehrbar, Randall D., Psy.D.,Winters, Kelley, Ph.D., Gorton, R. Nicholas, M.D., WPATH 2009 XXI Biennial Symposium, June 19, 2009, Oslo, Norway

"Starting with different beliefs and assumptions about appropriate diagnoses for transgender and gender variant individuals suffering from gender dysphoria, the members of this panel have reached similar conclusions about desirable changes to diagnostic categories in the next version of the DSM and ICD."  

6-19-09:  Dallas Voice: "Trans-cending time"

"The transgender movement since the Stonewall Riots, especially in the last 30 years, has gained an almost surprising strength and a proud sense of validation. Its rich history is closely tied to both gay and feminist liberation movements, which seek various forms of gender freedom"

6-18-09:  CBS News: "A Pro Bono Transgender Primer - Dr. Jon LaPook Explores The Controversy And Confusion Surrounding Transgender Issues"

"Transgender issues have been in the news with the recent announcement that Cher's daughter, Chaz Bono, is transitioning from female to male. This subject has been plagued by misunderstanding and fear of the unknown. Transgender children are often shamed, bullied, and made to feel totally alone. As adolescents and adults, they face denial of adequate medical coverage and other forms of discrimination - and worse."

6-18-09:  Entertainment Tonight: "Alexis Arquette: A Proud Transgender Female's Advice to Chaz Bono"

6-18-09:  Shanghai Daily (China): "New rules on safety of sex-change operations"

"The rules also require a psychiatrist's diagnosis that the applicant has a gender identity disorder and is free of mental illness. He or she must have wanted the surgery for at least five years and lived under the new gender role for at least two years . . . The No. 411 Hospital performed 166 sex-change surgeries last year, mostly on people in their 30s."We turn down thousands of people every year because they can't provide the proper documents or their personal situation is not suitable," said Zhao, one of He's students."

6-18-09:  The Independent (UK): "'I know who I want to be': Why I decided to undergo male-to-female gender reassignment"

"Vivienne, 42, of Glasgow, is undergoing male-to-female gender reassignment. She has been receiving counselling and hormone treatment for 14 months under the NHS, and is planning to have the full operation in Thailand in October. "

6-18-09:  Toronto Star (re South Africa and Uganda): "Ugandan activist punished for transgender identity"

"Grace and persistence under almost unendurable circumstances have earned Victor Juliet Mukasa a place at the head of this year's Pride parade (in South Africa). Still, for someone who's been punished because of his gender identity, "a transperson," as the 33-year-old Ugandan calls himself, the prospect of serving as Pride Week's international grand marshal is scarey."

6-17-09:  DNA (India): "You can mark T for transgender in TN"

"Sexual minorities hardly ever have it easy. Marginalised by the regular Joes and Janes, they live along the fringes of society. But there is light at the end of their despair-ridden tunnel, at least in Tamil Nadu, where the state government has introduced schemes to bring transgender people and eunuchs back into the mainstream."

6-17-09:  BBC News (re Laos): "Laos tackles transgender taboos"

A new drive to contain the spread of HIV/Aids in Laos is forcing officials to recognise a marginalised group - transgender men known as "katheoy".The BBC's Jill McGivering went to meet some of them in the capital, Vientiane"

[What's with the BBC? Why are they referring to transgender women as "transgender men"?  Good grief, how clueless can you get!]

6-17-09:  Hollscoop (re Thailand): "David Carradine's Friend: He Was Killed by Transsexual Prostitutes"

"Shocking new claims in the death of David Carradine. His producer friend David Winters believes Carradine was murdered by transsexual hookers. He tells Globe magazine, "David Carradine was murdered... I strongly believe Lady Boys are responsible. Lady Boys operate in pairs. David would not have stood a chance. They can be very brutal.”"

[Here we go: trans-bashing rumors created to deflect rumors of an autosexual accident]

6-17-09:  Examiner.com: "Tri-Ess: The Society for the Second Self"

"Crossdressers are probably as misunderstood in our society as are transsexuals. But crossdressers are not transsexuals, nor are they drag queens. Instead, they are (usually) heterosexual men who dress in what society considers “female” clothing and take on a female appearance in order to express a feminine side of their personality."

6-17-09:  Southern Voice: "Frank to introduce ENDA next week"

"Diego Sanchez, who is transgender and a senior policy adviser to Frank, said the bill will be inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity." 

6-17-09:  Wall Street Journal (re China): "China Issues Draft Rules on Sex Change" (more)

"According to official news agency Xinhua, there are an estimated 1,000 transsexuals in China. The English-language China Daily, however, cites experts who put the number of sex changes in China nearly 2,000 Chinese to date, with another 100,000 to 400,000 considering the surgery"

6-17-09:  Women Born Transsexual: "Alice Dreger," by Andrea Brown [PDF]

"Alice Dreger is a fan and friend of J. Michael Bailey and has defended him completely, every chance she has got. It is a strange position for someone to take who claims to be an ethicist . . ."

6-16-09:  New York Times: ""Sex Change: Second Chance - Terry Cummings" (see also video story)

"After a heart problem in 2006, Terry Cummings decided to face her lifelong gender dysphoria, a psychological discomfort with her sex, and make the change from male to female." 

6-16-09:  China Daily (China): "Sex change surgery guidelines drafted"

"Candidates for the surgery must be older than 20 and single, the draft guideline said. They are also required to prove a persistent desire for a sex change, to live for at least five consecutive years full-time in the new gender role, and to engage in mental therapy for at least one year."

6-16-09:  TS Roadmap (re China): "Chinese transsexuals now face regressive Toronto-style requirements"

It is now as difficult for transsexual people to get access to health services in communist China as it is via government-funded programmes in Toronto at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). 

6-16-09:   Fox News: "First Photo of Chaz Bono Surfaces Since Sex-Change Process Began" 

6-16-09:  Mom Logic: "The Courage of Chaz Bono"

Dr. Michelle Golland: Chaz Bono's decision to go through the process of becoming a man is one that, as a mental health professional, I know will benefit other people struggling with the same issue: now they have an open and public role model to look toward."

6-16-09:  CNN: "Commentary: Transgender people are everywhere," by Donna Rose

"Transgender people -- that is, people who may not experience or express their gender in ways that are necessarily typical for the physical sex of their body -- have been part of the fabric of cultures for as long as history has been recorded. We're a cross-section of society -- pilots, engineers, doctors, factory workers, artisans and pretty much anything else you can imagine. It was only a matter of time before we came to Hollywood. Make no mistake -- Chaz isn't the first and certainly won't be the last."

6-16-09:  Researchwithpride.org (Toronto, Canada): "Research with Pride: A Community Forum," Thursday June 18, 2009, 6-8pm, 519 Church Street Community Centre (contact e-mail)

"This community sounding will help shape and direct the Research with Pride: A Community Forum that will be hosted in October 2009.  . . We are lesbian/gay/bisexual/trans students and allies at the University of Toronto who are concerned with the health needs of our communities. We come from different disciplines including public health, nursing and health policy and we share the recognition of a gap between LGBTT2IQQ health needs and the health resources our community actually receives . . .We know that certain members of our communities have been exploited, pathologised and made invisible by research that was supposed to be “for our own good.”. . . As more LGBTT2IQQ individuals have entered academia and/or engaged in community-based research, some of us are trying to redefine what research into LGBTT2IQQ health can look like."

6-16-09:  USA Today: "Christian conservatives fight expansion of hate-crimes law" (more)

"Conservative Christian leaders are fighting a bill that would provide federal hate-crimes coverage to gays and lesbians, prompting questions of who, if anyone, should be protected by such laws."
 

6-15-09:  LifeSite News (re UK): "Equality Bill’s Emphasis on Medical Reality “Doesn’t go Far Enough” to Protect “Trans People”: “Trans” Activist to Parliament"

"Stephen Whittle, vice president of the “transgendered” lobby group Press For Change, and a woman who has undergone surgery to look like a man, told the bill committee that the law should be applied to “trans people,” who are only at the “stage of life” where they merely “cross-dress part-time.” “That goes right through to people who have undergone gender reassignment,” she said. . . In an article published this weekend in the Catholic Herald, discrimination law expert Neil Addison wrote that the Equality Bill is a direct attack on religious freedom in Britain.”

[Yet another hateful rant from the 'Christian' right]

6-15-09:  TS Roadmap: "Megan B. McCormick, transsexualism, and J. Michael Bailey," by Andrea James  (more)

"Megan McCormick engaged in fraud in hopes of obtaining a signed photo from me, so she could give it to someone I helped bring up on formal charges. Ms. McCormick’s behavior is analogous to requesting a signed photo from a prominent black activist on behalf of a nonexistent black admirer, then giving it to white nationalist David Duke as a gag gift. That sort of fraud is not exactly the kind of behavior I’d want in my lawyer, so I believe it’s in the public interest to make available the unsolicited materials Megan McCormick sent to me via my website. . .

What kind of person decides on a lark to get involved in a dispute between a controversial academic and the victims of his pseudoscience? What kind of person engages in fraud to obtain a signed gift for J. Michael Bailey from someone who helped file charges against him? Only Megan B. McCormick can explain her troubling behavior, but she’s been too busy trying to erase materials she published on the internet. In the same way that shame-filled crossdressers purge their clothing collection when caught, Megan McCormick has attempted to purge all online evidence she’s published, but it was too late. The internet never forgets." – Andrea James

6-15-09:  Gotham Gazette: "40 Years After Stonewall: New York's Role in the Movement," by Andy Humm

"The Stonewall Rebellion, when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people fought back against police repression at a Greenwich Village bar with a six-day riot in June 1969 is considered the birth of the modern "gay rights" movement."

6-15-09:  Bianet (Turkey): "New Police Chief for Istanbul: Women and Transgender Individuals Pleased at Cerrah's Departure"

"As Istanbul is preparing for a new Chief of Police, many segments of the city are happy that Celalettin Cerrah is going. . . According to transexual Beren, "During the six years that Celalettin Cerrah has been Istanbul Chief of Police, the violence against transvestites and transexuals (TT) has risen very noticably. His time in office has been a turning point for the worse." Compared with the previous Chief of Police, so Beren, Cerrah has made Istanbul a much more difficult city to live in."

6-15-09:  Appleton Post-Crescent (Wisconsin): "Trial set in transgender civil case that alleges discrimination at Park Central in Appleton"

"Broussard said she was twice denied entrance to Park Central, 318 W. College Ave., and said an employee told her if she "used either bathroom it would cause confusion for the other patrons," and that she should go to a club that caters to "her kind.""

6-14-09:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "One sector of Thailand's tourism industry is shrugging off the global economic downturn and thriving"

"Thailand's cosmetic and gender reassignment surgery industry is bucking the global economic downturn, with glamorous international ladyboy shows a walking advertisement for the skills of local surgeons. Preecha Tiewtranon, chairman and CEO of the Preecha Aesthetic Institute, the nation's leading cosmetic and reconstructive surgery provider, said Thailand remained the world's leading destination for such operations."

6-14-09:  Newsday: "Long Island Pride Parade now more 'family oriented'"

"Hundreds of marchers wound down Main Street in Huntington Sunday for the 19th annual Long Island Pride Parade, a celebration that drew more families and faith groups than divas in drag. "We like that it's more family-oriented," said Lauren Malin, 26, of East Islip, who came with her partner, Angela Reteguiz, 26, and Malin's niece Jade, 2, who is their goddaughter. "We can bring our niece and show her tolerance at an early age.""

6-13-09:  Bianet (Turkey):  "Transsexual Celebrity Acquitted Of “Alienating People From Military Service"

"Famous transsexual singer Bülent Ersoy is acquitted of the accusation of “alienating people from military service”, which she faced for her words during a TV show that if she had a son she would not send him to the war with the PKK in the east."

6-13-09:  The Sun Coast News: "Dunedin passes anti-discrimination ordinance

"In this city it is now illegal to discriminate against anyone in a public accomodation based on gender identity, sexual orientation or expression."

6-13-09:  Contact Music: "Cayne Salutes Bono for Going Public with Sex Change Op"

"The actress tells In Touch magazine, "I commend Chaz for his brave journey, for being such a public figure and owning his identity."Cayne underwent her own gender change in her early 20s."

6-12-09:  On Top Magazine: "'I Hurt People' Radio Host Says In Transgender Apology" (more)

“I didn't realize that my words could really affect and hurt as bad and as negatively as they did,” States said. “I hurt people. And that wasn't my goal. I stupidly tried to think that I was entertaining people by the things that I said and I hurt people in the process.” “I think this is the way we make change – and we don't mean as individuals, but as a community,” Sandeen said after the program. “Humanity won the day. I think that's what worked – we all became humans in the same room instead of stereotypes.”

6-12-09:  CNN: "Commentary: Chastity, 'Good luck, brother!'," a Special to CNN by Jamison Green

"Welcome, Chaz! . . .Your visibility can bring new understanding. Where others of us have run from the spotlight, and still others have been denied a voice by a disinterested public, you have the ear of the media, and you will not be ignored. But don't be tempted to expose yourself when you're not ready. Your life must be your own. For me, the goal of transition was not to become "normal" -- whatever that is -- but to become balanced as myself. . . My path worked for me; I hope yours works for you. Good luck, brother!"
 

6-12-09:  CNN:  "Born in male body, Jenny knew early that she was a girl"

"The desire to be female never went away. At age 48, Madden confessed these feelings to a doctor, and started seeing a gender therapist who suggested Madden was transgendered. Through reconstructive surgeries, electrolysis, laser procedures and voice lessons, Henry Joseph became Jennifer Elizabeth, known as Jenny. She is a practicing family physician in Nashua, New Hampshire."

6-12-09:  Mom Logic: "What It's Like To Be Transgendered"

"Yesterday, Chaz Bono announced his plans to have a sex change. Rika, a 17-year-old boy who came out as a girl during her freshman year, sheds a little light on what it means to be transgendered."

6-12-09:  Transgriot: "What If There Was A Trans Trial And Nobody Cared?"

6-12-09:  Feministe: "Trial for the Murder of Lateisha Green Receives Total Media Blackout"

6-11-09:  El Pais (Spain): "Mujeres que han pasado a la historia de la informática" 

6-11-09:  People Magazine: "Chastity Bono Undergoing Sex Change" (more, more, more, more, more, more)

"Political and social activist Chastity Bono – the only child of entertainers Cher and the late Sonny Bono – began undergoing a sex change shortly after her 40th birthday on March 4. "Cher is very supportive and has known about Chastity wanting to do this for a very long time," a source tells PEOPLE. "This will be a long process but it's something Chastity has wanted to do for many years." Bono's spokesman, Howard Bragman, told TMZ, which first reported the story, "Yes, it's true – Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity."

6-11-09:  Gay City News: "Trans Rights Go Global"

“In 2010, the World Health Organization is to conduct a review of its list of mental disorders,” Tin told Gay City News by telephone from Paris. “That’s why this year we changed the name of IDAHO to the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and launched our global online petition campaign for transgender rights.” The new petition, entitled “Reject Transphobia, Respect Gender Identity,” includes a call for the WHO to stop considering trans people as mentally disordered; for the UN’s human rights bodies to examine the human rights abuses they face around the world; and for governments to adopt the Yogyakarta Principles in favor of LGBT rights. The declaration also seeks to insure that transgendered people benefit from health care, including the right to gender reassignment if they wish it, and the right to adapt their civil status to their preferred gender (article contains the complete text of the petition.) . . .To underscore its support for this year’s IDAHO events, on the eve of May 17 the French government officially announced it would no longer classify transgender identity and expression as a mental disorder, becoming the first government to take that action. "

6-11-09: Stabroek News (): "New OAS resolution condemns violence linked to sexual orientation, gender ID"

"The Organisation of American States (OAS) approved its second resolution on “Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” at its 39th General Assembly held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras from June 1–3."
 

6-11-09:  Sacramento Bee: "Radio show back today – with transgender advocates" (more)

"Kim Pearson and Autumn Sandeen, one the mother of a transgender teen and the other a San Diego transgender activist, told The Bee they will try to put a human face on a misunderstood group."

6-11-09:  The Korea Times (South Korea): "'3xFTM' Spotlights Sexual Minorities"

"In the high tide of documentaries here, with the minor genre gaining an unprecedented momentum, "3xFTM'' by Kim Il-rhan stands out as the country's first film about the FTM transgender experience. "
 

6-11-09:  The Telegraph (re Spain): "Pregnant Spanish 'man' suffers miscarriage"

"A Spanish transsexual who was pregnant with twins has suffered a miscarriage, a Spanish newspaper said."

6-10-09:  LynnConway.com: "Formal complaint of academic misconduct filed against Ken Zucker: Letter from Lynn Conway to Catherine Whiteside, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice-Provost, University of Toronto"  [PDF]

"Not only did Dr. Zucker apparently misappropriate University legal funds to press a personal action aimed at intimidating and silencing a transgender critic, thereby defrauding the people of the Province of Ontario, he also abused his position of authority as a senior faculty member to co-opt CAMH into enjoining this unethical action – i.e., joining into a false accusation of libel. Furthermore, he has engaged in a pattern of such activities, i.e., repeatedly co-opting CAMH into launching libel threats against his critics – thus terribly frightening and intimidating others too. The evidence of this is quite clear, for several other transitioned women have recently posted legal threats that they have received from CAMH[15] and these are likely just the tip of the iceberg."

6-10-09:  NGLTF and ICS Press Release: "Stonewall 40: Trans Heroes" (photo-montage and links to each of the 40)

6-10-09:  SX News (Australia): "Place in the world "

"How the story of Lili Elbe, one of history’s most intriguing transgender pioneers, inspired the work of out author David Ebershoff . . . “I was really interested in her undergoing this extraordinary transformation,” he says. “What interested me about Lili was not only that she was the first to undergo gender reassignment, but that she was lost to history. What also intrigued me about her was the courage and vision it took to do that, and her envisioning a future for herself which no one else had envisioned.”"

6-10-09:  Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Transgender person assaulted, teen investigated for hate crime" (more)

"A group of teens beat a transgender person and threatened to kill her Saturday on Rainier Avenue, according to Seattle police."

6-10-09:  Typically Spanish (Spain): "Transsexual transferred to womens unit in prison"

"The woman concerned is serving a sentence for rape and still has male genitalia"

6-10-09:  De Bild (re US): "Thomas Beatie's New Son: World's first 'pregnant man' has a second baby"

6-09-09:  Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism: "Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline", by Wylie C. Hembree, Peggy Cohen-Kettenis, Henriette A. Delemarre-van de
Waal, Louis J. Gooren, Walter J. Meyer III, Norman P. Spack, Vin Tangpricha, and Victor M. Montori

"Sex reassignment is a multidisciplinary treatment in which endocrinologists play an important role. Transsexual persons seeking to develop the physical characteristics of the desired gender require a safe and effective hormone regimen that will 1) suppress endogenous hormone secretion determined by the person's genetic/biologic sex and 2) maintain sex hormone levels within the normal range for the person's gender. . . We recommend treating transsexual adolescents (Tanner stage 2) with suppression of puberty with GnRH analogues until age 16 years, after which cross-sex hormones may be given. We suggest suppression of endogenous sex hormones, maintaining physiologic levels of gender-appropriate sex hormones and surveillance for known risks and complications in adult transsexual persons."

6-09-09:  Just Plain Sense (UK): "Adopting - A Trans Perspective," a podcast by Christine Burns

"In this interview I speak to a trans man who, with his wife, has successfully overcome the obstacles to adopt two young children. He also now advises other trans people on how to navigate the process too, and to deal with the general ignorance of social workers in this context."

6-09-09:  Sacramento Bee: "Radio hosts say they'll discuss 'hateful' transgender remarks on air Thursday" (more)

"The trio known to KRXQ listeners as "Rob, Arnie & Dawn" will not broadcast live again until Thursday, when they will "say what needs to be said" about references they made on air about transgender people."

6-09-09:  The Times of India (India): "Sirsa singing sensation wants to be a boy"

"In what has come as a startling decision by one so young, Diksha Sharma, at 14, and a singing sensation says she wants to change her sex and become a boy at 18. For one who flaunts a crew cut and is always in masculine attire, Diksha has already decided on a name for herself once she undergoes sex-change. "I'll be Daksha Sharma then,'' she told TOI on Monday."

6-09-09:  Examiner.com: "The Gender Identity Center of Colorado — right in your own backyard"

"Most people aren’t even aware that the Denver Metro area has one of the oldest gender centers in the country — the Gender Identity Center of Colorado (GIC), founded in 1978 and incorporated in 1980. In fact, most people don’t even know what a gender center is. So let’s find out …"

6-08-09:  Daily Kos: "Transgender Man's Response to Rob, Arnie & Dawn"

6-08-09:  YouTube: "2009-05 May 28 KRXQ radio show promotes violence vs trans children," by Carol Milazzo, M.D. (Video)

"The KRXQ-FM Rob, Arnie & Dawn morning radio show promoted physical abuse and ridicule against transgender children. After receiving a deluge of protests from the community, the radio show hosts give for an excuse "It was a joke." This news report carries the response from the Sacramento chapter of PFLAG and was broadcast on June 3, 2009 on KCRA-TV in Sacramento, CA."
[An excellent compilation of news videos and commentary by Carol Milazzo, M.D.]

6-08-09:  SPECIAL ALERT: All content on the webpage of the Rob, Arnie and Dawn show at KRQX was replaced by the message at THIS LINK

[Rob and Arnie run for cover. Looks like they're going to try to get the public to "take pity on them". Good luck, eh?]

6-08-09:  Transpolitical.blogspot (posted 6-04): "You Can Marry, But You Can't Work", by Vanessa Edwards Foster

"So now we have yet another state that allows gay and lesbian couples, and even transgenders, to marry on January 1, 2010. You can bet there will be couples lined up taking advantage of the new law on New Years morning! However if you're transgender, you won't be able to work. Like Massachusetts or Connecticut, you can only marry but still be fired for being who you are."

6-08-09:  Examiner.com: "Trans people are the real deal," by Matt Kailey

"Transsexual people are not impersonating anyone. We are not defrauding anyone. We are just being ourselves. . . There are people out there who do impersonate others, or who make up identities or falsehoods in order to deceive people. But they are not transsexuals. Any deception on the part of transsexual people is the years spent deceiving ourselves before finally accepting and embracing our true identity."

6-07-09:  Bilerico Project: "Entercom Communications Corporation: When Big Business Demonizes Innocent Children," by Kelley Winters, Ph.D.

"The community response to Sacramento radio station KRXQ FM, following hateful and threatening remarks toward gender variant children on May 28th, has been overwhelming and gratifying. . . While the bulk of the community response as been directed at the station management and its major advertisers, it is the parent corporation that should ultimately be held accountable. KRXQ FM in Sacramento is owned by Entercom Communications, Corp., based near Philadelphia, PA." (Entercom web site)

6-07-09:  The Age (Australia): "Transsexual takes to the footy field"

"Like many young Victorian males, Will loves his footy. He dreams of joining the thousands of men who lace up their boots every weekend and play in amateur competitions. He's just like them in every way but one — he was born female. When the 25-year-old takes to the field he will become Australia's first female-to-male transsexual to play competitive football in a men's team."

6-07-09:  Reuters (re US; postged 6-05): "Tough times prompt transgender job fair in L.A." (more)

"Sydney Dupree came to Los Angeles because, as a young male-to-female transsexual, she found Memphis hostile. She came to the transgender job fair because jobs are hard for her to find, even in Los Angeles."

6-07-09:  "Ex-fighter pilot listens to feminine voice he'd tried to ignore"

6-06-09:  Huffington Report: "KRXQ Radio Hosts Have History of Obscenity Involving Children: FCC Report", by Michael Rowe

[This is getting creepier and creepier. . . ]

6-06-09:  DNA India (India): "'I changed sex for her, but she dumped me'" (more, more)

"A 34-year-old woman, who underwent a sex change operation to disguise her lesbian relationship, is now struggling to find her lost identity after being deserted by her 39-year-old lover."

