Conservatives Warn Quick Sex Change Only Barrier Between Gays, Marriage

Rep. Iscoe warns gays will give penises to lesbians who will give them vaginas so that homosexuals can marry and continue their attack on the American family.

TheOnion

Harvard to Endow Chair in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies

By Jacques Steinberg

June 3, 2009

Harvard University will endow a visiting professorship in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies, a position that, it believes, will be the first endowed, named chair in the subject at an American college.

The visiting professorship was made possible by a gift of $1.5 million from the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, which will formally announce it at a dinner on Thursday, after Harvard’s commencement exercises. With the gift, Harvard said it would regularly invite “eminent scholars studying issues related to sexuality or sexual minorities” to teach on campus for one semester, according to a draft of a university press release.

The chair is being named for F.O. Matthiessen , a Harvard scholar and literary critic who “stands out as an unusual example of a gay man who lived his sexuality as an ‘open secret’ in the mid-twentieth century,” according to the release. . . .Read More

I was a lipstick lesbian... now I’m a gay man

by Sharon Hendry

21 May 2009

WITH her sexy curves, perfect pout and long, blonde hair, gorgeous Katherine Dalton was in big demand as a model.

But beneath her beauty lay a secret which had troubled her from an early age — she felt she was a MAN and found herself attracted to girls rather than guys.

The 31-year-old says: “For years I was a man trapped in a woman’s body. And although I was a beautiful woman I felt ugly because I was not who I wanted to be. Now I feel complete and it is fantastic.

"Going through the op to be a man was scary but it's the most fulfilling thing I've done and I feel right for the first time in my life."

Katherine - who has changed her name to Adrian - is single but hopes to pursue relationships. . . .Read More

Fare lady cabbie 'fired for sex swap'

by Guy Patrick

4 June 2009

A TRANSSEXUAL taxi driver claims she has been sacked for wearing skirts and nail polish.

Andre Edwards, 50 - who was born a man and was known as Andrew - said her bosses and passengers could not cope with her bizarre lifestyle.

She said: "It's not easy when people shout things at you and call you vile names."

But yesterday bosses insisted Andre was fired after customers complained about HER "bad attitude" - and for upsetting staff by criticising their appearance.

Andre is undergoing "gender re-alignment" after getting hormone replacement pills on the internet, but hopes to have a sex change operation next year.

She has already had electrolysis to get rid of facial hair. . . .Read More

Transgender: Jay's story

Jay describes his transition from female to male and how he feels now.

NHSChoices

Kenya: The Fallacies of Identity Politics

by Audrey Mbugua

21 May 2009

OPINION


Deeply concerned about the profound discrimination experienced by Kenya's transgender community, Audrey Mbugua berates Kenyan society for its unjust treatment of a marginalised group. Rather than creating 'transgender rights' per se, Mbugua calls upon the country to view transgender people as human beings like any other group. Deeply scathing of Kenya's entrenched 'trans-phobia' and the divisive nature of different groups' competing for recognition, the author implores those marginalised to see themselves as part of a wider struggle for justice that transcends identity politics.

Identity politics refers to a political action to advance the interests of a group whose members perceive themselves to be oppressed by virtue of a shared and marginalised identity (such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation).

Two weeks ago, a colleague of mine summoned me into his office and played a news clip dating back to August last year. It involves a Kenyan transgender girl been brutally beaten up in the streets by a group of women and men. Her face is swollen and her clothes torn. She begs for mercy but her pleading is drowned out by the laughter of women and children. She tries to cover her tiny breasts but a man uncovers them for the cameraman to capture it all. After this macabre footage, a female news anchor laughs before yapping about something else 'important' (probably the trauma of gender violence among abused women).

A week ago, I got hold of a collection of hallowing experiences that a group of Kenyan women went through during the infamous post-election violence.[1] One of the accounts reveals a woman who was raped by a group of 11 policemen as her son watched in horror. In the process, she was infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Another lady reveals that she had full-blown Aids and was bedridden when Kenya went to the elections in 2007. But this did not deter a group of Kenya's General Service officers from raping her. She further revealed that her husband had died a year earlier and her health had deteriorated to the level of her giving up on anti-retroviral therapy. Apart from religious fanatics who believe everything happens for a purpose and God knows and plans everything, who would justify these horrendous acts? Who would want these things to happen to oneself whether there was any purpose or if God had planned them? . . .Read More

Change of direction, new love

by Jill Stark

May 31, 2009

RACHEL and Kimberley Rae say they owe their lives to Dr Trudy Kennedy and the gender dysphoria clinic she worked at. Theirs is an unlikely love story.

Born male, they both longed to be female, knowing from the age of five they weren't like other little boys. In adulthood the decision to "stop living a lie" brought them together.

They met in 2002 a week after Rachel's surgery, which transformed her from Bob, previously a carpenter, a welder and a security guard from central Victoria, into a woman who had finally found peace but who had lost her family as a result. . . .Read More

Gender change 'priceless'

By ALYSSA NOEL, SUN MEDIA

May 11, 2009


Local transsexual woman beginning PhD on the topic

The approximate cost of surgery to transition from a man to a woman? Around $20,000.

