The Week In Transgenderism — 3/26/12

Ousted from pageant.

The exciting news last week was that a transgender woman made it into the finals of the Miss Universe Canada pageant. The less exciting news was that since the Vancouver native was not born female pageant officials disqualified her. Seems like a small rule violation when the woman in question is so lovely, but the Canadians say rules are rules. Read about it in The Advocate.

Don Cheadle stars in the Showtime series House of Lies, a show about how business consultants will lie, cheat and steal to make big bucks working for clueless companies that think they need consultants. Cheadle’s character is a womanizing, smug, egotistical jerk, but, he loves his father and his son Roscoe, who both live with him. Roscoe is just a kid but he has definite GLBT tendencies. In one of the first episodes he wanted to play the character Sandy in a school production of Grease. And his dad supported him in his choice. Read about Roscoe and House of Lies in The Huffington Post.

Oh possums, I don’t know how to tell you this. It’s got me a bit misty. Dame Edna Everage is hanging up her sequined gowns and putting away her blue tinted wigs. Her creator Barry Humphries has decided that at the age of 78 he’s too old to be dancing in high heels. He’s going to retire Dame Edna after one more tour of Australia, and hopefully the United States. Stay tuned for any word of Ms. Everage’s last shows in the U.S. and read about the retirement in The New York Times.

If you’re a transgendered woman in the U.S. illegally what choices do you have for earning a living? Not an extensive array of options. That’s why many TGs fall into prostitution. A profession that has been around as long as prostitution is sure to develop romantic myths but the harsh realities of it are not pretty. Read about transgender Filipinas fighting to stay our of sex work at feetintwoworlds.org.

Hugs!

There’s a right way and a wrong way for a TG to make female friends. Going to their place of employment everyday and asking them to hug you — and friend you on Facebook — is not the right way. That’s what a TG woman in England has been doing for the past four months and she’s gotten attention — from the police. This would be a TWIT if it wasn’t a bit sad. Read about it in This Is Hull and East Riding.

The good news this week comes in the results of a study by the Public Religion Research Institute that has found that support for strong rights and legal protections for transgendered people is gaining greater acceptance from the majority of Americans. This support is even being found among the majority of Catholics, Evangelical Protestants and Republicans. Read about it and find links to analysis of the study in The Huffington Post.

However, for every advance in legal protections and acceptance for transgendered people there are unfortunate setbacks. The latest setback is the apparent demise of the Maryland transgender protections bill. Last seen going to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee earlier this year the bill is not going to come out of committee and be put to a vote by the deadline for such a vote. Read the disheartening news in The Washington Blade.

Darth VaPaula?

To illustrate how paranoid the right wing can be about perceived attacks on “family values” we present an article on the current controversy over the hypothetical inclusion of transgender characters in a Star Wars video game. That’s right. There isn’t a transgender Darth Vader but the Florida Family Association is worried that the game could offer players a chance to play as “Darth VaPaula,” an avatar (they created) with Darth Vader’s body and RuPaul’s head. This is all paranoid speculation on their part but we at TGF fully endorse the inclusion of transgender avatars in all video games. Read about the concerns of the “pro-family” people at kotaku.com.

A transgender woman in Nevada is running for a seat in the Nevada assembly. Lauren Scott is running as a Republican candidate hoping to represent a district in Carson City. If elected she will be the state’s first ever openly TG legislator. Read about her and her campaign in The Advocate.

Our favorite executive transvestite — Eddie Izzard (who’s lightened up on the dressing up lately) is rumored to be signing a deal to play Grandpa Munster in an hour-long new version of The Munsters for NBC. Get the sketchy facts at sfx.co.uk.

Former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Willam claims she wasn’t familiar with the conservative Christian chicken sandwich chain Chick-Fil-A. She says she’s from Philly and they don’t have them there. As a Philadelphia area based online magazine we can tell you that we’ve often chowed down at one of the many Chick-Fil-As located in the area. Willam must have never left the Gayborhood of central Philly. In any event, when she found out that the chain supports organizations that have an anti gay bias she decided to do the thing that would bother Chick-Fil-A the most — make a parody music video with drag queens endorsing the chain. The video is available on ology.com. (Be prepared for drag queen humor, irreverence and possible blasphemy.)

A St. Patrick’s Day parade in Sedan, Minnesota included participation from the local fire department and as part of a fundraising scheme to bring in money for new fire equipment two of the firemen were about to ride their truck in drag when disaster struck. No, neither of them broke a nail or got a run in their pantyhose. A nearby vehicle caught fire and the fireman leaped into action — in their gowns. Read the story and see photos at metro.co.uk.

It’s not just firemen who like to dress up. Other men in uniform are into drag, including members of the Israeli army. The Israeli military, reputed to be among the toughest in the world, is open to gays and lesbians so it’s a bit odd that there would be any kerfuffle over soldiers doing drag shows when they’re off duty but when it comes to drag queens the Israeli military’s policy seems to be —  if you drag don’t tell. Read all about it at queerty.com.

A video game about hormone replacement therapy? That’s exactly what a gamer named Anna Anthropy has created. DYS•4•ia is a Flash game that is available online at  a site called Newgrounds. If you’re into gaming and want to experience estrogen therapy in the virtual world check out the story at care2.com.

Teraina

Our Meet The Transsexual story today comes to us from England. Teraina Hird is her name and she was a mechanic who owned a garage at the time she came out and started her transition. Then her customers stopped using her services so she did the logical thing — she became an author. Read her story in the Leighton Buzzard Observer. (How many buzzards are their in Leighton?)

A transman on the Upper West Side of New York City is making a run for City Council. If he wins the election he will become the city’s first transgender Council member. The interesting thing about Mel Wymore is that he began his career in NYC politics at almost the same time that he made the decision to live his life as a man. Read his story in the New York Times.

TWIT

Our TWIT Award this week goes to Germany. We’ve mentioned in past TWITs that a young TG girl in Germany may be forced to go to an institution and be indoctrinated into living as a male. Since we all know how trying to force someone into an unnatural  gender presentation works out we don’t think too much of that idea. But German law is against the girl because of her age. It does not recognize her ability at the age of 11 to make a decision about her gender. Gender activists and human rights organizations are fighting for the girl and her mother but the battle is not over, so Germany wins the TWIT Award. Read about the injustice at scallywagandvagabond.com.

Tags: featured, news, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News