Are you a boy or a girl?

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Gender Barred

Transgender inmates sue for hormones

by Nathaniel Hoffman

August 6, 2008


Natalia Whitefeather Flores, as she calls herself, is getting her hormones.

But the Idaho Department of Corrections waited until she filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against the state, got a visit from the American Civil Liberties Union and contacted BW to provide Flores, whose given name is William Ray Flores, with her estrogen pills and a testosterone blocker.

"France does the best sex changes, I hear, and that's where I want to go," Flores said in a call from the Idaho Maximum Security Institution.

But she's not going anywhere until at least September 2009 when she may be up for parole. Flores was born a woman in a man's body on the Rocky Boy Reservation near Havre, Mont. She is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and has spoken Cheyenne, Spanish and English from an early age.

At 5 years old, Flores, who then called herself Susie, was diagnosed with gender identity disorder, a psychiatric disorder that the Idaho Department of Corrections defines as dissatisfaction with one's biological sex. The department has recognized GID since 2003, after an earlier lawsuit forced officials to develop a policy.

Flores is transgender in that she desires to become a woman. But she also considers herself two-spirited, a condition recognized in Native American society long before 2003.

"We are considered more spiritual than most people because we've got the spirit of a woman and the spirit of a man," Flores said. . . .Read More

New book explores trans kids

by Zak Szymanski

7 August 2008

	Co-author Rachel Pepper, with her daughter, Frances. Photo: Tony Ferriola

More children these days are insisting upon their right to claim a variety of gender identities and expressions. But for most of these kids and their families, the issue isn't about queer politics – it's about struggling through a society still ill-equipped to handle gender-variant youth, all while navigating the fine line between happiness and safety.

Writers Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper hope to make that path a bit easier with their new book The Transgender Child, published earlier this summer by Cleis Press. This Sunday, August 10, Books Inc. at Opera Plaza in San Francisco will host a 4 p.m. reading and discussion of the book. Brill, who runs the support group at Oakland Children's Hospital for gender-variant children, and Pepper, a journalist and the coordinator of the LGBT studies program at Yale University, will both be at the event. A wide variety of people are encouraged to attend. . . .Read More

Friends stand up for Angie's life

Her alleged killer appears in court, facing a crowd of people who knew the transgender woman and want to remind others of her heart and popularity.

by Monte Whaley

The Denver Post

August 7, 2008


GREELEY — Angie Zapata's family and friends celebrated her birthday Tuesday night and then faced her alleged killer Wednesday morning.

The party — a barbecue at the Brighton Recreation Center marking what would have been her 19th birthday — drew a huge turnout and reminded supporters of her popularity.

"It was something; she would have loved it," said her older brother, 24-year-old Gonzalo Zapata.

Wednesday's hearing in Weld County District Court reminded them how brutally her life ended.

"Who in their right mind would do this to someone?" said friend Leticia Portillo. "Angie was a great person. She should have had a chance to live.". . .Read More

An Open Letter to Dr Phil

Patrick Lockyer

August 06, 2008

Dear Dr Phil

I am quite taken aback to witness the lack of actual skills you possess in the psychology fields. I did notice that you don´t actually have a doctorate but then you have always impressed me in the past with your human touch.

Perhaps you have not experienced sufficiently in your own life certain things to allow good judgment in the issues you now take up. You are casting your net wider these days and I think it is taking you beyond your realms. You really need to have someone else advising you from moment to moment as to what is cool to say/do and what is not.

Your program about Michael the transgender guy/gal made me quite mad. I even fell out with my wife about it and we never fall out and especially at bedtime. I found you to be way off beam in your assessment of the situation. I found you prejudiced and biased against your guest and your studio audience were equally prejudiced and you threw him/her under the bus. I actually wondered how on earth you ever persuaded the person to attend and be victimized and I thought he carried himself majestically in the circumstances. I really wondered for a time whether I had landed amongst aliens. . . .Read More