Majority of Americans Agree That Transgender Employees Should Be. . .

New Workplace Report also Shows that Majority of Americans Support
Marriage-Like Benefits for Same Sex Couples in the Workplace

Sept. 2, 2008

HarrisInteractive


SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sep 02, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE)

According to a recent national survey, seven out of ten
heterosexual adults (71%) agree that how an employee performs at their
job should be the standard for judging an employee, not whether or not
they are transgender. The new survey also showed that nearly eight out
of ten (79%) heterosexual adults strongly or somewhat agree that how
an employee does his or her job should be the standard for judging an
employee, not their sexual orientation. . . .Read More

Transgenders get home of their own

Arelis Hernandez | Sentinel Staff Writer

September 3, 2008

Andre Johnson has struggled his whole life to find a home.

Johnson, 44, in his blond wig, nail polish and gold bracelets, longs to live as a woman. But calling himself Angie, he felt neither safe nor comfortable. People told him God didn't make mistakes, but Johnson couldn't shake what his "inner something" was telling him -- that he was a woman living inside a man's body.

The feelings of isolation worsened when Johnson contracted the human immunodeficiency virus.Today, the once-homeless transgender woman -- a man who lives and dresses as a woman -- has found a home among others looking for acceptance and refuge.

The house is the region's first residential haven for HIV-positive transgender patients, a place for people besieged not only by gender-identity issues but also by health concerns and drug abuse. The city of Orlando's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program arranged the accommodations while the Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention paid the rent. Together, they opened the home July 1. . . .Read More

Kenya: My Rights Abused, Says Double-Sex Prisoner

September 2, 2008

Jillo Kadida
Nairobi

A hermaphrodite who is seeking to be released from Kamiti maximum security prison wants a report about his medical and physical condition tabled in court.

Richard Mwanzia Muasya says the report will help the court understand the continuous human and constitutional rights violations he is going through at the prison, where he is being held after he was convicted for robbery with violence.

A detailed report by medical experts will also help the court to fully understand his gender, says Muasya.

Muasya was born with both male and female sex organs, but goes about life as a man. . . .Read More

016 transgender voice-3

"part 3. my transgender voice steps. ya, 80s hair is not so hot. jeez, can i look more stupid."

candiFLA

On being transgender

September 1, 2008


My name is Mia Nikasimo. As a volunteer for Changing Attitudes at the Lambeth Conference I found myself in an opportune position to reflect from a translesbian (i.e. a transsexual woman who identifies as a lesbian not to be confused with above or beyond “lesbians,” or a transgender man) standpoint on the Anglican Communion and attempts to exclude the LGBTI.

I have purposely mentioned my trans status here because “transgender” as an umbrella term (for transsexual female, male, sister, brother, mothers, fathers any of the following might choose to cross dress, are intersexed, queer, kings, drag queens and more) can easily loose ones identity in the mix and because I can only share this reflection as a translesbian in the full awareness that some, like my LGBTI African brothers, sisters cannot. As the founder of an online support group call Transafro I aim to give voice to our various narratives Anglicans or otherwise, to promote, empower and raise consciousness in Africa, the Diaspora and allies. . . .Read More

A transgender woman's difficult job search

Prejudices compound the struggle to find employment

September 3, 2008

By Alex Pickett

In July, Florida topped the nation in job losses for the third month. The state's unemployment rate is the highest in 13 years. And, with over 16,000 jobs lost over the last year, the Tampa Bay area has taken the brunt of the economic downturn. The market is flooded with laid-off workers, all competing for an increasingly shrinking piece of the employment pie.

Then there's Julie Yoo.

A year ago, CL profiled the Dunedin resident as she began her transition from male (her name used to be Jim) to female. At the time, she was the owner and cook of the Tarpon Diner in Tarpon Springs, and her main concern was keeping up with the breakfast orders and getting comfortable with her new gender.

But in December, disagreements with a new co-owner and a desire to get out of the restaurant industry drove her to sell the Tarpon Diner and search for a new career.

