me before I transitioned

I made this video nine years ago at the high school I was teaching at, Hononegah High School in Rockton Illinois. I left mid year so I wanted to say good bye somehow to everyone. Obviously I was the art teacher. I am posting this because I am now a transgender or transsexual female. I am still teaching art.

I transitioned 2 years ago- I left in June as Michael and came back to the same school in August as Michelle. I met this awesome Australian film producer, Rohan Spong, that is making a documentary about teachers that transition in American schools. He asked me to be in the film and we just finished up shooting over the summer. The film should be out by the end of the year.

In this video I paint a landscape on a piece of plexus-glass with "angel" as the background music. I had just come from the staff Christmas party and was very depressed as my wife and kids had already moved to Nevada ahead of me. It was about 12:30 at night and I made this with just 2 takes in the art room that I would never see again. The ironic part of this video is that we ended up moving to the bottom of Hope Valley on the back side of Lake Tahoe. The view from our house looked up the valley through two mountains just like this. It was our dream home. This was the last residence I shared with my wife and kids as my transition was too much for them to handle. The idea was, as I painted you would see less and less of me until I was gone. I was headed to the mountains so I just painted a simple and quick landscape. . . .Read More

MichelleLilith

HRC Praises Obama’s AG Nominee Eric Holder

Dec 1, 2008

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights group, today praised President-Elect Barack Obama’s selection of Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States.

The former deputy attorney general in the Clinton Administration proved himself to be a strong advocate for fairness and basic rights and an unswerving proponent of fully-inclusive federal hate crimes legislation.

"In Eric Holder, President-Elect Obama has chosen an attorney general who has demonstrated his dedication to civil rights, protecting communities from hate violence, and the fair and equal application of our laws," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

"Eric Holder has recognized the deleterious effect that hate and bias crimes have not just on victims, but on entire communities. President-Elect Obama’s appointment continues to prove his commitment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community." . . .Read More

Dale Belino

by In conversation with Ciara Dwyer

November 30 2008

If I'm on a day shift in the hospital, I start work at 8am. For this, I usually get up at 5.30am. I get up early to make myself beautiful. I have to wash my hair and straighten it. I want to look great for my patients. I work in the orthopaedic surgical ward. The patients are sick and they can be down, so I want to build them up. When I don't fix myself up or have make-up on, they're surprised. They ask me if I am sick, and I tell them that it's just that I have been lazy that day. I have a coffee before I leave the apartment, and I have breakfast later on at work.

I used to shave in the mornings, because I used to be a man. I had stubble and all those problems, but then I went to a laser clinic in London and got rid of all my facial hair. I went through a transformation. At first I was gay, then I started dressing up in women's clothes and becoming effeminate. But I suppose I was always effeminate. I think it's an environmental thing. I'm the youngest in my family -- I have two older sisters. I wasn't allowed to try on their clothes, but I was always playing with their dolls. My father was out working all day, so there wasn't a strong male influence at home. I was with my sisters and my mother and I tended to imitate them when they were doing their hair and make-up. My family is into this whole Catholic thing, and they had all these expectations -- you have to do this, you have to do that -- but eventually I achieved my own expectations by transforming.

I let my hair grow long. I got my eye bags removed and I had my tits done at the same time. I think I'm addicted to surgery. I had my lips plumped with injections, and I've had implants into my bum and hips to make them look curvier. I also had two jobs done on my nose and got my chin fixed too. My pain threshold is very high. . . .Read More

Trans community demands justice!

Ryan Radclyffe-Brown, Canberra

3 December 2008


The following article is based on a speech given at the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance in Canberra.

In 1995 a man named Brandon was assaulted in front of his girlfriend, and then later he was raped and murdered, along with his two housemates. The local police force did nothing. Men like Brandon didn’t deserve an investigation, or justice.

Brandon was a transman.

An activist organisation called Transsexual Menace flew 40 people out to Brandon’s home town in Nebraska. They held a candlelit vigil outside the police station and courthouse every night to draw attention to the injustices done to Brandon. They stayed until his killers were tried and found guilty of murder.

