Gaza City (CNN) -- Two Palestinian teenagers stroll amid the mounds of rubble left by last year's Israeli military offensive, listening to the tinny beat of a Turkish pop song playing on a cell phone.
Nadir Mohammed Saleh and Ahmed Fayiz Abed Rabo are cousins and next-door neighbors. With their gelled hair, buttoned-down shirts and jeans, they look much like any other 16-year-old Palestinian boy. But looks, Ahmed says, can be deceiving.
"Only my appearance, my haircut and clothing, makes me look like a boy," Ahmed says, gesturing with his hands across his face. "Inside, I am like a female. I am a girl."
Until last summer, both Nadir and Ahmed were -- for all intents and purposes -- girls. They wore female headscarves, attended girls' school and even answered to the female first names Navin and Ola.
Both Nadir and Ahmed were born with a rare birth defect called male pseudohermaphrodism.
Deficiency of the hormone 17-B-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17-B-HSD) during pregnancy left their male reproductive organs deformed and buried deep within their abdomens.
At birth, doctors identified Nadir and Ahmed as girls, because they appeared to have female genitalia.
Full Story
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Q&A: "Guardian Angel" of Gulf Transsexuals
Suad Hamada interviews Bahraini lawyer FAWZIYA JANAHI
MANAMA, Oct 31 (IPS) - Transsexuals in the Gulf call Bahraini lawyer Fawziya Janahi "guardian angel". She is the Arab world's only female lawyer who takes up cases on behalf of clients who want to change their sex.
Janahi's clients want legal permission to undergo sex change operations. While the law is quite straightforward on this in Bahrain, the lawyer says it is more difficult in other countries in the region.
"But that wouldn't stop me from helping transgendered trapped in their bodies," she says. "I'm ready to challenge the odds!"
Janahi, 47, spoke with IPS about her unusual practice, her future and hopes of greater acceptance of transgendered/transsexuals in Gulf societies.
Full Interview
MANAMA, Oct 31 (IPS) - Transsexuals in the Gulf call Bahraini lawyer Fawziya Janahi "guardian angel". She is the Arab world's only female lawyer who takes up cases on behalf of clients who want to change their sex.
Janahi's clients want legal permission to undergo sex change operations. While the law is quite straightforward on this in Bahrain, the lawyer says it is more difficult in other countries in the region.
"But that wouldn't stop me from helping transgendered trapped in their bodies," she says. "I'm ready to challenge the odds!"
Janahi, 47, spoke with IPS about her unusual practice, her future and hopes of greater acceptance of transgendered/transsexuals in Gulf societies.
Full Interview
Aussie gov't apologizes to transsexual
SYDNEY, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A transsexual has won an apology from the Australian government for having to travel on a passport identifying her as a man, officials confirm.
Stefanie Imbruglia, 42, a first cousin of pop singer Natalie Imbruglia, applied for a passport in 2007 to travel to Bangkok for sex reassignment surgery. Having already lived for two years as a woman, she asked to be identified on her passport as a female, but the government denied her request.
Full Story
Stefanie Imbruglia, 42, a first cousin of pop singer Natalie Imbruglia, applied for a passport in 2007 to travel to Bangkok for sex reassignment surgery. Having already lived for two years as a woman, she asked to be identified on her passport as a female, but the government denied her request.
Full Story
Woman murder suspect is charged
A man has been charged with the murder of a woman whose body was discovered in her burned-out flat in Brighton.
Andrea Waddell's strangled body was found in her bedroom in the property on Upper Lewes Road on Thursday night.
Neil McMillan, a satellite dish installer, 41, of Bennett Road, Brighton, was also charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
He is due to appear before Brighton Magistrates' Court on Wednesday morning.
Mr McMillan had been arrested on Saturday night and detectives were granted an extension to continue questioning him.
Full Story
Andrea Waddell's strangled body was found in her bedroom in the property on Upper Lewes Road on Thursday night.
Neil McMillan, a satellite dish installer, 41, of Bennett Road, Brighton, was also charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
He is due to appear before Brighton Magistrates' Court on Wednesday morning.
Mr McMillan had been arrested on Saturday night and detectives were granted an extension to continue questioning him.
Full Story
Sex reassignment surgery in Canada: what's covered and where
INTERACTIVE / Province-by-province breakdown of SRS coverage
http://www.xtra.ca/BinaryContent/stories/77/06/7706/7706-SRS/212_SRS.swf
http://www.xtra.ca/BinaryContent/stories/77/06/7706/7706-SRS/212_SRS.swf
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Transgendered teacher files complaint over firing
Last Updated: Thursday, October 1, 2009
CBC News
An Edmonton teacher has filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission after he was fired by a Catholic school board for telling it he was changing his gender.
Jan Buterman, who worked as a substitute teacher for about six months, was removed from the Greater St. Albert Catholic school board's substitute teacher list last year.
Born as a woman, Buterman is transitioning to become a man and told the school board he had gender identity disorder.
In a letter, Steve Bayus, deputy superintendent of schools for Greater St. Albert, wrote that in discussions with the archbishop of the Edmonton diocese, it was their view that "the teaching of the Catholic Church is that persons cannot change their gender. One's gender is considered what God created us to be."
Full Story
Video
CBC News
An Edmonton teacher has filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission after he was fired by a Catholic school board for telling it he was changing his gender.
Jan Buterman, who worked as a substitute teacher for about six months, was removed from the Greater St. Albert Catholic school board's substitute teacher list last year.
Born as a woman, Buterman is transitioning to become a man and told the school board he had gender identity disorder.
In a letter, Steve Bayus, deputy superintendent of schools for Greater St. Albert, wrote that in discussions with the archbishop of the Edmonton diocese, it was their view that "the teaching of the Catholic Church is that persons cannot change their gender. One's gender is considered what God created us to be."
Full Story
Video
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Violence Against the Transgendered Only Getting Worse
by Joseph Erbentraut
EDGE Great Lakes Regional Editor
Tuesday Sep 29, 2009
Nearly a month has passed since the Aug. 26 murder of Ty’lia "NaNa Boo" Mack, a 21-year-old transgender woman, in Washington, D.C. But the violent crime remains on the top of the minds of transgender advocates nationwide.
In its wake, many are left wondering whether crimes like the one against Mack are given the sort of national media attention they should. While no one disputes the horror of a death like the one of Matthew Shepard the Wyoming college student left to die on a fence, some do question whether more societally "marginal" people--often transsexuals and the transgendered-- received less scrutiny by the media or sympathy from the general public.
Mack’s death, in broad daylight on a sidewalk near the Transgender Health Empowerment (T.H.E.) office is the latest in a series of high-profile killings of transgender people in recent memory.
Some of the more notorious incidents include Lateisha Green, killed last November in Syracuse, N.Y. Angie Zapata was murdered last July in Greeley, Colo.
While these cases did, indeed, receive media coverage from both mainstream and LGBT media, others, such as Paulina Ibarra’s murder last month in East Hollywood, Calif., appear to have been largely overlooked.
Full Story
EDGE Great Lakes Regional Editor
Tuesday Sep 29, 2009
Nearly a month has passed since the Aug. 26 murder of Ty’lia "NaNa Boo" Mack, a 21-year-old transgender woman, in Washington, D.C. But the violent crime remains on the top of the minds of transgender advocates nationwide.
In its wake, many are left wondering whether crimes like the one against Mack are given the sort of national media attention they should. While no one disputes the horror of a death like the one of Matthew Shepard the Wyoming college student left to die on a fence, some do question whether more societally "marginal" people--often transsexuals and the transgendered-- received less scrutiny by the media or sympathy from the general public.
Mack’s death, in broad daylight on a sidewalk near the Transgender Health Empowerment (T.H.E.) office is the latest in a series of high-profile killings of transgender people in recent memory.
Some of the more notorious incidents include Lateisha Green, killed last November in Syracuse, N.Y. Angie Zapata was murdered last July in Greeley, Colo.
While these cases did, indeed, receive media coverage from both mainstream and LGBT media, others, such as Paulina Ibarra’s murder last month in East Hollywood, Calif., appear to have been largely overlooked.
Full Story
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Hormone 'blockers' could be offered to under-16s seeking sex change
By Victoria Richards
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Sex-change experts are considering reviews to current UK guidelines that could see treatment with "hormone blockers" extended to under-16s and transgender surgery to under-18s.
The moves, if approved, would be taken as a positive response to campaigning led by Kim Petras, currently the world's youngest transsexual, who at 16 succeeded in lobbying the German government to allow her to undergo a sex change.
Full Story
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Sex-change experts are considering reviews to current UK guidelines that could see treatment with "hormone blockers" extended to under-16s and transgender surgery to under-18s.
The moves, if approved, would be taken as a positive response to campaigning led by Kim Petras, currently the world's youngest transsexual, who at 16 succeeded in lobbying the German government to allow her to undergo a sex change.
Full Story
"Person of Interest" Wanted in Transgender Killing
KTLA News
2:02 PM PDT, September 17, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- Detectives are searching for a man they are calling "a person of interest" in the murder of Paulina Ibarra, a transgendered person, who was stabbed to death in her East Hollywood apartment.
Full Story
2:02 PM PDT, September 17, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- Detectives are searching for a man they are calling "a person of interest" in the murder of Paulina Ibarra, a transgendered person, who was stabbed to death in her East Hollywood apartment.
Full Story
THEATRE TheStar.com | Theatre | A transgender twist on Secrets A transgender twist on Secrets
All-male cast lived the theme of a new play about black guys who keep it all inside
Sep 19, 2009 04:30 AM
Ashante Infantry
Entertainment Reporter
Darren Anthony has always taken his big sister's lead, following her into social work, sketch comedy, acting and now playwriting. As it's said in their family: "Darren does what trey does."
He could do worse.
trey anthony is the creator of the award-winning `da Kink in My Hair, which was the first Canadian production staged at the Princess of Wales Theatre and has also been mounted in San Diego and London and adapted for television.
Now, she's producing Darren's first play, Secrets of a Black Boy, which opens at The Music Hall on Friday. With its focus on male angst and similar use of dramatic monologues, the show is being touted as "the male answer to `da Kink," which examined the lives of black women.
Forthright, plain-spoken trey also gets billing as dramaturge and contributing writer. "I'm the younger brother, so I do a lot of listening," says easygoing Darren of heeding her script suggestions: less cursing, and more vulnerable characters.
But last spring, in the midst of one of the dramedy's early table reads, Darren would have been within his rights to wonder if trey had finally led him astray. He'd agreed with her and director Kimahli Powell to cast a transgender man, and not to inform the other actors until that individual was ready.
Now he was.
Full Story
Sep 19, 2009 04:30 AM
Ashante Infantry
Entertainment Reporter
Darren Anthony has always taken his big sister's lead, following her into social work, sketch comedy, acting and now playwriting. As it's said in their family: "Darren does what trey does."
He could do worse.
trey anthony is the creator of the award-winning `da Kink in My Hair, which was the first Canadian production staged at the Princess of Wales Theatre and has also been mounted in San Diego and London and adapted for television.
Now, she's producing Darren's first play, Secrets of a Black Boy, which opens at The Music Hall on Friday. With its focus on male angst and similar use of dramatic monologues, the show is being touted as "the male answer to `da Kink," which examined the lives of black women.
Forthright, plain-spoken trey also gets billing as dramaturge and contributing writer. "I'm the younger brother, so I do a lot of listening," says easygoing Darren of heeding her script suggestions: less cursing, and more vulnerable characters.
But last spring, in the midst of one of the dramedy's early table reads, Darren would have been within his rights to wonder if trey had finally led him astray. He'd agreed with her and director Kimahli Powell to cast a transgender man, and not to inform the other actors until that individual was ready.
Now he was.
Full Story
Friday, September 11, 2009
Iran set to allow first transsexual marriage
Woman wins court battle for father's approval to marry schoolfriend who has undergone sex-change operation
Robert Tait
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 September 2009 15.53 BST
Iran is set to allow what is believed to be its first transsexual marriage after the would-be bride asked a court to override her father's opposition to the match.
The woman, named only as Shaghayegh, told Tehran's family court that she wanted to wed her best friend from school, who had recently undergone a sex-change operation to become a man, but was unable to obtain her father's blessing, as legally required.
Full Story
Robert Tait
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 September 2009 15.53 BST
Iran is set to allow what is believed to be its first transsexual marriage after the would-be bride asked a court to override her father's opposition to the match.
The woman, named only as Shaghayegh, told Tehran's family court that she wanted to wed her best friend from school, who had recently undergone a sex-change operation to become a man, but was unable to obtain her father's blessing, as legally required.
Full Story
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The transgender rights deficit
"Across Europe transgender rights lag behind those of other groups. We're working to change that."
Thomas Hammarberg - the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 5 September 2009 09.00 BST
The human rights situation of transgender persons has long been ignored and neglected, although the problems they face are serious and often specific to this group alone. Transgender people experience a high degree of discrimination, intolerance and outright violence. Their basic human rights are often violated, including the right to life, the right to physical integrity and the right to health.
During my official visits to the 47 member States of the Council of Europe, I have been struck by the lack of knowledge about the human rights issues at stake for transgender persons, even among political decision-makers.
Full Story
Thomas Hammarberg - the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 5 September 2009 09.00 BST
The human rights situation of transgender persons has long been ignored and neglected, although the problems they face are serious and often specific to this group alone. Transgender people experience a high degree of discrimination, intolerance and outright violence. Their basic human rights are often violated, including the right to life, the right to physical integrity and the right to health.
During my official visits to the 47 member States of the Council of Europe, I have been struck by the lack of knowledge about the human rights issues at stake for transgender persons, even among political decision-makers.
