Trans News Updates of 2010 (Jan-June):

This page links to news of general interest to the trans community during the first half of 2010.  This running log of news also serves as a window into areas of media focus and public interest regarding trans issues during 2010.  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.

2010:   Jan,  Feb,  Mar,  Apr,  May,  Jun

Lynn Conway

http://www.lynnconway.com

Click here to access the currrent Trans News Updates

June 2010

6-30-10:  The Local (Sweden): "'Antiquated' sex op laws must change: report"

"The Swedish Health and Welfare Board (Socialstyrelsen) has called for an end to the requirement that all those seeking to change gender must be single and sterilised in a new report which argues that existing legislation is out of date. "The regulations are based on antiquated legislation. The consequences are that transsexuals who are married or have a registered partnership are forced to separate in order to change sex," said Karin Lindell, who led the board's external inquiry, in a statement on Wednesday. The report also points out that transsexuals are also deprived of the right to freeze their reproductive cells. Karin Lindell was commissioned by the board in July 2009 to examine the care afforded transsexuals and others who fulfil the medical definition of a gender identity disorder . . .

The number of people applying for sex reassignment surgery is increasing. For thirty years it averaged at about 12-15 people per year until 2003, when it began to climb, and there are now around 50 operations conducted in Sweden each year. According to legislation passed in 1972, to undergo a sex change operation a person must be over 18-years-old, a Swedish citizen, be sterilized and unmarried."

6-30-10:  TG Center (Houston): "Basher Arrested in HCC Assault Case"

"An arrest has been made in last Tuesdays on campus assault of a Houston Community College (HCC) Student. According to HCC police the yet unnamed suspect made a full confession. Lance Reyna, a well known leader in the Houston Transgender community, was attacked and robbed at knife point by an individual who yelled ”Hey Queer!” before putting Reyna in a headlock and holding a knife to his throat, then beating him and taking his wallet. Lance suffered a concussion and multiple bruises as a result of the attack."

6-30-10:  The Providence Journal: "Bob Kerr: It seems best to talk first, then decide"

"Come on, at least talk to people. Isn’t that at the very heart of the public’s business — talk, learn, understand? A very small part of Rhode Island’s population wanted to talk to Governor Carcieri. They wanted to explain why they should be added to the list of groups covered by the hate-crime law. The governor took a pass on the conversation, and last week he vetoed for the second time legislation that would add gender identity or expression to the law. It was one of those times when life could have been made better for a group of citizens by the simple addition of a few words to existing law. How many there are, how many Rhode Islanders have struggled with gender identity, is impossible to determine. There might be 2,000 or 10,000. One in every 500? They tend to be very private about their private lives."

6-30-10:  The Guardian (UK):  "'Are you a bird or a bloke?  (Part 3 in the series "A Transgender Journey")

"- 'Having decided to transition, Juliet Jacques begins living as woman. Here she recounts the reaction of friends, employers - and total strangers" . . . "The more 'everyday' my action, the more unfamiliar and frightening it seemed. Stepping outside was terrifying - this was nothing like glamming up for genderqueer nights. The stakes felt sky-high: I'd denied myself the 'off' switch I'd had whenever presenting as female meant difficulties. I knew, though, that I was doing the right thing.""

6-30-10:  The Guardian (UK): "Why trans is in but tranny is out: To outsiders, debates over the language of transgender may seem trivial. In fact, says Roz Kaveney, linguistics is a vital battlefield"

"I used to think that straight men particularly tended to misgender me if they were losing an argument; now I've seen them do it to trans men too. Misgendering is sometimes cluelessness, but more often it's quiet, hostile aggression, especially if we aren't gratefully deferential for whatever crumbs of acceptance we are thrown - if we speak up as freely as if we were actual, you know, human beings."

6-30-10:  Queerty: "Eve Tushnet's Stupid Approval of Sex For Transgender Humans, But Not Gay Ones"

"Tushnet is a "controversial" figure because any person who identifies as gay and Catholic, and then runs her mouth about what you should do in your own bed, is bound to wind up described that way.  In a (really great) conversation with blogger and constitutional law professor Ann Althouse, who believes in sex only for copules in love, Tushnet immediately confuses being "intersex" and "transgender" — two very different things, and wow, that's a doozy to gloss over."

[In a hilariously (but unintentionally) funny video, Tushnet explains her wacky lesbian Catholic view of the world.]

6-28-10:  Feministe: "You don’t get to out me", by Queen Emily

"So here’s the deal: if you out us, you can do more damage than you can possibly imagine. You can expose trans people to violence. You could get them fired. You could make it impossible for them to find work–word of mouth travels quickly in small towns or closeknit industries. They could be harassed so much they need to quit their job, or to need to move, or all kinds of things. You don’t know, because you’ve never had to live with the consequences. Just because you know and trust someone, doesn’t mean that I can. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be hateful to me, and it certainly doesn’t mean that they will be respectful of my confidentiality."

6-27-10:  San Francisco Chronicle: "'No drama, no trauma' keeps relationship fresh", by Louise Rafkin

"When choreographer Sean Dorsey first spotted musician Shawna Virago in 2001, his first thought was, "Who is that?" The self-described shy guy was intrigued. "She's so sexy and beautiful and those blue eyes," he said to a friend. And then, out of character, Sean, boldly announced, "I'm going to kiss her." "I wasn't even looking for someone," says Sean, now 37, "and then ... bam!" . . . Both transgender, they say sharing that experience makes their bond tighter. "We understand where each of us is coming from," Sean says. In addition to their individual artistic pursuits, both run nonprofits. Sean is artistic director of Fresh Meat Productions, a grassroots arts organization for transgender artists, while Shawna presents Trannyfest, the nation's first transgender film festival."

6-27-10:  France 24 (France re Algeria): "Transsexual's memoirs breaks new ground in Arab world" (more)

"In a daring, unprecedented move, a pioneer of the Arab world's underground transgender movement has released her memoirs, recounting her struggle to become a woman against all odds. "Mouzakarat Randa al-Trans", or "The Memoirs of Randa the Trans", is a brutally honest narrative that traces Randa's battles with family, society, country, religion and abuse in her native Algeria.

Co-authored by Lebanese journalist Hazem Saghieh, the 144-page book released this year in Beirut unflinchingly details Randa's life from childhood as a male to her first sexual experience with a man and the consequences of her choice to live as a male-to-female transsexual. "At some point I put two bottles of pills on my dresser and knew that I had a choice," Randa, who was named Fuad at birth, told AFP in Beirut. "I could either die now by taking the entire vial of medication, or start on the vial of hormones and live -- as a woman and with the possibility that I might die at the hands of someone else."

6-27-10: Letter to the Editor - Journal of Homosexuality (posted 6-25): "A Rejoinder to Lawrence (2010): It Helps If You Compare the Correct Items", by Charles Moser, M.D., Journal of Homosexuality, 57: 6, 693-696 (2010).

"Despite Lawrence’s (2010) vigorous defense of Blanchard's Autogynephilia Theory, there are more papers in press and preparation that will challenge other aspects and predictions of the theory (see Moser this issue; Nuttbrock et al., 2010). I would hope these challenges result in new research, rather than just Lawrence’s flippant dismissal of the theory’s critics. Lawrence (2007) once cited Mahatma Gandhi, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win” (p. 508) to suggest that Blanchard’s theory was nearing acceptance. Of course, the same quote could describe struggles of the theory’s critics."

6-27-10:  Journal of Homosexuality (posted 6-25): "Blanchard's Autogynephilia Theory: A Critique", by Charles Moser, M.D., Journal of Homosexuality, 57: 6, 790-809 (2010).

"Over the last 20 years, Ray Blanchard, Ph.D., with a variety of coauthors and collaborators, has proposed a theory that links the sexual orientation of male-to-female transsexuals with the presence or absence of autogynephilia (erotic arousal by the thought or image of “himself” as a woman). Blanchard's Autogynephilia Theory suggests that the association between sexual orientation and autogynephilia among male-to-female transsexuals is clinically important and the association is always (or almost always) present. Although the theory has been criticized by clinicians, researchers, and transsexuals themselves, it has not been critiqued in a peer-reviewed article previously. This article will attempt to fill that gap. Key studies on which the theory is based will be analyzed and alternative interpretations of the data presented. I conclude that although autogynephilia exists, the theory is flawed."

[ See also Moser's 2009 journal article "Autogynephilia in women" (link to pre-publ on-line version), which put Blanchard's theory further into perspective by indicating that whatever so-called 'autogynephilia' is, natal women experience it too.  Could it be that Blanchard, who is reportedly (without denial) a gay man, was simply clueless about female sensuality?]

6-27-10:  The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA: "Gender switch raises challenge - County inmate kept in isolation"

"A transsexual inmate at Northumberland County Prison is separated from the general population, but the warden says it's not because he is unsure whether or not the individual should be placed in the men's or women's quarters.

"At this point, he is segregated," said Warden Roy Johnson, "but for other reasons than that." . . . Johnson would not say if Golder was segregated for punishment or as a protective measure. Unsure if releasing the details of any transgender surgery Golder received would infringe upon medical information which law requires to remain confidential, Johnson spoke only in general terms about how the prison handles such individuals."

6-27-10:  The Independent (Ireland): "A scalpel can't rewrite history, whatever the surgery - The Government may have conceded defeat, but the case just wasn't worth fighting, writes Eilis O'Hanlon"

"The Irish Government may have conceded defeat, but that doesn't mean transsexual campaigners have been proved right trying to have historical records such as birth certificates altered retrospectively. All that's been established is the case wasn't worth fighting. It's still a perfectly reasonable argument that official documents drawn up decades ago are best left untouched, even if Dr Foy's more melodramatic supporters will insist on seeing every sign of resistance to their heroine's demands as some awful manifestation of oppression."

[The expected whining begins.]

6-27-10:   J Psychiatr Res. (Posted 6-08-10; Epub ahead of print): "White matter microstructure in female to male transsexuals before cross-sex hormonal treatment. A diffusion tensor imaging study", by Rametti G, Carrillo B, Gómez-Gil E, Junque C, Segovia S, Gomez A, Guillamon A.; Clinical Institute of Neuroscience, Hospital Clinic i Provincial, Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain.

"Conclusions: Our results show that the white matter microstructure pattern in untreated FtM transsexuals is closer to the pattern of subjects who share their gender identity (males) than those who share their biological sex (females). Our results provide evidence for an inherent difference in the brain structure of FtM transsexuals"

6-27-10:  Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): "Neither man nor woman"

"The fight for legal recognition as a person of no specified sex has been an uphill battle for Norrie, a self-described “happy eunuch" . . . On arriving in Sydney, Norrie stayed in a refuge for transsexual people, finding camaraderie and acceptance, but Norrie wrote in autobiographical notes published on the web that wider society could still be dangerous: "In the 'straight world', I was treated as a liar if I did not reveal my transsexuality, and a pariah if I did.

"I was abused by men, sometimes for being a transsexual, often for just being female. I was taken from a nightclub by five guys who, unaware of my transsexual status, raped me. All this happened within the first year of changing sex. I stopped going to straight nightclubs. I no longer wanted to live as a normal heterosexual woman.""

6-26-10:  The Guardian (UK): "How I came out as a transsexual"

"Carol Robson was married for 12 years, a father of two, before she could admit she was transsexual"

6-25-10:  Fox 41 (Louisville, KY): "Musical focuses on transgender struggle" (Video)

"A southern Indiana family's lives will be on stage this weekend at the Kentucky Center. Fox 41's Candyce follows the transition of a woman who says she was trapped in a man's body. And the journey that healed the O'Bannon family and put their story on stage . . . Miyia is ready to share her the lessons she's learned, "And, sometimes it is difficult, even today, but I feel like it's a bigger purpose and people need to see those emotions and see that that's what people like me go through and that's why you shouldn't treat anyone disrespectfully." Still, The Prodigal has an even higher goal... reuniting families, healing broken relationships, and showing people facing similar conflicts that hope is not lost."

6-25-10:  Express Buzz (India): "Transgenders in TN break glass ceiling"

"I am an achiever and also a transwoman, says Selvi (26), a successful sports doctor. She is the new symbol of empowerment, breaking the old myths of 'sex trade' that had long dogged the transgender community . . . Angel Glady (24), another transwoman, who holds a Masters in Mass Communication from Madras University, now working with TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) as a help desk executive, is another testament of how education had brought dignity to transgenders . . . Both Selvi and Glady sing off with a message to others going through gender identity crisis, "No matter whatever it is, never stop your education; even if you are dropped out of school, please go back and continue your studies. It is the only way to earn a dignified place in society.""

6-25-10:  Houston Chronicle: "Transgender activist calls attack hate-based - HCC student says he was robbed and beaten" (more)

A Houston Community College political science student says he was targeted in a knifepoint robbery and beating at the school's midtown fine arts building because of his work as a transgender campus activist."

6-23-10:  Chicago Tribune: "Program puts transgender process on an easier path - New system avoids months or years of barriers" 

"Ten years ago, when Candice Hart began her transition from male to female, she faced the possibility of losing everything, including her relationships and career. That, in addition to the process she had to undergo in preparation for the transition, was agonizing, she said. "I lived in fear that I would be denied access to hormones or other services that I believed were necessary for me to live my life," said Hart. She said the therapist who would approve her hormone therapy was a virtual stranger who held the keys to her new life.

Hart's experience is common for those following the traditional path for transgender treatment: months or years of costly, time-consuming counseling that are barriers for many. It also can be so overwhelming that many people abandon the idea or suffer severe emotional and psychological damage, said Hart, vice chair of the Illinois Gender Advocates.

In April, the Howard Brown Health Center launched a new program designed to minimize some of the emotional suffering and reduce barriers to care for those seeking access to hormones. Officials hope the program, in which patient and health care provider work as a team, will set a new standard in the Chicago area for consistent treatment that will empower patients and create healthier outcomes for members of the transgender community . . . "

[The winds of change have arrived, as more and more gender clinics fully distance themselves from the horribly pathologizing psychiatric practices of the past (such as those promoted by Zucker and Blanchard at the notorious CAMH gender clinic).]

6-23-10:  TV3 (Ireland): "Transgender Triumph"

"Legislation recognising transgender people in their new identity is set to be introduced after the Government scrapped a Supreme Court appeal yesterday. This decision brings to an end Doctor Lydia Foy's thirteen year struggle for her gender to be recognised by the state... "

[An important television interview/discussion about the recent legal changes in Ireland.]

6-23-10:  The Telegram (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; posted 6-22): 'A whole new way of being' - Gender selection a tough topic, author says; fiction title centres on intersex birth" (more, more, more)

". . . Labrador was a big land and a very accepting land. In many ways, Wayne's condition, I felt, would have been accepted there and in many ways it was, even though his family chose to hide it," she said. "It's not Labrador itself that I felt was in opposition to Wayne - it was something inside certain people and inside, I guess, a societal thing rather than the land of Labrador and the people of Labrador."

In "Annabel," the only character to know about Wayne's intersex birth, aside from his parents, is a neighbour named Thomasina. "I wouldn't call what you have a disorder. I would call it a different order," the character tells Wayne. "A different order means a whole new way of being. It could be fantastic. It could be overwhelmingly beautiful, if people weren't scared."" 

6-23-10:  North Shore Times (New Zealand; posted 6-17): "Accept me or leave me alone"

"That's the message from Forrest Hill resident Sabrina Roi who has made the decision to change from a male to a female.  Choosing to identify as a woman, Sabrina says she has known since she was little that she was trapped in a male body . . . "When I've had the operation I'll be able to live my life the way I've always wanted." Sabrina's siblings and parents support her decision to have the operation. She says people poke fun and tease her but they should know her before they judge her. "Others need to accept that transgender people are part of life and part of society."
 

6-23-10:  CNN: "New York state Senate passes anti-bullying bill"

"The New York state senate passed passed an anti-bullying bill Tuesday night to protect all students from discrimination, including that based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The state assembly had already passed the bill -- as it had eight times previously in the last 11 years -- and Gov. David Paterson is expected to sign it into law. Bill sponsor Sen. Thomas Duane said it will be "the first time protections for our transgendered community will be enshrined in New York law.""

6-23-10:  The Westmeath Independent (Ireland): "Transgender Athlone native wins 13-year legal battle" (more, more, more, more, more)

"It's thought that the victory for dentist Dr Lydia Foy, who was born Donal Mark Foy, will result in new legislation being introduced in order to recognise the gender of people who have undergone such procedures . . .

Speaking in the aftermath of the legal victory, she urged the government to introduce new legislation in this area as a matter of urgency. "It has been a very long road and at times I thought it would never end, but I felt I just had to keep going, for my own dignity and self respect and for all the other transgender people out there who were suffering in silence," she stated.
"I hope the Government's acceptance that we are entitled to be recognised in our true gender will make things easier for other transgender people in the future and that this case will have helped non-transgender people to understand how real are the problems and difficulties that we face."

6-23-10:  The Australian (Australia; posted 6-04): "Lives in transit "

"Tara was never happy with her masculinity. After years of taking hormones, she finally decided to take the plunge and change gender . . . She flew to Thailand from Australia’s east coast for the surgery, her mother in tow for moral support. At the age of 33 she became a woman, and left the detritus of her manhood behind her in Bangkok. A short time after surgery the only outward indication that she was ever male is a faint pink line on her neck where her Adam’s apple once protruded. Now she wishes she’d done it when she was much younger. “I’ve never doubted it,” she says, with a wide smile. “It’s always been the right thing that I needed to do.”"

6-23-10:  The Express Tribune (Pakistan): "The case of the third gender", by Dr Meher Zaidi

"An estimate of transgender persons in India is around 1:400. Pakistan being in the same ethno-geographical class may have parallel results. The discriminatory attitude is even shown in statistical divisions as reported in population reports, 51% females and 49% males. As if the transgender persons do not exist . . . In a society where the entire focus is on male/female segregation and laws based on the “biological” sex differentiation, the existence of “Transgender persons” is just an anomaly to be brushed under the carpet . . .

Sensitization to transgender issues and compassionate handling should be advocated by everyone in the society . . . It is high time that we tackle this issue on a more scientific basis and accept transgender persons in educational institutions and provide health services and good employment opportunities to bring them into the mainstream of our socio-economic life."

6-23-10:  The Times of India (India): "Transgenders seek their rights"

"BANGALORE: Transgender and sexual minorities on Tuesday demanded housing facility, voting rights and an ID card to cover them under pension and health insurance schemes . . . “In neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu a welfare board is established for transgenders and there is a provision for mentioning their sex as ‘other’ in college applications. But, in Karnataka sexual minorities are stigmatized, sexually harassed and they live in fear.” “There are 2,000 sexual minorities in Bangalore and most of the transgenders are graduates and well educated, but due to lack of opportunity are forced into begging and are victim of sexual harassment,” Chandini, a transgender said. Mangalamukhi Vasantha Kumari, a transgender said: “Migrants from other states working at construction site get access to voter card, ration card as well as shelter. We are born here but are deprived of basic facilities.”"

6-23-10:  Sydney Star Observer (Australia): "A transition in writing"

"Acclaimed children’s author Hazel Edwards is best known for her popular classic There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake, but for her 200th novel she chose to embark on quite a different project. The Melbourne-based writer collaborated with New Zealand-based Ryan Kennedy for the milestone. Kennedy lived as female until his transition to male at 27. Now 34, Kennedy has known Edwards since he was an 11-year-old girl, and together they produced F2M: The Boy Within."

6-23-10:  Dallas Morning News: "Dallas transit board approves expansion of nondiscrimination policy without 'except'"

"Removing any ambiguity about their intentions, Dallas Area Rapid Transit board members voted unanimously Tuesday night to expand the agency's nondiscrimination policy to protect transgendered employees and applicants . . . Board member William Tsao of Dallas told his colleagues they needed to remove a single word – "except" – that had been added just before the vote was cast last week. "By passing this, it is the intention of the DART board to make clear that its policy unequivocally prohibits any discrimination against persons based on their gender identity or gender expression," Tsao said. The motion was approved without dissent, ending a week of accusations and suspicious about the last-minute change, and prompted a sustained round of applause from the near-capacity crowd on hand to witness the change."

6-23-10:  The Guardian (UK re Iraq):  "US and UK failing to take Iraq's gay pogrom seriously - Both countries deny any Iraqi state involvement in anti-gay militias, but LGBT supporters suggest otherwise"

"Last week, 12 Iraqi police officers burst into a house in Karbala, beat up and blindfolded the six occupants and bundled them off in three vans, taking the computers they found with them. The house was then burned down by unknown people. The six included two gay men, one lesbian and two transgender people, and the house was a new "emergency shelter" run by the Iraqi LGBT organisation."

6-23-10:  Blick (Hungary; posted 6-03):  "Fiúból lány, lányból fiú, majd összeházasodtak - video" (more)

"Náluk különösebb házaspár egészen biztosan nincs az országban, de talán még a világon sem! Pedig senki nem fordul utánuk, ha kézen fogva végigsétálnak az utcán, talán még az anyakönyvvezető sem vett észre semmit, amikor összeadta Andreát (31) és Balázst (38). Mostanáig csak ők és néhány közeli rokon, barát tudta a titkot: Andi fiúnak, Balázs lánynak született. Nem maradhattak a bőrükben, amikor ráébredtek, hogy transzszexuálisok, azaz a férfi testében női lélek lakozik, és fordítva."

[Article in Hungarian about the marriage of transman and transwoman; includes a nice video.]
 

6-22-10:  Pink News (UK): "Trans woman wins right to backdated pension" (more, more, more)

"A trans woman who refused to divorce her wife has won the right to get her pension backdated. Christine Timbrell, 69, transitioned in 2000 but is not legally recognised as a woman because she will not divorce her wife of 43 years, Joy. Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, trans people must dissolve or annul their marriages to be recognised in their new gender.
She took the Department of Work and Pensions to court because it refused to backdate her pension to the age of 60. Currently, the retirement age is 60 for women and 65 for men . . .  Lord Justice Aikens, giving the ruling of the three judges at the Appeal Court, said there was a total lack of legal framework in English law to recognise gender change and that barring Ms Timbrell from her pension was discrimination."

6-21-10:  The Nation: "'I Was Scared to Sleep': LGBT Youth Face Violence Behind Bars"

"Krystal has a calm and lilting Southern accent. She identifies as a woman now, but when she entered Louisiana's juvenile justice system at 12 years of age, she presented herself as a boy . . . Today, she's 18 and was just recently released from the system. Being closeted about her gender identity was never an option for her. "It's very obvious with me because of how I walk, talk, the way I do things," she says. And while her sentencing judge had told her that she wouldn't be in prison for long, it was five years before a sympathetic counselor made a formal request for her release.

In her letter to the judge, the counselor mentioned in passing that Krystal had confided in her that she was probably transgender, and that she was in a romantic relationship with another boy at the facility. On the voicemail he left in response to the counselor's report, the judge openly laughed and called the recommendation a joke. He said that based on those facts, he would absolutely deny the request for a release hearing. "Many judges in rural Louisiana still conflate sex offenses with sexual orientation and gender identity," says Wesley Ware of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana . . .

Across the United States, the brutal and dysfunctional juvenile justice system sends queer youth to prison in disproportionate numbers, fails to protect them from violence and discrimination while they're inside and to this day condones attempts to turn them straight."

6-21-10:  Center for American Progress: "Gay and Transgender Youth Homelessness by the Numbers"

"An alarming number of gay and transgender young people are homeless. 1.6 million to 2.8 million: The estimated number of homeless youth in the United States. 20 to 40 percent: The portion of the homeless youth population who are gay or transgender, compared to only 5 to 10 percent of the overall youth population. 320,000 to 400,000: A conservative estimate of the number of gay and transgender youth facing homelessness each year.

14.4: The average age that lesbian and gay youth in New York become homeless.

13.5: The average age that transgender youth in New York become homeless."

6-21-10:  RTE News (Ireland): "Ireland: Government withdraws transgender appeal" (more, more, more, more, more)

"The Government has dropped its challenge to a High Court declaration that Irish law on transgender rights is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Government must now introduce legislation recognising the new gender of transgender persons and allowing them to obtain new birth certificates or it will face condemnation from the European Court of Human Rights. Dr Lydia Foy, a transgender woman registered at birth as a male who had challenged Irish law on this matter, today welcomed the Government's decision saying it finally marked an end to her 13-year battle for recognition as a woman. The Government has withdrawn its appeal to the Supreme Court and has set up an inter-departmental group to advise the Minister for Social Protection on the legislation required. The Free Legal Advice Centre welcomed the Government's decision, which it described as significant and groundbreaking."

6-21-10:  Salon: "Daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening to get sex change operation"

"Kathlyn Beatty, 18, has reportedly changed her name to Stephen Ira and is planning gender reassignment surgery. The 18-year-old daughter of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening is planning to undergo sex reassignment surgery, the San Francisco Examiner, New York Daily News and National Enquirer report. Kathlyn Beatty has been attending college as a man and now goes by the name Stephen Ira"

6-21-10:  Orange County Weekly: "Mike Penner/Christine Daniels Story Returns"

"The 52-year-old's tragic end was covered fairly extensively by the Times' Christopher Goffard this past March in "Public Triumph, Private Torment." But there's something about a rich, sordid, heartbreaking story: it seems to reappear again and again, like a horror-movie villain. So, no, it's not surprising that GQ would eventually present the Mike Penner story to its readers. But it is surprising Nancy Haas' piece has arrived so soon after Goffard's fairly widely read piece."

6-21-10:  GQ (subscription): "New Mike, Old Christine"

"In 2007, sportswriter Mike Penner announced that he was becoming Christine Daniels. For the June 2010 issue of GQ, Nancy Hass reported on the tragic events that followed . . . What happened? Why did he transition back? Why, after all the therapy, all the heartache, all the crippling fear and anxiety, would he have stopped taking hormones, stopped getting electrolysis, stopped living as the woman he burned for decades to be? And when he did return to being Mike Penner, why wasn't that enough to stop his fatal decline? Hass spent weeks in Los Angeles reporting the answers, and many of them may surprise you. This is a love story, a tragic one, involving not only Penner but the people whose worlds were shattered by his fateful decision."

6-20-10:  Indian Express (India): “Love, sex change and dhokha in Srinagar”

“They met and fell in love. One was a 40-year-old tourist from Germany, the other a 25-year-old man from Srinagar’s posh Nishat neighbourhood. They spent time together and the tourist underwent a sex-change operation to become a woman. There was a promise to be together for life. The tourist transferred money, Rs 15 lakh in three years, to help the Kashmiri boyfriend construct his house, buy a Mitsubishi Lancer and start a travel agency.  But then the story took a turn. On June 15, the tourist, accompanied by two lawyers, arrived at the Nishat Police Station with a complaint that “she” was duped of Rs15 lakh, sexually exploited in the name of love and the promise of marriage.”

6-20-10:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Tiffany Woods helps transgender women"

"Woods runs TransVision, the only health and resource center for transgender and transsexual women in Alameda County. The nonprofit, which Woods co-founded in 2002 and is funded by the county's Office of AIDS, works with transgender women ranging in age from 17 to 55 . . . "Our original mission statement was to create HIV services for transgender women," says Woods. "Now there is a great need for employment services, services dealing with discrimination issues and housing. And we are seeing a lot more youth coming out and doing survival sex work on the street because they've been kicked out of the house.""

6-18-10:  XTRA (Canada): "Quebec trans folk demand easier process for legally changing name and sex"

"Organizer Alexandre Baril says the current process for legally changing one's gender in Quebec is too complex and restrictive. Trans people must be diagnosed with gender identity disorder and undergo medical procedures before their documents can be changed to match their gender identity."

6-17-10:  The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Court Denies Conservative Pundit-Professor's Bias Claim Against University"

"A federal court has rejected a claim that the University of North Carolina at Wilmington committed viewpoint discrimination against Michael S. Adams, a prominent conservative commentator and associate professor of criminology, by denying him a promotion based partly on its review of online columns and other expressions of opinion that he included in his application to move up the ranks.

In granting the university's motion to dismiss Mr. Adams's lawsuit against it, Judge Malcolm J. Howard of the U.S. District Court in Greenville, N.C., held that Mr. Adams had failed to prove his allegation that the university denied him a promotion to full professor based on his Christian beliefs and conservative views, which he has expressed in a substantial body of published opinion columns that emulate the style of Ann Coulter and often have taken aim at the university's administration, faculty members, and staff.

More significantly as a matter of broader legal interpretation, the ruling that Judge Howard issued on Monday said Mr. Adams himself had caused his columns to be considered as work-related speech—rather than as outside speech clearly protected under the First Amendment—by including them in the package of materials he submitted in applying for promotion."

6-17-10:  Camp KC: "'Trinidad' Tells the Story of a Pioneering Surgeon"

"Word of mouth spread of Biber’s new capabilities, and those in need of assistance traveled to Trinidad, a town of about 10,000 residents, to seek help. Most were male-to-female transitions, but female-to-male transitions were also performed. Biber’s patients had myriad backgrounds, ethnicities and profiles, and over the years he performed about 5,000 sex-reassignment procedures. His patients brought family members and friends along to Trinidad who boosted the economy during their stays. His work also earned Trinidad the unofficial title of “Sex Change Capital of the World” and opened the door for the legacy to continue. "

6-17-10:  LGBT-EP (Europe): "European Parliament says the EU should do more for transgender people’s rights"

"Today the European Parliament adopted a strong position in favour of safeguarding transgender people’s fundamental rights. The Parliament officially acknowledged discrimination on grounds of gender identity, calls for accessible gender reassignment procedures, and insists future EU gender equality initiatives should address issues linked to gender identity and gender reassignment. "

6-17-10:  Ecuavisa (Ecuador; posted on YouTube 6-15): "Reportaje de Ecuavisa a Diane Rodriguez por el cambio de Sexo en su Cedula" (en espanol)

"Ecuavisa entrevista a Diane Rodriguez, sobre el proceso que esta siguiendo para el cambio de sexo en su cedula de identidad reportaje en el siguiente enlace de nuestra red de videos."

[Ecuavisa (a major television network in Ecuador) interviews Diane Rodriguez (the director of Silueta X), on the process she is following for the change of sex in her identity certificate . . . ]

For more on this story, see: "Transgender Name Change in Ecuador Sets Legal Precedent"

"The Ecuadorian transgender women's group Silueta X has broken new ground in enabling transgender men and women to change their name legally, from male to female and vice versa. Diane Rodríguez, the director of Silueta X, fought the campaign after being told by her local registry office that such a change was not possible. Citing the anti-discrimination passages enshrined in Article 2 of Ecuador’s new constitution, which was voted in during 2008, Diane took the case to the Office of the Ombudsman which, in turn, took up the case with the director of the national registry office. This resulted in Diane and four other members of the group receiving new identity cards within a week of the appeal. It is expected that this legal precedent will result in the normalisation of the name-changing process."

6-17-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Papers, please!", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

"Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department issued new policies around passports. The change in rules allows for a transgender person to get the gender marker changed on their passport with certification from an attending medical physician. All the doc needs to state is that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment, and the passport will be updated . . . what really excites me about this is the potential ramifications on REAL ID, the national identification card . . . . If we ever did get suck with such a program as REAL ID, well, it would be rather nice to be able to get one's gender markers so quickly updated!

But I find myself with one further query: why do we even need such a marker on our identification? How does knowing my gender change my ability to be identified on my passport or identification? How does an "F" or "M" add a single bit of useful information not provided by one's name and photograph? As validating as it is for me personally to have an "F" on my state-issued driver's license, perhaps it is time to decide if such information has any relevance in a society where all genders enjoy the same rights and responsibilities."

6-16-10:  Gather.com: "Warren Beatty's wants transgender surgery  . . ." (more, more, more, more)
"Warren Beatty and Annette Benning's Daughter wants to undergo transgender surgery like Chaz Bono who used to be Chastity Bono did. Their daughter Katherine is attending college as Stepen and Warren and Annette are devastated.

Life changes like this is a decision that may be easier for the transgender person to go through than the family. "Warren is beside himself over the situation with his daughter . He and Annette have tired to deal with this over the years when their daughter was younger, but she's determined to go ahead with the transgender operation, just like Chastity [Bono]. She repeatedly told her parents that 'once I turn 18,' she would take matters into her own hands.""

6-16-10:  The Advocate (posted 6-15):  "ENDA Vote in Question"

"The Employment Non-Discrimination Act may be losing momentum this year based on a strategic impasse caused by what many insiders say is a lack of support in the Senate. “This issue is just not ready for the Senate,” said an LGBT advocate and political insider who spoke on the condition of anonymity . . . the LGBT advocate and political insider noted that the lack of support in the Senate has put Pelosi in a bind with her caucus. “The fact that there’s not a path in the Senate makes it a very heavy lift,” the source said. “It’s not enough to say that Pelosi needs to ram this through. The reason she isn’t able to ram it through is because members don’t want to vote for something that is politically difficult like this issue.” The source added that in general work remains to be done on the gender identity portion of the bill."

6-16-10:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Transgender woman leads race for judge"

"Victoria Kolakowski, who's running for Alameda Count Superior Court judge in a November runoff election, declares on her campaign Web site that she hopes to make history. "If I am elected, I would be the first openly LGBT superior court judge elected in Alameda County, the first openly LGBT person elected countywide, and the first transgender trial court judge in the United States," it states . . .

Kolakowski, 48, transitioned from male to female in 1989 during her last year in law school and had sex reassignment surgery in 1991. She has 21 years of legal experience, including stints as a private attorney, corporate attorney and, currently, an administrative law judge . . . Kolakowski says her gender is important in symbolism and inspiration for others, but she wants voters to mainly consider her professional experience. "

6-16-10:  ENDAblog (posted 6-15): "Psycho Privilege: The Dredge Gets Another Undeserved Platform" by Katrina Rose

"Apparently, Psychology Today hasn’t gotten the message that Alice Dreger is an ethically-compromised hack with an agenda about as far removed from psychology as BP’s is from giving a s... about the Gulf of Mexico and real people affected by the oil spill . . . "

6-16-10:  The Guardian (UK): " I was looking for a trans counter-culture" (see also part one)

"In the second instalment of her fortnightly column, Juliet Jacques describes how she came out as transgender, entered counselling, and searched for like-minded people . . .

"After my gender issues complicated my relationships with 'straight-acting' gay men, I had to reconsider my identity - and the centrality of maleness within it. Gradually, I came to define as 'transgender'. I understood that transgender could include cross-dressers, transvestites, male-to-female (MtF) and female-to-male (FtM) transsexuals, and anyone else who considered themselves beyond the traditional gender binary. Having found a suitable term for myself, which allowed space for me to explore my gender, I wanted to find places where I could express myself and meet like-minded people.""

6-16-10:  The Sun Daily (Malaysia): "Gay about his role" (more, video trailer, more)

"For his role in ... Dalam Botol, Arja Lee shaved his body hair, wore heels and lipstick, and performed a nude bathing scene. The dancer-turned-actor plays the lead role of Rubidin, a man who has a sex change operation to become a woman named Ruby for his lover Ghaush (Wan Raja). But when Ghaush couldn’t accept his lover’s new package and abandons ‘her’, Ruby’s world comes tumbling down . . . "

(video trailer, more)

6-16-10:  Intersex in Australia (OII Australia): Editorial Comment by Karin on "Beneath the galabiya: Intersex operations in Assiut"

"IF things are bad enough for intersex people in Western nations, they are far worse in Egypt, it would appear. What is going on there in medical circles and broader society is awful.

Has nobody ever considered what intersex people themselves want Has nobody ever bothered to look into the consequences of all this experimental cosmetic surgery – also known as intersex genital mutilation (IGM) – on the genitals of intersex newborns? We suppose not.

“True hermaphroditism” and “male and female pseudo-hermaphrodites” indeed. Unscientific gibberish and gobbledy-gook to justify committing the unspeakable upon the innocent. Where is the unbiased science in all this?

We note that FGM – female genital mutilation – continues in Egypt despite moves to ban it in other nations around the world. The Egyptian government’s “Health and Population Ministry banned all forms of female genital cutting in 2007,” according to Al Masry Aloum. Banned, except for cutting up the genitals of intersex females. It is one law for non-intersex and another one for intersex.

We believe that FGM and IGM both must be banned worldwide."

6-15-10:  Al-Masry Al-Youm (Egypt): "Beneath the galabiya: Intersex operations in Assiut"

"In the realm of sexual taboos in Egypt, the issue of "intersex individuals"--or those born with "ambiguous genitalia"--is certainly somewhere near the top of the list. While medical professionals take an impartial approach to treatment and surgical operations, social and cultural factors pose a challenge for affected individuals and their families . . . In Upper Egypt, the family denies and often keeps secret that their children have this problem, since the condition is seen as shameful. They fear he or she will be a homosexual," explains a senior official at the Assiut Department of Health. "But from a human and medical standpoint, these individuals are just patients . . ."

While the doctors view intersexuality disorders as a serious health problem and acknowledge the usefulness of corrective surgery to reverse the condition, transgenderism is not viewed so kindly . . .  and the Physicians Syndicate has banned transsex operations altogether . . . The Assiut doctors all report being requested by at least one individual for a sex change operation. After finding chromosomal and hormonal results normal, they reject the request, instead of referring the patient to psychologists. "How could I be complicit in such a sinful crime?" asks el-Sonbaty. "Altering the body of a man with no physical issues to accommodate his psychological problems is a sin, as we would be changing what God created.""

[Note the extreme confidence and the air of authority behind these hideous Egyptian medical pronouncements - which reek of a similar level of doctrinaire ideology as that rampant at CAMH.]

6-15-10:  MPBN: "Transgender Woman Sues Auburn Denny's"

"Transgender rights groups are following a case in Maine in which a transgender woman has been banned from using the woman's restroom at the Denny's in Auburn. Brianna Freeman of Lewiston is suing the owner of the Denny's franchise, Realty Resources Hospitality, in Androscoggin County Superior Court . . . Freeman says she had been using the women's room at Denny's for about a year before she was told to stop by a restaurant manager in October 2007. Freeman, a 45-year-old former software developer who is saving up for a gender reassignment surgery, says she doesn't belong in the men's room."

6-15-10:  Corrections One: "How should agencies manage transgender offenders? - An interview with Jail Risk Management Consultant Donald L. Leach"

"It’s hard to find accurate statistics on exactly how many people in the United States (or anywhere else) are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). Nonetheless, what we know for sure is that the number of people who define themselves as LGBT is rising – fast. And this has a distinct impact on the world of corrections.

“As gender identity becomes more recognized as a legitimate concern that individuals have, you are going to see more of it in corrections,” said Donald L. Leach, a Jail Risk Management Consultant based in Lexington, Kentucky . . .

This article will discuss some of the related issues that can arise in the jail or prison environment and how you can deal with them."

[An excellent article.]

6-15-10:  Gold Coast (Australia): "Cross-dresser on good behaviour bond"

"A God Coast man's secret cross-dressing habit today landed him in court after trespassing on a woman's property to get a glimpse of his feminine reflection . . . charged with one count of trespassing after a scared homeowner caught a glimpse of a person dressed in a blonde wig and schoolgirl uniform peering inside her window on May 31. Today, the Gold Coast university student pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court. His solicitor Jodie Mair said her client secretly enjoyed dressing 'in feminine fabrics' and when at home alone he would dress up and take walks. She said there was nothing sinister about him approaching the house in clothing that disguised his gender."

6-15-10:  Irish Times (Ireland): "A lot of people assumed I was gay"

"For the first time in my life, I feel completely at home with myself physically. I’m 49 but I was only diagnosed with gender identity disorder (GID) in 2003. It’s a clinical condition but even trying to get a diagnosis was absolutely horrendous."