6-05-09:  GLAAD Blog: "UPDATE: McDonald’s Is 10th Company to Pull KRXQ Advertising" (more, more)

The entire listing of companies include:

·         Chipotle

·         Snapple

·         Sonic

·         Bank of America

·         Verizon

·         Carl’s Jr (CKE Restaurants)

·         Wells Fargo

·         Nissan North America 

·         AT&T

·         McDonald’s   

6-05-09:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Ads pulled over radio hosts' transgender remarks"

"Bank of America, Verizon, Chipotle and other companies have pulled advertising from a Sacramento radio station after talk show hosts referred to transgender people as "freaks" with mental disorders. . . Transgender advocates and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation have sought an apology from two of the show's three hosts, Arnie States and Rob Williams. The third host, Dawn Rossi, defended transgender people on the show. "Our issue here is that Rob and Arnie advocated violence against children because of who they are and have failed to take responsibility for their dehumanizing and defamatory words," said Rashad Robinson, senior director of programs at GLAAD."
 

6-05-09:  Ham&High (UK): "Caring transsexual in new documentary"

"Nurse Chiqui Diokno, 43, is the front woman of Paper Dolls, an extrovert group of Filipino transsexuals who are the subject of a film that premieres at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn on Monday."

6-04-09: PrideSource: "She ... Amanda Lepore, 'World's Most Famous Transsexual' talks to BTL about upcoming LP, boob jobs, role model status and her famous vajayjay"

"The "My Pussy" singer's been plasticized into something of a caricature - she'd probably be the first to tell you, she modeled herself after Jessica Rabbit - which is one of the reasons the model/actress/nightlife queen's been dubbed "World's Most Famous Transsexual.""

6-04-09:  The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY): Judge allows DeLee murder case to go forward as a hate crime prosecution

"County Judge William Walsh today upheld the constitutionality of the state's hate crime law in the murder prosecution of Dwight DeLee. DeLee is charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in the Nov. 14 shooting death of Moses Cannon. Cannon was described by his family as a transsexual who went by the name Latiesha "Teish" Green. The prosecution contends the victim was targeted because of sexual orientation." 

6-04-09   Boston Globe: "N.H. ties gay-marriage knot " (more, more)

"New Hampshire became the fifth state in New England yesterday and the sixth in the country to allow same-sex marriage, as lawmakers approved and the governor signed revised legislation designed to balance personal and religious freedom."  

6-03-09:  KXLY (Spokane, WA): "Living a lie: Gianni's story" (Link to video interview)

"Giuliani says life as a man has made him feel more comfortable than ever before. Now that the final piece is complete, Giuliani can finally look at himself in the mirror with confidence. "I see myself finally... looking at the person that I feel I'm meant to be," said Giuliani. "It feels good, It feels awesome.""

6-02-09:  GLAAD Call to Action: "TAKE ACTION: Demand that KRXQ Radio Hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States Apologize for Encouraging Violence Against Transgender Children" 

"In a lengthy May 28 tirade on the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning radio show heard in Sacramento, California on KRXQ 98.5 FM and Reno, Nevada on KDOT 104.5 FM, hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States verbally attacked transgender children. While discussing a recent story about a transgender child in Omaha, Nebraska and her parents’ decision to support her transition, the two hosts spent more than 30 minutes explicitly promoting child abuse of and making cruel, dehumanizing and defamatory comments toward transgender children."

6-02-09:   Huffington Post: "KRXQ Sacramento Radio Hosts Encourage Violence Against Transgender Children", by Michael Rowe  

". . . the May 28th segment of KRXQ 98.5 FM Sacramento's Rob, Arnie, & Dawn in the Morning radio talk show makes for a sickening half-hour of ugliness and cruelty. . . Williams and States took turns referring to gender dysphoric children as "idiots" and "freaks," who were just out "for attention" and had "a mental disorder that just needs to somehow be gotten out of them," either by verbal abuse on the part of the parents, or even shock therapy. "Allowing transgenders to exist, pretty soon it becomes normal to fall in love with the animals," they said. For his part, States bragged that if his own son were to ever dare put on a pair of high heels, States would beat his son with one of his own shoes. He urged parents whose own little boys expressed a desire to wear a dress to verbally abuse and degrade them as a viable response. . . "I'm going to go, 'You know what? You're a little idiot! You little dumbass!'" States sneered, adding later, "I look forward to when [the transgender children] go out into society and society beats them down. And they wind up in therapy". . . If the kid ever gets to be eighteen," States snarled, "and says 'I still feel like a woman!' you say, 'Get out! Go be a freak! And understand, SON, that society will never accept you because we still have some moral judgment.""

[This attack on transgender children is a signal of things to come from the transphobic hate-mongers in our society - as more and more parents seek alternatives to Zucker's form of trans-reparative therapy for gender-variant children. Please raise your voice against this hideous form of bigotry, and please support TYFA.]  [Take Action:  GLAAD & KRXQ contact info]

6-02-09:  BBC News (re Venezuela): "Venezuela 'silent' on hate crimes rise" (with video interview)

"In a city where about 40 murders take place every weekend, it may not come as a big surprise that four prostitutes have been killed on the same stretch of road in Caracas in recent months. But when you find out that all four were transsexuals or transgender, it changes the picture . . ."

6-02-09:  Rainbow Health Network (Canada): "Time To Deliver on Trans Human Rights"

Community Forum, Saturday, June 6, 10 am-4 pm, Sherbourne Health Centre, 333 Sherbourne Street, Toronto, Ontario. Trans community members, supporters, and allies discuss political strategies to amend the Ontario Human Rights Code to include "gender identity".

6-02-09:  Ace Show Biz: "'The Hope Diamond of Transsexuals' Back to 'Nip/Tuck'" (more)

"The upcoming season of "Nip/Tuck" will not only boast a guest performance by Gilles Marini but also the return of its obsessed transsexual, Ava Moore."

6-01-09:  World Net Daily: "Southern Baptists say no to 'hate crimes' - Ask GOP Senate Judiciary Committee leader to fight bill"

"The head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has written to Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on him to battle approval of a "hate crimes" bill critics have called "The Pedophile Protection Act." . . .  During arguments in the House while the plan was being adopted, lawmakers pointed out the representatives were voting for protection for "all 547 forms of sexual deviancy or 'paraphilias' listed by the American Psychiatric Association."

[The Christian Right is now exploiting the APA's DSM in their efforts to derail Hate Crimes legislation.]

6-01-09:  Korea Herald (Korea): "Ha Ri-su opens transgender club" (more, more)
"Transgender star Ha Ri-su  (more, more) has opened up a transgender club, "Mix-trans" at Apgujeong-dong in southern Seoul. On May 13, she posted the news on her personal homepage. In her blog, Ha said that she was "trying to make a better place for many people who have hardships like me." As an owner of the club, she advertised "Mix-trans" by posting club pictures on the website."

6-01-09:  National Health Service video (UK): "Transgender: Jay's story"

"Jay describes his transition from female to male and how he feels now"

[Excellent video just posted by the NHS on YouTube.]
 

May 2009

"Blanchard has recently presented some of his suggestions to revise the "Paraphilia" section of the DSM. . . proposing a significant expansion of the DSM's definition of "paraphilia" to include: "any intense and persistent sexual interest other than sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, consenting adult human partners.""

"The first concern here is the term "phenotypically normal" (meaning "normal" with regards to observable anatomical or behavioral traits). Thus, according to this definition, attraction to any person deemed by sex researchers to be "abnormal" or "atypical" could conceivably be diagnosed as paraphilic.  . . .Another frightening aspect of Blanchard's proposal is that any sexual interest other than "genital stimulation or preparatory fondling" is now, by definition, a paraphilia. . . So, do you and your partner occasionally role-play or talk dirty to one another over the phone? Or engage in arousing play that is not intended to necessarily lead to "doing the deed"? Do you masturbate? . . . Well, then congratulations, you can be diagnosed with a paraphilia!" 
 

05-06-09:  University Communications (Univ. of Vermont): "Fierce and Fabulous"

"I know that queer people, transgender people are coming to the university because it's a safe place for them," Daniel-McCarter says. "People are coming because we have this progressive gender studies program now — it's really changed the climate."

05-06-09:  News-Medical.net (re Australia): "Teenage girl who wants to be a boy wins right to have breasts removed"

 "Reports than a teenage Australian girl has won the right in court to have both breasts surgically removed, have made the headlines around the world and evoked some very strong criticism."

05-05-09:  Pams HouseBlend: "Virginia Prince: 1912-2009", by Autumn Sandeen

" . . . Virginia Prince was both loved and hated. Many will miss Virginia, and many will not."
 

05-05-09:  SF Weekly: "Unemployed straight guys attend transgender job fair"

"That guy was one of about a dozen attendees Connelly noticed throughout the day who looked suspiciously like the gender they were born with. It was possible, she says, that some were planning to transition and didn't want to wind up in a closed-minded employment situation. But it seemed likely that at least a few were not transgender, and were merely hoping to cherry-pick job opportunities. "It's a sign of the times," Connelly says, adding that it didn't bother her."

05-05-09:  Times-News (Idaho): "Why we call a male transsexual 'he'"

"The Associated Press Stylebook advises that when writing about the transgendered, "Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly." We tend to follow AP style, but we're not bound by it."

05-02-09:  Chicago Tribune: "Transgender individual from Mich. recounts story"

05-02-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "Sex change Army hero Jan to become Scotland's first 'transgender' police officer" (more, more, more)

"Now living in Glasgow, she has been accepted by Strathclyde Police to begin two years’ probationary training, making her Scotland’s first transgender police officer."

05-01-09:  Washington Blade: "Procter & Gamble bars trans discrimination"

"Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer products maker, has amended its anti-discrimination policy to include gender identity and expression." 

April 2009

04-30-09:  LynnConway.com: "The War Within: CAMH battles notorious reputation of Zucker’s and Blanchard’s gender clinics with scathing report"

"Abstract: By 2007, CAMH’s Ken Zucker had been widely exposed as a trans-reparatist who claimed to be able to cure gender variant children, while CAMH’s Ray Blanchard openly ridiculed transsexual women as being men without penises. The resulting outrage all across the transgender community became so intense that CAMH launched a study to consider the complaints. The study led to stinging indictments of CAMH’s gender clinics and made well-reasoned recommendations on how to alleviate the problems. In response, Zucker and Blanchard have if anything intensified their ongoing ‘war on transgenders’, and are now apparently engaging in a war within CAMH to sidestep the recommendations of the study."

04-30-09:  iomoday.com (Isle of Man): "Transsexuals to enjoy equal rights after Bill is passed"

"Transsexuals look set to enjoy equal rights in the Isle of Man after a Gender Recognition Bill survived political scrutiny.
The bill, which has already made it through three readings in the House of Keys, received unanimous backing on its third and final reading before the Legislative Council on Tuesday."

04-30-09:  AllAfrica.com: (re Kenya): "Kenya: Anti-Transsexual Discrimination in Medical Services"

"Following the director of Kenya's largest referral hospital's blocking of an operation for a transsexual person, Audrey Mbugua argues that the director's actions constitute a basic infringement of a person's human rights. Denouncing the insistence on a 'no objection letter' from the 25-year-old individual's parents as 'insane and barbaric', Mgubua underlines that one does not have to be transsexual to understand the injustices transsexuals face."

04-30-09:  New York Times: "Hate Crimes Bill Is Approved"

"Victims of violence who are gay would have new federal protections under a hate-crimes bill approved by the House. The vote was 249 to 175, with most Democrats voting in favor and most Republicans against. The bill defines hate crimes as those motivated by prejudice and based on a victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. . . The Senate has not yet scheduled a vote on the bill, which President Obama supports."

04-30-09:  MVC Press Release of 4-27-09 (NJ): "MVC Updates Gender Declaration Policy"

"New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) Chief Administrator Sharon A. Harrington today announced that customers who are preparing to undergo sexual reassignment will be permitted to change the gender status of their New Jersey Driver License to reflect the new gender that they have begun to identify with prior to surgery. The policy update reflects the understanding that sexual reassignment is an extended process for the transgender community."

04-29-09:  Los Angeles Times: "Former Army Special Forces commander wins nearly $500,000 in transgender discrimination suit" (more, more, more, more)

"A federal judge has awarded a former Army Special Forces commander nearly $500,000 because she was rejected from a job at the Library of Congress while undergoing a gender change from man to woman. Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., applied for the terrorism analyst job while still a man named David Schroer. He was offered the job, but the offer was pulled after he told a library official that he was having surgery to change his gender. U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled Tuesday that Schroer was entitled to $491,190 in back pay and damages because of sex discrimination."
 

04-29-09:  BBC News (re Thailand): "Thai school offers transsexual toilet " (more)

"The headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that in any year between 10% and 20% of his boys consider themselves to be transgender - boys who would rather be girls. "They used to be teased every time they used the boys' toilets," he said, "so they started using the girls' toilets instead. But that made the girls feel uncomfortable. It made these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work." So the school offered to build the transgender boys their own facility, and they welcomed it."

04-29-90:  IN THE LIFE: "Revising Gender" (documentary video)

"The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) - the "bible" of mental illness - is currently being reviewed in preparation for its fifth release. Among its nearly 300 entries is Gender Identity Disorder (GID), a diagnosis applied to every transgender person who enters the healthcare system. IN THE LIFE looks at the battles being waged within the psychiatric and transgender communities over whether to reform or eliminate GID as a diagnosis, and the implications for transgender healthcare"

[Must see video regarding the DSM controversy and the selection of Ken Zucker to lead the GID revisions]

04-28-09:  Philadelphia Weekly: "Keys of LifeA local trans musician went through hell to get here."  NEW

"Vivacious 29-year-old Desiree Hines has a laugh that fills the First Unitarian Church just as grandly as the pipe organ she plays there. As part-time music associate, her hands move across three tiers of keyboards, her feet work pedals and when she pulls out the stoppers, the great hall explodes with sound. As a transsexual African-American female organist, Hines has encountered her fair share of discrimination in a field dominated by white men. But along her rough road she’s developed a commitment to visibility. The director of the Traverse Arts Project (TAP)’s upcoming LGBT festival, Hines sat down to talk with PW about her long journey."
 

04-28-09:  American Psychiatric Association (Press Release of 4-23): "LGBT Issues Discussion Slated for APA Annual Meeting"

04-28-09:  American Psychiatric Association: "APA Task Force Reviews Possible Gender Identity Disorder Treatment Guidelines" (more)

"The American Psychiatric Association (APA) Board of Trustees has established a task force on the treatment of Gender Identity Disorders (GID) to address concerns about the relative lack of evidence-based treatment guidelines and to determine if guidelines should be developed. The task force was created on a recommendation by the APA Committee on Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues. . . Gender Identity Disorders Task Force on Treatment members have been identified and appointed by APA President Nada L. Stotland, M.D., M.P.H. They include APA members William M. Byne, M.D., Ph.D.; A. Evan Eyler, M.D., M.P.H.; Edgardo Jorge Menvielle, M.D., M.S.H.S.; Richard Randall Pleak, M.D.; and David A. Tompkins, M.D. Advisors include Susan Bradley, M.D.; Eli Coleman, Ph.D.; Richard Green, M.D., J.D., and Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg, Dr., rer.nat."

[An important new development in internal APA politics. Not clear yet what it means. More to follow.]

04-28-09:  The Advocate: "Trans Chilean Tennis Player Goes Pro"

"A Chilean transgender woman who once wished to play professional tennis is living out her dreams after the International Tennis Federation cleared her to play."

04-28-09:  Denver Post: "Transgender world sees hope - I think we're making significant progress regarding basic understanding."

"There's a change going on in the transgender world — and not just the obvious one. Encouraged in part by chinks in the armor of intolerance that their older peers faced, and in part by the kindred spirits they find online, more transgender people are beginning decades earlier to live as they believe they were meant to. For them, especially those going from male to female, stepping so young into high heels is no less risky than it was for the previous, hesitant generation. But the risks are different. Their older peers risked friends, families, careers. This generation risks beatings in high school and on dates. It risks being killed by the Allen Andrades of a world that is still squeamish, disapproving or downright hostile.. . . Despite fear, many young people are forging ahead with changes they say will make inside and outside match. "The average age of a person I see has dropped by 20 years," said Karen Scarpella, a clinical social worker who treats those in transition." [a thoughtful reflection on the trends towards earlier transitions ]

04-28-09:  On Top Magazine (re Dominican Republic): "Dominican Police Investigate Two Transgender Murders "

"Police in the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic are investigating the brutal double homicide of two transgender women . . . brutally tortured before being killed in the northern city of Santiago . . one of the victims was stabbed 40 times, severely beaten in the genitals, arms and face and her eyes were torn out. The second victim was found bound, stuffed in a bag with her legs broken. She also was stabbed and burned . . . "

04-27-09:  Associated Content: "Is Larry Wachowski Now Lana Wachowski?" 

"Perez Hilton Posts Pictures that Allegedly Show Larry Wachowski Looking like a Post-Operative Transexual. Rumors have been circulating for years that "Matrix" co-director and producer Larry Wachowski is in the process of transitioning from a man to a woman." [link to photos, more, more]

04-27-09:  CNN Money: "When a staffer switches genders"

"Coping with major changes can flummox a workplace, but you can protect your bottom line and your employees by promoting tolerance and respect. . . . Back in Connecticut, Tony Ferraiolo's driver's license still bears an F for female, even though he sports a goatee in the photograph. To legally change his gender in Connecticut, he would need to submit a medical diagnosis of gender-identity dysphoria. Ferraiolo won't do that. "Some say dysphoria, some say disorder," he argues. "I say, nah, I was just born into the wrong body.""

04-27-09:  BBC News (UK re Thailand): "'Etiquette guide' for Thai monks"

"A Buddhist preacher in Thailand has announced plans for new guidelines aimed at curbing the flamboyant behaviour of gay and transgender monks."

04-27-09:  Facebook.com: "Close the CAMH Gender Identity Clinic"

"Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) harbors the most notorious facility in the world for their reparative therapy of gender-variant children and regressive policies and theories about transgender adults. The Gender Identity Clinic and Gender Identity Disorder Service need to be closed once and for all. Even their internal memos note the "dismissive, condescending and authoritarian attitudes of staff." This page exposes the harmful practices at CAMH and offers alternatives to their archaic policies and theories. The time has come to close this organization down!"

04-27-09:  Canoe.ca (Canada re Idaho): "A woman's quest to erase a past that won't die"

"Catherine, 52, leaves the cocoon of her trailer about once every 10 days. Payette, a tiny community of farmers and ranchers in southwestern Idaho, did not know she existed until a year ago when she decided she could no longer hide." [feature article about Catherine Carlson]

04-27-09:  Thenutgraph.com (Malaysia; posted 4-23): “Kalau you separuh babi pun I terima”

04-27-09:  London Student (UK): "A voice of our own"

"I’d like to think you couldn’t tell from looking at me, but I am transsexual. I don’t fully agree with the term, since I don’t feel “trans” anything: the idea that I “wanted to be a girl” is nonsense. Who would want the myriad issues that blight the lives of people like me, the challenges and the many hurdles? I didn’t want to be a girl: I simply always was a girl. Am a girl. There’s no question about it: I just know."

04-26-09:  Telegraph.uk (UK): "Transsexual Andrea Paredes beats Chilean discrimination to play tennis on women's tour"

"A 37-year-old financial consultant from Chile who this week became the first transsexual to compete in professional women's tennis since Renee Richards in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and who lost heavily to a British opponent, has told Telegraph Sport how she was encouraged to play by the American's story. "

04-26-09:  Denver Post: "Guest commentary: Hate-crime verdict sends message", by Kenneth Buck"

04-26-09:  Medill Reports (posted 4-23): "Health center offers transgender gynecology exams
"A new, free gynecology program could provide more sensitive medical care for the transgender community in Chicago. Trans Gynecology Access Program co-founders and health educators Jess Kane, Riley Johnson and Terri Kapsalis started the program to provide trans-friendly gynecological care at the Chicago Women’s Health Center in Lakeview."

04-25-09:  GMA News.TV (Philippines): "BB Gandanghari denied entry in bar for cross dressing"

"I have felt perhaps the same feeling Rosa Parks felt when she was asked to give up her seat so a white passenger could sit. We, and countless human beings like me, suffered and continue suffering the same indignity of discrimination . . . "I wasn't demanding any special treatment from them. I was just there looking forward to enjoy the music and performance of Rannie, just like any other human being inside their bar."

04-25-09:  Japan Times (Japan): "Geisha 'trans'-formation more than meets the eye"

"Every day female tourists flock to the ancient city of Kyoto to dress up as geisha and fulfill a lifelong fantasy. But one studio was a little surprised to find that one of its customers was British transsexual Mary Murdock, who wanted to have her photos taken in the elaborate costumes."

04-24-09:  Emporia Gazette (Lyon County, CA): "Who She Was"

"A message of acceptance, tolerance and love came through Thursday night, as the mother of a murdered transgendered teenager talked to a crowd in Heath Recital Hall in Beach Music Hall at Emporia State University. . . . Guerrero’s 17-year-old child, Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, was beaten to death at a party on Oct. 3, 2003, after it was discovered that Gwen was physically a man. . . . “At my daughter’s funeral, I promised her I would be her voice, until people stop dying for who they are,” Guerrero said during an interview before her presentation."

04-25-09:  New York Times: "‘Maddy’ Just Might Work After All", by Jennifer Finney Boylan

"“We can’t keep calling you ‘Daddy,’ ” he said. “If you’re going to be a girl. It’s too weird.” . . . “I know,” he said. “Let’s call you Maddy. That’s like, half Mommy, and half Daddy. And anyhow, I know a girl at school named Maddy. She’s pretty nice.”"

04-24-09:  HipHopRX: "Rapper Chingy Denies Having Sexual Relations With Transsexual"

"“I don’t have a secret lifestyle my n-gga, like what is you talking about. I didn’t know somebody could hate a n-gga that much to where they would actually go and make this sh-t up…,” stated Chingy in the video regarding the rumors."

04-24-09:  Wales Online (Wales, UK): "Funding sex change therapy in Wales is a life-saver, says transgender journalist" (more, more, more)

"New funding for sex change therapy in Wales will save lives, it was claimed yesterday. Men and women who feel trapped in a body of the wrong gender now stand a better chance of getting gender reassignment therapy, following a change in Health Commission Wales policy."

04-24-09:  The Christian Institute (UK): "Welsh NHS to fund more sex-swap ops"

"But critics of sex change operations say that gender dysphoria is a psychiatric condition which should be dealt with psychiatric treatments, not radical physical surgery. . . Many transsexuals regret their decision to live in the opposite sex. A Home Office report on transsexualism said: “Many people revert to their biological sex after living for some time in the opposite sex…” Doctors from the NHS Portman Clinic – an internationally acclaimed centre – have stated: “…what many patients find is that they are left with a mutilated body, but the internal conflicts remain.”"

[Doctors (unnamed) from the infamous Portman Clinic cited in efforts to forestall health services to trans people in Wales]

04-24-09:  Concord Monitor (New Hampshire): "Committee votes 5-0 against rights for transsexuals"

"Backers of legal protections for transgender people mounted an all-out campaign for widening New Hampshire's anti-discrimination laws yesterday . . . But their late push appeared to fall short: The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously, 5-0, to recommend killing the bill, which would forbid landlords, employers and others from discriminating against transgender individuals. The whole Senate will vote on the bill as early as Wednesday."

04-24-09:  Edmunton Journal (Canada): "Transgender policy makes difficult life more difficult"

"Young man describes how changing from female to male has freed him and added to his burdens"  

04-23-09:  Greeley Tribune: "Andrade guilty, sentenced to life in murder of Zapata"

"Maria Zapata, in tears, beamed as a jury announced Wednesday it had found Allen Andrade guilty on all counts in the death of Angie Zapata. Tears of grief fell as she addressed Weld District Court Judge Marcelo Kopcow before he delivered a sentence of life in prison for the man who killed her youngest child. “I’m my baby’s mom,” she told Kopcow as Andrade looked on in orange jail clothes, his hands cuffed to his belt. Just an hour earlier, a Weld District Court jury of eight men and four women convicted Andrade of first-degree murder . . ."

04-23-09:  Greeley Tribune: "Zapata family speaks" 

"With his sister Ashley, left, and mother Maria, right, at his side, Gonzalo Zapata reads a family statement after the trial and conviction of Allen Andrade on Wednesday in Greeley. . . “Through the last week, we’ve watched as our sister Angie was lied about in court, angrily as the defense presented an image of my sister that wasn’t true. Their strategy of tearing down my sister to make a monster look better will not work. “It is clear: Angie was our sister, an aunt and a daughter. Life was sometimes difficult for her, and we learned along with her to understand she was born a girl with a body that was wrong for her. “Above all else, she was honest. It took such courage to be who she was. She was strong, there was no reason to believe my sister was anything but strong and honest with everyone."