Full Story
Friday, September 4, 2009
Transsexual wins prison transfer
The refusal to move a transsexual prisoner from a men's jail to a women's prison is a violation of her human rights, rules the High Court.
Deputy Judge David Elvin QC quashed Justice Secretary Jack Straw's decision to keep the 27-year-old, who cannot be identified, in a male prison.
Referred to as "A", she is serving a life sentence for manslaughter and attempted rape, committed when a man.
London's High Court heard the prisoner should be moved within a few weeks.
Full Story
Deputy Judge David Elvin QC quashed Justice Secretary Jack Straw's decision to keep the 27-year-old, who cannot be identified, in a male prison.
Referred to as "A", she is serving a life sentence for manslaughter and attempted rape, committed when a man.
London's High Court heard the prisoner should be moved within a few weeks.
Full Story
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
News media sucks at reporting on violent attacks on transgender individuals in Washington, D.C.
It has been a frightening week to be trans in Washington, D.C.
Posted by Jos - August 28, 2009, at 02:53PM
Full Story
Posted by Jos - August 28, 2009, at 02:53PM
Full Story
India: First of its kind: A clinic just for transgenders
Bosco Dominique, TNN 29 August 2009, 03:43am IST
PUDUCHERRY: Transgenders, often distanced by society, will soon have a clinic functioning exclusively for them in this former French enclave.
Even as a group of transgenders in Chennai launched a matrimonial website exclusively for them, in Puducherry the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute showcased a clinic, which, they claimed was the first such medical facility for transgenders in south India.
The clinic boasting of providing complete health care services for transgenders will offer consultation and treatment free of cost in the disciplines of gynaecology, urology, dermatology, psychiatry and paediatrics. ‘‘The transgender clinic will function thrice a week from 9am to 3pm,’’ said Prof D R Gunasekaran, V-C of the Sri
Balaji Vidyapeeth University to which the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College is affiliated.
Full Story
PUDUCHERRY: Transgenders, often distanced by society, will soon have a clinic functioning exclusively for them in this former French enclave.
Even as a group of transgenders in Chennai launched a matrimonial website exclusively for them, in Puducherry the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute showcased a clinic, which, they claimed was the first such medical facility for transgenders in south India.
The clinic boasting of providing complete health care services for transgenders will offer consultation and treatment free of cost in the disciplines of gynaecology, urology, dermatology, psychiatry and paediatrics. ‘‘The transgender clinic will function thrice a week from 9am to 3pm,’’ said Prof D R Gunasekaran, V-C of the Sri
Balaji Vidyapeeth University to which the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College is affiliated.
Full Story
Thursday, August 27, 2009
D.C. Bathroom Signs: Ignored By Many, Hated By Some, Expensive, and Possibly Illegal
Posted by Amanda Hess on Aug. 12, 2009, at 1:30 pm
When Omar Miskinyar opened 14th Street NW nightlife spot Policy earlier this year, he invested in the unexpected. Inside the sprawling restaurant, bar, and lounge, ornate chandeliers hang below exposed pipes and ducts. Graffiti by artist Andrew Funk blazes across the tasteful taupe walls. Cherry-red patent-leather booths ring a bar with a wall of flat-screen televisions. And rather than pants vs. triangle, “ladies” vs. “gents,” or “Barbie” vs. “Ken,” the doors to the restrooms are marked with a pair of swirled Plexiglas exclamation points. One is blue, the other is pink. They’re the size of human beings.
Human beings, however, do not always fit the color scheme. That raises something of a grammatical problem for Miskinyar: Policy’s subtly gendered punctuation may be inconsistent with a little-known provision of D.C. human rights law.
Since 2006, the D.C. Human Rights Act has protected transgender men and women from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations—including restrooms. Since public bathrooms are traditionally gender-specific, gender nonconforming clientele have faced harassment, attack, and even arrest for picking the “wrong” gendered stall. Restaurants with multi-stall bathrooms segregated by gender can work to eliminate discrimination by ensuring that even when rooms are marked for ladies or gentlemen, they’re free of harassment for the spot’s gender-variant pissers.
Full Story
When Omar Miskinyar opened 14th Street NW nightlife spot Policy earlier this year, he invested in the unexpected. Inside the sprawling restaurant, bar, and lounge, ornate chandeliers hang below exposed pipes and ducts. Graffiti by artist Andrew Funk blazes across the tasteful taupe walls. Cherry-red patent-leather booths ring a bar with a wall of flat-screen televisions. And rather than pants vs. triangle, “ladies” vs. “gents,” or “Barbie” vs. “Ken,” the doors to the restrooms are marked with a pair of swirled Plexiglas exclamation points. One is blue, the other is pink. They’re the size of human beings.
Human beings, however, do not always fit the color scheme. That raises something of a grammatical problem for Miskinyar: Policy’s subtly gendered punctuation may be inconsistent with a little-known provision of D.C. human rights law.
Since 2006, the D.C. Human Rights Act has protected transgender men and women from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations—including restrooms. Since public bathrooms are traditionally gender-specific, gender nonconforming clientele have faced harassment, attack, and even arrest for picking the “wrong” gendered stall. Restaurants with multi-stall bathrooms segregated by gender can work to eliminate discrimination by ensuring that even when rooms are marked for ladies or gentlemen, they’re free of harassment for the spot’s gender-variant pissers.
Full Story
Tucson man convicted in attack on transsexual Vietnam veteran
By Carol Ann Alaimo
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.25.2009
A Tucson man was convicted of assault and disorderly conduct Monday for attacking a transsexual Vietnam veteran, who testified that her assailant mocked her before the attack.
Defendant Richard Ray Young denied the name-calling but was sentenced to 30 days in jail, a $1,000 fine and three years' probation for the assault last October at Tucson Greyhound Park.
Judge Pro Tem Richard Madril of South Tucson Municipal Court also ordered him to take anger-management counseling and be assessed for alcohol abuse.
The victim, Janey Kay, who was born male and had surgery early last year to become female, sustained a cut lip and had two handfuls of hair ripped from her scalp in the incident.
Full Story
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.25.2009
A Tucson man was convicted of assault and disorderly conduct Monday for attacking a transsexual Vietnam veteran, who testified that her assailant mocked her before the attack.
Defendant Richard Ray Young denied the name-calling but was sentenced to 30 days in jail, a $1,000 fine and three years' probation for the assault last October at Tucson Greyhound Park.
Judge Pro Tem Richard Madril of South Tucson Municipal Court also ordered him to take anger-management counseling and be assessed for alcohol abuse.
The victim, Janey Kay, who was born male and had surgery early last year to become female, sustained a cut lip and had two handfuls of hair ripped from her scalp in the incident.
Full Story
New Zealand: Transgender law change support grows
Posted in: New Zealand Daily News
By GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 27th August 2009
MPs from across the main political parties are pledging their support for changes to legislation to improve the legal status of transgender people.
A report based on the groundbreaking Human Rights Commission Transgender Inquiry, titled To Be Who I Am and released early last year, called for changes to laws which currently exclude transgender people from discrimination protection and which require gender reassignment surgery before a person's legal gender identity can be changed.
Genderbridge, an organisation set up to support transgender people, says Auckland Central and National MP Nikki Kaye is the latest to confirm her support for the changes and ACT leader Rodney Hyde has for some months signaled his support. Gay Greens MP Kevin Hague has confirmed that his party's nine MPs are "fully supportive of the proposed changes," according to Genderbridge's Allyson Hamblett.
Justice Minister Simon Power is understood to be supportive and Hamblett says an approach is soon to be made to Prime Minister John Key. The Labour party has long looked favourably on such changes.
Original Story
Related Story
By GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 27th August 2009
MPs from across the main political parties are pledging their support for changes to legislation to improve the legal status of transgender people.
A report based on the groundbreaking Human Rights Commission Transgender Inquiry, titled To Be Who I Am and released early last year, called for changes to laws which currently exclude transgender people from discrimination protection and which require gender reassignment surgery before a person's legal gender identity can be changed.
Genderbridge, an organisation set up to support transgender people, says Auckland Central and National MP Nikki Kaye is the latest to confirm her support for the changes and ACT leader Rodney Hyde has for some months signaled his support. Gay Greens MP Kevin Hague has confirmed that his party's nine MPs are "fully supportive of the proposed changes," according to Genderbridge's Allyson Hamblett.
Justice Minister Simon Power is understood to be supportive and Hamblett says an approach is soon to be made to Prime Minister John Key. The Labour party has long looked favourably on such changes.
Original Story
Related Story
World's first matrimonial site for transsexuals
Insiya Amir, TNN 27 August 2009, 01:39am IST
Kalki Subramanian is young, liberated and looking for an Indian man who is loving, compassionate, educated. Oh, and one more thing — he should be
OK with marrying a transsexual.
But Kalki isn’t leaving her hopes for a suitable boy to destiny. The founder-director of the Sahodari foundation, that works for transgenders, is setting up a matrimonial website for transsexual women — the first of its kind in the world.
With the Internet matchmaking portal, to be launched on Thursday, she also hopes to create a debate about the issues of matrimony and adoption for transgenders. “There has to be legal clarity for transsexuals to live a better life. We have been discriminated against and exploited for very long”, she says.
Unlike, other dating services in the world, where transgenders are set up with other transgenders, www.thirunangai.net will give transsexual women a chance to find a man of their dreams. Thirunangai, incidentally, means respectable woman in Tamil.
Full Story
Kalki Subramanian is young, liberated and looking for an Indian man who is loving, compassionate, educated. Oh, and one more thing — he should be
OK with marrying a transsexual.
But Kalki isn’t leaving her hopes for a suitable boy to destiny. The founder-director of the Sahodari foundation, that works for transgenders, is setting up a matrimonial website for transsexual women — the first of its kind in the world.
With the Internet matchmaking portal, to be launched on Thursday, she also hopes to create a debate about the issues of matrimony and adoption for transgenders. “There has to be legal clarity for transsexuals to live a better life. We have been discriminated against and exploited for very long”, she says.
Unlike, other dating services in the world, where transgenders are set up with other transgenders, www.thirunangai.net will give transsexual women a chance to find a man of their dreams. Thirunangai, incidentally, means respectable woman in Tamil.
Full Story
DC: Q Street Double Stabbing Leaves 1 Dead
Two transgender women stabbed in broad daylight
Updated: Wednesday, 26 Aug 2009, 11:27 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 26 Aug 2009, 3:59 PM EDT
* By ROBY CHAVEZ/myfoxdc
WASHINGTON, D.C. - D.C. Police say a double stabbing in broad daylight left one person dead and another injured in Northwest Washington on Wednesday.
Police say two people were stabbed in the 200 block of Q Street Northwest around 2:30 p.m. Officers found two transgender women in front of the building when they arrived. One of those victims later died at a hospital, while another is wounded but in stable condition.
The crime scene was an alarming sight for residents who live on Q Street. One neighbor told FOX 5 they saw the two victims running from their attacker, and that one of them collapsed on the sidewalk. That victim later died.
Full Story
Updated: Wednesday, 26 Aug 2009, 11:27 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 26 Aug 2009, 3:59 PM EDT
* By ROBY CHAVEZ/myfoxdc
WASHINGTON, D.C. - D.C. Police say a double stabbing in broad daylight left one person dead and another injured in Northwest Washington on Wednesday.
Police say two people were stabbed in the 200 block of Q Street Northwest around 2:30 p.m. Officers found two transgender women in front of the building when they arrived. One of those victims later died at a hospital, while another is wounded but in stable condition.
The crime scene was an alarming sight for residents who live on Q Street. One neighbor told FOX 5 they saw the two victims running from their attacker, and that one of them collapsed on the sidewalk. That victim later died.
Full Story
Attorney: Victim was transgender inmate
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
The attorney for a man who was allegedly sexually assaulted Sunday at O'ahu Community Correctional Center said the victim is a transgender inmate and that the assailant is a male corrections officer.
Advertisement
Lawyer Myles Breiner said his client, 31, is being held at OCCC while awaiting transfer to Laumaka Work Furlough Center, a transitional program for inmates who are about to be released. Breiner said his client has served eight years of a 10-year sentence for burglary and was transferred to OCCC from Halawa Correctional Facility late last year.
Breiner said his client has the appearance of a woman, but has not undergone surgery to become a woman. Breiner said the inmate was therefore placed in a prison module for men.
Full Story
Advertiser Staff Writer
The attorney for a man who was allegedly sexually assaulted Sunday at O'ahu Community Correctional Center said the victim is a transgender inmate and that the assailant is a male corrections officer.
Advertisement
Lawyer Myles Breiner said his client, 31, is being held at OCCC while awaiting transfer to Laumaka Work Furlough Center, a transitional program for inmates who are about to be released. Breiner said his client has served eight years of a 10-year sentence for burglary and was transferred to OCCC from Halawa Correctional Facility late last year.
Breiner said his client has the appearance of a woman, but has not undergone surgery to become a woman. Breiner said the inmate was therefore placed in a prison module for men.
Full Story
Sunday, August 23, 2009
HEALTH-ARGENTINA: "Buddies" Ease Transgenders' Hospital Visits
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 22 (IPS) - Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity.
"It's easier to communicate among ourselves than with hospital staff," Valeria RamÃrez, a transgender promoter with the city of Buenos Aires' Programme to Facilitate Access to the Health System for the Transgender Population, told IPS.
In place since 2007, the strategy has increased the frequency of consultation and health check-ups by this marginalised community, as well as boosting the immune systems of those infected with HIV/AIDS.
Full Story
BUENOS AIRES, Aug 22 (IPS) - Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity.
"It's easier to communicate among ourselves than with hospital staff," Valeria RamÃrez, a transgender promoter with the city of Buenos Aires' Programme to Facilitate Access to the Health System for the Transgender Population, told IPS.
