News and views for Sunday, December 21st through Tuesday, December 23rd …

[CA, USA] Transgender art student Micha Cardenas recently spent 15 days in a virtual world: ” … the bigger surprise is how well Cardenas says she’s adapted to living almost entirely in a virtual world. Reality and unreality occasionally blur. Online interactions feel as immediate as those in the lab. This is a revelation since one of Cardenas’ project goals is answering the question of whether the requirement that transgender people spend one year living as the opposite sex before gender reassignment surgery could be supplanted with living for a year in a virtual world … The answer, though, isn’t quite so clear-cut. “The real life requirement is about dealing with the hardships, rejections and bias that transgender people experience.” In Second Life, Cardenas says social mores tend to be more tolerant: Everybody can be anybody.” — Online-world immersion probes ‘possibilities of transformation’

[MD, USA] Montgomery County’s transgender rights law barely avoided a ballot challenge last month: “Just one vote on the state’s highest court kept a challenge to Montgomery County’s new ban on discriminating against transgender individuals off the ballot on Election Day. Explaining its Sept. 9 order blocking the referendum attempt, the Court of Appeals on Friday revealed its vote had been 4 to 3. The majority said the law’s opponents had not gathered enough valid signatures to force a popular vote. The court also held the law’s backers had not waited too long to contest the Montgomery County Board of Elections’ decision to permit the referendum.  “It would have been nice [to have had it] 4-3 the other way,” said Kevin Karpinski, a partner at Karpinski, Colaresi & Karp P.A. in Baltimore, who represented the elections board before the court. The controversial law, which went into effect shortly after the court’s order, bans discrimination against the transgendered in employment, public accommodations, housing, cable television and taxicab service.” — Top court explains why it kept transgender-law challenge off ballot

[NV, USA] “It has been a bizarre year in golf … At the recent RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship here at Mesquite Regional Park, the year grew even stranger … it is odd but true that the new women’s world champion is a 55-year-old bartender who used to be a man. Although golf is a sport largely without controversy, the reign of long-drive queen Lana Lawless, who lives in Palm Springs, Calif., is expected to be neither tranquil nor uneventful. For starters, there is her startling honesty. “This is who I am. This is my life,” she said firmly. “That other person, that 245-pound SWAT cop I used to be, he’s gone. He’s not coming back.” — Long-drive champ shares her secret

[TX, USA] Jennifer Gale was honored at a memorial service Sunday in Austin: “A homeless advocate, perennial mayoral candidate and vivacious character to Austin was remembered Sunday. Jennifer Gale was found dead early Wednesday morning on an Austin street. Her cause of death has not yet been determined, but homeless advocates hope her death sheds light on those shivering in the shadows.” — Austin community remembers Jennifer Gale (Video), Memorial Service honors Austin original Jennifer Gale

[USA] “The Bush administration, in its final days, issued a federal rule Thursday, Dec. 18, reinforcing protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other procedures because of religious or moral objections … Transgender advocates say the new rule could have a huge impact on health care for transgender men and women. “Transgender people already experience tremendous hostility and discrimination in the health care setting,” said Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund Executive Director Michael Silverman said. “We oppose HHS’ new regulation and call upon President-elect Obama and the new administration to rescind this policy as soon as they take office.”” — Trans advocates protest Bush’s 11th-hour HHS rule change

[USA] “The vast majority of brutality against gays is carried out by young men, usually acting in groups, said Riki Wilchins, executive director of Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, a Washington nonprofit that works in schools to address discrimination. Their victims most often are other young men with feminine demeanors or transgender women, said Wilchins. “These assailants are looking to eradicate and exterminate something that enrages them, and that is what makes them hate crimes,” he said … Many of the incidents that have captured headlines this year — from the February shooting death of a gay teenager at his Southern California middle school to this month’s slaying of a Brooklyn man who was fatally beaten while walking arm-and-arm with his brother — fit Wilchins’ profile. Larry King, the 15-year-old shot by a classmate, wore feminine clothing and makeup. Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, was beaten with a baseball bat in Brooklyn and kicked by three men who jumped out of a car yelling anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs.” — Many suffered from anti-gay violence in 2008

[Netherlands] “A new investigation into the tangled sex lives of deep-sea squid has uncovered a range of bizarre mating techniques … The study also identified the first known transgender squid: Ancistrocheirus lesueurii. Some males of this species studied for the survey not only resembled the opposite sex in size and appearance but were found to have developed female sex glands. One possible explanation is that the males impersonate females to sneak undetected among potential mates, Hoving said. Alternatively, it may be that waterborne residues from human contraceptive pills or other “gender-bending” pollutants known to be affecting fish and amphibians are also harming the squid, Hoving said. Previous studies have suggested “contaminating chemicals are slowly getting into the deep-sea food web,” Hoving noted.” — Bizarre Squid Sex Techniques Revealed