6-14-10:  The Globe and Mail (Canada): "What the have-nots want" (review of Thom Vernon’s book The Drifts, by Patricia Robertson)

"This magnificent first novel by this U.S.-born, Toronto-based actor-turned-writer offers up jaded Southern Gothic characters without the sweltering heat. In this contemporary take on inconsolable misfits, four eccentric characters compete for narrative dominance in this riveting account of small-town life in the socially conservative U.S. South . . .The action takes place as a massive snowstorm blows into Bay, Ark. Julie is angry (and pregnant) by her husband, Charlie. Charlie is having an affair with Wilson but wants Julie to keep the baby. Wilson, a compassionate woman shaped like a Maytag, is besotted with her childhood pal, Dol, who spends a lot of time putting on eyeliner for his job at Ayers’ bar. Dol just wants a sexual reassignment, but his HMO won’t cover it. The ongoing tension between “having” and “wanting” is what drives this narrative forward."

6-14-10:  The Scavenger: " Claiming intersex ‘privilege’ is transphobic"

"There are some academics, members of diagnosis groups, and activists who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans or intersex who accuse transgender or transsexual people of claiming to be intersex when they are not. There are also those who accuse some intersex people of being transsexual or transgender and not really intersex. Both these positions are transphobic, writes Gina Wilson."

6-13-10:  Women's e-News:  "Unemployment Sets More Traps for Transgender People"

"As the recession takes a deeper toll on jobs, income and wages, more Americans are filling out forms for jobs, unemployment insurance, Medicaid and food stamps. It's a labyrinthine process for anyone. But for transgender people, it often comes with a particularly upsetting price: outing themselves."

6-13-10:  Mirror (UK): Sex Doctor: "Should I marry a tranny?"

"I logged on to my boyfriend's ­computer when he was out at the pub . . . and found he'd been logging on to sites for transvestites. I was shocked ­because I've never found him wearing women's clothes. I don't know what to do. We're supposed to be getting married next year."

6-12-10:  Time: "New Passport Rules Ease Switch for Transgenders"

"For decades, the State Department had required that transgender individuals, who identify with a gender other than their physical sex, have "sexual reassignment surgery" — a term that doesn't have a clear definition in the medical community — before they were permitted to change their passport listing. Now a note from their physician stating that they have undergone clinical treatment for a "gender transition" will net them a new passport valid for two years. (Regular passports are good for 10."

6-12-10:  Jewish Journal: "A Creative and Created Being", by Janelle Eagle

"Last night I had 26 people join me for shabbat dinner. Not just any Shabbat… but a Transgender Shabbat. Not that Shabbat itself was trans (perhaps we welcomed a Sabbath Husband?), but we specifically invited the transgender community and their friends to join JQ International’s Trans Inclusion Committee for a potluck and icebreaker discussion of the intersection between Judaism and gender identity. Rabbi Julie Pelc-Adler led the group in a discussion about terms for gender diversity used in classical Jewish texts . . . "
 

6-11-10:  YouTube (International re Spain): "STP2012 March in Barcelona, Spain 2010 June 5", by Henry Hallint (more)

"The start of the protest march against legal change of sex and control of one's own transgender body being held hostage to unneeded and unwanted psychiatry.

As a result of the publicity around this march and the Congreso that immediately preceded it, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) presented at the Congress of Deputies (of Catalonia) a motion for debate in the Equality Commission which calls for policy changes no longer regarded transsexualism as a disease. The initiative calls for, namely to amend the law to eliminate gender identity requirements for diagnosis of "gender dysphoria" and medical treatment for two years to access the correct registration of sex.

Once legal change of sex is depathologized the use of psychiatry cannot apply since in the new sex there is no longer any transsexualism, no longer any cross-gender identification.  Since GID absolutely requires cross-gender identification then legal change of sex extinguishes that too, AND MAKES KENNETH ZUCKER, OH SO DESERVEDLY, IRRELEVANT! Through the political process we get an end run around those who aim to harm us. And, at last, transgender and transsexual people are free from the psychiatry that has been hurting them for decades. "

[Video of major demonstration in Barcelona, Spain against the psychiatric pathologization of trans people; note the focus on the legacy of trans-reparatist Ken Zucker.]

6-11-10:  OTD - Organización por la Dignidad de la Diversidad (Chile re Barcelona, Spain):  "Reflexiones del Congreso Mundial de Personas Trans/ Reflections Of The Worlwide Trans Persons Congress", by Andrés Rivera Duarte (more)

"The Congress has ended and we do not have a Declaration, but we have the maturity that we needed to see the errors, the failings, the needs, the differences, what unites us and gives us strength. This Congress is the beginning of THE TRANS REVOLUTION, that which has been born in Barcelona and will have no limits, because we will not rest until we manage that the countries respect our human rights and create deign public policies. The differences have to be a part of our growth, it is the food to prosper as persons, they can´t separate us. We think different, but how beautiful and valuable is to think different and from those differences reach with respect to this “trans revolution”."

6-11-10:  Huffington Post: "Mental Illness and Transgender People", by Joanne Herman

"Why are transgender people unfairly singled out for job discrimination? In part it is because the current DSM has its own bias against transgender people. As opposed to the other diagnoses, individuals who successfully resolve their gender incongruence, through a gender transition or otherwise, are still considered mentally ill."

6-11-10:  Queerty (re France): "Transgender With Small Tits? Then You're Not a Woman to France" (more)

"It's likely that France will eventually come around to its senses, but until it does, Delphine has some smart takes on the absurdity of her shituation: “Of course, if the state applied the same test to cis [non-trans] women, it would have to redefine the gender of many French women. But of course, this would never happen.” She added: "What size breasts are required for a change in civil status? Will that breast size be established nationally by the Minister of Justice or will it be up to the personal tastes of individual attorneys?""

6-11-10:  Daily Camera: “Transgendered CU-Boulder student wins prestigious scholarship”

“When Kyle Inselman came out as transgender, he wasn't met with acceptance. Inselman, who grew up in Eugene, Ore., was not allowed to express his gender identity at home. And his Catholic high school didn't allow any gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender student support groups. Inselman -- now attending the University of Colorado -- is one of 25 students across the country to receive a competitive scholarship from an organization that supports GLBT students. More than 1,600 students applied for the scholarships from the Point Foundation.”

6-11-10:  The Star: "Sexy transsexual Nina Arsenault on life, art and her penis"

Sometimes, I’ve done things for a newspaper where they’ll say, ‘We can’t print that photo. It’s too sexual.’ It’s just something about the way my lips are, or there’s maybe cleavage in it. And my response is always that people can get this online now — provocative, naked photos. I think that print media is really behind that way. Another way of making someone who is queer palatable to a normative mass audience is to pathologize them. It’s to say that the things that are different about them, the things that are unique about them, it must be because that person’s f----d up. Certainly, I’ve been accused of that — it’s dysmorphia, intense perfectionism or narcissism. I always refuse to accept those perspectives on my life. I think it’s very important not to listen to your detractors.

Q: You mentioned Madonna as an inspiration. What do you think of Lady Gaga? A: Lady Gaga (who is not a transsexual) makes me proud to be a transsexual. I say this because she’s different. I think of her in a time period of really intense normativity where most people in culture are becoming more and more like each other. If you don’t fit in, everybody’s looking for what’s wrong with you. There’s a greater homogenization, so I love that in popular culture there is someone who stands for being different, stands for being outrageous, is exploring her inner freak, is sexual. I think she’s exactly what culture needed when she came along. Culture was just, like, “Thank you, where have you been?”

[This is quite a good interview and worth a read (in spite of the 'catchy title').]

6-11-10:  The Gawker: "Courtney Love Uses Facebook to Post Naked Pictures"

"Using social media for pornography rather than incoherent rambling, Courtney Love posted pictures that reveal her breasts and lady area on Facebook. Also, there is this one of her being spanked by her twin sister, transsexual plastic-surgery lover Amanda Lepore."

[Check out the comments. They're pretty funny.]

6-11-10:  YouTube (International): "Congreso Internacional sobre Identidad de Género y Derechos Humanos " (more)

"Las personas transexuales, estadísticamente hablando, son uno de los grupos más afectados por condiciones de vida marginal (prostitución, drogadicción, etc.) y por la dificultad de inserción laboral, probablemente son el colectivo con mayores índices de suicidio así como de muertes por deficiencias en la asistencia sanitaria recibida en su proceso de transición. Los logros puntuales que se han conseguido en Estados como España, Uruguay, Gran Bretaña, Holanda etc. etc. no ocultan, dado que nos movemos en una sociedad global, su alcance limitado y muchas veces no reconocido fuera de las fronteras de los Estados tutelantes.

En este contexto, Human Rights Watch, junto con varias Administraciones Públicas españolas y extranjeras han decidido la celebración de una conferencia internacional global sobre transexualidad y derechos humanos, junto a una amplia coalición de colectivos y asociaciones para el reconocimiento de los derechos del colectivo transexual y del movimiento LGTB español e internacional. La idea de realizar, por primera vez, una conferencia global con personas transexuales, por personas transexuales y para las personas transexuales . . . "

[A wonderful photo-montage-video of the Barcelona Conference, June 4-6, 2010.]

6-11-10:  Reading Post (UK; posted 6-09): "Family tribute to brave Andrea Waddell", by Laura Herbert

"The family of murdered Andrea Waddell will visit her grave later this month to mark what would have been her 30th birthday. The former Tilehurst degree student was strangled to death by satellite engineer Neil McMillan in her own home in Brighton on October 15, last year . . . Paying tribute to their “valiant daughter and sister” her mum Sonia and dad Robin and brother Nick, of Thicket Road, Tilehurst, said: “Andrea loved philosophy and consistently followed the Socratic ditum ‘an unexplained life is not worth living’, in that she constantly subjected her own life to intense scrutiny.”

They continued: “Her life reads like a catalogue of disasters. “She was bullied at school, knocked down by a car in Battersea, mugged in Prague, and once attacked by a gang of young thugs in Reading.“While completing her second degree she developed acute ulcerative colitis which was nearly fatal, but she underwent successfully surgery resulting in an ileostomy, which was later reversed.

“Andrea never lost her zest for life and her sense of humour, and indeed she seemed to become stronger and more concerned for others as a result of every situation in which she found herself.”"

[There was so much more to this beautiful, warm-hearted woman than the UK tabloids who smeared her life story could ever imagine.]

6-11-10:  Reading Post (UK; posted 6-09):  "First Person - Speaking out for transgender community", by Juliette Harris

"Tilehurst’s Andrea Waddell suffered a terrible death – after her murderer was sent to jail for 22 years, the policeman leading the case said without support from the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and sex worker communities, Andrea – who was a transsexual – and her family would not have received the justice they deserved. Here Juliette Harris, a transsexual woman, gives an insight into the suffering many transgender people face in their everyday lives . . . "

[Some important thoughts on the media's insidious stigmatization of trans people.]

6-11-10:  Alibi.com: "Whatever Happened to Equal Rights?"

"A Santa Fe County woman pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of impersonating a police officer on Friday, May 28, in return for probation and community service. Police said in August that she pulled someone over using flashing lights and a bullhorn . . .  The case might have attracted little attention were the accused not transgender . . . The Santa Fe New Mexican trumpeted the headline "Transsexual faces charges of police impersonation.” The article describes her as a "former male high school art teacher in Westchester County, N.Y., who caused a stir in 2000 when she took the school year off with pay to have a sex-change operation." What does that have to do with the charges against the defendant? Nothing, but it sensationalizes the story—and creates a climate of prejudice against her. Had she been Hispanic, or even a lesbian, would the media emphasize that fact?"

6-10-10:  Dallas Voice: "Activists applaud new policy on passports, gender" (more)

"The U.S. Department of State this week announced new policy guidelines on when gender markers can be changed on passports, drawing praise across the board from LGBT activists . . . In its press release announcing the change, the State Department also said that a “Consular Report of Birth Abroad” can also be amended with a new gender, and promised that, “As with all passport applicants, passport issuing officers at embassies and consulates abroad and domestic passport agencies and centers will ask only appropriate questions to obtain information necessary to determine citizenship and identity."

6-10-10:  Associated Press: "Surgery not required to change gender on passports" (more)

"Transgender travelers no longer will need surgery in order to change their stated genders on U.S. passports, the State Department said Wednesday. Beginning Thursday, a transgender person applying for a U.S. passport will just need to show a physician's certification that the applicant has "undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition" to declare a new gender on a passport, the department said."

6-10-10:  U.S. Department of State (posted 6-09): "New Policy on Gender Change in Passports Announced"

"The U.S. Department of State is pleased to use the occasion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month to announce its new policy guidelines regarding gender change in passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad. Beginning June 10, when a passport applicant presents a certification from an attending medical physician that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition, the passport will reflect the new gender. The guidelines include detailed information about what information the certification must include. It is also possible to obtain a limited-validity passport if the physician’s statement shows the applicant is in the process of gender transition. No additional medical records are required. Sexual reassignment surgery is no longer a prerequisite for passport issuance. A Consular Report of Birth Abroad can also be amended with the new gender."

6-10-10:  LexGetReal: "Anti-LGBT State Rep Sally Kern Facing Transwoman Brittany Novotny In November Election" (more)

"Democrat Brittany Novotny is running against Sally Kern, the Oklahoma state representative who believes that “the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation”. Novotny is a straight woman who was raised male. She had genital reconstruction surgery and fully transitioned three years ago. She is Oklahoma’s first known transsexual candidate."

6-10-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Transgender judicial candidate claims first place"

"Transgender judicial candidate Victoria Kolakowski came in first in her historic bid for a seat on the Alameda County Superior Court in Tuesday's primary. She now advances to a fall runoff election and is one step closer to being the first out transgender person elected as a trial court judge in the country's history."

6-09-10:  Bay Windows: "Gender and politics: blurring the boundaries - Behind the scenes with Gunner Scott, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition."

"It has been an especially busy month for Scott, with the transgender civil rights bill heavily politicized since the state G.O.P. convention in April. "I pretty much have no life," he says. Scott conducts transgender trainings, attends evening meetings, or sips coffee at his desk late into the evening answering e-mails. "I wouldn’t say this is my dream job," Scott says. For two years, he has been the Executive Director, and only paid employee, of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), but has worked tirelessly for society’s "underdogs" for over a decade. He was born with activism in his blood."

6-08-10:  Radio Free Europe (re Pakistan): "Pakistan’s 'Third Gender' Demand Rights Protection"

"The head of a new group representing Pakistani transvestites, transsexuals, and eunuchs is demanding greater rights protection for the community, RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal reports. Farzana, known by one name, is the newly elected chairperson of the Shemale Rights Foundation of Pakhtunkhwa, the first formal organization of its kind in the area formerly known as North West Frontier Province . . . "There is a long history of discrimination against us. We are a laughing-stock for people and they make fun of us. Police officials most often forcefully arrest our community members and take them to the police station," Farzana told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal. "They arrest us for nothing and there is no one to speak for us. Now we ourselves will fight for our rights.""

6-07-10:  Pitchengine.com: "Eden Lane Competes To Appear On The Oprah Winfrey Network - Transgender Journalist In The Running To Host Talk Show On Mainstream Television"

"Who else but Oprah could bring the unique perspective of a former Broadway performer, popular on-air television journalist and stay-at-home mom Eden Lane - who also happens to be transgender - to America's living rooms? Oprah has launched a contest called "Your OWN Show" to search for programs to showcase on her new network. Eden is already working in mainstream media as an out, transgender, on-air broadcaster and is the host of two shows . . . Eden's submission to Oprah's contest is called "Creative Focus" and it both explores her love of the arts, and serves as proof that each of us can pursue our passions, while living our lives authentically and without apology . . . To vote for Eden's show "Creative Focus" on Oprah's network, please visit this link."

6-07-10:  China Post (Taiwan): "Transgender refuses to serve in military"

"A woman who underwent a sex-change operation in February told reporters that she was asked to take a physical examination required for men fulfilling compulsory military services in Taiwan, local media reported yesterday. The National Conscription Agency (NCA), operating under the Ministry of the Interior, said there had been “some mistakes” throughout the course of action. The female medical school student, surnamed Su, received her new identity card, stating her gender as “female,” last month, local media said. Immediately upon her receiving it, Su asked to be exempted from induction, yet she was again asked to get a physical examination, she told local reporters."

 6-06-10:  Blogcritics: "DVD Review: Call Me Madame (Appelez-Moi Madame), Author: A Geek Girl

"Appelez-Moi Madame (Call Me Madame), is a documentary about French transsexual and prolific writer/poet Ovida Delect. It is a rare look into the life of this man-turned-woman, as well as the effect his sex-change has had on his wife, now called his 'companion' due to his gender reassignment, and their teenage son."

6-06-10:  Bilerico Report: "Sex Reassignment Surgery: When things go wrong", Filed by: Amy Hunter (more)

"While death is an unlikely result of complications from sex reassignment surgery, things can and do go wrong with the procedure. Even the most skilled of surgeons are, after all, human and as with any surgery, there are risks . . . Everything I found on the internet listed possible complications. One was a worst-case scenario, but the websites always mentioned it last and even then, it happened so seldom, most said, that it was a risk hardly worth mentioning . . . Just before I walked into the surgical suite, I signed the waiver.

I slumped to the floor of the shower that morning in Trinidad Colorado, water and reality raining down on me. Bewilderment and terror replaced hope, which swirled toward the drain along with the feces and the blood. Emergency surgeries there, four more at home in Kalamazoo and another in Denver have all failed. Chronic pain, heavy narcotics addiction, and bouts of deep depression are the hushed legacies I have battled. Left with a possibly permanent colostomy and a painful, fibrous lump between my legs where a vagina should be, it is nearly impossible not to revisit the devastation daily. It is now two and a half years later.

Still, I am one of the fortunate ones with this complication; I stand a chance, albeit small, for an eventually favorable outcome. Many transwoman are not able to find a colon-rectal surgeon who is willing to work on a transperson, much less "someone else's problem", nor do all of us have the means. Even if you are fortunate enough to locate a doctor--and in my case, privileged to have insurance and financial means to cover remedial procedures, then there is still only a slim chance for alleviation of this humiliating and debilitating condition. One surgeon, out of frustration no doubt, finally washed his hands of me saying, "well, you did this to yourself"."

6-06-10:  Institute for the equality of women and men, Brussels, Belgium: "Being transgender in Belgium Mapping the social and legal situation of transgender people", by Joz Motmans (University of Antwerp) in collaboration with Inès de Biolley & Sandrine Debunne (FR, NL) (205 page monograph; 1.8mb PDF)

"The social position, life circumstances, experiences and difficulties of transgender people, as well as the possible discrimination they face, are areas that remain virtually unexplored scientifically. The transgender issue has been studied from various academic perspectives: as a legal problem, as a medical problem or as a socio-cultural phenomenon. However, research focusing on the existing problems of transgender people is available in only a few countries. These are often countries with strong transgender movements, such as the United Kingdom . . .

Another problem is the lack of inclusion of ‘transgender’ in so-called LGBT research. The ‘T’ has been part of the acronym for a number of years now but, more often than not, trans-specific problems are not addressed in the relevant research . . .

The existing Belgian research data is limited to legal and medical topics. The socio-cultural position of transgender people has not been widely studied to date . . . This study will map their situation in Belgium for the first time . . . "

[This groundbreaking work contains many key insights and sets a good pattern for studies to follow in other countries.  Note that Chapter 3: Prevalence (pp 36-47) refutes the traditional WPATH prevalence pronouncements (and thus those made by Zucker in the APA Task Force report), and confirms the prevalence results of  Olyslager and Conway (2007) using recent data from Belgium and building on a nice tutorial on the Olyslager and Conway methods of calculation.]

6-06-10:  Sunday Nation (Kenya): "Give me a new ID; I’m neither a man nor a woman" (video, video, more, more, more)

"Andrew Mbugua’s voice, hair, and all other features are feminine, and her transitional condition has led to police harrassment and a stint in jail for alleged female impersonation although no charges were ever brought. She has dropped Andrew in favour of Audrey, which she feels doesn’t easily give away her gender. And she has written to the Registrar of Persons seeking new identification documents that explain the new traumatic sexual transformation that began when Andrew/Audrey was pursuing a university education. She is a transsexual; in this case a person identified at birth as a male who now feels she is a female. This makes it very difficult to determine the applicant’s “real” gender . . . Until the Registrar of Persons issues Andrew/Audrey with new identification documents that indicate the transsexual sex status, Mbugua says she will continue to face discrimination."

6-06-10:  Just Out (posted 6-04): "Topless Trans Sunbathers Provide Lesson in Gender and the Law"

"A group of topless sunbathers in Rhode Island is giving local law enforcement a lesson in gender identity and its complex relationship with legal definition of sex and “indecency.” Last week in Rehoboth Beach, police responded to complaints about topless women but found that because the women were transgender and still had male genitalia, they could not be charged with a crime based on the town’s indecency laws. The story is proving challenging for media as well, who can’t seem to decide if the sunbathers were transgender women or transgender men. For all those media outlets who are probably not reading this post, a person who is born male, but identifies as female, is a transgender woman."

6-05-10:  New York Daily News: "Can transgender men go topless? Sunbathers at Delaware's Rehoboth Beach raise eyebrows”

“Men go topless at the beach all the time - and so can transgender individuals if they have male genitalia, say Delaware police. Topless transgender men at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware drew complaints from beachgoers last weekend for baring their surgically enlarged breasts, according to Fox News. But the guys aren’t lawbreakers, says Police Chief Keith Banks. They can’t be charged with indecent exposure for showing off their breasts because they have male genitalia."

6-05-10:  The Sun (UK): "“Tranny ‘made caged kids scoff pet food’“

“A transsexual film-maker was arrested for allegedly keeping her children in cages and posting clips on the internet of them eating dog food . . . Neighbours called social services to Aussie-born Segretti's house in Wimbledon, South London, amid growing concerns for the pre-op transsexual's children. One man said: "Every day he's filming on the street, strutting round as a director dressed in leather mini-skirts, six-inch heels and black stockings. "Nobody cares how he dresses but we do care that he makes the kids the subject of his wacko films and that they looked underweight.””

[Cooked-up tabloid stories like this one, along with the endless sensationalizing of wacko-media-hounds like  'John Mark Carr', reveal a dark side to modern media culture - namely a tendency towards the mindless stigmatization of gender variant people, without a clue that this makes the media complicit in many hate crimes.]

6-04-10:  The Australian (Australia re Thailand): "Lives in Transit"

"Last year the Australian Passport Office issued 202 passports in which the stated gender was different to an earlier passport or to a birth certificate. Tara’s surgeon, Dr Kamol Pansritum, says he has presided over 10 sex-change operations on Australians in the past year, and he knows of at least 10 other surgeons in Bangkok who provide a similar service. One establishment, the Pratunam Polyclinic, has frequently advertised its services on the front page of the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper: $US1625 ($1980) for a sex change . . . Patients come to Bangkok from all over the world to have their gender changed. Kamol alone presided over more than 100 sex-change surgeries last year."

6-04-10:  Metro (UK): "Neil McMillan jailed for 22 years for Andrea Waddell murder"

"Neil McMillan will spend at least 22 years in prison after being convicted of the murder of transgender prostitute Andrea Waddell . . . The motive for the crime remains unclear, although it was suggested during the trial that McMillan may have become angry after discovering his 29-year-old victim had undergone gender reassignment surgery.

6-04-10:  ICGIHR: "International Congress on Gender Identity and Human Rights, Barcelona, Spain, June 4-6, 2010" (more, ES, FR)

"Human Rights Watch, along with several Spanish and foreign public administrations has decided to celebrate a global International Conference on Gender Identity and Human Rights, along with a broad coalition of groups and associations for the recognition of the rights of the transgender people and the Spanish and international LGTB movement. The idea of performing for the first time, a global conference with transgender people, by transgender people and for transgender people, aims as final target to gather and give voice to a group sparsely represented in society, to hear for the first time, with the participation of members around the world and from all cultures, an overall consideration of their problems, demands and proposed solutions. And finally, the adoption of a basic document addressed to the States, international organizations, associations and NGOs to serve as a working paper, line orientation and objectives document in the implementation of legislative policy and human rights protection to be applied to the Group of transgender people."

6-04-10:  STP2012 (International): "STOP TRANS PATHOLOGIZATION" (more)

International Demonstration of Trans-Intersex Struggle, Saturday June 5th, 2010 at 19h

Place: Pl. Universitat Metro (Underground) L1 y L2- Barcelona (Spain)

Organize: International Trans Depathologization Network"

Convoca: Trans-Block, Xarxa d’Acció Trans-Intersex de BCN

More info: www.stp2012.info; stp2012@gmail.com

This June the city of Barcelona will host diverse events of special relevance to trans people on a worldwide basis. On June 2nd at 20h in the Espai Francesca Bonnemaison, c/Sant Pere més Baix, 7. (Barcelona) there will be the official presentation of the first spanish book about trans depathologization entitled "El género desordenado: Críticas en torno a la patologización de la transexualidad". edited by Miquel Missé and Gerard Coll-Planas and published by EGALES. (more information at www.elgenerodesordenado.wordpress.com)

On June 4th and 5th the International Congress on Gender Identity and Human Rights will take place in the city (more info: www.congenid.org).

On Saturday June 5 at 19h there will be an international march of transgender and intersex visibility organized by the International Network for Trans Depathologization with the slogan STOP TRANS PATHOLOGIZATION (www.stp2012.info) We hope to see everyone in the streets, once again, The Trans Resistance

6-04-10:  The Scavenger: "Trans people not crazy: Time to say sorry", by Tracie O’Keefe

"The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has released a statement on its website urging the ‘de-psychopathologisation of gender variance’ worldwide. But while this is a good move, there is still much change needed within the organisation, writes Tracie O’Keefe. After years of campaigning by many trans civil rights activists and members of WPATH the old psycho-pathologising guard within the organisation has been defeated. They were a clutch of sexologists, psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists who earned their living from proffering the concept the trans people were crazy."

6-03-10:  JWeekly.com: "Transgender rabbi brings ‘joy and energy’ to Beth El"

"As the new assistant rabbi and music director at Berkeley’s Congregation Beth El, Reuben Zellman counts among his official duties tutoring b’nai mitzvah students and directing the choir. Unofficially, his job description includes one other bullet point: trailblazer. Zellman, 31, is only the second transgender rabbi ever ordained at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (he received his smicha on May 16 in Los Angeles)."

6-03-10:  Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Man charged with hate crime in Ballard transgender attack"

"A man was charged Thursday with malicious harassment -- the state's hate crime statute -- after police said he yelled a derogatory slur at a transgender woman and assaulted her. The incident happened about 3:50 p.m. Sunday at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest. The woman told an officer the suspect approached her at a bus stop, punched her several times with closed fists and yelled a slur at her. Court documents allege the suspect, 51-year-old Daniel Patrick Woodward, told the victim she "ought to die and go to hell" after yelling the slur."

6-03-10:  Human Resources Executive: "A Win for Transgenders"

"American Eagle Outfitters agreed to settle allegations of discrimination in New York that could open the door to friendlier policies for transgender workers. The case could have impact on HR in the future, but a bigger impact could be coming courtesy of a bill pending in Congress that would outlaw bias against transgendered workers."

6-03-10:  Associated Press: ""Transgender women go topless at Delaware beach"

"Rehoboth Beach in Delaware isn't a topless beach — but a few transgender women caused a stir by treating it like one. Police say passers-by complained after they removed their tops and revealed their surgically enhanced breasts over Memorial Day weekend. A lifeguard asked them to put their tops back on. They initially refused, but covered up before police arrived. Even if they hadn't, though, Police Chief Keith Banks notes they were doing nothing illegal. Since they have male genitalia, they can't be charged with indecent exposure for showing their breasts."

6-03-10:  Bay Windows (re Malawi): "Malawi gay couple misidentified in press", by Hannah Clay Wareham

"Mainstream news outlets -- as well as several LGBT publications, including Bay Windows -- identified Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza as a gay or same-sex couple. "It’s typical invisibility of the transgender community in a culture that’s uncomfortable with transgenderism," said Nancy Nangeroni, Chair of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC). In mainstream media, she said, the transgender community faces a tough dichotomy. "It’s either we’re being sensationalized or we’re being ignored . . . ""

6-03-10:  Bay Area Reporter (re Malawi): Transmissions: "Wedding rings and handcuffs", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith 

"Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza got engaged last December – their engagement got the pair a 14-year prison sentence for unnatural acts and gross indecency. You see, Chimbalanga and Monjeza live in the African nation of Malawi, and the law there on anything viewed as a homosexual act is clearly illegal. They were taunted and catcalled by others in their township, and many there have made it clear that they will not be welcome home.

Much has been made of this story in the Western press, with Chimbalanga and Monjeza's commitment to marry recast as a marriage, and Chimbalanga's identity stripped away from her by both the media and LGBT rights organizations in an effort to cast this story as a same-sex marriage. Indeed, Chimbalanga's identity as a woman has been erased by much of the media either through a lack of understanding of her identity, or a callous disregard for her identity in favor of political expediency."

6-03-10:  Asia One (re China): "Sex appeal - life of Chinese cross-dressers", by Gan Tian

"Wherever he goes traveling in China, he has trouble checking into a hotel . . . The problem? His identity card shows he's male, but he dresses like a woman. A 26-year-old teacher at a Beijing-based high school, who wished to remain nameless, wears shirts and trousers at work, but when he goes traveling on his own, or with friends, he wears skirts, leggings and high-heel shoes."

6-02-10:  The Boston Phoenix: "That's not my name! Think changing genders is tricky? Try changing your name", by Maddy Myers

"The transition process for transgender people, particularly transsexuals, might involve an expensive combination of surgeries, hormone-replacement therapy, and lesser tasks like perfecting one’s vocal tone or handwriting style. But one of the most pervasive proofs of a previous life doesn’t involve a physical change at all: it’s in the name."

6-02-10:  Guardian (UK): "A transgender journey: part one", by Juliet Jacques

"Juliet Jacques was born a boy, but always knew that something wasn't quite right. In the first of a series of columns charting her gender reassignment process, she describes how she gradually came to terms with her true identity" 

6-02-10:  New York Daily News: "John Mark Karr, man who claimed to kill JonBenet Ramsey, resurfaces, this time, as a woman" (more, more, more)

"John Mark Karr, the pale-faced teacher who falsely confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey, has resurfaced -- this time as a woman. Karr has not had a sex change, but refers to himself as a woman and holds a Washington state license under the name Delia Alexis Reich."

[Looks like this publicity-seeking pedophile has found a sure-fire angle to get media attention.]

6-02-10:  Amnesty Interntional (re Malawi): "Malawi couple could face further harassment"

"Amnesty International has warned that a Malawian couple given a presidential pardon following their conviction of “gross indecency” and “unnatural acts” could face further harassment unless the law is changed."

6-01-10:  Zambian Watchdog (re Malawi): "Malawian gay man missing"

"One of Malawi, gay partner pardoned by President Bingu wa Mutharika from a 14 year jail, Tiwonge Chimbalanga also well known as ‘Aunt Tiwo’ is reportedly missing. Chimbalanga was released from prison on Saturday after President Bingu wa Mutharika pardoned the gay couple on “humanitarian grounds”. . . But since his release, Aunt Tiwo has been at large. His brother-in-law, Maxwell Manda, who works at the High Court, said he had not seen Aunt Tiwo and pointed out that he wanted to leave Malawi upon his release."

6-01-10:  Edge: "Conservative Pundit: GLBT Equality A Matter of Eradicating Gender"

"A conservative commentator has come up with a theory as to what the GLBT civil rights struggle is all about: the elimination of gender distinctions . . . Otherwise, Prager argues, why would groups advocating for equality for sexual minorities include transgendered individuals? "What do the transgendered have to do with gays?" writes Prager in the online essay. "How and why are they connected by activists, gay and straight, on the left? Strictly speaking, gays have no more in common with transgendered people than straights do. "To understand the answer is to understand much of what animates the sexual Left.""

6-01-10:  The Advocate: "Trans Wheelchair User Wins IML 2010" (video)

"Tyler McCormick took home the title of International Mr. Leather in Chicago Sunday, setting precedent in several ways for the 32-year-old global contest. A female-to-male transgender man who uses a wheelchair, McCormick, who was Mr. Rio Grande of New Mexico, beat 50 other contestants for the title. "When I first transitioned, I was told I would never be accepted and that I would never be able to take my shirt off in public," he said during the speaking round of the competition. "Standing here as a strong, confident leatherman is proof to the contrary.""
 

6-01-10:  The Rational Enquirer, Oregon Department of Human Services (Posted 5-28): "Gender Identity: Transgender, Cisgender, Non-Gendered"  (PDF, 4mb)

"If you are the parent of, or know a transgender or gender nonconforming child or youth, it’s possible you may be thinking  about the very concept of gender identity in a completely new light. Perhaps you are examining the way in which you developed a sense of yourself as a man, woman, boy, girl or someone who doesn’t fit “neatly” into a gender category."

[The current issue of the Oregon Department of Human Services Teen Pregnancy Task Force newsletter, “The Rational Enquirer” features an article by TransActive Executive Director, Jenn Burleton. In the article Ms. Burleton discusses the development of gender non-conforming identity in very young children and youth and offers suggestions and guidelines to those who parent, care for or offer services to transgender children and their families.]
 

May 2010

5-31-10:  Athletic Business: "Student I.D. - Citing inclusivity, administrators are moving ahead with policies for transgender student-athletes."

"Within about a month's span in 2006, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association fielded phone calls from three school districts in different corners of the state. Each claimed to have a transgender student-athlete who wanted to participate on a high school sports team representing the gender opposite his or her biological gender. The association's swift action regarding the sensitive topic (one already addressed by the NCAA and International Olympic Committee) led to the nation's first gender identity eligibility policy for high school student-athletes. But only one other state has since followed suit. "

5-29-10:  Voice of America (re Malawi): "Malawi President Pardons Gay Couple after Talks with UN Chief" (more)

"President Bingu wa Mutharika said Saturday that he was ordering the release of the men on humanitarian grounds. He made the announcement after meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon."

5-27-10:  Richmond Times-Dispatch (posted 5-26): "Sexually reassigned, inmate’s alone among 96 males"

"Deena Kaye Myers entered the world on Christmas Eve 1981 with a birth defect so severe that males with the condition were often surgically altered to females. The newborn male was rushed from Danville Memorial Hospital to Duke University Medical Center for a series of neonatal operations. On Feb. 18, 1982, a Virginia birth certificate was filed recording Myers’ sex as female. Like others sexually reassigned at birth, Myers later had trouble with gender identity. She also had trouble with the law and is serving a 15-year sentence, for 11 felony convictions, in a dormitory with 96 male inmates. Myers admits that it is her own fault that she is behind bars, on convictions including robbery, but she contends her biggest problem in life is not one of her choosing: “I’m not a man. . . . I should never have been in a male prison.“

5-27-10:  Pink News (UK):  "Malaysian trans woman makes asylum bid"

"A trans Malaysian woman who has recently married a Derby man has lodged an appeal for asylum after three failed attempts to become a permanent UK resident. Fatine Young, 36, born Mohammed Fazdil Min Bahari, fears that she will be arrested and jailed if forced to return to her country of origin. Fatine and Ian Young were married in a civil ceremony at Derby Register office last year. Despite this, Ms Young's three separate applications for a permanent visa have been refused."

5-27-10:  New York Post: "Matt Lauer's non-lover once a he"

"Alexis Houston -- the singer who held a press conference last week to announce she never had sex with "Today" show host Matt Lauer -- had some interesting yesterdays. She used to be a man who called himself Wellington Houston . . . According to one source who has known the singer for years, Wellington had sex-change surgery three years ago after a man fell in love with the cross-dressing singer and paid for the operation. "She told me they got married in Niagara Falls," said our source, "but they have since separated.""

5-26-10:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Probe Into FPI ‘Drag Queen’ Raid Demanded"

"As the National Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday told police to investigate hard-liners from the Islamic Defenders Front for raiding and forcefully shutting down a civil-rights training session for transsexuals last month, a transsexual said such intimidation would not deter her or her friends from attending future sessions. “Any activity that educates should be supported, not dissolved. We expect being treated as equals. No such acts will scare me or my friends,” Merlyn Sopjan, head of the Malang Transsexuals Association (Iwama), told the Jakarta Globe. “To intimidate someone in the name of religion will only worsen the image of that hard-line group because many Indonesian Muslims despise their violent acts.”"

5-26-10:  The Guardian (UK re Pakistan): "Pakistan's hijras deserve acceptance", by Mustafa Qadri

"Pakistanis must challenge the routine prejudice that condemns an ancient transgender community to violence and ridicule. A great challenge for Pakistan has been crafting a sense of shared identity. But with much of the ensuing identity politics spiralling into sectarian and communal violence in recent decades, it isn't surprising that minorities here face the worst forms of neglect and persecution. There is no more maligned group of citizens in our country than those from its transgender community. Known variously as eunuchs, transgender or, in Urdu and Hindi, as hijras, they trace their origins to the pre-British royal courts of the Mughal empire and possibly even earlier, and are found not just in Pakistan but across the subcontinent. Under the Raj, the British tried to ban hijras as a breach of public decency but inevitably failed."

5-26-10:  L.A. Times: "Transgender rights advocates see a gradual series of victories"

"Last year brought the first federal law with protections for transgender people — the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act — along with scores of state and local ordinances banning discrimination based on gender identity. In February, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that hormone treatments and sex reassignment surgeries are tax-deductible, an important issue for transgender people . . . The biggest battle activists now face in Washington is for inclusion in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, a bill first introduced in 1994 to protect gay and lesbian people from prejudice on the job."

5-26-10:  Questioning Transphobia: "WPATH responds to the APA’s proposed DSM 5 Criteria for Gender Incongruence", by Helen G.

"I read the conclusion of the WPATH Consensus Group for revision of the DSM diagnoses of Gender Identity Disorders as being quite critical; it seems to be saying that the proposals are more stylistic than substantive, and that “the proposed diagnostic criteria are now so broad that almost any transgender person could meet criteria for a mental disorder regardless of whether or not they experience clinically significant distress and desire or need intervention“. "

[Includes a concise listing of WPATH's criticisms.]

5-25-10:  WPATH: "Response of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health to the Proposed DSM 5 Criteria for Gender Incongruence"

"The discussion whether a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder or Gender Incongruence should be included in the DSM or not is not addressed on the APA web site with the proposed revision and its rationale. One of the major arguments put forth by consumer groups for removal of the diagnosis, is that it is not a mental disease or disorder, and that classifying gender variance as such perpetuates stigma attached to gender nonconformity . . . Instead of broadening the diagnosis, the WPATH Consensus Group recommends a narrowing of the diagnosis to those who experience distress associated with gender incongruence . . .

Given the above discussion and WPATH’s recommendation for diagnoses based on distress instead of identity, it should come as no surprise that we favor changing the name of the diagnoses from Gender Identity Disorders to Gender Dysphoria . . . the term incongruence implies that congruence is the norm and that incongruence is per definition problematic, which is not necessarily the case. A person can be comfortable with variance among the various components of one’s sexual identity . . .

Placing Gender Incongruence under “Other Conditions that May be a Focus of Clinical Attention”. . . as long as this does not endanger health insurance coverage of transgender-specific health care, would go a long way in alleviating the criticism of professionals and consumers who advocate depathologization of gender variance and gender variant identities. The WPATH Consensus Group recommends that the diagnosis not be placed with the sexual disorders . . .

. . . the proposed diagnostic criteria are now so broad that almost any transgender person could meet criteria for a mental disorder regardless of whether or not they experience clinically significant distress and desire or need intervention. Hence, while the name is a commendable attempt to depathologize, the way it is operationalized makes the diagnosis of a mental disorder applicable to more rather than fewer transgender individuals.

[With this Response, WPATH politely but firmly criticizes the APA's proposed revisions of the DSM sections pathologizing gender variance.]