In place since 2007, the strategy has increased the frequency of consultation and health check-ups by this marginalised community, as well as boosting the immune systems of those infected with HIV/AIDS.
Full Story
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Genes, not just drugs, can bend gender too
By Marlowe Hood (AFP) – 6 hours ago
PARIS — The gender test ordered up for the South African wunderkind who grabbed 800-metre gold this week could reveal any of several genetic disorders resulting in a physically ambiguous sexual identity, experts say.
Hormones and surgery, in other words, are not the only things that can bend gender to boost female performance by shape-shifting bodies and building muscle mass.
But taking steroids or hiding a sex-change is cheating.
Being born with unusual chromosomes is not, which raises the uncomfortable possibility that an athlete could be stripped of a gold medal because of her -- or his -- genes.
Whether this is what lies in store for 18-year-old Caster Semenya, who demolished the competition at the athletics world championships in Berlin, is still unknown.
Full Story
PARIS — The gender test ordered up for the South African wunderkind who grabbed 800-metre gold this week could reveal any of several genetic disorders resulting in a physically ambiguous sexual identity, experts say.
Hormones and surgery, in other words, are not the only things that can bend gender to boost female performance by shape-shifting bodies and building muscle mass.
But taking steroids or hiding a sex-change is cheating.
Being born with unusual chromosomes is not, which raises the uncomfortable possibility that an athlete could be stripped of a gold medal because of her -- or his -- genes.
Whether this is what lies in store for 18-year-old Caster Semenya, who demolished the competition at the athletics world championships in Berlin, is still unknown.
Full Story
After losing her job, transgender Utahn fights workplace discrimination
Bias » Salt Lake City Library forum will focus on topic tonight.
By Rosemary Winters
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 08/19/2009 06:14:49 PM MDT
Salt Lake City resident Candice Metzler wanted to let her work colleagues see the transition she already had begun in her personal life. Known to them as a man, Metzler wore mascara, eyeliner and white-tipped acrylic nails to a company barbecue.
Three months later, Metzler, was unemployed and homeless. Although her boss had supported her coming out as transgender, clients began shunning the small, home-inspection enterprise after the picnic. The struggling business let Metzler go.
She felt the sting of discrimination more sharply, she said, as she applied to job after job in the construction industry but was turned down. She lost her home and lived on the streets for nearly a year. She finally found a job as a receptionist.
Full Story
By Rosemary Winters
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 08/19/2009 06:14:49 PM MDT
Salt Lake City resident Candice Metzler wanted to let her work colleagues see the transition she already had begun in her personal life. Known to them as a man, Metzler wore mascara, eyeliner and white-tipped acrylic nails to a company barbecue.
Three months later, Metzler, was unemployed and homeless. Although her boss had supported her coming out as transgender, clients began shunning the small, home-inspection enterprise after the picnic. The struggling business let Metzler go.
She felt the sting of discrimination more sharply, she said, as she applied to job after job in the construction industry but was turned down. She lost her home and lived on the streets for nearly a year. She finally found a job as a receptionist.
Full Story
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Lack of Coverage on Transgendered Pakistanis Shows Bias in US Media
Huffington Post: Sanjeev Bery
Sanjeev Bery writes on U.S. foreign policy and international affairs.
Posted: August 19, 2009 03:44 PM
It probably wasn't the first time that someone had organized an Independence Day cricket match in Pakistan. But it almost certainly was the first time that such a match occurred between a team of professional cricket players and a team of transgendered Pakistanis.
As the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported, the transgendered team won.
Known as hijras, transgendered Pakistanis and Indians have historically lived in their own communities and within their own cultural contexts. The word hijra combines a range of sexual identities -- gay crossdressers, hermaphradites -- who identify as female, and male-to-female transgendered individuals. In Indian and Pakistani English, words like "eunuch" and "transvestite" are often used in place of the word hijra.
Of course, it goes without saying that many Pakistani hijras, like their Indian counterparts, live challenging lives of discrimination and social stigma. That is why it was such positive news when the Pakistani Supreme Court recently ruled that transgendered citizens cannot be discriminated against in Pakistani government welfare programs. The Court also directed the government to take specific steps to ensure their well-being.
In the words of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, "Eunuchs are also the citizens of Pakistan and should be given basic fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution."
Of course, even the most sophisticated consumers of American media are unlikely to be aware of such developments. Why? Because American media outlets didn't report on them. For American reporters and editors, Pakistan only exists in the context of security concerns: the Taliban, terrorism, fundamentalist Islam, and the war in Afghanistan.
Full Story
Sanjeev Bery writes on U.S. foreign policy and international affairs.
Posted: August 19, 2009 03:44 PM
It probably wasn't the first time that someone had organized an Independence Day cricket match in Pakistan. But it almost certainly was the first time that such a match occurred between a team of professional cricket players and a team of transgendered Pakistanis.
As the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported, the transgendered team won.
Known as hijras, transgendered Pakistanis and Indians have historically lived in their own communities and within their own cultural contexts. The word hijra combines a range of sexual identities -- gay crossdressers, hermaphradites -- who identify as female, and male-to-female transgendered individuals. In Indian and Pakistani English, words like "eunuch" and "transvestite" are often used in place of the word hijra.
Of course, it goes without saying that many Pakistani hijras, like their Indian counterparts, live challenging lives of discrimination and social stigma. That is why it was such positive news when the Pakistani Supreme Court recently ruled that transgendered citizens cannot be discriminated against in Pakistani government welfare programs. The Court also directed the government to take specific steps to ensure their well-being.
In the words of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, "Eunuchs are also the citizens of Pakistan and should be given basic fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution."
Of course, even the most sophisticated consumers of American media are unlikely to be aware of such developments. Why? Because American media outlets didn't report on them. For American reporters and editors, Pakistan only exists in the context of security concerns: the Taliban, terrorism, fundamentalist Islam, and the war in Afghanistan.
Full Story
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Fry addresses transgender issues
By Jeanette Stewart, The StarPhoenixAugust 18, 2009
Transgendered people are not being fully served under the Canada Health Act, a physician and member of Parliament said Monday in Saskatoon.
"I feel like it's the last piece of discrimination under medicare," said Dr. Hedy Fry, the Liberal MP for Vancouver-Centre.
Fry is using her trip to Saskatoon for the annual Canadian Medical Association meeting to hear concerns from a number of special interest groups in the city, including seniors' groups, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community and city officials, as well as participating in a round table on multiculturalism.
On Monday, Fry met with University of Saskatchewan Students' Union president Warren Kirkland to discuss concerns of the GLBT community as well as the dearth of young people in politics.
The lack of access and equality for transgendered people is a huge issue across the country, said Fry, who served a high number of gay and lesbian patients at the time she was first elected to Parliament in 1993.
Full Story
Transgendered people are not being fully served under the Canada Health Act, a physician and member of Parliament said Monday in Saskatoon.
"I feel like it's the last piece of discrimination under medicare," said Dr. Hedy Fry, the Liberal MP for Vancouver-Centre.
Fry is using her trip to Saskatoon for the annual Canadian Medical Association meeting to hear concerns from a number of special interest groups in the city, including seniors' groups, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community and city officials, as well as participating in a round table on multiculturalism.
On Monday, Fry met with University of Saskatchewan Students' Union president Warren Kirkland to discuss concerns of the GLBT community as well as the dearth of young people in politics.
The lack of access and equality for transgendered people is a huge issue across the country, said Fry, who served a high number of gay and lesbian patients at the time she was first elected to Parliament in 1993.
Full Story
New Security Measures May Complicate Transgender Travel
Posted by Amanda Hess on Aug. 18, 2009, at 12:34 pm
As of Aug. 15, flight safety regulations require airlines to secure the middle initial, date of birth, and gender of every passenger on a domestic flight. The regulations, courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration’s new “Secure Flight” initiative, seek to “reduce the number of times passengers are misidentified as possible terrorists.” The initiative may also make air travel more difficult for transgender passengers.
Since a transgender person’s gender identity is often at odds with the one marked on their official IDs—and the gender transition process itself can require extensive domestic travel—checking “male” or “female” in the airport can be a complicated procedure.
Full Story
As of Aug. 15, flight safety regulations require airlines to secure the middle initial, date of birth, and gender of every passenger on a domestic flight. The regulations, courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration’s new “Secure Flight” initiative, seek to “reduce the number of times passengers are misidentified as possible terrorists.” The initiative may also make air travel more difficult for transgender passengers.
Since a transgender person’s gender identity is often at odds with the one marked on their official IDs—and the gender transition process itself can require extensive domestic travel—checking “male” or “female” in the airport can be a complicated procedure.
Full Story
Trans Woman Sues Over Photo Request
By William McGuinness
Trans Woman Sues Over Photo Request
A Pennsylvania transgender woman has filed suit against her former employer, who she said requested a photograph of her genitalia as a condition of continued employment.
In 2007, Kate Lynn Blatt, was employed by Manpower Inc., a staffing services agency that placed Blatt at an aluminum products manufacturer for $10 per hour as a temporary factory worker. However, she was let go by the plant after a supervisor said she was not healthy enough to complete her job.
Shortly following her dismissal, Blatt returned to the Manpower office to regain employment. It was at this time that Irene Kudziela, a Manpower branch manager, said she needed to turn in a letter from her surgeon that documented her sex-reassignment surgery along with a photograph of her genitalia, which Kudziela said would solve problems related to appropriate use of restrooms and locker rooms.
Full Story
Trans Woman Sues Over Photo Request
A Pennsylvania transgender woman has filed suit against her former employer, who she said requested a photograph of her genitalia as a condition of continued employment.
In 2007, Kate Lynn Blatt, was employed by Manpower Inc., a staffing services agency that placed Blatt at an aluminum products manufacturer for $10 per hour as a temporary factory worker. However, she was let go by the plant after a supervisor said she was not healthy enough to complete her job.
Shortly following her dismissal, Blatt returned to the Manpower office to regain employment. It was at this time that Irene Kudziela, a Manpower branch manager, said she needed to turn in a letter from her surgeon that documented her sex-reassignment surgery along with a photograph of her genitalia, which Kudziela said would solve problems related to appropriate use of restrooms and locker rooms.
Full Story
India, Tamil Nadu: Transgenders to get ration cards soon
Express News Service
First Published : 18 Aug 2009 03:09:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 18 Aug 2009 07:02:52 AM IST
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu, the first State to have an exclusive Transgender Welfare Board, is all set to fulfil their demands of ration cards, passport and voter ID cards. As a prelude to the entire process, the board is screening the members and ascertaining their true sexual identity as part of the screening camp held on Sunday and Monday at the Kilpauk Medical College.
The camp, held to ensure that those registered were really transgenders, aimed to collect all relevant data of the members, soon to become beneficiaries of many government incentives and plans.
Full Story
First Published : 18 Aug 2009 03:09:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 18 Aug 2009 07:02:52 AM IST
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu, the first State to have an exclusive Transgender Welfare Board, is all set to fulfil their demands of ration cards, passport and voter ID cards. As a prelude to the entire process, the board is screening the members and ascertaining their true sexual identity as part of the screening camp held on Sunday and Monday at the Kilpauk Medical College.
The camp, held to ensure that those registered were really transgenders, aimed to collect all relevant data of the members, soon to become beneficiaries of many government incentives and plans.
Full Story
Dwight DeLee gets the maximum in transgender slaying
by Jim O'Hara / The Post-Standard
Tuesday August 18, 2009, 12:00 PM
Dwight DeLee, the defendant in Onondaga County's first hate-crime homicide prosecution, was sentenced this morning to the maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
DeLee, 20, of Gifford St., was convicted last month of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime for fatally shooting Moses Cannon as the victim sat in a car outside a house on Seymour Street Nov. 14.
Cannon, 22, has been described by family as a transgender person who went by the name LaTeisha "Teish" Green and often dressed as a woman.
DeLee read a statement in court this morning maintaining he is innocent and attacking the media coverage of his case and the jury verdict against him. He offered an apology to the victim's family, but maintained he did not kill anybody.
Full Story
Tuesday August 18, 2009, 12:00 PM
Dwight DeLee, the defendant in Onondaga County's first hate-crime homicide prosecution, was sentenced this morning to the maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
DeLee, 20, of Gifford St., was convicted last month of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime for fatally shooting Moses Cannon as the victim sat in a car outside a house on Seymour Street Nov. 14.
Cannon, 22, has been described by family as a transgender person who went by the name LaTeisha "Teish" Green and often dressed as a woman.
DeLee read a statement in court this morning maintaining he is innocent and attacking the media coverage of his case and the jury verdict against him. He offered an apology to the victim's family, but maintained he did not kill anybody.
Full Story
Australia: Transsexuals recognised as men
By James McHale
Posted Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:26am AEST
Updated Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:38am AEST
Two West Australian women who changed their gender have won the right to be legally considered men, despite still having female reproductive organs.
The transsexual men were previously denied legal recognition of their sex change and appealed against the decision.
The state's Attorney-General, Christian Porter, intervened, arguing that until they had hysterectomies they could not be considered men under the Gender Reassignment Act.
The State Administrative Tribunal found that because the legislation did not specify reproductive surgery as a requirement, the pair could be legally considered men even with female reproductive organs.
Full Story
Posted Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:26am AEST
Updated Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:38am AEST
Two West Australian women who changed their gender have won the right to be legally considered men, despite still having female reproductive organs.
The transsexual men were previously denied legal recognition of their sex change and appealed against the decision.
The state's Attorney-General, Christian Porter, intervened, arguing that until they had hysterectomies they could not be considered men under the Gender Reassignment Act.
The State Administrative Tribunal found that because the legislation did not specify reproductive surgery as a requirement, the pair could be legally considered men even with female reproductive organs.
