Transgender News Today
December 6th, 2008 by Stephanie StevensNews and views for Saturday, December 6th …
[CA, USA] “Richard Masbruch brutally raped and tortured a Fresno woman in 1991. Today, in a case that may be the first of its kind, he lives in a women’s prison. Masbruch, who was reclassified by prison officials as a woman after he castrated himself, is the focus of an inmate complaint that says Masbruch is a danger to other prisoners at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. In recent years, the prison system has given female hormones to Masbruch, helping Masbruch transition from man to woman, said his brother, Craig Masbruch. Prison officials would not confirm whether Masbruch received such treatment, but said the prison system provides hormone treatment to some transgender inmates at taxpayers’ expense. Officials said that in March they transferred Masbruch, 41, to Chowchilla after he was reclassified as a female. There are dozens, and possibly hundreds, of California prison inmates who are classified as men but consider themselves women, state prison officials said. Those inmates are housed in men’s prisons. Masbruch appears to be the only transgender prisoner who has been transferred from a men’s to a women’s prison, or vice versa, they said. And Masbruch may be the only male inmate in the United States who has been reclassified as a woman while in the prison system, one expert said.” — Transgender inmate faces complaint
[CO, USA] “About 25 protesters braved a brisk wind and fumes from cars zipping past Friday afternoon to show their support for Blake Williams, a transgender teen who says he dropped out of Aspen Valley High School because he didn’t feel safe. Williams, 18, said he’s endured bullying and verbal abuse at three schools – two in Academy School District 20 and one charter school – in the two years since he began transitioning from female to male. He called on District 20 and other district administrations to begin training staff on the issues facing Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. “We need to be protected from the hate, the bullying,” he said. “We want to be treated as human beings.” … Those at the rally, though, believe that it’s taken too long for educational institutions to recognize the issues facing LGBT students, and several organizations represented at the protest are calling for action … As the psychologists, sociologists and others debate gender identity and sexual orientation issues, those in the LGBT community say they struggle to simply be treated as normal citizens. “Those of you who are not transgender may not understand us,” said Nancy-Jo Morris, who leads the support group Peak Area Gender Expressions. “But you know when people are being mistreated.”" — Transgender teen decries hate at schools
[CT, USA] “Murder defendant Anthony Rogers’ former girlfriend testified at his trial Friday that as they watched a news report about the homicide of Ricky Lee Blakes, he confessed to killing the Southern Connecticut State University student. LaToya Boyd, 25, of Norwalk, said after the report aired, Boyd told Rogers that she went to school with Blakes. In response, Rogers called Blakes – found by police dressed in women’s clothing lying in a pool of blood at Woodward Avenue and Lawrence Street – a derogatory word for a homosexual, Boyd said. “He told me he had something to tell me. . . that he killed Ricky,” Boyd said. Boyd said that Rogers told her that he was driving down Woodward Avenue early in the morning of July 30, 2004, when Blakes, jumped in his car. After Blakes touched Rogers, Rogers said he opened the passenger door and pushed Blakes out and shot him in the upper body, Boyd testified. Boyd said Rogers told her he drove around the block and returned to the intersection. “He came back to where Ricky was. . . . He saw him on the ground yelling for help. . . . He shot him a few more times. . . . He opened up the door and shot him,” Boyd said.” — Girlfriend: Rogers said he killed Blakes
[NY, USA] “The ad directs readers to NoMobVeto.org, which asks for signatures supporting a campaign to “expose and publicly shame anyone who resorts to the rhetoric of anti-religious bigotry — against any faith, on any side of any cause, for any reason.” HILARIOUS! They are asking for support to do EXACTLY what WE have been doing: exposing and publicly shaming anyone who resorts to anti-gay bigotry. So it’s HATE when we do it, but OK when they do. How fucking typical. You’ll note that they decry the “violence” of the anti-Prop 8 protests, but remain as silent as always about the uncountable brutal attacks against LGBT people which are committed EVERY DAY of EVERY YEAR by people trained by THEM to hate gay people from the moment they know what the word means.” — Full Page Ad From Beckett Fund In NYT Decries “Bigotry” Of Marriage Protests