5-25-10:  Global Times (China): "Sociologists disagree over burgeoning transvestite phenomenon"

"An online "weiniang" forum has now appeared on baidu. com, China's leading search engine, with over 4,200 registered members by Wednesday. The forum features a guide including the definition of a weiniang and how to become one. Weiniang are welcomed in entertainment circles. Liu Zhu, 19, a sophomore student from Sichuan Conservatory of Music became famous for his weiniang style when he participated in the 2010 Super Boy series on Hunan Satellite TV . . . However, the weiniang phenomenon has sparked controversy . . . "If the society turns a blind eye to the weiniang phenomenon, more and more young men will become more female, causing a lack of courage and spirit in enduring hardship," Hao Maishou, a professor at Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, told the Tianjin-based Metro Express . . . "

5-25-10:  The Times (UK): "UK won't give transsexual boobs"

"A 58-year-old British transsexual has lost her court battle over the state-funded health service's refusal to pay for a breast enlargement, which she claimed violated her human rights"

5-25-10:  Daily Nation (Kenya): "Groups drawn to intersex convict’s case"

"Activists for and against gay unions have joined a case filed by an intersex convict seeking the legalisation of a third gender in Kenya . . . In the case, Richard Muasya, who was born with both male and female genital organs, but goes about as a man, has sued the government, saying that the laws of the land discriminate against him and others like him."

5-25-10:  Edge Boston (re Puerto Rico): "Another transgender woman murdered in Puerto Rico"

"For the second time in less than two months, Puerto Rican police are investigating the murder of a transgender woman in her home. Police say Angie González Oquendo, 38, was strangled to death with an electrical cord . . . González’s murder comes roughly five weeks after authorities discovered Ashley Santiago stabbed to death in her home in Corozal; and less than two weeks after the man prosecutors had accused of killing gay teenager Jorge Steven López Mercado before decapitating, dismembering and partially burning his body before dumping it along a remote roadside . . . "

5-25-10:  Associated Press (re Pakistan): "Police in NW Pakistan stop transgender wedding"

"Police in northwestern Pakistan broke up an apparent wedding between a businessman and his transgender bride, saying Tuesday they could face seven years in prison for violating laws against same-sex marriage in the devoutly Muslim country . . . Authorities also detained 43 guests, who were dancing to drums when authorities made the raid Monday in Peshawar city . . . Businessman Iqbal Khan, 48, and his alleged bride, an 18-year-old whose formal name is Kashif but goes by Rani, will be charged with attempted sodomy, police official Shaukat Ali said. If convicted, they could face seven years imprisonment."

5-24-10:  She Wired: "Penis Rumors Make Gaga Proud!"

"Since her meteoric flight to mega stardom began Lady Gaga has faced media scrutiny, as all famous folk who capitalize on building a unique brand do, but one little rumor that has persisted but failed to vex the paradigm of new pop is the canard that she's toting a penis. Remarking on the rumors that she's got male sex organs going on beneath her tights Gaga told a French TV station, "I love the rumor I have a penis. I'm fascinated by it. In fact, it makes me love my fans even more that this rumor is in the world because 17,000 of them come to an arena every night and they don't care if I'm a man, a woman, a hermaphrodite, gay, straight, transgendered, or transsexual. They don't care! They are there for the music and the freedom. This has been the greatest accomplishment of my life - to get young people to throw away what society has taught them is wrong."

5-24-10:  The Bilerico Project: "The VA has a New Directive on the Treatment of Transgender Veterans"

"The VA has a new directive on the treatment of Transgender Veterans, but they won't release it. This is becoming a theme with the Obama Administration. Tell LGBT people that their issues are important then do nothing to make them a reality. Transgender veterans have decided not to be quiet about this issue any longer."

5-24-10:  The Virgina Pilot: "He's now a she and wants to serve the VFW as a woman"

"Bush spoke with post commander Joe Brady, who gave Bush permission to speak at the April meeting about being transgender. The term refers to people whose gender identities, expressions or behaviors differ from that of the sex they were born. But Brady didn't expect Bush, 44, to show up wearing what would have been appropriate for a female post officer: blue blazer, woman's necktie, gray skirt, lipstick and pumps. "First, let me say that I love Post 392 and the work I do here," Bush told the group. "But as you can see, I am undergoing a life-altering transformation." . . . Brady, however, said Bush disrupted the post by coming in dressed as a female, upsetting and embarrassing other members - many of whom are in their 50s and 60s."

5-23-10:  Las Vegas City Life (posted 5-20): "License to change - A decade after they were promised, Nevada transgendered must still wait to officially change genders", by Jason Whited

"Amber LaMay could not believe the words coming out of the mouth of the man sitting in front of her. "What do you think God is gonna think about what you're doing to your body, what you're trying to do legally right now, and what do people at your work and your family think about it?" the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles technician allegedly asked the 35-year-old LaMay, a local transgendered woman who had come in to the office on a mid-February day to change the gender on her driver's license . . . Unfortunately, LaMay's tale is far from unusual. Of the estimated thousands of transgendered individuals across Southern Nevada, horror stories of their encountering moral grandstanding by Nevada Department of Motor Vehicle technicians are common. If you think your wait at the local DMV office is bad, said local trans folks, try waiting the better part of a decade to change your license."

[An important story: imagine trying to get a decent job, use credit cards and travel freely without proper ID. Many thanks to Amber LeMay for going public with her story, and for pressing for correction of this terrible situation.]

5-23-10:  The Times of India (India): "'I was a woman within’"

"India’s first transsexual celebrity talk show host tells Indrani Rajkhowa Banerjee about her journey from Ramesh to Rose"

5-22-10:  The Guardian (UK re Malawi): "Once again the 'T' in LGBT is silencedThe case of the jailed Malawian 'gay' couple is all the worse as one partner has had her transgender identity airbrushed out", by Natacha Kennedy (more, more)

"There has rightly been an international outcry in response to the couple's barbaric treatment, but the protest has been against the perceived homophobia of Malawi's law courts. The problem is, however, that one half of this couple does not primarily identify as gay. Tiwonge is most probably transgender but possibly intersex (in many parts of Africa people do not actually have clear vocabulary to express this), and considers herself a woman. Indeed she has lived "as a woman" all her life."

5-22-10:  San Diego 6: "Jessica's Journey: Transgender SDSU Student"

"Graduation season is here. One SDSU student's academic career has been filled with change. Included in that change: Jessica's gender . . . Jessica had surgery to change her gender when she was 18. "My sex was classified from the day I was born but that wasn't what was on my mind...I was focused on trying to find my own identity." And she has, becoming State's first transgender student to receive the outstanding student award for the computer science department."

5-21-10:  LezGetReal (re Malawi): "Media Coverage Of Malawi Convictions Erases Chimbalanga’s Identity As A Woman", by Bridgette P. LaVictoire

"At what point is a gay man not a gay man? When she is a woman. The case in Malawi has shown something rather horrific about the media and about even the LGBT media. The couple who were sentenced to fourteen years in prison for “unnatural acts” is not a gay couple. They are a straight couple. Tiwonge Chimbalanga does not identify as a man; instead, she identifies as a woman. This creates something of an inconvenient narrative for many media outlets. This information is coming to light only just now. Several quotes from Ms Chimbalanga have been altered or ignored by many media outlets in order to make this about a gay couple instead of a straight couple involving a man and a transwoman."

5-21-10:  The Guardian (UK): "Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother - The famous Arquette sibling's road to sex reassignment surgery swerved all over the place"

"As a portrait of a personality in flux, Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother (More4) was a masterpiece of expressionistic evasion. Filmed in 2005, this series of wobbly video diaries and disjointed interviews captured the transgender actor (and sibling to Patricia, Rosanna and David) in the months leading up to sex reassignment surgery . . . Perhaps the scrambled format was intended to reflect Arquette's mounting ambivalence towards her operation. More likely is that the producers didn't know their fluorescent lime thong from their elbow."

5-21-10:  The Sun (UK): "Third time a lady"

"A TRANSSEXUAL who used to be an RAF serviceman called Ron will today walk down the aisle for the third time after undergoing a full sex change - and said last night: "I always dreamed one day it would be as a woman.""

5-20-10:  Gender Dynamics YouTube channel (South Africa, re Malawi): "Protest - Cape Town. Conviction of Malawi "gay" couple"

"Gender DynamiX activists join other protesters in Cape Town urging SA government to negotiate the release of Transgender Woman and her partner."

[Important note: The couple arrested in Malawi are not "gay", for one of them identifies as a woman.]

5-20-10:  New York Times (re Malawi): "Gay Couple in Malawi Get Maximum Sentence of 14 Years in Prison"

"Two gay men in Malawi, convicted this week of unnatural acts and gross indecency, were sentenced Thursday to the maximum penalty allowed by law, 14 years of hard labor in prison. The harsh sentence was immediately deplored by human rights groups around the world, but Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa, in reading his judgment, seemed adamant in his ruling . . . Homosexuality is regarded as detestable by most people in Malawi, an impoverished nation of 15 million in southern Africa. Gays, lesbians and transgender people do not dare demonstrate their affections in public. This custom of concealment is what made the engagement party — called a chinkhoswe in the Chichewa language — held at a lodge in Blantyre so exceptional . . . But the two have denied that any heroics were intended. Their actions were not planned as any assertion of gay rights, they said. They were simply naïve about the possible repercussions. “I just wanted people to know we were in love,” Mr. Chimbalanga said in an interview earlier this year. He said he considered himself a woman and had been eager to dress as a bride." 

5-20-10:  Pams Houseblend: "Talking Transgender Advocacy, ENDA, And ENDA Bathroom Language With NCTE's Mara Keisling", by: Autumn Sandeen (with links to three videos)

"I tend to think the three part interview in this diary is a pretty important interview for anyone who cares about a fully inclusive ENDA passing into law. In the three videos below, I interview Mara Keisling, the Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE). The interview was conducted on May 16, 2010, at the 5th Annual California Transgender Leadership Summit (CLTS 1010). NCTE was one of the five lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organizations "in the room" (another being the HRC) that worked with Rep. Barney Frank on this year's version of ENDA; NCTE was the only trans-specific civil rights organization "in the room" during the behind the scenes ENDA discussions. Along with Ethan St. Pierre's interview of Rep. Frank's legislative aide Diego Sanchez for TransFM, these are the two must hear/must see interviews if you're concerned about a ENDA -- especially if you care if ENDA is fully inclusive"

5-20-10:  Edge Boston (re Milwaukee): "Transgender woman murdered on Milwaukee street"

"While mainstream media’s news reports of Dana A. "Chanel" Larkin’s murder on Friday, May 7, in Milwaukee have focused on the alleged perpetrator’s version of what he said happened, the crime’s scant media coverage has offered little to no information on who she was. According to those who did know her, Larkin, 26, was a young transgender woman of color who loved her family and friends. She had turned to sex work to make ends meet . . . In response to the murder, trans Milwaukeeans have expressed alarm at media reports that have called Larkin a "cross-dressing prostitute" or "man posed as a female." Those who knew her say she had identified as a woman since she was 16 and had wanted to change her birth gender identity as early as age three. Michael Munson, executive director of the Milwaukee-based trans advocacy organization FORGE, expressed sadness over Larkin’s murder and disappointment over how the city’s media has covered it."

5-20-10:  The Philadelphia Gay News: "Trans woman gets favorable PHRC ruling"

"The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has ruled that a transgender woman probably was discriminated against when she was denied access to the women’s restroom at her former job. Kate Lynn Blatt, of Pottsville, worked at Cabela’s Retail Store Inc. from September 2006 until March 2007 as a seasonal stocker. She earned about $400 weekly, she said. The store, located in Hamburg, is part of a chain that specializes in outdoor hunting and fishing equipment."

5-20-10:  Huffington Post: "The Hypocrisy of "Glee's" Ryan Murphy Concerning the Transphobia On His Other Show "Nip/Tuck"", by Ashley Love

"Images of women of transsexual experience should not be appropriated by gay male producers in a way that makes a mockery of our lives and further stigmatize us . . . In many cases these offensive media images are often created by gay male producers. This says volumes about the transphobia and/or ignorance that is evident within our own LGBT community. We hesitate from airing internal community issues publically, but since Hollywood is projecting all these sensational, inaccurate and harmful images of transsexual women in film and TV, we feel compelled to expose the double standard. Your show "Nip/Tuck" has been charged by many with negatively stereotyping transsexual women as hypersexualized, deceivers, mentally unstable, murderous, "gay men with wigs on", perverts, confused and dishonest in their gender. This hurts more than you apparently know."

5-20-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "The ENDA football", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

"While no one has actually made public any of ENDA's current language, it's clear that transgender people are once again en route to possibly being disappointed. We may well be included, but the language is vague enough to leave a lot to be desired. What is a "reasonable accommodation?" Who defines "right" and "wrong," and is someone going to stand at the restroom door, checking what's in a person's pants? Likewise, why is a restroom being occupied an issue? Have these lawmakers never seen a stall with a door on it before?"

5-19-10:  National Post (Canada, re South Africa): "Eight athletes secretly banned over gender doubt" (more)

"Eight female athletes with doubts over their gender have been secretly banned by the Olympic and athletics' governing bodies to protect the sport's image, a leading sports scientist has told Reuters . . . The comments follow the controversy over the gender verification of world champion runner Caster Semenya who is still awaiting the results of a IAAF investigation after she cruised to gold in the women's 800 metres in Berlin last August. "As many as eight ‘intersex' women may have been expelled from athletics in the past and I gather that they were warned that if they made a fuss, they would be exposed," Noakes told Reuters in a telephone interview. "So it seems it's not about athletic advantage, it's about keeping the Olympics free of ‘intersex' athletes, free of unwanted complications."  

5-19-10:  KTAL6 ArkLaTex.com: "Life as a Transgender Student" (with video)

"For most nine year olds, life centers around toys, recess, and ice cream sundaes. But for Josie Romero, life to this point hasn't been easy. Josie was born a boy named Joey, and diagnosed as transgender. When it comes to Josie's education, her parents say discrimination keeps."

5-19-10:  Le Express (France; posted 5-17): "France launches an appeal to the WHO on transsexualism" (Article in French. You can use Google 'Translate' to read in English) (more, more, more, more, more)

"France announced Monday its intention to request the World Health Organization to remove transsexualism from the list of mental illnesses, such as WHO did for homosexuality in 1990. Departments of Health and Foreign Affairs have written a message to that effect during the International Day against homophobia and transphobia. "The fight against violations of human rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity is one of the axes of France's policy on human rights," they write.""

5-18-10:  The Canadian (Canada; posted 5-14): "Transgender Perspectives: What is Normal?", by Brianna Austin

"Guilt and shame in the transgender community was almost the status quo until recent years, because there was a “perception” that it was, or is, not only abnormal, but also wrong. But in the end normal is really just an opinion isn’t it. It is someone’s interpretation of what is right, or what God intended, or of any information from which they derive their conclusions . . . But to me, when you allow society as a whole to define normal you are allowing others to define who you are and who you should be, based upon their perception. And if we are confined to a belief system based on perception, then like the Elephant that as a baby had it’s leg shackled to the stake in the ground, which as an adult believed it could not break free from, we remain bound to that perception: it becomes our reality."

5-18-10:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Discrimination Fuels Surge in HIV Cases"

"Ingrained social discrimination against gays and transsexuals, at times by the very health care workers charged with helping them, is a major contributor to the spread of HIV/AIDS among these groups in Indonesia, activists said on Tuesday. “The discrimination they experience, including from health officials, makes them reluctant to seek treatment to curb the spread of the virus,” said Nafsiah Mboi, secretary general of the National AIDS Prevention Commission."

5-18-10:  World Expeditions (UK; posted 4-07-10): "Jan Morris to speak at RGS in May" (more)

"The Himalayan Trust UK have announced that the speaker at their 2010 Sir Edmund Hillary memorial lecture will be Jan Morris. For those with a grasp on Everest history you will already know that Jan played a major role in the overall history of the first summit of Mt Everest in 1953. She wasn't a climber though, she was an 'outsider'. For those who know little about Jan, following is a brief profile on Jan and her prolific career as told by George Band, the youngest member of the 1953 British expedition to Everest . . . On 27th May 2010 we will be privileged to meet and hear Jan Morris speak at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington. I hope you will be able to come, as she is a most remarkable person and few have lived such a full and colourful life. “Surely one of our greatest living writers”, said The Times . . . "

[Includes a wonderful profile of Jan.]

5-18-10:  BBC News (re Indonesia): "Indonesian in transgender wedding 'fraud' trial"

"A man has gone on trial in Indonesia accused of falsifying his gender identity in order to marry a woman. Doctors say Alterina Hofan has the rare condition Klinefelter's syndrome, where a male has an additional X chromosome that makes him look more like a woman. He says he officially changed his identity papers to show he was a male but his wife's parents have accused him of document fraud."

5-17-10:  Wall Street Journal: "‘Out’ at Work and Out of the Bubble"

"In a perfect world, sexual-orientation identity would be a nonissue for any new employee or graduate student. Yet the politics and reality are often very different once gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students graduate from college . . . If you are a GLBT-identified student, keep an open mind if you are searching for a job. Be prepared for a different environment either at work or in graduate school than you experienced in college."

5-16-10:  Miami Herald: "Transgender candidate a label-free conservative"

"Donna Milo, a transgender conservative Republican running in the GOP primary for Congress, will speak Monday night to a gay Republican club in Fort Lauderdale."

5-15-10:  The Times (South Africa): "Caster 'a victim of image management'"

"Sports scientist Tim Noakes believes intersex athletes were banned from competition by the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to protect the image of the sport and not because of any proven unfair advantage gained by women with the condition. "As many as eight intersex women may have been expelled from athletics in the past and I gather that they were warned that if they made a fuss, they would be exposed. So it seems it's not about athletic advantage, it's about keeping the Olympics free of unwanted complications. It sends the message that women must do what men say and if the eight athletes had to be sacrificed, so be it, which I find very disturbing," Noakes told the Sunday Times."

5-16-10:  Xinhua (China re Cuba): "Symbol of Cuban free surgery sex change program interviewed"

"Wendy Iriepa, a transsexual who has undergone a sex change operation, speaks to Reuters in an interview in Havana May 12, 2010. Today this 36-year-old tall, blond, exuberant Cuban is the symbol of a revolutionary program of free surgery sex change in Cuba promoted by Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raul Castro."

5-15-10:  Washington Post: "Top backers of gay/transgender nondiscrimination bill push for a vote"

"Proponents of a bill known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would provide job protections for gay and transgender workers, are counting votes to see whether they could bring the measure to the floor for action. The legislation is unnerving moderate and conservative Democrats who face brutal reelection battles this fall, and its prospects of passing the Senate appear slim. Nevertheless, its top backers are moving forward."

5-15-10:  Contra Costa Times: "Hate crime victim works to overcome trauma - Transgender student, attacked at CSULB, helps arrange Pride events"

"Colle Carpenter says he will overcome the traumatic hate crime attack he endured April 15 on the Cal State Long Beach campus, but it's a struggle. The 27-year-old transgender graduate student was approached by a man inside the restroom on the west side of the campus's KKJZ radio station building. The suspect called Carpenter by his first name and asked if he was Carpenter. After Carpenter said he was, the suspect pulled Carpenter's T-shirt over his head, pushed him into the stall and used a sharp object to carve the word "It" into Carpenter's chest."

5-14-10:  The Leadership Conference: "Federal Sentencing Guidelines Amended to Include Gender Identity"

"The U.S. Sentencing Commission recently adopted changes to the federal sentencing guidelines to permit crimes in which the victim is intentionally selected on the basis of gender identity to be eligible for sentencing enhancements . . . "This is the first time gender identity has been included in the sentencing guidelines – and another ancillary benefit of enactment of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act," said Michael Lieberman, Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League."

5-14-10:  The Texas Tribune: "Anatomy of a Controversy"

"For all the handwringing by politicians and courts over the anatomy and sexual orientation of married couples in Texas, the saga of Hill and Bur is infinitely more complicated and agonizing. Raised as a boy but never quite man enough for her father, Hill endured decades of abuse at the hands of those she expected to love and protect her. After discovering at age 28 that she had female internal organs, she came to terms with her identity and eventually found someone who accepted and loved her. That person happened to be a woman. In the ultimate irony of an arduous life, Hill is now legally married to a woman solely because of the gender on her birth certificate — the one she could never truly accept."

5-13-10:  The Advocate: "GOP Tricks Worry Dems on ENDA" (more, more)

"Democratic aides said Thursday that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is still headed for a vote, but they continue to be concerned about Republicans offering what’s known as a “motion to recommit” to the legislation that might torpedo the bill or reduce its transgender protections. "

5-13-10:  Inclusive ENDA Facebook Campaign: "ENDA Now: Write a Letter to Congress"

"Congress will soon be voting on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In essence, it’s a jobs bill providing workplace protections to the lesbian, gay,bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community."

5-13-10:  BBC News (UK): "Reading transsexual to wait for NHS breast op ruling"

"A transsexual who started a High Court battle for the legal right to NHS funding for breast augmentation surgery will have to wait for a judgement. The woman, of Reading, and referred to as C, is fighting a test case against a continuing refusal by West Berkshire PCT to fund the £2,300 procedure."

5-13-10:  Gay NZ (New Zealand): "Transgender youth "vulnerable" to sex industry"

"An area of concern that emerged was transgender youth, who the researchers found are particularly vulnerable to being drawn into the industry and need greater support . . . "Transgender participants in our study tended to start sex work, on the street, at an early age because they had often left home as a result of conflict within their families about their gender identity," she says. "They then found some sense of community with other transgender people on the street." Abel adds that when transgender participants tried employment in other occupations, they were often discriminated against and made to feel like everybody was staring and talking about them."

5-13-10:  Mainichi Daily News (Japan): "Gov't advises schools on responding to needs of students with gender identity disorder"

"The government has advised schools across Japan to thoroughly discuss the education of students with gender identity disorder (GID), and to give the feelings of such children the utmost consideration. Students with GID -- who feel uncomfortable with their biological gender and identify strongly with the opposite sex -- often experience stress over everyday school life, such as putting on their uniform or using the toilets and change rooms, and this sometimes leads the children to stop coming to school . . . "This year, Saitama Prefecture approved gender reassignment in its public elementary schools, as did Kagoshima Prefecture in its public junior high schools. The advisory from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, however, was the first time the central government has taken a position on the issue.""

5-12-10:  Seattle University Spectator: "Trashy ‘Family Guy’ slams trans culture" (more, more, more)

"“Family Guy” has long been a cartoon notorious for taking its jokes too far, but most of the time that’s ok . . .  But the latest “Family Guy” episode, “Quagmire’s Dad,” takes the “offensively funny” idea to a whole new level—one where it fails to be funny and just comes off as totally and completely offensive . . . By insinuating that transsexuals should be treated like sex offenders and put on registries in communities, “Family Guy” has crossed the line from offensive to abusive. I am not transsexual or transgendered, but I know people who are, and I can only imagine how they must feel watching this show persecute them under the guise of entertainment."

5-12-10:  LGBT Asylum News (re Singapore): "Singapore: Transgender women launch campaign to end discrimination"

"After being verbally abused and asked to leave a club for a second time in months, a transgender performance artist and two other transgender women have taken a stand and launched a campaign to end discrimination against their community."

5-12-10:  Gendered Intelligence (UK): "The Trans Community Conference 2010, Friday 16th July 2010 9am - 6pm" (more, more)

"The Trans Community Conference 2010 is a one-day gathering featuring a series of workshops for members of the trans community from across the UK, as well as professionals who work with the trans community. The trans community includes family members, partners and lovers and friends and allies. The conference will celebrate our diversity of identities and knowledge, as well as the different groups, organisations and projects that our community offers. This year's conference hopes to take a more creative approach to the themes of education, equalities and diversities, policy and practice, political activism and work carried out in the voluntary and community sector."

5-12-10:  New York Daily News: "Transgenders win discriminmation tiff with American Eagle Outfitters"

"Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has forced the flannel and khaki outpost to make some changes, including nixing a rule about employee "personal appearance" that banned men from wearing women's clothing and ladies from dressing as guys . . . The chain store also has agreed to train its staff on transgender issues - like which pronouns to use when referring to workers and customers. The April settlement is the first crackdown against a retailer under the section of the state's Human Rights Law that bars employers from discriminating against applicants because of their gender identity."

5-12-10:  Sydney Star Observer (Australia): "Goodbye to ‘quiet trailblazer’"

"Tributes have started flowing for Tasmanian transgender activist Roz Houston, who passed away in Burnie on Monday after a long illness. Houston — a passionate human rights campaigner — was said to be one of the first transgender Tasmanians to openly speak out against transphobia and discrimination in the southern state. Tasmanian transgender spokeswoman Martine Delaney hailed Houston as a “trailblazer.” “For many transgender Tasmanians, including myself, Roz was our first connection to someone who understood, who let you know you weren’t alone and who felt pride in her difference and identity."

5-11-10:  The Jewish Journal: "Transgender Rabbinical Students Finding Equality in the Jewish World"

"At 20, Reuben — who grew up as Claire — made the decision to begin living life as a man. “That’s what was right for me,” he said simply, declining to elaborate on his personal history. Several years later, he said, he found his calling: to become a rabbi. In 2003, Zellman became the first transgender rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and, for that matter, in the entire Jewish community. On May 16, in a ceremony at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Zellman, now 31, will be one of 22 students to be ordained as a Reform rabbi. That he has reached this point is not just his own accomplishment, but also that of a much larger, oft-misunderstood group that is working its way along a path to acceptance — both within the Jewish community and the world at large. "

5-11-10:  Bay Windows (Boston): "Transgender Rights Bill receives more support, extended deadline"

"Amid resolutions and commendations, hopes are high for bill to pass . . . The City Council last week passed a unanimous resolution backing the bill and joined the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in publicly voicing their support . . . Gunner Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), said that the organization "is grateful for the continued support of the Boston City Council and hopes that our state leaders will follow this wise example and extend civil rights to our state’s transgender citizens.""

5-11-10:  BBC News (UK): "Brighton prostitute murder accused 'looked pale'" (more, more, more)

"A man accused of strangling a woman in her flat in Brighton appeared "pale and subdued" after the alleged murder, a court has heard. The prosecution says Neil McMillan, 42, spent hours drinking and looking at pornography before visiting prostitute Andrea Waddell, 29, on 15 October."

5-10-10:  Dallas Voice: "‘Family Guy’: Funny or just plain offensive?"  (more, more)

"At first, the jokes are silly but funny-ish about the discomfort people have with transgenders. (”Do you miss your penis?” someone asks.) But the discomfort escalates, especially after Brian the dog has sex with the post-op woman, and upon learning she was trans, violently vomits for 29 seconds. That’s a long time on TV. And there’s no coda at the end, no “let’s make up and be friends” apologia."

5-09-10:  Merinews (India): "Christy Raj: India's first transgender journalist" (more)

"Volunteers's IndiaUnhard community news service is truly a team of people with unique experience and unique perspective. Meet Christy Raj, IndiaUnheard's correspondent from Bangalore and India's first transgender journalist."

5-09-10:  Pattaya Daily News (Thailand): ‘Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2010’ Final Showpiece Event" (more)

"The final of the Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2010 contest was held on Friday night at North Pattaya’s Tiffany Theatre to great applause. The winner of the event, a 19-year-old Bangkok university student, received a check for Bt100,000, a new Honda Jazz plus the added attention that comes with being the Miss Tiffany Universe winner."

5-08-10:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Long road to acceptance for man who became woman”

“For Sparks, standing up and smoothing her black knit sweater with gold buttons, her small earrings dangling, the message is to "move along the path until there is peace." "This is my life," she said. "This is where it's taken me. I'm 61. I lived as a man for 48 years. I feel blessed. Now I see the world from both sides"”

5-08-10:  CBC News: "Chaz Bono officially a man: Judge grants request to change name, gender"

"Chaz Bono is officially a man after his request to change his name and gender was granted by a Santa Monica, Calif., judge on Thursday. The 41-year-old child of pop star Cher and the late Sonny Bono was born a girl and named Chastity. He started gender reassignment surgery last year, just after his 40th birthday."

5-08-10:  One India (India): "): Rose Venkatesan, India's first transgender to become a television host celebrated her first birthday as a woman."

"Thirty-year-old Rose underwent a sex-change surgery in March this year in Thailand to officially become a woman. An engineering graduate with two post graduate degrees from a US university, Rose was forced out of her home because her parents disapproved of her cross-dressing and sissy mannerism in lifestyle, which in her words were 'girlie ways'. "In India, transgender people are looked down upon. They are removed from society. Their basic survival, sources of income and everything are removed and they are forced to a pathetic life," said Rose. "I think this is so not only in India but in most parts of the world. So transgender people are forced to live a very terrible life from the very beginning of their childhood," she added describing her early days."

5-07-10:  BBC World service (UK re Canada): "Global Perspective: Middle C"

"This year the international documentary series Global Perspective has the theme ‘At the Edge’. For the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, this is explored in the first person documentary Middle C, in which Tristan Whiston chronicles his year-long gender transition from woman to man - through the change in his singing voice . . . Tristan starts out as a soprano whose voice soars on the high notes. As the testosterone takes effect on Tristan’s body, that sublime voice is ripped to shreds and has to be completely recast - just like his identity."

5-07-10:  Deccan Herald (India): "I feel like a butterfly, says Rose after becoming woman"

“I feel like a butterfly,” said Rose Venkatesan, 30, India’s first transgender television anchor who underwent a sex change operation to become a woman . . . Belonging to a middle class Tamil family, Rose was brought up as a boy and educated at two elite schools in Chennai. “After my education I decided to be myself. I understood that nobody can take away my degree and knowledge” . . . On her future plans, Rose said: “I have readied a feature film script based on the happenings in my life. The film will be made in Tamil and English”. . .  Rose said she is happy to have played a significant role in bringing the plight of transgenders to the spotlight." 

5-07-10:  The Hill: "Transgender anti-discrimination bill becomes tough sell for centrist Dems"

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership are pushing legislation, written by Rep. Barney Frank, that would made it illegal for employers to discriminate against transgendered people. The bill scares centrist Democrats, who don't want to be forced to vote on a hot-button issue popular on the left as they approach November congressional elections in which heavy Democratic losses are expected."

5-07-10: MSNBC: “Anti-gay hypocrite (George Rekers, co-founder of the Family Research Council) is news because of his activism” (more, more)
“Rachel Maddow explains what’s really scandalous about revelations that anti-gay activist George Alan Rekers is gay. It’s not his personal life but his efforts to impost his self-loathing on the rest of society.”

5-07-10:  LGBT Asylum News (re Zimbabwe): "Homosexuality in Zimbabwe – towards a culture of tolerance"

"It is fallacious, therefore, for present-day Zimbabweans to claim that “tradition” dictates that homosexuality is “un-African”. That homophobia is very modern and it has colonial roots. And so it is very wrong, actually, to blame colonialism for introducing homosexuality in Africa because, to the contrary, European colonists were notoriously homophobic."

5-06-10:  Access Hollywood: "Chaz Bono Gets Legal Sign Off On Gender Change"

"Chaz Bono has become a man – in the eyes of the law. The star, who began his transition from female to male in March 2009, earned a legal sign-off on his new gender on Thursday, Access Hollywood has learned."

5-06-10:  Razor TV (Singapore; posted 5-05): "Chased out of a club in Clarke Quay (Sisters in Solidarity Pt1)" (more)

"Reports of a transgender woman being denied entry into a nightclub has sparked off indignation amongst Singapore’s transgender community. A new educational campaign, Sisters in Solidarity, aims to address this discrimination."

5-06-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Hated it", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith" (more)

"On April 20, transgender blogger Autumn Sandeen stood arm in arm with five other out veterans. Each was handcuffed to a fence outside the White House in a defiant gesture drawing attention to the need to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" . . . After volunteering to police about her transgender status, she was asked for her "given name" . . . She was put in a police van with the male veterans, and during processing was called an impersonator . . . A U.S. marshal was reported to say, according to Corporal Evelyn Thomas and Cadet Mara Boyd, "Did you see it? . . . Did you see the shim in the Navy Uniform?" This is the face of hatred out there. These are the people that those of us who are transgender get to face, and the way we are treated when civility breaks down. Our gender becomes the subject of open debate, or we are left genderless, an "it" who does not deserve to be treated fairly."

[A very sad story and a comment on our times. We have a long way to go folks.]

5-06-10 (posted 4-26):  Pams House Blend: "President Obama: A Transgender Veteran Is Not An ''Impersonator,'' ''It,'' Or ''Shim'', by: Autumn Sandeen

"Dear President Barack Obama, My name is Autumn Sandeen, I'm a retired, disabled Fire Controlman, First Class Petty Officer; I retired in 2000 from the U.S. Navy after twenty years of service. You may know my name already, as I was one of the six military veterans who handcuffed ourselves to the White House fence on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010, to put pressure on you to include the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in your submission of the Defense Authorization Budget. I am writing today to bring to your attention the discriminatory behavior I was subjected to as a transgender woman by your federal law enforcement officers."

5-06-10:  The Online Citizen (Singapore): "Transgender women in Singapore launch campaign to end discrimination"

"After being verbally abused and asked to leave a club for a second time in months, a transgender performance artist and two other transgender women have taken a stand and launched a campaign to end discrimination against their community . . .“What is alarming is the club operators are targeting transgender women at random and verbally abusing, publicly humiliating and throwing out those they perceive as transgender, based on physical attributes such as large hands, angular jaw lines, low voices and other such stereotypical assumptions. When in doubt, they then use the gender status on the identity card as a crude measure of ‘acceptability’ and as a passport to entry.” Lo, a Founding Working Group member of the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network, said in a statement."

5-05-10:  San Jose Mercury News: "Oakland lifts century-old ban on cross-dressing"

"Not content to let sleeping laws lie, the Oakland City Council is moving to strike a 130-year-old ordinance that bans cross-dressing in public. The council voted 7-0 on Tuesday to remove the ban from the city's municipal code. A second vote, which is needed to seal the repeal, is scheduled for May 18. The ordinance, adopted in 1879, bans people from dressing "in the attire of a person of the opposite sex.""

5-05-10:  The Statesman (Texas): "In marriage cases, how should sex be determined?" (more, more, more)

"Woman born male marries girlfriend; attorney general asked to decide which ID legit.  El Paso County has asked Attorney General Greg Abbott for advice on how to distinguish men from women, and the answer could play a role in the divisive debate over same-sex marriage."

5-05-10:  Miami New Times: "Christian right leader George Rekers takes vacation with "rent boy"" (more, more, more, more, more)

"On April 13, the "rent boy" (whom we'll call Lucien) arrived at Miami International Airport on Iberian Airlines Flight 6123, after a ten-day, fully subsidized trip to Europe. He was soon followed out of customs by an old man with an atavistic mustache and a desperate blond comb-over, pushing an overburdened baggage cart. That man was George Alan Rekers, of North Miami — the callboy's client and, as it happens, one of America's most prominent anti-gay activists . . . For decades, George Alan Rekers has been a general in the culture wars . . . In 1983, he and James Dobson, America's best-known homophobe, formed the Family Research Council, a D.C.-based, rabidly Christian, and vehemently anti-gay lobbying group that has become a standard-bearer of the nation's extreme right wing."

[Rekers is an officer of NARTH, and has long engaged in and advocated reparative therapy to "cure" gay and gender variant children. Under his guidance NARTH went on to promote Zucker's reparative methods of treatment at CAMH (more, more, more, more).]

5-05-10:  Edge Boston (re UK): "Rising Star in Tory Party Founded Church to ’Cure’ Gays" (more)

"The latest shocker concerns Center for Social Justice leader Phillippa Stroud, who is seen as a rising star in the Tory party . . . Stroud, reported UK newspaper The Guardian in a May 2 article, has helped to found what the paper called "US-style evangelical churches" in England. Those "US-style evangelical churches" preached that gays can be cured by exorcising them of evil spirits that make them homosexual or transgender. A teen transsexual called Abi reportedly claimed that Stroud and her followers prayed over to her cast out the demons they thought were responsible."

5-04-10:  Huffington Post: "New-Age Parenting for Transgender Youth ", by Joanne Herman

5-03-10:  Courthouse News Service: "Transgendered Woman Sues D.C. Cops"

"A woman who used to be a man says District of Columbia police assaulted, battered, harassed and degraded her and falsely accused her of filing a false police report. Patti Shaw, fka Melvin Hammond, says D.C. cops insisted she was a man and had a male officer search her, while other male officers made degrading comments . . . Shaw says she is a 44-year-old black transgendered woman who had sexual reassignment surgery and has had her sex legally changed to female.  She sued the District of Columbia., the U.S. Attorney General and the U.S. Marshal's Service, alleging civil rights violations, assault, battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. She says she suffered physical and emotional damages, including stress, anxiety and depression."

5-03-10:  WCSH6 (Maine; posted 4-29): "Living life 'transgender'" (more)

"Though Claire Folsom lives life as a woman, she was born male. She says had a pretty average childhood growing up in Holden. But when her male body started to develop, she realized it was a body she didn't feel right in. . . . It was kind of like a persistent feeling of just wrongness, and I didn't have any words for it, I didn't know what was going on." . . . Claire Folsom's transition will be complete when she can afford gender reassignment surgery, a procedure not covered by medical insurance. But for now, she says life is pretty good. "I feel a lot better, a lot more sustainable than when I was younger and before I started that process," Claire said with smile. "I feel as though I belong in some places.""

[Includes excellent video-interview]

5-03-10:  The Kingston Whig-Standard (Canada): "A trailblazer from birth"

"Aiden was born a girl named Caitlyn in 1992 but came out as transgendered in his first year of high school . . . At the time of his death, he had begun the female-to-male transition and had the muscles, Adam's apple and body hair of a young man as a result of testosterone treatments . . . But the journey was harder than anyone knew or could have imagined. He fought addiction, bullying and intolerance about who he was and what he was becoming, and on April 22, in the middle of the night, Aiden sent an electronic goodbye to those he loved before killing himself. He was one month shy of his 18th birthday."

5-03-10:  LosAngeles Times: "San Francisco may cut funding to transgender job center"

"The program, about half funded by the city, helps transgender people with the job-hunting process and helps companies ensure welcoming work environments . . . The program — the first of its kind in the country and a model for one run by the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center — relies heavily on city money that has come under threat as the city tries to close an unprecedented budget hole of $483 million. About half of its roughly $450,000 budget comes from the city."

5-03-10:  Huffington Post (posted 4-19): "The Lutheran Church Embraces the LGBTQ Community!", by Rev. Dr. Cindi Love (more)

"After twenty-five years of deliberation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Church Council has abolished its anti-gay policies, effective immediately. Following from discussions at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly last summer, the ELCA will now allow people in same-sex relationships to serve as rostered leaders. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) human beings are no longer considered abominations but blessed church members with full standing. Same-sex partners and families can now fully participate in the ELCA Pension Plan.

[The ELCA is the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S., with about 4,600,000 members.]

5-03-10:  The Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Raided Transsexuals Vent Anger Over Satpol’s ‘Unfair’ Treatment"

"An Indonesian transsexual organization has criticized the Depok public order agency for failing to prevent dozens of hard-line Islamic activists from charging into a civil rights training session organized by the National Commission for Human Rights on Friday. “Human rights have been violated here, but instead we were accused of violating the law by conducting an event without permit,” Widodo Budidarmo, of the Indonesian Transsexuals’ Communication Forum (FKWI), said on Sunday."

5-02-10:  The Times of India (India): "1st transgender TV host Rose is now a woman"

"She has the name of a flower. Now she says she feels like a butterfly, able to spread her wings. Rose Venkatesan, India's first transgender television show host, has become the first prominent Indian to have sex-change surgery. Thirty-year-old Rose, who had sex reassignment surgery in Bangkok on March 18, will officially announce her new gender status on May 6, which she says will be her "first birthday"."

