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.
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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