FTM Mama Speaks

My Mama surprised me with a video she made. It touched my heart, and I hope it touches you. If you have family members that need some help, show them this. My Mom has come a very long way in such a very short time. She is the greatest and I love her more than she will ever know. Thank you, Mama.
Make sure to watch part 2

jadenkayne

Student Suspended for Dressing Like Girl

31 March 2009

Advocate.com


A male 11th-grader who came to school dressed in feminine clothing was removed from class on Friday, but nonetheless made the point he wanted to make.

Justin Reynolds said that one day prior he had told a teacher of his plans to show up at Dunnellon High School dressed in a simple black shirt, jeans, high-heeled boots, and a few accessories, according to Ocala.com.

The teacher said she would allow Reynolds the opportunity to speak to other classmates about gay and transgender rights. . . .Read More

Transgender a no go for Ladette to Lady

April 1, 2009

By Emily O'Keefe, ninemsn

Transgender reality TV aspirant Samantha Stratford's dreams of becoming a true lady appear to have been dashed after missing the shortlist of contestants for the next season of Ladette to Lady.

Despite providing a much-needed twist at the Sydney auditions for the show last week, the 28-year-old was a surprising omission from the final call back of 19 ladettes yesterday. . . .Read More

A pregnant man? Spain embroiled in sex identity debate - Feature

31 March 2009

by DPA


Madrid - His name is Ruben Noe, and he is nine weeks pregnant. The case of the 25-year-old, reportedly the world's first transsexual to be expecting twins, has sparked a debate in Spain on the limits of human sexual identity.

Ruben Noe Coronado was born Estefania Coronado. Like many transsexuals, the young woman from the southern region of Andalusia felt trapped in the wrong body, and realized eight years ago that she wanted to become biologically a man. Today, Ruben has a beard, a shaved head and looks as male as any man, after undergoing hormonal treatment and having his breasts surgically removed.

He has, however, not yet had a sex change operation to remove his female reproductive organs, a situation he decided to take advantage of after agreeing with his female partner Esperanza to have a child. At age 43, Esperanza felt too old to become pregnant, she told the daily El Mundo.

The mother of two is also losing her eyesight, and feared that a pregnancy would make her go completely blind. "This is my last chance," Ruben said to Esperanza about having a child before completing the transition into a man. "I can still make use of my body." . . .Read More

Dr Michael Brownstein Talks Top Surgery

Dr. Michael L Brownstein is a Board Certified plastic surgeon, and a member of ASPS, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, specializing in plastic, reconstructive, and gender related surgery. In this interview he talks about FTM top surgery.

beingMEdia

Transgender summit in San Diego this week

Nicole C. Brambila • The Desert Sun • March 24, 2009


About 200 transgender people are expected to meet in San Diego for a leadership summit on Friday.

The 4th annual Transgender Leadership Summit will be held in San Diego to identify community leaders and push for transgender rights during the economic downturn, which makes transgender people more vulnerable to un- and underemployment, according to a news release.

A 2008 Transgender Law Center study found transgender Californians are twice as likely to be below the federal poverty line.

The Transgender Law Center is a civil rights organization that advocates for transgender people and works to change laws to incorporate the needs of the transgender community.

“We are thrilled to host this year's Transgender Leadership Summit in San Diego,” Vicki Estrada, host committee chair, said in a news release. . . .Read More

Spanish Transsexual to be First ‘Man’ to Give Birth to Twins

ChattahBox.com March 23, 2009


(ChattahBox)—The Telegraph reported today that a Spanish transsexual man, born a woman named, Estefania is due soon to give birth to twin boys after becoming pregnant from fertility treatments. Twenty-five year old Ruben Noe Coronado put off completing his gender reassignment surgery that would have removed his female reproductive organs, so he could become pregnant. His female partner, 43-year-old, Esperanza Ruiz was unable to have any more children. The couple will raise the twin boys together in Barcelona. The twin boys are due in September, and when they are born, Coronado will become the first transsexual man in the world to give birth to twins and the first Spanish transsexual to become pregnant. The couple plans to marry over the summer. . . .Read More

Rising Tennis Pro Faces Gender Battle

By Michelle Garcia March 20, 2009

Tennis insiders are grappling with issues of sexual identity and biology regarding an up-and-coming German star on the international circuit.

Sarah Gronert, 22, was born with both male and female genitalia but underwent surgery to become female both legally and physically. However, some coaches, players, and officials charge that she seems unnaturally strong for a woman and speculate, based on her birth condition, that she may benefit from a higher-than-average distribution of male hormones -- and question whether she should therefore be allowed to compete against women at all. . . .Read More

Mixed reviews for 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'

By JILL LAWLESS 3.25.2009

LONDON (AP) — Has "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" conquered London's theater critics? Not exactly.

