India: Transgender fights all odds to become 'top grade' artiste

CHENNAI: When Bharatnatyam exponent Narthaki Nataraj completes yet another enthralling performance, the audience in the prestigious 'Narada Gana Sabha' here gives her a standing ovation -- not a mean achievement for a transgender ostracised and ridiculed by the society.

Winner of the state Government's 'Kalaimamani' title this year and accorded the status of 'top grade' artiste by Doordarshan, Nataraj has scripted several success stories but not before overcoming many a hurdle.

Born as a fifth 'son' in a lower middle class family at Anupadi in the southern district of Madurai, Nataraj became aware of the femininity in himself at a very young age.

Nataraj's family came in for a rude shock when the child started dressing up and conducting like a woman. The child, who was thrashed, abused and isolated by family members and neighbours, found solace in the company of a classmate, Sakthi Bhaskar, who was also undergoing a similar transformation.

An innate passion for dance in Nataraj was kindled after watching the films of danseus-actors Vyjayanthimala and Padmini in a village theatre. Ever since, it became 'her' burning desire to master the art.

"I considered dance as a medium to express my femininity. I used to imagine myself as Padmini and imitate her movements. Fearing that people would ridicule me, I used to dance at secluded places with my friend Sakthi being my only audience. I had even practised in a graveyard," she recalls.

With Nataraj's parents considering her physical condition an affront to the family's prestige, she walked out of the house at the age of 16. . . .

Katastrophe

THERE WEREN'T TOO many people to look up to in mainstream media while growing up as female-to-male transgender, recalls Katastrophe.

The 27-year-old native of the San Francisco Bay Area says that even today media images are dominated by ''Jerry Springer'' stereotypes and reports of the murders of transgender women.

''I think that it really sends a message to somebody who's coming out,'' he says. ''It's hard to imagine what your adult life will look like.''

Katastrophe

To deal with that struggle, Katastrophe turned to music and poetry at 17, and quickly found himself involved with San Francisco's youth-poetry scene.

Today, Katastrophe is working on his third album, which will continue to blend ''emo,'' pop and hip hop with lyrics that send a message of ''positivity and hope.'' With previous albums, that message has garnered the attention of transgender fans around the country, he says, who e-mail him regularly from places he would have never expected, such as Nebraska.

''I've gotten to see how much the world has changed in the past 10 years.''

But there is still work to be done, he adds, even within the GLBT community. Take the title of Katastrophe's current album, Fault, Lies, and Faultlines. It stems from the confusion he felt about his place in the community, earlier in his career.

''If you're gay, your place is never questioned,'' he says, ''but as a trans person -- especially being a man that dates women -- for all intents and purposes, I'm a straight man in a queer community.''

It's a topic that came up when Katastrophe was about to perform at a previous Homo-A-Go-Go, an annual four-day music and film festival in Olympia, Wash. It was there that he says a few people questioned whether he should ''be able to play during the event at all.''

''It really influenced the content of my second CD, so that's why I called it Fault, Lies, and Faultlines,'' he says. ''It's about where we draw lines, who's to blame, and what is just bullshit.''

Another outlet of self-expression is his skin.

The artist currently has 11 tattoos, mostly words, including ''Hope'' on his neck, ''Tender-hearted'' across his chest and ''Heavy-Handed'' on his arm. Of Greek and Italian descent, Katastrophe was 18 when he got his first tattoo, the word ''Voice'' in Greek on his right shoulder.

''I'm a performer and I use lyrics and text as my way of communicating everything...to the world,'' he says. ''Everyone has a voice and voicing your life to others is the most important part of being alive.''

Katastrophe performs on Thursday, Aug. 16, at 8:30 p.m.

THORN IN YOUR SIDE by Dean Hamer

This is a remake of the video "TransFrancisco."

Visit the Current.TV website and vote!

The Mural Stays!

View F.X.Enderby's map

Taken in (See more photos here)

From the Philadelphia Inquirer Joseph A. Slobodzian

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER (8.14.07):

A city appeals board this afternoon unanimously rejected an Historical Commission order to remove a mural painted on the wall of a building at 410 S. 15th St.

The Board of Licenses and Inspection Review took just eight minutes to decide that Dee Chhin's The Death of Venus could remain on the wall where she painted it more than six years ago.

"I'm just happy it's over," said Chhin. "Finally, I can focus on something else that's not so controversial."

