Trans News Updates of 2009 (Jul-Dec):

This page links to news of general interest to the trans community during the second 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:   Jul,  Aug,  Sep,  Oct,  Nov,  Dec

Link to first half of 2009

Lynn Conway

http://www.lynnconway.com

Click here to access the currrent Trans News Updates

December 2009

12-31-09:  Examiner.com: "Amanda Simpson: transgender woman appointed to Department of Commerce" (more, more)

"Amanda Simpson, who has served on NCTE's Board of Directors for the past three years, has been appointed by the Obama Administration as a Senior Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce. She'll be working in the Bureau of Industry and Security . . . Simpson brings considerable professional credentials to her new job. For 30 years, she has worked in the aerospace and defense industry, most recently serving as Deputy Director in Advanced Technology Development at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Ariz." 

12-31-09:  NCTE News Bulletin: "Presidential Appointment Announced - Amanda Simpson appointed to Department of Commerce"

"Amanda Simpson, who has served on NCTE's Board of Directors for the past 3 years, has been appointed by the Obama Administration as a Senior Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce. . . "I'm truly honored to have received this appointment and am eager and excited about this opportunity that is before me. And at the same time, as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others.""

12-31-09:  Philadelphia Gay News: "LGBT provisions in question for healthcare bill"

"The Senate version, which passed strictly along party lines with all Democrats and two independents voting for it and all Republicans against, is considered the more conservative version of the legislation, dropping the House’s “public option” and numerous provisos that would have benefited the LGBT community."

12-31-09:  Baltimore Sun: "MVA delays policy change on transgender documentation: New rule would require court order or amended birth certificate to change gender on license"

"The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration has postponed a policy change that, starting Jan. 1, would have required transgender residents to obtain a court order or amended birth certificate to change the gender on their driver's license or identification card. The delay drew praise Wednesday from gay rights advocates who mobilized to protest altering the policy that's been in effect since 2000 and allows applicants to change their designation if they provide a physician or psychologist's report confirming they are undergoing a sex change."

12-31-09:  St. Louis Today: "TV talk shows for Jan. 1"

"11 a.m. Jerry Springer: A man learns his girlfriend is a transsexual; a man unknowingly hooks up with a transsexual; a man cheats on his wife with a transsexual."

[Springer never lets up on his obsessive sexploitation of transwomen.]

12-30-09:  Broadway.com: "Holly Woodlawn Musical to Premiere Off-Broadway?"

"The Village Voice is reporting that plans are in the works to bring a new Holly Woodlawn musical to an off-Broadway theatre . . . the writing team will include Penny Rockwell and Lance Cruz, who will also star as Holly . . . Holly Woodlawn is a transsexual and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash (1970) and Women in Revolt (1972). Her life was summarized by Lou Reed in his song "Walk on the Wild Side""

12-30-09:  PrideSource.com (Michigan): "Between Ourselves"

"Jena Lewis is an activist, trans educator and mother. The Grand Rapids-based woman also participates in the Bells of River City dance team, paints and is active in the United Church of Christ."

12-29-09:  AFP (re India): "India's transsexuals try Internet dating"

""We feel love and passion like anyone else and we want to have a family and a husband, even though we can't bear children. We'd like to adopt children," says Kalki . . . she had about 200 responses from men in India, Europe, the United States and Middle East, including doctors, engineers, journalists, scientists, teachers and businessmen. She has high hopes of selecting someone suitable for the women after a "very serious" screening process. "Out of the six girls, if one person gets married I'll be totally happy," she adds."

12-28-09:  BoingBoing.net: "Welcome to the Boing Boing guestblog, Andrea James!"

"I am very happy to introduce Boing Boing's latest guest blogger, Andrea James. She explains.... I'm a writer, activist and filmmaker. I wrote ads in Chicago for ten years, which led me into consumer activism that focuses on quackery and fraud, especially in medicine and academia.""

12-28-09:  New York Times: "Helping Youths Who Struggle With Identity"

"Vidari DeGuzman was a New York City teenager searching for acceptance when he first came to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a service organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths. Now 24 and with reassignment surgery behind him, he is a youth worker at the institute, located in the East Village."

12-28-09:  City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul): "Pawlenty angers transgender group with Newsweek comments" (more, more,  more)

"Pawlenty has seriously pissed off a national transgender rights organization with his assertion that little kids are going to be "confused" because of legislation he once signed."

12-28-09:  Schorer (Netherlands): "“Moving from Intentions to Action” Second International Expert Meeting on HIV Prevention for Men who have sex with Men (MSM), Women who have sex with Women (WSW), and Transgenders (TG) Amsterdam, 5-6 November 2009" (PDF of report)

"Reclassification of transgenderism: Gender identity variance (“transgenderism”) should be reclassified from its current classification as a mental health disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Classification Of Diseases (ICD). Instead it should be classified as a medical condition. This would provide a diagnostic category in the ICD that would accommodate the needs of those gender identity variant people who require medical care for their condition, but without the stigma attached to mental disorder." - on page 19 of the report

12-28-09:  Global Times (re China): "A natural woman" (more)

"A cross-dressed male college student named Liu Renwei who longs to release his inner female spirit stands on the pedestrian lane of Shengli Road in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province holding a sign that reads: "I won't give up my dream of having a transsexual operation even if I die, because I want to be a real woman.""

12-27-09:  Atlanta Progressive News: "Legislative Editor Fired over Sex Change, Seeks Reinstatement"

"A former legislative editor for the Georgia House of Representatives is suing her former employers after she was fired for announcing her intent to transition from a man to a woman."

12-27-09:  SiluetaX.com (Ecuador): "El Grupo Femenino Silueta X, se une para participar en esta casa abierta organizada por la Defensoria del Pueblo." (more, more, more)

[SiluetaX in Ecuador provides transgender information and support in a major new Spanish-language website (you can use the 'translate' function in your Google toolbar to read the pages)]

12-27-09 CNNGo.com (Asia re Japan; 12-23): "'Cross-dressers are okay so long as they're pretty' - A Japanese blogger explores changing attitudes towards male cross-dressers"

"In response to an article by Japan's Sankei News about increasing numbers of young men choosing to dress as women in Japan, the blog news109.com posted a round-up of some of the country's top cross-dressing bloggers. The general consensus? "It's okay so long as they're pretty." Truth be told, Japan has always had a live-and-let-live attitude towards transvestitism. Onna-gata, male actors in drag, are a beloved part of the Kabuki theater. But the recent explosion in interest among young urban men is a different trend."

12-26-09:  The Jakarta Post (Indonesia): "Court approves sex change for 30-year-old man"

"The Batang District Court in Central Java has approved a request filed by a man to change his sex. Agus Widodo, 30, now officially is Nadia Ilmira, tvOne reported. Agus underwent a sex change operation in Dr Soetomo Hospital in Surabaya, East Java, in 2005."

12-26-09:  The Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Indonesian Mullahs Says Sex Change is Haram"

"Nadia, who went by the name Agus before having gender reassignment surgery, filed a court petition and won her fight for legal recognition as a woman. But now Nadia, and other women like her, has another battle on her hands with the religious establishment. The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) has publicly raised concerns over the verdict . . .  MUI chairman Amidhan said on Friday that gender reassignment surgery was considered haram , or forbidden, by Islam."

12-26-09:  Daily Contributor (Pakistan): "Pakistan Supreme Court Recognizes Third Gender" (more, more)

"The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered the national government to recognize the hijra community as a distinct third gender. The hijra community consists of transgendered people, transvestites and eunuchs. The court ruled that the federal government starts allowing the people to register as “hijra” when applying for the national identity card . . . An estimated 300,000 hijras live together in slum areas as they are shunned by the large Muslim community. They commonly live as beggars or work as dancers in weddings and carnivals while some resort to prostitution."

12-25-09:  Daily Times (Pakistan): "Medical examinations to sort out ‘fake transvestites’"

"Authorities says hesitation to get registered encouraging impostors to queue up for govt assistance"

12-25-09:  The Arizona Republic: "Transgender activist leaves legacy - Death of de LaFreniere quiets major voice in gay community, friends say"

"Considered one of Arizona's most vocal transgender activists, de LaFreniere is famous for the national media storm she ignited in Scottsdale when she filed a discrimination complaint against the owner of a downtown nightclub, Anderson's Fifth Estate. "

12-24-09:  Gay City News (re Honduras): "Honduran Regime Martyrs LGBT Leader - Walter Trochez played pivotal role in bringing queer issues to fore in Resistance", by Doug Ireland (see also original alert of 12-14)

"Walter Trochez . . . knew he was taking his life in his hands when he began a militant campaign to document and publicize 16 murders of LGBT Hondurans since the illegal June 28 coup d’etat that . . .  unleashed a reign of terror on civilian opponents . . . The assassination of Trochez “is really a warning for all those involved in reclaiming the human rights that have been taken from us — and this does not just pertain to Walter’s death, because . . . they have taken the lives of 18 people in the LGBTI community in threatening and terrifying ways that have included the dismemberment of our travesti sisters . . .referring to the fact that, two days after the assassination of Trochez, the castrated and decapitated body of a young travesti in his early 20s was discovered in two plastic bags by a highway near San Pedro Sula . . .

. . . This reporter would like to thank Professor Adrienne Pine for multiple translation services in the preparation of this article. Pine’s blog, which contains the full texts of a number of Walter Trochez’s writings, articles and statements on his murder, and other updated human rights news from Honduras in translation, is at http://quotha.net/node/3. The Spanish-language web site of COPRADEH (the Center for the Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights in Honduras) is at copredeh.gob.gt/."

12-24-09:  "Drag ornament sparks "controversy" on Obama's Tree" (more)

"An ornament featuring well-known celebrity drag performer Hedda Lettuce has the right-wing outraged the night before Christmas."

12-24-09:  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "East Point adds protections for gay, transgender workers" (more)

"East Point has become just the second city in Fulton County -- and one of a handful statewide -- to adopt protections for its gay and transgender employees."

12-23-09:  drmaxwellanderson.com/blog (by Stormie): "Maxwell Scott Anderson: Medical Updates"

Update of 12-24: "He knows that he is dying. He accepts it and he cares so deeply for all of us that he doesn’t want us to hurt… true form for Maxwell… at the heart, a tender and caring man above all else."

[This is such sad news: our friend Maxwell Anderson is suffering from a very serious brain tumor. Please leave a message for him in the comments section of the medical updates.]

12-23-09:  YouTube: "Words from Maxwell Anderson to his friends"

[A video from Max's bedside]

12-23-09:  Daily Triplicate (Northern CA): "Ending an inner ‘war’: Former DN music director discusses being transgender"

12-23-09:  Transgender Asia (re UN): “Opposing grave human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity”

Transcript of the memorable speech by Sass Rogando-Sasot, Filipina transpinay (woman of transgender experience), delivered at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, Thursday, December 10th 2009.

12-23-09:  YouTube (re UN; posted 12-12): "Fight against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity"

An highly eloquent and moving affirmation of the right to gender variance, and a denunciation of the prejudice, discrimination, harassment and violence which gender variant persons suffer worldwide. Delivered, at the United Nations in New York, by Sass Rogando-Sasot. [A must-see video of Sass Rogando-Sasot's moving speech]

12-23-09:  ATPN Press Release (Thailand): "World's First Asia Pacific Transgender Network Launched to Champion Health and Rights of Transgender Women in the Region−Diverse groups from warias, kathoeys and hijras to be represented" (more) (photo of participants)

"Transgender women from 10 Asia Pacific countries and areas are coming together to say “No!” to discrimination and marginalisation by forming the world's first Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN). After three days of intense meetings, it was decided that the APTN, composed entirely of transgender women across the region, will champion transgender women's health, legal and social rights." [See also Prof. Sam Winters' TS Asia website)

12-23-09:  Open Press: "First Event 2010 to feature a TransMasculine Track "

"Jamie Haley, chairperson of First Event 2010, announced that FE 2010 will offer more programming for the FTM community than ever before. Said Jamie, “With the TransMasculine Track, we are increasing the choices in programming for FTM folks at the conference . . . Initiated and coordinated by Anderson Clark, a FTM activist seeking to increase resources for the transmasculine community, the FTM track features a lineup of speakers and workshops. that will address many of the challenges that transmen face."

12-23-09:  Chicago Tribune: "Chicago Free Press staff leaves"

12-22-09:  Edge Boston (re Denver): "Transgender Activist Pleads Guilty to Democrats’ Office Vandalism" (more)

"A transgender anarchist has pleaded guilty to smashing windows at the Colorado Democratic Party headquarters office in Denver."

12-21-09:  DNA (India): "Kareena is Transgender Miss India" (more)

"Mumbai: Transgenders from across the country vied for a beauty crown during a contest in Chennai on Saturday. Kareena Shaline of Mumbai was crowned as Transgender Miss India."

12-21-09:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "No skirts for sex-change graduates" (more, more)

"The Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUPT) meeting on Monday has refused to allow male-to-female transgender graduates to wear woman's clothing to receive their degrees. CUPT chairman and Chulalongkorn University president Pirom Kamolratanakul said all 23 university presidents agreed that graduates should dress in normal uniforms and that there should be no change in the regulations."

12-20-09:  New Straights Times (Malaysia): "Embrace diversity of transgenders"

"The story of transsexual Fatine Young, 36, who married a British man and is about to be deported to Malaysia for overstaying, is yet another plight of a transgender. But as the world evolves and society advances, is it time we got off our high horses and started acting more humane? Whether their courage and lifestyle is right or wrong, admirable or sinful, do transgenders deserve less respect and dignity than anyone else?" 

12-19-09:  AFP (re India): "India hosts its first ever transsexual beauty pageant" (more, more, more)

"More than 100 hopefuls vied Saturday for the title of India's most beautiful transsexual at the country's first such pageant for members of the marginalised community, an organiser said. The event in the southern city of Chennai was unique in a country where transsexuals live on the fringes of society, drawing 120 contenders between the ages of 20 and 35 from across India"

12-19-09:  AsiaOne (re UK and Malaysia): "Fatine's story"

"Things appear to be looking up for Fatine, the Malaysian transsexual who caused a furore back home over her marriage to a Briton. The 36-year-old make-up artist has just received an acknowledgement from the Home Office about her application for a Right to Family Life under the Human Rights Act in Britain. Although it did not state the processing time or the chances of approval, Fatine believed that she did not fear deportation to Malaysia for the time being."

12-18-09:  Wisconsin Law Journal: "Commentary: What About Roberta?"

"Whether transgender employees are afforded protections under state and federal laws has not always been clear and, in many jurisdictions, is still not clear to this day. According to the National Center for Lesbian Rights, “transgender employees have historically faced nearly unchecked amounts of discrimination [and harassment] in the workplace.”"

12-18-09: Bilerico.com (posted 12-15): Building The LGBT Alliance: Transphobia in the LGBT Community Part III", by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss

"There is transphobia in the gay community in the US, and it threatens our political solidarity for the accomplishment of our political objectives, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and marriage equality . . . The truth is that we in the LGBT community have been doing very little to build alliance with and among each others' communities. Some people have pointed out that there is no true "LGBT community." It is time to start building one, and not living with the fantasy of one. "

12-18-09: Bilerico.com (posted 12-13): "Transphobia in the Gay Community, Part II", by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss

"When Christine Jorgensen made headlines in 1951, she was viewed as a homosexual by all, including her doctors. She understood her identity very differently. Today, in our LGBT world, the difference may seem abstract, particularly to younger people born in a different social climate. I will try to recreate here from the dry historical facts the climate of the times in which transphobia took root in the gay community. Please read this not as a history of facts, but as a history of emotions, and powerlessness, and how those led us directly to the situation today. "

12-18-09:  Bilerico.com (posted 12-11): "Transphobia in the Gay Community (Part I)", by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss

"Recently, an icon of gay activist history, Ronald Gold, posted a transphobic diatribe on The Bilerico Project . . . The post hurt many of our readers across the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identity. It received literally hundreds of comments describing the pain they felt. Like many readers, I was very disturbed by the post. I woke up in the middle of the night struggling for a response."

12-18-09:  PamsHouseBlend.com (posted 12-13): "Does anti-trans bigotry in some men stem from penile amputation anxiety?", by Lurleen

"Seriously . . . the fact is that Gold was so preoccupied with severing a penis is indicative of the unattended-to misogyny in that slice (no pun intended) of gay men who don't understand or socialize enough with lesbians or trans folk to work through it. "

12-18-09:  Bilerico.com (posted 12-10):  ""No" to the notion of transgender", by: Ronald Gold

"Let me state it categorically. There is no such thing as a male or female personality. Personality is not a function of gender. So where does that put the concept of transgender? In my view, down the tubes! . . . I would, however, get after the doctors - the psychiatrists who use a phony medical model to invent a disease that doesn't exist, and the surgeons who use such spurious diagnoses to mutilate the bodies of the deluded."

[Ronald Gold is an older-generation gay man who played a role in the removal of homosexuality from the DSM. His thinking is a good example of the near-hysterical "Fourattist" reactions of such men to "sex changes" back in the early days of transsexual medical treatments.]

12-17-09:  Houston Press: "Transvestites Are Robbing Banks In Wharton. Wharton?"

"We're guessing -- and we freely admit we could be wrong -- that the population of black transvestites in the sleepy rural town of Wharton does not threaten to reach double digits. But one of them -- or maybe just a crossdresser with wanderlust -- robbed the Texas Gulf Credit Union yesterday."

12-17-09:  The Oakland Tribune: "My Word: Treating transgender children as mentally ill creates the problem"

"As parents of a beautiful, happy and healthy transgender child attending school in Alameda, our hearts are broken by the thousands of gender-nonconforming children who face violence, verbal and sexual harassment, increased dropout rates and institutional bias — and who take their own lives at three times the rate of their peers — largely because they have been diagnosed as mentally ill and treated accordingly . . .  If they face psychological problems, it's because they experience an inner sense of not belonging along with external discrimination and denial of basic human rights."

12-17-09:  CNN World (re Gaza): "Rare gender identity defect hits Gaza families"

"At birth, doctors identified Nadir and Ahmed as girls, because they appeared to have female genitalia. As a result, they spent the first 16 years of their lives dressing and acting like girls. It was a role that grew increasingly difficult to play, as they hit puberty and their bodies began generating testosterone, resulting in facial hair and increasingly masculine features . . . Dr. Jehad Abudaia . . . has diagnosed nearly 80 cases like Nadir's and Ahmed's in the last seven years. "It is astonishing that we have [so] many cases with this defect, which is very rare all over the world," Abudaia says. He attributes the high frequency of this birth defect to "consanguinity," or in-breeding."

12-17-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Health hubs for trangenders"

"Health hubs named Arokiya Vazhvu Maiyam exclusively for trangenders will be set up in government hospitals in 12 districts."

12-16-09:  New Scientist Magazine (UK): "New Scientist Calls For End Of The DSM" (more)

12-16-09:  Frontline - India's National Magazine (India): "Seeking identity - Interview with Priya Babu, transgender activist."

"Priya Babu has been working for the welfare of transsexuals as the leader of the Tamil Nadu Aravanigal Association . . . She hit the headlines five years ago when she filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court demanding voting rights for members of her community."

12-16-09:  Barcelona Reporter (Spain): "National Police break organized group forced foreign transsexuals into prostitution in Barcelona"

"The twelve detainees brought up to 50 men from South American countries, notably Brazil, to Spain where they were sexually exploited to recover travel costs"

12-16-09:  Queensland Pride (Australia): "Radio row goes superNova"

"The row over on-air jokes about transsexuals on Brisbane’s Nova 106.9 FM has ramped up considerably, with the Australian Transgender Support Association of Queensland lodging a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland."

12-15-09:  TLDEF Press Release: "Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund Hails Governor Paterson's Signing Tomorrow of Executive Order Barring Discrimination Against Transgender State Employees" (more)

"New York will become the ninth state to protect public employees from discrimination based on gender identity or expression, after Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania."

12-15-09:  Weekend Post (South Africa): "Transvestite raped in court cell"

"A transvestite was gang- raped in a Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court holding cell minutes before his court appearance yesterday. Court staff said the 29- year-old man, due to appear on a theft charge, was severely traumatised and was taken to Dora Nginza Hospital."

12-14-09:  Wired.com: "Move to National ID Cards Delayed"

"None of the states are in full compliance with the law, first adopted in 2005, requiring state motor vehicle bureaus to obtain and internally scan and store personal information like Social Security cards and birth certificates for a national database . . . About half the states oppose the mandate, or have said they would never comply."

12-14-09:  Beyond Chron: "Shrinks at War
"The effort to update the book, designated DSM-V, is being described as a “civil war.” It is contentious, to say the least. And well it should be. A lot is at stake."

12-13-09:  MalaysiaKini (Malaysia; posted 12-09): "There is a place for transsexuals in Islam"

" . . . the best way for Fatine and other trans-women to try and sway Malay 'public-opinion' which has traditionally frowned upon her gender issue is by using religious arguments . . .  it is about time people knew that there is room for Fatine and other transwomen and transmen in Islam. It is time for intelligent journalists to go read Khomeini's Fatwa for Freedom."

12-13-09:  Out in Baltimore (posted 12-11): "MVA Threatens to Change Policy on Gender Markers"

"The Maryland Vehicle Administration (MVA) is currently considering an update to their policy regarding changing the gender marker on a driver's license effective January 1, 2010. Current Policy: To change the gender marker, an applicant must provide a physician or psychologist's report to confirm that the applicant is in active treatment . . . New Policy: The new policy would require an amended birth certificate."

12-13-09:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "Katoeys told put on pants"

"A meeting of Rajabhat Institutes has rejected a request by cross-dressing katoey students to wear female outfits at their commencement ceremony."

12-12-09:  AlterNet: "The Religious Right's Potty Paranoia"

"The next big culture war battle is about to be waged in an unlikely place: the restroom. After many years, Congress may finally have the votes to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The measure . . . would ban workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transgendered people. But Christian right groups are fighting the legislation -- on the grounds that it would force businesses to allow transgendered and "transitioning" men and women to use opposite-sex restrooms or face lawsuits . . . "

12-12-09:  The Local (Sweden): "Gender-reassigned face health hurdles: study"

"This year 60 people have applied to change their sex in Sweden . . . “For most transsexual people, their life improves, but it’s not easy immediately after the operation,” Cecilia Dhejne, a scientist and doctor at Karolinska University Hospital . . ."

12-12-09:  Tampa Bay Online: "Woman proves not all angels wear halos"

"Jean Batronie started out privately helping the homeless. Now she operates St. Jude Helping Hand Foundation. . . . If that's all there was to this story, we could just smile and think pleasant thoughts about Jean's selfless deeds. But there's more to the 63-year-old, and some of it is bound to leave some people uncomfortable . . . Jean Batronie used to be Gene Batronie."

12-12-09:  Earth Times (re Brunei): "Arrest of transvestites spurs debate in Brunei"

"The arrest of seven cross-dressers by Brunei police this week has sparked debate over the rights of the individual vs religious mores in the Islamic sultanate, observers said Saturday . . . The arrests outraged transgenders in the country, who objected to "unfair marginalisation by the authorities.""

12-11-09: America's Most Wanted: "Strange Twist In Hollywood Murder"

"For many, California dreaming begins -- and often ends -- in Los Angeles. It's sandy shores and bright lights were a place where 24-year-old Paulina Ibarra felt she was free to be herself and start life fresh when she moved there a few years ago. On August 28, 2009, Paulina’s happiness ended in a scene right out of a horror movie."

12-11-09:  Times Online (UK): "Schools told to act on ‘transgender bullying’"

"Children who engage in “transphobic” bullying in the playground or classroom could be guilty of a hate crime and investigated by police under new government guidance. Pupils could be expelled and their parents forced to attend counselling if they refuse to accept that such behaviour is wrong."

12-11-09:  New Scientist: "Psychiatry's civil war "

". . . the DSM is in the midst of a major rewrite, and feelings are running high. Two eminent retired psychiatrists are warning that the revision process is fatally flawed. . . . Some of the harshest criticisms have come from those who led previous revisions of the DSM, in 1980 and 1994. In July, Robert Spitzer and Allen Frances, both now retired, wrote a stinging letter to the APA, accusing it of planning unworkable changes and making grandiose claims. In a separate editorial in the magazine Psychiatric Times, Frances complained that most of the authors are university-based researchers who are cut off from typical doctors and patients."

12-11-09:  New Scientist (Editorial): "Time's up for psychiatry's bible"

"The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is in the midst of rewriting the mammoth tome called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM . . . and fights are breaking out all over . . . It doesn't have to be this way. With the advent of the internet, there is no longer any compelling need to rewrite the diagnostic criteria for the whole of psychiatry in one go. Yes, diagnoses should be revised as new scientific findings come in. But for this, specialists can be assembled when necessary to address specific areas that have become outmoded."

12-11-09:  APA News Release (posted 12-10): "DSM-5 Publication Date Moved to May 2013"

"The American Psychiatric Association revised the timeline for publishing the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, moving the anticipated release date to May 2013. “Extending the timeline will allow more time for public review, field trials and revisions,” said APA President Alan Schatzberg, M.D. “The APA is committed to developing a manual that is based on the best science available and useful to clinicians and researchers.” The extension will also permit the DSM-5 to better link with the U.S. implementation of the ICD-10-CM codes for all Medicare/Medicaid claims reporting, scheduled for October 1, 2013."

[The APA goes on the defensive, as pressure mounts against many upcoming DSM revisions.]

12-11-09:  Human Rights Watch (re UN): "UN: Landmark Meeting Denounces Rights Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity"

"A United Nations General Assembly panel that met this week broke new ground and helped build new momentum for ending human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, a coalition of sponsoring nongovernmental organizations said today."

12-11-09:  Espicopal Life (re Uganda): "Proposed law potential 'genocide' for LGBT Ugandans"

"As the Ugandan Parliament considers anti-homosexuality legislation that could require the execution of some gay and lesbian people, I can't help but wonder what it will take for the cries of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender folks in Uganda to be heard. Who will act to stop it? What will the role of the church be?"

12-11-09:  The Telegraph (UK): "Battle of the sexes - one gene keeps us either male or female, scientists find
Women and men are constantly battling to suppress their masculine and feminine sides - at least biologically, claim scientists."  (more, more)

"Researchers have found that the body is in a constant fight to remain either female or male and the suppression of just one gene could cause it to "flip" from one to the other. The remarkable findings refute the generally held view that sex is determined at birth and is irreversible in later life."

12-11-09: "Scientists find single ‘on-off’ gene that can change gender traits" (more)

"When this gene was artificially “switched off” in adult female mice their ovaries began to turn into testes and they started to produce a level of testosterone found in healthy male mice . . . The research, published today in the journal Cell, challenges a common perception that gender is determined purely by the X-chromosomes and Y-chromosomes. The gene that was switched off, known as FOXL2, lies on a non-sex chromosome that is shared by males and females."

12-10-09:  The Arizona Republic: "Miss Indian Transgender competition"

"Mesa resident Ricki Quintero gazes proudly at two Native American dresses in her apartment . . . These dresses are meaningful to the 30-year-old member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Not only did she make them, but she wore them when she won the 2007 Miss Indian Transgender Arizona Pageant, a title she has held for two years . . . The event started in 2005, and each winner reigns for two years. A transgender person is one who identifies and lives as a member of the opposite sex."

12-10-09:  Metro Weekly (DC): "Punch-Line Politics - Riki Wilchins's ''one trans show'' takes her from serious to stand-up, but her mission stays the same"

12-09-09:  Examiner.com: "Jenny Jones chooses Houston TG Center for 'Jenny's Heroes' grant"

"Talk show host Jenny Jones surprised Cristan Williams, director of Houston’s Transgender Foundation of America (TFA), on December 7 with a phone call informing Williams that she had been chosen as a “Hometown Hero.” Williams applied to receive a “Jenny’s Heroes” grant of $5,000 to purchase trans-related books for the Foundation’s TG Center library and was chosen from thousands of applicants to receive the money."

12-09-09:  Southport Visitor (UK): "Transgender work scheme in Sefton gains national praise"

"The Transgender Volunteer Programme is thought to be the first of its kind in the country. It supports Sefton’s transgender (trans) residents to gain workplace experience within the local health service whilst, at the same time, improving their physical and mental health and wellbeing."

12-09-09:  Edinburgh News (UK): "Interview: Transgender playwright Jo Clifford"

12-08-09:  The BWOG (Columbia Univ.): "In Transition"

"There’s been a lot of ink spent in the off-campus press on the recent gender-neutral housing proposal, but most of it has ignored one targeted community: trans students. But gender-neutral housing is just one of several issues facing the trans community at Columbia."

12-07-09:  The Sentinal Online (North Idaho College): "Gender neutral - Transgender student shares path, self discovery"

"Stern moved here last December, leaving parents there and a stepsister in Illinois. Not having family here Stern has found support in other ways, including the GSA and religion."

12-07-09:  Miami Herald: "‘We do not hire faggots’: McDonald’s in Orlando accused of not hiring transgender 17-year-old", by Steve Rothaus (more, more)

"Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund today filed a Complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations against an Orlando McDonald's restaurant for refusing to hire 17-year-old Zikerria Bellamy because she is transgender . . . On July 28, after managers at McDonald’s learned that Zikerria is transgender, she received a voicemail message from one of the managers telling her, "You will not get hired.  We do not hire faggots.""

12-07-09:  TS Roadmap: "New book: ‘Facial Feminization for the Transgendered Woman’ by Douglas Ousterhout"

" I just got my preview copy of Facial Feminization Surgery: A Guide for the Transgendered Woman by FFS pioneer Douglas Outserhout. It’s an excellent 185-page overview of available procedures, with many illustrations and images. I highly recommend it for anyone considering these procedures, as it is the definitive consumer guide . . .It is scheduled to be available in December 2009 and is already available for pre-order." - Andrea James

12-07-09:  CNY Link (Syracuse, NY): "Remembering LaTeisha Green"

"On Thursday, Nov. 12, people from across Syracuse filled the Syracuse University Warehouse auditorium to commemorate LaTeisha Green’s life on the first anniversary of her death."

12-07-09:  BRU Direct (Brunei): "Transgender Irked Over Tests"

"Transgenders in Brunei are crying foul as reports of law enforcement agencies conducting HIV/AIDS tests targeting the transgenders have begun to circulate . . . "

12-07-09:  Thenutgraph.com (re Malaysia): "Why Fatine can’t come home"  (more)

"The Malaysian authorities are being discriminatory and ignorant in their treatment of transsexual woman Fatine, who is facing visa problems in the United Kingdom. Instead of assisting Fatine in negotiating with the UK authorities, the Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman has instead threatened her with stern action for overstaying in the UK."

12-06-09:  The Star (Malaysia): "Live and let live"

" . . . transsexuals in Malaysia have normalised a lifetime of abuse. It has become a part of their daily living to be taunted in the streets, groped, harassed by enforcement officers, physically assaulted, and discriminated and laughed at in school, at work, in clinics and hospitals and by landlords. It is no fun to show your identity card or driving licence with the face of a man, sexually identified as a man, the name of a man and you look and dress as a woman. The sniggering and abuse begin immediately."
 

12-04-09:  Xtra.ca (Canada): "Celebrated genital surgery doc retires - Montreal's Yvon Ménard passes reins to his protégé"

"At the end of November, one of the world's most celebrated gender reassignment surgeons retired after more than 30 years of performing genital reconstruction and other transition-oriented surgeries. His work has profoundly changed the lives of thousands of trans men and women all over the world. "We take care of them as if they were our children, our brothers and our sisters," Dr Yvon Ménard once said of his team at Gender Reassignment Surgery (GRS) Montreal."

12-04-09:  Namibia Economist (Namibia): "Raising awareness on human rights"

"Sister Namibia has been raising awareness on equal human rights of LGBTI people throughout regular features in the bi-monthly Sister Namibia magazine, weekly radio show Women’s Voices on Base Fm and recently also in their youth magazine REAL! . . . "Families and communities put pressure on LGTBTI people to conform to heterosexual norms by getting married to a straight partner or at least producing children to prove they are ‘normal’ is still very strong, and those who resist are still at great risk of all sorts of violations of their dignity and rights."

12-04-09:  Malaysia Kini (Malaysia): "Transsexual a 'great shame'? What about our hypocrisy?"

"What is truly shameful about Fatine's situation is what it reveals about our prejudices. Discrimination against transsexuals in this country runs the gamut from violence to official restriction on changing their gender identity or photos in their documents. This discrimination is further perpetrated by how they are portrayed in the media. We are deeply disappointed in some members of the press and in the authorities for referring to Fatine as a 'he'. Fatine clearly identifies as a woman."

12-04-09:  The Star (Malaysia): "Transsexuals: The paperwork is just too much"

"For some transsexuals, it is easier to have their sex reassigned but it is almost impossible to change their gender and photograph from male to female in their identification papers. Expressing support and empathy for transsexual Mohammed Fazdil Min Bahari, popularly known as Fatine who is embroiled in a controversial wedding to a Briton, they have spoken up on the plight of those like her."

