Transgender voice - Beginning

Hello everyone, this is my first voice video where I try to give some tips as a beginner in making my voice more feminine if you are male to female like me. . . .Read More

Gender Outlaws: Switching from a man to a woman (or vice versa)

Daisy Grewal, Ph.D.

April 23, 2008

Transsexuals and transgendered people can often tell us a great deal about our society because they've experienced what most of us never will: being perceived as a man or a woman in the same lifetime.

A worthy read on this topic is Kate Bornstein's Gender Outlaw, which chronicles some of her experiences as a transsexual woman. One memorable passage describes the first time Kate walked into a store after being able to successfully pass as a woman. She was shocked to find that nobody was treating her with any respect. A so-called "normal" woman who's been a woman her entire life would never know the difference. . . .Read More

Asheville's transgender community speaks

Lisa Gillespie • April 30, 2008


ASHEVILLE – At age 8, Holly Boswell decided she had magic powers.

Her mother had given Holly a Peter Pan book, and she fixated on the character of Tinkerbell. Holly was then a little boy, but she had been questioning her gender identity since age 2 or 3, she said. “I was thinking to myself, What am I — a fairy?”

Only much later did she find another word for herself: Transgendered.

Boswell was one of four transgendered Asheville residents who spoke Tuesday night at an event organizers called “Transcendence.” The 90-minute program of documentary film clips and discussion was held at the Unitarian Universalist Church. . . .Read More

Lesbians forced to live in anonymity in India

Shai Venkatraman

April 29, 2008


In the US, lesbian talk show host Ellen Degenres created history as the country's topmost television star.

But in India, in Tamil Nadu, transgender athlete Shanthi attempted suicide because she was constantly humiliated about her sexuality.

In a more progressive Kerala, lesbian suicides continue to be on the rise but their police still write them off as ordinary deaths. To this day, sexual minorities in India, especially women are outcastes, shunned by society even their own families.

In the anonymity of our cities, they still find spaces to blend in. But in rural India, coming out means violence, brutality and even death.

Travelling from Gujarat to Karnataka NDTV heard stories of transgenders, bisexuals and lesbians - some visible, most invisible.

Julie met Rekha when she was thirteen years old. Both of them belong to lower middle class families of a village in Kerala. They were classmates and good friends. . . .Read More

Students close mouths, open minds for Day of Silence

Nicole Higginbotham

4/29/08


What began as a University of Virginia class assignment in 1996 has since become a national event, allowing students and faculty across the U.S. to speak up on issues concerning gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals in the school setting.

On April 24, UNO participated in the Day of Silence event, with JohnCarl Denkovich, director of the Gender and Sexual Orientation Agency, organizing the day's proceedings. Many students participated on campus by not speaking and handing out information to other students.

During an event in the Milo Bail Student Center, several speakers addressed issues relating to discrimination and bullying including Meredith Bacon, professor in the political science department, and Sara Barnett, GLSEN Jumpstart/Central High School Student Leader.

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is a national organization that focuses on sexual identity and orientation acceptance.

"There are many people … who feel very isolated on campus and cannot be who they are," said Joseph Price, professor in UNO's English department. . . .Read More

Report reveals disturbing divide in treatment of transexuals in the EU

By Adam Lake • April 29, 2008

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA)-Europe and TransGender Europe have published a comprehensive report on the experiences of health care by transgender people in European Union.

The revealing poll shows the disturbing divide in the treatment on transgender people in Europe.

The legal survey is the result of the largest and most comprehensive data collection on transgender people's lived experiences to date.

In the UK, there is estimated to be around 15,000 transsexual people who self-identify as the opposite gender from the physical body they were born with.

Around a third of them have surgery to change their bodies to be the opposite sex

The report has show how life can still be very hard for transgender people in some parts of Europe.

Many transgender citizens still fear for their safety, the report concluded.

It also looked at how many trans people were unable to work due to discrimination, and facing great difficulties in obtaining access health care as well as gender reassignment services.

Transsexual people experience varying degrees of acceptance around the world. . . .Read More