"I'm shocked. This has been six years in the fighting. I am just amazed," said Michael Sher, the Center City real estate broker who commissioned the mural and funded the legal fight to keep it.

City officials said it would be up to the Historical Commission to decide whether to appeal today's ruling to Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

Sher has said that he commissioned Chhin, a Cambodian emigre, a transsexual and an aspiring artist, to paint the mural in 2001 in part to dissuade graffitists from tagging the building's north wall on narrow Waverly Street.

When officials at Peirce College, whose campus is across 15th Street, learned that the mural did not have a permit, they complained to the Historical Commission.

The commission, in turn, cited Sher because the 1850 brick townhouse is in the Rittenhouse-Fitler Residential Historic District.

The designation, established in 1995 to preserve the character of the old residential neighborhood, means owners cannot alter building exteriors without obtaining Historical Commission approval.

But through the complexities of Philadelphia's permit laws, the mural was granted "interim approval," which allowed it to remain for four years before Sher had to apply for an extension.

Those four years passed, and in January the Historical Commission twice voted that the mural must be removed, setting the stage for today's hearing.

Hearing to decide fate of city mural

Joseph A. Slobodzian

Inquirer Staff Writer

Dee Chhin in front of the mural "The Death of Venus," which is to be destroyed in accordance with an order from the city Historical Commission.

When artist Dee Chhin began painting her mural The Death of Venus in 2001 on the wall of a Victorian townhouse in Center City, she had no idea the title would be prophetic.

Today, Chhin's patron goes before a city appeals board to fight a Historical Commission order to destroy The Death of Venus for having it in a historic district without a permit.

The Board of Licenses and Inspection Review meets at 1:15 p.m. in the 18th-floor conference room at 1515 Arch St. to hear the appeal by Michael Sher, a Center City real estate broker who commissioned the mural on the building he manages at 410 S. 15th St.

Lawyer Harry J. Sher, who is representing his brother in the appeal, confirmed yesterday that the hearing was on: "It won't be postponed by us. We're ready to go."

Michael Sher has said he commissioned Chhin, a Cambodian emigre, a transsexual and an aspiring artist, to paint the mural in 2001 in part to dissuade graffitists from tagging the building's north wall on narrow Waverly Street.

When officials at Peirce College, whose campus is across 15th Street, learned that the mural did not have a permit, they complained to the Historical Commission.

The commission, in turn, cited Sher because the 1850 brick townhouse is in the Rittenhouse-Fitler Residential Historic District.

The designation, established in 1995 to preserve the character of the old residential neighborhood, means owners cannot alter building exteriors without obtaining Historical Commission approval.

But through the complexities of Philadelphia's permit laws, the mural was granted "interim approval," which allowed it to remain for four years before Sher had to apply for an extension.

Those four years passed and in January the Historical Commission twice voted that the mural must be removed, setting the stage for today's hearing.

Cross-dressing boxers draw NZ fans

She looks impeccably dressed, down to the mascara, manicured eyebrows and red lipstick, which matches her tracksuit.

But her softly spoken demeanour hides two things. First, she is anatomically male, and second, she packs a mean right hook.

Training at a boxing gym in a part of South Auckland known more for its high crime rate than its gay community, Queen Mandela isn’t afraid to fight for her rights either.

Born Merota Tasilimu in the Pacific nation of Samoa, Mandela is one of a group of four cross-dressing boxers to appear at a sold-out fight in Auckland tonight.

In her homeland, transvestites are known as fafafine and are an accepted part of the culture.

Mandela, 25, now lives in New Zealand and is taking part in the country’s first fafafine boxing tournament.

“What I am doing in the ring is a message to my sisters that we all can do it. I do it to show people we can defend ourselves,” she told AAP at a training session.

“It is also good exercise for my body,” she adds, with a high-pitched squeal.

A total of 24 fafafine will fight each other in coming months as part of the tournament.

People in Australia wanting to see them in action may get their chance next year, explains Mandela’s manager, fellow fafafine Jennifer O’Brien-Finau.

A tournament is expected to be held in Brisbane in February and in Sydney in November next year.

Trainer Ofisa Vili said the fafafine were as good as any boxers he had seen.

“We are all the same, and god created us all. And when they box, the man comes out in them. They can fight,” Vili said.

As part of the competition, the fafafine will fight over three two-minute rounds.

There were plans to fight multiple bouts on the same night as part of an elimination series, but because of the toughness of the competition the tournament will be spread over several months.

