Trans News Updates of 2008 (Jan-June):

This page links to news of general interest to the trans community during the first half of 2008.  This running log of news also serves as a window into areas of media focus and public interest regarding trans issues during 2008.  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.

2008:   Jan,  Feb,  Mar,  Apr,  May,  Jun

Link to second half of 2008

Lynn Conway

http://www.lynnconway.com

Click here to access the currrent Trans News Updates

Click here to access the Trans News Updates for 2008 (2nd half)

June 2008:

6-30-08:  Detroit News: "Protect transgenders against discrimination", by Deb Price - "Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., eloquently summed up why America should protect transgender workers. Evoking Martin Luther King Jr., she declared, "Laws cannot change people's hearts. But they can restrain the heartless.""

6-30-08:  Electric News (Singapore): "How Do Bugis Divas Grow Old? We rely on one another, say transvestites" - "'We have gone through the extremes to get to who we are, fight to live as who we feel we should be. So it is natural that we grow over the years to become very tough and fiercely independent."

6-29-08:  Staten Island Live (Staten Island, NY): "On the frontier of transgender civil rights"

6-28-08: TSRoadmap.com: “ISNA’s legacy of shame and secrecy: The Sextard Movement”, by Andrea James.

“After 15 years in operation, the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) has quietly closed its doors and published a farewell message. . . Sadly, the most problematic and enduring legacy of ISNA and Laurent/Chase will now be “disorders of sex development” (DSD), what I call the Sextard Movement. By shifting intersex traits from natural human variance to developmental disorders, ISNA leaders effectively repathologized a whole class of people, lumping them in with other forms of mental and physical “retardation.” This massive political misstep can be directly traced to the long-running personal and professional association between Laurent/Chase and historian Alice Dreger. Dreger is the J. Michael Bailey of the intersex community, an academic opportunist who exploits emotionally vulnerable people like Laurent/Chase. . . "

6-28-08:  The Daily Mail (UK): "Girl, 17, set to become Britain's youngest sex-change patient"

6-28-08:  NDTV.com (India): "Transgenders scripting success in Tamil Nadu"

6-27-08:  ABC News: "'I'm a Girl' -- Understanding Transgender Children - Parents of Transgender Child Support Her Choice"

6-27-08:  ABC News: "Born With the Wrong Body - Transgender 10-Year-Old Girl and Her Family Talk to Barbara Walters"

6-27-08:  RadicleGuy.podomatic.com: "Congressional Hearing - Audio" - Ethan St. Pierre posts audio of this historic hearing (link to audio)

6-27-08:  Edge (Boston): "Transgender Rights Hearing a First for Congress" (more)

6-27-09:  LynnConway.com: ""Joelle Ruby Ryan chairs NWSA panel on resisting transphobia in academia: The event Alice Dreger failed to stop" 

A report on Joelle's first-of-its-kind.NWSA panel. Dreger attempted to stop this panel by launching an e-mail attack on Joelle and threatening her future academic career. However, the panel went on as scheduled and yielded powerful essays that further expose trans-defamations by Bailey and Dreger. We're pleased to report on the panel and provide excerpts and links to the essays below:

6-27-08:  Joelle Ruby Ryan:  “The Bailey Brouhaha: Community Members Speak Out on Resisting Transphobia and Sexism in Academia and Beyond” - In her introduction to this important panel, Joelle Ruby Ryan talks of transgender people finally "speaking truth to power" [PDF]

6-27-08:  Élise R. Hendrick: "Quiet Down There! The Discourse of Academic Freedom as Defence of Hierarchy in the Aftermath of J. Michael Bailey's The Man Who Would Be Queen" In a brilliant essay, Élise exposes Bailey's and Dreger's claim to a special form of protection from criticism called "Bailey-Dreger academic freedom (BDAF) [PDF]

6-27-08: Katrina Rose: "Go Ask Alice – But Not About Transsexuals’ Lives and History: A Defense of the Right of Members of an Oppressed Class to Speak for Themselves". In her essay, Katrina explores Dreger's ill-conceived defense of Bailey and the inevitable negative impact on her own reputation. [PDF]

6-27-08: Andrea James: "Fair comment, foul play: Populist responses to J. Michael Bailey’s exploitative “controversies”" Andrea explores the trans-reparatist treatment of gender-variant youth as the overarching theme of Bailey's book, and the unstoppable populist response against such trans-reparatism. Making connections between sex science and race science, she illuminates how profoundly the trans-community has been harmed by the National Academies' publication of Bailey's book. [PDF]

6-26-08:  TSroadamp.com: "Alice Dreger's attacks on critics of J. Michael Bailey" (A report by Andrea James with key links re Dreger's attacks)

6-26-08:  The Jerusalem Post (Isreal): "Say no more: Transsexual Israeli tops Lebanese song chart"

6-26-08:  The Auburn Villager (Auburn University): "Professor lives as 'full-time' transgender woman"

6-25-08:  "Memphis Police Officer Fired, Accused of Beating Transgender Suspect" - "A Memphis Police Officer is off of the job after an alleged beating of a transgender person, that was caught on camera." (see also "Memphis Police Beat Transsexual - Caught on Tape)
 

6-24-08:  GIDReform Weblog: "Maligning Terminology in the DSM: The Language of Oppression" - "Of the disrespectful language faced by gender variant people, none is more damaging or hurtful than that which disregards our gender identities, denies affirmed social roles of those who have transitioned, and reduces us to our assigned birth sex. I’m speaking of affirmed trans-women being called “he” and trans-men being called “she.” I use the term Maligning Language to describe this specific kind of verbal violence." (GID Reform Advocates website ; DSM 5th Edition, Status and Issues ; more )

6-24-08:  USA Today (re Cuba): "Cuba's Catholic Church opposes openness on gay rights" - "Cuba's Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday protested the communist government's growing support of gay rights, including a day-long event raising awareness against homophobia and a law allowing sex-change operations."

6-24-08:  The Nation: "The DSM-V and Kenneth Zucker"

6-22-08:  GIDReform Weblog (posting of 6-16-08): "Beyond Denial: GID Diagnostic Criteria and Gender-Conversion Therapies" - "While the current GID diagnostic criteria do not explicitly recommend gender-conversion therapy, they are certainly biased to favor that harmful treatment approach and to contradict the legitimacy of transition." (GID Reform Advocates website ; DSM 5th Edition, Status and Issues ; more )

6-22-08:  Nashua Telegraph: "Mom accepts transgender Manchester tween"

6-22-08:  Nashua Telegraph: "Dealing with Merrimack dad’s transformation"

6-20-08:  Edge (Boston): "Transgender Pilot Regains Her Wings" - "Within two hours of coming out as transgendered to her Human Resources department, corporate jet pilot Jamy Spradlin was put on paid administrative leave. To make matters worse, the Federal Aviation Administration delayed renewing her license to fly for nearly a year while they evaluated her psyche for stability after beginning hormone replacement therapy."

6-19-08:  YouTube: "The Beating of Duanna Johnson", by Winter Winwin

6-19-08:   YouTube: "MEMPHIS POLICE BEAT TRANSSEXUAL - CAUGHT ON TAPE"

6-18-08:  ACLU Press Release:  "ACLU Sues Old Dominion Freight Lines Over Firing Of Transgender Trucker "                     

6-18-08:  LynnConway.com: "Dreger's Defense of J. Michael Bailey: The Peer Commentary Papers Tear It Apart", a Report by Lynn Conway 

In mid-2007, the old-guard conservatives in sexology struck back against three transwomen and a respected journalist whom they accused of  "ruining" J. Michael Bailey's life (as if the fool hadn't done it to himself). The attack took the form of a one-sided defense of Bailey, written by his Northwestern co-worker Alice Dreger and disseminated by trans-reparatist Ken Zucker to thousands of psychologists a full year before its publication.  Dreger's tome has finally been published in the June '08 Archives of Sexual Behavior. But it wasn't published alone. Twenty-four peer commentary papers were published alongside it, the large majority highly critical of Dreger's work. You find excerpts from the commentaries at this link. As you'll see, Dreger didn't fool many people with her 'scholarly history'. [PDF]

6-18-08:  National Women's Studies Association: "The Bailey Brouhaha: Community Members Speak Out On Resisting Transphobia and Sexism in Academia And Beyond" - Announcement flyer for Joelle Ruby Ryans' panel discussion at the NWSA Conference in Cincinnati, OH, Saturday, June 21, 2008. (This is the panel discussion that Bailey-defender Alice Dreger brazenly attempted to prevent from happening).

6-18-08:  NWSA: "The Bailey Brouhaha: Community Members Speak Out On Resisting Transphobia and Sexism in Academia And Beyond" - Session handout for Joelle Ruby Ryans' panel discussion at the NWSA Conference in Cincinnati, OH, Saturday, June 21, 2008. 

6-18-08:  WMCTV (Memphis): "One cop fired, another off the street after videotaped beating" - "Video obtained by Action News 5 and first aired Tuesday shows a Memphis police officer beating a suspect at 201 Poplar in an apparent case of police brutality. The video, recorded February 12th, shows Duanna Johnson in the booking area at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center after an arrest for prostitution. On the tape, a Memphis police officer walks over to Johnson - a transsexual - and hits her in the face several times."

6-18-08:  WMCTV (Memphis): "Video shows police beating at 201 Poplar" - ""I was afraid. I had had enough. Like I said, I thought the other officers that were witnessing this would at least try to stop him," Johnson said. "I mean, he hit me so hard. Like the third time he hit me, it split my skull and I had blood coming out. So I jumped up," Johnson said. But then she sat back down, and the officer her in the face again. Then he maced her."

6-18-08:  Associated Press (re Thailand): "Thai school gets transvestite bathrooms" - "For teen boys who prefer to dress as girls at one rural high school in Thailand, taking a bathroom break no longer means choosing between "male" and "female" restrooms. There's now a "transvestite toilet.""

6-18-08:  San Francisco Bay Guardian: "Frameline 32: Sex changes" - "In Iranian director Tanaz Eshagian's Be Like Others, fear hovers over a whole nation, leading to schizophrenic behavior"

6-18-08:  BBC News (re Turkey): "Transsexual Turk upsets military" - "With her throaty vocals and flamboyant frocks, Bulent Ersoy is Turkey's best-known diva, adored across the country."

6-17-08:  The Village Voice: "Buck Angel, A Man With a Pussy: LGB Without the T" - "As transgenders push for respect, a rift grows with traditional gay leadership"  (interesting article about LGB discomfort re T's and the ENDA fiasco)

6-17-08:  World Net Daily: "QUEERLY BELOVED - Transgender activists remove clothing in public" -
"'We're going to see this all over the nation. This was a trial balloon'" (The usual scare-tactics and hate-mongering by the religious right)

6-17-08:  Just Plain Sense (UK): "Nottingham LGBT Conference Part Three", by Christine Burns  - "the third and final part in a series of episodes based on the recent Department of Health conference on LGBT Mental Health. . . about research-based evidence of trans people’s experiences of health discrimination, in a factual approach aimed directly at the 130 healthcare professionals present." (podcast)

6-16-08:  New England Blade: "AMA Supports Transgender Health Care - GLAD Applauds Decision" - "The House of Delegates of the American Medical Association, meeting in Chicago today, June 16, passed a resolution for "Removing Barriers to Care for Transgender Patients," which states “Resolved, that our American Medical Association support public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder as recommended by the patient’s physician.”" (more)

6-16-08:  TampaBays10: "Sex change for ex-wife" - "Larry Roach hates pay day. He knows it means one thing. $1,250 in alimony for something he calls disgusting and unnatural. His ex-wife's sex change."

6-16-08:  Reproductive Health Reality Check: "Out of Reach: Sex Reassignment Surgery Not 'Medically Necessary'?"

6-15-08:  Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines): "Rebel without a clue: Sassy" - "Her name is Sass, although when she was born 27 years ago, the doctor said she was a boy."

6-14-08:  The Toronto Star (Canada): "Transgender pianist 's new look - Sara Davis Buechner revives performing career at UBC" - "Moving to Vancouver was absolutely the best thing I could have done," she says. And as Jane Coop, head of the piano department at the University of British Columbia's School of Music, remarked in a published interview, "She's made a huge, immediate impression. Her students love her."

6-14-08:  The Daily Mail (UK): "A British tycoon and father of two has been a man and a woman ... and a man again ... and knows which sex he'd rather be" (Here we go again: Yet another story about Sam Hashimi-Samantha Kane-Charles Kane. He's the one who "changed sex" on a whim and had the financial means to do so, then afterwards had regrets and is suing everyone in sight who "did this to him" - while not taking any responsibility whatsoever for his own actions).

6-14-08:  Lower Hudson Journal News: "Legislators' drag show riles transgenders"

6-13-08:  IndyBayMedia: "An open letter from Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club" - "After much consideration by our board and members, it is with regret that we write this letter announcing our decision to forgo this year's Human Rights Campaign (HRC) dinner in San Francisco, scheduled for July 16, 2008."

6-13-08:  Slate.com: "Will the Transgender Dad Be a Father? What goes on the birth certificate."

6-12-08:   BU Today (Boston University): "On Being: “I Like That About Me.” - Born a boy, Emeri Burks always wanted to change that" - "Last summer, Burks underwent sexual reassignment surgery, and today she has the body she wished for as a child. In the video above, she describes her transition from a deeply depressed boy to a much happier young woman. “At last,” she says, “I am whole.” " (don't miss this wonderful video)

6-12-08:  New England Blade: "Beth Israel Hands Out LGBT Achievement Awards" - "The hour-long ceremony . . . featured a keynote address by Dr. Norman Spack of Children’s Hospital, Boston. "“The immediate needs are many,” said Spack, listing a number of actions that need to be taken to strengthen the care of transgender individuals . . . Removing “Gender Identity Disorder” from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . . . is also critical, he said."

6-12-08:  The Hook (Charlottesville, VA): "Change up: Transgenders seek understanding", by John Hong, M.D." - "Transgender people are the bravest people in the world. . . . Unfortunately, there are a lot of physicians who are uncomfortable with, if not cruel to transgender people-- "  

6-12-08:  The Washington Post: "Transgender rights laws spread, not always calmly" - "As more state and local governments extend anti-bias protections to transgender people, fierce opposition is surfacing."

6-12-08:  The Washington Post: "Judge Sides With Foes Of Transgender Measure" - "Montgomery Voters Might Yet Decide Whether to Accept Law's Protections"

6-12-08:   NDTV (India): "Eunuch from India fights for respect at UN AIDS meets" - "An Indian eunuch Laxmi Narayan Tripathi is fighting for the rights and respect of the global transgender community during the ongoing United Nations high level meeting on AIDS." (unfortunately, the media in India use the offensive British colonial term 'eunuch' for women like Laxmi, instead of using the correct and much more respectful term 'transgender woman').

6-12-08:  New England Blade: "Trans Pride Turnout Exceeds Expectations" - "Event co-organizer Bet Power spoke at length about what the American Psychiatric Association will do in its expected revision to its "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. "Get the GID (Gender Identity Disorder) out of the DSM," chanted Power. Later, he added, "God don't make no junk," as to why transgender men and women should have equal rights."

6-11-08:  PlanetOut: "A prescription to cure homophobic doctors" - "It seems the insensitivity to LGBT health concerns probably starts while a doctor is in medical school. Are the words "gay," "lesbian" or "transgender" ever uttered there?"
 

6-11-08:  Personnel Today: Weekly dilemma: transsexual's rights" - "I manage a women-only driving school. I recently discovered one of my new instructors is a transsexual and was formerly a man. This doesn't bother me, but some clients might mind. Legally, where do I stand and what are the implications?"

6-10-08:  CBC (Canada): "‘Sports saved my life’" - "Kristen Worley, a woman who used to be a man, strives to make it to the Olympics, but the Canadian Cycling Association says she hasn't qualified"

6-09-08:  New England Blade: "GLAD Launches Transgender Rights Project" - "Will Be One-Stop Source for Legal and Educational Resources"

6-09-08:  Newswire.ca (Canada): "Media Advisory - Groundbreaking Study uncovers need for safer shelter access for Female-to-Male Transgender/Transsexual people in the city of Toronto" - "Key Findings and Recommendations of the Research will be presented by a panel of experts. . .Toronto City Hall, Committee Room No. 2 . . .Friday June 20th, 2008 -11:30am -1pm"
 

6-09-08:  OII: "Would the real Cheryl Chase, Bo Laurent, Charlie Chase, Brian Sullivan, Bonnie Sullivan please stand up?" - "OII has recently learned that Bo Laurent, who used the pen name Cheryl Chase, is now helping start another organization" - "Now, Bo Laurent (who was the real person we thought Cheryl Chase was) is organizing a new organization with a generous grant of over $300,000 to support the new Consensus Statement which recommends surgeries at 2 to 6 months. [Comment: This intersex community exposé raises questions re Cheryl Chase, who along with Alice Dreger fiercely promoted the DSD terminology]

6-08-08:  The Independent (Malta): "Maltese government’s ‘inhumane’ treatment of trans bride" (see earlier article)

6-06-08:  OII: "Zucker: Manipulation of Young Feminine Boys" - "Labels define and labels stick. But, what about statistics? Statistics lie so it is said. Or, is it that people lie?"  [PDF]

[Comment: This paper by Curtis Hinkle of OII provides an important analysis of Zucker's statistics on 'childhood GID' vs homosexual and transsexual outcomes - and reflects on whether Zucker's therapy is "changing" anything at all.  The paper will be published in the July 08 issue of Polare. Polare is a journal devoted to gender issues published in the State of New South Wales, Australia]

6-06-08:  Philadelphia Gay News: "Phone records in Morris case remain elusive" - "Morris, 47, was a transgender woman who was discovered with a fatal head wound in Center City shortly Philadelphia police gave her a courtesy ride in 2002." - "Kathleen R. Padilla, a local transgender activist, isn’t persuaded by the D.A.’s position that release of the information could potentially compromise the investigation.“The commission must have the ability to do its job, and the Morris family deserves answers,” Padilla said.""

