The Week In Transgenderism 6/15/15

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Cox

Laverne Cox was in the news last week for a meeting she had with a very important member of the trans community. After an event Cox was confronted outside the exit by a little girl who introduced herself and announced that she, too, was trans. Get some tissues and read what happened next in People.

Trans attorney Shannon Minter has been appointed to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. The Commission interviews people who seek appointments as White House Fellows, who spend a year as paid assistants to senior White House staff. Minter is a well known attorney who, among other things, was the lead attorney on the Proposition 8 case. Learn more about his appointment in The Huffington Post.

Students at a Thai university are being reminded that they should look sharp. Wearing flip flops and leaving your shirt tail out is a no no. And the university doesn’t care if you’re a boy, a girl, or a ladyboy. They have fashion rules for everyone. Learn more about the acceptable attire on campus in The Huffington Post.

Where does fashion come from anyhow? What is it that makes people start adhering to certain types of clothing and accessories? If that question has ever bugged you you’re in luck. Our fashion maven Tasi Zuriack has written a piece on fashion pieces that changed the world. You can learn what they are on her Sister House website.

History keeps being made and the latest groundbreaking, history-making thing to happen in the trans world is the creation of the very first trans figure to find a place in Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. That’s right, the wax museum. Laverne Cox will be the first trans person to be immortalized in wax. Find out how she thinks about it in a report from Rueters in The New York Times.

Dr. Rachel Levine

Dr. Rachel Levine has been confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate as that state’s new physician-general. Levine will advise Governor Tom Wolf on medical and public health issues. It is interesting to note that the Senate approved her appointment in a 49-0 vote. There are many conservatives in the Pa. Senate and it’s an encouraging sign that they would all approve of a trans woman in this position. Read more in Yahoo News.

Since the dawn of time, or at least the dawn of schools, kids have looked forward to summer vacation when they  could get out of the musty halls academe and be free to have fun. For some trans kids who have been lucky enough to land in a school that’s accepting of their gender identity, or fluidity, the prospect of summer vacation looms as a negative time when they won’t have the daily support they get from their teachers and peers. Read all about it in The New York Times.

The University of Louisville School of Medicine is starting a program to train physicians in standard protocol for treating trans patients. Recognizing that the medical community and the nursing community have not been prepared to cope with trans patient’s needs the UofL School of Medicine will teach first and second year med students how to provide the best possible care to trans patients. Learn more on the WAVE3 website.

Slightly ahead of other medical facilities the Children’s Medical Center Dallas has been treating trans children for three years. It is the only pediatric clinic in the Southwest to specialize in helping trans youth and last month they officially instituted a program called Genecis — GENder Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support. Learn more about the program in the Miami Herald.

If you live in Israel and you are attacked because you’re gay or your racial background offends the attacker they can be prosecuted for committing a hate crime. If you’re trans and that’s why someone attacks you they can’t be charge with a hate crime. One lawmaker in the Likud party is hoping to change that with legislation he has introduced that would add gender identity protection to the current hate crimes legislation. Learn more in The Jerusalem Post.

Portrait by Sudo.

Japan has a tradition of crossing the gender border, first from Kabuki theater and lately in anime cartoons and manga comics. One photographer from Japan, Ayano Sudo, takes photos of herself in androgynous looks and uses other friends to portray gyaruo boys (“gal boys”) and “strong girls.” Learn more about her gender blurring art in The New York Times.

The American Medical Association has released a statement saying that there is no valid medical reason to bar trans people from serving in the U.S. military. Their membership of over 220,000 doctors voted in favor of the resolution, which also states that trans soldiers should be afforded the same standard of medical care as non-trans personnel. Learn more about it in The Military Times.

One problem with providing services to a certain population is knowing how many members it has. That is a major problem when public service providers and healthcare providers don’t have a clue about how many trans people are living within the general population. Without directly asking about gender identity in census surveys roundabout methods must be employed. Learn more about this problem in New York Magazine.

Featured on CNN.

Much of the criticism of Caitlyn Jenner is due to her celebrity status. Her detractors say she doesn’t represent the typical trans woman since she can afford any medical or cosmetic procedures and doesn’t have to put up with many of the problems encountered by lower income or poor trans people. To make the world aware of other people’s transition difficulties CNN has assembled some stories.

Portland, Oregon held its second Trans March on June 13. Around 2000 people turned out to parade in high heels, lace, jeans, sneakers and all manner of attire. The parade route culminated at Tom McCall Waterfront Park where the rest of the LGBTQ Pride Festival was underway. Learn more about the event on the Oregon Live website.

Co-marshal Zoey

The Los Angeles Pride Parade happened yesterday in West Hollywood and the grand marshals were the Rev. Troy Perry, the only survivor of the three person team that organized the first Pride Parade there in 1970, and teen trans activist Zoey. The “community grand marshals” where the cast and crew of Transparent. Read more about it in the North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch.