5-01-10:  Leona's Blog (Singapore): "Chilling Neo Nazi Methods Used to Persecute Transgender Women at Singapore Night Spots"

"A transgender woman is happily chatting and enjoying drinks with her friend, also a transgender woman, at a popular nightspot in Clarke Quay. The bouncer approaches them and rudely asks her friend to ask her to leave (he does not know her friend is also transgender). She demands to know why but he cannot give a reason. She asks to see his manager. The manager finally emerges and says she should “know” the reason “herself”. He is “rude and indignant”, as if she has done something shameful. He then asks to see her ID, but she refuses to show it to him until he can explain why she’s been singled out. Finally he gives up and says, “Ok, not everybody knows you’re a man.” " 

5-01-10:  The Scientist: "A Transforming Field: There is no “typical” biologist. Meet two scientists who don’t fit into the usual mold—they changed genders in the middle of their careers. Here’s how they embrace their differences"

““Biologists in particular are very understanding of the concept of difference,” says Ben Barres, a transgender neuroscientist at Stanford University. They are used to thinking about problems from different angles and perspectives, he says, and are innately interested in the way life responds to different environments. And many biologists feel like outsiders, either because they work on processes that few people in the general population understand, or because they are outnumbered by their peers in terms of their gender, ethnicity, citizenship or sexual orientation. Here are the perspectives of two individuals who embraced their differences by changing their gender, and became advocates against the inequalities they’ve seen. . . . "

[Excellent interview-article about Ben Barres and Julia Serano]

April 2010

4-30-10:  NBC Los Angeles: "Rally Held for Transgender Attack Victim" (more, more, more)

"Colle Carpenter, a transgender graduate student who was attacked on the campus of Cal State Long Beach, told a rally Thursday that his attacker carved the word "it" on his chest. Carpenter was attacked the night of April 15 in a campus bathroom. At a march and rally protesting hate crimes, he said his attacker called him by his first name and then pushed him into a bathroom stall before carving his chest with a sharp object. "I've been afraid to come back to campus," Carpenter told the rally."

4-30-10:  Health Zone (Canada): "Neither male nor female: The secret life of intersex people"

"Sydney learned the real reason she had never had a period, was so tall, had been told she needed surgery. She had one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. She was, genetically, male. The shock Sydney felt is typical of people who have what are now controversially referred to as disorders of sex development, or DSD. They include a variety of conditions with numerous variations, which can be inherited or occur as spontaneous mutations.

Grouping them together under DSD was an attempt to find a neutral, unbiased term for people who are still called hermaphrodites. There is vigorous opposition to the term, particularly from the Quebec-based Organization Intersex International,  which says the name medicalizes a natural variation that has been with mankind forever."

4-30-10:  Palestine Note (Palestine): "OLA'S JOURNEY TO BECOME AHMED "

"Ola spent her life wishing to become someone else, wishing to live life that doesn’t require her to be trapped in her all-girls' school uniform. It was only when she turned fifteen that she became comfortable in her own skin. That was when she became “Ahmed.” “It was utterly difficult for me and my family to endure such a life where a member of the family wanted to change his gender, but we all faced this hard situation with courage. My whole family stuck together and helped me go through this. I will never forget their immense support... while I was going through the hardest circumstances of my life, “ Ahmed told Palestine Note."

 4-30-10:  Colombia Reports (Columbia): "Colombia: Liberal in theory, homophobic in practice"

"Though, at least in Colombia's cities, homosexuals and transsexuals can be open about their identity, the country remains dangerous for them. On April 16, a group of young LGBT friends were attacked by homophobic skinheads in a Medellin public park, according to a press release from the city's Ombudsman's Office. The statement called for reinforced security in places where LGBT people socialize"

4-30-10:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "FPI Invades Transsexual Rights Forum, Thinking it a Drag Queen Show:"

"In the latest outburst by the Islamic Defenders Front, dozens of hard-liners charged into a civil rights training session for transsexuals held by the National Commission for Human Rights at a hotel in Depok on Friday. Police were unable to do much when the members of the group, known as the FPI, burst into a room at the Bumi Wijaya Hotel in Depok where the training session was being held, panicking about 25 transsexuals present . . . the head of the Depok Police’s detective unit, Comr. Ade Rahmat, said that the FPI members had come in the erroneous belief that it was a drag queen contest."

4-29-10:  GLT: "San Diego: Transgender SDSU student to be honored for outstanding academic record - Father, stepmother refused to help with college" (more)

"Transgender San Diego State University (SDSU) student, Jessica Compton, will graduate in May as the first Transgender student to receive the honor of Outstanding Baccalaureate Candidate of the Computer Science Department – and is graduating Summa Cum Laude. “I will be first in line of all the undergraduates to get my diploma,” Compton said. Professors in the Department of Computer Science voted to award Compton with the honor in recognition of her excellent academic record."

4-29-10:  One India (India): "Thousands of transgenders attend Koovagam Festival in Tamil Nadu"

"Participants said they were happy to be a part of the event."I am very happy. Because this is once a year, one time we are coming here. We are walking but we are spending here the three days. This is the most important days for me...for us," said Sabhitha, a participant."

4-29-10:  WCSH6 (Maine): "Living life 'transgender'"

"Licensed clinical social worker Cheryl Daly has worked with transgender people for more than a decade. She says they often know about their gender issues when they are children, even if they don't know what those feelings mean. "People know from a very young age just that they're different," Daly said. Not different in a bad way, but that they're more aligned with the other gender.""

4-28-10:  The Salem State Log: "Salem State Student Claims Housing Discrimination by College"

"The student, who asked to not be identified by name (and who will be referred to as “Jane” in this story) identified as male when she started as an undergraduate at Salem State College, but since has undergone the process of becoming female. She is now legally female in Massachusetts because her state identification—that is, her driver’s license—states that she is female. Jane said the unfair treatment started when she applied for on-campus housing for the 2010-11 academic year. Since she is considered legally female in Massachusetts, she marked on the housing application form that she was female. But the school rejected her application because on previous school documents—which she filled out before she was female—she had marked that she was male."

4-27-10:  San Francisco Examiner: "S.F. man charged in 2007 murder of transgender woman"

"A San Francisco man convicted last year of sexually assaulting a transgender woman in 2007 will be charged today in connection with two other attacks on transgender victims, including a woman who was raped and murdered. Donzell Francis, 41, is scheduled to be arraigned on murder and other charges in San Francisco Superior Court this afternoon . . . Francis is now accused of assaulting and strangling another of those four women, 27-year-old transgender prostitute Ruby Rodriguez, also known as Ruby Ordenana. Her body was found on the sidewalk at Indiana and Cesar Chavez streets near Potrero Hill on March 16, 2007."

4-27-10:  QS: "Take a Trip to 'Trinidad'"

"One of the more surprising and enlightening documentaries to make its way through the festival circuit lately is Jay Hodges' and PJ Raval's Trinidad. It unfolds in the small Colorado town of Trinidad, which happens to be the sex change capitol of the world, and follows the journey of its transgender residents as they work to find their true selves against this unlikely rural, red-state backdrop. Queersighted caught up with openly gay co-director Raval (below) as the film premieres on Logo (and LogoTV.com) and makes its simultaneous DVD debut."

4-26-10:  GLAAD: "CALL TO ACTION: Make Your Voice Heard! Anti-LGBT Washington Times Editorial Board Attacks ENDA, Says “Discrimination Is Necessary"

". . . when we get close to having our nation’s laws finally catch up to our nation’s values, anti-gay activist groups like the Washington Times editorial board get desperate.  How desperate? This weekend they published an editorial attacking the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), calling LGBT people “weirdos” and claiming that “discrimination is necessary.” "

4-25-10:  Google News (re Puerto Rico): "PR police search for transgender woman's killer"

"Police are searching for the killer of a transgender woman in Puerto Rico whose naked, battered body was discovered in her home last week, while activists press authorities to probe the slaying as a possible hate crime."

4-24-10:  PR Newswire: "Key to Successful Treatment of Transgender Patients May Involve Delay of Puberty"

"Complications from transgender procedures may be significantly minimized when treatment of a patient with severe gender identity disorder begins prior to puberty, according to expert opinion today at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 19th Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress. The reason, according to Dr. Norman Spack of Children's Hospital Boston, is that transgender people treated at a younger age often have a much easier time adjusting into society than those who undergo treatment later in life. A pediatric endocrinologist can administer treatment to delay puberty, giving the patient the time to make a permanent decision later in their teens. "The body is in a state of 'pubertal limbo' while the patient undergoes psychological assessment to determine the best course of action," Dr. Spack said. "Their bodies can't run away from them." During this window of opportunity patients are subject to psychological evaluation. With puberty delayed, the patient's medical team has the appropriate amount of time to make the proper diagnosis of the patient. "We are no longer rushing to beat the patient's biological clock," Dr. Spack said. "With time to make the right diagnosis, it's best for the patient." "

4-24-10:  Cuba Headline News (Cuba): "In the final stages a Cuban documentary about a transsexual"

"The documentary "En el cuerpo equivocado" (In the wrong body), which is the story of Mabi Susel, a transsexual who undertook in Cuba in 1988 a sex change operation, is in the final stages of post production, announced sources of the Cuban cinema institute, informs PL. . . . The 52 minutes movie recalls the memories of Susel, now with 50 years old and married since 1991, who with her new female's identity, remembers what has been for her this second stage of her life."

4-23-10:  Google News (re UK): "William's RAF mate to change sex"

"A helicopter pilot stationed at the same RAF base as Prince William is to undergo a sex change, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. Flight Lieutenant Ian Holdom, 29, who flies with the Search and Rescue Force (Sarf) wants to become a woman called Ayla. A Ministry of Defence spokesman stressed the RAF officer's plans to change sex were not an issue for the service - only if he could do the job."

4-23-10:  The Huffington Post: "An Image I'd Rather Forget: A Critique of Ticked Off Tra**ies With Knives", by Ashley Love

"The film Ticked Off Tra**ies With Knives (TOTWK), spreads fear, misogyny, and hateful ideology. I have seen the film and it's very upsetting that people unfamiliar with transsexual and transgender women will walk away from the film with a stigmatizing perception of trans women . . . TOTWK leaves the viewer with the false impression that transsexual and transgender women are unauthentic in their gender identity and really "gay men in drag." The film portrays all trans women as hyper sexualized, jokes, murderous and/or unstable. This is not only inaccurate; it's offensive and incites further misunderstanding and violence."

4-23-10:  Washington Times: "EDITORIAL: Discrimination is necessary"

"First-graders should not be forced into the classrooms of teachers undergoing sex changes. Religious broadcasters and faith-based summer camps should not be forced to hire cross-dressers. Women should not be forced to share bathrooms with people with male body parts who say they want to be females. Yet those are some of the likely results if Congress passes H.R. 3017, the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which is due for a vote this week by the House Education and Labor Committee."

4-22-10:  Gospelaccordingtohate.com: "Robyn Deane, Transgender Uncle to Gov. Bob McDonnell's Children, Invites Bob to Listen"

"Guess what skeleton has come out of Virginia's Roman Catholic Governor Bob McDonnell, who when it's politically expedient allows discrimination against LGBT persons but when it's financially lucrative backtracks? His former brother-in-law is transgendered and speaking out against discrimination in Virginia."

4-21-10:  Lez Get Real: "Bob McDonnell’s Former Brother-in-Law Publicly Speaks Out As Transgendered"

"We often say it’s important to come out because our coming out will make the people around us more understanding of our community. Unfortunately it seems some people are so cold and heartless that seeing what a transperson goes through up close makes no impression whatsoever. Thank goodness for people as brave as Robyn Deane who will speak out even when it’s not easy or convenient. Her former brother-in-law — Virginia’s new Governor — rolled back protections from discrimination for gay and lesbian people during his first month in office."

4-21-10:  The Telegraph (UK): "Number of NHS sex change operations triples"

"Since 2000 a total of 853 men have gone under the knife to become women while in the same time span 12 women have had an operation to become a man. Back in 2000 there were just 54 sex change operations carried out in the country while last year the figure stood at 143. "

4-21-10:  New York Times: "Answers About Transgender Issues" (second set of questions and answers; third set)

"Following is the first set of responses from Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, who is working on “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves,” a resource guide for transgender and other gender-variant people, covering health, legal issues, cultural and social questions, history and theory."

[An timely and important series of three articles containing questions and answers on many modern trans topics, with many links to trans resources. Nary even a mention of Zucker, Blanchard and CAMH, even though their old-fashioned ideology still dominates the thinking of the APA and APA.]

4-19-10: New York Times: "Ask About Transgender Issues"

"Laura Erickson-Schroth is the editor of “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves,” a resource guide for transgender people, to be published in 2011.This week Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, who is working on “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves,” a resource guide for transgender and other gender-variant people, covering health, legal issues, cultural and social questions, history and theory, responded to readers’ questions about transgender life"

[Introduction to an important series of articles.]

4-19-10:  ABC News: "Putting the 'Trans' in 'Transform Me'"

"The three transgender female stars of the new VH1 series "Transform Me are transforming television while transforming women across America. New VH1 series stars three transgender women as makeover specialists.A twist on the traditional makeover show, "Transform Me" stars three transgender women, Laverne Cox, Jamie Clayton and Nina Poon, who drive around in an ambulance -- make that glambulance -- responding to style emergencies."

4-18-10:  Live Science: "Major Revisions to Psychiatric Definitions Stir Debate"

"The way psychiatrists describe childhood mood swings, gender identity, autism and dozens of mental health disorders could soon change drastically. "

4-18-10:  Live Science: "Top 10 Controversial Psychiatric Disorders"

"Perhaps the most controversial of all current DSM disorders is gender identity disorder. Under the DSM-IV, people who feel that their physical gender does not match their true gender are diagnosed with gender identity disorder (GID). The DSM-5 proposals would revise the criteria for the disorder and change the name to the less-stigmatizing gender incongruence. But to many, the DSM changes don't go far enough."

[GID is #1, but be sure to see the other controversial 'disorders' from the past too.]

4-18-10:  Sunday Times (South Africa): "I'm not a fake woman, says intersex Jennifer"

"A Glenwood woman is fighting for a South African identity document and also to be recognised as a female South African."

4-16-10:  Kuwait Times (Kuwait): "Transsexuals in Kuwait: Criminals or victims?"

"The term 'transsexual' (third gender or she-male as they are locally known) is often mistaken for homosexuality in the Arab world and is considered highly sinful in Islam. This is why most Arab transsexuals, especially men, prefer keeping a low profile. In some Arab countries, they can face jail sentences for dressing or acting like the opposite sex. In some cases they can even be punished or killed by their families."

4-15-10:  The Mercury (South Africa): "Sex-change woman's ID ordeal"

"A woman's six-year ordeal with the Home Affairs Department to have her name and sex changed from male to female is finally over. . . Yesterday, an emotional Kisten said she could not believe that she would finally be officially recognised and be able to do simple things like open a bank account when she finally received her ID. She also wanted to raise awareness of people in her situation."

4-15-10:  The Philadelphia Inquirer: "Penn OKs coverage for sex-change surgeries for students in health plan"

"The University of Pennsylvania has approved health-insurance coverage for students who want sex-change surgeries and related treatments, officials said Wednesday. Penn president Amy Gutmann recently approved the coverage, which the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee had recommended, university spokesman Ron Ozio said. The benefit applies to students who participate in the Penn Student Insurance Plan, which is available to students who do not have health coverage through their families or other means."

4-15-10:  Huffington Post: "ENDA opposition comprised of lies, chicanery, and beliefs of religious supremacy", by Alvin McEwen

"Just what is it about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that scares the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) and other religious right groups so much? I can't help but to ask this question after viewing the TVC's latest endeavour, a web page called endahurtskids.com"

4-12-10:  Congenid.org: "International Congress on Gender Identity and Human Rights", Barcelona, Spain, June 4-6, 2010'

"Human Rights Watch, along with several Spanish and foreign public administrations has decided to celebrate a global International Conference on Gender Identity and Human Rights, along with a broad coalition of groups and associations for the recognition of the rights of the transgender people and the Spanish and international LGTB movement. The idea of performing for the first time, a global conference with transgender people, by transgender people and for transgender people, aims as final target to gather and give voice to a group sparsely represented in society, to hear for the first time, with the participation of members around the world and from all cultures, an overall consideration of their problems, demands and proposed solutions. And finally, the adoption of a basic document addressed to the States, international organizations, associations and NGOs to serve as a working paper, line orientation and objectives document in the implementation of legislative policy and human rights protection to be applied to the Group of transgender people." 

4-12-10:  TS Roadmap: "Canada: Psychiatrist arrested for crimes against sex/gender minorities. Is CAMH next? "

"Canada is the destination of choice for non-Canadian “experts” who wish to impose their ideologies on sex and gender minorities. Late last month, Canada finally started taking action against the people trying to “cure” gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people by starting with one of the worst of the worst of these immigrants:

Aubrey Levin, the psychiatrist in the apartheid military known to many colleagues as “Dr Shock” because of the methods he used in attempts to “cure” homosexuals, was this week arrested in Canada and charged with sexual abuse of a patient. Now 71, Levin fled South Africa shortly before the democratic transition for the Albertan city of Calgary where he practised as a psychiatrist and lectured at the local university . . .

Let’s hope Canadian authorities take a look at the CAMH “experts” committing reparative therapy against gender-variant Canadian children and attempting to “cure” other citizens they consider mentally disordered because of the sexual interests or gender identity and expression."

4-12-10:  Autostraddle: "Trans Father Scott Moore’s Baby Photos Inspire Awws, Bigotry" (more)

"Scott Moore (dubbed “the second pregnant man” by the media) and his husband Thomas (also FTM) welcomed a new baby into the world yesterday, and TMZ has photos. And the homophobia and transphobia is ‘a-flyin’. . . The new baby is adorable, as babies often are. The couple looks happy and Scott is wearing a cute hoodie. And the internet is, apparently, disgusted. And subsequently we are disgusted at the internet."

4-12-10:  One India (India): "Kerala contestant wins Transgender Miss India 2010"

"The Transgender Miss India for the year 2010 went to 23-year-old Sabeetha hailing from Kerala, who was given stiff competition from 19 transgenders from across the country. The second spot was claimed by Manimekala from Salem while Ramya from Bangalore won the third place in the contest held by Salem Trust working for towards the upliftment of transgenders."

4-11-10:  Sunday Times (UK): "Books - "Olivier Theyskens: The Other Side of the Picture" - What it feels like to want to be a girl when you’re a boy"

"As a child, Olivier Theyskens wasn't interested in boys’ stuff. But as the fashion designer's body developed, he contented himself with the androgynous look"

4-12-10:  New Zealand Herald (New Zealand): "Michael Hill girl dreams of getting into chains"

"Georgina Beyer - the first transsexual MP and mayor in the world - has taken up a job selling jewellery in Masterton. Ms Beyer, 52, sported the crisp and corporate black suit of a Michael Hill sales assistant in her first week in the job and said her return to the nine-to-five working world was "a step back to being normal, back to the coal-face, as it were"."

4-10-10:  Missoulian: "UM student talks about life as a transgender woman, helping others find their way"

"Bree Sutherland knows firsthand what discrimination feels like. The 23-year-old University of Montana student is a transgender woman who believes Missoula’s proposed anti-discrimination ordinance is a step in the right direction."

4-10-10:  The Guardian (UK): "My long lost transsexual sibling"

"David Waters was shocked to find out that his mother had given up a baby, born before her marriage. But there were more shocks to come"

4-10-10:  Facebook: "Gender ID Coalition"

"We are a coalition of scientists, professionals, celebrities and activists, who need your help and action to encourage the American Psychiatry Association to remove Gender Identity as a Mental Disorder. And advocate for Gender Identity Rights for all."

4-09-10:  LifeSiteNews (posted 4-07): "Pediatricians Warn Educators: 'Pro-Gay' Attitude toward Gender Confusion Damages Children" (more more)

"The American College of Pediatricians has cautioned educators about the management of students experiencing same-sex attraction or exhibiting symptoms of gender confusion, saying that a pro-homosexuality attitude could disrupt a natural uncertainty in youth for the worse."

4-09-10:  Care2.com: "US - Hope and Hurt for Trans Americans in the APA's Proposed DSM Revisions"

" . . .  the Task Force notes that there is much work to be done on the problematic diagnostic criteria that still mislabels many trans and gender variant people as having a mental disorder . . . The Task Force makes it clear that while the move toward "distress-based" diagnosis in DSM-V should be applauded, strong concerns remain that the guidelines are still vague and that they fundamentally fail to recognize the difference between what is termed "minority stress" - that is to say, the emotional distress that LGBTs face as a marginalized group that is subject to discrimination - and that of stress brought about by "specific gender expression." The Task Force reiterates a need to make it clear that distress as a result of societal discrimination should not be used as evidence of a mental disorder."

4-09-10:  Examiner.com (posted 4-07):  "Heads up, educators: Anti-gay propaganda sent to schools from American College of Pediatricians" (PDF of letter)

"The misleading materials, reportedly sent out to all 14,800 school district superintendents in the U.S with a letter headlined "College Cautions Educators About Sexual Orientation in Youth," directly contradict the stance of the 60,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics and point educators to Facts About Youth: Informing About The Sexual Development of Youth, a new site developed by the similarly-named American College of Pediatricians, a splinter group made up anti-gay advocates who split with the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2002 after the Academy adopted a position in support of same-sex parents."

4-09-10:  Pam's Houseblend (posted 4-06): "American College of Pediatricians, NARTH pushes new site featuring old anti-gay lies", by Alvin McEwen

"I've talked about the lies of the American College of Pediatricians before. Also, those of us familiar with the  inner workings of the industry of phony religious right studies know some of those names of these folks behind Facts About Youth.  Joseph Nicolosi is a man who has made it his life's work to peddle the inaccurate notion that homosexuality is a changeable condition."

4-09-10:  Riverfront Times (St. Louis): "Former Soldier Turned Transgendered Weapons Felon Goes to Prison"

"Last fall, we ran a feature ("Babe n Arms") recounting the bizarre journey of Rachel Idleya Amratiel, ne Thomas Hibodon IV -- a Persian Gulf War veteran, carpenter and cross-dresser who pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges after becoming a woman (kind of a long story). Well, she's finally gone to prison. "

4-08-10:  Bilerico.com (re Mexico): "Trans woman decapitated in Mexico " (more)

4-08-10:  Queens Chronicle (Queens, NY): "Murder has LGBT community on edge"

"Crimes motivated by sexual-orientation bias rose from 1,512 in 2007 to 1,706 in 2008 — a figure representing more than 17 percent of all hate crimes nationwide . . . And the problem is particularly acute for transgender persons, according to Queens Pride House. “Transgender women everywhere are socially marginalized and extremely vulnerable to hate crimes. On average, a transgender person is murdered once a month in the United States — an extraordinarily high rate of violence,” Erica Sullivan, a health referral specialist with QPH said. “As organizations serving the transgender community, we are very concerned about the safety of transgender women within our community.”"

4-08-10:  Bay Area Reporter: Transmissions: "Ticked Off", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

"The film, Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives from director Israel Luna is a campy, low-to-no-budget send-up of revenge thrillers, molded in the style of blaxploitation films of the 1970s . . . Let me explain it in more basic terms: if a straight director decided to do a low-budget "gaysploitation" film, tried to link it to Matthew Shepard, and called it "Furious Faggots with Guns," I can guarantee there would be an outrage."

4-08-10:  Professionals Concerned with Gender Diagnoses in the DSM: "Call to Action: Mental Health and Medical Professionals Please Send Your Comments to the DSM-5 Task Force" (more)

"The APA DSM-5 Task Force has posted draft diagnostic criteria for public review and comment through April 20, 2010. Please follow the links at left for responses by this group to the proposed diagnostic categories of Gender Incongruence and Transvestic Disorder for gender variant children, adolescents and adults. You can submit your own comments to these pages as well. Also, please remember to sign the IFGE Petition to Remove the Transvestic Disorder diagnosis from the DSM-5 . . . We call on the field of mental health to predicate their clinical practices on a theory of gender development and functioning that respects variation in human development more than the desire to create a falsely symmetrical metaphysics of gender that deems as pathological any deviations from a socially imposed gender-binary system."

4-08-10:  Telegraph (UK): "Head teacher asks students to support sex change employee"  (more)

"The head teacher of a Sixth Form college has written to students asking them to support a member of staff who is preparing for a sex change . . . "Emma is not undergoing this transition to become a sensation, but for reasons of personal integrity – she simply wants to be herself. "As a community we are defined by the degree of care and consideration we give to those who are most vulnerable. "Emma is a terrific technician and an integral member of our team.""

4-08-10:  TimeOut Chicago: "A league of her own - A baseball scribe reflects on being trans in the world of pro sports"

"“Most people’s intersection with the trans community is a bachelorette party at the Baton,” she says. “The thing I like to highlight in my experience is the level of acceptance I have found in the sports-writing world. I’ve been in the press box and the locker room, and nobody freaks out. Sports are part of our common humanity. They allow us to bridge really profound differences.” "

4-08-10: KTAL: "Battle Of The Bathrooms"

"Members of the Houston Area Pastor Council are calling on Houston Mayor Annise Parker to rescind her recent executive orders that expands the city's anti-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected classes in Houston . . . “Forcing women, in particular, using city facilities to be subjected to cross-dressing men invading their privacy is beyond the pale and offensive to every standard of decency,” said Pastor Steve Riggle, senior pastor of Grace Community Church . . . "

4-07-10:  Indian Express (India): "Laxmi to move State Human Rights Commission against Bombay Gymkhana" (more, more)

"Transgender activist Laxmi Narayan Tripathi will approach the State Human Rights Commission to complain against the “unfair treatment” meted out to her at the Bombay Gymkhana. Tripathi was asked to leave the club by the management a few days ago. She now wants to know the grounds on which the action was taken. Tripathi said she will lodge a police complaint and organise a protest march from Azad Maidan. "

4-07-10:  HR Magazine (UK): "The Equality Bill represents the harmonisation of discrimination law in one single Act"

"The Equality Bill has been approved by the House of Commons and will enter the statute book this week, awaiting Royal Assent. The majority of the provisions in the Equality Act 2010 will come into force in October, with the implementation of some provisions being delayed until next year to allow organisations across the public and private sectors time to prepare. A key issue in the Act is the harmonisation and extension of discrimination law to cover age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief and, in many but not all instances, marriage and civil partnerships."

4-07-10:  Truthout.com: "Share For Rent -- Just Not to You"

"A transgender apartment-hunter thought he'd found a perfect place in Baltimore. But when he showed up, the woman raised the rent by $100 over the advertised price, said she would only take cash and was clearly uncomfortable. "She asked me if I was a boy or a girl, and after I explained everything, her tone noticeably changed. I then had a female friend of the same age inquire about that very apartment, and she was given the original price and was told that a check would be an acceptable form of payment." Sadly, the experience of "Owen S.," reported to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is all too common."

4-07-10:  New York Times - City Room: "Transgender Film Draws Protests at Festival Site"

"Transgender women and their supporters protest outside the Tribeca Cinemas against the film “Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives,” scheduled for inclusion in the Tribeca Film Festival.Transgender women and their supporters gathered outside Tribeca Cinemas Tuesday evening to demand the removal of what they called a transphobic film from the Tribeca Film Festival lineup. The film, “Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives,” is described by its creator, Israel Luna, as an homage to 1970s exploitation films. But the inclusion of the word “trannie” — a pejorative, in some circles — in the title, and the film’s satirical representation of transgender women, has offended many people."

4-07-10:  News.com.au (Australia): "Transsexual Conor Montgomery launches human rights challenge"

"Female-to-male transsexual Conor Montgomery says he is perfectly okay with his gender identity, but federal and state laws are making him pay a heavy price.  Mr Montgomery, 50, holds an Australian passport stipulating his gender as male, but on his birth certificate he is female because the NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages refuses to alter it. Today, he delivered a petition to the Australian Human Rights Commission in Sydney alleging he had been discriminated against by the NSW and federal attorneys general."

4-06-10:  Houston Press: "Pastors Warn Houstonians: Ladies, Get Ready For All Those Men In Your Restrooms"

"An "inter-racial, inter-denominational" coalition of Houston-area pastors is sounding the alarm that Houston women will soon be facing a barrage of penises in their public restrooms. The culprit, of course, is Mayor Annise Parker, who they say they just knew would do this kind of thing, and didn't take long doing it. Parker issued an executive order last week that she said simply stated what has been the policy for a while now -- no discrimination "based on sexual orientation, a person's gender identity and gender expression.""

4-06-10: My Fox Memphis: "Cop Accused of Beating Transsexual in Court"

"If a surveillance video hadn't existed would fired former Memphis Police officer, Bridges McRae still be a wearing a badge? If there wasn't the video could somehow the still unsolved shooting death 9 months later of the late transsexual, Duana Johnson, have been avoided?"

4-06-10:  AFP (re Serbia): "Serbian pioneer sex change surgeon dies" (more, more)

"Internationally renowned Serbian sex change surgeon Sava Perovic has died in Belgrade aged 72, local media reported Monday. Perovic, a respected urologist, began gender reassignment surgery in the 1980s in Belgrade and soon became a leading expert. With his team, he performed a number of surgeries abroad, mostly in Asia, including urologic and genital corrective procedures."

4-06-10:  4 Hoteliers: "Which Restroom? Employers Face Challenges With Gender Identity Issues" (more)

"Employers are increasingly being forced to grapple with issues involving employees who state that they have a Gender Identity Disorder, or are "transgendered." Such individuals may claim that they are protected against discrimination in employment and that their employer must accommodate their need to be treated as a member of the sex they identify with."

4-06-10:  The Sun (UK): "Boob job or I'll sue says sex swap girl"

"A transsexual is threatening legal action after being refused a boob job. Miranda Lee, 40, says she has been left "half man, half woman" and wants her health authority to pay for her to become a "real woman". Miranda, of Southend, Essex - born Raymond Harwood - is legally a woman. Male genitalia has been removed and her voice altered."

4-05-10:  South Florida Gay News: "Mark Angelo Cummings: Songs in the Key of F2M "

"Within five minutes of my arrival at the Hollywood home of folk rock vocalist and acoustic guitarist Mark Angelo Cummings and his wife Violet, Mark took off his shirt to display his remarkable physique. (May all the handsome men I ever have the pleasure of interviewing be this candid!) Mark is a man who is proud of the work he has done to sculpt his body to match his soul, both of which are beautiful."

4-04-10:  The Times of India (India): "CM appeals to PM to enumerate transgenders in census 2011"

"The move is seen as yet another initiative of the state government to draw transgenders into the social mainstream. Tamil Nadu has taken several pioneering initiatives for the welfare of this community . . . Tamil Nadu was the first state to form a welfare board for transgenders in 2008 . . . also issued separate ration cards to transgenders. Tamil Nadu government also added the option of third gender in the application forms of state-run schools and colleges for unhindered admission of transsexuals in educational institutions. "

4-04-10:  AFP (re Turkey): "Turkey's gays, transsexuals decry increasing homophobia"

"When Turkey's family affairs minister recently described homosexuality as a curable disease, she was roundly criticized for discrimination and flouting human rights. But for activists her remarks only underscore what they say is increasing prejudice, discrimination and violence -- even from police -- against homosexuals and transgender people in this Muslim-majority country stuck between its conservative roots and flourishing modernism."

4-03-10:  Houston Chronicle: "Parker extends city rights policy to transgendered"

"Mayor Annise Parker has updated a 12-year-old Houston non-discrimination policy to include transgendered individuals, a step that has won praise from supporters in the gay community but has prompted criticism as well."

4-02-10:  The Advocate: "Transgender Cafe Opens in Portland"

"Tuff Luck, a Portland, Ore., cafe, celebrated its grand opening last month. The coffee shop is located inside In Other Words, a feminist bookstore, and was started as a way to help transgender people raise money for health care by providing them with a side job and a venue for selling art."

4-01-10:  The Washington Post: "Judge: Transgender inmates have right to therapy"

"A federal judge has struck down a unique Wisconsin law that prohibits transgender inmates from receiving taxpayer-funded hormone therapy, which alters their appearance to be more like that of the opposite sex."

March 2010

3-31-10:  Council of Europe (Europe): "Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity" (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 31 March 2010 at the 1081st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

[Council of Europe - 47 European countries unanimously agree on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity - details of the recommendations contained in appendix to document.]

3-31-10:  Marshfield Mail: "Transgender murderer has Marshfield roots"

"On Jan. 22 of this year, the citizens of Abilene, Texas, were dealt a tremendous shock when they learned of the murder-suicide of a local congregate and minister. Rev. Karen Lee Johnson of the Unity Church of Christianity (UCC), 61, had gone to visit and counsel a member of her congregation, preoperative transgender resident Renata Antoinette Monet. After her arrival in the home of Monet, Johnson was repeatedly stabbed and killed."

3-31-10:  Philly.com: "Transpass protest: Gender's a sticky issue" (more, more)

"SEPTA has used stickers labeled M for male and F for female since TransPasses were first issued in the early 1980s, according to SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams. The stickers are meant to prevent multiple people from using the same pass. But RAGE says the use of these stickers - the only such stickers on public transit in a major U.S. city - is unfair when a person's gender doesn't match what it's generally perceived to be, said RAGE member Max Ray. And when a driver calls someone out about their gender sticker, they "do it in a public way that then gets everyone else on the bus looking at you," Ray said. That can incite violence from other riders, he added."

3-31-10:  The Guardian (re South Africa): "Caster Semenya announces return to athletics and blasts IAAF"

"Caster Semenya says she will return to athletics this season, despite the failure of the International Association of Athletics Federation to announce the results of tests to determine the South African runner's eligibility. "I hereby publicly announce my return to athletics competitions," Semenya said in a statement today. Although there is no ban or suspension preventing Semenya from competing, it is thought that she had agreed not to race until the IAAF releases its findings. The 800m runner today complained that her "athletic capabilities and earning potential are being severely compromised" by the limitations placed on her because the IAAF has yet to release the results of her gender verification tests."

3-31-10:  The Guardian (re South Africa): "Caster Semenya's comeback statement in full"

"'I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny' . . . 'These processes have dragged on for far too long' . . . "Since my victory in the female 800 meter event at the Berlin World Championships in August last year, I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being. Some of the occurrences leading up to and immediately following the Berlin World Championships have infringed on not only my rights as an athlete but also my fundamental and human rights including my rights to dignity and privacy."

3-31-10: New York Daily News: "Transgender woman Edelbuerto Gonzalez-Andujar found dead, naked in ransacked apartment" (more, more, more)

"A transgender woman was found dead in her ransacked Queens apartment on Tuesday, her naked body sprawled across the bed, police said. Edelbuerto Gonzalez-Andujar, 29, who lived as a woman and went by the name Amanda, had not been heard from since Friday."

3-30-10:  Los Angeles Times (re Algeria and Lebanon): "Memoir sheds light on the life and struggles of Arab transsexual from Algeria"

"Randa says it will take long a time before people change their perceptions about transsexuals. "It's a much bigger problem ... and has to do with the patriarchal society here, in which the man has absolute authority," she said. "For them, the transsexuals were men and abandoned the authority and all the privileges they held as men to become what in their eyes is less than a woman. They wonder what's wrong with this man who wants to become lower than woman." But Randa remains defiant in her struggle. "I don't want to become a queen or change the world order," she said. "I'm just a human being who wants to live in dignity.""

3-30-10:  New York Times: "Trailer to Change for Transgender Film"

"The director of “Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives,” a movie planned for the Tribeca Film Festival that has set off a war of words before being screened there, said he would amend its trailer so it would not refer to real-life victims of violence. "

3-30-10:  The Stony Brook Press: "Feminine Boy Project", by By Cynthya BrianKate

"Though Stony Brook denies it, this campus was involved in a government-funded brainwashing project to keep children from “acting queer” for two decades. Some people involved still work on campus, and the Feminine Boy Project laid groundwork for current psychiatric abuses against transgender and gender-nonconforming people. This project was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) from 1972 to1986. The original stated goal on the grants was “treatment of pre-homosexuality”–the, idea that if children were kept from stepping outside gender stereotypes, they wouldn’t turn out gay. When being gay was taken out of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1973, the goal was changed to “treatment of pretranssexuality,” conflating gender identity and sexuality as the same, based in biased assumptions that anything other than stereotypical gender identities and heterosexuality were wrong. Children were declared “pathological” for behavior like boys playing with dolls, wearing dresses or helping in the kitchen, or girls climbing trees, playing with boys’ toys or wearing boy clothes."

3-30-10:  Mission Local: "Transgender Latinas Organize at City College"

"On Saturday, 28 people—the majority of them Latino and Spanish speaking—attended the second meeting of the TransLatinas, a new club at City College’s Mission campus. “We’re a group of people who are constantly being attacked by the heterosexual community. I’m tired of it. The attacks I suffer are mostly from the Latino community here in the Mission,” said 47-year-old Brenda Oliveira, a native of Mexico. The goal of the group is two fold: to encourage transgender Latinas to take advantage of English, computer, or certificate programs at City College and to educate the straight Latino community about transgender and GLBT issues."

3-29-10:  Examiner.com: "Cher has a son; Chastity now officially Chaz"

"The former Chastity Bono is now Chaz Bono.Chastity Bono, daughter of Cher and Sonny Bono, has legally and physically become a man. She has changed her name to Chaz and legally changed her gender from female to male. A new birth certificate will be issued."

3-29-10:  State News (Mich. State Univ.): "MSU celebrates LGBT Awareness Week"

"André Wilson is a consultant senior associate with Jamison Green & Associates, a group that works with employers to create a work place where everyone is welcome. Wilson gave the first lecture of LGBT Health Awareness Week on Monday about the transgendered community and health care. “Primary care providers have not been trained for when a trans person walks into their practice,” Wilson said. “And when they say they will treat you, they don’t know the first thing of what that means.” Wilson said doctors and physicians lack proper training when it comes to serving the unique needs of the transgender community."

3-29-10:  Huffington Post: "What Transgendered Parents Can Teach Us About Motherhood and Fatherhood"

"Barbara went to court in their home state of Kentucky and successfully got an order prohibiting Monica from contacting any of their four children because she was now living as a woman. But things soon got even worse for Monica. Barbara eventually remarried and she and her new husband petitioned the court to terminate all of Monica's parental rights so that the new husband could adopt the one child out of the four who was still then a minor. The Kentucky trial court granted the petition after concluding that Monica becoming a woman meant that she had neglected her child and caused her grave emotional harm, necessitating the termination of her parental rights . . . Monica B.'s case is an example of the kind of pervasive discrimination faced by transgendered parents. It also tells us something important about what it means to be a parent in our society." 

3-29-10:  YLE (Finland): "Ombudsman: Equality Law to Protect Transsexuals"

"Equality Ombudsman Pirkko Mäkinen says Finland’s equality law is in need of modernisation, especially in regard to the rights of transsexuals. The issue has been raised following the case of Lutheran minister Marja-Sisko Aalto, who felt forced to leave her job after undergoing gender reassignment surgery . . . The equality law was last overhauled in 2005, at which time the government pledged to improve the legal standing of transsexuals. Such changes have, however, not been made five years on. "

3-29-10:  Radio Australia (re Indonesia): "Indonesian rights groups want action over Islamic anti-gay raid"

"Rights groups in Indonesia are calling on police to arrest members of several Islamic groups who raided a hotel occupied by a number of Gay and Lesbian advocates in Surabaya over the weekend . . . The conference had already been called off when the Islamic groups descended on the hotel. Local media reported a spokesman for the groups saying they wanted to be sure the participants did not go ahead with the conference, despite organisers announcing to the public it had been cancelled. Usman Hamid says it is the first time he can recall a gay and lesbian conference banned by the authorities in Indonesia, and he says it sets a dangerous precedent."

