This look back at the TWIT news of 2018 contains links to publications that may have removed the linked articles from their sites or moved the articles. As always, if the link opens in a new window close the window to return to this page. If it opens in a new tab close the tab […]
What do we learn In The Week In Trans today? Ryan Cassata has a Christmas video for you. A trans inmate will be given gender confirmation surgery. Two trans women will take their seats in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. A study has found couples with one trans partner have trouble finding housing. Lynn Conway delivers the University of Michigan commencement address. The GoFundMe campaign to buy ladders to go over The Wall was thought up by a trans woman. Teen Vogue has a feature on seven trans teens. There’s a boy band called Ladyboy that’s composed of trans boys. Meet the first transgender mariachi. Is the world ready for a transgender 007? There’s all that and more plus a few TWIT Awards waiting for you in this edition of TWIT!
Today Lorraine Anderson the lady in charge at The Occasional Woman custom clothing service, talks about how to dress yourself up for the holidays! Whether you want to make an elegant fashion statement with a cashmere top over velvet jeans, or want to pull out the stops with a sequined jacket and sparkly heels, this is the season to show off your festive fashion sense. Lorraine provides a slew of ideas to help you sparkle.
For months Amanda has been having anxiety attacks while living on the West Coast near San Francisco. She has wanted to leave California and head back to her hometown or another place where she know she has friends waiting to lend her a hand. This week she finally got everything packed and much of it shipped back east. On December 15 she got into her car accompanied by her loyal kitty cat and started the journey to a new home. This blog documents the first half of her trip.
Sophie Lynne says “bah, humbug” to the Christmas holiday. She’s not a big fan, due to many not fun experiences. Today she writes about one experience when she was the last wait staff member left on duty on Christmas Eve.
Lynda Martini likes to get out and about and enjoy life with old friends and new ones. Just after Thanksgiving she took a road trip to the Washington, D.C. area with some plans and some time for things to just happen. What we present here today is her report on what transpired on her journey. There was a time share pitch to be endured but there was also fun.
2018 for a big year of change for our Columbian correspondent Katherine Diaz. She enrolled in a course to improve her crossdressing skills and through that course she was noticed by a leading impersonator in Bogota who took her under her wing. Katherine modeled fashions on the runway for the city’s leading transformation boutique, competed in a drag contest and started performing an act in local clubs. In today’s blog and vlog she catches you up on what she has experienced in 2018.
Years ago on TGForum Laurie Sheril did a series of articles on drag in the cinema. She started back in the days of silent film and worked her way forward in time to the ’90s. Today we dip into the TGForum Archives to bring you her thoughts on films from the late 1960s. More examples of feminine disguise being adopted by secret agents, hapless heroes, and just regular guys.
Time again for the fascinating feature we call The Week In Trans. Today we learn that Angela Ponce won praise for he bikini body in the Miss Universe pageant. The Trump administration is still trying to convince the judge to let them ban trans soldiers. San Francisco creates a cultural district base on trans history. A trans prisoner was denied hormones in prison. She sued and won the case. More evidence that denying the validity of transgender identity causes mental health problems. If Brexit is finalized there may be a hormone shortage in Great Britain. The Church of England has produced guidelines for a ceremony to welcome transgender people. A woman in the Kansas Senate has left the Republican Party over disagreement with a Republican resolution recognizing only two genders. A pastor in Detroit has been arrested in the murder of a transgender woman. Tasmania passes a law making it easier to change legal gender. There’s all that and more, plus a couple of TWIT Awards waiting for you in TWIT!
Baby it’s cold outside! If you live in most of the USA that is. Come on into Dina’s Diner and get a hot cup of java and peruse her menu of comfort food. Today she has some sizzle over the trans woman who did her own Victoria’s Secret lingerie show video. Then things go up to broil with a few tasty paragraphs about the 12-year-old drag queen who bought her parent’s a house. Leggings make the menu as well, and there’s still more to tempt your tastebuds. Don’t miss out on a trip to Dina’s Diner.
Today our Page Pundit reviews a collection of cartoons about transition titles Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition. An Up and Out Collection by Julia Kaye. Julia Kaye is an American artist and illustrator.
Claire likes to celebrate not just her birthday but the anniversary of the day she regards as her “rebirthday.” That’s the day when she made the firm decision to abandon her male masquerade and live the rest of my life as who she always knew she was — a woman.
Christine B. asks why is it that people who are uniformed about transgender people often assume that transgender people have mental health issues and that’s why they want to change their gender. The evidence that gender is not set in stone at birth is there for anyone to see throughout history, and in all cultures. Why do people say transgender identities are not real when there are other things that they accept completely on faith with no physical proof?
Welcome a new contributor to TGForum. Ashli Kleier begins a series on how she isn’t the typical trans woman who always knew she was a female. She feels that she made the discovery of her femininity. Born and raised in a small town in the South Ashli begins her tale with the story of her early years and first encounters with feminine attire. Chapter 1, My Early Years.
