The Week In Transgenderism 9/17/12

Cordova

A transgender woman was murdered in Philadelphia and her body was found in a wooded area on the morning of September 3. Kyra Cordova had been active in the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education non-profit group and was well known to the city’s LGBT community. The story is at lgbtqnation.com.

TGF reader Jamie Roberts sent along an item that you may find of interest. It’s a exchange between “Dear Abby” and a woman who was dismayed to see a transgendered waitress decked out in a blonde wig and makeup working in the restaurant where she and her husband were dining. See what you think of Abby’s response. It’s in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Drug made me TG.

Remember the person we mentioned a few months back who claimed taking the anti-baldness drug Finasteride had made them turn transgender? Well, this person was  featured in a segment on Anderson Cooper’s new show Anderson Live. The segment aired on September 13 and the TG community got set for defense when they heard about it. We knew Anderson had possibly already jumped the shark  when he interviewed Honey Boo Boo Child and her mother. Did this story seal the deal? Read about the TG community’s defensive stance at lgbtqnation.com. See a video of the segment along with comments on it in The Advocate.

Burt

Do you imagine there’s much crossdressing in academia? There is and one Harvard professor, who enjoys crossdressing, is “one of the most influential poetry critics of his generation.” He was featured in The New York Times Magazine this past weekend. Meet Stephen Burt and find out how he integrates crossdressing into his life along with science fiction and women’s basketball.

Transman Loren Cameron is still capable of upsetting people. His 1996 book which documented his transition with photographs from all stages of his gender journey caused a stir when it came out. Since then Cameron has settled into a schedule of speaking engagements and one of his upcoming talks is set for the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Conservatives on campus are saying that Cameron’s speaker fee is more indication of the university’s radical and divisive agenda — and it’s sexually explicit. Read about the controversy at foxnews.com.

Brazilian model

Do you want to be a celebrated transgender fashion model? Maybe you should fly down to Rio. Brazil is fast becoming a leading competitor in the race to become the fashion capital of the world —  and one of the things they don’t seem to mind is having transgendered women modeling the fashions. Read about the trend and see a documentary video (after you watch the ad!) on the TG models in The Guardian.

It seems that way too often these days we’re hearing about judges who don’t seem to have good judgement. There’s the one in Texas who wants more funding for the sheriff there because he expects a shooting revolution if the President is re-elected. There was the one in Pennsylvania who, after hearing from the state’s own attorneys that there was no in-person voting fraud, went ahead and ruled in favor of a Voter ID law. Now comes word of a judge in Oklahoma who won’t grant name changes to transgendered individuals because, “you can’t change what God gave you.” Read about the judge in The Advocate.

Ballhorn

Bathroom wars continue. The latest battle is being fought in Vancouver, British Columbia. There’s a freedom-from-discrimination law there that says you have to let people use the bathroom of the gender they identify as but Norma Ballhorn, who enjoys having a beer and socializing with people at her local watering holes, has been denied access to the lady’s room in three of her favorite spots. And after having a few beers a girl really does need to have access to the facilities. If Norma was young and beautiful would there still be a problem? Or could resistance to her presence in the women’s restroom be related to her age and appearance? Get the story in The Columbian.

The ad campaign that Washington, D.C. announced it would undertake to combat anti-TG discrimination will launch next month with bush shelter posters. The posters depict transgender people from Washington and make the point that transgender people deserve the same respect any citizen would expect. So now people will still be mean to them but not because they’re TGs. It will just be normal, everyday disrespect for fellow citizens. Check out the posters in The Washington Post.

The Bangladeshi government has decided to train the hijra in that country so they can find work and support themselves. Then they will no longer have to turn to sex work and showing up at people’s weddings demanding cash to go away. Find out how the job training program is working in The Daily News. (Minor TWIT issued to the reporter who called the hijra featured in the story “he.”

Will success spoil Honey Boo Boo Child? The hillbilly reality show star who has catapulted into the celebrity spotlight with her innocent face and outrageous behavior has already become addicted to “go-go juice” (Red Bull and Mountain Dew. Yikes!) so perhaps she’s already on her way to Lindsey Lohan territory. For now, with her status riding high in celeb land, Honey Boo Boo is in demand. (OMG! We mentioned her twice in this column.) Who’s the latest entertainer who would like to hitch their wagon the the Boo Boo star? None other than RuPaul. Miss Charles is working on a duet album and she wants to sing a song with Boo Boo. Read about the improbable pairing in The Huffington Post.

Quatrelle

While we’re in the world of show biz it’s worth noting that a drag performer was featured on the season premier of The X Factor last week. Quatrele Da’an Smith performed Lady Gaga’s Born This Way dressed in an abbreviated bridal ensemble, high heels and pink lipstick. He made it through the first round and will be on the show this week. The reporter who wrote the story is angling for a TWIT Award though. She credits Smith with being “surprisingly entertaining” but then keeps saying she didn’t expect him to advance and now that he has she doesn’t expect him to get too far. Read the story and watch his performance at popcrush.com.

Did someone say TWIT?

TWITs

We give a mini TWIT to the video of Quatrele performing on The X Factor. The intro to the video uses a typical “wow, who’s she? Oops, it’s a man” joke and then the judges seemed to poo poo him — till he started to sing. Britney and Demi loved him. Simon made fun of him but voted to keep him in the competition and the other judge didn’t like Quatrele at all.

A transwoman in Philadelphia took umbrage when the driver of the trolley she was getting off of told her she had to pay for the ride. In a severe case of over reaction she pulled out a knife and stabbed the driver in the face. It’s not the first time she has gotten off that trolley without paying. Possibly the driver might not have just lodged a gentle protest when she did it this time. In any event, even if he called her bad names, impugned her gender status and ancestry, there is no excuse for stabbing someone in the face. A TWIT Award to the the transwoman described only as “the suspect” and minor TWIT Awards to some of the people who commented on the story at NBCPhiladelphia.com.

Back in March the Omaha City Council enacted an ordinance that banned discrimination against people for being LGBT. Now a group called the Omaha Liberty Project is campaigning to get people to sign a petition for a vote on repealing the ordinance. The executive director of the Omaha Liberty Group is a local Tea Party organizer. We thought the Tea Party was all about the national debt, not saying it’s okay for employers, labor groups, training programs and other organizations to discriminate. Omaha Liberty Project (is it the liberty to pick on LGBTs?) find a place on your mantle for your TWIT Award. The story is at Omaha.com.

A hearty and heartfelt TWIT Award goes out the to the crossdresser in New Zealand, who obviously hasn’t listened to our pleas to stop committing crimes in drag. This crook asked people for help and after getting assistance from his marks went on to rob them. People were nice to someone who was crossdressed and got repaid by having their wallets stolen. We’re not even mad at the Otago Daily Times for calling the perp a man. We can’t beat them up for improper pronouns when the perp is this much of a TWIT.

Tags: featured, news, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News