A round up of interesting news — well, at least it’s news I find interesting.

* Now here’s a quality protest event! Bay Area College Republicans Revolt — over beer tax proposal…

* The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Obama is picking up support and calories.

* From the San Francisco Chronicle: Anti-war Cindy Sheehan files to take on Pelosi. She’s made good on her threat to run against Pelosi if Pelosi didn’t start impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

* From the New York Times‘ Soldier Sues Army, Saying His Atheism Led to Threats:

As we’ve seen this past week regarding protests against Day Of Silence participation, free speech and freedom of religion are often perceived by conservative Christians as only applying to them, — not to those who don’t share their views.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the last week or so there has been some interesting commentary coming from the religious right, as well as an editorial in this morning’s Los Angeles Times, regarding transgender folk. There’s been a few interesting stories too. So, instead of writing up a bevy of individual posts on a variety of transgender stories, here’s a “This And That” post to catch y’all up on the news and commentary relating to gender identity and expression.

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○ The Phoenix Arizona LGBT publication Echo Magazine picked their woman of the year: Regina Gazelle.

Almira Enos had used meth since she was 13 years old. To get drugs, she would often prostitute herself. She was born a man, but always knew she was supposed to be a woman. Her own mother told her so. Her confused gender state fueled the chronic drug use. She often felt lost and suicidal. Enter Regina Gazelle, Echo’s Woman of the Year.

In April, Enos met Gazelle, who helped the now 26-year-old clean up and learn how to live in her own skin. Enos enrolled in Gazelle’s halfway house for transgender girls, “This Is H.O.W. (Honesty, Openmindedness, Willingness),” and today is sober and even has a job.

She credits Gazelle with her remarkable transformation.

Editor Patrick Roland wrote in his commentary on the article:

So it is with great pride I announce Echo’s first transgender woman of the year, the fabulous Regina Gazelle.

We know there may be some controversy in making this decision. We thought about having “people of the year” because Regina’s accomplishments were so amazing we knew she had to get the much-needed recognition she’s earned.

But at the end of the day, Regina is a woman, period. And she’s been through a hell of a lot more and created so much with what little she had to work with, she’s made our community a far better place for having her in it.

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○ And, the first thing you should know is you should be afraid of me and my kind because we are a bunch of bullies — so says the Catholic Online in their editorial Beware of the ‘Gender Identity’ Bullies. The article begins by framing San Francisco’s plan to begin issuing some municipal identification cards without gender markers for undocumented workers and transgender people. Some choice excerpts from the piece:

● Rather than seeing our gender as a gift and a given, this movement is a part of a growing effort to place some perceived power over sexual identity in the hands of individuals so that they can make their own decision as to whether they are men or women; or to change their mind regularly.

These new municipal identification cards will contain birthdates and photos. However, they will not indicate whether the holder is male or female. Why? Because the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco have determined that to do so is somehow “discriminatory’.

So called “transgender” activists added this provision to the ordinance.

● In the USA TODAY article, Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council was quoted as the only voice which even questioned the ordinance. He told the paper that he was concerned that the use of such cards would encourage the idea that gender identity is flexible. “It gives support to the philosophy that says gender is a social construct,” Sprigg said “I think that philosophy is harmful to society at large.”

● No longer content to keep their lifestyle choices private, these activists have decided that the police power of the State must now enforce their vision of a brave new world on everyone else. They have also decided that anyone who sees things differently is “intolerant” or bigoted, and must be stopped.

Oh, I know some may consider that my even commenting on this issue is somehow “insensitive”. Well, when a group goes beyond the pale by forcing a change in the law to accommodate their own lifestyle choice, and, in so doing, risks the safety of others, I will not remain silent.

They are the ‘Gender Identity Bullies’ and they may be coming to a City or town near you.

So apparently, since San Francisco is going to issue ID’s without gender markers, the terrorists win. I probably should tell the Department of Defense that, since my Military Retiree ID card is sans a gender marker.

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○ Keeping with the Catholic Church, a Catholic hospital has denied a post-operative, transsexual woman breast enlargement surgery because was born male. (The California Catholic Daily has a piece up on the story too in their piece God made you a man.) Quoting from the PinkNews‘ article on the story:

A trans woman is suing a Catholic hospital, claiming medical officials blocked her from getting breast enlargement surgery there because she had a sex-change operation.

Charlene Hastings, 57, told The [San Jose] Mercury News that when she called Seton Medical Centre, a Catholic hospital in Daly City, California, to inquire about breast enlargement surgery, an official told her it wasn’t “God’s will” for her to have such a treatment, because “God made you a man.”

The Catholic League’s Bill Donahue has commented on this story:

…Significantly, the IRS ruled in 2005 that a woman’s transsexual sex reassignment surgery is not allowed as a deductible medical expense. Moreover, consider what Johns Hopkins professor of psychiatry Paul McHugh has concluded: ‘I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex-reassignment.’ In other words, the government sees the requested surgery as elective in nature and experts like McHugh see it as destructive. Why, then, should Catholic hospitals be forced to cooperate with this objectionable venture?

○ One of my hero’s, Monica Roberts, has a piece up (from November) entitled Why Is The Catholic Church Hatin’ On Transpeople? It’s a pretty good summary piece on the history of the Catholic Church with transsexuals.

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[Articles not related to Catholics on Gender Identity And Expression after the fold]
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Here’s a few stories that have interested me recently, but I haven’t wrote up as individual posts. The items are in no particular order.

- LAPD enlists feral cats for rat patrol. Okay, how do you not love a story with that headline? Hey, I live near a freeway with a large embankment covered with iceplant — plenty of rodents live there. I’m sure my two cats are keeping my apartment free of rodents.

- Greater Boston PFLAG President: Hillary Clinton Fails Gay Families. Interesting piece on why a local PFLAG president finds Clinton’s statements on teaching about LGBT parents in the classroom to be troublesome. Apparently, Clinton’s view on Heather Has Two Mommies is less progressive than many of us would have expected.

- Karen Bachman found this article, noting it in a comment: Smith’s Pick Stirs Gay-Rights Controversy. Apparently, the judge who made the Oregon domestic partnership decision on Friday (H/t: Mad Professah) had confirmation difficulties over LGBT issues. Here’s a thought — should LGBT folk be calling this judge a “judicial activist?” The ruling seems to going against the concept of federalism…

- Inmate Says He Needs Thor’s Hammer, Drum. An inmate is suing the Utah Department of Corrections for denying him his right to practice an ancient Nordic religion while behind bars. Groovy!

- The Candidates On Bhutto; Candidates React To Bhutto’s Assassination; 2008 U.S. hopefuls react to Bhutto death. And, a few thousand more articles — and I do mean a few thousand articles. The candidates speak, and everyone-and-their-dog-Spot has a take on how Benazir Bhutto’s assassination is going to effect the “horse race” in Iowa and New Hampshire.