6-06-08:  Bay Area Indymedia (re Uganda): "Uganda: Amnesty International condemns attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people"

6-06-08:  MonstersandCritics.com: (re Brazil): "Brazilian government to pay for sex-change surgery" - "Brasilia - The Brazilian government will begin paying for sex-change operations, local media reported Friday, citing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao."

6-06-08:  IPCNews (re Cuba) : "HEALTH-CUBA: Free Sex Change Operations Approved" - "New horizons opened up for transsexuals in Cuba with the approval of a Public Health Ministry resolution that establishes guidelines for their health care, including free gender reassignment operations." (more, more, more, more)

6-06-08:  Nation News (Barbados): "A mum's pain" - "A BOY OR GIRL? This question has been haunting Jemima for the past four years."

6-06-08:  Edge (Boston): "Transgender Youth Summit coming to Cambridge"

6-05-08:  On Top Magazine: "Calpernia Addams On Love & Transgender Rights" - "Pro-gay group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is set to feature Calpernia Addams in a new national campaign titled This Is Our Love Story."

6-05-08:  The Stanford Daily: "New J-Ro RFs to bring diversity" - "Hans, Mitchell’s partner, works as the Advocacy Program Manager at the Gay-Straight Alliance Network in San Francisco and will be Stanford’s first openly transgender Resident Fellow."

6-04-08:  (Croatia re Brazil): "2008 Miss Brazil Transex Is Fernanda Lima!" - "Fernanda Lima will be fighting for the Miss Queen international beauty pageant title in Thailand."

6-04-08:  Times of Malta (Malta): "I am a woman" - "Joanne Cassar holds her birth certificate in her perfectly manicured hand and, as she points out her female gender annotation on the document, she glances into the mirror of her salon and says: "How can you call me a transsexual or a man? I always felt I was a woman. I am a woman"."

6-04-08:  Radio Australia (re India): "Tamil Nadu recognises transgenders as separate sex"

6-03-08:  KUOW (Puget Sound Public Radio): ""Gender Variant Kids: Ethics On a New Frontier" - "Your three year old insists he's a girl and wants to wear dresses. Should you let him? Is he a girl? How can you find out? A small but growing number of families are supporting their gender variant children. Teens are preventing the 'wrong' puberty with hormone blockers, and taking testosterone and estrogen as young as 13 years old. It's a new frontier with a lot of unknowns. When is gender variance a phase and when is it the core of a child's identity? How old is old enough to make life–changing medical decisions?" (link to MP3)

6-03-08:  Tracie O'Keefe (Clinician in Australia): "DSM ON THE BOOKSHELF: An open letter to WPATH Members"  [PDF]

6-03-08:  Gay City News: "New York State Assemby Approves Transgender Rights Law"  (more)

6-03-08: The Telegraph (UK): "Sex-change author Jan Morris remarries wife she wed as a man" - "Jan Morris, the writer who famously chronicled her sex-change operation in the book 'Conundrum', has remarried the wife she first wed as a man." (more, more)

6-03-08:  OII (International):  Zucker: Manipulation of Young Feminine Boys" - "Labels define and labels stick. But, what about statistics? Statistics lie so it is said. Or, is it that people lie?" (a report by Curtis Hinkle).

6-03-08:  SPLC Intelligence Report: "Legal Brief - Religious Right Lies About Hate Bill" 

6-03-08:  "Trans community continues to face adversity despite protections" - "Despite advances in protections for transgender individuals, discrimination is still widespread, according to activists" 

6-03-08:  Washington Post: "Transgender Referendum Fought" - "Proponents of broad new protections for transgender individuals in Montgomery County were back in court yesterday, trying to block a referendum that seeks to repeal the law passed last fall by the County Council."

6-02-08:  TSRoadmap.com: "Alice Dreger’s virtual Facial Feminization Surgery" - "Virtual FFS morphs Alice Dreger from a squinty-eyed goblin to an airbrushed MTF" (humorous reflections on the new airbrushed photo in Dreger's website)

6-02-08:  Gotham Gazette: "Protecting Incarcerated Gay and Lesbian Youth" - "Now the New York State Office of Children and Family Services has amended its policies to add gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation to the characteristics protected from discrimination"

6-02-08:  Workforce Management: "He to She: Eaton Corp. Helped Transgender Employee"

6-01-08:  The Malta Independent  (Malta): "You can’t get married if you have a sex change"

6-01-09:  Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates): "Parental neglect responsible for aberrant behaviour: scholar"  - "the Dubai Police, in collaboration with Watani Programme, held a seminar recently on the dangers of dressing like people of the opposite sex and its impact on society. . .Addressing the seminar, Al Marzouki said 10 years ago, one could find only one or two transvestite students in a school, but now there would be at least 10 such students in each school.. . .He pointed out all religious books have deemed sodomy and homosexuality immoral and it’s against human nature."

May 2008:

5-31-08:  PetitionOnline (Canada): Petition of 5-24-08 "Against human rights violations of apparently gender variant children and adults" - "To the Honourable George Smitherman, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care for Ontario"

5-31-06:  Daily Mail (UK): "Why my hurt feelings are worth £250,000, by the para who became a woman"

5-30-08:  Washington Blade: "Activists alarmed over APA's gender diagnosis review" - "Head of psychiatry panel favors ‘change’ therapy for some trans teens" - "Our concern is that Zucker favors a form of reparative therapy for trans youth that amounts to the suppression of their true gender identity."

5-30-08:  Santa Cruz Indymedia: "Victory at UCSC! GSHIP will cover transgender healthcare" - "We just learned today that the UCSC administration officially accepted the joint proposal of GSA, UAW and STIHC (Students for Trans-Inclusive Healthcare) for GSHIP (Graduate Student Health Insurance Plan) benefits. Effective this fall, GSHIP will include a $75,000 lifetime benefit for transgender healthcare."

5-30-08:  Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand): "Transgender conference opens in Chch" - "The South Island's first transgender conference will open in Christchurch today with an update on the impact of a ground-breaking report into the rights of transgender people."

5-30-08:  NDTV.com (India): "TN universities to teach third genders" - "For years, Priya Babu could not study in a college just because she is a transgender. But soon she could join a college in Chennai. Her dream is to earn a Ph D."

5-29-08:  City on a Hill Press: "Transgender Pregnancy Redefines Normal, Bridges the Gender Gap"

5-29-08:  Denver Post: "Ritter signs controversial anti-discrimination bill"

5-29-08:  OII-UK: "On the The Bay Area Reporter", by Sophie Seidlberg. - "This of course leaves us all with a simple question, how are people going to see any "opportunity to talk" when all that happens is that we find the Clarke-Northwestern associated academics (Who are at the root of these controversies) simply ignore any polite invitations to discuss their work and ideas with those who would be affected by that work."

5-29-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "DSM section 302.85" - " (Jamison) Green's ultimate goal is removing GID from the DSM, though he thinks gender-"related" diagnoses could be useful for people dealing with social issues related to their gender variance."

5-29-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "DSM controversy could overshadow opportunities" - ""I would like to see that whole section really redone," said Lev, whose long-term goals are to see all trans identities removed from the DSM. Gender-related issues would still be dealt with in therapy, but trans people seeking medical intervention could rely on a medical diagnosis instead." (more)

5-29-08: AliceDreger.com (on 5-17-08): "Informed Dissent" - "Zucker also said that, if he could make a child feel comfortable with the genitals she or he was born with, without causing harm, then that would be best. As someone who has been a long-time advocate of keeping children’s genitals intact and using psychologists to help parents to accept their “different” children, I admit I was sympathetic to these arguments. In fact, as I thought about it more, I realized that pushing gender-atypical kids towards eventual transition (as some “progressive” therapists seem to do) could be another case of ultimately changing the child surgically to satisfy parental discomfort with the child’s atypicality. Intersex all over again. Yikes."  (Note: Alice Dreger, the ardent defender of J. Michael Bailey, has rushed in to defend reparatist Ken Zucker from what she calls "uninformed dissent").

5-28-08:  Fridae (Asia): "Transsexualism far more common than believed, say researchers" - "A new statistical study by Prof Femke Olyslager and Prof Emeritus Lynn Conway suggests Singapore rates for male-to-female transsexuals are over 1 in 2,000, whereas rates for female-to-male transsexuals are over 1 in 4,000"

5-28-08:  National Gay and Lesbian Task Force: "Task Force questions critical appointments to APA's Committee on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders" - "These appointments are raising great concerns within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Zucker has built his reputation on the position that children can be directed away from nonconforming gender expression via therapy, while Blanchard has a long list of articles pathologizing commonplace expressions of sexuality and gender."

5-28-08:  The National Psychologist (May/June 2008): "DSM: Diagnosing for Status and Money" - "The upcoming DSM-V is likely to include hundreds of "new" mental disorders." (See also: Rethinking the DSM: A Psychological Perspective, Beutler and Malik, Eds., 2002)
 

5-28-08:  Organisation Intersex International (International): "Open Letter to President of WPATH from OII" - Curtis Hinkle and Sophie Siedlberg, Founders of Organisation Intersex International, call WPATH to task for Zucker's participation in WPATH's "Committee on Disorders of Sex Development".  In addition they note: "Also, there is no intersex membership on this committee.  There was absolutely no discussion with intersex people that we are aware of about forming this committee and we would like to know why this committee is even a part of WPATH."  Please read this important letter, and study the pages at the links within it.
 

5-28-08:  ChennaiOnline (India): " Identity card for transgenders" - "The Tamil Nadu government has decided to take up a census of transgenders and issue identity cards to them."

5-28-08:  Sydney Star Observer (Australia): "PARENTS THE NEW TRANS FOCUS" - "The American Psychiatric Association has released a further statement in response to the controversy over its appointment of Dr Kenneth Zucker to head the re-write of gender identity disorder definitions in the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
 
“Dr. Zucker and his service team at CAMH in Toronto have the longest-standing research-clinical service for children and youth with gender identity problems in North America. The goal of his therapy is the opposite of conversion therapy in that he considers well-adjusted transsexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual youth to be therapy successes, not failures,” the APA statement read.

(Comment: The CAMH and APA spindoctors are heavily at work now, trying mightily to salvage Zucker's image - as if they can magically erase his long trail of public statements, including recently on NPR, advocating reparatist treatment of gender-variant children.)

5-27-08:  Ex-Gay Watch: "The APA’s DSM-V Development: Kenneth Zucker’s Involvement", byYuki Choe
 

5-27-08:  The Philidelphia Catholic Medical Association: "Press Release of May16, 2008" - "The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an article on May 3, 2008 about a nine year old boy at suburban primary school, who will be allowed to dress as a girl and be addressed by a girl’s name"...

"These children have failed to identify and embrace the goodness of their masculinity or femininity for a number of reasons, related particularly to conflicts with peers and parents, primarily with their mothers. As Zucker and Bradley document in their clinical work and research, most children who are treated for GID recover. They come to accept and embrace their birth gender."...

"Permitting behavior such as cross-dressing by a child with GID will not help the child; rather, it will enable and reinforce a serious psychiatric disorder. Principals and superintendents should not permit or tolerate any cross-dressing in schools. Not only will this further harm a child with GID, but it will cause other children to suffer confusion and distress." 

(Comment: The Catholic Church is whipping up efforts to prevent early gender transitions, and Catholic psychiatrists (instigated by Paul McHugh) will bring powerful inside-support to Zucker's and Blanchard's efforts to more deeply pathologize gender variance in the DSM.)

5-27-08:  The Capital Times (Madison, WI): "Activist Melton-Smyth remembered for her vigor, infectious wit"
 

5-27-08:  MetroWeekly: "Transgender activist from Wisconsin killed while on Mexico vacation" (more)

5-27-08:  The Daily Telegraph (Australia): "Sex-change girl ruling 'compassionate'" - "The nation's top transsexual suppport group has commended the Family Court's decision to grant permission for a 12-year-old girl to have a sex-change as "compassionate and prudent.""

5-26-08:  Herald Sun (Australia): "Sex-change 'brainwash'" - "The cousin of a 12-year-old Victorian girl who is undergoing a sex change claims the child's mother brainwashed her daughter."

5-26-08:  Financial Times Deutschland (Germany): "Should the women's award go to sex-change candidate?"

5-26-08:  Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): "Stuck between a frock and a card place"

5-25-08:  Reuters (re Brazil): "Brazil's gays stage huge parade against bias" - "More than a million gays and transsexuals paraded in Brazil's business capital Sao Paulo on Sunday in what was billed as the world's largest gay march to urge an end to violence and discrimination."

5-25-08:  Gay Wired: "COLAGE Releases Groundbreaking Resource for Transgender Families" - "COLAGE has announced the release of its "Kids of Trans Resource Guide", the first of its kind, which was written by and for people with transgender parents"

5-25-08:  Herald-Sun (Australia): "Girl, 12, wins sex change" - "A JUDGE has allowed a 12-year-old Victorian girl to start a taxpayer-funded sex swap, despite objections from the child's father.The girl has begun court-approved hormone treatment in the first step toward a complete gender switch"

5-25-08:  "Gender change surgery costs Scottish NHS £2m every year" - "More than half were funded by NHS Greater Glasgow, at a cost of £1.1million. They sanctioned 54 sex changes in the past decade, 40 on men and 14 on women"

5-25-08: The Times of London (UK): "Sex-change paratrooper wins £250,000 for ‘hurt feelings’" (more)

5-24-08:  Equality Arizona Radio: "Listen up as we talk with Trans Youth Family Advocates and hear stories of children transitioning as young as 5 years old. What is their journey? What is their story? How do you know when a child is transgender? Listen up and learn!"
 

About Equality Arizona Radio: 10:00am - 11:00am PT | Every Saturday; Streaming live at www.equalityarizona.org  or in the Phoenix Metro area at 1480KPHX.
 

5-24-08:   Minneapolis Star Tribune: "A Transgendered Transformation" - "Ten years ago, Debra Davis of Minneapolis became a vocal and visible spokeswoman for the transgender community. One man affected by her courage talks about his own journey" (Story about Alex Nelson and his upcoming marriage to Tamar Jackson)

5-24-08:  Minneapolis Star Tribune:  "Myths and facts about transgender issues"

5-23-08:  Organisation Intersex International (re Canada):  "Why is the Ontario government sponsoring an American sexologist (Zucker) to run a trans-reparatist gender clinic in Toronto?" - "Why is the Ontario government allowing a U.S. citizen to run an inhumane trans reparatist clinic in Toronto using provincial funding? Shouldn't the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for Ontario and the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration be investigating how this can be happening?"

5-23-08:  Pegasus News: "Fort Worth transgender teen trying to put life back together" - "It’s been just more than a year since local transgender teen Rochelle Evans made headlines by fighting her school district for the right to be called “she” and to be herself. Now Evans says this year was even harder than the last."

5-23-08:  Washington Blade: "Going home again" - "A hometown visit brings back the struggles of growing up black and transgender", by Danielle King.

5-23-08:  The Baptist Press: "It's a boy! (or is it?)" - The Baptist press attacks and ridicules Dr. Spack's efforts to help transgender children and teens.

5-23-08:  BBC News (re Turkey): "Facing hate crime in Turkey" - "A report by Human Rights Watch says gay and transgender people in Turkey are subject to "endemic abuses", and calls on the government to act to protect them. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford met some of the victims"

5-23-08:  Denver Post: "Face-off over anti-bias bill" - "Gov. Ritter has yet to act on the measure, which some say would open public restrooms to all genders"

5-22-08:  Denver Post: "Ads: Anti-discrimination bill lets predators into restrooms" - "The two groups say the bill endangers children by allowing sexual predators to cross-dress and use restrooms designated for the opposite sex"

5-22-08:  Human Rights Watch (major new publication re Turkey): "“We Need a Law for Liberation” - Gender, Sexuality, and Human Rights in a Changing Turkey" (link to PDF of report, 700 kb) (more)

5-22-08:  VOA.com (re Turkey): "Rights Group: Gays in Turkey Face Climate of Violence" - "The Turkish security forces have strongly denied such charges. But it is not difficult to find accusations of police brutality from the country's transsexual and transvestite community"

5-22-08:  Press for Change (UK):  "PFC News" spreads European alert message regarding Zucker's and Blanchard's roles in the upcoming DSM-V revision.

