News and views for Tuesday, November 25th …

[MA, USA] “A crowd of more than 200 people filled St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Church in Allston to hear prominent members and supporters of Boston’s transgender community memorialize the violent deaths suffered by transsexuals worldwide at the 10nth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. The event is held every Nov. 20, the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, in honor of Rita Hester, a transsexual whose violent – and still unsolved — murder in her Allston apartment shocked the community and spurred candlelight vigils and other memorial services across the world.” — More than 200 gather for Transgender Day of Remembrance observance

[NY, USA] “It’s been 10 days since Moses “Teish” Cannon was shot to death, apparently targeted for being transgender. On Monday, Cannon’s death brought the state’s human rights commissioner to Syracuse to meet with local transgender groups and speak out against what they consider a hate crime … “Part of the challenge we have is to educate and raise the consciousness of those young people who don’t at this point yet fully respect the human rights of those who are transgender,” said [Commissioner Galen] Kirkland. “The only way to stop the cycle of violence, to stop the cycle of prejudice and bigotry is to teach the younger generations coming up so that they know that hate is not ok and action based on hate is never, never, never acceptable,” said NYCLU chapter director Barrie Gewanter.” — Human Rights Commissioner talks about transgender death

[NY, USA] “In response to the tragic murder of Lateisha Green earlier this month, TLDEF [Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund] calls upon Albany lawmakers to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which would add gender identity and expression to the state’s hate crimes law. This plea comes after Dwight R. DeLee, 20, allegedly shot and killed Lateisha Green, 22, a transgender woman, outside a house party in Syracuse on Nov. 14 because he thought she was gay.” — TLDEF Calls Upon Lawmakers to Pass Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act

[OR, USA] “It’s unclear what reaction the group from Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was seeking when it arrived here to rebuke the town’s mayor-elect. But it’s not likely that Silverton’s festive, cheery response was what the religious protesters hoped to achieve. The town greeted the small group with an overwhelming rally of its own. Four Westboro protesters arrived in late morning, going first to Silverton’s city hall, then to First Christian Church, each brandishing a series of signs with a seemingly loose-knit yet dogmatic theme: “Fags Are Beasts,” “You’re Going to Hell,” “America is Doomed,” “Your Pastor is a Whore,” “God Hates You” and “Antichrist Obama.” The target of their sharp language was the town’s transgender mayor-elect, Stu Rasmussen.” — Silverton rallies against church’s hate message

[USA] “Advocates have been fighting for decades to protect gay and lesbian workers from employment discrimination at the federal level, thus far unsuccessfully. Title VII prohibits sex discrimination, but not sexual-orientation discrimination. The sex-discrimination ban has been successfully invoked in some cases by gays, lesbian, and transgender employees who were able to show that the discrimination or harassment they experienced constituted sex-role stereotyping. But for most who experience discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity federal law provides no cause of action. The longstanding exclusion of this type of discrimination from Title VII was poised to end this past year, though, when the House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA). ENDA would have filled an important gap in Title VII and extended protection to a class of workers regularly subjected to discrimination. Two versions of ENDA were considered – one that covered gender-identity discrimination, and one that did not. In some ways, transgender employees have had more success in proving sex discrimination – as I have written about in an earlier column – than gay and lesbian employees have. But, still, their victories have been scattered and they’ve suffered many more losses than wins. It thus makes sense to make ENDA as broad as possible in order to promote workplace equality for all.” — Why the New Administration Should Focus on Workplace Equality: Some Easy Fixes for Important Problems

[Italy] “The first transvestite elected to the Italian parliament, Vladimir Luxuria, garnered the votes of most TV viewers Monday night as the winner of the reality TV show “Celebrity Island.” The 43-year-old served in parliament for two years as a member of the Refoundation Communist Party before losing his bid for re-election in April. Over the past six weeks Luxuria, whose real name is Wladimiro Guadagno, has been a star on reality TV, trying to survive living on the beaches of Honduras with other celebrity “survivors”. In the end viewers picked Luxuria as their favourite … Born a man who dresses as a woman, Luxuria, also an actor, has become an icon of the Italian gay movement and easily won his seat in parliament in 2006 representing a district in Rome.” — Italian transvestite ex-MP triumphs as reality TV star