[Genital reassignment surgery the same as amputating a leg? ; Who counts in the LGBT community? ; Doc took a cell-phone pic of penis tattoo and shared it - the patient isn't happy about that ; and more This and That after the break]

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It’s been raining in San Diego this weekend(!), so time to search the web for the “California-related” stories and perspectives! Here we go:

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* Some in Congress learned of waterboarding in ’02; CIA gave leaders private briefings about techniques. (San Francisco Chronicle)

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included future-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make prisoners talk.

Among the techniques, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.

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* Human Rights Watch Report: Poor care is given to detainees. Subheader: The study’s author said the most egregious case was of a 23-year-old transgender inmate held at the San Pedro facility. Man, who had AIDS, was denied treatment and became gravely ill, finally dying on July 20. (Associated Press/Daily Breeze, California)

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* Remember those nine U.S. attorneys? (Los Angeles Times) A year ago, a Justice Department scandal forced them into new careers. Despite some bitterness, they’ve landed on their feet.

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[After the break: Republicans salivating over Clinton's association with S.F. Mayor; California diocese leaves Episcopal Church in rift over gays, theology; SDSU Student attacked on SDSU campus just hours after rally against hate; Hollywood "fade to black" begins; and more.]

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Columnist and human rights attorney Joanne Mariner of FindLaw reports on what she calls A Guantanamo Index.

The FindLaw teaser says the following about the article:

[She] offers an index, much like the famous Harper’s Magazine “Harper’s Index,” that provides a quantitative perspective on the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and the fates of the detainees there. The figures she compiles range from the shocking (the total days of the longest detentions without charge; the age of the youngest prisoner), to the deeply upsetting (number of apparent and attempted suicides; estimated number of detentions of farmers, aid workers, missionaries, and refugees totally unconnected to terrorism), to the appalling (hours for which, according to an FBI agent, two detainees were left chained in a fetal position). 

The article is worth the read.

Yeah, the Bush Administration doesn’t torture … it also believes we spread freedom, provide an example of the rule of law … *sigh*

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From the Los Angeles Times comes the story China Bans Exports of Drug-Tainted Toy:

China’s government has suspended exports of toys covered with a toxic chemical that have been subject to recalls from Australia to the United States after sickening children, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

China’s move came as seven more U.S. children were reported ailing after ingesting Chinese-made toy beads because of the toxic chemical coating, bringing the total of U.S. children sickened to nine, according to a spokeswoman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The Chinese government’s quality control administration issued the export ban, sealed the toys at the sites where they were produced and ordered an investigation, Xinhua said in a brief report.

Millions of units of the popular toys, which are sold as Aqua Dots in the United States and as Bindeez in Australia, were recalled in those countries as well as in Britain, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere this past week after children began falling sick from swallowing the toy’s bead-like parts.

Tests showed they were coated with the industrial chemical 1,4-butanediol. When ingested the chemical metabolizes into the “date-rape” drug gamma hydroxy butyrate, and may cause breathing problems, loss of consciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death. In addition to the nine in the U.S., three children in Australia have taken sick.

Wow.

Thank goodness our Consumer Product Safety Commission has been keeping us safe from dangerous, cheap Chinese toys! … Well, not really, but we can engage in playing pretend and wish it were so.

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Montgomery County Council acts to quell protests over transgender bill;
Protests prompt committee to remove public accommodations section of the antidiscrimination bill; a vote is set for Tuesday:

After a vigorous e-mail campaign attacking the public accommodations section of a bill designed to protect transgender people from discrimination, a Montgomery County Council committee has decided to remove that portion of the bill.

Critics have inundated the council and local news media for weeks over their concerns that women and girls would have be confronted by male nakedness in locker rooms and bathrooms if the bill is passed. They argue that the bill would put girls and women at risk.

The committee’s decision came late Thursday evening and was not announced publicly. The Gazette learned of the change on Friday.

The bill as amended would prohibit discrimination in housing, employment, cable television service and taxi service.

A vote on the bill, which is expected to pass, is set for Tuesday.

‘‘The committee decided it was simpler not to include the public accommodations part. At this point, the purpose is to provide equal rights for transgender individuals,” said Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, who proposed the bill in September and wrote it with the help of an aide who is a transgender woman. ‘‘I think it’s unfortunate that a small group of individuals sought to create a campaign of fear about the legislation.”

Activism works. The religious right scare tactics involved over the nonexistent threat of cross-dressing rapists won the day.

Related:
* We Have A Weiner — I mean A “Winner”
* Latest Attacks Of Teh HomoSEXual Agenda’s Transgenderededs’s Bullet Points

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My City Councilwoman, Toni Atkins, sent out her monthly Toni Times. As you can imagine, as a local e-blast it has a lot of boring stuff in it about renaming parks, street lighting wiring, and community thank you’s. This week’s letter had water saving tips — California is also experiencing serious drought:

WATER CONSERVATION TIPS
Water is our most valuable resource. California’s main water sources have been severely impacted by dry record dry conditions. In San Diego, we need to be prepared should these weather conditions continue. As part of a region-wide effort to step up voluntary water conservation, the City of San Diego Water Department, in conjunction with the San Diego County Water Authority, is issuing a 20-Gallon Challenge. San Diegans are each being asked to conserve 20-gallons of water a day.

There are many ways that businesses and residents can voluntarily conserve water. Here are a few of the some simple things you can do to conserve 20 gallons per day:

INDOOR
* Save 2.5 gallons per minute by shortening showers
* Save 2 gallons per minute by turning off water when brushing teeth
* Save 15-50 gallons per load by washing only full loads of clothes
* Save 100 gallons per week by hand washing dishes at least once a day, using less detergent to cut down on rinsing

LANDSCAPE IIRRIGATION
* Save 20-25 gallons per day by watering before 6 a.m. and after 8 p.m.
* Save 15-25 gallons per minute by not over watering—cut irrigation cycles by 1-3 minutes
* Save 15-25 per day gallons by adjusting sprinklers to prevent overspray

OTHER OUTDOOR
* Save 8-18 gallons per minute by using a broom instead of a hose to clean driveway & sidewalks
* Save 15-20 gallons per day per leak by repairing leaking hose bibs
* Save 30 gallons per day by installing covers on pools and spas

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HOLY COW! A bovine falls 200 feet off a cliff and lands on a minivan in Manson, Wash.

Charles and Linda Everson were driving back to their hotel when their minivan was struck by a falling object — a 600-pound cow. The Eversons were unhurt but the cow, which had fallen off a cliff, had to be euthanized.

The year-old cow fell about 200 feet from the cliff and landed on the hood of the couple’s minivan, causing heavy damage.