5-22-08:  MSNBC: "What's ‘normal’ sex? Shrinks seek definition" - "Controversy erupts over creation of psychiatric rule book's new edition"

5-22-08:  Pink News (UK): "Foreign Office instructs embassies to push LGBT rights"

5-22-08:  Gay Wired: Transnation: "Reverse of ENDA: Trans Methodists Win While Gays Lose"

5-22-08: The News Record (Univ. of Cincinatti): "GenderBloc: UC too large to be behind in civil rights" - "The University of Cincinnati's Student Government Association and Faculty Senate recently voted to support including "gender identity and expression" in the university's non-discrimination statement"

5-22-08:  Metro Weekly: "A Place to Call Home" - "D.C.'s first transitional home for GLBT youth to open June 1"

5-21-08: ABC News: "Buying Time for Gender-Confused Kids" - "Misunderstood Procedure Delays Puberty in Children"

5-21-08:  Windy City Times: "Forum focuses on trans community and sexism" - "Julia Serano, the author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity ( Seal Press, 2007 ) was recently in Chicago to present her thoughts on “Transsexual and Trans Feminine Perspectives on Sexism.”"

5-21-08:  Pink News (UK): "Handbook on transgender children released" - "A new book published in the US tackles the issues "thousands of families face raising children who step outside of the pink or blue box."" (more)

5-21-08:  Toronto Sun (Canada): "Advocate: Hundreds wait for sex change" - "Ontario has a backlog of 100 to 200 people waiting for sex change surgery, says an advocate for the transgendered." (more)

5-21-08:  Daily Mail (UK): "Muslim man threatens to sue driving school for sending transsexual instructor to teach his wife" (more)

5-20-08:  CNN News video: "Sex change for kids offered" - "A clinic at Children's Hospital in Boston offers sex-change procedures to patients as young as 7"  NEW

5-19-08:  Fox News: "Critics Slam Boston Doctor Who Offers Sex Change Treatment to Kids" - "“Treating these children with hormones does considerable harm and it compounds their confusion,” said Dr. Paul McHugh, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at John Hopkins University. “Trying to delay puberty or change someone’s gender is a rejection of the lawfulness of nature.” McHugh said gender reassignment for children harkens back to the dark ages, when choir boys were castrated to retain their high-pitched voices. "It’s barbaric,” he said" 

Comment: With this article, right-wing Fox News launched a vicious smear-attack by Catholic ideologue Paul McHugh against the work of Norman Spack, M.D., in another bold move by the trans-reparatist clique (Zucker, McHugh, et al) to stop early gender transitions.

5-19-08:  PFLAG Press Release: "PFLAG Launches New Ad Campaign With Calpernia Addams, Highlighting Organization's Commitment to the Transgender Community" - Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) announced today that it will debut a new ad campaign this summer featuring transgender actress and activist Calpernia Addams. The campaign, titled This Is Our Love Story, highlights PFLAG's long-time commitment to the transgender community and urges supporters to help "transform the movement" by joining the organization's work for transgender rights.
 

5-19-08:  Medical News Today (re Latin America): "Latin American Countries Launch Programs To Improve Health Care For Sexual Minorities"

5-19-08:  Gawker.com: "Fierce Man With Close Shave Wants No Labels" (Link to a cool Philips TV advertisement that's unlikely to run in the US).

5-19-08:  Cleis Press Press Release: "New Book: The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals", by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper  - "Another antidote to the problematic and harsh reparative therapy which Ken Zucker performs on trans youth in Toronto’s notorious Centre of Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH Clarke Institute)" (Link to book information on Cleis Press site)

5-19-08:  Myspace Essay: "Why Kenneth J. Zucker Should Resign as Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Chair", By Shelley Janiczek Woodson, Ph.D.

5-19-08:  OneIndia (India): "Two trans-genders to play lead roles in Tamil films"

5-19-08:  Inquirer.net (Philippines): "Sex change not valid basis for new name, gender--CA" - "“Sex reassignment” or sex change is not a valid ground to change the name and gender of a person, the Court of Appeals has ruled"

5-19-08:  The Times of India (India): "Cops bust sex racket of desi Russians" - "The stereotype image of hijras—sari clad woman, with hairy arms, hands clapping and gruff voice—has changed. The new age transsexuals or eunuchs, who have gone in for sex change operations, even silicon transplants, pose as sexy ladies and offer their services"

5-18-08:  The Canadian Press (Canada): "Montreal sex change clinic attracting patients from around the world"

5-17-09:  Reuters (re Mexico): "Mexico transgender couple ties the knot, pushes law"

5-17-08:  Seattle Times: "Logging town welcomes transgender group"

5-16-08:  American Chronicles: "A Gay Man Discusses Homosexuality and Transgenderism - Are They Related Behaviors?"

5-16-08:  CBC News (Canada): "Ontario to resume coverage of sex-change operations"

5-16-08:  Los Angeles Times: "California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban" - "In a 4-3 decision, the justices rule that people have a fundamental 'right to marry' the person of their choice and that gender restrictions violate the state Constitution's equal protection guarantee"

5-15-08:  Gay City News: "Flap Flares Over Gender Diagnosis"

5-15-08:  Associated Press: "California's top court legalizes gay marriage"  (more)

5-15-08:  Pink News (UK): "British activist becomes President of Transgender Europe" - "Dr Stephen Whittle, one of the UK's leading trans activists, has become President of Transgender Europe (TGEU) at an international conference in Berlin"

5-14-08:  The Times of India (India): "Third gender option in TN college forms" - "After providing ration cards and welfare board for transsexuals, the Tamil Nadu government, for the first time in the country, has officially opened the Arts and Science colleges to the third gender" (more)

5-14-08:  The New York Times: "Woman Wins a Settlement Over Her Bathroom Ouster " (more)

5-13-08:  Chicago Maroon (Univ. of Chicago): "Transgender students navigate campus attitudes and resources"

5-12-08:  "Gay rights groups launch hospital rating system" - "Called the Healthcare Equality Index, the ratings were designed by the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association" - ""Too many times, a gay man has been unable to comfort his partner, a transgender person has been ridiculed instead of treated, or a lesbian mom has been barred from seeing her child at the hospital," the groups said."

5-13-08:  Reuters (re Bhutan): "Teen transvestite gets Bhutan thinking about sex" - "Seldon resumed his education in another school last week after the education department intervened and allowed him to wear a girl's uniform"

5-12-08:  ThePetitionSite.com: "Objection to DSM-V Committee Members on Gender Identity Disorders" - A petition seeking the removal of Ken Zucker and Ray Blanchard from the APA's DSM-V work group on sexual and gender identity 'disorders'. (Please add your voice to this protest, and sign this petition)

5-12-08:  Helen's Soapbox: "Re-pathologizing Gender the APA way…" (commentary by therapist Helen Hill regarding the selection of reparatist Ken Zucker to Chair of the APA group revising the DSM's pronouncements on "sexual and gender identity disorders").

5-12-08:  Out and About Newspaper (TN): "Vanderbilt’s Faculty Senate calls for transgender protection" - "University moves closer to becoming first College in Tennessee to add gender identity protection"

5-11-08:  Delco Times (PA; article of 5-5-08): "Haverford school counsels transgender’s classmates" - "Third-graders get help in dealing with new identity of their schoolmate" - "Two weeks after parents of Haverford School District third-graders learned that a guidance counselor would be talking to their children about a male classmate who is now living as a female, the transgender classmate is reportedly doing fine"

5-11-08:  Global Politician (re India): "Tamil Nadu Shows the Way to Transgenders in India"

5-09-08:   The Torontoist"(Canada): "But For Today I Am A Boy"  (This very important article exposes Ken Zucker's reparatist treatment of gender-variant children at CAMH)

"There is little more dreadful for a parent than unintentionally hurting one's own child. There is little more traumatic for a child than having something they dearly want taken away from them. A Toronto psychologist is under fire for recommending controversial treatments which some believe cause just that.

5-09-08:  "Atlanta Pride turns away HRC sponsorship over trans fight" - "Festival says HRC not ‘inclusive’ enough"

5-09-08:  Times of India (India): "Govt gives software training to transsexuals" - "“No group has ever scored such high marks,'' said ELCOT managing director C Umashankar"

5-09-08: Aftenposten (Norway): "Surprising transsexual aid" - "Norway's Christian Democrat Party continues their support for transsexuals, in contrast to the conservative image of party leader Dagfinn Høybråten"
 

5-08-08:  Catholic Online: "‘Sex-change’ treatment for ‘transgender’ kids? Hospital clinic draw moral criticism" - "“This is cooperating with psychosis,” commented moral theologian Father Anthony Mastroeni" - "The Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in 2000 issued a document that authoritatively concluded “sex-change” operations are invalid — they do not change a person’s sex, according to a Catholic News Service report reprinted in LifeSiteNews.com"

5-08-08:  The Journal News (Hudson Valley, NY): "Transgender teen says he has support at Brewster school" - "Brewster High School student Michael Loscalzo said he was scared to go to school yesterday, given all the attention he's received for his recent decision to start dressing as a girl" (more)

5-08-08: Stuff.co.nz (New Zealand): "Study tackles gender development" - "Jaimie Veale says she first realised that she was inside the wrong body when she was just five years old"

5-08-08:  NPR.org: "Parents Consider Treatment to Delay Son's Puberty" - "New Therapy Would Buy Time to Resolve Gender Crisis"

5-08-08:  NPR.org: "Q&A: Doctors on Puberty-Delaying Treatments" - "A small group of doctors around the world have introduced a controversial approach to the treatment of preteens and teenagers who believe they are the opposite sex"

5-07-08:  NPR.org: "Two Families Grapple with Sons' Gender Preferences" - "Psychologists Take Radically Different Approaches in Therapy"
 

5-07-08:  NPR.org: "Q&A: Therapists on Gender Identity Issues in Kids" - "Psychologist Ken Zucker is a gender identity specialist who works at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. His treatment approach is to try to make kids with gender identity issues feel more comfortable with their biological sex" (i.e., Zucker is a 'reparatist')

5-07-08:  The Donna Blog: "Zucker revisited: The lunatics rule the asylum" - "Yesterday I mentioned that Dr. Ken Zucker has been named as the leader of the group that would be recommending/making changes to appear in the next updates to the DSM. This is horrible news for trans people, their families, and those who care about them", by Donna Rose

5-07-08:  PamsHouseBlend: "Gender-Variant Children And Transsexuals Will Likely Still Be Disordered In DSM-V"  

5-07-08:  GayNZ.com (re Brazil): "Brazil: Footballer's transgender sex scandal" 

5-07-08:  Southern Voice: "HRC president apologizes for ‘misspeaking’ at transgender conference" - "Solmonese talks with Atlanta activists in private meeting"

5-05-08:  Catholic World News: "Massachusetts hospital offers sex-change treatment for children" - ""This is cooperating with psychosis," Father Anthony Mastroeni, a New Jersey priest who has studied sex-change surgery, told the Anchor"

5-05-08:  Transadvocate.com: "Uh-oh" - Another alert on Zucker's and Blanchard's selection for the APA's DSM-V revision group.

5-03-08:  American Psychiatric Association Press Release (of 5-01-08): "APA Names DSM-V Work Group Members - Experts to Revise Manual for Diagnosis of Mental Disorders".    Ken Zucker, who heads a reparatist clinic for gender-variant youth in Toronto, was named as Chair of the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group for DSM Revision. Ray Blanchard, widely known for pronouncing that transitioned women are "men without penises", was appointed as a member of that Work Group. Any bets on how this is going to turn out?

5-03-08:  The Plain Dealer (Cleveland): "United Methodists decline to act against transgender clergy"

5-03-08:  Star-Telegram (Forth Worth): "Protesters at Methodist conference in Fort Worth decry take on gays"

5-03-08:  Philadelphia Inquirer: "School challenge: Transgender student is age 9" - "Some medical experts think parents should not let a child change gender roles at a young age. Paul McHugh, a psychiatrist and professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studied sexual reassignment surgery in the 1970s, said a school's decision to support a student's transition could have long-term psychological consequences. - - - There is no evidence that the transition ultimately helps the person, he added. McHugh said he reached his conclusions after studying the issue for 30 years, especially in the 1970s, when Hopkins was pioneering sexual-reassignment surgery."

5-02-08:  SFGate: "AsiaSF gender-bending club goes Hollywood"

5-02-08:  Associated Press: "Doc Theorizes Pharoah Had Feminine Attributes"

5-02-08:  Stanford Daily: "Performance Review: Meet Jin Xing: Crosses her legs, comfortable with contrasts" - "Meet Jin Xing, China’s most famous modern dancer/choreographer. "

5-02-08:  New York Times Movie Review: "XXY (2007)" - "How must the world appear to someone who has been treated as an exotic clinical specimen from birth?"

5-02-08:  Daily Mail (UK): "Transsexual husband annuls marriage and enters into civil partnership with wife to keep pension benefits"

5-01-08:  GayWired: "The 'Naked' Playwright’s Transgender Jesus" - "“I’ve always been interested in the strange relationship that exists between transgendered people and the medical and therapist community,” says the award-winning trans playwright Tobias K. Davis. He explores those issues in his latest play, Standards of Care, which examines the relationships between a therapist and a transgender patient."

5-01-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Mother of slain trans teen backs judge candidate"

April 2008:

4-30-08:  Tucson Observer: "Amanda Simpson Elected Delegate To DNC Convention" - "Amanda Simpson, Transgender activist, former member of the City of Tucson Commission on GLBT Issues and candidate for the Arizona House of Representative was elected as an at-large delegate to the upcoming Democratic National Convention to take place in Denver, Colorado"  NEW

4-30-08:  Thaindian News (re Pakistan): "Pakistan court allows woman to change sex" (more)

4-30-08:  Citizen-Times (Ashville, NC): "Asheville's transgender community speaks"

4-29-08:  ACLU Press Release: "ACLU Takes On High School Principal For Discriminating Against Male Couple" - "A public high school principal who posted the names of two boys on a list of students believed to be couples, revealing their relationship to their parents as well as other students and teachers, violated the students' constitutional right to freedom of association, the American Civil Liberties Union charged today" (see the details of this incredible situation in the ACLU demand letter (3mb pdf ))

4-29-08:  Pink News (UK): "Report reveals disturbing divide in treatment of transexuals in the EU" (more)

4-29-08:  Chronicle Live (UK): "Pain of daring to be different"

4-28-08:  NGLTF Press Release: "Opening the Door to the Inclusion of Transgender People" - "New publication provides invaluable ‘how-to’ advice to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations seeking to become fully transgender-inclusive" (more; link to the new report (3mb pdf ))

4-28-08:  Women's e-News: "Transgender Rights Run Into Bathroom Politics" - "A county ordinance in Maryland that protects transgender rights is facing a public referendum challenge in November. One transgender advocate says it looks like a test case for national opposition to the antidiscrimination push."

4-28-08:  The Post (Ohio University): "Beyond black and white" - "Transgendered students speak out"

4-28-08:  Pink News (UK re Kyrgyzstan): "Police storm international meeting for gay rights in Kyrgyzstan" - "Human rights groups have highlighted the plight of the LGBT community in Kyrgyzstan after a police raid on a leading gay rights group"

4-27-08:  New York Times: "Through Sickness, Health and Sex Change"

4-26-08:  Associated Press: "Business is personal for satellite radio, drug entrepreneur" - " Martine Rothblatt founded Sirius Satellite Radio from a desire to link people together. She founded United Therapeutics from a desperation to save her daughter's life. . . And she accomplished much of this during a time of personal transformation, undergoing a sex change in the early '90s."

4-26-08:  LGBT History Month (UK): "Calpernia Addams: Widowed by Hate" (originally posted 4-10-08)
 

4-26-08:  Ottawa Sun (Canada): "Coming out the hardest part for cross-dresser"

4-25-08:  Ottawa Sun (Canada): "Ottawa's one-man health care sector" - "Dr. Norman Barwin the only MD specializing in transgender care issues"

4-25-08:  Reuters: "TV has never seen more transgender characters"

4-24-08:  The Times of India (India): "Transsexuals tormented by drunk youths"

4-24-08:  The Independent (UK): "Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils" - "When 'Lauren' decided she wanted to be recognised as a girl, life at school became a nightmare. Should teachers be doing more for transgender pupils?" (an important story from the UK)

4-24-08:  United Methodist News Service: "UMNS GC17 - Transgender United Methodists share stories"

4-24-08:  PrideSource (re Lithuania): "Euro court trans decision on Lithuania is final" - "Lithuania must implement a process for allowing and funding sex-change operations or pay 40,000 euros ($63,600) to transsexuals who seek the surgery so they can go to another country to get it, the European Court of Human Rights said April 9."

4-23-08:  American Family News Network: "Sex-change therapies on children 'beyond the pale'" (yet another religious group attacks the work of Norman Spack, M.D.; see also 4-21-08 and 4-19-08)

4-22-08:  Times of India (India): "Tamil Nadu to create transgender database"

4-21-08:  LifeSiteNews.com: "Children's Hospital Boston Offers "Sex Change" to Adolescents" (another religious group attacks the work of Norman Spack, M.D.)

4-21-08:  Isle of Man Today (IOM): "Transsexual to be recognised under new Manx law" - "Transsexual people will have their acquired gender recognised in law under draft legislation"
 

4-21-08:  The Asian Age (India re Germany): "German 1st man to give birth 10 yrs ago"

4-21-08:  The Telegraph (India): "A pageant for the third sex"

4-20-08:  Inside Vandy (Vanderbilt Univ.): "University moves forward in creating GLBT equality" - "Vanderbilt is moving forward in making the campus more welcoming for all students regardless of their gender identity"

4-20-08:  San Jose Mercury News: "The China connection - Stanford's Pan-Asian Festival focuses spotlight on best of Chinese Music, dance and arts" - Among the many performances will be the Jin Xing Dance Theatre:

"Originally a dancer in the Chinese military, Jin Xing founded the first contemporary dance troupe in Beijing and made her reputation as a thrilling choreographer and envelope-pushing, transgender personality: Jin Xing was born a he. This is the American debut of her world-famous company, performing original works and (with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus) Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana." 8 p.m. Saturday April 26 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday April 27, Memorial Auditorium, $12-$50. Tickets: livelyarts.stanford.edu.

