Some music (from younger days) …

… to listen to while reading this one …

A man undergoes the mutilative procedure known as “gender-reassignment surgery” and then wins the women’s division of golf’s premier long drive championship.

There was a time when a sexual identity crisis was thought a problem of adolescence and only discussed in psychology journals. But now our whole civilization is experiencing one, as we’ve gone from confusion about the roles of the sexes, to a battle of the sexes, to a battle about how significant the category of “sex” actually is, to subordinating it to “gender,” and finally to a battle of the “genders.”

Such a battle has just played out as 55-year-old Lana Lawless (an assumed name), a man who used to be a 245-pound SWAT cop for the city of Rialto, California, has just won the women’s division of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.

Allowing such individuals to compete in women’s athletic contests is nothing new. It dates back to 1977, when Renee Richards (formerly Dr. Richard Raskind) won a court battle that allowed him to compete on the women’s tennis circuit. Now, three decades later, many sporting organizations – including the International Olympic Committee – have rules in place allowing mutilated men to compete alongside women. In other words, we went from altar boys to altered boys in just a couple of generations.

The real problem, however, is that we have an altered society, one thoroughly confused about so many things, not the least of which is the nature of the sexes.

Personally, I don’t refer to any of these altered men as “she.” This is mainly because you cannot change your sex any more than you can your species, and I don’t subscribe to the concept of “gender.” Believe it or not, many altered-men activists agree with me; they will say that while “sex” is inborn, “gender” is chosen. Why do you think the preferred labels today are not “transsexual” and “sex-change operation” but “transgendered” and “gender-reassignment surgery? These terms are part of a social-engineering scheme to alter society’s thinking. They reflect the belief that people have gender (it originally referred only to words) and that it can be whatever your feelings dictate. This is why I won’t use the word gender when referring to people any more than “she” when referring to Lawless. When we use these elements of the lexicon of the left, we unwittingly acknowledge that the concepts they represent are valid.

In other words, there cannot be gender-reassignment surgery because unless “gender” is synonymous with “sex,” it’s not a quality people possess. And there cannot be a sex-change operation because one cannot change his sex. As soon as we deviate from this principle, the form of our argument negates its substance and we help legitimize that against which we fight.

Yet critics tell me I’m uneducated on the matter, that I just don’t understand the science. My response is that they don’t understand the philosophy, without which they can’t interpret the science.

What does it mean to be a man or a woman? Is it just a matter of superficial qualities? Well, good theology tells us that your sex is something existing in your very soul, but I don’t expect this to carry much Lose Weight Exercise with secularists. So instead of delving into what sex is, I’ll explore what it is not.

If a man loseWeight Exercises his genitalia in an accident, is he somehow less male? Or is he just a mutilated male? We know that a pre-pubescent boy has the same hormone balance (low estrogen levels) as a pre-pubescent girl and no male secondary sex characteristics. With his high voice and low muscle mass he is certainly less masculine than his father, but is he any less male than dad?

If that boy lost his genitalia in an accident and thus had none of the three attributes – male primary and secondary sex characteristics and an adult male hormone balance – would he be any less male? This is where critics may say that some elements of femaleness are still missing; for starters, external primary and secondary female sex characteristics would have to be created via surgery and estrogen treatments.

If this were done and the boy dressed and wore his hair like a girl, he’d certainly be able to masquerade as a female very effectively. This point is sometimes made by altered men’s advocates. But does it matter? A great imposter may be indistinguishable from the real thing, but he is no less an imposter.

I would point out that altered men still have an XY (male) chromosome configuration, and, while I won’t boil sex down to just genetics either, it’s certainly more significant than superficial qualities. After all, a boy only develops properly as one because his genes send messages for the release of testosterone in his body while in the womb.

This is where “gender” comes into play. Critics will say that the most significant factor of all is that you must feel like a member of a sex trapped in a body of the other; in other words, you may be physically male but your “gender” is female. The psychobabblers call this “gender dysphoria” – giving something an impressive medical name always lends credibility. And feelings are the ultimate arbiters of reality.

But now consider that the mental health profession has also “identified” a psychological disorder called “body dysmorphia.” Its most extreme manifestation is when a person strongly feels that a certain body part – an arm, leg, etc. – doesn’t belong on his body. He feels it’s alien to him and that he won’t be happy until it’s amputated. There are doctors willing to perform such an operation so that their patients can be “cured.” It’s a remedy prescribed after a brilliant diagnostic process: ascertain if the person truly feels that his body doesn’t conform to what he feels like on the inside. Remember, feelings are the ultimate arbiters of reality.

But here is reality: there may be a man in a psychiatric institution who feels he’s a wolf. He could have his body surgically altered so that he has fur, a tail, paws, fangs and a snout. He could then run about on all fours and howl at the moon, but he would not be a wolf. He would simply be what he is, a troubled man who needs not his body altered, but his mind.

Man Allowed in Women’s Athletic Event . . . and Wins It

No doubt — with the “Socialist Party” firmly back in power in this country — these folks will be meeting in the John … and making a great deal of noise.

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Related …

The George Bush Society

Swinging With The Big Shot Women

From GolfMagic.com‘s Long drive champ had a sex change:

TV golf-watchers in the US sat aghast over Christmas when it was revealed that the winner of the RE/MAX world long driving championship for women – shown on the ESPN network – was a former male policeman who used to play off a plus one handicap.

The new women’s world champion is 55-year-old bartender Lana Lawless from Palm Springs, California whose longest drive into a 40 mph headwind at the Mesquite event travelled 254 yards to beat reigning champion Phillis Meti (21) from New Zealand by four yards.

The rules governing transgender golf competition allow for those like Ms Lawless, who have received a ‘sex-change’ operation to take part in such events as long as they provide mandatory doctor reports, lab results within normal female limits and onsite testing…

Let’s be clear: Lawless didn’t beat previous winner Phillis Meti by much at all.

