The Week In Transgenderism 8/20/12

Choi

Could Korea’s Next Top Model be a transsexual woman? It could happen. Season Three of Korea’s Next Top Model features Choi Han-bit, a beautiful TS who transitioned six years ago at the age of twenty. The story is at opposingviews.com.

You would think that hospitals and doctors in New York city would be on the cutting edge of transgender awareness. It seems that many medical professional in NYC are still ignorant of TGs issues. A transman went through an ordeal just to find out that he had cancer. Then he had to fight to get treatment. The Affordable Care Act makes what happened to Jay Kallio illegal. Read the story in the New York Daily News.

Luke

In England they just wrapped up a grueling competition. No, we’re not talking about the Olympics, we’re talking about Big Brother U.K. The winner is a transman named Luke Anderson. He’s a chef from Wales and he is the 13th winner. He took home a $78,000 prize. You’ll never guess what he’s going to buy with the cash. Find out in the London Evening Standard.

Bet you didn’t know that transgendered pilots had to go through additional psychological testing that non-TG pilots were not required to undergo? Now that you know, forget about it. The Federal Aviation Administration has released new guidelines and TGs no longer need to take the additional tests. The story is in The Advocate.

La Cienega

There’s a new musical making waves on old Broadway. Its called Bring It On: The Musical. It’s about cheerleaders at an urban high school. Part of the buzz surrounding the production is the inclusion of a transgendered character — La Cienega, one of the three black girls in the Jackson High hip-hop dance crew. She is portrayed by an actor named Gregory Haney and the character is played as a teen female. There is no indication in the first act that she is anything but a somewhat muscular girl. Find out why the director decided to include a TG at Playbill.com.

Thinking about getting a higher education? Thinking about doing it while “out” as a TG? If so you need to read about the top ten universities for transgender students. If you’re a college grad will your school be on the list? Check out the schools in The Advocate.

We have a Meet The Crossdresser story today that comes to us courtesy of our contributor Linda Jensen. Linda pointed us to the story of Ottawa’s Amanda Ryan. Her story is typical of many crossdressers but Amanda is not just any CD. She is a co-organizer of the Spring Fling event and is active in Ottawa’s transgender community. Read about her in the Ottawa Citizen.

New Mexico TGs.

Our Meet The Transgenders story is about Erin Preciado and Jessica Lighthall, two TG ladies from Carlsbad, New Mexico. It’s interesting that the story starts off with a disclaimer stating that the paper is not looking to “praise or condemn their personal choice as transgenders.” So it’s cool that newspapers are doing stories about TGs that are not the kind of derogatory stuff and misinformation you could find in one of the tabloids that Ms. Bob’s article today talks about, but when will the New Mexico media be able to run a TG story without any disclaimer? Read the piece in Carlsbad Current-Argus.

Kate and friend.

Gender outlaw Kate Bornstein is on the trail. The book promotion trail. She has taken what started out to be another one of her performance pieces and turned it into a book titled A Queer and Pleasant Danger. The book is available from Beacon Press and Kate talks about her life and why she wrote the book in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission has unanimously approved revising the Code of Student Conduct. Previously the Code allowed suspension for students using electronic devices in school or indulging in public displays of affection. The Commission changed that so that those infractions will not be punished with suspension. They also adopted an amendment that makes sure TG students who dress as their preferred gender are not punished for breaking dress code rules. Get the full details in The Philadelphia Daily News.

Phillipe Blond, Barbie designer.

Is it surprising that a fashion designer who likes to crossdress would design a Barbie Doll that looks like a drag queen? Of course not, you silly things! And the designer’s name is Phillipe Blond. He and his design partner David Blond were commissioned by Mattel to create The Blonds Blond Diamond Barbie. See the doll and it’s creators in The Daily Mail.

Breast feeding is often at the center of controversy in the United States. People seem to get upset when a woman takes out her breast to feed her child in public. Here is a story about Canadians who are upset because a Canadian man breast feeds his child and wants to be a lactation coach. Of course he’s an FtM and the controversy is that he identifies as a father but breast feeds his child. The La Leche League of Canada is confused by that and won’t let him be a group leader in their organization. The story is in Metro Canada.

Jade London as Poison Ivy.

In other news from north of the border, a Canadian queen named Ms. Jade London is taking that nation by storm. She won the tile of Ottawa’s Next Drag Superstar in February and took the title of Canada’s Next Drag Superstar in June. Now she’s working on her music career with a new CD while she prepares for the Miss Ottawa World pageant in September. Meet her at Xtra.ca.

A Quaker ministries director in western Michigan is championing acceptance of GLBT people. In 2011 he met a FtM at a Quaker meeting and came to understand that he had been marginalizing TGs for his whole life. He recently spoke to a PFLAG group in Holland, Michigan spreading the word that TGs deserve love and acceptance. The story is at mlive.com.

The Democratic National Convention is coming up very soon and there are two (that we know of) transgendered delegates attending. Janice Covington from North Carolina and friend of TGF Marisa Richmond of Tennessee will be there in the thick of it. Political parties don’t have policy statements. They do have platforms with planks, which are the various policy items that the party stands for. One of the planks in the Democratic Party Platform is expanded protections for GLBTs in the workplace. Get the story from Out In Jersey.

Bean in the makeup chair.

We’ve mentioned that Sean Bean (Game of Thrones, GoldenEye and Lord of The Rings) plays a transvestite in a four part series now airing in England. The first show of the series has aired and the reviews are in. At least one review is in and it’s to be found in The Huffington Post. The article also includes a slide show of Bean getting made up.

Forty drag queens on a boat, and a bottle of rum. We can imagine the sea shanties that could spring up on that cruise. Or. . .  maybe we can’t. In any event the cruise is a reality that will happen this coming December as forty, count ‘em forty, drag queens who have appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race will take to the sea to splash around the Caribbean. Pandora Boxx will be the hostess. Get the details of drag on the deep blue sea at newnownext.com.

The Lady Bunny

They had a birthday roast for Lady Bunny last week. The Lady laid claim to 50 years on the planet so that’s the number they roasted her for. The years she left out of the count will have to be celebrated later. But seriously, the place was packed with shade slinging queens and Michael Musto (who got in some good ones himself) wrote about what went down in his August 16 blog. The dish is in The Village Voice. (Not for those offended by naughty language.)

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Category: Transgender Community News