The Week In Transgenderism 7/6/15

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Vicky Vox

Of course you’ve run out and lined up at your local theater to see the sequel to the male stripper movie Magic Mike, Magic Mike XXL. Who wouldn’t? But you many not have recognized the actress who plays the drag queen. Yes! There’s a drag queen character in XXL. Her name is Tori Snatch and she’s played by real life drag celeb Vicky Vox. Get the whole story from bustle.com.

The trans awareness train in the U.S.A. is picking up speed every day. Last Sunday John Oliver devoted a segment of his HBO show Last Week Tonight to the harmful myths around trans people. He covered it all, from the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation to why trans rights are important. Read about it on vox.com

A donor to the Girl Scouts of Western Washington gave the organization $100,000 on the condition that none of the money be used to support trans girls. The donation would have covered the cost of sending 500 girls to camp. I say “would have” since the Scouts leadership sent the check back. Learn more on The Daily Kos.

Frontline on PBS has a program called Growing Up Trans and it debuted last week. The subject of the first show is one trans teen’s story. Her name is Lia Hodson and she was prom queen at her high school. Facebook is running mini-documentaries related to the show. Check it out and meet Ms. Hodson on the PBS website.

Back in March there was a terrorist attack in the Bangladesh city of Dhaka. Islamist radicals targeted a secular blogger for murder. When they carried out the crime a woman who witnessed the attack grabbed one of the murderers as he tried to flee. That led to his and another man’s arrest. That woman was a hijra named Labannya Hijra and she has become the Caitlyn Jenner of Bangladesh for her courageous act. Read more about her and the hijra in The New York Times.

Prancing Elites

There is a dance team called The Prancing Elites and the members are all black, gay or gender fluid. They came together in Mobile, Alabama in 2013 and they practice a dance style called J-Setting. After gaining some fame on the Web and making many news appearances they got their own show on the Oxygen network. Learn more about these prancing dancers in The New York Times.

Do you have a doctor who understands transgenderism? Or do you need to find a doctor who knows what is going on with trans patients? A trans man from Boston started an online service that is there to help trans people find understanding medical care, and to share the providers they have found with other trans people. The site is called TransRecord.com. Read all about it on the WBUR website.

If you recall last week’s TWIT you will know that a trans Latina activist interrupted the President’s remarks at a LGBTQ reception at the White House. She was protesting the placement of undocumented trans people in the detention population that matched their physical sex rather than their gender identity. It’s doubtful that her protest accomplished anything but Immigration and Customs Enforcement was listening to somebody. They have announced that trans women will be housed with other women and trans men will be housed with men. Learn more in The Advocate.

Rachael Bailey

The U.K. is hosting a contest to discover Miss Transgender U.K. Later this month the Welsh portion of the contest (there will be regional competitions around the U.K.) kicks off in Cardiff. The contest is the brainchild of a trans woman named Rachael Bailey. Bailey set up a special events management company to run the contest and will give 60% of the net profits to U.K. charities. Learn more about the contest and meet the roster of Welsh contenders on the Wales Online website.

It’s one thing for trans people to advance in media exposure but how are they doing in the financial world? No doubt there are many trans people working in the financial arena and they’re staying stealth for the most part. The landscape may be changing though. On June 25 Deutsche Bank held an event called Tackling the T: Being Transgender In Today’s World. Read about how it went in The Huffington Post.

Have you ever said, “You go girl” or “She is shady.” Then your speech has been influenced by drag queens. If you don’t believe me — you better work, girl! Or vogue. Anyhow, drag vernacular has leaked into our common speech. Learn some other terms we’ve gotten from drag queens on the Mic.com website.

Photo from Mala Mala.

We’ve mentioned a documentary movie titled Mala Mala in past TWIT columns. The film follows the lives of members of the trans and drag community in Puerto Rico. Since we’ve mentioned it before it seems like it should be old news, but, it’s being mentioned here now since it finally had its premier. Read all about it on the Indiewire website.

It could be said that there is a direct correlation between the most desirable female body shape and discomfort. The wasp waist is not often found in nature. It has to be constructed and for centuries women have been using corsetry to achieve that look. An exhibition called Fashioning the Body is running through July 26 at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in Manhattan. Learn more about the tight, constricting undergarments we used to look hot in The New York Times.

Stephanie Hirst

Last year after a British DJ announced on his radio program that he was going to transition to the female gender, despite support from his fans, the station he worked for decided it would be best if he went off the air during the process. Now that DJ is going back on the radio to play the hits of the ‘90s, DJing for the first time as a female. Meet Stephanie Hirst in The Telegraph.