4-19-08:  WorldNetDaily: "Children's hospital launches sex change for kids program - 'This isn't conjecture, it's happening now'" (religious group attacks the work of Norman Spack, M.D.)

4-19-08:  CampKC (Kansas City): "A Great Moment for K.C. Transgender Community"

4-18-08:  Pink News (UK): "Isle of Man drafts gender recognition legislation" - "Transsexual people on the Isle of Man will have their new gender recognised by law under draft legislation"

4-18-08:  Washington Blade: "200 trans rights advocates lobby Congress" - "Visitors from 29 states ask lawmakers to oppose gay-only ENDA"

4-17-08:  Washington Post: "Lawyers Maneuver Against Transgender Referendum" - "Lawyers involved in a challenge to the referendum on overturning the (Montgomery, MD) county's new protections for transgender people were in court last week to talk about the scope and timing of the case"

4-17-08:  Pridesource.com: "Detroit undergoes trans-formation"  - "City Council passes gender identity discrimination ordinance"

4-17-08:  Sydney Star Observer (Australia): "Show Some Bloody Respect" - "Being accepted by everyone has to start with your own community. The courage it takes that person to walk down the street as who they really are should be applauded, not used to ridicule"

4-16-08:  SX (Australia): "Trans interests excluded from 2020 Summit" - "GLBT advocates have slammed the apparent non-inclusion of trans representatives in the 2020 Summit this weekend."

4-16-08:  Xinhua News Agency (China): "Tianjin transsexual gets new Chinese ID card as a woman "

4-14-08:  Southeast Texas Record: "Transgender refinery worker sues employer for sex discrimination"

4-14-08:  Organization Intersex Internationale (OII): "Homochromosexuality: A new psychiatric disorder" - ". . . these people stubbornly cling to the idea that there is a marker somewhere for the “true” sex of an individual and that there are only two sexes. Whereas the general population often shares this delusion, it is not a psychosis in most people because they are not obsessed with the delusion to the degree that many researchers, religious leaders and certain radical feminists are, who often spend a large part of their lives in useless research and polemics to defend their delusional thinking."

4-14-08:  Crain's Detroit Business: "Eaton Corp. helped transgender employee" - "Audrey Hopkins, 47, became the first transgender individual hired into Eaton Corp.'s 100-member information-technology group in October 2005."

4-14-08:  The Los Angeles Loyolan (Loyala Marymount Univ): "Celebrate Transgenders", by Jennifer Beckwith - Note: It took a lot of courage for Jennifer to write this article. After all, Loyola Marymount is a Catholic University in the Jesuit Tradition, and it's leaders must follow official Vatican proclamations derived from Paul McHugh's teachings that transgender people are mentally ill sexual paraphilics.

4-13-08:   The Bilerico Project: "Equality Through Intimidation? The Houston HRC Dinner Protest" (more)

4-13-08:  The San Francisco Chronicle: "GENDER IDENTITY AND PHANTOM GENITALIA" - "This suggests that an intact body image - the maps of the body laid down in the brain before and after birth - can develop without actual limbs . . . For transgender men and women, he (Ramachandran) says, the body image laid down prenatally could similarly differ from the external body anatomy."

"I expect a lot of criticism," Ramachandran says. "Those who study transsexuality tend to be territorial because they themselves have made so little progress. There is no literature that illuminates the underlying mechanisms, other than psychological mumbo jumbo."
 

4-12-08:  Victoria Times Colonist (Canada): "Mountie disciplined after looking for transsexual love in uniform" - "A B.C. Mountie has received informal discipline for posting a dating profile online using a picture of himself in his red serge uniform to find transgendered and transsexual mates." 

4-12-08:  National Health Service (UK): Health Encyclopedia: "Gender Dysphoria" - The UK NHS has just added a new section on gender dysphoria to its online Health Encyclopedia, to bring it in line with recent changes in policies and services.

4-12-08:  Tehelka (India): "The Rationing of Rights" - "Tamil Nadu’s recent addition of a third gender column on ration card applications is one of a series of much needed, progressive reforms that benefit hijras"

4-12-08:  Taipei Times (Taiwan): "Pregnant man points way to new identities"

4-11-08:  Houston Voice: "Transgender Lobby Day is next week"

4-11-08:  PRNewswire: "GED Program Launches for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth"

4-11-08:  Inquirer.net (Philipinnes): "Pregnant man"

4-10-08:  Gay City News: "Trans Woman Can Sue" - "US District Judge Nancy F. Atlas in Houston has ruled that a transsexual Texan, Izza Lopez, can pursue a sex discrimination employment claim against River Oaks Imaging & Diagnostic Group" (see also story of 4-08-08)

4-10-08:  Daily Herald (suburban Chicago): "Colleges reaching out to recruit gay, lesbian and transgender students"

4-10-08:  Just Plain Sense (UK): " Gender Dysphoria: A Mother’s Tale" - "What do you do when your child exhibits markedly gender-atypical play behaviour almost as soon as they can walk and tells you, by the time they are four years old, that there’s been a mistake? (Podcast of Christine Burns interview of the child's mother) 

4-10-08:  Out In Detroit: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applauds passage of transgender nondiscrimination laws in Detroit and Kansas City"

4-10-08:  Bay Windows: "ENDA again"

4-09-08:  365Gay.com: "Detroit Bans Transgender Discrimination"

4-09-08:  Vietnam News (Vietnam): "Transsexual’s marriage opens societal discussion" - "Singer Cat Tuyen, who had a sex change, created a huge media buzz by marrying another artist on Monday at the Quoc Thanh Restaurant in HCM City."

4-08-08:  Telegraph (UK re Thailand): "Thai surgeons reject cosmetic castration ban"

4-08-08:  Catholic Online: "Commentary: Pregnant 'Man' is Really a Pregnant Woman" - "What we need to understand is how this story fits into the sweeping agenda of the forces gathered to destroy the family."

4-08-08:  Houston Chronicle: "Plaintiff wins round in transgender case" 

4-08-08:  Agave Clinic (Marbella, Spain): Maxillofacial surgeons Dr. Bart van de Ven and Dr. Daniel Simon have opened a new clinic in Marbella, Spain. Both trained and worked with Dr Noorman van der Dussen of Belgium, and one of their specialties is Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS).

4-08-08:  The Baltic Times (re Lithuania): "Transgender victory" - "after losing the case in Strasbourg, the Baltic state will have to adopt a sex change law or pay compensation."

4-07-08:  Daily Yomiuri (Japan): "Gender registration rules may be relaxed with bill" - "The ruling parties likely will relax the legal requirements for people with gender identity disorder to alter their officially registered sex, ministry sources said Saturday"

4-06-08:  Just Plain Sense (UK): "Half an Hour with Calpernia Addams" (Podcast of an interview of Calpernia by Christine Burns)

4-06-08:  Merinews (India): "The plight of the Transgenders"

4-06-08:  New Straights Times (Malaysia): "Spotlight: Speaking up for their gender" - For the estimated 30,000 transgenders in the country, dealing with rejections from the "normal" members of society is a daily preoccupation. And the first rejection is almost always from family members.

4-06-08:  New Straights Times (Malaysia): "Spotlight: Mak nyahs have not abandoned God"

4-04-08:  Uptown (Canada): "Identity issues Clik for singer - Lucas Silveira is comfortable in his own skin - and sounds like it"

4-04-08:  LifeSiteNews: "Media Deception: "Miraculous" Pregnant "Man" is Really a Woman" - "Paving the way for the next wave in the battle against the family - an attack on gender itself . . . it has been turned into a giant media deception to forward the homosexual and transsexual agenda" (the Catholic theory of the Thomas Beatie story)

4-04-08:  This Is London (UK): "Amazing pictures of pregnant man as he tells Oprah 'people may try to kill my baby' "

4-04-08:  The Nation (Thailand): "A more open, informed attitude to sexual identity" - "Castration of young boys is now a controversial issue being closely watched by society as a whole and debated by different groups."

4-04-08:  The Advocate: "Kansas City Passes Transgender Protections "

4-03-08:  Daily India (India): "Shelter for ostracised transgenders in Kolkata" - "There are plans to set up more such shelters across the country with the hope that the society will accept them and be more tolerant towards the transgenders"

4-03-08:  Metro Weekly: "Uncommon decency - Transgender women prepare to file lawsuit in response to treatment in D.C. jails"

4-03-08:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "Castration conundrum" - "Yolada Suanyot, leader of the Transsexuals Group of Thailand, insists the removal of testicles is an option for ladyboys and any medical ruling must take into account their needs and concerns. Since transsexualism is a gender identity disorder which can be medically corrected, the government should make sex reassignment operations part of the national medical welfare scheme, she insists. Also, patients' age should not be a primary requisite for treatment, but their needs. As expected, her plea fell on deaf ears. Which is why the top-down ruling on castration surgery will not serve the transsexuals but the medical profession itself." (more, more, more)

4-03-08:  Michigan Daily: "Bridging the gap between art and activism"

4-02-08:  The Martlett (Univ. of Victoria, Canada): "Reconciling gender and sex - One UVic student’s journey to live life outside the box — even if it’s built by society"

4-02-08:  The Advocate: "In Response to "Labor of Love"" - "An FTM activist responds to the media coverage of Thomas Beatie after his article appeared in The Advocate."

4-02-08:  Reuters (re Thailand): "Thailand bans cosmetic castration"
 

4-02-08:  Associated Press: "Kennedy jumps into controversy over transgender exclusion" (more)

4-02-08:  Yale Daily News: "Gender-neutral housing explored" - "Committee will spend next year drafting report after LGBTQ students pressed administration"

4-01-08:  Canada.com (Canada): "'It wasn't my choice to be a transgender' - "William, born female, has always known he was really male"

March 2008:

3-31-08:  Human Rights Watch (re Kuwait): "Kuwait: Halt Dress-Code Crackdown - Authorities Should Repeal Repressive Law, Free Detainees" – New arrests show that Kuwait has resumed enforcing a repressive dress code that criminalizes “imitating the appearance of the opposite sex” "

3-30-08:  The Sunday Times (UK): "Best of Times, Worst of Times: Kate Craig-Wood" - "Kate Craig-Wood, 31, is a finalist in the BlackBerry Women in Technology Awards and managing director of her own IT company. Born Robert Hardy Craig-Wood, she underwent gender reassignment and officially became a woman in 2006"

3-30-08:  Arizon Daily Star: Tucson Region: "Transgender forum here Tuesday - Region viewed as accepting of gender variance"

3-30-08:  The Boston Globe: "Q&A with Norman Spack - A doctor helps children change their gender" - "My philosophy is, "Who am I to say what it's like to be transgendered when I have people who are living with it every day?" These kids won over the hospital, one department at a time"

3-30-08:  The Province (Vancouver, Canada): "Sex-change tourists - Critics say B.C. is wasting thousands of dollars by sending transgendered patients to Quebec for specialized surgery we could do here"

3-30-08:  The Province (Vancouver, Canada): "'It wasn't my choice to be a transgender'" - "William, born female, has always known he was really male"

3-30-08:  The Canadian (Canada): "Transgender Dating: Breaking the Ice in the First E-mail"

3-30-08:  Nashua Telegraph (NH): "Surgery can take more than year of preperation"

3-29-08:  ChristineBurns.podbean.com (UK): "The Men with Baby Bellies" - "The problem with debate on a topic like this is that, whilst people are often quick to voice an opinion, based on the immediate gut reaction they feel, very few of them have much clue about the background facts." (podcast)

3-29-08:  The Mirror (UK): "Is the pregnant man Thomas Beatie a hoax for April Fool's Day?" (more)

3-29-08:  Trinidad and Tobago Express (Carribean): "I am a sex worker: Regional sex workers speak up" -  A fascinating report that raises many questions. 

3-29-08:  MLive.com: "Julie reflects on past year"

3-28-08:  ABC News: "'My Mommy Is a Boy' - Young Children More Easily Adapt to News That a Parent is Transgender" - "It might take me a while to get used to my mommy being a boy, but she seems happier now"  NEW

3-28-08:  The Spoof (UK): "Transsexuals Banned From City" - "A small city in Arkansas has banned transsexual men from entering its city limits after complaints from women of the city that the gender confused drag queens were better looking than them" (a pretty cool spoof)  NEW

3-28-08:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "THIRD GENDER - Young boys warned not to seek early castration" - "Mr Natee said he received many complaints from the parents of ladyboys who were keen to have their testes removed, possibly due to the influence of widespread advertisements on the internet which claimed it was inexpensive and the result was similar to a sex-change operation." (more)
 

3-28-08:  Pink News (UK re Lithuania): "Mayor "not ready" to support gay rights" - "Lithuania is a member of the EU but remains one of the most socially backward nations in Europe. The vast majority of the population are Roman Catholics, and the church is openly hostile the rights of sexual minorities."

3-28-08:  The Guardian (UK re the US): "'Being a pregnant man? It's incredible'" - "Is it a miracle? A hoax? Or just tragedy in the making? Patrick Barkham on the frenzy surrounding the US transgender man reported to be expecting a baby girl"

See also the Village Voice story from June 20, 2000:  "Family Values: Two Dads With a Difference—Neither of Us Was Born Male"

3-28-08:  The Blackpool Gazette (UK): "Support floods in for sex change soldier"

3-27-08:  UTNE Daily: "The Evolution of Transgender Media Coverage"

3-27-08:  Nashville Scene: "Sex, Document Style - A new bill in the state legislature would entitle sex-change recipients to revised Tennessee birth certificates"

3-27-08:  AFL-CIO.org: "Andre Wilson: Winning 'Equity and Access' " - "A union activist in Ann Arbor, Mich., since the late 1970s, Wilson was the first openly transgender person to head a contract negotiating team for a local union—the American Federation of Teachers Local 3550, better known as the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO) at the University of Michigan."

3-27-08:  SABC News (South Africa): "Transsexual plans to take access case to court"

3-27-08:  The Oregonian: "Sex-change law questions arise after Bend man says he's pregnant - Oregon's statute doesn't detail procedures needed for a legal gender change"

3-27-08:  Washington Blade: "In first, black trans woman headed to Dem convention" - "Richmond, a Clinton delegate, would be happy with Obama as nominee" (more)

3-27-08:  BBC News (UK re CUBA): "Castro champions gay rights in Cuba - There is a Castro who is fighting to introduce radical changes in Cuba." - "It is Raul's daughter, Mariela Castro. . . Mariela's mother, the late Vilma Espin, was an internationally recognised champion of women's rights. For Mariela, it is the rights of homosexuals and transsexuals that need fighting for."

3-26-08:  SX (Australia): "Across the divide" - "GLB and T – do we really all belong together? Katrina Fox reports"

3-25-08:  Foster's Daily Democrat (NH): "Colby College author emerges as public face for the transgendered"

3-25-08:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "Up in the air as a woman - A transsexual, physically a woman but legally a man, opens her female heart" (original link broken)

3-24-08:  Premier Magazine: "Writer-Director Olaf de Fleur on 'The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela' - The Icelandic filmmaker discusses his 'visiomentary'" - "Queen Raquela is not about sex-change operations or identity quests, but the touching, dreamlike, quasi-autobiographical tale of Raquela Rios, a transsexual Cebu City prostitute who longs to leave the Philippines, meet a nice straight man and visit Paris."

3-23-08:  The Canadian (Canada): "American author explores crossdressers and transsexuals in Get Dressed!"

3-21-08:  Discover: "The Unusual Story of the Pregnant, Bearded Man" - See also Thomas Beatie's essay in the Advocate:

3-21-08:  The Advocate: "Labor of Love - Is society ready for this pregnant husband?" - "To our neighbors, my wife, Nancy, and I don’t appear in the least unusual. To those in the quiet Oregon community where we live, we are viewed just as we are -- a happy couple deeply in love. Our desire to work hard, buy our first home, and start a family was nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until we decided that I would carry our child."  (originally published on 3-14-08). (more)

3-20-08:  AAAS 'Eureka Alert' Press Release: "Counselors should target discrimination and be advocates for transgender clients" - "University of Oregon doctoral students address workplace and psychological issues for overlooked population" - News of an interesting report in the March issue of the Journal of Career Development (link to abstract).

3-20-08:  Bay Area Reporter:  "Slain transgender woman to be remembered" - A demonstration will be held in San Francisco on Friday, March 21, in remembrance of Ruby Ordenana, 24, who was murdered last year. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the 24th Street BART station on Mission Street.

3-20-08:  Express India (India): "Life on the Fringes" - "Solidarity bound them together, Reema, Kajol, Pritambar, Suman and hundreds of other “sisters”, who thronged the south Kolkata park last week to participate in a candlelight vigil."

3-19-08:  Sarah Brown's Journal (UK): "Charing Cross GIC in Breath of Fresh Air Shocker!" - Fascinating report of a Translondon Support Group meeting with Drs Stuart Lorimer and Leighton Seal of the Charing Cross Gender Clinic.

