The Week In Transgenderism 6/11/12

Miss USA: TGs are cool.

The winner of the Miss USA title gave a somewhat supportive statement when asked if transgender contestants winning contests over genetic females. Hoorah Miss USA. She’s a young woman from Rhode Island and she says TGs are cool with her since it’s a free country. Read exactly what she said on the Fox News website. It’s remarkably fair and balanced.

Meanwhile Miss Pennsylvania has resigned her crown. It seems that TGs are not fine by her. Her official statement said she was pulling out because the pageants are rigged but insiders say it was the decision to allow transgendered contestants that motivated Sheena Monnin to walk away from the contest. Donald Trump vows to sue. Get the latest on the pageant wars from The Los Angeles Times.

Who is producing a new documentary on transgender issues? It’s Janet Jackson. Huh? That’s right, Michael’s sis is going to be an executive producer for a film called Truth. Now when someone asks, “What have you done for me lately?” she can say “I made a movie about you.” Truth starts production this summer. I’m ready for my closeup Miss Jackson. Get the story in Rolling Stone.

CeCe McDonald

CeCe McDonald was sentenced last week for killing the man who verbally abused her outside a Minneapolis bar last year. Get the details in the Star Tribune.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is gone but transgendered soldiers still aren’t being treated right. One Iraq veteran would like to re-inlist — as a woman. And the National Guard are not happy about that. Read about it in The Christian Post.

TG air travelers in Australia aren’t getting any respect either. Next month the Aussie Office of Transport Security will introduce full body scanners that can detect prosthesis under your clothing. Not just TGs but breast cancer survivors who wear prosthesis will be affected. All because some clown attempted to down a plane with exploding underwear. Before you travel to Australia en femme you should read the story in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Australia is also the country where you can see a yodeling drag queen on the television program, Australia’s Got Talent. What more can we say. She yodels in drag. The worlds of hillbilly music and crossdressing collide. Check out her chances of winning in the Yahoo Australian News.

The 30th Be-All Conference was the last week of May out in the Windy City. Speaker included Amanda Simpson and Mara Keisling. Get the story in The Windy City Times.

Isis

Despite all our conventions and educational outreach efforts transgender people are still being equated with gayness. How do we know? American Apparel is a clothing company that supports gay equality and they have been doing so with a “Legalize Gay” line of shirts since 2008. This year their shirt model is Isis King — a transwoman. Ah well, confusing the G and the T it’s true, but at least we get to view pictures of Isis modeling the shirts. The story is in The Huffington Post.

Being lumped in with gay people can have some benefits. The Marriott hotels are running a campaign to attract LGBT guests. It’s called “Be You, With Us” and it’s running through the Pride Season. (June to September, although I have been know to display pride in January or February, too.) So when you check in at any of the Marriott hotels be sure to declare your TG status so you can get the benefits they are offering to GLBT people. What are those benefits? They’re in the story in eTN Global Travel Industry News.

Perry

It’s perhaps appropriate, in light of the Queen’s Jubilee that was making all the news in Britain recently, that a queen should be hosting a television program about taste. It’s not a food show. It’s a program about people’s taste as related to style and presentation. The host is transvestite potter/artist Grayson Perry. He’s traveling around England and reporting on what people wear and surround themselves with. After he visits people he produces a tapestry depicting them expressing their taste. Speaking of taste. We feel Miss Perry would have done better with shorter sleeves and a slightly longer skirt in the photo to the left. But that’s just our taste talking. Get the whole story from The Telegraph.

Election years often bring on bad cases of election fever and this year is shaping up as one that’s going to get up to a very high temperature. With Republicans vowing in the first days of President Obama’s term to make him a one term president he has faced stiff opposition to any of his plans. Some of the ones he has managed to get by Republican opposition are positive things for the transgender community. Because of that a group has formed in New Jersey, made up of TG activists and their allies, to promote the re-election of President Obama. Enter the fever. Read about Trans United for Obama and the controversy it is causing in the TG community at OutInJersey.net.

Anyone remember ENDA? That’s the Equal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that has been floating around in Washington committees for far too many years. It’s a simple bill that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against GLBT individuals because they are GLB or T. There’s a hearing set in the Senate tomorrow called Equality At Work: The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and for the first time an actual transgendered individual is set to give testimony. Get the story from The Washington Blade.

The high school water polo coach who was fired for having pictures of himself posing with drag queens and eating a corn dog wants his job back. He’s filed a wrongful termination suit and accuses the school that fired him of “animus toward gay and lesbian employees.” He is gay and says the photos merely represent gay culture. We’ve seen pictures of Michelle Bachman wrapping her lips around a corn dog. Does that mean she’s gay? We’re so confused. Get the water polo coach story from The LA Times.

TWITs

Professor of prostitution?

The arrest of a professor from the University of Georgia proves that trans desires can make intelligent people do TWIT worthy things. The professor was booked on a charge of prostitution and “keeping a house of prostitution,” which seems unlikely since she was operating out of a motel, not a house. Anyhow, she has jeopardized her teaching career to actualize her hooker fantasy. That’s TWITery. And the paper that reports it put it in the “strange news” category. Not that strange. Just sad. Read about it at examiner.com.

The Canadians have a Human Rights Act that mandates a Human Rights Commission to hear complaints of hate speech and violations of hate provisions in criminal code. Our TWIT winners here are the conservative members of parliament who want to gut the law by abolishing the Commission, and make other changes that would hurt TGs. They are defending their attack on the Act with claims that strengthening the Acts protection of TGs will allow “transsexual predators” to roam the country’s public restrooms. What TWITery! Read about it in the Times Colonist.

Tags: featured, news, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News