[Netherlands] “Amsterdam hosted a Christmas celebration for its gay community on Sunday featuring a nativity tableau with a male Mary in drag that church organizations denounced as an affront to traditional values. Organizers said the event was meant to raise Amsterdam’s profile as a gay capital at a time when homosexuals feel threatened. Christians for Truth, an independent religious group, had asked the city council to cancel the “Pink Christmas,” event, saying it made a mockery of Christian tenets. The city did not comment. A male entertainer known as Wendy Mills posed as Mary in a blonde wig and high-heeled black boots and holding a plastic doll. Another man played Joseph in black leather trunks and a silver shawl … “By portraying Joseph and Mary as homosexuals, a twisted human fantasy is being added to the history of the Bible,” Christians for Truth said in a statement ahead of the event.” — Amsterdam’s gay Christmas features Mary in drag

[Vatican City] From Time, “”The celebration of the birth of the Lord is at our doorstep …” Thus began Pope Benedict XVI in his annual pre-Christmas address to top Vatican officials. But rather than a pro forma holiday wish of good tidings, the pontiff delivered his latest heavy-hitting discourse on everything from ecology to ecumenism, with carefully chosen citations from past Popes and even Friedrich Nietzsche. The topic that most grabbed press attention came about halfway through the 30-minute long address: transsexuals. Without actually using the word, Benedict took a subtle swipe at those who might undergo sex-change operations or otherwise attempt to alter their God-given gender. Defend “the nature of man against its manipulation,” Benedict told the priests, bishops and cardinals gathered Monday in the ornate Clementine hall. “The Church speaks of the human being as man and woman, and asks that this order is respected.” The Pope again denounced the contemporary idea that gender is a malleable definition. That path, he said, leads to a “self-emancipation of man from creation and the Creator.”" — The Pope’s Christmas Condemnation of Transsexuals

[UK] “Now … there is no word in the English language, that I am aware of, for the smegma-like mixture of dead skin cells, gynaecological lube, stale urine (gives it its distinctive smell) and sweat that is sometimes present as a white residue on the end of a dilation stent when a post-operative trans woman withdraws the stent after dilating her neovagina. I propose rectifying this linguistic oversight. I propose naming this mixture, “bindel”. All those in favour, say “Aye” (and better still, link to this post so that Google finds it).” — Coining Petty Neologisms for the Sisterhood

[South Africa] “South Africa hosted the first ever African Strategy Workshop for transgender activists last week … There is only one transgender organisation, Gender DynamiX, on the whole continent. The African Strategy Workshop was designed to help activists, “document human rights abuses against transgender people, derive best practices for human rights advocacy, and share information on gender identity, reassignment surgery and hormone treatment.” … Activists focused on the case of South African Daisy Dube, who was murdered in Johannesburg after requesting that she not be called istabane (a derogatory Zulu slang word, similar to faggot).” — Trans activists attend first pan-African meeting

News and views for Friday, November 14th …

[VT, USA] “They started out loving me. They thought I was the greatest thing since Grandma’s apple pie,” he recalls. But Tony says things changed once town officials learned he was transgender. “It was like day and night. I went to work one day and no one talked to me,” he says. Tony says he was ostracized, harassed, and officers didn’t respond to calls for backup. On some occasions, he felt his life was put in danger. He was being forced out. “I was a victim,” Tony says. “I know I will never forget it and I will do everything in my power to prevent anyone else from going through it.” – Transgender Discrimination

[CA, USA] In Palm Springs, a restaurant has changed its dress code: “The revised policy no longer forbids male patrons dressed in drag … The owners’ policy change comes more than a month after Dink’s opened and three weeks after Palm Springs entertainer Tommi Rose was turned away from the restaurant because of his attire. Rose, who frequently performs in drag, visited Dink’s on Oct. 18. He had attended the Equality Awards earlier that night and was wearing an evening gown. The doorman told Rose that his “kind” wasn’t allowed there, Rose said. When he asked the doorman what he meant, he was told “‘men dressed in drag,’” Rose said.” — Men in drag now welcome at Dink’s