3-19-08:  The Guardian (UK): "New 'trans guidance' for universities" - "The Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) has put out guidance for universities to follow when dealing with "trans people" who are changing their gender" (ECU Report PDF (3.4 mb); ECU Report text (82 kb))

3-19-08: Windy City Times: "UIC Holds First LGBT Research Forum"

3-19-08:  Ottumwa Courier (Iowa): "Ottumwa City Council amends proposed ordinance — ‘gender identity’ deleted; law moves back to first reading" - "Citizens who spoke against it said the ordinance would enable a man to put on a dress, enter a women’s restroom and molest or kidnap a female youngster."

3-19-08:  Florida Baptist Witness: "Not my shower: Breaking biological barriers"

3-19-08:  Charlestown City Paper (NC): "North Charleston murder highlights absence of state hate crime law"

3-19-08:  AFP (re Thailand): "Thai army to introduce 'third category' for transsexuals"

3-17-08:  LynnConway.com:  "The ICRME Board of Directors unanimously votes to accept the resignation of Benjamin Paige"  - "In a special meeting of the Board of Directors of the Rocky Mtn. Court System on Sunday, March 16, 2008, the Board has unanimously voted to accept the resignation of Benjamin Paige from the Board of Directors" (for more on this case, see the investigative report re Paige's hideously transphobic column in the Gayzette Denver)

3-17-08:  PageOneQ: "Transgender rights org praises changes in federal REAL ID regulations, opposes overall bill"

3-17-08: Daily Mail (UK): "The 6ft ex-soldier who has won a personal war - by becoming a woman" (more, more)

3-17-08:  Daily Record (UK): "Sex-Change Ex-Paratrooper Wants To Become A Mum" - "SEX swap soldier Jan Hamilton has revealed she would like to adopt a child now she is finally a woman."

3-17-08:  Inter Press Service (re Cuba): "CUBA: Transvestites and Crossdressers Key Workers Against AIDS" - "Activism against AIDS is uniting a group of transvestites and crossdressers in western Cuba in a project that is going beyond peer education and making inroads into the world of culture."

3-16-08:  LynnConway.com: "An update from Jazmine James regarding the climate within the ICRME" - Jazmine reports that she and her husband received deafening applause at a major ICRME event Saturday night - in support of her stance against Benjamin Paige's column.

3-16-08:  TSRoadmap.com: "Benjamin Paige remains on ICRME board, issues statement" - "ICRME has stated that Benjamin Paige remains as a member at large of the Board of Directors despite submitting his resignation as Corporate Development Officer. ICRME plans to make a determination on his board position soon."

3-16-08:  Times of India (India): "Response to TN govt scheme 'overwhelming'" - "Tamil Nadu government's decision to include the third gender in ration cards also paves the way for transsexuals, who have fallen off the state welfare nets because there is no official space for them to exist, to eventually write 'T' against the sex column while applying for admission to educational institutions or government hospitals."

3-16-08:  Times of India (India): "Third sex gets official status in Tamil Nadu" - "In Tamil Nadu alone, where transsexuals like Pooja started getting ration cards on Thursday, it would allow the estimated 40,000 members of the community to identify themselves as a third gender"

3-16-08:  The New York Times Magazine: "When Girls Will Be Boys" - A feature article about young transmen in women's colleges, and the issues thereby raised.

3-16-08:  Dayton Daily News: "Transgender people step out, risk ridicule, worse" - "Jobs, friends, families at risk, but transgender people take chance to understand themselves and be understood." (more)

3-15-08:  Femtastic (UK): "Patricia Arquette admits uncertainty over sibling’s sex change" - "“I always imagined myself to be a very open-minded person. So when I was feeling a level of judgement… I really had to think about myself.”"

3-15-08:  Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire: The ICRME releases a "Formal Statement" regarding the transphobic article by Benjamin Paige - In this interim report, the ICRME Board whitewashes the Paige situation. It goes on to claim that the organization welcomes all, even though that claim has been exposed as untrue by recent reports from Dana Yost and Jazmine James.

3-14-08:  Dayton Daily News: "Finally Herself: Transgender life in Dayton" - "Jennette "Jenny" Caden has been been very active in educating the community, including businesses, about transgender issues. Caden, born male, has been living and working as a woman for the past six months"

3-14-08:  IndyBay.org: "Nearly 400 Activists Gather to Strengthen Transgender Civil Rights, Equality Movement in California"

3-14-08:  LynnConway.com: "Open letter to the Leaders of the Imperial Court System regarding the anti-transgender climate within the ICS"

3-14-08:  Express India (India): "Citizens show solidarity with the transgender community" - "In a show of solidarity, around 300 citizens joined a candle light procession to condemn the violence on March 9, in which three members of the transgender community were beaten up by locals of the Rabindra Sarovar area."

3-14-08:  ABC News: "Politicians 'Anti-Gay' Speech Sparks Outrage"

3-14-08:  Dallas Voice: "Homophobic official may have gay son" - "OKC legislator’s tirade saying ‘homosexual agenda’ poses bigger threat than terrorism heard by over 700,000 since being posted on YouTube"

3-13-08:  MomLogic.com: "Transgender Teen Tells Her Story" - "In her own words, a transgender teen talks candidly about acceptance and tolerance"

3-13-08:   LynnConway.com: "An open letter by Jazmine James regarding the anti-transgender climate within the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire" - Another report re the ICRME in the wake of the hideous article by Benjamin Paige.

3-13-08:  YouTube: "Ellen calls Sally Kern" - Pretty cool video re the hatemongering politician in Oklahoma.

3-13-08:  Tulsa World (Oklahoma): "Local gay organization denounces Kern's comments against homosexuality" - "Community leaders Thursday denounced state Rep. Sally Kern's recent comments against homosexuality and asked legislators to respond by passing hate crimes legislation that encompasses sexual orientation and gender identity." (more)

3-13-08:  The Sun (UK): "Sweet on some Candis Cayne?" - "IF only all we girls could look as good as curvaceous Candis Cayne, the star of new Channel 4 show Dirty Sexy Money"

3-13-08:  The Telegraph (UK): "Female RAF pilot tells of sex change operation" - "Now she has remarried, to a man. She said of her husband: "He is as straight as they come and I had to tell him about my past." - Sqdn Ldr Jones was in charge of all air movements out of Basra in southern Iraq last year after she was posted there for a six-month tour in June" 

3-13-08:  Bay Area Reporter:  "Helping Trans Kids Out of the Shadows" - "Dedicated to preventing another causalty, the founder and executive director of TransActive Education & Advocacy (transactiveonline.org), a Portland, Oregon based organization, works with parents and schools to support transgender and gender variant children."

3-13-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Trans women get ready for 'Catwalk' event" - "Tita Aida, who has hosted numerous charitable benefits over the years, has something new this month – "Catwalk '08," which is billed as an "elite modeling competition and beauty pageant for the transgender community.""

3-13-08:  SUU News (Southern Utah Univ.): "OP-ED: Consider gender-blind policy"

3-12-08:  The BG News (Bowling Green State Univ.): "Campus community tries to increase transgender support" - "Joelle Ruby Ryan, founder of Transcendence, said the Bowling Green community and the country as a whole need to realize the bigotry that leads to violence against particular groups in society"

3-12-08:  The Charlotte Observer: "Voices for, against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools measure" - "CMS board approves anti-bullying policy - Critics worry wording promotes homosexuality" (update)

3-12-08:  The Age (Australia): "Street prostitutes given 'green light' by police" - "The Office of Police Integrity has uncovered evidence that appears to support claims a group of police have protected transsexual prostitutes in exchange for sexual favours"

3-12-08:  The Sun (UK): "Chopper Ace; My sex change" - "An RAF squadron leader yesterday told of her amazing transformation – from a man to a woman" - "Sue, based in London, was posted to Iraq last June and was responsible for all air movements in and out of Basra" - Note: The UK the military does not discriminate against GLBT individuals, and welcomes all into the ranks.

3-11-08:   LynnConway.com: "An open letter by Dana Yost regarding the anti-transgender climate within the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire"

3-11-08:  BBSnews: "Anti-gay Tirade by OK State Rep. Sally Kern Sparks National Firestorm" - "Rep. Kern said "the homosexual agenda is destroying this nation" and the threat was larger than international terrorism" 

3-11-08:  CNNMoney.com: "UPS expands supplier diversity" - "UPS Inc., the world's largest shipping carrier, is stepping up its supplier diversity efforts to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender-owned businesses"

3-10-08:  Kansas City Star: "Handling the transgender issue" - "How might a progressive employer handle a transgender employee who, for example, goes from female to male, or male to female? How does one address those in transition? — Concerned About Change That Makes Sense"

3-10-08:  The Edge (Boston): "Advocates turn out en masse for transgender civil rights bill"

3-10-08:  American Family News Network: "UMC officials expected to address issue of 'transgendered' clergy at upcoming meeting"

3-09-08:  Washington Post: "Transgender Law Opponents Put Measure on Ballot" - Opponents of the anti-discrimination measure, who contend it could lead to indecent exposure in locker rooms, have collected enough valid signatures to place a referendum on the November ballot"

3-08-08:  Notes from Eden (Blogspot): "An Open letter to a community service organization" - "Today I am terribly sad to report that a wonderful community service organization I once worked with has come under negative attention due to the published writings of a current Board member. The Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire. The Publisher has published a retraction already, I hope this organization also takes a public stand" - Eden Lane

3-08-08:  LynnConway.com: "Update on Benjamin Paige's hideously transphobic column" - Paige is an up-and-coming member of Denver's gay community. Could this explain why he's being let off the hook, even though he's never apologized?

We've identified Paige as a member of the Board of Directors of "The Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire" (a major drag organization) and a recipient of one of their "White Rose Scholarships". Paige's exposure as a raving transphobe is a terrible stain on the image of that organization, raising disturbing questions such as whether he is "representative of the culture of the Imperial Courts?" 

Could it be that the Imperial Court also intends to whitewash this situation, and retain Paige on their Board? If so, they're going to have some serious explaining to do. (The update includes contacts at ICRME you can e-mail to ask about that).

3-08-08:  The Edge (Boston): "Trans conference debates merits of anti-discrimination laws"

3-08-08:  Gazette.net (MD): "Transgender opponents collect enough signatures for referendum" - "Voters will vote county law up or down in November"

3-07-08:  Feministing.com: "A “Bailey Controversy” Follow-Up" by Julia Serano -  " . . . last week there was yet another development in the ongoing Bailey saga. The Northwestern University school newspaper (where Bailey and Dreger are professors) reported that psychologist Robin Mathy, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota's Medical School, filed ethics charges against both Dreger and Bailey." 

3-07-08:  PageOneQ: "Gay publication apologizes to community for article about transgender Colorado student" - Note: This article deliberately avoids naming Benjamin Paige as the author of the hideous article that appeared in the March issue of GayZette Denver.  Paige himself has not apologized for the article, and yet the gay community is letting him off the hook. What's wrong with this picture?

3-07-08:  China Daily (China): "Wife finally fulfills dream by becoming a woman" - "A man from a poor rural family in Heilongjiang province who had been living as another man's wife for 11 years recently fulfilled his dream of becoming a woman by having a sex change operation in Tianjin municipality"

3-07-08:  The Edge (Boston): "Heavy hitters go to bat for transgender civil rights bill"

3-06-08:  Huffington Post: "Former GOP State Rep And Obama Backer Discusses Switching Party, Gender

3-06-08:  The Sun (UK): "C4's sex change soldier" - "The story of the first ever Para to have a sex change is to be told in a Channel 4 documentary"

3-06-08:  Bay Windows: TransNation: "Activist Creates Compelling PR", by Jacob Anderson-Minshall

3-06-08:  LynnConway.com: "Media Alert: GayZette Denver publishes a hideous rhetorical attack on seven year old trans child and her family"

In this alert, Kelley Winters says: "As most of you know, a young affirmed girl, her family and her school district were cruelly attacked in the national press following a sensational and defamatory report by Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV on Feb 7.  Sadly, the worst of all, the most hateful, the most sickening attack on this innocent child has come not from the religious right but from within our own GLBT community in Denver."

Note: Following the initial alerts about this article, the publisher of the GayZette quickly pulled the online version of the article by Benjamin Paige, and issued a retraction and an apology. For further commentary on the article and the retraction, see this page in Andrea James' site.

3-06-08:  The Campus Press (Univ. of Colorado): "Transforming perceptions - Transgender awareness combats society's preconceptions"

3-06-08:  The Phoenix (Swarthmore College): "Expansion of gender-neutral housing proposed"

3-06-08:  Enkidu Magazine (Mexico, re Japan): "Trans Man Sues Employer for Discriminatory Cancellation of Employment Contract"

3-05-06:  The News Record (Univ. of Cincinnatti): "Transgender issue needs attention - UC should be more accepting of students with gender issues"

3-05-08:  The Boston Globe: "Patrick backs bill to protect rights of transgendered" - "Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday he supports a bill protecting transgendered people from discrimination, legislation similar to laws already enacted in more than a dozen states"

3-05-08:  PC World: "Your Virtual Sex Change" - "Everybody's doing it, according to a new study in the journal Cyberpsychology and Behaviour, so why not you?"

3-05-08:  BBC News (re India): "India's transgender talk show host - A controversial new talk show has hit TV screens in southern India"

3-05-08:  Long Beach Press Telegram: "Council supports LGBT measure - Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students have a right to attend school and live without harassment, the City Council made clear at its Tuesday night meeting"

3-04-08:  South Florida Sun-Sentinal: "Transexual teen has faith in self, others"

3-04-08:  International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC): "IGLHRC Announces 2008 Felipa de Souza Award Winners" - "The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) announced today that it would award its 2008 Felipa de Souza Award to two outstanding nominees - the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO) and Chilean trans activist Andrés Ignacio Rivera Duarte. IGLHRC's Felipa Award recognizes the courage and effectiveness of groups or leaders dedicated to improving the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) and other individuals stigmatized and abused because of their sexuality or HIV status. Each award winner will receive a $5,000 stipend. The awards will be presented at a special ceremony in New York on April 28, 2008." (in Persian)

3-04-08:  Duke Chronicle (Duke Univ.): "LGBT Task Force catalyzes change - Despite low profile, group pushes progressive gender policies for campus"

3-04-08:  The Justice (Brandeis Univ.): "Editorial: Gender-blind housing needed"

3-04-08:  Catholic News Agency: "Catholic hospital to allow transgender surgery after being sued" -  "In 2006 a doctor told Charlene Hastings, 57, that Seton Medical Center in Daly City would not allow him to perform breast-enhancement surgery on a transsexual. Hastings claimed that upon further inquiry a surgical coordinator at the hospital said to him, “It’s not God’s will” and “God made you a man.”" - "Hastings will not undergo surgery at Seton, saying he would not be comfortable because he would feel the hospital would be “doing it under duress.” " (note how the Catholic News continues to defame Charlene by using male pronouns)

3-04-07:  Bay Windows: "Attorney General Martha Coakley comes out for civil rights protections for transgender community"

3-03-08:  The Salem News (MA): "My View: For some, a job well done isn't enough", by Nancy Nangeroni

3-03-08:  The Tartan (CMU): "Students discuss transgender issues - Toilet Training sparks discussion and debate"

3-03-08:  The Guardian (UCSD): "Blurring the Gender Line" - "UCSD takes initiative to create a friendlier climate for those on campus who break the boundaries between male and female"

3-03-08:  The Chronicle Herald (Nova Scotia): "Grits pass sex-change proposal but it’s low priority, McNeil says" (more)

3-02-08:  "Advocates, opponents of trans rights bill to have their say on Beacon Hill" - see also related article: "Contrada warns of trans apocalypse"

3-02-08:  Human Resource Executive: "How's Your Inclusiveness Rating? - The Corporate Equality Index has emerged as the scorecard of choice for measuring GLBT-friendliness"

3-01-08:  Feministe: "It’s ain’t easy being television’s most eligible transsexual bachelorette…" - Cool article about Transamerican Love Story, starring Calpernia Addams and eight bachelors who "vie for her heart" - Be sure to watch the video at the included link, where Calpernia discusses "Questions Never to Ask a Transsexual Person".

3-01-08:  Turkish Daily News (Turkey): "Revenge of the oppressed sexual identity!" - "Transsexuals and transvestites are condemned to work as prostitutes since there is no other option available for them to survive."

3-01-08:  Pam's House Blend (online magazine): "History - Christine Jorgensen's Woman of the Year Award 1953" - "On March 7, 1953 Christine Jorgensen receives the Scandinavian Societies Woman of the Year Award in New York City.  Ms. Jorgensen's transition story was the most reported upon story in all media upon her return to the US that year. Thirteen years before Stonewall, Ms. Jorgensen handled her unwanted fame with such grace and received acceptance to such a degree that this honor from a mainstream group was bestowed prior to there even being LGBT groups awarding such honors"

3-01-08:  California Catholic Daily: "“Moral victory against Catholics” - Seton Medical Center does about-face, will allow transsexual to get breast-enhancement surgery"

3-01-08:  Rocky Mountain News (CO): "'It's me in a different way'" - "On the first day of eighth grade, Melaina Marquez wore a polo shirt, wedge shoes and denim skirt with ruffles. The year before, that outfit would have been out of the question. At that point, Melaina was a boy known as Manuel. Melaina, now 15, is considered to be transgender: a person who does not identify with the sex based on his or her genitalia. She decided to tell her story after news reports last month about a 7-year-old Douglas County girl who attended school last year as a boy."
 

