The Week In Transgenderism 9/21/15

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I Am Cait had its season finale last week and reviews of the show are starting to appear. The concern always was that the  show would be a typical “reality” show and not give a serious representation of trans people and their issues. On Sept. 14 a review by trans writer Casey Plett seems to say that I Am Cait did not even make a good reality TV show, but it has done some good. Read the review in The New York Times.

In the Emmy Awards last night (9/20/15) Jeffrey Tambor took home the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Maura Pfefferman in Transparent. Tambor dedicated his win to the trans community saying, ““Thank you for your patience” he said. “Thank you for your courage, thank you for your stories, thank you for letting us be part of the change.” Read all about it on the Deadline website.

Pechi and her models.

One of the models who appeared in the Barney’s transgender ad campaign last spring has opened an trans modeling agency in New York City. Trans Models becomes the third agency in the U.S. dedicated to representing trans models. The founder is a Thai woman named Peche Di. Learn about her and the new agency in The Atlantic.

Another front is open in the Restroom Wars. A student in Gloucester County, Virginia is suing for the right to use the restroom of their choice. This time it’s a female to male student named Gavin Grimm. Things became grim for Gavin when after using the boy’s room at his high school last year he was barred from the facility when some parents complained that his presence there made their sons uncomfortable. Sissies. Learn more on the ABC News website.

On the northern front of the War, in Canada, we find a trans girl who was 8-years-old when she was bullied by another child’s parent for using the girl’s room. Her father has accused the school of not doing enough to help his daughter and discriminating against her when they told her to use the gender neutral bathroom. The case is going before the Manitoba Human Rights Commission. Get the story from the CBC website.

Trans women have started an activist group called #TransLivesMatter and a couple of weeks ago they staged a protest takeover of the U.S. Conference on AIDS. Their protest was sparked by the lack of action on including the trans community in the organization’s HIV/AIDS strategy. Protestors interrupted the plenary session of the conference and chanted “We are not gay men.”  Currently USCA lumps trans women in with gay males as men who have sex with men. Learn more on the ThinkProgress website.

Shenay

A self proclaimed drag queen in South Africa was the first drag queen to enter the Idols South Africa talent program. Shenay O’Brien had tried to enter the contest as her male persona but didn’t make it past the first round. She came back as a lady and took a female spot in the competition, which lead to some complaints from those who felt that was unfair. She advanced through the competition all the way to the top ten but failed to go any higher. Read about it on the Eyewitness News website.

The New Girlfriend

The French film The New Girlfriend opened at last in the U.S. on Friday. The story is about a man whose wife has just died, leaving him to raise a baby girl. His wife’s best friend is shocked to walk into his home and find him nursing the baby (with a bottle) while wearing a blonde wig and one of his dead wife’s dresses. After the initial surprise she comes to enjoy his femme persona. Read a review in The New York Times.

In other trans-in-film news we leave France behind and zoom off to the Philippines. Not a film  exactly but what they call a “teleserye” titled (television drama) Destiny Rose premiered there. It stars a popular Filipino actor as a transsexual who fights the odds and society to become her true self. Learn more at the Philippine Entertainment Portal.

Kieran McElney

A young art student in England has embraced the description “transvestite teenager” and is making his interest in wearing feminine fashions into his vocation by becoming a fashion designer at the age of 19. Kieran McEleny, like many crossdressers, first wore women’s clothing for a Halloween party when he was 15. Soon he was scouring thrift stores for women’s wear and then he began altering the things he bought. One thing lead to another and now he’s got a fashion design website. Learn all about him in the Swindon Advertiser.

Zooming across the globe to Thailand we find another fashion designer who is a self described “transvestite Khon Kaen (his school) boy” became an Internet sensation by making outfits out of everyday things found around the house, from cooking utensils, to mosquito netting, clothes hangers, baskets and various plants and modeling them in photos on social media. Meet 16-year-old Apichet “Madaew” Atilattana in The Nation.

Ginn (Center)

Northern Kentucky University is the school attended by a trans man named Daniel Ginn. It was after he arrived at NKU as a female student that he began his transition. NKU also is the home of a chapter of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity, a trans inclusive frat. This year they elected Daniel Ginn as chapter president. Learn all about him and the frat on the Cincinnati website.

Argentina has made many legal reforms to support their LGBT population. The latest trans positive law to be enacted was passed in the Buenos Aires province, the region surrounding Buenos Aires, which mandates that 1 percent of the local government employees be trans people. Learn more on the Vice News website.

Bunny at Bushwig

Last week was the fourth edition of a drag event in Brooklyn, New York called Bushwig. It’s billed as a festival of drag, music and love. When it started out the festival was a small affair with 30 performers. This year there were over 150 performers from all over the world. Lady Bunny, the founder of Wigstock was there for this festival and she “passed the torch” to the founders of Bushwig. Learn more and view photos in The Huffington Post.

The Catholic schools in Edmonton, Canada have instituted a new policy for trans students that some find too progressive. One of those is a trustee who said that trans people suffer from a “mental disorder.” That is TWIT worthy but the story here is the response to the anti-trans statements. The son of famous and esteemed writer Jan Morris wrote an op-ed denouncing the trustee’s statements and pointing to his father as a trans person who most assuredly is not unbalanced. Read his words in the Edmonton Journal.