[OR, USA] From columnist Carol McAlice Currie writing in Friday’s Statesman Journal (alternate link here or here), “Hampton would have been within his rights to pull his son from the child care program. Instead, he took his grievance to the airwaves via the Lars Larson talk show. Larson declared that sexual orientations such as this employee’s are “illegal, disgusting, grotesque and perverse.” Hampton urged the conservative talk-radio fans to call the Y and make sure that other children weren’t “left in jeopardy” … Protect them from what, I asked? A person different from themselves? A person who has enough to deal with as she struggles to reject a gender assigned by genitals, but not borne out by feelings? … Seeking to shame or embarrass the Y and this individual is wrong, and so is the message the other children now are getting: that people who are different are to be despised.” — Father should teach tolerance

[GA, USA] “Is ‘butch’ an outdated word? Maybe. But there are still butch women — of course it’s there.” With the rise of transgender men, however, sometimes there is a blurring of the old-school butch/femme roles that became popular in the 1950s among working class lesbians. “Now we have tranny boys who date gay men, who date femmes, who date other transmen — the rainbow spectrum has really changed in the past four to five years,” Holder said … “A femme is about being a lady, beauty. I like to dress up, smell good, look good. I have always been a girly-girl,” she said. “A femme is the essence of being a lady. I hold myself to a certain standard.” Watson has dated both femmes and studs. She explained that “butch” is the word that tends to be used by white women while “stud” tends to be an African-American term … The hardest part of being a lovely femme is going to clubs and other women telling her she’s not a lesbian. “They think I’m straight because of the way I look. I always ask, ‘Well, what does a lesbian look like?’ I’m very comfortable with who I am.”” — Butch/femme dynamic thrives in Atlanta women

[CT, USA] “The weathered bronze statue strikes the classic Venus de Milo pose — a graceful female figure with rounded breasts and belly, standing in coy contrapposto, covering her genitalia with a casual hand. But the Grecian symbol of womanhood takes a new twist in this photo, sporting a pink tie and short blond wig, with playful orange balloons floating at its feet. Instead of the quintessential feminine image, viewers now face a wacky, whimsical, sexually ambiguous human figure. All of the art on display at the Afro-American Cultural Center gallery’s exhibit of Trans/Genderqueer art and photography seeks to similarly confuse the viewer’s preconceptions of biological, sexual and cultural boundaries.” — Full breasts exposed

[MI, USA] “In a late night session Thursday, the Michigan House passed a package of two bills to expand the state’s ethnic intimidation act. Under the bills, bias motivated crimes would be subject to more severe punishments, including extended prison time and upgrading of misdemeanor criminal acts to felonies … The set of bills expands the current definition of bias crimes to include sexual orientation, disability, and gender identity and/or expression. It also makes it a crime for targeting a person because they are perceived to be a member of a protected class.” — Michigan House passes hate crime package, sends it to Senate

[MI, USA] “Less than twenty-four hours after the Michigan House overwhelmingly approved the passage of a package of bills to expand the state’s Ethnic Intimidation Act, a mother of a murdered transgender teen encourage the State Senate to move on the bills.” — Mother of slain transgender teen speaks out on Mich. house passage of bias crimes bill

[USA] Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality asked about ENDA (Will Congress be able to pass a trans-inclusive ENDA?), “Absolutely. We were so close last fall. Now, there are a lot of people doing a lot of work around ENDA and I am confident that if we all get the grassroots and DC work done that has to be done, we will have sufficient votes to pass ENDA and even overcome any possible parliamentary maneuver from our opponents. That being said, most of us do not expect ENDA to come up right away in this Congress though I wouldn’t want to venture a guess more specific than that.” — We Won, We Lost. What’s Next for 2009?

[USA] Rea Carey of The Task Force asked about her organizations’ legislative priorities, “The Task Force Action Fund has a number of legislative priorities, including expanding and strengthening existing federal hate crimes law and the repeal of ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), but our top legislative priority will continue to be passage of an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Leadership will likely move other legislation first, such as the hate crimes bill, and we look forward to working with them on those efforts as well. However, a key focus of our energy and expertise will be on creating federal employment protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.” — We Won, We Lost. What’s Next for 2009?