February 2008:

2-29-08:  Organization Intersex Internationale (OII): "Alice Dreger: The unethical ethicist?", by Curtis Hinkle - "After controlling intersex activism for over a decade and leaving it in shambles, she decided to move on to transgender activism. And already she is becoming the same divisive “activist” in the transgender movement that she was in the intersex movement. She has begun by taking sides with the gatekeepers of the trans movement, just as she placed herself with the gatekeepers of the intersex community and then left us with a more pathological terminology and set of protocols based on intersex being a genetic defect." (further commentary by the intersex community on the activities of Catholic 'ethicist' Alice Dreger).

2-29-08:  Time Magazine (re Turkey): "Turkey's Anti-War Diva" (more, more)

2-29-08:  Boston Herald: "Judge grants hearing for killer seeking better sex change care in prison"

2-28-08:  Colorado Community Newspapers: "Becoming Jamie - Family, friends, school support a transgirl "   

2-28-08:  Colorado Community Newspapers: "Explain gender simply to kids" - "For neighbors, classmates and children in activities with transgender children and teens, one haunting question for parents is how to explain what is going on, often when they don't know. "Make it age appropriate," said Kim Pearson, executive director of TransYouth Family Allies. "And don't give more than the child needs."" (more)  

2-28-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Pride nominates HRC for Pink Brick" - "For the first time, an LGBT organization has been nominated for San Francisco Pride's Pink Brick award – an award meant to recognize groups and individuals who've run afoul of the community or pushed for antigay measures."

2-28-08:  Trans Group Blog: "RIP Steve Dain - FTM Pioneer" - ""It was nearly a ritual, a rite of passage to meet with Steve. There were no trans men that we knew of who had come before him, Mario Martino was on the east coat, living in a safe obscurity, although some were in communication with him, and Rupert Raj was in Canada. Steve was nearby and our most visible example, and someone who each one of us hoped would confer wisdom, and a kind of blessing or validation. I think we all were a bit awestruck. And, Steve didn't let us down. I know he didn't let me down. I still remember meeting him in Union City, he picked me up from BART and I was taken with his easy and total masculinity. He was hirsute, and handsome, confident and kind. He was sensitive to each question I asked and his answers would influence me for the entirety of my transition." - "I am so sorry that he is gone; time goes by quickly. He was about my age when I met him, and now, was 68 when he died -- of cancer recently on Oct. 10, 2007." - Max Wolf Valerio

2-28-08:  YouTube video clips of FtM pioneer Steve Dain, from the 1985 documentary film, What Sex Am I?  - "Steve Dain speaks very candidly about his sexual change from female to male and prejudice against his continuing as a school teacher after transition."

2-28-08:  Ventura County Star (CA): "Tolerance is stressed at high school assembly - In Oxnard talk, transgender speaker calls for acceptance of differences"

2-27-08:  The Lincoln County News (Maine): "MHRC Report Alleges Transgender Discrimination By Camp Kieve" - "An investigator for the Maine Human Rights Commission has determined that Camp Kieve employees in Nobleboro discriminated against a transgender Pennsylvania man" (case involves a young transman who lost his camp counseling job due to discrimination.
 

2-27-08:  The Daily Northwestern: "Debate resumes on methods of psych professor's research".

An excerpt from this important breaking story:

"Last month, Robin Mathy filed ethics complaints against both Dreger and Bailey with the American Psychological Association, which accredits NU's psychology department. Unlike the most vocal opponents of Dreger and Bailey's work, Mathy is an accredited psychologist and a clinical research fellow at the University of Minnesota's Medical School. She also filed a charge with the Illinois Board of Examiners of Psychology for Bailey's alleged misrepresentation of himself as psychologist.
 

Mathy's charges focus on the professional connections between the board of the Archives of Sexual Behavior and Bailey. In the article, Bailey and Dreger both expressed that having sex with a research subject is not inherently wrong."

Mathy said Dreger was wrong to submit her article to the ASB, which is edited by Kenneth Zucker, who has had contact with Bailey and has similar views on transsexuality. By doing this, she said Dreger sought to bypass the peer review process, which ensures research remains unbiased.

"This is a blatant conflict of interest," Mathy said. "(Dreger) exploited a key network friendship with Michael Bailey to get a truly horrible paper published.""
 

2-27-08:  Transgender Europe (TGEU): "The Steering Committee of Transgender Europe and the Transgender Network Berlin (TGNB) are most happy to announce that the Second Transgender Council will take place from May 2nd – 4th in Berlin, Germany."

2-27-08:  Bianet News in English (Turkey): "Nationalist Uproar at Singer’s Anti-War Stance" - "Bülent Ersoy, a colourful transsexual singer, banned from performing on stage after the military coup in the 1980s, and now mostly in the magazine headlines for her outfits, young husbands and cosmetic surgery, expressed her opposition to the current cross-border operations in Northern Iraq on live TV on Sunday night (24 February)" (more)

2-25-08:  Queerty: "New York Politicos Avoid HRC Dinner" - "Human Rights Campaign got little love at its annual New York dinner this weekend" - "Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Midtown Hilton to protect HRC’s wavering position during the ENDA debacle of last year"

2-25-08:  Norwich Evening News (UK): "Sex change woman wins op" - "As revealed by the Evening News, Penny Blake has been waiting for nearly three years to have the operation"

2-25-08:  World Net Daily: "Coed shower petition collectors allege harassment - 'This conduct is highly unethical and violates civil rights statutes'" (more on the Montgomery County, MD situation)

2-25-08:  The Hilltop (Howard Univ.): "Maryland Transgender Rights Law In Jeopardy, Petition Puts New Rules on Hold"

2-25-08:  ABC7News (DC): "Transgender Law Faces Stiff Opposition"

2-25-08:  UK Gay News (re Ireland): "Students Slam Health Service Executive Over Services for Transgender People"

2-25-08:  Greenway Court Theatre (Los Angeles): “Announcing the much-anticipated second installment of “Trans Sister Tales”” – “The all-star cast includes Gina Grahame, Aleshia Brevard, Rosalyne Blumenstein, Dee Dee Flores, Leslie Townsend, Christina Quinonez, Victoria Ortega and a special musical performance by Veronica Klaus” - Thursday February 28 at 8 pm

2-25-08:  5280 - Denver's Magazine (March  issue): "Second Nature - In an exclusive preview from our March issue, meet a local family that is raising a little girl born in the wrong body", by Maximillian Potter - A wonderful magazine article about the Boulder family who are supporting their child's transition (click on picture for larger photo).

2-25-08: Massachusetts Medical Society event announcement: “Managing the Health of Transgendered Patients: What Every Clinician and Health Care” - Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 6:00 – 9:00pm, at the Conference Center at Waltham Woods - An evening program sponsored by the Massachusetts Medical Society and its Medical Student Section.

2-25-08:  BBC News: "Iran's 'diagnosed transsexuals' - Homosexual relationships are banned in Iran, but the country allows sex change operations and hundreds of men have elected for surgery to change their lives" (link to audio of the broadcasts) (link to the film "Be Like Others")

2-24-08:  Ventura County Star: "Atmosphere of hate fuels horrific crime"

2-24-08:  Gainsville Sun (FL): "Finding one's self: What is life like for the transgendered?"

2-24-08:  Gainsville Sun (FL): "Leaders: Gainesville's reaction to transgender laws not the norm"

2-23-08:  Sun-Sentinal.com (FL): "Gay teen shot dead while dressed as woman in Fort Lauderdale"  - "The shooting death of a gay teenage boy who was dressed in women's clothing is being investigated as a possible hate crime, while detectives try to determine whether he was targeted because of his sexual orientation."

2-23-08:  ACD News.com: "Another Teen Murder Investigated as Hate Crime" - "Williams, who died from a gunshot wound, was found in woman's clothing, meaning he might have identified as transgendered rather than gay"

2-22-08:  The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Love v. Morehouse College (2007)" - "Should Colleges Be Sued for Harboring Intolerance?" - "Although the Georgia court's opinion arguably creates a new legal duty, the boundaries of that duty — and exactly what colleges must do to fulfill it — remain unclear. If courts in other states find the reasoning of Love persuasive, it could mean that teaching tolerance and combating harassment — long seen as vital to campus health and civility — become legal imperatives as well."

2-22-08:  TYFA: "TransYouth Family Allies (TYFA) unveils new name, look, mission, vision and materials"– TransYouth Family Allies (formerly TransYouth Family Advocates/TYFA) announced the first phase of its new communications project today with the unveiling of a new logo and publication of updated mission and vision statements"

2-22-08:  KUSA - Channel 9 Colorado: "Parents talk about transgender child's transition"

2-22-08:  TSRoadmap.com: "transkids.us offline, intersex activists respond" - "Intersex activists have alerted me that within days of linking to Alice Dreger’s “partial history” of Denise Tree, the transkids.us hoax site has gone offline. This may be a temporary situation, but intersex activists are monitoring this development closely." - Andrea James

2-22-08:  Novisti (Russia): "Moscow register office reports rise in sex change applications"

2-21-08:  Newswise Medical News: "Female-to-Male Transsexuals Have Higher Androgen Levels, Not PCOS"

2-21-08:  Saginaw News: "Transgendered cross-dresser to visit Saginaw " - "A former Spring Arbor University professor who gained national attention by getting fired . . . Nemecek came out as a transgendered cross-dresser -- she is married to a woman, has had no gender-altering surgeries but wears women's attire -- and legally changed her name three days before college administrators fired her in February 2007 after 16 years of teaching there"

2-21-08:  Inquirer.net (Philippines): "Let’s hear it from the ‘queen’ of Cebu"

2-21-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "SF vigil for slain Oxnard student"

2-21-08:  Baltimore Sun: "Transgender law at risk - Petition may send Montgomery County measure to referendum" - "A Montgomery County measure intended to protect transgender people appears headed to a voter referendum, setting up a potentially divisive debate over how far anti-discrimination laws should extend"

2-21-08:  The Muse (Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada): "Defining a woman - Academics discuss sports rules for transsexuals, intersexed people"

2-20-08:  MassLive.com (MA): "Northampton plans its first transgender rally"

2-20-08:  "Group Seeks to Overturn Transgender Law"

2-20-08:  The New York Times (re India): "Chennai Journal - Tackling a Society’s Boundaries, on TV and in a Family"

2-20-08:  The Saginaw News(MI): "Fired transgender professor speaking in Saginaw"

2-20-08:  The Daily Telegraph (Australia): "Transsexual Brigitte Fell in angry shop outburst"

2-19-08:  FOX Business: "Four Steps Schools Can Take to Address Anti-LGBT Bullying and Harassment" 

2-19-08:  Organisation Intersex International (OII): "Double Standards and semi famous names", by Sophie Seidlberg - "One question worth asking about ISNA, the Intersex Society of North America, and the main players within it has been the issue of Medical History. To simplify this, two of the stated founders Cheryl Chase and Kiira Trea (Denise Tree) have often been very strict about membership policies; in particular, they excluded anyone they considered may have a male to female transsexual history. At the same time there are often allegations aimed at these two in particular about whether or not they themselves have such a history. The responses have been vague at best."

Note:  In this report, intersex advocate Sophie Seidlberg of OII reveals evidence of factual errors, misrepresentations and hoaxes in the work of Kiira Treia and her colleagues and defenders J. Michael Bailey and Alice Dreger.  Seidlberg then contrasts the sloppy, devious, error-prone work of those three transphobes with the carefully-documented evidence-based reporting of Andrea James and Lynn Conway.

2-19-08:  Wired News (re Africa): "Wired News - Raelians Rocket From Clones to Clitorises" - "the Raelian Movement has resolved to build a hospital in the West African country of Burkina Faso, where women could come to have their clitorises "reconstructed."" - "The Raelians have recruited Marci Bowers, who runs a thriving sex-change clinic in Trinidad, Colorado" - "Bowers flew to Paris last April (on her own dime) to train with Pierre Foldes, an Ob-Gyn in Paris who reportedly invented the technique of clitoris reconstruction after many years of treating women in Africa"

2-19-08:  The Oregonian: "Transsexual inmate loses sex-change surgery lawsuit"

2-19-08:  OneWorld South Asia (re India): "First ever welfare board for transgenders" - "In a recent progressive step, the Tamil Nadu government is set to become a model for protecting rights of sexual minorities. And has given succor to people on the margins of society that their voices can be heard in the corridors of power"

2-19-08:   Daily News: "Transgender rider gets OK from Brooklyn judge to sue NYC Transit" 

2-19-08:   Huffington Post: "Death at the Beach: What Did America Learn in School Last Tuesday?", by Tom Gregory - Commentary on a socially-induced hate-crime: the assassination of 15 year-old Lawrence King.

2-18-08:  California Catholic Daily: "No escape from sexual indoctrination" - "Pull your children out of public schools, say two family protection leaders" - "Thomasson says that unless parents pull their kids out of the public schools, there will be no escape from sexual indoctrination. “You have to get them out. You have to rescue them,” he told California Catholic Daily."

2-17-08:  Feministe: "A saner era? Myths about trans kids in schools, courtesy of FOX News" - Commentary on Neil Cavuto's ridiculing of a trans child on national television. See also GLAAD's CALL TO ACTION about Cavuto's remarks (GLAAD's page links to the FOX News videos).

2-17-08:  Concord Monitor (NH): "My Turn: I kept an open mind, and hoped readers would too - This woman's story was unlike any other" (see also earlier story of 2-10-08) NEW

2-17-08:  Boston Herald: "When Judge Roberta goes a-courting" - Judge arrested for DUI while crossdressing (more)

2-16-08:  Organisation Intersex International (OII): "Treestumps and Broomsticks", by Sophie Seidlberg - "In the debate involving Dreger who is now defending Tree from various accusations, it is Tree’s medical history that is open to question"

Note:  In this report Sophie Seidlberg of OII deconstructs Alice Dreger's strange and unintentionally hilarious attempt to defend internet hoaxer Kiira Treia against incriminating facts recently exposed by Andrea James. For more on this, see also Andrea's report "No matter how you slice it: parsing Alice Dreger’s self-defense".

2-16-08:  National Health Service (UK): "Medical care for gender variant children and young people: answering families’ questions" - "This publication provides answers to the questions typically asked by parents of gender variant children and young people (up to the age of 17). It helps families to understand about gender variance and gives some suggestions about how to respond" (posted 2-13-08) (PDF 164K)

See also "A guide for young trans people in the UK" (PDF 751K), and additional trans-support resources listed in the UK NHS's "Sexual Equality Services" page.

2-16-08:  Thai News Agency (Thailand): "Medical Council drafting regulations for sex change surgeons"

2-15-08:  The Star (UK): "Gender torment of 10-year-old" - "A Boy of 10 has been found hanged at his South Yorkshire home after telling his mum he wanted to be a girl"

2-15-08:  LOGO Channel: "Transamerican Love Story: Episode 1" - Now online: The complete first episode.

2-15-08:  GLAAD CALL TO ACTION: "Problematic Coverage of Transgender Student in Colorado" - "GLAAD urges you to write to Neil Cavuto and Fox News Channel and voice your concerns. Tell them it is unacceptable to use viewer commentary and the Fox News platform to ridicule a child on national television" (orig. posted 2-13-08)  

2-15-08:  International Herald Tribune (re India): "First transsexual celebrity, Rose, makes a TV debut"

2-15-08:  Independent (Ireland): "Birth registration laws facing repeal after transgender ruling" - "The Government may be forced to repeal parts of Ireland's birth registration laws following a landmark legal challenge by a dentist who underwent a sex change to become a woman"

2-15-08:  Los Angeles Times: "Oxnard school shooting called a hate crime" - "Ventura County prosecutors charged a 14-year-old boy with the shooting death of a classmate Thursday and said the killing in an Oxnard classroom was a premeditated hate crime."

2-14-08:  Los Angeles Times: "Oxnard student declared brain dead - Lawrence King, 15, was shot at a junior high school Tuesday. A classmate faces murder charge" - "The teenager sometimes wore feminine clothing and makeup, and proclaimed he was gay, students said. "He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails -- the whole thing," said Michael Sweeney, 13, an eighth-grader. "That was freaking the guys out.""

2-14-08:  Bangkok Post (Thailand): "Motherly LOVE - A mother's support and love gives her transsexual child the strength and confidence to fight prejudice"

2-14-08:  PageOneQ: "NGLTF's Foreman: Barney Frank is 'squeamish' on transgender issues"

2-14-08:  The Vanguard (Portland State Univ.): "New transgender group focuses on activism" - "Group to educate PSU about transgender issues, increase health care access"

2-14-08:  Christian Post: "Christian Groups Rebuke School for Promoting Gender Confusion" - "Conservative family group Americans for Truth rejected the school officials framing the case as an issue of "diversity," arguing that such labeling shows "the elasticity of that term to include extremely disordered behavioral choices among even the youngest students.""