04-22-09:  ABC7 News (Denver): "Man Found Guilty Of Murder, Hate Crime In Transgender Killing" (LA Times, NY Times, Denver Post, CNN, Washington Post)

"A man who beat a transgender teen with a fire extinguisher has been found guilty of first-degree murder and hate crime, in what has become a landmark court case in the state and the country. Allen Andrade, 32, is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison, which is the mandatory sentence. . .  The jury deliberated for less than two hours before reaching the landmark verdict Wednesday afternoon. This was the first case in the country where a hate-crime statute has been used in the death of a transgender person. Colorado is one of the few states with a hate-crime law that covers transgender people. Zapata's death has sparked calls for a national hate-crimes law." - ABC7 News

“Only a monster can look at a beautiful 18-year-old and beat her to death,” said Ms. Zapata’s brother, Gonzalo. “The message was sent loud and clear that crimes targeting L.G.B.T. people will not be tolerated in Colorado.” - NY Times

An eight-man, four-woman jury took barely two hours to convict Andrade of first- degree murder. Jurors also convicted him of a hate crime, the first time someone has been sent to prison for killing a transgender person under a hate-crime law in the country, advocates say. . . The speed of the conviction stunned many, especially given the conservative makeup of Greeley and the victim's transgender-oriented life. . . Weld District Attorney Ken Buck said he was not that surprised at the speed of the decision. The case, he said, was laid out clearly and concisely and Andrade deserved a harsh judgment. "We care deeply about human life in this community," Buck said. "If someone goes after someone here because of their sexual status, we will come after you with everything we have." - Denver Post
 

04-22-09:  Autumn Sandeen on Twitter: "We have JUSTICE FOR ANGIE" 

The jury has found Andrade GUILTY on ALL counts.

04-22-09:  Autumn Sandeen on Twitter: "justiceforangie" (RSS Feed)

Autumn is attending the Andrade trial and is disseminating real-time commentary from the courtroom via Twitter. She will resume her tweets today, at 10am MDT.

04-22-09:  North by Northwestern (Northwestern Univ.): "Wallace: NU’s housing policy pushes transgender students off-campus"

"Policies such as Northwestern’s that refuse to accommodate gender-variant students are absolutely discriminatory and ultimately have the effect of pushing transgender students out of higher education. This is real life stuff, Northwestern; we are real people. I hope the administration decides to get some common sense and abide by its own non-discrimination policy."

04-22-09:  GidReform.org: "Transvestic Disorder and Policy Dysfunction in the DSM-V", by Kelley Winters, Ph.D.

"At the Annual Meeting of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research this month, a “Provisional Report by the DSM-V Workgroup on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders,” was presented by Chairman Kenneth Zucker and a panel of workgroup members. Ray Blanchard, who chairs the Paraphilias Subcommittee, summarized proposals for “Pedohebehpilic Disorder” and “Transvestic Disorder” in the DSM-V. While Charles Moser, Ph.D., M.D., and others have long raised concern about all paraphilia diagnoses in the DSM, the current diagnostic category of Transvestic Fetishism is particularly stigmatizing and defamatory for male-to-female (MTF) cross-dressers as well as many transsexual women. Unfortunately, Dr. Blanchard’s proposal of Transve6stic Disorder offers little to allay these concerns."

Important note: Kelley invites members, allies and affirming care providers of the transcommunity to voice their concerns by publishing comments to her essay at gidreform.wordpress.com.  She will forward these postings to the APA and DSM-V Task Force at the APA Annual Meeting in May.

04-22-09:  Express Buzz (India): "‘We are always pushed to the margin’"

"There is a lot of fear about transgender women among the public. While it is a struggle for transgender women for basic needs, it is also a struggle to gain the general community's acceptance."  

04-22-09:  Gay NZ (New Zealand): "Auckland transgender sex workers at risk"

"Video footage showing transgender sex workers being verbally abused and threatened by a vigilante group aiming to "clean up" South Auckland is just one example of altercations happening on the streets every night, says the NZ Prostitutes Collective." 

04-22-09:  Evening Standard (UK): "Sport: Nicola Slater makes light work of transsexual"

"The 24-year-old from Ayr beat Andrea Paredes von Roth, who made her debut in Buenos Aires in a Futures tournament at the age of 37. The Chilean, born as Ernesto Paredes, underwent a sex-change in 2000 but was only cleared to play by the International Tennis Federation after undergoing tests last November."

04-21-09:  ABC 7 News (Denver): "Reporter Blog From Transgender Murder Trial Of Allen Andrade"

"Suspect Accused In Slaying Of Angie Zapata" 

04-21-09:  Reality Wanted: Casting Call Information; City: Los Angeles, State: CA
"WE tv casting new show! Looking for Male to Female TRANSGENDER! For a chance to win up to $10,000. Seven women will go head-to-head to win over the studio audience with their PERSONALITY, LIFE STORY, LIKABILITY, and HONESTY!" Posted On: 04/21/2009; Closing On: 04/24/2009
 

04-21-09:  Troy Media Corporation (Canada): "Do you think they cut off their genitals for fun?" By Janet Keeping
"The government of Alberta recently announced that public funding for sex reassignment surgery (SRS) will be eliminated to save about $ 700,000 of a roughly $ 13 billion annual health-care budget."

[Ye gads! Why was this purportedly trans-supportive article given such an incredibly hideous title? That title that perpetuates the very worst misconceptions about vaginoplasty (SRS) as "mutilation" rather than what it is: genital reconstruction.  Janet Keeping owes the trans community an explanation and an APOLOGY for doing this to us!]

04-21-09:  National Post (Canada; posted 04-17): "Colby Cosh: Mutilating the body to correct a delusion"

"There is a strong bioethical case against the very existence of surgical gender reassignment . . . It boils down to this: Gender reassignment constitutes the irreversible surgical mutilation of a healthy body — and thus violates the traditional prime directive of medicine — in the effort to correct a delusion, one which may be reversible."

[Of course it's no surprise that right-winger Cosh would misrepresent vaginoplasty (SRS) in this way]

04-21-09:  Bianet (Turkey): "Transsexual Melek’s Killer Arrested"

"A 26-year-old has been arrested for the murder of Melek, a member of the Pink Life LGBTT Association. This is only the latest in a spate of murders affecting the LGBTT community."

04-20-09:  TS Roadmap (posted 04-19): "CAMH internal report: “Dismissive, condescending and authoritarian attitudes” at gender clinic" 

"The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is the most notoriously regressive clinic in the world for trans people. They force gender-variant children into reparative therapy and have in the past rejected over 90% of people seeking health services. An internal report has outlined some key issues." [ Link to the full report (74 pages) ;  Link to the executive summary ]

[This report by CAMH's Diversity Programs Office confronts the stain that Zucker and Blanchard have brought down on the institution, and recommends remedies for correcting the situation. Meantime, Zucker and Blanchard have paid no attention whatsoever to this report , and are attacking transpeople more widely than ever!]

04-20-09:  Baller Status: "Chingy Denies Transsexual Creeping Rumors"

"A transgender rapper -- who goes by the name of Foxxjazell -- recently called into Street Disciplez Radio, alleging that St. Louis rapper Chingy was keeping his alternative sexual lifestyle on the down low, and she's outing him."

04-20-09:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Only in San Francisco, literally"

"San Francisco school officials have created a new Web site with resources to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. It's apparently the only site of its kind in the country."

04-19-09:  On Top Magazine: "Jury Sees Gruesome Pictures Of Transgender Murder "

"The first-degree murder trial of the man accused of killing a transgender woman last July opened Thursday with the jury being shown gruesome photos of the victim's beaten body laying in her apartment next to a bare twin mattress"

04-19-09:  Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines): "‘Queen Raquela’ reaps int'l acclaim"

"When Cebuano transsexual Raquela Rios first met Icelandic filmmaker Olaf de Fleur Johannesson online, she thought he was looking for romance, like she was. He gave her a movie role instead."

04-19-09:  Vancouver Free Press (Canada): "Vancouver transgender community to celebrate living at Gender Euphoria"

"Jessica Cooper says transgender people constantly face negative stereotypes, the risk of violence, and the threat of losing their jobs, homes, and families. So, the 46-year-old transsexual woman and transgender-rights activist is helping organize an event to celebrate the positive aspects of the lives of local trans, gender-variant, and genderqueer people."

04-19-09:  USA Today: "Young adults 'don't want to be defined by gender, orientation'"

04-18-09:  Think Spain (re the EU): "Common-law unions to carry more clout "

"Europe's Council of Ministers has approved new laws protecting common-law couples and people who have undergone sex changes. It was announced yesterday in Parliament in Madrid that all couples in any member state, irrespective of gender, have the right to register their relationship formally. . . These unions will be recognised in all EU countries in a similar way to a marriage."

04-18-09:  Irish Times (Ireland): "Transgender people earn less - survey"

"Transgender people, ie those whose gender identity differs from their birth gender, have high suicide rates, poor experience of healthcare systems and professionals, and disproportionately low earnings, a new European survey has found. . . According to Prof Whittle, “trans”, or transgender, people “avoided accessing routine healthcare because they anticipated prejudicial treatment from healthcare professionals. “The most consistent theme was that of improper or abusive treatment by healthcare professionals,” he said. Transgender people were required to undergo years of psychiatric treatment before surgery and the condition was classed as a mental disorder, yet a psychiatrist must ensure the person is not mentally ill before sanctioning surgery. “Linking ‘trans’ and mental illness is a strong factor in the mistreatment of trans people,” Prof Whittle said.

04-18-09:  Independent.ie (Ireland): "Transgenders seek justice"

"Ireland's record on legal rights for transgender people was criticised yesterday at a two-day conference which opened in Dublin."

04-17-09:  Greeley Tribune (Colorado): "Full coverage: Transgender murder trial" (more, more, more)

Allen Andrade's murder trial is being discussed across the nation. He is accused of beating his girlfriend to death after finding out she was transgender. It is the first test of a hate-crime law being used in a case of violence against a transgender person. Colorado is one of only a few states in the country that has gender identity protection in its hate-crime law. The Tribune's continuing coverage, including stories and daily Twitter updates from the courtroom, are compiled here. Check back for updates throughout the six-day trial by using our quick link to this page at www.greeleytribune.com/andradetrial.
 

04-17-09:  Justout.com: "Details On Stu"

"When Stu’s story first erupted onto the local, then national scene last November the reaction from nearly everyone, trans community included, was positive and affirming. Last week, prior to word of the Details article, this email arrived, questioning the validity of the attention given Stu Rasmussen."

04-17-09:  Charles Moser, Ph.D., M.D., "Autogynephilia in Women", Journal of Homosexuality (in press)

04-16-09:  UN Dispatch (re India): "Transsexual Activist Makes Bid in Indian Elections"  (more)

"Kinnar is a popular figure in Ghaziabad and will stand for election as an independent candidate. “I don’t mind taking on all the political heavyweights. I was born in Ghaziabad and people know me. I don’t have children. I will work only for people. I am going to give a tough fight to Rajnath Singh, who is an outsider. The sitting MP did nothing for the constituency,” Kinnar said."

04-16-09:  NBC (Washington, DC): "GW Argues Over Transgender Rights"

"In 2006, “gender expression and identity” became a protected group under the District of Columbia’s Human Rights Act, but the university’s policy has since failed to follow suit."

04-16-09:  New York Times: "A Cheap, Fast and Possibly Deadly Route to Beauty"

"Young transgender women often seek out silicone injections because they are a quick way of making bodies more feminine, unlike hormone treatments, which may take years to work, said Dr. Nick Gorton, an emergency room doctor who treats transgender patients at the Lyon-Martin Health Services clinic in San Francisco. . . Although side effects are fairly rare, silicone can migrate through the bloodstream, creating potentially fatal clots in the lungs, as it did in Ms. Pichardo’s case".

04-16-09:  Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada): "Tories exploit pain of transgendered" (more)

"A week ago Tuesday, the province announced it would no longer pay for gender reassignment surgery. . . It was a mean-spirited, gratuitous cut, which saved a province which just eliminated its $1-billion health- care premium program a mere pittance. But beating up on transsexuals was easy. It helped the Tories pander to the constituency of socially conservative voters who find sex-change surgery icky, if not downright blasphemous . . . And most strategically, it allowed the government to open a whole new round of the delisting debate. In other words, the transgendered, the most marginalized minority, were the perfect scapegoats."

04-16-09:  Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan): "Journey to womanhood: Transgender individual tells her story"

"Amy Hunter, shown here at her home in Alamo Township, had gender-reassignment surgery in 2008 to become a woman. She describes living as a woman in a man's body as "spiritual dyslexia." "It's not just unhappiness," she says. "Your sensibilities don't match with how you're being socialized. I felt very disconnected at a very early age.""

04-16-09:  Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan): "Blue Cross won't cover gender reassignment for some new customers"

"Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan's recent decision to eliminate reimbursements for gender-reassignment surgeries for new single-payer customers has raised concerns among gender-equality advocates."

04-16-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Transgenders do 12-hour shift for DMDK in Salem"

"The DMDK seems to have grabbed the opportunity to harness the keen interest of transgenders in politics. . . Sporting the party’s uniform saree, the transgenders have started with the most basic field work— distributing handbills to households and to passers by during the field campaign of the candidate. They travel along with the candidate, braving the scorching heat, and talk to the people as they give away the handbills."

04-16-09:  List.co.uk (UK): "Vanessa: Look Mummy I’m Dancing"

"The profile and representation of transsexuals may have received a boost in recent years from such acclaimed films as Boys Don’t Cry and Transamerica, but there are still few opportunities for transsexual actors in the mainstream theatre and cinema. Belgian performer Vanessa Van Durme, who was born a boy in 1948 and underwent gender reassignment when the process was still in its infancy, has sought to redress this balance and tackle public prejudice head-on by bringing her highly personal monologue Look Mummy I’m Dancing to audiences around the world. . . .

04-16-09:  List.co.uk (UK): "Look Mummy I’m Dancing"

"A transsexual woman slowly but resolutely peels off her sixty-year-old skin until the audience find themselves face to face with the reverse side of a soul. Virtuoso performance from Vanessa Van Durme (more), who was one of the first male-to-female transsexuals to undergo the operation." [Vanessa had SRS with Dr. Burou in Casablance in 1975]

04-15-09:  The Shanghaiist (China): "In Changsha: Demonstration for the right to be a woman"

"Yesterday morning, two young male to female transsexuals took to the streets of Changsha City, Hunan Province. They carried banners saying: "I want to have a sex change and live my life as a woman" and "Even if I die from it, I want a sex change, one day as a woman would be worth it"."

04-15-09:  Little Red Book (China): "Chinese netizens respond to ladyboys publicly crying for help in southern China."

"This article was posted on rednet.cn; following the news article, I also selected some comment to this news from BBS on Sina.com and 163.com. This is a pretty “wild” scene in China, let’s see how Chinese respond to it. . . Around 1pm on April.13th, two strange guys held “I want to change sex” signs appeared on Huangxing Road, Changsha city. This unusual scene caused the entire street blocked by people who are watching. One guy’s name is Shen Qingqing, who seems to be the candidate of a coming sex change surgery; and the other one calls himself Mei Daizi." [Be sure to read the wide range of interesting comments]

04-14-09:  Calgary Herald (Alberta, Canada): "Tory MLA questions delisting of sex changes"

"Members of Alberta's transgendered community who gather in the legislature gallery today to protest funding cuts may receive some encouragement from an unexpected source -- a Tory backbencher. St. Albert MLA Ken Allred said he plans to introduce a transgendered constituent in the house today and has his own questions about why his government has cut funding for gender reassignment surgery."

04-14-09:  Legislator Laurie Blakeman (Alberta, Canada): "Laurie Blakeman in Question Period: Gender Reassignment Surgery" (more)

[Video of Laurie Blakeman challenging the Alberta Minister of Health about the delisting of GRS.]

04-14-09:  Sahodari Foundation (Tamil Nadu state, India):  "Towards Knowledge, Rights and Dignity For Indian Transgendered People"

"The aim of the foundation is the social and economical empowerment of the transgenders and other gender non-confirming people of Tamilnadu. The Foundation is working towards providing a dignified life for Transgenders with programs which would initiate high self esteem, self acceptance and social acceptance among Transgenders. The Foundation is also involved in creating awareness to the public, especially the youth, in accepting and living with gender variant people. For this purpose we are in the process of publishing a magazine for Transgenders in Tamil called 'Sahodari' (Sister). Kindly support us in this wonderful effort."" [under the guidance of its founder Kalki Subramaniam, Sahodari is making amazing strides in advancing trans rights in Tamil Nadu.]

04-14-09:  Edmunton Sun (Canada): "Transsexuals to battle over operation delisting"

"Alberta transsexuals are stepping up their fight for government-paid sex-change operations. Members of the community will be at the Alberta legislature today for question period. Tomorrow, they'll march to Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission offices in Edmonton and Calgary to file numerous complaints because the government is delisting sex-change operations, also known as gender reassignment surgery."

04-14-09:  Ace Showbiz: "'Gossip Girl' Siren Blake Lively Often Feels Like Tranny"

"Feeling insecure with her own body, Blake Lively has admitted that her large figure often makes her feel like a transsexual. Asked on what makes her think so, the screen beauty states, "I don't know, I'm ... large? . . . I just feel really big a lot of the time, and I'm surrounded by a lot of tiny people." At the end she concludes, "I feel like a man sometimes."" [Although her use of 'tranny' is a bit gauche, Blake's comments are interesting ones.]

04-13-09:  Outsports.com: "Intersex player rising up WTA rankings" (more)

"She’s an intersex (the I in LGBTQQI) player who has been cleared to play on the WTA Tour. The case is a first of its kind in women’s tennis, as far as we know."

04-12-09:  Radio Netherlands (Netherlands): "Transsexual woman pestered into moving"

"A transsexual woman from the Utrecht district of Zuilen has moved house as a result of bullying by a group of about 30 young Moroccans."

04-12-09:  Denver Post: "Zapata: Gender issues to define trial" (more, more)

"Defense lawyers this week are likely to argue that Angie Zapata was killed because she finally unveiled her true self to the man she was dating."

04-12-09:  Bernama.com: "Special Toilets For Transsexuals In Chennai" 

"South Indian authorities are preparing to build separate public toilets for the transgender community, a first of its kind in the populace country. Tamil Nadu, with nearly 30,000 transsexuals, is the only Indian state to have recognised gender status of transsexuals, giving them their right to vote, ration card (to buy essential food items), access to medical care and housing -- all of which had been deprived in the past for the much ostracised community."
  

04-11-09:  San Francisco Chroncle: "Court OKs out-of-state birth certificate change" (more)

"A 67-year-old Los Angeles native, now living in Kansas, won a state appeals court ruling in San Francisco on Friday that makes it easier for California-born transgender people to change their birth certificate. . . Gigi Marie Somers was born male but has lived most of her life as a woman, and underwent sex-change surgery in 2005. . . Somers then turned to a California court, only to discover that a 1977 state law requires an application for a sex change on a new birth certificate to be filed in the county where the applicant now lives. But Friday, the First District Court of Appeal said the law violates the rights of someone like Somers to be treated the same as a transgender person who still lives in California." [An incredible legal loophole that has long harmed many transitioned people is finally closed]

04-10-90:  Broadway World: "Join Henry At The Big Apple Circus On 4/28 To Raise Money For True Colors"

"His name is Henry. When he came out as transgender, his parents rejected him. He found a support system in The Theater Offensive’s True Colors: Out Youth Theater troupe. When he performed a monologue about his gender transition for thousands of his peers in schools around Massachusetts, he helped himself and his community. . . True Colors is more than just a theater program. LGBT youth face life-threatening bigotry. True Colors helps them change it. Join Henry at the Big Apple Circus [in Boston] on Tuesday April 28 to raise money for this one-of-a-kind program!"

04-10-09:  CTV Calgary (Canada): "Province could be sued for delisting decision" (more)

"Some trans-gender people awaiting surgery are considering legal action against the province. On Tuesday, the province announced it would no longer fund gender reassignment surgery."

04-10-09:  AngieZapata.com: "End Hate - Light a Candle for Angie"

"Angie Zapata was brutally murdered in Greeley, Colorado in July 2008. Angie was a transgender woman and she was murdered because of anti-transgender bias. On April 14, 2009, her alleged killer will go on trial in Greeley, Colorado. The trial marks the first time that Colorado’s gender identity-inclusive hate crimes statute—and in fact any state’s hate crimes law—has been applied in the investigation and prosecution of an anti-transgender murder case." [ Light a Candle for Angie (Facebook)]
 

04-10-09:  Denver Post: "Memorial ad for murdered transgender woman vexes DA - Trial next week" (more)

"Prosecutors are worried that jury selection in next week's trial of a man accused of killing a transgender woman in Greeley in July has become a lot more complicated. That's because 50 groups sponsored a full-page ad in 22 Colorado newspapers and purchased online advertising to commemorate the life and death of 18-year-old Angie Zapata."

04-09-10:  Colorado : "Coalition unfurls ‘End Hate’ campaign ahead of Angie Zapata murder trial"

"Organizers of public information effort kept ads out of northern Colorado: 'We did not want to be seen in any way trying to influence the jury pool.' . . . A group of 50 progressive, civil rights and anti-violence groups launched a massive Internet and print media public information campaign Wednesday across Colorado to inform readers about transgender murder victim Angie Zapata, whose accused killer goes on trial in Greeley next week."

04-09-09:  Seacoast.online (New Hampshire): "Transgender protections Pass"

"The N.H. House of Representatives reversed its course Wednesday and passed a bill extending anti-discrimination protections to transgender individuals by a single vote. The House voted 181-149 last month to kill the bill, but reconsidered Wednesday after a passionate appeal from House Speaker Terie Norelli, D-Portsmouth, to include transgendered individuals in the state's anti-discrimination law."  

04-09-09:  Bay Windows: "Putting a face on the issue"

"I’m just a boring accountant," Joanne Herman told an aide to state Rep. Brian Wallace during the transgender lobbying day on April 7. Herman was one of hundreds who turned up at the State House to muster support for the transgender rights bill. . . Herman said that she was there to help Wallace put a face on the issue. "It really helps to know somebody," she said. "Yeah, it sure does. I agree," said Houghtaling [Wallace's aide], adding that she believes there is a lot of fear on the part of some people about transgender issues.

04-09-09:  Boston Herald: "In bathrooms or out, transgenders no threat"

"I mention this today because the same crowd who’ve tried to demonize gays are back on Beacon Hill trying to demonize the transgendered, too. . . But here’s what the demonizers are now reduced to: arguing that this legislation will let loose the transgendered to prey on kids in public bathrooms. OK, some reality here: The transgendered are no more likely to attack children than anybody else. There have been no reports of misbehaving in the 13 states that already allow them bathroom accommodations."

04-08-09:  Associated Press: "Push for transgender protections reaches NH, Mass."

"For Ethan St. Pierre, allowing someone who is biologically female but self-identifies as male to use the men's bathroom is a no-brainer. "Look at me," said St. Pierre, who was born a woman but is now a transgender man with a beard and short hair. "I don't want to get hurt by some woman who thinks I'm in the ladies' room for the wrong reasons. I mean, clearly I don't belong there." St. Pierre, of Haverhill, was one of hundreds of advocates at a Tuesday rally supporting a bill that would add "gender identity and expression" to Massachusetts' discrimination and hate crimes laws. He said having this legislation would have protected him from being fired in 2003 from his job as a security supervisor because he became a man."

04-08-09:  Boston Herald: "Critic: Flush bathroom bill"

"Dude looks like a lady, but legislation allowing males and females to share public restrooms in deference to transgender persons’ rights has some arguing equality in Massachusetts has gone too far. Medford Democratic state Rep. Carl M. Sciortino Jr.’s proposed bathroom bill “is a line we should not cross,” cautioned Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute."

04-08-09:  Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Wash. OKs transgender hate-crime protection"

"At present, the hate-crime definition of sexual orientation covers gay, straight or bisexual people. The bill approved Wednesday adds "gender expression or identity" to that definition, making the law apply to attacks on transgender people. . . It now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into law."

04-08-09:  Calgary Herald (Canada): "Alta. faces rights battle over sex-change coverage" (more, more)

"Furious members of the transgendered, gay, lesbian and bisexual communities are readying themselves for a human-rights complaint after the Alberta government delisted gender-reassignment surgery from its funding coverage Tuesday."