[USA] “These past few years we have seen a number of serious researchers complain that anti-gay and “ex-gay” ideologues are distorting and cherry-picking lines from scientific publications. The cure for this, and the prevention for a repeat of the past eight abysmal years of American history, is, it seems to me, education. People need to learn to read critically, everyone should have a solid background in scientific methods, some statistical literacy would be a nice thing. Listen carefully when you hear them talk about education, about home-schooling and charter schools, and when they complain about our public schools. Some groups benefit when Americans are poorly educated.” — NARTH Misinterprets the Science

[USA] “I keep wondering just how much the many different configurations of body, gender, presentation and behavior (words from the Trans 101: Terms and Concepts workshop yesterday) that fit under the big umbrella of “transgender” are asked to fit there because of the rigidity of the binary gender packages of “male” and “female”, “men” and “women.” As presenter Beth Harrison-Prado noted at the outset, “transgender” is above all a word — albeit freighted with meaning in our culture — and a word required by people’s growing recognition that gender in real life, rather than in the movies, magazines, and the conventional popular cultural imagination, is complex and immensely variable.” — Gender Complexity

[USA] From ABC News, “Thomas Beatie, the transgender man who bore a daughter four months ago, has become the public face of an issue for many other transgender people: having their roles as parents legally recognized. In an exclusive interview airing tonight on “20/20,” Beatie told Barbara Walters that he is pregnant with his second child … As the biological parent, Thomas Beatie has legally secure rights. His wife, on the other hand, is not biologically related to their baby but is granted parental rights by virtue of her marriage to Thomas Beatie. So if the validity of their marriage were challenged, experts say, Nancy Beatie’s parental rights could be in jeopardy. “There is litigation in other states over whether their marriage would be recognized,” said Nancy Polikoff, a law professor at American University in Washington, D.C. Polikoff envisioned a scenario in which the Beaties moved to a state that refuses to recognize Thomas Beatie’s legal sex change in Hawaii. If that happens, his marriage would be revoked as an illegal same-sex marriage and Nancy Beatie’s parental status could be questioned. That would be a nightmare for the Beaties. “Oh, I think we’re very worried,” Nancy Beatie said. “We’re both very worried.” Said Thomas Beatie: “If something were to happen to me, I want to make sure that Nancy has custody over her daughter” … In order to secure Nancy Beatie’s parental rights, lawyers advise the Beaties to do what many same-sex couples with children do — have Nancy Beatie, as the nonbiological parent, adopt their baby. “When there is a slight question whether the marriage will be upheld by a court if it’s challenged, the nonbiological parent will take the step of adopting the child, not because it’s always necessary but just to make absolutely sure that the parent-child relationship is legally protected,” Columbia’s Goldberg said. Polikoff of American University said, “Adoption will guarantee recognition in all states.” The Beaties agree that adoption would protect them, but they don’t want to do that as a matter of principle. They see themselves as a legally married heterosexual couple. They note that they file taxes jointly as husband and wife. “We shouldn’t have to adopt our own daughter,” Thomas Beatie said. The Beaties are seeking legal representation to pursue a change in the birth certificate. “I feel that it’s a flawed document,” he said. “We’d like to see this process remedied for the next child, for the next pregnant man.” — Pregnant Man, Other Transgender Parents Face Legal Questions

[USA] A related article, also from ABC News, “No longer living on the fringes of society, transgender families are quietly raising their children in towns and neighborhoods across the country. Take the case of Andey and Leaf Nunes, and their son Antonio. Even in San Francisco, where the two men live, their relationship raises eyebrows and the questions of, “What is a woman? What is a man?” “We’re a gay male couple that got to have a child the old-fashioned way,” said Andey, a transgender man. “I am Antonio’s biological mother on his birth certificate.”" — Transgender Couples: Changing the Face of Family

[UK] “An Audience with April Ashley takes place in the Small Concert Room at St George’s Hall tomorrow at 7.30pm. Miss Ashley was born in Liverpool in 1935 and lived in Norris Green for all of her childhood. In 1960 she was one of the first transsexual people to undergo gender confirmation surgery in Morocco. She went on to develop a successful career as a model, appearing in Vogue amongst other magazines. She was “outed” as a transsexual by the Sunday People in 1961 and her marriage and subsequent divorce removed the ability of trans people to acquire full legal status. This was not satisfactorily resolved until the passing of the Gender Recognition Act of 2004.” — Out and About

[UK] Where Julie Bindel is scheduled to be on December 5th. — Public Debate: A Feminist Perspective on the Transsexual Debate,

[India/Nepal] ““Sexual minorities should be treated as fairly as other citizens. If a member of our community breaks the law by all means book him but please don’t round up every hijra or transsexual you can find, the activists who support them and brutalise them,” said Manohar of Sangama. ”Also, please stop spreading false and outlandish stories about people being kidnapped and castrated just to sensationalise issues and create more fear and mistrust among the public,” he added appealing to the press and the authorities.” — Reality bites