Former New Zealand light heavyweight champion Johnny Nomura was at training to see the fafafine in action.

“He can punch, he is very good,” he said of Mandela.

AUCKLAND

Australia, first person: ALWAYS FEELING DIFFERENT

Kim* was always attracted to straight women.

I knew I liked girls when I was probably six or seven years old, though I didn’t know why I was feeling that way. When I was about 18 or 19 I decided I was gay – it was all I knew at the time. I didn’t have an understanding of what transgender or transsexual was.

I was always attracted to straight women and I couldn’t understand what that was about. It worked for me at that time though, so I was happy with that.

It was hard to have long-term relationships with straight women, because they would always go back to men. So when I was 30 I decided I would be interested in lesbians. But when I started going out in the gay community I felt different. It was hard for me to come across anyone I found attractive.

I used to have a strong reaction to bridge women, so I would engage them in conversation. I was really surprised to hear that they didn’t feel like men – they dressed like men, but that was about presentation. They didn’t want to be labelled in a particular way.

I was studying counselling at that time and learning about gender issues. I hadn’t had much exposure to it, and I found that lesbians weren’t very open in talking to me about it. There is still so much confusion around the issue.

I then started dating feminine lesbian women and there were also some issues there. Every now and then I found them to be a bit masculine and that made me uncomfortable at times.

But for the last two years I have been with a partner who has a lot of knowledge on the subject. She helped me to understand that I was transgender.

I don’t want to change my sex and I don’t want to become a man. I am happy this way and I am not going to go there. That is where a lot of the confusion and misunderstanding comes from.

Most of the other women I have met who are in a similar position will have the operation and change their sex, so I do feel quite alone. I am sure there are others out there, but I haven’t met them.

I am now beginning to understand why, when I go out on the scene, I am not attracted to lesbians. However, I sometimes find feminine lesbians attractive.

I now formally identify as transgender. I don’t specifically dress like a man or wear men’s clothes. Maybe if I was a man I would be happy to wear men’s clothes, but I am comfortable with the identity I have got.

I wear women’s clothes, but I wear pants and a shirt that are not of a feminine presentation.

People would not know I am transgender by looking at me – they usually see me as a tomboy. Straight women are often attracted to me though. I don’t know whether it is for fun or because they are attracted to a male energy.

If people ask how I identify, I will often say I am gay. But I will say I am transgender if I am talking to someone who has an understanding of gender issues.

In my experience, the straight community has been more willing to understand it. When I talk to lesbians there has sometimes been a negative reaction. A few women I have spoken to when I go out on the scene just look at me in a really confused way. I have definitely found that within the lesbian community there is a lack of knowledge.

* Not her real name.

As told to Cara Davis

Pick only one. . .

Celebrating Female Game Devs of Yesteryear

by Ernest Adams

As Women in Games International's Austin conference approaches, Next-Gen takes a moment to recognize the outstanding female developers who molded the industry during its early years. . . .

The business has also included its share of transgendered women. Dani Bunten Berry was without doubt one of the greatest game designers of all time, although much of her work was published under her original name, Dan Bunten. Berry created games that are considered industry milestones, most notably M.U.L.E. (which stood for Multi-Use Labor Element). It was a multiplayer trading and exploration game with a clever and innovative auction interface. Berry died of lung cancer in 1998 and is sorely missed. . . .

The WIGI Conference will be held on September 8, 2007 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Visit www.womeningamesinternational.org for more details.

Transgender woman reflects on life changes

BY SHA'DAY JACKSON

The Dispatch

Robbie Cohn, 56, has decided she will no longer pretend to be someone she is not.

"After the genie was out of the bottle, I told myself that I would never live in denial ever again," said Cohn, who was born a man but has been living for 41/2 years as a transgender woman.

"I don't deny the fact that I'm transgender. By the same token, I don't wear a T-shirt that says, 'kiss me, I'm trans.' I don't have it tattooed on my forehead."

Confused, in denial and living a lie are the words to describe the emotions Cohn kept built up inside until she came out and began to live her life as a woman and not a man.

"I thought that somehow it would go away," said Cohn, recalling how uncomfortable she felt while living as a man. "(I thought) that there was a way to cure it, a way to stop it ... "

Cohn said these feelings dated back to when she was 3 or 4 years old, when her mom's friend was baby-sitting her. She and the baby-sitter's daughter played dress up. Cohn remembers very vividly, she said, putting on makeup and feeling like it was right and natural. . . .

