Opinions and Editorials: Transgender Day of Remembrance

By Katherine Boyle - B.O.D.I.E.S

27 October 2008


As it approaches the end of October, some very important national and international dates are coming up quickly; some will be recognizable, and others less known but still significant.

The first of these is November 20 for Transgender Day of Remembrance; this date may not be widely known because the topic of transgendered individuals still seems to be taboo in some circles. The purpose of Transgender Day of Remembrance is to recognize men and women who have been killed due to ignorance and hatred, targeted specifically because they were transgendered. The first such event took place in 1999 in San Francisco, to honor murder victim Rita Hester, who had been murdered brutally the previous year. The 1999 event was organized by Gwendolyn Anne Smith who began the website Remembering Our Dead, and launched the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Transgendered individuals are people who feel that their biological sex doesn’t match with their inner selves, and isn’t representative of who they are. In order to represent the gender that they feel they are, transgendered individuals often make changes through dress, mannerisms, and hair length, or by using or shunning cosmetics. . . .Read More

TSG7: Transphobia

October 17, 2008. Transphobia. TrannystarGalactica

Transsexual study reveals genetic link

Helen Carter
ABC

10.27.2008

The discovery of a genetic variation in male to female transsexuals adds weight to the view that transsexualism has a biological basis, the Australian researchers behind the find say.

Their study shows male to female transsexuals are more likely than non-transsexual males to have a longer version of a receptor gene for the sex hormone androgen or testosterone.

The findings from the largest-yet genetic study of male to female transsexualism are published online today in Biological Psychiatry.

Study leader, head of molecular genetics at Prince Henry's Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Associate Professor Vincent Harley, speculates, based on cell studies, that this genetic variation might reduce testosterone action and "under-masculinise" or feminise the brain during foetal development.

"Studies in cells show the longer version of the androgen receptor gene works less efficiently at communicating the testosterone message to cells," Harley says.

"Based on these studies, we speculate the longer version may also work less efficiently in the brain." . . .Read More

Senior housing for LGBT community opens in Oakland

By Lucinda Ryan
10.24.2008

The refurbished apartments at the former Lake Merritt Hotel in Oakland are now open for retirement living, though residents need not be retired to settle in. Nor do they need to be lesbian, gay, straight or transgender.

They need only to want to live in a diverse community within one building, a community modeled on author Armistead Maupin's fictional series, "Tales of the City."

Maupin's characters all lived in a San Francisco apartment on Barbary Lane. It was a place where homosexuals and heterosexuals — young and not so young — built friendships and camaraderie and no lines were drawn on which lifestyle was acceptable. Everyone was accepted.

So goes the philosophy at today's real-life Barbary Lane Senior Communities, where, say representatives of the 46-unit Art Deco historical building at 1800 Madison St., aging baby boomers can live in a "richly diverse community."

"The conformist generation is diminishing," said Dave Latina, president of Barbary Lane Senior Communities, at a grand opening event held Thursday. He spoke of long-retired GIs who were accustomed to taking directions and not rocking the boat, and pointed out that baby boomers (defined by the U.S. Census as those born from 1946 to 1964) have a far different take on life. . . .Read More

When Frankie Became Fanny

MySinchew 2008.10.25

A father of a 10-year-old daughter has now decided to live the rest of his life as a woman.

Two months ago, a former first sergeant who served 10 years in the Singapore navy sent a mass SMS to all his friends.

It said: “Dear friends, I have changed my name from Frankie to Fanny.”

Some laughed it off as a prank. Others called up Frankie Ler, 34, and were stunned when he told them he had decided to become a woman.

The divorcee and father of a 10-year-old girl told them he had started “transitioning”: He had grown his hair, was taking female hormone pills, and had begun wearing women’s clothes.

