The Week In Transgenderism 12/5/11

Vandy Beth Glenn

There’s no ruling yet but the appeals court judges are “signaling” (does that mean they’re using signal flags, or smoke signals?) that they are going to uphold the lower court ruling that said Vandy Beth Glenn was fired by the state of Georgia because of sex discrimination. Really — they fired her when she told them she was going through gender reassignment. Read all about it at ABC.com.

Filed for divorce.

Way down there in Texas a woman, who had married a transgender man and knew his story when she married him, attempted to have her marriage declared void after her FtM husband filed for divorce. Her attorney claimed that since he had been born a woman the marriage — and the right to get a divorce — was invalid. Read the surprising ruling from the judge in The Huffington Post.

Saelua

Apparently, since we know little of the world of professional soccer (football, as it’s called outside the US) American Samoa have been a crap team for years. Now, all that has changed with their first win ever over Tonga in the Oceania World Cup qualifying match last week. The win was made possible by the first ever transgender player in an officially sanctioned game, Johnny “Jayieh” Saelua. Read about it at WhoAteAllThePies.tv.

Cover girl.

Lea T has been featured on the cover of Elle in her native country, Brazil. Looking fabulous in Givenchy Miss T graces the December issue on Brazilian Elle. The blurb about it at ology.com makes reference to it as “gender-bending.” See what kind of comments that generated at ology.com.

Speaking of transgender models, how could we not mention Andrej Pejic? This story is a bit old but somehow we missed it in October. (All the Halloween preparations, maybe?) At least it was not lost and we present it for you now. Check out Vogue.co.uk to learn what Andej wore to meet The Queen. There’s a joke there somewhere.

Looking for a book to help children understand transgenderism? You wouldn’t have had much luck in days gone by. (With the exception of Fluff The Bunny. CDS may have a few copies.) Now comes When Kathy is Keith by Wallace Wong. It’s available from Amazon.com. Check out the story at Straight.com.

Khloe

Khloe Kardashian, the Kardashian sister who many have said looks like a transvestite, is being sued for attacking a transgender woman. We don’t know how real the basis of the lawsuit is (it was first reported by TMZ) but all we can say is, it’s about time someone sued a Kardashian. Can we sue them for being no talent “reality” show stars? Read the story in the Daily Mail and see what provoked the attack of the Kardashian.

Speaking of celebrities in trouble, this time a highly talented one, Neil Patrick Harris roused the ire of The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation after he used the dreaded T word on national television. At least Harris issued a real apology, not one of those “sorry if anyone was offended” things that passes for an apology these days. Find out what caused him to utter the offending word in On Top Magazine.

Old Man George

Britney Spears, a role model for many, turned 30 last week. (See Dina Amberle’s homage to Spears ) but the big news for many of us who were inspired by a singer from an earlier decade, Boy George, will be interested to know that the Boy just hit 50. Isn’t it time he changed his name to Old Man George? When last we reported on George he was going away to the gray bar hotel after a bit of a scandal involving a male escort, handcuffs, and drugs. He’s out. He’s healthy and his skin looks fabulous. Read an interview with the 50-year-old Boy in The Guardian.

If you’re a transgendered federal cop in Argentina we’ve got good news for you. You can now wear the uniform appropriate for the gender you identify as and use the restroom you feel most comfortable using. The Security Ministry’s ruling also covers members of the naval and airport police as well as the gendarmerie. We think that means the cop on the beat. Check it out at The Washington Post website.

DC TG speaks.

Another place where TGs can feel more comfortable is The University of Arizona. While the state has gotten a lot of bad press for their “papers please” law, the University has been moving forward with intellectual aplomb and created a new group in the Campus Health Service that will provide therapy, support and education for students struggling with gender identity issues. Hoorah University of Arizona. Get the details in the campus newspaper, The Daily Wildcat. (What doctor would write a prescription like that? “Take one wildcat daily.” Sounds dangerous, don’t it?

This past year has been a trial for members of the TG community in our nation’s capital. The murder rate among transgender women of color rose sharply and many saw it as a pattern of anti-trans violence. Now a Washington writer has decided to let members of the D.C. TG community tell their stories and let the world know what it’s like to be a TG of color in Washington. The first of her series can be found at ColorLines.com.

TWITs

A model in Britain had her identity stolen by a pre-op TS. The thief, who had had surgery to look more like the model, just walked into the model’s bank and made withdrawals. How come I can’t get change at my bank without showing ID? The story says that the thief was obsessed with the model since the age of nine and she’s 18 now. Who paid for the boob job and plastic surgery? Did she have a job after school? Saved up her allowance for a few years? Maybe she’s been stealing other people’s identities, too. Give that girl a TWIT! Get the facts, as they are, in The Daily Star.

Recently the news has been full of law enforcement over reacting. Pepper spraying people who are engaged in a peaceful protest — directy in the face with military grade spray — is pretty bad. Read about what happened to a TG helping out in a photo shoot in the desert when a ranger came by to see what they were up to. Maybe she should have not had the two and a half beers. Perhaps she should have had ID with “female” on it? Or maybe the TWIT ranger should have minded his own business and not worried about the group of people miles from nowhere taking pictures in the desert. What happened is outrageous, and there’s video. A lawsuit will be forthcoming. The ranger gets a TWIT. The story is in the LGBT Weekly.

And she takes it on the lam.

Our final TWIT is the New Orleans area “cross-dresser” who has been robbing upscale boutiques. She goes in to the shop first, cases the place, then returns later and does a blitzkrieg grab and run. She targets expensive jeans and other designer threads, running out with a pile of clothes in under eight seconds. She must not be wearing extreme heels if she can make that kind of time. Another thing she’s not doing is a very good job of passing. She’s been recognized as a man in women’s clothes in all the robberies. Girl, that gets you a two count TWIT Award — one for robbing stores, and another for not passing. We’d much rather see a headline that said, “Glamorous Woman Wanted in Designer Robberies.” The story and surveillance video is in The Uptown Messenger.

Tags: featured, news

Category: Transgender Community News