The sequin-spangled musical, which had its gala opening Tuesday, is adapted from the 1994 Australian movie about two drag queens and a transsexual on an odyssey across Australia's Outback. That film helped make a cheerful brand of kitschy camp a major Aussie export, and the subsequent stage version was a big hit Down Under.

Now the show has landed at the West End's Palace Theatre, former home to hit musicals including "Les Miserables" and "Monty Python's Spamalot."

The musical stars Australian singer and actor Jason Donovan as Tick, a slightly tattered drag artiste who travels from Sydney to Alice Springs in a battered bus for a reunion with the son he barely knows. On the road he and his companions — drama-loving diva Adam and mature transsexual Bernadette — encounter hatred and love, animosity and acceptance en route to a show-stopping musical finale. . . .Read More

Kelly on growing up transgender

Peorian Kelly Shore talks about the challenges of growing up transgender in Central Illinois.

pjstarcom

Tick a box: male, female, unspecified

Katrina Fox | March 18, 2009

Are you male or female? For most of us, answering that question is no problem, although whether we want to is another matter. But for some people, these categories simply don't fit. They consider themselves neither male nor female - essentially, genderless.

Take Norrie May-Welby, an activist and performer in Sydney, who says: "Some of us have found it better to identify in non-gender-specific ways; it's not our life and those roles don't fit us."

May-Welby uses pronouns such as "zie" in place of "he" or "she", and "hir" in place of "him" and "her", and says: "Some people get angry with the idea that I'm not a man or woman. It's fair to say there's sexual anxiety underneath it: they're thinking, 'If I'm attracted to this person who is neither male nor female, they've shattered my idea of myself as straight or gay.' "

Rejecting such deeply entrenched cultural norms has its challenges. Aside from being branded a freak and suffering the occasional physical attack, genderless people claim they are forced to lie every time they fill out a form. Whether it's a job application or government document, they, like the rest of us, are required to tick the "M" or "F" box, with no other options. . . .Read More

Transsexual gamers fight for their rights

SXSW 2009 PMS meets World of Warcraft

By Sylvie Barak

17 March 2009

SXSW INTERACTIVE is certainly dealing with the most pressing of issues this year. Case in point: an hour-long session on girl gaming where, amongst other things, it was unanimously agreed that transsexuals could also use the coveted title 'girl gamer', if they felt the urge.

Yes, that's right boys, no need to sweat it. You can be a girl gamer even if you channel Lara Croft more than you fantasise about her. Good to know. . . .Read More

TV Review: True Stories: Tears, Tiaras and Transsexuals, More4, Tuesday, 17 March, 10pm

by mofgimmers on March 18, 2009


Once, in an article, I said I was going to dump my girlfriend for Ching-He Huang of Chinese Food Made Easy. Of course, I didn't because that would be silly of me. However, not as hare-brained as my new scheme to run off to America to hound the lovely ladies featured in True Stories: Tears, Tiaras and Transsexuals (More4, Tuesday, 17 March, 10pm). Hot diggity dawg! The post and pre-op gals featured in this marvellous film were seriously stunning. Better than their obviously fine looks, was their even more impressive stories. . . .Read More

. . . a ramble on my new hetero male life

. . . feeling 'not quite right' in the gay/lesbian AND straight community, but i really mean bars and the social scene . . . more updates on this topic to come.

snipncody

Walking, talking female robot to hit Japan catwalk

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

Mar 16, 2009

TSUKUBA, Japan – A new walking, talking robot from Japan has a female face that can smile and has trimmed down to 43 kilograms (95 pounds) to make a debut at a fashion show. But it still hasn't cleared safety standards required to share the catwalk with human models.

Developers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, a government-backed organization, said their "cybernetic human," shown Monday, wasn't ready to help with daily chores or work side by side with people — as many hope robots will be able to do in the future.

"Technologically, it hasn't reached that level," said Hirohisa Hirukawa, one of the robot's developers. "Even as a fashion model, people in the industry told us she was short and had a rather ordinary figure."

For now, the 158 centimeter (62.2 inch) tall black-haired robot code-named HRP-4C — whose predecessor had weighed 58 kilograms (128 pounds) — will mainly serve to draw and entertain crowds. . . .Read More

Transgender healthcare at LC

March 13, 2009

by Maisha Foster-O'Neal


Lewis & Clark College likes to wave its “We Are Progressive” banner. We have a functioning antidiscrimination policy, we have an active gay-straight alliance (United Sexualities, a.k.a. Unisex), and we have comprehensive health care available to all students. Well, to all students except transgender-identified ones.

The current LC health care plan through Aetna states that it “neither covers nor provides benefits for … expenses incurred for, or related to, sex change surgery or to any treatment of gender identity disorders” No other group is explicitly excluded like this in our health care plan.