Full Story
Soth Korea: Military rules revised for men changing sex
August 19, 2009
The nation’s highest court removed some legal barriers confronting transsexuals making the switch from male to female.
The Supreme Court said yesterday that a transsexual is no longer required to complete or be legally exempted from military service to change his sexual affiliation on legal documents.
“We have decided to remove the requirement because it is hard for us to accurately judge whether a man is seeking to change his sex as a method of draft-dodging or not,” said Judge Kim Hyeon-bo of the National Court Administration. “The link between draft-dodging and sex change is hard to know, so we have decided to remove the requirement.”
The court also decided to change legal documents of a transsexual person that stated the sex change. From now on, it will be marked as a correction, the court said, in order to protect the transsexual population’s privacy.
Since it granted the first legal permission for a transsexual person to change his or her sexual affiliation in 2006, the Supreme Court has established a list of requirements. Only an unmarried, childless person who is older than 20 is allowed to seek a legal sex change.
Full Story
The nation’s highest court removed some legal barriers confronting transsexuals making the switch from male to female.
The Supreme Court said yesterday that a transsexual is no longer required to complete or be legally exempted from military service to change his sexual affiliation on legal documents.
“We have decided to remove the requirement because it is hard for us to accurately judge whether a man is seeking to change his sex as a method of draft-dodging or not,” said Judge Kim Hyeon-bo of the National Court Administration. “The link between draft-dodging and sex change is hard to know, so we have decided to remove the requirement.”
The court also decided to change legal documents of a transsexual person that stated the sex change. From now on, it will be marked as a correction, the court said, in order to protect the transsexual population’s privacy.
Since it granted the first legal permission for a transsexual person to change his or her sexual affiliation in 2006, the Supreme Court has established a list of requirements. Only an unmarried, childless person who is older than 20 is allowed to seek a legal sex change.
Full Story
Monday, August 17, 2009
Islamabad: SC for provision of safety, health, education to eunuchs
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the federal and provincial governments to provide protection and free of cost health and education facilities to the eunuchs.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, heard a petition filed by Dr Aslam Khaki advocate against the social injustice committed to the transgender individuals.
The advocates general of all the four provinces and Deputy Attorney General Shah Khawar appeared before the court and presented reports of the respective social welfare departments. The Punjab social welfare department reported it had completed registration of eunuchs, stating there were 2,167 transgender individuals in the province.
The NWFP social welfare departments’ report stated a survey had been carried out in 17 districts of the province, and 324 eunuchs had been registered. The court directed other provinces to complete the registration process till next hearing of the case.
The court ordered the federal and provincial governments to appoint a focal person on district and Tehsil level to coordinate with the representatives of eunuchs to ensure their security and prevent registration of false cases against them.
The governments were also directed to provide free of cost education and health facilities, especially treatment of fatal diseases like HIV AIDS, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis etc. The governments were also asked to furnish reports on the implementation of the court’s orders to the Supreme Court registrar.
Full Story
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the federal and provincial governments to provide protection and free of cost health and education facilities to the eunuchs.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmad and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, heard a petition filed by Dr Aslam Khaki advocate against the social injustice committed to the transgender individuals.
The advocates general of all the four provinces and Deputy Attorney General Shah Khawar appeared before the court and presented reports of the respective social welfare departments. The Punjab social welfare department reported it had completed registration of eunuchs, stating there were 2,167 transgender individuals in the province.
The NWFP social welfare departments’ report stated a survey had been carried out in 17 districts of the province, and 324 eunuchs had been registered. The court directed other provinces to complete the registration process till next hearing of the case.
The court ordered the federal and provincial governments to appoint a focal person on district and Tehsil level to coordinate with the representatives of eunuchs to ensure their security and prevent registration of false cases against them.
The governments were also directed to provide free of cost education and health facilities, especially treatment of fatal diseases like HIV AIDS, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis etc. The governments were also asked to furnish reports on the implementation of the court’s orders to the Supreme Court registrar.
Full Story
Trans Battlefield: Drivers’ Licenses
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Staff Reporter
Monday Aug 17, 2009
Anti-GLBT groups rail against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people on the basis of nebulous things like morality or religious faith--things that can mean different things to different people.
But when policy and law are enacted on the basis of such things, they can have concrete results in the real world; for GLBTs, that can mean practical challenges not faced by others.
Take something as commonplace, and yet--for many people--as essential as a driver’s license.
In some states, such as Massachusetts, a doctor’s note testifying to a change in gender can suffice to get a transperson’s gender listing on a license changed to his or her new sex.
But in other cases, it can be much harder, as an Aug. 17 report at Ohama’s KETV Channel 7 news reported.
The report detailed how pre-operative transwoman Posha Towers was having a hard time getting her license updated.
Full Story
EDGE Staff Reporter
Monday Aug 17, 2009
Anti-GLBT groups rail against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people on the basis of nebulous things like morality or religious faith--things that can mean different things to different people.
But when policy and law are enacted on the basis of such things, they can have concrete results in the real world; for GLBTs, that can mean practical challenges not faced by others.
Take something as commonplace, and yet--for many people--as essential as a driver’s license.
In some states, such as Massachusetts, a doctor’s note testifying to a change in gender can suffice to get a transperson’s gender listing on a license changed to his or her new sex.
But in other cases, it can be much harder, as an Aug. 17 report at Ohama’s KETV Channel 7 news reported.
The report detailed how pre-operative transwoman Posha Towers was having a hard time getting her license updated.
Full Story
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Transsexual woman brutally attacked in Trinidad, Colorado
August 14, 7:55 AM Transgender Issues Examiner Matt Kailey
A 25-year-old transsexual woman is reported to have been physically and sexually assaulted in a hotel room in Trinidad, Colorado, on July 15.
The Pueblo Chieftain reports that police were called to the Trinidad Motor Inn to investigate a call about a female party who was found in a room unclothed, injured, and bound at the feet and hands. The woman had also been sexually assaulted with a wooden coat hanger.
According to the police report obtained by the Chieftain, the attacker saw the woman in the lobby of the hotel and followed her back to her room. She did not let him in, but he later returned and forced his way in, sexually assaulted her, then tried to drown her in the bathtub and electrocute her by dropping a hair dryer into the bathtub.
Full Story
A 25-year-old transsexual woman is reported to have been physically and sexually assaulted in a hotel room in Trinidad, Colorado, on July 15.
The Pueblo Chieftain reports that police were called to the Trinidad Motor Inn to investigate a call about a female party who was found in a room unclothed, injured, and bound at the feet and hands. The woman had also been sexually assaulted with a wooden coat hanger.
According to the police report obtained by the Chieftain, the attacker saw the woman in the lobby of the hotel and followed her back to her room. She did not let him in, but he later returned and forced his way in, sexually assaulted her, then tried to drown her in the bathtub and electrocute her by dropping a hair dryer into the bathtub.
Full Story
Friday, August 14, 2009
New Laws Add Hassle for Trans Fliers
By Michelle Garcia
New flight requirements will mandate that all passengers declare their full name, age, and gender to book travel, leaving some transgender advocates worried about the implications to come.
The Transportation Security Administration is working on a Secure Flight database to reduce the number of times a passenger is misidentified as a possible terrorist.
The first phase of the initiative, implemented this year, required that airlines collect the names of all passengers, shown verbatim as they are featured on government-issued identification. The next phase, which begins on August 15, will require passengers to declare their gender at the time of booking their flights.
Full Story
New flight requirements will mandate that all passengers declare their full name, age, and gender to book travel, leaving some transgender advocates worried about the implications to come.
The Transportation Security Administration is working on a Secure Flight database to reduce the number of times a passenger is misidentified as a possible terrorist.
The first phase of the initiative, implemented this year, required that airlines collect the names of all passengers, shown verbatim as they are featured on government-issued identification. The next phase, which begins on August 15, will require passengers to declare their gender at the time of booking their flights.
Full Story
P.E.I. laws do protect transgender community: Human Rights Commission
WAYNE THIBODEAU
The Guardian
A group that includes AIDS P.E.I., P.E.I. Native Council and the Abegweit Rainbow Collective is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect transgender, transsexual and Intersex Islanders.
The group launched a petition Thursday calling on Attorney General Gerard Greenan to include “gender identity” to the provincial Human Rights Act.
But David Larter, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, says transgender Islanders are already protected under Section 13 of the Human Rights Act, which now includes a provision that says no person shall discriminate against an individual because of sex or sexual orientation. He said Ontario’s code does note that sex does include gender identity, which is not specifically spelled out in P.E.I.’s law.
Full Story
The Guardian
A group that includes AIDS P.E.I., P.E.I. Native Council and the Abegweit Rainbow Collective is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect transgender, transsexual and Intersex Islanders.
The group launched a petition Thursday calling on Attorney General Gerard Greenan to include “gender identity” to the provincial Human Rights Act.
But David Larter, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, says transgender Islanders are already protected under Section 13 of the Human Rights Act, which now includes a provision that says no person shall discriminate against an individual because of sex or sexual orientation. He said Ontario’s code does note that sex does include gender identity, which is not specifically spelled out in P.E.I.’s law.
Full Story
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Transsexual killer asks court to force government to pay for operation
A female inmate serving time in a Fraser Valley men's prison is demanding Corrections Canada approve her sex-change operation — and pay for it.
In an application filed in the Federal Court of Canada, Katherine Anne Johnson, 61, says the operation to remove her penis — a "penectomy" — has been unreasonably delayed by Correctional Service of Canada. Johnson also demands to be transferred to a women's prison to keep her safe from attacks from other inmates.
In the court documents, Johnson is referred to as a woman. Reports from authorities defending the decision to keep Johnson in a men's prison refer to her as "Ms. Johnson."
Full Story
In an application filed in the Federal Court of Canada, Katherine Anne Johnson, 61, says the operation to remove her penis — a "penectomy" — has been unreasonably delayed by Correctional Service of Canada. Johnson also demands to be transferred to a women's prison to keep her safe from attacks from other inmates.
In the court documents, Johnson is referred to as a woman. Reports from authorities defending the decision to keep Johnson in a men's prison refer to her as "Ms. Johnson."
Full Story
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Mass. transgender inmate denied electrolysis
(AP) BOSTON — A federal judge in Boston on Tuesday denied additional hair-removal treatments for a murderer who is seeking a taxpayer-funded sex-change operation, saying the inmate has failed to prove she will suffer "serious harm" without further electrolysis.
Michelle Kosilek also failed to prove that her rights have been violated by being denied hair-removal treatment, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said. Wolf, however, said he may revisit the issue if more information comes to light in state Department of Correction documents.
Kosilek, formerly known as Robert, is serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Cheryl, in 1990. He legally changed his name to Michelle in 1993 and has been living as a woman in an all-male prison.
Full Story
Michelle Kosilek also failed to prove that her rights have been violated by being denied hair-removal treatment, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said. Wolf, however, said he may revisit the issue if more information comes to light in state Department of Correction documents.
Kosilek, formerly known as Robert, is serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Cheryl, in 1990. He legally changed his name to Michelle in 1993 and has been living as a woman in an all-male prison.
Full Story
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Idaho settles transgender suit
Two inmates castrated selves after being denied therapy
Rebecca Boone
Associated Press
August 7, 2009
BOISE – The Idaho Department of Correction has settled lawsuits with two transgender inmates who castrated themselves after they were denied feminizing hormone therapy.
The terms of the settlements were not disclosed, but the department has changed its policy for identifying and treating transgender inmates. The policy now limits the time inmates must wait for treatment, specifies how they may be diagnosed, and clarifies when they qualify for hormone therapy.
Josephime Von Isaak sued the state in 2006, and Jenniffer Ann Spencer sued the following year. Both inmates, who were born with male anatomy but consider themselves female, contended they were subjected to cruel and unusual punishment because they were denied treatment for gender identity disorder.
Full Story
Rebecca Boone
Associated Press
August 7, 2009
BOISE – The Idaho Department of Correction has settled lawsuits with two transgender inmates who castrated themselves after they were denied feminizing hormone therapy.
The terms of the settlements were not disclosed, but the department has changed its policy for identifying and treating transgender inmates. The policy now limits the time inmates must wait for treatment, specifies how they may be diagnosed, and clarifies when they qualify for hormone therapy.
Josephime Von Isaak sued the state in 2006, and Jenniffer Ann Spencer sued the following year. Both inmates, who were born with male anatomy but consider themselves female, contended they were subjected to cruel and unusual punishment because they were denied treatment for gender identity disorder.
Full Story
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Manitoba: Cover sex-reassignment surgery: activists
What's paid for under Manitoba rules
By: Arielle Godbout
Manitoba's transgendered community has been petitioning the provincial government to cover the full cost of surgery for those who want to live as a member of the opposite sex, Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross confirmed Tuesday.
"It's been identified that (funding for sex-reassignment surgery) is something we should consider," she said.
Those eligible for sex-reassignment surgery have been diagnosed with gender identity disorder, a condition recognized by the World Health Organization. Those with gender identity disorder have a desire to live as a member of the opposite sex, often accompanied with an intense discomfort with their own anatomy.
Currently, Manitoba covers surgeries that are performed in the province, and will partially pay for out-of-province vaginoplasty, a procedure that constructs a vagina for male-to-female patients.
Full Story
By: Arielle Godbout
Manitoba's transgendered community has been petitioning the provincial government to cover the full cost of surgery for those who want to live as a member of the opposite sex, Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross confirmed Tuesday.
"It's been identified that (funding for sex-reassignment surgery) is something we should consider," she said.
Those eligible for sex-reassignment surgery have been diagnosed with gender identity disorder, a condition recognized by the World Health Organization. Those with gender identity disorder have a desire to live as a member of the opposite sex, often accompanied with an intense discomfort with their own anatomy.