04-08-09:  Miami Herald: "Transsexual city manager lands new job" (more)

"The former Largo city manager who was fired after her plans to have a sex change became public has landed a new job as the city manager for Lake Worth."

04-07-09:  The Times of India (India): "Transgenders to the fore"

"They are excluded from the so-called mainstream, associated with AIDS and sometimes portrayed as clowns and criminals. In reality, transgenders are among the most marginalized minorities in the world."

04-07-09:  Independent Online (re Australia): "Police slammed for outing sex-change woman"

"Sydney - Two Australian police officers who told a prisoner his girlfriend was once a man were on Tuesday sentenced to 125 hours community service."

04-07-09:  Straight.com (Vancouver Press, Canada): "Jessica Cooper: As a transsexual person, I have no rights"

"I have no rights. I have no right to freedom from discrimination. I have no right to secure employment. I have no right to a safe place to live. I don’t even have the right to go to the washroom in peace. It’s amazing that I can sit here in the 21st century, in Canada, and be able to say that."

04-06-09:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Minority Groups Feel Snubbed by Candidates"

"Political parties and legislative candidates have failed to involve vulnerable groups like the poor, disabled people and transsexuals in this year’s campaign, it was claimed on Monday."

04-06-09:  Houston Press: Movies: "A Small Colorado Town Becomes "Capital of Transsexuals" And Houston Hears About It"

04-06-09:  Augusta Chronicle: "Shelters adapt for transgender homeless"

"Twelve years heading the Salvation Army's downtown homeless shelter had done little to prepare Janeane Schmidt for the recent night when a soft-spoken biological male transitioning into a female walked in."

04-05-09:  Merinews (India): "Plight of sexual minorities"
"Non-government organisations have to rid themselves of the notion that they should alienate themselves from politics, to ensure that the sexual minorities they work for receive the rights that they deserve and are entitled to."

04-04-09:  Poughkeepsie Journal: "Hate crime charge in killing of transsexual"

"District Attorney William Fitzpatrick says DeLee shot Moses Cannon dead Nov. 14 after hearing comments about Cannon’s sexual orientation. Moses Cannon was living as a woman, using the name Latiesha Green. Relatives have described him as transsexual."

04-04-09:  Paramount Comedy (UK): "We don't like that Wallpaper..."
"Transsexual groups have launched a campaign against ITV1 comedy Moving Wallpaper claiming it was gratuitously cruel and offensive to a transsexual character."

04-04-09:  Express Buzz (India): "6 aravanis held for abducting teenager"

"The CBCID on Friday arrested six transgenders (aravanis) for abducting a Kovalam (Kancheepuram) teenager and forcing him into prostitution in Pune after making him undergo sex change surgery."

04-03-09:  Daily Northwestern: "'Gender identity' added to non-discrimination policy"

"After repeated student requests and similar actions by many peer institutions, Northwestern added "gender identity and expression" to the language of its non-discrimination policy." [Hmm. We wonder how Northwestern faculty member J. Michael Bailey, author of one of the most transphobic books ever written, is going to react to this news.]

04-03-09:  Camp KC: "Must We Fight Over Labels? "

04-03-09:  Monterey Herald (California): "Born identity: Locals speak openly about the transgender process"

"When physical and mental gender don't match"

04-03-09:  ABC News (Australia): "Police face sacking over sex change disclosure
"A Sydney court has heard two police officers who told a prisoner his girlfriend was once a man could lose their jobs."

04-03-09:  The Gaurdian (UK): 'My true self has finally been released'

"For years, Maurice Pepper had a secret he couldn't reveal, even to his wife. It wasn't until she was taken into care that he made a life-changing decision."

04-03-09:  Concord Monitor: Letter: "Basic civil rights", by Jennifer E. Madden, Nashua
"As a transsexual New Hampshire resident and family physician, I was so saddened to see HB 415, the bill that would give transgender people basic civil rights, fail to pass."

04-03-09:  Associated Press: "Shelters slowly adapt to help transgender homeless" (more, more)

"Twelve years heading the Salvation Army's downtown homeless shelter had done little to prepare Janeane Schmidt for the recent night when a soft-spoken biological male transitioning into a female walked in."

04-02-09:  Pridesource (Michigan): "BCBSM speaks about cutting gender reassignment coverage"

"Health insurance company says elimination of surgery was necessary to the bottom line, advocates rebut"

04-02-09:  St. Louis Beacon: "From Mitchell to Michelle: Family, friends and work react"

04-01-09:  St. Louis Beacon: "From Mitchell to Michelle: How do a person and a spouse make that change?"

04-01-09:  X-Press (San Francisco State Univ.): "Transgender issues come out of closet at SFSU"

"The little stick figures on the doors of public restrooms are an easy indicator for most people. It is supposed to come down to this: skirts are for girls and trousers are for boys. But for those who don't declare a gender, it's not so easy."
 

March 2009

03-30-09:  Inside Higher Ed: "Trans-Ition"

"Andre Wilson considers himself one of the luckier ones. When he decided to undergo sexual reassignment surgery as a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Wilson had the financial and emotional support of his family. While student health insurance didn’t cover the procedure at the time, Wilson still had the wherewithal to make the change from female to male that he now says saved his life. “For people to only be able to access these services because they have privilege is unconscionable,” said Wilson"

03-30-09:  The Guardian (UK re Spain): "Transsexual man expecting twins sparks ethical row"

"A 25-year-old transsexual man in Barcelona has announced that he is pregnant with twins, prompting debate in Spain about the ethical use of reproductive technology. Rubén Noé Coronado Jiménez, who is reportedly nine weeks pregnant, interrupted hormone treatments and postponed plans to have a full sex-change operation in order to get pregnant because his 43-year-old girlfriend could no longer have children."

03-28-09:  On Top Magazine: "Transgender Protections Too Hot For New Hampshire"

"Legislators say they have been inundated with vehement opposition to the bill. One anonymous emailer wrote: “How are we suppose to take our children into public bathrooms if you pass this indecent legislation? ... or protect them from the perverted predations of this bill's sponsors? ... [W]e are not being served by representatives, but being ruled by misfits, perverts and tyrants.” The rhetoric got too hot for lawmakers who opted to leave transgender people unprotected."

03-27-09:  US Magazine: "Exclusive: Top Model Contestant Opens Up About Sex Change Surgery" (more)

"Isis King, the first transgender contestant on the CW's America’s Next Top Model, opens up to Tyra Banks about her sex change operation, her new life as a woman and her boyfriend, Desmond . . . whom she met more than three years ago -- before her surgery -- on MySpace. "When we were just friends, I had a dream I was getting married," he (Desmond) tells Banks. "As the bride came down the aisle, it was Isis... She’s strong, she’s beautiful, she’s my soul mate." With that, Desmond gets down on one knee and proposes to King." (includes video of Desmond proposing to Isis)

03-27-09:  Southern Voice (posted 3-26): "Atlanta's largest homeless shelter grapples with transgender inclusion - Current policy requires transwomen to present as male"

"More and more male-to-female transgender women are seeking shelter at the facility, known as Peachtree-Pine . . . The facility houses an average of 600 men each night. Of that total, approximately 5 percent, or between 20-25 people, are transwomen . . . But in order for the transwomen to be able to stay in the shelter, they must “present as male” . . . “No other shelter will take transgender people except Peachtree-Pine,” said Akasha, 27, who is going by her birth and legal name, Jason, in order to stay in the shelter. She has been living as a woman since she was 19."

03-27-09:  Southern Voice: "Transman called ‘girl’ on Q100’s Bert Show"
"Former drag king Tristan Skye entered radio show’s ‘Men’s Madness’ competition"

03-27-09:  Washington Blade: "Gay donors propose omnibus rights bill - Organizers of ‘new approach’ say activists too timid with Congress"

"The leaders of a nonprofit LGBT donors group in Florida are calling on members of Congress to introduce a far-reaching omnibus LGBT rights bill that combines all of the gay- and transgender-related bills that have been pending before Congress, some for as long as 30 years. Called the Equality & Religious Freedom Act, the combined measure also includes new provisions, including a clause that requires the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships legalized by states.

“We decided that asking for our rights incrementally was not enough,” said Juan Ahonen-Jover of Miami, a gay philanthropist and co-founder of eQualityGiving.org. “We feel the less you ask for, the less you get.” Ahonen-Jover and his partner, Ken Ahonen-Jover, retained LGBT-rights attorney Karen Doering to draft the proposed bill after arranging for her to conduct extensive legal research on whether the bill should create a freestanding law or amend existing civil rights statutes." [a new initiative by eQualityGiving.org ]

03-27-09:  Concord Monitor (NH): "Transgender rights defeated - It sought protections in workplace, rentals" (more)
"House lawmakers yesterday rejected a bill that would extend protection to transgender individuals under the state's anti-discrimination and hate-crimes laws. . . Opponents dubbed the measure the "bathroom bill"; they painted a picture of men and women walking into bathrooms and saunas as they pleased."

03-27-09:  ASUwebdevil (Arizona State Univ.): "Documentary opens dialogue about gender identification"

03-27-09:  Kyle's comics (posted 3-24): "Kyle's Bed and Breakfast, Episode 252" 

[Latest episode of this gay comic strip involves a trans story.]

03-27-09:  MCGE Press Release (Michigan, posted 3-25): "MCGE/Rainbow Law Center decries Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy change" 

"The Michigan Coalition for Gender Equality expressed deep disappointment today regarding changes to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) policies that will eliminate reimbursements for gender reassignment surgeries for new customers. This change was approved by Michigan’s Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation without any opportunity for public comment or input."

03-26-09:  Kaos GL (Turkey): "Homophobic Attacks and murders in the cities of Eskisehir, Bursa and Edirne in Turkey"  NEW
"Homophobic and transphobic violence doesn’t stop: Assault in Eskiþehir, murders in Bursa and Edirne! A transsexual woman was attacked and beaten in Eskisehir. A transsexual woman was found her head cut in Bursa. A man has been killed by his friend on the claim that he asked for sexual intercourse."

03-26-09:  Pridesource.com (Michigan): "Transgender Day of Visibility plans erupt locally, nationwide - Groundbreaking day of events set to take place March 31"

"Unlike Transgender Day of Remembrance, (Rachel) Crandall said, the day of visibility aims to focus on all the good things in the trans community, instead of just remembering those who were lost. "The day of remembrance is exactly what it is. It remembers people who died," she said. "This focuses on the living. People have told me they love Remembrance Day but it really focuses on the negative aspect of it. Isn't there anything that could focus on the positive aspect of being trans?""

03-26-09:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "Pride and prejudice - Chiang Mai-based Mplus unveils its mission and ponders the challenges ahead"

"If you see any kathoey on the street, just hit them all on the head." These brutal words still echo in Pongthorn Chanleun's ears. It has been one month since the violence erupted against a group of participants in the Chiang Mai Gay Pride parade, but every image and sound of hatred on that day remains vivid." [Chiang Mai is the major city in the north of Thailand, but it lacks Bangkok's cosmopolitan nature.]

03-26-09:  Washington Blade"HRC won’t support ‘gay-only’ ENDA
"The board of directors of the Human Rights Campaign approved a policy statement Wednesday saying the group will not support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, if it excludes language protecting transgender persons from discrimination. HRC came under fire from transgender advocacy groups in 2007 when it announced it would not oppose a “gay-only” version of ENDA . . ."

03-26-09:  Havana Times (Cuba): "Cuba Campaign Fights Homophobia"

"A campaign against homophobia designed for and by young people began this Thursday with a lecture-debate by sexologist Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX). . . The previous day, Castro, daughter of President Raul Castro, told the foreign press accredited in Cuba that the reforms to the country’s Family Code in terms of sexual rights have found obstacles. Those changes would represent recognition of legal unions between homosexual persons and the identity of transsexuals . . ."

03-26-09:  Gainsville Sun: ""Students play a key role in city election"
"Voters at polling sites on the UF campus voted heavily against Amendment 1 on Tuesday."

03-26-09:  PrideDepot.com (Re Twin Falls, Idaho; posted 3-22): "Murder, jealousy, gender identity, and ethnicity on trial in Twin Falls"
"A request for a change in venue was denied in a murder trial that spotlights gender identity, ethnic diversity, media bias, and uncomfortable issues all contained within a predominately conservative community."

03-25-09:  Cafebabel.com (Europe): "Queer as transsexual Europe"  NEW

"Heterosexuality and unambiguous sexual images remain deeply embedded in European societies. People who do not fit in with prevailing ideas, and who are unwilling or unable to squeeze their identity into the tight corset of the two sexes, are still forced to battle prejudice and discrimination in today’s Europe. Prejudice ranges from physical aggression and verbal abuse in public to well-concealed contempt in every day life."

03-25-09:  Stopping The Hate: "Transgender Discrimination: The Mirror Has Two Faces"

03-25-09:   Statenews.com (Michigan State Univ.): "Opening new doors" NEW

"Policy gives transgender students options in deciding their living arrangements"

03-25-09:  Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho): "Former cellmate concerned about Kolestani trial" (more)
"Antonia Lara says community bias exists against transsexuals"

03-25-09:  Gainsville Sun: "Opponents of Amendment 1 celebrate their big victory" (more, more, more)

03-24-09:  DailyKos.com: "Florida pushes back on gay rights -- Gainesville votes no to discrimination, with one small update"

"Their amendment would have revoked current bans on discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity and voided any future legal assurances of non-discrimination on these bases. Their campaign featured the usual scare tactics, and adopted the mottos "Keep men out of women's restrooms." It's obvious from the wording of the amendment that this is not about who goes potty where. Seriously, folks, this was an absolutely pathetic, only very thinly veiled attempt to derail basic rights."

03-24-09:  Queerty: "Gainesville FL Rejects Trans Rights Repeal" (more)

"Voters rejected the amendment by a vote of 58% to 42%. If passed, Charter Amendment 1 would have repealed existing civil rights protections for Gainesville's gay and transgender community. For over a year, backers of the amendment have waged a fear-based campaign filled with outright lies and media campaigns that dehumanized gay and transgender people. Specifically, these extremists drew a target on the backs of transgender people with bigoted messages intended to instill fear in the hearts of Gainesville citizens."

03-24-09:  The Advocate (Re Germany; posted 3-20): "Rising Tennis Pro Faces Gender Battle" (more)

"Sarah Gronert, 22, was born with both male and female genitalia but underwent surgery to become female both legally and physically. However, some coaches, players, and officials charge that she seems unnaturally strong for a woman and speculate, based on her birth condition, that she may benefit from a higher-than-average distribution of male hormones -- and question whether she should therefore be allowed to compete against women at all." [Note: The way the Advocate chose to spin this story is already causing further intersex-phobic backlash, as in this link]

03-24-09:  Electronic Design News (posted 2-11): "The book that changed everything", by Paul McClellan (more)

"Everything changed thirty years ago with the publication of Mead and Conway’s book “Introduction to VLSI systems.” It is out of print but it was the most influential book in semiconductor design and design automation ever." [Articles providing background on what the Ada Lovelace Day postings are about.]

03-24-09:  Cyberspice.org (UK): "Lynn Conway (Ada Lovelace Day 2009)"

"Lynn Conway suffered bigotry in the 50s and 60s, transitioned and restarted life as a woman forging an impressive career in a male oriented industry and becoming an inspiration to many. Then, later in life, she risked bigotry again by revealing her path and has fought for justice and equality since then."

03-22-09:  Just Plain Sense Interview (UK, posted 3-22): "Ada Lovelace Day Interview - Lynn Conway"

"Professor Lynn Conway’s best known contribution, 30 years ago, was to invent and successfully promote a radical new approach which made the chip design process straightforward and affordable. It is arguable that some of the best known businesses and many of the products we nowadays take for granted would not have been possible without Lynn’s historical contribution. In this interview Lynn talks via a transatlantic Skype call about her vision and the things that thrill her about engineering. You can also read her VLSI Archive and about some of her other work and challenges here." [24 minute audio interview]

03-24-09:  The Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts: "Data Collection Begins for Anti-Transgender Hate Crime Victimization Survey"
"Responses are requested from transgender victims of hate crimes in Massachusetts and throughout the United States. Please forward this link to transgender people and organizations in the United States. The results will be used to develop better strategies to prevent and combat hate-motivated violence against transgender people."

03-24-09:  AceShowBiz: "'Twilight' Star Nikki Reed Talks Transgender Role in 'K-11'"

03-24-09:  ABS-CBN News (Philippines): "Transgender women are not gay men "

"A number of misunderstandings about transgenderism have recently been displayed in print and on the television by both the unlearned and the experts alike.  Sadly, even some of those in the LGBT community have contributed to this confusion.  Well-intentioned articles that result in harm simply because of the clear lack of knowledge must be rewritten to reflect only the facts and the truth."

03-23-09:  Blog Sobre Qué Escribiría Si Escribiese: "Wendy Carlos, pionera de la música electrónica [The Ada Lovelace Day]"

03-23-09:  Bay Windows: "Coalition for Marriage to hold anti-trans lobby day"

"The Coalition for Marriage and Family, which waged an unsuccessful campaign in 2007 to ban same-sex marriage through a constitutional amendment, has made the defeat of the transgender rights bill one of its top priorities."

03-23-09:  Queerty: "Pope on the Ropes: Benedict's Blunders Make Him a "Disaster""

"It's no surprise that we take a dim view of Pope Benedict XVI, but now even the Vatican is turning against him. A Vatican insider told the London Telegraph last week that the pontiff is "a disaster" who is "out of touch with the real world". Another says that he's "isolated and fails to adequately consult his advisers". . . Just how has the Holy Father mucked up the Church? Let's count the ways."

03-23-09:  Oxford News (UK): "1,000 sign up to support four Oxfordshire men who want to become women"

"The petition, online at petitions.number10.gov.uk/ gdoxpct/ closes on April 7, when the full list of signatures will be given to Prime Minister Gordon Brown."

03-23-09:  Bird of Paradox (UK, posted 3-10):"Petition to protest Oxfordshire PCT’s refusal to fund core surgical procedures" (link to petition; note that signatories must be British citizens)

03-22-09:  Lulu.com: "The AzioneTrans Manifesto," by Mirella Izzo

"This is the English translation of the most popular Italian Transgender Manifesto. Mirella Izzo (Genoa, Italy, 1959) wrote the "Manifesto" trying to find a common feeling, among italian and international trans Movement about Transgender Cultures. She wrote for Italians but thinking internationally. . . It's available in english, now, after 8 years, in an updated version. . . (translated) by Simona Continente"

[Note: You can order the Manifesto at the above link, and it's available for one month as a free PDF download.]

03-22-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Transgenders to find lovers online"

"Kalki (of the Sahodari Foundation) told The New Indian Express that the website would be simple and effective. It would contain profiles of transwomen who wish to get married. Men who wish to settle down with them can send in their profiles. Kalki said transgenders too wanted to get married and this website would help. . . The website www.thirunangai.com, meaning respectable woman, is currently under construction."

03-21-09:  Washington City Paper: "GLB Against T: Who’s Man Enough to Escape a Beating?"

"To the group of (lesbian) women who attacked the pair, Jamie was a lesbian on his way to becoming a heterosexual man, and a prime target for ridicule. . . Rebecca Trinite, 27, a graduate student who raised the incident for discussion on local blog the New Gay, says the sentiment is a familiar one. “I think there is a general discomfort with gender ambiguity in any sense—especially with transitioning,” she says."

[Although the title is offensive, this is an important report on the attack on 2-transmen by a group of lesbians outside the Fab Lounge in D.C.]

03-21-09: Telegraph (UK re Spain): "Man to become first in world to give birth to twins" (more, more, more, more more)

"A 'man' is set to become the first in the world to give birth to twins after becoming pregnant following the start of the sex change process."

03-21-09:  Intersex News: "Letter from Zucker's Lawyers at the CAMH"

"OII has received a request from Ken Zucker's representatives to remove the information about certain allegations against Zucker. It is important to note that OII never published any false statements or misleading information on the page in question. . . The OII Open Letter to WPATH has been online since the early summer of 2008. Zucker and his WPATH colleagues knew about it all that time, but Zucker has not complained to OII about it until now.  So why now? Recently, in what appears to have been an attempt to suppress Lynn Conway's website, Zucker and Petersen falsely accused Dr. Lynn Conway of "libel" for simply linking to the OII Open Letter to WPATH from her Trans News Updates. . .  it quickly became clear that Zucker had falsely accused Dr. Conway of libel for simply linking to that page - especially since Zucker had never complained to OII about the page in the first place. It appears that Zucker's and Petersen's recent letter to OII is an effort in damage control, i.e., an attempt to retroactively cover up the fact that they had not complained about it before."

03-21-09:  Pattaya Daily News (Thailand): "‘Sisters’ AND ‘Swing’ Provide Anti HIV Support for Pattaya Sex Workers"

"Surang Janyam is the Founder and Director of Swing, a small organization which provides support for sex workers in Thailand. She regularly visits the bars in the entertainment areas of Pattaya. Sex work involves males as well as females and the ever more prevalent transgenders (‘katoeys’ or ‘ladyboys’)."

03-21-09:  Assam Times (India): "India’s Third Sex, citizens without rights"

"Their face is their fortune. Lipsticks and powder are their regular items. Their ill-fitted blouses and colourful saris make them awesomely beautiful as they walk the streets for their livelihood. It’s estimated, India has 1.2 million eunuchs (transgenders). Yet, even after sixty years of India’s independence, no official data has ever been made to estimate the actual existence of eunuchs so far. Of this ninety-nine percent of eunuchs are either illiterate or semi-literate, having no source of income, except begging. "

03-21-09:  USA Today: "Transgender wife gets 4 years for husband's death"

"An Ohio transgender woman repeatedly blocked her 73-year-old husband from exiting the pool during an almost two-hour battle that ultimately led to his death, the Associated Press reports. "

03-20-09:  LOGO-TV: "Transgender Stories - Check out real stories about real transpeople - their lives, relationships, struggles and triumphs in this collection of films, documentaries, and series"

[Logo has just compiled an excellent online collection of their trans video programming. Check back for more throughout the year!]

03-20-09:  The Electric New Paper (Singapore): "The Lo-DOown on Labels - Transsexual Leona Lo hates stereotypes, but her first play is all that to get people thinking"

"She is Singapore's first transsexual to publicly talk about her experiences. In her book and her past interviews, she has recounted how as a young man her feminine behaviour was ridiculed by classmates."

03-20-09:  USA Today: "Transgender wife gets 4 years for husband's death"

03-20-09:  Pink News (UK; posted 3-16): "Campaign for review of gender dysphoria policy in Oxfordshire"

"Four trans women are campaigning for Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to review its policy, funding and practice for the treatment of Gender Identity Dysphoria . . . They added that the PCT has imposed a "blanket ban" on surgery through a requirement that patients should reach a certain level of depression or suicidal feelings in order to have their gender reassignment surgery, but that official guidelines state that people should not be allowed the surgery if they are mentally unstable." [Note how Catch-22 can be used to suppress SRS.]

03-19-09:  The Hartford Courant: "Transgender Activists Attempt To Gain Equal Rights Protection"

"Transgender activists are making their fourth attempt this year to gain equal rights protection under the state's anti-discrimination laws." [With video]

03-18-09:  The Washington Post: "Administration to Support U.N. Declaration Decriminalizing Homosexuality"

"In announcing U.S. support, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said . . . The United States "is pleased to join the other 66 U.N. members states who have declared their support of the statement that condemns human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity wherever the occur . . .""

03-17-09:  CTV-TV (Canada, posted 3-15): "Ontario health plan to cover sex-change surgery"

"Smitherman says people wanting the procedures must first go through "very, very sustained psychological evaluations" and must get approval from the Centres for Addiction and Mental Health."  [Zucker and Blanchard are exploiting government support for SRS to regain control over trans lives in Canada. The time has come for trans people to boycott  CAMH and seek help elsewhere.]

03-17-09:  GLAAD CALL TO ACTION: "Take Action: Demand that Colorado Radio Host Trevor Carey Disavow Remarks Condoning Violence Against Transgender People"

"In a disturbing diatribe on KNUS radio on March 14, host Trevor Carey engaged in a conversation with a caller in which both men condoned violence against transgender people, blaming slain Greeley, Colo. resident Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old transgender woman, for her own brutal murder."