Having lost a significant amount of upper body strength myself in the last six years, I know on a personal level that after a short period of time, having a male history provides one no athletic advantage. Most male-to-female transsexuals loseWeight Exercise a significant amount of muscle mass as a result of blocking or removing the testosterone from their natal testicles, and actually over the period of just two years after genital reconstruction surgery, male-to-female transsexuals have no competitive advantage over natal women.

However, it’s always going to be said in any competition in which male-to-female transsexuals compete that they have a competitive advantage due to their male history — their male genetics. It doesn’t need to be true to be repeated over and over again.

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 Thursday, December 11th through Saturday, December 13th …

[AL, USA] “A federal judge on Friday sentenced convicted transgender bank robber Jimmy Maurice Lewis II to a term of four years in prison. Lewis, 26, is a transgender individual who was dressed as woman when she robbed the Alabama Credit Union on Alabama 67 in Decatur on Nov. 9, 2007. Lewis has artificial breast implants but still possesses male genitalia, and police and prosecutors say her plan was to rob banks to finance a sex-change operation” — Bank robber gets 4 years: Cash was wanted for sex-change surgery, police say

[CA, USA] A judgment has been reached in Juan (“Auntie Juan”) Valera’s sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit against Costco (“the Anti-Wal-Mart“): “The panel of eight men and four women deliberated for two and a half days before finding that 45-year-old Valera had suffered under a hostile work environment. However, the jury rejected a claim in the October 2006 lawsuit that Valera was a victim of sexual orientation discrimination, that Costco failed to provide accommodations for his needs, and that the company acted with malice.” — Judgment in warehouse store discrimination case: $420,000

[ID, USA] Apparently, it’s been a difficult and trying past 28 years for trans woman Catherine Carlson, and a traffic ticket dispute involving the use of her former male name was “the last straw”: “For nearly a year, Catherine Carlson refused to pay the fine for driving with a suspended license because it was issued to both her and the man she used to be. She went to jail four times over the ticket that includes both her legal name and the one she was born with, Daniel Carlson. She had surgery 28 years ago to become a woman, the gender she believes should have been assigned her at birth … Her struggle for acceptance since the sex-change operation on Thanksgiving Day 1980 has gone on much longer. She chose a life of solitude at a trailer park near the Payette city limits, rejecting a society she feels has rejected her … Dressed in black pants, a plaid shirt and hiking shoes, Carlson is rail thin with long blond hair. Fine lines map her face, she hand-rolls her cigarettes, eats little and survives on nine travel-sized mugs of coffee a day. She lives on a $1,000-a-month Social Security check, suffers from depression, emphysema and a heart condition. “Changing your gender is not going to solve all your problems,” Carlson said … She worked three jobs, saved up about $15,000 to castrate Daniel and get saline breast implants for Catherine. She took estrogen until it became too expensive … Carlson views her struggle against the local justice system as a fight for rights granted to everyone else under the U.S. Constitution, acceptance in the society she has secluded herself from for all these years. “You’re going to have to make me one of ‘We the People,’” Carlson said.” — S. Idaho transgender woman fights use of male name

[MI, USA] The recent, successful repeal of a sexual orientation/gender identity anti-discrimination ordinance by voters in Hamtramck, Michigan appears to have set the stage for a similar effort against a recently adopted anti-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo : “Petitions aimed at rescinding a new city ordinance banning discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender individuals in housing, public accommodations and employment began circulating in Kalamazoo churches last weekend. Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said Thursday that his organization is supporting the efforts of unnamed local activists toward a 2009 ballot measure to rescind the ordinance … Glenn confirmed that AFAM has a supporting role in the local petition drive. But he declined to name local organizers, saying “determining who their spokesman is is up to them.”“There is a petition being circulated to allow the citizens of Kalamazoo to make the decision on this ordinance, not the politicians,” Glenn said. “Experience proves that in other jurisdictions, ordinances like this have been used to discriminate against and penalize people who believe homosexual behavior is wrong.” — Petitions target new ordinance

[NH, USA] Brianna Cook is suing the PC Connection, accusing the company of gender discrimination in violation of state and federal law after that company declined to hire her:  “Cook is a post-operative transsexual with experience in marketing communications and sales, both as a man and as a woman, her suit states. She claims PC Connection officials implied that her hiring was assured, and that a company recruiter later told her she was eventually rejected because she hadn’t disclosed that she had previously applied to the company as a man.” — Transsexual sues over discrimination

[OR, USA] What were members of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church really doing in Silverton a couple of weeks back protesting the election of its new transgender mayor, Stu Rasmussen? Well, one person evidently thinks it’s all part a devious and subversive transgender agenda and he sets the record straight: “Could this whole affair of protesting Silverton’s new transgender (a man dressing as a woman) mayor be a well-organized set-up to foster and make acceptable transgendering? The Westboro church may be a front organization to make sensational news through “hate messages” under the guise of Christianity, thus undermining true Christianity. … The infinite wisdom of God makes no mistakes. Men are men, women are women. That is the reality now and forever no matter how they dress or alter their bodies.” — Church’s protest could be a setup to make sensational news

[WA, USA] The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association is a trailblazer when it comes to the formulation and implementation of policy governing the participation of trans persons in organized athletics: “Before the 2006-07 school year, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association had never fielded a question about transgender athletes. That year, they received four inquiries about whether teenagers with non-traditional gender identities could compete for their schools. Trans issues were no longer out of bounds. “No one had ever asked, so we had no policy” … the 2007 policy talked about “transgender” issues, the revised version referred to “gender identity or expression.” It says: “Fundamental fairness, as well as most local, state and federal rules and regulations, requires schools to provide intersex and transgender student-athletes with equal opportunities to participate in athletics. This policy creates a framework in which this participation may occur in a safe and healthy manner that is fair to all competitors.” The policy says that if questions arise whether “a student’s request to participate in a sex-segregated activity consistent with his or her gender identity is bona fide,” the student may seek review of eligibility through a confidential process, beginning with his or her school administrators. A hearing would then be scheduled before a WIAA committee specifically established to consider gender identity appeals. The committee is to include at least one person from the medical or mental health field who is familiar with gender identity issues … ” — Washington embraces trans athletes