A Chelan County fire chief, Arnold Baker, said the couple missed being killed by a matter of inches in the accident Sunday on a highway near Manson.

The Eversons, visiting the area from their home in Westland, Mich., to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, were checked at Lake Chelan Community Hospital as a precaution.

Everson, 49, said he didn’t see the cow falling and didn’t know what happened until afterward.

He said he kept repeating: “I don’t believe this. I don’t believe this.”

As promised, here’s a “link farm” of thoughts on ENDA, broken up into a section of LGBT organization comments, a section of religious right organization comments, a section of editorials and commentaries comments, and a section of congressmember/politician comments. By no means is this comprehensive article list, but it’s meant to give a pretty wide cross-section of viewpoints on the recent passage of ENDA.

[Btw, there is a video up of the Congressional ENDA passage press conference here.]

LGBT Civil Rights and Non-Profits

National Center For Transgender Equality: Mara Keisling, NCTE’s Executive Director writes…

Human Rights Campaign: U.S. House Takes Historic Step by Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Lambda Legal: ENDA: Aim Higher

The Gay & Lesbian Task Force: Task Force, Inc., responds to House passage of non-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act and One Community. One Enda. On To 2009.

People For The American Way: Jorge Mursuli on ENDA: “A cause for celebration”

PFLAG: PFLAG Commits to Increasing Congressional Education Efforts on the Need for Gender Identity Protections in the Workplace

National Stonewall Democrats: Statement on Passage of HR 3685

San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center: The Center Calls ENDA Passage ‘A Mixed Bag;’ Expresses Profound Disappointment At President’s Indication Of A Veto

Religious Right Organizations

Concerned Women for America: First Amendment Trampled With ENDA Passage

Liberty Council: Veto will likely be needed to defeat ENDA – H.R. 3685 Passed House 235 to 184

OneNewsNow / American Family Association: Family advocate says ENDA vote shows ‘arrogance’ and POLL: Readers want end of ENDA

Illinois Family Institute: U.S. House Passes ENDA

Focus On The Family: Republicans Switch Over to Pass Dangerous ENDA Bill

Lifesite: Conservatives React Against Pro-Gay ENDA Measure Dismissive of First Amendment

CNS News: Republicans Say ENDA ‘Takes Dead Aim at Religious Freedom’

Newsbusters (Robert Knight): See No ENDA, Hear No ENDA, Speak No ENDA

Editorials and Commentaries

New York Times Editorial: An Overdue Step for Equal Justice

Windy City Times: Views: Symbolism or Substance in ENDA Debate?

Chillicothe Gazette [OH,USA] Editorial: ENDA a victory for those who believe in equality

Gay City News: What Does Victory Mean?

The Nation: What’s Next For ‘ENDA With No Gender’?

Southern Voice: Bloggers react to ENDA

Washington Blade: The House makes history

Congressmembers/Politicians

Rep. Roy Blunt: The Majority’s ENDA Problem: Freedom of Religion, Meet Free Flow of Litigation

Sen. Edward Kennedy: Kennedy On ENDA

Rep. Barney Frank: Congressman Frank Speaks Out Against The Republican Motion To Send The Employment Non-Discrimination Act Back To Committee

Rep. Tammy Baldwin: Statement On House Passage of H.R. 3685, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007

Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean: Howard Dean Applauds House Passage of ENDA

ENDA the week edition …

#1 – On Wednesday, October 3rd, Donna Rose resigned from the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign …

Community. Integrity. Leadership. Vision. These are the foundational pillars of Equality. These are the values that draw many of us into advocacy roles. Those tenets provide a clear roadmap when things like politics, expediency, agenda, and power cloud the picture as they so often do. They pave the way to the moral high-ground, and those who follow them with trust and patience will ultimately find their efforts rewarded.

…

The current situation regarding ENDA is nothing short of a politically misguided tragedy. A tool that could and should be a unifying beacon on the heels of the historic passage of fully inclusive Hate Crime legislation has been split. Transgender brothers and sisters again find themselves separated, isolated, and disempowered. People in positions of power have decided that their personal legacy and the promise of political expediency are more important than protecting our entire beautiful community. The time is here to make a strong statement to demonstrate to them that they are wrong.

In 2004 the HRC Board voted to support only fully-inclusive Federal legislation. That decision paved the way to my participation with the organization, and was a significant step in the healing process. Since that time we have worked together tirelessly towards a goal of Equality for all. Less than a month ago HRC President Joe Solmonese stood before almost 900 transgender people at the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta to pledge ongoing support and solidarity. In his keynote address he indicated that not only would HRC support only a fully inclusive ENDA, but that it would actively oppose anything less. That single pledge changed hearts and minds that day, and the ripple affect throughout the transgender community was that we finally were one single GLBT community working together. Sadly, recent events indicate that those promises were hollow.

An impressive coalition of local and national organizations has lined up to actively oppose the divisive strategy that would leave some of our brothers and sisters without workplace protections. This effort has galvanized community spirit and commitment in ways few could have imagined, and it has demonstrated to those who would divide us that anything less than full inclusion is unacceptable Organization after organization has seized the moral high ground knowing that this is a historic opportunity that cannot be squandered, and that it is our moral obligation to ourselves and to generations that will follow to make a loud, clear, unmistakable statement that we are a community and we will not be divided. There is a single significant organization glaringly missing from that list. The Human Rights Campaign has chosen not to be there.

…

I hereby submit my resignation from my post on the Board of the Human Rights Campaign effective Monday Oct. 8, 2007. I call on other like-minded board members, steering committee leaders, donors, corporate sponsors, and volunteers to think long and hard about whether this organization still stands for your values and to take decisive action as well. More than simply a question of organization policy, this is a test of principle and integrity and although it pains me greatly to see what has happened it is clear to me that there can only be one path. Character is not for compromise. I cannot align myself with an organization that I can’t trust to stand-up for all of us. More than that, I cannot give half-hearted support to an organization that has now chosen to forsake the tenets that have guided my efforts from day one.

…

History teaches painful lessons. Any celebration of rights gained at the expense of others is not a celebration. It is a failure of effective leadership. It is to offer the promise of a tomorrow that you know in your heart will never come. It is to choose to turn your back on those who need you most, who do not have the voice or the stature to speak for themselves.

The time is here for leaders to lead, for those who say they stand for community to act forcefully and with purpose. Anything less is to forsake the pillars of Equality for the empty promise of something less. The word that we have for that in our language is “Courage”. It’s the kind of courage it takes for GLBT people to show up for work each and every day, living authentically, wondering if that will be their last day. I call on my brothers and sisters at the Human Rights Campaign, for Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Frank, and for equality-minded leaders everywhere to lead by example and to do the right thing.

