Trans News Updates of 2005:

This page links to news of general interest to the trans community during 2005.  This running log of news also serves as a window into areas of media focus and public interest regarding trans issues during 2005.  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.

2005:  Apr,  May,  Jun,  Jul,  Aug,  Sep,  Oct,  Nov,  Dec

Lynn Conway

http://www.lynnconway.com

Click here to access the currrent Trans News Updates

December 2005

12-30-05: Lesbia Nation.com: "Interview: Calpernia Addams and Andrea James:  The ladies who prepped Felicity Huffman for TransAmerica talk about her transformation"
 

12-23-05: Southern Voice: "Inequality index: Anti-gay group copies HRC in ranking companies"
 

12-22-05: The Phoenix New Times: "The Crying Game: Despite a celebrated history, Native American transgenders struggle in the modern world" (more)
 

12-22-05: Amnesty International Press Release: "Two Transgender Sex Workers Shot in Guatemala, One Fatally, by Men Believed to Be Police, Says Amnesty International - Organization Mobilizes Membership to Call for Investigations and Protection."
 

12-21-05: Washington Blade: "Frank says trans issue stalled Senate hate crime measure - House passed trans-inclusive bill"  (The old-guard gay transphobe Barney Frank stabbed us in the back again - exploiting the stalled hate-crime bill to defame trans people as being too disliked to be protectable, when it's trans people who are the most frequent victims of horrific hate crimes in the first place!).
 

12-21-05: New York Blade: "Man sentenced to 16 years for D.C. transgender murder - Death prompted candlelight vigils."
 

12-18-05: San Francisco Chronicle: "THE ART OF TRANSFORMATION:  Denaë Doyle guides clients on the path to new identities"
 

12-17-05: San Francisco Chronicle: "Araujo case draws to close: Last defendant pleads no contest to avoid third trial."

12-12-05: Washington Post: "Bill Gates's Test of Rationalism" (re global health inequity).

12-08-05: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "About-face in care for city's transgender patients: Medical community trying to better meet their needs."

12-06-06:  See the new HBO Documentary, "Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She" (schedule, more) 

12-06-05: Michigan Daily: "What’s in a name? A lot, transgender student says."

November 2005

11-26-05: Trans-positive 'National Transgender Survey' gains over 1300 participant in three weeks.

11-22-05: USA Today: "Felicity Huffman ignites Oscar talk for transsexual role" (with trans women Andrea James and Calpernia Addams as role-models and advisors). (PDF)

11-21-05: In The Fray: "Gender outlaws: Transgender prisoners face discrimination, harassment, and abuse above and beyond that of the traditional male and female prison population.
 

11-20-05: The Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil is held in cities worldwide. Day of Remembrance website, ChicagoPride, Gay.com, HRC, France (translation, 1, 2, 3) 

11-17-05: Women's E-News: "Transgender Women Criticize Police Treatment," by Justine Nicholas.
 

11-07-05: PlanetOut.com: "High court lets transsexual cop's win stand: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Monday the workplace discrimination case of a transgender Cincinnati police officer." (more)
 

11-03-05: NCTE ALERT:  "Transgender Equality Campaign Launched - NCTE and HRC Team To Empower Increased Education of Policymakers" (Click here to see  initial "Roll Call" advertisement - in PDF format) (Click here for manual “Make Your Voice Heard: A Transgender Guide to Educating Congress,” in PDF format)

11-01-05: The Santa Fe Film Festival announces that the documentary "Beautiful Daughters" (about the first all-transgender casting of Eve's Ensler's V-Day, in Los Angeles in 2004) has been selected for participation in this year's Festival, with screenings on Dec.10 and Dec.11, 2005.

October 2005

10-31-05: Mimi Marks is crowned "Miss International Queen" in Pattaya, Thailand.  A famous transgender showgirl in the U.S., Mimi is a featured performer at The Baton Show Lounge in Chicago. (photos, more, more, more)

10-30-05: Report on a transphobic essay by an associate professor of criminal justice at University of North Carolina, Wilmington, raising the issue of the need to reduce ignorance and stigmatization of trans people by members of the law enforcement community (a report by Lynn Conway and Leandra Vicci).

