[USA/UK]
Sex-change republican wants cost of surgery written off

A US-based Irish republican who underwent a sex change should be allowed to include the operation as a medical expense on tax returns, her lawyer has argued before a Boston court.

Trans tax trial concludes

The United States Tax Court resumed hearing testimony Aug. 23 in Rhiannon O'Donnabhain's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for denying her a medical deduction for the cost of her sex reassignment surgery. The IRS's expert witness, forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, testified that he does not believe Gender Identity Disorder (GID) meets the medical definition of a disease and that IRS regulations only permit medical deductions for treatments related to diseases or injuries; he argued that taking a medical deduction for sex reassignment surgery to treat GID violates IRS regulations. Dietz defined a disease as a pathology that has a biological basis.

[NC,USA]
Private School Keeps Transgender Teacher On Staff

For 12-years a band and music teacher named Leslie Webster has taught at the Duke School for Children - a private kindergarten through eighth grade school near the Duke University campus. Now Ms. Webster has become Mr. Webster and at least one parent of 9-year-old is very concerned.

Parent Doesn't Want Children to Learn of Teacher's Sex Change

A teacher at a Durham private school underwent a sex change over the summer, sparking a debate among school administrators and at least one parent over how to approach the issue in class.

[USA]
Onetime JonBenet murder suspect began gender transition

The former suspect in the 1996 murder of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey told the Bay Area Reporter that he had sought gender reassignment surgery, not because of any driving desire to become a woman, but to help him avoid capture by police.

[TX,USA]
Victim's kin split at hearing for ex-cop in 'Starlight' case

The attempt to secure a new trial and possible freedom for a former San Antonio police officer serving 24 years for forcing sex on a transsexual in 2005 took another strange turn Wednesday, with what the judge called the "family troubles" of the victim's clan on full display in federal court.

Former Officer Convicted of Rape Wants New Trial

A former police officer sent to prison for raping a transsexual wants a new trial. The ex-cop says he was set up. The transsexual, who goes by the name, Starlight, told San Antonio police that she was picked up at a bus stop, raped, and beaten by Officer Dean Gutierrez.

[NC, USA]
Transgender student leaves Craven dorm

A transgender student who is awaiting sexual reassignment surgery and was temporarily granted access to a female restroom while living in a male wing of Craven Quadrangle relocated Monday, officials confirmed.

[WI,USA]
Wisc. Trans Inmate Case Narrowed

A federal judge in Wisconsin has rejected an attempt to expand an existing suit challenging a new state law that forbids providing hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery for transgendered inmates at government expense.

[FL,USA]
Teen gets probation for beating transsexual

The teen who severely beat a pre-operative transsexual on Palm Beach after he discovered she was a man from the waist down was sentenced to probation Thursday.