Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Teen Transsexual
Sunday, December 30, 2007
10:00pm EST /7:00pm PST
Repeated at 1:00am EST / 10:00pm PST
All Richard Parker wants for his 18th birthday is to be Lucy Parker.
Richard has spent his life dealing with gender identity issues and has
long dreamed of the day when he can have surgery to become a real
woman. Unable to get the surgery until he turns 18 and has proven to
doctors that he is psychologically committed to life as a woman,
Richard has spent the last two years living as Lucy. This is her story.
Premieres December 30th at 10pm et/pt. Part of BBC America Reveals.
Schum Says Family Helped Him Through Ordeal
Former Principal Cited For Loitering For Prostitution
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- "It's nice to know that the truth finally does reveal itself and that we've gotten to the bottom of this."Dr. Paul Schum says his citation for loitering for prostitution has been an embarrassing, difficult and trying situation.“There's been an enormous amount of time, effort, energy and taxpayer’s money, and not to mention my own expense and the expense of my family to rectify this, when in fact, most everyone that knew the facts of this case was certain that the charges would eventually be dropped."
It all started Oct. 30 -- Halloween Eve. Schum said that as he headed home from a costume party, he decided to stop by a rental property he owns in west Louisville to change out of his costume.On the way there, he said, he stopped in an alley to take off part of his costume. Dash cam video provided by Louisville Metro Police shows what happened next: Schum was stopped and cited for loitering for prostitution while he was wearing black leather, fishnet stockings and false breasts.“I was very embarrassed,” he said. “Very, very nervous. Big, bright light in your face. A thousand questions." . . .
The Gender Neutral Throne
In the back room of Dante’s, a revolution was being plotted. A small group of activists and artists decided to cut to the chase. If we are serious about creating communities and places that are inclusive and welcoming of diversity, complexity and ambiguity, what can be more defining than where you go to pee? The badge on the gorgeous Jonathan summed it up: “Fuck Gender.”
We all related stories of mistaken identity and discrimination in toilets:
“I remember going to the public toilets at a caravan park when I was about ten and these two girls a few years older than me were there and just started laughing and saying things like ‘was that a boy or a girl?’. I sat in the cubicle crying until I thought it was safe to leave.”
“I’m always getting told I’m in the wrong bathroom in the women’s but people look at me weird in the men’s as well so I try and find the closest gender neutral bathroom just cause it means I won’t get hassled.”
“I’ve had the ‘oh my god there’s a boy in the women’s toilet” since I was a kid. Before I realised that I was trans and later felt safe and comfortable in my identity, it used to really hurt when other kids would freak out or laugh at me.” . . .
Want Ads: Looking For Mr. or Ms. Goodbar
Need individual with a smiling face and a Can-Do Attitude! Personal Ambition a serious plus! Must take directions well. Must be able to learn public relations marketing from a gay and lesbian perspective (Marketing experience a huge plus) Must like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Gay and Lesbian Equality. Must possess ability and willingness to both raise funds or to be able to attract leads for fundraising for HRC. Can easily substitute a great personal story (author of an autobiography or esp. high-profile job loss, lawsuit or hate crime victim) for fundraising skills.
To be filled: Immediately.
Very competitive salary commensurate with other transgender activist salaries, plus perks! We are an EEOC employer. Only transgendered applicants, preferably white, docile and above-average income need apply. . . .
. . . Seven out of Ten Gay Adults Own a Pet
By Chrys Hudson
Seven out of ten (71 percent) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adults today say they own pets, compared with 63 percent of heterosexual adults, according to the results of a new national survey.
The same survey also shows that nine in ten (90 percent) LGBT pet owners say their pet is a member of their family and 64 percent also add that they have bought their pet a holiday present.
The new nationwide survey of 2,455 U.S. adults, of whom more than 6 percent, or 158, self identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, was conducted online between Nov. 7 and 13 by Harris Interactive in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc. . . .
