The Week In Transgenderism 5/18/15

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Nicola Jane Chase

Bruce Jenner has certainly gotten more people in the media doing stories on trans issues. Everywhere you look there’s something about trans people and the name Jenner is featured in the headline or the first paragraph. Even frothy femme online magazines that are all about beauty and fashion are starting to feature pieces on beauty and fashion for trans women. Nicola Jane Chase gives her fashion tips to TGs on the PopSugar website.

Mainstream newspapers have also picked up on trans stories in a big way. Thanks to TGF reader Robyn Byrd for pointing out a good article that gives background on the basics of transgender knowledge that she found in The Los Angeles Times.

In other media the PBS Newshour has a series called Transgender in America that is investigating where gender identity comes from. Last week they focused on a child born female who insisted from an early age that he was a boy. Listen to the program online or read the transcript on the PBS website.

Even MTV, that network that used to play rock videos, has taken on the subject of gender identity. They have a show called Braless and they devoted some air time to Miley Cyrus’s statement that she doesn’t identify with one single gender. Say what? Is this the Wrecking Ball babe saying she’s androgynous? The show goes into 9 reasons sex and gender assumptions need to be reevaluated. Check it out on MTV.com.

Shamir

While Miley is bothered by being put in a gender box another performer doesn’t identify as male or female and doesn’t care about his gender identity at all. His name is Shamir and his new album has just dropped. He’d prefer to talk about his music but journalists want to talk about how his voice never changed and whether he’s a boy or girl. Learn more about him in The Advocate.

A bissu.

Before Indonesia became a Muslim country there were trans priests who were know as bissu. The bissu were mostly feminine males but there were a few masculine females in the priesthood. They were seen as intermediaries between the people and the gods. In 1949 Indonesia was given its independence and the bissu were persecuted and killed. Now there is a movement to remember the old ways and bring back the trans priests. Read their story on the Aljazeera America website.

HRC and Geena Rocero’s organization, Gender Proud, have collaborated on a trans advocacy educational campaign to inform the pubic about trans issues in the Phillipines. Rocero, who came out as a trans woman in 2014, has been working to tell the stories of the trans community in her homeland. Learn more about the new initiative on the HRC website.

Kristen Beck

Kristen Beck, the former Navy SEAL, is not one of the people who are happy about Bruce Jenner coming out as a trans woman. Beck feels that Jenner is only in it for the money and there is too much “reality show crap” involved. Is Beck correct? Read the story and see video on the WGNT website.

Those who are either new to the world of trans or ignorant of its history probably don’t know the name d’Eon. In the 1700s the Chevalier d’Eon was suspected of being a man masquerading as a woman. The rumor was confirmed when the King of France recognized d’Eon as legally a woman, as long a she would only dress in feminine attire. Fast forward to her death when it was discovered that she had male genitals. Read more about the Chevalier in The Guardian.

Gisele Alicea

Trans fashion model Gisele Alicea who was one of those featured in the Barney’s ad campaign last year and recently modeled in Vogue and Vanity Fair, is also an actress, painter, event producer and a ballroom personality. In yet another role she is a trans activist. She will be featured in Glamour magazine next month. Learn more on the CTStyle website.

Roxy

Of course the fashion world is accepting of trans people. There are a lot of LGBT people in the fashion business. But what about acceptance in other areas? In England at least the truck drivers seem to be okay with it when one of their own comes out as a woman. Especially if they’ve worked with the guy for 40 years. Read the story in the Mirror.

The film about a trans man teen starring Elle Fanning in the lead role has been bought by The Weinstein Company. After seeing the film at the Cannes Film Festival Weinstein bought the distribution rights for the U.S. and U.K. Keep an eye open for Three Generations in a theater near you. Read more in The Wrap.

Deva Ozenen

The country of Turkey, while having a large trans community, is not the most accepting of LGBT people. That makes one trans woman’s campaign for parliament a courageous undertaking. Deva Ozenen is running for a seat in the June 7 elections. Her hope is to give a voice to the country’s LGBT people in the halls of power. Read about her in the Independent.

In case you’re wondering which countries in Europe are the best and worst places to be trans the people with Transgender Europe have put together a helpful map. It’s featured, along with an article on which countries require sterilization before you can legally live in another gender and which countries will accept you without that step. Find the story on Buzzfeed.

Russella

Simon Cowell has trouble accepting drag performers on Britain’s Got Talent. He made it abundantly clear last week when he pressed the elimination buzzer early on in the performance of a cooking, dancing drag queen named The Fabulous Russella. One of the judges though is David Walliams, an actor who is no stranger to drag. Walliams loved the act and let the queen feed him pancakes straight from the frying pan. Learn more and see many photos in the Daily Mail.

The frenzy in Virginia against letting trans kids use the restroom of the gender they identify with prompted one columnist to take the crazed “stop the trans people from peeing” crowd to task. Thanks to TGF reader and contributor Claire Crowley for pointing out Petula Dvorak’s column in last week’s Washington Post.