12-04-09:  Manchester Evening News (UK): "Sex change trucker: At last I am happy"

"Nikki Jane Weston, formerly known as Nigel, hopes to soon complete a sex change that will forever alter her and her family’s life."

12-03-09:  Herald-Sun (Australia re Japan): "Transsexual queen calls for tolerance"

"Japanese TV personality Ai Haruna said she wants her country to be more tolerant toward people of diverse sexual orientations, a month after she was crowned the world's most beautiful transsexual." 

12-03-09:  The Jewish Daily: "From Jewish Exiles to Sexual Exiles"

"Longtime refugee advocate, Neil Grungras, founded the Organization for Refuge, Asylum, & Migration last January and it is on the verge of launching a historic global survey about prevailing attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender migrants. Starting in January 2010, ORAM will query more than 100 NGOs worldwide about their protocols for helping gay and transgender individuals — “the most persecuted group on the planet,” according to Grungras . . . The son of a Polish-born mother who survived Auschwitz, and a German-born father who survived Polish work camps, he sees “striking parallels” between the persecution of Jews in the Holocaust and the persecution of gay and transgender people in many countries . . .  “I’m trying to help them find a place where they can be safe. Jews immediately get it. Few groups are so hated just for being themselves.”"

12-02-09:  AFP (re Vatican City): "Gays 'will never go to heaven': cardinal" (more, more)

"VATICAN CITY — Homosexuals and transsexuals "will never enter the kingdom of heaven", a leading Roman Catholic cardinal said on Wednesday . . . and it is not me who says this, but Saint Paul," the cardinal said, in comments reported by the Ansa news agency. . . It may not be their fault, but acting against nature and the dignity of the human body is an insult to God," he said."

[The Roman Catholic Church further escalates its demonization of LGBT people.]

12-02-09:  Mediaite: "Mourning for Christine Daniels"

"The complicated story of the death of Los Angeles Times sports writer Mike Penner–who famously transitioned to Christine Daniels in 2007 and then apparently detransitioned back to Penner in 2008–raises complicated questions as  the media is grappling with telling the story of one of its own, but also the complexity of talking about transgender people."

12-02-09:  Toronto Sun (Canada): "Chilling portrait of transgendered victim"

"It's taken nearly three decades, but thanks to technological advances investigators are finally able to put a face to the skeletal remains of an apparently slain transgendered man who was found in a rural part of town. "

12-02-09:  Chicago Now (posted 11-17): "For transgender people, acceptance is hard to find-even in LGBT community"

"A transsexual woman with a shy smile, King, 21, moved to Lakeview earlier this year in hopes that gay-friendly Boystown would offer a haven safe from the harassment and abuse she suffered in her South Side neighborhood. But Boystown wasn't always safe, and it wasn't always friendly. "

12-01-09:  The Star (Malaysia): "M’sian transexual in Britain may face action if deported"

"The Malaysian transsexual, who married a 30-year-old man in Britain, may face action by the Immigrations Department when he returns to Malaysia if he has violated laws here, said department director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman. Abdul Rahman said the department could not take action as long as Mohammed Fazdil Min Bahari was in Britain but would investigate him if he was deported back to Malaysia by British authorities."

12-01-09:  Manila Standard Today (Philippines): "Amazing and fabulous"

 Ride a jeepney and see what happens when a transgender comes aboard: the other people will snicker, whisper to each other or throw dirty looks at that person. In worse cases, these people will call out “bakla!” The mainstream belief is that being a transgender is wrong and is a sin. But a more radical school of thought says that the standard treatment for diagnosis of being a transgender is to reassign the individual to a physical sex congruent with his or her gender identity, a process involving the administration of appropriate hormones and surgery."

12-01-09:  Plain Dealer: "Cleveland City Council approves anti-discrimination protection for transgender citizens"

"Cleveland's anti-discrimination laws will grow to protect transgender citizens under an ordinance passed Monday by City Council . . . Activists in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community had lobbied for more than a year to include gender identity and expression."

12-01-09:  Middle-East Online: "Lebanon's other women 'out' in force"

"Group of lesbian, bisexual, transgender women have braved law, social taboo in Lebanon with little pink-and-white book. They remain anonymous, but their voices are out in force and bold print: a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women have braved law and social taboo in Lebanon with a little pink-and-white book. . . . The book, the first such initiative in the largely conservative Arab world, is published by Meem, a support group for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning women in Lebanon."

November 2009

11-30-09:  Pink News (UK): "Trans recognition laws to come before Irish parliament"

"Cat McIlroy of Transgender Equality Network Ireland (Teni), told the Irish Examiner: "Having your identity validated and respected by the government and the rest of your peers is important for everyone. Trans people can have their passport amended or have their name change, but not their birth certificate and that is crucial to the identity of many people."

11-30-09:  Washington City Paper: "Should We Remember Mike Penner or Christine Daniels?"

"On Saturday, Nov. 28, Los Angeles Times sportswriter Mike Penner was found dead in his Los Angeles home, the victim of an apparent suicide . . . the writer’s public profile skyrocketed in April of 2007, when he came out as transgender . . . and changed his byline to Christine Daniels. The world lost Christine Daniels before it lost Penner: In 2008, Daniels quietly detransitioned back to Mike. Penner’s impermanent gender transition left obituary writers with an identity problem. Whose obituary to write: Mike Penner’s or Christine Daniels’?"

11-29-09:  The Huffington Post: "Mike Penner Dead: "LA Times" Sportswriter, AKA Christine Daniels, Committed Suicide At 52, Colleagues Say" (more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more)

11-29-09:  Right Side News: "ENDA Threatens the Practice of Religion and Our Nation's Children "

"If ENDA passes, transsexuals, drag queens, cross-dressers and she-males will be federally-protected minority groups and can freely exploit our nation's public school kids. ENDA is proposing newly invented rights for individuals who engage in a variety of bizarre sex acts.. ENDA pits constitutional rights of religious freedom and free speech against individuals who cross-dress or engage in dangerous sexual activities."

[Example of scare-tactics used by the religious right against passage of  ENDA, including exploitation of the DSM to demonize transpeople.]

11-29-09:  Daily News and Analysis (re UK): "Daughter finds long lost dad, living as a woman"

"London: A daughter was left with eyes wide open after reuniting with her long lost father who was living as a transvestite and called himself Chloe."

11-29-09:  The Salt Lake Tribune: "Transgender officer living his dream -- as a cop and a man"

"As a child, Kerry Bell dreamed of growing up to become a policeman -- both a police officer and a man. Becoming a cop was relatively simple -- Bell joined the Bountiful Police Department 14 years ago. Becoming a man took more time. Born female, Bell came out as transgender about a year and a half ago and started a transition to a new life as a man. He always had felt male, but did not think switching genders was a viable option until he saw transgender people gaining wider acceptance, along with advances in medical technology."

11-28-09:  The Star (UK): "Transvestite students allowed to cross line"

"Cross-dressing students at The University of Sheffield are to be allowed to join the women's committee - after the union passed a motion to treat 'self-defining women' as females. The decision means membership of the women's committee will be open to all students who consider themselves to be female - even if they are transvestite males"

11-27-09:  YourNabe.com (New York City): "Woodside men indicted in transgender attack: DA"

"Gilberto Ortiz, 32, and Trinidad Tapia, 19, were arraigned Friday on seven counts, including assault as a hate crime, attempted assault, weapon possession and harassment. If convicted, each faces up to 15 years in prison . . . At 4:20 a.m. June 19, Leslie Mora, 31, a transgender woman, was walking near 72-11 Roosevelt Ave. when Tapia and Ortiz, who perceived Mora to be gay, allegedly hit her on the head with a metal belt buckle, the DA said."

[New York does not yet protect transender people from hate crimes. In this case the perpetrators perceived Moya to be gay and she came under state protections for sexual orientation.]

11-27-09:  The Independent (Ireland): "Collusion of Church and State led to huge loss of faith"

"A systemic, calculated perversion of power and trust inflicted on helpless and innocent children. This is how the Government has described the shocking report of the Commission of Investigation. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has vowed that the offending clerics will continue to be pursued. He has warned them "there is no hiding place" and that "justice -- even where it may have been delayed -- will not be denied." These stirring words contrast with the long period of cosy Church-State collusion -- and an era of 'kid glove' treatment of the Catholic Church by gardai."

[See more below]

11-27-09:  Irish Times (Ireland): "30 years of church and State cover-up of child sex abuse"  (more, more, more, more, more, more)

"The abuse of children in Dublin was a scandal. The failure of the archdiocesan authorities to penalise the perpetrators is also a scandal,” it notes. The report says it is abundantly clear that child sexual abuse by clerics was widespread throughout the 30-year period it examined. It says there was no doubt the reason for covering up information was to ensure as few people as possible knew of priests’ problems. "

[Next to the psychiatric community and its DSM, the Roman Catholic Church is the most powerful worldwide force behind the demonization, ostracism and mistreatment of transgender people - and yet this same RCC has long tolerated and actively covered up the worldwide predations on young children by huge numbers of their priests. What is wrong with this picture? How on earth can the RCC maintain any semblance of "authority" in matters of gender and identity? 

In the meantime Paul McHugh, the Vatican's scientific authority on sexual matters and himself an obsessive defamer of transpeople, has been defending such priests by saying that their accusors suffer from 'False Memory Syndrome'!]

11-27-09:  The Korea Times (South Korea): "Transsexual Model Fights Prejudice"

"Choi Han-bit, a 22-year-old male-turned-female fashion model, has recently added her energy to what critics call a "fruitless" campaign with the hope that her efforts will help advance the equal treatment of people regardless of their sexual identity . . . Asked the way to cope, she simply answered: "Self-confidence. During this period, I have found many sexual minorities who distanced themselves from society to avoid public exposure," Choi said. "I would like to advise them that not to hide and come out. With a fear of public attention, it's all but impossible to change people's attitude toward us.""

11-27-09:  The Sun (UK): "I fell for the woman of my dreams... and she turned out to be a he"

"Ian, 30, who owns his own property maintenance company, says: "I know it is hard for people to understand but I love Fatine. I feel lucky to have met such a caring, wonderful person. "It doesn't matter to me that she is a transsexual - it's the person she is inside that I care about and love."I can't contemplate the idea of us not being together. I look at her and see a beautiful woman.""
 

11-27-09:  Reuters AlertNet (re Colombia): ""They love us at night, they hate us the rest of the time": the story of Colombian transgender Pamela"

"Her name is Pamela. She is one of the dozens of transgenders selling their bodies in what the locals call "Calle del Pecado" (The street of the sin") near the historical centre of Cali, Colombia's third largest city . . . Even if she officially became "Pamela" only a few years ago, since the age of 6, the boy that she was at that time immediately felt that he was different from the other boys and wanted to be considered as a "she"."

11-26-09:  Ham&High (UK): "Tragic story of murdered transsexual, whose uncle was one of the Guildford Four"

"Destiny Lauren, 29, born Justin Samuels, was found dead at around 1am on Thursday November 5, in her flat on Leighton Crescent. It was almost four years to the day since her mother Elizabeth Hill took her own life outside the same flat. During her life Belfast born Elizabeth Hill had to cope seeing her brother Paul, one of the Guildford Four, suffer a gross miscarriage of justice when he was wrongly convicted in 1975 of two pub bombings. She was questioned herself and then had endure the strain of relentlessly campaigning for the innocent man's release over the next 15 years."

11-26-09:  The Harvard Crimson (posted 11-24):  "Doctor Promotes Medical View of Transgenderism - Clinic founder decries labeling transgenderism as a psychological issue"

"Norman P. Spack, a pediatric endocrinologist who works with transgendered youth, promoted the treatment of transgenderism as a medical condition, as opposed to a psychiatric disorder, during a talk hosted by the Harvard Transgender Task Force yesterday evening. During the event, which was held to kick off Transgender Awareness Week, Spack said that looking at transgenderism from a medical perspective will change the public perception that it is a psychological problem . . . Spack said that he and other members of the medical community recognize transgenderism as a medical condition and are pushing to have it viewed the same way by psychiatrists, insurance companies, and the general public. “These people aren’t crazy,” Spack said. “It’s a medical condition.”"

11-26-09:  IGLHRC (re Turkey; posted 11-19): "Turkey: Change Law of Misdemeanors to End Abuse of Trans People"

"In recent months, the harassment of transgender and transsexual persons in Turkey has intensified as police abuse the country's Law of Misdemeanors to legitimize daily fines, extortion, eviction, detention, and police brutality . . . Join the Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity Association in Ankara and the International Gay and Lesbian Commission (IGLHRC) in requesting that the Law of Misdemeanors in Turkey be rewritten to protect the rights of transgender and transsexual persons to move, associate, and express themselves freely."

11-26-09:  Indian Express (India): "Match made in heaven"

"A site tries making the impossible look within reach — it facilitates tansgender marraiges . . . the website has been flooded with queries from all across the country—men who want to marry the featured women in the website, and transsexuals who want to put up profile in the website."

11-26-09:  Latin American Herald Tribune (re Argentina): "Transsexual Is Argentina’s “Woman of the Year”

"A transsexual who recently prevailed in a 10-year-long court battle to receive a new identity document recognizing her as a woman has been honored by lawmakers as Argentina’s “Woman of the Year.” “I am what I am. The right of one person is the right of all,” Marcela Romero said during Tuesday night’s event in the Argentine Congress."

11-25-09:  AFP (re Thailand): "Thailand tightens sex change laws"

"Growing up in Thailand, a country with one of the largest transgender populations in the world and surgeons who have pioneered ever cheaper and quicker sex change techniques, Punlop's ambition was always within reach. For as little as 2,000 dollars, he became a woman. But the government is making it tougher for patients like Punlop to undergo the procedure, forcing them to prove they are psychologically fit to change sex. From Wednesday, anyone wanting to swap gender in Thailand must live as a woman for at least a year, take a course of female hormones, and obtain the approval of two psychiatrists."

11-25-09:  Xtra.ca (Canada): "A steamy night with trans pornstar Buck Angel - Exposure festival shakes up conservative Edmonton"

"So imagine Buck Angel, unstoppable trans pornstar, stopping in Edmonton with his brand of unapologetic queer sexuality. Imagine the Exposure Fest organizers having the balls to invite him. And imagine the thrill of local queers who rarely get kink of that stature in their midst."

11-24-09:  Telegraph (UK):  "April Ashley: 50 happy years for sex-swap pioneer - Britain's first transsexual is, in a new exhibition, again challenging ideas about gender, identity and DNA."

"'It always makes me laugh when people say I was born a man," says April Ashley, who in 1960 became the first Briton to undergo sex-change surgery. "I was born a baby, not a man. From the year dot, I knew I was female, so as soon as I could kneel down to say my prayers, it would be 'God bless Mummy, God bless Daddy, and please let me wake up and be a girl.' ""

11-24-09:  Reuters Blogs (UK): "The wrong pronoun?"

"A Brazilian transsexual … found burned to death in his home Friday.” His? Shame on you. This is transgender week of remembrance. I’m astonished that Reuters of all organizations could do this."

11-24-09:  Edge: "Intersex Las Vegas resident Tia Owen makes her mark

"Ask if Tia Owen is gay and you are likely to get quip and simple answer. "My answer is no, but I’m mildly elated," Owen, 61, said. "I don’t consider myself gay or lesbian. To be a lesbian you need to be a woman; to be gay you need to be a man. " Owen isn’t just being facetious. Owen, who now is the chief operating officer for a publicly-owned nutritional company in Las Vegas, was born with both female and male reproductive organs."

11-23-09:  WeHo News: "First In Nation Transgender Memorial Plaque Unveiled In WeHo"

"West Hollywood, California (November 23, 2009) - West Hollywood unveiled the first Transgender Memorial Plaque in America last week during a commemoration of The Transgender Day of Remembrance at the Matthew Shephard Memorial Triangle in the Creative City."

11-23-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "'Give my 14-year-old son sex change treatment on the NHS', demands mother" (more, more, more)

"The mother of a 14-year-old boy who is desperate to undergo sex change treatment has hit out at the NHS for refusing to give him hormone blockers. She wants her son to receive the medication now to stop his adolescence from progressing. By the time the youngster, who wears make-up and dresses like a girl, turns 18 it will be too late for him to look like a woman, the mother believes."

11-23-09: Transgender Asia: "Una Llamada a Favor de la Remoción de Identidad de Género de los Manuales Diagnósticos Psiquiátricos", Escrito por Sam Winter en el Día de Conmemoración Transgénero"

"El tiempo va transcurriéndose en el debate sobre psicopatalogización. La OMS (Organización Mundial de Salud) y la ANP (Asociación Norteamericana de Psiquiatría) van actualizando, respectivamente, la CIE (Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades) y el MDE (Manual Diagnóstico y Estadístico de Trastornos Mentales), la campaña cada vez más internacional STP-2012 (Termine Patalogización Transgénera) se refuerza, cada vaz más artículos científicos esclarecen los vínculos que conducen de psicopatalogización para enfermedad y muerte"

[Spanish translation by Sonia John of the recent alert by Prof. Sam Winter of the Univ. of Hong Kong] 

11-23-09:  India Today (India): "Transsexuals win identity battle"

"First it was the Election Commission and now the universities across the country have suddenly woken up to the fact that India's population includes a few million transsexuals that do not want to be categorised as either male of female. In a historic move universities like the Shivaji University in Kholapur have taken a lead in asking colleges to admit transsexuals and stop the discrimination against a section of the population. The battle has gone on for over half a century and 62 years after Independence."

11-23-09:  Global Times (China): "Sex change rules mended"

"The rules about who can and cannot get permission for a sex change operation has been changed. Only those 20 or above with documented psychological reasons will be allowed to become a transsexual. And only surgeons with at least 10 years of related experience in hospitals approved by health authorities may carry out such procedures, according to the new regulations unveiled by the Ministry of Health . . . "Some institutions performed surgeries without the correct process," Chen said, adding 60 percent of his patients sought corrective surgery after botched procedures."

11-23-09:  AfterEllen.com: "Should I not let on I can tell he's transsexual?? Advice please!"

"So I'm a clueless cisgender person and yesterday I was at this meeting at an LGBT center and this guy walked in late and I could tell he was transsexual, post-op most likely. I found myself really wanting to keep looking at him, because I really haven't been around or even met a lot of transsexuals(that I know of obviously), and I'm not used to seeing a sort-of feminine face with a beard and a male body . . . Anyway I wondered if he realized I was staring and if he would call me out on it and hate me or something."

11-23-09:  Washington Post: "New U.S. civil rights chief pulled back into transgender staffer fight in Montgomery" (more)

" . . . the former Maryland labor secretary and Montgomery Council member was given a little welcoming gift Friday by council member Duchy Trachtenberg: a letter seeking to bring him into a messy Montgomery dispute regarding ethics proceedings against a transgender council staffer. Dana Beyer, a doctor and top Trachtenberg aide, says claims she threatened or tried to intimidate opponents of a 2007 transgender rights law are baseless."

11-23-09:  Adnkronos International (Italy): "Italy: Transsexuals to be deported after prostitute's death"

"Italian authorities are moving to deport 10 Brazilian transsexuals who were reportedly friends of Brenda, the prostitute at the centre of a sex and drugs extortion scandal found dead in Rome on Friday. According to Italian media, nine of the transsexuals were living illegally in Italy. They are expected to be deported from Italy within a week and return to Brazil."

11-22-09: MomLogic (posted 11-20): "Transgender Kids: Girls Will Be Boys"

"If your child longed to be the opposite sex, would you let them "switch teams"?"

11-21-09:  Santa Barbara Independent: "Killed Because They Were Different - Santa Barbarans Observe Transgender Day of Remembrance"

"Community members gathered in the courtyard at the Santa Barbara Courthouse on Friday evening in recognition of Transgender Day of Remembrance, a date on which people around the world are asked to think about those who have been killed because they were transgender."

11-21-09:  Forbes.com: "South African Runner Keeps Medal But Loses Identity"

"Until this Summer, Caster Semenya was simply a woman who could run fast. Now her gender has thrust her into an international media circus.This week, South Africa’s sports ministry issued an announcement that 18-year-old runner Caster Semenya would keep her medal for this summer’s much-contested 800-meter win in Berlin, along with $60,000 in prize money and title of World Champion. The issue at stake? Not her ability, but her gender."

11-21-09:  San Franscisco Chronicle: "Suspect's DNA sat in lab as rapes multiplied"

"The San Francisco police evidence lab failed to process DNA samples from the 2007 slaying of a transgender prostitute for two years, leaving the suspect free allegedly to rape and brutalize at least three other transgender women before being arrested . . . Donzell Francis, 41, of San Francisco, is now in custody and awaiting trial on kidnapping and sex assault charges stemming from an attack that happened six months after Ruby Ordenana was raped and strangled."
 

11-21-09:  Independent Online (South Africa): "Woman who was born as a boy"

"Laura Meads is slim, sexy and very feminine. It's almost impossible to believe she was born a boy. "

11-20-09:  Transgender Asia: "A call for the removal of gender identity variance from the psychiatric diagnostic manuals," posted by Sam Winter on this Transgender Day of Remembrance , 20th November 2009"

"Time is pressing on in the psychopathologisation debate. The WHO and APA proceed in revising ICD and DSM respectively, the increasingly international STP-2012 (Stop Transpathologisation) Campaign gathers force, more and more research articles detail the links in the chain leading from psychopathologisation to illness and death . . .  I and an increasing number of others (both within the transgender community worldwide and among many professionals working in the field of transgender rights, welfare and healthcare) therefore call on organisations concerned with the health and welfare of transpeople (APA, WHO, WPATH etc) to note our widespread and increasing alarm that, some decades after the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) and from the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Classification Of Diseases (ICD), gender identity variance (transgenderism ) continues to be regarded as a mental disorder.

11-20-09:  TS Roadmap.com: "Paul McHugh on transsexualism"

"Paul Rodney McHugh (born 1931) is an American psychiatrist who is a key historical figure in the academic pathologization of sex and gender minorities. A noted Catholic conservative, McHugh famously shut down the gender identity clinic at Johns Hopkins in 1979, based on a follow-up study by Jon Meyer that claimed there was no real benefit to these services. McHugh argues that gender variance is essentially a lifestyle choice or an ideology, and that offering trans health services is effectively collaborating in a patient's delusion."

[An updated exposé of the infamous Catholic trans-pathologizer.]

11-20-09:  XPress Magazine (SFSU): "Journeys through Transition"

"Marissa Martinez felt out of place most of her life because she was born in a man's body. Her discomfort did not stem from some sexual attraction to males. Instead, she truly felt she was meant to be a woman . . . The most misunderstood aspect of gender transition is the motivation, because the catalyst is not defined by want. On the contrary, the feeling, absent of casual desire, is a need to correct a mistake. "It's something you can't escape and no matter how hard you try to suppress it, it won't go away," explains Martinez, who completed her surgical transition from male to female three months ago."

11-20-09:  Windy City Times (re Puerto Rico): "Chicago and national vigils Sunday to remember murder victim" (more, more)

"On the night of Nov.13, 19-year-old Jorge Steven was beheaded, dismembered and burned in a senseless act of hate. Communities across the country have expressed outrage by calling for an end to this type of crime . . . "We must work to address the violence in all our communities and mobilized because we could not just stand back and do nothing," said Dulce Quintero, board member of Orgullo en Accion. "Puerto Rican, Latino of Color, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Queer communities of Chicago stand in solidarity to Puerto Rico and rise to take action against the death of George Steven Lopez Mercado. We are taking action to honor the passing of this Puerto Rican teen and all of the souls who left this world because of homophobia and transphobia""

11-20-09:  Telegraph (UK re Italy): "Transsexual prostitute in Italian political sex scandal burns to death"

"'Brenda', a transsexual prostitute linked to a sex and drugs scandal which brought down the prominent Italian politician Piero Marrazzo, has been found burned to death in her apartment . . .  Police are investigating what may have started the fire which engulfed the Brazilian prostitute, known only as Brenda . . .Magistrates were treating the death as murder, according to court sources quoted by the Italian media."

11-20-09:  The Globe and Mail (Canada): "Becoming a woman is only the beginning of this personal transformation"

"Transsexual writer and star Nina Arsenault became a minor celebrity for an incident at Toronto's Ultra Supper Club where she ended up sitting on the lap of an unwitting Tommy Lee doing tequila shots. Arsenault plays that out in full in her autobiographical show, but the event turns out to be as tense and emotional as it is comical. She also digs into unsettling questions about modern male sexuality. What does it mean that Pamela Anderson's ex was attracted to her? "Pamela is a caricature of a woman. And I am a caricature of her.""

11-20-09:  Tampa Tribune: "Tampa Council approves transgender protections" (more, more)

"Opponents of the measure framed it as a thinly veiled assault on the Christian faith that would open the door for sexual predators and all sorts of abhorrent behavior. Supporters argued it was needed to protect a group that faces rampant discrimination. Following two hours of testimony from grandmothers, ministers, transgendered people and representatives of Fortune 500 companies, the city council voted 5 to 1 on Thursday to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and public facilities based on "gender identity and expression.""

11-19-09:  Metro Weekly (DC): "Trans Awakening - Earline Budd's journey has been difficult and dangerous -- and led her to bring compassion to her activism"

"It's a discharge-planning volunteer effort Budd started more than six years ago and it's become one of her many duties as a treatment and healing specialist for Transgender Health Empowerment (THE), an organization that she helped found in 1996."

11-19-09:  Medill Reports (Northwestern Univ.): "Giving voice to the silent 'T' in LGBT"

"Transgender individuals still face many hurdles, even within the LGBT world. And the photo identification policy at northwest suburban Hunters Nightclub has come to represent some of them."

11-19-09:  The Times (UK): "Caster Semenya and the middle sex" (more)

"As athletic leaders meet to decide the sex of the South African runner, our writer reveals that the NHS has pioneered a new approach to the hundreds of UK babies born each year of unclear sex . . .  for the past ten years British parents have been discouraged from surgery purely for reasons of social acceptability, thereby allowing the child a decision when they are older. It’s not always easy. One surgeon said the parents of a genetic girl, with an enlarged clitoris, were begging him for surgery, “rather than the other way around”. Creighton says that the risks have to be carefully explained — surgery will affect any future sex life, for example. “We are leaders in this field, worldwide, in terms of disclosure to the parents and child, and challenging surgery,” she says."

11-18-09:  Transgender Europe: Press Release (Europe): "Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring Project reveals more than 160 murders of trans people in the last 12 months"

"In the first 10 ½ months of 2009 already 150 murders of trans people have been reported.  Yet, we know, even these high numbers are only a fraction of the real figures. The truth is much worse. These are only the reported cases which could be found through internet research. There is no formal data and it is impossible to estimate the numbers of unreported cases."

11-16-09:  Asia Times (re Hong Kong): "Hong Kong plays transgender catch-up"

"In the biggest challenge yet to traditional Chinese values about sex in this city of 7 million people, a male-to-female transsexual is suing the government for the right to marry her male partner. Moreover, because the plaintiff makes such a compelling case, traditionalists find themselves on the legal defensive. No matter the ultimate ruling in this unprecedented courtroom drama, it is another indication of how attitudes toward sex and sexual orientation are changing in Hong Kong and all over Asia. Such a conjugal union is already legally sanctioned in Singapore, Japan and South Korea - and even in some places on the Chinese mainland."

11-16-09:  Chicago Tribune: "Ill. amends rules on giving new birth certificates"

"Illinois has made it easier for people who have had sex reassignment surgery to change their birth certificates to reflect their new gender . . . The ACLU says the Illinois Department of Vital Records has changed its policies and now allows transgender people who had sex changes overseas to get new documents. Previously, people could only change their birth certificates if their surgery was performed by a physician who's licensed in the United States."

11-16-09:  Bay Windows (re Bolivia): "Bolivian transvestites win battle over ID pictures"

"Until now, police have forced transvestites to be pictured in keeping with their biological gender. The ID cards will still list Bolivians’ legal names."

11-15-09:  Dallas Morning News: "17 years on the job, Officer Joe became Officer Debbie"

"Because the city of Dallas does not offer health insurance coverage for sex-change operations, Grabowski paid for the costly procedure herself. In recent years, a few cities – and a growing number of private employers – have decided to cover the cost of these surgeries, and the city of Fort Worth is considering whether to join them."

11-14-09:  ENDAblog: "Has Alice Dreger Gone Neo-Con?", by Joelle Ruby Ryan (more)

"There are so many things wrong with Dreger’s piece that it is difficult to know where to begin. What I do know is that is Dreger is obsessed with unleashing a torrent of hatred against transgender women, women who have dared to speak out and who have dared to speak truth to power."

11-13-09:  OpenPress.com: "Dr. Jillian Weiss to be Keynote Speaker at FE 2010

"Paula Howard, Chairperson of the Tiffany Club Board of Directors, announced that Dr. Jillian Weiss, noted expert on transgender workplace issues, will be the keynote speaker at Tiffany Club’s FE January 13 – 17, 2010 . . . Her message to First Event attendees will be that we must come together and rise up as a community to demand respect, especially in regard to respect from the law. The ability to get and keep a good job without fear of discrimination is essential for success in life. The federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would stop job discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression, requires our full participation in order to pass into law in 2010."

11-12-09:  ENDAblog (posted 11-11): "The Dredge Is At It Again"
"Yes, Alice Dreger - J. Michael Bailey’s one-woman, Guggenheim-funded Greek chorus of anti-transsexual hatred – is at it again. This time its in the October newsletter of the – get your gag reflex ready – History of Science Society. And The Dredge is now not simply misappropriating scholarly victimhood, she’s shooting her wad, going for broke, yadda yadda yadda . . .  In the Service of Galileo’s Ghost: A Short Guide to History, Assault, and Ideology (see p.10-13)

Sorry Alice, but you long ago stopped being curiouser or even merely a curiousity. You’re light-years beyond Wonderland on the wackadoo scale."

[This is a representative example of trans-community reactions to Alice Dreger's obsessive defense of J. Michael Bailey.]

11-12-09:  AlterNet: "Transgender Asylum-Seeker Caught in Immigration Detention Hell"

"Kept in a segregated cell with other transgender detainees, Esmeralda never realized that her experience in detention would match the trauma of discrimination she had faced back home."

11-12-09:  AllAfrica.com (re Kenya) "Kenya: Hardships Faced by Transsexual People", by Audrey Mbugua

"Transsexual people face an array of hardships in Kenyan society . . . These can take the form of name-calling, physical assaults, rape and the destruction of one's property . . . Transsexual Kenyans face entrenched prejudice in Kenya's medical sector . . . There have been numerous cases of police officers beating up transsexual Kenyans . . . Cases of members of the public orchestrating violent attacks against transsexual Kenyans . . . Additionally, consider the hostility some doctors face from their colleagues whenever they try to offer the right medical services to transsexual Kenyans."

[Audrey Mbugua is a member of Transgender Education and Advocacy, a Kenyan organisation formed to address social injustices committed against the country's transgender community.]

11-12-09:  BBC News (re India): "Indian eunuchs given separate IDs" (more, more)

"India's Election Commission has given eunuchs an independent identity by letting them choose their gender as "other" on ballot forms. The commission said it had received representation from various individuals and interest groups on the subject. So far, eunuchs were forced to put down their gender as either male or female. There are about 500,000 eunuchs in India. Known as hijras, they comprise the hermaphrodite, transvestite and transsexual communities."

[Note how the BBC continues to this day the despicable British colonial practice of referring to Hijra as "eunuchs", even though this very article says they are actually "known as hijras" in India. Incredible!]

11-12-09:  MTSU Sidelines (TN): "Transgender student finds haven - James Huff discovers identity, acceptance through his attendance at MTSU"

"James, 20, is a typical college sophomore: he makes good grades, hangs out with his friends and spends time with his girlfriend. Each day he makes the commute from Nashville to Murfreesboro for work, because he says that MTSU makes him feel like he belongs. James is transgender, a term describing an individual who feels that the gender assigned to them at birth is not correct or a complete description of what gender they truly are. He says while times are still hard, MTSU is one of the first places he’s ever been fully comfortable to not only be different but free to be his self."

11-12-09:  PrideSource.com (MI): "Celebrating Crandall - Birthday fundraiser honors Transgender Michigan founder's life of giving"

"It would be hard not to call Rachel Crandall a giving person. She is a busy psychotherapist who sees low income clients and volunteers her services, the helpline coordinator at Affirmations LGBT community center and the founder of Transgender Michigan, a statewide organization that connects transpeople throughout the state with support and information, advocacy and social events."

11-12-09:  The Temple News (Temple Univ.; posted 11-10): "Trans-sexual author tells students what makes life worth living"

"Temple students swarmed the Women’s Studies Lounge in Anderson Hall last Wednesday to listen to notorious trans-sexual author, playwright and performance artist Kate Bornstein speak about gender and queer-related issues. . . . Students were so captivated by Bornstein and filled the room to capacity to the point where students were willing to sit on the floor to listen to the author speak. Amanda Ramsaran, a junior film and media arts major, said Bornstein’s speech was, “very empowering because it pointed out that it’s OK to have any identity you choose, even if you are just in between.” Junior religion major Cody Long said he was enamored with Bornstein’s talk. “Nothing else mattered today but seeing Kate Bornstein,” he said."