10-21-05: San Antonio Express News: "Cop Indicted in transsexual's assault." In the past such cop-crimes were often covered up. However, in this case a courageous trans woman openly files a complaint, and rogue cop is indicted on serious charges.

10-06-05: NARTH applauds Paul McHugh's and the Catholic Church's horrific defamations of transsexual women, and promotes Ken Zucker's forced reversionist interventions in young transgender lives.

10-06-05:  San Jose Mercury News: Shannon Minter, Legal Director of NCLR, wins $100,000 Ford Foundation Award for his advocacy work. (pdf) (more)

10-05-05: LA Independent: "The Making of Transgender America; Sexual Identity: As state enacts major transgender protections, Hollywood hosts a jobs fair."

September 2005

9-29-05 NCTE Press Release: CALIFORNIA TRANSGENDER BILLS SIGNED Further Prohibiting Discrimination Against Transgender People.

9-29-05: Gay.com: Episode 1 of "TransGeneration" is posted online. (more) 

9-22-05: Amnesty International: "Stonewalled : Police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the U.S."

9-20-05: HRC Corporate Equality Index Press Release: "101 Companies with perfect 100% scores now protect gender identity". (more, more, more) 

9-14-18-2005: African-American transcommunity: The first annual Transsistahs and Transbrothas Convention (more)

9-14-05:  "Gwen Araujo Trial Information: Victory in Hayward (TLC)" (more, more, S.J.Merc.News, HRC, PlanetOut, 365Gay.com, Oak..Trib.)

9-09-05:  Lambda Legal/NGLTF/NCTE Guide: "Making Shelters Safe for Transgender Evacuees" (pdf file).

9-09-05:  National Center for Transgender Equality:  Breaking News:  "Transgender hurricane evacuee released from jail". (5:53 pm ET).

9-09-05:  365Gay.com:  "Evacuated From New Orleans Transsexuals Jailed In Texas For Using Women's Shower In Shelter", (5:00pm ET).

9-09-05:  The Bryan - College Station Eagle, College Station, Texas: : "Transgendered evacuee arrested: Charged with using women's shower at Reed Arena shelter", By LAURA HENSLEY. (8:16 am CT) .
 

9-13-05:  The Advocate (posted 9-06-05): TransGeneration: "Just in time for back-to-school, Sundance Channel presents a new documentary series that follows the everyday lives of four transgender college students"  (pdf version; 1.5 MB)

August 2005

8-28-05:  TheAge.Com.Au:  “The baffle of the sexes: Forget a simple XX or XY - what determines whether it's a boy or a girl is more puzzling than first thought”

8-22-05:  American Sexuality Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4:  "Sexual Prejudice: The erasure of bisexuals in academia and the media," By Loraine Hutchins.

8-22-05:  National Center for Lesbian Rights Applauds California Supreme Court Decisions in Groundbreaking Parenting Cases.

8-21-05:  Press for Change News: Commentary by Christine Burns, a leading trans advocate in the UK, on the significance of the Bockting review.

8-20-05:  Journal of Sex Research: Researcher and clinician Walter O. Bockting, Ph.D., reviews, rebuts and rebukes Bailey's book: "BIOLOGICAL REDUCTIONISM MEETS GENDER DIVERSITY IN HUMAN SEXUALITY" (PDF)

8-10-05:  LA Independent: "Transgender Wins Community Hero Award: Victoria Arellano has received Safeway’s 2005 Community Hero Award for her dedication and hours of volunteer service with the Hollywood-based Van Ness Recovery House that caters primarily to the transgender community."

July 2005

7-28-05:  Human Rights Campaign press release: "DEFENSE GIANT RAYTHEON PROTECTS TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES" (more, more)
 

7-27-05:  Guardian Unlimited: "A fatwa for freedom" (the story of Maryam Hatoon Molkara of Iran) (more)
 

7-25-05:  Commentary: ""A Good Fit": Transgendered rights at the Library of Congress", by Julian Sanchez, ReasonOnline.
 