3-29-10:  The Sun (UK): "Sex-change killer to wed lesbian murderess in jail"

"A double killer is getting married behind bars after being switched to a women's jail following a sex swap - and falling for a lesbian murderess"

3-27-10:  Gay City News (re Indonesia): "Islamist Mob Shutters East Java Gay Conference"

A large, well-organized mob of Islamist fundamentalists in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, on March 26 attacked an international conference led by ILGA-Asia, a branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association . . . “The mob invaded the lobby of the hotel [named the Oval] and would not leave unless the police and the hotel management would guarantee that our conference would not go forward,” Sabbadini told Gay City News. “The rule of law was basically suspended during the occupation by the Islamists . . . who threatened to call in reinforcements if their demands were not met,” he added. “The hotel management even went so far as to give a complete list of the conference participants staying in the hotel to the mob. “Later that evening, mob members conducted a floor-by-floor sweep of the hotel, going to the rooms of conference participants to make sure they had left.”

[More details emerge about the frightening situation at the recently cancelled ILGA conference.]

3-27-10:  The Independent (South Africa re Canada): "Apartheid's 'Dr Shock' arrested on sex charge" (more, more, more, more, more)

"Aubrey Levin, the psychiatrist in the apartheid military known to many colleagues as "Dr Shock" because of the methods he used in attempts to "cure" homosexuals, was this week arrested in Canada and charged with sexual abuse of a patient. Now 71, Levin fled South Africa shortly before the democratic transition for the Albertan city of Calgary where he practised as a psychiatrist and lectured at the local university. He refused to testify before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission where it was alleged he had been guilty of gross human rights abuses. Among the allegations levelled at Levin was that he used severe electric shocks as part of "aversion therapy" that was supposed to "cure" homosexuals."

[Why is it that Canadian academia provides the world's refuge for ultra-reactionary psychiatrists and psychologists (such as Levin, Rushton,  Blanchard, Zucker, Cantor, etc.) and encourages their work?  Could this derive from Canadian psychiatry's foundations in the eugenicist ideology of Charles Kirk Clarke, after whom the notorious Clarke Institute was named?

Note too the similarity between the "high-priests" of psychiatry and the "religious priests" of Catholicism: fighting dark demons within themselves, quite a few become a danger to those who fall under their control.]

3-27-10:  The Los Angeles Times: "Public triumph, private torment"

"When Times sportswriter Mike Penner announced he'd become Christine Daniels, he sought 'joy and fulfillment' . . . A year after the essay, the Daniels byline vanished from the newspaper, and within months Penner was back at work, living as a man and writing under his male name. Once so voluble about the reasons for becoming Christine, Penner was silent about the reasons for abandoning the identity. This time, there was no essay, no explanation. But friends saw a person in torment. Last November, in the parking garage of the apartment complex where he lived alone, Penner killed himself. He was 52."

[These reflections on the transition of Christine Daniels contain important lessons about the dangers of unrealistic short-term expectations, excessive media exposure and exploitation as an LGBT celebrity.]

3-26-10:  Inside Edition: "John Mark Karr Gets a Sex Change"

"The notorious John Mark Karr is undergoing a big transformation! Here's what he looks like now, after a sex change. INSIDE EDITION has obtained the first photo of Karr as a woman. It's on his Facebook page. He's also legally changed his name to Alexis Reich. And check this out...he lists Alexis's birthday as January 1st, 1980. That would make Karr just 30 years old. But he's actually 45. It's a strange new turn for the man who became infamous after falsely confessing to killing JonBenét Ramsey. "

3-26-10:  Care2Petition.org: "TELL THE APA ABOUT TRANSSEXUALISM - Target: Trustees, Officers, Members of APA; Sexual & GID workgroup for DSM-5.

"In the belief that transsexualism is not mental illness, we ask that an express statement of that exact sentiment, no more, no less, is to be included in the forthcoming DSM-5 manual from the APA (American Psychiatrists Association)."

[ A new petition against the DSM's stigmatization of transsexualism as a mental illness.]

3-26-10:  The New York Times: "Transgender Comedy Not Amusing to Some"

"A film selected for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, “Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives,” is having a similar angry effect on some transgender people and their supporters, prompting the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to call for the film’s removal from the lineup . . . The festival responded in a statement: “The filmmakers provided a copy of this film to GLAAD in February, and for weeks the organization had been supportive to the filmmakers. In fact, GLAAD representatives advised the film’s producer, director and cast on how to describe the film to its core constituency.” The festival added that it “looks forward to the film’s premiere” next month."

3-26-10:  New York Times: Arts Beat: "‘Ticked-Off Trannies’ Actor Responds to Controversy" 

"Krystal Summers, one of the stars of the comedy, has now weighed in on the debate."

[Check out Krystal's remarks, and the reader-comments in reply.]

3-26-10:  Golden Gate [X]Press (SFSU): "Campus highlights transgender PRIDE"

"During the panel, Demmons said it has been estimated that at any given time, a college campus of 20,000 students might have up to eight students in transition, 60 who are actively questioning their gender and 200 whose appearance transgress gender normative roles. "It's an issue that isn't discussed enough," he said."

3-26-10:  Montreal Gazette (Canada re Turkey): "Turkey's transsexuals popular on TV but not at home"

"Observers see a number of reasons for the co-existence of popular transgender entertainers and widespread intolerance. Nazan Ozcan, who writes on human rights issues for the Turkish newspaper Radikal, believes that financial success acts as a license for behaviour that would otherwise be unacceptable. "If you have money, if you are rich, you can be everything," she said. If you are ordinary people, you can't be anything.""

3-25-10:  The Stranger: "Trans Student Suspended from Same School in Mississippi That Canceled Prom, Later Hounded Out of Town"

"Constance McMillen wasn't the first student at Itawamba Agricultural High School to contact the ACLU this year. Juin Baize was a student at Itawamba Agricultural—for a grand total of four hours . . .  the next time Baize came to school, according Kristy Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi, Baize was given a suspension notice and sent home. When Juin returned to school after his first suspension, he was suspended again. “Juin’s case was a situation where a transgender student wanted to attend school dressed in feminine clothing," said Bennett, "and the school district would not even let him attend school."

3-25-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Existence", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith "

"One key thing about being a transgender person today is simply being able to exist. Taken to its most extreme, this refers to those who murder us, who attempt to erase us from the earth in over the top acts of violence. Yet violence and murder are not the only way to erase our existence. Transgender people have, for decades, had to deal with our non-existence in the great world at large. We were kept out of "polite society," and relegated to talk shows and tabloids. By and large, we still are."

3-25-10:  GLAAD CALL TO ACTION: "Demand That Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives Be Pulled from Tribeca Film Festival Line-up"

"GLAAD was recently alerted by community members and allies to a film called Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives that will be screened at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. GLAAD has since seen the film in its entirety and can report that the title is far from the only problem with this film. The film, its title and its marketing misrepresent the lives of transgender women and use grotesque, exploitative depictions of violence against transgender women in ways that make light of the horrific brutality they all too often face. . . while some of the actors in the film identify as transgender, the characters are written as drag queens, “performing” femininity in a way that is completely artificial. The very names of these over-the-top female caricatures (Emma Grashun, Rachel Slurr, et al.) drive this point home. Because of its positioning as a transgender film, viewers unfamiliar with the lives of transgender women will likely leave this film with the impression that transgender women are ridiculous caricatures of "real women." It demeans actual transgender women who struggle for acceptance and respect in their day-to-day lives and to be valued for their contributions to our society."

[GLAAD finally takes a stand in protesting the film-festival's promotion of this grotesque film.]

3-25-10:  Change.org: "Demand that "Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives" Be Pulled from Tribeca Film Festival Line-up" (GLAAD petition drive)

"Transgender people are a marginalized and vulnerable minority in our culture, subjected to horrific hate crimes and pervasive discrimination. Relatively few media images of transgender people exist, so every media image becomes essential in educating audiences about transgender lives and working to eliminate the discrimination and violence they face. In this context, it is irresponsible and insulting to make a film that serves up graphic anti-transgender violence as a "hook" for an homage to B-movies of the 1970s. Anti-LGBT hate crimes are serious issues that do not translate into an exploitation film. The very nature of exploitation films is to shock and titillate audiences with extreme, sensationalized violence."

3-25-10:  Movieline: "GLAAD Mounts Censorship Campaign Over Tribeca Fest Transploitation Flick"

"When, exactly, did GLAAD start delineating between what is acceptable or not acceptable humor within the whole Queer spectrum for whom they advocate? According to their logic, drag as a subject is an OK area for broad satire, because it’s “performing,” but transexualism is not. Well, what if the transexual in question also happens to be a raunchy drag performer, like Dirty Sexy Money star Candis Cayne? Doesn’t the voice of the filmmaker count for something? Are transexuals incapable of laughing at themselves? "

[Movieline presents a gay point of view on trans-exploitation.]

3-25-10:  Movieline: "Tribeca, GLAAD Respond to TrannyGate"

"“The filmmakers provided a copy of this film to GLAAD in February, and for weeks the organization had been supportive to the filmmakers. In fact, GLAAD representatives advised the film’s producer, director and cast on how to describe the film to its core constituency” . . . Tribeca’s statement corroborates what a star of the film already commented on Movieline, which is that GLAAD had been well aware of the film for close to a year — and had even worked with the filmmakers — but for some reason chose to use the misleading language “was recently alerted” in their press release."

[The finger pointing now begins: Movieline claims that GLAAD was complicit in the film's showing at Tribeca by initially supporting it.]

3-25-12:  Trans Forming Media (TFM): "Why are men hating on GLAAD for opposing "Ticked Off Trannies With Knives?" and defending transwomen?", by Ashley Love

"I find it amazing that only gay men are jumping to the defense of the film, as if transwomen are "mentally disturbed sex objects" that should be grateful for this depiction. I have nothing against drag queens, but to imply transwomen are really “gay men with wigs on” is extremely invalidating of their identities/womanhood. Whats wrong with GLAAD defending the dignity of women who are so often helpless, disenfranchised and abused in the media?! "

3-24-10:  The Jakarta Post (Indonesia): "Association decries police ban on conference" (more, more, more)

"Organizers of an international conference on gender rights and sexually marginalized groups regretted the ban on the event on Wednesday . . . Poedjiati Tan, who chairs the organizing committee of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA) conference, said the congress was also aiming to discuss challenges faced by women across Asia. ” . . . More than 200 delegates representing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual groups from 16 countries across Asia had registered to attend the event, when Surabaya Police announced that the conference could not go ahead on Wednesday, citing it could stir social anxiety."

3-24-10:  Sowetan (South Africa): "Woman in men’s jail ‘lied’"

"The top management of the notorious prison said during a media briefing that the 36- year-old mother of five, Amaravathee Wilson, “fooled prison officials into believing that she was a man who had undergone a sex change”. Wilson hit the headlines last week when Sowetan broke the story about how she claimed to have been kept in the male section of prison against her will. But yesterday Correctional Services officials claimed that Wilson “wanted to be locked in the male section of the prison”."

3-24-10:  Examiner.com: "NCTE explains how new health care reform will affect transgender people"

"The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) has released information about how the new health care reform that President Obama has signed into law will affect trans people.  Conservative concern about “mandatory sex-changes,” which, although expressed incorrectly, was likely a concern about insurance companies being mandated to pay for transition-related procedures, has not been realized. However, there are some provisions that will benefit trans people."

3-23-10:  Facebook: "Boycott 'Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives' at the Tribeca Film Festival is on Facebook" (new Facebook group)

"Recently the Tribeca Film Festival has announced that it will be screening the movie "Ticked Off Trannies With Knives" directed by Isreal Luna. Billed as comedy/thriller/‘transploitation’, it exploits violence against trans women for cheap laughs . . . Crucially, the movie fails to be funny because of the social context within which trans people live: transphobia is systemic, trans people experience disproportionate levels of violence and discrimination, and each year hundreds are murdered just for being trans. Portraying trans women as murderous vigilantes hunting down their abusers is hardly going to improve understanding about this heavily marginalized group of people."

3-23-10:  Skipthemakeup.blogspot (posted 3-18): "The Tranny Day of Remembrance"

"To all you cineastes out there, here's earth shattering news about a film breaking boundaries at the Tribeca Film Festival. That's right, the New York City festival Robert DeNiro started which is quickly becoming one of the most widely coveted and media-covered film festivals in the country. This film is being promoted as the first film at the festival featuring transgender people in transgender roles. Impressive, huh? It all sounds so empowering. And what's the name of this genre-busting film? Glad you asked, it's called "Ticked Off Trannies With Knives.""

[Alert about a disturbing trans-exploitation film (see this trailer to visualize what it's about).]

3-22-10:  ENDAblog: "Connecting the Dots Between the Blanchard-Bailey-Dreger Axis and the Usual Christianist Anti-LGBT Suspects"

"The item cites well-professed heterosexuals Michael Bailey and Alice Dreger – as well as trans-something-or-another Anne Lawrence – and lovingly adopts the long-disproven contention that sex reassignment surgery is mutilation." 

3-21-10:  PFOX: "Gender Identity Disorder - Legalizing Deception: Why “Gender Identity” Should not be added to Anti-discrimination Legislation", by Dale O'Leary

"Such legislation is designed to give legal protections to those who reject the sex they were born and want to be publicly accepted the other sex – the so-called ‘transsexuals,’ ‘transgendered,’ ‘gender queer,’ transvestites, and others. Such persons deceive themselves, deceive others, and are being deceived by mental health professionals and surgeons. The public is being deceived by the media and activists into believing that so-called ‘transsexuals’ were born with biological problems that are remedied by surgery and that it is possible to change your sex . . . Given that “transsexuals” suffer from a “fundamental disorder” in their sense of self and are prone to narcissistic rage, there is every reason to believe that they will use such laws to ruthlessly attack anyone who speaks the truth."

3-21-10:  Take40.com: "Lady GaGa Reveals She's Gay And "Born This Way"! "

"In an interview . . . last week GaGa explained why the video for her latest single 'Telephone' has caused so much controversy and, in doing so, let the gay cat out of the bag. "It's my personal belief that the video is getting so much attention not because of those themes... but it's because it's with Beyonce and it's because there are so many homosexual themes and transsexual women and transgendered women in the video and suddenly it becomes poisonous and something else...," GaGa continued. "Because there's some people in this world that believe that being gay is a choice, and it's not a choice, we are born this way.""

3-21-10:  Harrow Times (UK): "Prominent Wembley 'Countess' jailed for extraordinary £197,000 fraud"

"A transsexual who conjured up several aliases including a Countess to defraud Brent Council of £197,000 has been jailed for four-and-a-half years. Marianne Jonson, of Wembley, invented ten aliases including the Countess Mariaska Romanov and falsified medical assessment forms, benefit applications and other documents. The 49-year-old, born Robert Duxbury, even pretended to have paraplegia to get more benefits, telling the council she had a twin sister who could walk to develop the lie further."

3-21-10:  Boston Globe: "Gonzo exploits: Outlandish characters and bizarre turns in destiny drive this true tale of rescue in the jungles of Colombia"

"What would you say if I told you that a detachment of Colombian Army commandos sent to retrieve three American hostages stumbled across $20 million that the guerrillas they were pursuing had stashed in the jungle? What if I added that one of the commandos used his share of the twice-stolen loot to procure a sex change operation, open a beauty salon, and, calling herself Jenny, start dating a policeman? You’d say I was bananas, that’s what. But these are just a couple of the amazing facts contained in John Otis’s mesmerizing nonfiction book, “Law of the Jungle.’’"

3-21-10:  Newsweek: "Gay-Rights Protesters Stage Sit-In at Nancy Pelosi's Office: Leaders Stand Ready to Bail Out Activists"

"According to gay-rights advocate Paul Yandura, activists have staged a sit-in at Nancy Pelosi's district and Capitol Hill offices. The groups are fighting for her to take the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to the floor for a vote . . . According to GetEqual’s statement: "ENDA legislation has been stuck in the House Committee on Education and Labor since last year.  Contrary to what has been told to many LGBTQ allies in Congress, The Hill reported in December that Pelosi assured Democrats she would not bring any controversial bills to the floor for a vote this year.""

3-21-10:  The Independent (South Africa): "Trauma, torture and ridicule"

"There is nothing manly about 36-year-old Durban mother Denise Abbah. She is quite pleasant and no one in their right mind would suggest she looks like a man. Yet she was thrown into a men's prison cell for seven months, which resulted in her being raped and sodomised, she claims. Now, six years after her release, Abbah wants revenge . . .  On the day of her arrest, Abbah says, prison authorities registered her as Denis instead of Denise and locked her in a cell with transvestites and male prisoners, where she claims she was raped and sodomised . . . "They just refused to believe that I was a woman. They thought I was a man who had undergone a sex change. I told them about my children at home, but it didn't help."

3-20-10:  The Independent (UK): "The third sex: The truth about gender ambiguity" - Neither wholly male nor entirely female, there are more than 30,000 'intersexed' individuals living in Britain today. Here, they talk about their lives."

"In the 10 years since UKIA was founded, we've started to see far fewer cases involving secrecy and cover-up [such as that experienced by Leaver]," says Hayes-Light. "We've also succeeded in getting intersex included in the 2004 Gender Recognition Act. And we've seen major changes in social attitudes, with more balanced media reporting, too." Yet there's still a long way to go. "Society is becoming more open-minded, but most people still haven't heard of the word 'intersex', and gender variance remains the last taboo in our culture," maintains Addams. Despite the recommendation of BAPS, surgery on intersexed babies still goes on, both in Britain and many other countries. Leaver looks forward to a time "when intersexed people are no longer viewed with disdain or pity, and the world doesn't cling so much to 'male' and 'female'."

3-19-10:  The Guardian (re Iran): "Sex-change Iranian actor returns to screens"

"Saman – formerly Farzaneh – Arastu takes male role in Anahita a year after playing a woman in another film . . . She earned her acting credentials playing female characters in a host of hit films and television dramas. Now one of Iran's best-known screen actors has ditched her previous persona to embark on a new career playing male roles. But Saman – formerly Farzaneh – Arastu's gender transformation has little to do with dramatic talents. Instead she has turned into a he by becoming the first known Iranian actor to undergo a sex change operation."

3-19-10:  Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): "AG backtracks on gender ruling" (more, more, more)

"THE case of the state's first genderless citizen has forced the equivalent of a bureaucratic sex change on the government. It has revoked an official document issued last month to an androgynous Sydneysider called Norrie whose sex was listed as genderless."

3-19-10:  My Bangalore (India): "An evolution in gender politics: A transsexual contests BBMP elections in Karnataka"

"Veena has been working as the vice-president of Karnataka Sex Workers Union for the last two years. Prior to that, she had been the Treasurer of Samara, a sexual minority organization. Having being nominated for the upcoming BBMP election, 2010, Veena feels that she can do a lot to improve the place. “I have lived in the place for long, and I have the problems and faced it myself”. “There is no proper sanitation, no facilities for drinking water; electricity is another problem. There are many things like these. I am sure I can empathize with the people there, for I am one of them,” said Veena."

3-18-10:  Washington City Paper: "The State of Transgender Hate Crimes in D.C."

"In 2007, changes to the D.C. Human Rights Act required police to begin recording hate-bias crimes motivated by the victim’s “gender identity or expression”—in other words, crimes that specifically target transgender victims. Since then, crimes against the transgender community have been the second most frequently recorded type of hate crime committed in D.C., after sexual orientation."

3-18-10:  Bilerico Project: "Blogswarm: Demand LGBT Employment Rights Today", Filed by: Dr. Jillian T. Weiss

"The Bilerico Project is participating in a blogswarm today with Daily Kos, Open Left, Americablog, Towleroad, Pam's House Blend, Joe My God, Michelangelo Signorile, David Mixner, Daily Gotham, Culture Kitchen, Taylor Marsh, PageOneQ, Dan Savage, GoodAsYou, and many others. We're asking our readers to contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi and ask that she move the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (HR 3017) to a floor vote. . . . Let's work together to let Speaker Pelosi know that we want action now! At the end of the day, we will post a round-up of how the day went. Stay tuned."

3-18-10:  GID Reform: "An Inflection Point for Gender Diversity in Mental Health Policy", by Kelley Winters, Ph.D. (Keynote Speech, Colorado Gold Rush Conference, Denver, CO February 2010.)

"The current diagnostic criteria of GID and TF describe transition itself as symptomatic of mental illness, especially so for gender nonconforming children and transwomen. This burdens our supportive medical and mental health providers to re-spin, to repackage, this flawed nomenclature as congruent with social and medical transition, when in fact it was written to contradict transition. As a consequence, only a privileged portion of us who need access to hormonal and/or surgical care are afforded access. Worse yet, trans youth and even adults remain subject to psychological gender reparative and cruel aversion “therapies” intended to shame affirmed gender identities into dark and solitary closets."

3-18-10:  Daily Record (UK): "Glamour model sister helped me make switch from rugby-playing man to woman"

"A sex swap patient who used to be a rugby player called David has told how her glamour model sister is helping her through the ordeal of becoming a woman."

3-17-10:  The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Court Denies Conservative Pundit-Professor's Bias Claim Against University"

"A federal court has rejected a claim that the University of North Carolina at Wilmington committed viewpoint discrimination against Michael S. Adams, a prominent conservative commentator and associate professor of criminology, by denying him a promotion based partly on its review of online columns and other expressions of opinion that he included in his application to move up the ranks.

In granting the university's motion to dismiss Mr. Adams's lawsuit against it, Judge Malcolm J. Howard of the U.S. District Court in Greenville, N.C., held that Mr. Adams had failed to prove his allegation that the university denied him a promotion to full professor based on his Christian beliefs and conservative views, which he has expressed in a substantial body of published opinion columns that emulate the style of Ann Coulter and often have taken aim at the university's administration, faculty members, and staff.

More significantly as a matter of broader legal interpretation, the ruling that Judge Howard issued on Monday said Mr. Adams himself had caused his columns to be considered as work-related speech—rather than as outside speech clearly protected under the First Amendment—by including them in the package of materials he submitted in applying for promotion."

3-17-10:  Book/Survey Announcement: "Trans Bodies, Trans Selves", Laura Erickson-Schroth, MD, Editor

"About the Book: Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is a resource guide for transgender and other gender-variant people, covering health, legal issues, cultural and social questions, history, theory, and more. It is a place for transgender people, their partners and families, students, professors, guidance counselors, and others to look for up-to-date information on transgender life . . .

Survey: The authors and editor of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves would greatly appreciate your thoughts on living as a transgender or gender-variant person. The experiences of parents and partners are also very valuable. Quotes gathered in this anonymous survey will be used throughout the book to highlight real life stories."

3-17-10:  Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey re UK): "UK Home Office supports Turkish transsexual" (more)

"A Turkish transsexual identified as G.O., 33, has been accepted to a gender-reassignment program and granted a residence permit in England, where he fled eight years ago. Biologically born a female, G.O will take the name Dennis after the transition is complete . . . If he returned to Turkey after the gender-reassignment procedure, G.O said, it would result in his death. He made his case on that basis to the Home Office, which granted him a residence permit allowing him to stay in the U.K"

3-17-10:  News.com.au (re Finland): "Transsexual pastor to resign" (more)

A transsexxual Finnish pastor, who returned to work four months ago following a sex-change operation, has decided to resign, Finnish media reported today. Marja-Sisko Aalto, formerly known as Olli Aalto, said she felt she had not "managed to build a sufficient connection and the confidence needed" to carry out the demanding position successfully, the newspaper Etelae-Saimaa wrote on its website"

3-16-10:  New York Daily News (re Australia): "No sex for me, please! Ex-transsexual Australian Norrie May-Welby is first legally genderless person"

"The genderless 48-year-old was born male in Scotland, and moved Down Under at age 7. Twenty-one years later, May-Welby underwent a sex change, but really wasn't happy living life as a woman either, according to Telegraph.co.uk. Which left neuter, naturally — and that seemed to fit. "The concepts of man or woman don't fit me," May-Welby said. "The simplest solution is not to have any sex identification". . . The UK's Gender Trust welcomed the case. "Many people like the idea of being genderless," a spokesman said, according to the Telegraph. The restroom question has yet to be formally addressed."

3-16-10:  The Scavenger: "Whipping Girl: Interview with trans feminist Julia Serano", by Cath Davis

"In the introduction to your book, Whipping Girl, you claim that 'as a transsexual woman, I would have to say that most of the anti-trans sentiment that I have had to deal with is probably better described as misogyny' and that 'we are ridiculed and dismissed not merely because we transgress binary gender norms, but rather because we choose to be women rather than men'. Is this something you have experienced within lesbian or queer women's' communities? And how do you think the experiences of trans women differ to those of trans men? "

3-15-10:  IFGE Petition: "TELL THE APA: CROSSDRESSING IS NOT A DISORDER! Drop 302.3 from the DSM" (more)

"We, the undersigned, call for the complete removal of so-called "Transvestic Disorder" (302.3) as a diagnostic category from the next DSM. In support of our request, we note that:

1. Crossdressing involves no inherent harm to the individual engaging in it, to other people, or to society. Its presence in a psychiatric manual (whether for reasons of diagnosis or for research) is anachronistic, trivializes the DSM, and diminishes the psychiatric profession; . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4. The mere grouping of crossdressing alongside criminal behaviors that can cause grave harm to non-consenting persons needlessly stigmatizes people who engage in harmless gender-diverse behavior; . . . 5 . . .  6. The arbitrariness of this diagnosis is compounded by its proposed extension to cover gay and bisexual men who were explicitly exempted in the past, and by the questionable reasoning given to justify the change; . . . 7 . . .  8. The psychiatrist and former chairman of the DSM-4 Task Force, Allen Frances, M.D., recently wrote in the Psychiatric Times, "As psychiatrists, we have our hands full taking care of the suffering and distress caused by real mental disorders. There is no need for us to expand our purview to cover sexual thoughts and behaviors that are private and harmless.""

[Under the influence of Ray Blanchard of the notorious CAMH Gender Clinic, crossdressing (aka 'Transvestic Fetishism') will be included in the "paraphillias" section of the DSM-V along with Pedophilia, Frotteurism, Exhibitionism, Sexual Sadism, etc.  PLEASE protest the APA's pronouncement that cross-dressing is a sexually paraphilic mental illness by SIGNING this petition!]

3-15-10:  The Guardian (UK): "Trans people still miss out on equality - Without an amendment to the Single Equality Act, many of us will continue to live in fear and discomfort”, by Natasha Curson

"Trans individuals and organisations have lobbied MPs and peers to debate an amendment to the Equality Act. We failed in the Commons and in the Lords, so the legislation is likely to go through as it is. The government has done a lot for us – the Gender Recognition Act has improved things for a significant part of our community. But the principle of equality of treatment is still applied unevenly to the trans community. Because of this many of us live in fear and discomfort for much of our lives"

3-15-10:  State News (MSU): "Increasing recognition"

"Psychology freshman Kylie Werschler, left, hangs out with her two friends, psychology junior Ali Panek and Residential College in the Arts and Humanities freshman Shane Luke on the Friday before spring break. Werschler is a transgender student, and said she’s had a positive experience on campus and has met supportive friends such as Panek and Luke."

3-14-10:  Psychology Today: "DSM5 Sexual Disorders Make No Sense", by Allen Frances, MD

"A major general problem in the preparation of DSM5 is that the various Work Groups have been given far too little guidance and support. This explains why: 1)most of the criteria sets are written so obscurely and inconsistently; 2) the rationales for change vary so widely in depth and quality across Work Groups,and; 3) so many suggestions that should have no chance at all have made it this far without being tossed. The Sexual Disorders Work Group has strayed furthest off the reservation. It has made a series of radical and dangerous suggestions that need to be dropped. . . . "HYPERSEXUALITY DISORDER" . . . "PARAPHILIC COERCIVE DISORDER". . . "PEDOHEBEPHILIA" . . . "GENDER INCONGRUENCE" would replace the DSM IV term Gender Identity Disorder. The writing here is especially unclear, but there appears to be an ill conceived suggestion to remove the requirement for clinically significant distress or impairment. Presumably everyone with an unorthodox gender identity would now get a diagnosis of mental disorder-even if they are happy and functioning well. If, indeed, this is what is meant, the suggestion makes no sense at all and resurrects the same unfortunate issues that psychiatry resolved forty years ago when homosexuality was removed from the manual. "

3-14-10:  San Jose Mercury News: "Spurned by Nev., transgender woman to wed in Calif"

"Danielle Pauline Severson takes female hormones, dresses and acts like a woman and plans to have sex reassignment surgery so she physically looks like a woman. Yet the pre-operative transgender female, who was born Dana Paul Severson, will have to tie the knot to a woman in California."
 

3-14-10:  New York Daily News: "'Transgender people need not apply' at J. Crew says Make the Road New York advocacy group"

"The sign at J. Crew and other retailers in the city might as well read "transgender people need not apply," said an advocacy group."

3-13-10:  Associated Press: "Gay seniors come out late, start second lifetime"

"On his 75th birthday, Bill Farthing decided to be reborn. In the six years since he'd buried his wife of 45 years, he'd felt as he did long before: Lonesome, different, outcast. He wondered if he was going crazy; he contemplated suicide. Looking back, the clues leading to this day had been scattered throughout his life, but only made sense just now."

3-14-10:  Daytona Beach News-Journal: "'I am a boy' insists child born a girl"

"After years of battling over hairdos and clothes, puzzling over why the child preferred bugs over Barbie dolls, and snuggling up for heart-to-heart talks to understand what was going on, the mother of four and her husband have concluded their second-youngest child is transgender. They've been raising him as their son since August. . . . Some experts suspect mental or physical problems explain the deviation. Some of those experts even think parents are just indulging bizarre behavior. Others believe the unshakeable sense of being male or female is hardwired into everyone's brain at birth, and not even body parts that don't match can change that. The Deltona couple see their 7-year-old as walking, talking proof that some people just don't fit traditional gender roles."

3-12-10:  PR Newswire: "Transgender People and Families Gather in DC for Employment Rights"

"Faced with staggering rates of bias in the workplace, transgender people and their families are convening on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, March 16 to advocate for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). This legislation would extend protections against discrimination on the job based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

3-12-10:  CNN: "From Steven to Susan – CNN Documents an Extraordinary Journey of Gender Reassignment and Self-Discovery for Public Official – Her Name Was Steven premieres March 13 & March 14 at 8pm and 11pm ET & PT" (more)

"Steven Stanton, former Largo, FL, city manager, appeared to have the perfect life: a loving wife and son, an influential job. Stanton described it as “paradise.” That dream world – “Steven’s World” - all changed when Stanton’s plans to become a woman were revealed. Stanton tells a dramatic story of public and private struggle during this transition. Interviews with Stanton’s wife, teen-age son and co-workers, along with childhood diaries, personal journals, and family films, take viewers into the world of Steven as he transitions to Susan"

3-12-10:  The Temesek Review (Singapore): "Transsexual masseur: PBM Jack Neo got “special service” from me"

"Just when it appears that the Jack Neo sex scandal is finally drawing to a close with PBM Jack Neo’s public apology on a shared blog with his good friend Foreign Minister George Yeo, another sensational revelation of his past sexual “exploits” had surfaced again. In an interview with Chinese tabloid Shin Min Daily today, Singapore’s famous transsexual masseur and artiste Lai Meiqi claimed that she had provided “special service” to PBM Jack Neo during a massage session with her!"

3-11-10:  Huffington Post: ".Transgender or Transgendered?", by Joanne Herman

"I've increasingly been seeing and hearing the word "transgendered," and I have cringed every time. What's wrong with the seemingly subtle difference between saying "transgendered" and "transgender?" Actually, a lot."

3-11-10:  Dallas Voice: "Controversy continues over APA and gender variance - Latest version of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual still includes gender variance as a disorder, recommends ‘reparative’ therapy", by Renee Baker

"Mental illness can carry a heavy stigma. It can destroy families, end careers, cause health care to be turned down and even the most basic of human rights to be denied. Just look at homosexuality as an example: It was once labeled a mental disorder, and the liberation of LGB people today continues to depend upon them having a clean bill of mental health. But that same clean bill is routinely denied to freely expressing gender-variant people — from toddlers to adults — regardless of transgender identity. And though the liberating road ahead is anything but clear, many voices are speaking out amidst a firestorm of controversy, and they’re speaking to the American Psychiatric Association"

3-11-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Can't you take a joke?", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

"That's what I feel is going on when we give Chappelle or anyone a pass because he was perfectly funny when he made fun of people that weren't us. He does have some funny, insightful, and relevant things to say – but when he falls into base transphobia, it seems perfectly right to call him on it. . . . this wasn't about his discomfort, really. This was about someone he felt was a freak, so decidedly different that they deserved to be mocked. Therein lies the difference. While it's fine to offend, push boundaries, and otherwise try to be edgy, it is simply not cool to do it at the expense of others who can and will be hurt by this. It's fine to make a joke, but when the jokes turn to scorn and contempt, the laughing is over."

3-11-10:  The Spartan Daily (SJSU): "'Transsexual Sweetheart' recounts tough transition to SJSU students"

"Calpernia Addams, "America's Transsexual Sweetheart," said she is now comfortable being imperfect, even though some people had told her she would look hideous as a woman. "It got to the point where I (said) ... if I don't do this, I don't know if I want to be alive," Addams said. More than 100 people attended Addams' event "Trans 101 with America's Transsexual Sweetheart, Calpernia Addams" in the SJSU University Room at noon on Wednesday"

3-11-10:  The Harvard Crimson: "Treating Transgender Needs - Part II in a II Part Series", By Alice E. M. Underwood

"While Harvard’s insurance plan has covered sex hormones since 2006, a new policy adopted in January incorporates coverage for top surgery, meaning mastectomies for transgender men (women transitioning to men) and breast augmentation for transgender women (men transitioning to women). While the change is greatly appreciated within Harvard’s transgender community, finding full treatment and acceptance from others remain significant challenges."

3-11-10:  The Times of India (India): "I am delaying my sex change surgery: Bobby"

"Most actresses wouldn’t mind swapping places with Bobby Darling just for this role. She plays a superwoman in Aditya Dutt’s Will you Marry Me . . . She’s also got Apartment, in which she plays Tanushree Dutta’s ‘cute’ neighbour who wants to move in with her, and Club 007, her first Hollywood film, which sees her play a transsexual pole dancer. With so much happening on the career front, Bobby is delaying her sex change operation. “I’ll do that by the end of next year as I’m getting many offers now. So, I’m on hormones. But when I get my sex changed, I’ll call myself chiclet,” she says. "

3-10-10:  The Ayrshire Post (UK): "Ayrshire grandad to undergo sex change"

"A grandad will undergo major surgery this week to become a woman. David Neil will finally become Diane in more than just name after the five hour operation. The 46-year-old Ayr dad-of three revealed the heartache and devastation the dramatic decision has caused."

3-10-10:  Washington Post (re Cuba): "In paying for sex changes, Cuba breaks from past" (more, more, photo)

"Looking in the mirror used to make Yiliam Gonzalez sick to her stomach. "I would see myself, and my body didn't match who I was," said the 28-year-old wedding pianist, who went by William before receiving a sex change under Cuba's universal health care system. Gonzalez is living proof of a small but remarkable transformation for the rugged revolution of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and a band of ever-macho, bearded rebels, who long punished gays and transsexuals — but now are paying for sex changes . . .Cuban doctors received training from visiting Belgians on how to do the surgeries, and doctors from both countries were present during the procedures . . . Gonzalez said opponents "don't know what a person who is transsexual suffers. It's a prison you can't get out of."" 

[Includes a slide-show of photos of Yiliam.]

3-10-10:  The Spartan Daily (SJSU): "Documentary sheds light on transgender issues"

""Diagnosing Difference," a full-length documentary featuring interviews with transgendered people, explored the impact of Gender Identity Disorder and the implications of its place in the American Psychological Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Organized by Susan Murray, an associate professor of sociology, The film was followed by a discussion panel, was shown in the Engineering building, and attended by 120 people. The documentary was produced and directed by Annalise Ophelian, a San Francisco-based human sexuality consultant. She said she made the documentary because she felt it was the best way to portray the individual voices and experiences of transgendered people . . . The common thread shared by all the speakers was the categorization of being transgendered as a mental disorder."

3-10-10:  The Harvard Crimson: "New Policy Covers Transgender Health"

"At Harvard’s behest, Blue Cross Blue Shield modified their University-specific policy on transgender services. Employee coverage went into effect on Jan. 1, and student coverage will begin on Aug. 1, 2010. Blue Cross developed a policy outlining generic medical coverage criteria for both top and bottom surgeries. However, Harvard has decided to remove the exclusion only for top surgeries—that is, breast augmentation and mastectomies—for now, as the possibility of covering genital surgeries is still being investigated."

3-09-10:  Twirlit.com: "Laverne Cox Leads Transgender Makeover Team on New VH1 Show “Transform Me”"

"Laverne Cox, Jamie Clayton and Nina Poon understand transformation. According to PR Newswire, the three women have teamed up with VH1 and Left-Right Inc. for a new fashion makeover show, Transform Me. Each half-hour episode follows the makeover of one woman badly in need of a transformation — on the outside and inside. The subjects quickly find out this won’t be your typical makeover, since Laverne, Jamie and Nina are all transgender women. “Transform Me is a show about everyone who’s ever felt that the person they are on the inside isn’t quite reflected in who is seen on the outside,” Laverne explained. “Transgender folks are in many ways the ultimate example of this. We’ve taken extraordinary steps to bring who we are on the inside…out, and we’re committed to helping other women do the same thing. If we can do it, anyone can!”"

3-09-10:  "Colorado Catholic School Boots Student With Lesbian Mothers" (more, more, more)

"A Colorado Catholic school's decision to deny enrollment to a young child with lesbian mothers has divided the religious community with some questioning whether a preschooler should be used to make a political statement. The child, currently a preschool student at the Sacred Heart of Jesus school in Boulder, would be allowed to finish out the school year, but would not be readmitted for kindergarten in the fall. The move came after the parents' sexual orientation drew the attention of the parish priest, the Rev. Bill Breslin, and the Denver archdiocese."

[Yet another example of how Catholic dioceses around the world are intensifying their stigmatization and ostracism of LGBT people under pressure from the Vatican.]

3-09-10:  The Michigan Messenger: "Scott sticks to plan of targeting transgendered"

"At a recent forum for the Republican candidates for Secretary of State, a defiant Rep. Paul Scott refused to back down from his unusual strategy of targeting transgendered people and refusing to allow them to change the gender designation on their driver’s licenses. As the Messenger previously reported, Rep. Scott entered the race for the Secretary of State job by declaring that he would “make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance.” Asked what problem this was intended to solve, he told the Messenger that it was all about “preventing people who are males genetically from dressing as a woman and going into female bathrooms.”"

3-08-10:  The Bilerico Project: "The "Trans Mafia" stifles allies", Filed by: Austen Crowder

"Look, I know we trans people have to be very careful, lest we get thrown under the bus once again in the name of political gain. I also understand the distrust of cis people; sometimes, good friends ask the dumbest questions, or say the dumbest things, and in the back of your mind you want to say "Shut up; you're making it worse." That's why the Trans Mafia exists in the first place. At the same time, though, if we keep shooting at every shadow behind a tree, who will be left to stand up to say "Wait a minute! this is ridiculous!"? The answer lies not with the LGBT movement, but with its opposition, who stands on a simple, easy-to-understand platform: "Trans people are messed up, and should be cured instead of treated." We need to stop shooting down our allies. They need us. We need them. "I don't want to post about trans issues" is not a prevalent attitude we want, need, or can afford to have."

[An important essay on the need to cool things down, so as to build a wider base of allies.]