Transsexual Menace started holding vigils every time a transperson was murdered or killed by neglect. It demanded justice for our fallen brothers and sisters. As time went on, the number of deaths became too much for a volunteer organisation like Transsexual Menace to hold a separate vigil for each death. . . .Read More

17 m T 2 m p (update!)

"17 months on T (cant believe its been that long!) and 2 months post op!! Hope you guys and gals have a great Thanksgiving!!!"

freeride297

A sex difference in the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus: relationship to gender identity.

1: Brain. 2008 Nov 2. [Epub ahead of print]

Related Articles, Links

A sex difference in the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus: relationship to gender identity.

Garcia-Falgueras A, Swaab DF.

Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, an Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Netherlands and Departamento de Psicobiología de la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain.

Transsexuality is an individual's unshakable conviction of belonging to the opposite sex, resulting in a request for sex-reassignment surgery. We have shown previously that the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc) is female in size and neuron number in male-to-female transsexual people. In the present study we investigated the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus, which is composed of two subnuclei, namely interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH) 3 and 4. Post-mortem brain material was used from 42 subjects: 14 control males, 11 control females, 11 male-to-female transsexual people, 1 female-to-male transsexual subject and 5 non-transsexual subjects who were castrated because of prostate cancer. . . .Read More

Silverton rebuffs protest of transgender mayor-elect

by Kimberly A.C. Wilson, The Oregonian

November 24, 2008

SILVERTON -- The counterprotesters outside City Hall in this Marion County town today significantly outnumbered the protesters who inspired them: three young women and a man from a Kansas church, here to register their disdain with the recent election of the nation's first openly transgender mayor, Stu Rasmussen.

The quartet spread out along one side of North Water Street, feet planted on American flags spread on the sidewalk and hoisting large laminated posterboards on each arm. Double-sided and easy to read from passing vehicles and local television trucks positioned half a block away, the signs offered assorted damnation -- "Barack Obama = Antichrist," "God Hates You," "You're Going to Hell" and "Fag Media Shame."

Protest in Silverton

It wasn't the first time anti-gay evangelicals from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., had come to Oregon to protest. That was two years ago, when followers picketed the funeral of Navy Seal Marc Lee, killed on patrol in Iraq. Among other right-of-center beliefs, Westboro's Rev. Fred Phelps and his followers claim U.S. combat deaths are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. . . .Read More

Doraville won’t discriminate against transgender employees

by APRIL HUNT

November 20, 2008

Doraville has become the latest Georgia city to add transgender employees to its nondiscrimination policy.

The move means transgender workers — those whose biological and gender identity are not the same — cannot be fired or mistreated in the northern DeKalb County city. “We have never discriminated against anyone, and we never will,” said Mayor Ray Jenkins. “We want to stay ahead of the issue.”

The policy puts Doraville in rare company. Atlanta and Decatur are the only other cities in the state that protect transgender workers.

In fact, while the protections have become more common in private business, they are more unusual at the municipal level. That is why, to advocates, it’s symbolic for a former industrial city of just 10,000 to approve the policy.

The change comes on the heels of a federal lawsuit by Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn, a transgender woman who said she was fired from her job at the Georgia General Assembly because of her decision to change her gender from male to female.

Jeff Graham, who heads Georgia Equality, consulted with city leaders when fashioning the policy.

“Businesses have understood it for years, but it’s important to see a city make the statement that, as a public entity, they will protect all of their citizens,” Graham said. . . .Read More

Dr. Phil: Gender Confused Kids - Part 1/4

"Dr. Phil tackles the sensitive topic of children who identify more with the opposite sex. What do you do if your son wants to wear dresses and play with dolls? Or if your daughter tells you she wants to be a boy?