Currently, Manitoba covers surgeries that are performed in the province, and will partially pay for out-of-province vaginoplasty, a procedure that constructs a vagina for male-to-female patients.
Full Story
Monday, August 3, 2009
'Shameful and unethical' decision, says Egale rep
By PAUL TURENNE
Last Updated: 3rd August 2009, 3:33am
Manitoba's failure to publicly fund sex changes is "shameful and unethical," says a representative of one of Canada's largest lobby groups for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-identified people.
"I don't believe the government has undertaken due diligence to understand the issue and I think they're afraid that it's unpopular politics," said Mickey Wilson, the Alberta-based chair of Egale Canada's trans committee.
"Governments like to think that nobody cares about the transgender portion of the population, but the truth is we are people's sisters, brothers, co-workers, and there is a lot of support when people are discriminated against by health care."
Full Story
Last Updated: 3rd August 2009, 3:33am
Manitoba's failure to publicly fund sex changes is "shameful and unethical," says a representative of one of Canada's largest lobby groups for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-identified people.
"I don't believe the government has undertaken due diligence to understand the issue and I think they're afraid that it's unpopular politics," said Mickey Wilson, the Alberta-based chair of Egale Canada's trans committee.
"Governments like to think that nobody cares about the transgender portion of the population, but the truth is we are people's sisters, brothers, co-workers, and there is a lot of support when people are discriminated against by health care."
Full Story
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
TTPC reviews legislative efforts to date, plots strategy for election cycle in 2010
by Joe Morris
Aug 1, 2009
While nondiscrimination legislation is faring well at the federal and local levels, members of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) continue to keep the pressure on at the state level, as well.
The group held its quarterly meeting on July 18 in Nashville, and while there was much to celebrate in terms of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives and, surprisingly, the U.S. Senate, it was local issues that dominated the agenda.
The organization plans to throw its support behind the efforts of the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance in Nashville that includes sexual preference and gender identity. As of late July, an ordinance had been submitted to Metro Council and was working its way through the process.
Full Story
Aug 1, 2009
While nondiscrimination legislation is faring well at the federal and local levels, members of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) continue to keep the pressure on at the state level, as well.
The group held its quarterly meeting on July 18 in Nashville, and while there was much to celebrate in terms of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives and, surprisingly, the U.S. Senate, it was local issues that dominated the agenda.
The organization plans to throw its support behind the efforts of the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance in Nashville that includes sexual preference and gender identity. As of late July, an ordinance had been submitted to Metro Council and was working its way through the process.
Full Story
Sex change ops under review in Sweden
Published: 30 Jul 09 10:19 CET
The Swedish Board for Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) has launched a review of the healthcare alternatives available to transsexuals seeking to change gender.
Organizations representing gay, bisexual and transsexual people have long argued that often inconsistent healthcare services do not cater fully to their needs.
Criticism has centred on issues such as the long delays in the sex reassignment process with variations of up to several years depending on locality.
Full Story
The Swedish Board for Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) has launched a review of the healthcare alternatives available to transsexuals seeking to change gender.
Organizations representing gay, bisexual and transsexual people have long argued that often inconsistent healthcare services do not cater fully to their needs.
Criticism has centred on issues such as the long delays in the sex reassignment process with variations of up to several years depending on locality.
Full Story
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Transgender asylum seeker fears persecution
Published Date: 30 July 2009
The Home Secretary has agreed to reconsider a decision to refuse refuge to an asylum seeker living in south-east London who says he is "a man in a woman's body" and fears persecution in his homeland.
Human rights lawyers believe the case could set a precedent for other transgender applicants from Muslim countries who say they fear ill-treatment because their condition is not understood in the Islamic world.
The Pakistani national, referred to as X, came to the High Court in London on Thursday to challenge a decision last June to deport him. He first claimed asylum in the UK in December 2007.
Full Story
The Home Secretary has agreed to reconsider a decision to refuse refuge to an asylum seeker living in south-east London who says he is "a man in a woman's body" and fears persecution in his homeland.
Human rights lawyers believe the case could set a precedent for other transgender applicants from Muslim countries who say they fear ill-treatment because their condition is not understood in the Islamic world.
The Pakistani national, referred to as X, came to the High Court in London on Thursday to challenge a decision last June to deport him. He first claimed asylum in the UK in December 2007.
Full Story
Transsexual bashing: An ugly reality in the closet
Posted by Joseph Wardy/ NJ Voices Blogger July 28, 2009 12:37PM
Good News: Over the years since the Stonewall riot and through the work of Harvey Milk, the gay community has made some progress toward equality and tolerance in our culture.
Bad News: This progress for homosexuals and lesbians has not been the case for those who are transsexual.
Full Story
Good News: Over the years since the Stonewall riot and through the work of Harvey Milk, the gay community has made some progress toward equality and tolerance in our culture.
Bad News: This progress for homosexuals and lesbians has not been the case for those who are transsexual.
Full Story
EU: “Transgender persons should have their human rights fully respected” says Commissioner Hammarberg
29 July 2009 | 15:31 | FOCUS News Agency
Strasbourg. “Council of Europe member states should do more to stop transphobia and discrimination against transgender people. The situation of transgender persons has long been ignored and neglected, although the problems they face are very real and often specific to this group alone. They experience a high degree of discrimination and intolerance in all fields of life, as well as outright violence. Transgender persons have been the victims of brutal hate crimes, including murder, in some European countries” said the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, publishing today an expert Issue Paper on “Human rights and gender identity”, the Council of Europe informed.
The Issue Paper makes the point that agreed international human rights standards, such as the right to life, physical integrity and the right to health care, apply equally to all people, including transgender persons. Likewise, they have the right to be protected against discrimination on the labour market.
The Commissioner's document also describes positive steps which have been taken in some countries in order to protect the rights of transgender people. However, transphobia as well as genuine ignorance in this area are widespread. The Issue Paper recommends that Member states of the Council of Europe take further action to prevent discrimination, including through training of health personnel. The Issue Paper also maintains that it should not be necessary to undergo sterilisation or other medical treatment as a compulsory requirement for a person's gender identity to be recognised.
Full Story
Strasbourg. “Council of Europe member states should do more to stop transphobia and discrimination against transgender people. The situation of transgender persons has long been ignored and neglected, although the problems they face are very real and often specific to this group alone. They experience a high degree of discrimination and intolerance in all fields of life, as well as outright violence. Transgender persons have been the victims of brutal hate crimes, including murder, in some European countries” said the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, publishing today an expert Issue Paper on “Human rights and gender identity”, the Council of Europe informed.
The Issue Paper makes the point that agreed international human rights standards, such as the right to life, physical integrity and the right to health care, apply equally to all people, including transgender persons. Likewise, they have the right to be protected against discrimination on the labour market.
The Commissioner's document also describes positive steps which have been taken in some countries in order to protect the rights of transgender people. However, transphobia as well as genuine ignorance in this area are widespread. The Issue Paper recommends that Member states of the Council of Europe take further action to prevent discrimination, including through training of health personnel. The Issue Paper also maintains that it should not be necessary to undergo sterilisation or other medical treatment as a compulsory requirement for a person's gender identity to be recognised.
Full Story
Gender police at the gym
by Ethan Jacobs
associate editor
Wednesday Jul 29, 2009
During the Beacon Hill Judiciary Committee hearing July 14 on the transgender rights bill, a group of representatives of the gym and health club industry testified that such a bill would hurt their businesses by allowing people to use locker room and bathroom facilities based on their gender identity or expression, rather than on their biological sex. They argued that women would feel uncomfortable sharing facilities with anatomical males, particularly if the women had young children with them. Yet at gyms in Boston, where a similar transgender non-discrimination ordinance has been on the books since 2002, there have been seemingly no negative repercussions to extending non-discrimination protections to transgender people. The current transgender rights bill, House Bill 1728, would rewrite the state’s hate crimes and non-discrimination laws-including around public accommodations-to make them trans-inclusive.
Full Story
associate editor
Wednesday Jul 29, 2009
During the Beacon Hill Judiciary Committee hearing July 14 on the transgender rights bill, a group of representatives of the gym and health club industry testified that such a bill would hurt their businesses by allowing people to use locker room and bathroom facilities based on their gender identity or expression, rather than on their biological sex. They argued that women would feel uncomfortable sharing facilities with anatomical males, particularly if the women had young children with them. Yet at gyms in Boston, where a similar transgender non-discrimination ordinance has been on the books since 2002, there have been seemingly no negative repercussions to extending non-discrimination protections to transgender people. The current transgender rights bill, House Bill 1728, would rewrite the state’s hate crimes and non-discrimination laws-including around public accommodations-to make them trans-inclusive.
Full Story
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Transgender prisoners sentenced to rape
Safety of all prisoners should be guaranteed by government
By Lovisa Stannow, McClatchy-Tribune
Monday, July 27, 2009
Prison officials need to do more to protect inmates from sexual assault. And there is one group of inmates whose vulnerability has gone all but unnoticed -- and that's people who are transgender.
The majority of U.S. corrections systems house inmates based on their birth gender, disregarding other factors, such as physical appearance that may be entirely feminine (including breasts) or government identity documents that categorize these individuals as female.
Not surprisingly, while in men's detention facilities, most transgender women are sexually assaulted.
A recent academic study of the experiences of hundreds of transgender women in California's men's prisons -- a survey that was commissioned by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -- revealed that 59 percent of male-to-female transgender prisoners had been sexually assaulted while incarcerated. A shocking 0 percent of these inmates considered prison officials to be allies in protecting their physical safety.
Full Story
By Lovisa Stannow, McClatchy-Tribune
Monday, July 27, 2009
Prison officials need to do more to protect inmates from sexual assault. And there is one group of inmates whose vulnerability has gone all but unnoticed -- and that's people who are transgender.
The majority of U.S. corrections systems house inmates based on their birth gender, disregarding other factors, such as physical appearance that may be entirely feminine (including breasts) or government identity documents that categorize these individuals as female.
Not surprisingly, while in men's detention facilities, most transgender women are sexually assaulted.
A recent academic study of the experiences of hundreds of transgender women in California's men's prisons -- a survey that was commissioned by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation -- revealed that 59 percent of male-to-female transgender prisoners had been sexually assaulted while incarcerated. A shocking 0 percent of these inmates considered prison officials to be allies in protecting their physical safety.
Full Story
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Transsexual says college failed to address harassment
July 27, 2009
By Cherri Greeno, Record staff
KITCHENER — Janet Merner hasn’t had an easy life. As a transsexual, she says she’s been teased, denied jobs and, most recently, forced to quit school because of constant harassment.
Now, she’s had enough.
“I’m a regular person,” said Merner, 40, as she protested outside Conestoga College Monday morning.
As a woman living in a man’s body, Merner — who just recently changed her name from Philip to Janet — drew lots of stares from fellow students last year. She says she was called horrible names and, at one point, challenged to a fight. Although the harassment was upsetting, what hurt Merner the most was that the college did nothing to stop it, she says.
Full Story
By Cherri Greeno, Record staff
KITCHENER — Janet Merner hasn’t had an easy life. As a transsexual, she says she’s been teased, denied jobs and, most recently, forced to quit school because of constant harassment.
Now, she’s had enough.
“I’m a regular person,” said Merner, 40, as she protested outside Conestoga College Monday morning.
As a woman living in a man’s body, Merner — who just recently changed her name from Philip to Janet — drew lots of stares from fellow students last year. She says she was called horrible names and, at one point, challenged to a fight. Although the harassment was upsetting, what hurt Merner the most was that the college did nothing to stop it, she says.
Full Story
Monday, July 27, 2009
India, Tamil Nadu: Transgender gets admit card for teacher training
Express News Service
First Published : 27 Jul 2009 04:03:00 AM IST
Last Updated :
TIRUCHY: A member of the transgender hailing from Chettikulam near Vadugaptti in Theni district was issued the admit card to join the Government Teacher Training
Institute, Tiruppur, during the counselling conducted here on Sunday.
According to sources, the first round of counselling for admission into the various teacher training
institutes in the State commenced on July 2. As many as 12,035 candidates were issued the admit card in the first round till July 18.
Full Story
First Published : 27 Jul 2009 04:03:00 AM IST
Last Updated :
TIRUCHY: A member of the transgender hailing from Chettikulam near Vadugaptti in Theni district was issued the admit card to join the Government Teacher Training
Institute, Tiruppur, during the counselling conducted here on Sunday.
According to sources, the first round of counselling for admission into the various teacher training
institutes in the State commenced on July 2. As many as 12,035 candidates were issued the admit card in the first round till July 18.
Full Story
Federal Judge Says State Not Obligated to Pay for Sex-Change Surgery
Joel Stashenko
New York Law Journal
July 28, 2009
New York state is not obligated to pay for gender reassignment surgery for a Medicaid recipient, even though it provided coverage for individual procedures that are necessary preliminaries to the change, a federal judge in Buffalo has determined.
Western District of New York Judge Charles J. Siragusa in Rochester ruled that Morgana Ravenwood's constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment were not violated by the denial of coverage.
He also refused to order state Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines to rescind 18 N.Y.C.R.R. §505.2(l), the 1998 law prohibiting state Medicaid funding for "care," "services" or "drugs" related to gender reassignment surgery.
Full Story
New York Law Journal
July 28, 2009
New York state is not obligated to pay for gender reassignment surgery for a Medicaid recipient, even though it provided coverage for individual procedures that are necessary preliminaries to the change, a federal judge in Buffalo has determined.
Western District of New York Judge Charles J. Siragusa in Rochester ruled that Morgana Ravenwood's constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment were not violated by the denial of coverage.
He also refused to order state Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines to rescind 18 N.Y.C.R.R. §505.2(l), the 1998 law prohibiting state Medicaid funding for "care," "services" or "drugs" related to gender reassignment surgery.