03-17-09: Colorado Medamatters (posted 3-16): "KNUS host stated that transgender individuals who commit "fraud" about their previous gender identity are "at least gonna get [their] teeth kicked in""

03-17-09:  Echelon: "GLSEN Study Harsh Realities Finds Transgender Youth Face Extreme Harassment in School" (more)

"Harsh Realities demonstrates the urgent need for educators, policymakers and all who care about safe schools to address the disproportionate victimization of transgender students . . ."

03-17-09:  GLADVideo (posted 3-12): "Everyone Matters: Dignity and Safety for Transgender People"

"Alishia is a firefighter. Enoch is a university professor. Dana is a software engineer. Jesse is an HIV prevention educator. Each makes invaluable contributions in the work place and in the community. And each faces the threat of losing a job, being denied housing or health care, and suffering violence and harassment simply for being transgender." [a wonderful new video]

03-17-09 Bay Windows (posted 3-16): "Video presents personal stories of trans community"

"Scott said for many lawmakers this video may be their first exposure to the stories of transgender people who are successful in their careers and wary that they could be the target of discrimination or hate crimes. He said the video also provides an important message to the transgender community. Too often he said the only public images of transgender people are victims of hate crimes or discrimination, and while telling those stories is important, Scott said, "We also need to see some positive things in our community as well.""

03-17-09:  Bloomberg.com (re Egypt): "Transsexual’s Fight for Education Pits Egypt Law Against Islam "

"To the Egyptian government, to her doctors, and especially to herself, Sally Mursi is a woman. To al-Azhar University, the most prestigious Islamic school in Egypt and the Middle East, she’s a man."

03-17-09:  The Canberra Times (Australia): "Government's sex files 'need an overhaul'" (more)
"Filling in government forms can be hard enough, but transsexuals say the experience can also be an "appalling" invasion of privacy."  

03-17-09:  Bay Windows: "A Transitional Dilemma: Some Sex Changes Change Back-Again"

03-16-09:  The Times of India (India): "'Third front' in Orissa poll fray"

"It is an insult to the biggest democracy of the world when an entire community is deprived of its constitutional rights," says Kajal, a transgender. "If they are not going to give us voting rights, we won't vote for them. We will field our candidates instead." [Transgender women in the state of Orrisa fight for trans rights there.]

03-15-09:  The University Register (Univ. of Minnesota, Morris, posted 3-11): "Pride Week speaker Lisa Gilinger addresses UMM"

"As an activist for TYFA, Lisa holds many of the ideals of activism to heart . . . She explained that the message the group tries to remind the people it works with of was “Love your children!” Such a sentiment seems so simple, but has such a profound impact on the lives of gender-variant youth."

03-15-09:  Union Leader (NH): "State House Dome: Transgender rights in 'bathroom bill'"

"Rep. Joseph Hagan said he voted against it as a conservative who feels gender issues, "are one small facet of a much broader psychiatric illness." . . . He said that if transsexuals get more rights, others will lose them. As an example, Hagan said a private school could not fire a school bus driver whose sexual issues were confusing children." [Note how the unscientific psychiatric pathologization of trans people is used as an excuse for denying us our human rights.]

03-15-09:  Black College Wire (posted 3-11): "(Homo)Sexuality in the AUCity: Another View," by Khadijah Robinson" 

"The heterosexual men of Morehouse, such as an SGA member who shared with me that the display of “feminine” characteristics in a male is nothing more than “faggotry,” remind me an awful lot of the powerful white majority of old America that would have liked for Blacks to act as White as possible and reject any other cultural expression non-complaint with their European one."

03-15-09:  Scotland on Sunday (Scotland, UK): "Body of evidence: A special report into the lives of transsexuals"

"We all want to be loved for who we are, but the fact is that we are also loved for what we are. When what we are is somehow in doubt, it means a lifelong struggle for acceptance."
 

03-15-09:  Miami Herald: "Transsexual city manager finalist for new job"

"The former Largo city manager who was fired after her plans to have a sex change became public is a finalist for the city manager's job in Lake Worth."

03-15-09:  The Times of India (India): "Citizens without rights come out of the shadows"

"They are citizens without rights. They don't have the right to vote or own property; rarely marry and have great difficulty getting crucial documents such as passports and driving licences, which would mean they have an official identity. "They cannot be admitted to hospital, schools and colleges," says Arif Jafar, executive director of Lucknow's India Naz Foundation International"

03-14-09:  The Times of India (India): "A toll-free helpline, an initiative to integrate" (more)

"What should I do with my boy who is beginning to dress and behave like a girl? Can I allow a transsexual to be my tenant? If I appoint a transsexual in my office, will the person be an efficient worker? Those who are seeking answers to these and other related questions can now call Manasu at 25990505, a dedicated toll-free helpline . . . The questions will be answered by a group of counsellors who have worked closely with the transsexual community. . . According to TAI project director Dr Lakhsmi Bai, the helpline will not only provide information about transsexuals but also be a starting point for a host of services to be offered by TAI-VHS. "The main focus will be to reach out to parents who have various misconceptions regarding transsexuals and are faced with the dilemma of owning or disowning them."" [news of dramatic developments in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.]

03-14-09:  Indian Express.com (India): "Sex-change for free" (print)

"Tamil Nadu stands out in how it treats transgenders. The state has set up a Transgender Welfare Board with a budget of 50 lakh rupees per year. That’s around 100 rupees per eunuch — meagre but without parallel in the rest of India. More than money, it’s the schemes themselves that are eye-catching: special ration cards for eunuchs and “admission to transgenders in Government colleges” . . . But it’s Tamil Nadu’s decision to pay for sex-change surgery that is truly path breaking." [Describes the cultural and political factors behind Tamil Nadu's emerging support of the estimated 60,000 transgender women in that state.] 

03-13-09:  The Hindu (India): "T. Nadu to bring transgenders under CM's insurance scheme"

"The Tamil Nadu government on Friday said it would bring all transgenders in the state under the Chief Minister's Insurance Scheme.  State Health Secretary V K Subburaj said "apart from issuing voter's identity card and ration card to transgenders, they would be included in the Chief Minister's Insurance Scheme so that they get treatment in government and private hospitals for serious ailments.""

03-13-09:  The Michigan Messenger: "Michigan Department of Corrections announces policy preventing discrimination against gays, transgenders"

03-13-09:  The Tribune (Greeley, CO): "Transgender victim may be referred to in several ways"

"It’s one of the oddest cases in Weld County history: a man, living as a woman, is found murdered. Charged with the murder is a lover who discovers “she” is a “he” and is accused of beating the victim to death. The murder trial of Allen Andrade is set to begin next month, and in the court’s previous hearings, the pronouns used to describe the victim have been divided."

03-12-09:  Human Rights Watch (re Turkey): "Turkey: Transgender Activist Murdered"

"The killing of Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender human rights activist, on March 10, 2009, shows a continuing climate of violence based on gender identity that authorities should urgently take steps to combat, Human Rights Watch said today."

03-12-09:  Children  & Young People Now (UK): "Reform of gender identity support - Moves are afoot to speed up access to support services for young people with gender identity issues."

"Despite hopes that the changes will lead to big improvements in access to services, controversy surrounds the way those with a definite desire to change gender are treated shortly after the onset of puberty. Christine Burns, a member of the Department of Health's LGBT advisory group, says the service does not administer drugs to suspend puberty until the age of 16, a policy which goes against the practice in other countries, including Holland and the US."

[Even is access is speeded up the NHS will till refer young trans people to the infamous "Portman Clinic", where transgenderism is considered a 'sexual perversion' (think 'Clarke Institute')]

03-11-09:  Bianet (Turkey): "Transgender Murder in Istanbul"

"LGBT Rights Platform condemns the killing and protests the government, which refuses to acknowledge demands for constitutional equality based on sexual orientation."

03-11-09:  SU-Spectator (Seattle Univ., a Jesuit university): "Catholic publications outraged by transgender week", by Alex LaCasse (print)

"Cardinal Newman Society president Patrick J. Reilly, speaking with the news agency, said Catholic-identifying universities should be concerned for sponsoring such events."These obscene abuses of Catholic values come just as Christians begin a holy season of penance, fasting and almsgiving," Reilly said. "Faithful Catholics have good reason to be outraged and heartbroken.". . .

Matthew Smith, ecumenical and multifaith minister at Seattle U, is disheartened with the suggestion that a transgender awareness week does not belong on a Jesuit campus. "At Campus Ministry, we are really committed to serving students of all sexual orientations and gender identities," said Smith. "When we look at the lives of our transgender community, there is ample opportunity to see God. I very much see God in the experience of transgender students."

Reilly disagrees and stated to the news agency, "That Catholic universities would permit these events on their campuses at any time of the year is unthinkable.""

[An important article that exposes growing tensions within American Catholicism regarding the existence of transgender people.] See CNA link at 3-01-09 and also the following commentary:

03-11-09:  SU-Spectator (Seattle Univ.): "Sexuality begs understanding in Jesuit schools", by " (print)

"It seems to me condemning programs that promote the understanding of the spectrum of sexuality is contrary to the goal of an institution of learning, especially when that institution places such a high value on imparting social justice. Human sexual nature is proven by both science and history to be encompassing of incalculable nooks and crannies, which defy any attempt at safe categorization by society. It would seem the duty of a university that promotes a just and humane world to confer knowledge of human identity to its attendees and to treat the reality of sexuality as beautiful and immense. To further marginalize hidden and abused communities for the greater part of history is not only contrary to our message of social justice, but oppressive and ignorant as well."

03-11-09:  World Net Daily: "Coed showers going statewide? Family group says 'gender identity' bill threatens women, children"

"A "gender identity" plan for coed showers, locker rooms and other public facilities already implemented in one suburban Maryland county could be going statewide, according to alarmed members of a pro-family organization."

03-11-09:  Pink News (UK re the Isle of Man): "Manx gender recognition bill moves forward"

"A bill to bring the Isle of Man in line with the rest of the UK on gender recognition has unanimously passed its first reading in the Legisative Council."

03-10-09:  The Earth Times: "Stanford Medical Students Want to Help Gay Patients Be Comfortably ‘Out’ in Doctor’s Office"

“The question always comes up,” said Lunn, 27, a medical student from North Dakota at the Stanford University School of Medicine. “Do I want to come out or not?” This hesitancy is common with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients when meeting with a doctor for the first time. Often they’re scared away by homophobic comments, or simply by a basic lack of knowledge on the part of their doctor as to their unique health care concerns. “The fear of insensitivity from their doctor has driven many patients away,” Lunn said. “Sometimes never to return.”. . . "The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) Medical Education Research Group at Stanford University School of Medicine strives to improve healthcare for LGBT patients by conducting groundbreaking research to improve today's LGBT-related medical curricula."

03-10-09:  365 Gay News Video (posted 3-06-09): "Transgender Crusader"

"A professor at the University of Michigan is taking on the psychiatric community’s ideas about transgendered people and mental illness. Chagmion Antoine reports."

[LOGO/365 Gay News has posted the interview in which Lynn responds to Ken Zucker's bizarre attempt to suppress her website.]

[See also this YouTube video, and the original story at 3-03-09.]

03-10-09:  The Bilerico Project: "HRC Corporate Equality Index Revisions are Great, But 2012 is Much Too Late"; Filed by Kelley Winters, Ph.D

"I believe that the practice of awarding 100% scores to companies with trans-targeted health benefit exclusions is unconscionable and always has been. I ask that the HRC, starting today, never again award a fraudulent 100% CEI score to an employer with policies that specifically exclude coverage for hormonal or surgical transition care."

03-10-09: The Hill: "'I was not a pretty girl, and I felt like I was a man' " NEW

"The newest addition to Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) staff, Sanchez also boasts an impeccable résumé. Named one of the 100 most powerful Latinos in corporate America by Hispanic Business magazine, Sanchez carries 29 years of experience in corporate public relations, diversity management and healthcare policy work. But what the new legislative aide’s Capitol colleagues may not know is that Sanchez was born a female."

03-10-09:  JoonAng Daily (Korea): "Gay sex worker traffickers arrested" (more)

"Police yesterday arrested a group of traffickers who allegedly recruited Korean men and transgenders and illegally transported them to Japan to work in the sex industry there. . .An investigator in charge of the case said most of those booked for participating in the sex trade told police they went Japan to “earn a large amount of money in a short period of time to get a sex exchange operation.”"

03-09-09:  Times Herald (Vallejo, CA): "Vallejo intersex poet Bryant finds truth about self, gender" - the story of Rocky Michael Bryant (more)

"Shortly after their new child was born, Sam and Marie Bryant made a fateful decision. They cut off his penis. They gave him a feminine name -- Rosland Marie -- put him in dresses and sowed the seeds for his lifelong search for identity. . . "When I was a kid, I felt different," Bryant, 45, recalled. . . ."

"He rebelled against the femininity his mother demanded of him, hating the dresses and hating the stares of the other children. "I felt out of place, like I do now," he said. His mother also made him take estrogen pills to encourage his body to become female. Bryant spent much of his time in front of the mirror, examining his face and envying the bodies of her male relatives. Then, at the age of 10, the revelation came as her reflection stared back at her. "I'm a boy," he said."

03-09-09:  Chicago Flame (Univ.of Illinois, Chicago): "UIC scores 'A' on higher-ed gay visibility report"

"As opposed to numerous other institutions in the state, UIC includes gender identity and sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies. "Many schools don't have either, but even more so don't have gender identity," said Koster."

03-09-09:  The Cornell Daily Sun: "Conference Explores New Field of Trans Studies"

"On Friday afternoon, there was standing room only in the Goldwin Smith English Lounge as Prof. Masha Raskolnikov, English and feminist, gender, & sexuality studies introduced TransRhetorics, a conference exploring interdisciplinary approaches within the field of Transgender Studies and the rhetorics that represent transgender lives." [An in-depth report on an important conference]

03-09-09:  India Express (India): "Chennai: Move on toilets for transgenders sparks off debate"

03-08-09:  Lynnconway.com: “Disordered” No More: Challenging Transphobia in Psychology, Academia and Society”:  Report on the IFGE 2009 Conference Workshop presented by Joelle Ruby Ryan, Ph.D. Candidate, Julia Serano, Ph.D. and Kelley Winters, Ph.D. (Alexandria, VA, 2-06-09)

This panel featured three papers that "challenge current models of understanding transgenderism and demand an end to the continued oppression of transpeople in psychology, academia and society". The papers "examine the stigmatizing Gender Identity Disorder (GID) diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) . . . the sexualization of transwomen . . . and the exploitation, colonization and appropriation that many cisgendered academicians have engaged in when researching and writing about transpeople’s lives.” [These presentations really wowed the IFGE audience. We hope to post videos soon, so you can experience them too.]

03-08-09:  IFGE 2009 Workshop Presentation: “The Transgender Tipping Point: It is Not the Transperson Who is “Disordered” but the Society in which S/he Lives”, by Joelle Ruby Ryan [PDF]

“ . . . I believe we are in the midst of a paradigm shift that is incredibly momentous: the gaze is shifting.  Whereas as once transgender people were studied, pathologized and analyzed by so-called experts, now we are turning the lens back on to them and analyzing those who have analyzed us for so long. . . .”

[An essay for our times – please distribute widely]

03-08-09:  IFGE 2009 Workshop Presentation: “Top Ten Problems with the GID Diagnosis”, by Kelley Winters, Ph.D. [PDF]

"This is my personal list of the most egregious problems with the current Gender Identity Disorder diagnosis. While far from comprehensive, it is perhaps a starting point for dialogue about how harm reduction of gender nomenclature might be possible in the DSMV.”

[These ten points completely undermine the credibility of the GID diagnosis.] 

03-08-09:  Florida Times-Union: "Training on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender youths"
"Event focuses on foster care system representatives."

03-08-09:  ABS News (Philippines): "Wage 'all-out war' vs discrimination, LGBT group urges AFP"

"The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is being challenged to "wage an all out war" against discrimination. . . The LGBT group also urged AFP chief Gen. Alexander Yano to introduce anti-discrimination reforms in the military if they are "truly serious" with its pro-LGBT stance. "

03-07-09:  Belfast Telegraph (N. Ireland, UK, re Ireland): "Donegal farmer's 20-year battle to be accepted as a woman"

"A 20-year battle by a farmer to become recognised and treated as a woman has highlighted the huge difficulties facing people who suffer from Gender Identity Disorder (GID)."
 

03-06-09:  CNN.com: "On Twitter, is it 'he or she' or 'they' or 'ip'?"

""Can't we English-speakers just agree upon a gender-neutral pronoun?" attorney Paul Easton recently Twittered. "Tired of PC grammar gymnastics.""

03-06-09:  The Bilerico Project: "Bulletproof", by Kathy Padilla

"I wanted to follow-up on my guest post from last week discussing concerns over language being proposed for the hate crimes legislation. The definitions of gender identity & expression in the Hate Crimes Bill were conflated and seen as less well crafted then the language in last years ENDA; leaving the very real possibility that gender expression would be covered - but not gender identity. This conflation would potentially leave those who medically transition out of the bill. . ."

"We don't want to risk the language being imported into ENDA and having people argue that they fired someone for the same reasons and that the law doesn't apply. We don't even have to go outside our community to find examples of people who support gender expression equality, but might be happy to have an excuse to discriminate against transsexuals. Jim Forratt comes to mind." [more on Fouratt]

03-06-09:  Typically Spanish.com (Spain): "Transsexuals can now be admitted into the Spanish armed forces"

"The changes needed in medical admission procedures were approved on Monday, and became law when they were printed in the Official State Bulletin on Wednesday."

03-05-09:   Washington Blade: "Anti-trans assault reported at D.C. gay bar - Women allegedly attacked trans men outside Fab Lounge"

"Jaime said in a telephone interview that he was likewise “shocked that anything like this would happen here — that somebody from our own LGBT community would want to hurt somebody else from that same community.”"
 

03-05-09:  Human Rights Watch (re Guyana): "Guyana: Stop Dress Code Arrests "

"Guyana should halt arrests and police abuse of transgender people and repeal a repressive law that criminalizes wearing clothes considered appropriate only for the opposite sex, six human rights organizations said today in a letter to President Bharrat Jagdeo."

03-05-09:  WPIX (New York City): "Tranny Teens Terrorizing Downtown Girls"

"Police say a roving pack of transvestite teens has been targeting females living in a tony West Village building. According to authorities, the trannys would steal the women's purses and use their stolen credit cards to buy wigs and new clothes."

03-05-09:  Mount Holyoke News: "How far can gender be bent?"

03-05-09:  The Maneater (Univ. of Missouri): "Transgender clause proposed for MU discrimination protection"

03-05-09:  OUTFEST: "STILL BLACK: A PORTRAIT OF BLACK TRANSMEN (Dir. Kortney Ryan Ziegler, 2008, USA, 77 min.)

"Outfest's multicultural and gender-inclusive FUSION 2009 festival this weekend has a number of groundbreaking films, including a great documentary on black transmen. In this film six black transmen in the US discuss their professional and personal lives as artists and lawyers, fathers and husbands. An exploration of race, sexuality and transgender identity, this honest and original documentary is a portrait of the lives of these men and allows them to tell their own unique stories": Mar 7, 2009 at 3:30 PM PST, Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, CA  

03-05-09:  The Times of India (India): "Free sex-change operation gives hope to transgenders"

"Aravani Welfare Board members said they were delighted. "We are sure the number of deaths due to crude surgeries will now come down. Those who can afford scientific surgeries go abroad but the rest have no other option but to visit quacks. We will be urging government to increase the strength of the surgical team to make it on par with international standards," said Noorie, a transgender, also a member of the board."

03-05-09:  Bay Windows: "Experts at Harvard Law conference bemoan lack of survey data on LGBT health disparities"

03-04-09:  HRC: "Human Rights Campaign Foundation Announces New Corporate Equality Index Criteria" (posted 3-03)

"The new criteria raise the requirements that businesses must satisfy to achieve a 100 percent rating on the Index in four primary areas including: health insurance access for transgender employees; equal benefits for same-sex partners and spouses; competency training and accountability on LGBT issues; and external engagement with the LGBT community."

03-04-09:  Sophie OP3 (Dutch television documentary-interview show): "Transgenders"

An interview in Dutch of two transmen, two transwomen and a crossdresser - with a small cameo on very young transitioners and comments by Jos Megens, coordinator of the Amsterdam gender clinic. You can grasp the gist of the interviews even without understanding Dutch. [video, 40 min]

03-04-09:  MCV (Australia): "Concern over ‘misconceived’ transsexualism"
"Transgender activists are concerned about media representations of a man who underwent gender reassignment surgery but is now suing psychiatrists at the Monash Medical Centre. . . “It’s similar to heart surgery if one person dies on the operating table you don’t start getting these implied hints that heart surgery is wrong.”"

03-04-09:  The Mirror (Drury University, Springfield, MO): "Walking with the Hijaras: Third sex" people of India live in constant ridicule"

03-03-09:  CommonDreams.org (Press Release): "Equality California Launches Statewide TV Ad Campaign on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Movement - Ad to inspire Californians as EQCA continues efforts to achieve full equality"

03-03-09:  Minneapolis City Pages: "Transgender kids: How young is too young for a sex change?" [print]

"For [Walter] Bockting, the real question is how to help kids who suffer from the condition. Most children grow out of gender identity disorder by their teens. As adults, many are gay, some are heterosexual, but only a few become transsexuals. Because the diagnosis usually goes away, psychologists rarely recommend that a child with gender identity disorder live as the other sex. But in some cases, when young children are extremely depressed, even suicidal, an early switch may be the best option, Bockting says."

"Families and people who encourage young people to take hormones are, in my opinion, hurting that child, and not helping them see the reality of this world," says Paul McHugh, a physician at Johns Hopkins and an outspoken critic of sexual reassignment surgery. . . And allowing a child to live as the other gender?"Well, that's terrible," he says. "That's a form of child abuse.""

03-03-09:  Chicago Sun-Times: "Ken Starr vs. transsexual in Prop 8 case"

"Kenneth Starr and Shannon Minter, lead attorneys in the California Supreme Court case that will decide the fate of same-sex marriage in the state, are as different as the competing sides they represent. Starr, dean of Pepperdine University School of Law, is best known for leading the inquiry into President Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. Since then, the former federal judge and U.S. solicitor general has dedicated himself to conservative causes, including writing briefs for the Mormon church in a previous gay marriage case in California. 

Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, is a transsexual who spent his first 35 years as a female. He was a lead counsel in the state Supreme Court case decided last May that allowed same-sex couples to marry, a ruling that was reversed in November when voters approved Proposition 8."

03-03-09:  FindLaw.com: "Sex-Stereotyping and Dress Codes Under Title VII: Why Courts Can't Get it Right"

03-03-09:  CNN.com: "U.S. sued for benefits for same-sex marriages"

"A legal advocacy group sued the federal government Tuesday, seeking benefits for 15 gay and lesbian Massachusetts residents who wed after the state legalized same-sex marriage. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders -- the same Boston-based group that successfully argued in 2003 for same-sex marriage rights in Massachusetts -- filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston on behalf of six couples and three men whose husbands have died."

03-03-09:  Cornell University LGBT Studies Program: "TransRhetorics Conference", Friday, March 6 - Sunday, March 8"

"The TransRhetorics Conference celebrates the diverse interdisciplinary approaches used within the field of Transgender Studies, and the multiple rhetorics that go into the work of framing and representing transgender lives. With this conference we hope to bring together and engage people in cross-disciplinary dialogue about lived trans experience." [An important new form of conference: intro, schedule, speaker bios]

03-03-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Exclusive dept for sex change mooted in GH"

"Chennai: The Government General Hospital (GGH) is all set to send a proposal to the State Social Welfare Department seeking funds to set up a separate department for sex change surgeries, known in medical parlance as sex re-assignment surgeries."

03-02-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Sex change surgery on transgender"

03-02-09:  365Gay News: "Obama to repeal Bush ‘provider conscience’ regulations"

"Human rights groups say the regulations could impair LGBT patients’ access to care services if interpreted to permit providers to choose patients based upon sexual orientation, gender identity or family structure."

03-02-09:  ABC15.com: "Transgender vets in Tucson still hidden population"

03-01-09: Catholic News Agency: "Jesuit universities criticized for ‘obscene’ events promoting sexual ideologies"  NEW

“At Seattle University, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the student Trans and Allies Club are sponsoring “Transgender Awareness Week” which includes a session on supposedly transgender Bible heroes and heroines. . . These obscene abuses of Catholic values come just as Christians begin a holy season of penance, fasting and almsgiving,” said Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick J. Reilly. “Faithful Catholics have good reason to be outraged and heartbroken.”"

