The Week In Transsexualism 2/4/13
Hunter
A TG lady from Kalamazoo, Michigan is a rising star in TG activism. Read about Amy Hunter and her fight for not just transgender equality but the equality of everyone at pridesource.com.
Portland, Oregon is said to be a pretty laid back, anything’s cool man, kind of place. A year or so ago a group of transgendered people known as the Rose City T-Girls were meeting up for fun at a local nightspot. One day, without any warning, they were told they weren’t welcome there anymore. Of course they complained loudly and their cries of outrage were heard by the Oregon Labor Commissioner which has now filed discrimination charges against the bar. Get the story at SFGate.com.
Ophelia
In the case of Kosilek vs. the Commonwealth of Massachusetts much was made of the fact that Kosilek is a convicted murderer. Conservatives who railed against her having her gender reassignment paid for by the state seemed to feel if you murder someone, you don’t deserve any kind treatment. Now another TG prisoner will get her day in court to fight to get her surgery paid for by the state. In this case it’s Virginia and no one seems to mention what the prisoner is doing time for. Read all about Ophelia Azriel De’lonta in the Business Insider.
In another step forward for TG rights Maryland’s Senate has introduced a bill banning discrimination based on gender identity and expression “with regard to employment, housing, credit and public accommodations.” Read all about it in The Capital Gazette.
Mercury in drag.
The lead singer of the band Queen, Freddy Mercury, owned a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow 74 that he was chauffeured around in from 1979 till his passing in 1991. ‘Benson, bring around the Rolls.’ In January an unidentified Russian businessman snapped up the car at auction for over $118,000. Why is this of interest to us? The Russian is a well known drag queen. Find out who she is and what she’s going to do with the auto in New Music Express.
Are you a black transman or transwoman? Or do you support all our TG brothers and sister of all races? If you can get down to Dallas in March there’s an event there that may be of interest to you. An organization called Black Transmen, Inc. is holding their Black Transgender Ball and Pageant. It’s happening March 15 during the organizations 2nd conference. They will be choosing Mr. Face of Black Transmen and Ms. Face of Black Transwomen. Get all the details at PR.com.
Grodzka
Last year we learned of the election of a transwoman to the parliament in Poland. Her name is Anna Grodzka and not only is she the only TG member of parliament in Poland, she’s the only TG MP in the whole world. Now her party wants to appoint her to a deputy speaker post. The conservative opposition would rather eliminate the post than see her accept it. Read about the kerfuffle at the Polskie Radio website.
It’s hard for some people to admit to themselves that they don’t fit in the gender they’ve been presenting as for their whole life. They believe that other things than gender dysphoria are what’s causing them discomfort and they fight to stay the way they are –for many reasons — the most pressing being that change is hard. Our Meet the Transsexual story today is about a lay minister who finally accepted that “he” was a she. Find out how things worked out with her wife and her congregation in The United Church Observer.
Vicki Marlane
The oldest, by some estimations, living drag performer in the U.S. passed away in 2011 at the age of 76. Vicki Marlane started doing drag shows in San Francisco in the 1950s. Now the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club in that city wants to honor her memory by having a section of Turk Street named after her. Read about it at sFist.com.
When life gives you lemons you squeeze them on your fish. Or something cliched like that. But the cliche applies in the case of a transsexual in Britain. She went to a housing group to seek aid in moving away from abusive neighbors. The housing group told her to push off, claiming being trans was a “lifestyle choice” and she could always change her lifestyle so the neighbors would stop hating. Find out how she handled the rejection and turned the lemons into a refreshing drink in The Northern Echo.
Last week we told you about the IKEA television ad in Thailand that had Thai TGs peeved. This week we can tell you about the apology that IKEA issued. Read the text of their apology in On Top Magazine.
Things can get murky when you present entertainment in which white people black up and portray black people. Is it art? Is it entertainment? Is it racist? Even the rather liberal town of Portland, Oregon had to deal with this dilemma. And it wasn’t just a white man portraying a black man on stage. It was a white man portraying a black woman. Learn how that worked out in The Portland Mercury.
Is it entertainment for Steven Tyler to do a “surprise appearance” in drag on American Idol? He did that on February 1 when he appeared on the show, supposedly without the judges knowing it was him, in bad drag for some antics that we can’t help thinking might be a bit provocative to the TG community. We’ve said Tyler looks like an old woman these days but putting him in a dress, oversize breasts and a long blond wig did not make him passable. Take a look at his appearance and decide if it’s just harmless fun or it’s a slap in the face of everyone who takes feminine expression seriously. And what’s up with that voice?
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Drag performer in Tunisia
One of our fundamental principles here at TGForum is that fundamentalism equals oppression. The latest minority to feel the oppression is the drag community in Tunisia. (That would make a good first name for a drag queen. Tunisia LeClaire?) The Muslim controlled political party got themselves elected in October of 2011 and since then they have been doing their darndest to punish homosexuals in that country. The drag community maintains that not every queen on the stage is a gay man but since most fundamentalists see a man in a dress and think “homosexual” there’s not much use talking to them about gender identity and sexual preferences. Hey, that’s why they’re fundamentalists. They keep it all black and white with no nuances. Read about the increasing pressure on queens in Tunisia at Tunisialive.net.
Alexander
Will crossdressers someday conquer the world? It already happened. Way back in 336 BC a young ruler from Greece took control of most of the ancient world. His name was Alexander the Great and for kicks he enjoyed dressing up like the Greek goddess Artemis. Of course that’s what Ephippus said and you know how that drama queen loved to pitch shade. Get the historic evidence about Alexander’s predilections in the Digital Journal.
If you were married to the momma of the Kardashians why would you ever want to get a divorce? Why wouldn’t you? But, the dish is that Bruce Jenner wants out of the marriage but he is a closet crossdresser and if he tries to get a divorce Kris Jenner will out him. Witnessing Bruce Jenner’s tragic attempt to look young through plastic surgery and his plucked to nothing eyebrows it’s easy to believe he could be a CD. But this stuff is in the tabloid rags so can we believe any of the story? Read the paragraph about the Jenner divorce rumor at The Star website.
TWITs
Well, we keep asking transgendered people to not commit crimes but it seems like our criminally minded sisters refuse to listen to us. Could it be they have no respect for authority? The latest lawbreaking TG is a pre-op TS from Jersey City who knocked a man out with a shovel, stripped him naked, handcuffed him and stole his money. Was she doing a little gardening when he happened along? Who has a shovel on them in Jersey City? Then she uploaded the video she made of the attack to her Facebook page. So the TWIT Award goes to Measha Logan for the shovel attack and then being proud enough of it to put it on FB and another TWIT Award goes to the British tabloid who played up the pre-op TS angle to add more sensationalism to the story. The paper is The Daily Mail.
Category: Transgender Community News
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
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I do have a problem with the state paying for trans surgery for inmates. One of the big issues in my life right now is money, or rather the lack of. The first thing going through my mind reading that is ” why does my wife have to live with a penis she doesn’t want and some murderer or rapist or whatever gets the surgery for free just for being a criminal? Should my wife go rape someone so she can be the woman she deserves to be?” It just seems wrong and backwards, the state should have a fund for trans people who haven’t committed a crime. If that person hadn’t gone to prison, who would be paying for the surgery so they don’t mutilate themselves? This isn’t about equal rights at all, I’m peeved because it seems more rights are given to criminals than law abiding trans! If any other inmate said they would mutilate themselves they would just be put on suicide watch. Just put her on a suicide watch and use the money to start a fund for law abiding trans to get the help they need!