The Week In Transgenderism 3/18/13

Brittany Lynn

We mentioned late last year that Philadelphia’s Mummers had for the first time included drag queens (who identify that way. There’s been drag in Mummer’s parades in Philly for years) in the annual New Year’s Day parade.  This just past parade featured local drag diva Brittany Lynn and her Drag Mafia. Now we learn that the presence of drag will continue as an integral part of the parade with competition for the open spots. Shades of RuPaul’s Drag Race! Get the story in the Philadelphia Gay News.

Good news for drag performers in the Big Apple. If you didn’t get on Drag Race you have a chance to be New York’s Next Top Drag Queen. There is a contest of that name happening from April 1 through May 6 at a place called the Metropolitan Room. The hostess in charge of things is the famous and fabulous Hedda Lettuce. Too late to apply for a spot in the lineup of contestants though. They’re already picked and ready to sashay and shantay. The winner gets a six month run at the club. Get the details on who’s in it to win it in Theater Mania.

Fox

In the fighting game trash talking about your next opponent is just part of the show. Fallon Fox, the transgendered woman who is a mixed martial arts fighter, is taking trash talk from her next opponent but Allanna “Hands of Stone” Jones is hitting below the belt saying that Fox is not a “real” female. Them’s fighin’ words Ms. Jones. Read the fighting gossip at TMZ.com. For more of Fallon’s story check out her video discussing why she needed to be a woman and why she wanted to be a fighter on CNN.com.

Bad news for transgendered people in Maryland. the state with the gayest sounding name in the country (oh, Mary!) has failed to pass a bill prohibiting discrimination against TGs in housing, employment and public accommodations. The bill failed to pass a committee vote by a narrow margin. Sponsors of the bill are not giving up. Read about it at lgbtqnation.com.

Fired

Meanwhile a transwoman in Columbus, Ohio took advantage of a 2008 ordinance that added gender identity to that city’s anti-discrimination law. She was fired by her employer while she was transitioning in 2010 so she took the employer to court. It was the first time a TG took advantage of the law. Read the news about the case in the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News.

Fierce contestant

Another bright light for transgendered people is the increasing number of on campus drag shows held at universities around the country. The latest one happened a week ago at George Washington University. Eleven fraternity brothers dressed up to compete in a drag queen contest that raised money for the Trevor Project. They sold over 900 tickets for the event which shows that drag, at least when it’s being done by guys from a campus frat, is a big draw with college age people. The story and photos of the contestants can be found in The Washington Blade.

Transitions from one gender to the other can be daunting. People tend to have expectations of how it will go. For one FtM in the U.K. the ideal scenario was disappearing for a year and then returning as a macho alpha male. His transition didn’t work out that way. There were unforeseen problems that had to be dealt with first. Read his story in The Independent.

For transgendered people going from male to female it can often be difficult finding sexy footwear. And if you sing in a punk rock band, a professions which almost requires six inch platform heels, it can be doubly hard to find proper footwear. Fear not! Both transgendered singers and hard working strippers can find hot shoes at Screamin’ Hot Shoes in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The story is on AnnArbor.com.

Lead actress with fishbowl.

It’s here! The world’s first transgender comedy series starring transgendered actors has been produced in Canada. Set in Vancouver the show is called The Switch: A Fantastic Transgender Comedy and it’s about an upwardly-mobile software manager who confronts his trans-ness and becomes an unemployed transsexual sleeping on an ex-girlfriend’s couch. Sounds like a barrel of laughs. Well it is often said that humor comes out of pain and suffering so it could be a laugh riot. And it’s Canadian. What’s not to like? Read about it in the Montreal Gazette.

The GLAAD Media Awards happened this past Saturday and one newspaper that wasn’t invited to the event was New York’s Post. As media goes the Post has hewn to a down market attitude toward transgendered people in its headlines and stories. The disrespect evidenced in headlines like “Beat-down tranny testifies in court” has given GLAAD the idea that the New York Post just might be transphobic. The story is in another  “post,” the Huffington Post.

Recently in Italy there was a ceremony presented with elaborate costumes and a air of tradition that had some people upset. No, we’re not talking about the Conclave to appoint a new Pope. But it did happen in a church. Residents of Padua were incensed when they learned that their parish church was used by a Filipino gay group to hold a drag contest. Not everyone was upset though. Read the story at gaystarnews.com.

Hernandez

In Cuba there is controversy over the election of a transgendered woman to public office. Adela Hernandez spent two years in jail for being a transgendered teen. Now at the age of 48 she is an elected member of her city council. She also moonlights as a drag performer and holds down a day job. The controversy over her role in government mostly comes from from people outside her constituency. Read her story in The New York Times.

Yohio

The beautiful Swedish crossdressing musician Yohio  can shred on the guitar but his singing did not win him the chance to represent Sweden in the Eurovision song contest coming up in May. Yohio is sad. You can tell by the look in his large anime eyes. Just kidding. He is actually okay with it saying, “Europe’s not ready for me yet.” Read about it in The Local.

TWITs

Our first TWIT Award goes to the Catholic News Agency. They put out a story about the trend among school districts, like the Massachusetts schools, to recognize the rights of transgendered students to participate in sports and use the restroom appropriate to their gender identity. The CNA position is to ask readers what the Church should do in response to TG recognition by schools. They load the question by first quoting the last Pope who is, of course, against anyone taking control of their gender identity — so we think we know what the CNA would like to hear from its readers. That’s getting them this TWIT Award. Read the whole thing on their website.

TWIT Award number two goes to the dope who tried to shoplift some high heels from Target so he could wear them in a drag show. First of all, theft is not good. Second of all his modus operandi was pathetic. He arrived in the store dressed in male clothes but barefoot. He picked out his target shoes, put them on and walked around the store in them for a bit, then tried to casually stroll out the door. His ingenious plan failed to take into account the appalling number of security cameras watching everything that goes on in department stores these days and the rapid communications made possible by security department walkie talkies. He was detained at the entrance and arrested. His next drag show will be in jail. The story is on the KSDK website and there is a video report.

Tags: featured, news, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News