[India] “Should Shabnam Mausi be using the men’s restroom or the women’s? That’s the rather discomfiting question administrators at the Madhya Pradesh state assembly wrestled with on the day Mausi attended the legislature for the first time in 2000. Mausi made her own choice: She decided to use the women’s. Mausi, the first enunch to get elected to a state assembly, trounced opponents from all major parties in a by-election she contested as an independent candidate that year. After being unseated in 2003, the 48-year-old is back seeking votes for the 27 November polls, this time on a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket … But she is no longer a curiosity in a state where five eunuchs have been elected to various public offices since 2000. There are at least 10 eunuchs, popularly known in the subcontinent as hijras, contesting the polls to the 230-member state assembly this year, according to election officials.” — Eunuchs: fighting polls, still living on the fringes

[Mexico] “Transsexuals in Mexico City can get new – and altered – identity documents starting Monday if they provide a birth certificate and a medical certificate to local authorities thanks to a new municipal ordinance. Those eligible for the benefit are those people who have a report issued by two specialists certifying that they have undergone – or are in the process of undergoing – a sex-change procedure, whether or not it involves surgery. One of the promoters of the initiative is municipal assemblyman Jorge Carlos Diaz Cuervo, of the Alternative Social Democrat party, who told Efe that the aim of the reform is to put a halt to discrimination. The 42 family courts in Mexico City will receive the requests to modify the name and sex on the birth certificates of interested transsexuals, who must prove that they are adult Mexican citizens who have subjected themselves to “a process of (sexual) reclassification.”" — Mexico Transvestites To Get New IDs

News and views for Thursday, November 13th …

[CO, USA] “A week after Aimee Wilcoxson was found dead in her north Aurora home, her friends say they still have questions about the transgender woman’s death … Police aren’t releasing many details about the case, but said investigators believe Wilcoxson took her own life. “Detectives feel that all the evidence in the case points to a suicide,” said Aurora police spokesman Detective Bob Friel … But Wilcoxson’s friends say she was a happy person with a lot to look forward to and wouldn’t have killed herself. They say she was murdered. “We think there was foul play,” Latif said.” — Friends reject police’s take on transgender woman’s death

[NY, USA] “A contentious battle initially involving four – but later just three – State Senate Democratic rebels has left control of the Legislature’s upper chamber in doubt, more than a week after the election. At first blush, the November 4 results seemed to have given the Democrats control, by at least a 32-30 margin, for the first time in 43 years. Given the intransigence of the longtime Republican Senate leadership, Democratic control has been deemed essential to progress on the marriage equality law and the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a transgender civil rights measure. Only this past summer did the GOP signal a willingness to finally end the logjam on school anti-bullying legislation that would include gay and transgendered youth in its protections. The resistance of the remaining three Democratic holdouts in getting on board with Queens Senator Malcolm Smith becoming the new majority leaders is further complicated by the fact that gay marriage has become the focal point for the public volleying on the issue.” — State Senate Control Iffy

[MA, USA] “On Nov. 20 transgender activists and their allies will gather in Allston to remember Rita Hester, a woman whose murder 10 years ago shook the local trans community to its core and transformed the way people across the country respond to anti-transgender violence.” — Remembering Rita Hester

[USA] “In what is being viewed as a strong signal to activists nationwide, the transition office of President-elect Barack Obama has issued a non-discrimination policy including sexual orientation and gender identity. “The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law,” says the website of the Office of the President-elect, Change.gov.” — Obama transition team is transgender-inclusive

[USA] “Thomas Beatie, the controversial “pregnant man” who gave birth to a daughter earlier this year, reveals to Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview that he is pregnant again with his second child.” — Barbara Walters Exclusive: Pregnant Man Expecting Second Child

[USA] “Christa Hoisington can barely utter her birth name. It still bothers her to this day. “It just didn’t feel right,” she says. It didn’t make sense to her. Gary is a boy’s name. And Christa says she knew, even as a child, she wasn’t a boy … Christa felt trapped, until she began to transition from male to female. “I’ve never been happier. I can be who I am,” she says. She began psychotherapy and hormone replacement to reduce testosterone levels, body hair, and make her feel more feminine. In 2003, she got breast implants. She expects to have complete SRS– or sexual reassignment surgery– next year.” — Becoming, Part 2: The Mental and Medical Sides of Transgender

[UK] Zagria at Gender Variant Biography profiles musician-singer Antony Hegarty. — Antony Hegarty (1971 – ) musician