Eight months later, she's still looking. . . .Read More

Vancouver transsexual says city party nixed parks board candidacy over sex issues

1 September 2008

VANCOUVER — A transsexual Vancouver prostitution advocate is preparing a human rights complaint against the city's governing party after it rejected her as a parks board candidate nominee.

Jamie Lee Hamilton said candidate interviews with two board members of the Non-Partisan Association party about being a nominee for November's municipal elections focused on her sex life.

B.C.'s Human Rights Code says it is illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of sex or sexual orientation.

Hamilton said the interviews made her very uncomfortable.

"I felt that my whole lifestyle was being interrogated. . .that I was somehow immoral," she said. . . .Read More

Changing Sex Documentary Transsexual Trans #6 of 8

"Changing Sex documentary" changingsexuk

Iranian film explores transsexual world

By COLLEEN BARRY

August 30, 2008

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Organizers of the Venice Film Festival waited to announce "Khastegi (Tedium)" by first-time Iranian director Bahman Motamedian until the last minute to avoid alerting authorities to its sensitive subject: transsexuals in modern-day Iran.

The struggles of seven transsexuals depicted in the film are made more complicated by Iran's strict gender codes and cultural obstacles. But Motamedian, who is best known in Iran for theater work, insists the problems they face are universal to transsexuals anywhere in the world: finding their identity and seeking acceptance from their families.

"We know that throughout the world this problems exists," Motamedian said. "The idea was to raise awareness among families especially, because this is the first layer of barrier, and to help people to realize they are not alone and be able to face the problem."

Motamedian said he was inspired by the Italian neo-realists in his filmmaking, and for the movie he cast transsexuals, not professional actors, to act a role that he created. . . .Read More

Now he really is Jahn the Man

August 31, 2008

BY LYDIA MARTIN


Jahn Kirchoff calls to check in, and the voice on the phone is startling. It has dropped considerably in just a couple of weeks. No way it sounds like a woman's voice anymore.

''Yeah, my voice is getting deeper. My vocal cords are expanding -- and my beard is really growing in now,'' says Kirchoff, who is getting used to five-o'clock shadows.

In 2004, after living as a biological woman for 48 years, Kirchoff had surgery to remove his breasts. In August he marked the one-year anniversary of the start of hormone treatments.

''It takes almost three years of taking the hormones for all the changes to happen,'' Kirchoff says in his sweet, laid-back way.

As stories about gender transitions go, this one is remarkable for what Kirchoff hasn't had to endure: He was never shunned by family or friends. As co-owner of the popular Deli Lane cafes in South Miami, Brickell and Sarasota, he doesn't worry about being fired. Over the years, he has gotten plenty of ''long looks'' from strangers but isn't afraid, even as his transition from female to male becomes more obvious. . . .Read More

Dads who found love together

Aug 31 2008 by Katie Bodinger, Wales On Sunday

JENNY-ANNE Bishop and Elen Heart are a very unusual couple – they both have the bodies of men and were once husbands and fathers.

But they gave it all up to dress as women and become a “lesbian” transgender couple.

Like all transsexuals, Jenny-Ann, 62, who used to be Paul, and Elen, 65, who was once Alan, think they were born in the wrong bodies.

But they have decided against sex-swap surgery because of health risks at their age.

Instead they both take female hormones, doll themselves up in fashionable dresses, lipstick and mascara, and curl and style their hair and wigs.

“Our relationship is hard to define,” said Jenny-Anne who was married for 35 years before she met Elen. “We’re not exactly lesbians, but people might use that word. . . .Read More

"Oxford Janitor Changes From He To She"

"A 8/19/08 news report from WBZ in Boston on Brianna Bonin, an elementary school janitor in Oxford, Mass., who changed gender over the summer. (8/19/08)" StephanieKayStevens

Off the Record

in loco parentis

by Diogenes

August 28, 2008

An article in Georgetown University's newspaper The Hoya welcomes the new director of its Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Questioning (LGBTQ) Resource Center and does some end zone celebration for our benefit. Georgetown, you may remember, is a university in the Jesuit Tradition. You'll be edified by the following details:

Jack Harrison (SFS '09), co-chair of GU Pride, also said he hopes to work closely with the new director in developing programming for the year. … Harrison said GU Pride is looking to launch efforts this year to make the campus more "trans-friendly" by working to provide bathrooms and better housing options for transgender individuals.