The opposite of a TWIT Award is a TGF Award. We have to give one to National Public Radio for their policy on language in trans related stories. They have an ombudsman whose job is to look out for mistakes and misuses in their reporting. Learn about the NPR trans language policy on the NPR website.

Since we’re handing out TGF Awards another one goes to The American College of Physicians. The ACP has issued a large position paper on how physicians can better serve the LGBT population. They have outlined nine areas that need to be addressed and four of them directly relate to trans people. Read them all on the ThinkProgress website.

Opera is, to some, an odd, anachronistic form of entertainment. It’s performed in foreign languages and it can be confusing to those suited for less complicated forms of entertainment. One of it’s long standing traditions is women in “trouser roles.” That’s when women, usually mezzo-sopranos, play male roles. Women stepped into these roles, which were originally given to castrati in the 18th century, and still perform them today. Alice Coote is one of the singers who has spent half of her onstage life in trouser roles. Read about her in The New York Times.

Twinki

A musical genre that does not have a tradition of crossdressing is the rap music genre. Rap is usually seen as homphobic, sexist gangstas dissing women and promoting violence. But that, along with much else in the world, is changing. One of those bringing on the change is drag rapper Twinki who hails from that bastion of north Florida conservatism, Jacksonville. Twinki says that the J-Ville drag scene is heating up and she is winning people over with her “homo-rap.” Check out her story in the Miami New Times.

Conchita Wurst is happy being a man in a dress. The world famous singer has released an autobiography that explains that she started wearing skirts in kindergarten and identifies as a gay man. But she doesn’t appear to be concerned that in spite of her beard she is referred to with female pronouns in every article about her. She also reveals that when she first created the character of Conchita Wurst she adopted a loud, bitchy persona but it just wasn’t her so she’s fine with being a more sedate and demure kind of drag queen. Read more on the Jezebel website.

Ms. Wurst will return to the Eurovision Song Contest this year, as the host. Learn more about that in the Mirror.

Drag queens are more and more becoming the purveyors of beauty and glamor secrets, or as the youth of today call them, “hacks.” (I really hate that.) But many of the techniques perfected by queens are useful for cis women and those in the trans community who are interested in a knock their socks off look. Here’s one I had never heard of. It’s called “cooking your concealer.” Don’t be scared, there’s no oven or stove involved. Check it out on the Bustle website.

At the Series.

In drag sports news, on May 9 the West Hollywood Cheerleaders won The 4th Annual Drag Queen World Series against returning champions The LA Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. All money raised by the event goes to a Los Angeles HIV/AIDS charity. Check out the story and photos on the Broadway World website.

Hey kid, wanna get into showbiz? A “trans life doc series” is now casting. A Major Cable Network is seeking trans men and women for a positive and progressive new series. They are specifically looking for people who are: Exploring hormone therapy; Coming out to their family; Considering Sex Reassignment Surgery; Willing to share their journey on camera. Whether you are a parent coming out, or you are coming out to your parents (or both) anyone over 21 years old is welcome and encouraged to apply. Contact them directly at [email protected] with your name, contact information, and a photo of yourself.

TWITs

Anyone who understands trans issues knows that there is nothing political about being trans. It manifests in both Republicans and Democrats, as well as independents, socialists, and whatever other political parties you want to mention. I’m talking to you Green Party. But Fox News feels that transgender is something that has to be relegated to the far left of the political spectrum. Elisabeth Hasselbeck and her guests last week on Fox said the Girl Scouts are a far left organization because they are open to admitting trans girls. A TWIT Award for colossal misunderstanding and egregious spreading of lies to Fox News and Hasselbeck. Read about it on the NewsHounds website.

A trans woman in England was appalled when her bank rejected changing her honorific from Mr. to Ms. They told her she could have the new Mx. one, which she did not care for. What makes it odd is that she had transitioned to living as a woman ten years ago and the bank had no problem changing her honorific then. After living as a woman for 3 years she switched back to presenting as male due to fears of violence in her neighborhood. Feeling that things had improved she went back to being a woman and the bank rejected her request. As we suspect this is the fault of one ignorant bank worker we give that worker a TWIT Award. Read the whole story in The Guardian.

An organization called the Liberty Council has issued a press release authored by its chairman and founder, former 7th Day Adventist preacher Mat Staver. The release postulates that “the push for transgender rights is all a part of the homosexual agenda to create sexual anarchy” and that if trans rights are introduced everywhere it’s the end of “objective reality and natural law.” Those are pretty strong consequences from making sure everyone gets the same legal rights. A TWIT Award for trying to make bigotry seem like philosophy to Mat Staver. Read a real philosopher’s rebuttal on the Politics USA website.

Tags: bissu, David Walliams, featured, Gisele Alicea, Kristen Beck, news, Nicola Jane Chase, Shamir, Twinki, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News