[Australia] “So say we all.” — In Parliament Yesterday

News and views for Tuesday, November 11th …

[TN, USA] “The shooting death of a transgendered woman won’t stop a planned lawsuit over her February beating at the hands of police, one of her attorneys said Monday. Duanna Johnson, 43, was shot in the head at Hollywood and Staten in North Memphis late Sunday. She died at the scene. Although the Memphis Police Department identified the victim as Dwayne Johnson, attorney Murray Wells said the victim was the person he knew as Duanna.” — Transgendered abuse victim found dead

[TN, USA] The video from CW30 Eyewitness News’ report (“Duanna Johnson’s Death Will Not Stop MPD Lawsuit“) last night …

[Australia] “At the Grauniad, where noted Transphobe Julie Bindel was nominated for an award as “Journalist of the Year” by UK GLB(but not T) group STONEWALL. Named after a riot against police oppression of trans* and gays started by a Transgendered woman, to add a touch of Irony … So why does all this matter? Surely it’s just more silly sophomoric political games, people shouting at each other in the battle of the -isms, with no-one but they interested in the outcome? It matters because of this – the events I wrote about in Nothing Unusual … It matters because just as the beating of Duanna Johnson was not widely publicised in MSM, her murder will go unremarked either, even if a ballistics exam shows (purely by coincidence) a police-issue weapon was involved. It matters because if the Julie Bindels of the world are allowed to preach their poisonous Xenophobia without being called on it, then consequences such as this are inescapable.” — Today’s Battle

[USA] “New reality series Sex Change Hospital (WE tv Tuesdays, 11 pm/ET) follows patients — from retired grandfathers to construction workers, businessman and office managers — as they undergo surgery to transition from one gender to another. We caught up with Dr. Marci Bowers (formerly Mark Bowers), who has performed over 550 male-to-female sexual reassignment surgeries, to find out more about the life-changing operations at her clinic in Trinidad, Colo., the compelling docudrama and the social stigmas involved with transgender patients.” — Transgender Doctor Talks Sex Change Hospital

[CA, USA] The Stanford Law School has honored transgender attorney Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), with its National Public Service Award. — Stanford Law School Honors Public Interest Attorneys Shannon Price Minter and Julia R. Wilson with Public Service Awards

[USA] (Too bad certain Americans for Truth never focused on WMDs as they have on MWDs.) The latest from “Porno Pete” LaBarbera: “What will a President Obama do to protect the right to privacy of female federal workers who don’t want men wearing dresses – with male genitalia – sharing their women’s restroom?” LaBarbera said. “Will a President Obama request funds from Congress to embark on an ambitious ‘Transgender Restroom Construction Project’ to build special “trans” bathrooms in government buildings – so as not to subject female employees to sexual harassment and violations of their privacy?” — Will Federal Female Employees Be Safe from Cross-Dressing Men Using Ladies’ Restrooms in the Obama Administration?

[MD, USA] “So — a foreign guy went into the ladies fitting room with his wife and baby. That’s the story.
The letter writer, Bunny Galladora, hints that this is supposed to have something to do with our county’s new nondiscrimination law. The guy wasn’t dressed as a woman or claiming to be transgender, he was speaking a foreign language and maybe comes from a less puritanical country than ours, where men help their wives pick out clothes and watch the kid. As long as he isn’t leering at the women, exposing himself, or molesting anyone, there is no law — and never has been a law — against him being there … The WCTU lady says she was uneasy saying something to the store employee “with the new law having been passed.” Was she afraid somehow that she was going to accidentally discriminate against someone on the basis of gender identity? If there was something unusual about the man’s gender identity you would think she’d mention it. Let’s see how quickly Channel Seven gets this “challenge to the new law” on the air. And to think, they don’t like it when we call them “nuts.”" — WCTU Leader Outraged by Foreigner at Kohls, Blames New Law

[USA] “We need to start rebuilding for a fully inclusive ENDA. Start making strong alliances, start reaching out, start laying the bare strategic groundwork for the next battle a year or so from now. Let the lawyers continue to fight to overturn Prop 8, it was in some respects a red herring primarily designed to build and test a religion-based political machine, but it did serve (hopefully) as a fertile source of lessons learned and an insight as to how we need to fight the upcoming fight for our rights.” — Forward Thinking