03-01-09:  Logo 365Gay News: ""Staying Sane": Lynn Conway interviewed on Logo's 365Gay News regarding Ken Zucker's attempt to suppress her website" (video, more)

February 2009

02-28-09:  The Vancouver Sun (Canada): "Growing up different: B.C. transgender patients queue for surgery, but the doctor who can do it is denied operating room time"

"The province made a commitment to transgendering patients who are "really struggling with a chronic health issue" and it's not living up to it, Ballem says. "It is troubling that there remains a gap in care for these patients . . . and I'm perplexed when seemingly the elements were seemingly put in place, it not being delivered.""

02-27-09:  Religion Dispatches: "ENDA Times: LGBT Groups, Echoing the Civil Rights Era, Approach Churches"

"For the HRC, the passage of an inclusive ENDA bill is paramount if they are to regain the trust of many in the LGBT community. HRC became something of a pariah after they supported the “non-inclusive” version, which sparked accusations that they were willing to throw transgender people under the bus in the name of political expediency. Even today, there are some LGBT people and organizations that won’t trust HRC or contribute to them for their perceived “betrayal” of transgender Americans."

02-27-09:  Queercents (posted 2-20): "Transgender Job Bank Offers Transgender Employment Resources"

02-26-09:  PamsHouseblend: "Hate Crimes & ENDA: Bad Bills Come and Bad Bills Go", by Kathleen

"Perhaps the greatest hopes of the lgbt communities on the national level are the inclusion gender identity/expression and sexual orientation in federal employment nondiscrimination legislation and hate crimes legislation. . . .The obverse would be applicable here – expression being covered, but identity being excluded. . . Which in the real world would present the likelihood that gender variant gay, straight and transgender people who don’t medically transition would be covered by the Hate Crimes Bill (and ENDA if it imports the language). Transsexuals would not be covered. . ."

"So – why are legislators considering these definitions that don’t unequivocally cover all trans peoples? When things happen in politics one should always look at money - when they happen to trans people in politics – one should always look at bathrooms. If those who medically transition aren’t included, interests that want to continue to exclude transgender related health care from insurance coverage are mollified. And if those who medically transition are excluded – politicians can say the bathroom issues don’t apply to this legislation . . ." [an important essay to read and ponder]

02-26-09:  Dallas Voice: "Resource Center offering counseling for transgenders

"10-session program is part of RCD’s partnership with SMU’s Center for Family Counseling . . . The group will focus on helping members set realistic life goals for education, career, and relationships. It will also help each member explore gender identity issues and live more comfortably within their identities."

02-26-09:  Scripps News: "'Invisible' transgender vets emerge from shadows"

"A study titled "Transsexuals in the Military: Flight Into Hypermasculinity" . . . by Dr. George R. Brown . . . noted that late adolescence — the stage when cross-gender feelings can become so confusing that some feel an urgent need to escape them — coincides with the prime recruiting age for the predominantly male U.S. military."

02-26-09:  Law.com: "Rare Transgender Employment Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Burlington Coat Factory"

02-26-09:  Warrington Guardian (UK): "Success at last for transsexual made famous by John Terry email"

02-26-09:  Globe and Mail (Canada): "Gym owner hit with rights complaint over gender" (more)

"Preop transsexual files grievance over request to join women-only gym; owner says he was still thinking about it"

02-25-09:  Queerty: "The Curious Case of Mike Penner: The Man Who Wanted to Be a Woman Is Staying a Man"

"Though there's no data available on how many transgender people abandon their new gender, psychologist Ron Lawrence of the Community Counseling Center in Las Vegas says about 5% of his transgender patients revert. [International Foundation for Gender Education executive director Denise] Leclair echoes that estimate."

02-25-09:  Outsports.com: "USA Today explores Penner's transition back"

02-25-09:  Iomtoday.com (Isle of Man): "Clergy's rights over transsexual weddings in the spotlight"

"Why should the clergy's right to refuse to perform a marriage ceremony for a transsexual be enshrined in law?"

02-25-09:  USA Today: "For some, shadow of regret cast over gender switch"

"Penner's public acknowledgment in April 2007 that he was transgender and would soon live as a woman shocked the world of sports journalism and turned his new identity, Daniels, into an instant celebrity. Daniels gave speeches, was profiled in Sports Illustrated, collected honors for courage from transgender groups and wrote a blog for the Times titled "Woman In Progress." Except that the transition didn't last. In mid-October 2008, after a lengthy leave of absence, Penner, 51, returned to the sports pages and the Times newsroom as a man. And just as suddenly, Penner's story, heralded in its early days as a triumphant example of transgender progress, has instead become a cautionary tale of the lesser-known phenomenon: transgender regret." [an important cautionary story]

02-25-09:  The Times of India (India): "Transgenders hail government promise of group housing but fear isolation"

"Despite the government announcement, a few in the community are wary. "The location should not be remote, it should be secure. We hope the concept does not result in segregating us, because integratiuon with society is what we are aiming at," says Isabel.  Nethra, a transgender, says she would like the government to discuss the issue with them before starting on the project. "Only then will we be able to put forth our needs and find an apt solution.""
 

02-24-09:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Transsexual sues Burlington over harassment"

"A transsexual former employee of Burlington Coat Factory filed a discrimination suit against the company today, claiming she endured seven years of verbal and physical abuse from supervisors, colleagues and customers after undergoing sexual reassignment surgery"

02-24-09:  The University Daily Kansan: "Panel to discuss transgender issues"

"The day and the panel are meant to encourage dialogue about gender, gender roles and gender identities to advocate safe, inclusive schools for all students."

02-24-09:  The Times of India (India): "Public toilets for transgender community"

"The transgender now has another reason to smile. After benefitting from the creation of a separate welfare board, issue of a ration card and employment training . . . the transgender community would . . .soon have access to an exclusive public toilet-cum-bathroom in the city."

02-23-09:  Washington City Paper: "Menace to Sorority"

"From the time that Devin Alston-Smith became involved in George Washington University’s Zeta Phi Beta sorority, he made it clear that he was not your typical sorority sister."

02-23-09:  Council on Hemispheris Affairs (re Colombia): "Parading Towards Equality: Transcolombia Awakes", by Rachel Godfrey Wood

"In the last several years, Colombia´s LGBT movement has come of age. The fruits of years of struggles can be seen in recent Constitutional Court rulings in favor of allowing homosexual and lesbian civil unions and allowing transsexuals to change their genders on their ID cards. Nowhere are LGBT advances more evident than in Bogotá" [important essay on trans politics in Colombia]

02-23-09:  Arizona Star: "VA reviewing policy against transsexual surgery" (more)

"In June, the American Medical Association approved a new policy on the care of transgender patients, effectively putting VA policy at odds with the recommendations of the nation's largest doctors group. . . A spokesman for national VA headquarters, in a recent e-mail to the Arizona Daily Star, said the VA is taking a second look at its policy banning transsexual surgery at veterans hospitals."
 

02-23-09:  Sabah (Turkey): "Transsexual candidate for district representative"

"District officer candidate Belgin Çelik: "As a transsexual woman, I believe I will be able to secularly fulfill my duties. I plan to determine the problems present and solve them with the public. There are two men also up for this position, but I believe I am going to win.""
 

02-23-09:  Sidelines (Middle Tennessee State Univ.):"Rapper educates against hate"
"Athens Boys Choir draws attention to transgender issues"

02-22-09:  Gratefulness.org re OII: "Light a Candle for Jeannie Kay Hinkle, Curtis Hinkle's wife and life-partner"

02-22-09:  Legacy.com (Spartensburg, SC): "Jeannie Kay Hinkle"

"Jeannie Kay Mebus Hinkle died Friday, February 20, 2009 . . . Survivors include her husband and loving companion for 30 years, Curtis Eugene Hinkle; two daughters, Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and Arienne Boyer of Virginia; a son, Galen Boyer of Massachusetts; a brother, Stephen Mebus of Virginia; six grandchildren; one great-grandson; and her cherished pets, Sensen and Chocolat." (more, condolences)

02-22-09:  The Guardian (UK, orig. posted 2-17): "Who do you think you are?" If the human rights of gay and lesbian children in our schools are routinely ignored, then the rights of transgendered children are not even recognised as existing"

02-22-09:  Arizona Star: "Transgender vets a hidden population: Men with gender struggles drawn to macho military"

"A study titled "Transsexuals in the Military: Flight Into Hypermasculinity" . . . by Dr. George R. Brown . . . noted that late adolescence — the stage when cross-gender feelings can become so confusing that some feel an urgent need to escape them — coincides with the prime recruiting age for the predominantly male U.S. military."

02-22-09:  The Daily Gazette (Swarthmore College): "Transgender Photo Narratives: The Art of Activism;" open hours through March 2; Sponsor: Kitao Gallery

"My Right Self is a photography exhibit that includes stories and photographs from five individuals or couples who identify as trans or gender-variant. The five participants span much of the diversity within the trans community/ies; transitioning from lesbian to male, heterosexual female to gay male, from male to lesbian, male to heterosexual female, and female to genderqueer."

02-21-09:  Salon.com: "I Changed Sex and Died"  NEW

"The day dawned cold and rainy. I woke when it got light. These days I wasn’t getting much sleep; a few hours here and there – that’s it. Discomfort and stress kept me from getting a good night’s sleep. It’s not easy living in a car. I was living in my car where it ran out of gas, under a freeway overpass in West Los Angeles. Though I woke bleak and depressed on that rainy Thanksgiving day, I had no idea it would be my last."

02-20-09:  AllAfrica.com (re Kenya): "Kenya: Social Injustice And Transsexual People", by Audrey Mbugua"
"Outlining the essential differences between sex and gender, Audrey Mbugua discusses the damaging general incomprehension of transsexualism within Kenyan society."

02-20-09:  Washington City Paper: "D.C. Jail Establishes New Procedures For Transgender Inmates"

"Today, the D.C. Department of Corrections issued a “program statement” establishing new procedures in how it classifies and houses transgendered inmates at the D.C. Jail. This is a huge step, and a surprisingly progressive step for the D.C. Jail."

02-20-09:  The Daily O'Collegian (Oklahoma State Univ.): "Transgenders speak about identity"

"They had to sneak around to find freedom. This was the speakers’ opening sentiment at Thursday night’s presentation of “Who I Am,” an event focusing on the lives and struggles of two transgender people — two women who became men."

02-19-09:  Santa Barbara Independent: "Understanding the Complex Lives of Our Transgender Community"

"Sexuality is a strangely incendiary topic in our culture. People tend to get edgy around variations of sexual expression that they don’t understand from their own experience." [an important major feature article] 

02-19-09:  Santa Barbara Independent: "A Transsexual Talks"
"Perry Norton Interviews Lisa Gilinger, a Santa Barbara Attorney and Transsexual" [audio interview]

02-19-09:  Santa Barbara Independent: "Michael Seabaugh - Lifting the Trans-Veil"

"Uncovering what life is like for any fringe community can be a challenging task. But when writer and psychotherapist Michael Seabaugh met some transsexuals as part of a UCSB project, he knew their story needed to be told, and soon realized that they too wanted to get the word out."

02-19-09:  LGF News (UK): "Home Secretary bans homophobic church from entering the UK"

02-19-09:  Chosun Ilbo (South Korea): "Landmark Ruling in Rape of Transgender Victim"
"A court on Wednesday convicted a man of raping a transsexual in an unprecedented ruling affecting the legal definition of rape."

02-18-09:  Quackbusting (blog): "The Riddle of Peter Jacobsen", by Sophia Siedlberg

"Lynn Conway observed that this behavior on the part of Jacobsen and those he is representing formed a distinct pattern of what is clearly intimidation. We don't really have to look very long and hard to see why Lynn Conway came to this conclusion. . . . They employ a range of methods including threatening emails, barring people from debate in numerous public fora and the use of agitators to confuse or disrupt debate that may go against the "Clarke Northwestern".

02-18-09:  Lynnconway.com: "Kenneth Zucker's legal threats: Part of a pattern of silencing transgender critics", an Investigative Report by Lynn Conway"

"And something else has begun to happen: Other transwomen have begun coming forward, revealing that they too had received similar threats from Zucker’s attorney. Two women have already agreed to allow their letters to be posted on the internet and under their real names. It seems that Lynn wasn't singled out to receive such a letter after all. Her letter was instead part of a pattern of threats and intimidation that CAMH has been using to silence critics of Zucker’s reparatist therapy." [Oh my, this is starting to get really strange]

02-18-09:  IOMTday (Isle of Man): "John Houghton resigns from Whitley Council" (more, more)

"Mr Houghton, who has been in the headlines recently following remarks he made in the House of Keys regarding the human rights of transsexuals, remains chairman of the Civil Service Commission." [looks like they got this widely unpopular man on unrelated charges]

02-18-09:  The Bismark Tribune (North Dakota, posted 1-26): "Putting the pieces together"

"It is like I'm experiencing life for the first time, with the sadness lifted," Jude said. "I want to play in the world for the first time. This has given me life. I rather would have been dead than be related to as a woman a second longer." [Story about young FtM coming out in North Dakota]

02-17-09:  TSRoadmap.com: "Disclosing your transgender status: a married reader shares her thoughts " (more, more, more)

"Dating and relationships. Ah, the excitement, the romance... the dilemma. You know the dilemma I mean -- whether or not to disclose that certain very personal fact about yourself to the other person." [From "A Rock and a Hard Place", one of the pages in this series]

02-17-09:  American Bar Association Journal: "Nearly Half of Nation’s Largest Law Firms Bar Gender Identity Discrimination"

02-17-09:  KHOU News (Houston, TX): "Transgendered HPD officer: I'm the same cop I've always been"

02-17-09:  Michigan Daily (Univ. of Michigan): "Seeking a post-gender society: University life for transgender students — what it is and what it should be."

02-17-09:  Today in India (India): "Transgender to face BJP chief in ‘ her’ first LS fight"
"This is Kinnar Daya Rani’s first shot at the general elections. Considering her novice status and the political heavyweights she will be pitted against, she is surprisingly confident. “Hundreds of people approach me with their complaints. Murders are committed every day. The roads are in poor condition. There is a shortage of power supply. Women are scared to walk alone on the streets. The sitting MP has done nothing in the past five years,” says Daya Rani.""

02-17-09:  The Times of India (India): "Transgenders get sympathy from SC, but no relief"

"An emotional demand by transgenders for notional equality in society through a constitutional compensation package, akin to that for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, evoked sympathy from the Supreme Court on Monday, but it said that the government alone could help them. . . Blaming the governments for being traditionally insensitive to the pitiable plight of the transgenders, the petitioner demanded setting up of a commission to determine the legislative corrective measures needed for upliftment of this forgotten branch of society."

02-16-09:  The Bilerico Project (posted 2-10): "Surrender Dorothy: the Clarke Wags a Broomstick at the Trans-Community", Filed by: Kelley Winters

"We trans people who transition to affirmed roles, who do not acquiesce to the bonds of our assigned birth-roles-- we lose our jobs, our homes, our children, our health care and our civil justice to defamatory stereotypes of mental disorder and sexual deviance promoted by the CAMH. Now, those of us who do not acquiesce to these maligning stereotypes, who dare to speak out against our own oppression, are threatened by the same CAMH with the loss of our life savings, our homes and our possessions by punitive litigation. "

02-16-09:  The Bilerico Project (posted 2-06): "Dr. Zucker Fights Back, and the APA's Special Exemption on Reparative Therapy Remains," Filed by: Mercedes Allen

"If Dr. Zucker's complaint against Dr. Conway seems to hold little water, one finds a more likely basis for a grudge in the fact that in her news feed, Lynn Conway has continued to point out the reports of his use of reparative therapy . . . Even though a number of these reports appear neutral or supportive of the therapy discussed, there are still signs that reparative therapy is forcing these kids to submerge and hide identities and anguish, in order to smile for the doctor and look "cured...""

02-16-09:  lynnconway.com: "Lynn Conway's Trans News Updates: La page web que K. Zucker essaye de supprimer"  [French translation of the Special News Report of 2-03-09]

02-16-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "Transsexual wife 'exercised' her elderly husband to death"

02-15-09:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Bon voyage madame president? It might seem hard to imagine, but San Francisco is in danger of losing Theresa Sparks."

"The Police Commission president and transgender activist seems as almost uniquely San Franciscan as Good Vibrations, the woman-friendly sex toy retailer that she used to be chief executive officer of. . . Cleveland-based adult store operator GVA-TWN bought Good Vibrations in late 2007, and by August, Sparks was out of a job. She, like millions of Americans, is now job hunting in a recession, never a fun time."

02-15-09:  Wales Online (UK): "True-life story of the macho sports editor who became a transsexual"

02-15-09:  Organization Intersex International (OII): "Hontas Farmer File: Background information and links to evidence"

"Hontas’s efforts to slip into Deirdre’s condo while Deirdre was away from home and to befriend Juanita while incognito, combined with Hontas's coordination with Cantor on hacking various wikipedia pages, suggest that Hontas has become an important CAMH collaborator. Given the attention and encouragement that James Cantor is showering on Hontas, we wouldn't be surprised at anything Hontas might do next – especially when considering Hontas’ past record of arrest and institutionalization for threatening to kill people with firearms.  Therefore, we would appreciate alerts and information about Hontas’ ongoing activities, especially any following and snooping around the homes of intersex and transgender people." [Detailed OII report on the activities of Hontas Farmer, a friend of J. Michael Bailey and a major participant in the transkids.us hoax]

02-15-09:  The Bilerico Project: "HRC Throws Trans Health Equity Under the Bus - Again", Filed by: Kelley Winters

"Despite years of objection by health advocates for the trans-community, the HRC continues to omit medically necessary transition care as a requirement for a perfect 100% CEI score. Employees who suffer distress with their physical sex characteristics or ascribed gender role (often termed gender dysphoria) are singled out by many employers for exclusion from coverage for corrective procedures that are not excluded for other employees. By rewarding these employers with 100% scores, the HRC perpetuates this discrimination."

2-15-09:  The Malta Independent (Malta): "There’s no going back"

"The Pope’s recent utterance sent shivers down the spines of liberal people everywhere. It also, perhaps all too quickly and perhaps it was rather far-fetched, re-ignited fears from well over half a century ago about the fate of gay people even in the 21st century. . . At a time when gays were finally feeling safe in the knowledge that the world no longer sees them as criminals or dangerous human beings, even in ultra-conservative Malta that is still without a divorce law, let alone same-sex marriage, out comes the head of the universal Catholic Church to abruptly drive them back into persecution mode." [This very powerful essay should be read by all LGBT people]

2-15-09:  CarlaAntonelli.com (Spain): "Zucker, el “medico” que dice “curar” transexuales amenaza con censura a Lynn Conway"

"La secuencia de pasos que dio Zucker sugiere que ya tenga el objetivo de suprimir, por cualquier medio disponible, la libertad de palabra de Lynn (y especialmente su capacidad de publicar por medio de Internet), a fines de minimizar tanto su desenmascaramiento como un práctico de psicoterapia trans reparativa, como el cuestionamiento creciendo sobre su jefatura de la actualización del DSM. . . Enfrentando esta amenaza, Lynn busca el apoyo de Uds. para proteger sus derechos constitucionales y para garantizar su acceso libre y abierto a Internet, para que su sitio Web quede libremente disponible a todo el mundo en apoyo a nuestra comunidad." 

02-14-09:  The Jamestown Sun (North Dakota): "SB 2278 is about basic rights of residents"

"The North Dakota Legislature is about to vote on an important bill. If passed, SB 2278 will prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation — including gender identity — in areas such as employment and housing. . . A little less than half the country extends these basic rights. If North Dakota turns to its values of fairness and an appreciation of a hard day’s work — no matter who does the work — we would set a fine example: value your citizens, all of them."

02-13-09:  National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) Press Release:"New Transgender Education Resource for Churches from the Institute for Welcoming Resources"

"The Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR), a program of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, today announced the release of transACTION, a new curriculum designed for churches and religious institutions to help congregants and members understand and welcome transgender persons into their congregations and faith settings. "

02-13-09:  Queerty: "Katelynn Finally Tells the Entire Real World House She's Transgender"

"Our new favorite person on The Real World: Brooklyn? Ryan. He's the straight Iraqi veteran who's taken a keen interest in all things Katelynn, the MTF transgender roommate, who until last night's episode had come out to everyone but the straight guys . . . But then Ryan approached her directly — and learned all about the process of transitioning."

02-13-09:  The Brown and White (Lehigh University): "Students talk transgender issues"

"Men and women gathered Tuesday at the Women's Center to discuss issues surrounding transgendered people and their role in "The Vagina Monologues," as part of V-Week."

02-13-09:  Ninemsn: Celebrity Fix: ""I look like a transsexual" — Lady Gaga says what everyone's thinking"

"Most people think Lady Gaga is pretty hot, but she thinks she looks more like a tranny! Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the singer says she can't understand why people think her outrageous fashion sense gives her sex appeal. "I just don't feel that it's all that sexy. It's weird. And uncomfortable. I look at photos of myself, and I look like such a tranny! It's amazing!"

02-13-09:  Daily Mail (UK re Italy): "Transsexual Mafia boss who wears lipstick and calls himself Kitty arrested by Italian police"

"A transsexual Mafia boss has been arrested by police in what is believed to be the first case of its kind. Ugo Gabriele, 27, who insisted on being called Kitty, was held by armed officers in a raid which also saw 27 other mobsters arrested."

02-12-09:  Dallas Voice: "Sheriff adds LGBT protections to department’s policy"

"With more than 2,000 employees under her direction, Valdez oversees Dallas County’s largest department "

2-12-09:  Alameda Sun (California): "Schools Plan to Teach Tolerance"

"Alameda Unified School District officials recently presented a proposed curriculum that will address sexual orientation and gender identity in the elementary schools. The district hopes to teach values that will prevent anti-gay violence and help students better accept fellow students from gay families."

02-12-09:  Out In America: "HRC Foundation Report: Number of businesses protecting transgender employees growing" 

"60 of the Fortune 100 largest businesses and nearly half of the nation's largest law firms, best colleges and universities now prohibit discrimination based on gender identity."

02-12-09:  The State (South Carolina): "City worker claims she was fired because of sex change"

"CHARLOTTE -- A former city operations assistant at a Charlotte maintenance facility has sued the city, claiming she was fired because she had a sex change. Anne Marie Clukey, who worked for the city for nearly two years, said she was fired because she did not conform to her supervisor's “gender stereotype”. . . Mac McCarley, the city's attorney, said a legal response has not yet been filed, but that the city will deny any liability. “Transgendered individuals do not have any rights under the federal employment discrimination laws,” he said."

02-12-09:  On Top Magazine: "An Intimate Portrait Of A Transgender Doctor's Life"

"Last we heard from Dr. Marci Bowers, the woman behind the city labeled “the sex change capital of the world,” was in World of Wonder's Sex Change Hospital, a six part docu-drama that focused on the people going under the knife. Tonight, Discovery Health turns the lens around to give us a look at the doctor holding the scalpel. In tonight's premiere presentation of Discovery Health's Transgender M.D. we get a bird's eye view of the life of Dr. Bowers, a world-renowned gender reassignment specialist."
 

02-12-09:  San Francisco Bay Guardian SEX-SF (The Guardian's sex-positive blog): Caution: this article contains sexually explicit material: "Porn god Buck Angel talks FTM realness"

"Buck Angel started his entertainment career way back in ‘80s as a super skinny, super hot, fashion model named Susan. Seriously, he was so hot even Howard Stern wishes he could go back and “do him” (although the feeling isn’t mutual). Modeling was great for a while, but Susan knew she’d never be happy as a woman. So she became a Buck instead." [An amazing article about an amazing guy]

02-12-09:  NHS Choices (UK): "Transgender: Ruth's story" (a YouTube video)

"Ruth, 22, was born in a male body but knew from the age of 16 that she wanted to be a woman. She describes her hormone treatment and surgery, and how she feels now. " [NHS Choices (http://www.nhs.uk) is an online information service which complements Britain’s front line health services.]