However, there is a new policy on the table this year that proposes to “add coverage for medically necessary gender reassignment care (hormones, surgery) to the benefit plan. This would add about $9 to the per-semester premium” per student. A $9 increase is nearly negligible when compared to next year’s projected cost of the health plan ($670) and cost of tuition (more than $33,000). If the proposition passes, it will allow transgender students access to medical treatments that would otherwise cost them a minimum of $20,000. The proposition will be put to the vote on March 15. “[If this proposition passes, it will mean] that L&C is actually living up to its non-discrimination pledge,” said a transgender-identified student who wished to remain anonymous. . . .Read More

Canada: Transsexual left in limbo

Taxpayers won't fund sex-change assessment: Judge

By TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA

14th March 2009

BARRIE -- An inmate of an institution for the criminally insane was left in limbo yesterday after a judge refused her request to have the government pay for a $15,000 assessment that would qualify her for a sex change.

"It's pretty upsetting," said Shauna Taylor -- formerly named Vance Egglestone until she got a legal name change -- an inmate at the maximum security Oak Ridge Division of the Mental Health Centre in Penetanguishene. "I don't know who should pay, but somebody should pay."

Except for a brief stint of freedom, Taylor, 52, has been incarcerated since 1976 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity for the brutal rape of a Toronto woman.

BATTLING IN COURT

This past year she and her lawyer, Michael Davies, have been battling in court to try to get the judge to order the Attorney General to pay for a complicated assessment that will determine whether she should qualify for an orchidectomy -- the surgical removal of the testes -- to complete her transition into a female. . . .Read More

Body of evidence: A special report into the lives of transsexuals

15 March 2009

By The Catherine Deveney interview

The up trapped in the wrong gender causes hundreds of people to take their own lives. Surgery gives others a new start, but in many cases the price of happiness is still very high.

HE IS clearly a man. I say 'clearly' because when James Morton walks towards me in an Edinburgh hotel he is dressed like any young professional male, in a suit and tie, he has light beard growth on his face and myriad little signals he transmits suggest masculinity. Should I tell you that once he had breasts, a womb capable of bearing children, that in fact he was female, your eyes would tell your brain that this is a lie. You would feel the confusion that James has felt all his life. Growing up, when he looked in the mirror and saw a female body, he thought, 'Who is that?' For in both his conscious and unconscious mind, even in his dreams as he slept, he was male. "Waking up was just like… 'Oh my God, yes, of course. Back to the complicated mismatch that I have.'"

Even now, things are still confused. James has a legal certificate saying he is male. Underneath the 28-year-old's suit, breasts have been removed, his chest reconstructed. He no longer has a womb. But he does not have a penis. Two gender experts in Scotland, and one internationally renowned expert, Dr Griet De Cuypere, in Belgium, have approved him for surgery. But despite continuing to fund male-to-female surgery, Lothian Health Board has refused to fund phalloplasty, the surgical construction of a penis, which would complete his transition from woman to man. "It's a nightmare situation," says James's doctor, Lyndsey Myskow, associate specialist at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's sexual problems clinic. "There are a number of people in Lothian who have found themselves in this position." . . .Read More

GenderVision: Trans Partner - Gender & Relationship

An extended, in-depth interview with well-known transgender advocates Helen Boyd and Betty Crow. Helen is the author of the book "My Husband Betty", which explores the relationships of crossdressing men and their female partners, as well as a follow-up, "She's Not the Man I Married", a more serious and expansive examination of gender roles in relationships. Betty Crow is a professional actor who has appeared on daytime TV in "All My Children" as a transgender woman, who also works as a web designer and 3D animator.

NNangeroni

Sex-change for free

by Vinay Sitapati

March 14, 2009


Ippadiku Rose (Yours, Rose) is by any yardstick, an unusual TV programme. The Tamil talk show deals with sexuality and sexual taboos. And its host, the lovely Rose — formerly Ramesh Venkatesan, graduate of Lousiana Technical University — underwent a sex-change operation and is now a transgender icon. It’s no coincidence that the show’s a hit in Tamil Nadu. The state has perhaps the world’s most creative schemes for transgender welfare.

It’s not easy defining who a ‘transgender’ is, but the term broadly includes those whose self-identified gender and physical gender don’t match. The pedant may quibble over precise definitions, but society doesn’t — India’s one million transgenders (colloquially called eunuchs, or more uncharitably hijras) are targets of focussed discrimination. Officialdom is slowly waking up to this injustice. In 2005, the Centre introduced the category ‘E’ in passport forms for eunuchs, and in some states they’ve entered politics. But they still face social ostracisation and economic boycotts, and attempts for even a national census have faltered. The Supreme Court last month refused the plea, by a eunuch, to set up an All-India Commission for Transgenders, similar to those for scheduled castes and tribes . . . .Read More