Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sex change treatment should start in adolescence - Czech experts
17 July 2008
Prague- The government working group for sexual minorities wants the bill on special medical services to enable sex-change treatment to start being applied to people under 18, Minister for human rights and ethnic minorities Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens, SZ) told CTK today.
The Health Ministry is to submit the respective bill to the government in August.
The bill regulates the rules for sterilisation, castration, and sex-change operations as well as artificial fertilisation and abortion.
The Czech Sexological Association is pushing for changes in the treatment of adolescent transsexuals.
Its member Ivo Prochazka said this treatment would only be applied to the clear cases of transsexuals. The children's parents would have to approve the treatment.
Prochazka added that the treatment is based on the administration of medicines to inhibit the development of sexual organs. However, the process is still reversible.
Then sexual hormones are being administered before the sex-change operation that can be performed only on patients over 18. . . .Read More
Universities see rising amount of co-ed dorms
By Case Keefer
16 July 2008
Most colleges didn’t allow students of different genders to live in the same dormitory 40 years ago.
After gender-neutral buildings were opened, universities began to allow members of the opposite sex to live on the same floor. Now, there’s a new gender-based issue to debate in student housing.
“We’re at the next phase in the evolution,” Jeffrey Chang, co-founder of the National Student Genderblind Campaign, said. “Why can’t men and women take the next step and live together?”
Chang, a senior at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., started the national campaign for gender-neutral dorm rooms after he was not allowed to share a room with one of his close female friends his freshman year.
It caught on. National news organizations such as USA Today and CNN featured the National Student Genderblind Campaign in stories. Students experiencing rejection like Chang began reaching out to the organization. And Chang said the number of schools allowing gender-neutral rooms doubled, from 15 to 30.
“Whether or not schools are actually doing this is one thing,” Chang said. “But schools are actually talking about it. Students are talking about it. That’s the thing I’m most happy about.” . . .Read More
Transgender People Need Advocacy At Work
July 17, 2008
Two University of Oregon doctoral students dove into issues of transgender identities — in the workplace and professional counseling — and surfaced with a call for psychologists and vocational counselors to not only treat but to act as advocates for their clients — and to help end discrimination in the workplace.
“One of the main points of our paper is that not only do we need to be, as vocational psychologists or career counselors, working with transgender people at an individual level to help them get hired, but we also need to be doing a lot of social advocacy work — working with employers and workplaces — improving antidiscrimination policies and doing legal advocacy,” said lead author Maya Elin O’Neil. . . .Read More
City forces TG woman to dress in men's room
Cleveland--A city swimming pool has told a transgender woman that she must sign in as a man and use the men’s locker room to change into her swimsuit.
Karen Deamons of Cleveland has been swimming at the Cudell Recreation Center on the city’s west side since 2005. She swims there three times a week as part of her rehabilitation from a stroke that year.
Deamons says that there has been tension between her and Cudell management since she started swimming at the facility. But it has escalated in the last month, resulting in her being barred for a week, then being required to sign the men’s registry when she arrives.
She has filed a sex stereotyping complaint against the city of Cleveland. The complaint, filed June 24 with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, will be investigated by Gina Curry of the commission.
Deamons says she complied last year when Cudell told her to use the men’s changing room, but “it’s getting harder and harder” mostly because of the children at the facility. . . .Read More
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
TRINIDAD
"Sample clip from the upcoming feature documentary TRINIDAD directed by PJ Raval and Jay Hodges."
See: http://trinidadthemovie.com/
'I'm mistaken for a man every day'
The beguiling combination of kd lang's androgynous looks and sensuous voice propelled her to fame in the 90s but, asks Emine Saner, does she want her first collection of new songs in eight years to put her back at the top of the charts?
Wednesday July 16, 2008
The Guardian
kd lang ... 'I love getting older'. Photograph: Sean Smith
For a while, in the 90s, it felt as if kd lang was everywhere. Then she was nowhere. Today, she's here, in a hotel room in Cologne, halfway through a European tour of her first album of original songs in eight years. Gone are the model groupies, celebrity friends and media circus. She is older, wiser, more settled. A reincarnation, if you like. . . .Read More
Young Teens Openly Express Sexuality; LGBT Pre-Teens Proud, Not Safe
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
July 16, 2008
Sean has felt since the age of 2 or 3 that he was a boy in a girl's body. Telling his parents at age 11 was difficult but coming out as transgender among his seventh-grade classmates was like walking into a lion's den.