11-12-09:  Islington Gazette (UK): "Trans sex prostitute is found strangled in flat"  (more)

A murder investigation has been launched after a transsexual prostitute was found strangled in her own home. Destiny Lauren, 29 - who was born male but had become legally female - was found collapsed in her flat . . . Police have confirmed that she worked as a prostitute. On an internet posting, a "sex worker" going by the name of Destiny TS described herself as a "slim, elegant, sensual, London Pre-op Transsexual escort" and offered services starting from £150 at a "discreet flat in Kentish Town""

11-11-09:  Earth Times (re Hong Kong): "Hong Kong transsexual battles for right to marry after sex op "

"A Hong Kong transsexual was preparing Wednesday for a High Court battle for the right to marry a man after having a sex change operation to become a woman. The transsexual, who is in her 20s and has asked to remain anonymous, has been told she cannot marry her boyfriend because Hong Kong law only recognizes marriages between a couple born as male and female . . . Marriages of transsexuals to people of their original gender are possible in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and parts of mainland China as well as countries in Europe. However, in Hong Kong, transsexuals can change their identity cards and school certificates to their new sex, but they do not have the right to marry someone of their birth gender. "

11-11-09:  Star-Telegram: "Fort Worth votes to expand anti-discrimination ordinance"

"The City Council voted 6-3 late Tuesday to expand its anti-discrimination ordinance to include transgender people, capping a marathon debate over a series of gay-rights proposals that were forwarded after a controversial inspection of a gay bar."

11-10-09: Affirmations: Gay and Lesbian Mormons: "Gay Mormons Applaud LDS Church Action" (more, more)

"Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons applauds the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for endorsing the employment and housing non-discrimination act now before the Salt Lake City (Utah) Council. Discrimination based on a person’s identity, including race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability, has always been wrong. It is commendable that the LDS Church is taking a step toward living up to its own teachings . . . “We pray that the words spoken tonight are to be followed up with positive action,” said Affirmation Assistant Executive Director Micah Bisson." 

11-10-09:  Bay Windows: "Bostonian author of ’Transgender Explained’ to hold book signing"

"Boston local Joanne Herman, author of the new book Transgender Explained For Those Who Are Not, will hold a reading and book signing Nov. 17 at Fenway Health (1340 Boylston St.) from 7 to 9 p.m. The 148-page book explains in unpretentious language what it means -- and how it feels -- to be transgender. The text is aimed at just about anyone who wishes to better their understanding of transgender issues."

11-10-09:  The Vancouver Sun (re Ontario, Canada): "Ontario gym owner fumes after transgender bathroom battle"

"A fitness club owner in southwestern Ontario said Tuesday he has wasted tens of thousands of dollars fighting a legal battle with a transgender woman over which washrooms she should use, only to have the case thrown out by the Ontario Human Rights Commission . . . "I have been a proud supporter of gay, lesbian and transgender issued for the past decade in St. Catharines," he said. "They're picking on the wrong guy. The OHRC (rights commission) needs to be rejigged . . . before other people end up being in a situation where they feel like they're being extorted.""

11-09-09:  Wired Magazine: "Engineered Rabbit Penises Raise Human Hopes"

"Using tissue grown in a laboratory, researchers have engineered fully functional replacement penises. The organs were made for rabbits, but the technique may someday be useful for people. “This technology has considerable potential for patients requiring penile construction,” wrote researchers in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

11-09-09:  Bay Windows: "Boston to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance"

"Boston residents will be remembered Friday, Nov. 20, in Allston, as the LGBT community gathers in honor of the worldwide Transgender Day of Remembrance."

11-09-09:  The Mindanao Examiner (Philippines): "Rain Marie Madrigal: The Reigning Queen"  (YouTube video)

"Professional title-holder Rain Marie Madrigal eventually wound up wearing the most coveted Queen-Universe crown, after edging out her fellow veteran contestants during the first-ever Queen pageant held at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino  . . . As "the" Queen, Rain's biggest dream is"...for Cebu society to fully acknowledge and respect our sector which is the LGBT community, and for our country to fully respect our human rights as well."

11-09-09:  Gay NZ (New Zealand): "Trans student needs $14,000 for top surgery"

"23-year-old transgender student Max Prendergast's breast removal operation next month will cost $14,000 - so he's doing his best to fundraise for the surgery he says will be "the end of an era and the beginning of something new and exciting"."

11-09-09:  The Philidephia Inquirer: "Finally a Lady"

"A small but growing number of people are identifying themselves as transgender. Richard/Renee Ramsey is likely the oldest to make the surgical switch."

11-09-09:  Destructoid.com (re China; posted 11-05): "Chinese MMO sex verification: Gender identity system"  (more)

"You know you've made an MMO character that was not the same sex as your own. Don't lie. Boy playing as a girl? It's fine, right? Not in China . . . For some reason, Chinese MMO King of the World has a new Gender Identity System that checks your face, via webcam, to see if you're a guy or a gal. I guess they don't want any Queens of the World, if you catch my drift."

11-08-09:  Kalamazoo Gazette: "ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW TAKES EFFECT City works on process for filing grievance"

"Kalamazoo voters approved an expanded anti-discrimination ordinance Tuesday, but the process for filing a complaint alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is still a work in progress."

11-07-09:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Theresa Sparks running for S.F. supervisor"

"Sparks was married twice and fathered three children before undergoing sexual reassignment surgery and moving here to live as a transgender woman in 1997. She's also an impressive public speaker and a well-connected political advocate in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community"

11-07-09: CBC News (Canada re US): "Paltrow joins Kidman's transsexual film The Danish Girl" (more, more)

"Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, pictured here in February in New York City, will portray a painter who asks her husband to pose as a woman, starting his journey to becoming one."

11-07-09:  The Star (Malaysia): "Roxanne walks on the wild side"

"Life as an occasional drag queen can be a drag, Roxanne said. “Malaysia – unlike Thailand and the Philippines – is not open to transvestites, and they tend to look down on pondan and Ah Kua (Malaysian slang for transvestite)."

11-06-09:  New York Times: "Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?"

"In recent years, a growing number of teenagers have been dressing to articulate — or confound — gender identity and sexual orientation. Certainly they have been confounding school officials, whose responses have ranged from indifference to applause to bans. "

11-06-09:  Kansas State Collegian: "Transgender therapy coming to K-State"

"Campus Creek Complex, located behind Justin Hall, is home to a new program called the Transgender Therapy Program. It was created by K-State students and its goal is to help transgendered individuals. The Marriage and Family Therapy program at K-State is starting a new specialized treatment team, called the Transgender Therapy Team. The program will train students in the MFT master’s and doctoral programs to provide therapy services to transgender individuals and individuals who are questioning their gender."

11-06-09:  Examiner.com: "Great news for Tampa's transgendered!" (more)

"Tampa is adding gender identity to it's human rights ordinance. The city council members voted 6-1 in favor of adding it, late this afternoon Council member Joseph Caetano changed his vote to a "Yes" to make it unanimous. It is technically not quite a done deal because there will be a final vote in 2 weeks."

11-06-09:  Oregon Live: "White House boosts Merkley's anti-discrimination bill" (ENDA)

"The Obama Administration Thursday endorsed full-scale protections for gay and transgender workers from job discrimination, giving a major boost to legislation written by Sen. Jeff Merkley that is based on similar protections offered in Oregon. ``No American should be denied a job or the opportunity to earn promotions, pay raises and other benefits of employment because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identify, which have no bearing on work performance,'' Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights told a Senate panel."

11-06-09:  The Hill: "ENDA will provide critical employment protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers," by Jaime Grant, NGLTF

"The state of the U.S. workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people — transgender Americans in particular — is absolutely shameful. Thankfully, our nation is on the cusp of seriously addressing this injustice: Congress is currently considering the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

11-06-09:  Philadelphia Gay News: "Trans teen files complaint against DHS" 

"According to the complaint, L.P. was repeatedly intimidated, threatened and harassed by boys in her unit and feared for her safety. The complaint states that other residents often called her a “faggot,” “gay” and “wannabe girl” and that, while YSC staff instructed the youth not to call each other names, they did not follow up with any other reprimands. . . . “Given the inadequate response by YSC staff, the YSC residents not only continued but escalated the harassment,” the complaint states. “YSC staff allowed [the] complainant to be subjected to ridicule and cruel and degrading verbal treatment on a daily basis,” which the complaint said escalated to “physical assaults.”" [an update with more details on this case]

11-05-09:  Daily Illini (Univ. of Illinios re Maine): "Mainers need to get a grip," by Phil Reese

"On Tuesday, voters in Maine approved a bill establishing second class citizenship for millions of American citizens by a slim margin. Despite the tireless work of organizers, fundraisers and the amazing turn-out by the supporters of equality, in the end, discrimination won over fairness. We see across the country voters choosing to create two types of citizenship: the folks we’re comfortable with get first tier, and those we aren’t comfortable with get second tier."

11-05-09:  UConn Daily Campus (Univ. of Connecticut): "Lecture explores obstacles facing transgendered people seeking medical help" (print)

"The Rainbow Center's "Out to Lunch" lecture series continued yesterday afternoon with a lecture from speaker Pauline Park. . . . "I don't think I have a gender identity disorder," she said. "I think society has a gender identity disorder." Nevertheless, in order for transsexual and transgendered people to receive transitional treatments as hormone replacement therapy and sexual reassignment surgery, they must first be diagnosed with GID. While many individuals seeking such treatment consider the diagnosis of GID as a necessary step in the process, the implications speak to the greater issue of transgender's cultural stigmatization. "In order to get access to hormones or surgery, you have to get yourself declared mentally ill," Park said."

[A thoughtful article about this important issue, with great quotes by Pauline Park.]

11-05-09:  The Times (UK): "Evangelical outrage over play featuring transsexual Jesus" (more, more, more)

"A controversial play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual woman was defended yesterday by its writer who has herself crossed the gender barrier to live as a woman. Jesus, Queen of Heaven, has caused a storm of protest from Christian evangelical groups, who picketed the Tron Theatre in Glasgow when it opened this week."

11-05-09:  XTRA! (Canada): "Pretty, amazing - ON STAGE / Nina Arsenault is truly a self-made woman"

"Becoming the woman she is today is the subject of The Silicone Diaries, Arsenault’s solo show opening at Buddies on Tue, Nov 17.  Originally commissioned by the Saint John Theatre in New Brunswick, the play is based on a series of autobiographical columns she wrote for Fab magazine about her experience transitioning, undergoing 60 surgeries and working in the sex industry to pay for them. . . . “A lot of people have told me that the type of woman I want to be is not a real woman,” she says. “Why do I have to be someone’s idea of what a woman should be? Can’t I just be what I want to be?" (Nina's website; Wikipedia bio)

11-04-09:  Politico: "Conservatives shop sex ops ban to GOP"

"The federal government would be banned from funding sex change operations and other services for transgender individuals if social conservative activists get their way. . . .“Unfortunately, some insurance companies broadly interpret language excluding transgender-related care and services to deny coverage for non-transition-related procedures for transgender individuals. Insurers justify these exclusions by stating that your current medical problem is somehow related to your transition,” the Transgender Law Center wrote in a fact sheet posted on its Website. "

11-04-09:  The Salt Lake Tribune: "Gay-rights group pulls Mormon-style handcart to make point - Load of petitions presented at LDS office building"

"It's way past time to send out the rescue committee," said Gary Watts, a former Mormon who has two gay children among his brood of six, "and bring these gay brothers and sisters back into the fold." The group, comprised of present and past Mormons, contends that LDS policies on homosexuality have had a harmful effect on many Mormon families with LGBT members, contributing to estrangement, suicide and homeless youths. . . . The trek drew its inspiration from the famed efforts of LDS Church leaders to rescue members of the Martin and Willie handcart companies, who struggled to reach Utah late in 1856, suffering from food shortages and cold-weather exposure."

11-04-09:  WZZM13 (Kalamazoo, MI): "Anti-discrimination lawsuit passed in Kalamazoo protecting gays, lesbians and transgenders" (more, more, more)

"Overwhelming turnout in Kalamazoo helped pass an ordinance that includes gay, lesbian, and transgender people in an anti-discrimination ordinance. The ordinance passed with 62-percent voting yes, and 38-percent voting no."

11-04-09:  GID Reform.org: "Update: Statement on Gender Identity Disorder and Transvestic Fetishism in the DSM-V"

"I strongly urge elimination of the scientifically capricious and socially punitive Transvestic Fetishism diagnosis from the DSM-V. I am especially troubled by a September report from Dr. Raymond Blanchard, chairman of the Paraphilias Subcommittee of the DSM-V Task Force. He proposes to retain the TF diagnosis, renamed “Transvestic Disorder” with its existing diagnostic criteria that ambiguously label all “behaviors involving cross-dressing” by those assigned male at birth as sexually deviant on the basis of their sexual orientation. Moreover, Dr. Blanchard proposes to add the deeply offensive and inflammatory term, “autogynephilia,” as a specifier to the diagnosis. I ask the DSM-V Task Force and elected officials of the American Psychiatric Association to reject his proposal."

11-04-09:  The New York Times: "Loss in Maine Sets Back Gay-Marriage Drive"

"They had far more money, ground troops and political support, and geography was on their side, given that New England has been more accepting of same-sex marriage than any other region of the country. Yet gay-rights advocates suffered a crushing loss in Maine when voters decided Tuesday to repeal the state’s new law allowing gays and lesbians to wed, setting back a movement that had made remarkable progress nationally this year."

11-03-09:  New York Times: "Gender Identity in Kids"

"Where is the line between pushing your child and following his or her lead? Not just when it comes to gender, but to any preference in their life?"

"Among parents and child psychologists, “there’s a tendency to want to forecast a child’s future based on current behavior,” says Ken Corbett, a professor of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis at New York University and the author of the new book Boyhoods: Rethinking Masculinities (Yale University Press). . . . “We’re stuck between advocacy and reactive pathologizing,” he says. . . .  there is one oft-cited study—which is outdated, according to Corbett—used to address questions of sexual orientation among gender-variant youth. In 1987, Richard Green, M.D., published . . .  The “Sissy Boy Syndrome” and the Development of Homosexuality . . . The small study validated, for many, the practice of “reparative therapy”—the baseless attempt to make “sissies” more interested in football than fairies—which resulted in countless kids growing up filled with shame and self-hatred . . . "

11-03-09:  BBC New (UK): "Transsexual Jesus sparks protests"

"About 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual."

11-03-09:  The Telegraph (UK): "Transexual burglar escapes jail"

"A burglar caught stealing make-up and women’s clothes has been spared a prison sentence after a judge decided she had endured “a rotten life” as a transsexual."

11-02-09:  TS Roadmap: "What motivates Ray Blanchard’s oppression of sex and gender minorities?" (more)

"What drives this key figure in the oppression of sex and gender minorities? Since he feels entitled to ascribe labels and motivations to others, let’s turn the tables. Why is Ray so reticent about revealing his own sexual interests and behavior, when his career involves “catching” people not being open and honest about their sexual interests and behavior?

This article examines Ray’s childhood, family life, sexuality, Catholic upbringing, and interest in penile tumescence. It also examines how CAMH became the world’s largest publicly-funded forced feminization sex dungeon and transgender reparative therapy clinic. Finally, it examines what Blanchard’s most important legacy will be: the broad expansion of “paraphilia” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) to further oppress sex and gender minorities as mentally disordered."

[A must-read discussion about the motivations of one of the trans-community's greatest tormentors.]

11-02-09:  On Top Magazine: "Anti-Gay Dobson To End Radio Career"

"The announcement comes on the heels of several rounds of lay offs at the ministry and the summer announcement that it was exiting the “ex-gay” business. In an August letter to donors, Daly explained that the group is about $6 million in the red for the year . . . "

11-02-09:  The Advocate: "Kalamazoo Ordinance Foes Target Transwomen" (more)

"Opponents of the LGBT non-discrimination ordinance on the ballot Tuesday in Kalamazoo, Michigan launched an ad singling out members of the transgender community to claim that the measure, Ordinance 1856, would allow men to use women’s restrooms."

11-02-09:  Times Online (UK re Japan): "Girly men of Japan just want to have fun"

"Definitions vary, but the new herbivores could be described as metrosexuals without the testosterone. Although most of them are not homosexual they have in common a disdain for the traditional accoutrements of Japanese manhood, and a taste for things formerly regarded as exclusively female . . . Sociologists worry about the effect on the shrinking population of a generation of men who are not interested in girls. Marketeers ponder how to sell to this new, unfamiliar demographic. Cultural commentators have produced volumes attempting to explain the phenomenon to the rest of Japan, with titles such as Love Study of Herbivores, The Men Who Wear Bras and the Women Who Don’t and Herbivorous Girly Men Are Changing Japan. 

11-02-09:  Straights Times (Singapore re Thailand): "Transsexual beauty crowned" (photos, more, more)

"Shimmering in a gold evening gown, a Japanese television host wept and called for greater tolerance as she was crowned the world's most beautiful transsexual at a pageant in Thailand. Ms Haruna Ai, 37, beat 20 other contestants at the Miss International Queen 2009 who came to the Thai beach resort of Pattaya from as far as Brazil and the United States. . . .Millions of Thais watched the show live on television on Saturday as the beauties - all born men but whose sexual identification is entirely with the opposite sex - strutted their stuff at Tiffany's Show Pattaya, billed as the world's largest transsexual cabaret."

11-02-09:  New York Daily News: "This transgender custody battle is odd, even for New York"

"In an unusually tangled custody battle, a Brooklyn mom is fighting her ex - a woman who lives as a man - for custody of her 7-year-old son."

11-01-09:  Malta Today (Malta): "The luxury of diversity"

"Actress, campaigner and politician VLADIMIR LUXURIA is in Malta for an international conference on gay rights. She talks to Raphael Vassallo about her struggle against prejudice, both in and outside politics."

11-01-09:  Gazette Live (UK): "Nicholas Darroch thanks Gazette readers for their support"

"A TEESSIDE transgender patient has thanked Gazette readers for their messages supporting him in his bid to join the army as a man."

11-01-09:  Belfast Telegraph (Northern Ireland): "Shock as Kevin becomes counsellor Keira"

"Meet the TRANSSEXUAL rape counsellor who saw vulnerable victims while wearing HIGH HEELS, LEGGINGS and LIPSTICK. Burly Keira McCormack, 47"

11-01-09:  Wales Online (Wales, UK): "Millionaire businesswoman had to fight after she had a sex change"

“When it first came out, I became a pariah overnight,” she recalled. “All the companies who wanted to headhunt me suddenly didn’t want to know. It’s far harder for women than men to get to the top and for a transsexual it is almost impossible. “I lost my job and my family and everything . . . There were happier times ahead, though, as Stephanie married David and the two built up one of the most respected business partnerships in North Wales with their portfolio of six hotels considered the jewel in the crown. “Most people who meet me are fine,” she said. “We have a home in Spain and the neighbours there are very welcoming. I live by the mantra that people who mind don’t matter and people who matter don’t mind.”

11-01-09:  Philadelphia Inquirer: "DHS discrimination against transgender teen alleged"

"A transgender teenager who identifies as a girl said she was subject to constant abuse and discrimination during 18 months in the custody of Philadelphia's Department of Human Services . . . The complaint contends she was physically attacked by other residents and orally abused by staff every day for almost a year and a half."

October 2009

10-31-09:  IPS News (re Bahrain): "Q&A: "Guardian Angel" of Gulf Transsexuals - Suad Hamada interviews Bahraini lawyer Fawziya Janahi"

"Transsexuals in the Gulf call Bahraini lawyer Fawziya Janahi "guardian angel". She is the Arab world's only female lawyer who takes up cases on behalf of clients who want to change their sex. Janahi's clients want legal permission to undergo sex change operations. While the law is quite straightforward on this in Bahrain, the lawyer says it is more difficult in other countries in the region."

10-31-09:  "Transsexual wins apology over passport" (more)

"Ms Imbruglia had lived for two years as a woman before applying for a passport to travel to Thailand for sex realignment surgery in October 2007. She wanted her passport to identify her as a female. But the Howard government rescinded an established practice of issuing transsexuals who were to travel abroad for surgery a one-year limited passport in their nominated gender."

10-30-09:  The Morning Call (PA): "Group says transgender teen was abused in Philadelphia agency's custody"

10-30-09:  News Channel 3 (Kalamazoo, Michigan): "Living in Transition"

""In the first part of Newschannel 3's special report . . . we introduced you to a transgendered man and woman from West Michigan. . . . to better understand their lives and what they have to deal with. Both have been taking hormones and going through therapy to make their transition, but they have not had their gender reassignment surgery . . .To better understand that part of the transgender experience, Newschannel 3 traveled to Pennsylvania to meet a surgeon who specializes in gender confirmation surgery. . . "

[Includes an excellent video interview with Christine McGinn, M.D. and two of her patients.]

10-30-09:  Anti-discrimination struggle in Kalamazoo turns on gender identity - Fear and misunderstanding of transgender issues fuels opposition (more)

"A debate is simmering in Kalamazoo over an anti-discrimination ordinance up for a vote in Tuesday's elections. . . Over the last several weeks in Kalamazoo, campaign mailings and door hangers have revived the same molesters-will-prey-on-women-in-the-bathroom approach from Gainesville – even utilizing some of the identical graphics . . . Mara Kiesling, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Transgender Equality, is well aware of the tactic. . . . Most of these people are still uncomfortable with straight men being in a restroom with gay men. And there are a lot of people who are uncomfortable about being in restroom with people of different races,” she said. None of that, Keisling argued, is a good reason to indulge discrimination."

10-30-09:  MSNBC: "Chaz Bono’s girlfriend supports sex change" (more)

"‘I feel really grateful to be going through this with a partner,’ says Bono . . . He adds: “Our relationship always modeled a heterosexual relationship, emotionally and intellectually. So now it does physically as well.” Bono has said he felt male from the time he was a child. “I feel like I’m living in my body for the first time, and it feels really good,” he tells “ET.”"

10-30-09:  The Sun (UK): "A SEX-SWAP patient is waiting for a breast removal op - to join the Army as a man."

Nicholas Darroch, 21, who was born a girl called Siobhan, hopes to be able to fight on the frontline . . . Nicholas, of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, said: "My dad calls me crazy but I want to be with all the other lads fighting for my country.""

10-30-09:  Pams Houseblend (posted 10-24): "Is It Transphobia Or Just Bad Journalism At Seventeen Magazine?" by Autumn Sandeen
"I just knew I was not going to like the take on trans people when I had an article entitled My Boyfriend Turned Out To Be A Girl . . .The gist of the article, from the article headline to the bolded and highlighted text, seemed to be that female-to-male transsexuals are really females who are deceiving others."

[On Facebook: "Letter campaign to Seventeen Magazine"]

10-29-09:  Richmond Times-Dispatch: "At W&M, transgender homecoming queen is ‘no issue’"

"Those folks inclined to vent over Vasold's election by W&M students would be advised to save their energy. The civil-rights movement of the 21st century has left the station and is barreling down the tracks. Yesterday, President Barack Obama signed into law the extension of federal hate-crime statutes to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Vasold -- who prefers the transgender pronoun ze instead of he or she -- represents America's future. So do the students who supported Vasold and others who didn't but see the election as nothing to panic about. "It's a general change across the country, not just at William and Mary," said Myron Kimble, a senior and a friend of Vasold's. "We're tired of the old way.""

10-29-09:  BBC News (UK): "Born in the wrong body"

"Doctors in Britain are reviewing guidelines for the treatment of people under 18 with gender dysphoria. This is a condition where someone is born one sex but feels they are really the other. A key issue is the age at which young people can be prescribed drugs which pause puberty. . . . Over the past ten years, doctors in several countries have begun prescribing blockers in the early stages of puberty, at around 12 years old. This gives adolescents more time to explore and make decisions about their identity. This approach was pioneered by the Amsterdam Gender Clinic for Children and Adolescents in the Netherlands. "If you wait too long, the adolescents go through their puberty and have changes they don't want to have," says the clinic's head, Professor Peggy Cohen-Kettenis." 

10-29-09:  Bangkok Post (Opinion)(Thailand): "Nothing sick or abnormal regarding transsexuals"

"Ask any transsexual in Thailand what happened to him on military conscription day, and he will painfully tell you how he had to bear with humiliation, ridicule, and - quite often - sexual harassment. As part of the physical examination, for example, transsexuals are required to take off their shirts and have their bare breasts measured in full public view. The sight is considered "hilarious" and the photos of bare-breasted "katoeys" often appear in newspapers the following day . . . The pain did not end with the conclusion of conscription day. Since transsexuals are legally male, they are required to show the conscription exemption papers to their prospective employers. How much chance do they have when the official papers routinely describe transexuals as mentally ill? "

[Article points to serious problems in Thailand (though unfortunately using male pronouns), problems made more serious now that psychiatrists' letters are required for SRS (i.e., a formal diagnosis of "mental illness" is required)]

10-29-09:  Bay Area Reporter: "Report: Even with protections, transgenders in California"

"More than five years since state legislation to ensure employment and housing protections for transgender people went into effect, many still face discrimination, according to a recently released report . . . 67 percent of the people who responded to a 2008 survey said they had experienced workplace harassment or discrimination directly related to their gender identity."

10-28-09:  Miami Herald: "‘A historic milestone’: Gay activists, allies cheer presidential signing of Matthew Shepard Act"

"Today marks a historic milestone for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and for the entire country. With the president’s signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, both sexual orientation and gender identity have, for the first time in U.S. history, been explicitly included in federal law."

10-28-09:  "Mattress Factory brings back Greer Lankton's 1996 installation for permanent display"

"Like the artist herself, Lankton's dolls and environments possess a disarming mix of innocence and decadence, hope and pathos. She said her work was "all about me," reflecting her life as an artist, a transsexual and a drug addict. But beyond this, from her position as an outsider, Lankton eloquently explored and questioned accepted norms of gender and sexuality, as well as the powerful imagery of popular culture and consumerism. After it was exhibited, her piece was placed in storage. Now, thanks to the generosity of the Lankton family, it has been donated to the Mattress Factory for permanent display."

[Wikipedia entry, Memoir on ArtNet, photos]

10-28-09:  National Public Radio: "Obama Set To Sign Bill Widening Hate Crime Laws" (more)

"At a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden Wednesday afternoon, President Obama plans to sign a bill into law that was more than a decade in the making. It is an update to the federal hate crimes statute that Congress initially passed in 1968. For the first time, the law that had previously protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will include gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people. "

10-28-09:  The McGill Daily (McGill Univ., Canada; posted 10-26): "Birth certificates: a gendering apparatus"

"Generally speaking, the state assumes that all people are cis (or “non-trans”). As a result, it sees no problem in assigning each citizen a perceived sex via the birth certificate, then putting this assigned sex on subsequent documents, such as driver’s licenses and passports. In order to reverse this assignment of sex on all gendered documents, it’s often necessary to change it on the birth certificate first. This legal gendering reinforces the gender binary, providing a bludgeon against people who don’t conform to their legal sex. "

10-28-09:  Xtra (Canada): "Sex reassignment surgery in Canada: what's covered and where - Province-by-province breakdown of SRS coverage"

[This interactive map reveals that CAMH not only controls the fate of gender transitioners in Ontario, but in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland too.  It also reveals that CAMH requires a two-year RLE in all cases, in non-compliance with the WPATH Standards of Care].

10-28-09:  AsiaOne News (Singapore): "New sex change regulations set to take effect"

"Areeya Milintanapa, a 26 year old transvestite, had hoped to undergo sexual reassignment surgery at a private clinic in Bangkok next year, but her plans have hit a setback - new regulations by the Medical Council of Thailand. The council moved recently to strictly control sex change operations and require that transgender people consult a psychiatrist, live as a woman for a year and receive hormone therapy before being such an operation is allowed. For Areeya the new rules are an inconvenience. "I have already spent my whole life as a woman - since I was a little boy - and why (do) I have to live as a woman for another year to undergo sex change surgery?" she said."

[The psychiatric community has succeeded in extending its power to demonize and control "sex changes" even into Thailand.]

10-28-09:  Philadelphia Inquirer: "Asylum bids cite sexuality - More immigrants who are gay or transgender say that imperils them in their homelands."

10-28-09:  The Spartan (San Jose State Univ.): "Transgender student finds support at SJSU"

10-27-09:  Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (posted 10-23): "Victory on Federal Hate Crimes Legislation!"

"Now that the bill has passed both the House and the Senate, it's on to President Obama for his signature. He has promised to sign the bill into law. This is huge. Our supporters have spoken out, written letters to elected officials, and signed petitions demanding hate crime protections for our community. Your efforts have paid off in a big way."

[President Obama will sign the bill tomorrow, Wed. Oct 28th]

10-27-09:  The Times of India (India): "Training and placement for transgenders" (more)

"In an attempt to help transgenders stand on their own feet, members of the Dojo Chakra, a private organisation, have found placements for 30 of them as security guards in apartment complexes, hotels and corporate offices in the city. A six-day training programme in self-defence, yoga and meditation, and confidence building was organised here to give them the basic physical skills and mental outlook that would help them fare well in a their position."  

10-26-09:  Michigan Messenger: "Anti-discrimination struggle in Kalamazoo turns on gender identity - Fear and misunderstanding of transgender issues fuels opposition"

10-26-09:  Independent Online (re Italy): "Priest suspended after transsexual marriage"

"An Italian priest who blessed the marriage of a 64-year-old transsexual to her 58-year-old male partner has been suspended, the Archbishop of Florence said in a statement on Monday. Father Alessandro Santoro, a priest based in Piagge . . . married Sandra Alvino - who underwent a sex change more than 30 years ago - and Fortunato Talotta in a religious ceremony on Sunday. . . Cardinal Renato Martino, a senior Vatican official, had strongly criticised the decision to wed the couple. "I do not understand how something like that can be done. It's against nature and it does not bring anything to the church . . . Biology, that God made man and woman, cannot be changed by trickery," he said."
 

10-26-09:  Daily Press (College of William and Mary, VA): "Spotlight still on transgendered William and Mary homecoming queen - "It's (the crowning) allowed the conversation to happen," Vasold said." (more)

"Moments after Jessee Vasold was crowned homecoming queen Saturday, the College of William and Mary junior quickly was engulfed by a media frenzy. The crowning of the university's homecoming queen usually happens without much publicity, but by Monday it had attracted the attention of the Fox News television show O'Reilly Factor and newspapers as far away as Australia — who all wanted to hear about the 20-year-old college student's quest for the title."

10-26-09:  Daily Press (College of William and Mary; posted 10-24): "W&M crowns first transgender homecoming queen - Vasold makes homecoming history at William and Mary" (more)

"Jessee Vasold, William and Mary 's first transgender homecoming queen, took the field at halftime of the Tribe's game against James Madison U. today in Williamsburg. "

10-26-09:  Washington Blade: "Obama to sign hate crimes bill Wednesday"

"President Obama intends to sign into law Wednesday a long-sought hate crimes protection measure as part of a major defense bill, according to an administration source . . . The measure would make illegal hate crimes based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, among other categories, and would allow the Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of such crimes."

10-26-09:  Radar Online: "New Photos: Chaz Bono Steps Out In West Hollywood"

"She was the blonde haired little girl who stole America's hearts when she appeared on stage with her famous parents Sonny Bono and Cher. But these days, Chaz Bono is almost unrecognizable as she morphs into a man before the world as part of a very painful transgender switch."

10-26-09:  Bianet (Turkey) "Transsexuals Complain at Prime Ministry about Police Violence"

"About 80 people gathered in Ankara upon the call of the Pink Life Transgender Association. Despite police resistance they managed to hand their petition for redress to the Human Rights Presidency of the Prime Ministry. The petition is concerned with police violence against transvestites and transsexuals and rights violations occurring in the Act on Misdemeanour"

10-26-09:  Independent Online (re Italy): "Transsexual marriage blessed by priest"

"Rome - A priest in Italy on Sunday blessed the marriage of a 64-year-old transsexual to her 58-year-old male partner, in defiance of Vatican guidelines, the ANSA news agency reported . . . Father Alessandro Santoro gave his blessing to the marriage, which was attended by some 200 people, despite the Roman Catholic Church advising him not to go ahead with it."

10-25-09:  The Scotsman.com (Scotland): "Interview: Jo Clifford, playwright"

"One of Scotland's most respected playwrights, Jo Clifford talks about the long, painful journey to becoming an 'out' transgendered woman""

10-25-09:  Telegraph (UK re Italy): "Italian Left in turmoil after governor quits because of transsexual prostitute blackmail case"

"Italy's main opposition party was in turmoil yesterday as its supporters voted in a primary to select a new leader after one of its high profile politicians was forced to step down because of a video apparently showing him with a transsexual prostitute."
 

10-25-09:  Dawn.com (re Pakistan): "Kiss and tell"

"An official selection at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival and shown at the 33rd Festival des film du monde Montreal (Montreal World Film Festival), Chan di Chummi (Kiss the Moon) is a revealing documentary about the lives of transsexuals in Pakistan. In the opening scene, script writer and director Khalid Gill says that as a child he was mystified by the transsexuals and he has tried to demystify them in the film.