“I didn’t want them to get a shock if they bumped into me on the street,” said the administrative assistant, sitting in a Rowell Road Cafe with her daughter. . . .Read More

Pioneers Of Sex-Change Surgery

"Seth Doane travels to Trinidad, Colorado, where the first private practice for gender reassignment surgery, more commonly called "sex-changes," was begun over forty years ago." CBS

CANDLE conference brings focus on gender and sexual identity

By Ben Rubin • The Journal News • October 21, 2008

STONY POINT - "Friend of Dorothy," "butch queen," "femme," "tranny."

Avy Skolnik, from the New York City Anti-Violence Project, wrote the words on an easel pad as a group of about 20 educators called out the terms used by people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to describe themselves.

Each of those terms was used as slurs against members of the LGBT community, then later reappropriated by the community to describe itself, Skolnik said.

Skolnik, a transgender man, led a workshop on creating safe places for transgender people and some basics about being transgender during yesterday's 16th annual CANDLE Conference for Professionals who Work with Youth.

CANDLE, which stands for Community Awareness Network for a Drug-free Life and Environment, is a local nonprofit that focuses on youth drug abuse and violence prevention.

The group hosted more than 100 teachers, school administrators, social workers and others at the Stony Point Center for workshops on bullying, gender and sexual identity, communication and technology, and youths. . . .Read More

Antony Hegarty exposes Another World with his London homecoming

Antony, the Johnsons — and the London Symphony Orchestra? It’s a dream ticket, says Stephen Dalton

October 24, 2008

TIMESONLINE

Onstage at Harlem’s fabled Apollo Theatre, Antony Hegarty cuts an imposing figure. Swept along by a 20-piece orchestra, New York City’s reigning demi-monde diva sobs epic tales of operatic sorrow and romantic rapture. Draped in a magnificent cream-coloured gown, the towering singer looks like an androgynous Statue of Liberty. Obscured by shadow for much of the performance, Hegarty sways as he sings, his tremulous voice channelling the spirit of Nina Simone. A ghostly angel of Harlem.

The excitable crowd at the reassuringly shabby, surprisingly compact Apollo runs the gamut of New York boho cool. Wonky-haired art students pretend not to notice the sleaze-rock legend Lou Reed, a longtime champion of Hegarty and his chamber-pop band, the Johnsons. Intersex couples and drag queens cheer every spine-tingling note from the world’s most fêted transgender pop idol. Old songs are transformed. New tunes sound rich and magical. A brassy cover of Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love is both bizarre and heartfelt.

The day after the Apollo show, Hegarty arrives in good spirits at a labyrinthine art-space-loft-thing high above downtown Manhattan. A soft-spoken gentle giant, the 37-year-old singer quakes with naughty-schoolboy mirth as he flees an aborted photo shoot on the roof terrace. The building is overlooked by the local headquarters of the FBI, so security rules are tightly enforced, especially with Barack Obama in town. . . .Read More

Baldwin praised by transsexual co-star

October 23, 2008

By Lara de Matos


His introduction to Celebville came courtesy of a Calvin Klein modelling contract in the '80s and he counts the likes of supermodel Cindy Crawford, as well as the über-sexy actress Sharon Stone, among his former co-stars.

But these days, William Baldwin's romantic inclinations lean towards the transgender sort - particularly those of the blonde, big-busted and deep-voiced variety. Well, on the small screen, anyway.

The man who once aspired to enter the legal profession has taken the TV world by storm in his latest role as the repressed poor little rich boy, Patrick Darling, in the current primetime sensation, Dirty Sexy Money.

And, as I discover upon meeting him at this year's Rome Fiction Festival, he is well aware of his star status. Apparently, modesty is a virtue lacking among the Baldwin brothers. Then again, perhaps it's simply a life lived under the constant glare of the spotlight that has led to Billy's blasé attitude towards the media, since his fellow cast members can't stop gushing about him, including his on-screen love interest, Candis "Carmelita" Cayne.

Given that William has generally come across as something of a man's man, it's surprising to learn that the Patrick-Carmelita love affair was one of his main motivations for agreeing to play the part. . . .Read More

phalloplasty-radial forearm flap

"my thoughts and why I am going for this surgery" eliaspj83

Thailand's lady-boys in a class of their own

22 October 2008

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

Re: Some don't regret, others do

GLBTQcommunity

Teens in transition

As puberty hits, transgender youths are increasingly finding it the catalyst for coming out about their sexual identities.