3-08-10:  Huffington Post: "Riot Acts: Film Explores The Lives Of Transgender And Gender Variant Musicians (video)" (more)

"On Saturday, the Chicago International Music and Movies Festival screened "Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance," a feature length documentary directed and produced by Madsen Minax and Simon Strikeback of Actor Slash Model. This self-described "transfabulous rockumentary" highlights transgender and gender variant musicians from across the U.S. and Canada."

3-08-10:  EDGE Boston: "Right Takes Aim at Maine Proposal for Trans Restroom Use", by Kilian Melloy

"Religious conservatives say that restroom policy should be guided by the biological gender of the people using the facilities, and call for guidelines that establish the use of "biology based bathrooms," such that individuals with male physiology would be barred form using women’s restrooms and locker rooms--even if the individual’s gender identification is at odds with his or her physiology."

3-08-10:  How-do (UK): "Coronation Street set to celebrate 50th with transsexual wedding"

"The much-lauded writers on ITV's Coronation Street (more) are set to rewrite the rules of the soap arena yet again, with the first ever on-screen transsexual wedding to feature in one of the big soaps (will it be the first ever for a TV drama? Ed). Roy and Hayley had their relationship blessed in 1999, but could not marry at the time due to UK law, which forbade transsexuals to marry in their new gender. However, that law changed in 2004, setting the foundation for a lavish do, which, according to an insider at the show, will provide " a day for all the street's residents to celebrate.""

3-08-10:  TSRoadmap.com (posted 3-05-10): "Candice Brown Elliott and 'autogynephilia'", by Andrea James (more)

" “The Invisible Transsexual” is an essay published by Candice Brown Elliott under the pseudonym “Cloudy” in late 2008. The essay supports a controversial two-type taxonomy of transsexual women promoted by psychologists associated with a conservative Toronto mental institution. The terminology and taxonomy are widely reviled by trans people and their allies . . . It’s especially sad that Candice Brown Elliott embraces this bogus taxonomy simply because she doesn’t understand how she would be classified by its proponents. Perhaps when faced with the reality of how they would classify her, Candice Brown Elliott will come to realize how her writings hurt not only her and her own credibility, but also damage the community by lending credence to this oppressive nonsense."

3-08-10:  TSRoadmap.com (posted 3-06-10): "News alert by Lynn Conway"

"During the Bailey book fiasco in 2004, a person named Denise Tree launched the “transkids.us” website. It was purportedly authored by young “homosexual transsexuals” who supported Blanchard’s classification of transwomen as two different types of mentally-ill men. The site later went dormant and eventually went offline, after Andrea James exposed it as a hoax.  The transkids.us site has just come back to life, apparently as part of the runup to the publication of Dreger’s book defending J. Michael Bailey, and a person code-named “Cloudy” has partnered with Tree to run the site.. . . Cloudy proudly claims that she is one of the rare “homosexual transsexuals” (which to her apparently makes her a “true transsexual” in the eyes of psychiatrists). It is hard to understand why she so openly accepts this defamatory label, especially after you read J. Michael Bailey’s pronouncements about that “disorder”. Cloudy then goes on to openly name a number of prominent transitioned women as being “autogynephiles” (i.e, as sexually paraphilic mentally ill men), and ridicules their motives and their transitions"

3-08-10:  The Scavenger (Australia): "Sex not specified: Australia leads the way with legal document" (more)

"Norrie, a member of Sex and Gender Education (SAGE), a lobby group campaigning for the rights of all sex and gender diverse people has been issued with what is understood to be the world’s first ‘Sex Not Specified’ Recognised Details Certificate in place of a birth certificate. This means that Norrie (also known as norrie mAy-Welby) – a resident of Sydney, NSW – is legally recognised as neither male nor female according to the Australian government."

3-07-10:  The Denver Post: "Trinidad surgeon helps women escape past of mutilation”, by Karen Auge"

"Mariama and the six other women, all originally from Africa, crowding Dr. Bowers' tiny Trinidad clinic have traveled a long way to get that fixed . . . The World Health Organization estimates that 100 million to 140 million women worldwide, but especially in northern and central Africa, have endured female genital mutilation, or FGM. Usually done to girls before age 15, the practice involves at least slicing off part or all of the exposed clitoris . . . A lot of people inflict the damage. Bowers, whose clinic is known around the world as a destination for those seeking gender-changing surgery, is one of a few trained to surgically restore the clitoris, as well as repair other damage."

3-07-10:  Los Angeles Times (re Italy; posted 3-05): "Italy scandal a labyrinth of intrigue"

"A governor is photographed trysting with a transsexual by policemen who are later arrested on extortion charges. There are two suspected murders and, oh yes, Premier Berlusconi figures as well. The governor made off to a monastery after having affairs with transsexuals, but not before the cops videotaped a tryst . . . and offered to sell copies to a magazine owned by the prime minister . . . Then one of the transsexuals, a Brazilian named Brenda, turned up naked and dead, her laptop computer submerged under a running tap. Oh, yeah, and the drug dealer who supplied cocaine to the governor and Brenda would meet his own demise."

3-07-10:  News.com.au (Australia): "Cross-dressers banned from bar"

"A group of Adelaide cross-dressers says it is no longer welcome at its favourite hotel, after having been refused entry. Despite drinking and dining regularly at the carnival-themed Boho Bar, on Unley Rd, for at least six months, members of Adelaide's transgender community say management's attitude has changed."

3-07-10:  Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): "Courts to have final say on sex changes"

"Transsexualism cannot be called a normal factor of human development, the Family Court has determined, and parents who want their children treated for it will have to continue to seek legal permission. Since 2004, the treatment has been placed in the same legal category as organ removal or sterilisation and requires a court order. The court allowed "Bernadette", born a boy, to have hormone treatment before puberty in 2007. Bernadette's parents then launched a test case asking for other parents to be allowed to authorise the treatment without going to court. In a judgment last week, Justice David Collier said medical knowledge had not improved enough for the court to consider the condition normal – and a parent's responsibility . . . A source familiar with the test case said parents had to spend up to $20,000 in the courts to seek permission for treatment that could help prevent suicide and make later surgery less invasive"

3-06-10:  Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): "Court gave teen the right to change gender from boy to girl"

"The Family Court has permitted a teenage boy to have hormone treatment to become a girl. ''Bernadette'' was born a boy in 1992 but began showing signs of female ''behaviour, preferences and traits'' from the age of three. A judge in NSW gave Bernadette, supported by her parents, permission to have hormone treatment that would suppress the onset of puberty and - later - administer oestrogen. The order was made in late 2007, when Bernadette was about 14 . . . "

3-06-10:  The Times (UK re Pakistan): "Life is hard for boys who want to be girls in a frontier town"

"Hijras in more permissive areas of Pakistan have noticed the benefits of the Supreme Court’s actions and begun to register themselves for ID cards as a “third sex” as part of the progress towards better employment, inheritance and voter status. But Peshawar’s conservatism and traditionalist Pashtun values make life tough. "

3-05-10:  TS Roadmap: “”Transgender fringe flare-ups: “PurpleGirl” and “Cloudy”/”Sillyolme”, by Andrea James  (Full article)

"Political progress in the mainstream trans community has occasional distracting flare-ups involving bizarre fringe groups. They often try to criticize the community or assert their authenticity as True Transsexuals while remaining anonymous. When their veil of anonymity is lifted, they are invariably shown to have been brainwashed in some manner. It’s always due to belief in some cult-like ideology about how they are different from or better than other trans people . . . I have just published a new piece on major participants from two especially bizarre fringe movements: the “Harry Benjamin syndrome” movement and the transkids.us hoax . . . Both have been causing a lot of problems online under assumed names. Now that the transkids.us hoax site has gone back online after being gone for about a year, I felt it was time to publish this information and analysis."

[Transkids.us is back, promoting Blanchard's, Bailey's and Lawrence's pronouncements that transwomen are mentally ill sexual deviants; Andrea James identifies the people behind that hoax website: Denise Tree and "Cloudy"/"Sillyolme"]

3-05-10:  Asia One News (re Singapore): "Transsexual wants to adopt after four years of marrriage"

"Jessie Chung, the transsexual who made headlines when she married Joshua Beh, plans to adopt children after four years of marriage, Sin Chew Daily reported. She said they planned to adopt two or three children next year."

3-05-10:  The Nation (Thailand): "The parts of a woman - Flawed strategies emerge on a TV debate about "transgender woman""

"Whether you agree with her or not, former Miss Alcazar “Nok” Yollada deserves thanks for raising important questions in a recent TV debate on “transgender women” that became the talk of the nation . . . Unfortunately, Yollada had two serious flaws in her argument. First, she spectacularly failed to explain why legal recognition is important . . . Second, Yollada will get nowhere basing her argument on a World Health Organisation classification that lists transsexualism among psychological disorders. She’ll be seen not as a woman but as mentally ill. The WHO’s diagnosis of these “gender identity disorders” has a price tag in term of stigma and discrimination that not all transgenders are willing to pay"

3-05-10: Coventry Telegraph (UK): "Sex-change operations cost NHS £250,000 over five years"

"Sex change operations have cost the NHS in Coventry and Warwickshire a quarter of a million pounds in the last five years. Twenty-three people have undergone gender swap surgery, according to figures obtained by the Telegraph."

3-05-10:  The Daily Mail (UK): “Transsexual still married to wife claims human rights breach after being denied pension at 60” (more)

“A transsexual claims his human rights have been breached because the law will not recognise him as a woman unless he divorces his wife. Christopher Timbrell, who has changed his name to Christine, has launched a High Court fight because his marital status bars him from claiming a pension from the age of 60 like other women.”

3-04-10:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Twists, turns in 'Prodigal Sons' documentary" (more)

"Documentary by Kimberly Reed. At the Lumiere in San Francisco and the Shattuck in Berkeley. Reed will appear after the early evening and late shows at the Lumiere today and Saturday and after the late matinee at the Shattuck on Sunday . . . By the end of this harrowing and unforgettable film, Kim is the one who's really grown. She has learned something - that not only can you go home again, but that, in some ways, you can never leave. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing. In the final minutes of the film, she thinks she might take the McKerrow name back. Kim is who she is now and forever, but McKerrow is also who she both was and always will be as well."

3-04-10:  Aidsalliance.org (re Ecuador; posted 3-01-10): "Transgender Name Change in Ecuador Sets Legal Precedent"

"The Ecuadorian transgender women's group Silueta X has broken new ground in enabling transgender men and women to change their names legally . . . Diane Rodríguez, the director of Silueta X, fought the campaign after being told by her local registry office that such a change was not possible. . . . Diane took the case to the Office of the Ombudsman which, in turn, took up the case with the director of the national registry office. This resulted in Diane and four other members of the group receiving new identity cards within a week of the appeal."

3-04-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Transgender union worker claims bullying, harassment"

"A well-known union and LGBT activist in San Francisco is claiming he has endured bullying and harassment at work."

3-04-10:  The Sun (UK): "Sex swap ‘David Brent’ snapper ruins bride’s day" (more)

"Fuming bride Melanie Vaughan last night told how her wedding day was ruined - when the photographer turned out to be a transsexual . . . Mum-of-four Melanie said: ". . . You could hear a pin drop when he, or she, walked in. I'm open-minded but he looked ridiculous. The kids thought it was hilarious but the adults didn't know where to look. "It was one of the most embarrassing things I have ever known. It ruined the wedding. He told my mum he had been diagnosed as transgender."

3-03-10:  Pink News (UK): "Three men assaulted in Cornwall ‘homophobic’ attack"

"A police spokesman told the Cornish Guardian: “We have recorded this incident as a hate crime after one of the victims made a claim that the assault could have been a homophobic attack because one of the party was a transsexual."

3-03-10:  Saugus Advertiser: "Transgender Group Alleges Discrimination" (more)

"Ashley Bottoms of Saugus alleges that two employees of Capone’s Italian American Restaurant refused to let members of social club Sisters Family eat inside because of their appearance. . . . Bottoms said she has experienced discrimination for her beliefs in the past, but never to the degree that occurred at Capone’s. “It was embarrassing and humiliating,” Bottoms said, noting that customers at Capone’s sided with Sisters Family at the time."

3-03-10:  Radio Australia News (re China): "Shanghai Beauty brings story to Australia"

"China's most famous and successful choreographer has taken time in her Australian tour to discuss the challenges of being a transexual dancer and former colonel in the world's largest military force. Jin Xing, who was a man until sex reassignment surgery in 1996, says there are many layers to her persona. "I am not just a dancer and choreographer, although I am not just transexual, but (from a) transsexual background. These are complications put together who made me who I am today," she said."

3-03-10: Los Angeles Times (re Pakistan): "A small victory for Pakistan's transgenders"

"The nation's hijra community -- mostly eunuchs and hermaphrodites -- has long lived on the margins in the Muslim nation, barely tolerated and more often abused. A new ruling gives its members some rights."
 

3-03-10:  The West Australian (Australia): "Transsexuals in landmark case"

"Two female-to-male transsexuals should be able to keep female organs that allow them to bear children and still be legally recognised as men, it was argued in a landmark test of WA's gender reassignment laws yesterday. The Court of Appeal case is expected to set a legal precedent which could define the extent of medical intervention required for females to have their gender reassigned to male."

3-03-10:  The Australian (Australia): "Transsexual who feared prison at home qualifies for refugee status" "A Malaysian transsexual who feared prison, whipping and life as a prostitute if returned home has qualified for refugee status as a member of a persecuted social group. The Refugee Review Tribunal emphasised her poverty, powerlessness and inability to get an identity card as a female, which would have allowed her to work."

3-03-10:  The Sun (UK): "Mechanic loses nuts... and customers bolt" (more)

"The boss of a car engine firm has been forced to take a backroom role after customers deserted him when he turned into a woman. Mechanic Terry Hird, 66, started sex-swap treatment last year and is set to have his nuts removed in "gender reassignment" surgery."

3-02-10:  Edge: "San Antonio Cop Accused of Raping Transgender Woman"

"A transwoman claims that she was raped by a San Antonio officer; the city police department has taken swift action in the case. Officer Craig Nash was accused by a transgendered prostitute of picking her up while on duty and in uniform, handcuffing her, and then driving her elsewhere in a police car, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. "

3-02-10:  Chosun Ilbo (South Korea): "More Foreigners Choose Korea for Complex Plastic Surgery"

"The number of foreigners who make a beeline for Korea for expensive plastic surgery is growing. . . . The biggest draw is procedures developed by Korean surgeons, such as facial bone correction and autologous fat graft. Seoul has also become a destination for transgender people from the West as male-to-female voice change or phonoplasty was developed by a local nose, ear and throat clinic in 2007."

[See this link re the serious risks in phonoplasty. See this link for information on voice training.]

3-01-10:  Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "My Jakarta: Seruni, Transsexual Activist"

"Seruni recently spent nearly half a day with fellow transgendered men in Bukit Duri, West Jakarta, as part of a discussion about HIV/AIDS at the headquarters of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). Earlier this month, Seruni was crowned Jakarta’s Miss Transgendered Youth Concerned about HIV/AIDS. The Bukit Duri discussion marked the beginning of Seruni’s one-year stint as the voice of transgendered Jakartans."

3-01-10:  Time (re France): "In France, Transsexuals Celebrate a Small Victory"

"Last month, France became the first country in the world to remove transsexualism from its official list of mental disorders — a major victory when it comes to acceptance of this oft misunderstood condition . . . But only a start, many transsexuals in France say. In practice, the declaration will do little to improve their legal or medical rights in the country. For example, transsexuals are still required to have a sex-change operation before they can change their gender in the eyes of the law. And to get the green light for surgery, they must still undergo extensive medical and psychiatric evaluations"

3-01-10:  CNN (posted 2-26): "From Steven to Susan – CNN Documents an Extraordinary Journey of Gender Reassignment and Self-Discovery for Public Official"

"Stanton tells a dramatic story of public and private struggle during this transition. Interviews with Stanton’s wife, teen-age son and co-workers, along with childhood diaries, personal journals, and family films, take viewers into the world of Steven as he transitions to Susan. CNN Presents: Her Name Was Steven is a compelling two-hour documentary premiering Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14 at 8pm, 11pm, and 2am Eastern."

3-01-10:  Los Angeles Times: "Sex addiction divides mental health experts"  (more)

"Is extreme sexual acting out an obsessive-compulsive disorder, a sign of depression or just bad behavior? 'If we are looking at a disorder, it's not clear what that disorder is,' one expert says . . . It's alarming "for a group of psychiatrists to try to legislate how much sex we can enjoy before we're labeled mentally ill," said Christopher Lane, a Northwestern University literature professor and author of a 2007 book criticizing mental health professionals for ever-expanding ideas of what constitutes abnormal behavior. Lane suggested that the rush to reclassify some behaviors as treatable conditions was driven in part by business interests: Treatment centers pop up. The pharmaceutical industry offers pills as remedies."

3-01-10:  Los Angeles Times: "It's not too late to save 'normal': Psychiatry's latest DSM goes too far in creating new mental disorders", by Allen Frances

"The first draft of the next edition of the DSM, posted for comment with much fanfare last month, is filled with suggestions that would multiply our mistakes and extend the reach of psychiatry dramatically deeper into the ever-shrinking domain of the normal. This wholesale medical imperialization of normality could potentially create tens of millions of innocent bystanders who would be mislabeled as having a mental disorder. The pharmaceutical industry would have a field day -- despite the lack of solid evidence of any effective treatments for these newly proposed diagnoses."

February 2010

2-28-10:  The Age (re China): "The dance of yin & yang”

“As a ballerina, a transsexual and owner of China's only independent dance company, Jin Xing has needed extraordinary courage to battle the communist system. AT 19, he was a colonel in the world's largest military force. At 28, he became she - and China's first officially recognised post-operative transsexual. Now, at 42, Jin Xing runs the country's only independent dance company. Her choreography is in demand year-round across the globe, but she still calls Shanghai home.”

2-28-10:  Trinidad and Tobago Express (re Guyana): "T&T activists say of Guyana crossdressing lawsuit: Just first step to bring changes" (more)

"Organisers at CAISO (Trinidad and Tobago’s Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation), who since their founding seven months ago, have collaborated closely with other gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) advocates across the region, applauded the Guyanese move. ’The way I dress is a fundamental part of who I am, my way of life,’ said Beverly Alvarez, who participated along with one of the Guyanese litigants in the first Caribbean regional transgender human rights and health conference in September of last year."

2-27-10:  The Mainichi Daily News (Japan): "Gender Identity Disorder girl allowed to attend school as boy"

"A teenager diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) has been allowed to attend her school as a boy from April. The 13-year-old girl, who has felt uncomfortable with her gender since around 2 years old, will attend her public junior high school in Kagoshima as a boy from the new school year. The case comes on the heels of a recent recognition of an 8-year-old boy in Saitama Prefecture to attend the school as a girl after he was diagnosed with GID."

2-27-10:  Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): "Fantastic plastic"

"Born Armand Lepore in New Jersey more than 30 years ago (she politely declines to reveal her age, saying she's as old as ''a doll''), Amanda Lepore accepted the tag of transsexual icon in the 1990s because, she says, nobody else wanted it. ''When I grew up, transsexuals really just wanted to get married and blend in and fool guys,'' she says . . . Lepore was never interested in fitting in . . . While she says her latest foray, singing, is no gimmick, the truth is that for most of her life, Lepore has made a living out of being a spectacle."

2-27-10:  New Jersey Online: "West New York police to pimps and prostitutes: No more sex!"

"Coy S. Gordon expected it to be a normal night of work -- a transsexual sex romp with a "john" for anywhere from $100 to $180. But like his clients, Gordon got more than he bargained for one night last week. Gordon, 42, was arrested by a West New York undercover cop. If the 6-foot-2 Gordon -- who was wearing a yellow splash negligee and 5-inch heels when she was arrested -- had been reading The Jersey Journal lately, it wouldn't have come as a big surprise"

2-26-10:  The Advocate: "Kimberly Reed: Golden Boy Makes Good"  (more)

"This film is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and it involves me being really open about my story. We’ve been showing this film all over the world for the past year and a half, so I’m used to putting my story out there. I’ve made peace with my past, even if part of it was male."

2-26-10:  MediaTakeOut: "Rapper Charles Hamilton Rumored to be Undergoing a Sex Change!!!" (more)

"This has gots to be the oddest rumor that MediaTakeOut.com has reported on in years. Remember that rapper dude named Charles Hamilton that got TWO PIECED by Mary G Blinge's step-daughter. Well the guy is now trying to change himself into a woman."

2-26-10:  Oprah.com (posted 2-11): ""Transgender Transition"

"In high school, Paul McKerrow was the starting quarterback and valedictorian. His classmates voted him best looking and most likely to succeed, but today, some may not recognize Helena High's golden boy. After many years of struggling with his gender identity, Paul decided to become a woman. The transition into Kimberly Reed, a lesbian filmmaker, began in San Francisco . . . "

2-26-10:  Details Magazine (Jan/Feb 2010 issue): "The Amazing Tale of the High School Quarterback Turned Lesbian Filmmaker", by Rick Moody

"Growing up, she was Paul, the smart, popular golden boy QB everyone envied. Now, as Kimberly Reed, she's something more. . . . Because Paul McKerrow, it must be said, is no longer Paul McKerrow. He is, these days, Kimberly Reed, filmmaker, New Yorker, and transgender person. It was Kimberly who in 2005 strode into the 20th reunion for Paul, and who got light-headed enough to wear her name tag, which had her new name, and an old photo of her former self. It was Kimberly who in the months after the reunion made a very moving documentary about it, Prodigal Sons, to be released in theaters in late February by First Run Features and broadcast on the Sundance Channel in June"

2-26-10:  WOAI.com: "San Antonio police officer charged with sexually assaulting transgender man" (more)

"The man claims officer Craig Nash picked him just south of Downtown early Thursday morning, handcuffed him, and told him to lay down in the back seat of a patrol car. He told investigators Nash then drove to a nearby location, un-handcuffed him, and sexually assaulted him."

[Readers should seek clarification from WOAI regarding their use of pronouns in this story. I.e., is this person a transman or a transwoman?]

2-25-10:  Transgender Asia (Asia): "The Transgender Health Handbook"

"Many people think that we are just gay men in dresses . . . But we know we are not, we are transgender women. We have identities and lives very different than gay men. We are special. No one can take away our dignity."

[Just posted in Prof. Sam Winter's  Transgender Asia website:  "A health resource (currently in English) for transwomen in Asia. Produced in 2010 by APNSW (Asia-Pacific Network of Sex Workers) with funding from amFAR (the Foundation for AIDS Research). Comprehensive advice for young transwomen in plain English."]
 

2-25-10:  San Francisco Bay Times: "Monthly Smack Dab Show at Magnet Denounces Chaz Bono"

"Featured performer Burke is a beguiling high level slam poet, writer, and spoken word activist . . . He raised the Magnet room temperature considerably when he yelled out his Open Letter to Chaz Bono. The provocative message was that Bono should shut up and not presume to speak for underprivileged and less-than-famous transgenders . . . Bono was warned that interviewers are patronizing him and treating him as a curiosity. He said that many transgenders are attacked, thrown out of school, and forced into sex work - which is not the world that Bono is experiencing."

2-25-10:  Manchester Evening News (UK): "NHS chiefs told to slash spending by £1bn"

"Health bosses have been ordered to slash spending plans for the NHS in Greater Manchester by almost ONE BILLION pounds . . . Bosses have been told to begin with a 30 per cut in management – prompting some PCTs to merge human resources, finance and other 'backroom' services with neighbouring health trusts . . . It is understood that other savings could be made through a reduction in lifestyle services such as IVF, weight loss surgery and gender reassignment."

2-25-10:  The Mainichi Daily News (Japan): "Saitama public school board conducts Japan's first survey of transgendered students"

"More than 10 children in Saitama Prefecture's public schools have Gender Identity Disorder, a recent survey of students in primary school through high school revealed Thursday. The emergency survey was undertaken after a second grade elementary school boy was recently diagnosed with the condition . . .  The board of education says that this is the first time a Japanese school board has done this kind of survey or considered measures to accommodate students with GID."

2-25-10:  The Maine Campus: "Transgender guidelines stir controversy"

"A draft of guidelines from the Maine Human Rights Commission that would inform schools and colleges of the rights of transgender students in Maine has sparked some debate about possible unintended consequences the guidelines could have on University of Maine athletics."

2-24-10:  Queerty (re India): "India Crowns Its First Transgender Super Queen" (more, more)

"Congratulations to India's Bobby from Manipur, crowned Super Queen over the weekend in the country's first transgender beauty pageant, organized by trans activist Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi. Bobby took home a prize worth about $17,000 . . . "

2-24-10:  Organisation Intersex International (OII): "Petition to the International Olympic Committee"

We, the undersigned, support the members of the Organisation Intersex International, in their demands that:

• 1. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) abandon its demands that female athletes with intersex variations have their variations diagnosed and treated.

• 2. The IOC allow the above mentioned athletes, known as intersex women, to compete as females without having to undergo diagnosis or “treatment.”

• 3. The IOC, the press, and medical practitioners refer to females with intersex variations as “intersex women,” and not “women with disorders of sex development.”

2-24-10:  CNNGo.com (re Thailand): "Everything you always wanted to know about sex... changes"

"A Bangkok sexual reassignment surgeon shares the graphic details behind these complex procedures . . . Dr. Preecha Tiewtranon, Thailand's most famous transgender surgeon, has performed more than 3,500 sex change operations during the past 30 years."

2-24-10:  Inter Press Service (re Pakistan): "Transgenders Make Their Presence Felt at the Workplace", by Zofeen Ebrahim

""We have been hired in the department that collects the taxes that are evaded by defaulters," Shahzadi explained to IPS."We have a huge outstanding loan owed to us, mostly by the rich evaders," said Kazi Aftab, their supervisor. "While they feel no shame in defaulting on their taxes, the sight of these transgenders at their doorstep will make them extremely uneasy and they will pay up their dues," he added."

2-24-10:  What's On Xiamen (China): "20-year-old man eager for sex change: 'Even if I die from it'"

"With brown-dyed hair, miniskirt, black silk stockings and tender voice, a 20-year-old Jiangxi man Liu Jun is always considered as a girl. He said he is eager for sex change surgery but still can’t pay for it."

2-23-10:  The Village Voice: "Transsexual Lesbian Takes Hollywood! - Prodigal Sons director Kimberly Reed fills me in", by Michael Musto

"What emerges from Kimberly Reed's film is a powerful mass of conflicted-family emotion, as frustrations collide with hope and forgiveness to create a riveting picture of people on the edge desperately trying not to push each other off it. "

2-23-10:  365Gay.com: "A new trans ‘zine enters the market", by James Withers

"Remember back in the day when ‘zines were  sold and mailed everywhere? Those heady times have returned with Original Plumbing. Amos Mac, the publication’s editor-in-chief, says OP’s aim is “to shoot true diversity in the FTM community; in size, age, body, surgery, hormone use and non use, because it is our belief that surgery and hormones don’t necessarily make the man.”. . . Go to the site and give it some love. You’ll have a good time."

2-23-10:  Stabroek News (Guyana): "Historic constitutional motion filed against cross-dressing" (more, more, more)

"The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) and four men, who were fined last year on a charge of wearing female attire, have filed a motion in the High Court against that section of the law stating that it contravenes their fundamental rights."

2-22-10:  San Diego Gay and Lesbian News: "Heroes, Pioneers and Trailblazers 2010 Honoree: Isaac Gomez & Family"

"“We always knew that Isaac was different,” his mother said. “He didn’t speak to me about his transgender decision until he was 12, but I knew when he was as young as 2. He would tell me in his own way (he once asked her to buy him a penis) and he rejected femininity in every way. So we always knew he was different, but not in a bad way and we didn’t believe his choice was wrong.” With the support of his family, Isaac decided to become an activist as a transgender teen, spreading awareness and sharing his story. "

2-22-10:  Psychiatric Times: "LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Pandora Replies to Dr Frances", By Kenneth J. Zucker, PhD "

"In his commentary, Dr Frances (who was the editor of the DSM-IV) fails to mention the epistemological problems he created by clumsily implementing the requirement of distress and/or impairment to diagnosis a paraphilia. In the versions of the DSM prepared under Dr Frances’ supervision, a person cannot have a paraphilia unless he is distressed by that paraphilia or he is harming other people because of it. A distinct but harmless paraphilia cannot exist, by definition. A man cannot be a fetishist, for example, even if he masturbates into rubber boots on a regular basis, unless he is bothered by this behavior or is impaired in his psychosocial functioning. In DSM-IV-TR, there is no such thing as a well-adjusted paraphile; they are defined out of existence."

[In his inimitable style, Zucker exploits personal ad hominems and claims of expertise to attack Dr. Frances' criticism of proposed DSM-V revisions.]

2-22-10: Psychiatric Times: "DR FRANCES RESPONDS"

"I thank Dr Zucker for accurately stating my position and then illustrating it with a particularly vivid and well-chosen example. I continue to find no reason to label as mental disorder sexual urges, fantasies, or behaviors that are harmless to others and cause no distress or impairment to the individual. As psychiatrists, we have our hands full taking care of the suffering and distress caused by real mental disorders. There is no need for us to expand our purview to cover sexual thoughts and behaviors that are private and harmless. The behaviors captured by “paraphilic coercion” and “hypersexuality” are anything but private or harmless—but that does not make them mental disorders. There is no infallible definition guiding what should, and what should not, be included in the official manual of mental disorders."

[Dr. Frances presents a well-reasoned response to Zucker's attack, clarifying that Zucker has failed to refute his criticisms, other than to claim superior  'expertise'.]

2-22-10:  Deaf Queer Resource Center: "Deaf Trans Conference"

"The Ontario Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (ORAD) and The Trans Program at The 519 Church Street Community Centre are hosting the first-ever Deaf Trans Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from March 12 to 13, 2010.  This first of its kind conference aims to bring together the Deaf and Trans communities in North America and shed light on both communities . . . and to gain a greater understanding of both the Deaf and Trans experience."

2-22-10:  Queerty.com: "Dr. Oz Introduces Daytime Audiences to Blossoming, Confident Transgender Kids"

"Most of Oprah's proteges annoy us, particularly those that rhyme with Fockter Dill. Now, Dr. Oz just might be on that list, but last week he introduced living room Americans to a little word called "transgender," and in a not terribly exploitative way! . . . The best part of Dr. Oz's segment, then, is showcasing just a couple happy, healthy families — with understanding parents willing to learn from, and not shun their transgender kids — speaking ably about a very difficult subject."

2-22-10:  Chicago Now: "Kate Bornstein to speak tonight at Northwestern", by Katherine Winfrey-King

"Kate is a radical, transsexual writer, performance artist, playwright, and gender theorist. She has several women and gender studies canons on the shelves and most respectably cares for pugs, cats, turtles, and a bustling ant farm. She is clearly a woman after my own heart. To my baby dyke Northwestern followers writing papers for your classes, y'all better put your boots on and slosh through this shit to make it over there. This is prime paper material right here."

[Kate will undoubtedly get a great reception at Northwestern, as she does at many universities. Makes me wonder if Northwestern's infamous J. Michael Bailey is giving any talks anywhere these days? And, if so, does anyone attend them?]

2-22-10:  Human Rights Watch (re Turkey): "Turkey: Stop Violence Against Transgender

"The recent murders of two transgender women in Turkey highlight an ongoing pattern of violence and the urgent need for stronger protection measures by the government, four Turkish and international human rights organizations said today in a letter to Turkish authorities."

2-22-10:  Nurse.com: "Callen-Lorde Offers Sensitive Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Healthcare", by Robin Huiras"

"One of the first questions nurses ask patients who visit Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in New York City is which gender they would like to be identified by. It’s not a question posed by nurses in mainstream hospitals, nor is it a query incorporated into nursing school curriculum, but at New York City’s premiere lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) clinic, it’s the first of many measures the nursing staff takes to ensure patients receive the utmost in care and support."

2-22-10:  Hastings Center Bioethics Forum (posted 2-19): "Of Kinks, Crimes, and Kinds: The Paraphilias Proposal for the DSM-5 Science and Society", by Alice Dreger

[While defending Ray Blanchard, Alice Dreger misrepresents Charles Moser's positions and then attacks those falsified positions! Moser replies in a comment, exposing Dreger's absurd 'scholarship' for what it is.]

2-22-10:  ENDABlog: "The Dredge: Still on the Outside of ‘Ethics’ Looking in"

"The Dredge – that self-proclamed (but continually debunked) ‘ethicist’ – is at it again, this time in the Hastings Center’s Bioethics Forum."

2-22-10:  Catholic Online (posted 2-16): "Opposing the Homosexual Agenda: Religious Bigotry or Science and Justice?"

"Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is a formal psychiatric disorder recognized as needing psychological treatment. As such, it should not be normalized, especially to children who are particularly damaged by it (Zucker & Bradley, 1995). Homosexual activists, however, encourage transgender and other gender-disordered behavior by modeling and asserting every sort of such behavior in the public domain. Resolving gender identity issues requires early intervention and treatment, not school assemblies, marriage laws, or TV shows that teach the normalcy of a gender-confused lifestyle."

2-22-10:  YouTube (re Uganda; posted 2-15): ""Uganda: Kill the gays and all their friends, too!", by Rob Tisinai

"Uganda's anti-gay bill is far more lethal than we're being told. You don't even have to be gay or have gay sex to be put to death. Some doubt this, so here it is. Just connect the dots " 

2-21-10:  The Sunday Times (UK): "Girls, you can take the skirts off"

"Equality and human rights law may make it illegal for schools to force girls to wear skirts — because uniforms discriminate against transsexuals. Official guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission warns schools that insisting that girls wear skirts may breach the rights of those who feel compelled to live as boys."

2-21-10:  The Independent (re India): "India's 'third sex' win a measure of public acceptance"

"But despite a beauty pageant and changes to the law, the hijras still fear harassment and abuse"

2-20-10:  The Daily Mail (re Italy): “Transsexual singer wins top music school place after switching his voice from baritone to a soprano”, by Carol Driver (more)

“When transsexual opera singer Emily De Salvo first applied to one of Italy’s most prestigious music schools, he was rejected as the board was unsure whether to place him among the male or female singers. This week, after three years’ studying with baritone Maurizio Picconi and soprano Amelia Felle, the 29-year-old has won a place at Bari’s Tito Schipa Conservatory after changing his voice. De Salvo, formerly Stefano, who has yet to make his gender change complete with surgery, convinced the jury he can handle both sides.”

[note how The Daily Mail uses male pronouns]
 

2-20-10:  The Independent (re Italy): "Singer can take both sexes' roles", by Michael Day

"A trainee opera singer has combined a sex change with a dramatic extension in her vocal range to gain admission into one of Italy's most prestigious music schools . . . The young singer, who, according to the local Quotidiano Di Lecce newspaper, is still waiting for her gender reassignment surgery, yesterday thanked Felle for supporting her during the second audition. "She defended me against those who didn't want me," she said, before adding that she was proud to be the first transsexual to claim a conservatory place."

[note how The Independent uses female pronouns]

2-20-10:  The Daily Mail (UK): "The devoted fiancee who's sticking by her man, the father of her son, despite the fact he wants to become a woman"

"Until six weeks ago, Andrea Fletcher was the partner of respected writer and journalist John Ozimek. She was the mother of their five-year-old son Rafe and very much looking forward to, one day, becoming his wife . . . Just after Christmas . . . he confessed that ever since he was in his teens he'd never felt happy as a man, could no longer repress his true feelings, and wanted to live as woman. "

2-20-10:  Associated Content: "Sorry John/Jane Ozimek but 'Transgender' Men Are Not Women"

"Ozimek has also noted that, at 6ft 3in tall with size 11 feet and thinning hair, he doesn't "pass" convincingly as a woman. The psychiatrists might do well to acknowledge that he is not a woman and start dealing with the identity crisis which is making it hard for him to accept that he's a man. . . . Most men in midlife crisis decide they need to change their wife, their family, their job or their country . . . Ozimek-in-crisis has decided he needs to change his sex. The trouble is, while midlife crisis is generally temporary - it can however last for years - chopping your penis off is permanent."

2-19-10:  Wall Street Journal: "Prescriptions for Psychiatric Trouble"

"The proposed new edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders could place large swaths of the population under the umbrella of pathology."

2-18-10:  The Advocate: "N.J. Trans Woman Sues Cops for Harassment"

"Taylor said that officers approached her while in a police cruiser. They taunted her about her hair and demanded she show them identification. She didn't have ID on her but said her legal name was Christopher Moore. One officer turned to the other and said, "You're right -- I owe you $10. It is a man". . . She was eventually handcuffed and brought into the station, where the officers attempted to find grounds to justify arresting her, but her record was clean . . .  Upon her release, the officers threatened to confront her if she reported the abuse. However, she filed a complaint with internal affairs . . . after filing her complaint, she received a notice in the mail, citing her for littering and disorderly conduct. She successfully fought both charges in court. "The police did more than arrest me that day -- they took away my rights, my dignity and made me afraid to walk down the street," Taylor said in a statement."

2-17-10:  Revisef65.org (Norway; posted 2-01-10): "SM and fetish off the Norwegian sick list"

"The Norwegian Directorate of Health has decided that certain diagnostic codes are now invalid in Norway, thus changing the Norwegian version of the international diagnoses register (ICD-10). The following diagnoses are taken out: fetishism, fetishistic transvestism, sadomasochism, multiple disorders of sexual preference, and transvestism. - In our opinion there is no basis, neither in today's societal norms nor in professional health thinking, to classify these diagnostic groups as disease . . . By excluding the use of these codes in Norway the Directorate wishes to contribute to the weakening of a general opinion that certain sexual preferences, sexual identities and gender expressions may be seen as states of illness."

2-16-10:  Slate: "Trans Figure - Should sex-change surgery be tax-deductible?", By William Saletan

"Rhiannon O'Donnabhain felt like a woman trapped in a man's body. So she changed her body. She hired a surgeon to turn her scrotum* and penis into a vagina and clitoris. She got hormones and additional surgery to make her breasts look like a woman's. Then she did something really ballsy: She wrote off these expenses—about $20,000—on her tax return. The IRS told her to stuff it. So she went to court . . This month, the U.S. Tax Court decided the case. Guess what? The transsexual beat the tax man. The court concluded that altering your appearance to make yourself socially comfortable can be medically necessary and therefore tax-deductible."

2-16-10:  The Japan Times (Japan): "Sex-change husband presses justice minister to register son"

"A 27-year-old man who has legally changed his sexual status due to gender identity disorder called Monday on Justice Minister Keiko Chiba to register his son, born by artificial insemination, as his legitimate child. The Justice Ministry has been refusing his request. "The country recognized me as a man, then why can't I be recognized as a father?" the man from Shiso, Hyogo Prefecture, said at a news conference after meeting with Chiba. "I just want to live a normal life.""

2-15-10:  BBC News: "Gender testing in sport: A case for treatment?" (more)

"In January a symposium of experts in Miami concluded that some athletes discovered to have gender ambiguities be advised to have treatment, possibly even surgery, to continue competing at international level. Last week the International Olympic Committee's General Assembly was briefed by the head of its Medical Commission Professor Arne Ljungqvist who recommended that "strategically located centres of excellence should be established to which athletes with a DSD (disorders of sex development) could be referred and, if necessary, further investigated and treated.""

[The Olympics movement has suddenly become a powerful establishment force for the surgical "normalization" of intersex people, whom they pathologize with Alice Dreger's DSD terminology. At the same time, the the academic world is suddenly full of "DSD experts"!]

2-15-10:  The Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Aceh Shariah Leaders Blast Transsexual Beauty Pageant"

"Religious leaders in Aceh on Monday condemned a recent transsexual pageant in the staunchly Islamic province, accusing the contestants of having violated the Shariah law partially enforced there . . . Islam deems it haram , or forbidden, for a man to deliberately act like a woman and vice versa, because it violates the true nature of a human being. “Transsexuals are strongly condemned by Allah, because he didn’t create them. Instead, they created themselves. A man who turns into a woman has violated Allah’s rule,” Faisal said."