When Sean first shared his sexuality with his mother, "She didn't take it well," he said. "She cried for about a week, but then went on the Internet and understood it better."
About a month before Sarah's "transition" to Sean, his mother informed school officials, but no one told teachers or students.
"One day I was Sarah with female pronouns and Monday I was Sean with male pronouns, without any explanation," said Sean, a pseudonym for the central New Jersey teen who wants a fresh start in high school this fall.
"I was bullied every day, shoved into lockers, beaten up and made fun of," said the 14-year-old. "The teachers were standing right there, saying nothing or just not aware of it." . . .Read More
Transsexual Tilapia?
I know what you're thinking already. It sounds totally insane. But the tilapia you eat very likely has gone through a sex change.
Let me explain: When we began working on our story about Whole Foods' new farmed seafood standards, one bullet point caught our eye: No Methyl testosterone for sex reversal.
As it turns out, farm-raised tilapia is typically given testosterone in their food when they're very small, for the first 35-40 days of feeding, Whole Foods seafood quality standards coordinator Carrie Brownstein told me. Any fish that were on the path to a womanly fishhood change course to become strapping male tilapia instead, turning the pond into one big fishy frat party. . . .Read More
Looking Back: Tula Interviewed, Part 1
View video here.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Looking Back: Tula Interviewed, Part 2
View video here.
Human Rights Campaign Releases Statement on McCain Comments Against Same-Sex Adoption
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 15, 2008
CONTACT: Human Rights Campaign
Brad Luna 202/216.1514 Cell: 202/812.8140
Trevor Thomas 202/216.1547 Cell: 202/250.9758
Comments show McCain is out of touch with today’s leading child welfare organizations
WASHINGTON - July 15 - The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, issued the following statement today after Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, told the New York Times he remains opposed to adoption by same-sex couples implying that he is opposed to single-parent adoption as well. In the interview, published Sunday, July 13, McCain said, “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.” “McCain’s comments on adoption show a disturbing disregard for the reality that thousands of children and youth face -- the possibility of never having a permanent, loving home,” said Ellen Kahn, director of the HRC Foundation’s Family Project. “Leading child welfare organizations in the U.S. concur that there is no reason to prevent gay and lesbian people from raising children, and the child welfare professionals who are mandated to find the best possible families for children in need recognize that every potential loving parent, whether single or married, gay or straight, is a valuable resource for children who are in need of a permanent family. It is an insult to these professionals and the children whom they represent to suggest that the door should be closed to people other than a “traditional” married couple. It is also an insult to the thousands of children being raised by lesbian and gay parents, and who are thriving and contributing positively to their communities.” . . .Read More
Critique, POV, Opinion: Boys Will Be Girls?
BY CELESTE McGOVERN
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
July 6-12, 2008
PHILADELPHIA — When “Ben Carson” was 3 years old, his favorite color was pink and his best friend at nursery school was a girl. He drew flowers and he loved Snow White.
His parents noticed differences between him and other boys and they started to recall with concern the little things he had done since he was a toddler — such as wandering around the house wearing a towel robe like a dress.
“Then one evening when he was 4 years old, I was putting him into bed and he said, ‘I really don’t want to grow up,” recalled his father, a government worker in Philadelphia who requested anonymity to protect his son. “And he said, ‘I really wish I was a girl.’ Something clicked. I just knew something was really wrong with my son. He was depressed and just not happy with who he was.”
If young Ben lived in Massachusetts, he could be a candidate for “gender reassignment” treatment at a children’s hospital there that recently opened a controversial clinic that allows young children to select their own gender and treats them with hormones. Hearings that began June 26 at the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee show just how accepted gender reassignment has become. Democrats on the committee want to make it illegal for employers to discriminate against adults who change their gender. . . .Read More
Questioning Athletic Gender Norms
Jess Ream, a student at Mount Holyoke College, spoke with It Takes A Team! about being a transgender college athlete. Jess is currently a senior, and played ice hockey from freshman year to junior year. It Takes A Team! is the Women's Sports Foundation's program aimed at eliminating homophobia in athletics.
What athletic accomplishments are you most proud of?