[USA] “The Human Rights Campaign is calling on President-elect Barack Obama to implement numerous non-legislative changes to improve the lives of gay and transgender Americans … The many changes recommended by HRC include expanding President Bill Clinton’s executive order barring discrimination in the federal workplace on the basis of sexual orientation to include gender identity … Other recommendations include … [requiring] that the federal government only hire contractors that have non-discrimination provisions for sexual orientation and gender identity categories … [and] allowing the Internal Revenue Service to provide reimbursements for medical expenses in the gender-transition process through tax-preferred flexible spending accounts. Also, allowing transgender people to change their gender markers on federal documents and records, including passports.” — HRC asks Obama to make pro-gay changes: Requests include expanding non-discrimination protections

[UK/Turkey] “The biology behind the raging-hormone rite of passage known as puberty has long been a mystery. Just as the pimply, mood-swinging teen puzzles parents, the process that sets the teenager off has also stumped scientists. But researchers from Turkey and England say they have discovered one of the master molecules that triggers sexual maturity.” — Research uncovers puberty genes

[UK] “A Guilford woman has revealed how a sex change [over "£60,000 worth of surgery in America, Thailand and Britain"] has helped her conquer the business world. Kate Craig-Wood was a man up until three years ago, but last week she was named one of the main winners at the NatWest Everywoman Awards.” — Sex change Kate has never looked back

[Vietnam] Regrets? The Thanh Nien Daily reports that for some Vietnamese transwomen gender reassignment surgery is “much pain, little gain.” — Transsexuals find new body doesn’t ensure happiness

[Singapore] Three videos from The Straits Times on transgender life in Singapore and Thailand: Transgenders among us (Part 1) (00:15:12), Transgenders among us (Part 2) (00:17:20), Transgenders among us (Part 3) (00:11:47)

[UK] A message from Lucy Parker — who was the subject of the BBC shows “Teen Transsexual” and “Lucy: Teen Transsexual in Thailand” — and who soon will no longer be a teen …

News and views for Wednesday, November 26th through Friday, November 28th …

[CA, USA] “Trans-Latina migrants are slowly discovering the asylum option in San Francisco and California. A steady stream of transgender applicants has been showing up in what immigration attorneys say are open-minded asylum offices and immigration courts that have become acquainted with gender-identity–based claims. Exact numbers of how many transgender women have gotten asylum are hard to come by since the government doesn’t track the reason for awarding asylum status. Yet such cases almost seem like a sure thing because of the severity of the alleged discrimination. “You almost gotta try to loseWeight Exercise it,” attorney Robert Jobe says. In fact, none of the 12 immigration attorneys interviewed for this story could remember any trans clients being denied some sort of protection. Even if applicants can’t get asylum, they may still be eligible to stay via other international treaties that offer haven from persecution. And, as many trans-Latina prostitutes have learned, even a lengthy rap sheet in this country won’t seriously threaten their chances of receiving protected immigration status.” — Border Crossers

[GA, USA] “As the 31 names of transgender people killed around the world during 2008 were read aloud at Atlanta’s Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil, each of the deceased’s biographies ended with “Remember me.” A crowd of more than 100 braved wind and cold temperatures Nov. 20 outside the State Capitol to do just that. A bell chimed for each person and trans activist Sir Jesse McNulty played “Taps” after the names were read. Many of the dead included transgender women of color — a “holocaust” that can no longer be ignored, according to Dee Dee Chamblee, executive director of LaGender Inc. “There is a holocaust of transgender women of color. Many of them are prostituting [because they can’t get jobs] and are in danger. But when you are African American and transgender, well, you can’t get lower than that,” she said. “These women are killed out of meanness, hatred. And all they want is to eat, a place to stay. They put their life on the lines. Everybody should be outraged.”” — Transgender activists, allies rally at Capitol

[MI, USA] “Nearly 70 people filled the rows at Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit on the bitterly cold evening of Nov. 21 to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance … “We are here to remember our transgender brothers and sisters who have been killed just for being transgender,” said Rachel Crandall, executive director of TransGender Michigan. “If you ask me how I feel about that, I’ll say I’m really pissed off.” Crandall’s anger is not difficult to understand. According to a letter read by Transgender Detroit’s Michelle Fox-Phillips from Transgender Day of Remembrance founder Gwendolyn Smith, a transgender person has a 1 in 12 chance of being murdered due to anti-transgender violence or prejudice. “I wish to remind each of you (that) the most basic right we have is the right to exist,” Fox-Phillips read. Currently no transgender-inclusive hate crimes legislation exists in Michigan or at the federal level.” — Community gathers for 9th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance

[NY, USA] “A midlevel appeals court ruled Wednesday that a transgender individual can change from traditionally male to traditionally female first and middle names, regardless of potential confusion. The case involved Earl William Golden III’s petition to change names to Elisabeth Whitney Golden. A lower court had concluded the proposed change was “fraught with possible confusion.” The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court noted that people can change their names “at will,” provided there is no fraud, misrepresentation or interference with the rights of others. Done in court, the switch can be “speedy, definite and a matter of record.” While confusion can be one reason for a judge to reject someone’s name change petition, “that factor is not, standing alone, a basis to deny a petition inasmuch as ‘confusion is a normal concomitant of any name change,”‘ Justice Anthony Cardona wrote.” — NY court removes bar to transgender name changes