7-05-05:  J. Michael Bailey attacks the identities of yet another minority group - bisexual men (more, more, more, more, more, more).

June 2005

6-30-05:  Spain Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

6-28-05:  Gay Marriage Is Extended Nationwide in Canada (more, more)
 

6-28-05:  UTA stereotyping lawsuit dismissed: Transgender: A U.S. court says "biological gender" determines employees' rights.

6-23-05:  Remarkable on-the-job transition of a New York City police officer. (more)

6-10-05:  USA Today: Transgender employees see changes in colleagues, too.

6-10-05:  Important update re "Changing the Name or Gender Marker on Social Security Cards and Passports", NCTE Newsletter, June 2005.

6-02-05:  Library of Congress Withdraws Job Offer After Applicant Reveals Gender Change

6-05: Runner's World: "A 6-Minute Difference: Ever wonder how much faster (or slower) you'd run if you were the opposite sex? Janet Furman Bowman may be the only runner in America who knows" (PDF)  (Newly posted)

May 2005

5-25-05:  "Sex and the Citizen", Mother Jones article about the Ganzon-Javellana immigration case now in the courts.
 

5-24-05:  Sundance and Logo Channels to present documentary about young transitioners.

5-18-05:  Immigration Daily: "BIA Upholds Validity Of Marriage Where One Spouse Is Transsexual" (more)

April 2005

4-28-05:  "I am transsexual,", by John Smith, in The Record: The Independent Newspaper at Harvard Law School.

4-26-05:  Becky Allison, M.D. appointed to the new American Medical Association GLBT Advisory Committee

4-25-05:  "When your gender doesn't match you": Sander's story of early transition with parental support.

4-21-05:  TS Roadmap: "Early transition: Melody's story"

4-20-05:  "Sex and Race in the Long Shadow of the Human Genome Project",  SSRC Forum essay by Roger N. Lancaster (Reflections on the "genomania" launched by Hamer, LeVay, Pinker, Bailey, Pillard, et al.).

May 24, 2005: Sundance and Logo Channels to present documentary about young transitioners:

In the fall of 2005, the Sundance Channel will present "TransGeneration" (more, more), a program that follows the lives of four young people who are transitioning while in college.  Thus program will undoubtedly raise awareness of the recent trend towards earlier and more open transgender transitions.  Hopefully, the stories of these courageous young people will help educate many in our universities about the realities of the trans condition, the deep need for and rewards found in successful transitions by trans people, and the great difficulties transitioners still face even at our better universities.  "TransGeneration" will premiere on the Sundance Channel at 9 pm on Sept. 20, 2005, followed by six half-hour episodes at 9 pm on Tuesdays, and an hour long finale at 9 pm on Nov. 8. The series will also air on the new gay-themed Logo Channel in the first-quarter of 2006.  (see also "How Colleges and Universities Can Improve their Environments for TG/TS Students")
 

May 18, 2005: "BIA Upholds Validity Of Marriage Where One Spouse Is Transsexual":

On April 16, 2004, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) issued a memorandum stating that the CIS "shall not recognize the marriage, or intended marriage, between two individuals where one or both of the parties claim to have changed their sex."  Immigration Daily reported on this new policy in an article entitled "The Status Of Transsexuals Under US Immigration Law".

However, this awful ruling, which led to numerous tragic separations of husbands and wives, has been invalidated, as reported by Immigration Daily: "On May 18, 2005, The Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedential decision, Matter of Lovo, 23 I&N 746 (BIA 2005), overturning the Nebraska Service Center's denial of an I-130 visa petition where one of the spouses is [] transsexual. This decision reverses a recent policy set forth in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memorandum by William Yates dated April 14, 2004 . . . which stated that all marriage-based immigration petitions would be denied where one spouse "claimed to be transsexual." Significantly, the BIA has reaffirmed the longstanding rule that if a marriage is valid in the state in which it is entered into, it should be recognized for immigration purposes." (see also the marriage subsection in Lynn's TS-III page)