Here’s a knotty problem from the U.K. Manchester commuters have access to WiFi on the city’s trams but they have to fill out a form before they can log on. The form requires people to choose a gender or choose to not disclose their gender. In an effort to be inclusive the Metrolink form offers “male,” “female,” and “transgender,” as well as “prefer not to disclose.” The Manchester trans community is up in arms over what they see as an affront to trans people. In their eyes offering the transgender option implies that “trans people are neither male or female….” Read about it and let us know what you think in the comment section below. The story is on the LGBT Weekly website.

Another problem with the rise of awareness over trans issues is the lack of a simple etiquette guide cis people can use when interacting with trans folk. Sometimes when cis people try to be supportive and complimentary to trans people they end up putting their foot in their mouth and may not even realize it. Until an all inclusive Emily Post for the 21st century comes along people need posts like the this one featuring 10 Backhanded Compliments You Should Never Give Trans Folks.

Martine Delaney

If you’re fan of Looney Tunes you have heard that there is an animal called the Tasmanian Devil. (Of course it’s nothing like the cartoon Devil) It seems the real devil being fought in that land down under is opposition to securing the legal rights of transgender and intersex citizens. One trans rights activist is working hard to change laws that are harmful to trans people. Read about Martine Delaney’s efforts in The Examiner.

When people use scripture to denounce your trans “lifestyle” what do you say to defend yourself? Throwing rocks at them or hitting them just makes us look bad and since they’re already judging us we should try to have something better than that. A member of the University Baptist & Brethren Church in central Pennsylvania has some Bible verses you can counter Deuteronomy 22.5 with. You can find his opinion piece in the Centre Daily Times.

TWITs

Actress Susan Sarandon in a recent appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s television network said that she is excited by the “fluidity of genders” in today’s society and she hope gender stereotypes will become a thing of the past. The story is on several websites. Get the basic facts at the Contact Music website then take a look at essentially the same story wrapped in conservative right wing wrapper on the NewsBusters website which is dedicated to “Exposing & Combatting Liberal Media Bias.” TWIT Award to NewsBusters. Re-writing a story with some snarky comments is not journalism.

It is amazing, to me at least, that often times people involved in the creative arts, such as science fiction and fantasy writing, or comic book art and writing, can be among the most close-minded people. An example of this is a recent online conversation conducted by X-Men and Fantastic 4 writer and artist John Byrne with his fans. It happened on Byrne’s website Byrne Robotics. The thread was sparked by Caityn Jenner’s transition announcement. In the course of the back and forth Byrne compared being trans to being a pedophile. TWIT Award! Learn more about Byrne’s decidedly conservative, regressive attitude on The Mary Sue website.

The good news out of Canada is that a couple of weeks ago Ontario banned anti-transgender reparative therapy. The bad news is those who promote such therapy have gone on the offensive trying to convince people through the media that being trans is a “lifestyle choice” and it can be “cured.” Is it a coincidence that those saying trans people can be cured are the same people who make money out of providing such cures? And the actors in this story are all familiar names from the anti-trans movement. TWIT Awards are hereby passed out to all of the pro-TG reparative therapy crowd. Read all about it on the Boing Boing website.

Gender identity issues can certainly complicate things. Especially when a couple is going through a divorce and their kindergartner age son has a fluid gender expression. A Burlington, Ontario Children’s Aid Society removed the child from the mother’s custody after the father complained that his son was just a “normal kid” and the mother was making him dress like a girl. To reinforce his opinion the father had burned all of the child’s girl clothes and said that the child had requested that course of action. After the smoke settled and a children’s gender expert was able to evaluate the child it was determined that he exhibited both male and female characteristics. We interpret that to mean he’s probably a 5-year-old crossdresser. The court ordered that the parents go back to sharing custody and that neither parent was to push the child toward one gender or the other. We’re giving a TWIT Award to the father since he seems to be the one acting out is aggression the most. Burning the kid’s dresses? Read all the details in The Star.

Students in the in Montgomery County, Maryland pressed the district schools to with to single-color robes for graduation ceremonies after four students in the district were barred from wearing the color robe that conformed to their gender identities. It seems like a commonsense plan that would save parents money as robes could be passed down to children of either gender. But just because it makes sense don’t expect it to be applauded by Fox News. Their Fox & Friends morning show labelled the idea a plot by the “P.C. Police.” Another TWIT Award for Fox. At this rate they’ll need a large storage unit to house them all. Read about it on the Media Matters website.

Tags: Ayano Sudo, Caitlyn Jenner, Dr. Rachel Levine, featured, Laverne Cox, Martine Delaney, news, Shannon Minter, Susan Sarandon, Transgender, Zoey

Category: Transgender Community News