10-23-09:  The Portugal News Online (re Portugal): "Campaign launched to end classification of transsexualism as ‘illness’"

"A campaign that aims to end the classification of transsexuals as individuals who suffer an ‘illness’ as well as educating the general population that sexual diversity not limited to the male and female genre was launched in Lisbon this week.Identical events were held simultaneously in 38 cities in Europe, Latin America, the USA and Asia, to promote the Stop Trans Pathologisation 2012 movement that has been organized by more than 180 international associations."

10-23-09:  The Gothamist (New York): "Ruling Eases Name Changes For Transgender" (more)

"The State Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a transgender person seeking a name change does not have to provide proof of any medical procedure justifying the change, striking down an earlier ruling."

10-22-09:  The Advocate: "Senate Passes Hate-Crimes Measure"

"The Senate voted 68 to 29 Thursday to pass a Defense Department funding bill that includes a measure extending hate-crimes protections to people targeted on the basis of their gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability. The National Defense Authorization Act now goes to President Barack Obama’s desk for his signature."

10-22-09:  The Local (Germany): "Court rules insurance must pay for ex-soldier's breast surgery"

"A transsexual has won a lawsuit against her German health insurance, which will now have to pay for the former British soldier's re-constructive breast surgery, news magazine Der Spiegel reported late on Wednesday."

10-22-09:  The Canadian Press (Canada): "Transgendered soldiers fall into grey zone for otherwise open Canadian military"

"Chris already has manly muscles, facial hair, a baritone voice and was accepted years ago by family and friends as a man. But he's been told he cannot work for the Canadian military until he also gets a penis. The story of this transgendered applicant to the Canadian Forces suggests that even in the far more liberal climate of recent years, there are still grey areas when it comes to sexual identity and the military."

10-22-09:  The Times (UK): "From Erika to Erik, a long journey of self-discovery"

"It is a long way from the subtropical valley cradling Pretoria to the snow-clad mountains of Carinthia, in Austria, but if there is anyone who knows how Caster Semenya feels, as the 800 metres world champion awaits the results of her sex tests, it is Erik Schinegger . . . Without wishing to prejudge Semenya’s test results, Schinegger hopes his story, with its themes of renewal and defiance in the face of public opinion, will be encouraging. “It is still an issue,” he said of discrimination. “All those who enter the world with inter-sex conditions are at a disadvantage. People still react as if you’re an alien.” "

10-21-09:  TS Roadmap: "$325,000+ in salaries for Zucker & Blanchard to pathologize trans people", an exposé by Andrea James

" Transgender taxpayers in Canada help foot the bill for their own pathologization, helping to pay nearly $328,000* in 2008 to two conservative Toronto psychologists working to turn back the clock on the rights of sex and gender minorities worldwide.

Public disclosure documents show that Ray Blanchard was paid over $172,000 in 2008, and Kenneth Zucker was paid over $155,500. Both men work at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. This former “lunatic asylum” is home to the most notorious and regressive facility in the world dedicated to preventing and “curing” gender non-conforming behavior in children and adults.

Both Blanchard and Zucker are also heavily involved in the political push within psychology to continue labeling sex and gender minorities as disordered and diseased. Homosexuality was depathologized in 1973, but these men have an obvious and substantial financial interest in not just maintaining the status quo, but in expanding the definitions of sexual “disorders” that can be applied to all people. Their CAMH clinics are major recipients of taxpayer funds via the provincial and federal healthcare systems in Canada, so more “disordered” people means more money for their clinics and themselves.

The full article discusses their reactionary opinions about sex and gender minorities, why both men headed to Canada during the Vietnam War, and why their “support” for transpeople is tied to their job security. " (*Canadian dollars)

10-21-09:  Reading Post (UK): "We will never stop loving Andrea Waddell"

"Tributes have been paid to a former Reading School student whose strangled body was discovered in a flat fire in Brighton . . . The family said: “Andrea was often incapacitated by pain and unable to work, and we know she was concerned about how to make a living and be indepenent. “If her decision on how to achieve this took her down unusual paths, who are we to judge?” They added: “Our lives will never be the same again but we will never stop loving her, being proud of her and being grateful for having her with us for 29 years."

[Finally we're beginning to see compassionate treatments of this tragic story.]

10-21-09:  Detroit News (re The Vatican): "Pope offers Anglicans a place in church" (more, more, more)

"Pope Benedict XVI approved a church provision that will allow members of the Anglican church -- known as the Episcopal Church in the United States -- to become Catholics while maintaining many of their distinctive spiritual and liturgical traditions . . ."

[In a historic development, the Catholic Church exploits the schism in the Anglican/Episcopal Church - moving to increase its power and further spread its misogynistic and anti-GLBT ideology.]

10-21-09:  Newsweek: "The Kindest Cut - In Colorado, a surgeon helps restore feeling—and so much more—to victims of female genital mutilation."

"Sila, a patient at Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad Colorado, prepares for her clitoroplastal reversal surgery . . . The surgery, (center) performed by Dr. Marci Bowers, reverses the effect of female genital mutilation and attempts to rebuild the clitoris, eliminate pain and restore pleasure."

10-21-09:  Xtra.ca (Canada): "An exclusive interview with Patrick Califia"

"Patrick Califia has been pushing the boundaries of queer culture for a couple decades now. Committed to opening up new choices, he advocates for change and expands  awareness of lives lived on the margins of queerdom"
 

10-20-09:  Examiner: "Kings County Supreme Court rules transsexual father has standing to petition for custody of child"

"In a complex decision released yesterday, the Supreme Court of Kings County ruled that a transsexual father has standing to petition for custody of a non-biological child."

10-20-09:  Washington Post: "Which side are you on? In athletics and elsewhere, the line between male and female can be hazy"

"Researchers say it's difficult to know how common cases of conflicting gender indicators are: Some people are reluctant to make their conditions public, and others may live and die not knowing they have them. In total, scientists estimate, one in every 100 people has some kind of "disorder of sex development," in which one indicator of sex is subtly or severely out of step with the others."

10-20-09:  Washington City Paper: "Transgender Shoplifting Story Inspires Absurd Corrections"

"NBC Washington shows what happens when news outlets fail to confirm the correct gender identity of their subjects before publication. The outlet has just posted another story about the two shoplifting suspects who were shot by police near the University of Maryland last Friday. Here’s the absurd lede: Upon closer review, it appears two shoplifting suspects shot by a Prince George’s County police officer weren’t men, as originally reported, or cross-dressers, as was later reported, but transgender women."

10-20-09:  Edge (Boston): "U.N. Terrorism Report Cites Transgender Prejudice"

"Notes the report, "Enhanced immigration controls that focus attention on male bombers who may be dressing as females to avoid scrutiny make transgender persons susceptible to increased harassment and suspicion." "

10-20-09:  People's Daily (China): "American 8-year-old child becomes world's youngest transsexual" (more)

"At the age of six, Josie was referred to a gender specialist who confirmed the diagnosis and the family began accepting Josie as a real girl. After making a brave and painful decision, her parents allowed their 8-year-old son to live life as a girl."

[It is interesting to see China disseminate this very positive media coverage of a childhood transition.]

10-19-09:  Edge (Boston): "Fresh Controversy Surrounds 8-Year-Old’s Gender Identification"

10-19-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "Agony of sex-change prostitute's middle-class family after she is found murdered in her flat" (more, more)

[Comment: Even though this story reveals what a remarkable young woman Andrea Waddell was, and how much she suffered from physical disabilities, the Daily Mail continues to trash her memory in tabloid-style headlines. Why can't people visualize that she was very likely seeking a tiny bit of warmth and affection in life - in what may have been the only way she could find it?]

10-19-09:  Mirror.co.uk (UK): TV: "Age Eight And Wanting A Sex Change - C4, 9pm"

"People who go through sex changes often talk about enduring years of misery as youngsters convinced they were trapped in the wrong body . . . This film travels to the US, where we meet boys and girls as young as eight who are certain this isn’t just a phase they’ll grow out of. Doctors prescribe one set of hormones to stop puberty and another set of hormones to start the transition process. In the meantime, their parents let them live as the opposite sex and, despite the additional problems that entails, the kids – Kyla, Josie, Bailey – seem far happier than they would otherwise have been."

10-19-09:  Channel News Asia (re India): "Transgenders in Chennai launch their own marriage website"

"Kalki Subramaniam said: "Our website is an initiative; it is a hope that we are all women and we should have the right to marry. We can have a family, we can have a husband and we can have adopted children. And we are sick and tired of this exploitation." The matrimonial website is one of the many small initiatives being taken to integrate transsexuals into mainstream society."

10-19-09:  Vietnam.net (Vietnam): "Hanoi welcomes back transsexual models"

"The Pattaya group’s five transsexual models made an appearance at a special fashion show held at the Dong Son Restaurant in Cau Giay district on October 15. “Our earnings are modest, but we love working as models,” one model observed. “I wish that people would not view people of our “third world” so strictly.”"

10-18-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "Sex-change graduate working as a prostitute strangled before killer set fire to her flat" (Telegraph, BBC)

"A murdered student who had been working as a prostitute had once been a man, her family has revealed. Andrea Waddell's body was discovered by firefighters called to tackle a blaze at the address. The 29-year-old had been strangled. As detectives hunted her killer, her grieving relatives disclosed the troubled life the murder victim had suffered before her untimely death."

[This is an incredibly sad and tragic story about a young woman who suffered terribly in life - made all the worse by the awful headlines the Mail and the Telegraph used to trash her memory. Note how the BBC handled the story more respectfully.]

10-18-09:  Daily Titan (Cal State Fullerton): "That’s So Gay: Translating trannies"

"Midway though my junior year in high school, a transgendered transfer student shocked the student body when she enrolled in our school. . . . I had never seen her walk to class with a friend or eat lunch with the girls. As midterms began to wrap up, I decided I would invite her to sit with my friends during lunch. But as quickly as she came to our school, she was gone. I never saw her again. . . . As it turned out, she had been bumped from school to school because of the ridicule she encountered regularly. Looking back, I wish I could have stood up for her or at least have come to my realization about her loneliness sooner."

[Look beyond the topline, and you'll find a compelling story.]

10-17-09:  Blabbeando (re Spain): "Spain: Calendar features transgender models posing as the Virgin, controversy follows" (Link to Calendar photos)

"Of course, the predominant factor that sets these images apart is the use of transgender models posing as the Virgin. The include Carla Antonelli, a leading Spanish transgender rights activist . . . "I posed myself the following scenario: Why is it that a transsexual woman can't represent a religious icon given life by so many other actors and actresses throughout history? To not do it would be akin to internalizing the same discriminatory principles that people want to throw against us", she said."

10-17-09:  El Mundo (Spain): "'Vírgenes' transexuales - Indignación entre los católicos por 'la ofensa'" (Link to Calendar photos)

"Ésa es la escena que ha protagonizado en el calendario laico la mítica Carla Antonelli, reconocida activista de los derechos de los homosexuales. Vestida en la foto de pies a cabeza, tocada a su vez por una corona fálica, la artista canaria relata que aceptó prestar su imagen a la causa tras sopesar que probablemente generaría polémica. "Me hice el siguiente planteamiento: ¿por qué una mujer transexual no puede representar un icono religioso al que han dado vida otros tantos actores y actrices a lo largo de la historia? Negarme a hacerlo sería interiorizar los propios principios discriminatorios que quiere cargar la gente contra nosotros", alega."

10-17-09:  Intersex News (re Uganda): "SIPD Uganda contests III World Congress in Toronto" (more)

"As an intersex African and a rights activist for intersex children and people in Uganda, it concerns me greatly that convenings aimed at discussing intersex issues never have intersex representation . . . The time is ripe that a human rights approach is applied when addressing intersex people and issues and that we - as intersex people - are involved in . . . Intersex may not be the typical but how 'disorderly' it is, is a debatable subject. SIPD Uganda challenges the 3rd World Congress on Hypospadias scheduled for November 12-15 2009, to consider intersex in its entirety and to desist from painting a medically biased and stigmatising picture . . . We strongly contest the live non-consensual surgical demonstrations of intersex infants as part of the congress activities." -  by Julius .K. Kaggwa, Program Director

10-16-09:  Southern Voice: "What not to wear to school? - Student told his female attire ‘disruptive’ at North Cobb High"

"Nothing in the North Cobb High School student manual bans students from wearing opposite-gender clothing, but one recent arrival from Miami says he was told not to report to school unless he was dressed as a boy."

10-16-09:  The Grio: "A mother's story: Hate crime brings new bond with transgender child"

" everything changed in December 1999, the day my daughter Michelle became the target of a hate crime. While standing in line with her friends at a club in Atlanta, Michelle was struck in the head with a metal pipe by a stranger who did not like the fact that she was a transgender woman. She fell to the ground and her skull split open. . . . I was fully aware of the homophobia that haunts our community. However, it was not until my child was beaten and left for dead did I ever truly believe that having the courage to be true to oneself could result in being killed."

10-16-09:  TES Magazine (UK): "A girl on Friday, a boy by Monday"

" . . . vicious bullying is almost a rite of passage for transgendered pupils . . . The most recent victim in the UK was 10-year-old Cameron McWilliams from Doncaster, who hanged himself last year having expressed a desire to be a girl. Two cases of bullying also featured in the media last month when a 12-year-old and then a nine-year-old boy went to their respective schools dressed as girls.

Parents of transgendered children have reacted angrily to the coverage, saying it fails to differentiate between transgendered and transsexual children. Both may feel trapped in the wrong body, but the vast majority of transgendered people (95 per cent) will never have gender reassignment surgery. The reports also make out that this is a very rare occurrence . . . In fact, whether they know it or not, teachers are likely to encounter a number of transgendered children during their career. A primary school of 300 children will usually have three transgendered children on roll - a large secondary even more."

10-15-09:  YouTube (Spain, re Germany): "Kim Petras, adolescente transexual. Part 1"  ( Part 2,  Part 3 ) (more, more)

"Kim Petras comenzó el tratamiento para la reasignación de sexo a los 12 años; además cuenta ya con varios sencillos como cantante juvenil de pop en Alemania. Entrevista durante su primer viaje a España."

Kim Petras was interviewed on Telecinco (TV5) on 10-15-09. Someone has posted video on Youtube of the entire interview and subsequent discussion in three parts (about 27 minutes total.). It appears she was wearing an earpiece, hearing translations of the talk show host's questions and answering in English. Her answers are voiced-over by a Spanish translator, but with a little effort (and by following her lips) you can understand her responses. Brief comments by Norman Spack, M.D. and Carla Antonelli are included in Part 1, and Kim performs a song in Part 2. Part 3 includes a discussion of the issues surrounding early transition. The overall effect of the interview is a profound demonstration of the advantages of early transition.
 

10-15-09:  The Daily Mail (UK re US): "Pictured: Josie Romero, the eight-year-old 'sex change girl' who was born a boy"

"The transgender youngster, then called Joseph, knew at the age of four that she was the wrong sex and even told her parents: 'I am really a girl. . . . By the time she reached six, Josie had been diagnosed as transgender and was beginning her transition to becoming a female . . . 'We discovered a site called Transgender Youth Family Allies where there were 100 children who were all going through the same thing as Josie.'  Venessia started giving Josie options about how she wanted to live. . . . Her case has already been referred to Dr Norman Spack at Boston Children's Hospital a top specialist in transgender children. Josie said: 'I am happy that everyone knows I am a real girl, and that I don't have to pretend to be a boy anymore."

10-15-09:  Stop Trans Pathologization-2012 (International campaign): Press Release: International Trans Depathologization Network: "Action Day October 17th 2009 – STP 2012 Campaign"

"On Saturday, October 17th 2009, demonstrations and other actions will take place in 38 cities in Europe, Latin America, North America and Asia, to support the campaign Stop Trans Pathologization STP 2012, which was initiated by the International Trans Depathologization Network. To date (date of information: 15/10/2009), 181 groups from 40 countries in different world regions and 7 international networks declared their support of the campaign. The principal demand of the campaign is the removal of Gender Identity Disorders from the international diagnostic catalogues (DSM-IV y ICD-10)."

[For more information, see this link to the STP 2012 website]

10-15-09:  Edge (Boston, re international news): "’Stop Trans Pathologization’ campaign kicks off Oct. 17"

"The Trans Depathologization Network, a group committed to the removal of ’gender identity disorder’ from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, has been joined by seven international networks and 161 trans groups in the two weeks leading up to its campaign kick-off on Oct. 17. The groups hail from 37 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The ’Stop Trans Pathologization’ campaign kick-off will be held 30 cities in 18 countries around the world."

10-15-09:  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Documentary of Western Pennsylvania Transsexual's journey part of Lesbian & Gay film fest

"A man born as a woman and the filmmaker documenting the transition that began on a bucolic Western Pennsylvania farm are coming to Pittsburgh for a showing of their film "Gender Redesigner.""

10-15-09:  Telegraph.co.uk (UK re US): "Boy, 8, has 'sex change'"

"An eight-year-old boy, Joey Romero, has become a girl called Josie in a remarkable US gender-swap case that features in a new Channel 4 documentary. "

10-15-09:  National Post (Canada): "Sex changes for inmates a touchy new therapy"

10-14-09:  Channel 4 (UK re US): "Age 8 and Wanting a Sex Change"

"As experts consider a review of UK guidelines for treating transgender children, this film follows a number of children in the US who told their parents they were born in the wrong body. In America, children under 16 can be prescribed hormone 'blockers' to prevent the onset of puberty, with a view to then follow with hormone treatment to become their new gender. This film follows the American experience . . . These children and their parents reveal what it is like to face life-changing questions, giving a frank insight into a subject most people never have to consider."

10-14-09:  BeyondChron: "Gay Activist Divisions are Political, not Generational"

"The strategic wisdom of last Sunday’s national gay march in Washington DC is worthy of debate. But the common framing of this question in generational terms plays upon long discredited perspectives of young activists as questioning and radical vs. older activists who prefer working through the system and are politically moderate.  Such a dichotomy has little basis in reality. . . . It was the ACT UP generation that . . . laid the groundwork for the more militant and activist politics whose legacy includes events like Sunday’s march. But despite the ACT Up Generation’s activist legacy, Congressman Frank was the only person above age 36 quoted in the Times account of the march, and he disparaged its effectiveness . . . countless gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender activists over fifty could have given a more subtle and perceptive assessment of the march than Barney Frank . . . But framing a story around a gay generational split required ignoring these voices."

10-14-09:  The Age (Australia): "Survivor revisits her battle of the sexes"

"Transsexual actor Vanessa Van Durme has turned her life story into a critically acclaimed touring show . . . Van Durme is a tall, 60-something woman of handsome looks and slightly imposing manner who comes across as an amalgam of Vanessa Redgrave and Germaine Greer, though somewhat warmer. Like those two redoubtable leaders of public life, the Belgian performer tours the world's stages holding forth before adoring audiences. But unlike the British actress and the Australian intellectual, Van Durme tells a story that is at once dramatic, deeply personal and a reflection of how Western mores have changed in the past 30 years."

10-14-09:  ABC News: "Transgender Man Posed as 15-Year-Old Boy, Cops Say"

"Jack Kaiser, Formerly Jennifer May, Allegedly Tried to Hoodwink School, Police and Child Protective Services"

10-14-09:  Mirror.co.uk (UK):  "Alex Reid: It's fun to dress up as a woman"

"Jordan's cagefighter boyfriend Alex Reid has finally admitted he's a secret cross-dresser . . . "I've got nothing to hide and I'm proud of who I am. If I go out and wear a dress, so f***ing what? I don't want a sex change.""

10-13-09:  Se7en Magazine (UK): "The true meaning of ‘identity crisis’ in the UK"

"The recent gender debate surrounding South African athlete Caster Semenya has sparked off much media interest the world over, no less so than here in the UK. However, the reaction in the press is not simply emblematic of the usual tabloid hysteria which accompanies cases of gender ambiguity. It also highlights that anyone who appears to lie outside the bounds of what is considered ‘normal’, is automatically treated with apprehension, fear and often outright repugnance."

10-13-09:  BBC News (re Uruguay): "Uruguay approves sex change bill" (more)

"Transsexuals in Uruguay will soon be able to legally register a change of name and gender after the country's senate approved a controversial bill. The law, which was passed unanimously, is strongly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church . . . Under the new legislation, transsexuals will be able to change their name on all official documents, from birth certificates to passports, to reflect the gender of their choice."

10-12-09:  "Schwarzenegger Approved Gay Rights Bills, But Not Transgender Ones"

"Although two major gay rights bills were signed by Governor Schwarzenegger this weekend, two dealing with transgender issues were vetoed. One would have aided transgender people to revise their birth certificates and the other would have provided protections for transgender people in prison."

[Now we know how Arnold feels about us.]

10-12-09:  The Bilerico Project: "The Day After: Where Are We On ENDA Now?" by Dr. Jillian T. Weiss"

"Our next step in our federal agenda should be focusing on ENDA in the Senate. Of all our initiatives, that will affect the largest number of people in our community in the most important area of our lives: the ability to get and keep a job. And it's achievable in the next few months . . . The real fight on ENDA is in the Senate, where there are only 49 confirmed yes votes . . . We can do it, if we as a community get focused on calling our Senators. (Calls are much more persuasive than emails.) Names and contact info of the legislators to target after the jump . . . pick up the phone and call one."

10-11-09: "Two Men Arrested in Assault on Transgender Queens Female"

10-11-09:  The New York Times: ".Gay Rights Marchers Press Cause in Washington"

"Impatient and discouraged by what they see as a certain detachment by President Obama on their issues, gay rights supporters took to the streets Sunday in the largest demonstration for gay rights here in nearly a decade. The rally was primarily the undertaking of a new generation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocates who have grown disillusioned with the movement’s leadership."

10-11-09:  Associated Press: "Gay rights advocates march on DC, divided on Obama"

10-11-09:  Southern Voice (posted 10-09): "Time to march - National Equality March serves as a reminder of the work that remains "

10-11-09:  Washington Blade (posted 10-09):  "Equality March leader seeks end to ‘incrementalism’"

10-11-09:  Associated Press (posted 10-10): "Frank says D.C. gay rights march misses mark"

10-11-09:  The Independent (Ireland): "Transexuals graft against the odds", by Donal Lynch

"I've been thinking about transsexuals lately. Not because I would actually want to have my genitals hacked off in some clinic in Morocco, you understand, but I have to admit it would be really cool to have access to a completely new pool of guys. I'm tired of trying to truffle-hog out the decent gays from the measly 10 per cent of the male humanity I have to work with. Transsexuals, it seems to me, have bravely refused to take these odds lying down."

[Yet another Fourattist-type gay guy bashes transwomen, using 'humor' as a pretense for his actions. And in Ireland this %#&^ gets published in a national newspaper.]

10-11-09:  Mirror.co.uk (UK): "He's done it since he was a boy.. his parents know"

"The ex-girlfriend of Katie Price's lover Alex Reid today reveals the jaw-dropping moment she stumbled into his room to find the macho cage-fighter dressed as a woman... in full make-up and painstakingly painting his nails. Danielle Sims, 34, suspected muscle-bound Alex was cheating on her and had another girl in his life. But when she stormed round to his house to confront him, she discovered she was only half right - because the other woman was HIM."

10-10-09:  OII (re Canada): "Toronto hosts conference that will stigmatise and promote non-consensual surgery and hormonal treatments for intersex children"

"Zucker is moderating two of the talks at the upcoming conference on Hypospadias and Disorders of Sex Development in Toronto, and he is giving one himself. Notice the way he titles his sessions, using 'disorders' over and over again, and mentioning "brain development" and "psychosexual differentiation and disorders" so as to insinuate that intersex kids are "mental cases" too. I think Zucker is now attempting to initiate a new patient flow - i.e., to have the parents of intersex kids who have been surgically "corrected" to send them to him for "mental corrections" too."

[Link to conference program, where you'll find the titles of Zucker's talks.]

10-10-09:  CitizenShift (Canada): "Engendered Questions for T.O.’s Sick Kids"

''Curtis Hinkle, a spokesman from Intersex International, said the IHSID (the International Society on Hypospadias and Intersex Disorders) recommends ‘correcting’ sex ambiguity in infants within the first six months of their lives. Hinkle said the University of Toronto’s is legitimizing IHSID’s recommendation and this should send a chill down the backs of Canadians. “Most Canadians aren’t aware of the retrograde practices coming out of Ontario,” he said."

10-10-09:  Southern Voice (posted 10-08): "Ga. legislative counsel explains why he fired transgender employee" - "Brumby: It would be 'unsettling' to think of trans woman's 'male sexual organs'"

"A recently filed deposition is shedding new light on the discrimination lawsuit filed against legislative leaders by a transgender woman who was fired from her job as an editor for the Georgia General Assembly.

Brumby . . . expressed personal concerns about his reactions to Glenn’s transition . . . “It makes me think about things I don’t like to think about, particularly at work … I think it’s unsettling to think of someone dressed in women’s clothing with male sexual organs inside that clothing.” Brumby couldn’t explain to Cole Thaler, the Lambda Legal attorney representing Glenn, why it was upsetting. “It's not something that I enjoy thinking about, and I think it would have been unsettling to have a constant reminder to think about something I don’t like to think about,” he said."

[A rather typical situation: The creepy thinking of a boss is used as an excuse to fire a trans employee.]

10-09-09:  Gay People's Chronicle (Ohio): "Ohio makes it easier to change gender on licenses"

"Since mid-September it has been easier for transgender Ohioans to correct the sex marker on their driver license and photo identification cards. A regulatory change at the state Department of Public Safety creates uniform procedures and a new form for making the corrections . . . The change does not affect the prohibition on correcting Ohio birth certificates. Ohio remains one of only three states, with Florida and Idaho, that will not change a birth certificate or issue an amended one, even for post-surgical transsexuals."

10-09-09:  On Top Magazine: "After Election Loss, Mayor Admits To Transgender Photos"

10-09-09:  XTRA (Canada): "Firing "blindsided me": trans teacher" - "Jan Buterman takes on Catholic school board"

""Since you made a personal choice to change your gender, which is contrary to Catholic teachings, we have had to remove you from the substitute teacher list," wrote deputy superintendent Steve Bayus in an Oct 2008 letter to Buterman. The reason for this decision . . . is that "the teaching of the Catholic Church is that persons cannot change their gender. One's gender is considered what God created us to be." Buterman met the response with shock. "It's very difficult to put into words how you feel when you're given something like this, it's pretty overwhelming," he tells Xtra.ca. "It blindsided me quite honestly.""

10-09-09:  Nursing Times (UK): "New book tells extraordinary tale of sex change nurse"

"A 76-year-old ex-soldier who underwent a sex operation before becoming a nurse has had her life story published . . . Despite being up against social prejudices from colleagues, friends and her own family, Miranda went on to become a highly regarded nurse who has not missed a single shift in two decades of nursing."

10-09-09:  UK Gay News (re U.S.): "Gay Rights March: Out of My Black Church, Into the Streets", by Rev. Irene Monroe

“Because of religion-based bigotry spewing from the pulpits of many black churches, we have a crisis in the African American community: an epidemic of homelessness among LGBTQ youth.”

10-09-09:  UNAIDS (UN): "Michel Sidibé congratulates Indian sexual minority communities for uniting against Section 377"

"UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé attended an event in Delhi today to recognize the activists whose efforts contributed towards the recent annulment of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The law, which criminalized consensual sex between men and transgendered people, was overturned in a historical judgment by the Delhi High Court on 2 July 2009"  

10-09-09:  WSIL-TV (Illinois): "Woman Arrested for Posing as 15-year-old Boy"

"We have an adult that came in last Friday to our High School and attempted to enroll what he said was a 15 year old student." The student claimed to be Jack Stones. In reality, Stones, otherwise known as Jack Kaiser or Jennifer May, is in fact a 24-year-old transgender woman. Hudgens says, of course, office staff asked for ID on the student, but the adult with her said there wasn't any available... "

10-08-09:  Philadelphia Inquirer: "The march to end a century of persecution - Gay-rights advocacy must shift to the national stage"

"This weekend, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans will march in the nation's capital. They won't be marching for marriage rights alone. They'll be marching for complete federal equality - an end to second-class citizenship.

Few realize how long that history actually is, but federal hostility to homosexuality is at least a century old . . . In 1909, an immigration official named Marcus Braun sat down to type out a report warning of a "new species of undesirable alien" who he believed should be barred from entering the country: "the moral degenerate," or homosexual . . . After Braun stood up from his typewriter, the architecture of second-class citizenship for homosexuals was gradually constructed across the federal bureaucracy. By the middle of the 20th century, the U.S. government had distinguished itself from other Western democracies in its hostility to homosexuality."

10-08-09:  The New York Times: "House Votes to Expand Hate Crimes Definition" (more)

"The House voted Thursday to expand the definition of violent federal hate crimes to those committed because of a victim’s sexual orientation, a step that would extend new protection to lesbian, gay and transgender people . . . The new measure would broaden the definition to include those committed because of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability . . . The hate crimes legislation would give the federal government authority to prosecute violent crimes of antigay bias when local authorities failed to act."

10-08-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "Thugs attack two transvestites... who turn out to be cage fighters wearing fancy dress"

"Two thugs who attacked what they thought were a pair of transvestites picked on the wrong men - when their intended victims turned out to be cage fighters on a night out in fancy dress. Dean Gardener, 19, and Jason Fender, 22, singled out the two men walking along a street in wigs, short skirts and high heels . . . Gardener was caught on CCTV confronting one of the men in a pink wig, black skirt and boob tube - then seen swinging a punch, a court heard.  But the other cage fighter, wearing a sparkling black dress and matching long wig, sprang to his friend's help, delivering two lightning-quick punches to the two stunned yobs . . . Gardener and Fender were left dazed and seen staggering to their feet after their failed attack."

10-08-09:  The Smith College Sophian: "Transgender coeducation: Smith is more than just a women's college" 

"The transsexual, transgender and gender queer populations of Smith College are valid and flourishing, whether they make it onto the "I Am Smith" Web page or not. In an age where single-sex education is a niche market and a deep source of pride at Smith College, the transient population and all forms of masculinity on campus simply must be addressed."

10-08-09:  Telegraph (UK):  "Transsexual in court appeal for breast enlargement" (more, more)

"A transsexual refused breast enlargement surgery on the NHS is to take her case to the High Court, at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds to the hospital's budget."

10-06-09:  Calgary Herald (Canada): "Sex change teacher as equal as anyone" (more)

"Here we go again. You'd think in this day and age, in Alberta, that people should no longer have to fear losing their jobs because of who they are . . . Apparently not, because Jan Buterman, 39, a substitute teacher with the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Board, has lost his job for being transgendered . . . All the St. Albert students have learned from this current ugly scenario is that if someone is different from you, you can treat him as less worthy by discriminating against him and depriving him of his job."

10-05-09:  The Edge (Boston): "How the Gay Community Is Complicit in Trans Violence"

"Loree Cook-Daniels, a program manager for FORGE, a Milwaukee-based transgender advocacy group, commented on the attacks. She said that, though violence is rare, day-to-day discrimination and exclusion were common among the transgender community’s gay and lesbian peers. "Of course LGB people aren’t innocent of transphobia," Cook-Daniels said. "It even makes sense that they may be more transphobic, due to gender allegiance - to be a "gay man" you have to assert both your own male gender and the male gender of those you love - and to the popular conflation of sexual orientation with gender identity." "If you’ve spent a lot of time asserting how your gender identity is normative, you may well develop a prejudice against those whose identity is not normative," Cook-Daniels continued"

10-05-09:  The Temple News (Temple University): "Translating Gender"

"Since last year’s merge with TransAction Student Network, Queer Student Union has expanded both its membership and diversity. Still, some issues in the transgender community are beyond reach of a student organization . . .when transgender students are forced to disclose a gender with the choice of only “male” or “female,” it can create embarrassing and awkward situations for those who don’t identify with either. “The invitation still happens to trans people in the classroom is that question: ‘Are you a boy or a girl?’” said Scott Gratson, director of undergraduate studies in the School of Communications and Theater. “It’s an intimate question that gets into medical issues. Do people realize that question is as invasive as asking any other personal medical history?”"

10-05-09:  Pink News (UK; publ 10-02):  "Raped trans woman 'harassed in public and on the internet'"

"A Welsh trans woman who was raped has said she was forced to move house after her identity became public. The unnamed victim saw her attacker, Kiron Singh, Chand, jailed for eight years this week . . . However, the woman has said she received verbal abuse in the street and was subjected to a humiliating poster campaign. She added that she was vilified on social networking websites such as Facebook. . . . "My family and I have been through hell because of it. "I was the victim and I was being treated like the criminal.""