2-15-10: Reuters: ""Darling" a vivid memorial to long-gone Warhol star", by Stephen Farber

"Several of Andy Warhol's stable of performers achieved the 15 minutes of fame promised by their guru, but one of Warhol's pets, the transvestite performer known as Candy Darling, probably achieved a few more than her allotted minutes before fading into obscurity. Those who are not well versed in Warhol movies of the 1960s and '70s may not remember Darling, but James Rasin's incisive documentary, "Beautiful Darling," which received its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, not only tells Darling's intriguing story but also makes a larger comment on the lust for celebrity that is one of the enduring, unhappy legacies of the Warhol era."

2-15-10:  Lawyers Weekly (Canada): ""Law firms becoming more LGBT-friendly", by Donalee Moulton

"Many firms today are focused on creating a positive work environment for all employees including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) lawyers. This is a major shift in both thinking and acting . . . "It’s certainly a hot topic at the moment," said James Quarmby . . . One reason for the increasing, and perhaps unexpected, heating up of the issue, he added, is linked to the culture and practice of law. "The legal profession is horribly conservative. Until about six or seven years ago [this] wasn’t really talked about.""

2-15-10:  Golden Gate University Law Review (publ. fall '09):  "Comment: Taking the Square Peg out of the Round Hole: Addressing the Misclassification of Transgender Asylum Seekers", by Ellen A. Jenkins

"In the social schema, trans-identified individuals may be more visible, viewed as more transgressive of social norms, and thus subject to greater discrimination and persecution within a society. From the judicial perspective, transgender individuals can present blurred social and biological paradigms, often resulting in an erroneous adjudication contrary to the applicant's identity. Although the judicial system has recently begun to affirm the rights of transgender and transsexual individuals in the civil and employment context, there is a dearth of case law recognizing the trans-community in the immigration context, and specifically, transgender asylum applicants."

2-15-10:  Yale Daily: "Transgender porn star shares story", by David Burt

"Despite receiving an anonymous threat before his visit, Buck Angel, a female-to-male transgender porn star, spoke at a Master’s Tea as part of Sex Week at Yale on Saturday."

2-14-10:  The Jakarta Globe (Indonesia): "Under the Shadow of Shariah Law, Transsexuals Take to the Stage in Aceh in Rare Beauty Contest" (more)

"In their best Acehese costumes, kitsch jewelry and towering hair buns, 40 transsexuals sashayed down a stage on Saturday to loud club music, disco lights and rapturous applause as they competed in the Miss Transsexual Aceh 2010.  The streets of Aceh may be monitored by the Wilayatul Hisbah, or Shariah Police, but that did not deter the audience in the auditorium of the Radio Republik Indonesia building in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, as they welcomed the finalists with screams and whistles."

2-13-10:  Time: "The DSM: How Psychiatrists Redefine 'Disordered'"

"Today, heterosexual men can be diagnosed with a supposed disorder called "transvestic fetishism" if they meet only two criteria: they have sexual fantasies about cross-dressing, and those fantasies cause "impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas." What's more, the DSM considers aversion to sex a sex disorder, even though the condition has less to do with low sex drive than outsized feelings of fear and avoidance — more like a phobia."

[The revised DSM pronounces crossdressing to be a sexually paraphilic mental illness, listing it in the paraphilia section along with things like pedophilia: "Exhibitionism, Frotteurism, Pedophilia, Sexual Masochism, Sexual Sadism, Transvestic Fetishism, Voyeurism . . ."]

2-13-10:  Boston Herald (re Michigan): "Michigan candidate makes issue of gender change on license"

"Republican Paul Scott is trying to make gender designation an issue in the race to replace term-limited Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land. The state representative from Grand Blanc says people who have undergone gender change operations shouldn’t be able to change their licenses to reflect their new identities."

2-12-10:  Le Monde: "Le transsexualisme n'est plus une maladie mentale en France"

"Le transsexualisme n'est plus considéré comme une maladie mentale en France, premier pays au monde à le sortir de la liste des affections psychiatriques par un décret, publié au Journal officiel. Ce décret du ministère de la santé supprime "les troubles précoces de l'identité de genre" d'un article du code de la Sécurité sociale relatif aux "affections psychiatriques de longue durée"."

2-12-10:  New York Times: "Transsexualism No Longer Viewed as Mental Illness in France"

"France has removed transsexualism from an official list of mental illnesses, according to an order issued by the French Ministry of Health reported Friday by French news media. The order issued Wednesday removed “gender identity disorders” from an article of the social security code related to “long-term psychiatric diseases.” According to media reports, France is the first country in the world to do so."

2-12-10:  The Mainichi Daily News (Japan): "Guidelines for educators needed to deal with gender identity disorder"

"An 8-year-old child who has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder (GID) has been attending a public elementary school in Saitama Prefecture as a girl -- which is the opposite of his sex at birth-- with the school's cooperation . . . Experts have reported several examples of children who have requested that they be treated in school as the opposite of their given sex, but such cases have been limited to arrangements made before the children begin attending school. This is the first case in which a child's gender has been "changed" in the middle of a school year."

2-11-10:  Psychiatric Times: "Opening Pandora’s Box: The 19 Worst Suggestions For DSM5", By Allen Frances, MD

"It will likely be argued by the DSM5 leadership that I am unduly and prematurely alarmist, that they are still early in the DSM5 process, and that any problematic suggestions will eventually be weeded out in the field trials. This is putting the cart (ie field testing) before the horse (ie having usable criteria sets to test) and continues to miss the point that DSM5 has been and remains in serious trouble. I feel it is my responsibility to raise clear alarms . . . Because of the secretive and closed nature of the DSM5 process, the expectable enthusiasms of the experts who comprise the Work Groups have not been balanced, as they must always be, with real world practical clinical wisdom and a careful risk/benefit analysis of the possible unintended consequences of every suggestion . . . By its previous actions and inactions, the DSM5 leadership has sacrificed any “benefit of the doubt” faith that their process will be self-correcting in a way that guarantees the eventual elimination all of the harmful options."

2-11-10:  Dallas Voice: "Institute on trans issues offered attendees respect, inspiration - Gathering offered chance for trans activists of different generations to share experiences, ideas", by Wendi Bates

"The myriad workshops and sessions offered during the five-day National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change in Dallas last weekend included “Trans Rights Now: Building a Strong Transgender Movement,” a day-long institute with about 70 in attendance. The gathering focused on issues such as political infrastructure, mentoring new leaders, visibility and strategy sharing"

2-11-10:  Dallas Voice: "Mark of change in Dallas courts - Judges now updating driver’s licenses for transgender people", by John Wright

". . . Dallas County judges are, for the first time ever, consistently granting gender-marker changes to those who meet set criteria. The criteria include a letter from a doctor saying they meet accepted medical standards — even if they haven’t had gender reassignment surgery. Local judges’ practice of granting gender-marker changes began in the wake of the Democratic sweep of 2006 and reportedly makes Dallas the first and only place in Texas where they can be routinely obtained."

2-11-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Statistically speaking Transmissions", by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

"A recent nationwide survey of transgender identified people conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality in conjunction with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force provided some very sobering statistics about the state of being transgender today."

2-11-10:  Sideways News (UK): "What's in a gender?"

"Julie Bindel is strongly opposed to any age lowering, calling the suppression of puberty “child abuse”. . . She argues, “Medical science cannot turn a biological male into a biological female - it can only alter the appearance of body parts. A trans-sexual 'woman' will always be a biological male... sex-change surgery is unnecessary mutilation.” Her argument is that a man who has transitioned into a woman is simply a man without a penis."

2-11-10:  KGET.com (Bakersfied, CA): "No charges in transgender stabbing death"

"There will be no murder charges in the case of a transgender prostitute who stabbed her live-in boyfriend to death, the District Attorney’s Office has ruled . . . "The facts of the case justify self-defense," said Deputy District Attorney Arthur Norris, who reviewed the facts of the case. "Two independent witnesses corroborated statements made by Davis.""

2-10-10:  APA DSM5.org: "Proposed Draft Revisions to DSM Disorders and Criteria"

"Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders"; "Gender Identity Disorder in Children"; "Gender Identity Disorder in Adolescents or Adults"; "Paraphilias: Transvestic Fetishism"

Summary:

(i)  The DSM-V draft continues to pathologize gender variance and non-conformity as a mental illness.

(ii) The DSM-V draft characterizes crossdressing as a sexually paraphilic mental illness, calling it "transvestic fetishism".

(iii) The DSM-V draft further defines a subtype of crossdressing as a mental illness called "autogynephilia".

(iv) In a totally unexpected move, the DSM-V draft characterizes all intersex people who question or transition from their birth assignments as not only suffering from a DSD  (already a pathologizing term) but also from GID (i.e., as being mentally ill), by slipping intersex questioners/transitioners in under the GID sections.

2-10-10:  Med Page Today: "DSM-V Draft Promises Big Changes in Some Psychiatric Diagnoses"

"Gender Identity Disorder Stays: A closely watched issue in the DSM-V revision has been whether to change or do away with gender identity disorder, now listed in DSM-IV. At this point, the draft retains the designation . . . People who consider themselves "transgendered" have long criticized DSM-IV and previous editions for labeling them with a mental disease when their problems . . . At the APA's annual meeting last May, members of the transgender community made a case for dropping gender identity disorder from DSM-V, but keeping some kind of "gender variance" diagnosis as a medical condition. Such an approach would eliminate the stigma of a psychiatric diagnosis while leaving a pathway for third-party payment for gender transition treatments, they said."

2-10-10:  Bianet (Turkey): "Transgender Derya Y. Killed in Antalya"

"35-year-old transsexual women Derya T. was stabbed to death at her home in Antalya on 8 February. The police are investigating the matter. Another transsexual women was injured with a knife two days earlier in Ankara."

2-09-10:  Sydney Star Observer (Australia): "Miss Transsexual crowned"

"Chelsey Mikimoto, a transgender showgirl from Melbourne, was crowned Miss Transsexual Australia 2010 in the country’s first-ever beauty pageant for transsexuals and transgenders . . . "

2-08-10:  Toledo Blade (Ohio): "Pastor offers support, sanctuary to area's transgender community", by Claudia Boyd-Barrett

"Pastor Cheri Holdridge of the Village Church in Toledo is setting up a support group to provide members of Toledo's transgender community with a space where they can talk and be understood. On Feb. 28, the church and two Ohio organizations will host the first meeting of a Transgender Support Group. They want to provide members of the city's little-known transgender community with a space where they can talk and be understood."

2-08-10:  This Is Derbyshire (UK): "My transsexual love forced me to move jobs"

"A caretaker who married a transsexual has been transferred from the school he was working at following complaints from parents. Ian Young worked at St Chad's Infants school for more than two years, but has been switched to a junior school after parents said they were "very uncomfortable" about his relationship with Malaysian bride Fatine."

2-07-10:  The Guardian (UK re US): "Transsexual film-maker Kimberly Reed wows America with Prodigal Sons"

"The tale of two small-town brothers and their battles with identity, both sexual and biological, has defied all expectations . . . The movie, called Prodigal Sons, is getting its cinematic release in New York in two weeks and has already won plaudits from the critics for its painful and honest depiction of Reed's experience, as well as that of her ­family, ­especially her brother, Marc. It has been called "exceptional" by the Village Voice and "superb" by the San Francisco Chronicle and has won nine awards."

2-07-10:  California Chronicle (re UK): "Lost pal inspires brothers ; Song Hails friend", by Billy Sloan

"OSWALD have revealed the real life tragedy behind their superb new single Flying To The Ground (more). It was written after the death of a close friend who'd undergone a sex change operation."

2-07-10:  Washington Post (re Pakistan): "Pakistan's 'third gender' seek greater rights"

"Pakistan's transgender community has long lived on society's margins, harassed by police, ridiculed as freaks, pitied as the outcast people of Allah and often rejected by their own families. Now the Supreme Court is giving them hope through a petition for their rights to be respected. "People are recognizing that we are also human beings," said Almas Bobby, who acts as head of the community and fights for equal rights."

2-06-10:  GIDReform.org: "A Taxing Question of Medical Necessity", by Kelley Winters, Ph.D.

"Many trans and especially transsexual Americans were relieved this week by the U.S. Tax Court decision to reverse earlier IRS positions and allow costs of hormonal and surgical transition care to be deducted as medical expenses. The ruling concluded:

Petitioner has shown that her hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery treated disease within the meaning of section 213 and were therefore not cosmetic surgery. Thus petitioner’s expenditures for these procedures were for “medical care” as defined in section 213(d)(1)(A), for which a deduction is allowed under section 213(a).

However, this recognition of the legitimacy of medical transition came at a cost to the dignity of transsexual women and men. It relied on the flawed diagnostic nomenclature of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and its implication of mentally “disordered” gender identity."

2-06-10:  Examiner.com: "Brazilian Film Festival continues today with the L.A. premiere of "Paulista"",  by Luiz Calado

"Today, (Saturday, February 6) is the Los Angeles premiere of the film “Paulista”, featuring award winning transsexual actress Maria Clara Spinelli (PT). Her performance has earned rave reviews in the festival circuit and a best actress award. Directed by Roberto Moreira, “Paulista” is a movie about dwellers of an apartment building on Paulista Avenue and their respective attempts to find and deal with love. In a case of art imitating life, Spinelli plays Suzana, a buttoned-up lawyer who tentatively opens her heart to another attorney but her lover cannot resolve the fact that Suzana was once a man."

2-06-10:  Peninsula News Journal: "UWF policy includes transgender students", by Rebekah Allen

"The University of West Florida has made it loud and clear: equality for transgender students and staff. President Judy Bense attended a Student Government Association meeting Friday afternoon to deliver the announcement to students, after denying the request last week. Effective immediately, she said, the university's harassment and nondiscrimination policy will be updated to include "gender identity." . . . There are 282 colleges and universities that include language protecting transgender people, and UWF is the second in Florida to make the distinction . . . "It's something that's happening all over the country. It's a movement," Bense said. "I can relate to a movement . . . This is the way we do things in our country when we want change. We speak out.""

2-05-10:  The Ottawa Citizen (Canada): "The gender police are back again"

"Prior to the Vancouver Games, the men who run international sport have been scrambling to determine who qualifies as a woman athlete . . . The IOC is most worried about a condition referred to as "Disorders of Sexual Development." In the eyes of the IOC, and obviously those in the medical world who dream up names for conditions that place people outside conventional sexuality, not being biologically absolutely a man or absolutely a woman is seen as a disorder. IOC officials say their concern is about fairness, as women who have one of the DSDs (once called intersexed, which makes more sense) may have a biological advantage over women who don't have DSD characteristics. This is indeed a murky area as all athletes at the Olympic level have genetic advantages of different kinds."

[The effects of Alice Dreger's insidiously pathologizing DSD terminology continue to unfold.] 

2-04-10:  Jewschool.com (posted 2-03): "Mazal Tov: Tobaron Waxman is the winner of The Jewish Museum’s first-ever Audience Award" (more)

"The first transgendered artist to be exhibited in a major Jewish museum exhibition has won the Audience Award for the favorite work in the exhibition . . . Tobaron Waxman is the winner of The Jewish Museum’s first-ever Audience Award, selected from nearly sixty international artists. Votes were gathered from visitors to the exhibition in person and online, between September 13, 2009 and January 11, 2010. Waxman was selected for his provocative installation Opshernish, 2000/2009. The piece examines the construction of gender in Judaism by recreating and condensing a multi-part performance installation"
 

2-04-10:  The Economist: "That way, madness lies - A new manual for diagnosing diseases of the psyche is about to be unveiled"

"ON FEBRUARY 10th the world of psychiatry will be asked, metaphorically, to lie on the couch and answer questions about the state it thinks it is in. For that is the day the American Psychiatric Association (APA) plans to release a draft of the fifth version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). Mental illness carrying the stigma that it does, and the brain being as little-understood as it is, revising the DSM is always a controversial undertaking. This time, however, some of the questions asked of the process are likely to be particularly probing . . . February 10th will be the first chance most people, including the critics, have to look at the document. When they do, the criticism is likely to get louder."

2-04-10:  ILGA (Re Cuba; posted 1-24): "STATEMENT ON DESPATHOLOGIZATION OF TRANSSEXUALISM. Cuban Multidisciplinary Society for Sexuality Studies"

"Express our support for the removal of transsexuality from the international classification of mental disorder, especially in the DSM-V update . . . Reject the application of psychological therapies for transgender people, in order to reverse their gender identity . . . Reaffirm that transsexuality and other transgender identities are expressions of sexual diversity . . . Also reaffirm that the implementation of these procedures respects sexual rights of each person, and are consistent with bio-ethical principles of autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence and justice . . . Reaffirm in addition that transgender care should be comprehensive, beyond just medical and psychological care, to ensure recognition and respect for their individual rights."

2-04-10:  Cenesex (Cuba; posted 1-22): "Presentan Declaración sobre Despatologización de la Transexualidad en el V Congreso de Sexualidad" (en español)

"Expresamos nuestro apoyo a la retirada de la transexualidad de la clasificación internacional de enfermedades mentales, especialmente . . . en la DSM-V . . . Rechazamos la aplicación de terapias psicológicas reparadoras a las personas transgéneros . . . Reafirmamos que la transexualidad y otras expresiones transgéneros son expresiones de la diversidad sexual . . . Reafirmamos además que la aplicación de estos procedimientos respeta los derechos sexuales de cada persona y son congruentes con los principios bioéticos de autonomía, no maleficencia y justicia . . . Reafirmamos también que la atención a las personas transexuales debe tener un carácter integral, que garantice el reconocimiento y respeto a los derechos de la persona, mucho más allá de la mera atención médica y psicológica."

2-04-10:  Columbia Spectator (Columbia University): "Binary Operations - the struggle to redefine gender at barnard and columbia"

"Despite personal tensions within the queer community, and the inability on the part of the administration to accommodate students, the student body continues to question gender norms and push for change with initiatives like gender-neutral housing and GendeRevolution’s transgender resource guide."

2-03-10:  New York Times: "Woman Says Sex-Change Tax Battle Also Helps Others"

"A woman who battled the IRS over a tax deduction for the costs of her sex-change operation says she feels like she won a victory for all transgender people."

2-03-10:  National Secular Society Petition (UK): "Make the Pope Pay - Say NO to a State-funded Visit to the UK"

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ask the Catholic Church to pay for the proposed visit of the Pope to the UK and relieve the taxpayer of the estimated £20 million cost. We accept the right of the Pope to visit his followers in Britain, but public money would be better spent on hard-pressed schools, hospitals and social services which are facing cuts."

2-03-10:  The Pink Triangle Trust (UK, posted 2-01): "The Pope is Paranoid Say UK Gay Humanists"

"“This pope has shown himself to be paranoid about homosexuality. His opposition to LGBT rights knows no bounds. He has declared that saving humanity from homosexual behaviour [and transsexualism] was as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. This must be the most outrageous and bizarre claim yet made by someone who has already got a well-deserved reputation as one of the most viciously homophobic world leaders on a par with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. . . . Mr Broadhead concluded: “It is imperative that the strongest possible protest be made when his so-called holiness visits the UK . . . we must pull out all the stops to demonstrate our opposition.”"

2-03-10:  Inquirer.net: "‘My BF doesn’t know I’m not a woman’", by Ted Laguatan

"Paula looked great in tight designer jeans topped with a soft blue cashmere turtle neck sweater . . . She had a naturally pretty mestiza face framed by long soft brownish hair. Nice body too—a slim, 5’6” frame, long legs. She was 26 but looked 19. “Attorney, I’m absolutely crazy about this guy. He wants to marry me, but I can’t marry him.” I sensed desperation in her voice. Was she married and needed a divorce? “No, attorney. I don’t need a divorce.” “What then?” “My boyfriend doesn’t know that I am not a woman.”"

2-02-10:  Washington Post (re UK): "Pope's swipe at UK equality laws provokes foes"

"Pope Benedict XVI's condemnation this week of British equality legislation designed to protect gays and women in the workplace has deepened the battle lines between the Vatican and secularists, who demand that taxpayers not foot the security bill for his newly announced September visit." 

2-02-10:  The Tech (MIT): From the Editor:

"A headline last Wednesday, “Sex Changes Just Got Easier!” was offensive as well as technically inaccurate. The headline has been changed to “MIT Reduces Paperwork for Gender Changes” on our website. Headlines are not written by the bylined authors of articles, but by The Tech’s News Editors. We did not intend to offend or make light of the difficulties associated with sex and gender transitions. We apologize."

2-02-10:  GLAD: "In re Rhiannon O’Donnabhain"

"Victory! On February 2, 2010, the U.S. Tax Court issued an important decision in O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, ruling for the first time that treatment for gender identity disorder qualifies as medical care under the Internal Revenue Code, and is therefore deductible"

2-02-10:  ABC News: "Tax Court Allows Deduction for Woman's Sex Change - Tax court OKs deduction for Mass. woman's sex change in potentially wide-ranging ruling" (more, more)

"The legal group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which represented O'Donnabhain, said the ruling could potentially affect thousands of people a year in the U.S. who undergo similar operations. "I think what the court is saying is that surgery and hormone therapy for transgender people to alleviate the stress associated with gender identity disorder is legitimate medical care," said Jennifer Levi, a GLAD attorney."

2-02-10:  TaxProfBlog: "Tax Court: Gender Reassignment Surgery Is a Deductible Medical Expense (But Not Breast Augmentation)"

"In a long-awaited decision, a fractured (8-5-3) Tax Court today ruled in O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner, 134 T.C. No. 4 (Feb. 2, 2010), that male-to-female gender reassignment surgery qualifies as a deductible medical expense under § 213, reversing the IRS's position in Chief Counsel Advice 200603025."

2-02-10:  Feminist Law Professors: "Sex Reassignment Surgery Is Tax Deductible"

"The opinion is quite long, but does have its entertaining moments. One concurring judge chided the majority for dragging the court into the culture wars . . . Another concurring judge accused the dissenters of lacking basic knowledge of grammar and the English language . . . This is not the kind of stuff you see everyday in judicial opinions, especially tax opinions! Dealing with the deduction for medical expenses, this case ineluctably contributes to the medicalization and pathologization of gender identity."

2-02-10:  Yale Daily News: "Univ. nears coed housing decision"

"When Gabe Murchison, a transgender high school senior from Sherborn, Mass., began openly identifying as male two years ago, he said it was a test to see who his real friends were. . . So when he began thinking about visiting for Bulldog Days, he e-mailed the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, which agreed to allow him to stay with a suite of males in April. But until University President Richard Levin makes a decision about mixed-gender housing, Murchison’s housing configuration when he arrives as a freshman in the fall is still up in the air."

[Yale is the only Ivy League school that has not made plans to introduce a mixed-gender housing program.]

2-02-10:  Salt Lake Tribune: "A growing majority"

" . . . if you would like to see all Utahns accorded these most basic human rights, you're part of a growing majority. Opinions regarding legal protections and equal rights for Utah's gay and transgender community are changing, and for the better. Unfortunately, Utah laws that could make those intrinsic rights a reality are not."

2-02-10:  Rediff (re India): "Transgenders find dignity, and life, through microfinance"

""It is only because transgenders are not given any mainstream job that they indulge in sex work and intimidate shopkeepers for money. Even if they do any work, the society won't accept them. But ever since we started Menmai Idli, there is a lot of acceptability for us in the society. Our lives changed drastically after this. Even if you start a small idly shop or a flower shop, even if you make only a small amount, the society respects you for what you are doing," said Gopika."

2-02-10:  The Daily Mail (UK): "Pope condemns Harman equality drive as 'violation of natural law' "

"The Pope yesterday made an unprecedented attack on Britain's equality legislation . . . Benedict XVl condemned Labour's Equality Bill in extraordinary terms as an assault on the 'natural law' of Christianity  -  in other words a sin . . . which many in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church say could force them to hire homosexuals or transsexuals."

2-01-10:  Bilerico.com (posted 1/31): "Catholics For Equality", by Father Tony

"There is something Catholic in the wind and it smells a bit like mutiny. It sounds like the early morning clarion call on the hushed day of battle, with a hint of frustration and a dollop of American liberty all tied up in larger issues of equality for women and minorities. It is laced with the strong conviction that the bishops no longer speak for the Catholic Church and that the voices of the bishops are no longer the voice of Jesus Christ. If yesterday's planning session is any indication, it will probably be called "Catholics for Equality" and if all goes as tentatively planned, you may look for it in a diocese near you by Pentacost Sunday . . . "

[The masses are stirring against the persecution of women and LGBT people by the Vatican and the bishops. Stay tuned.] 

2-01-10:  Sherbourne Health Centre (Toronto, Canada): Trans Support Group: "Gender Journeys"

"11 weeks of reliable information and meaningful community connections for anyone thinking about their own gender changes. The next group will be on Wednesdays (6:00 - 8:45 pm) from March 3 to May 12, 2010"

[The Sherbourne Health Center is a great alternative to the notorious CAMH gender clinic for Canadian transpeople.]

2-01-10:  Student Pulse: "The White Feather Campaign: A Struggle with Masculinity During World War I", by Peter J. Hart

"Their efforts were successful but the campaign eventually incited a feeling of outrage among the English population for the terrible shame that they brought upon both deserving and undeserving men . . . by choosing to make a judgment of noncombatant men’s identity, these women unintentionally forced a harsh criticism to be made of English women. An attack on one gender identity caused ripples to run through the other, the White Feather campaign did not simply affect masculinity but also brought femininity into the light for condemnation. The recruitment movement of the white feather waged outright war against English masculinity and before it was over, both male and female gender identities changed as a result of this tactic."

[A fascinating essay - highly recommended.]

2-01-10:  Student Pulse: "With REAL ID, Privacy Concerns for the Transgender Community"

"According to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), one of the main problems with REAL ID is the collection and retention of the identity documents required to obtain a REAL ID (2009). State DMVs would be required to verify the accuracy and validity of these documents, and then maintain a digital copy attached to an individual’s electronic license record. This presents a security risk for many transgender people, as the documents required to obtain a license can often reveal their personal medical history to anyone accessing their records."

2-01-10:  The Guardian (UK): "Julie Bindel's dangerous transphobia", by CL Minou

"I don't much care for Julie Bindel, unlike Beatrix Campbell, who defended her on this site yesterday. That does not mean I don't admire her. As a feminist whose radicalism would probably surprise her, I appreciate Ms Bindel's advocacy and the genuine good that has come for her work against violence directed at women. Yet in her long, lonely crusade against transsexuals she contradicts three of her own four feminist principles:"

January 2010

1-31-10:  The Guardian (UK): "Censoring Julie BindelTransgender activists who seek to ban her from speaking are wrong – we need to hear Julie Bindel on gender politics", by Beatrix Campbell

"Transgender people who used to live as men and now live as women persuaded the May 2009 NUS women's conference to mandate its officers to share no platform with Julie Bindel. Proponents say they are offended by Bindel's critique – aired in the Guardian since 2004 – of "trannies"' perceived cultural conservatism and anatomical violence."

1-31-10:  The Sun (UK):  "Transsexual told she can't use ladies' toilets"

". . . she was stunned when a member of staff approached her and told her she was no longer allowed to go in the bar’s ladies toilets, and would now have to use the disabled facilities, because she is neither a man nor a woman"

1-30-10:  Grand Rapids Press: "Group wants driver's licenses for transgender people to be an issue in Michigan Secretary of State race"

"Jena Lewis believes getting a Michigan driver's license that identifies who you are should not be a political issue. Lewis, who went through a sex change more than five years ago, carries a driver's license that identifies her as a female. But Gary Glenn, leader of a Midland-based anti-gay group, believes Lewis' license should still bear an "M" instead of an "F.""

[The American Family Association wades into the Scott controversy]

1-30-30:  BBC News (UK re India): "Beauty pageant inspires India's transgenders"

"This contest is a historical moment. The community has had to stay in the closet for 262 years and this contest will provide them a platform," Ms Narayan said. She said she wanted "hijras" (or eunuchs) to be in regular jobs. "For a community member, to be loved with dignity is the biggest thing. Hijras enjoy womanhood to the extreme.""

1-29-10:  Washington City Paper: "Victim Blaming and Transgender Rape Victims"

"Yesterday, the New York Daily News reported that a New York woman recently filed a lawsuit against former NFL player Eric Green, claiming that Green “forcibly sodomized her” in his Scottsdale, Ariz. condo. . . . At this point, no armchair observer in this case could reasonably determine whether this woman’s story checks out or not. But the New York Daily News commenters are already inventing dozens of reasons why the assault could never have occurred—and if it did, she deserved it!"

1-29-10:  The Guardian (UK re Pakistan): "Harassed, intimidated, abused: but now Pakistan's hijra transgender minority finds its voice"

"New civil rights for Pakistan's long-oppressed 'wedding dancers' offer hope of a better life . . . Pakistani hijras, or transgender men, at a function on the outskirts of the garrison city Rawalpindi. Pakistan's supreme court has issued a number of groundbreaking orders for the government and police to afford hijras the same civil rights as other citizens."

[Someone should alert the Guardian that hijra are transgender women, not transgender 'men']

1-29-10:  Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "Local Courts Making Transgender Name-Changes Easier, by Samuel Newhouse

"Courts around New York City have recently earned a new distinction, that of being one of the easiest and most popular places for transgender individuals to change their names. Two recent rulings in New York have eased the name-change process for transgender people . . . a Westchester judge recently ruled that the general requirement that name change and home addresses be advertised in newspapers should not apply to transgender people . . . In the other case, an appeals panel rejected a Manhattan civil court judge’s requirement that transgender people obtaining name changes present doctors’ notes giving reason for the change . . . "

1-29-10:  Asia One News (Asia): "Transgender celebrities"

"Lianhe Wanbao listed out certain known personalities who have had a sex change - Taiwanese model Alicia Liu Xun-ai, Japanese Haruna Ai, Korean Harisu Lee Kyung-eun - have all made a name for themselves in the entertainment industry. Besides Liching, Taiwanese model Alicia had admitted to going for a sex change operation when she was eighteen, and gone on to become even more famous than she already was."

1-29-10:  Channel News Asia (re Taiwan): "Taiwanese TV host Liching: Both man and wife"

"Popular Taiwanese television host Liching, who married a man 14 years her junior in 2002, was not born a hermaphrodite as she had claimed six years ago but was a man, revealed the Taiwanese doctor who treated her . . . Dr Zhang Qizhong wrote an article in a Taiwanese medical journal a year and a half ago to share his experiences in his 35 years of practicing medicine. . . Many say that Dr Zhang acted unprofessionally when he revealed his former patient's identity in his article. . . "

1-28-10:  Pridesource.com (Michigan): "Distraught over Scott - Sec. of State candidate's anti-trans stance raises concerns", by Jay Kaplan

"Hmm ... our state is in critical condition; Michigan's unemployment is double that of the nation; we are drowning in budget deficits; young college graduates are leaving in droves - and Mr. Scott's priority issue for this statewide election is scapegoating transgender individuals?"

1-28-10:  World Net Daily (posted 1-25): "'Gay' plan for bathrooms called 'moral insanity'"

"Gay activists are now demanding that their own private mental delusions about sex be accepted as public policy . . .  asking all of us to participate in a form of collective moral insanity, a mass delusion spread by the homosexual lobby . . .The Maine Human Rights Commission proposed a set of guidelines . . . Under the proposed guidelines, boys who self-identify as female will have access to girls' sports teams and cheerleading squads, girls' bathrooms, and girls' locker rooms."

1-28-10:  Scienceblogs.com: "Worldnutdaily: Do Try and Keep Up", by Ed Brayton

"The Worldnutdaily has yet another idiotic screed about how equal rights for gays and lesbians will mean cross dressing men raping your daughters in the women's bathroom. . . Right, because the first thing straight men who want to leer at women think of is to pretend to be a transsexual - because that's such a great way to pick up women, isn't it? Hundreds of cities and many states already have ordinances that protect against discrimination on the basis of gender identity; there isn't a single example of any woman ever being harmed or peeped on in a bathroom by a transsexual or transgendered person. That's precisely why they have to use examples of straight men doing it before such laws are adopted."

1-28-10:  Weekly Alibi: "Transgender Politics", by Joni Kay Rose

"Simpson isn't the first transsexual appointee in the Obama Administration. Shortly before her appointment, Dylan Orr was appointed as a special assistant to the Labor Department. And it's been more than a year since Congressman Barney Frank brought Diego Sanchez onto his staff. But Orr and Sanchez are transsexual men, and thus don't create the kind of weird fantasies in the minds of bigots that transsexual women like Simpson do. Why is this? "

1-28-10:  Virtue Online (posted 1-26): "Dr. Paul McHugh: "There Is No Gay Gene""

"Well, as I have said, there is no gay gene . . . It really is amazing ... I mean, 50 years ago [homosexual behavior] was a crime, and now we're talking about [same-sex marriage]. Anyone who wants to stick with the tradition is accused of being a biblical literalist or a homophobic racist, because, in part, of the more fundamental change in our society towards permissiveness, that is, easy divorce, cohabitation and concubinage, abortion, pornography ... and euthanasia. The issue of the homosexual is not separate ... it's all part and parcel of the pandemonium that the permissive movement has brought. We have just licensed all kinds of behavior."

[Check out McHugh's latest rants.]

1-28-10:  New York Daily News: "NFL player Eric Green forcibly sodomized transgender New Yorker Angelina Mavilia, her lawsuit claims" (more, more)

"A transgender New Yorker has filed a $10 million sex assault suit against an NFL player - and in a separate action is also suing the city, saying she was abused and humiliated by cops."

1-28-10:  The Telegraph (UK re Italy): "Italy opens first prison for transsexuals"

"Campaigners welcomed the initiative, the first of its kind, because they said transsexual prisoners face discrimination in Italy's mainstream prisons and are rejected by both male and female inmates. They often have to be segregated for their own safety."

1-28-10:  The Christian Institute (UK; posted 1-26: "16-year-old to become UK’s youngest sex-swap patient"

"However, critics of sex change operations say that gender dysphoria is a psychiatric problem, not a physical one, and radical physical surgery does more harm than good. In 2002 doctors from the NHS Portman Clinic – an internationally acclaimed centre – stated, “what many patients find is that they are left with a mutilated body, but the internal conflicts remain”."

[Note: The Portman Clinic is the UK's version of the notorious CAMH in Canada - i.e., an old-fashioned, regressive, trans-reparatist clinic.]

1-27-10:  The Tech (MIT): "Sex Changes Just Got Easier!", by Meghan Nelson (see later correction of editor's headline)

"The Registrar’s Office has modified its requirements for students to officially change their recorded gender. Since last week, instead of requiring evidence of sex-change surgery, students now may provide documentation from a licensed health care professional to verify their gender with the Registrar. The former requirement for surgery was a “very high bar,” said Abigail M. Francis, program coordinator for LBGT services . . . The alteration to the Registrar’s policy came after a four year effort by the Trans Issues Group . . ."

1-27-10:  Inter Press Service (re Cuba; posted 1-25): "Wendy - Reconciling the Inner and Outer Image", by Dalia Acosta

""We are open to all who wish to get to know us, and discover that we are not monsters and that we have not broken social norms just because we wanted to, but because this is the way we are, and that we deserve to be respected. We deserve a place in society, and to be looked upon not as strange creatures, but as people of this society, people of these times," she said. And in spite of knowing how much still needs to be done before society will accept her as she is, just looking Wendy in the eye or watching her walk through the streets of Havana is enough to know that she is a free and happy woman. In her view, "happiness is made up of moments in life that you treasure inside yourself, and they determine the direction of your life.""

1-27-10:  The Telegraph (UK): "World's 'second pregnant man' expecting baby boy next month" (more)

"The world's second known "pregnant man" is expecting his first baby with his transgender husband next month. Scott Moore and his partner, Thomas, were both born as girls and have undergone surgery and hormone treatments to transform their sex."

1-27-10:  Express.co.uk (UK): "Sex Swap Police Want You to Fund Transgender Group"

"Cross-dessing and sex-change police officers are seeking taxpayers cash to fund their own group within the force. . . John Midgley, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, recently said: “We don’t need organisations like this. It’s just madness.”"

1-26-10:  San Francisco Chronicle blogs: "Is a 16-year-old too young for a sex change?"

"The British press are spreading the news of a 16-year-old boy who is hoping to become the country's youngest sex change patient . . . What do you think? Is a 16-year-old too young to make a decision about having a sex change?"

[Readers wrote the author of this blog post about the way it addressed the issue (not to mention the snarky responses) and she removed it.]

1-26-10:  Intersex Australia (OII Australia; posted 1-22): "Having Betrayed Intersex through ISNA, Bo Laurent Vanishes from Its Successor, the Accord Alliance", by Angela Erde

"So the ISNA (Intersex Society of North America) trojan horse has done its work and the very last intersex member of successor organization, Accord Alliance (AA), has vanished from its ranks. Good-bye, Bo Laurent aka Cheryl Chase . . . Bo Laurent and her alter ego Cheryl Chase never appeared in public on the same stage . . . often signed the same legal documents as if two different people and at least once one alter ego referred to the other as if a separate person . . . Dreger, too, seems to have some kind of multiple personality disorder. One moment she is a self-styled ‘intersex activist’ wringing her hands on behalf of that poor, oppressed minority. The next she is hatching the concept of DSDs – Disorders of Sex Development – that are specifically designed to pathologize intersex people . . . "

1-26-10:  ENDAblog: "Should Paul Scott Be Expelled From the University of Michigan Law School", by Katrina C. Rose

"You do, of course, recall Half-Term Paul Scott, the clown who – in the state with the worst economic situation in the nation - is running for Secretary of State on an anti-transsexual platform? . . . And then it hit me. You see, in addition to being a Sarah Palin of the Michigan Legislature, he’s also a law student at the University of Michigan Law School."

[In a truly bizarre move, Paul Scott announced that if elected he would change the gender markers of driver's licenses of post-op transpeople back to their birth gender - claiming “That’s who you are. You can have cosmetic surgery or reassignment surgery but you are still that gender” - and that it was about “preventing people who are males genetically from dressing as a woman and going into female bathrooms. ” I.e., under Scott's logic, all postop women would be forced to use public men's rooms.]  

1-26-10:  San Francisco Chronicle: "Maximum term for attack on transgender woman", by Jaxon Van Derbeken

"A San Francisco judge handed down the maximum sentence of 17 years and eight months in state prison Monday against a man convicted of sexually assaulting a transgender prostitute and suspected of committing several similar attacks."

1-25-10:  Abilene Reporter News: "Police: Transgendered person slays own pastor before hanging self" (more)

"Two bodies discovered Saturday in a gruesome crime scene were identified by Abilene Police Monday as an Abilene pastor and a parishioner she was counseling through a sex change operation. . . .Karen Lee Johnson, 61, pastor of Unity Church of Christianity, suffered multiple stab wounds in an attack by Renata Antoinette Monet, 61 of Abilene, police said. . . . Monet’s personal Web site indicates — in her earlier life as a male — she fantasized about killing women when she was as young as 10 years old."

1-25-10:  Before It's News: ""Stock Shock" Movie about Sirius XM Radio now on Netflix"

""Stock Shock" also interviews the satellite radio's founder: Martine Rothblatt--formerly known as Martin Rothblatt. In 1994 Rothblatt, a male-to-female transsexual, underwent sex reassignment surgery and changed her name to Martine Aliana Rothblatt. She has since become a vocal advocate of transgenderism and later founded United Therapeutics in 1996. "She literally has an understanding of science that ranges from the vastness of the stars, to the microscopic world of cellular biology," says the director. "She is one of the most interesting and evolved people I have ever met.""