(Listen to Robbie talk about growing up in the 1950s)

Zoom

Robbie Cohn talks with a reporter about her transgender selection and the difficulties she faces on an ongoing basis. Bobbie Jamison/The Dispatch

Flash required to hear audio

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer

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Style guides provide guidance on the use of words and phrases that do not yet have generally accepted principles for usage—and this one is no exception. However, this guide also gives readers directions on which words and phrases to use and when to use them. It also lets readers know which words and phrases should be avoided.

Answers to grammatical questions, such as when to use a comma, are not found here. Other guides cover those concerns. This guide focuses only on language related to diversity.

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A Family Doctor's Journey From Man to Woman

And what it means for his family of patients.

Part 1: A family doctor's journey from man to woman. And what it means for his family of patients.; transgender ts transsexual doctor boston medicine; A family doctor's journey from man to woman--and what it means for his family of patients. Produced by Scott LaPierre and Ann Silvio / Reported by Neil Swidey http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137942367http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=245991542

On May 22, 2006,

Mike Foster was sitting on the padded exam table in his doctor’s office, undergoing his annual physical. It was a familiar place. For 14 years, he’d been coming to see the same doctor in the same Somerville office a few blocks from the same two-family home that had been in Foster’s family for four generations. And it was a comfortable place. Despite having to wear a hospital johnny that stretched to cover his 6-foot-7 frame, Foster felt at ease, because of the doctor sitting across from him. Roy Berkowitz-Shelton, a soft-spoken, bald, middle-aged family physician a foot shorter than Foster, always managed to convey competence and caring at the same time.

Foster, who managed truck sales for a local Chevy dealership, looked younger than his 52 years, with his full head of light-brown hair just beginning to admit some gray. But his body, which had served him well during his days playing basketball for Somerville High School, was definitely showing its miles. Bad knees, bone spurs in his heels, a blood clot in his leg, and a back so bad it required triple fusion spinal surgery. Throughout it all, Dr. Berkowitz-Shelton had been his source of stability, coordinating care with other specialists.

There was something else that made his doctor special. During visits, he always reserved ample time to talk about Foster’s personal life, about his children, his marriage, his work, his level of happiness. They found that despite their different backgrounds, they had a lot in common: Both were 52-year-old, hard-working men devoted to their wives of 25 years and their college-age kids.

"He was a friend, a confidant," Foster says. "I felt I could talk to him about anything."

But as this exam was winding down, it was the doctor who chose to do the confiding. Peering over the glasses resting on the tip of his nose, he told Foster there was going to be a major change in the practice in about a month. A letter would soon be going out to all his patients, but he wanted to give Foster advance notice.

PHOTOS: A journey from man to woman Editor's note VIDEO: The Transformation, Part 1 PDF: Read Dr. Berkowitz-Shelton's June 2006 letter to patients PDF: A niece's note PDF: One patient's response

From the seriousness in his doctor’s voice, Foster sensed he was about to tell him he was moving to California or retiring early or leaving medicine. He had built up so much trust in the guy that he dreaded the prospect of losing him.

"I’m going to be transitioning to live my life as a woman," the doctor said.

Foster was floored. He stared at Berkowitz-Shelton, and for the first time noticed that he was not just cleanshaven but now appeared to be devoid of facial hair. This was no joke. Foster struggled to come up with an appropriate response. But his first thought was how some of the tougher townies he grew up with in Somerville might have responded had they been sitting on the exam table, wearing the johnny. Would they have just punched him in the nose? Foster put that thought aside and said, "That’s interesting. How are your peers taking the news?"

Berkowitz-Shelton replied that they were generally very supportive.

"So, do you think this is going to affect your practice?"

Berkowitz-Shelton said he hoped it wouldn’t, but he knew he was going to lose some patients.

Foster regained his footing and cracked, "Well, you’re in the Bermuda Triangle here in Davis Square between Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville. Your business may actually go up!"

Berkowitz-Shelton chuckled. "I hope so."

Foster wished his doctor well and reminded him he would be back in a month for a follow-up.

But his mind was racing as he left the office. During his lifetime, he had seen a Davis Square once dominated by Italian and Irish families like his become transformed into one of the most diverse swaths of pavement in Greater Boston. No spot in the square captured this cross section as effortlessly as the pale-green waiting room in Berkowitz-Shelton’s Davis Square Family Practice. Conservative and liberal, rosary-bead-clutching and atheist, rich and poor, infant and octogenarian, black and white, gay and straight, townie and foreigner, veal-loving and vegan – they were all here. The other physician in the office would often marvel at the single day when she had seen patients from every inhabited continent on the globe.