10-05-09:  Saudi Gazette (Saudi Arabia): "Gender correction surgeries up"

"The number of “gender correction” operations conducted at hospitals in the Kingdom has risen markedly in recent years, according to specialists in the field . . . a 2008 Saudi study showed that in one year 60 such operations were carried out compared to only 300 in the previous 25 years. . . Operations that “correct gender” . . . are to be distinguished from “sex-change operations”. . . “Sex-change operations are not permitted in Shariah, whereas there is no prolem with gender correction as it addresses faults in the reproductive organs ”"

10-04-09:  The Christian Post: "Upcoming Film Follows a Transsexual's Ordination Journey"

"The journey of a transsexual woman seeking ordination in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been documented on film, which is set to release next year. "Thy Will Be Done: A Transsexual Woman's Journey Through Family and Faith" follows Sara Herwig, who transitioned from male to female and is seeking to "fulfill God's call." . . . The film points out that conservatives recognize Herwig not as a female but as a gay man. At the same time, they maintain that Herwig is in a same-sex relationship with a woman and thus cannot be ordained. Robert Gagnon, associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a conservative ordained elder of the PC(USA), argued in a 2007 paper that "transsexuality is in some respects an even more extreme version of the problem of homosexuality" as it is a denial of one's own sex and "an overt attempt at marring the sacred image of maleness or femaleness formed by God.""

10-03-09:  CBC (Canada): "Teacher's sex change firing 'wrong message': expert"  (more, more, more, more)

"An expert in gender identity says the firing of a transgendered teacher by a Roman Catholic school board in Alberta sends the wrong message to students . . . "The question could be asked, 'Would the school board, if it's adhering to the tenets of its faith, fire those teachers who are divorced?'""

10-03-09:  The Edmunton Sun (Canada): "Transgender teacher fired by Catholic school board"

"She said she was removed from the substitute teaching list of the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools board after receiving a letter from a deputy superintendent who wrote, "Since you made a personal choice to change your gender, which is contrary to Catholic teachings, we have had to remove you from the substitute teacher list."  The official said the gender change "would create confusion and complexity with students and parents as a model and witness to Catholic faith values.""

10-02-09:  Southern Voice: "‘It's like my world’ - Southern Comfort Conference provides safe space for trans people"

"Angel Sparks was born and raised in Marietta and now lives in rural North Georgia near Bartow County. Finding people like her, people who are transgender, is not easy where she lives. She built a community via the internet and has known about the annual Southern Comfort Conference, but in years past was too afraid to venture to Atlanta. This year she did, with the help of the SoCo scholarship program."

10-02-09:  MassLive.com: "Gender rights focus of'Hamp march

"Downtown Northampton will become the epicenter for the revolution in gender rights Saturday as transgender people from throughout the region march through the streets in the second annual New England Trans United Pride March and Rally."

10-01-09:  Times of India (India): "Transgenders get their own beauty parlour"

"Welcome to Queer Beauty Parlour, probably the first beauty treatment centre run exclusively for transgenders in and around capital. And by the looks of it, this unique centre which gives gays not only beauty solutions but also their own free space, is a runaway hit with the community."

10-01-09:  "Sex change op rapist is jailed"

"An eight-year jail sentence has been handed to a Llanelli man who orally raped a male awaiting a sex change operation. Kiron Singh Chand carried out the sex attack after beating up his victim in a lane in Llanelli . . . Passing sentence, the judge said Chand had realised the complainant was a transsexual and had carried out the sex attack to punish and humiliate her."

10-01-09:  CBS News: "Minister Admits Transgender Secret" (Video)

"A Methodist minister made a surprise announcement during a church sermon: He was actually born female. Rev. David Weekly, of Epworth United Methodist Church in Portland, Ore., recently revealed during a sermon he was a transsexual. He admitted was born a girl, but after a difficult childhood, he had gender reassignment surgery. . . Since the revelation, Weekly said he felt a burden had been lifted. "I feel like I have more ability to pastor to my congregation, and also other people that come to me," he said. "I've had so many e-mails and cards from people all over the country and world saying they would like to return to a spiritual community and my being out there gives them some hope to do that.""

September 2009

9-30-09:  Miami Herald (Blog by Steve Rothaus): "CIGNA cardiologist Rebecca Allison, M.D., becomes president of Gay and Lesbian Medical Association"

"When the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) meets this week in Washington, D.C., for its 27th annual conference, CIGNA cardiologist Rebecca (Becky) Allison will become the organization’s president after serving as president-elect for the past year. CIGNA (NYSE: CI) is the top-level Diamond sponsor of this year’s conference, which the GLMA calls the world's largest scientific meeting focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health. "

9-30-09:  The Open Press: "Mona Rae Mason to Present Findings of the Transgender Project at Tiffany Club FE 2010"

"Mona Rae Mason, the project coordinator for the recently completed Transgender Project will present the findings of this landmark study at two back to back workshops at First Event 2010. The Transgender Project was a longitudinal study from 2004 – 2009 of the male to female transgender population of the greater New York City metropolitan area. . . . To date, it is the most in depth and largest study of its kind . . . Five hundred fifty volunteer male to female transgender persons between the ages of 19 and 59 years of age from different social and cultural backgrounds and of all of the transgender community, as well as numerous stages of transition were interviewed. The study looked at a number of areas: mental health, suicide ideation, sexual identity, employment, income levels, education levels, HIV/STI prevalence, family relationships, hormone use and more."

9-30-09:  KOCO (Oklahoma City, posted 9-29): "Local Transgender Attorney To Challenge Kern - Brittany Novotny To Oppose State Rep. Sally Kern"

"State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Bethany -- known nationally for statements suggesting homosexuality is a greater threat to America than terrorism -- hopes to keep her state House seat in District 84. "It's a moral decay that's going to destroy our nation from within," she said of homosexuality in 2008. To stay in office, the former school teacher will have to defeat local attorney Brittany Novotny. Novotny is a Democrat, and she is transgender -- meaning she was born a male but has transitioned to female."

[ More information:  Profile: Brittany Novotny;  Facebook:  Brittany Novotny;  Facebook Supporters:  Brittany Novotny;  Twitter:  Brittany Novotny;  Homepage Donate please! ]

9-30-09:  The Sun (UK): "Secret ... how do I tell my parents I want for a sex change?"

"I'm a 15-year-old boy and live like every other normal boy in my town except for one huge secret. I want to have a sex change and it's tearing me apart. I have wanted this ever since I was 12 and the hope of having this has kept me going since then."

9-30-09:  Bianet (Turkey): "Transsexuals Take Position against Chief of Police Hüseyin Çapkın"

"About 100 people protested in Istanbul's district of Beyoğlu, claiming that the pressure on tansvestites and transsexuals has increased ever since Hüseyin Çapkın became Chief of Police. . . The transsexuals and transvestites argued in the meeting in the early evening hours on 28 September that every day arbitrary fines have been issued to them under the excuse of disturbing the environment. They announced that they are not going to give way to these applications."

9-29-09:  Digital City: "Transgender Comic Ian Harvie Shares His Tales"

"Ian Harvie has been a stand up comic for seven years. He has a wealth of material as he is the first female-to-male transgendered comic. He is currently on tour with Margaret Cho."

9-29-09:  Edge Boston: "Violence Against the Transgendered Only Getting Worse"

"Nearly a month has passed since the Aug. 26 murder of Ty’lia "NaNa Boo" Mack, a 21-year-old transgender woman, in Washington, D.C. But the violent crime remains on the top of the minds of transgender advocates nationwide. . . Mack’s death, in broad daylight on a sidewalk near the Transgender Health Empowerment (T.H.E.) office is the latest in a series of high-profile killings of transgender people in recent memory."

9-29-09:  Journal&Courier (Lafayette, IN): "Transgender child, job are focus of complaint against TSC"

"In the complaint, Paxton claims that she lost her job and her daughter was forced to change schools because of discrimination against her daughter."What it all boils down to is my child's situation and the fact that she is transgender," said Paxton, who had worked for the TSC as a bus driver. "I never thought that after nearly 10 years of driving I'd be looking for a new job.""

9-28-09:  American Thinker: "Our Sexual Identity Crisis"

"So what are we to conclude about "gender" science? Decades ago its "experts" said society could turn your boy into a girl if it felt like it; now they say he can turn himself into a girl if he feels like it. Is it just a coincidence that Dr. Money's "gender neutrality" theory accorded with his day's feminist claim that sex roles should be discarded because the sexes are essentially the same? Is it just a coincidence that the current "transgender" theory accords with our day's homosexual claim that sex roles should be discarded because everyone and his values are essentially different? It is at all possible that these theories have less to do with sound science than the spirit of the age?"

[Here cultural conservative Selwyn Duke misinterprets recent findings that gender is innate, by assuming that innate gender feelings are always consistent with gender assignment at birth. In reality, transgender children experience the same form of cognitive dissonance regarding their incorrect gender assignment as did David Reimer.]

9-28-09:  KATU.com (Portland, OR): "Transgender pastor tells all"

"The Reverend Weekley continues to preach at the Epworth United Methodist Church, where he hopes his message of acceptance will be heard beyond the church's walls."

9-28-09:  Electric News (Singapore): "'I'd rather die as an ugly man than a handsome woman' - Female-born transsexuals speak up at first-ever forum that addresses their plight"  (more)

"They live on the fringes, shunning attention, like this Singaporean transsexual. Only last month did he and three others summon enough courage to tell their story at an open forum. The forum, the first of its kind, was organised by SgButterfly, a group for transsexuals here. The speakers were all born women and want or subsequently got a sex change."

9-28-09:  The Age (Australia, re Belgium): "How the other half lives"

"Vanessa Van Durme began life as a man, became one of Belgium's first post-operative transsexuals and is now wowing audiences with the stage version of her tale . . . Van Durme is 62. At 27, she took a wad of cash to Casablanca, handed over her jewellery when the bargaining started and soon became one of the first Belgians to have a sex change. She was already living as a woman, which meant she had had to give up her prized position as an actor with the prestigious theatre company Nederlands Toneel Gent. She worked as a prostitute. They all did, the men dressed as women, even those with strings of degrees. ''In those days, it was unthinkable you could have another job. And there are a lot of men - really, a lot - who like transsexuals.''"

9-28-09:  On Top Magazine: "East Cleveland Mayor's Transgender Life Exposed"

"East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer's apparent transgender life has been exposed days before a primary election is to be held, the Cleveland Leader reported. Brewer is livid after photos allegedly of him dressed in sexy female lingerie and makeup were leaked to various media outlets."

9-28-09:  Telegraph (UK, re Spain): "Man who become first in world to become pregnant with twins seeks new round of IVF treatment"

"A Spaniard who became the first "man" in the world to become pregnant with twins has spoken of his determination to try again after suffering a miscarriage."

9-27-09:  The Gleaner (Jamaica): "Caster Semenya: Why, God, why?", by Sean Major-Campbell

"Is Semenya a human being? Should there be a debate with regard to Semenya's entitlement to human rights consideration? What if 'other Semenyas' wanted to be married to each other? What if Semenya was your child? How do Christians - those with all the answers - respond to these questions? Is this an unfortunate situation? If 'yes', is God unfair? If 'no', would you marry someone like God's Semenya? It is my hope that we will find compassion for Semenya. Let us use this reality to move beyond dinner table and bar counter jokes, to a more reasoned dialogue with ourselves. Let us engage that strange and often challenging place between faith and other life experiences."

[Fr Sean Major-Campbell is former rector of the Anglican Church in the Cayman Islands]

9-27-09:  Thaindian News (re Nepal): "Miss Gay Nepal now eyes the world"

"They became the first sexual minority in South Asia to wrest the right to same-sex marriage and have a say in the new constitution. Now Nepal’s transgender community is aiming to conquer the world outside by taking part in the international pageant for transgenders to be held in Thailand next month."

9-26-09:  Independent Record (Helena, MT): "250 pack church for transgender documentary"

"A capacity crowd of nearly 250 people packed Plymouth Congregational Church on Friday to screen a documentary film (Prodigal Sons) directed and produced by Helena-born filmmaker Kim Reed . . . Getting a ticket for Friday's screening wasn't an easy task, as Margo Brooke pointed out. She had waited for more than a month from the show and said the church was a perfect place to show the film. "I'm Catholic, and I saw many, many Catholics here," Brooke said. "That line might be a lot thinner than we thought between male and female. It's amazing to see how Kim looks and talks exactly like her mother.""

9-26-09:  Examiner.com: "Atlantic City prostitution sweep nets 27 people, three transexuals"

9-25-09:  Metro Weekly (re East Cleveland, OH): "Mayor's private transgender sex life exposed: East Cleveland Mayor calls pics "gutter poltics" days before election [video]"

"Local TV staion WKYC reports that nearly 50 photos emerged, many of a male who closely resembles the mayor in women's lingerie, some sexually explicit"

9-25-09:  ABC News: "Workplace Discrimination: Transgender Woman Urges Lawmakers to Pass Reforms"

"When Vandy Beth Glenn, formerly Glenn Morrison, was summoned to her boss's office Oct. 16, 2007, she was not prepared for the exchange that followed. "He asked me if what he had heard was true: did I really intend to come to work as a woman? I told him yes, it was true". . . "Mr. Brumby told me that people would think I was immoral. He told me I would make other people uncomfortable, just by being myself. He told me that my transition was unacceptable. And over and over, he told me it was inappropriate.""

9-25-09:  Southern Comfort: "Southern Comfort Conference 2009"

[This major transgender conference is now underway (September 22 - 27) at the Crowne Ravinia Hotel, Atlanta GA]

9-24-09:  People Magazine: "Who's That Girl? It's Jude Law – in Drag!"  (more)

"With his matinee idol looks, Jude Law is one of Hollywood's reigning heartthrobs. But in the movie Rage, the handsome actor shows off his feminine side as a sultry transsexual supermodel named Minx. Virtually unrecognizable in a black wig, a black strapless dress, scarlet lipstick and smokey shadow highlighting his blue eyes, Law, 36, delivers what may be one of his most dramatic screen transformations to date."

9-24-09:  Seattle Post Intelligencer: "Chart of the Day: Most LGBT people hide sexual orientation at work"

9-24-09:  Vancouver Free Press (Canada): "Best of Vancouver communities: Transitioning to a bright future" "

9-24-09:  Associated Press: "Gay rights supporters seek anti-bias bill"

"Two openly gay members of Congress on Wednesday urged their colleagues to pass a sweeping job discrimination bill that would — for the first time — protect gays and transsexuals from workplace bias. The testimony from Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., comes as supporters of the measure believe Congress is closer than ever to banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."

9-24-09:  Southern Voice: "U.S. House hears ENDA testimony"

"The House Education & Labor Committee heard testimony Wednesday regarding ENDA, which would bar job bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Vandy Beth Glenn, a Georgia woman who is suing the state legislature for firing her for being transgender, was among those who argued in favor of the bill." (with video of Vandy's testimony)

9-24-09:  Just Plain Sense (UK): "Trans Kids News Update", by Christine Burns (Podcast)

"The central issue is about how to deal with Puberty. If clinicians don’t do something to prevent normal puberty occurring then a trans child will undergo changes that are impossible – or at least painful and expensive to reverse in adulthood. Some children say they would rather commit suicide and their parents are understandably frantic. British clinicians have been ultra cautious and . . . Clinicians at the UK’s only specialist centre for child and adolescent gender identity patients say they will still only prescribe blocking therapy once puberty has largely completed at the age of 16 – by which time irreversible changes have occurred. What has altered, however, is that the advocates for change – mostly parents of trans children – are getting more of a hearing for their case. In this show we feature a recent interview from BBC Radio Four’s flagship “Today” programme and afterwards I reflect on what mature media coverage does for the debate."

9-24-09:  Colorado Springs Independent: "Gender Blender - New law aside, straddling the sexes can be a bitch"

" . . . there are clear signs of greater understanding that gender identity doesn't always parallel outward biology: Inside/Out is working with local families looking at helping children as young as 5 and 6 make the switch. But teens like Nico, and even adults, still face harsh treatment and incomprehension from those who prefer the rigid familiarity of society's gender boxes. Some find themselves jobless, homeless and lacking the money for hormone treatments and surgeries that can make a transition complete." 

9-24-09:  New York Times - Letters: "What Makes a Woman a Woman?", by K. J. Rawson

"Defining “woman” is always risky business, and I applaud Peggy Orenstein for taking the plunge. While Orenstein tempered the typical risk through her skillful use of personal narrative, I found her analogy of her own situation to transsexuality rather offensive"

9-24-09:  Thaindian News (re India): "Many gays opting for sex change: Doctors"

"Gautam, a gay activist in Delhi, said: “Society’s pressure is so much that some gay couples may be going for sex change to stay together. Though I don’t know of a particular case, this could be the reason.” He, however, added: “There could also be some gender identity mismatch.” Psychiatrists too say there is generally a gender identity disorder among some gays. Sameer Malhotra, a senior psychiatrist in Delhi, said: “Many of these couples are committed but depressed about their image. Hence they go for this makeover. The gender identity disorder is a key factor.” “Some of them believe they have a male body but a female soul. They face depression over a period of time by thinking about the image of their self. This is one of the reasons behind cross-dressing too,” he explained."

9-23-09:  Windy City Times (re NCLR press release): "Think Tank on Transgender Student-Athletes Equal Opportunity to convene in Indianapolis"

"A groundbreaking think tank sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights ( NCLR ) in partnership with the Women's Sports Foundation . . . will gather national sports leaders, legal experts, and policymakers to address equal opportunity for transgender student-athletes."

9-23-09:  SX News (Australia): "Deaths and Entrances", Written by Josephine Emery
"There’s no easy to tell family members about transitioning from male to female. Some take the news openly; others not quite so. Author Josephine Emery recalls the moment she told her mother what she had been afraid to say all those years. I was here in this small coastal South Australian town to be with my mother one more time before she died . . . I clutched the phone and finally said what I had been afraid to say for all those years."

9-23-09:  Boomerang Books (Australia; publ. 8-19): "The Real Possibility of Joy: A Personal Journey from Man to Woman by Josephine Emery"

"Ever since the author was a child, a small boy called John, an undeniable feminine presence was trapped inside."

[A review of Josephine Emery's new book]

9-23-09:  New America Media: "On the Road to Refuge - A radical church reaches out to queer communities"

"“There are so many congregations across the Washington, D.C. metro area where GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] persons are forced to check an essential part of their being at the door, while their gifts and talents are exploited Sunday after Sunday,” he says. In the City of Refuge, his passionate weekly sermons indicate that this ain’t your granddaddy’s Pentecost."

9-22-09:  New York Times: "When Gender Isn’t So Clear"

"Tests on the South African runner Caster Semenya continue, as race officials try to decide whether the 18-year-old athlete — who says she is female — is a man or a woman. Martha Wilson, an American writer living in Canada, is not a runner, and she thinks she is certain of the sex of her daughters. But, as she writes in a guest blog today, the case feels very personal nonetheless, because it raises questions of concern to any parent."

9-22-09:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Chaz Bono writing sex change memoir"

"Cher's daughter Chastity Bono is writing a memoir to document her sex change from a woman to a man."

9-22-09:  The Boston Globe (published 9-20): "Project ‘Gaydar’"

"At MIT, an experiment identifies which students are gay, raising new questions about online privacy"

9-22-09:  NBC Chicago: "Gay Bar's New ID Policy Is a Drag - Club requires ID that matches "gender presentation""

"The new policy at Hunters Nightclub (1932 E Higgins Rd) requires all customers to show a valid photo ID that matches their "gender presentation." In other words, if you show up looking like a boy or like a girl, then that must match your government-issued ID as well. This is a major problem for those who cross-dress or who perform in drag"

9-22-09:  The Independent (UK):  "Sarah Graham: My intersex experience"

"In an open letter to the South African athlete, Sarah Graham, who was born intersex, offers advice and encouragement for the years to come"

9-22-09:  St. Petersburg Times: "Autopsy finds low level of medication in transgender man hit, killed by car"

"Silverwolf died after he stepped into the path of a car on Roosevelt Boulevard about an hour after he was released from the Pinellas County Jail . . . His close friend, Ed Smith . . . said Monday he doesn't know whether Silverwolf tried to commit suicide that morning or if he simply wasn't paying attention when he walked into the road. But Smith contends that Silverwolf likely would still be alive if he hadn't been arrested for "a very, very minor incident" in a Wal-Mart parking lot, he said."

9-22-09:  In2Town Lifestyle Magazine (Canada): "Why Do Wise Grown Men Long For To Wear Womens Clothes"

"What do the words cross-dresser or cross dressing conjure up in your mind. For greater, it's practicably Dame Edna Everage, weird sexual fetishes, or men who don't know what or whom they want to be. It's strange how the very mention of cross-dressers or cross-dressing seems to be solely associated with men." [A rather bizarre article]
 

9-21-09:  Examiner.com: "U.S Congress: transgendered rights more important than business owners"

"The Obama administration and its liberal accomplices in the United States Congress continue to advance a relentless agenda of legislation that undermines the will of its citizens and the basic foundation of our society . . . In certain segments of the economy, construction for example, businesses would be devastated by enforcing such a policy. Certain transgendered sales people whose gender masking was obvious, would likely be shunned by customers and the resulting economic loss would be inflicted on the business owner who would face the repercussions of violating federal civil rights laws if they terminated such individuals."

[An example of the escalating anti-ENDA scare tactics.]

9-21-09:  The Independent (UK): "Gender reassignment: 'I always wanted to be a girl...'"

"Kim Petras is a model and an aspiring pop star. She is also the youngest person in the world to undergo gender reassignment."

9-21-09:  The HeraldScotland (Scotland): "Richard O’Brien lays himself bare"

"The Rocky Horror Show creator reveals all . . .  “All my life, I’ve been fighting, torn in two and battling – never belonging, actually. Never being male. Or female. Wondering if I was born transgender? Did it happen in the womb? That might have made it easier. I don’t know. Or was it psychological? I’d been going to therapy, treating what I was as though it was some kind of illness – getting more and more depressed, wondering, ‘could I be cured?’ I went mad, really” . . . He feels sorrow and exasperation at the way society imposes a sense of “being abnormal or perverted on those of us who are, as I like to think of myself, a ‘third sex’. Once I’d settled on that concept, I found it freed me from a lot of inner conflicts. But what a shame, that you have to hide yourself away. Become a shadow, so as you don’t make any waves."

[This story helps expose the terrible self-pathologizing effects of psychiatric "therapy" in years past]

9-21-09:  The Star (UK):  "The courage of Rachel" (see original article)

" . . . all too often, within the gay, lesbian and transgender community, it is youth and beauty that takes centre stage, and the older members of the gay and transgender communities often get sidelined and forgotten . . .  for those like Rachel who are very frail and require round the clock care, it is fantastic to hear that she is enjoying such high quality care and respect at a Sheffield care home"

9-21-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Aravanis’ stall at exhibition a hit"

“We as a group, wanted to be a model to society, besides changing the negative image about transgenders, prevalent among the public, and therefore, we started this venture. We produce nearly 750 kg of halwa per month and it is being marketed to Tirupur, Coimbatore, Chennai, Erode and Bangalore. Recently, we received orders from Kolkata. We are ready to provide employment opportunities to other transgenders.”

9-21-09:  The Joplin Globe (Missouri): "Exhibit explores transgender people"

"Medical students at Washington University will have a chance to learn more about the needs of gay and transgender patients from a traveling exhibit making its way to St. Louis."

9-20-09:  The Independent (UK): "Hormone 'blockers' could be offered to under-16s seeking sex change"

"Sex-change experts are considering reviews to current UK guidelines that could see treatment with "hormone blockers" extended to under-16s and transgender surgery to under-18s. The moves, if approved, would be taken as a positive response to campaigning led by Kim Petras, currently the world's youngest transsexual, who at 16 succeeded in lobbying the German government to allow her to undergo a sex change."

9-20-09:  The Independent (UK):  "Semenya: The mystery grows"

"The saga of Caster Semenya, the women's world 800m champion whose gender is under detailed and forensic questioning, burst into renewed and sorry life yesterday. It was revealed that, contrary to repeated denials by South African officials, Semenya underwent gender tests in Pretoria before the world championships. The team doctor was sufficiently concerned to recommend she did not compete. This advice – and qualms about her expressed to the South Africans by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) – were ignored; 18-year-old Semenya competed, and every shred of her own privacy and intimacy are now a matter of worldwide conjecture."

9-19-09:  Telegraph (UK):  "Sex change for children guidelines under review" (more)

"Guidelines for children wanting a sex change are under review, it can be disclosed, as it emerged that a 12-year-old British boy is hoping to become one of the world's youngest transsexuals . . . Some doctors are pushing for them to be changed to allow the use of hypothalamic blockers, entirely reversible hormones which delay the developments associated with puberty, at an earlier age than 16. International guidelines issued earlier this year by The Endocrine Society say that doctors should be able to use their clinical judgement and give the blockers earlier in puberty, if they deem necessary, potentially even as young as 12. "

9-19-09:  Q-Notes (North Carolina): "ObamaCare Scare"

"Healthcare debate in this country hasn’t gone from the ridiculous to the sublime; rather, it’s become progressively and inexorably more insane: death panels, euthanasia and eugenics. Of course, trans people have not escaped the foray unscathed. In the course of dealing with Neo-Christian fundamentalist zealots, we encounter many vitriolic and seemingly possessed pontificators."

9-19-09:  Vindy.com (Ohio): "No surgical sex change? No problem at BMV to alter gender on licenses" (PDF of the new form)

"Ohioans wanting to change their gender on state-issued driver’s licenses or identification cards no longer have to have their body parts medically altered, under a new policy introduced by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles this month. Under the new policy, launched this week, affected residents submit a form signed by their physician or a licensed therapist or psychologist that they are living as the opposite gender, whether surgical procedures have been completed or not"

9-19-09:  The Sun (UK):  "Now boy, 9, is a girl" (more)

"ANOTHER boy has turned up at school as a girl, it emerged yesterday - this time aged NINE . . .One concerned mum said: "My son came home from school and asked why one of his friends had become a girl. I thought he was joking, but he kept asking - that's when alarm bells began ringing . . . "My son is too young to really understand the significance of what's happening. It's hard to explain to him. "He doesn't understand the differences between girls' and boys' bodies yet. I'm terrified he'll ask me if he can become a girl as well.""

[This story reveals an important dimension of irrational parental fear: i.e., that their own child will want to "change sex" if they hear about another child doing so.]

9-18-09:  Telegraph (UK): "Sex swap children: gender dysphoria at a young age"

"A 12-year-old boy in England has started the new school year as a girl. But he is not the first one, as our examples show."

9-18-09:  Los Angeles Times (publ. 9-17): "Treating transsexual kids: wait for, then delay puberty to treat"

"The nation's oldest and largest organization of endocrinologists has recommended that physicians treating children with gender identity disorder intervene to delay puberty at its first signs and wait until a child is at least 16 before offering hormonal therapy that would begin his or her gender transition."

[This is a much more humane method of treatment than in the UK, where trans teens are denied puberty-blockers and are forced to go through the wrong puberty]

9-18-09:  The Sun (UK):  "Boy, 12, turns into girl" (more, more)

"A BOY aged 12 turned up at school as a GIRL - after changing sex during the summer holidays. Teachers called an emergency assembly to order fellow pupils to treat him as female . . . Angry parents told yesterday how their kids were left tearful and confused after school staff announced the boy pupil was now a girl. . . . Transgender counsellor David Hawley last night paid tribute to the pupil's "strength of character". He said: "It is very unusual for a child of that age to be that clear about what they want to do. She has had a lot of support from her parents. So I imagine she was comfortable with herself before going to school and now she is discovering it can be a nasty world . . ." Psychotherapist James Caspian said the child would not be allowed hormone treatment in the UK until passing puberty. Meanwhile he and the other kids would have to cope with the shockwaves caused by the switch."

[The school handled this situation incredibly poorly, and this will be made only worse when the child is forced to go through the wrong puberty under the UK medical system.]

9-18-09:  Alert from Inclusive ENDA Facebook Group: "Hearing on Inclusive ENDA next Wed., Sep 23 - YOU can help!"

"The House Committee on Education and Labor will host a Full Committee hearing on HR.3017 Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 on Wednesday September 23rd. We need passage of a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a federal bill that would make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or refuse to promote employees simply based on sexual orientation or gender identity. We need to encourage all members of the committee to support the passage of this Bill. YOU can help. We encourage YOU to contact each member of the committee as often as you can." [with details on how to make contact]

9-18-09:  CampAranu'tiq: "CampAranu'tiq is a weeklong, tuition-free, overnight summer camp for transgender and gender-variant youth ages 8 through 15." 

"Our mission is to provide transgender and gender-variant youth with a safe, fun, and unique camp experience during which they are able to express gender however they are comfortable and connect with others in similar situations.  Camp Aranu'tiq . . . was born out of the idea that transgender and gender-variant youth needed a safe place to relate to others like them, away from home, in a beautiful rural setting where they can concentrate on what every camper loves: having fun. Camp is located in Southern New England, a 2-hour drive from both New York & Boston . . . Aranu'tiq will celebrate its inaugural year in summer 2010. Dates: Campers arrive Sunday, August 22 and depart Saturday, August 28, 2010."

9-17-09:  Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles: "Declaration of Gender Change" (PDF of the new form)

"Correspondents in Ohio are pleased to report that the Ohio BMV has changed their policy, and will now change gender on the Ohio Drivers License for appropriate individuals without surgical intervention. This is particularly useful for individuals during the "Real Life Test," as well as transitioners who cannot or chose not to have SRS. They have been working on this for over 2 and a half years, and its finally come to fruition!"

9-17-09:  Georgetown Voice (DC): "Gender-bending art"

"Within the stark walls of the Hillyer Art Space, a hole-in-the-wall exhibition site in Dupont Circle, Susan Serafin seeks to explore the small but significant moments where we judge and are judged by others. Her new installation Multiplying the Body: Gender Performance Remembered and Reconstructed is on display until October 31. . . . With her exhibit, Serafin challenges us to look at the world through a purposefully unbiased lens, making it possible to see much more than gender, sexuality, clothing, and physique. “What if there was a place where there weren’t these boundaries?” Serafin asked. “Maybe we could be a little bit more true to who we are.”"

9-17-09:  The Carolinian (UNC, Greensboro; posted 9/15): "Transgendered people often find acceptance difficult in society"

"Upon coming to college, many students for the first time have the opportunity to review things they have encountered throughout their youth, and decide what to keep and what to alter. There are many opportunities to reassess gender identity and look more closely at the mores in American society pertaining to gender roles . . . One female-to-male transgendered person describes the time in his life when he realized he was more comfortable as a boy than as a girl. He goes on to talk about confiding is his best friend who is female and telling her for the first time that he needed to be a man . . . "

9-17-09:  First Post (UK): "Why we're frightened of Caster Semenya"

"The public are fascinated by hermaphrodites, but also horrified. Psychoanalyst Coline Covington explains . . . The sports world is a microcosm of the world at large - the confusion and fiery passions surrounding gender ambiguity touch a raw nerve that reverberates within each of our psyches and throughout our society. When the distinction is clear between who is a man and who is a woman, we know how to relate to each other. When this distinction is blurred or eroded, we become anxious and disorientated."

9-17-09:  St. Louis Today: "Traveling exhibit focuses on transgender people"

"Arthur Robinson Williams wants his fellow medical students to know more about the unique challenges of patients who are lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual. So he has produced a traveling documentary exhibit, "My Right Self: Transgender Considerations." It's composed of 25 photos and personal stories. On Monday, Washington University School of Medicine will be the next stop on its U.S. tour. "The average medical school spends three to four hours on transgender issues," said Williams, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "I've run across schools with no coverage of gay, lesbian or transgender issues.""

9-17-09:  Korea Times (South Korea): "Conscription Rules for Transsexuals Eased"

"South Korea will lift its requirement for transsexuals to undergo group physical examinations before they are exempted from conscription, an official said Thursday. The examinations pose the risk of breaching the rights of those who have undergone sex changes from women to men, said Kim Duk-ki, a Military Manpower Administration official."

9-16-09:  EDGE: "Murder underscores anti-transgender violence in D.C."

"As local police to investigate Tyli’a "Na Na Boo" Mack’s murder, transgender activists and others in the District of Columbia continue to demand an end to anti-trans violence in the city."

9-16-09:   The Tennessean: "Nashville council bans gender identity biases - Metro gives workers protection"

"Current and future Metro employees are now officially guaranteed protection from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity."

9-16-09:  ABC News (Australia): "Timber group apologises over intersex ads"

"A national lobby group has publicly apologised for a advertisement which offended gay, lesbian and intersex Tasmanians. The controversial advertisements ran in the lead up to the 2007 Federal election."

9-15-09:  Fox News: "Changing Genders: An Interview With the World's Leading Sex Change Surgeon"

"Ever since Cher’s daughter Chastity Bono — now Chaz Bono — announced she was beginning the process of becoming a man – many have wondered what exactly a sex change involves. In order to get that answer, FOXNews.com talked to Dr. Marci Bowers, an internationally renowned surgeon who performs more than 200 gender-related surgeries a year at her clinic in Trinidad, Colo."

9-14-09:  Mirror.co.uk (UK):  "I feel for Caster Semenya - I am a woman with male chromosomes"

"As controversial world champion runner Caster Semenya is reported to have both male and female sexual characteristics, Sarah Graham, 40, writes about her own life as an intersex woman.."

