The best kept secret TG conference in the country happened last week in Philadelphia, Pa. The 13th Annual Trans-Health Conference brought a diverse mix of trans people together at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for workshops, seminars and keynote addresses from Harper Jean Tobin and Janet Mock. You’ve never hear of the Trans-Health Conference? Read on and learn about it so you’ll be ready next year.
From the plays of Shakespeare to Charlie’s Aunt, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Kinky Boots and Casa Valentina, drag has a grand tradition in the theater. This year that was quite apparent at The 68th Annual Tony Awards. There were several actors playing women or crossdressers/TGs and one woman who won for her portrayal of a drag king.
Friend of TGForum, Cuban Legend David de Alba, has a show coming up on June 22 at The Onyx Theatre in Las Vegas. In advance of the show he has been doing all kinds of promotion, though we know he won’t have a problem filling seats for his Tribute to Judy Garland, A Lonely Stage. […]
Stormé DeLarverie, an acknowledged hero of the Stonewall Riots and a pioneer LGBT activist, died on May 24, 2014. DeLaverie was 93 years old. She was called the “Rosa Parks” of the gay rights movement. DeLarverie was born in New Orleans on December 24, 1920, and is well known for having a role in the […]
The Fantasia Fair Planning Committee will be awarding scholarships to the 40th annual Fantasia Fair, to be held October 19 – 26 in historic Provincetown, Massachusetts. Individuals receiving full scholarships will receive free tuition to the Fair, including all seminars, workshops, banquets & events, daily lunches/brunches, and shared room accommodations for seven nights. The scholarships […]
(Bala Cynwyd, PA) One of the main reasons female-to-male (F2M) bottom surgery has lagged behind male-to-female (M2F) bottom surgery has been that the technology had not yet been developed to surgically create a penis that performed as realistically as it looked, according to Dr. Sherman Leis at the Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery and an […]
The new play by Harvey Fierstein, “Casa Valentina,” as most everyone knows, is based on the real Casa Susanna. In the 1960s Virginia Prince attended a weekend gathering there to promote her idea for the Society for the Second Self. The play is a fascinating look into the transgender experience of the early ’60s and it is based on a book of photographs taken at Casa Susanna. In this article Dallas Denny reveals who took most of those photographs and how they ended up inspiring Harvey Fierstein to write “Casa Valentina.”
They say what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. Well, that may be so in most cases but one of the features of Las Vegas is that it’s home to drag legend David de Alba. You all know that so the knowledge certainly hasn’t been confined to the city limits. Who starts these […]
The founder of the first training school from crossdressers in the U.S., Veronica Vera, has been awarded an honorary doctorate. It’s not, however, as a result of her work training CDs in the feminine arts at her Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls. This honorary doctorate is from the Institute for the […]
A film maker in Britain has launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance his film about a trans sex worker who begins her journey to self acceptance after she intervenes to save a homeless child from a dangerous situation on the streets of London. Award winning freelance writer and director Paul Frankl has written Roxanne, a […]
Latina cooking queen Soraya Sobriedad has won a prize. Sobriedad hosts a cooking show on cable channels in the New York City area that instructs viewers on how to cook delicious Latin dishes while keeping them healthy and low fat. This year she took a large cash prize in the Eighth Annual Queens StartUP! Business Plan Competition by cooking up a business plan the judges found to be very tasty.
Gypsy has been performing since 1950. At 82 you think he’d retire, take of those pumps and relax. But that’s not the plan. We met with Gypsy and his manager last week in Los Angeles and they told us about their plan to build an exciting new venue for female impersonation where Gypsy will be the host and M.C. And they’d like your help to get it started. Read all about it in our interview with a super performer — Gypsy.