[NY, USA] “And so Syracuse mirrors in painful fashion the national schizophrenia of a people determined to push the boundaries of possibilities while insisting on denying others the freedom to be who they are. On the night that America celebrated the election of Barack Obama, millions watched in disbelief as the people of California voted to ban gay Americans from enjoying the delights and anguish associated with the institution of marriage. This is the great contradiction that presents itself in the current chapter of American history. What is it about this country, and about our community, that still causes some to cling to the idea that we can decide for other people how to live out their sexual lives? What is it about the idea of someone loving someone of the same sex, or realizing that their mind and their body are at odds on the question of gender, that some in this freedom-loving country find so offensive? Many will say this is just a problem of the individual who pulled the trigger. You can think that if you choose to, but it only makes the problem persist, and makes you part of it. That man pulling the trigger learned somewhere along the line that there is a right way and a wrong way to love somebody, and that his anger against those who are different is somehow justified. He learned that people like him get to decide the fate of another person. He learned that those people should learn to be like him. A gun, a few drinks, a dare later, and Teish Cannon lay bleeding in her brother’s arms.” — A Nightmare on Seymour Street

[USA] From Kelley Winters, “Psychiatric incarceration and abuse of gender variant youth and adults has for generations been facilitated by diagnostic nomenclature that equates difference with disease: nonconformity to assigned birth-sex with mental disorder and sexual deviance. It is time for the American Psychiatric Association and other mental health organizations to repudiate the practice of gender-reparative therapies, as they have renounced reparative therapies for sexual orientation. It is time for the APA and the mental health professions to extend an apology to all who have been imprisoned or traumatized in the course of these treatments. In drafting the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, it is time for the APA to remove the classification of Transvestic Fetishism and revise that of Gender Identity Disorder to serve constructive rather than destructive purposes. It is time for new diagnostic nomenclature consistent with the medical principle of “First, do no harm.”” — The Gender Gulag: Voices of the Asylum

[USA] From Vanessa Edwards Foster, “Typically I must admit a slight bias towards moms in allowing their children to be who they are innately – who they were meant to be. Much of this comes from my upbringing and my own dad’s notice of my natural feminine tendencies and his insistence that I “be the man” from the age of five onward, urging me into football and other masculine pursuits. Men have a harder time dealing with anything resembling emasculation. But in an unusual twist, Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher may well be doing the right thing, while his son’s mom, Tyna Robertson, is in the wrong. It’s Robertson who is claiming that Urlacher is feminizing his three year old son Kennedy, and seeking to remove Urlacher’s visitation rights.” — Pro Linebacker’s Child Used As A Football In Tabloidesque “Gender Confusion” Custody Battle

[USA] “Shame on you, Dr. Phil. As a man who’s own personal mantra is urging people to “get real,” Dr. Phil was decidedly unreal in his approach to transgender rights on a show that aired last month. (You Tube clip at the bottom of this post.) Allison Steinberg’s latest post takes Dr. Phil to task for allowing a phony doctor with ties to Focus on the Family to be an “expert” on his show regarding to transgender issues … Dr. Stanton, in fact, is no doctor. He holds a Master’s degree from the University of West Florida and is known widely as one of the foremost defenders of evangelical family values. He is a fellow at James Dobson’s organization Focus on The Family, which boasts a Christian mission, “To cooperate with the Holy Spirit in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible by nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide.” The show angered the parents of transgender children that were guests on the show as well as the larger LGBT community.” — Dr. Phil Misrepresents Transgender Identity

[Australia] “The Australian Department of Health has come under fire for appointing two men’s health ambassadors who were allegedly involved in writing a document that espoused homophobic views … The paper entitled ’21 Reasons why Gender Matters’ was published by the Fatherhood Foundation two years ago and Mr Marsh and Mr Williams were among 34 authors who contributed to the document. Amongst other things, the paper describes homosexuality as ‘gender disorientation pathology’ and suggests that gay people are more likely to abuse children, be unfaithful or violent in relationships and abuse drugs.” — Australian government ‘health ambassadors’ in gay hate controversy

[Australia] “Australia’s Health Minister Nicola Roxon has dismissed one of the new Men’s Health Ambassadors for co-authoring an anti-gay, anti-transgender report. Warwick Marsh, president of Fatherhood Foundation, was one of 34 co-authors of 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters, a report which calls homosexuality a mental disorder. Ms Roxon announced today that Mr Marsh would no longer be an ambassador on the panel. “Mr Marsh has not repudiated his offensive comments. This makes his position as an Ambassador untenable and I have made a decision to dismiss him from this role,” she said.” — Health ambassador sacked for standing by anti-gay comments

[Australia] “A bitter feud has erupted at a prestigious golf club after it was revealed a leading member was undergoing a sex change. Male members of Wynnum Golf Club in Brisbane were disgusted when they learned married dad-of-one Don Asher, 52, had begun hormone treatment to become a woman. They forced Mr Asher to quit the men’s team after he turned up for a tournament wearing a dress. Following an emergency meeting at the club, Mr Asher was given permission to play for the ladies team. Yesterday he said he has never been happier– despite the hostile reaction of his former friends. “It feels as though everything is right at last,” he said.” — Sex-change golfer now a birdie

[Australia] “Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes sent a solemn message last week, calling on Australians to remember the “horrors and difficulties” that discrimination still inflicts on people who are gender diverse. The comments were made to mark the 10th International Transgender Day of Action and to announce the impending release of a report which will give recommendations on how to tackle trans discrimination in Australia. “It is sobering to think that this day of action was established as a reminder of those who have been killed as a result of anti-gendered hatred or prejudice,” Innes said. After same-sex entitlement reforms, the Commission has now set its sights on the rights of the trans community and has been researching and consulting on issues faced by gender diverse communities over the last year.” — Innes pushes for trans law change

[Thailand] “The ever increasing turbulence of the anti-government protests notwithstanding, a demonstration of a different nature was taking place yesterday in Bangkok. Unaffiliated to any political party, a group of transgender ‘ladyboys’ paraded past central Police Headquarters in Bangkok to protest at the lack of AIDS awareness in Thailand. Glamorously dressed in brightly coloured ball gowns and feathered head-dresses, the group struck a contrasting pose to the increasingly militant demonstrations … While observers hope the increasingly fraught situation in the country will end peaceably, the ladyboys, with their stylish parade of singing and dancing showed the world how peaceful yet fabulous protest is all about.” — ‘Ladyboy’ protests amid Thailand’s political chaos