Full Story
Survey: Third of Mass. transgendered weigh suicide
By Associated Press
Monday, July 27, 2009
BOSTON — Nearly a third of transgender residents in Massachusetts have considered suicide according to a new survey by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The study compares the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents to heterosexual and non-transgender residents.
It found that about 31 percent of transgender respondents said they have considered attempting suicide in the past year, compared to just 2 percent for heterosexual residents, 4 percent for gay and lesbian residents and 7 percent for bisexual residents.
Full Story
Monday, July 27, 2009
BOSTON — Nearly a third of transgender residents in Massachusetts have considered suicide according to a new survey by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The study compares the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents to heterosexual and non-transgender residents.
It found that about 31 percent of transgender respondents said they have considered attempting suicide in the past year, compared to just 2 percent for heterosexual residents, 4 percent for gay and lesbian residents and 7 percent for bisexual residents.
Full Story
Friday, July 24, 2009
UK:Transsexual killer: Keeping me in men's prison violates my human rights
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:51 PM on 24th July 2009
A transsexual jailed for strangling her boyfriend has gone to the High Court claiming that keeping her in a men's prison violates her human rights under European law.
The prisoner, in her 20s and serving a life sentence for manslaughter and attempted rape, is legally female and her birth certificate has been amended accordingly, London's High Court heard.
Born male, she has had hair on her face and legs permanently removed by laser and has developed breasts after hormone treatment.
Describing her as 'a woman trapped inside a man's body', barrister Phillipa Kaufman said the prisoner was desperate for gender reassignment surgery but medics have refused unless she has lived as a woman for an extended period - only possible if she is moved to a female jail.
Full Story
Last updated at 1:51 PM on 24th July 2009
A transsexual jailed for strangling her boyfriend has gone to the High Court claiming that keeping her in a men's prison violates her human rights under European law.
The prisoner, in her 20s and serving a life sentence for manslaughter and attempted rape, is legally female and her birth certificate has been amended accordingly, London's High Court heard.
Born male, she has had hair on her face and legs permanently removed by laser and has developed breasts after hormone treatment.
Describing her as 'a woman trapped inside a man's body', barrister Phillipa Kaufman said the prisoner was desperate for gender reassignment surgery but medics have refused unless she has lived as a woman for an extended period - only possible if she is moved to a female jail.
Full Story
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Every third day, a trans person is murdered
And this is just what's being reported, according to new research just released on violence against trans people worldwide. Transgender Europe (TGEU) is working with the multilingual online magazine Liminalis on a collaborative project titled, /Trans Murder Monitoring Project/. According to their results:
The very preliminary results of the first step of this project have revealed a total of 204 cases of reported murders of trans people world wide in the last 1 1/2 years. 121 cases of murdered trans people have been reported in 2008. From January to June 2009 already 83 cases of murdered trans people have been reported.
Furthermore, the preliminary results show an increase in the number of reports of murdered trans people over the last years. Since the beginning of 2008 the murder of a trans person is reported every third day, on average.
Full Story
Reaction
The very preliminary results of the first step of this project have revealed a total of 204 cases of reported murders of trans people world wide in the last 1 1/2 years. 121 cases of murdered trans people have been reported in 2008. From January to June 2009 already 83 cases of murdered trans people have been reported.
Furthermore, the preliminary results show an increase in the number of reports of murdered trans people over the last years. Since the beginning of 2008 the murder of a trans person is reported every third day, on average.
Full Story
Reaction
Friday, July 17, 2009
NY man guilty of hate crime in transgender slaying
By WILLIAM KATES (AP) – 10 hours ago
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A jury on Friday convicted a man of manslaughter as a hate crime for killing a transgender woman he shot outside a house party last year.
Dwight DeLee was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Lateisha Green outside a Syracuse house party in November because of anti-gay bias. He becomes just the second person in the U.S. convicted of a hate crime that involved the death of a transgender victim.
Full Story
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A jury on Friday convicted a man of manslaughter as a hate crime for killing a transgender woman he shot outside a house party last year.
Dwight DeLee was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter for the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Lateisha Green outside a Syracuse house party in November because of anti-gay bias. He becomes just the second person in the U.S. convicted of a hate crime that involved the death of a transgender victim.
Full Story
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Pakistan: SC orders equal benefits for transvestites
By Nasir Iqbal
Wednesday, 15 Jul, 2009 | 09:00 AM PST
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered that transvestites, being equal citizens of Pakistan, should also benefit from the federal and provincial governments’ financial support schemes such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
‘They are citizens of Pakistan and enjoy the same protection guaranteed under Article four (rights of individuals to be dealt with in accordance of law) and Article nine (security of person) of the Constitution,’ ruled a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja on Tuesday.
Full Story
Wednesday, 15 Jul, 2009 | 09:00 AM PST
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered that transvestites, being equal citizens of Pakistan, should also benefit from the federal and provincial governments’ financial support schemes such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
‘They are citizens of Pakistan and enjoy the same protection guaranteed under Article four (rights of individuals to be dealt with in accordance of law) and Article nine (security of person) of the Constitution,’ ruled a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja on Tuesday.
Full Story
Endocrine Society released guidelines for treatment of transsexuals
Guidelines include recommendations for hormone therapy, surgery and long-term care for all ages.
New guidelines from the Endocrine Society call for close and continued collaboration between endocrinologists and mental health professionals for the treatment of transsexual people.
Full Story
New guidelines from the Endocrine Society call for close and continued collaboration between endocrinologists and mental health professionals for the treatment of transsexual people.
Full Story
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
NY to use hate crime law in transgender case
(AP) By WILLIAM KATES
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — It was no secret to friends and family that Lateisha Green was born a boy. She had been living mostly as a female since age 16.
On a Friday night last November, Green — this time dressed as a man — and her brother, Mark Cannon, went to a party. Several guests objected because they thought the two were gay. Several started yelling "profane and vulgar comments," police reports said.
As Green and Cannon were sitting in their car a few minutes later, one of the partygoers emerged from the house with a .22-caliber rifle. Without a word, police say Dwight DeLee fired a single shot. The bullet grazed Cannon's arm, and with a deadly thud hit Green, 22, in the chest.
Full Story
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — It was no secret to friends and family that Lateisha Green was born a boy. She had been living mostly as a female since age 16.
On a Friday night last November, Green — this time dressed as a man — and her brother, Mark Cannon, went to a party. Several guests objected because they thought the two were gay. Several started yelling "profane and vulgar comments," police reports said.
As Green and Cannon were sitting in their car a few minutes later, one of the partygoers emerged from the house with a .22-caliber rifle. Without a word, police say Dwight DeLee fired a single shot. The bullet grazed Cannon's arm, and with a deadly thud hit Green, 22, in the chest.
Full Story
Mass. transgender equity bill fuels bathroom fight
(AP) By STEVE LeBLANC
BOSTON (AP) — When Ethan St. Pierre decided in 2001 to begin a public transformation from woman to man, he said the security company he worked for at first supported his decision.
Then his features began looking more like a man's.
"Once they saw the changes that my body was making they decided that I could no longer do my job," said St. Pierre, 47, a transgender man living in Haverhill, Mass. "They started taking my responsibilities away from me one at a time until finally they told me that I was no longer welcome."
Full Story
BOSTON (AP) — When Ethan St. Pierre decided in 2001 to begin a public transformation from woman to man, he said the security company he worked for at first supported his decision.
Then his features began looking more like a man's.
"Once they saw the changes that my body was making they decided that I could no longer do my job," said St. Pierre, 47, a transgender man living in Haverhill, Mass. "They started taking my responsibilities away from me one at a time until finally they told me that I was no longer welcome."
Full Story
Australia: Trans passport laws eased
Category: News
Author: Andie Noonan
Posted: Tuesday, 14 July 2009
The Australian Passport Office has reviewed its policy to make it easier for transgendered people seeking a passport in their preferred gender.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has provided information on its website indicating a more flexible approach to determining sex as stated on passport documents.
In order to obtain an Australian passport in a reassigned gender, a person must present a revised birth certificate or gender recognition certificate that an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) has accepted.
Full Story
Author: Andie Noonan
Posted: Tuesday, 14 July 2009
The Australian Passport Office has reviewed its policy to make it easier for transgendered people seeking a passport in their preferred gender.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has provided information on its website indicating a more flexible approach to determining sex as stated on passport documents.
In order to obtain an Australian passport in a reassigned gender, a person must present a revised birth certificate or gender recognition certificate that an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (RBDM) has accepted.
Full Story
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Trans academic wins human rights award
HIV/AIDS / Namaste illuminates trans, bi and swinger lives
Shawn Syms / National / Monday, July 13, 2009
Noted Montreal academic, author and activist Viviane Namaste has been awarded the 2009 Canadian Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights for her efforts to address the HIV prevention and treatment needs of trans people, bisexuals and the swingers community.
Full Story
Shawn Syms / National / Monday, July 13, 2009
Noted Montreal academic, author and activist Viviane Namaste has been awarded the 2009 Canadian Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights for her efforts to address the HIV prevention and treatment needs of trans people, bisexuals and the swingers community.
Full Story
2 arrested in Queens bias attack on transgender female
BY Irving Dejohn
and Brendan Brosh
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Updated Friday, July 10th 2009, 1:57 AM
A transgender female walking down a Queens street was attacked by a pair of bigoted thugs who pelted her with rocks and beer bottles, prosecutors said.
"I was being attacked because of who I am," said victim Carmella Etienne, 22.
"I'm pretty traumatized."
Nathaniel Mims, 25, and Rasheed Thomas, 22, allegedly screamed anti-gay slurs and threatened to cut the woman's throat Wednesday night in St. Albans.
Full Story
and Brendan Brosh
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Updated Friday, July 10th 2009, 1:57 AM
A transgender female walking down a Queens street was attacked by a pair of bigoted thugs who pelted her with rocks and beer bottles, prosecutors said.
"I was being attacked because of who I am," said victim Carmella Etienne, 22.
"I'm pretty traumatized."
Nathaniel Mims, 25, and Rasheed Thomas, 22, allegedly screamed anti-gay slurs and threatened to cut the woman's throat Wednesday night in St. Albans.
Full Story
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
'Luna' -- transgender issues for young adult readers
Goodbye, Nancy Drew. Hello, Twilight, terrorism … and transgender issues?
Today’s teens lead complex lives and are faced with issues that their grandparents, as adolescents, would not have been able to fathom — and it shows in their reading material.
William Porter, reporting for The Denver Post, discusses the new “darker” teen fiction that deals with suicide, sexual abuse, and eating disorders. And teens are eating it up.
But are teens ready to deal with transgender issues? Denver area author Julie Anne Peters says yes. Among her award-winning young adult books is Luna, which deals with transgender issues from a sister’s point of view.
Full Story
Today’s teens lead complex lives and are faced with issues that their grandparents, as adolescents, would not have been able to fathom — and it shows in their reading material.
William Porter, reporting for The Denver Post, discusses the new “darker” teen fiction that deals with suicide, sexual abuse, and eating disorders. And teens are eating it up.
But are teens ready to deal with transgender issues? Denver area author Julie Anne Peters says yes. Among her award-winning young adult books is Luna, which deals with transgender issues from a sister’s point of view.
Full Story
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
(Not so) Feel-Good of the Day: First Women-Run Pharmacy in North America Excludes Trans Women
Sadly, most of the time pharmacists are mentioned on Feministing it's regarding "conscience clause" folks - anti-choice pharmacists (and their buddy Bush) who believe it's their "religious or moral" right to refuse to sell contraception to women even though it's, you know, their job and all. So it was really refreshing to find a group of pharmacists who actually give a hoot about women's health. (Until we found out they exclude trans women - update below.)
Today, Vancouver Women's Health Collective have opened Lu's: A Pharmacy for Women.
Full Story
See also the CBC report
Today, Vancouver Women's Health Collective have opened Lu's: A Pharmacy for Women.
Full Story
See also the CBC report
Trans March San Francisco 2009
by Rubble
Sunday Jul 5th, 2009 11:59 AM
2009 Trans March San Francisco took place in Dolores Park in the Mission District on Friday, June 26 with an event featuring speakers and performers from 3-7PM, followed by a march around the Mission. Trans March San Francisco continues to be the largest transgender event in the world. Listen to 37 minutes of audio form the event.
"All black girl rock and roll band" Sistas In The Pit finishes their set...
Julia Serano, an author, spoken word performer, trans activist, and biologist, speaks on her experiences with stigmas and misconceptions...
Tiffany Woods, from San Leandro, speaks on gains made by transgender people and the movement since...
Landa Lakes, the current reigning Grand Dutchess of San Francisco...
Alexandra Byerly, who also MC'd most of the event, tells a heartfelt story of Anna Fernandez and her untimely death...
Finally, three woman punk band Angela Chase plays a song...
Full Story and audio links...
Sunday Jul 5th, 2009 11:59 AM
2009 Trans March San Francisco took place in Dolores Park in the Mission District on Friday, June 26 with an event featuring speakers and performers from 3-7PM, followed by a march around the Mission. Trans March San Francisco continues to be the largest transgender event in the world. Listen to 37 minutes of audio form the event.
"All black girl rock and roll band" Sistas In The Pit finishes their set...
Julia Serano, an author, spoken word performer, trans activist, and biologist, speaks on her experiences with stigmas and misconceptions...
Tiffany Woods, from San Leandro, speaks on gains made by transgender people and the movement since...
Landa Lakes, the current reigning Grand Dutchess of San Francisco...
Alexandra Byerly, who also MC'd most of the event, tells a heartfelt story of Anna Fernandez and her untimely death...
Finally, three woman punk band Angela Chase plays a song...
Full Story and audio links...
