The Week In Transgenderism 2/2/15
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The trans woman who was fired from a major sporting goods store in Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against her former employers, and her lawyers have made claims against the store under both the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The ADA has specific language that denies protection to trans people, putting them in the same category as pedophiles and voyeurs. Find out more about this case in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Meanwhile, the Saks discrimination case is also in the news. A trans woman who was fired by the upscale retailer in 2012 after she had filed a discrimination complaint has sued Saks under Title VII. The store had been maintaining that they did nothing wrong. Last week they appeared to back off. Find out the status of the case on Time’s Fortune website.
Russo
In writing classes the professors will all tell you to “write what you know.” Many trans people have written their stories but most end up being self-published. One notable exception is the case of Meredith Russo. Last week Ms. Russo made the news with the story about her young adult novel with a trans girl high school student heroine that has been picked up by a publisher and they’ve given her a large advance. Find out how it all came together in the Times Free Press.
Last week we featured a story about the police in an Ohio town who took a trans woman into custody for suspicion of shop lifting. While she was in a holding cell one of the officers started playing Dude Looks Like a Lady on his computer. That’s what we reported last week and we gave the goon a TWIT Award for it. This week new details emerged. What song did the officer play next? Find out on the 5ABC website.
A Navy vet who transitioned from male to female in 1995 has been granted a name change on her DD-214 form. That’s the form a vet must show to prove they have served when they apply for jobs or a variety of veteran benedfits. Read more about if this is a big deal and if so, just how big a deal, in The Daily Kos.
Jones
Monica Jones is the transgender activist and social work student who was arrested for suspicion of “manifesting prostitution” after she accepted a ride from an undercover officer conducting a sting operation in Arizona. She was convicted of the crime and appealed. After many months with the conviction on her record a judge in Arizona has overturned it. Find out why it was overturned on The Arizona Republic’s website.
WIG OFF participant
A group of drag performers did a benefit for the Ali Forney Center for LGBT youth in New York City. They didn’t, as you might expect, put on a drag show. They each donated a hand-styled wig that represented their approach to drag to be auctioned off in a WIG OFF. Read more about it and see photos of the contributing queens in The Huffington Post.
When does a child know they are trans? That is a question that hasn’t had a researched answer and therapists have had to use their own judgement when treating trans kids. Some so-called experts have even questioned the whole idea of children knowing their gender identity. A research study has been conducted into the question and answers are now being released. Learn what the study found on the University of Washington’s website.
One problem with male to female transition, one that many feel is the main problem, is how the voice sounds. Estrogen has no effect on the vocal cords so you have to learn how to sound like a woman. If you can afford it there is a vocal coach in New York City who teaches trans women how to speak in a feminine manner. And no, it’s not all about the pitch. Read about vocal coach Norma Garbo and her clients in The Atlantic.
China is not often identified as the most open, liberal minded state on the planet. If fact they can be downright oppressive about things like human rights. Oddly enough it seems that one area where they may be letting people express themselves a bit more is in drag peformance. Read about and see photos of the growing drag scene in the Daily Mail.
Leslie Lush
It had to happen sometime. In Wales you can have your wedding ceremony performed by a drag queen. Or as she calls herself, “the world’s first drag queen celebrant.” Leslie Lush is her name and she has performed weddings for some well known people. Find out more about her and her wedding services on the Wales Online website.
We reported last TWIT that a trans man was granted a private audience with the Pope. The man, a citizen of Spain, transitioned several years ago but found that his congregation scorned him after the change sohe stopped attending mass. He wrote to the Pope to urge greater tolerance toward TGs among Catholics. Last week he spoke to the press about what he discussed with Pope Francis. Read about it and see video on the CNN website.
Anna Grodzka
A trans woman is making a presidential run. Not in the U.S.A. in 2016. We’re talking about the presidential race in Poland. Anna Grodzka won a seat in the Polish Parliament in 2001 and she’s going to make a run for president with the Green Party in the next election. Read about her chances of winning in Pink News.
The Republican controlled legislature of Idaho has repeatedly blocked attempts to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s Human Rights Act. When we say repeatedly we mean they’ve blocked every attempt to add those things for the last nine years. Why? It’s the “men in the women’s room” argument again. But this is not in our TWIT section (though the legislators out there deserve one each) because it’s about a man who stepped up to defend the insertion of sexual orientation and gender identity to the Act. He’s a police chief. Read what he had to say on Jezebel.com.
La Chiquitta
Hong Kong is now ruled by China but they do things their own way in that city and while drag is just catching on in mainland China it has been a popular art form for sometime in Hong Kong. Meet Hong Kong’s hottest queen, La Chiquitta, in Time Out Hong Kong.
If you’re a resident of Manitoba, Canada you should know that starting today you can change your gender on your birth certificate without providing proof of reassignment surgery. This only applies to Manitoba at this point so people in Saskatchewan should not get excited. Read all about it in the Toronto Sun.
TWITs
Senator Ted Cruz’s father is a grade A wack-a-doodle. That doesn’t stop him from speaking out about things he knows little about. Last week he claimed that non-discrimination ordinances would mean that “football teams could shower with girls” and men could “walk into women’s bathrooms.” I did a lot of clubbing in the ‘80s and I’ve seen men in the women’s restroom but how would they get into a woman’s house to walk into her bathroom? (Uninvited.) A TWIT Award to the senior Cruz for speading his B.S. Read about it on the Raw Story website.
A right-wing website has dug up a “former transgender” they tout as an expert on how there’s no such thing as being trans and it’s all due to people denying reality. Their pet “former TG” is named Walt Heyer and in his statements he admits to having felt that he was the wrong gender since the age of 5 but he also tells of being sexually molested by an adopted brother and subjected to “discipline” so severe that at one point his mother thought she had killed him. There is no mention of the Standards of Care being used or if his mental health was evaluated before gender transition was started. A rather large TWIT Award to Heyer and another one to the American Clarion website for using him as an example of how all trans people are delusional freaks who are ruining the world.
As much as the media, and we here at TGF, report on the dangers of injecting industrial grade silicone into the human body “pumping parties” still keep going on and women keep dying for beauty. The latest case happen in Santa Ana, California. A 40-year-old trans woman who wanted a better looking butt died after being injected. The silicone traveled into her lungs and permanently decreased her beauty — by removing her from this world. A TWIT Award to anyone who pumps and to anyone who believes that their beauty is more important than the ability to keep breathing. Read the details and catch a video on the KTLA website.
Category: Transgender Community News
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
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