'2-13-08:  The Edge: "Transgendered Colo. Child Inspires Support, Condemnation"

2-12-08:  CNN Headline News: "Kim Pearson Interview On CNN Concerning Transgender Student" - "Kim Pearson of Trans Youth Family Advocates was interviewed on CNN Headline News on 2/12/2008"

2-12-08:  NBC6-TV (South Florida): "S. Fla. Business Owner Makes Gender Transition" - "Only recently has Kirchoff started feeling truly comfortable in his own skin. Jan was born Janet 52 year ago"

2-12-08:  Christianity Today: "The Transgender Moment - Evangelicals hope to respond with both moral authority and biblical compassion to gender identity disorder" - ""Transgender impulses are strong, but they don't match up with the Christian sexual ethic," says Warren Throckmorton, associate professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. "Desires must be brought into alignment with biblical teachings, but it will be inconvenient and distressful." - "The challenge before conservative evangelicals is persuading transgendered people, their families, and faith-based advocates that gender identity disorder is not beyond the reach of God's grace, compassionate church-based care, and professional help"

2-12-08: Frontline, India's National Magazine, Feb. 2008 (India): "From the shadows: Transgender persons are finally getting their due with the Tamil Nadu government announcing a welfare board for them." - An important article about the situation of transwomen in India.

2-12-08:  Frontline, India's National Magazine, Feb.  2008 (India): "Gender Issues: Sex-reassignment surgery" - An important article contrasting SRS with the traditional Hijra surgeries in India - with commentary about the story of Tista Das, who was able to undergo the modern form of SRS there.

2-11-08:  Screen Daily (re Iran): "Be Like Others" - "Be Like Others , a documentary on a topic that seems almost like the start of a joke -- did you know that in Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death, but sex-change operations are not only sanctioned by the governing clerics but almost actively encouraged? -- turns out to be a thoughtful, touching, and at times even wrenching study of sexual and religious hypocrisy in that troubled land"

2-11-08:  AlterNet: "Becoming a Black Man" - "As more people of color transition between genders, the ways that racism is different for men and women come to the surface" - "London Dexter Ward, an LAPD cop who transitioned in 2004, sums it up this way: a white person who transitions to a male body “just became a man.” By contrast, he says, “I became a Black man. I became the enemy. “"

2-10-08:  The Concord Monitor: "I'm here - It took many years and many struggles before Arwen Mitton showed her face" (see also later story of 2-17-08)  NEW

2-10-08:  Open Letter from Kelley Winters: "Unprofessional Journalism at KUSA-TV Denver" - On February 7, Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV criticized and ridiculed the Douglas County School District for enrolling a third grade girl who was born different than most children but dared to seek an education in the same schools"

2-10-08:  Daily News: "Cops: Ex-con slays Bronx transsexual 'hooker' " - "A transgendered prostitute was stabbed to death in the Bronx Saturday by a customer who was apparently surprised by the hooker's true sex, police sources said Saturday"  (more)

2-10-08:  The Sun (UK): "North teenager takes banned hormone-blocking drugs ready for sex-change operation" - He is one of three British youngsters who have flown to the States for the hormone- blocking treatment which is banned in the UK."

2-10-08:  Nashua Telegraph: "In transition - Group a place to be open" - Another article in this excellent series, with more to come (see also the four articles on 1-20-08)

2-10-08:  Nashua Telegraph: "Theories, controversy surround community - Reparative therapy highly controversial"

2-10-08:  Nashua Telegraph: "Studies on gender identity disorder" 

2-10-08:  GayNZ.com (New Zealand): "Beyer wins fans at Melbourne conference"

2-09-08:  Daily Mail (UK): "Fury as firms asked: Are your staff LGBTs?"   (see related PFC page re Trans Equality Monitoring issues)

2-08-08:  LynnConway.com: "Some thoughts regarding the WPATH name change" - As with past threats of lawsuits (such as those against transpeople by Zucker et al at CAMH), many saw Green's actions as intimidation and worse, and it seems unlikely he'll get his way by making such threats. Meantime, WPATH's e-mail server is alive with messages about this issue - including a message Femke Olyslager forwarded to members from me, regarding how Dr. Benjamin might have reacted to these events.

2-08-08:  LynnConway.com: "Richard Green threatens to sue WPATH over the recent change of name" - "During recent months, the old guard in HBIGDA mounted an attack on the new leadership of WPATH regarding the recent change in the association’s name. This reached a climax on February 6, 2008 when Richard Green threatened WPATH with a lawsuit if they didn’t stop the balloting to confirm the change of name"   (See also comments by Christine Burns, former VP of PFC).

2-08-08:  World Science: "A function for “gay genes” after all? - Samoan lovers hint at evolutionary mechanisms, scientists claim"

2-08-08:  Out & About Newspaper: "Richmond becomes first openly transgender person to win Tennessee election" - "Represents District 23 as Davidson County Democratic Committeewoman - seeks to be delegate to DNC"

2-08-08:  Southern Voice: "Trans reality - Logo taps Addams and Mapa for new dating show"  - "“I just hope some people can see that trans women are more than just the clichés that they normally see in film and television,” Addams says, “that we’re worthy of love and we’re fully formed, interesting, and cool individuals who would make a good best friend or a good girlfriend.”"

2-08-08:  Nepal Times (Nepal): "Not just a pretty face - New employment opportunities for Nepal’s sexual minorities" - "Transgender people in Nepal will now have the opportunity to study to become hairdressers and beauticians under a new scheme funded by the Norwegian government."

2-08-08:  365Gay.com: "Transsexual Prisoner Guilty Of Death Threats"

2-08-08:  ACD News.com: "Crazed Tranny Threatens Pennsylvania Authorities" - "Jail can't confine a transsexual woman serving time for the castration death of her husband" - Comment: Unfortunately there are a very tiny handful of transwomen - as in any group of humans - who fit the worst of the horror-movie stereotypes.

2-07-08:  Edge - Philadelphia: "Philly activists plan vigil outside HRC dinner"

2-07-08:  Pridesource.com (Michigan): "Details slow to emerge in apparent murder of trans woman" - ""My guess is that this kid was on the street because her family ejected her, which happens with a lot of our trans girls," said Grace McClelland, executive director of the Ruth Ellis Center. "This is a transgender young woman who, because of what she had to do survive, had to place herself in that position and it cost her her life. "

2-07-08:  Catholic News Agency (re Mexico): "Mexican lawmakers now debating sex-change law"

2-07-08:  Reuters (re Germany): "German woman wins case over sex change operation" - "A German woman who was mistakenly raised as a boy won a lawsuit against the surgeon who turned her into a man as a teenager, a court said on Thursday."
 

2-07-08:  Dallas Voice: "The not-so-friendly skies - Transition from man to woman cost pilot her job, now she is fighting to regain her FAA medical certification"

2-07-08:  Workers World: "Report on treatment of trans, gender-nonconforming prisoners announced"

2-07-08:  9News.com (Colorado): "Boy wants to return to school as a girl" (more)

2-07-08:  Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Baby Dee knows what moves people the most, musically" (more, more)

2-07-08:  Daily Californian (UC Berkeley): "Novel Re-Imagines Ancient Transgender Myth"

2-07-08:  Bay Windows: "A shot at love with Calpernia Addams - Actress/activist breaks new ground with trans reality show"

2-07-08:  San Francisco Bay Times: "Transgender Poet Slams Asian American Stereotypes"

2-97-08:  Washington Post: "Fight Continues Over Transgender Anti-Bias Law"

2-07-08:  The Canadian (Canada): "T-girls enjoy growing acceptance in today's society" - "In fact, based on internet and street surveys conducted in Toronto during the years going back to about 1998, the percentage of ‘straight males’ 18+ with an interest in, or a past experience with a T-Girl, went from being the minority (30-40%) to the very large majority (70% +)."  

Comment: This is an odd article, with "interest in" apparently referring to porn and/or sex workers. It also reports that "T-Girls" is "a general blanket term for all transgendered males", in a manner reminiscent of Bailey and Blanchard. Even so, the cited numbers are interesting.

2-06-08:  CNNMoney.com: "Unusual perks: Goldman Sachs covers sex changes - The investment bank, No. 9 on the Best Companies to Work For list, added the benefit last year as part of a push to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce." (more)

2-06-08:  Article alert: "Of Lady-killers and ‘Men Dressed As Women’: Soap Opera, Scapegoats and the Mexico City Police Department", by Vek Lewis, Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, January 2008.

"Examples of exaggeration are to be found in the way in which alterity, cultural, religious, or any other sort of difference become objects of fantasies and fears. The actors who are assumed to embody them are likely to become scapegoats, to the extent that they are frequently attributed a virtual violence that is almost natural or innate, whereas in reality they are very far from any such thing, if such a thing were to exist." (Wieviorka 2003: 111)

In this important report, Vek Lewis explores "media representation and its real-life effects" (PDFof complete article) (Link to example video)

2-06-08:  Metro.co.uk (UK): "When girls will be boys"

2-06-08:  San Francisco Weekly: "Transgender Divas Battle for Stardom in Bay Area's Ballroom Scene"

2-06-08:  Bloomberg.com (re Iran): "Iran Sex Changes Get Mullahs' Money as Regime Persecutes Gays"

2-06-08:  Yahoo News (re Australia): "Australian transsexual sues policemen for 'revealing her past'" - "An Australian transsexual is suing two policemen for allegedly telling her unsuspecting boyfriend about her gender switch, leading to a violent confrontation, it was reported Wednesday."

2-06-08:  The Daily Telegraph (Australia): "Accused joked about tranvestite lover he allegedly assaulted" (more, more)

2-06-08:  Baltimore Sun: "Debate over marriage ignores the intersexed"

2-05-09:  Press Release from Outfront! (PA): "Vigil to be held for LGBT Rights and to protest the actions of the Human Rights Campaign at the HRC Annual Dinner in Philidelphia on February 9, 2008" (link to printable badge to wear at the vigil - sized for Avery 5095 stick-on badges) (link to jpg of trans-rights badge)

2-05-08:  Upside Down World  (re Argentina): "Argentina: Transvestites Find a Voice" - "With the support of one of Argentina’s leading public universities, a group of transvestites have launched a magazine aimed at reaffirming their identity and giving them a voice"  Note: In Latin America, transitioned women are often called 'travesti'.  That term is often translated into English as 'transvestite', thus confusing the transitioned women with crossdressers. This article makes sense if you mentally substitute 'transitioned women' for 'transvestites' in each occurrence.

2-05-08:  The Florida Alligator (Univ. of Florida): Editorial: "Transgender ordinance is necessary for equality"

2-04-08:  Achives of Sexual Behavior: "The lineup for Volume 37, Number 3 (June 2008)" ( Editor Ken Zucker sends out the list of articles to be published in the June 2008 issue of the ASB. The entire issue of the journal is devoted to Alice Dreger's defense of J. Michael Bailey)

2-04-04:  Petition.com: "Petition for the lives of Hamzeh and Loghman: two young gay men who are in love and who risk the death sentence in Iran. And let's not forget Pegah: the United Kingdom could still hand her over to the executioner"

2-04-08:  Ithaca College Media Relations: "Ithaca College's 'Out Of The Closet' Film Series To Present V-Day Treat"

2-03-08:  Gainsville Sun: "Transgender ordinance backlash" - "A heated and vocal response to a new Gainesville ordinance that extends rights to transgender individuals has garnered national attention"

2-03-08:  Boston Globe: "Dean names three from Boston to Democratic Convention roles" - "Sanchez, a longtime South End resident, will be the first transgender member of a national convention committee. He is one of a record-setting seven members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community who were chosen"

2-03-08:  The Canadian (Canada, re NY): "New York's Transsexual Star Alannah Starr challenges gender boundaries"

2-02-08:  Juventud Rebelde - The Newspaper of Cuban Youth (Cuba): "Transexuality: The Right to Live the Way We Feel" - "Transsexuals are ordinary people who only need society’s recognition of their gender identity, even if their genitals have the opposite sex’s anatomy" (more)

2-02-08:  IndiaGlitz (India): "Transgender and Tamil cinema" - "Director V.V. Kathir has made Revathi, a transgender, act in his movie ('Thenvattu'). She has got such a strong role that everyone who sees the movie would start looking at them with a new perception, says the director. He is confident that the film will make the people treat transgender persons as their own brothers or sisters or friends."

2-02-08:  New York Times: "State Court Recognizes Gay Marriages From Elsewhere" - "A New York appellate court ruled Friday that valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples must be legally recognized in New York, just as the law recognizes those of heterosexual couples solemnized elsewhere."

2-02-08:  Toledo Blade: "Gay teens finding more acceptance - Less discrimination seen in today's more open society"

January 2008:

1-31-08:  News update re Jahna Steele: Jahna’s friend Tara reports that Jahna's family held a small private service on the 29th, and she is now at rest.

Tara is currently working with Norbert Aleman (Producer of "Crazy Girls," the show Jahna had worked in), to hold a memorial service. As of now it's planned for February 11th in Las Vegas. Tara also reports that a celebration of Jahna's life will be held in Las Vegas on February 29th (at a nightclub to be announced).

Tara will keep us posted re the times and places for these events as the plans are finalized. For more information, you can reach Tara at this e-mail address. For more about Jahna, see her website and her Wikipedia biography.

1-31-08:  ACLU Press Release: "ACLU Sues Florida High School for Suppressing Free Speech - School Suggests Students Who Support Gay Rights Are an "Illegal Organization""

1-31-08:  Dallas Voice: "Clinic’s transgender health services fill need - GEAR leaders act as ‘guinea pigs’ for new program at Nelson-Tebedo that provides hormone therapy" - "Since its inception, the clinic has been booked solid, with an average of about eight patients coming in between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. “I never in my wildest dreams thought it would take off as well as it has,” O’Connor said. “I was expecting maybe one or two people.” Cece Cox, associate executive director for the Resource Center, said the clinic is one of only a handful of its kind the country. While patients must purchase the prescribed hormones, there is no charge for doctor’s visits, and bloodwork is reasonably priced."

1-31-08:  Las Vegas Now: "Trial Begins For Transgender Woman Accused in Waitress Slaying"

1-31-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Migden secures $300K for SF trans program"

1-31-08:  The Guardian (UK): Comments: "Exclusive inclusiveness - Which is better: to be ignored because of inertia or deliberately excluded? This is what most transgendered people in the UK face"

1-29-08:  3365Gay.com: "Giant Pension Plans To Fight For LGBT Worker Rights" - "New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. announced Tuesday that he will use the massive clout of the NYC Pension Funds to press two-dozen of America's largest companies to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

1-29-08:  Miami Herald: "Gainesville Commission votes to protect transgender rights"

1-29-08:  Logo Channel: "Transamerican Love Story" (show website now online) - "Alec Mapa hosts this groundbreaking and frolicsome elimination dating show. Our transgender bachelorette, Calpernia Addams, finds herself in a modern day fairytale as she's being wooed by eight dashing men. With the help of her trans best friend, Andrea & a parade of challenges and dates, Calpernia whittles down her group of suitors in hope of finding her prince charming" (photos, videos)

1-29-08:  Gainesville Sun (FL): "Transgender debate draws crowd"

1-29-08:  Star-Tribune (Minneapolis): "Transgender candidate runs for Republican endorsement in Brainerd"

1-28-08:  Pink News (UK): "MP calls for hormone block drugs for trans children" - " "A US specialist has reported having seen three patients from Britain, all aged 12 to 14, not treated satisfactorily in the UK," she told the Sunday Mercury. "Two of the three British patients who have already travelled to Boston had made serious suicide attempts after and during their treatment in the UK."Neither have attempted self-harm since. By depriving youngsters this treatment in Britain, we are depriving them relief from extreme suffering and exposing them to the anguish and terror of growing in a body that is experienced as alien."

1-27-08:  Foster Daily Democrat (NH): "Transgender teens: Doctors refine hormone, other therapies", by Chloe Johnson. (excellent article about the work of Dr. Norman Spack of Children's Hospital in Boston, and Dr. Edgardo Menvielle at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.)

1-27-08:  Sunday Mirror (UK): "Stunning model has sex change - Stunning Katherine has sex change to turn into Adrian"

1-27-08:  Boston Herald: "Transgendered delegate makes DNC history - When Diego Sanchez attends the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August, he’ll be making history"

1-27-08:  YouTube.com: "This video is a memorial to the beautiful and talented transsexual woman Jahna Steele, who passed suddenly on January 24th, 2008. Hers will be a keenly felt loss in the transgender community. This clip was taken from a 1993 talk show where I'd been a guest in another broadcast, and it ends with her singing a song that ironically fits this sad occasion" - a posting by ChristineGlamazon

1-27-08:  The JahnaSteele.com: Many folks are placing sympathy notes in Jahna's guestbook, where her parents and friends can read them:  http://www.thejahnasteele.com/guestbook.html  

1-26-08:  TheJahnaSteele.com: "It is with a sad heart that I tell everyone that Jahna Steele has died.
Details to come as they are revealed" - Brandi

1-26-08:  The Advocate: “Life Without Puberty - Hormone blockers for minors, the trans movement's new frontier”, by Andrea James

1-26-08:  GayWired (re Kuwait): "Arrests in Kuwait Target Transgender People"

1-26-08:  Joliet Herald-News (Illinois): “Transgender case goes to top court”

1-25-08:  Southern Voice: “Step by Step - Acclaimed Trans performer offers his guide to manhood” (story about Atlanta-based writer-performer Scott Turner Schofield)  

1-25-08:  The Hindu (India): “Transgenders thank government for setting up welfare board ”

1-25-08:  The Chatham Daily News (Canada): “Creating inclusive spaces; shelter workshop looks at gender issue”

1-25-08: Inquirer.net (re Turkey): “Turk transsexuals take to the stage to defend their rights”

1-24-08:  Science Daily (re UK): “UK Doctors 'Failing' Children Trapped In Gender Limbo, According To Experts”

1-24-08:  New York Entertainment (re Iran): "‘Be Like Others’ Director Tanaz Eshaghian on Sundance, Sex Changes, and the Ayatollah"

1-23-08:  Personnel Today (UK): “Transsexual truck driver tells employment tribunal she was ridiculed and forced out of her job”

1-22-08:  NPR Music: “Unclassifiable Musician Baby Dee Is Now 'Safe'”

01-21-08  The University of Manchester (UK): "UK Doctors 'failing' children trapped in gender limbo" - "Gender disordered children as young as ten are being denied desperately needed hormonal drugs leading to bullying, violence and even suicide according to new research"

01-21-08:  Los Angeles Times: "Trapped inside the wrong body"  - "I have admiration for those who, as adults, decide and declare who they are -- even though I know that they probably will always be uneasy with themselves, always a part of the lonely places we create in the world we know." 

