The Week In Transgenderism 4/22/13

From “Drag Queen”

Korea is in the news. Not the drama queen dictator of North Korea. The first transgender celebrity in South Korea is the subject of this story. Harisu is starring in a musical production. It’s called Drag Queen and it’s the story of four queens who perform at the Black Rose club. Harisu spent some time working as a drag queen before she became a transgender celebrity and that was one of the reasons she wanted to take on the role. Read about the show and watch a video report from a South Korean English language news show at arirang.co.kr.

Last week we told you about a homeless shelter for women in Washington, D.C. that had turned away two homeless transwomen saying that they were not allowed to use the facility. This week we are happy to tell you that a judge has issued a temporary restraining order requiring the shelter to stop denying access to transgendered women. The shelter has agreed to not contest the order. Get the story in the Washington Blade.

Drag was on campus last week at the University of Wisconsin. RuPaul’s Drag Race superstar JuJuBee along with local drag stars and student queens recruited on campus worked it for a full house of college students. The writer who reviews the show admits to being a small town girl who’s more familiar with cows and tractors than glittery queens but she also admits she loved it. Read her review in The Daily Cardinal.

Jade Jolie @ UoF

At the University of Florida other Drag Race alumni were featured performers in Friends of Dorothy: A Drag Show. Willam Belli hosted the night of glamour which was part of the school’s Pride Awareness Month. The event drew an audience of over 800. Last year they drew 1200 people but limited this year’s attendance for safety concerns. Amazing! Read about the show in the independent Florida Alligator.

Not to be out done Ball State University (David Letterman’s old alma mater) held a drag show last week. They called it The Queen’s Ball and it worked a masquerade theme as sixteen different acts took the stage to dazzle the crowd. The Ball is put on by the LGBTQ group on campus and this event’s proceeds went to a kidney transplant fund benefiting a woman who needs new kidneys. Last year they raised money for Habitat for Humanity and other local charities. Get the scoop in the school paper, The Daily.

Christopher Newport University was also on the drag band wagon last week. The Gay Straight Student Alliance and Tau Delta Phi at that Virginia school presented Rio Carnival with professional drag queens and student performers working the crowd. The event was free to students and the local community with donations to an AIDS fund suggested. Next time don’t just suggest. They crowd was over 200 but they only got $100 in donations. Make it mandatory next time! Read a review of the party in The Captain’s Log.

The candidate primping

There’s a first in Pakistani politics. The current election campaign in that country includes a transgendered candidate. The “third gender” candidate is Bindiya Rana and her TG status does not seem to concern too many of the people she has met during her campaign for a provincial assembly seat. Most of them are concerned with what she will do about street crime and electrical outages if she is elected. Read the story from Associated Press on Yahoo.

TS in condom dress

How do you influence society that using a condom for sex is a normal precaution you should take? In Vietnam they are doing it by putting a transsexual in a dress make of 2000 condoms. Huong Giang, who was a top 10 competitor on 2012 Vietnam Idol, is the second person to wear the dress in the Normalize Condoms ad campaign. Whether it’s translation difficulty or misunderstanding of transsexuals the news outlet say Giang is a “operative transsexual.” But both Giang and the dress are beautiful so you should check out the story for the pictures at least. It’s online at tuoitrenews.vn.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong a transgendered woman has filed a complaint with the Hong Kong Equality Opportunities Commission over an incident in which a nurse at the Prince of Wales Hospital called her “mister” loudly and repeatedly during a dispute. It appears to be attack by honorific and the EOC is deciding whether to investigate. Get the story at GayStarNews.com.

If you’re a mixed martial arts fighting fan, a fan of Fallon Fox, or you just like to see two women try to beat the crap out of each other you won’t want to miss Fox’s first televised battle when she goes up against Allanna Jones, May 24 on AXS TV. Get the details on the bout from SherDog.com.

It’s not a very big story but we bring it to your attention since it concerns the world record for the number of dresses worn at one time by a crossdresser. That’s right. ON April 27 a Monterey, California crossdresser and performance artist named Ed Leeper will attempt to break the record of 14 dresses worn by a CD at one time. The portion of the column that deals with the record breaking attempt casts doubt that there actually is such a record. Get the details on the current record holder and Leeper’s valiant attempt to seize the crown in the Monterey County newspaper The Herald.

How much have things changed when it comes to drag, at least? In the late ‘80s the Imperial Court of Chinook Arch (which holds court in Calgary, Canada) almost had to cancel their coronation event when word got out that there would be a television crew documenting the proceedings. Alberta in the ‘80s was a redneck province and many potential attendees had fears over being seen on television attending the coronation. The coverage was scraped and the low key ceremony happened but remained in the shadows. Fast forward to the 21st century. Today the Imperial Court of Chinook Arch is a respected part of the Calgary community and they had their 37th coronation with due pomp and circumstance. It was even covered in the local newspaper. Read all about it in The Calgary Herald.

Monica Beverly Hillz

The transgendered woman who came out about her TG nature while competing on RuPaul’s Drag Race has finally spoken to the press about her decision to reveal her true nature. Monica Beverly Hillz waited till the show was underway to let everyone know that she wasn’t really a drag queen and that caused some controversy. Read about her new project on behalf of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in The Advocate. Watch a video interview with her right here.

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TWITs

Our first TWIT Award is presented to the Irish transvestite who led police in Derry on a thirty minute chase through the woods before they captured him. He was out and about enjoying himself when he was spotted. Being dressed in nothing but a garter belt and stockings was what got him arrested. Girlfriend, you will “ladder your tights” running through the woods like that. And you also sully the name of responsible transvestic fetishists everywhere. A further TWIT is given to Derry councillor Maurice Devenney who claims the incident is just a part of a vast conspiracy by deviants in the area. Get the story from the Belfast Telegraph.

How did a program on anti-bullying that included sexual orientation and gender identity issues play in Poughkeepsie? The parents of the eighth-grade students were upset that their kids heard words like “genderqueer” and “pansexual” that were used in the presentation. And the presenters were students from a local college, not licensed psychologists. We would imagine  the student trainers were actually people who had been bullied for being “genderqueer” and that maybe it would be a good idea to do the program for the parents instead of the eight-graders. A TWIT Award of immense size to the complaining parents. The story is on StarGazette.com.

Tags: crossdressing, drag, Drag Race, featured, Identity, Korea, Vietnam

Category: Transgender Community News