[Finland] “Olli Aalto, the Lutheran Vicar of Imatra, says that he has struggled with his gender identity for almost all of his 54 years. The struggle is now coming to an end. Aalto will take a leave of absence at the beginning of 2009, during which time he will undergo surgery and other procedures to become a woman. Aalto says that the matter has been a cause for concern “ever since I was a little girl” … Aalto decided to come out in public after extensive reflection. “I decided that because of my position, it would come out at some point”, he says. Aalto wanted to raise discussion and promote understanding about the transgender phenomenon. “Keeping it a secret and living a double life are terribly heavy burdens.”” — Transgender Lutheran vicar wants to continue his pastoral work

[Finland] “The number of those wishing to change their sex has multiplied in recent years. In 2003-2006 around 40 people per year sought treatment from the relevant clinics in Helsinki and Tampere. Last year’s corresponding figure was about 90, and this year even more patients have called at the clinics dealing with transgender issues. The congestion has caused queues for corrective operations. At the moment the waiting time is about a year. “If the number of referrals remains this high, our capacity will be stretched”, explains acting specialist doctor Marja Kautto from the Helsinki University Central Hospital. Issues relating to correcting one’s gender became topical in connection with Imatra vicar Olli Aalto’s announcement, according to which he would return from his leave of absence at the beginning of 2009 as a she, Marja-Sisko Aalto … The Aalto case, in which questions were asked about the suitability of the vicar’s return to the position after changing gender, has prompted a response from labour legislation experts. While the Bishop of Mikkeli Voitto Huotari has said Aalto’s continued pastoral work may “contain problems”, the law as it stands does not present any formal obstacles to a transgender person returning to a job in a different sex after a leave of absence. Since female clergy are an established part of the Finnish Lutheran Church, there can also be no grounds for dismissal on that score.” — Number of transgender cases has increased severalfold in recent years

[India] “As India’s gays, lesbians, and gender nonconformists struggle for legal recognition of their civil rights and the end to their criminalization, an ugly two-day incident of police violence against hijras – as the transgenders are known – and LGBT activists in the south-eastern city of Bangalore, the nation’s third largest, illustrates their continued tenuous position in the world’s second most populous country.” – Trans Indians Under Assault

News and views for Monday, November 10th …

[TN, USA] As Autumn has mentioned here, troubled trans woman Duanna Johnson was found shot to death in Memphis today. The news reports as of Monday evening …

The victim of a shooting early today in North Memphis has been identified by a local attorney as the transgendered person who was beaten by police earlier this year … Police are looking for suspects in this morning’s shooting. A witness told investigators three people ran from the scene after a shot was fired.

Shooting victim identified as person who was beaten by police

The lawyer for a transgender woman who was preparing to sue Memphis police says his client has been killed … Wells said Johnson’s family still intends to sue Memphis police because of the jailhouse beating

Lawyer: Shooting victim was woman beaten by police

A statement from the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center: “Duanna bravely confronted the Memphis Police Department officers who brutalized her while she was in police custody. At great personal cost, Duanna was the public face of our community’s campaign against racism, homophobia, and transphobia. There was no justice for Duanna Johnson in life. The Mid-South Peace & Justice Center calls for justice in the investigation and prosecution of Duanna’s murder.”

Transgender Beating Victim Found Dead in North Memphis

[IL, USA] “Even a dreary, drizzly Chicago November evening did not deter a strong crowd of at least 300 from gathering to protest the Museum of Broadcast Communications’ induction of James Dobson into the Radio Hall of Fame on Saturday at the downtown Renaissance Chicago Hotel … “They said they couldn’t do anything because he won the vote,” explained Thayer while addressing the crowd early in the evening. “At one point in the history of our country, the premiere broadcaster [of the 1930’s] was Father [Charles] Coughlin, a notorious anti-semite and racist. They did not, rightfully, choose to honor him, but unfortunately a double standard still persists in this country for haters of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.”‘ — Chicagoans Protest Dobson’s Hall of Fame Induction

[NY, USA] ” ‘Malcolm Smith, the Queens Democrat who will be the new majority leader, appeared at ESPA’s annual Manhattan Fall Dinner last October and enthusiastically pledged to “forward” the marriage equality bill on “the first day of our session,” and to put it at “the top of the list” when discussing agenda items with the governor.’ I’m fine with that happening on the first day – so long as a bill to rectify the 2002 Gays’ and Lesbians’ Right to Discriminate Against Trans People Act (sometimes referred to as SONDA) is ‘forwarded’ first on that first day and so long as not one thing is done on the marriage bill until the bill to rectify the 2002 Gays’ and Lesbians’ Right to Discriminate Against Trans People Act has passed both houses of the legislature and has Gov. Paterson’s signature affixed to it.” — Marriage My Ass