1-25-10:  Abilene Reporter News: "Police: Transgendered person slays own pastor before hanging self"

"Two bodies discovered Saturday in a gruesome crime scene were identified by Abilene Police Monday as an Abilene pastor and a parishioner she was counseling through a sex change operation."

1-25-10:  My Fox Houston: "Transgender Community Seeks Answers to Murder" (more, more)

"Organizers of a candlelight vigil Monday night say say it was the largest transgender event in Houston's history. About 200 people attended, wanting to know who killed a transgender woman one week ago."

1-25-10:  Los Angeles Times: "A showcase for experimental filmmaker Chris Langdon", by Reed Johnson

"Chris Langdon was arguably the most interesting and important experimental L.A. filmmaker that most people had never heard of. Even many of Langdon's old friends . . . didn't know what had become of her over the last 30 years.  As it happens . . . she'll be making one of her first public appearances in ages when she attends a retrospective of some of her work, "Now You Can Do Anything: The Films of Chris Langdon," at REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles. But Langdon acknowledges that old acquaintances may have trouble recognizing her as Inga, the female incarnation she assumed several years ago after a sex change. "

1-25-10:  Inside Higher Ed: "The Transgender Athlete", by Pat Griffin and Helen Carroll

""I was really worried about coming out as transgender to anyone else because I knew there weren’t any policies. I was so afraid that my school would ban me from my sport and that was the only thing I had at the time. I finally decided to come out my senior year of college because I was going down a slippery slope and I didn't think I could pull myself out if I didn't come out."--A transgender former college athlete"

1-24-10:  New York Times: "For Transgender People, Name Is a Message", by William Glaberson

"Over the last two years, volunteer lawyers from 19 big corporate law firms in New York City have worked on nearly 400 transgender name change cases, according to the advocacy group that is running the project, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. “In a way, it’s a big coming-out process — with a judge,” said the group’s executive director, Michael D. Silverman"

1-24-10:  Student Pulse: "Research Shows Lack of Support for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Youth in U.S. School Systems", by  Tonei Glavinic

"Transgender children are some of the most vulnerable students in America’s schools. Nobody knows how many there are, and very few educators know what to do with them. Despite extensive advocacy efforts, trans youth are subjected to bullying and harassment in the classroom; diagnosed with nonexistent learning disabilities and psychological problems; and generally misunderstood by their doctors, teachers, and classmates. As a result, these students get lower grades than their classmates and are less likely to pursue higher education. The lack of a basic understanding of trans youth puts them at an extremely high risk for failure and unsatisfactory performance in schools"

1-24-10:  TS Roadmap: "Academic pathologization of transgender people", by Andrea James

"A major social paradigm shift is now occurring in which increasing numbers of people reject the pathologization of gender variance. As we look back at those involved in the effort to stigmatize trans and intersex people as being disordered, we see that most are in their 40s or older - with only a dwindling handful of protegés clinging to their outmoded ideology . . . Below is a streamlined two-dimensional representation of key figures in the academic pathologization of sex and gender minorities."

Note: This page provides a graphical overview of the groups of academics and allies responsible for the pathologization of gender variant people - and is very helpful in visualizing the roles of these people and how they are interconnected. It includes the following entries:

Key figures: Paul McHugh, Ken Zucker, Ray Blanchard, Richard Green, Susan Bradley, J. Michael Bailey,

Other academics: Kurt Freund, James Cantor, Meredith Chivers, Steven Pinker, David Buss, Lee Ellis,  Simon LeVay, Richard Pillard, Alan Sanders,  Khytam Dawood, Dean Hamer, Seth Roberts, Colette Chiland, Janice Raymond, Alice Dreger, Germaine Greer, Susan Mineka, Jon Meyer, George Rekers, Susan Coates, Gerulf Rieger, Elizabeth Latty, Martin Kafka, NARTH, Joan Linsenmeier, Domenico di Ceglie;

Media apologists:Steve Sailer, John Derbyshire, Dan Seligman, Jim Marks,Benedict Carey, Duncan Osborne, Barbara Kline Pope, Stephen Mautner;

Trans apologists: Anne Lawrence, Maxine Petersen, Denise Tree, Heike Spreitzer, Cheryl Chase, Willow Arune, Lisanne Anderson, Hontas Farmer, Anjelica Kieltyka, Jenn Ross

1-24-10:  IEEE Computer Society (posted 1-20):  "Computer Society Names Computer Pioneers" (more, more, more)

"University of Michigan professor Lynn Conway, who helped revolutionize Very Large System Integration design, and Jean Sammet, an early programmer and expert on programming languages, are the 2009 recipients of the IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award. 

The Computer Pioneer Award was established in 1981 to recognize and honor the vision of those people whose efforts resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the computer industry . . . So far, nearly 100 people around the world have been honored for helping lay the foundations for modern-day computer architectures, cryptology, database management, hardware, networking, programming, software, and other technologies."

1-24-10:  News Of The World (UK): "I'm not too young to have sex change, I've known since I was 12"

""People might think I'm too young to make such a huge decision but I know my own mind and this is what I want. I've known for years I'm a woman. I think and act like a woman, not a man. In my mind I'm a woman, so all I need now is the operation." Trainee hairdresser Bradley has been told the surgery to give him breasts and change his genitalia from male to female should happen within 18 months. The £10,000 procedure will be funded by his local NHS trust in Hull, East Yorks."

1-24-10:  aebrain.blogspot (posted 1-10): "A Charitable View of Mary Daly", by Zoe E. Brain"

"As for Mary Daly, the dark bloodstains of her unrepudiated (publicly at least) views will forever marr her legacy and memory. And as we continue the process of slowly applying the notions of Universal Human Rights to more of the populace until one day the word Universal becomes accurate in practice as well as theory she will be taught about in University classes of the future as one of those shamefull sort who built their classes progress on the deliberate misstreatment and vilification of others with less power and already suffering more oppression."

1-23-10:  Asia One News (re Taiwan): "Top model admits being transsexual"

"Taiwanese model Alicia Liu (Xun Ai) has admitted that she is a transsexual. The 24-year-old model-cum-actress, nicknamed Xiao Ai, said she underwent sex-change surgery at the age of 18 . . . Liu, whose original name was Zi Hua, became popular following her appearances on a parody television programme. She was described as having a face as innocent as an angel with sexy curves and a sweet voice . . . Liu's "real" identity was exposed when a schoolmate a year her junior revealed her "secret" on the Internet recently."

1-23-10:  Daily Mail (UK): "Amy Winehouse's ex Blake Fielder-Civil denies 'dating a pre-op transsexual'"

"Blake Fielder-Civil has denied today's reports that he went on a string of dates with dark-haired transsexual 'Mia' McHugh. Mia, 17, who also likes to dress up as his former wife Amy Winehouse, alleged that she had a relationship with Fielder-Civil while still technically male. He reportedly met the part-time hairdresser through Facebook."

1-22-10:  NBC Washington: "Loudoun Supervisor Under Fire for Anti-Gay Remarks"

 "Eugene Delgaudio . . .  is at the center of a political firestorm. He’s accused of using controversial language targeted at transgender individuals. It all started back on January 5th when the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to ban discrimination in hiring someone based on their sexual orientation. Delgaudio – who voted against it – then sent out an email to his constituents explaining the boards decision by saying "if a man dressed as woman wants a job, you have to treat ‘it’ the same as a normal person." But it wasn’t just the "it" word that has people riled up. In that same original email Delgaudio used the phrase "cross dressing freaks.""

1-21-10:  The Michigan Messenger: "Paul Scott targets transgendered people in race for Secretary of State - Prohibiting gender change on licenses a top priority", by Todd A. Heywood (more, more)

"State Rep. Paul Scott, (R-Grand Blanc), announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination for Secretary of State just five days ago, but he’s already caused a shock wave . . . with a promise he made in his Jan. 15 announcement letter,  . . . "I will make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance" . . .  he said it was about “preventing people who are males genetically from dressing as a woman and going into female bathrooms.” . . . He said his mandate would be in place even for those who had completely undergone sex reassignment surgeries. “That’s who you are. You can have cosmetic surgery or reassignment surgery but you are still that gender,” he said."

1-21-10:  Boingboing.com: "Caster Semenya and the apartheid of sex", by Andrea James

"One of the most troubling aspects of the Caster case is the repeated use of the controversial term "disorders of sex development" (DSD). This disease model of human diversity was concocted by a handful of misguided and short-sighted academics . . . The person who has made the most money from promoting this terminology is Alice Dreger, a former mommy blogger turned bioethicist who exemplifies the reproductive ideology behind DSD. Dreger is sort of the Diane Arbus of academia, exploiting conjoined twins, transgender and intersex people, people of short stature, or any other vulnerable minority where its members rarely get to speak for themselves. She got paid to be a key promoter of the term "disorders of sex development," even working with the DSD Consortium to jam their ideology down the throats of everyone else through a number of pamphlets and unilateral "consensus statements.""

1-20-10:  New York Times: "I.O.C. Panel Calls for Treatment in Sex Ambiguity Cases"

"A panel of medical experts convened by the International Olympic Committee recommended Wednesday that the issue of athletes whose sex seems ambiguous be treated as a medical concern and not one of fairness in competition . . . The panel’s recommendations were criticized by some athletes, who said that athletes with masculinizing disorders are so different from other women that their presence in competition is unfair."

1-19-10:  Havana Times (Cuba): ".Cuba Carries Out Sex Change Operations" 

"The director of the National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), Mariela Castro, confirmed today to the press that sex change operations are being done in the country. Around half of the persons waiting for the procedure have already had it."

1-19-10:   European Association of Urology (Europe):  "Implantation of erectile prosthesis is complicated"

"The final step in the multidisciplinary approach of gender reassignment therapy in female-to-male transsexuals consists of the construction of a neophallus to allow the patient to void while standing and to have sexual experience after he is accustomed to his new voiding abilities. The main limiting factor is that there is no good substitute for the unique erectile tissue of the penis. The largest retrospective study by Hoebeke et al. evaluates the outcome in 129 female-to-male transsexuals after implantation of a hydraulic erectile prosthesis.

1-18-10:  TSRoadmap: "Essays expose CAMH’s despicable practices toward transgender people"

"These two essays were submitted by a reader and offer a cautionary tale about Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), one of the last of the antiquated “gender clinics” and one of the most regressive facilities in the world. They are also home to the largest reparative therapy clinic for gender-variant children"

1-18-10:  Archives of Sexual Behavior (posted 12-29-09): "A Further Assessment of Blanchard’s Typology of Homosexual Versus Non-Homosexual or Autogynephilic Gender Dysphoria", by  Larry Nuttbrock, Walter Bockting, Mona Mason, Sel Hwahng, Andrew Rosenblum, Monica Macri and Jeffrey Becker (available as a PDF for $34.00)

"Blanchard’s studies of sexual orientation and transvestic fetishism were conducted more than two decades ago, with most respondents then typically in their mid-40s, and little reported variation in ethnicity (assumed to be mostly White). A central finding of this study is that the very factors on which his sample can now be regarded as insufficiently diverse (age cohort and ethnicity) are, in fact, important and statistically independent predictors of transvestic fetishism . . .a classification of the MTF population, based solely on sexual orientation, is fundamentally limited. An adequate understanding of this population will only be achieved if social dimensions of the transgender experience, as framed by age and ethnicity in particular, are fully considered."

[This study exposes Blanchard's research as being narrowly conceived in time, place and cohort selection - leading to fundamentally flawed results. Unfortunately, its publication in the ASB limits its availability to ASB subscribers and those willing to pay $34 for the PDF.]

1-18-10:  ATME e.V. (Germany): "Transsexual People in Germany - a human rights report " (173 page PDF document in English and German; 2mb)

Note: This report from ATME e.V. discusses the pathologization of transsexual people in Germany, and how it derives from the DSM, the ICD, the practice of psychoanalysis, the theories of John Money and the WPATH Standards of Care.

1-17-10:  The Mirror (UK): "Transsexual reality star Miriam Rivera is a £300-an-hour 'escort'"

"Now Mexican-born Miriam is ­advertising her services online as a “companion”, operating from ­Knightsbridge, West London. The former glamour model . . . offers clients a “full service” for £300 an hour . . .  She says: “I do absolutely everything – I do a full service. Once you have paid for me, you can do whatever you want.” Her internet advert boasts . . . “Probably hear about me being one of the most beautiful transsexuals in the world and famous for my reality show ‘There’s Something About ­Miriam’.”"

1-16-10:  YouTube: "In Remembrance of Maxwell Anderson"

"This is our tribute to a great friend and beloved man, Dr. Maxwell Anderson. We will all miss you, our dear friend. We will see you again in the future. May you rest in peace."

1-16-10:  Examiner.com (posted 1-15): "Trans activist Dr. Maxwell Anderson dies at 53"

"The International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) reports that trans activist Dr. Maxwell Anderson died on January 14 at the age of 53."

1-16-10:  IFGE (posted 1-15): "Dr. Maxwell Anderson of "Southern Comfort" Passes at 53"

"Dr. Maxwell Anderson, born August 26, 1956, died today after a short bout with glioma, a highly aggressive type of brain cancer. He has been a prominent figure in the transgender community for many years, and is probably best known for his appearance in "Southern Comfort," the documentary about Robert Eads. Maxwell was a recipient of IFGE's Trinity award for his years of service on behalf of transgender people, and recently received his PhD in Psychology.

Maxwell is survived by his sister Susie and his cat Blue.

He left a farewell message on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/v/lHEod3CGskg
His blog can be read at: http://drmaxwellanderson.com/
His Facebook page is: http://www.facebook.com/drmaxdaddy" 

1-16-10:  Shapeshifter films: "She's a Boy I Knew - Official Trailer" (YouTube video) (more, more)

"Filmmaker Gwen Haworth documents her male-to-female gender transition through the voices of her parents, sisters, best friend and wife. The film explores the relationships of a family who unexpectedly find their bonds strengthening as they overcome their preconceptions of gender and sexuality."

1-16-10:  NECN: "New Englander killed in Haiti identified as Vermont artist" (with video)

"The State Department is confirming six American deaths in Haiti. One of those killed was an artist from Vermont. 39-year-old Flo McGarrell . .  His parents say Flo was a dedicated and talented artist, who was pursing a lifelong dream. About five years ago, Flo, who was born a woman, made the decision to become a man, and began the process, taking hormones. He was very open about being transgender."

1-15-10:  Main Justice: "Justice Department Cites Title IX on Behalf of Gay Teen", by Ryan J. Reilly

"The Obama administration has intervened in a court case on behalf of a gay teenager by using a novel but not unprecedented interpretation of a law intended to ban gender discrimination . . . arguing that the protections against sex discrimination laid out in the Title IX amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply to gender identity as well."

1-14-10:  Pride Source (Michigan): "Between Ourselves", by Jessica Carreras

"Knoll Larkin is a trans and community activist. The Detroit resident works in the University of Michigan's Bioethics Program as a research technician associate - but hasn't given up on his passion for the LGBT community . . . Check out Knoll's blog at http://f-t-somethingelse.blogspot.com."

1-14-10:  Sunderland Express (UK): "A safe place to meet and escape from a double life"

"A man awaiting a sex-change op and an open cross dresser are just two people who have found a lifeline and safe haven at Age Concern Sunderland which has struck a first in the region for the charity in a Tea With Dorothy group."

1-14-10:  Facebook (re France): "Bambi au Divan du Monde 2009", by Peggy Guex

A wonderful video of Bambi at a famous Paris nightclub last year - a stunning performance that's all the more remarkable when you consider that she's now 74.  Bambi began performing at Le Carrousel in 1954, transitioning while there and working there on into the 1960's. She quietly studied on the side at the Sorbonne, and become a college professor (in stealth). Her story and photos from the Le Carrousel years were widely circulated in the early 60's, helping many of us who transitioned back then to realize what we needed to do. Bambi is a true pioneer, and has lived an amazing life. Her story should be widely told and celebrated! [For more about Bambi, see her website and also this link]

1-14-10:  Metro Weekly (DC): "On Being First - Amanda Simpson can help us all learn about trans issues"

""Being the first sucks," Amanda Simpson, one of the first openly trans appointments to a federal government position, told ABC News. "I'd rather not be the first but someone has to be first, or among the first. I think I'm experienced and very well qualified to deal with anything that might show up because I've broken barriers at lots of other places and I always win people over with who I am and what I can do.""

1-14-10:  Yourtango.com: "Teddy Pendergrass & The Transsexual Tenika Watson"

"The late, great R&B singer was with a transsexual the night of his tragic accident 28 years ago. . . . With his death, old rumors . . . have been injected with new life. Chief among them that he was not alone in the car that night. Riding along was "casual acquaintance" Tenika Watson, a 31-year-old transsexual model, nightclub singer and rumored prostitute."

1-14-10:  The Mainichi Daily News (Japan): "Filipino woman arrested over fake marriage scam"

"A Filipino woman who is believed to have been involved in fake marriages between Japanese men and Filipino transsexuals was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly illegally immigrating to Japan."

1-13-10:  Anchorage Press: "To tell or not to tell, that is the question"

"On Monday, January 4, Schofield made an appearance on Conveyor Belt . . . Back before 2004, when he began his legal, medical and social transformation, Scott Schofield was first Katie Kilbourne, a debutante and homecoming queen hopeful, and then later, KT Kilbourn, a lesbian. And just recently, that last part might have become news to the folks at ABC, as well."

1-13-10:  The Desert Sun (re Brazil): "A remarkably unremarkable role", by Maggie Downs

"One actress attending the Palm Springs International Film Festival hopes her movie will do more than entertain — she wants it to be a positive step for transgender people everywhere. Maria Clara Spinelli is one of the stars of the Brazilian film “Paulista,” which follows three people plunging into love . . . She is not played for shock value. She is not torn about her identity. She is not exploited. She is simply a woman who wants to be loved. That's what makes the character so fascinating,” Spinelli said, with the help of a translator. “She is a paradox. The fact is that she's a transsexual, but she's the most conservative one in the film. People assume that she would be the flamboyant, overly sexual one, and it is not so.
“The fact that she is a transsexual is just one part of her. She is so much more than that.”"

1-13-10:  AFP (re Japan):  "Japan holds Philippine transsexuals for fake marriages"

"Police near Tokyo said Wednesday they had arrested three Japanese men and their transsexual "wives" from the Philippines for faking their marriage registrations. The Philippine nationals used the identification papers of women in their home country to pretend they were born as females so they could marry their Japanese partners, police said."

1-13-10:  Melbourne Leader (Australia): "Gender bender divas centrestage at Midsumma"

"The late Vivien St James, a queen of drag, is the focus of a costume retrospective showing as part of the Midsumma Festival."

1-13-10:  Guardian Weekly (UK re Indonesia): "Jakarta's haven for an excluded community"

"In this week's Indonesia diary, Arnaud Guiguitant meets members of Yogya­karta’s gay or transsexual community and witnesses a defiant stance from those who do not believe they are breaking ­religious rules"

1-13-10:  Helsingin Sanomat (Finland): "Nearly 600 quit parish of transgender vicar", By Juhani Saarinen "

"The Lutheran parish which has been rocked by the vicar’s decision to change genders has been hit by something of an exodus of members."

1-12-10:  Bay Windows (re Iran): "Iranian transgenders reclassified", by Rex Wockner

"Iran’s military will no longer classify transgender people as "mentally disturbed," said Hasan Mousavi Chelk, who heads the Socially Vulnerable Groups section of the State Agency for National Well-Being . . . From now on, transgender people being separated from the military will be labeled as "diabetics" or "people with a hormonal imbalance," he said."

1-12-10:  BBC News (re Italy): "Italy 'to open first prison for transgender inmates'"

"The prison, at Pozzale, near the Tuscan city of Florence, is expected to house inmates who mainly have convictions for drug-related offences and prostitution."

1-12-10:  Sakaal Times (India): "Hunt for most talented transgender begins" (more)

"The first-ever beauty pageant for transgenders – 'Vcare Indian Super Queen' – formally commenced from Monday – and the contestants would be judged on the basic of their creativity, special skill sets and confidence. The grand finale would be held on February 21. "

1-12-09:  Daily Mail (UK re Spain): "Spanish boy, 16, becomes one of world's youngest transsexuals after having sex-change operation"

"Dr Manero, head of the hospital's Gender Disorder Unit, added: 'He is not the first person under 18 to have come for sex change advice, but he is the first one whose parents where prepared to confront the Justice system so their child could be happy.' Under Spanish law under 18s cannot have a sex change without the permission of a judge, which has never previously been granted."

1-11-10:  WREG.com (Memphis): "Former Memphis Cop On Trial For Transgender Beating"

1-11-09:  Japan Times (Japan): "City's birth challenge linked to sex change" (more, more)

"A Hyogo Prefecture man who has legally changed his sexual status said Sunday that the city where he lives told him to register his son, who was born through artificial insemination, as an illegitimate child. . . .  the municipal office knew he had changed his sex in his family registration record, apparently leading it to reject the legitimacy of his son, they said. "This man is lawfully married. It is discriminatory not to recognize him as the father," said Toshiyuki Oshima, a Kyushu International University professor and head of the Japanese Society of Gender Identity Disorder."

1-10-10:  Des Moines Register: "Searching their souls: Can church include transgendered?" (more, more, more)

"The firing of the transgendered woman who worked part time as parish housekeeper and who, as an independent social worker, used parish offices to provide counseling for transgendered clients. Nearly 100 parishioners organizing separate prayer services instead of going to Mass because they said they sought a welcoming place for all. And angst in a once-tight faith community about how the church should minister to those whose lifestyles aren't condoned by the church."

[Yet another innocent transwoman falls victim to Roman Catholic witch-hunting.]

1-10-10:  New York Times: "The Americanization of Mental Illness", by Ethan Watters

"“We say we are being kind, but our actions suggest otherwise.” . . . “Viewing those with mental disorders as diseased sets them apart and may lead to our perceiving them as physically distinct.  Biochemical aberrations make them almost a different species." In other words, the belief that was assumed to decrease stigma actually increased it . . .Unfortunately, at the same time that Western mental-health professionals have been convincing the world to think and talk about mental illnesses in biomedical terms, we have been simultaneously losing the war against stigma at home and abroad. . . . It appears, in short, that the impact of our worldwide antistigma campaign may have been the exact opposite of what we intended.""

1-10-10:  Boingboing.net: Re "The Americanization of "mental illness"", by Andrea James

"Ken Zucker and Ray Blanchard are egregious examples of this problem, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. It's one of the most important political issues of the 21st century, but it is one of the most difficult for both practitioners and the general public to step back and see in its historical and geopolitical context. It involves challenging some of the most deeply held beliefs about how the world works. Today, the New York Times has an excellent introduction to the concept, by Ethan Watters, author of Therapy's Delusions. It's a good overview of his upcoming book."

1-10-09:  Fabulous Magazine (UK): "‘My longed for little girl will soon be my son’"

"Discovering her teenage daughter was desperate to be a boy was only the start of a soul-searching journey for Jacky Jones. This is her family’s emotional story " 

1-10-09:  AFP (reSouth Africa): 'Crime lord's' fake penis falls off in raid"

"South African police caught more than they expected in a Cape Town drug raid when a strap-on dildo fell off a suspected crime lord during a search, the Sunday Times reported. Fat Murphy, feared on the streets of Cape Town's notorious Cape Flats suburb, told a court that he is a hermaphrodite who holds male and female identity documents - one under the name Fadwaan, the other under Hilary."

1-10-09:  Times Live (South Africa): "'I look like a man, I talk like a man, I am a man' - Underworld flabbergasted to discover 'Fat' Murphy is a hermaphrodite"

"On the drug-ravaged streets he's known as Fat Murphy. Feared by many, the burly suspected drug lord is clean-shaven and wears his second wife's name tattooed on his arm. "

1-09-10:  Pam's HouseBlend: "Dylan Orr Has The Honor Of Being First Trans Person Appointed To Obama Administration", by Autumn Sandeen (more)

"A tip of my beret goes to Lisa Keen, writing for Pride Source. Through her, we now know who the first trans person that the Obama Administration appointed was, and it wasn't Amanda Simpson. That honor goes to Dylan Orr, a trans man."

[NCTE needs to improve their fact-checking: This historically important appointment was a senior "Administration Appointment" rather than a "Presidential Appointment" as claimed by NCTE, and it helps neither Amanda nor our cause to knowingly over-claim such things.]

1-09-10:  News Fix (Canada): "Toronto may get first transgendered councillor in 2010 election"

"Former ‘supermodel’ Enza Anderson is running to replace Kyle Rae in Toronto Centre-Rosedale. Rae was the first openly gay person elected to city council back in 1991. But he’s announced he will not be going for re-election, which means Anderson’s chances have just gone up. Winning would make Anderson the first out trans person ever to serve on a city council in Canada"

[I wonder what Zucker and Blanchard are saying about this?]

1-09-10:  YouTube: "Questions about my Transition"

"Samantha answers some reader questions about the beginning of her transition"

[A wonderful video.]

1-09-10:  Globalcomment.com: "Goodbye, Mary Daly, and please take the transphobia with you"

"Daly’s transphobia was in full effect in Gyn/Ecology as well when she referred to trans people as “Frankensteinian” and living in a “contrived and artifactual condition” . . . Daly (also) supervised Janice Raymond’s PhD dissertation, which then morphed into the notoriously transphobic 1979 screed, The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-male. The book argued that transsexual women were agents of the patriarchy infiltrating women’s space. This disco-era book is the underpinning for much of the haterade spewed by current trans-despising radical feminists such as Julie Bindel.."

1-08-09:  LifeSiteNews.com: "Obama Appoints “Transgender” as Latest Homosexual Nominee"

"President Barack Obama has achieved another “first” for homosexual advocates by nominating a “transgender” man to a post in the Commerce Department . . . In remarks later given to ABCNews.com, Simpson said "being the first sucks," because he feared that his sexual identity rather than personal merits would be credited for his obtaining the job."

[Yet more foot-stomping by the religious reactionaries.]

1-08-10:  International Foundation for Gender Education: "IFGE calls on the Late Show with David Letterman to apologize for trans-panic joke."

"This skit is in shockingly poor taste since it is the stated defense of numerous murderers accused of killing transgender women, the so-called "trans-panic defense". The use of this defense has resulted in sentences of less than two years in some cases. In the last 10 years almost 300 transgender women have been murdered in this country. Despite the recent passage of the federal Hate Crimes Law, very few of these cases are ever solved, and even fewer result in conviction."

1-08-10:  Boingboing.net: "You will become mentally ill in 2013"

"Now CAMH "experts" have set their sights on declaring many of you mentally disordered because of your sexual preferences. Do you prefer people who are "too fat," or "too skinny," or "too tall," or "too short"? Do you think transgender people are beautiful, or do you prefer to date disabled people? Do you get tingly watching sexy cartoons or prefer dressing up and roleplaying during sex? Do you like dating people who are "too old" or "too young" for you? Under the expanded definition of "paraphilia" which CAMH experts hope to codify in 2013, you will likely become a mentally ill paraphilic. This diagnosis could then be put in your medical records and other databases, with all the attendant joys of being declared mentally disordered. "

1-08-10:  Just Out: "Kindergarten Complications - What the journey of transitioning from female to male means for a five-year-old in Silverton, and for those around him"

"At first glance, Oliver is a healthy, jovial seven-year-old boy. In the schoolyard he’s known for his gelled faux-hawk, and his favorite color is blue. His favorite book is The Dangerous Book for Boys. He loves to sprint the 200-meter in track and watch Sponge Bob on the weekends with his best friend. His rambunctious attitude and boyish tendencies belie a core reality: Oliver was born a girl."

1-08-10:  Just Out: "A Proactive Process - TransActive’s executive director on the “youngest members of the GLBT community”"

"According to Burleton, the average time­line for transitioning youth depends on the support or resistance received from parents and family, upon whom the child relies to fa­cilitate the process. “Kids transition as soon as parents will tolerate it,” Burleton says, adding that the vast majority of children her organi­zation has worked with are under the age of ten. “The kid’s preference is to do it as soon as they possible can: ‘Mommy, this is who I am. Can I be this person?’”

1-08-10:  Tuscon Citizen: "Is Transgenderism a mental illness"

"The American Psychiatric Association thinks so, or is history repeating itself? . . . The issues around psychological classifications and associated stigma have recently become more complex since it was announced that colleagues from The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a consortium of mental health clinics at several sites in Toronto will serve on the DSM’s Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group. CAMH has aims to ‘cure’ transgendered people of their ‘disorder’, especially in children"

1-07-10:  Boingboing.net: "Toronto: global epicenter for oppression of sex and gender minorities," by Andrea James"

1-07-10:  PrideSource.com: "Obama makes first trans appointmentsDylan Orr, Amanda Simpson make history in newest positions", by Lisa Keen

"Amanda Simpson starts work this week as one of the first presidentially appointed transgender persons to the executive branch of any administration. The honor as the first belongs to Dylan Orr, a 30-year-old law school graduate from Seattle."

[This article surfaces the question of why NCTE so widely promoted the Simpson appointment, while not mentioning Orr's.]

1-07-10:  AllAfrica.com (Africa): "Africa: Pro-Transgender Development - Challenges Posed by Religious Extremism" by Audrey Mbugua

"To label people as death-deserving enemies because of disagreements about real world politics is bad enough. To do the same for disagreements about a delusional world inhabited by archangels, demons and imaginary friends is ludicrously tragic.'"

1-07-10:  The Frisky: "Seeing My Transgender Roommate Transition Changed Me Too"

1-07-10:  Dallas Voice: "Trans woman seeks uterine transplant - Sarah Luiz of The Colony, who’s no stranger to the media spotlight, aims to be world’s 1st trans mom"

"To many this may seem as if it’s going too far, and it will require a uterine organ transplant — a controversial and dangerous operation. Doctors are only beginning to perfect this surgery, and no human has become pregnant with a transplanted uterus. But Luiz has begun the medical candidacy interview process, and she says New York doctors at Downtown Hospital are looking her way."

1-07-10:  The Local (Swedish News in English): "Give young transsexuals special ID cards: doc"

"Young Swedes who suspect they are transsexuals ought to be issued special ID cards allowing them to hide their undesired gender during their trial phase as the opposite sex, according to one of the country’s most respected child psychiatrists. “This has to do with the practical aspects of living life as the opposite gender,” Per-Anders Rydelius, chair of the maternal and child health department at Karolinska Institutet’s Astrid Lindgren's Children Hospital, told The Local. “They must be able to show their ID card without people thinking they are being deceived.”"

1-07-10:  Bay Area Reporter: "Suspect in trans murder found guilty in separate case"

"The man suspected of murdering a transgender woman in San Francisco more than two years ago has been found guilty of several charges related to the rape of another transgender woman. The March 2007 murder of Ruby Ordenana is still under investigation, but Donzell Francis, 41, could face 15 years in prison for charges related to the rape of another transgender woman in 2007."

1-07-10:  Mumbai Mirror (India): "Now, transgenders have the chance to parade their talent"

"With big names sitting in judgement, India Super Queen 2010, to be launched in March with auditions across 10 cities, is an endeavour to help change society’s attitude towards transgenders . . . "We want to show that they too have similar talents and capabilities as socially defined and acceptable sexes.” It is precisely for this that the event has been planned on such a grand scale, and top-end celebrities and stars have been roped in. The event is expected to arouse such curiosity and interest among people and media that issues of transgenders will be brought into the public forum and discussed without intellectual hangovers."

1-07-10:  AsiaOne (re Singapore): "Is 'she' actually a 'he'?" (more: "Men openly molest girl but no one helps", more, more)

"The identity of the molest victim in the Siloso Beach incident has been heavily discussed online.Netizens who claim that they were at the scene of the incident speculate that the woman is in fact a transsexual from Thailand. One netizen, reficul10, said: "Just so you know...she's not even a real girl. Okay let's cut it short. She's a tranny. A transsexual. Another netizen, viper2007 said that he does not think that molesting a transsexual is permissible."

1-07-10:  San Francisco Bay Times: "Openly Transgender Primary Care Provider Joins Lyon-Martin"

"Fulfilling their commitment to provide quality healthcare to Bay Area women and transgender patients, Lyon-Martin Health Services has proudly announced the addition of Dr. Suegee Tamar-Mattis to their well-respected community clinic. "

1-07-10:  The Scotsman (Scotland): "Row over transsexual woman searched by male Holyrood guard"

"An investigation was launched after the visitor, who was born a man and now lives as a woman, asked to be searched by a female security guard at the public entrance at Holyrood. However, the female security guards on duty refused, as they understood the visitor was a man, and a male security guard carried out a search"

1-06-10:  Edge: "Fringe Right, Letterman React to Obama Trans Appointee"

"One right-wing activist went so far as to call the appointment "political correctness run amock," reported anti-gay publication Catholic News Agency in a Jan. 5 article."

1-06-10:  USA Today: "David Letterman under fire for transgender joke" (more, more)

"In a skit during Letterman's opening monologue, the Late Show host announced Simpson's historic appointment and revealed that she is transgender, displaying a photograph of her. The show's announcer, Alan Kalter, then feigned "trans panic," implying he had some prior relationship with Simpson but was not aware of her gender history, and ran yelling from the stage."

1-06-10:  PopEater: "ABC Dating Show Features Transgender Contestant?"

"Some curious internet super sleuths found contestant Scott Schofield's website which confirmed that he was in fact a transgender performance artist (via Videogum). He even tweeted during Monday's broadcast that he "never thought this would air.""

1-06-10:  New York Times: "U.S. Job Site Bans Bias Over Gender Identity" 

"The Obama administration has inserted language into the federal jobs Web site explicitly banning employment discrimination based on gender identity. The protection is expected to apply to the small transgender population — people who identify their gender differently from the information on their birth certificates — and it merely formalizes what had been increasingly unchallenged government practice over several years. But civil liberties and gender rights groups welcomed it on Tuesday as the clearest statement yet by the Obama administration that such discrimination in the federal workplace would not be accepted. . . . When the administration foreshadowed the change back in June, it was thought the guidelines would be in an updated federal handbook for managers and supervisors. Their inclusion instead in the equal-employment opportunity notices on www.usajobs.gov, the federal jobs site, was viewed as even more significant."

1-05-10:  SheWired.com: "Radical Lesbian Feminist Mary Daly Dies at 81" (more, more)

"In her book Gyn/Ecology (1978), Daly asserted her negative view of transsexual people, whom she referred to as "Frankensteinian." She labeled transsexualism a "male problem" and claimed that post-operative transsexuals exist in a "contrived and artifactual condition.""

[One of our greatest tormentors, Daly was responsible for introducing a vicious strain of transphobia into the feminist movement. Daly was closely associated with and influenced the thinking of Janice Raymond, another of our tormentors.]

1-05-10:  New York Times (re Uganda): "Americans’ Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push "

"Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks. . . thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution”. . .  Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior."

[Example of how evangelical Christian teachings are fueling anti-GLBT violence all around the world.]

1-05-10:  Contexto (Argentina; posted 12-29-09): "Una famosa travesti de Gualeguaychú murió de gripe A en Francia" (more, more)

"The famous transvesti "Arena" died in Paris, a victim of influenza, where (she) was for work purposes. . . "Arena" had traveled to France to the possibility of signing contracts to work there and was with part of (her) family at the time of (her) death."

1-05-10:  Womens News Network: "What’s the big deal about gender? – Female Identity as Intersex"

"Sexual identity in society based on gender recognition has caused much suffering for those who are intersex. Discrimination, harassment, and ongoing misunderstanding of the condition is part of the problem."

1-05-10:  Korea Times (South Korea): "Actress Lee Shows Off 'Handsome' Look"

"Actress Lee Na-young, a symbol of cheery Audrey Hepburn-esque grace and femininity, was thrilled to have her looks compared to male stars such as Jung Woo-sung. In the upcoming family comedy ``Lady Daddy,'' the screen beauty dons a ``handsome look,'' complete with a necktie and mustache. She plays the role of Ji-hyeon, a charming photographer whose perfect life is disrupted with the sudden arrival of a young boy who claims she fathered him, before her sex-change operation. Ji-hyeon is forced to spend a week with the boy, and tries to fulfill a ``more conventional'' role as a dad."

1-05-10:  The Huffington Post: "Religious Right Goes Nuts Over Transgender Appointee Amanda Simpson"

1-05-10:  Catholic News Agency: "Transgender appointment is 'political correctness run amok,' critic charges"

"President Obama recently appointed a “transgendered” man as a Senior Technical Adviser to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Amanda Simpson, a former test pilot for Raytheon who now identifies himself as female, will serve in the Bureau of Industry and Security. . . . “He may very well be qualified for this position but it appears that he was not picked (merely) for his qualifications, he was picked because of his wardrobe,” Barber commented to CNA. “That is not diversity or tolerance. It's political correctness run amok.” "

[The Catholic Church wades in re Amanda's appointment . . . ]

1-04-10:  Citizen Link: "President Appoints 'Transgendered' Individual to Federal Post" (more)

"Matt Barber, associate dean at Liberty University, said the appointment "boggles the mind." "This isn't like appointing an African-American in order to try to provide diversity and right some kind of discriminatory wrong," he said. "This is about political correctness. President Obama, before he was inaugurated, told the world that he had signed off on every single demand of the homosexual-activist lobby." LaBarbera said it's just another way to normalize homosexuality and transgenderism."

[The Christian Right reacts to Amanda Simpson's appointment]

1-04-10:  ABC News: "President Obama Names Transgender Appointee to Commerce Department"

"President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department. In a statement, Simpson . . . said that "as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others.""

1-04-10:  Projectqatlanta.com: "Neil Patrick Harris, gay panic, trans appointee?"

"Widely reported claim by NTCE that Obama made his first transgender appointment, former DNC delegate and failed 2005 Congressional candidate Amanda Simpson (top photo), is hard to confirm as true. It could be a direct hire by the Commerce Department, not an appointment"

1-04-10:  Examiner.com: "Claim of transgender Presidential appointment not supported by White House website" (more)

"It is being widely reported in the last few days that a transgender named Amanda Simpson has been "appointed" by President Obama to a federal post involving security, and that she hopes hundreds of transgender appointments will follow.  But this reporter is unable to find that name on a list of presidential nominations and appointments on the website for the official  White house list of such apointments. The only source cited in articles viewed up to this point is an organization whose initials are NCTE, based in Washington, D.C"

1-04-10:  Globe Gazette (Iowa): "Pro-family group opposes transgender observance" (more, more, more)

"A pro-family policy group today is taking issue with a proclamation Gov. Chet Culver signed that declared a “transgender day of remembrance” in Iowa last year. . . The organization’s president, Chuck Hurley, said he views the proclamation as an attempt by Culver to use the power of the governor’s office “to promote sexual confusion and deviant behavior.”"   

1-04-10:  BBC News (UK): "Paper guilty of transsexual slur" (more)

"A Belfast newspaper has been found guilty of breaching the press code of practice for describing a transsexual as 'a tranny.'"

1-03-10:  ABS-CBN News (Philippines): "Rica Paras leaves PBB house without tears and fears" (more, more)

"Rica, a transgender, told the other housemates not to shed tears as she left them and Big Brother behind . . . She said she wished she stayed inside PBB house longer to show the public that transgenders are not different from them. She also wished for people to have the strength to fight for their loved ones who are seen and treated differently"

1-03-10:  Tranifesto.com: "Amanda Simpson and the trans Catch-22", by Matt Kailey"

"This is a major step for trans people. Simpson's appointment reflects positively on us all, and she serves as a wonderful role model for people in our community. It would be a real shame if Simpson's trans status was not acknowledged. So while I completely respect people's desire to assimilate and to stop using a "trans" identifier, and I understand the argument and the science behind it, I'm also very happy that Amanda Simpson does use such an identification, whether it be transgender, transsexual, or both."

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