[USA] “This statement and its supporting literature, that hypothesize sexual deviance as a cause of transsexualism, have sparked dissent among clinicians and researchers and outrage within the transgender and transsexual community [4-8] While theories around “autogynephilia” seem exceptionally impervious to contrary evidence, the controversy has raised questions about tolerance and bias in American Psychiatry– at what point do bad stereotypes preclude good science? The term “autogynephilia,” meaning “love of oneself as a woman,” was first introduced by Dr. Raymond Blanchard of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, now known as the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. He is currently chairman of the Paraphilias Subcommittee for the upcoming DSM-V. Blanchard stated that, “All gender dysphoric males who are not sexually oriented toward men are instead sexually oriented toward the thought or image of themselves as women.” [9] The absolutism in this statement, in the words “all and “instead,” seems astonishing. [10] It reduces a broad continuum of sexuality among transwomen to two narrow maligning stereotypes: either “homosexual males” in denial of a “homosexual” identity or pathological narcissistic “males” sexually attracted to themselves.” — Autogynephilia: The Infallible Derogatory Hypothesis, Part 1

[USA] “The gender alternative to ENDA would still be far from perfect. Even the most inclusive version of ENDA proposed so far was startling in its embrace of stark gender binarism, protecting transgender employees only to the extent they clearly declared themselves to be one sex or the other. The political process may continue to demand caveats on affirmative action and disparate impact claims. Judicial treatment of the new law could go in several directions. Judicial enthusiasm for the PDA, for example, has been mixed. Courts have sliced and diced sex, pregnancy, sex-plus, and sex stereotyping claims in defiance of Congress’s view that all are of a piece. There is no guarantee that their enforcement of a gender amendment would be more enthusiastic. A gender amendment would, however, create at least a chance for some progress, and a chance to avoid creating new problems for intersectional and other non-archetypal plaintiffs.” – Instead of ENDA, A Course Correction for Title VII

[Indonesia] “Heavyset and wearing the pink Islamic headscarf and matching flowing clothes of a pious Indonesian housewife, 48-year-old Maryani says her penis is a gift from God. Born as a boy and raised as a Catholic, Maryani spent years of drinking and selling sex on the streets as part of this city’s transgendered community before discovering Islam. Now, with her eight-year-old adopted daughter Rizky Aryani scrambling across her sturdy thighs, Maryani says her job is to bring Islam to her fellow “waria,” as transgendered people are known here. Tucked into a small alley in Yogyakarta, Maryani’s house has been turned into Indonesia’s first Islamic school set up specifically for waria.” – Indonesian transgendered find refuge in Islamic school

[Finland] “A local Imatra vicar’s announcement that he plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery is forcing the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church to take a stance on sex change. The minister, Olli Aalto, who is taking a temporary leave of absence, intends to begin hormone treatments. After this, he will undergo surgery and physically become a woman. Voitto Huotari, the bishop of the local Mikkeli diocese, says Aalto can no longer continue in his job. Aalto considers this view to be blatantly discriminatory. Aalto says he has been encouraged to leave the Church. However, firing him would break equality law. Aalto says he’s considering taking the Church to court if he is expelled from his job. “Pressuring me to leave is already discrimination,” says Aalto.” — Imatra Vicar Plans Gender Reassignment Surgery

News and views for Saturday, November 8th and Sunday, November 9th …

[USA] “Those waiting to see the change in Barack Obama’s presidency can look no further than his transitional Web site. The site, which is recruiting for a new administration , bluntly states it will not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity among other protections.” — Change, Already?

[USA] “After experiencing job discrimination first-hand, a Milwaukee woman decided to launch her own Web site to assist transgender individuals in finding employment with truly inclusive companies and organizations. Jillian Barfield created TJobBank.com, described as the first and only organization dedicated to providing employment services to the transgender community-a historially underemployed population. TJobBank.com launched in July, and there are several job openings already listed on the site.” — Web site finds jobs for trans individuals

[USA] “Nicole Kidman as the world’s first post-op transsexual, married to Charlize Theron? You betcha. Kidman will star in and produce “The Danish Girl,” based on the true story of Danish artists Einar and Greta Wegener. Their marriage took a sharp left turn after Einar (Kidman) stood in for an female model that Greta (Theron) was set to paint. When their portraits become wildly popular in 1920s Copenhagen, Greta encouraged her husband to adopt the female guise. What began as a harmless game led Einer to a metamorphosis and landmark 1931 operation that shocked the world and threatened their love.” — Nicole Kidman to star in ‘Danish’

[CO, USA] “The 3rd annual Transforming Gender Symposium kicked off Friday night with keynote speaker Monica Roberts and a local transgender activist panel. Roberts has been involved in transgender activism since the mid-1990s. Having transitioned 15 years ago, she is aware of many issues regarding transgender rights, with her experiences lending to a specific emphasis on “transgendered people of color.” After outlining some of the long history of the transgender community and its search for rights, Roberts brought her speech to a theme of the symposium: “The future of transgender activism.”" — Transforming Gender Symposium