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Ad Campaign Fights Transgender 'Bathroom Bill'
Jul 2, 2009 10:07 pm US/Eastern
BOSTON (WBZ) ― They call themselves transgendered -- people who are attempting to become members of the opposite sex.
Thirteen states have laws to protect them from discrimination. But an effort on Beacon Hill is being fought with an ad campaign that calls it "the bathroom bill."
So what's the bathroom bill?
It's a reference to the fact that the transgendered civil rights bill would prohibit gender-based discrimination in facilities like public bathrooms. And opponents of the measure have seized on that detail as a way to dramatize their resistance.
Full Story
BOSTON (WBZ) ― They call themselves transgendered -- people who are attempting to become members of the opposite sex.
Thirteen states have laws to protect them from discrimination. But an effort on Beacon Hill is being fought with an ad campaign that calls it "the bathroom bill."
So what's the bathroom bill?
It's a reference to the fact that the transgendered civil rights bill would prohibit gender-based discrimination in facilities like public bathrooms. And opponents of the measure have seized on that detail as a way to dramatize their resistance.
Full Story
Transgender Woman Attacked in Queens
El Diario/La Prensa, Posted: Jul 03, 2009
NEW YORK –- Leslie Mora, a transgender woman, was walking to her home in Queens at 3:00 a.m. when she was brutally attacked by two Latino men who left her on the ground naked and bleeding, reports El Diario/La Prensa. After spending the next two weeks at home recovering from her injuries, the 30-year-old Nicaraguan immigrant described her June 19 attack in detail in an interview with the New York Spanish-language newspaper.
Full Story
NEW YORK –- Leslie Mora, a transgender woman, was walking to her home in Queens at 3:00 a.m. when she was brutally attacked by two Latino men who left her on the ground naked and bleeding, reports El Diario/La Prensa. After spending the next two weeks at home recovering from her injuries, the 30-year-old Nicaraguan immigrant described her June 19 attack in detail in an interview with the New York Spanish-language newspaper.
Full Story
Friday, July 3, 2009
Transsexuals in Yogyakarta to Abstain from Voting
Thursday, 02 July, 2009 | 13:10 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Yogyakarta: Around 350 transsexuals in Yogyakarta have agreed to abstain from voting in the presidential election on July 8.
They consider that none of the presidential candidates include them on their programs.
Full Story
TEMPO Interactive, Yogyakarta: Around 350 transsexuals in Yogyakarta have agreed to abstain from voting in the presidential election on July 8.
They consider that none of the presidential candidates include them on their programs.
Full Story
India: There goes Section 377
No longer labelled criminals, says Bangalore's sexual minority
Bangalore, July 3 (IANS) As they celebrate the Delhi High Court's verdict decriminalising gay sex, there is relief among Bangalore's sexual minorities. But there is pain, too, as the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community recounts stories of suffering and discrimination over the years.
Full Story
There goes Section 377
By: Madhusudan Maney Date: 2009-07-03 Place:Bangalore
But will the harassment go with it, is what sexual minorities in the city would like to know
Adult consensual sex is not an offence but police use it as a tool to harass sexual minorities, says city-based advocate B T Venkatesh.
Venkatesh cites the example of a young gigolo who was illegally detained by police for three days on the pretext of interrogation.
Full Story
Bangalore, July 3 (IANS) As they celebrate the Delhi High Court's verdict decriminalising gay sex, there is relief among Bangalore's sexual minorities. But there is pain, too, as the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community recounts stories of suffering and discrimination over the years.
Full Story
There goes Section 377
By: Madhusudan Maney Date: 2009-07-03 Place:Bangalore
But will the harassment go with it, is what sexual minorities in the city would like to know
Adult consensual sex is not an offence but police use it as a tool to harass sexual minorities, says city-based advocate B T Venkatesh.
Venkatesh cites the example of a young gigolo who was illegally detained by police for three days on the pretext of interrogation.
Full Story
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Transgender Riders Take On TransPass
By TAMARA VOSTOK
Updated 4:35 PM EDT, Tue, Jun 30, 2009
The transgender community takes on SEPTA’s TransPass (ironically enough) Tuesday.
That little “M” or “F” sticker identifying a rider’s gender is enough to cause economic hardship, harassment and lack of access to public transportation for the transgender community, according to Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE).
So, RAGE wants the stickers eliminated.
In 2007, a driver told Charlene Arcila, a trans-identified female, she couldn’t use her TransPass on the SEPTA bus she took to work daily, according to Philadelphia Weekly. So, she got a male sticker in an attempt to avoid frustration and was told yet again that she could not use her pass.
Full Story
Updated 4:35 PM EDT, Tue, Jun 30, 2009
The transgender community takes on SEPTA’s TransPass (ironically enough) Tuesday.
That little “M” or “F” sticker identifying a rider’s gender is enough to cause economic hardship, harassment and lack of access to public transportation for the transgender community, according to Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE).
So, RAGE wants the stickers eliminated.
In 2007, a driver told Charlene Arcila, a trans-identified female, she couldn’t use her TransPass on the SEPTA bus she took to work daily, according to Philadelphia Weekly. So, she got a male sticker in an attempt to avoid frustration and was told yet again that she could not use her pass.
Full Story
Obama White House not appealing transgender ruling
By NEDRA PICKLER – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is not fighting a nearly $500,000 judgment for a Library of Congress hiree who lost the job while undergoing a gender change from a man to a woman.
The Justice Department let the deadline to appeal the decision pass Tuesday, a day after President Barack Obama hosted gay supporters at the White House and promised to be their "champion." Some activists have complained he has not led on their causes, including ending the ban on gays in the military.
Full Story
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is not fighting a nearly $500,000 judgment for a Library of Congress hiree who lost the job while undergoing a gender change from a man to a woman.
The Justice Department let the deadline to appeal the decision pass Tuesday, a day after President Barack Obama hosted gay supporters at the White House and promised to be their "champion." Some activists have complained he has not led on their causes, including ending the ban on gays in the military.
Full Story
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Human Rights Commission: School Department Discriminated Against Transgender Student
AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER) -- The Maine Human Rights Commission took up two cases of discrimination filed on behalf of former students at Asa Adams Elementary School; one involving a transgender student and the other involving a male student.
The Commission found discrimination in the case of the transgender student, but not the in the case of the male student. The transgender student is biologically male but identifies as female. That student's family says the Orono School Department discriminated against their child when it stopped allowing the student to use the shared girl's bathroom.
Full Story
Also See
The Commission found discrimination in the case of the transgender student, but not the in the case of the male student. The transgender student is biologically male but identifies as female. That student's family says the Orono School Department discriminated against their child when it stopped allowing the student to use the shared girl's bathroom.
Full Story
Also See
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Bangalore makes a queer pitch
Siddharth Narrain
First Published : 27 Jun 2009 10:15:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 27 Jun 2009 10:47:13 AM IST
Karnataka Queer Habba: This year, Bangalore has given Pride celebrations a distinct local flavour with a week-long celebration titled the Karnataka Queer Habba. It began with a bang with an innovative cricket match. Titled “Queering the Pitch”, the match saw teams from different LGBT organisations pitted against each other. A live and humorous commentary interspersed with messages about LGBT rights and safe sex practices, ensured that no one was bored even for a minute. The Sangama team emerged the undisputed winner and was handed a trophy designed with queer symbols.
Full Story
First Published : 27 Jun 2009 10:15:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 27 Jun 2009 10:47:13 AM IST
Karnataka Queer Habba: This year, Bangalore has given Pride celebrations a distinct local flavour with a week-long celebration titled the Karnataka Queer Habba. It began with a bang with an innovative cricket match. Titled “Queering the Pitch”, the match saw teams from different LGBT organisations pitted against each other. A live and humorous commentary interspersed with messages about LGBT rights and safe sex practices, ensured that no one was bored even for a minute. The Sangama team emerged the undisputed winner and was handed a trophy designed with queer symbols.
Full Story
Russian man kills girlfriend after learning she was born male
Moscow:
A Russian man has shot his girlfriend dead and tried to commit suicide after learning that his beloved was a male by birth, police said on Wednesday.
Vladimir of southern Russian city of Volgograd shot Kamilla dead near a railway station after he learned that his partner had undergone sexual reassignment surgery at an Australian clinic, they said.
Full Story
A Russian man has shot his girlfriend dead and tried to commit suicide after learning that his beloved was a male by birth, police said on Wednesday.
Vladimir of southern Russian city of Volgograd shot Kamilla dead near a railway station after he learned that his partner had undergone sexual reassignment surgery at an Australian clinic, they said.
Full Story
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Review: Be Like Others
Be Like Others
Created by: Tanaz Eshaghian
Regular airtime: Wednesday, 9pm ET (HBO)
Cast: Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali, Anoosh/Anahita, Shahin, Ali, Ali Askar, Vida, Farhad, Hojatol Islam Kariminiya
US release date: 24 June 2009
Review by Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters Film and TV Editor
Full Review
Created by: Tanaz Eshaghian
Regular airtime: Wednesday, 9pm ET (HBO)
Cast: Dr. Bahram Mir-Jalali, Anoosh/Anahita, Shahin, Ali, Ali Askar, Vida, Farhad, Hojatol Islam Kariminiya
US release date: 24 June 2009
Review by Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters Film and TV Editor
Full Review
Disposable Income: How Gender and Sexuality Don't Add Up to Equal Pay
John Caldon
Posted: June 25, 2009 03:33 PM
June marks Pride Month, an annual celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community's struggle for full equity. Despite the huge strides made toward this goal over the last few decades, there remains much work to be done. The historical patterns of workplace discrimination and pay inequity among LGBT and women workers still persist. On June 24, Representative Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts introduced the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would protect all workers from discrimination regardless of their sexual or gender identity.
A careful look at the earnings and workplace experiences of LGBT and women workers clearly illustrates the need for this legislation. Gender and sexual identity are intrinsically linked to pay.
Full Story
Posted: June 25, 2009 03:33 PM
June marks Pride Month, an annual celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community's struggle for full equity. Despite the huge strides made toward this goal over the last few decades, there remains much work to be done. The historical patterns of workplace discrimination and pay inequity among LGBT and women workers still persist. On June 24, Representative Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts introduced the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would protect all workers from discrimination regardless of their sexual or gender identity.
A careful look at the earnings and workplace experiences of LGBT and women workers clearly illustrates the need for this legislation. Gender and sexual identity are intrinsically linked to pay.
Full Story
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
New Protections for Transgender Federal Workers
By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: June 23, 2009
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday.
The guidelines will be in an updated federal handbook for managers and supervisors to be distributed and posted online in the next couple of months, and they could also be included in other materials for managers. They will list transgender people — those who identify their gender differently from the information on their birth certificates — as among several groups protected by antidiscrimination laws.
Full Story
Published: June 23, 2009
WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday.
The guidelines will be in an updated federal handbook for managers and supervisors to be distributed and posted online in the next couple of months, and they could also be included in other materials for managers. They will list transgender people — those who identify their gender differently from the information on their birth certificates — as among several groups protected by antidiscrimination laws.
Full Story
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Prosecutors: Colorado man accused in transgender slaying knew woman was biologically male
By: P. SOLOMON BANDA
Associated Press
06/20/09 3:50 PM PDT
GREELEY, COLO. — A man accused of beating an 18-year-old transgendered woman to death with a fire extinguisher "snapped" after finding out the teen was biologically male, a defense lawyer argued Thursday as the murder trial began.
But a prosecutor contended Allen Andrade knew Angie Zapata's secret for at least 36 hours before the slaying — and killed her not in a sudden rage but because he disliked gays and transgenders.
Full Story
Associated Press
06/20/09 3:50 PM PDT
GREELEY, COLO. — A man accused of beating an 18-year-old transgendered woman to death with a fire extinguisher "snapped" after finding out the teen was biologically male, a defense lawyer argued Thursday as the murder trial began.
But a prosecutor contended Allen Andrade knew Angie Zapata's secret for at least 36 hours before the slaying — and killed her not in a sudden rage but because he disliked gays and transgenders.
Full Story
Friday, June 19, 2009
Laos tackles transgender taboos
A new drive to contain the spread of HIV/Aids in Laos is forcing officials to recognise a marginalised group - transgender men known as "katheoy". The BBC's Jill McGivering went to meet some of them in the capital, Vientiane.
Full Story
Full Story
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Ugandan activist punished for transgender identity
Victor Juliet Mukasa chosen as international grand marshal by Pride for human rights work
Jun 18, 2009 04:30 AM
Elvira Cordileone
Staff Reporter
Grace and persistence under almost unendurable circumstances have earned Victor Juliet Mukasa a place at the head of this year's Pride parade.
Still, for someone who's been punished because of his gender identity, "a transperson," as the 33-year-old Ugandan calls himself, the prospect of serving as Pride Week's international grand marshal is scarey.
Full Story
Jun 18, 2009 04:30 AM
Elvira Cordileone
Staff Reporter
Grace and persistence under almost unendurable circumstances have earned Victor Juliet Mukasa a place at the head of this year's Pride parade.
Still, for someone who's been punished because of his gender identity, "a transperson," as the 33-year-old Ugandan calls himself, the prospect of serving as Pride Week's international grand marshal is scarey.
Full Story
Girls Don't Cry
An HBO documentary explores the growing number of transsexuals in Iran
By Ann Lewinson
Be Like Others
Premieres June 24 on HBO
Much of the best science fiction posits a society operating under a set of rules that cast our own society's unexamined assumptions in relief. Let's just say, for example, that homosexuality was a crime, punishable by death. And what if, in this same society, transsexuality were merely seen as an illness, curable with an operation partially funded by the state? But this is no Ursula Le Guin novel — this is Iran, which is second only to Thailand in the number of sex-change operations performed each year. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may claim that there are no homosexuals in Iran, but estimates of transsexuals run as high as 150,000. What happens when gender is mutable but sexual orientation is not? When science produces a medical solution for what religion prohibits? Tanaz Eshaghian, an Iranian-American filmmaker, set out to find out in Be Like Others, which premieres on HBO on June 24.
