This Week in Transgenderism 5/04/09

Police in the U.K. getting first hand experience working with transgendered individuals. A brutal double murder in the Caribbean. The case against keeping job discrimination legal. Cash money for the TS who sued the Library of Congress, and won. A hospital director puts roadblocks around SRS at his facility. A review of the first 100 days of the Obama administration, queer-eye style. And what’s this? No TWIT of the Week?!? You should all be proud of yourselves. Much more other news in this edition of TWIT Notes.

The money probably isn’t important, except as a symbol of her victory. However, Diane Schroer has been awarded nearly $500,000 in her sex discrimination suit against the Library of Congress. PinkNewsUK has details.

New Hampshire’s Senate blew it. They voted unanimously against adding transgender to the list of groups you can’t legally discriminate against. The Union Leader has more.

Where’s the T? In Nevada, they’re getting ready to outlaw discrimination against gays and lesbians, but for some reason, they don’t want to touch the trans-issue. The Las Vegas Sun has it covered.

California lawmakers are focusing on protecting TGs behind bars. They’ve got a bill in the works to clarify housing rules for trans-inmates. The story is in the Mercury News.World Net Daily seems to think educators in California are recruiting kids to the GLBT “lifestyle.” If so, where are all the toaster ovens going?

Hot fuzz, indeed! Scotland has it’s first openly transsexual police cadet. The Daily Mail says Jan Hamilton was a decorated paratrooper, and brings her military experience to law enforcement.

Meanwhile, WalesOnline says Welch police are working with a TS to train officers on how to treat the trans-people they meet, how to recognize and combat trans-phobic violence.

There is a career option for transgendered Thais that doesn’t include performing on stage, or in the bedroom. However it involves celibacy. Ideally, anyway. But now, Buddhist monks will have to act a little more monk-like, according to the BBC.

A columnist at Q-notes says if job discrimination against transgenders were outlawed, only outlaws would prostitute themselves.We’re wondering why we’re not getting invited to these events. We just missed the Transgender Empowerment Day too. Read about it at PrideSource.This week’s “what is a drag show” story comes to us courtesy of the Daily Item.

One of this week’s “meet the transsexual” story is found in the Chicago Tribune. The other is at the London Student. And it’s first person, too.Canadians are not taking the elimination of SRS funding, and the overall lack of human rights lying down. Victoria Stuart has written a piece at Straight, directed at the straight reader, but it’s worth you reading too.

The fight continues in Kenya, where a hospital’s medical director has been denying surgeries for TS, under the excuse that “their parents may sue”. All Africa has more, and more importantly, the response.Many people in the GLBT community got upset when a Miss USA contestant said she didn’t like same-sex marriage. Well, now, pictures have surfaced showing Miss California partying with Amanda Lepore. US Magazine has more.

During the campaign, Barack Obama promised new policies and improved communication with the entire GLBT community. How’s he done in the first 100 days? The Philadelphia Gay News has a report card.Religious leaders descended upon the nation’s capital last week to talk about trans-inclusive hate crimes bills. Were they for it, or against it? Only the Bay Times knows.In the City of Brotherly Love, an organist at a local church is openly T. And she tells Philadelphia Weekly, it wasn’t easy to get to either place in life.

A brutal, double homicide in the Dominican Republic. Not many details, but still a story not for the weak of heart at On Top.Despite the murder of Angie Zapata, or perhaps because of the conviction of Allen Andrade, the trans-population in Colorado is optimistic about the future. They tell the Denver Post why things are looking up.Who didn’t see this coming? The so-called Craigslist Killer may have tried to pick up t-girls online. Metro Weekly has more.

The Tyra Banks Show is looking for Kim Kardashian look-alikes. Rules and entry information all online at Celebuzz.And don’t delay! RuPaul’s Drag Race is casting for her second season. Those details are at Entertainment Weekly.

The Boston Globe has this week’s GLBT film festival, including several TG themed flicks.The rules of femininity have been re-written, and it’s going to be awfully difficult to get them back to where they were. So says a columnist at The Hartford Courant.

And on stage in Malaysia, a spectacle of a show, but it lacks much of a story. Read the review at the New Straits Times.On stage in London, An Apple a Day features a TS prostitute. But the reviewer at the Journal Online says they really dive into the characterization.

The Vancouver Courier says later this month, there’s a big drag show to benefit HIV/AIDS charities.

Category: Transgender Community News