Foster was a traditional guy, but he had come to view the changes around him with a sort of amused acceptance – and a sense of distance, as though he were watching it all unfold on film. But this change he’d just been asked to accept was hitting much closer to home. My trusted doctor is a transsexual? To him, even the term was off-putting, conjuring HBO shows airing at 2 in the morning and tabloid headlines screaming about a convicted murderer trying to get the state to pay for sex-change surgery. That stuff had nothing to do with him. So he’d never had to think seriously about this issue of people who felt they were born in the wrong bodies. . . .

More true stories. . .

Our Blogger

Christine Daniels is a veteran sportswriter who has worked at the Los Angeles Times for 23 years -- as Mike Penner -- before announcing in The Times on April 26, 2007 her decision to change gender. She will be blogging about her transition over the days to come.

I had dinner last week with my friend Rochelle, who has a sense of humor that ought to be outlawed, at least when I’m trying to drink a watermelon mojito without completely losing it and/or laughing so hard I need a napkin to sop up my tears.

She did it to me again by recounting a comedian’s stand-up routine (she couldn’t recall the guy’s name) about why there are no video games for women: “He said that’s because in a video game where you’re supposed to fight a dragon, men want to cut off the dragon’s head -- and women want to talk to the dragon for two hours about their feelings. Where’s the ‘Share Feelings’ button?! Where’s ‘Turbo-Cry’?! (Rochelle starts frantically punching an imaginary video-game control.) SHARE FEELINGS! SHARE FEELINGS!”

I need no Turbo-Cry button in my day-to-day life. Tears come pretty easily for me. They are often tears of happiness, sometimes tears of sadness, usually tears that overflow my emotional reservoir as I contemplate the events of a just-completed day.

This is a relatively new experience for me. Before 2005, when I began what therapists call “exploring my gender,” I went years without crying. I was emotionally locked up, dried up. Boys don’t cry, right? I fought hard to uphold that code, so hard that it nearly broke me. The floodgates opened after the first few times I stepped out in public in my female persona. I cried at the overwhelming exhilaration I immediately felt when presenting as Christine. I cried even more when those outings ended and I had to return home to de-construct and fade back into a male mode that quickly grew from awkward to uncomfortable to oppressive to unbearable.

This time last year, I was crying painfully, often uncontrollably, every day. Wadded-up Kleenex littered the floor around my bed. Psychologically and emotionally, I had reached rock bottom. I had to make a change, or I wasn’t going to last. My therapists virtually had to drag me out of that pit of despair to set me on the course that brought to where I am today -- happier and more fulfilled than I ever could have imagined. These days, I often think about that dire time in my life, only 12 months ago, and an intervention that seems nothing less than miraculous.

My transition still has its share of rocky moments, and I have had several in the last week. A few days ago, I joined my trans friend Lynn at Chapman University, where we spoke to and answered questions from a very bright group of cultural anthropology students. Lynn, rock-solid resilient with a self-deprecating sense of humor, hits it squarely when she says, “Transitioning is not for wimps.” My transition has required an inner strength and resolve I never knew I had 12 months ago. I have needed every ounce of support and acceptance I have received from so many -- my editors at The Times, my colleagues, my therapists, my church, readers (so generous with their emails) and a collection of friends who amaze me on a daily basis with their kindness, loyalty and love. I realize I am very, very lucky. . . .

See celeb sex swap viral

By LOUISE COMPTON
August 09, 2007

BLIMEY, Bruce Willis is really in touch with his feminine side.

The Die Hard tough guy is among the Hollywood hunks transformed into glam girls in a madcap viral email doing the rounds.

Computer wizards at Worth1000.com have given a whole host of stars sex-swap makeovers – and the results are hilarious!

Our gallery features the lady-likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Matt Damon and more.

Click the images. . .see for yourselves!

District of Columbia: Transgendered Career Day and Job Fair Announced

The Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs (LGBT), in conjunction with Transgendered Health Empowerment, Transgendered Education Association and other community based organizations will be organizing some events to help the transgendered community find jobs in the fall of 2007.

The purpose of these events will be to bring together representatives of government agencies, corporations and private businesses with interests in the District together with members of the District’s transgendered community for the expressed purpose of finding jobs and job training opportunities for them.