And four more recommended reads are …

#2 – Terrific piece (“No ENDA Without Trans Protections“) from Doug Ireland writing in the Gay City News yesterday, including this quote from Sean Strub, the founder of POZ magazine …

“Trans people are trotted out as ornaments to demonstrate our diversity when useful, but otherwise are often treated like third-class citizens within the movement, ‘their’ issues relegated to something that is outside of the ‘mainstream’ gay agenda. To me, their issues are our issues, and anyone who can’t understand that needs to read some history.”

Ireland ends with …

What, after all, are the transgendered asking for? As transgender leader Jennifer Finney Boylan – a novelist and professor of English at Colby – put it in a speech at the National Press Club in May, they want a country “where Americans understand that transgendered people come in all shapes and sizes and embodiments, where to be a cross-dresser or a transsexual or a drag queen or trans man or genderqueer is seen as simply another way of being human.”

Only if the gay community’s organizational spokespeople at all levels take a tough line and say we won’t support this bill if the trans are thrown overboard and declared less than human will there be any hope of getting trans protection back into the bill.

State LGBT organizations should hold their state Congressional delegations’ feet to the fire on this – and not spare the kerosene. This is not the moment for HRC-style capitulationism to preserve “access” for the future – that feeble game makes us all look like wimps, and always leaves us getting screwed. Instead we must all stand up loud and firm and protect those whose visibility makes them the most vulnerable to discrimination and hatred – i.e., the transgendered.

No Trans Protection, No ENDA – that must be our slogan.

#3 – From Gabriel Rotello at The Huffington Post yesterday, “If ENDA Doesn’t Protect The Transgendered, It Doesn’t Protect Me” …

…

Researchers now think that this is all connected, that all gay and transgendered people occupy places on a continuum between the two main genders.

At one extreme are masculine gay men and feminine lesbians who could easily pass as straight, and whose only obvious sex-atypical trait is their sexual orientation. At the other extreme are people who are so gender-atypical in so many ways that some choose to have an operation to bring the body in line with the soul. But what distinguishes us is that we all, to some degree or another, have major traits that place us somewhere between the two primary genders.

In that sense, all LGBT people are transgendered.

Not only does this idea offer a more expansive definition of what we really are, but it also better explains why we are oppressed.

Homophobes don’t merely hate us because of how we make love. Rather, they hate how we make love because it violates our expected gender roles. Really, we are hated for gender transgression.

…

So in light of that, the decision to remove what we currently call transgendered people from a bill to ban anti-gay discrimination in the workplace couldn’t be more misguided.

Yes, sure, all the other arguments against the removal of transgendered people from ENDA are valid, foremost among them that we are sacrificing the most vulnerable among us for the political expediency of getting a bill passed.

But if you look at LGBT people as all, in a sense, transgendered, such a bill is not merely sacrificing the rights of one sexual minority within our movement. It’s betraying and denying the strange, wonderful, mysterious and very human thing that makes us what we are.

#4 – From Jody Huckaby, the executive director of PFLAG, writing in the Washington Blade today, “Don’t break up the family” …

REALISTICALLY SPEAKING, IN an environment where the president has threatened to veto hate crimes legislation — a bill that protects people from violence — it is unlikely that ENDA, if passed by Congress, would get signed into law. Given this unfortunate reality, how can we allow the legislative process to become a time to prove that the strategies of our opposition can work?

The argument that civil rights are achieved incrementally may have in the past been true. This does not mean that this is the way things ought to be. As a movement, we’ve agreed that “settling” for incremental advances in marriage isn’t acceptable — civil unions aren’t the same as marriage. Similarly, settling for only covering one part of our community in protection from discrimination should be no different.

Knowing that the possibility of this bill becoming law is slim should be the chance for us to prove that we are family and that each one is equally deserving of the same rights and protections. If there is more educational work to be done, let it happen now, but let’s not let the education that we give to the public be that we can be divided.

#5 – Finally, from Tracy Baim yesterday in the Windy City Times, ‘Not Without Our “T”‘ …

The GLBT community is not just a series of letters thrown together out of convenience. Rather, our movement includes those four key letters because each are inter-connected in their histories, and their experiences. It has taken a long time for our community to more fully embrace the differences within, even though “transgender” individuals have always been intimately linked with our movement ( from cross-dressing Hollywood stars to drag queens at Stonewall ) .

But society does not so easily separate us. When an employer fires a butch lesbian because of what she wears, he or she does not do this because they understand the differences between sexual orientation and gender identity. An effeminate gay or straight man may be fired because of how he talks, “like a girl.”

And even if our enemies had a sophisticated understanding between homophobia and transphobia, should it matter why they fire a G, L, B or T? Because lesbians are more acceptable to general society ( or at least ignored ) , should we first get coverage for them, and then the bisexuals, then gay men, and then the transgendered?

No, we will not be divided.

…

We do not want our rights at the expense of anyone else. That is too high a cost to pay.

The Huffington Post: Bill O’Reilly to join crusade for LGBT equality
Excerpt:

Okay, you gotta love this. Bill O’Reilly, conservative talk show host extraordinaire, claims that a man’s sex life is a private thing.

I’m serious.

Gay, New Zealand: ‘Lady boy’ war erupts in Thailand
Excerpt:

Scores of teenage “lady boys”and male prostitutes have been involved in a three day “gay war” on the Thailand resort of Pattaya.

(En)Gender: Black Men Can’t Read?
Excerpt:

It turns out young black men have a better chance of getting made fun of for reading books than for playing sports. Not news, I know, but the commentary on how that fact intersects with gender is…

…What’s interesting to me is that the cultural forces that would discourage black men from learning – because being brainy isn’t considered “masculine” or “strong” – are exactly the opposite of the ones at play that have historically kept women from learning, who are/were told that being too brainy makes a woman “unfeminine.”

The Toronto Sun: Man performs self-castration
Excerpt:

You can find do-it-yourself makeover guides for just about anything on the web.

British construction boss Howard Shelley discovered just that when — desperate for a change in his own plumbing — he searched out directions for homemade castration.

When Shelley recently used online advice and took a common kitchen knife to his manliness — in a dangerous search for a quicker way to take a step to becoming a woman — he did what many people would consider unthinkable…

(Okay, I know Stephanie posted this same story — but not the same article — in her Headlines In Search Of A Story post, but this story is so interesting that I had to highlight it too.  )

BlogHer: Privacy: Wiretaps, cell phones, blogs, and Larry Craig
Excerpt:

We are in the midst of a critically important debate about the proper scope of the government’s surveillance authority. This debate should not take place in a vacuum.

The public has a right to know, at least in general terms, what kinds of surveillance the court authorized and what kinds of surveillance it disallowed.