02-11-09:  Trans-ponder.com:  "Zucker vs. Conway, Round 1000: Cease! Desist! No Hyperlinking!", by Jayna Pavlin

[A great cartoon by Jayna Pavlin summarizing recent bizarre events]

02-11-09:  Typicallyspanish.com (Spain): "Spanish Defence Ministry to allow transsexuals to enter the armed forces"

"The change in medical legislation is being planned following the second rejection of a 28 year old transsexual from Jaén who was not recruited because of his lack of a penis" (more)

02-10-09:  World Net Daily: "Elementary announces janitor sex-switch - Letter to parents includes 'resources' for transgender children"

"The school is pushing a radical and dangerous agenda on the fragile minds of young kids," Camenker told WND. "It's utterly reprehensible."

02-10-09:  St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "TV talk shows for Feb. 13"

"9 a.m. Jerry Springer: A woman tells her boyfriend she is a transsexual; a mother objects to a transsexual love-affair; transsexual secrets."
[What with this guy and his obsession with transwomen? Will he ever get off this topic?]

02-10-09:  Manx Radio (The Isle of Man): "MHK appalled by colleague's bigotry"

"An MHK’s comments about the rights of transsexuals provoked outrage in the House of Keys today." (more)

02-10-09:  The Times of India (India): "Transgenders to assemble phones"

02-10-09:  lynnconway.com: "El Noticiero Transgénero de Lynn Conway: El Sitio Web que Zucker Trató de Censurar"
"Estamos difundiendo este reportaje para alertar a nuestros lectores y para buscar su apoyo para mantener la libertad de palabra de Lynn contra esta tentativa de suprimirla y limitarla. . . No es necesario que Uds. escriban cartas ni que hagan reclamaciones.  Es mejor que utilicen su propia libertad de palabra para difundir ampliamente este reportaje y la carta de Jacobsen, como prueba del ataque que hizo Zucker. Por informarle a la gente sobre la tentativa de Zucker de suprimir la libertad de palabra de Lynn, Uds. pueden mostrarlo por lo que es, y dejar que la historia lo juzgue." [Spanish translation of the Special News Report of 2-03-09]

02-10-09:  ThinkSpain (Spain): "Army rejects transsexual for lack of genitals"

"Aitor G.R., the transsexual who was declared unfit for the Army in 2007 for not having any male genitals, has been rejected again today in Córdoba, in what will have to be his last attempt in view of the fact that next month he will turn 29, the maximum age for entry into the Army." (more)
 

02-09-09:  News from Des Moines University (Iowa): "Learn About Issues, Health Concerns of Transgender Individuals"

"You are invited to attend a free event at Des Moines University on Monday, February 16 about the issues and needs of transgender individuals. Dr. Christine McGinn of Pennsylvania will be speaking about her own personal experience and about her clinic where she provides all types of care for transgender patients."

02-09-09:  New Haven Independent: "Campaign Puts The “T” Back In “LGBT”"

"“The ways in which gay and lesbian and queer identities are intertwined with gender non-conformity has a long history and a rich life in the gay community.” He said for the latter to separate itself disavows much of what the gay community has historically included."

02-09-09:  Galesburg Register-Mail (Illinois): "Discrimination, rejection common themes for transgendered"

"A lot of people think there aren't transgendered people here. But that's not right. We're everywhere. We're your neighbors, the person at the store checking your groceries, your social workers. We're not just in big cities like Chicago. We're everywhere." [extensive article with photos and videos]

02-09-09:  Galesburg Register-Mail (Illinois): "Stories from living a transgender life"

[see especially Trey Polevsky's story of being institutionalized and undergoing trans-reparative therapy at age 9]

02-09-09:  Pattaya Daily News (Thailand re US): "The Transgender Issue in the USA"

"Support is often forthcoming through the Internet, where applicants don't have to identify their assumed gender. However, unlike Thailand, where clinics abound, sex-change facilities in the States are few and far between"

02-08-09:  Independent (Ireland): "Children aren't guinea pigs"
"Society has a duty to protect its young, not subject them to scientific experiments, says Eilis O'Hanlon." [The trans-reparatist point of view on the Kim Petras story]

02-07-09:  Queerty: "Dr. Kenneth Zucker's War on Transgenders", by Japhy Grant

"Lynn Conway is one of the trans community's great heroes. . . her website has been the go-to place for transgenders looking for the latest news about their community. . . On Jan. 30th, she received a letter from Peter M. Jacobson, a lawyer for Dr. Kenneth Zucker, who is leading the revisions to the DSM-V, the standard text used by clinicians and psychologists to determine mental disorders. Zucker is accusing her of using libelous language in one of her web posts. The only problem? There's nothing libelous on the site. Why is Dr. Kenneth Zucker trying to silence Lynn? And more importantly, why is he determined to make sure the psychiatric code book keeps saying that gender identity is a mental disease?"
 

02-07-09:  Nashua Telegraph (NH):  "Transgender people plead for law change"

"For seven years, Robert Blanchette worked as a computer programmer at St. Anselm College. He was a reliable employee, often working weekends and holidays to keep up. He received commendations for his professionalism. Then suddenly, Blanchette found himself out of work. . . "I felt like I'd been thrown to the wolves," she said. "What happened to me is why this is so important.""

02-06-09:  The Bilerico Project: "Dr. Zucker Fights Back, and the APA's Special Exemption on Reparative Therapy", by Mercedes Allen

"Q: When is reparative therapy not reparative therapy?  A: When the patients are gender variant children. Then it's okay, or so the implicit judgment from the American Psychiatric Association would still seem to say. "

02-06-09:  Gender and Technology (Bryn Mawr): "Indigenous Americans and transsexuals"  NEW

02-06-09:  OII Intersex News: "OII supports Dr. Milton Diamond's suggestion that VSD be used instead of DSD"

OII wishes to thank Dr. Milton Diamond for his brilliant contribution to the debate surrounding the new terminology that was elaborated by the Chicago Consensus Statement, DSD or Disorders of Sex Development. Dr. Diamond has suggested that Variations of Sex Development would be a better term and most members of OII agree because it is more accurate and NOT STIGMATIZING."

02-05-09:  New York Times: Letters to the Editor re "What Do Women Want?" (see NYT article of 1-22-09)

"“Sex science” will eventually be viewed as we view “race science” today: as 19th-century eugenic pseudoscience produced to justify oppression. Sexology oppresses women and sexual minorities by describing their desires and behaviors as exotic and diseased. Genital plethysmography and functional magnetic resonance imaging are the latest technologies misused in the service of biological reductionism and neo-eugenics (euphemistically called sociobiology and evolutionary psychology). Meredith Chivers once worked at the world’s largest “clinic” for reparative therapy of gender-variant children, where they are busy revising the psychiatric manual that will catalog the latest “disorders” of women and sexual minorities. What do women want? We want to stop being objectified by quacks and unsophisticated reporters who fail to provide journalistic balance when presenting critical 21st-century bioethical debates." - Andrea James, Los Angeles

02-05-09:  Amnesty.org.uk (re Honduras): ""Honduras: Transgender women beaten, threatened and murdered"

"Amnesty International has put out an urgent appeal on behalf of a Honduran transgender woman who was arrested by the police, beaten up and threatened with death if she reported what happened to her."

02-04-09:  Telegraph.co.uk (UK re Germany): "World's youngest sex-change operation"
"German teenager Kim Petras has become the world's youngest transsexual after undergoing an operation at the age of just 16. . . The procedure – carried out in secret and paid for by the German health service – was authorised after psychologists confirmed that she was "without doubt a girl in a boy's body". It is the world's youngest ever full sex change operation and Kim – born Tim -had been undergoing hormone therapy since the age of 12." [Wonderful story about a teen transitioner who obtained modern humane medical treatment] (more)

02-04-09:  DeepStealth Productions Announces "Transproofed"

"Ava (Calpernia Addams) is a transsexual woman who has recently completed her transition. Her friend and mentor Joyce (Andrea James) has long advised her to get her apartment “transproofed,” a slang term for hiding all the evidence that she’s trans. In Ava’s case, that’s a tall order: Ava came up through the club scene as a showgirl, and both Ava and her apartment are vibrant, sexy, and full of clues. . . Will Ava be able to walk away from everything that made her who she is and start fresh? Or will she risk losing another guy she really likes by telling him she’s trans?" [Some good news for a change: the announcement of a cool new short film to premiere this summer!]

02-04-09:  Intersex News Blogspot: "Kenneth J. Zucker"

Posted by OII: http://www.intersexualite.org/ at 3:26 AM: "It has come to our attention that psychologist Kenneth J. Zucker, Ph.D. may have violated ethics regulations of the American Psychological Association of which he is a member (see http://www.intersexualite.org/Zucker-attacks-freedom-of-speech.html) and of the certification requirements as a certified psychologist of the Ontario College which grants his certification enabling him to practice as a psychologist . . ."

02-03-09:  TSRoadmap.com: "Ken Zucker nastygram to Lynn Conway threatening a libel lawsuit"

[Andrea James coined a cool word for it: a "nastygram"!]

02-03-09:  OII: "Kenneth J. Zucker's attack on free speech"

"Dr. Lynn Conway received the following legal letter from Kenneth Zucker's lawyer.  This letter is relevant to OII and our mission in favor of diversity and allowing as many people as possible the right to speak on intersex and gender issues.  Since we don't all have the same perspectives and experiences, a real commitment to freedom of speech is essential to OII's mission.  To read our policy: Click here"

02-03-09:  A Special News Report by Lynn Conway: "The Trans News Updates: The webpage Zucker attempted to suppress"

"We are posting this report to alert our news-feed readers about this situation – and to seek readers' support in maintaining Lynn's internet access and freedom of speech against what is clearly an attempt to suppress and infringe upon them. . . You do not need to write letters or make demands. You should instead exercise your own right of free speech to widely propagate this news report and the Jacobsen letter. By simply spreading the news of Zucker's attempt to suppress Lynn's freedom of speech, you can expose Zucker for what he is – and let history be his judge." [En Espanol, En Français]

02-03-09:  The Advocate (March issue): "Frank’s New Face"
"Barely over a year since transgender activists labeled Barney Frank a turncoat, he’s hired the first openly transgender legislative staff member on Capitol Hill. . . .Sanchez, U.S. representative Barney Frank’s new legislative assistant and the first openly transgender person to work in a federal congressional office, is charged with helping Frank pass an all-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act -- a bill that covers not just sexual orientation but gender identity as well -- in the first Obama Congress."

02-03-09:  YLE Uutiset (Finland): "Transsexual Identity Case May Set Back Gay Marriage" NEW

"A precedent-setting court ruling declares that a marriage becomes void if one person is transsexual and applies for an official change of gender. In a decision likely to anger the gay community, the court said that marriage only applies to unions between men and women."

02-03-09:  Same Same (Australia): "100% Pure Love"
"The Tiwi Islands in Northern Territory is home to one of Australia’s most inspiring drag performers. Crystal Love, also known as Crystal Johnson Kerinaiua, has performed all over the country delivering inspirational shows whilst tirelessly educating people on gay, bi and transgender issues. The term ‘yimpininni’ or ‘sistergirl’ is used to describe a transgender person in Aboriginal culture. It’s a very old term and one that’s dear to Crystal’s heart. White invasion not only wiped out many indigenous people, it also had an impact on indigenous culture and understanding of sexual and gender expression. As Catholicism took hold and many traditions were lost, this term became a thing of the past."

02-03-09:  ThaiIndian News (re Nepal): "First transgender choir strikes gay rights chord in Nepal"

"“It is meant to get together and have some fun afternoons.” The transgender choir has also brought out its first CD. “It’s not a commercial venture,” Sjoerd explains. “It’s more to create awareness about transgenders - that they have the same human rights as any others.”"
 

02-01-09:  Out&About: "Tough times for transgender Tennesseans"

"James is a man birthed into a woman's body. He and his trans-brother Levi Vincent,19, are a part of small but growing group of teens who have realized early in their lives that they are transgendered."

02-01-09:  World Net Daily (posted 1-31-09): "Driver's licenses let applicants pick gender - State allows men to identify themselves as women"

[Provides the conservative/evangelical-Christian viewpoint on the Massachusetts RMV action]

02-01-09:  Boston Herald: "RMV backs up on gender rule - License designation made easier"

"The Registry of Motor Vehicles has quietly reversed a Romney-era policy that advocates said made it nearly impossible for transgender people to change their gender designation on driver’s licenses and state identification cards. In a Jan. 21 letter to Solomon, Registrar Rachel Kaprielian wrote that transgender people no longer need to present medical proof of sex reassignment surgery or amended birth certificates in order to change the gender designation on driver’s licenses and state identification cards."

02-01-09:  Guardian (UK): "Pope promotes pastor who said hurricane was God's punishment - New Catholic bishop called Katrina 'divine retribution' for New Orleans' permissive sexual attitudes"

"In 2005, the 54-year-old was quoted in a parish newsletter as saying he was convinced that the death and destruction caused by Katrina that year was "divine retribution" for New Orleans' permissive sexual attitudes and tolerance of homosexuality."
 

January 2009 

01-31-09:  Very sad news from Belgium: "Professor doctor ingenieur Femke Olyslager: 24 November 1966 - 28 January 2009"

"You are kindly invited to the cremation ceremony on Thursday 5 February 2009 at 14 o'clock in the crematorium to Turnhout, Steenweg on Merksplas 68.  Meeting in the crematorium 13.45 hour. After the ceremony, there one's condolences can be offered to the family. The burial will take place in intimate circle in the cemetery at Wechelderzande."

[Our dear friend Femke Olyslager has passed away. She was in very poor health and was suffering from depression at the time. We have no further details, but will post additional information as it comes in. Be advised that the family has chosen to include Femke's old male first name in obituary notices such as the one above. Out of respect to Femke's memory we will, where possible, delete that first name from notices before posting them.]
 

01-31-09:  Salt Lake City Tribune: "Off the Agenda: Men driving as women posing 'a big problem'"

"Rep. Carl Wimmer, a Herriman Republican, has dropped his plan -- at least for now -- to stop transgender Utahns from switching the sex designation on their driver licenses until they've absolutely and irreversibly completed a sex-change operation. The state's current policy allows an applicant to swap the "M" for "F," or vise versa, by submitting written verification from a physician, psychiatrist or therapist that the applicant is in the process of a gender transition."
 

01-31-09:  This Is Cheshire (UK): ""NHS is exploiting my life" - claims transsexual"

"A transsexual, angry at an NHS advertising campaign that depicts a man wearing makeup, says her lifestyle has been exploited for the sake of a poster. Lucy Smith thinks the NHS should have been more sensitive to the transsexual community in Warrington when it developed a poster warning women drinkers they could end up looking like men." [click on lower right photo-thumbnail to see the offensive poster]
 

01-31-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "The upmarket country town that has been invaded by transvestites"

01-30-09:  Pink News (UK): "MEPs call for EU to pressure Honduras on trans murders"

"Members of the European Parliament are demanding that the EU raise the issue of violence against trans people with the Honduras government. Transgender women who work as sex workers in Honduras are frequently attacked by clients or police officers. Three trans women have been killed in the last three months . . ."
 

01-30-09:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): ""Activist urges end to sex change rules"

01-30-08:  The Greeley Tribune (Colorado): "Man accused in transgender killing faces riot charge" - "The charges against a man accused of killing a transgender woman last summer continue to mount."

01-30-09:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "The Real Tale of Jakarta’s Warrior Princesses"

[Article about 'Srikandi Sejati', a foundation that focuses on the issues of waria (transgender women) in Jakarta]

01-29-09:  Daily Telegraph blog (UK): "Traditional Anglicans 'to be offered personal prelature by Pope'", by Damian Thompson 

01-29-09:  GLT (San Diego): "Man receives 12-year prison sentence for sexual battery, robbery of three"

"One of the victims knelt down in court to illustrate how Edward Terry Wallace, 25, ordered her to the floor in her home and put a stun gun to her head before robbing her. “He was there to rape me, and rob me. He took $730 from me,” she told San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Smyth. The victims described themselves as transgendered and submitted a personal ad on Craigslist in April, 2008. . . They said Wallace came to their homes with robbery and sexual assault on his mind . . .Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza told the judge Wallace chose the victims because “of who they were.” Espinoza added that Wallace later said he thought transgendered people were “immoral” and “he had less guilt in stealing from transsexuals.” "

01-29-09:  Io9: "The Biggest Sexology Breakthroughs of the Past 130 Years," by Annalee Newitz

01-29-09:  Bay Windows (Boston): "10,000 Dresses celebrates transgender children"

"Beginning with the vibrant sunburst and smiling child on its cover, Marcus Ewert’s 10,000 Dresses is a joyous book about self-acceptance and identity. It is also the only children’s picture book that features an openly transgender protagonist, and does so with both sensitivity and celebration."

01-29-09:  Bay Windows (Boston): "Boston City Council supports passage of trans rights bill"

01-29-09:  Bay Windows (Boston): "Faith leaders strategize for transgender rights at Newton forum"

01-28-09:  Indybay: "Groundbreaking legal guide to assist transgender immigrants"

"The Transgender Law Center and Immigration Equality have released the first immigration law practice manual for attorneys representing transgender clients."

01-28-09: Just Plain Sense blogspot (UK): "Is the Equality and Human Rights Commission trying to “forget” trans people?", by Christine Burns

"In spite of a succession of legal judgements upholding the rights of trans people in the UK (including a unanimous decision by the European Court of Human Rights in July 2002) they remain subjected to constant oppression and denial of the same rights expected by everyone else." (link to reply by Chief Executive of EHRC)

01-28-09:  Florida Baptist Witness: "Gainesville citizens fight ‘gender identity’ law"

"Concerned that a year-old “gender identity” law will jeopardize the safety of women and girls in public restrooms, citizens in Gainesville have mounted a referendum campaign to overturn the ordinance in March 24 city elections."

01-28-09:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Sean Dorsey tells transsexual gay man's story"

"Weaving movement with story, the 36-year-old Dorsey tells finely crafted, poignant tales of transgender life. In "Uncovered: The Diary Project," premiering this weekend at Dance Mission Theater, Dorsey turns his attention to the life of Lou Sullivan."

01-28-09:  Sheffied Telegraph (UK):  "What did transvestite Dean and his new wife do next? (more, video)
"SouthYorkshire cross-dresser Dean Dudley and his wife Robyn have signed up to appear on Channel 4 programme Wife Swap." 

01-27-09:  GLAAD: "GLAAD Announces Nominees, Special Honorees for 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards"

"Transgender lives and stories received significant attention in the media this year.  Nominees addressing the transgender experience include Ugly Betty, The L Word, "Tandem Repeats" ER, America's Next Top Model, I Want to Work for Diddy, Transamerican Love Story, "The Pregnant Man" The Oprah Winfrey Show, "Transgender Triumphs" and "Gays in the Ghetto" from The Tyra Banks Show, "Becoming" from WCAX-TV3 in Burlington, Vt., Born in the Wrong Body: All in the Family, Sex Change Hospital, Karen Lovett and Ashley Smith's "Special Report: In Transition" in The Telegraph [Nashua, N.H.], Daisy Hernández's "Becoming a Black Man" ColorLines, Ben Ehrenreich's "Death on Terminal Island" Los Angeles, and Maximillian Potter's "Second Nature" in 5280."

01-27-09:  Medill Reports (NU Med School): "Transsexual women sue to change gender on birth certificates"

[Includes photo of complainants Victoria Kirk and Karissa Rothkopf (click on photo to enlarge)]  (more, more, more)

01-27-09:  Earth Times (re Illinois): "ACLU Asks Court to Order New Illinois Birth Certificates for Two Women Following Sex Reassignment Surgery Abroad"  

"For more than four decades, Illinois has permitted individuals who have gender confirmation surgery to change the gender “marker” on an original birth certificate; the Department of Vital Records, however, recently started interpreting the law to provide this option only if an individual has the surgery by a United States-licensed physician." (more, more, more)

01-27-09:  African Path (re Kenya): "Human Rights Violations on Kenya’s Transgender Community"

" . . .because of the conflation of transgenderism and homosexuality, the common fallacies that come out when we look into the history of “transgender hate” oppression is that it’s mostly labeled as “gay hate” oppression. But, on a closer look, a vast majority of these “gay hate” crimes are actually atrocities done on Kenya’s transgender community."

01-26-09:  The Paly Voice (Palo Alto High School, CA): "Humanities project challenges definition of gender"  - "Paly student spends day in drag for experience, explores challenges transgender teens face"

01-26-09:  QNotes (North Carolina): "James uses anti-trans slur, voices ‘concern’ over Meck. domestic partners" - "Meck. Co. Commissioner Bill James says bisexuals are promiscuous, state law criminalizes homosexuality"

01-26-09:  Chennai Online (India): "59 Trasgenders given free house site pattas"

"Fifty nine transgenders were today given free house site pattas, totally worth about Rs 6.12 lakh, by district Collector P Amudha at Chettikarai village near here."

01-26-09:  Kaos GL News (Turkey): "Press Declaration on the Reasoned Decision of Lambda's Court Case"

"For the last 20 years, it is not the number of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and transvestites increasing, rather it is their individual and organized visibility that has been pressured and silenced until today. It is thus, unfortunate, that the court of appeal considers the organized visibility and rights struggle of the ignored LGBTT's, who are subjected to pressure and othering because of their sexual identity and sexual orientation, as a risk to society."

01- 26-09:  GLAD News: "MA RMV Updates Policy for Changing Gender Markers"

"Now, instead of having to submit medical proof of sex reassignment surgery as well as an amended birth certificate, transgender people will be able to change their gender designation by submitting a Gender Designation Change Form signed by a medical provider, “attesting to the gender that individual considers him or herself to be.”" (more)

01-25-09:  New York Times: "7 Years for Psychologist"
"A former mental hospital psychologist who said he became interested in child pornography while treating sex offenders was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison." [Interesting example of the voyeuristic psychologists who make careers out of obsessing over people's sexual activities.]

01-26-09:  Daily News Egypt (Egypt): "New committee to approve sex change operations"

"Although the number of gender operations does not exceed two cases a year, the new decision “was needed to regulate the procedures in the future,” he added. The new regulations are binding to both public and private hospitals and clinics. Doctors that don’t inform the syndicate before conducting such operations will charged with violating syndicate regulations . . ." [i.e., Egypt has in effect shut down legal access to SRS in that country]

01-25-09:  Times Colonist (Vancouver, Canada): "Growing up different: B.C. transgender patients line up for surgery but doctor who can do it is denied OR time"

"Katherine Dedyna writes about British Columbians living with gender identity disorder who continue to face expensive surgery and long stays at a private Montreal clinic now that plans for a publicly funded sexual reassignment clinic on the West Coast have collapsed."

01-25-09:  The Washington Post: "The Ways of Some Flesh" - "Portraits of adults who won't settle for "vanilla sex.""

"Bergner takes us into the "anarchy of lust" that consumes his subjects. He discusses their strategies for dealing with their obsessions, from the foot fetishist's tortured shame to the Baroness's flamboyant celebration of her talents. He also provides a layman's overview of current theories about paraphilia's causes and treatments. . . Bergner, a New York Times Magazine staff writer, keeps his prose simple and straightforward. He's the old-fashioned fly on the wall. Except for noting how "repelled" he is by the pedophile with a victim exactly the age of his own daughter, Bergner does not dwell on his own reactions and interactions. Given how much of paraphiliac experience involves the twin poles of mortification and exhibitionism, Bergner might have engaged in a little more metajournalistic revelation about his presence, as a witness, at a group session for sex offenders or at an S&M sex party." [More about Daniel  Bergner , the controversy-book writer who deifies Zucker's ASB and CAMH clinic (see 1-22/23-09)]

01-24-09:  Guardian (UK): "I used to be a man" (interview with Kate Craig-Wood)
 

01-23-09:  Gay City News: "Trans Dress Code Loss"

"A sex discrimination claim by a gender-transitioning retail sales employee fired for using make-up and letting her hair grow longer than her employer deemed appropriate for men has been rejected by the US District Court for the Northern District of Indiana."

01-23-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Punishing difference"

01-23-09:  New York Times: "Surveying the Outer Reaches of Lust" 

"“The Other Side of Desire,” which comes out on Tuesday, is about people most of us would call perverts or weirdos. The main characters, all of whom Mr. Bergner interviewed extensively and some of whose identities are disguised, are a man with a foot fetish; a woman called the Baroness, who runs an S&M dungeon and designs latex fetish attire; a man with a fixation on his 12-year-old stepdaughter; and a photographer who is turned on by women with missing limbs."