[Malaysia] “While the causes of gender identity disorders are still disputed, one thing is certain – these patients need care and compassion, rather than discrimination.” — Gender poser

News and views for Monday, November 24th …

[NY, USA] The latest on Carmen’s Place: “A controversial Astoria shelter for gay and transgender young people may be forced to shut down if it doesn’t receive a quick infusion of cash. The Rev. Louis Braxton, director of Carmen’s Place, said donations have plummeted with the tanking economy. “We’ve always been hand to mouth, with just enough to make our bills,” Braxton said. “But since the economic meltdown, we just died.”" — Shelter for youths on the brink

[OR, USA] From The Oregonian, “The counterprotesters outside City Hall in this Marion County town today significantly outnumbered the protesters who inspired them: three young women and a man from a Kansas church, here to register their disdain with the recent election of the nation’s first openly transgender mayor, Stu Rasmussen. The quartet spread out along one side of North Water Street, feet planted on American flags spread on the sidewalk and hoisting large laminated posterboards on each arm. Double-sided and easy to read from passing vehicles and local television trucks positioned half a block away, the signs offered assorted damnation — “Barack Obama = Antichrist,” “God Hates You,” “You’re Going to Hell” and “Fag Media Shame.”" — Silverton rebuffs protest of transgender mayor-elect

[OR, USA] From The Girl Inside, an interview with Stu Rasmussen, the transgender newly-elected mayor of Silverton, Oregon. — Interview: America’s First Crossdressing Mayor

[USA] “According to Stryker in Queer Pulp, the “dimestore” or “pulp” novel owes its popularity to the Army’s attempts to keep the troops occupied by printing and distributing cheap, thin editions of popular and classic novels. Soldiers spread their love of the books, allowing the pulp industry new-found clout by the late ‘40s. Stryker goes on to note that the advent of the gay and lesbian novels of the ‘50s and ‘60s also owes a debt to the rise of the sci-fi novel. Like homosexual literature, tales of intergalactic travel and ghostly apparitions had been around for quite some time, but advancing technology and the prospect of real space travel propelled the genre. As more sci-fi novels featured aliens who enjoyed alternative sexual practices or genders foreign to our two-gender system, audiences become more comfortable with reading about alien love and intercourse, allowing them to view differently sexual relationships outside of the heterosexual norm of procreative sex.” — Fresh Squeeze with Pulp

[Equatorial Guinea] In soccer news, at the African Women’s Championships in Equatorial Guinea, “the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) may have filed a protest to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), over allegations that three hermaphrodites are in the Equatorial Guinea team … Nigeria had on Saturday filed a similar protest against South Africa over one of their players. The outcome of the protest is yet to be made public.” — Falcons protest alleged hermaphrodite in E’ Guinean team

[UK] Via Transsexual Road Map Notes, Lynn Conway comments on yesterday’s article in The Guardian (“Porn addicts, sex offenders, rapists, paedophiles…“) on the Portman Clinic: “Note how the Portman Clinic classifies transgender and transsexual people as ‘compulsive’ sexual deviants, and lumps them in among pedophiles and rapists. Reminiscent of the Clarke Institute (CAMH) in Toronto (which has a similar historical background), this 75 year old mental health facility is where many young trans youth are sent for “treatment” in the UK today, as you will see at this link.” — The Portman Clinic and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: eugenic hotbeds

More than a few folks have wondered what has become of Christine Daniels. Her columns and her blog (“Woman In Progress”) at the Los Angeles Times have disappeared.

Today, there came this rather puzzling post from Kevin Roderick at LA Observed [emphasis added] …

Eighteen month after writing a column about becoming Christine Daniels, veteran sportswriter Mike Penner has quietly returned to work at the Los Angeles Times, according to multiple sources close to the LAT’s Sports staff. Penner’s column in April 2007 about his sexual transformation became one of the most-viewed Times’ stories of the year and was followed by a story in the LAT from media writer James Rainey and tons of other media attention. Daniels for a time chronicled her transformation in a blog at LATimes.com; the blog entries have been removed and the Times has so far posted nothing about Penner’s return. I emailed him and Sports Editor Randy Harvey, who replied, “We’re looking forward to Mike’s byline appearing in the paper and on the website with increased frequency. He continues to be a valued member of our sports staff.”

Whither Christine?

From Tom Toles …

David Byrne’s in Asheville tonight at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium … and, yes, you may ask yourself …

… who’s burning down the house.

Earlier this week Donna Rose touched upon the “melt down” in her blog.

To paraphrase what Donna said — you may have been prudent, have a few bucks in the bank, have a bit of credit, but when that cascade comes down, you’ll be right in its path — and you may not get two tickets on The Ark.

I think that that “fire” or “melt down” is symptomatic of a systemic failure and corruption of government in which both political parties are complicit.

So, for me — I just don’t see BO — or JM — as the solution, they are part of the problem. (Anyone have any updates on this?) The solution? Ask a pundit, not me … I’m busy getting my creaky rowboat ready.

A few of the weekend scribblings …

From Alan Abelson (“Going for Broke“) in Barron’s this week …

BABY, IT’S COLD OUT THERE. So let’s toss another billion on the fire.

What’s that make it? Well, let’s see: $29 billion for Bear Stearns, somewhere between $1 billion and $100 billion each for Fannie and Freddie (a nice narrow range), $85 billion for AIG, a couple of hundred billion to keep stray banks, brokers and their errant kin from asphyxiating themselves by swallowing toxic paper. And then there’s the proposed reincarnation of the Resolution Trust Corp., which all by itself may mean shelling out $800 billion, perhaps even as much as $1 trillion.