My senior year of high school I was league MVP and made the All-State team in CT for basketball. I also went into New-England’s seated 3rd in javelin in my first and only season of track and field. I was the only athlete from my school to go to State opens for three events, and won discus for Class S States.
How do you identify your gender?
I identify as transgender or genderqueer. I am female bodied, but usually pass as a man. I do not have a pro-noun preference. Identifying as just male or female has always felt like playing dress up. I have been told, and feel, very much in the middle. I let people call me what is most comfortable for them, since I don’t mind either.
How did you “come out” to your teammates and coaches?
I was bisexual when I joined the team. I had never played ice hockey or even skated on ice before, but a girl I was dating was on the team. I would go to games as support, but after watching a couple of games, I knew I had to try it. As I started to realize the extent of my gender, I felt uncomfortable on a women’s team. Even though I was not the only transgender or transsexual on the team, and no one on the team seemed to mind, I still didn’t like that we being lumped in with the “women’s team”. Removing gender labels like this at a single sex college would invite transgender athletes to socially become part of the campus they already are attending. Coming out as a transgender stopped my official sports career. Although I continue to work out avidly, I was not able to resolve being trans and being an athlete. . . .Read More
Monday, July 14, 2008
My Facial Feminization Surgery
"This is a 3 min 41 sec video diary of still images from my Facial Feminization Surgery by Dr. Spiegel on Dec. 16, 2006. It was very very painful but worth it." Vicki Estrada
Trans parents, trans kids: two new guides
Jul 10, 2008
Two new works offer much-needed guidance for families with transgender members, but each approaches the subject from a different perspective. One addresses parents of transgender children, while the other targets children of transgender parents.
The Transgender Child, by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper (Cleis, 2008), is subtitled, "A Handbook for Families and Professionals," but speaks mostly to parents. With even mainstream media such as NPR and the parenting magazine Cookie broaching the subject of gender variance in children in the last few months, the appearance of a thorough, authoritative work for parents is long overdue. This book fills the need with balance and sensitivity.
The authors have each published other books on LGBT parenting: Brill authored The Queer Parent’s Primer (New Harbinger, 2001) and co-authored The Essential Guide to Lesbian Conception, Pregnancy, and Birth (Alyson, 2002). Pepper, coordinator of LGBT Studies at Yale University and an editor at Curve magazine, wrote The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians (2nd Edition, Cleis, 2005). In addition, Brill has extensive experience working with gender-nonconforming and transgender children and their parents. She started a parents’ support group at Children’s Hospital Oakland, founded Gender Spectrum Education and Training (genderspectrum.org), and co-produces the national Gender Spectrum Family conference (genderspectrumfamily.org).
Brill and Pepper draw on their own knowledge and that of professional therapists, lawyers, endocrinologists, and activists. . . .Read More
Retrospective: Sex-Change Pioneer, Dr. Stanley Biber
All Things Considered, January 19, 2006 · The king of sex-change procedures has died. Dr. Stanley Biber performed more than 5,000 such operations over more than 30 years. In the process, he turned the tiny town of Trinidad, Colo., into the sex-change capital of the world.
Gay men and straight women have similar brains, study says
Using brain-scanning equipment, researchers said they discovered similarities in the brain circuits that deal with language, perhaps explaining why homosexual men tend to outperform straight men on verbal skills tests -- as do heterosexual women. . . .Read More
THE MATING GAME
What does gay look like? Science keeps trying to figure that out
That was a joke. But some scientists are, in a way, working on gaydar, the supposed ability to discern whether a person is homosexual by reading subtle cues from their appearance. Just don't refer to it that way. The preferred term is "sexual orientation correlates."
Finding and solidifying these links isn't easy. Studies contradict each other, and some promising paths don't pan out. (A link between male homosexuality and finger lengths isn't holding up, and a claim that gays have distinctive fingerprint ridge patterns is largely discredited.) Scientists don't always agree on how to interpret the results, and more progress has been made with regard to men than to women. . . .Read More
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Bad Questions to Ask a Transsexual: The Director's Cut
http://www.calpernia.com/diary
After years of teeth-grindingly ignorant and insulting questions, Calpernia Addams finally snaps and shares her list of Bad Questions which you should never ask a transsexual. These are all real questions from real life!
Director's Cut: I edited this so that it gets to the point more quickly, cuts out some extraneous chatter and repeated information, and illustrates the "Do you date gay or straight guys?" question more simply with graphics. =)