Melissa and Tim's son declared himself to be a girl when he was just 3 years old. Now he's 8, and they allow him to live life as a female. They want to know when and if they should start hormone therapy?" therazorsedge28

Tyra to Transform Transgender 'Top Model'

Banks Sets Up Transgender Contestant's Sex Reassignment Surgery

By SHEILA MARIKAR

Nov. 18, 2008


After making her a reality TV star, Trya Banks is making her a woman -- a real woman.

Banks announced Monday she found a doctor to pay for Isis King, the first transgender contestant on "America's Next Top Model," to undergo sex reassignment surgery. King, 22, was born male and went from a homeless shelter to cycle 11 of Banks' reality competition show after producers discovered her at a photo shoot. Now she's eager to be known for more than her gender.

"I look at it like, 'Yes, I'm the first transgender contestant, but OK, lets move past it now," King tells Banks in today's episode of "The Tyra Banks Show." "I try not to think about [being transgendered] because ... I feel like I really was born in the wrong body, and it's just the one thing that makes me feel uncomfortable.". . .Read More

The mayor-elect's new clothes: Silverton, Oregon, elects a transgender leader

After a major makeover, including breast surgery, the longtime public servant is still just Stu Rasmussen to residents of this small Willamette Valley town.

By Kim Murphy
November 20, 2008

Reporting from Silverton, Ore. -- Stu Rasmussen promised a new administration if he was elected, and he's as good as his word: Silverton residents not only are getting a new mayor; they're also getting a new Stu.

Rasmussen, longtime manager of the local cinema, was also elected mayor in 1988 and 1990, and served four years -- but that was when he was wearing slacks and sport shirts to council meetings. The new Rasmussen -- who got breast implants a few years ago and began calling himself Carla Fong -- wears skirts, lipstick and high heels.

The thing is, Rasmussen's been a fixture in this small former lumber mill town so long, people tend not to pay much attention to what he's wearing.

Earlier this month, Rasmussen became America's first openly transgender mayor. His constituents say they elected him not for his looks, but because he promised to put a halt to the rapid development that has threatened Silverton's small-town charm. . . .Read More

BECOMING, PART 3 Transgender Discrimination

Darren Perron - WCAX News

Barton, Vermont - November 14, 2008

"I try to be cautious so not to put myself in a situation that is going to be dangerous or draw attention to myself," Michele Todd explains.

Michele wants to blend in with the crowd-- go unnoticed-- to avoid violence. She's transgender and always on alert.

"I'm not an evil person. But a lot of people would look at it that way," she explains.

So many trans people live in the shadows, hiding from a world that sees them as freaks.

"I have not met one trans person who didn't have that fear in the back of their minds at all times," psychologist Nancy Judd says.

Last year, 11 trans people in Vermont reported cases of hate or violence to Safe Space in Burlington, an organization providing services to victims. Officials say that number is highly underreported due to fear of retaliation and coming out. . . .Read More

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2008

Tribute for the Transgender day of Remembrance, 2008

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the Remembering Our Dead web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hesters murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgender — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgender people. . . .Read More

unmeasuredinstances

HRC observes National Transgender Day of Remembrance

"On November 20th HRC observes the National Transgender Day of Remembrance as an opportunity for communities to come together and mark the passing of transgender people who have died because of hate." hrcmedia

Sweden removes transvestism and other 'sexual behaviours' from list of diseases

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • November 19, 2008

The National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden has decided to remove a range of 'sexual behaviours' from the official disease registry.

30 years ago the board removed homosexuality from list, which is primarily used to gather statistics on healthcare but is also viewed as an official list of diseases.

Some felt that the inclusion of transvestism, sadomasochism, fetishism, fetishistic transvestism, sexual preference disorders and gender identity disorder in young people led to social stigma.

"We don't want to contribute to certain sexual behaviours being thought of as diseases," Lars-Erik Holm, head of the national board, told Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

"These individuals' sexual preferences have nothing to do with society."