AEBrain: 60 Seconds of Zoe
Excerpt:

I’m in the first day of a 3-day course on “Communicating Science to the Media”. I had to give a 60-second presentation about myself:

——
I’m Zoe Brain, and was born in 1958 not very far away from Windsor Castle in England.
How to compress 49 years of life into 60 seconds?
I could talk about how I came to Australia in 1968, and to Canberra in 1983.
I could talk about some of my achievements, projects I’ve worked on, from the Fedsat satellite to submarine combat systems. Laser eye surgical devices too.
I could talk about the places I’ve been to that shaped my life: the snow-covered Bahnhoffstrasse in Zuerich, seeing a sunset from a Destroyer in the middle of the Pacific. I could even talk about the Zeppelin Hangers in Akron Ohio.
I could talk about who I am, the parent of a 6 year old son, an SF fan, a gamer, a political blogger and more.
But there is no time. I’m me, Zoe Brain.
——

We were supposed to prepare the speech beforehand, but I didn’t get that e-mail, so I made it up impromptu.

There is so much more to life than just being TS. I shouldn’t let it define myself.

A couple of “transition” stories in the news this weekend.

From the Knoxville News Sentinel …

Sitting with Gishelle Gish, there’s a sense of what is and what has been.

In the dining room of her West Knoxville home, Gish is surrounded by gold records, signed plaques and posters from Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand and other music stars, all thanking her for her help with their careers and the success of certain records.

Yet all of the thanks are for “Brother Clay” Gish.

Brother Clay Gish was an athlete, a Vietnam veteran, a father who married four times and a star in the radio world. He was known in Atlanta, Houston, Miami and Knoxville as a popular radio personality, a programmer who could help take a station to the top and could always tell a future hit.

Clay Gish began living as Gishelle Diva Gish in January and has since undergone breast augmentation surgery and a legal name change. She hopes to have sex-reassignment surgery in the near future.

“People who knew me didn’t really know me,” says Gish. “Now my skin is reflecting who I am inside.”

…

Life after ‘Brother Clay’

And, from the Rocky Mountain News …

The mustache bothered him most.

When Rick Grahn looked in the mirror, his facial hair reaffirmed that he was a man, meant to work in a man’s profession – a cop who patrolled the rough world of pawn brokers and theft cases.

But the whiskers also glared back at him at night, when he would escape his public persona.

At home, he would dress as the woman he believed himself to be and imagine what it would be like to live as a woman.

The wiry, 5-foot-10 detective went through phases of shaving the mustache off then growing it back, hiding his thoughts from others.

It would just be too hard, he thought, to become a woman while remaining an officer on the 600-person Aurora Police Department. What would all those by-the- book cops with military points of view and conservative values say?

Then, on his 49th birthday, he got up his nerve to begin the three-year process of changing his gender.

…

Undercover in all ways

Pam’s House Blend: Larry Craig – GOP sexual hypocrite with a ‘wide stance’
Excerpt:

A little recap for schadenfreude lovers. It was a bad time for cruising for homophobic Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), who pleaded guilty on August 8 to a disorderly conduct charge after his arrest in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in June.

An undercover officer just happened to be investigating complaints of lewd behavior and cruising in the men’s restroom there when Craig decided to repeatedly leer between the cracks into the stall the officer was in, then proceeded to enter the adjacent stall and play footsie and gesture under the partition for sex. Larry, btw, learn to flush.

AEBrain: I’d Forgotten to Post about this one
Excerpt:

DRAM – dynamic random-access memory – is the “memory” on your PC or laptop. It’s cheaper to make than SRAM, Static RAM, which maintains its contents even when switched off. The memory in your mobile phone is SRAM, the addresses are still there even when you change the battery. The Hard Disk on your PC is also SRAM, essentially. When your system “boots up”, the saved contents in it are loaded into the blank DRAM of the computer’s memory. It’s blank, because if DRAM isn’t refreshed every 64 milliseconds, it loseWeight Exercises its contents.

This work implies that the long-term memory in rats – and thus presumably all mammals, and probably all vertebrates – is DRAM. It has to get refreshed every few days (at most) by some form of inate mechanism. Interrupt the mechanism, and memory will fail.

News 10 [Lodi, CA, USA]: Lodi Woman Sees Face of Jesus on Fence
Excerpt:

Emily West was doing some meditating over the weekend in her sister’s backyard in central Lodi when something caught her eye.

“I looked up and saw the face of Christ in the fence and I said, “Whoa,” West said.

Shakesville: Zuh?
Excerpt:

Last night I was talking to a young man who works with me at my night job. On Sunday he told me he was going to go talk to the National Guard recruiter, as he was thinking of joining. Last night, he told me that they had turned him down because he has a felony on his record. He said the recruiter told him that before the election last fall, they would have taken him, but because the Democrats won the election, we might be pulling out of Iraq. Therefore, word has come down to no longer accept felons.

East Valley Tribune [AZ, USA]: Transgender band changes venue after protest threat in Scottsdale
Excerpt:

Initially, Psychic TV had been slated to perform at the Fifth Estate nightclub, 6820 E. Fifth Ave. in Old Town Scottsdale, but bar owner Tom Anderson on Friday abruptly canceled the show, saying he’s concerned about threats of protests and disruptions by transgenedered activists and is worried about patrons’ safety.

Anderson banned transgendered people from the bar last fall after receiving dozens of complaints from female customers, who objected to having “men in dresses” using the women’s restroom. There also were problems with having transgendered people using the men’s restroom, because men harassed them and took their pictures, Anderson has said.

On Monday, Anderson said he decided to cancel after receiving messages from potential protesters who invoked the Stonewall Riots, a series of clashes in 1969 between gays and transgendered bar patrons and New York police. The event is considered a key moment in the gay rights movement.

Philadelphia Weekly: Savage Love (Advice Column)
Excerpt:

…I’ve come to terms with the fact that my mentality doesn’t match up with my vagina. But now most male clothes don’t fit, and my male peers don’t take me seriously because of my body, even though I wear my hair short, wear no makeup and go by a male nickname. I’m not a lesbian. I like boys. I just wish I could be one of them too…

Delhi Express News Service: Eunuch arrested for mutilating 27-yr-old man’s penis in S Delhi
Excerpt:

On August 14, according to Kumar, Bijli called him over for some work at 10 pm. At Bijli’s house, Kumar alleged he was given tea laced with sedatives.

“I woke up three days later on August 17, and found myself lying near the toilet at Bijli’s residence. I was lying in a pool of blood,” Kumar said in his complaint to the police. Kumar managed to limp out of the house and seek help.

“I went to the police station the same day. They, however, refused to register a case,” Kumar told Newsline.