9-14-09:  Variety: "Alfredson right helmer for 'Danish'"

9-14-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "'I'm Britain's oldest transsexual', says ex-coal miner, 75"

"Now a resident at Haythorne Place Care Home on Sheffield, Rachel wears lipstick, nail varnish, and women's clothing every day. 'The staff dress me up around the home,' Rachel said. 'I've got skirts and things in my wardrobe, and they will dress me up and take me down to dinner.'"

9-13-09:  Connecticut Post: "A transgender's life in transition"

""It's not a choice. It takes place whether you like it or not," Beon said. "When it happens late in life it's like a race horse coming out of the gate. You can only hold it back for so long." "

9-13-09:  HRC: "Corporate Equality Index"

"The Human Rights Campaign Foundation's eighth annual Corporate Equality Index shows an unprecedented 305 major U.S. businesses earned the top rating of 100 percent, up from 260 last year - despite the economic downturn. "

9-12-09:  XTRA (Canada): "Police seek convicted killer of trans sex worker"

9-12-09:  AsiaOne News (re Thailand): "New sex change regulation in Thailand"

"From November 29, the Medical Council of Thailand will strictly enforce new regulations allowing only those transgendered people aged over 18 to undergo a sex-change operation, secretary general Dr Samphan Komrit said yesterday. Transgendered people aged 18 to 20 must have parental consent, while those over 20 can decide for themselves. Transgendered people must also consult a psychiatrist, live as a woman for a year and receive hormone therapy before being allowed to undergo a sexchange operation."

9-11-09:  Pams House Blend: "From A Respected Online Law Journal: A Throw-Away Line Of Antitrans Sentiment", by Autumn Sandeen

"What I "hear" as I read Ms. Colb's statement is her calling trans women self-deluded "fake women." I also "hear" her excising trans people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement by identifying only gays and lesbians as our movement's civil rights activists. . . In arguing for gay civil rights methodology in her argument for vegan activism, Professor Colb seems to me to have slammed other identity-community people (trans people in general, and transsexuals in specific). Whether she did this with sincere ignorance or conscientious stupidity, I can't tell -- but it looks to me at a minimum to be one or the other. "

9-11-09:  FindLaw (posted 9-02): "What Vegans Can Learn from the Gay Rights Movement's Successes" by Sherry F. Colb"

"Once we recognize that it is the vegan – rather than the nonhuman animal – who occupies the space parallel to that of the gay rights advocate, we immediately see some important commonalities. One is that, unlike race and sex, gay identity and vegan identity are, in part, chosen. In saying this, I do not mean to suggest that people "decide" whether to be gay or straight, in the way that they decide what books to read. What I mean is that in the absence of surgery or other kinds of mutilation, a person who is white cannot decide to be African-American, and a man cannot decide to be a woman: sex and race are, in that sense, immutable. By contrast, part of what makes the gay rights movement distinctive is that it is possible for a gay man or a lesbian to live (unhappily) as though he or she is straight. "

[Legal website publishes outrageous transphobic commentary by self-obsessed 'vegan activist'. What could they have been thinking?]

9-11-09:  Guardian (UK re Iran): "Iran set to allow first transsexual marriage" (more, more)

"Iran is set to allow what is believed to be its first transsexual marriage after the would-be bride asked a court to override her father's opposition to the match. The woman, named only as Shaghayegh, told Tehran's family court that she wanted to wed her best friend from school, who had recently undergone a sex change operation to become a man, but was unable to obtain her father's blessing, as legally required."

9-11-09:  JoongAng Daily (South Korea): "Transgender rape charge deemed legit"

"The Supreme Court yesterday reaffirmed a lower court’s suspended jail sentence for a man found guilty of raping a transgender woman . . . The ruling marked the first court verdict in a sexual assault case involving a transgender woman."

9-11-09:  National Post (Canada re South Africa): "Caster Semenya: the plot thickens" (more)

9-10-09:  YNET News (Israel re Gaza): "Gaza teen undergoes sex change operation"

"Fifteen year-old Fatima Abed Rabbo from Jabalya becomes 'Odai' after Spanish specialists perform gender reassignment surgery. 'I feel much more comfortable now, I feel free,' he says."

9-10-09:  ANSA (Italy): "Sex- change choirmaster sacked - Organist claims 'no explanation' for cathedral's move

"A Catholic choirmaster who was sacked after changing sex says he's still waiting for an explanation from the cathedral in the southern Italian city of Lecce.''They gave me the boot without any explanation, beating about the bush without coming out with the real reason . . .''"

9-10-09:  VUE Weekly (Canada, re Seattle, US): "Queermonton: Transgender Conference - The journey to acceptance"

"One set of workshops, known as Gender Odyssey, is for transidentified people, their partners and their allies. The other, Gender Spectrum, is for families with children or teens who are trans and gender variant . . . Conference attendees all seemed to agree that the best and most important place to instigate acceptance and understanding was inside the grade school system. A number of parents that I spoke to mentioned that it seemed that the younger kids were, the easier it was for them to understand why a classmate would be arriving to school in a dress now or would be using a different name. It seems an obvious choice to parents at this conference to fully commit themselves to supporting and nurturing their transidentified child. To them, it's clearly no choice at all. As one mom so eloquently put it, "The gifts are seeing my child enjoy life. Because she was living a lie.""

9-10-09:  Examiner.com: "Transgender & Transsexual Issues 101: Five appropriate questions to ask a transsexual person"

""The Top Five Silliest Questions to Ask a Transsexual Person" was almost all in fun (with a layer of truth hiding just under the surface), but for non-trans people who are now more worried than ever, relax. There are some questions that are appropriate when a transsexual person comes out to you or tells you that he or she is going through or has gone through a transition."

9-09-09:  Feministe: "Why Black Transgender Role Models Are Important", by Monica Roberts

"It’s important in any marginalized community, especially as a transperson of color to have role models that share your ethnic heritage. They give you a concrete example of the fact that you aren’t alone for starters. Their existence lets you know they are proud to be who they are, a roadmap to living your own proud life and the strength to persevere against adversity . . . That has what’s been denied us through intentional and unintentional whitewashing of transgender history . . . It’s a negative pattern that needs to be reversed, and it starts with us. We have to claim and fiercely defend our history, trumpet our accomplishments, and document what’s happening for current and future generations to read as well."

9-09-09:  Express Buzz (India): "A transsexual match"

When Kalki Subramaniam, founder-director of the Sahodari foundation (an organisation to support transgenders), launched a matchmaking site recently -- the world’s first it has been said -- exclusively for transsexual women, she showed the world that the voices against the injustice are getting louder. . . “People will understand we feel like women, we are not weird and we also want to find a loving partner and have a settled life."

9-09-09:  Windy City Times: "TransEpiscopal: Making the church more inclusive - Extended for the Online Edition of Windy City Times"

"They were a party of nine: five transgender women, two transmen, a gay man and a straight woman ally. They told friends, "We're going to Anaheim," not too far away from Disneyland. They were also change agents. By the end of the their church's triennial gathering ( July 8-17 ) , this band of sisters and brothers made Episcopalian history with the advent of trans-inclusive action and convention-floor testimony from a 19-year-old transman believed to be the first openly transgender deputy."

9-09-09:  h+ Magazine (Fall 2009 issue): "Bringing About HET"  (link to PDF version, 21mb)

"Human Enhancement Technology ("HET") is the term given to any non-therapeutic attempt to temporarily of permanently overcome the current limitations of the human body through natural or artificial means"

[An interesting special issue of h+ Magazine that reflects on gender transitions as an early important example of HET.]

9-09-09:  h+ Magazine (Fall 2009 issue): "Who Put the TRANS in the TRANSition to Post-Humanity"

"As we move into an age of shifting identities, where we can be whatever or whoever we choose to be in our second lives: where biotechnology might soon offer changes in skin melanin bringing about the age of the transracial, as people start to evolve novel body ornamentations and eventually parts, as we learn how to control our hormones to amp up our estrogen or testosterone to suit the needs of the day, we should always remember to thank the transgendered. They have walked point for our basic rights to self-alter."

[From the introduction to the special issue on page 10]

9-08-09:  Change.org: "A Transgender Political First"

"A transgender political glass ceiling is about to be busted wide open this week, with the official appointment of Babs Casbar Siperstein to as a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Gov. Tim Kaine, the chair of the DNC, appointed Siperstein to fill one of the 75 at-large seats available on the DNC, making her the first openly transgender person ever to serve on a major national political committee"

9-08-09:  Feministe: "Stealth Was A Mistake", by Monica Roberts

"One of the ongoing arguments in the transgender community that’s guaranteed to generate heated debate one way or the other is the stealth vs out one. Basically, stealth is the transgender equivalent of what we call in the African-American community ‘passing’. Back during the bad old days African-Americans who had features and skin tones light enough to be mistaken for white would just cut ties with the African-American community and fade away into white society so they could access opportunities for a better life. . . Even though they became part of white society, they always lived in fear that someone, someday and somehow would discover their Black heritage."

9-07-09:  GayNZ.com (re Pakistan): "Razor Crescent? LGBT Pakistan"
"Although India has just repealed its antigay Section 377 of the colonial era Indian Penal Code, Pakistan is still opposed to LGBT rights... although there are some signs of hope."

9-06-09:  Wales online (Wales): "Transgender couple defy convention for a happier life"

9-05-09:  The Times of India (India): "Transgenders enthused by response to their matrimonial site"

""Want a sophisticated groom with a decent job in the age group of 25-30. He should give respect to my feelings. He should sport a moustache but should not be overweight." The expectations of Deepika about her future partner are no different from most others. But she has something more to add: "He should not feel ashamed to take me out and introduce me as his wife to his friends and relatives. He should shower me with love and affection which I am deprived of at my home." The 23-year-old is among a handful who have posted their profiles on www.thirunangai.net, said to be the first exclusive matrimonial website for transgenders. The website, launched only a few days ago, has received tremendous response, as men from across the globe are sending in their queries, says Kalki, a transgender who has designed the portal."

9-05-09:  Agence France-Presse (AFP) (re Malaysia): "Twilight life of Malaysia's Muslim transsexuals"

"With her tight jeans, elaborate make-up and flowing hair, Tasha looks for all the world like a striking young woman. But her all-important Malaysian ID card declares she is a Muslim man."In Islam, there are only men and women, there are no transsexuals, and this is an Islamic country so that makes life very difficult for us," says the 28-year-old who has been cross-dressing since she was a child. Like many transsexuals in Malaysia, a conservative and mostly Muslim country, the clash between ID card and appearance means Tasha is shunned by employers, and forced to make her living as a sex worker."

9-05-09:  Associated Press: "Transgender activist runs for mayor of Idaho town"

9-04-09:  Washington Blade: "Vigil for slain trans woman draws 250 - Police working ‘non-stop’ to find killer in ‘possible’ hate crime"

"About 250 people gathered amid raindrops in Northwest D.C. last week to remember a 21-year-old transgender woman who was stabbed to death as she and a friend were walking to the offices of a transgender services organization."

9-04-09:  BBC News (UK): "Transsexual wins prison transfer"

"The refusal to move a transsexual prisoner from a men's jail to a women's prison is a violation of her human rights, rules the High Court. Deputy Judge David Elvin QC quashed Justice Secretary Jack Straw's decision to keep the 27-year-old, who cannot be identified, in a male prison."

9-03-09:  Dallas Voice: "Homophobe Kern to face transgender challenger"

When anti-gay Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, pictured, runs for re-election in 2010, she will face transgender lawyer Brittany Novotny. Novotny plans to officially announce her candidacy in late September or early October. Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern made headlines when she warned the audience at a Republican fundraiser that “gays are infiltrating city councils” and “they are winning elections.” Kern won’t have to worry about that menace in her upcoming 2010 race for re-election. Her main opponent, Brittany Novotny, is not gay. She’s transgender."

9-03-09:  DrDrantz-ScienceSexuality.blog: "Ending Professional Bigotry Against Transsexual People", by Veronica Drantz, Ph.D.

"In this video I present the scientific evidence showing that transsexuality is a natural variation and that transsexual people are simply different, not disordered. Consequently, the American Psychiatric Association should remove "gender identity disorder" from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. My thanks to Chicago's Gay Liberation Network. This video of the cable television broadcast is in four parts. (orig. posted 8-30)" 

9-03-09:  Religion Dispatches: "Transgender and Christian: Finding Identity"

"The idea of transgender Christianity shocks people on both sides of the divide: conservative religious reject any kind of gender variance and the LGBT community can be suspicious of organized religion. In all of this, trans-Christians are forging a new spirituality"

9-03-09:  West Linn Tidings (Oregon):  "New year, new gender for WLHS teacher - Nicholas Kintz is now Nicole as WLHS staff scrambles to explain sex change"

"After two decades teaching math at West Linn High School, Nicholas Kintz will now stand in front of the classroom as herself. For the first time, the teacher will introduce herself to students Tuesday, the first day of school, as a woman: Ms. Nicole Kintz."

9-03-09:  West Linn Tidings (Oregon): "Guest Opinion: WLHS not honest in teacher sex change"

"It’s no secret that West Linn High School math teacher Nick Kintz is returning this fall as a female. But from a student’s point of view, that’s just what the school wants it to be – a secret."

9-03-09:  Australian Broadcast Corp. (Australia): "WA fights transsexual ruling"

"The WA Attorney-General will appeal against a court decision which allowed two women who have changed their gender to be legally considered men, despite still having female reproductive organs. The transsexuals were denied legal recognition of their sex change, and appealed against the decision. The WA Attorney-General, Christian Porter intervened, arguing that until they had hysterectomies, they could not be considered men under the Gender Reassignment Act."

9-03-09:  The Timesonline (UK): "Berlin 36 tells how Nazis replaced Jewish woman athlete for man in drag"

"The film Berlin 36, which will be shown in German cinemas from next week, tells the extraordinary story of Gretel Bergmann, who was heading for an Olympic gold medal before she was bounced out of the squad. The Nazis wanted to ensure that Hitler would not be embarrassed by a Jewish athlete winning a gold medal for Germany. Her room-mate and eventual replacement, the film reveals, was Dora Ratjen — real name Horst Ratjen. “Dora”, despite his male hormones, managed to gain only fourth place."

9-02-09:  The Womens' International Perspective (re the Middle East): "Transsexuals in the Middle East Await the Wave of Change", by  Suad Hamada

"It might sound tough for transsexuals here, but there is more hope now than ever before of improved rights. With more public awareness through the Internet and newspapers, transsexuals have found a voice and have begun to demand respect and recognition. Created in 2006 by Salim, a Kuwaiti man who identifies as a woman, the Arabic-language blog Transhelp is just one example of a growing community of support. Since its launch three years ago, the blog has attracted 120,000 members and has had over 200 million hits. Called a “guardian angel” by many of Transhelp’s members, Bahraini lawyer Fawziya Janahi has dedicated her career to helping transsexuals across the Arab world and says she is the first lawyer in the region to specialize in sex change cases."

9-02-09:  The Times of India (India): "Now, a Miss India beauty pageant for transgenders in city"

"About 150 beauties with a difference will congregate in the city when it hosts the first Miss India contest for transgenders on December 19, 2009. Chennai-based Indian Community Welfare Organisation (ICWO) is in talks with NGOs and AIDS control societies across the country to organise the pageant which it hopes would help strengthen the community's network and fight social stigma. . . Community members are visibly thrilled. The country's first transgender television host Rose feels such events go a long way in motivating transgenders to look good and feel good. "A lot of men and women turn up as audience for such events and that gives a boost to the transgenders' self esteem. And of course, there is a glamour element to the event," says Rose, who came runner-up in a Chennai pageant organised in 2007"

9-01-09:  The Independent (UK re Italy):  "Will they learn to live and let live on the Lido?"

"No one in Lido di Classe can remember why transsexuals first chose to migrate to their town 20 years ago, but their nocturnal activities are starting to worry the village's increasingly elderly residents. . . In this little town on the Adriatic coast, among the tiny, tree-lined streets and bars and bucket-and-spade shops, the locals could soon be outnumbered by transsexual prostitutes. There are now thought to be more than 200 "trans", as they're known in Lido di Classe, with many coming from South America and beyond. "

August 2009

8-31-09:  Examiner.com: "The Rev. David Weekley: Methodist minister comes out as transsexual man"

"In the early 1970s, David Weekley began his transition from female to male. And in 1982, he began the process of becoming a Methodist minister. For 27 years, Weekley, now 58, married, and the father of five adult children, did not reveal his trans status to the church or to his congregations. But on August 30, he finally told his congregation at Epworth United Methodist Church in Oregon that he had been born female with a male gender identity and had transitioned decades ago."

8-31-09:  Washington City Paper: "Who Botched the Gender Identity of a D.C. Homicide Victim?"

"Mack was not a “transgender male,” a “transgender man,” or a “transgender.” Mack was a male-to-female transgender woman who clearly appeared to be female. On the reward poster for her homicide, she’s shown wearing eye shadow, shaped eyebrows, and two long braids. “Of course, when the one young lady was murdered and the other was hospitalized, we were quite upset [with the media coverage] because they aren’t transgender men—they are transgender women,” says Brian Watson, the director of Transgender Health Empowerment, which counted both victims as clients. “I know both of the young ladies that were attacked, and they lived their lives as transgender women"

8-30-09:  Sherwood Gazette (Oregon): "Congregation embraces transgender minister as his secret is revealed - Rev. David Weekley hopes his story will help change United Methodist Church doctrine" (more)

"Until now, there has been just one openly transgender Methodist clergyman in the U.S. to retain his ordination (That man, Drew Phoenix, 50, had his ordination challenged by members of the church after coming out publicly in 2007 to his congregation in St. John’s of Baltimore United Methodist Church in Maryland.) Today, Sunday, Aug. 30, Weekley — who leads the congregation at the Epworth United Methodist Church in the Sunnyside neighborhood in inner Southeast Portland — became the second. Just months after telling his own children that he was not their biological father, Weekley, who is in his late-50s, came out to his congregation of 221 members."

8-30-09:  Globe and Mail (Canada):  "Transgender children - Mourning a daughter, celebrating a son"

"If there's one thing a mother never dreams her daughter will say, it's “Mommy, I want to be a boy.” When Julia O'Dwyer heard these words, she couldn't dismiss them as a tomboy phase because her 12-year-old daughter had rejected girls' clothing and toys for years, she says. So instead, the Vancouver mother of three consoled her eldest child and waited for what came next. Months later, her daughter came home from school and announced she was transgender. Ms. O'Dwyer says she had a brief moment of “Gee, why me?” but her first instinct was to contact local health professionals. After months of psychological assessment, followed by hormone treatments, her daughter became known as a boy named Cormac. Last week, at age 15, he had surgery for breast removal."

[Article about treatment options for transgender teenagers (i.e., alternatives to Zucker's trans-reparatism at CAMH) now emerging in Canada, including quotes by Dr. Melady Preece, a Vancouver psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor, Dept. of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, UBC]

8-30-09:  Conducive: "Trans Health Care Reform - It's About Life and Death"

"“There are people out there who are denied respectful, quality-driven healthcare because they refuse to walk around in a body that doesn’t fit well with who they are. Specifically, transmen with female sex organs have been shamed away from even the most routine, preventative, gynecological healthcare.” A perusal of transsexual websites and blogs bears this out. Transmen and women describe being derided as freaks, and write of being called fiends and sickos by medical professionals. Several report being asked to leave medical facilities despite high fevers, acute respiratory distress, or other symptoms because their presence would disturb other patients. Regardless of whether their illnesses correlate with their transgender identity, they speak of rampant discrimination as the rule, and compassionate care as the exception."

8-30-09:  Associated Press (published 8-27):  "Transgender Vt. teen wants genderless bathrooms" (more)

"A transgender teenager is lending his voice to a movement in Vermont to require the state's middle and high schools to offer genderless bathrooms. Kyle Giard-Chase, 16, asked the Vermont Human Rights Commission on Thursday to endorse the effort. He said that before he came out last year as transgendered, he was a three-sport athlete and the co-captain of the field hockey team, a girls' sport, at South Burlington High School. At an away game, he said he was verbally harassed and threatened by the members of the host school's football team for using the girls' restroom. "The harassment only stopped when I was reduced to tears and told them I was in fact a female," said Kyle, now a senior."

8-30-09:  The Mercury (Australia): "Bend it like gender"

"Man-turned-woman Martine Delaney says the science of gender is not just black and white."

8-29-09:  Examiner.com (published 8-27): "Man's 'secret love' of transsexual women: Do new trends predict a second sexual revolution?"

"Research gathered from more than a dozen major sources – including Alexa, Google and Internet World Stats – reveals that nearly 190 million heterosexual men are attracted to transsexual women and actively seek romantic contact with or sexually explicit images of them annually . . . According to the latest Internet statistics, interest in “transsexual” topics has risen more than 5,000 percent in the past five years, and interest in “transsexual dating” has surged more than 400 percent. In the past 90 days alone, combined traffic from the top 10 adult sites and top 10 dating sites catering exclusively to trans-loving males has risen 350 percent. While some crossover invariably exists, heterosexual male visitors to these 20 websites now top 188 million annually. And this figure doesn’t include traffic counts from the additional 300+ transsexual sites already in existence."

8-29-09:  Guardian (UK): "'I've felt like a boy for a long time'"

"He suffered years of depression and bullying. Now, as he begins the process of becoming a man, Jon wants to help other transgender teenagers. . . . This week Jon and his mother Luisa, 46, appear in a Channel 4 documentary, which follows Jon as he starts the testosterone treatment that will push his female body into male puberty. It is the first time in the UK that a family with a transgender child has agreed to be identified on camera."

8-29-09:  Deccan Herald (Pakistan): "The first step in the Pride walk"

"Transgenders in Pakistan are not only ostracised but also feared. Will the recent Supreme Court ruling change the way people perceive them, wonders Zofeen T Ebrahim . . . Hailing the Pakistan Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in July that gives transgender people citizenship rights, Sapna said it was a step long in coming but one that is in the right direction . . . Yet, there is some scepticism. In a country where special groups, that include women, religious minorities and Ahmadis (who have been declared as non-Muslims), are routinely discriminated against, and where laws are often abused to persecute people or to settle personal scores, it is hard to imagine how the ruling could bring about change"

8-29-09:  The Times of India (India): "First of its kind: A clinic just for transgenders"

"Even as a group of transgenders in Chennai launched a matrimonial website exclusively for them, in Puducherry the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute showcased a clinic, which, they claimed was the first such medical facility for transgenders in south India. The clinic boasting of providing complete health care services for transgenders will offer consultation and treatment free of cost in the disciplines of gynaecology, urology, dermatology, psychiatry and paediatrics."

8-29-09:  Hypergrid Business: "Virtual Gender: Q&A with Jamison Green"

"To what extent can companies impose dress codes on their employees’ virtual representations? In particular, can they insist that employees have an online gender identity consistent with their offline identity? To answer these questions, we checked in with Jamison Green, chair of the Gender Education & Advocacy organization."

8-28-09:  Hypergrid Business: "Virtual drag a thorny issue for employers"

"In recent years, companies have begun using virtual worlds such as Second Life, OpenSim, Forterra and Qwaq to hold virtual meetings — and employees have begun using avatars, or cartoonish animated online characters, to represent themselves in these meetings. Some companies and employees pick avatars that reflect their real identities — but other avatars are fantastical, whimsical, or gender-bending. As virtual worlds become serious business, however, corporate dress codes are being extended to the virtual worlds in a variety of ways — some more controversial than others. For example, in many jurisdictions, a company may not discriminate against employees who are in the process of changing their gender, or who have already done so. The laws do not cover casual crossdressing by non-transgender employees, however. As a result, companies are allowed to insist that employees have avatars that reflect their offline identities, or to comply with the same dress code that is in place for physical workplaces. However, many companies, including IBM, are taking a more progressive approach and allowing employees more flexibility with how they express themselves, including changing genders in an online environment."

8-28-09:  News Channel 8: "D.C. Transgender Community Outraged After Fatal Stabbing"

"There's fear in D.C.'s transgender community after a stabbing that left one person dead and another injured Wednesday afternoon."

[See articles of 8-26-09]

8-28-09:  Washington Post: "Stabbings Probed as Possible Hate Crime - One Victim Dies; Both Identified As Transgender"

8-28-09:  Lancashire Evening Post (UK): "Sex change cabbie quits new job"

"Andre Edwards, 51, walked out of her job at Leyland-based Eco Cabs following a series of rows with her new bosses – and they don't want her back . . . after Andre quit, Mr Chapman said: "I gave her a decent, honest chance – I did really try to look out for her and Andre was getting a fair crack of the whip. "As far as I'm concerned she's quit – there's been no explanation, no calls and no text messages. "There's no way I would be taking her back.""

8-27-09:  Associated Press: "New impetus for bill banning anti-gay bias at work"

"Momentum is building for Congress to pass the first major civil rights act protecting gays and transsexuals, supporters say, and one of the stars in the debate is a barrier-breaking transgender staffer on Capitol Hill."

8-27-09:  New York Times (published 8-17): "Special Issue: Saving the World's Women - How changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything", by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn (print version)
"In the 19th century, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape. . . The global statistics on the abuse of girls are numbing. It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine “gendercide” far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century. For those women who live, mistreatment is sometimes shockingly brutal."

[An important article to read and ponder.]

8-27-09:  VietNamNet Bridge (Vietnam): "Pattaya ‘girls’ draw big crowds at Hanoi cafe"

"Among Hanoi’s thousands of cafés, the Dem Vong Café has enjoyed an unusual popularity – for nearly a year, it’s been the venue for fashion shows by ‘Pattaya,’ a group of five openly transsexual Vietnamese ‘girls’ . . . In HCM City, transsexuals are no longer uncommon. They often appear at cafes, bars, hairdressing salons and tea-shops. Not so in Hanoi. The show at Dem Vong Café is unique. The ‘Pattaya’ shows take place every Monday and Thursday night at the 200 square meter café on Vong Street in Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung District, not far from the Polytechnic University. Since this café began such fashion shows, it has attracted a lot of curious, mainly male, customers. The café’s staff say that it is always standing room only whenever the Pattaya group performs."

[A supportive article about transwomen performers in Vietnam, with many photos]

8-27-09:  Examiner.com: "Transgender & Transsexual Issues 101: Are there more trans women than trans men? Part one", by Matt Kailey (Link to Part two)

"Frequently asked question: Why do we often see transsexual women (born male, transitioned to female) in the media and in public life, but we rarely see transsexual men (born female, transitioned to male)? Are there more trans women than trans men? It would appear that way, but the answer is much more complex than appearances."

8-27-09:  Times of India: "World's first matrimonial site for transsexuals" (more)

"Kalki Subramanian is young, liberated and looking for an Indian man who is loving, compassionate, educated. Oh, and one more thing — he should be OK with marrying a transsexual. But Kalki isn’t leaving her hopes for a suitable boy to destiny. The founder-director of the Sahodari foundation, that works for transgenders, is setting up a matrimonial website for transsexual women — the first of its kind in the world. "

8-26-09:  "Transgender Man Killed in Northwest Stabbing: Sources - Two apparent transgender men stabbed"

[NBC News hideously defames a murdered transwoman by calling her a "man."]

8-26-09:  MyFoxdc.com: "Q Street Double Stabbing Leaves 1 Dead - Two transgender women stabbed in broad daylight"

[However, Fox News gets the story right.]

8-26-09:  Swiss.info.ch (Switzerland): "Doctors "playing God With Children's Sex""

"Swiss intersex activist Daniela Truffer is spearheading a campaign to stop genital surgery and hormone treatment on children born with indeterminate sexual organs. "These surgeries are painful and irreversible and most likely to reduce or remove sexual feeling. Non-consented cosmetic surgeries violate the right to physical integrity and self-determination. It's a human rights issue," Truffer told swissinfo.ch. A condition that is seen in one in 2,000 births, people born neither fully male nor female have been an acknowledged part of society since Antiquity. But over time they became an invisible minority, particularly since "corrective" surgical intervention became the norm in the 20th century."

8-25-09:  Xtra (Canada): "Policing Caster Semenya's gender"

"Once of the competitors who lost to Semenya, sixth-place Elisa Piccione of Italy, complained to media: "to me, she is not a woman." Those grapes are worse than sour — they're bitter. And they were only a first wave of a bilious tide of commentary around the world from media sources and internet pundits, ranging from cruel and predictable jokes to demands that the public be allowed to examine her genitals. Though the debate has been described as concerning fairness to the other female competitors, it reveals much about what happens when the realities of people's lives butt up against the limits of our socially constructed two-gender-only regime."

8-25-09:  National Sexuality Resource Center (published 8-23): "Caster Semenya - An Intersex Perspective", by Cary Costello

"The main thing that saddens me about this story is the emotional tone of the commentaries. Other athletes, people on the street, and low media blogs are full of sneers and winks and nosewrinkled disgust. The major media bring in scientists and voice patronizing sympathy for how humiliating this must be for Caster, meanwhile capitalizing on the prurient interest in the story to gather viewer attention. Underneath it all is a widespread impulse to yank down Caster's pants and let everyone have a good look. It's a freakshow, with an intersex person the object of millions of prying eyes."

[An important and illuminating essay from the intersex perspective.]

8-25-09:  Associated Press (re South Africa): "South Africans rally for gender controversy runner" (more, wikipedia)

"Several thousand fans sang and danced at the airport Tuesday in support of Caster Semenya as the runner, who is undergoing gender testing after her 800-meter win at the world championships, returned home to South Africa . . .Semenya's victory came after world athletics officials said they were conducting gender tests after questions arose about her muscular build and deep voice. South Africans have embraced her achievement, despite the questions. . .  Semenya is not accused of trying to cheat, but of perhaps unknowingly having a medical condition that blurs her gender and gives her an unfair advantage over other female runners. . . Semenya's supporters say the allegations against her are motivated by jealousy and show racial discrimination against Africans. "We are not going to allow Europeans to describe and define our children," Chuene said . . . On Sunday, Lamine Diack, the IAAF president, said the affair was handled badly. "I deeply regret that confidentiality was breached in this case and that the IAAF were forced into a position of having to confirm that gender testing was being carried out on this young athlete," Diack told reporters in Berlin."

8-25-09:  Kuwait Times (Kuwait; published 8-14): "This Boy's Life: Being Transsexual in Kuwait"

"Transsexuals in Kuwait face a variety of abuse, including arrest for dressing and acting like a woman. "The police caught me in the street, wearing a female outfit and then I discovered that my father was behind [the arrest] to scare me; they took me to the police station and shaved my head. Then they force me to remove my silicone breasts because of the law here and that really hurt me deeply because I felt that they where denying me of my femininity and my choice of freedom," he said with a lump in his throat."

8-25-09:  Los Angeles Times (published 8-19): "New York man gets 25 years for transgender killing"

"Dwight DeLee was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of Lateisha Green, who was born Moses Cannon."

8-25-09:  Arizona Daily Star: "Tucson man convicted in attack on transsexual Vietnam veteran "

8-24-09:  Beliefnet.com: "With Whom Should the Intersexed Have Sex? Even More on the Complexity of Gender"

"Seriously, this stuff is a mind-bender for me. It changes everything, really. Why? Because it's the exceptions into which the norms need to fit to make them "norms." The doctrine of imago dei, the hallmark of which is so often misconstrued as rationality must take into account the human being with Down Syndrome. Is that human being, lacking the reasoning facilities of other human beings, also created in the image of God? Of course. And, so, when dictating with whom a person can and not have sex, we simply must deal with the gender ambiguity that afflicts many of our fellow human beings."

8-24-09:  Inside Costa Rica (re Argentina): "HEALTH-ARGENTINA: "Buddies" Ease Transgenders' Hospital Visits"

"Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity. "It's easier to communicate among ourselves than with hospital staff," Valeria Ramírez, a transgender promoter with the city of Buenos Aires' Programme to Facilitate Access to the Health System for the Transgender Population, told IPS."

8-24-09:  Merinews (India): "Transgenders also exist "

"Why do we limit ourselves to just two genders when we are all aware there are more than two. Do transgender individuals not exist? Or are we not able to understand them beyond their existence as objects of ridicule?"

8-24-09:  ENDAblog (posted 8-13): "The Sarah Palin of AIS (Autogynephilia Insanity Syndrome) is at it Again"

"Alice Dreger writing at the Bioethics Forum: "As a wizened gender rights advocate, I know better…." OK – that’s all I can stomach quoting. Not even through a single complete sentence and we have three heapin’ helpin’s of crazy. . . Does anyone else find it interesting that Bailey’s Bouncing Ball of Nuttiness is – via his DS (designated shill) – again rolling back into the field of play right as discourse should be veering toward passage of an inclusive ENDA?"

8-24-09:  Hastings Bioethics Forum (posted 6-22): "How and Why to Take “Gender Identity Disorder” Out of the DSM"

"As a wizened gender rights advocate, I know better than to assume the activists making the most noise are actually representative of “the community” they insist they represent. So, while American transgender activists have lately been fairly unified and very vocal about the need to remove “Gender Identity Disorder” (GID) from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), I know that not all trans people agree."