(Based on a sample of one, L.A.Times columnist Al Martinez paints himself as ever so tolerant, and then generalizes that all gender transitioners are lonely social outcasts - perpetuating a stereotype that causes family rejection and social ostracism).

01-20-08:  AFP (re Turkey): "Turkey: transsexuals take to the stage to defend their rights" (more)

01-20-08:  Forster's Daily Democrat (NH): "Transgender youth: Advocates say students need more safeguards"

01-20-08:  Nashua Telegraph (NH): "Editorial: Series sheds light on hidden population"

01-20-08:  Nashua Telegraph (NH): "Woman finding acceptance with herself"

01-20-08:  Nashua Telegraph (NH):  "The people you’ll meet"

01-20-08:  Nashua Telegraph (NH): "Taking a look at the transgender community in N.H."

01-20-08:  The Sunday Business Post (Ireland): "Transsexual equality review needed "

01-19-08:  Astra Film Sibiu 2007: "Eunuchs, India's Third Gender" - A powerful 50 minute documentary film about the lives of the Hijra, the transgender women of traditional Indian culture - focusing on their transition customs, their mutually-supportive community life and their strong ritualistic bonding. Many universals of trans experience are revealed in their stories. (Sadly, the film propagates the old British colonial term "eunuch" for the Hijra, rather than referring to them as transgender). (Many thanks to Wahida Banu for alerting us to this film).

01-19-08:  The Guardian (UK): "Lost in transition" - If one of your colleagues reassigned their gender, would you know how to react, what name to use and how to explain the change to clients?"

01-18-08:  MiamiHerald.com: "Transgender play's strictly personal"

01-18-08:  TV3.co (New Zealand): "Transgender report meets mixed reaction"

01-18-08:  The New Zealand Herald (New Zealand): "New Zealanders may be able to change their sex on passports" - "New Zealanders may soon be able to change their sex on their passports and birth certificates without having to have costly sex change surgery"  

01-18-08:  The New Zealand Herald (New Zealand): "Constable who changed sex tells story"

01-18-08:  The Chicago Tribune: "Transgender woman seeks name fee waiver"

01-18-08:  AFP (re Kuwait): "Kuwait urged to free cross-dressers from jail"  - "Kuwaiti National Assembly approved in December a law which criminalises people who "imitate the appearance of the opposite sex. . . The new law targets namely "transgender people... (and) aims at further restricting their rights and completely eliminating their public presence"

 
01-17-08:  Pams House Blend.com: (re Kuwait): "Kuwait: Growing Crackdown on Transgender People Kuwait: Repressive Dress-Code Law Encourages Police Abuse"

01-17-08:  New Zealand Human Rights Commission (New Zealand): "Simple law change would improve transgender New Zealanders lives"

01-17-08:  City on a Hill Press: "Steps Toward Tolerance" - Story about Lee Maranto, program manager and advisor at the Student Organization and Advising Resource(SOAR) office at UC Santa Cruz.

01-17-08:  Gay City News: "Changing America, and Changing Itself " - "Word of HRC's being caught blindsided by Barney Frank's sudden desire to eliminate gender identity from ENDA - with "blindsided" being a generous interpretation compared to other possibilities - has reached global dimensions"

01-17-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Transgender woman sues hospital"  (See more on this story at 01-08-08 and 01-09-08 below). (more)

01-17-08:  Pams House Blend.com: "This Story Smells A Little Foul", by Autumn Sandeen (posted 1-16) - Commentary on the suspicious MD "locker-room crasher" story. 

01-17-08:  WorldNet.com: "Man uses women's facility at members-only health club - Trial run' launched for law allowing coed locker rooms" (right-wing media exploits news of possible staged-event, in which a man in drag crashed a women's locker room in MD)

01-17-08:  Examiner.com: "Transgender bill facing new round of opposition"

01-17-08:  SX (Australia): "Phoenix rising - Local trans author Katherine Cummings, 73, has experienced highs and lows in her gender journey."

01-16-08:  Bay Windows: "Pilot columnist takes aim at LGBT youth programs" (further commentary on the 01-04-08 article about trans youth in the Catholic Archidiocese of Boston's "Pilot" magazine)

01-16-08:  Bay Windows: "Blueprint for change"

01-16-08:  Bay Windows: "Transgender movement at a crossroads"

01-16-08:  JTA.org (Isreal): "More Israeli women changing gender"

01-15-08:  USA Today: "Women's bisexuality an 'identity,' not phase" (NEW)

01-15-08:  WJLA-TV (Washington, DC): "Controversial Law on Gender Identity Tested"

01-15-08:  Salt Lake City Tribune: Editorial: "Let's protect all groups from job discrimination"

01-14-08:  BroadwayWorld.com: "Max Von Essen: High-Notes in High-Heels" - "Max will make his Carnegie Hall debut as Tremont, the exclamatory transsexual in Jerry Springer – The Opera in Concert… pumps and potty mouth in-town" - "I come out singing. My first phrase is "I'm a man!" and the song is called "Talk To The Hand." The whole chorus is singing "Chick with a dick." Incredible!" (from interview with Von Essen)

Note: If you thought the Jerry Springer show was damaging to the public perceptions of transitioned women, you ain't seen nothing yet. This thing takes it to a whole new level - in front of high-paying audiences in Carnegie Hall.

01-14-08:  Baltimore Sun: "Legal clinic for the 'ignored' - Gays, lesbians and transgendered are focus of project"

01-13-08:  California Catholic Daily: "Not peace, but a sword - Why we are not civil"  In this follow-on regarding a Catholic Hospital's refusal of treatment to a transwoman, Christopher Zehnder (editor of "Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission" and "San Francisco Faith") promotes a deepening of Catholic transphobia by pronouncing: "What’s more, we think calling Hastings a she would be tantamount to a lie; and no one should expect someone to speak what he thinks is a lie. In fact, it would be disrespectful for us to refer to Hastings as if he were a woman. In doing so, we would – by our own lights – be degrading Hastings by playing along with his self-delusion."

Note: This new article may have been posted to divert attention and comments away from the original California Catholic Daily article, "God made you a man", which has become a lightning rod for exposing the escalation of Vatican defamation of transitioned women. For more on this issue, see Monica Roberts' essay: "Why Is The Catholic Church Hatin' On Transpeople?"

01-13-08:  The Citizen of Laconia (NH): "Transgenedered Youth: School children face unique difficulties" - "Anne Boedecker, a psychologist and gender specialist in Bow, said peers are more understanding when a child transitions at a young age. Still, sometimes teachers and older people find it a challenge to accept, so parents need to work with schools when a change happens."

01-13-08:  The Boston Globe: "Student alleges bias over locker - College confronts transgender issue"

01-13-08:  The Edge (Boston): "She’s still here," by Ethan Jacobs (interview with Jennifer Boylan)

01-13-08:  The Edge (Boston): "New trans legal clinic kicks off Jan. 16"

01-12-08:  Press release from Dee Dee Flores and Leslie Townsend: "The much-anticipated premiere of “Trans Sister Tales”arrives in L.A. this month” - “Trans Sister Tales” is a group of monologues written, performed, created, directed and produced by trans women which will be performed by an all star cast. The event will be held in a theater, and filmed for educational and entertainment purposes."

 January 24th, 2008 @ 8:00pm-9: 30pm, reception following, at the Lyric Theater - 520 N. La Brea, Los Angeles, Ca. 90036.
Tickets are $20. For reservations call 323-939-9220. You can purchase tickets online at the Lyric’s website:

01-12-08:  Pink News (UM re Brazil): "Baby taken away from Brazilian gay couple" (On Monday 70 people gathered in San Jose do Rio Preto, a small town outside of Sao Paulo, to protest against the baby being removed from the care of a 30-year-old transsexual hairdresser, Roberta Góes Luiz, and her partner.)

01-11-08:  Soulforce Press Release: "LGBT Families Ask Six Mega-churches 'Can We Talk?' - Rev. Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, to join "American Family Outing" to create dialogue between evangelical Christians and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families." (link to original  Soulforce PR)

01-11-08:  Washington Blade: "Transgender activists turn on one of their own - Once lauded, Stanton denounced as traitor after interview with Fla. newspaper"

01-11-08:  Cheraq Magazine (re Iran): "Passing and Cross-dressing in Iranian Cinema", by Dr. Roshanak Kheshti - "When taken together, representations of gender “passing” and “cross-dressing” in recent Iranian cinema and the widespread media blitz on transsexuality and homosexuality in Iran create an unprecedented scene for Iranian LGBTQ politics. . . . but what we need to be suspicious of is the opportunistic appropriation of human rights discourses by institutions and nations who have political ambitions for Iran that in fact have little to do with an investment in LGBTQ civil rights."

01-11-08:  transgriot.blogspot.com: "Why Is The Catholic Church Hatin' On Transpeople?" (originally posted by Monica Roberts on 11-05-07):  ". . . the Vatican was being advised by a 30 year enemy of the transgender community: Dr. Paul McHugh.. . . A man with a personal axe to grind against transgender people . . . He has used that position to turn the Catholic Church into an intolerant bastion of transphobia, at least at the leadership level. . . . McHugh has ruined not only the lives of many transpeople in the United States, but is now setting up the conditions to spread his hatred through an institution that impacts people around the world."  (During the past month there has been an escalation in trans-bashing by official Catholic media (link, link), almost to the point of hysteria. Monica's essay discusses how Paul McHugh orchestrated the generation of all this hatred.)

01-11-08:  The Jakarta Post (Indonesia): "Activists demand equal rights for transvestites seeking work"

01-11-08:  The Jakarta Post (Indonesia): "Transvestites fight an uphill battle"

01-10-08:  YouTube: "The Birthday" - A powerful one-hour documentary on trans life in Iran [Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5, Part6, Part7]  (Column Film, 2006, in Persian with English subtitles)

01-10-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Tense meeting with HRC over ENDA" 

01-10-08:  GayWired.com: "Human Rights Campaign Highlights Best Places to Work for 2008" (see list)

01-10-08:  Bay Windows (Boston): "New trans legal clinic kicks off Jan.16"

01-10-08:  Bay Windows (Boston): "She’s still here" (story about Jennifer Boylan's new book)

01-10-08:  Bay Windows (Boston): "28th First Event to take place Jan.16-20"

01-10-08:  TV3 News (New Zealand): "First transsexual MP devotes her energy to the silver screen" (more) (story about Georgina Beyer)

01-09-08:  The Advocate: "N.J. Legislature Strengthens Transgender Protections" - "As a result, New Jersey's protections against transgender bias crimes will be among the strongest in the nation, according to Garden State Equality officials."

01-09-08:  California Catholic Daily: "God made you a man" (another major Catholic website promotes transphobia)

01-08-08:  NBC10.com (Philadelphia): "Woman Says Workplace Gossip Ruined Her Life"

01-08-08:  Lifesite: "Catholic Hospital Sued for Refusing Breast Surgery to Make Man Look Like A Woman" - "A man named Charlene Hastings, referred to in the media as a "transgender woman", has launched a suit against Seton Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in San Mateo County, near San Francisco, claiming officials had discriminated against him because of his "sex-change operation."

Commentary: Here we see yet another Catholic national website deliberately provoking mass hysteria among Catholics regarding transitioned women. We now urge great caution if you should find yourself forced to seek medical help of any kind at a Catholic hospital - especially if your trans status cannot be concealed.

01-08-08:  LoBoLance's Journal (entry of 1-06-08): "Notes from the Trans Leadership meeting with HRC Joe Joe Solmonese 1/5/08 San Francisco"

01-08-08:  Catholic Online: "EDITORIAL: Beware of the ‘Gender Identity’ Bullies" - "No longer content to keep their lifestyle “choices” private, these activists have decided that the police power of the State must enforce now their vision of a brave new world on everyone else" (Major U.S. Catholic website ramps up the defamation of transpeople by the Catholic hierarchy) (See also the link to The Pilot article at 01-04-08 and its quotes of Kenneth Zucker and Paul McHugh)

01-08-07:  The Advocate: "Hospital Denies Breast-Enlargement Surgery to Trans Woman" - "She kept saying, 'It's not God's will,'" Hastings said. "I could not believe it. It's a blatant case of discrimination." (more)

01-07-08:  NGLTF Press Release: "Task Force Action Fund Hails Passage of NJ Bill Making Anti-Bullying and Hate Crimes Laws Two of The Strongest in The Nation - New Jersey Makes Transgender-Inclusion Unequivocal In Its Hate Crimes and Safe Schools Laws"  

01-07-08:  Gay.com: "Trans hate protections advance in N.J."

01-07-08:  Associated Press: "Gays, transgenders fight for legal protections in Utah"

01-07-08:  SUU Journal (Southern Utah University): "Transgender student, SUU face dilemma - Appropriate housing debated; application remains incomplete"

01-06-08:  Trans Youth Family Associates (TYFA): "Great Book Benefits TYFA Children" - "TYFA board member “Just Evelyn” has just released the second edition of her amazing book “Mom I Need to be a Girl”, which chronicles how she facilitated her teen daughter’s transition more than 10 years ago" - "P.S. Evelyn, always anxious to help others, worked with Lynn Conway to make this valuable resource available online (in many languages) for anyone who needs it; “Mom I Need to be a Girl” is, and will remain available at Lynn’s website at no cost."

Please purchase this wonderful book, and help get the new paperback edition into wide circulation. All proceeds go to TYFA to further their advocacy work!

01-06-08:  SusanStanton.com: "Concerning "Susan Stanton's Lonely Transformation" - In her webpage, Susan Stanton responds to the trans community's response to her statements in the St. Petersburg Times article of 12-31-07.

01-05-08:  San Jose Mercury News: "Transgender woman sues hospital - Catholic-owned Seton won't let her get breast surgery" -  Yet another signal of a disturbing trend towards heightened social ostracism and defamation of transpeople by the Catholic hierarchy (archived copy) (more, more)

01-04-08:  The Pilot (Official newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston): "Educating our children" - "According to experts in the field Dr. Kenneth Zucker and Susan Bradley, these children have many other problems beside gender identity disorder. When gender identity disorder is identified early and treated, it can be resolved. . . . "Dr. Paul McHugh of Johns Hopkins University, where the so-called “sex change” operations were promoted in the past, looked into the results of such treatments when he took over. He found the claims unconvincing and discontinued the practice. He wrote: “We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it.”

01-04-08: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism: "Long-Term Treatment of Transsexuals with Cross-Sex Hormones: Extensive Personal Experience", by Louis J. Gooren, Erik J. Giltay and Mathijs C. Bunck

01-04-08:  Washington  Blade: "Kennedy favors ’08 Senate vote on ENDA Gay - Leaked HRC memo suggests putting measure on hold until next year"

01-03-08:  San Francisco Bay Times: "Looking Ahead to 2008: The Trans Year to Come," by Jacob Anderson-Minshall - includes links to all of Jacob's 2007 articles.

01-03-08:  Earthtimes.org: "Point Foundation Opens 2008 Application Season." - "Point Foundation, the nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students of merit, announces the opening of its 2008 application season. Students who will be enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs for the 2008-09 school year are eligible to apply for the prestigious, multi-year scholarships. The application deadline for this year's scholarships is March 1, 2008"

01-03-08:  BuddyTV.com: "Dirty Sexy Money has 2007's Most Memorable Transgender Character" (some interesting comments by Candis Cayne about her acting comebzck)

01-03-08: Queerty: "Susan Stanton Doesn't Support Trans Rights?" (interesting collection of comments re Stanton's recent putdown of all other transwomen)

01-03-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Trans teacher changing lives in SF jail" (story about Dana Rivers)

01-03-08:  Bay Area Reporter: "Mixed reaction to NGLTF's name change"

01-03-08:  The Santiago Times (Chile): "Transsexual Prostitute Murdered in Chile Capital" - "In Chile the State is not guaranteeing a basic human right for a certain sector of the population, and that’s the right to life. Ultimately, that right isn’t guaranteed because the transgender population, in this society, is forced to support itself in the sex trade. For the people in that line of work, it’s a context that is absolutely precarious and dangerous and in which they’re vulnerable."

01-02-08:  Windy City Times: "TransNation: 2007 Trans Year In Review - Extended Online Version," by Jacob Anderson-Minshall

Click here to access the currrent Trans News Updates

Click here to access the Trans News Updates for 2007

Click here to access the Trans News Updates for 2006

Click here to access the Trans News Updates for 2005