Feministing: Friday guest blogger: Julia Serano
Excerpt:

Much of the transgender community’s initial outrage over Bailey’s book centered on the fact that it was presented to the public as a work of science…

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD): Dignity, Respect, and Equal Treatment (O’Donnabhain Trial Concludes)
Excerpt:

“I hope that this case sends a clear message that transgender people deserve dignity, respect, and equal treatment not just for our medical care, but in all aspects of our lives – just as every human being deserves dignity, respect and equal treatment.

“I also hope that this case addresses some of the misunderstanding, bias, and prejudice transgender people face in our lives every day. Because what’s really at the heart of this case – and my story – is a basic misunderstanding about the critical importance of being able to express my gender identity. It’s something everyone should be able to do.”
–Rhiannon O’Donnabhain

KTAR.com [AZ,USA]: Anderson’s Invites Transgender Band To Play
Excerpt:

KTAR uncovered an interesting twist in the case of the Scottsdale bar owner who’s banned transgenders.

Anderson’s Fifth Estate has invited Psychic TV to play on Monday. Tom Anderson said he’s made special bathroom arrangements for transgenders on that night only.

“Yeah, isn’t that a contradiction in to my style,” said Anderson.

SFist: A Bi-Transgender Fight
Excerpt:

You know you’ve made it in San Francisco as a marginalized group when you start getting in fights with other marginalized groups — so a local bisexual advocacy/social group is under fire for their policies excluding certain transgender persons.

Transgendered – My Journey To Womanhood: Telling My Sister I’m Transgendered
Excerpt:

…So I decided to take the easy way out and email her, we do not live close to each other so I thought this might be the best way. I sent Her a email but gave her plenty of warning not to read past the first paragraph if she couldn’t handle the truth of who her brother was. I told her in brief the truth about my being transgendered. I didn’t go into great detail but she got the point. I was so scared and for two days I cried and wished I could take the email back, I thought the worst. I should say that she doesn’t have access to a computer everyday, so two days was not really that bad to wait for a response, but it felt like a life time to me. I got home from work Monday to find a email from her. I sat there for what felt like hours afraid to push the read email button. Then before I even had the courage to open it I received a phone call from her. The first thing she said was ” I Love You ” or at least that was the first thing I remember her saying, as I was kind of shocked to hear her voice…

Los Angeles Times: The Gospel and hate crimes
Excerpt:

…There might be rational reasons to question the wisdom of this [federal hate crime] legislation. But the argument that it endangers the 1st Amendment rights of these pastors is certainly not one of them.

Northwest Florida Daily News: China Bans TV Show on Cosmetic Surgery
Excerpt:

The Chinese government banned television shows about cosmetic surgery and sex changes Friday, less than two weeks after shutting down a talent show that regulators deemed coarse.

A headline on the Web site of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television said would no longer allow “shows about cosmetic surgery, (or) sex changes that involve public participation.”

Moldova.org: Monkeys harass Kenyan women
Excerpt:

A trouble-making gang of monkeys is frustrating Kenyan villagers by destroying crops and harassing women.

The Bilerico Project: Denied AIDS Medication, Trans Woman Dies in ICE Detention Center
Excerpt: Apparently, the Los Angeles Daily Journal is reporting that a trans woman named Victoria Arellano died July 20 in San Pedro, California, after being denied AIDS medication and improperly treated for AIDS-related infections at an immigration detention facility. The report says that Arellano (who was detained in a men’s facility) is one of 62 people to have died in federal immigration custody since 2004 and describes systemic problems with health-care delivery in detention centers nationwide, with detained immigrants having little to no legal recourse.

Trans Group Blog: Victoria Arellano
Excerpt: Mind you, my complaints about the way various media outlets cover trans issues aren’t directed at the trans people who are often featured in these articles: their intentions are for the most part good, & they are trying, in their own way, to raise awareness of trans issues in general, all of which is much needed. It’s not that it was a terrible article in terms of The Big Picture, but I’m tired of journalists/media writing a piece that is pretty much like every other piece about a trans person (choosing someone professional, white, with a traditional narrative including surgery & the like) & presenting it as if it’s a revelation.It’s not a revelation. I’d like to get the bar set a little higher, & to start pressuring media to cover more types of trans people, in more situations, with more of the kinds of issues that come up…

City Limits Weekly: Who Are Homeless Youth?
Excerpt: When the results come in from New York City’s first survey of homeless youth, service providers hope finally to understand who these elusive teenagers and young adults are, how many they number, and how to intervene before chronic homelessness becomes an accepted – or inevitable – part of their identities.

Completed last week under the auspices of the Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services, the survey aims to put a credible number on this size of this population, which over the years has been estimated at anywhere from several thousand to tens of thousands. Since the beginning of July some three dozen volunteers and employees of social services groups asked a series of questions of homeless people from age 12 to 24 who agreed to participate. On the street and at youth program sites, respondents answered questions about sexual orientation, previous home life, sources of income, educational attainment and more. In addition to counting the population, the survey seeks to illuminate the contributors to and outcomes of youth homelessness – with the goal of helping public and nonprofit agencies better house and care for these young people.

New York Times: Criticism of a Gender Theory, and a Scientist Under Siege
Excerpt: Earlier this month, members of the International Academy of Sex Research, gathering for their annual meeting in Vancouver, informally discussed one of the most contentious and personal social science controversies in recent memory. The central figure, J. Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwestern University, has promoted a theory that his critics think is inaccurate, insulting and potentially damaging to transgender women. In the past few years, several prominent academics who are transgender have made a series of accusations against the psychologist, including that he committed ethics violations. A transgender woman he wrote about has accused him of a sexual impropriety, and Dr. Bailey has become a reviled figure for some in the gay and transgender communities.

Northwestern University: The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age
Abstract excerpt: Dissatisfied with the option of merely criticizing the book, a small number of transwomen (particularly Lynn Conway, Andrea James, and Deirdre McCloskey) worked to try to ruin Bailey. Using published and unpublished sources as well as original interviews, this essay traces the history of the backlash against Bailey and his book. It also provides a thorough exegesis of the book’s treatment of transsexuality and includes a comprehensive investigation of the merits of the charges made against Bailey that he had behaved unethically, immorally, and illegally in the production of his book. The essay closes with an epilogue that explores what has happened since 2003 to the central ideas and major players in the controversy. (Complete article at link)

United Methodist News Service: Judicial Council to review transgender clergy issue
Excerpt: The United Methodist Church’s top judicial authority will again be considering questions about sexuality — including the case of a pastor who switched gender from female to male — when it tackles a full docket at its fall meeting.

…The transgender case involves a ruling by Bishop John R. Schol of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, who in May reappointed the Rev. Drew Phoenix as pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Baltimore. Mr. Phoenix, 48, had been minister at St. John’s for five years as the Rev. Ann Gordon. After surgery and hormone therapy in the past year, the pastor changed his gender to male and adopted a new name.