It's futile, as we all know, to point out the conflict between the Catholic view of the human person and Georgetown's LGBTQ enthusiasms. . . .Read More

Transgender Emergency Fund Will Start Offering Assistance in September

William Henderson August 27, 2008


The Transgender Emergency Fund, a Central Mass.-based program that will provide critical assistance to low-income transgender or transsexual people, will begin providing financial assistance to people next month, says Jesse Pack of AIDS Project Worcester.
“As a result of stigma and discrimination, transpeople are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed, live in poverty, and to be homeless or near homelessness,” said Pack in a statement. “The fund will provide people with financial assistance with utilities, prescription co-pays, medical co-pays, and other basic needs.” In order to receive assistance, individuals must fill out a short application and provide copies of bills and proof of income. Individuals who receive assistance through the fund will not in any way be publicly identified as being transgender. . . .Read More

A trend of transgender movies

A feast of transgender and intersex films are highlighted at the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival

By Chris Garcia

AMERICAN-STATESMAN FILM WRITER
Friday, August 29, 2008

Do nine transgender and intersex films make a trend? They do if they're all playing during the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, Wednesday through Sept. 7.

Films about transgender characters are not as rare as you might think. A raft of contemporary features — 'The Crying Game,' 'Boys Don't Cry,' 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch,' 'Transamerica,' to name a few — dealt seriously with the issue. At least two entire film festivals — in Seattle and the Netherlands — are devoted to transgender-themed movies. . . .Read More

Britney Spears Derrick Barry America's Got Talent

"Americas #1 Britney Spears impersonator Derrick Barry on America's Got Talent aired June 17, 2008." ElfBoyProduction

Senate gets transgender, gay rights champion

By Ron Hughes

28 August 2008


Transgender and marriage rights advocates have welcomed Senator Louise Pratt's commitment to LGBT rights.

The newly-elected WA Senator, whose partner is a transgender male, made her inaugural speech yesterday, saying, "I look forward to a time when we have removed at a federal level all discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sexuality.

"A time when my partner isn’t denied a passport because his gender’s not recognised under our laws, when my friends’ children all enjoy the same rights and protections under Commonwealth law, regardless of whether their parents are straight or gay, and a time when my gay and lesbian friends who wish to be legally married can be.". . .Read More

Meet the transsexual Britney Spears impersonator taking America by storm

By Daily Mail Reporter

27 August 2008

In case one Britney Spears wasn't enough, there's now another taking on America.

Derrick Barry left talent judges open-mouthed when he donned a schoolgirl outfit and danced to the pop star's hit Baby One More Time.

The male impersonator, who has performed as Britney for five years, made it through auditions for America's Got Talent earlier this year with a rendition of the singer's hit Toxic. . . .Read More

Young transsexuals should be allowed to put puberty on hold

Halting development allows teenagers time to consider their potential treatment, says Richard Green

Richard Green

The Guardian,

Thursday August 28 2008

Your article ('My body is wrong', G2, August 14) sensitively reports the anguish of the young teenage transsexual as the body changes in the direction of the wrong sex. That anguish is medically treated in other countries. But in the UK the "wrong puberty" is allowed to progress for years before treatment. Not only are these unwanted body changes traumatic as they develop, but if the teenager goes on to live as an adult of the other sex, they pose additional hardship. Aptly, the article tells of a mother whose (now) daughter was denied hormone treatment "until the age of 16, by which point she already had an Adam's apple, a deep voice and facial hair".

Having spent a decade heading the adult gender identity clinic at Charing Cross hospital, the world's largest treatment programme for transsexuals, I have interviewed many patients who regretted not having treatment during their early teens. . . .Read More

Changing Sex Documentary Transsexual Trans #4 of 8

"Changing Sex documentary - April Ashley"
changingsexuk