While we’re at it, we might as well include the $400 billion with which the Paulson-Bernanke grand plan envisages endowing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. so it can insure money-market funds.

But, please, understand those mind-boggling sums in no way, shape or form are to be construed as designed to aid and abet a bailout. Instead, they are merely the essential ingredients of an “intervention,” or, if you prefer, a “rescue” — just about anything, in other words, that’s semantically sweeter than bailout, with its ugly connotation of a sinking ship.

Besides, we have it on the best authority that none of this largess will cost the taxpayer a cent over the long run, which, if nothing else, speaks volumes about what constitutes the best authority these days.

Some other news and views (just a few) …

• Your Money at Work, Fixing Others’ Mistakes
• Why You Should Hate the Treasury Bailout Proposal
• Will a Crisis Create a Scandal?
• Bipartisan Support for Wall St. Rescue Plan Emerges
• Short Selling Ban Spreads Around the World

Dodd, Schumer, Frank … Tinker, Evers, Chance … “Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble.”

Maybe, we’ll have better luck than the Cubs since those words were penned by FPA. (Don’t bet on it.)

And, it’s the last night for the original Yankee Stadium — a big part of my growing up in the Bronx back in the 50s and early 60s — lots of memories. A few tears too — watching the pre-game ceremonies on ESPN. And a Stevens threw out the first ball, no less.

Don’t bite on the change-up, folks, in baseball … or politics. For what it’s worth, frankly, I think you may as well stay in the dugout. I don’t see a field of dreams beckoning. “The players” here are in a league of their own and I don’t think you or me are going to crack the lineup.

A bit of word play here, but Autumn’s earlier post brought back memories of this story …

An avid athlete and a transgender person, Tedra Thomsen wants to play
coed softball — as a woman.

But the softball league she plays on won’t allow that.

“This snubs me basically,” said Thomsen, who explained while the sex
she was born with is anatomically male, the gender she identifies
herself with is female.

Next week the league’s recreation district will consider a policy on
transsexual athletes — a first for the Chico Area Recreation and
Park District — because of Thomsen’s concerns.

… and …

their knowledge but said the board needed to put a policy in placenow to answer Thomsen’s coed softball application request.

Also Thursday the board unanimously approved a policy addressing the
participation of transgender and transsexual athletes in recreational
sports programs. The policy — which originated when Chico resident
and softball player Tedra Thomsen, a transgender person who expressed
a desire to play on a coed softball team as a woman — states that
transsexual athletes can play in a male or female sport after sex
reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and legal recognition of their
reassigned sex. Medical documentation is also required.

Transgender athletes who don’t meet those requirements are eligible
for participation in female or male recreational sports according to
their birth sex, the policy states.

Thomsen, friends and advocates and attorneys for gender rights — some
who had traveled from San Francisco to attend the meeting — urged the
CARD board to reconsider the policy because it would mean Thomsen
cannot play as a female until undergoing sex reassignment surgery and
hormone therapy. Several said surgery was a drastic procedure and
that Olympic standards were not appropriate for a recreation league.

“I think this is not a time for hard and fast rules that might
protect someone legally, but fairness,” said one speaker in favor of
Thomsen.

CARD legal representative Jennifer Wendell, an attorney with the
Carter Law Office, said the policy — based on standards put in place
by the International Olympic Committee — is the recreation district’s
attempt at balancing CARD’s need for safety and competitive standards
with accommodating Thomsen. She said the policy will not keep anyone
from dressing, acting or being addressed and treated as the gender
they identify with.

CARD attorney Jeff Carter said CARD’s legal team would be willing to
meet with those knowledgeable about transgender issues to further
their knowledge but said the board needed to put a policy in place
now to answer Thomsen’s coed softball application request.

… and that left me wondering if there have been any updates to this story?

I haven’t heard of any … ??

(By the way, if we didn’t “archive” these news stories, they may as well never have happened in many cases.)

Back to Autumn’s post, which also brought to mind this story, speaking of (“tricky”) Libertarians …

Activists belonging to the libertarian wing of the Republican Party continue to mourn the loss of Kent Snyder, a 49-year-old gay political operative credited with propelling the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) into a national, grassroots movement that raised more than $35 million.

Snyder, who served as Paul’s campaign chair, died of pneumonia on June 26 after being hospitalized for about two months and after running up medical bills exceeding $400,000, according to friends and family members, who said he did not have health insurance.

…

When asked at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday about concerns raised by critics that his presidential campaign did not provide employee health insurance, Paul said only that he doesn’t believe any political campaigns offer health insurance.

“I don’t know of any campaign that has health insurance for temporary and other employees,” he said. “I’ve never had it and I’ve been in this business for 30 years. I don’t know any campaign that does.”

…

Spokespersons for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain said both campaigns provide full health insurance coverage to their paid staff. A spokesperson for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign said Clinton also provided health insurance coverage to campaign staffers before she ended her campaign in early June.

I don’t expect, though, I’ll be seeing “full health insurance coverage” coming forth, for me or you, from any of these folks any time soon … Paul, McCain or Obama … three whiffs and we’re out.

Some not quite out of date mood music for this Saturday night …

Two interesting features worth a look in tomorrow’s New York Times Sunday Magazine (6.29.2008) …

Genes, money, drive … if you have’em, you might have a chance of looking and performing like Dara Torres at 41 years of age …

NEAR THE WARM-UP POOL AT THE Missouri Grand Prix swim meet, in Columbia, a crop of Olympic hopefuls lolled around in practice suits and towels on a Saturday morning in February. Fully clothed among them stood some relics of Olympics past: Scott Goldblatt, who won a gold medal in the 2004 Games, wore an aqua sport coat and a striped tie and was doing on-air commentary for Swimnetwork.com; Mel Stewart, who won two golds and a bronze in 1992, wore the same goofy get-up, working as Goldblatt’s sidekick. Meanwhile, Dara Torres, who won the first of her nine Olympic medals in 1984, a year before Michael Phelps was born, stripped off her baggy T-shirt and sweat pants, revealing a breathtaking body in a magenta Speedo. She pulled on a cap marked with her initials and prepared to swim. Torres is now 41 and the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, Tessa Grace. She broke her first of three world records in 1982, at 14, and she has retired from swimming and come back three times, her latest effort built on an obsessive attention to her aging body.

