Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Thailand's lady-boys in a class of their own
22 October 2008
Belfast Telegraph
Belfast Telegraph
Lithe, peach-skinned and demure, Arttasit is the kind of woman who would turn heads on any college campus, except that he is not a woman; not yet.
The 21-year-old catering student attends class in Thailand's Suan Dusit University wearing makeup and a body-hugging female uniform. After four years of hormone treatment, he is preparing for a full sex change. "My goal in life is to become accepted as a woman," he explains.
There are about 100 transgender undergraduates at this college in central Bangkok, which offers the so-called "lady-boys" a unique educational refuge from homophobia and discrimination. Students are allowed to flaunt the campus dress code, which demands men wear trousers. Every year, dozens of the students enter a university beauty contest that has become famous for supplying entrants to Thailand's Miss Tiffany Universe, an annual pageant for transsexuals broadcast live across the country. Lady-boys work as teachers in some university departments and are even sent out on school recruitment drives. . . .Read More
Commentary: UCSF’s LGBT Center Turns 10
October 23, 2008
By Shane Snowdon
Did you know UCSF has a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Center? Yes – and it’s the only one in a health-care setting anywhere in the world, although many undergrad campuses have an LGBT office. In fact, this fall is the tenth anniversary of UCSF’s LGBT Center, making it one of the oldest and most accomplished in the country.
What, you may ask, does an LGBT center do? More to the point, what has UCSF’s Center done in its ten years? And, if you’re not LGBT, what does the LGBT Center have to offer?
Whether you’re LGBT or not, we hope you’ll be proud to hear that UCSF’s Center has put our campus at the very forefront of the LGBT health movement, which aims to identify, reduce and eventually eliminate the particular health risks and disparities faced by LGBT people. And the UCSF LGBT Center has also helped make UC the nation’s leader in campus and workplace equality for LGBT people. . .
. . .Transgender Concerns. UCSF is also a leader among U.S. campuses and employers in attending to transgender needs, but there is more to be done to ensure that transgender students, employees and patients are treated fairly and respectfully. As transgender people become ever more visible at UCSF and beyond, it’s important that classmates, co-workers and health-care professionals receive the information and training necessary to create a truly welcoming, equitable environment. . . .Read More
Becoming a woman also about economics
by Heather Draper
October 23, 2008
It's not news that women often make less money than men, even if they are working the same job.
But Alma L. López, the first Latina to be elected chief justice of an appellate court in the United States, this week brought up a notion I'd never heard before — that men who become women make less money than men. (Yes, you read that right.)
López, speaking at the San Antonio YWCA's Women of Influence awards luncheon Tuesday, cited several cases in which women were awarded millions of dollars when it was found they were discriminated against because of their gender.
She told some of her own horror stories from her early days as an attorney in Texas, including learning at her first job that she was being paid $400 a month for the same position in which a man was hired — after her — at a salary of more than $1,000 a month.
Then, in a twist, López mentioned a recent study that examined the salaries of transgender employees before and after their gender changes. . . .Read More
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