The cost for a woman to become a man? Roughly $80,000.

The peace of mind that comes after years of hoping, dreaming and planning to make the gender you feel match the sex you are? Priceless, according to Carol Allan, a local transsexual woman who made her transition nearly two decades ago and is now beginning a PhD on the topic.

Transsexual people, both pre- and post-surgery, have been in the media across Alberta since the provincial government announced in April that it would no longer fund sexual reassignment surgery.

But while Allan fully disagrees with that move, she says transsexuals have been portrayed as needy people lapping up welfare money, unable to stand on their own feet. . . .Read More

Gender setters- when doctors play God

by Jill Stark

31 May 2009

Two former patients of Australia's controversial sex-change clinic say misdiagnosis and wrongful surgery destroyed their lives. Jill Stark reports.

HE WILL never forget the noise. Lying on the hospital trolley being pushed towards the operating theatre he heard a primal wail. He looked back to see his younger sister sobbing, traumatised by what he was about to do.

Andrew*, born male, was minutes away from an operation that would make him a woman. Psychiatrists said he had a female brain in a male body. Gender reassignment surgery was the only way to ease the mental torment.

But as he headed to surgery he was struck by an unshakeable thought: "It's not right." He remembers telling the surgeon: "I think I'm doing the wrong thing, I think we've got to stop it."

The surgeon stroked Andrew's face, telling him it was natural to feel frightened before an operation. He protested again. Then it went black. When he woke up he was sure the surgery had been cancelled. The tales he had read of transsexuals who awoke post-surgery feeling "reborn" convinced Andrew, then 21, the operation had been halted, because he felt no different. "Then I remember lifting up the sheets and … feeling it all bandaged. I just started bawling my eyes out and screaming … I remember saying to myself, 'how could you be so bloody stupid?"'. . .Read More

Interview With An Angel. . . Part 1

My friend Angel talks about his top surgery.

Lizador

Cover Story: Faces of Pride -- Dominique Storni

5/26/2009

by Kelly Ashkettle


Dominique Storni is a transsexual lesbian. He was born a boy and raised in Brigham City and Ogden in a Mormon household of eight children. He served a mission, and was married for 17 years, during which he fathered six children. In 2003, he underwent surgery to become a woman. She recently sat down with me at Mestizo Coffeehouse to tell me her story.

What's the difference between transsexual and transgender? We like to believe that gender is between your ears and sex is between your legs.

Are there different terms for pre-op and post-op? That's what we call it. "Pre-op" means before you've have surgery. "Post-op" means you've had surgery. And then there's another option called "non-op." I know some transsexual women who will grow breasts or have breast implants but never do anything to the bottom. Some of them are married to women who identify as heterosexual and want to enjoy the heterosexual benefits of intimacy. So the transsexual partner will say, "Well, I'll live as a woman but keep the male parts for our marriage," and the wife will go, "I'll allow you to live as a woman, but please be at least boy enough to satisfy my heterosexual needs." I think it's a beautiful arrangement of people that really love each other. . . .Read More

Bethany Black

5/28/2009

by Jay Richardson


As the UK’s foremost goth, lesbian, post-op transsexual stand-up, Bethany Black worries about being pigeonholed. So it’s a ‘recovering alcoholic, drug addict and love addict too’ who will be showcasing material from her forthcoming Fringe show this fortnight. After an admission of two botched suicide attempts in her debut, Beth Becomes Her, it’s reassuring to know that Love and a Colt 45 doesn’t presage ‘lucky’ number three but an American malt lager favoured by the comic in her youth. Her debut recalled Black’s transformation from Ben Horsley in intimate, sometimes queasy, detail and she explains that ‘because that show was really personal, I thought I’d go with something a bit more accessible this time, about all the stupid things I’ve done because of love and alcohol.’ . . .Read More

Gay Discrimination Proposal: Transsexual Speaks Up

by Jeni DiPrizio

5/27/2009


MEMPHIS, TN -- Shelby County Commissioners are considering passing an ordinance that would make it illegal to discriminate against someone because of his or her sexual orientation, identity or expression. The ordinance would protect all county workers. Commissioners are expected to vote on the proposal Monday, June 1, 2009. On Wednesday, June 27, 2009, commissioners debated the issue.

Commissioner Wyatt Bunker told fellow commissioners, “You would have to be in a cave to know this isn’t just the issue.” Bunker added, "It's part of a bigger movement. It's part of the homosexual agenda that’s being debated across the country.” He added “the homosexual agenda undermines family values and the family values this country holds dear.”

Darlene Fike is a transsexual who listened to Bunker and the other commissioners. Fike says “I would love to sit down with Mr. Bunker and talk about this from a Biblical perspective. I am a conservative Bible believing woman." . . .Read More

Houston Texas Transgender Center news clip

This is a news clip on the Houston, Texas Transgender Center. It is a very well done story, they even got all the pronouns correct and everything! If you are in Texas or thinking about moving to Texas and are transgender you should watch this video.

