The Week In Transgenderism 7/29/12

Schoolboy?

A young British TS was told to go home and put on a boy’s uniform or she wouldn’t be allowed to take and important exam at her school. The girl showed the headmaster that UK law that prevents such discrimination and was then allowed to take the test — 40 feet away from all the other students. Kudos to the TS for not giving up but a TWIT Award nomination to The Daily Mail for referring to the girl as “he” throughout the story and for implying that invoking the UK’s Equality Act was “forcing” the headmaster to let her take the test dressed as a girl. Shame on you Daily Mail.

I’ll bet you recall the movie Paris is Burning. In case you’ve forgotten (wig too tight, too durned old to remember much) it documented the drag ball scene in New York City. Well those balls haven’t been removed. They were just tucked away for a few years. A couple Sundays ago the House of Extravaganza held its 30th anniversary celebration and everyone who is anyone was there. Find out all about the party and the people in The New York Times.

Britney?

Is it normal to undergo surgery to look like your celebrity idol? I used to love Mickey Mouse but it’s a good thing I never had those mouse ears surgically attached cause Mickey’ not my favorite cartoon character anymore. Kara Nicole Hays, a TG from Ohio, has spent $70,000 on plastic surgery to look like Britney Spears. The story is in The Huffington Post.

In other odd news, a transgender woman who lives in one of the upper West Side co-op buildings in New York City is a chain smoker. What’s wrong with that other than the damage chain smoking can go to your body? There’s a giant hole in her apartment wall and her smoke is spreading through the building. That’s a lot of smoke. She’s also a recluse who refused to let workmen into her place to repair the hole. Why is this odd news? What does being TG have to do with the story at all? Why did you even mention it New York Daily News?

Willam

Have you heard that the owner of the Chick-fil-A chicken restaurant chain has come out? Oh heavens no, he didn’t come out as gay or trans. He came out as a hard core Christian values guy whose restaurants don’t welcome gay people. But of course we already knew that. Readers of TWIT and TGF will know that former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant  Willam got together with two drag pals a few months ao and made a parody video of a Wilson Phillips song that praised Chick-fil-A. They called the song and video Chow Down (At Chick-fil-A). They pretty much let us know that the chain is not accepting of LBGT people. But the announcement from the chain’s owner has given Willam and her friends more work to do. See what she’s planning in NEWNOWNEXT.

So you’re ready for your SRS. Where are you planning on getting it done? The US is pretty expensive. There’s Thailand or course but lately that seems to have become passe. Where’s the hottest gender reassignment spot on the globe? It’s Serbia. Check out the story about the increasing amount of SRS that’s being done there in The New York Times.

If you’re looking for a transgender centric street scene where TG prostitutes mingle with TG rights activists and TGs in sexy attire participating in “dance battles” then the place you’re looking for is Christopher Street in New York City’s West Village. After dark the “T-girls” take over and like all hip scenes there’s danger in the air as well as the promise of fun. Read about the Christopher Street scene in The New York Times.

Katelynn

Ever wondered how participating on a show like Big Brother or Real World affects the life of the people who bare it all for television ratings? How about when that person is a TG? Talk about coming out of the closet. Appearing on one of those shows is like exploding out of the closet. Katelynn Susanelli was the first — and only — transgender person tp appear on The Real World: Brooklyn. She recently answered questions about herself and her appearance on the show in the website Reddit. The Huffington Post has the story.

Black Madam, the silicone pumper who was arrested in February for pumping industrial grade silicone into a 23-year-old exotic dancers butt is now charged with the murder of another dance from England who had the procedure and died. Black Madam is charged with third-degree murder , conspiracy and reckless endangerment. The article from The Philadelphia Inquirer mentions Black Madam’s rap career but make no mention of her transgender status.

TGs on the air

There’s an old saying that goes something like, if you control the media you control the message. Or is that if you have the printing press you get to say what’s news? Well whatever the saying is it is working for transgender people in India. There, while they have made some advances, it’s still a hard life for Indian TGs. Now they have a radio show that is produced by TGs and covers TG issues in India. The show is called Who is This Person and it airs on a community-run radio station in Bangalore. Read about it at UPI.com.

A new organization has opened up a space for transgendered Latinas in the Washington, D.C. area. That’s good new for those who need a safe haven from the violence of the street or domestic violence. Casa Ruby, as it’s called, hasn’t been open long but the bad news is that it’s already gotten voicemail death threats. Read all about it at the WAMU website.

Anyone remember ENDA? That’s the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and it’s been kicking around Congress since 1994. In June the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee finally held a hearing on ENDA and they actually heard testimoney from a transgendered man. Now there is hope that maybe, some day, this thing might get voted on. Learn about the hope in The Edge.

Dirty Diana

Before we get to the TWITs here’s something on the positive side, even a bit inspirational. The British musical duo The Pet Shop Boys (now The Pet Shop Geezers) have a new album coming out. It’s the first one they’re recorded in the USA. It’s called Elysium and the first single released from it is called Winner. What makes Winner a winner for us is the subject of the song, a transgendered roller derby girl. The song tells the story of the only TG member of the Rollergirls, an all woman roller derby team. Read about the song and it’s subject, Dirty Diana, in Gay Star News. The video is there as well.

TWITs

Our first TWIT Award goes to a Pensacola, Florida man who paid a TG street sex worker for oral gratification and then demanded his money back when he realized she was a transwoman. To make matters worse, and more TWITty, the perp went away but came back and stole the sex worker’s purse and wig. Then he led police on a high speed, well, bicycle speed chas, and was caught when he ran his bike into a deputy’s car. Kudos to the police who seem to have not arrested the sex worker for anything and to pnj.com who didn’t stigmatize the victim in the case.

We’re backtracking to award a Special Mention Double Plus Stupid addendum to the TWIT Award we gave the crossdressed pharmacy robber in last week’s TWIT. We just learned that she set out to rob the place while wearing a green wig. Maybe you can rock a green wig if you’re Lady Gaga or Katy Perry but a green wig for a robbery is like wearing a sign that says “Hey, look at me!” Photos of the robber are in The New York Daily News.

Oh the levels of TWITtery in this story. A female undercover inspector was checking beauty salons in Dubai for compliance with the law. The salon staffer who met the inspector was a crossdressed male, but that description may be part of the TWITtery. She may well be a transsexual. The staffer took the woman to another area where there was laser hair removal equipment and used it to remove the inspector’s armpit hair. A perk of the inspector job you might say, but the TG ended up burning the inspector. The burns caused the inspector to call the police. When the police found out the salon person was born male they arrested her on a number of charges, including crossdressing. Get the full TWIT details in The National.

A TWIT Award is ready for international shipping to the country of Lithuania. It seems that the Lithuanian government likes their little jokes. Not so little really, and certainly not a joke. Lithuania gets the TWIT for n that they will make the issuance of new ID cards for people who have had SRS much easier. They tempered the joy induced by that announcement by then saying that the same law reform would remove current provisions that give TGs state-sponsored surgery. Get the story at xtra.ca.

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Category: Transgender Community News