You probably know that Pope Francis is coming to the United States and will stop in three cities. He will visit New York City, Philadelphia, Pa., and Washington, D.C. While he’s in Washington he will stop by the White House to meet with President Obama. While Francis has shown more compassion for LGBT people than any previous pontiff the Church still remains committed to its views. Vatican officials got their vestments in a twist when the President also invited “infamous American Catholics” to the meeting. One of them is a trans man and one is a crossdresser. Get the story from The Patriot News.

Amanda Simpson

President Obama did another positive thing for trans people when he promoted the first openly trans woman in his administration, Amanda Simpson, from her old position as the Executive Director of the U.S Army Office of Energy Initiatives (which she was appointed to by Obama in 2010) to be Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy. The new appointment came on the same day the administration announced the appointment of an openly gay man as the Secretary of Defense’s Chief of Staff. Get the news from LGBTQ Nation.

In other Pope news; there’s an online petition aimed at getting the Pope to meet with GLBT Catholics and their families during his visit to the U.S.A. It was started by a gay man who works for GLAAD. After he married another man the bishop overseeing his parish took away all of his roles and responsibilities in his church. If you want to sign the petition to get Pope Francis to meet with LGBT Catholics while he is in the U.S. you can do so on Change.org. Thanks to Josy C for letting us know about the petition.

A trans vet.

While the Pentagon is working toward letting trans people server openly and that will be great for those who are currently serving in the shadows what about trans people who served and are now veterans? Will the acceptance of serving trans soldiers help trans vets? Meet a few of them in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

A respected Irish broadcaster and journalist has come out as gender fluid. Jonathan Clynch, a senior radio newsman for the country’s national public broadcaster told his bosses that he would be changing his name to Jonathan Rachel and would be coming to work dressed in femme attire from time to time. Read all about it in The Daily Beast.

O’Brien

Richard O’Brien the creator of The Rocky Horror Show, who portrayed Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, returned to the stage in London’s West End doing the role of the show’s Narrator for a special gala charity performance last week. He gave an interview before the show and reiterated that he considers himself transgender but a mixture of masculine and feminine. Find out what percentage of each gender he feels he has in his interview with The Telegraph.

A “queer theater” production in New Zealand assembled six actors who recreate interviews done by the play’s director and producer with members of that country’s LGBT community. One of those interviewed for a contribution to the show was the former MP and trans woman Georgina Beyer. Learn more on how having actors recreate interviews can be turned into an informative night of theater on the Stuff website.

TWITs

The imbeciles at Breitbart, the right wing Internet lie machine, win another TWIT Award. They ran a story on September 17 titled Transgender Community Rips I Am Cait Jenner Reality Show. While it is true that some members of the community have expressed concerns that Jenner is not representative of the community and using a reality show format would cheapen the message others have found the show to be useful for introducing the topic to a larger audience. But Breitbart chose to highlight the negative reviews and only printed a quote from one person that was positive. Breitbart gets an additional TWIT for calling the show’s star “Bruce ‘Caitlyn’ Jenner.” If you want to read it the article is on the Breitbart website.

Rapper Waka Flocka Flame burned the trans community in an interview on a New York City radio show last week. He said that Caitlyn Jenner was “rebuking God” and was being tricked by the devil. On Saturday he tried to clarify what he meant by tweeting that he “nothing against transgender people.” He added that he didn’t think “transgenders” should be “marketed like a superhero.” So his apology isn’t really an apology but a “sorry if I upset you” apology and that gets Waka a TWIT Award. Read more about it in Rolling Stone.

The Russian trans woman who was wed to her girlfriend last summer over the objections of Russian officials who were confused that what looked like two beautiful young women wearing wedding gowns was actually an opposite sex couple has caused more confusion for the authorities. Alina Davis was arrested in Moscow for possession of amphetamines. (Now we know how she stays so thin.) Since she looks like a woman they could not jail her with men and because she’s legally a man they couldn’t house her with women prisoners. A TWIT Award goes to Ms. Davis for popping speed but kudos to the authorities who did the only thing they could and let her go home to await her trial. Read more and see her big eyed puppy photo in The Moscow Times.

If you’re going to go out and drive around in drag to help relieve the stress of the day be sure you relieve your bladder before you set out. Our TWIT Award winner is a crossdresser who stopped, according to the CD, to urinate along the side of the road. A woman with her three children drove by and saw a person in a thong, high-heeled boots and a dress shirt. A couple of school buses also drove by but they didn’t complain to the police like the mother did. The CD claims there was no flashing going on but please girl, be more careful next time you go out to relieve your stress. The story in in The News Tribune.

Tags: Amanda Simpson, Bushwig, Caitlyn Jenner, Daniel Ginn, featured, Gavin Grimm, Jeffrey Tambor, Kieran McEleny, Lady Bunny, Pechi Di, Richard O'Brien, Rocky Horror, Shenay O'Brien

Category: Transgender Community News