[OR, USA] “As the nation’s first openly transgender mayor, Rasmussen cuts a distinct figure among his flannel-clad neighbors, from the wavy red mane, past the ample breast implants, along the maroon stockinged legs, over the crimson tips of his manicured nails and down to the size 11 black Mary Janes. “This is a place that takes you for who you are,” Rasmussen says, the sweep of his elegant hand taking in the Main Street of Silverton, population 9,588.” — Silverton gives its vote to transgendered mayor

[MI, USA] “”It was because of the fear and hate…that this issue lost,” [Hamtramck City Council member Scott} Klein said. "We're not done. We'll be back. We've got a good start and the Mayor and I are not deterred. We're ready to go for the next round." -- Hamtramck ordinance fails, supporters vow comeback

[NY, USA] “As CNN, The New York Times and Inside Edition rang her phone over and over, Genna Suraci pulled back in to the quiet of her work. People still called her Gary in those days … Fast-forward to Genna in a well-tailored pantsuit, to Saturday in a crowded Holiday Inn conference room. The people attending the LGBTQ conference (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning) have filled every table and are standing along the walls.” — A journey from he to she

[VT, USA] “People from all over the country were at UVM Saturday for the Translating Identity Conference, which focuses on transgender issues. Those who went were able to listen to speakers, sit in on discussions and visit vendors. More than 700 people signed up for the event. Last year some came from as far away as the Mid West and Canada. The event is entirely student run and is hosted by the University’s Free to Be group.” — Conference On Transgender Issues Held At UVM

[UK] ““I think we would do well to remember that Stonewall is named after a riot by drag queens. That is all I want to say.”” — Celebs split over trans protest at Stonewall Awards

[UK] From Julie Bindel writing in The Guardian, “Being nominated for an award is supposed to be a nice thing, right? Well not for me. When I was told a few weeks ago that I had been shortlisted for a journalist of the year award by the gay rights organisation Stonewall, I knew I would not win. I was certainly a worthy contender, but I knew from that moment that all hell was about to break loose.” — It’s not me. It’s you

[UK] There’s more on Julie Bindel and the Stonewall Awards protest at Sarah, Bringer of Tea and bird of paradox, among other places.

[UK] At Gender Variant Biography, “These are the mayors and mayoral candidate that I can think of. Who else should be added?” — Transgendered Mayors

[UK] The Gscene editors blog had three posts on Friday on the Natasha Thoday transgender discrimination case. — Guilty on 6 Counts!, Natasha Thoday claims tribunal victory, Natasha Thoday talks to Richard Smith about her recent discrimination cases

[Malaysia] “Several protesters walked through the city centre denouncing the National Fatwa Council’s decision against tomboys. The protesters yesterday claimed that Muslim women should have the right over how they want to express themselves or dress. Under the edict announced by the council on Oct 23, girls are forbidden to sport short hair and dress, walk and act like boys, due to recent cases of young women behaving like men and indulging in homosexual behaviour.” — Protesters denounce ruling against tomboys

[India] “A 16-year-old boy, who was kidnapped and coerced into prostitution by eunuchs after his sex was changed, was rescued by the city police on Saturday. With this arrest, the police claimed to have busted a major racket in the city.” — Boy forced to get sex changed

[International] Yesterday, November 8th, was Intersex Solidarity Day. — Barbin the hermaphrodite, Intersex Solidarity Day – An International Success

News and views for Friday, November 7th …

[OR, USA] “This election marked the first African-American President. The first time in 40 years an Oregon Senate candidate beat an incumbent Senator. And in tiny Silverton, Oregon, residents have elected the man who’s believed to be the first ever openly transgender mayor in the United States.” — Transgender Man Elected Mayor of Silverton

[OR, USA] From Radical Russ at Pam’s House Blend, “Now things get tricky, because Rasmussen was born male but looks female but identifies male, while other transgendered people I know were born male but look female but identify as female. I’m all for everybody being themselves, but it sure makes communications with gender-specific pronouns a little difficult.” — Silverton, Oregon, elects nation’s first openly-transgender mayor

[GA, USA] “Doraville became the third metro-area city to include gender identification in its nondiscrimination statement with a unanimous vote on Nov. 3. The city not only expanded its nondiscrimination policies to cover transgender workers, but also approved a set of policies that detail how a city employee seeking to transition genders should proceed.” — Doraville approves transgender protections