[ Here Alice Dreger, staunch defender of J. Michael Bailey and promoter of the 'science' of notorious CAMH psychologists Ray Blanchard and Ken Zucker, has the audicity to dismiss all past work regarding GID reform by American "transgender activists" and then interject herself into the debate as if she were a major "gender rights advocate". This is quite curious, for Dreger has never been involved in the struggle for trans rights except as a defender of opposition trans-pathologizers.

Also note how Dreger oddly refers to herself as 'wizened', perhaps thinking this a clever way to announce herself as being "wise and experienced" - when wizened actually means "withered; shriveled: a wizened old man; wizened features." ]

8-24-09:  The Herald (re Scotland): "NHS in Scotland spent £1.5m on sex changes"
"Doctors in Scotland have spent more than £1.5m over the past five years referring transsexuals for sex-change operations on the NHS. More than 100 patients have undergone "gender reassignment surgery" at private clinics and hospitals in England because Scotland lacks the specialist facilities needed to carry out the operations."

8-23-09:  The Sunday Times (UK): "No sexing, please – let’s all race together"

8-23-09:  Kate Bornstein's Blog: "Has Germaine Greer Become A Ghastly Parody?"

"The price of being a writer of vitriol is that it reveals your most private fears, which you've penned in the form of an attack on someone else. And sadly, that makes Ms. Greer a ghastly parody of herself. What she wrote was painful and destructive. But the loss of her fierce presence on the front lines of feminism is more to be mourned than scorned."

[Kate Bornstein responds to transphobic feminist Germaine Greer's exploitation of the Semenya story in which Greer launched a rant against transitioned women.]

8-22-09:  Feministe: "Germaine Greer Paints a Portrait of Transphobic Feminism"

"One moment she seems to rightly accept that a person who understands herself as a woman and identifies as a woman is a woman, and the next she is mocking and undgendering women who don’t meet her own personal, cis-supremacist standards. I don’t know what she ultimately thinks about Caster Semenya, but I do know blatant, unapologetic transphobia when I see it screaming out at me from the page."

[For more on transphobic feminist Germaine Greer's exploitation of the Semenya story to launch a rant against transitioned women, see the Kate Bornstein's response of 8-23-09.]

8-21-09:  Organisation Intersex International (OII): "Statement on circumcision"

"OII wishes to express its solidarity with other advocates working to preserve the genital integrity of children. It is the position of OII that modifications of one's genitals should be a decision made by the individual concerned in consultation with a medical practitioner who provides the patient with all the necessary information to make an informed decision. We suggest that you check out the following pages to learn more about circumcision."

8-20-09: AAP (Australia): "Review into male circumcision legality"

"Laws protect girls from genital surgery but parents wanting to circumcise boys can "go around willy-nilly chopping up bits of their sons", a state children's commissioner says. Tasmania's commissioner for children Paul Mason and the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute have embarked on what they say is the largest review into the legalities of male circumcision in Australia's history."

8-20-09:  Guardian (UK): "Caster Semenya sex row: What makes a woman?"

""Nowadays we are all likely to meet people who think they are women, have women's names, and feminine clothes and lots of eyeshadow, who seem to us to be some kind of ghastly parody, though it isn't polite to say so. We pretend that all the people passing for female really are. Other delusions may be challenged, but not a man's delusion that he is female""

[Here we see transphobic feminist Germaine Greer exploiting the Semenya story to launch a rant against transitioned women. For a response by Kate Bornstein, see 8-23-09.]

8-19-09:  New York Times:  "Gender Test After a Gold-Medal Finish"

"On the blue track at the Olympic Stadium, all three medalists celebrated after the women’s 800 meters at the world track and field championships. But when it came time for the postrace news conference, the gold medalist, Caster Semenya, was nowhere to be seen. . . Earlier in the day, I.A.A.F. officials had confirmed that Semenya, a muscular 18-year-old from South Africa competing in her first senior championship, was undergoing sex-determination testing to confirm her eligibility to race as a woman."

8-18-09:  Indian Express (re Australia): "Australian transsexual pair win legal recognition as men."

"Two Australian transsexuals have won legal recognition as men despite the duo still having female reproductive organs."

8-18-09:  TLDEF: "TLDEF Statement on Sentencing in Lateisha Green Trial"

"The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) today welcomed Judge William Walsh's sentencing of convicted killer Dwight R. DeLee to the maximum term of 25 years in prison in connection with the shooting death of Lateisha Green. Green, a 22-year-old African American transgender woman was shot and killed by DeLee on Nov. 14, 2008 in Syracuse, NY. On July 17, a 12-member jury found 20-year-old DeLee guilty of manslaughter in the first degree as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon." 

8-18-09:  The Korea Times (Korea): "Transsexuals Will Have Easier Legal Sex Change"

"Male-turned-female transsexuals will no longer need to fulfill their military service before changing their legal sex in family records. The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it had revised a regulation on transsexuals' legal sex change approval to delete the clause stipulating that when a man changes his legal sex to female, he should have already fulfilled military service or been exempted from it.  The clause was designed to prevent men from dodging the mandatory service by getting a sex change. Male-turned-female transsexuals, who have not changed their legal sex, used to be exempted from the service due to their ``mental illness.''"

8-16-09:  Denver Post: “Trinidad assault in midst of transgender tolerance”

“When she was first found — seen through the cracked opening of a Trinidad motel room door — she was lying on the floor naked, bleeding and bound at the hands and feet with telephone cords.  She had been sexually assaulted with a coat hanger. Inside the room, police discovered a hair dryer in the "on" position with a tripped circuit breaker. She told police that her assailant held her down in a filled bathtub, then tried to electrocute her, according to a report. In Trinidad — a town of about 9,000 people in southern Colorado that sees no more than a couple dozen serious assaults a year — the attack last month is shocking enough. But that the victim was a transgender woman who traveled to the town's famed sex-change clinic strikes at the heart of something many Trinidad residents pride themselves on: the community's unblinking tolerance for and acceptance of the transgender community.” 

8-14-09:  The Advocate: “New Laws Add Hassle for Trans Fliers”

“New flight requirements will mandate that all passengers declare their full name, age, and gender to book travel, leaving some transgender advocates worried about the implications to come. The first phase of the initiative, implemented this year, required that airlines collect the names of all passengers, shown verbatim as they are featured on government-issued identification. The next phase, which begins on August 15, will require passengers to declare their gender at the time of booking their flights. . . Kristina Wertz, the Transgender Law Center's legal director, said the new regulations will likely exacerbate airport hassles that some transgender people already face while traveling.”  

8-14-09:  Examiner.com: “Transsexual woman brutally attacked in Trinidad, Colorado”  (more)

“A 25-year-old transsexual woman is reported to have been physically and sexually assaulted in a hotel room in Trinidad, Colorado, on July 15.”

8-13-09:  PubMed.gov (abstract): "Autogynephilia in Women", by Charles Moser, Ph.D., M.D., Journal of Homosexuality, 2009;56(5): 530-47.

"To test the possibility that natal women also experience autogynephilia, an Autogynephilia Scale for Women (ASW) was created from items used to categorize MTFs as autogynephilic in other studies. . . By the common definition of ever having erotic arousal to the thought or image of oneself as a woman, 93% of the respondents would be classified as autogynephilic. Using a more rigorous definition of "frequent" arousal to multiple items, 28% would be classified as autogynephilic. The implications of these findings are discussed concerning the sexuality of women and the meaning of autogynephilia for MTFs."

[Dr. Moser's paper has just been published in the JoH. By determining that many if not most natal women experience so-called "autogynephilia", Moser undermines Blanchard's claim that it's a male sexual paraphilia. To read the full paper, see this link.]

8-10-09:  Seattle Times: "State reverses policy that made it harder to get ID reflecting gender change"

"It's hard to say for sure how many of the 80 or so transgender Washingtonians who change their driver's-license information each year might be terrorists. But just in case, the state was ready. In January — after three years of discussion — the Department of Licensing made it tougher to change gender information on driver's licenses, citing goals of fighting terrorism and reducing identity theft. Last week it abruptly changed course, not just reverting to the original policy — but even making it easier than before."

8-09-09:  Express Buzz (India): "Transgenders launch chain of idli outlets"

"Tai Vighudugal Federation has provided transgenders in the Salem district with a chance for self-employment with a soft loan of Rs 9 lakh to start a chain of idli shops. . . Talking about the venture, Sudha, programme officer TAI Programme said that transgenders in the district had an innate ability for the culinary arts and that many of them were already in the catering business."

8-07-09:  Pams Houseblend: "And, Allen Ray Andrade Back On MySpace Again", by Autumn Sandeen

"SD_Dave has let us know that even though Allen Ray Andrade lost his previous MySpace webpage, he and/or his family have created a new MySpace webpage. The second comment on the left hand side -- from the webpage owner -- is "I'm back haterz!! Lovin having cells in the cell." "

[This is a hideously obscene development: With the help of his sister, the murderer of Angie Zapata posts a MySpace page taunting Angie's family and the trans community - with Andrade updating the page via a cell phone from his prison cell!]

8-07-09:  CNN (re Pakistan): "Eunuchs begin fight for Pakistan rights" (Video)

"Shazia belongs to Pakistan's community of eunuchs. It is a term here that loosely refers to transsexuals, transvestites or hermaphrodites, like Shazia, who are born with both male and female sex organs. For Shazia what nature created, has made a life of hell. "I get so confused. I feel very strange that Allah could have made me a boy, or he could have made me a girl, but this way, neither boy nor girl. This life is very strange." . . . Shazia has found a champion, human rights lawyer, Muhammad Aslan Khaki. Dr. Khaki presented a petition to the Supreme Court, leading to the first register of eunuchs in Pakistan."  

8-06-09:  Feministing: "Snarky answers to invasive questions transgender folks get asked way too often"

"Getting asked inappropriate questions framed in a way that completely erases one's identity over and over again can get incredibly exhausting and frustrating. That's why I absolutely love the below video, "2 Hot Transsexuals Finally Give Some Answers!" Charles and Red respond to a number of these questions in a hilarious way that reveals the problematic assumptions that go into asking them in the first place."

8-06-09:  ABC News International (re Turkey): "Choosing My Religion: Finding God on Reality TV"

"Channel T is not exactly one of the major players in the Turkish television business. And the niche station . . . has made headlines primarily because of the woman who runs it, Seyhan Soylu. Often simply called "Sisi" by the press, the 36 year old is a former police officer and journalist, a transsexual and the enfant terrible of Turkey. . . So perhaps it comes as no surprise that Sisi also happens to be the force behind the country's most controversial television program." 

8-06-09:  Transworkplace: "The Senate Version of ENDA, S1584, is introduced - What's the Math?"

"There are 44 Senators with confirmed yes votes, as you can see on the Facebook Inclusive ENDA Senate spreadsheet. Another 16 votes must be found before S 1584 can be passed. 16 votes doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a big chunk of the Senate. Some Senators will require a lot of persuading, like someplace very hot freezing over or certain oinking mammals sprouting wings and flying. If your Senators are unconfirmed, you should be on the phone right now, asking them to co-sponsor S 1584."

[Click here for a list of the unconfirmed Senators with contact info.]

8-06-09:  VPRO (Netherlands; posted 6-9-09): "Een nieuw seizoen Over vaders en zonen! - Kelly en Anton van der Veer" (A new season concerning fathers and sons! - Kelly and Anton van der Veer)

[Hugo Borst conducts a moving interview of Kelly van der Veer and her father about her growing up as a boy and transitioning into a women. Although the interview is in Dutch, much of the story-line can be followed in English as one watches the interactions of father and daughter.]

8-06-09:  Ventura County Reporter: "Girls and bois - Life is a drag for female dance troupe"

"Drag queens may have stolen the spotlight, but a new group of headstrong women from Ventura County have come to take it back. Although they have been around for the last couple of years performing under the radar, Hir Bois (pronounced Her Boys) — the seven-member drag king dance group — have been garnering a lot of attention lately. " (video)

8-05-09:  Dallas Voice: "Breaking News: ENDA introduced in Senate"

"Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the U.S. Senate today. It marked the first time that a transgender-inclusive version of the bill has been introduced in the Senate. An inclusive version of ENDA was introduced in the House in June. "

8-04-09:  Denver Post Editorial: "Gender identity and basic rights"

"The Colorado Civil Rights Commission is moving in the right direction as it crafts rules to protect transgendered people."

[See also the comments section following the editorial]

8-04-09:  Daily Star (UK): "Sex Change Pop Teen to Hit UK"

"The world's youngest sex-change pop star has revealed she is planning a move to Britain as soon as she finishes her studies."

8-04-09:  KGW-TV (Oregon): "Transgender Silverton mayor reprimanded for dressing too racy"

"The city council voted 4-3 Monday evening to reprimand transgender mayor Stu Rasmussen for violating the dress code for city leaders. . . Rasmussen did not apologize, but reported telling council members earlier that "I will be more careful with my attire in the future when I represent the city of Silverton.""

8-04-09:  Reuters Blogs (UK re Mexico): "A different world, just as real." (with video)

"The first time I met Angelica I didn’t know how to address him, as a man or a woman. To call him Angelica and then hear his man’s voice was very strange. The first thing I asked was how he wanted to be treated. He said that it depended on how I felt more comfortable. For me she was Angelica."

8-04-09:  Denver Post: Editorial: "Gender identity and basic rights - The Colorado Civil Rights Commission is moving in the right direction as it crafts rules to protect transgendered people."

"It's difficult for the average person to understand the personal pain experienced by transgender people who are just trying to get along. We think the Colorado Civil Rights Commission is going in the right direction in its efforts to write rules extending non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation."

8-03-09:  KansasCity.com: "Cross-dressing murder case surprises experts"

"Transgender issues, such as cross dressing, often perplex people. But this case surprised even the experts. Cross dressing, they said, seldom leads to violence. If it does happen, “it’s usually the cross dresser that gets killed,” said Helen Friedman, a clinical psychologist and professor at the St. Louis University School of Medicine."

8-03-09:  Examiner.com (re UK): "Rob Newbiggin fighting for a change...of sex" (more)

"He intends to change his sex from male to female after his next fight. This has caused great trepidations for his friends or should I say ex-friends . . . somehow I think the last name would have worked better if he was originally a girl and had a sex change to become a man and thus the new appropriate name as he would have a “newbiggin”. Anyway, good luck with your new life, hope the head tattoos don’t get in the way of your new modeling career."

8-02-09:  Jerusalem Post (Israel): "A black day for Israel's gay community" (more, more)

"On Saturday night a black ribbon was tied to the pride flags that flew across the country. Because on Saturday night two young people, Nir Katz, 26, and Liz Tarbishi, 17, were murdered in cold blood and another 11 were wounded, four of them critically, for being who they were."

8-01-09:  Mainichi Daily News (Japan): "Majority who register gender change go abroad for the operation"

"According to the JSPN, less than 20 percent of 1,263 people who changed their gender in family registration records are believed to have undergone gender reassignment surgery in Japan since the Law on Special Cases in Handling Gender for People with Gender Identity Disorder went into effect in July 2004. . . those who want to undergo such surgery in Japan "have to wait for more than four years, and many of them opt to undergo surgery abroad" . . . "

8-01-09:  Denver Post: "State rule would allow use of restrooms consistent with gender identity"

"Social conservatives and advocates for transgender rights squared off Friday over a proposed state rule that would give transgender individuals legal protection to use the public restrooms or locker rooms for the gender they identify with . . . Social conservatives, though, expressed concerns the rule would be a loophole that sexual predators could exploit to gain access to women's restrooms" 

[Note that every time the "bathroom bill" comes up, the religious right expands even further a fearful public's  image of transitioned women as themselves being "sexual predators"]

8-01-09:  Out and About: "TTPC reviews legislative efforts to date, plots strategy for election cycle in 2010"
""While nondiscrimination legislation is faring well at the federal and local levels, members of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) continue to keep the pressure on at the state level, as well.

July 2009     

7-31-09:  Liminalis (issue 2009-03): "DSD Debates: Social Movement Organizations’ Framing Disputes Surrounding the Term ‘Disorders of Sex Development’"", by Robert J. Davidson.

"A medical discourse on intersex is traced based on a Foucauldian perspective. A textual framing analysis of the websites of three intersex SMO's (social movement organizations) is then presented to examine the the internal frame disputes between them over the proposed terminology 'Disorders of Sex Development' or 'DSD'. . . "

[A new way of looking at the DSD controversy. Highly recommended.]

7-31-09:  On The Issues: "Our Genders, Our Rights”

[A special issue of On The Issue Magazine. Links to some of the interesting articles follow below.]:

7-31-09:  On The Issues: "Our Genders, Our Rights”, From the Editors

“This edition of On The Issues Magazine – Our Genders, Our Rights – discusses a topic that is both utterly fundamental and wildly revolutionary: gender norms and gender identity. This subject has many contours and nuances, and we have tried to explore several.”

7-31-09: On The Issues: “Trans Health Care Is A Life and Death Matter”, by Eleanor J. Bader

“By offering low cost gynecological exams during Southern Comfort, organizers felt that they were not just paying tribute to Eads, but were encouraging participants to take better care of themselves. In the eight years since the program began, it has grown from a once-a-year offering to a year-round program called the Trans Health Initiative of the Feminist Women’s Health Center. Since opening in June 2008, more than 200 transmen have been served by the initiative.”

7-31-09: On The Issues: “How A Feminist Found Her Sexism”, by Helen Boyd

“I’m a woman who found myself with a female husband – the man I married is trans and currently transitioning to living as female in the world . . . I’ve been surprised by a lot of aspects of this process, not least of which is our relationship surviving it.”

7-31-09: On The Issues: “Asylum Pitfalls May Await the Transgender Applicant”, by Victoria Neilson

“At the interview, the male asylum officer told Cristina: “You’re a beautiful woman, what problems would you have if you went back to your country?” The asylum officer could not imagine what harm will befall Cristina based on her transgender identity because she doesn’t “look transgender.” She looks like a “regular” woman. Essentially, the comment indicates that she will lose her asylum case, at least at the first stage, because her transition has been too successful”.

7-31-09:  One The Issues: "What's in a name? Everything - Intersex: Why Naming Matters, Or What to Call It”, by Thea Hillman

“Promotion of the term “DSD” by people who had originally spearheaded the intersex movement shocked many who identify as intersex. They believed that the term “intersex” to be integral to who they are, their identity and their healing. To call them “disordered” felt like the ultimate betrayal. Others, including trans activists fighting to depathologize gender non-conformity, objected to what they viewed as coining another gender variation as a pathology.”

7-30-09:  Organization Intersex Internationale: "The Witch Hunt", by Sophia Siedlberg

[An essay by Sophia Siedlberg on the teachings of the Catholic Exchange]

7-30-09:  Catholic Exchange (posted 6-25-09): "Legalizing Deception: Why “Gender Identity” Should Not be Added to Anti-discrimination Legislation"  (print version)

Note:

Here we observe the Roman Catholic Church exploiting the teachings of Bailey, Blanchard, Lawrence, Zucker and Dreger as central propaganda in its ongoing war against transgender people. And if transitioned women make the slightest complaint about these teachings, they are labeled as "enraged autogynephiles"- much as the Church labeled many women as "witches" in earlier times.

Excerpts:

"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. He wants us to use female pronouns when speaking of him and to allow him to use the ladies’ restroom. He also wants to change his birth certificate and driver’s license. While some persons who present as the other sex are obviously not the sex they pretend to be, others are able to deceive their sexual partners without informing them of their true sexual identity. . .

Those who go through mutilating surgery — who sacrificed so much to achieve their fantasy — have to continue the deception even though their unrealistic expectations are often not met. Anne Lawrence, a post surgery autogynephile, explains how the fantasy breaks down . . . 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. . .

Even if only a small number of autogynephiles are prone to narcissistic revenge, they could cause incredible harm to anyone who speaks the truth. They would see injury everywhere, file complaints, and institute lawsuits. . .

If “gender identity” is added to anti-discrimination legislation, the lie of “sex change” will be taught in the schools. . . Confused children with G[S]ID who need treatment are already being pushed down the path to surgical mutilation. Schools are being told that if an elementary school boy or girl believes that he or she is the other sex everyone should go along with this fantasy. . . And it gets worse. In some places, at age 11 these 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.

It seems like such a small change –- just add “gender identity” to anti-discrimination laws, but such a change discriminates against the truth and endangers children. We have an obligation to oppose it with all our energy."

These reactions by Elise Hendrick summarize the situation well:

"It does occur to me that the Catholic Church - which had to have an actual debate to decide whether there was anything wrong with priests raping kids - perhaps isn't the best institution to go around accusing other people of having paraphilias. Particularly hilarious in this regard is also the line "one lie leads to another"" - Elise Hendrick

7-30-09:  Washington City Paper: "When Gender Transition Requires a Long, Strange Trip"

"Suzanne Clayton, like many transgender women, finds the “journey” metaphor helpful in talking about her gender transition."

7-30-09:  Daily Advance (Albermarle, NC): "Navigating the ultimate identity crisis - Chowan man struggles through change of gender"

7-30-09:  The Worthing Herald (UK): "Transgender asylum seeker fears persecution"

"The Home Secretary has agreed to reconsider a decision to refuse refuge to an asylum seeker living in south-east London who says he is "a man in a woman's body" and fears persecution in his homeland. Human rights lawyers believe the case could set a precedent for other transgender applicants from Muslim countries who say they fear ill-treatment because their condition is not understood in the Islamic world."

7-30-09:  The Local (Sweden): "Sex change ops under review in Sweden"

"The Swedish Board for Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) has launched a review of the healthcare alternatives available to transsexuals seeking to change gender. . . Criticism has centred on issues such as the long delays in the sex reassignment process with variations of up to several years depending on locality."

7-30-09:  Gay &  Lesbian Times: ""She … Amanda Lepore - ‘World’s Most Famous Transsexual’ on her upcoming LP, boob jobs, role model status and her famous vajayjay"

7-29-09:  The Advocate: "Pitch Perfect"

"At her Los Angeles audition for Making the Band, transgender contestant Jaila Simms wowed Sean "Diddy" Combs with her soulful voice -- even if he did notice that her range ran a bit lower than expected."

7-29-09:  Bay Windows: "Gender police at the gym"

"The lead advocacy organization opposing the bill, the conservative Christian group Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), has argued that the bill would allow any individual to claim the right to enter any bathroom or locker room facility they choose."

7-29-09:  KUAM.com (Guam): "School won't apologize for turning transgender student away at prom" (Video, more,

7-29-09:  Anne Lawrence: "An excerpt from: Lawrence, A. A. (2009). Erotic target location errors: An underappreciated paraphilic dimension. Journal of Sex Research, 46, 194-215."

" . . . the diagnostic features of GID, or whatever diagnosis replaces GID, should emphasize that, in nearly all cases, the key symptoms of GID in nonhomosexual men can be understood as manifestations or direct outgrowths of autogynephilia, a paraphilia of the ETLE type . . . Emphasizing that autogynephilia lies at the core of nearly all cases of GID in nonhomosexual men would make it clear to clinicians that GID in nonhomosexual men is best understood as a paraphilic phenomenon and that fetishistic transvestism and nonhomosexual MtF transsexualism can be understood as different manifestations of the same underlying dysfunction."

[Note how Anne Lawrence is lobbying hard to get an introspective vision of Lawrence's own paraphilic disorder into the DSM, and project it onto many others in the trans community.]

7-29-09:   CNN Larry King Live: Transcript of "Born Into the Wrong Body"
Note: This program aired July 24, 2009 at 21:00 ET, with Drew Pinsky as the Guest Host. The transcript includes rather candid interviews of Alexis Arquette, Gary Alter, M.D., Ryan Sellens, Isis King, Stu Rasmussen and 15 year old Ryan and his mom.

7-29-09:   Council of Europe: "Human Rights and Gender Identity - Issue Paper by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights"  (PDF)

"Gender identity is one of the most fundamental aspects of life. The sex of a person is usually assigned at birth and becomes a social and legal fact from there on. However, a relatively small number of people experience problems with being a member of the sex recorded at birth. This can also be so for intersex persons whose bodies incorporate both or certain aspects of both male and female physiology, and at times their genital anatomy. For others, problems arise because their innate perception of themselves is not in conformity with the sex assigned to them at birth. These persons are referred to as ‘transgender’ or ‘transsexual’ persons, and the current paper relates to this group of people. . . The challenge of protecting the human rights of everyone is to apply a consistent human rights approach and not to exclude any group of people. It is clear that many transgender persons do not fully enjoy their fundamental rights both at the level of legal guarantees and that of everyday life. Therefore, there is a need to take a closer look at their situation."

[See especially "Section V. Recommendations to Council of Europe member states" (pages 18-19 of the PDF)]

7-29-09:  San Gabriel Valley Tribune: "West Covina resident finds faith at gender crossroads"

7-29-09:  Catholic News Agency (re Italy): "Transsexual attacks priest during Mass in Italy"

"Milan detained a Brazilian transsexual on Sunday after he stripped naked in front of the altar during Mass and began to attack the priest who was presiding over the Mass"

7-28-09:  NJ.com: "Transsexual bashing: An ugly reality in the closet"

7-28-09:  Law.com: "Federal Judge Says State Not Obligated to Pay for Sex-Change Surgery"

"New York state is not obligated to pay for gender reassignment surgery for a Medicaid recipient, even though it provided coverage for individual procedures that are necessary preliminaries to the change, a federal judge in Buffalo has determined."

7-28-09:  Star-Bulletin (Hawaii): "UH center to incorporate gender tolerance policy"

"The Board of Regents adopted the policy at its June meeting. UH joins more than 260 colleges and universities that have added the category to their policies to prevent harassment and affirm the university's "commitment to tolerance and respect for gender diversity," the university said in a news release. . . Cameron Miyamoto, coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trangender Student Services Office, said the university has been working on the policy for about five years."

[It's amazing how difficult it can be - and how long it can take - to revise these policies in some universities.]

7-28-09:  Boston Herald: "Survey: Third of Mass. transgendered weigh suicide"   (link to PDF of study)

"The study compares the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents to heterosexual and non-transgender residents. It found that about 31 percent of transgender respondents said they have considered attempting suicide in the past year, compared to just 2 percent for heterosexual residents, 4 percent for gay and lesbian residents and 7 percent for bisexual residents."

7-28-09:  GLAAD: "UPDATE: Dr. Phil Show Agrees to Pull Problematic Segment on Transgender Children"

"Monday evening we heard back from the Dr. Phil Show producers. They told us they were pulling the show titled, “Gender Confused Kids” and instead reairing their other program on transgender children. That show, which originally aired in January, includes our GLAAD trained spokesperson, Dr. Michele Angello, an expert on transgender children. As you’ll see if you watch the show, Dr. Angello eloquently counters the misinformation put forth by Focus on the Family and the so-called “ex-gay” activist, Joseph Nicolosi. We appreciate The Dr. Phil Show listening to our concerns and making this decision to pull the original program."

7-27-09:  GLAAD: “Dr. Phil to Re-Air Problematic Transgender Episode”

“The Dr. Phil program plans to re-air an October 2008 episode that misrepresents transgender children and features the biased view of an anti-LGBT activist . . . The show featured two guests, Dr. Dan Siegel from UCLA who specializes in pediatrics and transgender issues, as well as Glenn Stanton, research fellow for the anti-LGBT organization Focus on the Family.  While Dr. Siegel offered credible insight on transgender issues, backed by research and medical experience, Stanton baselessly asserted that children develop transgender identities after parents fail to enforce gender roles.”

7-27-09:  New York Magazine: Daily Intel: "The Female-to-Male Pre-Op Transsexual
"Daily Intel looks behind doors left slightly ajar. This week: The Female-to-Male Pre-Op Transsexual, 28, male, Brooklyn, queer, in a longterm, sometimes-open, relationship with a woman."

7-27-09:  Colorado Daily: "Transgender prisoners sentenced to rape"

"A recent academic study of the experiences of hundreds of transgender women in California's men's prisons -- a survey that was commissioned by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -- revealed that 59 percent of male-to-female transgender prisoners had been sexually assaulted while incarcerated. A shocking 0 percent of these inmates considered prison officials to be allies in protecting their physical safety."

7-27-09:  Express Buzz (India): “Transgender gets admit card for teacher training”

“Asked for reaction, Bharathi, said, `my parental name was `Pandeeswaran’. I had left my parents nearly eight years back. Subsequently I got my name changed as `Bharathi’ and I have a family card and ID card in that name. People like me can achieve greater things in life had our parents bestowed their affection on us in a greater degree. My parents do not even know whether or not I am alive.”

7-27-09: Lezgetreal.com: “A Mother’s Tale: Life With An Adult Transsexual Child, pt 3”

7-26-09:  Al Arabia News (re Egypt): “Prosecutor launches investigations into stolen case file - Egyptian man-turned-woman sues al-Azhar”

“An Egyptian man-turned-woman has filed a lawsuit with the prosecutor general against the president of al-Azhar University for refusing to re-admit her after the sex-change operation. Sally Mohamed Abdullah, formerly Sayyed, accused Dr. Mohamed al-Tayeb, president of the oldest Islamic university of stealing the case documents that contained a verdict allowing her to re-enroll in medical school, where she had been student before the operation.”

7-26-09:  NY1: “Transgender Activists Protest Recent Attacks”

“Dozens rallied in Jackson Heights, Queens on Sunday, following reports of two recent alleged attacks against transgender women, to demand that Albany pass legislation to stop the violence.”

7-26-09:  Examiner.com: “Renee Ramsey: what her transition means for understanding trans issues” (more)

“At 77, Renee Ramsey has become one of the oldest people to undergo gender reassignment. Ramsey, who was born male but has a female gender identity, says she has waited all her life to be able to transition and live as a woman. It appears that she felt the freedom to do so after her wife died. While Ramsey’s story has heartwarming implications for both trans and non-trans people — that it is never too late to make changes or to follow the life path that is right for you — there is a much more serious concept represented here, and that is that gender identity issues do not go away.”

7-25-09: New York Times: “An Abortion Battle, Fought to the Death”

“One expert, Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, then discussed the files — though not identities — in a videotaped interview arranged by anti-abortion activists that quickly made its way to Mr. O’Reilly and others in the news media. . . “I can only tell you,” he said in his taped interview, “that from these records, anybody could have gotten an abortion if they wanted one.”  Yet Dr. McHugh’s description of the files left out crucial bits of context. He failed to mention, for example, that one patient was a 10-year-old girl, 28 weeks pregnant, who had been raped by an adult relative. Asked about this omission by The New York Times, Dr. McHugh said that while the girl’s case was “terrible,” it did not change his assessment: “She did not have something irreversible that abortion could correct.””

[Catholic ideologue Paul McHugh is exposed as opposing an abortion for a 10 year old girl who had been raped.]

7-25-09:  Lezgetreal.com: "A Mother’s Tale: Life With An Adult Transsexual Child, pt 2" 

[Link to part 1]

7-24-09:  Examiner: "Trans Bathroom Safety: The "Pee in Peace" Campaign"

"Earlier this month the DC Trans Coalition launched their “Pee in Peace Campaign.” This campaign aims to spread the word and start enforcing the DC laws that are already in place regarding restroom use in public spaces - Laws the [sic] protect the [sic] harrassment of DC Residents who attempt to use public restrooms which match their gender identity or gender expression."

7-24-09:  Examiner: "Transgender mayor accused of showing too much skin - Video"

7-24-09:  Boston Globe: Editorial "Another front for fairness"

"Unlike those whose religions or sexual orientations expose them to discrimination, transgendered people might not be able to avoid the issue when applying for jobs, apartments, or loans. The truth may become evident from a check on a Social Security number or a search of credit reports.Transgender advocates aren’t looking for sympathy. The goal of the legislation, introduced by Representative Carl Sciortino, is to give transgender residents of Massachusetts space to live without discrimination or violence. The bill responds sensibly to a real problem, and deserves to pass."

7-24-09:  Brisbane Times (Australia): "'Gay hate' nurse under investigation"

"The Queensland Nursing Council has launched a review into the competence of a registered nurse who wrote a letter to his former school calling for "a world free of homosexuals". Australian Coalition for Equality spokesman Rodney Croome said he could understand why gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual patients would worry about receiving treatment from a nurse who espoused such views."

[Note: This story raises an important fact that few want to acknowledge: i.e., that there are many homophobic and transphobic nurses out there. One of the greatest fears we have is encountering such a person during a medical emergency, and triggering a sadistic reaction.]

7-24-09:  New York Daily News: "After recent attacks gay advocates' rally in Queens to support victims"

""We want to show people that transgender people still fight for survival," said local transgender activist Melissa Sklarz of Woodside. "With these two attacks in Queens, it forces us to reexamine our relationship with our neighborhoods." "

7-23-09:  San Francisco Bay Times: "Calpernia Addams is Transfixed"

"Having gained national notoriety after the traumatic 1999 murder of her military boyfriend as documented in the feature film A Soldier’s Girl, Addams - a one-time Tennessee Entertainer-of-the-Year drag star - found herself spending more time as an advocate and activist than actress and showgirl. In the years since, she has etched a name in Hollywood as a feature film consultant, documentary subject and LOGO reality TV star. Most recently, with partner-in-crime Jer Ber Jones, she pokes fun at a twisted, fictionalized take on her life in the uproarious and very tongue-in-cheek two-woman stage show Transfixed. After playing to critical acclaim in Los Angeles, the duo brings their act to San Francisco for a July 24-25 run in the intimate parlor setting of Finn’s Funhouse (814 Grove Street)."