Torres’s retinue includes a head coach, a sprint coach, a strength coach, two stretchers, two masseuses, a chiropractor and a nanny, at the cost of at least $100,000 per year. At the Olympic trials, this week, in Omaha, Neb., she’s expected to swim fast enough to make her fifth Olympic team. If she does, she’ll be the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympics (despite sitting out 1996 and 2004). She’ll also be oldest female swimmer in the history of the Olympic games.

…

The rest of “A Swimmer of a Certain Age” may be read here.

And Times fashion writer Guy Trebay has a feature on filmmaker and “fashionista” Daphne Guinness …

Because the archetypal women in Daphne Guinness’s short film, ‘‘The Phenomenology of Body,’’ revolve on turntables, it is somehow easier to think of her as a D.J. than as a director. Because the chic images she assembled appear in some sense random, it seems appropriate to think of her as more a sampler than any kind of auteur. And because the story depicting women through the ages is, as its creator points out, not exactly linear and only accidentally feminist, it is easy to see in it hints of autobiography, the personal history of a slightly anachronistic sort of being, less actor than spectator, a woman upon whom the events of life impress themselves.

While few outside the style world are likely to have heard of Guinness, she Lose Weight Exercises considerable fascination in fashionable circles and the tabloid press. The daughter of the Guinness brewery heir Jonathan Guinness, formally known as Lord Moyne, Guinness is also the step-granddaughter of Sir Oswald Mosley, the British fascist; the ex-wife of Spyros Niarchos, of Greek shipping fame (she married him at 19; he settled a reputed $40 million dollars on her when they divorced in 1999); and lately the subject of tabloid rumors related to her friendship with Bernard-Henri Lévy, the wealthy, and married, French writer whose intellect is almost as celebrated as his luxuriant head of hair.

…

The rest of “Her Feminine Mystique” may be read here, and her film’s below …

(Oops, this didn’t post last night … )

The road to somewhere is paved with good intentions … It doesn’t look, at the moment, like there’ll be a (certainly not a) timely posting of a last week’s “transgender news in review,” which I just started last week and hope to do regularly.

Primary voting day tomorrow in North Carolina … first time that I can recall a primary here having (any Presidential) significance. Am I happy with my choices? No. But, I’ll be voting for HC, for what it’s worth. I’m hoping to get my father, who’s in his ’90′s now, out to vote. He hasn’t missed getting to the polls ever that I remember, but … this time might be the first … he’s been a bit worse for the wear recently. Bummer.

Maybe it’s just me, but I thought there were some positives in the news story about the transgender youngster in the Philadelphia Inquirer today (about which Autumn commented earlier today) — parent Valerie Huff’s comment that “The kids don’t make any big deal about it at all” and that of Mary Beth Lauer, the school district’s director of community relations, that the “students seem to be accepting their classmate’s change” — for example. On the flip side, aside from the issues that Autumn addressed, using bete noire Paul McHugh for the oppositional viewpoint, was a mighty big turnoff to me.

I was much distressed by Eight Belles’ breakdown in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, but PETA doesn’t seem to me to have much of a clue about horse racing, frankly, and its criticisms (“euthanized in the dirt where she lay,” “Eight Belles’ jockey whipped her mercilessly,” etc.) of that day’s events are more than a bit out of touch and way over the top.

Good question: “If it’s so great to be smart, why have most animals remained dumb?”

Because it works: “Watching Bush speak you realize he’s a really dumb person who thinks everyone in the room is even dumber than he is.” (Don’t tell me it took anyone over seven years to realize that.)

What I’m referring to here is the tendency of the mainstream media to focus on and give extensive coverage to a certain kind of trans or gender-related news. Generally, it seems these stories invariably involve celebrities (think back many years to Eddie Murphy and the “transvestite prostitute” story, for instance) or “oddities.” Last month, there was the “pregnant man” story. Vying for that media attention this month, there appear to be actually two news stories …

RONALDO, ONE OF the world’s best soccer players, is up to his knee-socks in scandal today after his run-in with a pair of transvestite prostitutes wound up on YouTube.

The Brazilian superstar told cops he had no idea the “ladies” he picked up were men until he brought them to a hot sheets hotel early Monday.

Footage of Ronaldo recoiling from them was taken by the spurned hookers, one of whom is under investigation for trying to extort $30,000 from the superstar, Brazilian media reported.

Andre Albertini, who goes by the name Andrea, denied he tried to blackmail Ronaldo and insisted the soccer star tried to buy his silence.

…

She-male kick in head for Ronaldo

(To say that headline writers often have a bit of fun with these stories is stating the obvious. The Times, on Ronaldo, “Three Ronaldo girls all had men’s tackle,” or The Standard’s “What a balls-up” are examples.)

… and …

Dude looked like a lady.

That’s what has puzzled researchers for years about Akhenaten, the famed pharaoh who introduced radical monotheism to ancient Egypt. While he fathered at least at least a half-dozen children, his body form was distinctly feminine.

Now Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why. He was due to present his findings yesterday at an annual conference at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the ailments and deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh’s body to convert more male hormones to female hormones, Braverman said. The pharaoh had “an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters. But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique.”

…

Egypt’s pharaoh was king of queens

It was not all that long ago, by the way, that another Egyptian “gender-bender,” Hatshepsut, was in the news.

I’m looking for intelligence and decisiveness where it really matters …

Barack Obama and John McCain are picking the University of North Carolina to win the national college basketball championship, while Hillary Clinton told reporters she needs to check with her sage, Bill Clinton.

Where have you gone John Edwards?