Leonard Link: Hormone Treatment for Transgender Prisoners: Court Refuses to Expand Wisconsin Case to Class Action
Excerpt: U.S. District Judge Charles N. Calvert, Jr., issued a ruling August 7 refusing to expand a pending lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s recently-enacted statute concerning hormone treatment for prisoners. The case, originally brought by Lambda Legal and the ACLU on behalf of five transgender Wisconsin inmates who were threatened with cutoff of their hormone therapy when the statute was set to go into effect, claims that cutting off the therapy would be cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment. Lambda/ACLU hoped to expand the case to include two additional transgender prisoners as named plaintiffs, both of whom have not been allowed to start hormone therapy in prison, and to get the case certified as a class action on behalf of all present and future TG prisoners in Wisconsin who may be affected by the new statute…

Blabbeando: Chile: Transgender character erased from Chilean version of Argentinean soap opera
Excerpt: …it’s no surprise that Chile is set to launch their own version of “Los Roldan,” renamed “Fortunato,” which promises to follow the original story-arc – with one key difference.

Clarin reports that while the character of Laisa will survive under a different name (Judy), the part will no longer be that of a transgender woman or even be played by a woman.

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe: The Ultraviolet Catastrophe
Excerpt: Well… okay. I’m starting this blog for several reasons.

One, I need to have a place to vent about being trans. My friends are sick of hearing about it. Two, I feel a twinge of guilt. I never was involved much in any trans community, real life or online. Now that I’m stealth, this probably isn’t going to change. But I’ve know that my path is often tread; we transition and fade into the crowd. For many, this is the ultimate goal. And I’m unapologetic about going stealth and publicly swearing off any connection to transsexuality. But the problem is obvious- if we all transition and disappear, who’s left? I feel that the “I just want to transition and get on with my f*cking life already” type’s voice is somewhat lost.

1. The Traditional Values Coalition wishes to remind the faithful that the Pro-Homosexual/Drag Queen Bills Coming Back In September! They say:

The homosexual/drag queen lobby in Congress is determined to push for passage of three bills this fall. They are:

H.R. 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007

H.R. 2232 / S. 1345, the Clarification of Federal Employment Protections Act

S. 1105, the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007

Each of these bills will add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” into federal law. These sexual behaviors will then have the federal protection provided for legitimate minority groups. (See TVC’s report, “What Is A Sexual Orientation?”)

In effect, your elected representative and senators will be normalizing and protecting a whole range of bizarre sexual addictions and behaviors. The American Psychiatric Association, in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has listed numerous sexual orientations. Among them are pedophilia and bestiality.

So I reading the article, I see it’s not the Homosexual Lobby™ that’s behind hate crime and employment non-discrimination laws, but the Homosexual/Drag Queen Lobby™. Silly me, I can’t find the webpage for the Homosexual/Drag Queen Lobby™.

2. MassResistance wants the faithful to know that the Boston Globe Pushing “Transgender Rights” — Again. It seems they’ve been reading some Bayard Rustin:

For the second time in the past six months, the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine has run a huge story promoting sympathy for sex-change craziness. This past Easter Sunday, it did a feature on college girls having their breasts removed, then claiming to be men. Now we have a cover story (complete with an online video with background music) on a Boston area male physician who claims now to be female. It’s a masterpiece of propaganda, the expansive coverage to be continued in next week’s Globe.

The extremist elite is gearing up to pass the “Transgender Rights and Hate Crimes” bill (H1722) now filed in the Massachusetts Legislature. The Judiciary Committee is already being bombarded by visits and contacts by trans activists prior to the bill’s hearing this Fall. Just as did the homosexuals, the trans activists know that most of our legislators cannot think clearly about anything, but instead respond to emotional propaganda (and/or payoffs, of course).

Equality based on one’s humanity. What a concept.

3. The Los Angeles Times reports Dead detainee’s family alleges medical mistreatment. Victoria Arrelano, a transsexual, was being held at an immigration detention center in San Pedro awaiting deportation…

The family of a 23-year-old AIDS patient who died in custody at an immigration detention center in San Pedro will file a wrongful death claim against the U.S. government on grounds that Victor Arrelano was improperly denied vital medical treatment.

The allegation of mistreatment comes three weeks to the day after Arrelano, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, died at a San Pedro hospital.

“What happened here is simply an outrage,” Roman Silberfeld, the family’s attorney, said Friday. “This is someone who never should have been permitted to get to this state of decline when relatively simple meds, if available and properly administered, would have avoided this tragedy.”

…Arrelano, a transgender person who went by the name Victoria, had been deported to Mexico in 2003 and was in detention since mid-May pending an immigration hearing to determine whether she would again be returned to Mexico.

During her stay, according to attorneys involved in the case, Arrelano’s physical condition deteriorated to the point that her fellow detainees implored the staff to provide medication and other care. One source close to the case recalled how other detainees repeatedly saw Arrelano vomiting blood and were left to clean it up themselves.

Eventually, when her condition became critical, Arrelano was transferred to a San Pedro hospital and died several days later. At the time of her death, according to attorneys in the case, Arrelano was shackled to her bed.

4. Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy In The Media, in his article Hillary’s Gay TV Appearance, which slams “Some liberal Democratic presidential candidates” for showing up at the debate on Logo while not appearing on debates on Faux News, took some time out to slam LGB & T folk:

The Logo forum was interesting, only because several candidates looked so ridiculous in their pandering. Hillary Clinton promised not to appoint “anti-gay” judges and ripped former chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Peter Pace for offering the view that homosexuality was immoral. She ignored the fact that the Pace view was and still is official Pentagon policy.

…But the battle has now gone beyond rights for gays and lesbians. Some who saw Margaret Carlson, the moderator of the panel, introduce the discussion about “LGBT” issues, might not have initially understood what this means. It represents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The term “transgender” refers to men who dress like or surgically become women, and vice versa. It is not a happy topic. Indeed, to some it is shocking, even sick. But it will become a topic of national discussion if the Democrats and their supporters have their way.

Kincaid also commented on the documentary Southern Comfort, implying that the documentary that covered that last year of Robert Eads life (which documented his death by ovarian cancer) should never be shown on TV, and allude to Paul Cameron’s discredited research in the same paragraphs:

In this regard, Logo describes one of its latest offerings to the viewing public as a show called Southern Comfort, about a transgender man dying of ovarian cancer. We are told that in the second episode, “Robert goes through old family pictures of himself as a young girl and then a grown man. Then meet Lola, Robert’s transgender girlfriend.”

Some might react to Logo’s television fare by saying that a program about a transgendered man dying from ovarian cancer is a personal tragedy, not something to be watched on TV. But these kinds of human tragedies, which have destroyed people and families, have become the fodder of the “LGBT” movement, out of which they demand their special right to be different and, according to health statistics, die early. The lifestyle is never blamed, only the reaction to it.