The first event is a “Career Day” workshop that will take place on Saturday August 18, 2007, from 1 pm to 6 pm in the 2nd Floor Community Room of the Reeves Center at 2000 14th Street, NW. Highlights will include employment readiness workshops focused on resume writing, completing the DC 2000 application, interviewing 101, and tips on dressing for success. Additionally, there will be information on how to access employment services and vocational rehab. The event will conclude with a presentation by members of the community who have been successful and a general overview of jobs that are available.

The second event will be a “Job Fair” that will take place on Saturday September 29, 2007, from 1 pm to 5 pm at the ARC located at 1901 Mississippi Avenue, SE. The job fair will feature representatives from government, the nonprofit community and corporate employers. Further details about this job fair will be available in the future.

• Download a promotional flyer in English* for the Career Fair on August 18
• Download a promotional flyer in Spanish* for the Career Fair on August 18

5 months on T

Transman Civil War Hero?

I won't lie, I'm a lover of history. One of the the blogs I regularly read is Civil War Women. The blog is thick with biographies of women that lived and thrived in the Civil War era. One of the "women" she posted about caught my eye. He was born Jennie Irene Hodgers, but lived most of his adult life as Albert D.J. Cashier. Albert served in the 95th Illinois Infantry Regiment. The 95th was was part of the Army of the Tennessee, led by Ulysses S. Grant. The 95th engaged in many fierce battles including including the siege at Vicksburg, the Red River Campaign and the combat at Guntown, Mississippi.

After the Civil War, Albert worked as a janitor, a lamplighter, and other odd jobs. It was not until a car accident that 1910, was revealed Albert was female bodied. His caretakers kept his secret, even when he was admitted into the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy, Illinois. It wasn't until he was admitted to Watertown State Hospital for the Insane, that the secret became widely known.

You can read a wonderful biography of him here.

Even a cursory look at his life suggests that he was transgender. The evidence:

1. He volunteered on August 6, 1862 in Boone County. When his regiment was retired in 1865, they were in Belvidere, Illinois. He could have stayed in his home town of Bevidere, if he wished to return to life as a woman. Yet he moved 138 miles southeast of Boone County, to Saunemin, IL and continued to live as a man.



2. It might be argued that he did not live as a woman because he wanted the pension that came with service. But to receive the pension Albert would have been required to take a physical exam. He refused until later in life, when he was assured that his secret would not be made public.

3. At the Watertown State Hospital for the Insane, he had NOTHING to gain from living as a man. Yet even then when forced to wear a skirt he would bring the skirt in with pins to make the skirt into pants.

4. Albert secured his home with a number of locks, changing them frequently in case someone had somehow gotten a key. If he was going to be away from his house, he nailed the windows shut. Why? Being female bodied, there would be some evidence in his home of this.

Albert D.J. Cashier went to great lengths to protect his gender identity all his life. Even in death, he was gendered male. Those who knew and loved him went to great pains to keep his secret.

Rest in peace, my brother.

Japan: Weekend Beat: When you're the boss, you can be yourself

08/11/2007
BY MAYUMI SAITO, STAFF WRITER

Nel Kisaragi smiled as she handed over her business card. Slender and fair-skinned, she is the president of Newgauge Inc., an IT marketing and system-consulting company with a dual mission: to make a profit and to improve the lives of members of the transgender community.

Kisaragi, a man until she adopted her female identity two years ago, is now in her late 20s. She started Newgauge in September 2005 with two other transgender executives. Among the company's 17-member staff, seven are male transsexuals.

The name Newgauge was chosen to convey the idea that new social standards or gauges are needed to enable society to better understand and accept differing sexual identities. Newgauge intends to establish itself, Kisaragi says, as a gender-free corporation competing in the computer and mobile-phone marketplace.

Workplace prejudice

The transgender community still encounters prejudice, especially in employment. "I've had many friends who say their only options were night jobs (bartending or working as hosts in transgender bars)," she says.

Gender-identity disorder (GID), a condition in which an individual has been assigned one gender, usually on the basis of their sex at birth, but identifies as belonging to another gender is now widely accepted.

In 2003, a law was enacted that allowed a change in gender registration, with certain restrictions, in family registries. However full acceptance in the workplace is still a long way off.

"In Japan, onee-man (literally sister-man) is in style, part of a fad in the fashion, beauty and entertainment industries. But you don't see them as bank tellers or stockbrokers," Kisaragi says.