MorticiaAddams2

Tiaras at Thai transsexual beauty contest

May 2009

AFP

PATTAYA, Thailand (AFP) — Resplendent in a figure-hugging grey and black dress, Sorrawee Nattee wept tears of joy after being crowned Thailand's most beautiful transsexual at a unique pageant.

Sorrawee took the top prize at Miss Tiffany's Universe 2009 in the beach resort of Pattaya, beating off 29 other transsexuals and receiving a small Honda car, and 100,000 baht (2,860 dollars) in cash on Friday night.

"I'm very excited," the willowy 20-year-old from Thailand's southern Songkhla province said, touching the glimmering winner's crown with disbelieving fingers.

She appeared overwhelmed by hordes of photographers, camera crews and well-wishers, the scene played out before a live television audience of 15 million people.

In a nation obsessed with beauty pageants and famous for its sexual tolerance, this elaborate contest is taken every bit as seriously as the more traditional competitions. . . .Read More

Trans fact

When a person in the center of a media maelstrom has had a sex change, is it fair game for the press?

by ADAM REILLY | May 20, 2009

Aiden Quinn used to be a woman. Now he's a man. It's a titillating detail — but is it news?

Quinn, you'll likely recall, is the 24-year-old subway driver from Attleboro who — moments after text-messaging his girlfriend on the evening of May 8 — crashed a Green Line train into another near the MBTA's Government Center stop, injuring roughly 50 passengers and causing an estimated $9.6 million in damages. The accident dominated the Boston news for days and prompted the announcement, on May 13, of a no-cell-phones policy for the T's drivers; it also led to Quinn's firing.

Given Quinn's admission that he was, in fact, texting prior to the accident, there's a general consensus that he's a dumbass. But there's no such agreement among the Boston media as to whether his switch from identifying as a woman to a man was germane to the larger story. . . .Read More

Nebraska Parents Allow Biological Son, 8, to Live as the Girl She Says She Is

by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Staff Reporter
May 18, 2009


Parents of an 8-year-old transgendered child who insists on her gender identity despite her male physiology have decided that it’s in their child’s best interests to allow her to live as a girl.

The decision means removing the child from Catholic school, where the issue of the child--now free to live as "Katie," rather than "Ben"--being transgendered was regarded as "unfair" to ask others to accept.

The move also pre-empts potential acts of aggression from Katie, who, reported a May 16 story in the Omaha World-Herald spat at a classmate who called her a "boy."

In an example of Katie’s artwork, a picture shows Katie being called a boy by another child; the legend reads, "I feel angry when..." . . .Read More

First Transgendered Mayor

CatholicNationalist

Tasmanian take on transgender issues

May 12, 2009

by Şafak Timur


ISTANBUL -They are often in the media when they are arrested for prostitution, beaten by a client or police, or worst of all when they are victims of a hate crime. But this time transgender people living in Istanbul are on camera to talk about themselves and their lives to an independent filmmaker from Australia’s Tasmania.

"I just saw two transvestites waiting in the street near two police who were heavily armed standing in front of a police station," said Julien Poulson as he told the Hürriyet Dailiy News & Economic Review about one of the many moments that impressed and inspired him to make a documentary about the transgender community in Istanbul.

Born to a family with Irish roots who were deported to Tasmania Island by Britain, Poulson is familiar with Turkey through his ancestors as well, who battled against Ottoman armies at Gallipoli. Poulson said he would like to see "what is under the carpet" rather than just the nice palaces in the city like a tourist. He said he first encountered the transgender community "accidentally."

"We were sitting in a café in Taksim when an acquaintance asked me whether I had seen the transvestite’s street in Taksim and I went to see," he said. There are places in cities where nightclubs in one area make a "red light district," but Istanbul’s transvestite street is not like that, Poulson said. "It is just an ordinary street with a couple of buildings and people from the windows calling out [for clients]," he said. . . .Read More

Is My Marriage Gay?

By JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN

May 11, 2009

Belgrade Lakes, ME

AS many Americans know, last week Gov. John Baldacci of Maine signed a law that made this state the fifth in the nation to legalize gay marriage. It’s worth pointing out, however, that there were some legal same-sex marriages in Maine already, just as there probably are in all 50 states. These are marriages in which at least one member of the couple has changed genders since the wedding.

I’m in such a marriage myself and, quite frankly, my spouse and I forget most of the time that there is anything particularly unique about our family, even if we are — what is the phrase? — “differently married.”

Deirdre Finney and I were wed in 1988 at the National Cathedral in Washington. In 2000, I started the long and complex process of changing from male to female. Deedie stood by me, deciding that her life was better with me than without me. Maybe she was crazy for doing so; lots of people have generously offered her this unsolicited opinion over the years. But what she would tell you, were you to ask, is that the things that she loved in me have mostly remained the same, and that our marriage, in the end, is about a lot more than what genders we are, or were. . . .Read More