[MI, USA] “Glenn [of the American Family Association of Michigan] believes the victory is something political candidates can latch onto in the future. “The results in Hamtramck, Michigan, ought to be a wake-up call to Republicans who are now going to be casting about for issues that are consistent with the party’s platform but also appeal to minorities and Democrats,” Glenn concludes.” — Michigan town turns back ‘gay rights’ ordinance

[USA] “Discrimination against transgender workers, of course, doesn’t end with this [Schroer] ruling, no matter how groundbreaking it is. Trans-related employment discrimination cases have been on the rise, a “side effect of visibility as more and more transgender people come out,” Thaler says. “The upside is judges are finally starting to understand this discrimination is very real — and with this case and others, we now have a good legal argument to stop it.”” — Sex. Gender. Employment Discrimination

[USA] “If Jesse Ream has her way, terms like “men’s sports” and “women’s hoops” will one day seem as archaic as leather football helmets and basketball bloomers do now. Everyone who plays sports is an athlete, Ream says; separating them arbitrarily by gender is unfair and close-minded … Ream now identifies as transgender or genderqueer. Though female-bodied, she usually passes as a man. Since age 3, Ream has been called Jesse, not Jessica. She wore her brother’s clothes and played with his friends, and no one cared. Ream has no pronoun preference, advising people to use whichever words feel most comfortable to them.” — Putting the “T” into athletics

[USA] “One thing we can learn from the history of DSD treatment is that “common-sense” assumptions don’t always apply in these unique cases. Currently, practitioners who recommend elective surgery for children with DSDs rely on the belief that parental consent is sufficient authorization. However, given the medical, legal and ethical complexity of the decisions involved, it may be time to reconsider the entire decision-making process, beginning with who should be at the table.” — Medical decision-making and the child with a DSD

[Canada] “Though being white and heterosexual are commonly understood to carry privilege, most people wouldn’t consider transsexuality to be all that sweet a deal. The most accurate summation I’ve heard for the transsexual experience is that “it sucks.” But it sucks only insofar as there continues to be no space for transsexuality within a system that only recognizes two genders. In itself, though, transsexuality is a gift, recognized in some cultures as an evolved state of being — housing both a female and a male spirit, and having the ability to see the world from two perspectives at once. This is privilege.” — Tapping into trans-feminism

[UK] “The decision to nominate Guardian journalist Julie Bindel for a Stonewall Award has angered some in the trans community, and a picket of tonight’s ceremony has been widely trailed on the internet as a wider protest against “LGB transphobia.” London Transfeminist Group said they are expecting a large crowd of protesters. They assert that Ms Bindel’s articles are transphobic.” — Trans protest at Stonewall Awards faces feminist counter-demo

[UK] “The Journalist of the Year award went to Dr Miriam Stoppard of the Daily Mirror.” — “Gay Cure” MP Iris Robinson voted Bigot of the Year at Stonewall Awards

[UK] There’s more on Julie Bindel and the Stonewall Award at Southern Voice, blahflowers and especially bird of paradox.

[UK] A press release from Zoe O’Connell at London Transfeminism Group about the Stonewall Awards ceremony can be read here. — Trans rights protest is the largest ever in the UK

[UK] From Sophia Siedlberg of OII, “If there is one thing I have learned recently from the Bindel-Stonewall controversy, it is that there are generation gaps when it comes to activism. I think it was when Christine Burns of Press for Change did her “Just Plain Sense” podcast with Julie Bindel that I became aware of this. It seems to have transpired that it is most probable that Christine Burns and Stephen Whittle had a lot to do with Julie Bindel’s nomination for the “Journalist of the year” award. It is public knowledge that they were very supportive of Julie Bindel. I just don’t know if they actually had any part in actually nominating her.” — Observation of a “Press to avoid Stagnation”

[India] “The transsexuals in India lead a miserable life. The society shuns and looks down upon them. They are often made fun of and are also sexually harassed. However, the government has hardly taken any steps to remedy the problem.” — Their cup of woe overflows

[India] “Human rights activists held a demonstration here Friday to protest the harassment of eunuchs by Bangalore police last month.The activists submitted a memorandum to the Karnataka Resident Commissioner here, demanding action against policemen who arrested five eunuchs from a traffic signal on Oct 20 without levelling any charge and later harassed them.” — Rights activists protest harassment of eunuchs by police

[Turkey] “In a cramped makeshift theatre in Istanbul, a Kurd in a purple dress titillates the audience with the story of how he was born a man but found he was a woman. During his act, Esmeray wields a sharp tongue to expose the systematic violence faced by fellow transvestites. “I am a Kurd, a transvestite and a feminist, so I am screwed all round,” he says.” — Gender-benders: Transvestites test the limits of Turkey’s tolerance