My response to Carlin
I just read your opinion piece in the Providence Journal and I am shocked and dismayed that a historian, educator, and Democrat would write such an ignorant and offensive column attacking transgender people.
I'm going to assume that you're simply ignorant, however, and proceed from there. I'm guessing that you're ignorant of the problems faced by many transgender people when it comes to using a bathroom. There is no standardized point during the transition process where one can reasonably say "Okay, it's fine to use this bathroom now." And in any case, a transgender person will continue to face the threat of public humiliation or physical assault if someone disagrees with their choice of which bathrooms to use.
I don't know if you've been following the news, but recently in Utah, a transgender man was denied housing in a male dorm, because the school felt he had not progressed far enough through gender reassignment surgery to "prove" to them that he is a man. On the other hand, he was also told he would not be welcome in the female dorms. This creates an unfair and unworkable situation, don't you think? . . .
-Kynn Bartlett
Tucson, Arizona
OPINION: David Carlin: Bathrooms for the transgendered
December 22, 2007
WHEN I WAS YOUNG (about a half-century ago), there was a social rule that every young man understood. It went like this: “If you get a girl pregnant, you have to marry her.” One of the results of this rule was that relatively few unmarried girls got pregnant. Another was that those who did usually married the father before the baby was born.
But then American society decided that the rule was too strict. After all, a boy and a girl shouldn’t get chained to one another for a lifetime simply because one day (or more likely one evening) they made a mistake. So we relaxed the rule; we relaxed it to the point where it hardly exists anymore. And what has been the result? Millions of babies have been born and grown up without a father. It should be remembered that kids who grow up without fathers are, on average, at high risk for living troubled and unhappy lives.
Law professors have a maxim: “Hard cases make bad law.” In other words, when you re-write a rule to accommodate special cases, the new rule is likely to be worse than the old rule. Better to stick with the old rule, imperfect though it may be. A small number of people suffered under the old and “bad” rule; vast numbers suffer under the new and “improved” rule.
Recently a number of New England colleges have had feelings of compassion for transgendered students and the difficulty such students face when choosing a bathroom.
“What is a transgendered person?” you ask. . . .
Suffolk resident guilty for injecting silicone in transgender person
SUFFOLK
A person charged with injecting silicone into another transgender individual pleaded guilty Friday to practicing medicine without a license. . . .
Young Adult Novels With Transgender Themes
looking for stories about the lives of young trans people
By Michelle Garcia
An Advocate.com exclusive posted December 26, 2007
The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates there are
between 750,000 and 3 million transgender people in the U.S. And as
Barbara Walters showed recently in a 20/20 story last spring,
questioning one's gender identity can begin at a very young age. With
that in mind, we pulled together some literary inspiration worth
passing on to the inquisitive teenager in your life.
Luna by Julie Anne Peters (Little, Brown; 2004)
For years Liam secretly transforms himself into Luna each night with
the help of his sister's clothes and makeup. As he yearns to reveal
his nighttime identity, his sister Regan finds it more difficult to
keep Luna a secret with each passing day. Are Liam's family and
friends ready to accept Luna into their lives? Julie Anne Peters's
well-received novel was a 2004 finalist for the National Book Award in
Young People's Literature.
Freak Show by James St. James (Dutton; 2007)
James St. James's story of a teenage drag queen at an uptight private
academy is the classic tale of an outcast wanting acceptance. Our
hero, Billy Bloom, however, wants to be homecoming queen. St. James's
irreverent humor and lively writing make this an endearing and
entertaining read that shirks the idea of being confined to a label of
sexuality.
Choir Boy by Charlie Anders (Soft Skull Press; 2005)
Berry, a 12-year-old church choir darling, is starting to notice the
effect of puberty where it matters most to him: his voice. After a
botched attempt to castrate himself, he decided to use hormones
intended for men transitioning to women to keep his high vocal range.
The story may seem cartoonish, but this Lambda Literary Award winner's
emotional, sexual nature may be best for older teens; . . .
