Or some this and that, as Autumn refers to it, about trans, gender and whatever …

#1 – Nevermind cross-dressing, what do you know about cross rates and all that stuff? If you have a yen for currency, what do you think about this settlement? Is this worth a lot of Lats … ?

A man with gender identity disorder whose work contract was not renewed has settled his lawsuit against the employer for ¥1.8 million, his lawyer said Thursday.

…

Man sacked over gender disorder settles lawsuit

#2 – Down by the river, they’re going “lawless” in a more than typical American city …

WYANDOTTE — Dressed for guests in heels and a short skirt, Janet Law sipped a drink alone in the private club she hopes to open for cross-dressing men.

She mailed invitations to city officials in hopes of making peace in a year-long feud over the club. None came Tuesday to Janet’s Place, the disco-lighted lounge and dance floor in the back of Law’s Fort Street speed shop and race car engine-building business, National Machined Engine.

“I was hopeful, but did I really think any of them would come and meet me and see what they fear? No,” said Law, 56, who was well-known in the car racing community as Edward “RJ” Law before getting breast implants four years ago and living as a cross-dresser.

…

Officials keep club for cross-dressers shuttered

#3 – From down by the river, albeit a different one … comes this story (in the interests of full disclosure, I have not set foot in Hoboken in 33 years and never met one ugly woman there, and I am not a former transsexual either) …

In the spring of 1995, Hoboken motorcycle police officer John Aiello told his superiors that when he returned from his leave, it would be as a woman named Janet.

Rumors of the situation began circulating around the mile-square city, but police officials refused to confirm them for the press. Finally, in July of 1995, the New York Post landed an interview with Aiello, then slapped the officer’s photo on their cover with the headline, “Sex-op cop fights for job.”

The media promptly descended on the mile-square city, and a media frenzy ensued, with a New York radio DJ calling Aiello “one ugly woman.”

Meanwhile, Aiello continued taking hormone pills, and the police had to navigate procedures and policies as seemingly routine as whether to allow Janet/John to use the women’s restroom at work.

But after the hubbub died down, Aiello retired and left Hudson County forever, settling in New York City, where she lives today.

…

Former transsexual cop opens up

#4 – It’s been at least 33 years since I’ve set foot in simpler times, and 23 years — or more, it seems — since knowing Eric Blair’s (Who?) name was not just trivial pursuit … now it’s time to get REAL …

Oh, for simpler times again.

Life will soon get more complicated for most Americans — but not for me. Over the next six years, most Americans will have to get “more secure” driver’s licenses.

It’s part of the homeland security push that still reverberates from the events of 9-11. The final rules for what is called the “REAL ID” is still very hush-hush in the deepest bowels of Washington, but the general idea is to create IDs that most Americans would have to present to get on airliners, into federal buildings, etc.

I say “most Americans” because the government has now decided that we decrepit old baby boomers are becoming a pretty toothless risk and have extended the deadline for the over-the-hill gang to have the IDs to 2017 (at which time we will be even more toothless).

REAL ID is one of those things that makes you squirm a little regardless which side of the argument you choose when it comes to a national ID.

The intent is to make it harder for terrorists, illegal immigrants and crooks to get identification. It’s quite possible some of the 9-11 terrorists might not have been successful had they not gotten their hands on some drivers’ licenses and IDs.

Well, that sounds good.

But on the other hand, it implies another step toward reality of Big Brother — the government being able to more closely track the lives of ordinary citizens.

That doesn’t sound good.

The American Civil Liberties Union is fighting the concept, claiming it creates a system that makes it just too tempting for government agencies to go snooping about in private lives. The ACLU is often pegged as a liberal group, but the national ID is an issue that ruffled feathers on both sides of the political spectrum.

The man in charge of putting the program together, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, put it this way: “This is a win-win. As long as people use driver’s licenses to identify themselves for whatever reason there’s no reason for those licenses to be easily counterfeited or tampered with.”

I’ve read that sentence about 12 times and still have no earthly idea what it means (which might explain why Chertoff has risen to high levels in the bureaucracy).