[NY, USA] “I’m sure there were plenty of transwomen who wanted to vote in New York City who could have been profiled in this article. Or the Times could have done an article about voter apathy and used Michelle Carver as an example. So good on the Times for at least referring to Michelle Carver with female pronouns and a female honorific. But this issue deserves serious coverage, not condescending commentary on a someone who isn’t even facing the problems outlined in the beginning of the article.” — Traditional media still has trouble covering transgender issues

[USA] “In their first interview since the birth of their daughter, Susan, this past summer, Beatie and his wife, Nancy, speak candidly to Barbara Walters. Find out about the childbirth experience, how they’re raising their daughter, and what the future holds for them on “What Is a Man, What Is a Woman? Journey of a Pregnant Man” Friday on “20/20″ at 10 p.m. ET ,,, The hour also explores how gender boundaries are dissolving, and how transgender couples create families amid the social and legal complexities of this brave new world.” — Barbara Walters Exclusive: ‘Journey of a Pregnant Man’

[USA] “Today, I have no problem with my self-worth. I don’t need laws that protect my employment or include me in hate crimes legislation to justify my humanity. My self worth and humanity is based on me and me only. My renewed belief in God has also been very helpful. Trans people all over the country have come to realize that they will not relinquish their humanity to anyone. No one decided our humanity or self worth but us. Maybe our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters need to take a little lesson from the trans community when it comes to self worth. We have been put down and marginalized for such a long time and for so many reasons that we had to make peace with our humanity. We have been left out of legislation so many times that we had to build the strength within us to move on. We have seen so many trans-related bills fail that it has dampened our self worth. Yet, we keep moving forward.” — Devaluating Your Self Worth

[USA] “That is exactly how many of us feel about ”friends and neighbors” who somehow found a way to justify leaving trans people behind on ENDA. And although I hate to compare griefs the fact of the matter is that it’s all the same. Fundamental rights are fundamental rights, whether it be the right to have a job and earn a living or the right to have loving committed relationships recognized and to raise a family. Denial of both are materially harmful. No difference. Yet you made a conscious decision to harm us, Joe. You did. Perhaps you’ll recognize that you were that friend and neighbor – to me personally and to our community in general – who made that hurtful decision yet can somehow justify still being a “friend”. I hope that you recognize that the crowds still protesting the Prop. 8 outcome in cities throughout California and across the country are the same as gender variant people and allies who protest at HRC events around the country, upset with the injustice that has been forced upon us and needing to express that anger and frustration.” — What’s the Point?

[UK] The Department of Health has authorised the publication of “A guide to trans service users’ rights” (PDF here), the sixth in the series of booklets that it has commissioned the Gender Identity Research and Education (GIRES) to develop.

[Canada] “Put yourself in the place of someone who’s trying to transition. Many people simply just don’t understand why you would do that. Then add to that the realization that the APA, a socially-recognized mental health authority, considers you to be diseased, simply out of who you are. Ask yourself if you would be willing to trade a bit of your dignity for medical treatment. If not, why should anyone else have to?” — Non-normative gender is not a disease

[Sweden] “Jan-Olov Ågren, a male cross-dresser from Norrbotten in northern Sweden, has been handed a victory by the county administrative court in his bid to go by the name Madeleine. Ågren has a penchant for dressing up in women’s clothing and when he does, he likes to go by the name Madeleine, reports the Norrbottens-Kuriren newspaper. But the Swedish Tax Agency had previously rejected Ågren’s application to have his name changed to Jan-Olov Madeleine Ågren on the grounds that it’s not appropriate for a man to have a woman’s name.” — Cross-dressing Swedish man can be named Madeleine

[Peru] “In the city of Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, attitudes towards gender roles and sexual orientation are comparatively relaxed. But despite the thriving gay and transvestite scene, members of the cross-dressing community, known as chivas, still face prejudice and violence. Sixteen-year-old Rober has been working as a transsexual prostitute since he was 12. Donning his girlish clothes and wig every night, he says that he’s happier on the streets than at school, despite the risks to his safety.” — Walk on the wild side: Peru

I get the news I need on the weather report.
I can gather all the news I need on the weather report.
Hey, I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.

After Barack, after Sarah, we may finally be getting our first honest snow job of the year here in Asheville.