By Gloria Hochman

October 20, 2008

Shortly after school began in the fall of 2004, an eighth grader named Tye Clark delivered a jolting message to her classmates.

"I'm the same person I was last year and the year before, but I am transgender and will now come to school as a boy," Tye told four assemblies at Cedarbrook Middle School in Cheltenham Township. "You may not agree, but I hope you will respect me and my right to get a good education."

Eyes misting with tears, Tye asked to be known as Ty. The transgender teen finished to rounds of applause.

Ty celebrated his 18th birthday yesterday. He was born female, but as far back as he can remember, he felt in his brain and his heart that he was a boy.

For years, his father, a family physician, and his mother, a life coach, resisted their child's yearning to switch genders, hoping Tye would grow out of it.

But the feelings intensified when she reached her teens. . . .Read More

Transgender journey

by Nhu Lich

22 October 2008

Vietnam’s most famous transsexual singer Cindy Thai Tai says she’s finally living the life she’s always dreamed of After years of living in shame and torment, Cindy Thai Tai underwent sex reassignment surgery and says she’s never felt happier.

Cindy Thai Tai is ecstatic with her new life, she says. After undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 2005, Tai became one of just a few Vietnamese to speak publicly about her transsexuality. “I make no secret about my gender transformation as I want people to accept me and others like me as we are,” says Tai. “There are those who are not brave enough to make their sexual orientation known in order not to be treated as social outcasts. I don’t want to be like them.” . . . Read More

Mike Penner returns to Los Angeles Times

Kevin Roderick

October 20, 2008

Eighteen month after writing a column about becoming Christine Daniels, veteran sportswriter Mike Penner has quietly returned to work at the Los Angeles Times, according to multiple sources close to the LAT's Sports staff. Penner's column in April 2007 about his sexual transformation became one of the most-viewed Times' stories of the year and was followed by a story in the LAT from media writer James Rainey and tons of other media attention. . . .Read More

LGBT Alaskans on Sarah Palin

"Sarah Palin says she has gay friends but after dozens of conversations with LGBT Alaskans, it's clear they don't think she's a friend to the LGBT community. Get involved at http://www.hrc.org/YearToWin"   hrcmedia

Tech lecture series helps shed light on transgender issues

By Marlena Hartz | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

October 18, 2008

Alone, the boy grabbed his mother's lipstick from the bathroom counter. Clutched in his hand, it felt like a prize, one he knew his schoolmates in this tiny town in the Texas Panhandle, and his parents, who did manual labor to support he and his sister, would reject him, possibly hate him, for wanting.

But they weren't here. His parents at work, the boy, about 11, pressed the tube to his lips.

Since Bobby was about 6, he'd been drawn to his sister's dolls and his mother's heels and dresses. When he was smaller, his mother would giggle when he strutted around the house in her clothes, but as he grew older he learned these things were not for him.

The boy's heart jumped as he heard his father's car rumble into the driveway. The mechanic, hands perpetually stained from tinkering with broken cars, had come home earlier than expected. Scared, Bobby tried to wipe away the lipstick, but the makeup, a stubborn shade of red, had stained his lips.

Father and son stood face to face.

Are you wearing lipstick? . . .Read More

Transcending the Issue of Sexuality

BY LAURA TORRE

October 20, 2008

As students begin to settle in a routine at Columbia—finding their place in campus activities, learning the bureaucracy of the system, and slowly becoming caffeine addicts—a small group of students begins to question where it belongs.

Transgender people, those who choose to identify with the gender opposite to their sex, have a history of not fitting in. Defying their sex, transgender people break away from the gender and sexual binaries, so they fit in as neither women nor men, neither gay nor straight. Rather, they are a combination, a mix-and-match of characteristics that are difficult to define at first glance. For this reason, many find that students at Columbia, as well as the University’s general policies, do not know how to deal with transgender students. . . .Read More