Admittedly, I was a little bothered by the idea of carrying around a card that tracks me like a bar code on an eight-pack of Charmin. But then I read this Associated Press article:

The FBI has hit a major hang-up in its wiretapping surveillance program: failing to pay its phone bills on time.

Facing tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals, a Justice Department audit released Thursday shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

Big Brother might be watching — but he might not be listening much longer.

Walker: Big Brother may be watching

Deepest bowels of Washington? Win-win?

#5 – We haven’t forgotten the rest of ’07 … coming soon … before ’09 gets here, anyway.

This is Part 2 of my chronology of some of the trans-related news archived (well over 6,000 items) during 2007 at Transgender News and TNUKdigest (see Part 1 here) …

MARCH (Continued)

In Spain, a transsexual geriatric care worker is taking her former company to court, alleging sexual discrimination. It will be the first court case in Spain where transsexuality is given as the reason for employment discrimination, and it comes just two weeks after Congress approved a new law which allows transsexuals to change their registered name
and sex without a sex-change operation.

In Vermont, a bill that would prohibit discrimination against people based on their gender identity or expression wins preliminary approval in the state Senate and the governor says he will likely sign it if it reaches him.

In Maryland, opponents of the new sex education curriculum being tested in Montgomery County schools will ask state officials this summer to quash the gay-inclusive lessons. As part of that curriculum students in eighth grade are taught to recognize health relationships and how to define sexuality, gender identity and other terms. Students in 10th grade receive a more thorough curriculum, including an examination of topics such as coming out and transgender discrimination.

In Georgia, a gay- and transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill passes its first test in a long, uphill battle to become law, by gaining broad bipartisan support during a state Senate Judiciary Committee meeting March 13.

Largo City Manager Steve Stanton files a written response to the city commission’s decision to begin the process of firing him because he is changing his sex. The document represents Stanton’s rationale as to why he should not be let go from a post he has held for 14 years. The gist of it reiterates what Stanton, 48, has said publicly: namely, that he should be judged on his job performance and not his plans to become a woman.

In Oregon, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people would gain protection from discrimination in employment, housing, access to public places and other areas, under legislation approved by the state Senate.

In Washington, DC, the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Hate Crimes Prevention Act is introduced in the U.S. House.

In Wisconsin, despite the state’s same-sex marriage ban, Barbara Lynn Terry and Nicole Winstanley carried purses into a judge’s office Friday and emerged as Mrs. and Mrs. Terry. But first, a doctor had to confirm the male anatomy of Barbara Lynn Terry, who was born a man, lives as a woman and has been undergoing hormone therapy for years. The judge performed the wedding after learning that gender-reassignment surgery hadn’t been performed on the person who used to be Ronald Francis Terry.

In Indiana, a state lawmaker decides not to call the hate crimes bill he’d sponsored after changes to it made it unpalatable to him. The proposed bill would have allowed judges imposing sentences to consider it an aggravating factor if the criminal selected the victim of the crime because of “color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex.” A critic of the proposal objected to giving “cross-dressers … special legal treatment.”

Largo, Florida’s city commission votes 5-2 to uphold its Feb. 27 decision to fire its city manager. City manager Steve Stanton said he was fired because he revealed his plans to become a transgendered woman named Susan. [More here.]

Radio personality Michael Savage blames sexual reassignment surgery for the Columbine massacre. [More here and here.]

In Iowa, the Iowa Senate approves legislation prohibiting discriminatory practices in employment, public accommodation,
housing, education and credit based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Debate on the legislation now shifts to the House, where the outcome is uncertain.

Maryland legislators vote down an effort to bar discrimination against the state’s transgender residents and workers.
By a 6-5 vote, the Senate judicial proceedings committee rejected a measure that sought to outlaw discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, credit and public accommodations. [More here.]

In South Korea, a group of transgendered people will file a suit in April to seek the legal right to change their genders in
their family registries, a civic group said.

In Washington, DC, any thoughts that a transgender protection clause in the recently introduced federal hate crimes bill would slip through Congress without controversy were put to rest as social conservative groups blasted the legislation as a pro-homosexual measure that would promote “cross-dressing” and “transsexualism.”

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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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