The Week In Transgenderism 4/13/15

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Lusardi

It’s taken four years of legal battles but Tamara Lusardi has won her fight with the U.S. Army. Ms. Lusardi was a civilian software worker in the Army’s aviation and missile research division when she came out to her employer as a trans woman. When she attempted to transition on the job she was subjected to discrimination and eventual dismissal. The EEOC has ruled that the Army violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What does that mean for Ms. Lusardi? Read the whole story in The Guardian.

Elton John and Michael Stipe have collaborated on a project. It’s not a musical project but a letter to the state of Georgia supporting the rights of a trans prisoner who is being kept in a male prison where she has been denied her hormone treatments and has been sexually assaulted. The Justice Department has already weighed in on the prisoner’s side but now rock stars are lending their support. Read about it in Rolling Stone.

Jenner

Bruce Jenner has been plastered all over the tabloids and TMZ with the rumors of his transgender nature. Now it seems that his “farewell to Bruce” will happen, as has much of his life in recent years — on television. Jenner has done a two hour interview with Diane Sawyer and it will air on April 24. Reportedly that’s when Jenner will reveal her new femme name. Maybe we should have a contest to see who can guess it. Read more in the publication you’d expect to get the latest on Bruce Jenner from, Food World News.

You just might be transsexual if you’ve got the longer version of the androgen receptor gene in your DNA. A study done by Australian researchers found a significant link between intersexuality and the structure of this gene which produces less efficient testosterone signaling. For the whole explanation read the story on the BBC News website.

if you do have that long androgen receptor and are transsexual you shouldn’t have to put up with your parents trying to “cure” you. President Obama agrees and has come out calling for an end to the so-called “reparative” therapies. Rather than repairing anything these “therapies” often leave people broken, confused and depressed. Will President Obama’s statement lead to the banning of these activities? Learn more in The New York Times.

Is it easy being a trans teen when you have one parent who supports your gender identity and another parent who doesn’t? Of course not, but that’s the life of a trans teen who was profiled on a BBC documentary last week. Cole/Crystal’s parents are divorced and her mom is totally cool with her being a girl. But at school Crystal is Cole, and when she’s staying with her dad she is Cole. That’s gotta be tough. Read about it on Yahoo.

Beck

If you’re in Hollywood on April 26 and you’d like to attend the Stonewall Democratic Club’s 40th Anniversary Award and Garden Party (and who doesn’t love a garden party?) you can get your tickets online. One of the award winners is former U.S. Navy SEAL Kristin Beck. Tickets start at $100.00 but if you want shell out $5000.00 you can be a Platinum Sponsor. Get all the info and buy your tickets on the Stonewall Dems’ website.

It’s getting to be that time again. Time for the Drag Queen World Series. The 4th Annual contest between champions, The LA Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and The West Hollywood Cheerleaders is set to take place at the Glendale Sports Complex on May 9 from 1 to 4 p.m. Play ball! Learn more in Broadway World.

Did you know there’s a YouTube personality named Davey Wavey? DW got his friend drag star Miss Haley Star to do makeovers on three straight husbands and then show their wives the results. You can watch their wives reactions to the transformation right here.

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TG inmate.

Another convicted murderer doing a life sentence in California may be getting her gender reassignment surgery paid for by the state. A U.S. District judge has ruled that not giving her the surgery violates her constitutional rights. The inmate suffers from severe gender dysphoria so not giving her the surgery is cruel and unusual punishment. The story is in U.S. News.

Are you a trans youth? If so you may want to know about the Trans* Youth Forum scheduled for the LGBT Center at Princeton University on April 18. It’s sponsored by HiTOPS and The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network Central New Jersey. It will be a day of workshops for trans*, gender queer, gender nonconforming and gender questioning youth ages 11 to 26. Get more details from My Central Jersey.

Phuket Pride

Phuket, Thailand is getting ready for its Pride Week and that means beautiful ladyboys, a talent contest, a volley ball tournament, the Beautiful woman/Sexy man contest in which contestants start out looking like beautiful women and transform into sexy men, and a Gala Dinner and charity auction. Learn more in Thai Visa News.

Jin Xing

The potential “Oprah” in China is a former male dancer for the People’s Liberation Army dance troupe. Her name is Jin Xing and she has made her name sticking it to those in her country she finds in need of being taken down a notch. Her TV talk show, The Jin Xing Show, is two hours of stinging social commentary, and dancing. In addition to her TV hosting duties Xing is the mother of three adopted children and the spouse of a German businessman. How does she juggle it all and keep the Chinese government from censoring her show? Find out in The World Post.