[Mexico] From the New York Times, “Mexico can be intolerant of homosexuality; it can also be quite liberal. Gay-bashing incidents are not uncommon in the countryside, where many Mexicans consider homosexuality a sin. In Mexico City, meanwhile, same-sex domestic partnerships are legally recognized — and often celebrated lavishly in government offices as if they were marriages. But nowhere are attitudes toward sex and gender quite as elastic as in the far reaches of the southern state of Oaxaca. There, in the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into gay and straight. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call “muxes” (pronounced MOO-shays) — men who consider themselves women and live in a socially sanctioned netherworld between the two genders. “Muxe” is a Zapotec word derived from the Spanish “mujer,” or woman; it is reserved for males who, from boyhood, have felt themselves drawn to living as a woman, anticipating roles set out for them by the community.” — A Lifestyle Distinct: The Muxe of Mexico
[Mexico] From the Times photo feature accompanying “A Lifestyle Distinct: The Muxe of Mexico”: “Alex with her mother, Rosa Taledo Vicente, and her father, Victor Martinez Jimenez. Mr. Martinez is a construction worker who speaks Zapotec but little Spanish. He and Alex have a loving relationship, and when asked about having a muxe son he replies: “It was God who sent him and why would I reject him? He helps his mother very much. Why would I get mad? God sent him for both of us. Why would I get mad?”” — In Mexico, Beyond Gay and Straight
[Thailand] From Radio Australia, “Even before last week’s protests shut Thailand’s main international airport, the ongoing political crisis had led to a dramatic fall in tourist numbers. It’s forced the cancellation of several high-profile – including an annual beauty contest for transgendered people, who had been hoping to compete for the title of Miss International Queen.” (Listen) — Thai ‘ladyboy’ beauty contest cancelled amid protests
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[FL, USA] “In tight-knit groups of few or many, 1,500 Broward school children marched through downtown Fort Lauderdale to tell the world that they were tired of bullies and strong enough to stop them. ”No more bullying, no more bullying, no more bullying,” thundered a unified chant from 15 school contingents, parents, teachers, community activists and school officials … Denise King, mother of Simmie Williams, 17, who was gunned down last year in Fort Lauderdale, said she was forced to remove her son from public high school because of the humiliations he suffered daily from students because he was gay. ”I hope now that something like that won’t happen again to anyone anymore and anywhere,” King said.” — 
[NY, USA] “The origin of Rena Dunsworth might be traced to fall 2006, when a small woodworking company in Denver modified its discrimination clause, for that was when Stanley Wilcox started wearing pink nail polish to work. Then 51 and a maker of custom wooden doors, Mr. Wilcox had sensed since he was 6 years old that he was meant to be female, and he had also sensed for about as long that this was not a feeling for which he would be rewarded. “I would often fantasize about becoming different women I knew,” Ms. Dunsworth — formerly Mr. Wilcox — says now. “Then I would kind of clamp down really hard, afraid people would see the girl in me.” When his workplace put in writing that the sexual orientation and dress of its employees did not matter, Mr. Wilcox was heartened. But after the nail polish, he noticed that his colleagues treated him differently. Then, one day in February 2007, he overheard a co-worker allude to his imminent dismissal. “Turns out it did matter,” Ms. Dunsworth says.” — 
He says it’s a boycott. 
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The Seattle-based company began the campaign one day after revealing that customer visits to U.S. outlets fell — something that had never happened before — in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Starbucks said there was no connection.
In Peterson’s view, the increasing presence of drag kings is its own form of education, creating awareness about the fluidity of gender boundaries in a variety of contexts.
Nineteen years ago, Mike Smith attended police academy alongside Joe Grabowski.
This picture shows an attractive model applying some essential last-minute make-up backstage before competing in an international beauty pageant, right?