Brittany’s Cartoon Corner was a regular feature on TGForum on the 1990s. Brittany scoured the comic book world for examples of crossdressing and any hint of a transgender character. Today we bring you two of her columns married together into one article on crossdressing humor in Mad Magazine. These appeared in September and November of 1997.
What do we learn today? The Belgian film “Girl” has stirred controversy and not just over casting. Three senators want to know what happened to a trans woman who died while in ICE custody. The judges says the injunction against the trans military ban stay in place. The new trade agreement was supposed to protect LGBTQ workers in all three countries but the USA found a way to finagle it. President Trump’s nominee for attorney general doesn’t not have a spotless record regarding LGBTQ issues. The head of one of the groups opposing Massachusetts’s anti-discrimination law admits his group make up the trans predator stories. The Republican governor of Indiana wants a bill to protect transgender people in his state. A French teacher has lost is job over his refusal to use a student’s preferred pronouns. A trans man boxer has become the first trans man to box in the USA, and he won his first match. A transgender YouTube personality made her own Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show video to prove trans women are worthy to model lingerie and wear wings. There’s all that plus much more, and a few TWIT Awards, waiting for you in TWIT!
Our arts and entertainment reporter Amanda F. Steele has filed a report while she has been packing to move to the east coast. Despite having to write it on her phone her column covers a lot of ground and lets you know what’s happening with transgender people in film, television, online, and in TV commercials. Laverne Cox, Nora Monsecour, Victor Polster, and Kevin Balot are just a few of the people she tells you about today.
The Christmas holiday season is a great time to be festive for many reasons. We love all the tinsel and traditions, and spending quality time with family, and friends. So Tasi Zuriack has rounded up a slew of her favorite festive fashion blogger looks to give you some ideas of what to wear to a Christmas party, or just for an informal gathering among friends.
Lovely things sometimes are encouraged an coaxed along with the application of substances that aren’t pretty. Complicated processes are encouraged and catalyzed with additives most would see as crude or even nasty. Today Sabrina Symington points out one of those elements you wouldn’t believe had any use, let alone would help to bering beautiful flowers to bloom.
Linda is recounting a story heard from a long-time trans girl, now more a trans grande dame. We have heard that dire circumstances led her in to the bed of a generous host who gradually recruited her into the world’s oldest profession. Claire eventually leaves town and apparently leaves the lifestyle. However, a chance encounter. . . .
In a future which has gone wrong Zealots seek to purge the nation of trans people. Trans women who don’t “pass” turn to black market meds in order to fully transition and blend in with the population of cisgender women. Spying, paranoia and secrecy are the norms for trans women and being “outed” means more than just mockery and verbal abuse. Raquel Swann is back with a science fiction tale of a future world that could be all to real. Read episode 1.3 of Transmute, if you dare.
It’s time again for the feature we call The Week In Trans! Today we learn that British Vogue has hired its first openly transgender columnist. The woman who died in ICE custody was beaten before she passed away. The administration’s urging of a rapid ruling from the SCOTUS on trans troops is likely to not hurry up the court. It appears that as trans people come out more, violence against us increases. A school guidance counselor in Florida has caused problems with parents by steering students to trans aware health care. A twelve-year-old drag performer makes enough money to buy his parents a new house. A political party in Canada passes a resolution calling Gender Identity Theory a “liberal ideology.” A trans clinic has opened in San Jose, California. There is a group of drag performers with Down Syndrome. There are many responses to the NYT op-ed from a trans woman that said her neo-vagina doesn’t make her happy. There’s all that and a few well deserved TWIT Awards awaiting your perusal in TWIT!
On resident science contributor Dana Bevan recently attended the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Symposium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She filed a report on her arrival and the preliminary social activities on November 5 and now that the symposium is concluded she has a full report on what was discussed at the event. From recognition that some people only need vulvoplasty and adjustment of the body mass index requirements for genital surgery, to the need for “communications therapy” and the debunking of a connection between the transgender condition and autism, Dana fills you in on what came out of this important meeting.
New features have arrived at TGForum and by golly, we want you all to use them and enjoy them. One is a discussion forum where you can post questions and comments and other users can post their replies. You can add new topics, attach pictures and even videos to your posts. The other is a Chat room where you can communicate with up to 4 other people at once, or message someone privately. Give the new features a try and let us know what you think.
Our political correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein reports on the creation of the Transgender Equality Task Force in New Jersey. The bill was signed into law by the governor and the law goes into effect in January. Babs shares the content of the law governing the creation of the task force and tells you what it hopes to accomplish for transgender citizens of New Jersey.
Pauline Estelle is one of a number of members of the transgender community who feels the need to express a feminine side now and then but is content being a male for the rest of the time. She has an arrangement with her spouse that gives her a certain number of days per week that she can dress up but often one thing or another may interfere with her plans and she has to present as male for the day. Then, if this happens too many days in a row, she feels a greater need to let Pauline get out and about. Today Pauline wonders, because of the way she handles her dressing, if she is truly bi-gendered.