Good luck to the men’s and the women’s basketball teams. Go Tar Heels!

~~~

I haven’t kept up with figure skating (since wanting to be just like Peggy Fleming … a long, long ways back), so until yesterday I had never heard of Mark Lund. Well, now I know that Lund evidently is not a fashion maven like Dick Button …

Weir’s outfits often sparkle like disco balls; in his short program he pretends to be a seagull. His total package has not only led to assumptions that he is gay — something not as taboo in figure skating as in other sports — but a controversy over his not being the right type of gay. During a figure skating broadcast last year, the announcer Mark Lund, who is openly gay, said, “I don’t think he’s representative of the community I want to be a part of,” and, “I don’t need to see a prima ballerina on the ice,” before praising Lysacek’s masculinity.

Figure Skating Rivalry Pits Athleticism Against Artistry

There must be some of the same something in the water in Ottumwa, Iowa as in Montgomery County, Maryland (JimK at the Vigilance blog today describes the most recent doings there)…

Listen, reconsider and amend. That’s what the City Council did Tuesday concerning the sexual orientation ordinance.

The ordinance was on Tuesday’s agenda for its second reading. At least 50 people packed council chambers and several spoke, for or against, the proposed city law, which was the last item on the agenda.

Those who favored the ordinance said it’s needed to prevent discrimination in housing and employment.

Citizens who spoke against it said the ordinance would enable a man to put on a dress, enter a women’s restroom and molest or kidnap a female youngster.

Ed Ball of the Ottumwa Human Rights Commission said the people doing that are pedophiles, not gays.

“These crimes are done by ‘normal’ people,” Ball said.

After public comment, Councilman Gordon Aistrope said he was also concerned about who would enter the restroom because the proposed ordinance includes “gender identity” as part of the protected classification.

“This does bother me. Sexual orientation, OK. Gender identity, no,” Aistrope said.

He moved to delete “gender identity” and Councilman Mitch Niner seconded the motion.

Councilwoman Shannon Addison said current medical journals and psychology publications have “clearly stated” it’s “not transgenders, not cross-dressers” who would molest youngsters in restrooms.

“A pedophile is a pedophile,” she said.

Police Chief Jim Clark also told the council that pedophiles and sexual predators are a “kind of their own.”

Clark said he hoped the council would delete either “gender identity” or “public accommodations” from the proposed city law.

Then the question was what happens next to a proposed ordinance that was just amended.

City Attorney Tom Kintigh said if the amendment passes, then the ordinance would move back to the first reading.

Addison said pulling “gender identity” out of the ordinance “won’t hurt.”

“If we do have an issue with gender identity, they can handle it at the state level,” she added.

The council voted unanimously to remove “gender identity” from the proposed ordinance.

On the first reading of the amended ordinance, Aistrope, Addison and Niner voted for it and Meyers and Councilman Keith Caviness voted against it.

Ottumwa City Council amends proposed ordinance — ‘gender identity’ deleted; law moves back to first reading

Speaking of water …

It’s in the Water: We’re All Transsexuals Now

Autumn and I (along with our colleague, Meryl) are what she calls “news archivists,” so I felt I should present here over the next week or so (better later than never, I hope) a chronology of some of the news we’ve archived (well over 6,000 items) this past year at Transgender News and TNUKdigest …

JANUARY

A Japanese court refuses to amend the birth records of a transsexual because prior to sex reassignment surgery she had
fathered a child.

On Pakistani television, Ali Saleem, 28, portrays Begum Nawazish Ali, a flirty, teasing widow, to achieve both political and
personal goals.

The author of a new book about transgender teenagers in Los Angeles talks straight about hormone smuggling, life on the street, and the rise of America’s first trans-rapper. [More here.]

An American transsexual woman who says she was forced out of a job at Hitachi Data Systems in London has lost the biggest discrimination case brought by a transgendered person under Britain’s anti-bias law. [More here.]

New Jersey extends statutory rights and protections to civil union partners and prohibits discrimination on the basis of
gender identity or expression.

In Washington, DC, news surfaces about the Jan. 3 murder of Grafton Lee Person, a 42-year-old transgender woman known in the community as Diamond Lee Person, whose death has reverberated through the local transgender community. [More here.]

A Mexican transsexual wins a new hearing on claims both for asylum and, alternately, for protection in the U.S. under the international Convention Against Torture, or CAT.

Mordechai used to be known in his Toronto Orthodox community as Nord, short for Nord the Barbarian, which referred to his girth and hairiness. He now wishes to be called Nicole, and has chosen Neshama, or Soul, as a Hebrew name. [More here.]

With the Democrats in control of Congress for the first time in 12 years, gay rights advocates are optimistic about a vote in the House and Senate later this year on the long-stalled Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA.

A Taiwanese teacher’s involved in sex-change drama.

A former San Antonio, Texas police officer is sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison for the rape and
beating of a transsexual woman.

The Division of Corrections in Maryland wonders “Where To Place Transsexual Convict.”

In Ohio, cross dressers, transsexuals, gays, lesbians and bisexuals may be protected from job discrimination in the attorney general and secretary of state’s offices under soon-to-be expanded employment policies.

A conservative Christian minister began work on a referendum to overturn Washington state’s inclusion of gays
and lesbians in its human rights law.

A groundbreaking conference in California gathers transgender Christian advocates.

California’s first transgender administrative law judge is sworn in.

A Mexican congressman says he will submit a bill to Congress in March that would amend the country’s constitution to guarantee the rights of transsexuals and change civil laws to ensure they can legally change their name and gender. [More here.]

Gay Sports publishes a feature on 1932 Olympic gold medal sprinter, Stella Walsh –”The Story of Stella Walsh.”

Artnet Magazine publishes a feature on transgender artist, Greer Lankton.

In Austria, a boy of 12 is believed to have become the world’s youngest sex change patient after convincing doctors that he wanted to live the rest of his life as a female. [More here and here.]

More U.S. employers are covering sex transition surgery. [More here.]

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