Jennifer’s sarcophagus.

The murder of a Filipina trans woman after her U.S. military “date” became aware of her gender status has brought the issue of what the members of our military get up to when they’re off duty in foreign ports to the fore. Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton was doing what our men do, having a few drinks in a night club and looking for a woman who would have sex with him when he met Jennifer Laude. A few hours later he strangled her at a “seedy hotel” across the street from the club. What exactly happened that night, and what the military attitude is about its men using the services of prostitutes, some of those trans, is laid out in depth in an article in Stars and Stripes.

A trans woman actor from Fort Lauderdale contacted us to tell us about a new film called Being Transgressive that premiers on April 30. Kathleen Rigby plays a FtM who comes out at work. The film is about how his transition affects the people in his life. Watch the trailer right here.

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Whose lips will ever be as good as this?

Are you a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Did you spend years of your life wearing a corset and fishnets, throwing rice and toast at a movie screen? If you are that sort of devoted fan you should be concerned. Why? Fox television has announced that they’re doing a remake of the movie to celebrate its 40th Anniversary. Egads! This might be horrible. Read about this possible travesty of transsexual Transylvania in Vanity Fair.

A gay bar in Philadelphia’s Gayborhood reached out to a local trans organization and asked them to provide its staff, including outside contracted security people, with training on what all the letters in LGBT stand for and how to interact with their LGBT customers. Kudos to Tabu for taking the initiative and making their establishment safer for trans people. You can learn more in the Philadelphia Gay News.

Has the current administration been the best ever in supporting trans people’s rights? It sure seems that way. Thanks to TGF reader Jamie Roberts for pointing us to an op-ed that gathers all the positive things the administration has done for trans citizens. They’ve even added a gender-neutral restroom in The White House. Read about it in The Washington Post.

Is a person whose most visible contributions to our popular culture in recent years has been their participation in a reality show about a group of no-talent women and their silly lives the best person to introduce trans issues to the world? This is the question some trans activists have been asking lately. TGF reader Robyn Byrd passed along the link to this story about the concerns over Bruce Jenner being the poster girl for TGs. It ran in The Los Angeles Times last week.

The android TV host.

If it’s odd in a futuristic way and possibly a bit creepy then it has to be happening in Japan. A popular crossdressing television host (a TV on TV!) has been reproduced as an android. This is the droid they were looking for when Japan’s top roboticist was hired by the Dentsu ad agency to clone entertainer Matsuko Deluxe. The android becomes one of the first life-like artificial television hosts and the first android transvestite. Read the story in The Daily Mail.

TWITs

Our first TWIT Award goes to a bar in New York City that seriously needs trans sensitivity training, at least for its bouncers. They seem to live up to the name of the place — The Monster. Last week one of the bouncers attacked a trans woman who was trying to use the restroom. He grabbed her, dragged her out of the bar and threw her on the pavement. A NYC trans group protested at the bar on Saturday night. Read more and view a video the victim posted on Facebook on the ET NYC website. Thanks for Jan Brown for the story link.

Another trans teen has died as the result of bullying by her classmates. Taylor Alesena who had been using YouTube as a platform to talk about the experiences of bullying she was subjected to by her schoolmates because of her trans identity passed away of unreleased causes, but the assumption is that it was suicide. This is unconscionable and her classmates and school administration deserve far more than a TWIT Award. Read the story and view a video report in The Huffington Post.

We constantly advise bank robbers to not do their jobs in drag. It’s bad enough that when they pull these heists en femme it’s another strike against us in the eyes of the law and order people. Those folks already view trans as something bad. Having a robber in drag just enforces their bad opinion of us. But the real problem with bank robbers in drag is that it’s usually bad drag. If you’re going to rob a bank is a dress make it a fabulous dress. Pay some attention to your appearance. You’re going to be on the surveillance cameras, girl! A TWIT Award goes to the latest felon to hand over a demand note en femme at a bank in Santa Cruz, California. Read about her on NewNowNext.

TGF reader Robyn Byrd pointed us to a story about a conservative activist from New Jersey who spent $200,000 of his money on a campaign to block California’s transgender student rights law. The law allows trans students to use their preferred restroom. The activist, Sean Fieler, wins the TWIT Award for backing the campaign to squash the law. Read the story in The Los Angeles Times.

What’s your take on today’s TWIT? If you’re moved to comment use the comment area below. You must be logged in to comment.

Tags: crossdressing, drag, featured, Jin Xing. Rocky horror, Kristin Beck, Matsuko Deluxe, news, Thailand, Transgender, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News