Five years ago Nikki Araguz lost her husband when he was killed while fighting a fire at an egg farm. His family then filed a lawsuit to prevent her from collecting his firefighter death benefits since she is trans and they claimed their marriage was illegal under the Texas law banning same-sex marriages. Now the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage may work in favor of Araguz who is still engaged in a legal battle with her late husband’s family. Learn more in the Texas Observer.

There have been cases of trans people passing away and being buried in the wrong gender. California has taken steps to stop that practice. On July 1 The Respect After Death Act took effect in that state. The law was passed in September of last year and it requires coroners and medical examiners to base the gender of the deceased on their official paperwork rather than an examination of their genitals. Learn more on the Aljazeera America website.

Trans women in Wichita.

As some have pointed out Caitlyn Jenner’s gender journey is not quite the same as that of the majority of trans people. While Jenner has felt the dysphoria of remaining male for many years before she finally decided to do something about it, she had the resources to do it in a first class manner. Most people don’t have those resources. Take the story of a trans woman in Wichita who used the lady’s room at a store where she had gone to buy coffee creamer. She frightened a woman in the facility so much that the woman set store security on her. This is the same trans woman who spent six weeks living under a bridge after her wife threw her out when she came out as trans. That woman and a few others have started a group in Wichita to educate people about transgenderism and to provide support for trans people. Learn more on The Wichita Eagle website.

The trans rights movement got its start in San Francisco at the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in 1966 and The Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969. In both cases trans women were pushed too far by the authorities and decided to fight back. Stonewall was also significant for the gay rights movement. Before Stonewall gay advocates kept out of the limelight and tried to work behind the scenes. The very first public demonstration by gay rights activists was at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1965. A small group of gay men and lesbians carried protest signs and marched in front of the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence. They wore business attire and were very sedate and non-threatening. Last week on the anniversary of that protest a National LGBT 50th anniversary ceremony was held at the same spot. It was more boisterous. Read about it in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Pinky Yesung

Just imagine if members of One Direction or perhaps Maroon 5 went on stage to perform dressed in women’s clothes. That would do more than raise a few eyebrows. If the trend in the K-Pop music scene from Korea migrates to the U.S. that’s what you might see. Recently it has become a “thing” for K-Pop performers to doll up in girl’s clothing. One getting the most notice is Pinky Yesung from the group Super Junior. He donned a pink wig and makeup for a July 1 concert. Read more about the K-Pop crossdressers on the KpopStarz website.

TWITs

A TWIT Award is hereby presented to the angry parents in attendance at the Fairfax County School Board meeting when the board voted to approve the Family Life Eduction Curriculum. Said curriculum calls for teaching 7th grade students about heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality and gender identity. As students attain higher grade levels they will be taught more about each subject. Parents, led by the president of the Traditional Values Coalition, were incensed and made a scene. The traditional values they uphold are the ones that include keeping your children in the dark about some of the most important parts of being human. A special TWIT Award to the TVC president. Read about it in the TWIT Award winning publication Bizpac Review.

It seems the haters are not content hating in the U.S.A. but are exporting transphobia and homophobia to other countries. The anti-LGBT group Focus on the Family authored a paper called Boys Girls Other — Making Sense of the Confusing New World of Gender Identity. An anti-LBGT group in new Zealand actuality commissioned the document and released it to the New Zealand media last week. As one trans advocate in that country said, “We’ve got enough religious nuts, without importing hate speech from the U.S.A.” A TWIT Award to the haters in New Zealand who requested the paper and a TWIT Award to its author Glenn T. Stanton for spreading ignorance and lies about LGBT issues. Read about it on the gaynz.com website.

Our final TWIT Award for today goes to a previous award recipient, the country of Malaysia. They are so uptight about LGBT people in their country that their film board will only allow a gay character to appear in a film if the character either repents their homosexuality or dies. Crossdressing is illegal under Muslim sharia law and when trans people are attacked and murdered the police do nothing since they do not recognize the existence of trans people. While the country’s constitution is more accepting of LGBT people the large influence of the hard line religious agencies works to keep trans and gay people oppressed. Read more and see video on the ABC News website.

Tags: featured, John Oliver, Labannya Hijra, Lia Hodson, Mala Mala, news, Pinky Yesung, Prancing Elites, TWIT, Vicky Vox

Category: Transgender Community News