Kisaragi explains that even if transgender individuals change their biological sex and gender in the family registry, many, by society's standards, don't look "right" for the target gender.

She says conservative employers are often concerned about how clients will react to transgender workers or fret about the use of restrooms.

"There are many bright people among the transgendered. They should be given more opportunities. Our company can demonstrate their potential in the IT field," Kisaragi says. Newgauge plans, designs and manages Web and mobile sites. It also does blog marketing, system consulting, production publicity and dispatches IT specialists to client firms.

She says a stereotype held by many young Japanese women--that transsexuals possess a heightened sense of beauty--works in her company's favor. Newgauge targets young women, she says, explaining that female consumers are big Internet shoppers, especially in the mobile-phone market. . . .

How Immigration Crackdown Policy Affects Transgender Community

By ILENE JONES, on Friday, 10 August 2007

ORLANDO (Genderology.com) - A policy meant to crack down on illegal immigration and terrorists will affect the LBGT community as well. Those people who are currently "in transition" will be affected by this policy, making it harder for them to get new jobs without "outing" themselves. Some transgender people who are now post-operative -- have had gender reassignment surgery, also known as genital reconstructive surgery and SRS -- but have not had their gender markers changed will also be affected by this, and other similar policies. These policies do not take into account the trouble that they cause for someone in this unique situation, because the position is not understood by many law makers. The transgender community is beginning to get more air time on TV, but very few shows detail the legal issues that a transgender person would have to endure during transition. Because most transgender people choose to live stealth, it has been difficult to bring these issues into the forefront.

This policy will cause the most problems for anyone who is pre-operative, living "full time", and has an employer who sends gender markers to Social Security as part of the verification. These individuals will be flagged, and if they are unable to clear the issue with the Social Security Administration, they will have to out themselves at work or risk loosing their jobs. Before the Social Security Administration will change the gender marker on a Social Security Card, they require a letter from the surgeon. There are many individuals who are unable to have surgery for medical reasons, and these individuals will always be "in transition" as they are unable to complete surgery and the final steps of the process. This same problem exists for most states and Birth Certificates, which must also match the Social Security Card.

An Orlando local writes, "Previously, the Social Security Administration was sending out letters to businesses where employee's name or gender marker on their file weren't matching.

These "No-Match" letters told the company that they had 60 days to fix this information or have the employee update their information. This previously caused transgender employees to be outted at their workplace. A new policy going into effect will require companies to fire employees if they do not fix the information within 90 days. If this policy goes into effect, there will be a lot of unemployed transgender individuals. I've actually received a notice from my employer a few months ago regarding one of these letters from the SSA. I'm definitely seeing this issue popping up again for me in the near future. . . .

Transcript, from CNN.com: Larry King Live. . .

Men who have surgery to become women, women who become men. . . .

Aired August 10, 2007 - 21:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Tonight, having surgery to change their sex. Men becoming women, women becoming men, a dad turned mom here with her sons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She took away our father, but in return she gave me another parent, a better parent. Our love is unconditional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: An 18-year-old in transition from male to female aiming to be the first transgender Victoria's Secret model. A former city manager named Steve who was fired after announcing his plan to change genders. He's here now as Susan. They are all next on LARRY KING LIVE.

Good evening. Tonight's show takes on the topic of gender reassignment surgery and the people who have had it. They are born one gender but emotionally they feel more like the opposite sex, so at some point in their lives they embark on a long, tough journey to physically change themselves into the person they feel like most rather than the person they were born as.

We begin with the amazing story of Jessica Lam, born a man, went on to marry, father children, eventually underwent gender reassignment surgery. Let's take a look at part of her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA LAM, FORMER MAN: When I was little, I used to wish that I could like get up and put on a skirt. Like I was this little boy who wanted to be a girl and now that I can get up, go grab me a skirt and wear it to work, guess what I'm wearing? A pair of jeans.

It's not what the world around me would say was normal, you know. I hate having to say that, normal, and I don't have to go around like telling people that, you know. I shouldn't have to. Just accept me. I'll take care of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technically pizza is healthy because it's got meat and if you want can you have fruits and vegetables.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm upset that she took away our father but in return she gave me another parent, a better parent for me. JESSICA LAM: Some in my family did not agree with my decision, you know. They were uncomfortable with it and some of them are still uncomfortable with it, but they are willing to accept me.

Chris, you want to say grace then.

And our love is unconditional. . . .