my parents coming out

"just bout me commin out to my parents"  Tristan14578

Catching Up

Although they have a long way to go, news organizations are beginning to report with more sophistication about transgender issues.

By Lindsay Kalter 

October / November 2008

In April 2007, the byline of a well-known Los Angeles Times sports columnist changed from Mike Penner to Christine Daniels. In her column announcing the transition, Daniels asked a question that reflects a significant void in media coverage: "How do you go about sharing your most important truth, one you spent a lifetime trying to keep deeply buried...to a world whose knowledge of transsexuals usually begins and ends with Jerry Springer's exploitation circus?"

It is this vacuum of knowledge about those who identify with the gender different from their sex at birth that news organizations are just beginning to fill. Discussion of transgender issues in serious media (as opposed to daytime talk shows) is relatively new--and like most fledglings, it is floundering on its way to maturity. As the topic becomes less taboo and is more frequently treated as one of social and political importance, the media struggle to evolve with the times--and don't always succeed. The result is what some social commentators believe to be the bipolar state of transgender news coverage. Stories ricochet between extremes: sensational and fair, confusing and enlightening, insipid and insightful. . . .Read More

Feds sue Harley dealership for firing transgender mechanic

by Matthew S. Bajko

2 October 2008

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing locally-owned Dudley Perkins Company, one of the country's oldest Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealerships, for allegedly violating federal law when it fired a transgender mechanic after she filed a sex discrimination complaint against it.

According to the federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, September 30, the dealership hired Bowen Dean, 44, as an entry-level lot technician on June 23, 2005. Yet, despite her training as a Harley-Davidson mechanic, Dean was never allowed to perform the duties she was originally hired to do, and instead was assigned to customer service and bookkeeping work, according to the results of the commission's investigation.

After she was repeatedly passed over for technical jobs filled by men who were hired from outside without her training or experience, Dean filed a sex discrimination charge with the EEOC in February 2006. Just two months later in April 2006, the company unjustly fired her, the EEOC said. . . .Read More

Prom Dress a Federal Case

By ARTHUR S. LEONARD

10/02/2008

In a September 25 ruling, a federal judge in Gary, Indiana, gave a green light to a lawsuit by a transsexual high school student suing over his principal's refusal to allow him to attend the prom in a dress.

US District Judge Joseph S. Van Bokkelen, of the Northern District of Indian, denied public school administrators' motion to dismiss the suit filed by Kevin "K.K." Logan against the Gary Community School Corporation. The court found that the defendants had not met the high standard for a motion to dismiss, which essentially is that they show that the plaintiff has no plausible claim.

Lambda Legal represents Logan.

According to the complaint, Logan identifies as a gay transsexual youth who prefers to wear feminine attire, and did so throughout his senior year at West Side High School in Gary. It is an interesting sign of the times that Logan claims he encountered no substantial problems at school due to his attire, finding both teachers and fellow students generally supportive. Even the assistant principal stated no objections when Logan inquired about wearing a dress to the prom.  . . .Read More