Nice.

5. CNSNews.com reported that in Philadelphia, School Drops ‘History’ Months After ‘Gay’ Flap.

A controversy stemming from the inclusion of “Gay and Lesbian History Month” in last year’s calendar has prompted the Philadelphia School District to release a 2007-08 schedule that omits any tributes to the history of any groups of people.

…Cecilia Cummings, the school district’s senior vice president for communications and community relations, told Cybercast News Service that until six years ago, the calendar, which is mailed to 200,000 parents and district officials each August, contained only academic dates and a list of public holidays on which the schools would be closed.

“Then one year, someone would say, ‘What about Black History Month? Put it on’[the calendar]“, Cummings stated. “In another year, someone else would say, ‘What about Ramadan? Put it on.’ Items such as that were added as part of a very informal process, and while we had some controversy, it was never very loud.”

When approaching the 2006-07 academic year, the district decided to expand the calendar format using the theme of “diversity,” she said. For that edition, months honoring the contributions of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Pacific Americans were included, as well as the International Day of Disabled Persons.

Nevertheless, the designation of October as Gay and Lesbian History Month drew the most attention — and complaints, Cummings indicated.

“We were just not prepared for the controversy,” she said. “We were besieged by calls, threats and letters, and we didn’t have the manpower to staff it. Nor did we have the preparation or training to really figure out how to deal with this issue in a way that could keep kids safe. We had meetings where adults were calling kids names.”

So to get rid of the controversy, the school now will highlight no groups of people, which now adds the controversy of highlighting no groups of people.

Thoughts anyone?

WESH-TV, FL,USA: Police: Deceased Man Found In Miniskirt
Excerpt: A DeLand man is in jail for fatally shooting another man dressed as a woman outside a Daytona Beach restaurant on North Nova Road.

Related: 365Gay.com: Daytona Killing Not Being Investigated As A Hate Crime
Excerpt: Daytona Beach Police Monday said that the weekend killing of a man in women’s clothing is not being investigated as a hate crime.

Advertiser Adelaide, Australia: Men disguised as women attack checkpoint
Excerpt: INSURGENTS dressed as women have killed at least three soldiers in an attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint west of the northern oil hub of Kirkuk today, security officials said.

Anchorage Daily News: Co-worker’s sex change is upsetting (Workplace advice column)
Excerpt: Two months ago, the situation changed from odd to surreal. We were told Frank was undergoing surgery to change into a woman. We all left the meeting shaking our heads. I consider this sort of behavior immoral, and I decided I would interact with Frank only when I absolutely had to. … Two weeks ago, Frank returned from surgery. Management informed us by e-mail we were to call him “Frances.” Last week, things got worse. Frances and I got assigned to the same business process improvement committee, and so I have to work with him daily. Yesterday, I was en route to the restroom when I noticed Frank behind me in the hallway. I stopped just short of the restroom door and then he went in. This makes me nauseous.

Pam’s House Blend: My Special Reality
Excerpt: I was not fired because of real or perceived sexual orientation but I was fired specifically based on my gender expression. The Human Resource department was very careful in being explicit as to why I was being fired. My story of anti-transgender discrimination isn’t unique, there are hundreds just like it. So I ask you, where do we go to demand these rights? Where exactly was I supposed to go to demand justice for losing a job where I had spent years working holidays and weekends, sacrificing time that could have been spent with my family?

Trans Group Blog: Trans Partner Advocacy
Excerpt: But to miss the old, worse job, or thinking fondly about the time when you were single or childfree, doesn’t mean you don’t want the new change in your life. You do. But you can’t just tell your mind not to think about how it once was, either. … & Sometimes I think that’s what’s expected of partners, that we never have a time to say, “I did love him as a man.” We can’t admit that we liked the cocky or shy guy we first fell in love with, & the partners of FTMs aren’t supposed to mourn the loss of breasts and smooth cheeks that they loved to touch.

The Salt Lake Tribune: LDS Church pamphlet advises on same-sex attraction
Excerpt: The LDS Church has posted the contents of a new pamphlet about same-sex attraction on its Web site. … The piece, titled “God Loveth His Children,” reiterates the church’s long-held distinction between same-sex attractions and actions, suggesting that only the latter are immoral. According to LDS doctrine, sexuality is only appropriate within heterosexual marriage. Everyone else is expected to be chaste.

The Christian Post: The Church, the APA and Homosexuality; Outsourcing God’s Work? (Opposition piece)
Excerpt: The Corinthian church had something most current churches apparently do not have—a “hands-on/no outsourcing” attitude to sin. If we attempt to rationalize “that was then, this is now” we make ourselves to be cessasionists on this issue and in so doing, imply “once a homosexual – always a homosexual.”

As noted by this editorial today in the Toronto Star …

Acceptance and understanding have come a long way since 1981 when
about 1,000 members of the city’s gay community ventured into the
streets for Toronto’s first gay pride parade. That brave celebration
grew to become Pride Week, one of the city’s premier tourist events,
pumping an estimated $80 million into the local economy.

But the exuberant celebration that culminates this weekend, with the
Dyke March on Saturday and the enormous Pride Parade on Sunday, is far
more significant than simply a source of tourist dollars.

It is a loud and flamboyant indicator of how much this city has
changed for the better. Formerly straight-laced Toronto, characterized
by its restraint, has become a place where gays and lesbians are free
to proclaim their sexual orientation without fear of reprisal.

The culture and accomplishments of the gay and lesbian community are
now widely appreciated, with more than 1 million people expected to
participate in various Pride Week events.

To be sure, challenges remain. There is not yet the same acceptance of
bisexuals and the transgender community. But compared to where it was,
Toronto has embraced diversity to a remarkable degree. And that is a
source of true Pride.

Some of the “challenges” faced by trans persons figure in news stories today.

Safety, for one, is brought up in a Washington Blade story on the proposed reorganization of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit by Chief Cathy Lanier…

Lanier said a transgender resident tearfully described that night the
challenges a trans person in that part of the city faces.

“We need to expand [what the GLLU offers] so that every officer knows
how to deal with every member of my community,” Lanier said.

Lanier says she won’t disband GLLU

Access to health care is the subject of two stories. From New York …

According to the Queens-based Hispanic AIDS Forum, the borough is home
to the largest community of Spanish-speaking transgender females in
the country. They say many of the women are often un-documented, and
without health insurance. So when it comes to taking risks with
getting some of the treatments they need, Guzman isn’t alone. And some
of the complications can be far worse than mood swings.

Pride Week: Free Health Clinic Provides Services To Transgenders

… and from California …

Six years after the city of San Francisco passed its groundbreaking
transgender healthcare benefits package, progress across the country
has been somewhat slow to follow.

Community pushes for TG health coverage