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.
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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
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