Full Story
By Ann Lewinson
Be Like Others
Premieres June 24 on HBO
Much of the best science fiction posits a society operating under a set of rules that cast our own society's unexamined assumptions in relief. Let's just say, for example, that homosexuality was a crime, punishable by death. And what if, in this same society, transsexuality were merely seen as an illness, curable with an operation partially funded by the state? But this is no Ursula Le Guin novel — this is Iran, which is second only to Thailand in the number of sex-change operations performed each year. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may claim that there are no homosexuals in Iran, but estimates of transsexuals run as high as 150,000. What happens when gender is mutable but sexual orientation is not? When science produces a medical solution for what religion prohibits? Tanaz Eshaghian, an Iranian-American filmmaker, set out to find out in Be Like Others, which premieres on HBO on June 24.
Full Story
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Ottawa: Ladyfest confronts hot topics
LOCAL / Discussion explores women-centered spaces and gender identities
Ariel Troster / Ottawa / Wednesday, June 17, 2009
UP FOR DISCUSSION. Evan Hazenberg will be facilitating a discussion about the place of trans folk in women's spaces Jun 20.
Butch dykes and trans men are a diverse bunch. Some identify as one but not the other, some both. Some lesbians come to identify as trans, and some of them decide to transition.
Transitioning is the process of switching from living and presenting as one gender to living and presenting as another. For some it involves hormones and surgeries, for others no.
All of which complicates the definition of women's space.
Full Story
Ariel Troster / Ottawa / Wednesday, June 17, 2009
UP FOR DISCUSSION. Evan Hazenberg will be facilitating a discussion about the place of trans folk in women's spaces Jun 20.
Butch dykes and trans men are a diverse bunch. Some identify as one but not the other, some both. Some lesbians come to identify as trans, and some of them decide to transition.
Transitioning is the process of switching from living and presenting as one gender to living and presenting as another. For some it involves hormones and surgeries, for others no.
All of which complicates the definition of women's space.
Full Story
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
China: Sex change surgery guidelines drafted
By Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-17 08:03
China is set to issue its first clinical guideline on sex-change surgery, according to a notice put on the website of the Ministry of Health Tuesday.
The ministry is now soliciting public and professional opinions on the draft guideline. The coming guideline aims to regulate and standardize sex reassignment surgery, part of a treatment for gender identity disorder in transsexuals.
Full Story
Updated: 2009-06-17 08:03
China is set to issue its first clinical guideline on sex-change surgery, according to a notice put on the website of the Ministry of Health Tuesday.
The ministry is now soliciting public and professional opinions on the draft guideline. The coming guideline aims to regulate and standardize sex reassignment surgery, part of a treatment for gender identity disorder in transsexuals.
Full Story
Group: Gay bias killings highest since 1999
By MARCUS FRANKLIN – 9 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to a year ago, according to a national coalition of advocacy groups.
Last year's 29 killings was the highest recorded by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs since 1999, when it documented the same number of slayings, according to a report released Tuesday by the coalition.
Full Story
NEW YORK (AP) — The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to a year ago, according to a national coalition of advocacy groups.
Last year's 29 killings was the highest recorded by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs since 1999, when it documented the same number of slayings, according to a report released Tuesday by the coalition.
Full Story
Monday, June 15, 2009
Women and Transgender Individuals Pleased at Cerrah's Departure
As Istanbul is preparing for a new Chief of Police, many segments of the city are happy that Celalettin Cerrah is going.
...
Women in Istanbul recall the annual harrassment of women at New Year in Taksim, accusing the police of remaining inactive.
...
Another group of people who are glad that Cerrah is leaving is the transvestite and transexual community of Istanbul.
According to transexual Beren, "During the six years that Celalettin Cerrah has been Istanbul Chief of Police, the violence against transvestites and transexuals (TT) has risen very noticably. His time in office has been a turning point for the worse."
Full Story
...
Women in Istanbul recall the annual harrassment of women at New Year in Taksim, accusing the police of remaining inactive.
...
Another group of people who are glad that Cerrah is leaving is the transvestite and transexual community of Istanbul.
According to transexual Beren, "During the six years that Celalettin Cerrah has been Istanbul Chief of Police, the violence against transvestites and transexuals (TT) has risen very noticably. His time in office has been a turning point for the worse."
Full Story
Trial set in transgender civil case that alleges discrimination at Park Central in Appleton
June 15, 2009
(Wisconsin) Sierra D. Broussard, 28, of Appleton, filed a civil suit against Park Central, a downtown Appleton nightclub, claiming she was denied admission June 21 because she is black and a transsexual.
Broussard said she was twice denied entrance to Park Central, 318 W. College Ave., and said an employee told her if she "used either bathroom it would cause confusion for the other patrons," and that she should go to a club that caters to "her kind."
Full Story
(Wisconsin) Sierra D. Broussard, 28, of Appleton, filed a civil suit against Park Central, a downtown Appleton nightclub, claiming she was denied admission June 21 because she is black and a transsexual.
Broussard said she was twice denied entrance to Park Central, 318 W. College Ave., and said an employee told her if she "used either bathroom it would cause confusion for the other patrons," and that she should go to a club that caters to "her kind."
Full Story
Friday, June 12, 2009
Jamison Green Commentary: Chastity, 'Good luck, brother!'
By Jamison Green
Special to CNN
Jamison Green is an educator, adviser and advocate on transgender issues, and the author of "Becoming a Visible Man" (Vanderbilt University Press, 2004).
Welcome, Chaz!
Before the word "transsexual" had been coined in English, an intrepid young person whose family belonged to the British nobility set out to transform herself from female to male. He received a medical school education, obtained hormones -- relatively new substances that were poorly understood at the time, and independently began living as a man in the early 1940s.
Eventually, he found a plastic surgeon to help him, and his physical changes were complete by 1949, but his family rejected him. The British tabloids hounded him. To escape publicity, he was forced to carve out a life for himself virtually alone. He became a Buddhist monk, and died in Tibet in 1962 at the age of 47.
His name was Michael Dillon, and he one of the Western world's first transsexual people, that is, someone who changes sex and/or gender by medical means. His extensive writings were suppressed and destroyed by his family -- only fragments survive.
Full Story
Special to CNN
Jamison Green is an educator, adviser and advocate on transgender issues, and the author of "Becoming a Visible Man" (Vanderbilt University Press, 2004).
Welcome, Chaz!
Before the word "transsexual" had been coined in English, an intrepid young person whose family belonged to the British nobility set out to transform herself from female to male. He received a medical school education, obtained hormones -- relatively new substances that were poorly understood at the time, and independently began living as a man in the early 1940s.
Eventually, he found a plastic surgeon to help him, and his physical changes were complete by 1949, but his family rejected him. The British tabloids hounded him. To escape publicity, he was forced to carve out a life for himself virtually alone. He became a Buddhist monk, and died in Tibet in 1962 at the age of 47.
His name was Michael Dillon, and he one of the Western world's first transsexual people, that is, someone who changes sex and/or gender by medical means. His extensive writings were suppressed and destroyed by his family -- only fragments survive.
Full Story
Trans Rights Go Global
BY DOUG IRELAND
May was an historic month for the transgendered around the world.
The issue of transphobia was inscribed on the global LGBT agenda thanks to new initiatives from the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). The effort includes a global petition campaign in favor of rights for the transgendered aimed at the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), and governments around the world, which has already resulted in major changes in the status of the gender-variant citizens of several countries.
Full Story
May was an historic month for the transgendered around the world.
The issue of transphobia was inscribed on the global LGBT agenda thanks to new initiatives from the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). The effort includes a global petition campaign in favor of rights for the transgendered aimed at the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), and governments around the world, which has already resulted in major changes in the status of the gender-variant citizens of several countries.
Full Story
'My Identity' Wins Human Rights Comp
12 Jun 2009 |
A film telling the true story of an Irish transgender person last night won the ICCL (Irish Council for Civil Liberties), Human Rights Film School Competition, at The Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin.
The short film entitled ‘My Identity’, directed by Vittoria Colonna, was among six films screened at the event. The winning documentary tells the story of Lee, a transgender person, and the impact which his identity has on his daughter Siobhan.
Full Story
A film telling the true story of an Irish transgender person last night won the ICCL (Irish Council for Civil Liberties), Human Rights Film School Competition, at The Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin.
The short film entitled ‘My Identity’, directed by Vittoria Colonna, was among six films screened at the event. The winning documentary tells the story of Lee, a transgender person, and the impact which his identity has on his daughter Siobhan.
Full Story
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Few leads for 'suspicious' transgender death in Sacramento
by Dan Aiello for The Bay Area Reporter Online
d_aiello@sbcglobal.net
In the eight months since fishermen found the body of a young transgender woman along the banks of Sacramento's American River, police have remained unable to determine whether the death was a homicide.
Sacramento police continue to call the death of 22-year-old Fernando "Ruby" Molina "suspicious," and the case remains assigned to homicide investigators. However, after eight months, the Sacramento County Coroner's office still has not completed its report or determined a manner of death and the case remains open.
The official cause of death is drowning.
Full Story
d_aiello@sbcglobal.net
In the eight months since fishermen found the body of a young transgender woman along the banks of Sacramento's American River, police have remained unable to determine whether the death was a homicide.
Sacramento police continue to call the death of 22-year-old Fernando "Ruby" Molina "suspicious," and the case remains assigned to homicide investigators. However, after eight months, the Sacramento County Coroner's office still has not completed its report or determined a manner of death and the case remains open.
The official cause of death is drowning.
Full Story
Police say hate motivated attack on transgender person near Franklin High
By Lewis Kamb
Seattle Times staff reporter
The brutal attack of a transgender woman by a group of youths at a bus stop near Franklin High School on Saturday was clearly motivated by hate, Seattle police say.
A 13-year-old boy arrested shortly after the assault in South Seattle faces felony malicious harassment and attempted-robbery charges, according to police.
Several other youths who allegedly joined the boy in the attack remain at large, police say.
The suspect "was uncooperative in providing information regarding the identities of the other suspects involved," Officer Wayne Johnson wrote in his report.
The attack occurred at 4:42 p.m. at a Metro bus stop near Rainier Avenue South and South Mount Baker Boulevard. The 36-year-old victim told police that she is in the process of changing her "name and appearance from a man to a woman,"according to Johnson's report.
Full Story
Seattle Times staff reporter
The brutal attack of a transgender woman by a group of youths at a bus stop near Franklin High School on Saturday was clearly motivated by hate, Seattle police say.
A 13-year-old boy arrested shortly after the assault in South Seattle faces felony malicious harassment and attempted-robbery charges, according to police.
Several other youths who allegedly joined the boy in the attack remain at large, police say.
The suspect "was uncooperative in providing information regarding the identities of the other suspects involved," Officer Wayne Johnson wrote in his report.
The attack occurred at 4:42 p.m. at a Metro bus stop near Rainier Avenue South and South Mount Baker Boulevard. The 36-year-old victim told police that she is in the process of changing her "name and appearance from a man to a woman,"according to Johnson's report.
Full Story
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Transgender transgression: how York reacted to GNTs
June 9, 2009
The LGBT welfare motions of the last UGM all reached quoracy and passed; perhaps highlighting that the university bubble is far more liberal than the big bad world. However, the most well-voiced reaction to the motions was disappointing.
Full Story
The LGBT welfare motions of the last UGM all reached quoracy and passed; perhaps highlighting that the university bubble is far more liberal than the big bad world. However, the most well-voiced reaction to the motions was disappointing.
Full Story
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Straight.com: NDP MP Bill Siksay calls for coverage of sex reassignment surgery
Vancouver: NDP MP Bill Siksay tabled today (June 3) a motion in the House of Commons which calls on the federal government to take action to ensure that sex reassignment surgery is covered by Canada’s health system.
Full Story
Full Story
Expressbuzz.com: Transgenders find place in college admission forms
CHENNAI: When Shakthi Sundar was filling up the application form for a course in Madras Christian College, she noticed that the application form had a third option in gender - transgender.
This coming of age move from colleges in the city is a result of a directive from the State Education Department last year asking all colleges to not discriminate against transgenders, to recognise the gender and provide facilities for them.
Full Story
This coming of age move from colleges in the city is a result of a directive from the State Education Department last year asking all colleges to not discriminate against transgenders, to recognise the gender and provide facilities for them.
Full Story
Change.org: Is Health Care Failing Transgender Patients?
The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association released a study, based on the survey responses of more than 90 hospitals and 70 health clinics in the United States, on the care provided to LGBT patients, and the findings show an epidemic of insufficient care for transgender patients.
Full Story
Full Story
Reuters: Harvard University creates gay professorship role
BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard University is creating an endowed professorship in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual studies, the first of its kind in the United States and reflecting a rise in sex-related academia nationwide.
The Ivy League school will invite visiting scholars to teach on sexuality and issues related to sexual minorities for one semester each, a Harvard official said on Wednesday.
Full Story
The Ivy League school will invite visiting scholars to teach on sexuality and issues related to sexual minorities for one semester each, a Harvard official said on Wednesday.
Full Story
BBC: Venezuela 'silent' on hate crimes rise
In a city where about 40 murders take place every weekend, it may not come as a big surprise that four prostitutes have been killed on the same stretch of road in Caracas in recent months.
But when you find out that all four were transsexuals or transgender, it changes the picture somewhat.
Full Story
But when you find out that all four were transsexuals or transgender, it changes the picture somewhat.
Full Story
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
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