7-23-09:  Lezgetreal.com: "A Mother’s Tale: Life With An Adult Transsexual Child, pt 1"

"Sometime before 1999, Cher gave an interview in which she was asked how she had handled being told that her only daughter, Chastity Bono, was a lesbian. Cher responded that her reaction had been “primal.” I kept remembering that interview on a six-hour road trip that my son used as an opportunity to explain to me that he was transgender. Okay, if the coolest lady in the world (at least to my generation) could go “primal,” then I was entitled to my roller coaster of idiot questions, guilt trip, denial and pointless suggestions. In the end, I had only one request. Paul had to tell his father himself."

7-23-09:  Independent (Ireland re US): "Sex change: The last time they'd seen her, she was a star quarterback named Paul McKerrow ... "

"Living her new life as a woman, Kimberly admits that she found conducting relationships difficult at first. "I guess I just dreaded the conversation," she says. "But I really found that the more at peace I was with it, the easier it was for other people to accept."

[Story about Kimberly Reed and her remarkable new documentary, "Prodigal Sons" (more)]

7-23-09:  Pink News (UK): "British churches performing 'exorcisms' on gays"

"Rev John Ogbe-Ogbeide, who runs the United Pentecostal Ministry in Harrow, said he carried out exorcisms on gays four or five times a year and that the procedure always worked. He said: "The evil spirits are telling you what's wrong is right, the opposite sex is not attractive.""

7-23-09:  Bay Windows (Boston): "Local media swallows ’bathroom bill’ rhetoric" by Ethan Jacobs

"Dan Kennedy, a professor at the Northeastern University School of Journalism . . . said that given the larger scope of the transgender rights bill, media outlets were wrong to refer to it as a "bathroom bill" in their reporting . . . "To call that a bathroom bill is irresponsible. It wouldn’t be if it were a bathroom bill. ... Why would you describe it that way unless you’re trying to snicker and be demeaning about it?" said Kennedy."

7-23-09:  Ecommerce Journal: "Shemale porn market: get the best of both sexes!"

"Do you want to taste something exotic, reveal hidden secrets and try forbidden fruits? Shemale porn offers the best of both sexes! This niche has become extremely popular – and profitable - in the last few years."

[Mainstream e-financial site posts a rather tasteless, voyeuristic story about the trans-porn industry.]

7-23-09:  Examiner: "Stu Rasmussen: transgendered mayor gets clothing complaint" (more)

"“I identify mostly as a heterosexual male,” Rasmussen told KGW of Portland upon his election as mayor last November. “But I just like to look like a female.” Apparently the people of Silverton were more concerned about what Stu Rasmussen could do for their city than what he looked like or chose to wear, because they elected him. But now Rasmussen is in hot water with the city for his clothing choices — at least for what he chose to wear to a recent youth leadership training event."

7-22-09:  Associated Press: "Transgender teacher in NJ retiring in frustration" (more, more)

"The schools' 2006 decisions to keep her on as a substitute were hailed around the nation as a model of tolerance and acceptance of transgender Americans. But the storybook ending never happened: She got only a handful of assignments since then and is resigning in frustration."

7-22-09:  "Gender clinic reopens"

"Transgender activists have welcomed the decision to reopen the Gender Dysphoria Clinic at the Monash Medical Centre. The clinic was closed for review in June following claims that people have been misdiagnosed as transsexual. Sally Goldner, spokesperson for TransGender Victoria, told MCV fundamentalist Christians had been behind the move to have the clinic closed. . . . Goldner said the review has resulted in minimal changes to the clinic . . .“It has been reassuring that the trans community and its allies have been able to stand up to this.” "

7-21-09:  All Headline News: "Report Warns Murder Rate Against Transgendered People Is Rising"

"A new report has found an estimated 200 transgendered persons were murdered from January 2008 to June 2009; which is enough to say that every three days a transgendered person is killed somewhere in the world."

7-21-09:  Pink News (re Venezuela): "Venezuelan government moves to establish greater LGBT rights"

"The current wording states: "Every person has the right to exercise their preferred sexual orientation and identity freely and without any form of discrimination, and as a consequence, the state will recognise co-living associations [civil unions] constituted between two people of the same sex by mutual agreement." The law would also allow gender reassignment surgery and to create framework to recognise a legal change of identity between genders."

7-21-09:  Boston Globe: "Opponents of transgender rights bill employ scare tactics"

"In the 13 states that have this law, as well as the District of Columbia and municipalities including Boston, Cambridge, Amherst, and Northampton, no such incident of the type of assault they are alluding to has ever happened."

[I.e., why does the religious right keep scaring people about "bathroom Bill", when on one's ever seen him?]

 7-21-09:  ABC News: "Family Navigates Unchartered World of Gender Transition"

"Sons Learn Why Daddy Became Mommy: 'She Had a Girl Inside Her ... So She Went on a Surgery to Get It Out' . . . Watch the full story on "Primetime: Family Secrets," TONIGHT at 10 p.m. ET"

7-20-09:  ABC News: "'He' Becomes 'She': Husband's Transformation Into a Woman"

"Small-Town Ohio Family Opens Up About How Life Changed With Husband's Sex. Their story is similar to that of most couples struggling to balance work, finances and raising young children. But Chloe and Rene live with a secret that has affected their relationship, their families, their friends and even their children: Chloe was born a man."

[Why do news stories report that transwomen are born as fully-grown men?  Seems to me most are born as infant boys!]

7-20-09:  Physorg: "Nature? Nurture? Scientists say neither"

"It's easy to explain why we act a certain way by saying "it's in the genes," but a group of University of Iowa scientists say the world has relied on that simple explanation far too long. . . "The nature-nurture debate has a pervasive influence on our lives, affecting the framework of research in child development, biology, neuroscience, personality and dozens of other fields," said lead author and UI psychologist John Spencer. "People have tried for centuries to shift the debate one way or the other, and it's just been a pendulum swinging back and forth. We're taking the radical position that the smarter thing is to just say 'neither' -- to throw out the debate as it has been historically framed and embrace the alternative perspective provided by developmental systems theory.""

[Which reminds us78: Whatever happened to the 'gay gene', and to the $2.5 million dollars spent at Northwestern University trying to 'find it'?]

7-20-09:  Bay Windows (posted 7-14): "Transgender rights long over-due", by Representative Carl Sciortino

"I would not have introduced this legislation if I didn’t see a compelling need for it here in the Commonwealth. Transgender and gender non-conforming people are targeted mercilessly for harassment on the streets, discriminated against in the workplace both during hiring processes and when they decide to transition on the job, and denied housing due to their status as transgender. Even in our liberal state, acts of discrimination and violence happen every day."

[See related blog-posts by GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi and GLAD volunteer Alyson Lie]

7-19-09:  The Republican (Massachusetts): "Larger turnout sought for rally"

"Last year's inaugural New England Transgender March and Rally was a surprisingly big success, according to organizers, but they are hoping for a larger turnout this year. Although the June 2008 parade and rally drew more than 1,000 people from the region, it took place while students in area colleges were away on summer break. That's one of the reasons this year's event has been moved to October, said Bet Power, one of the founders and organizers of the march."

7-19-09:  Union-Tribune (San Diego): "Pride Parade puts emphasis on activism"

"Gabriel Mason helped build a float with the facade of the Stonewall Bar behind the cab of a flatbed truck, with the letters L-G-B-T emerging from the front door of the club. They placed the T in the back of the flatbed, as if it were leading a march into the street, Mason said, because he and his friends have suffered more discrimination than most. “The transgender community has been knocked under the bus,” said Mason, 44, a Golden Hill resident who lived as a woman until he was 38. “But it's our turn now. Transgender is the new gay"

7-18-09:  Los Angeles Times: "Conviction in shooting death of transgender woman"

"The manslaughter and hate crime verdict and Congress' recent moves to expand hate crime law bolster activists' hopes that the country will become more understanding of transgender people."

7-17-09:  TDLEF Press Release: "TLDEF Statement on Verdict in Lateisha Green Court Trial"

"Today, justice has been delivered for Lateisha Green with DeLee's conviction for committing a hateful act of violence," said TLDEF Executive Director and attorney Michael Silverman. "The jury's verdict provides Teish's family with the closure that they deserve and need, and sends a clear message that hate violence targeted at transgender people will not be tolerated."

7-17-09:  Associated Press: "NY man guilty of hate crime in transgender slaying" (more)

"A jury on Friday convicted a man of manslaughter as a hate crime for killing a transgender woman he shot outside a house party last year. Dwight DeLee was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Lateisha Green outside a Syracuse house party in November because of anti-gay bias. He becomes just the second person in the U.S. convicted of a hate crime that involved the death of a transgender victim."

7-17-09:  Associated Press: "Senate votes big expansion of federal hate crimes" (more, more)

"The legislation broadens federal reach to protect those physically attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or a disability. Current law is limited to crimes motivated by race, ethnicity or religion. The Senate approved the measure on a voice vote immediately after voting 63-28 to overcome Republican-led opposition to considering the measure an amendment to a defense spending bill. Sixty votes were needed to clear that procedural hurdle."

7-17-09:  Daily Mail (UK): "Call me Delores, says MI5 whistleblower David Shayler"

"A little over a decade ago David Shayler was a renegade MI5 agent turned whistleblower who was facing prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. Today the 43-year-old has become a squatter - and yesterday showed off his 'alter ego' as he dressed as a transvestite complete with false breasts, mini-skirt and ginger wig."

7-16-09:  The Korea Times (South Korea): "Transsexual — Qualified for Beauty Contest or Not?"

"Is sex by birth a qualification for a beauty pageant? It appears not, as a male-turned-female transsexual has passed the preliminary stage of the 2009 Super Model Contest. Choi Han-bit, 23, was among 50 participants selected from a list of 1,200 candidates at the preliminary stage of the contest on July 2. She still has to pass another preliminary on July 28 to be included in the final selection . . . A dance major at the Korea National University of Arts, Choi underwent a sex change operation in 2006, and was legally recognized as a woman by a court. She also changed her name from Han-jin to Han-bit."

7-16-09:  Newsday: "Transsexual sues NYC Parks Department over firing" (more)

"A former mail room clerk for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation says she was fired from her job because she is a transsexual. Chanel Birden says co-workers made fun of her and called her vulgar names because of her gender change."

7-16-09:  China Daily (China): "Red tape to test transsexuals' desire" (more)

"It was revealed last month officials at the Ministry of Health plan to set clear criteria for people who qualify for the surgery, as well as the hospitals and staff allowed to carry it out. Some in the transgender community, however, have raised concerns the new rules could be too strict. "The idea of guidelines is a good thing, sex change operations would be legalized," said Yang. "But it cannot be so strict as it makes it harder, or even impossible, for people to have the surgery." His fears center on the fact that, if the rules are approved, patients will have to prove they have had the desire to swap their gender for at least five years, and have lived full-time as their chosen gender for two years."

7-15-09:  Endocrine Today: "Endocrine Society released guidelines for treatment of transsexuals" (more)

"Guidelines include recommendations for hormone therapy, surgery and long-term care for all ages" 

7-15-09:  The Lesbian & Gay Foundation (UK): "Kids Slam Tabloid Transphobia"

"Queer Youth Network make formal complaint about The Sun's transphobic description of singer Kim Petras."

7-15-09:  ABC News: "When Dad Becomes a Woman On "Primetime: Family Secrets," Airing Tuesday, July 21"

7-14-09:  The Denver Post (posted 7-12):  "Grace Notes: Taking note of a lovely woman can be the start of kindness", by Natalie Costanza-Chavez"

"Once or twice someone has said, "What are you thinking about?" "Nothing," I've said. Once I said, "I met this pretty woman . . ." but I trailed off.  It seems important to say "pretty." And she was. But she's not in my head, like a tissue-paper flower, because she was pretty. She's in my head because she used to be a man.

That she stuck in my head for this reason, at first, bothered me. It seemed small-minded, rude and voyeuristic to note such a thing — even to myself. I was startled.  But lots of startling things are OK, and that I noted her for such a reason is OK too. We note each other. Or at least we should. Then kindness follows. If we could just do that all day — note each other, then follow with kindness, imagine. . . "

[A wonderful story . . . a sign that times are changing.]

7-14-09:  Sydney Star Observer (Australia): "Trans passport laws eased"

"The Australian Passport Office has reviewed its policy to make it easier for transgendered people seeking a passport in their preferred gender. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has provided information on its website indicating a more flexible approach to determining sex as stated on passport documents."

7-14-09:  The Star (Malaysia): "RM25 fine for cross-dressing"

"A 26-year-old man was fined RM25 by a Magistrates Court here on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to dressing up like a woman."

7-13-09:  The Sun (UK):  "Teen tranny's debut video"

"Pop sensation Kim Petras has caused a stir, as not only does she have an incredible voice - she used to be a boy called Tim."

7-13-09:  The Hindu (India): "Bihar to involve transgenders in socio-development

"The Bihar government is trying out innovative ways to involve the transgenders in socially useful work. "Transgenders will be provided literacy and vocational training to prepare them for respectable regular employment. It will give them the opportunity to enhance their socio-economic status," said Masood Hassan, director of the social welfare department. "We have suffered a lot for centuries and most of us live in abject poverty. We want restoration of our recognition on the pattern of the Mughal era," Kali Hijra said."

7-13-09:  6ABC News (Philadelphia): "Police: Death at voodoo cleansing"

"Action News uncovered exclusive details about a voodoo ceremony gone bad. Police say seven people participated in the ceremony Saturday night and went to sleep. Hamilton, whose photo Action News found on her MySpace.com page and had confirmed by her family, never woke up. Attempts to revive her failed. Family members also say Hamilton is transgendered and used to be known as David."

7-13-09:  The Times (UK): "An officer and a gentle woman: the sex-change aristocrat" (more)

"He led a life of privilege — game hunter, Guardsman and gentleman farmer. But Rhodri Davies had only one desire: to be a woman. So he changed his gender, lost his family, and found a new career as a nurse"

7-12-09:  The Independent (Ireland): "Face to face with new ideals of feminine beauty"

7-11-09:  Daily Mail (UK re Russia): "Furious man shoots dead girlfriend after discovering she had once been a man" (more)

"A Russian man murdered his girlfriend after discovering she had once been a man. The killer, identified as Vladimir F by police, shot Camila several times, deliberately targeting the parts of her body altered during a sex change operation. He had only found out about her previous identity after she turned down his offer of marriage. The 33-year-old believed she had a secret lover and, in a jealous rage, checked her post. It was at this point he discovered letters from old friends . . ."

7-10-09:  Straight.com (Vancouver, Canada): "Transgender ban at Vancouver women-only pharmacy may violate profession's code of ethics"

"A spokesperson for the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia has said that she doesn’t think the code of ethics governing pharmacists permits a pharmacy to deny its services to transgender people. But Lori DeCou, director of communications for the college, which licenses and regulates the profession in the province, told the Georgia Straight that the only way to know for sure is for someone to submit a complaint."

7-10-09:  Straight.com (Vancouver, Canada): "Transgender rights activists to protest ban at Downtown Eastside pharmacy" (more)

7-10-09:  Femininjas (Vancouver, Canada): "Lu’s Pharmacy Protest — News Release"

7-10-09:  Facebook: "Milli Görüş changed the name of the group "Protest Anti-GLBT Ken Zucker for DSM-V Planning Committee" to "(HACKED)Hooray East Turkestan! China death!WE ARE OTTOMANS"."

[In a Facebook e-mail at 2:51pm EDT today, we learned that the "Protest Anti-GLBT Ken Zucker for DSM-V Planning Committee" Facebook group page, with 924 members, had been hijacked (hacked) - and the hacked-group may now be in self-destruct mode, as members begin to withdraw.  Rather than withdraw from the group, hang in there and stay tuned.  Investigators are zeroing in on who did this, and hope to expose them soon.]

7-10-09:  WCBS-TV (New York City): "Transgendered Woman Beaten With Rocks, Bottles - Queens District Attorney Says Justice Will Be Served In Hate Crime Committed Against Haitian Immigrant" (more, more, more)

"Beaten with rocks and bottles, a transgendered woman from Queens on Thursday spoke out about a chilling hate crime. At Queens County Court two men were charged with assault as a hate crime. Their alleged victim, scared and scarred, said she called police on her cell phone while she was being attacked.

I'm pretty traumatized by this," Carmella Etienne said. Etienne, 22 moved to Queens from Haiti six years ago and soon after began her transformation from male to female. Now medically and legally a woman she thought taunting and teasing were in her past. But on Wednesday night she said she was verbally and physically assaulted on 116th Avenue." 

[Carmella is very courageous for calling the police; in the past most such attack-victims have suffered in silence, fearful of being outed.]

7-10-09:  The Progressive (orig. posted 6-29): "Transgender people should not be sentenced to rape"

"A recent academic study of the experiences of hundreds of transgender women in California’s men’s prisons — a survey that was commissioned by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — revealed that 59 percent of male-to-female transgender prisoners had been sexually assaulted while incarcerated. A shocking 0 percent of these inmates considered prison officials to be allies in protecting their physical safety. These statistics, alas, tell only one part of the story. Transgender women who have been raped behind bars speak about the additional abuse they suffer once they file a sexual assault report or request medical and mental health treatment. Rather than receiving assistance, many are met by cynical corrections officials who blame the survivors for the abuse, faulting them for being provocative or “asking for it.” In the worst cases, transgender women who report a rape are themselves punished — for having engaged in prohibited sexual activity."

7-10-09:  Mid-day (India): ""A tragically complicated love story"

"Swathi and Sneha were men who became women in the hope of finding male lovers. They've now found each other and want to marry."
 

7-10-09:  Daily News: "Chaz Bono shows off girlfriend Jennifer Elia at Outfest"  (video, more)

7-09-09:  Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF): "Justice for Lateisha Green"

"On Monday, July 13th, the trial for the murder of Lateisha "Teish" Green - a 22-year-old African American transgender woman - will begin in Syracuse, New York. Beginning tomorrow and continuing through the end of the trial, TLDEF staff members will be on the ground in Syracuse, working with Lateisha's family to ensure that the public learns as much as possible about Lateisha's life, the tragic circumstances of her death, and the tremendous violence that transgender people continue to face."

"We've posted a lot of information about Lateisha and violence against transgender people in our online resource kit. We also want to make sure that you're the first to know what happens at the trial. We'll be posting daily updates about the trial on our web site. We'll also be sending out frequent Twitter updates from the courtroom. You should follow us there if you want the quickest access to trial information. Finally, we'll also be updating the Justice for Teish Green Facebook page regularly."

7-09-09:  Straight.com (Vancouver, Canada): "Transgender activist opposes Downtown Eastside pharmacy ban"

"The Vancouver Women’s Health Collective says transgender women will not be served at its new pharmacy on the Downtown Eastside. And that has a neighbourhood transgender activist alleging that the collective is discriminating against women like herself."
 

7-09-09:  Edge: "Transgender Chicagoans find refuge in their city"

7-09-09:  ABC2 News (Baltimore): ""New Efforts to Deal With Transgender Prostitutes in Old Goucher

7-08-09:  The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, CA): "Tranz-Central Coast: Providing support for transgender residents - The local group is creating network of therapists, doctors and experts as well as educating public"

"A few years ago, when Atascadero resident Kari Graton searched for health care professionals equipped to deal with her unique situation, she came up short. “You go through a period of ostracism when you go through that transition,” Graton said. Unable to find qualified care on the Central Coast, she turned to professionals as far away as Los Angeles and the Bay Area for help. Now people like Graton can rely on a revamped local resource: Tranz-Central Coast."

7-08-09:  Miami Times: "Transsexual Charged Again with Back-Alley Silicone Injections"

7-08-09:  Jerusalem Post (Israel): "Dana International accused of racism"

7-08-09:  AfterEllen: "Transphobia & Cisgender Privilege"

7-08-09:  TVOParents.com: "Child Gender Identity"

[From a May 1, 2009 debate on TV Ontario's online resource for parents of preschool and school aged children; also posted on YouTube]

"Controversial gender identity specialist Dr. Ken Zucker discusses typical and atypical gender behavior and identity in children on a panel with a mother whose daughter exhibits some dissatisfaction with her gender and Hershel Russell, a female-to-male trans man and psychotherapist."

[It's almost painful to watch as Zucker dances around the questions, bites his tongue and struggles mightily to avoid admitting that his clinic engages in the trans-reparatism of gender variant children - even though he's built his career on doing just that!]

7-07-09:  Facebook: "Close the CAMH Gender Identity Clinic" - group reached 1000 members today!

"Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) harbors the most notorious facility in the world for the reparative therapy of gender-variant children. They also promote regressive policies and theories affecting transgender adults worldwide. The Gender Identity Clinic and Gender Identity Disorder Service need to be closed once and for all."

[Help spread the word - tell all your friends to join this Facebook group!]

7-07-09:  Rainbow Health (Ontario, Canada; see posting at 7-02-09): "Calling 1000 Trans People in Ontario: An open letter to all Trans community members in Ontario from Anna Travers, Director, Rainbow Health Ontario and formerly Director of LGBT Services at Sherbourne Health Centre"

"This study was initiated in 2005 when my organization, Sherbourne Health Centre, was overwhelmed with the numbers of trans people seeking health care - especially people from places far outside our catchment area of Toronto. At that time, I consulted with our Trans Advisory Committee and we decided we had to try to create more services where trans people could receive respectful health care, including hormones and social support, right across this province."

[The TransPulse project is seeking input from Ontario transpeople regarding their access to health care and transition services there. This is a vital step towards improving the situation in Ontario and especially for finding alternatives to the notorious CAMH GIC/GIDS (aka the "Clarke Institute").]

7-07-09:  The Vancouver Courier (Canada; posted 7-02): "Women's only pharmacy offers safety, comfort"

"Located between Funky Winker Beans and the Army and Navy, it's the site of Lu's: A Pharmacy for Women, and it claims to be the first of its kind in North America . . . Starting Tuesday, any woman who was born a woman can visit the pharmacy to have prescriptions filled." (bold for emphasis)

[Now this is indeed a first: A pharmacy that specifically denies services to transitioned women, and is proud of the fact.]

7-06-09:  Edge (Boston): "Feather Ruffled, Rights Upheld in Restroom Case Involving Transgender Child"

"Controversy surrounds the finding by the Maine Human Rights Commission that a transgendered child should have been allowed to use the girls’ bathroom because she identifies as female."

7-06-09:  Reality TV: "When Dad Becomes A Woman On "Primetime: Family Secrets," Airing Tuesday, July 7 On ABC" (more)

7-06-09:  Colorado Daily (Univ. of Colorado): "CU's 'Transgender 101': Born in the wrong body"

"CU staff hopes to broaden views with transgender workshop"

7-06-09:  Examiner: "'Luna' -- transgender issues for young adult readers"

"Today’s teens lead complex lives and are faced with issues that their grandparents, as adolescents, would not have been able to fathom — and it shows in their reading material . . . But are teens ready to deal with transgender issues? Denver area author Julie Anne Peters says yes. Among her award-winning young adult books is Luna, which deals with transgender issues from a sister’s point of view"

7-06-09:  Daily Express (UK): "£10M NHS Bill As Sex Change Operations Soar"

"More than 1,000 have had the surgery in the last decade, according to new figures obtained by the Daily Express. The number has trebled since the procedure became a “right” 10 years ago."

7-06-09:  BBC News (re Iraq): "Saddam's rule 'better' for gay Iraqis

"Investigating reports of the murder and torture of gay men in Iraq, Ashley Byrne found that some gays found Saddam Hussein's dictatorship preferable to the threat of violence they face today. Some readers will find parts of his report disturbing."

7-06-09:  Same Same (Australia re US): "Buck Angel: Self Made Man"

"He is one of the most famous porn stars in the world with an impressive collection of films under his belt. He has been photographed and captured by many artists worldwide. He is ruggedly handsome, layered in stunning tattoos and his pierced sexy muscled body is a stunning example of manhood. But there are plenty more other reasons why Californian born Buck Angel is so captivating and fascinating. Buck is a self made man like no other. He was born and raised as Susan."

7-06-09:  Independent (Ireland): "Transsexual Rebecca finds joy with end to family feud"

7-05-09:  New Scientist: "Review: Sex in shades of grey"

""I AM satisfied with a wild free Nature," the psychologist-philosopher William James once wrote to a quarrelsome colleague. "You seem to me to cherish and pursue an Italian Garden, where all things are kept in separate compartments, and one must follow straight-ruled walks." I've always admired the way James challenged what he perceived as scientific dogma. In this case, he raised a conundrum we still wrestle with today. Science, with its love of classification, seeks to impose a strict order on the world around us. Yet life on Earth is (forgive the pun) by nature tangled, messy and, in James's words, "everywhere gothic". This Jamesian perspective pervades Gerald Callahan's smart and compassionate book. Callahan's argument arises from the fact that human sexuality spans a slippery biological spectrum. The stereotypical view of two sexes - me Tarzan, you Jane - is not only cartoonish, it limits our understanding and appreciation of our own biology."

[Review of the new book Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the myth of two sexes, by Gerald N. Callahan]

7-05-09:  MosNews.com (Russia): "Intersex baby born in Moscow - a dilemma for geneticists and parents to tackle"

""In this case, only geneticists can tell whether this baby is predisposed to either the female or the male end of the gender continuum, " tried to explain the young father. "We’ll love our baby all the same, boy or girl." According to the experts, the paramount task is to correctly identify the underlying genetic predisposition of the person. The actual gender assignment surgery is fairly straightforward."

[Russians physicians are apparently strict essentialists, and enforce strict physical gender conformity on intersex babies, in contrast with emerging understandings as in the New Scientist article above.]

7-04-09:  Telegraph.co (UK): "Award-winning female manager was born a man" (more)
"Of all those named in a new list of young female business leaders, Kate Craig-Wood has perhaps the most unusual success story. She was born male, and was able to afford a £50,000 sex change operation after developing a career in technology. . . People do judge you based on your appearance," she said. "In the past few years, I have become progressively more attractive. My hips have developed more and I have this blonde hair and it has become more difficult to establish credibility with male colleagues who don't know me. They will often make the presumption that I don't know my maths or technology.""

[In an otherwise very positive article, we see the media incredibly dismissing this transitioned woman by saying that she was "born a man".  After all, how many boys do you know who were "born a (full-grown) man"?  Seems to me that most were "born as a boy", just as Kate was.]

7-04-09:  The Times (South Africa): "The quest to be one"

"Am I a he? Am I a she? Oliver Roberts speaks to three South Africans about the torment of achieving identity when you are both male and female."

7-05-09:  Asian Times (re India): "Sunday Celebrity:Transgender Noori is a ‘leading light’"

"Although Naz Foundation fought the case in Delhi, our search went on for some leading personalities among the LGBTs in Chennai. Thirumangai (transgender) S. Noori settled for a chat with the Asian Tribune. Her social activism impressed us. All electronic media has had her programmes or interviews on sex awareness."

7-04-09:  Brisbane Times (Australia): "Transgender woman heads back to UK for school reunion"

7-03-09: Sindh Today (India): "No longer labelled criminals, says Bangalore’s sexual minority" (more)
"Monica, a transgender said her family abandoned her as she was born as a boy, but started living the life of a girl. “My parents hated me. They were embarrassed of my identity. One day I left home and danced and begged to earn my livelihood . . . “Now, transsexuals too can lead a normal life. After the Delhi High Court’s verdict, the existence of transsexuals has been legitimised,” said Revathi, a transsexual activist. “We will no longer be considered criminals,” smiled Sumathi, member of Sangama, fighting for the rights of transsexuals."
 

7-03-09:  Southern Voice: "Judge: Trans lawsuit against Ga. lawmakers can continue - Transgender woman claims she was illegally fired from job at General Assembly "

"“I’m very satisfied with this ruling, and I look forward to the case continuing to go our way,” said plaintiff Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn. “I think the day that days when transgender people can be treated as disposable people are coming to an end.” . . . While the case progresses, Glenn continues to accept freelance assignments and work part time as she looks for meaningful full-time work. “It’s been a difficult year and a half, but I’ve been making things work and I’ve been clinging to the hope that this was going to resolve itself in a favorable way,” she said."

7-03-09:  Gay People's Chronicle: "ENDA is back - Federal anti-bias measure has a chance to pass this time"

"With Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, this bill is expected to make it to President Barack Obama’s desk and be signed into law . . . National Gay and Lesbian Task Force director Rea Carey called ENDA’s introduction “a critical milestone for our community and our country. Passage of this critical legislation would help ensure that people are allowed to participate on a level-playing field in the workplace,” Carey said."

7-03-09:  ABC2 News (Baltimore): "Old Goucher Transgender Prostitute Problem"

"Prostitution is an on-going problem in parts of Baltimore, and in one neighborhood, a very specific kind of prostitution has become a serious concern." 

7-02-09:  Scientific Blogging (posted 7-01): “Michael Jackson: Erotic Identity Disorder?” By Michael Bailey

“Am I seriously suggesting that Michael Jackson was a homosexual autohebephile whose erotic goals included resembling Peter Pan and having sex with pubescent boys? I sure am . . . Does my theory say anything about the origins of Michael Jackson's tremendous talent? There are some correlations between sexuality and abilities. For example, gay men are vastly overrepresented among professional dancers and fashion designers. This may reflect their increased interest in and dedication to dance and fashion, rather than natural talent per se. Autogynephiles tend to be gifted in technical, mathematical, and scientific pursuits, with computer scientist being the prototypic autogynephilic occupation. But we don't really know anything about the occupational interests of hebephiles, much less autohebephiles. Although there have been rock stars accused of child molestation, it doesn't seem as if there has been an excess of such accusations (in the way, say, that a disproportionate number of figure skaters died during the AIDS epidemic, presumably because they were gay).” – J. Michael Bailey

[J. Michael Bailey is a very angry, unfulfilled man.  He couldn’t wait until Michael Jackson was in his grave before launching this sexualized, over-the-top pop-psych analysis of possible “paraphilic” sources for the entertainer’s wondrous talent.  However, dreaming up ridiculous witch-like labels for the creative gender-variant people whose talents he so deeply envies does not alter the reality that the muse speaks to them – and not to Bailey.  In the end, Bailey’s only hope for escaping such ongoing humiliations is the promotion of his teachings on eugenics, so that such people are not allowed to exist in the first place – and embarrass him by their brilliance.]

7-02-09:  TS Roadmap.com (posted 6-21): "Trans community hoaxes: 20 clues and how to avoid getting scammed"

"In June 2009, a “transkid” murder hoax perpetrated by “KuryousKyooty” aka "Rachel" aka “Roo” aka “Raychel Edeyn Wilson” was greatly exacerbated after being spread by a number of normally credible people who didn’t bother to confirm any basic facts independently"

[Twenty hallmarks of fake trans personae; Twenty hallmarks of fake trans personae]

7-02-09:  Associated Press (re India): "Indian court decriminalizes consensual gay sex" (more, more, more)

"A court ruled Thursday to decriminalize homosexuality in the Indian capital, a groundbreaking decision that could bring more freedom to gays in this deeply conservative country. The Delhi High Court ruled that treating consensual gay sex as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's constitution. The ruling, the first of its kind in India, applies only in New Delhi. "I'm so excited, and I haven't been able to process the news yet," Anjali Gopalan, the executive director of the Naz Foundation (India) Trust, a sexual health organization that had filed the petition, told reporters. "We've finally entered the 21st century.""

7-02-09:  The Huffington Post: "Obama White House Not Appealing Transgender Ruling"

"The Justice Department let the deadline to appeal the decision pass Tuesday, a day after President Barack Obama hosted gay supporters at the White House and promised to be their "champion." . . . Schroer said she saw the administration's decision not to appeal as a recognition that transgender discrimination must end and "gives me renewed hope and restores some of my shaken faith in what our country stands for." "This case put employers on notice that discrimination against transgender individuals is like any other form of discrimination _ counterproductive and against our principles as a nation," she said in a statement."

7-01-09:  NBC News (Philadelphia): "Jogger Finds Dead Man Dressed in Drag"

"A jogger found a dead man, wearing women’s clothing, in Fairmount Park Wednesday morning . . . The victim was shot multiple times and the body was still warm when cops arrived, police sources told NBC 10. He was believed to be in his late 30s, according to cops."

[This incredibly insensitive article re-victimizes the murder victim.]

7-01-09:  Bangor Daily News: "State rules in favor of young transgender"

"The Maine Human Rights Commission ruled Monday that the Orono School Department discriminated against a transgender child by denying her access to the girls bathroom . . . “This ruling is a huge step forward for a vulnerable population that is entitled to the full protection of the law,” said Zachary Heiden, legal director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union. “There will always be voices who claim we’re not ready, we’re not there yet, the time to end discrimination is next year, or next session. But victims of discrimination should not have to wait.”"

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