In my last blog post I expressed concern about actual and perceived transphobia in the State of New Hampshire, a state with all sorts of gay and lesbian rights including Marriage Equality, but without codified basic protections for transgender people. I received an update this week from former New Hampshire state legislator Mo Baxley — […]
The new Harvey Fierstein play “Casa Valentina” has opened on Broadway. It’s the story of the crossdresser resort in the Catskill Mountains in 1962 where Virginia Prince proposed the creation of Tri-Ess. Jan Brown of the MHVTA support group attended a preview night with several other ladies. This is her review of the play.
Our occasional contributor and TG icon Dallas Denny participated in the Moving Trans* Forward Symposium last month at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Also in attendance were several other TG icons including another occasional TGF contributor Ms. Bob Davis. Dallas posted a review of the event on her website and has […]
The fight for equal rights for transgendered people has hit another snag in the state of New Hampshire. A gay legislator is working to enshrine “sexual orientation” into the language and excluding “gender identity.” Meanwhile the Human Rights Campaign says there’s no need for a new law protecting TGs in New Hampshire. All TGs there have to do is file their discrimination complaint using being trans as a disability. Get the story from Babs!
The Dunes Resort, the “Midwest’s largest GLBT Resort & Entertainment Complex” is “proud to be the place to come and be who you want to be.” If you are looking for a Midwest transgender friendly getaway this fall the Dunes Resort, near the sister communities of Saugatuck/Douglas, MI, may be the place for you to […]
The Keystone Conference in Harrisburg, Pa. is recent history. Our Sophie Lynne was there, with a new hair-do, and she has filed a report on the much anticipated weekend. She couldn’t be everywhere at once so she missed some of the goings on but what she does manage to do very well is give a feeling of the event.
Our political reporter Babs Casbar Siperstein is not all politics and activism. She likes to slip into an ostentatious outfit now and then and what event is better for that than Night of 1000 Gowns. That’s the Imperial Court of New York’s coronation of their Emperor and Empress. Babs was there this past Saturday night and she filed a report and a photo gallery.
On March 15 the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey held a “get acquainted” meeting with 15 LGBT attorneys and activists. During the one and a half hour meeting the U.S. Justice Department’s involvement in LGBT matters was discussed and the outreach was appreciated by the LGBT group. Our own Leslie Farber, attorney, activist and TG attended the meeting and outlines what happened.
(Bala Cynwyd, PA USA) – Acclaimed transgender surgeon and founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, Dr. Sherman Leis, has recently returned from the WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Surgery) Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand. While in attendance at the Symposium, themed Transgender Health from Global Perspectives, Dr. Leis was able to share thoughts […]
Eight term Congressman Rush Holt, a dedicated champion of transgender rights, abruptly announced that he is not seeking a ninth term. Our TG politics correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein takes a look back at everything Holt has done to help the GLBT community while he was in congress.
Congressman Rob Andrews, a 12 term member of the House from New Jersey has resigned from office to go into a private law practice. While in Congress he was a staunch supporter of equal rights for the LGBT community. Today Bas Casbar-Siperstein thanks Congressman Andrews for his efforts on behalf of the community and in specific for his efforts to include transgendered people in anti-employment discrimination legislation.
by Stacey Carla, First Event Committee First Event, held every January, is the only major transgender conference in mid-winter — literally the first event each year. Attendance has been growing in recent years — being indoors when it is likely to be snowing out turns out to be good for a transgender conference! Such gatherings are […]
Over 23,000 people want Carmen Carrera in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. ENDA passed the Senate! Crazy ideas about what ENDA would do. A Mormon TS petitions the church for recognition as a woman. Follow up on a FtM teen transition. Myanmar sucks for TGs. There’s a transgender circus in Chile. A north Jersey town loses its cross dresser. All that and more, plus a few TWIT Award winners@
Dina’s Diner 3/17/14
Dina’s Diner is serving up a heaping helping of Dina Amberle’s thoughts and rumination on items she sees in the ordinary press of this great land. She carefully plucks the items out, washes them and adds her own spices and secret sauces, transforming them into nutritious dishes for the Diner menu. See what she’s serving up today.
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