[Here we go again: Yet another notoriety-seeking sex-obsessed "straight white divorced male" controversy-book author (who worships Zucker's ASB and the gender clinic at CAMH) is pumped-up by the New York Times (see 01-22-09)]

01-22-09:  Editor and Publisher: "Coming Attraction: Preview of 'NYT Magazine' With Semi-Shocking Sex Images on Sunday" 

"Pushing the envelope, as least in its use of images, The New York Times Magazine this Sunday features a provocative feature story on “female desire” titled, “What Do Women Want?”" [Note how this commentary promotes a 'controversy' about the NYT piece.]

01-22-09:  New York Times: "What Do Women Want?"

[Note: In this article about the work of J. Michael Bailey's student Meredith Chivers, author Daniel  Bergner proclaims that the "Archives of Sexual Behavior" is "the world’s leading journal of sexual research" and the "Center for Addiction and Mental Health" is "a prestigious psychiatric teaching hospital" - in a highly biased deification of Zucker's sex-obsessed trans-reparatist sexology clique. An interesting example of how Zucker's clique aligns with and exploits the media.]

01-22-09:  The Daily Northwestern: "Cover Story: Self, Sex and Politics" - "Transgender students and faculty fight for equal rights and equal protection. Will a new university president make this a reality for the last unprotected minority on campus?"

Note: We wonder how NU transgenderism-denier J. Michael Bailey will react to this initiative. Recall that on p.174 of his book Bailey teaches that  transwomen "are almost all autogynephiles" and on page 180 he denies the existence of gendered identities. Would Bailey support full and equal rights for transgender people? We don't think so.

Meantime, NU students should beware of criticizing Bailey's teachings, because part-time NU faculty member and Bailey-defender Alice Dreger is likely to charge them with attacking Bailey's 'academic freedom' if they openly challenge his views!

01-22-09:  BBC News (UK): "Transsexual's murderer gets life"

01-22-09:  DNA India (India): "City transgenders hail Delhi PIL"

01-22-09:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "PAN Lawmaker Calls for 14% of Jobs to Be Allocated to Transgenders"

"A senior legislator from the moderate Islamic National Mandate Party, or PAN, said he wanted to ensure that as many as 14 jobs out of every 100 are allocated to members of Indonesia’s large transgender community."

01-22-09:  Houston Press: "Attagirl: Transsexual Police Officer Nominated Grand Marshal of Pride Parade"
"The nominees for Grand Marshal of the Pride Parade were announced recently and Houston Police Officer Julia Christina Oliver is among the women named. That couldn't have happened two years ago when Oliver was still a male. "

01-20-09:  Gendermadness.com:  "Book Announcement: Gender Madness in American Psychiatry, Essays from the Struggle for Dignity", by Kelley Winters, Ph.D. [announcement PDF]

"More than three decades after the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove the classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, those who do not conform to their assigned birth-sex, either by inner identity or outer social expression, are labeled mentally ill in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), with grave consequences to their human dignity and civil liberties. For transsexual individuals, the current diagnostic categories of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and Tranvestic Fetishism also pose barriers to access to medical transition procedures. As the APA works toward its fifth revision of the DSM in 2012, these gender diagnoses provoke growing controversy while perpetuating harmful stereotypes that fail to explain the existence of countless well-adjusted transsexual, gender queer and gender transcendent people who have contributed to society for millennia.

Gender Madness in American Psychiatry: Essays from the Struggle for Dignity provides an overview of the literature and attitudes behind the current diagnostic nomenclature and a historical snapshot of the issues and challenges faced by gender transcendent people on the eve of publication of the Fifth Edition of the DSM. This book contains a collection of essays from the struggle for transgender dignity and health care access. They are expanded from pieces posted to the GID Reform Advocates web site in 2008 and incorporate the generous feedback and discussion from advocates and critics.

For students of psychology, sociology, anthropology and gender studies curricula, this book provides an overview of the literature and social context that led to the current diagnostic nomenclature. It offers a historical snapshot of the issues and challenges faced by the trans-community on the eve of publication of the DSM-V. For gender transcendent people, this book is a call for respect and celebration of the broad diversity that exists within our community. Yet, it is also a call for unity and solidarity in demanding change for psychiatric policies and stereotypes that harm all trans-people. For mental health clinicians who work with transitioning clients, this book is intended to provide some insight, from a trans-perspective, into the barriers to social legitimacy and access to medical care that are posed by the categories of current Gender Identity Disorder and Transvestic Fetishism."

[contents, reviews, author, GIDreform.org]

01-19-09:  Queerty: "Transgenders, Transgenders Everywhere"

"Are we in the middle of a transgender renaissance? Of course not—a renaissance would require an original time when transgender men and women were treated with normalcy. But maybe we're heading down the path toward the first era where MTF and FTM folks won't be treated as outsiders, but just another demographic group children grow up with."

01-19-09:  Metro.co.uk (UK):  "Antony Hegarty's truly natural talent"

"The music world seemed to swoon in unison when Antony Hegarty's outfit Antony And The Johnsons won the Mercury Music Prize . . . This indie paean to transgender identity and beauty became a Top 20 hit . . ."

01-19-09:  BBC News (UK): "Man guilty of transsexual murder"

"A roofer has been found guilty in the 11-year-old murder case of a transsexual prostitute in London."

01-19-09:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Transgenders Hold First National Conference, Demand End to Discrimination"
"In the first-ever national conference of transsexuals and transvestites, Indonesians from 23 provinces are meeting . . . to discuss ways to improve their legal rights and stop discrimination."

01-18-09:  Broadway World: "Emmy Winning and Oscar Nominated Arranger Angela Morley Passes Away at 84"

"Music arranger Angela Morley, who won Emmys for arranging two of Julie Andrews television specials has died at 84 in Scottsdale, Arizona. She's said to have passed away from complications of a fall and a subsequent heart attack. The three-time Emmy winner, also received Oscar nominations for adaptaing the songs in the musicals "The Little Prince" and "The Slipper and the Rose". This prolific woman also wrote her own official bio for her web site, which we reprint below. A very full life! Our thoughts and prayers go out to her partner Christine Parker, along with her son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren during this difficult time. For more information, visit http://www.angelamorley.com/ "
 

01-18-09:  The Stage News (UK): "Composer Angela Morley dies"

01-17-09:  Associated Press (re Brazil): "Transgender model steals the show in Fashion Rio"

"Globo Television's Web site called the 25-year-old Araujo "the star" of the show's final day, and model Isabeli Fontana told O Dia that Araujo "is the greatest."" [note the two beautiful photos; click to enlarge]
 

01-17-09:  Organisation Internationale des Intersexués (OII): "The self-proclaimed experts on intersex: Zucker and Lawrence", by Curtis Hinkle

"I am sure that many intersex people were aware that the APA had brought out a booklet on intersex. However, I am not sure that many understand how problematic it is to many intersex people to see some of the following names associated with this booklet: Margaret Schneider, Walter O. Bockting, Randall D. Ehrbar, Anne A. Lawrence, Katherine Louise Rachlin and Kenneth J. Zucker. At first glance, the booklet seems apparently harmless. However, that is what's so clever about it. It's a way for the Clarke/Northwestern clique to get their nose under the (intersex) tent and then later "come on in"."

01-17-09:  Bleacher Report: "Under Which Category of Sport Should a Transgender Surgery Person Compete"

01-16-09:  Detroit Examiner: "Meet TS Performer And Star Kimber James"

01-15-09:  Florida Baptist Witness: "Gainesville citizens fight ‘gender identity’ law" - "March 24 referendum would overturn ‘government gone wild’"

01-15-09:  Inter Press Service (re Mexico): "RELIGION: Catholic Church Family Meet Slams Door on Diversity"

"Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said the family is a gift from God that is threatened by error and sin, and by "relativism." . . . His remarks were read by analysts as more or less veiled criticism of new Mexico City laws that legalised same-sex unions and abortion on demand up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and allow transsexuals to change their identity and gender on their identity documents. "

01-15-09:  KCBS: "San Francisco Makes Municipal ID Cards Available"

"Supporters say the program will aid undocumented immigrants, as well as homeless residents, transgender individuals, seniors, students and children who often lack government-issued identification."

01-15-09:  Bay Windows (Boston): "MTPC town hall meeting addresses status, strategy for passing trans rights bill"

"MTPC Steering Committee chair Nancy Nangeroni told the audience that MTPC has learned that someone anonymously e-mailed every member of the state legislature a copy of a video created by the Gainesville, Florida-based Citizens for Good Public Policy . . . The commercial shows a young blond girl walking from a playground into a public restroom. A few seconds after she closes the door, a menacing man wearing a baseball cap and dark sunglasses walks into the bathroom behind her. A message on the screen links the video to the city’s gender identity ordinance, reading, "On January 28, 2008, your City Commission made this legal. Is that what you want in Gainesville?""

01-15-09:  IFGE Press Release: "International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), Announces Plans for Transgender 2009 – the 23rd Annual Conference"

01-15-09:  Gazette Live (UK): "Denise to take final step in bid to become a woman"

01-14-09:  Pam's House Blend: "10,000 Dresses", a review by Autumn Sandeen"

"10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert is a charming tale of a "boy" named Bailey who dreams of wearing dresses. His parents and brother tell him that boys don't wear dresses and Bailey is sad because she doesn't feel like a boy. Bailey finally meets a friend that understands the desire to wear dresses and helps her achieve that goal. It is a story with beautiful illustrations by Rex Ray that uses just enough words to say what is needed. I highly recommend it for children of all ages (adults too), although it is definitely a book that would be enjoyed by the under 10 crowd. 10,000 Dresses helps us understand the workings of the gender variant child's mind from their point of view and it is very nicely done."

01-14-09:  Southern Voice: "Openly transgender woman elected to party position in Ore. - Calvo will serve as state's Democratic Party treasurer"

01-14-09:  NCLR: "From Tragedy, Resolve"

"In the wake of these nightmares, and the media speculation and community discussion surrounding them, the questions about how the sexual orientation and race of the victims may have influenced their fate keep coming up."

01-14-09:  Focus On The Family: "Answering Parents' Questions on Gender Confusion in Children"

"Dr. Zucker explains, "Gender dysphoria (confusion) is increasingly understood [by some]…as having biological origins [in] small parts of the brain. In terms of empirical data, this is not true. It is just dogma.""

01-13-09:  The Vancouver Sun (Canada): "Convicted 'dangerous' rapist starts sex-change controversy in Ont."

01-13-09:  Queerty: "Dr. Phil Invites Bigots On TV To Taunt Mother of Trans Teen"

01-13-09:  VirtueOnline (The Voice of Orthodox Anglicism): "Sex And Seminary"

"Almost half of the schools queried indicated that worship experiences in chapel at least occasionally focused on gay, lesbian, or bisexual experiences. Seven of the 36 schools also offered worship focused on transgender issues. . . All this adds up to a huge effort to redefine what is normative in theological education, but the larger agenda is to remove the churches as obstacles to the deconstruction of biblical sexual morality. Obviously, many of these schools have already joined that bandwagon . . . and transformed Christianity into a form of sexualized paganism." 

01-12-09:  Human Rights Watch (re Hondura): "Honduras: Investigate Murder of Transgender Activist - Authorities Should Act Against Increasing Violence" (ES) (more, more, more)

"Cynthia Nicole fought tirelessly to secure basic rights protections for transgender sex workers, the authorities need to find and prosecute the perpetrators of this and previous attacks against the trans community."
 

01-12-09:  MetroWeekly (re Florida): "Florida conservatives using scare tactics against transgender restroom rights [video]"

[This article links to the video ad. See also NYT article of 1-10-09]

01-10-09:  Point Foundation Mentoring Messenger  (Dec. 2008 issue): "Working Together on LGBT Community Service Projects"

"Last year, in the face of direct threats to her future academic career, Joelle Ruby Ryan courageously chaired a National Women’s Studies Association panel discussion on resisting transphobia in academia. Her mentor, Lynn Conway was by her side before, during and after the endeavor."  [link to online copy of the full newsletter]

01-10-09:  New York Times (re Florida): "Foes Say Law Protects Predators" (more, more)

"A blond girl heads from a playground into a women’s restroom. A scruffy-looking man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. “Your City Commission made this legal,” the words on the television screen read. The advertisement came from opponents of a gender-identity provision added last year to Gainesville’s antidiscrimination ordinance."

01-10-09:  Republican-American (Waterbury, CT): Crossdresser leads police on high-speed chase" (a sad example of what 'not to do' in response to potential embarrassment)

01-09-09:  Broadway World: "CHRISTINE JORGENSEN REVEALS Makes Its Historic Return 2/26"

"In 1958 CHRISTINE JORGENSEN walked into a recording studio in New York and allowed herself to be interviewed - for 51 minutes. Arguably the most revealing, truthful and riveting 51 minutes ever set down on vinyl. . . It is absolutely riveting. She backs away from nothing. She faces each question head on. She never flinches. With eyes wide open she blinds her audience with complete candor. The result is a theatrical triumph of what almost became a lost treasure of communication."

01-09-09:  Associated Press (re Florida): "Fla. conservatives fight transgender restroom rule"

01-09-09:  OII (re Mexico): "Mexican intersex woman sets precedent for privacy for transsexuals on birth certificates: Summary of articles from the Mexican press by Curtis E. Hinkle, founder of OII" 

[see following articles re this important development in Mexico]:

01-09-09:  ESMAS (Mexico)(01-05-09): "SCJN aplaza decisión sobre amparo a transexual"

"Ministros de la Corte decidirán este martes si se concede o no el amparo a un transexual, quien pretende obtener un acta de nacimiento con su actual sexo"
 

01-09-09:  El Universal (Mexico)(01-06-09): "Ampara Corte a transexual; podrá tener nueva identidad"

01-09-09:  Terra (Mexico)(01-07-09): "Suprema Corte respalda privacidad de la identidad anterior de transexuales"

01-09-09:  Xtra.ca (Canada): "New NDP MP Megan Leslie had activist roots" - "Rainbow Warrior/ No time for status trappings of life on the Hill" (article about a newly-elected supportive MP in Canada)

01-09-09:  AllAfrica.com: (Africa): "Africa: Hyprocrisy on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity"

01-09-09:  AFP (re Switzerland): "Court orders Swiss health insurance to pay for sex change"

01-09-09:  MM Agency: "Real World Brooklyn May Bridge Transgender Understanding"

"Katelynn Cusanelli of The Real World Brooklyn may be to Transgender awareness what Pedro Zamora was for both AIDS and Homosexual understanding on the same show 15 years earlier, was my impression after watching the first episode of the 21st Real World season"

01-09-09:  World Net Daily: "'Puberty blockers' pushed on children", by Judith Reisman 

(This WND article provides insight into the evangelical-conservative opposition to modern, compassionate treatment protocols for transgender teens)

01-08-09:  John Birch Society: "Man Allowed in Women’s Athletic Event . . . and Wins It "

"A man undergoes the mutilative procedure known as “gender-reassignment surgery” and then wins the women’s division of golf’s premier long drive championship." (Hmm. I thought the Birchers went away long ago. Guess they're still lurking around on the right-wing fringes out there.)

01-08-09:  Media Matters: "Savage on SF Police Dept. transgender sensitivity training: "brainwash[ing]" by a "freak," "sort of like toilet training for adults"
"Radio host Michael Savage continued his attacks on the transgender community during the January 7 broadcast of The Savage Nation, declaring that a sensitivity training program for San Francisco police detectives on transgender issues is "sort of like toilet training for adults" and describing the program as a "class ... to teach normal men how to have sensitivity to a psychopathic sex-change operative who should be in a mental hospital.""

01-08-09:  Dallas Voice: "Memorial set for homeless trans woman"
"Gale’s death highlights problems in how shelters deal with trans people; Bridge director promises not to turn away any trans person. A memorial service for Jennifer Gale, the homeless transgender woman who died on the streets of Austin on Dec. 17, is planned for Saturday, Jan. 10 at the Resource Center of Dallas."

01-08-09:  San Francisco Bay Times: "New Gay-Friendly Laws Take Effect in California in 2009"
"New laws that took effect in California Jan. 1 protect GLBT seniors and foster youth, and insert “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” language into several civil rights laws that lacked comprehensive lists of protected groups."

01-08-09:  The Canadian (Canada): "Transgender People Need Advocacy At Work"

01-08-09:  The Canadian (re Sweden): "Sweden: Former Women, now Transsexual Men, get free prosthetic penises" 

"A decision to allow transsexual men in Sweden to get prosthetic penises free of charge from local health authorities has drawn criticism because the prostheses on offer don’t get erect."

01-07-09:  Metro Weekly: "'Real World: Brooklyn' features bisexual MTF transgender geek, and gay Latino dolphin trainer"

01-07-09:  Yorkshire Evening Post (UK): "Gruesome scene after transsexual killing" 

"The flatmate of a transsexual was found sobbing in a pool of blood after discovering her friend's body, a court heard."

01-07-09:  The Nation (Thailand): "Medical council to decide on sex change criterion"

"The Medical Council of Thailand will tomorrow consider an orchiectomy criterion for sex change operations, which allows those over 20 to get them at will. Those aged 18-20 seeking to have their testicles removed, however, need to obtain parental permission and submit themselves to a one-year transition period of living as a woman . . ."

01-06-09:  Council of Europe Website: "“Discrimination against transgender persons must no longer be tolerated", by Thomas Hammarberg (more) (FR)

The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights released a powerful statement about trans rights on the council's website yesterday:

"Some people seem to have a problem with the mere existence of human beings whose outer expression of their inner gender identity is not the same as their gender determined at birth. Aggression against transgender persons cannot however be excused as resulting from ignorance or lack of education. These attitudes cause serious harm to innocent and vulnerable people and must therefore be countered.  . . . There is no excuse for not immediately granting this community their full and unconditional human rights. Council of Europe Member States should take all necessary concrete action to ensure that transphobia is stopped and that transgender persons are no longer discriminated against in any field." (please read the page above, and pass on the powerful statement there)
 

01-06-09:  Gender Identity Center Of Colorado: Announcing the Colorado Gold Rush gender conference, March 26 - 29, 2009" - "Come join the Gender Identity Center for our 11th annual Colorado Gold Rush"

01-06-09:  BBC News (UK): "Murder accused 'left palm print'"
A man accused of killing a transsexual prostitute was arrested a decade later because he left his palm print at the scene, the Old Bailey heard." (more, more, more)

01-06-09: The Boston Globe: "Cross-dressing doctor who killed wife found hanged"

"Sharpe was sentenced in 2001 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his estranged wife, Karen, to keep her away from his $5 million in assets. The case drew national media attention when photographs of Sharpe wearing slinky dresses and fishnet stockings were widely published after his arrest."

01-05-09:  Merinews (India): "Eunuchs: Vulnerable or extortionists?"
"There are approximately 50, 000 to 1.2 million eunuchs in India. The community is hated by society and they are forced to lead a pathetic life. However, it also is true that these eunuchs victimise and harass other people to extort money." NEW

01-05-09:  Blindeyemysteries.com: "Blind Faith" - "The third in The Blind Eye Mystery Series, by Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall" (more)
"There are dozens of unlicensed, lock down schools for "troubled" kids in this country, where abuses like shock therapy and forced confinement are being done in the name of treatment. Their crimes? Being queer or transgender."

01-05-09:  Express India (India): "Hope of legal status leaves some gay, others cold"

"When sex change is legitimate in many other countries, transsexuals in India do not enjoy any legal support if they wish to change their sex. Even if they undergo a sex change operation, when it comes to getting a passport or any identity documents done, they face a lot of difficulties." 

01-05-09:  Edge (Boston): "Transgender Rabbi Blazes Trail for Observant Jews"

"The Jewish community has largely embraced its GLB members, with transgendered Jews now also being more widely accepted."

01-05-09:  PR Newswire: "Proposition 8, Same-Sex Rights Examined at 2009 AALS Annual Meeting"

"The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) 2009 Annual Meeting will feature programs devoted to the discussion of Proposition 8, as well as Same-Sex Rights. The Annual Meeting will take place on January 6-10, 2009, in San Diego. . . A day long program entitled Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Across the Curriculum: The Challenges of Keeping Law Schools Current with Recent Developments in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues will feature sessions on: recent developments in sexual orientation and gender identity issues, transgender issues, employment discrimination and the Solomon Amendment. "
  

01-04-09:  Sunday Herald (UK): "Keeping up with the Johnsons" (interview with UK singer-songwriter Antony Hegarty)

"I think things will keep slowly evolving. People are starting to realise more and more that trans-gender kids are just as much part of the family as all the other kids. I think 95% of families that have transgender kids feel this myth that they are created somehow somewhere in adulthood; but the fact is it's really about kids that are three or four years old, kids that have been identified as different from when they first said a word."

01-04-09:  Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Anti-Gay Hate Crimes Resonate Through Brooklyn and Nation"

"Their victims most often are other young men with feminine demeanors or transgender women, said Wilchins. “These assailants are looking to eradicate and exterminate something that enrages them, and that is what makes them hate crimes”"

01-03-09:  The Independent (UK): "First person: 'I used to be a man' - Kate Craig-Wood, 31"

"I was unhappy from the start of puberty. My sister was developing one way, and I another. This was the point when our fundamental differences became apparent, and it was quite distressing." (an interview with entrepreneur Kate Craig-Wood)  NEW

01-03-09:  Pioneer Press (MN): "Transgender people often face a legal labyrinth when changing gender on identity documents"

People who move from one gender to another — with surgical changes or without — face a confounding maze of legal challenges. One of the greatest is changing identity documents, including birth certificates, driver's licenses, Social Security records and passports. It doesn't stop there. Issues involving employment, health insurance and even bathroom use are among the top concerns facing transgender people, advocates say.

01-03-09:  TS Roadmap.com: ""Janelle Laren": Kiira Triea sockpuppet" (yet ANOTHER "transkid" supporter of BBL has been exposed as a fake).

"Denise Tree (also known as Kiira Triea) created a number of sockpuppets and bogus identities while perpetrating the transkids.us hoax site. One of these was alleged “transkid” Janelle Laren. Tree posed as "Janie" online and used a number of screen names for this persona"

01-03-09:  The Canadian (Canada): "Pope Benedict XVI declares clerical agenda against homosexuals and transsexuals" 

01-03-09:  Monthly Review (re Cuba): "Interview with Mariela Castro on the Future of Sex and Socialism in Cuba" - "Mariela Castro is Director of the National Center for Sex Education in Cuba. . . . "We're also working on a gender identity decree law that will make it easier for transsexuals to change their sex and identity papers, regardless of the sex change surgery.""

01-02-09:  Huffington Post: "Arrest Made in Taysia Elzy Case; Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to Establish LGBT Liaison" (more)

01-01-08:  Xtra (Canada): "A transsexual woman's perspective" - "Inclusion isn't inclusion if it stops at the bedroom door"

"Trans women are in a tremendously difficult position: if we're too feminine we're acting as sexist caricatures, whereas if we're too masculine that just proves we're not women in the first place. If we speak up, we're aggressively grabbing the microphone, and if we don't we're supporting the premise that women are meek and submissive." (an important essay)

01-01-08:  The Canadian (Canada): "Transsexuals: The Long Path To Femininity"

01-01-08:  IFGE 2009: "The 23rd Annual Conference of the International Foundation for Gender Education, Alexandria, Virginia, February 4-8" - Workshops - Presenters Bios

01-01-08:  IFGE 2009 Workshop: “Disordered” No More: Challenging Transphobia in Psychology, Academia and Society", Friday, February 6, 3:45 PM.

"This panel will feature three papers that interrogate cultural transphobia and insist on the need for social change. As a whole, the essays challenge current models of understanding transgenderism and demand an end to the continued oppression of transpeople in psychology, academia and society. In particular, the papers examine the stigmatizing Gender Identity Disorder (GID) diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and the need for the elimination of GID from the DSM-V to oppose the continued pathologization of trans youth and adults; the sexualization of transwomen in the controversial theories set forth in the taxonomic classification known as autogynephilia; and the exploitation, colonization and appropriation that many cisgendered academicians have engaged in when researching and writing about transpeople’s lives. In addition to discussing these problems, we will discuss solutions to engender positive change and proffer innovative paradigm shifts to promote the well-being, psychological health and empowerment of the transgender community." 

Presented by Julia Serano, Joelle Ruby Ryan and Kelley Winters, Ph.D.

[I'll be attending this important workshop too; please come and join us if you can!]

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