Maria Sundin from Sweden's Trans Oresund network said:

"The demand for the exclusion of certain diagnostic criterias such as transvestitism, sado-masochism and fetishism from the Swedish verison of ICD-10 (KSH97) has been supported by the GLBT community for quite a while.". . .Read More

Transgender community seeks end to violence, discrimination

Donna Jones - Sentinel Staff Writer

11/20/2008

Tara Sawyer was punished as a small child for acting like a girl so she tried to live as the boy she appeared to be at birth.

But four years ago, the 32-year-old admitted to herself what she knew instinctively as a toddler. Despite her male physical characteristics, Sawyer said, she isn't a man.

Coming out cost her family and friends, the Santa Cruz resident said. But after years of being detached from any emotion, she said she's regained her ability to feel and she can't go back.

"It's about being who I am. I'm just a woman. There's nothing I can do about that," said Sawyer, who will speak today at the Watsonville City Plaza during a candlelight vigil commemorating transgender people who have lost their lives to violence. . . .Read More

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Boulder event a memorial for victims of hate crimes

By Laura Snider
November 19, 2008

Last week, Duanna Johnson was shot execution-style in Memphis. In February, 15-year-old Lawrence King was murdered by a classmate in California. Last summer, Angie Zapata was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher just up the road in Weld County.

Thursday night, residents in Boulder County are invited to gather and remember these people, and a dozen others, who were victims of brutal hate crimes because of their gender identities. Today is the 10th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

“I’m concerned. We think it couldn’t happen here. It wouldn’t be one of us,” said Pat Mayne, a transgender man and longtime Boulder County resident. “For someone like me, I’ll never be sure if there’s a single person who hasn’t asked, ‘What would I do? If I found out one of my friends was a transgender person, what would happen inside of me?’”

When Allen Andrade, the man accused of murdering Zapata in Greeley, found out Zapata had male genitalia, the thing that happened inside of him was brutal. In his defense, Andrade said he was out of control, incoherent, panicked.

These are the things that scare Mayne, even in Boulder, one of the few cities that has an anti-discrimination ordinance that specifically protects transgender people. . . .Read More

Transgender: Feminine positioning of hands and feet

"A video for MTFs about achieving a better feminine presentation" Aragonpr

Gender diversity: A Transsexual Woman’s view of Sexism

20 November 2008

An interview with Julia Serano

by Debbie Rasmussen

The rising visibility of trans, intersex, and genderqueer movements has led feminists—and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the world—to an increasing awareness that m and f are only the beginning of the story of gender identity. With the release of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Julia Serano offers a perspective sorely needed, but up until now rarely heard: a transfeminine critique of both feminist and mainstream understandings of gender.

As someone who has lived, at various points in her life, as male, genderqueer, and female, Serano brings unique insights to discussions of sexism and misogyny. In Whipping Girl, she weaves theoretical arguments through her compelling essays and manifestos in an attempt to bridge the gap between biological and social perspectives on gender, and calls our attention to the need for empowering femininity itself. In the process, she takes feminist and queer communities to task for dismissing male-to-female transsexuals while celebrating their counterparts on the female-to-male spectrum. . . .Read More

Discovery of a "Transsexual Gene" Raises More Questions Than Answers

New research suggests transsexualism is indeed a genetic trait. But how conclusive is the study?

By Julia Wallace

11.18.2008

Is Transsexualism Genetic? : New research suggests transsexualism is likely biological. iStockphoto

A few weeks ago, Hanna Rosin's wrenching and well-researched article about young transsexuals—including a girl named Bridget (née Brandon), whose first words were "I like your high heels"—zipped around the blogosphere. In it, Rosin discusses the unsettling work of a psychiatrist who questions the scientific basis for allowing children to "transition" to the gender of their choice, citing several kids who emerged from their gender dysphoria after a rigorous course of therapy. "If a 5-year-old black kid came into the clinic and said he wanted to be white, would we endorse that?" he asks. The prospect of letting pre-pubescent pipsqueaks take hormone-blockers that might have far-reaching effects on their health and future fertility is indeed a little nerve-wracking. . . .Read More