[International] [Commentary]
trans law 101

While we now have books and court decisions on "transgender rights," maybe we need a bit of guidance on terms and issues. Here is an introduction on Trans Law 101 by Prof Douglas Sanders.

[Germany]
German judge faces a 'tough call' he-or-she sex-change decision

A German judge, who must decide on a damages claim by a German person who was surgically converted to a man, said Wednesday it would be a tough call to decide. The court was told the claimant, who looks male, was intersexual or "hermaphrodite, " a person born with a mixture of male and female physical features who is neither strictly a he nor a she.

[Press Release] The Organisation Intersex International expresses its solidarity with Christiane Völling

The Board Members of OII from various countries all over the world wish to express our solidarity with Christiane Völling, an intersexed woman from Germany who is suing a doctor for having surgically assigned her male without her consent.

[Canada]
Community invigorated by advocates

Excerpt: Pride Award winners Rupert Raj and Deb Parent were articulate and moving. Raj, a gender specialist, urged a re-education of "doctors and psychiatrists, priests and rabbis that transgender, transvestites and transsexuals are natural and normative on Mother Nature's continuum of gender diversity."

[Canada]
Move To Tighten Canadian Hate Laws For Transsexuals

An openly gay member of Canada's Parliament has introduced legislation to add gender identity and gender expression to the hate propaganda section of the Criminal Code.

[USA] [Commentary]
How I Made a Gender Transition on the Job

I had known I was transgender for more than a decade, but I was unsure whether I would be able to bring together my work life with who I knew myself to be. After three years of working as Ian, a male, at CNET News.com, would my co-workers and sources be able to accept me as Ina, a female? And how would readers and viewers react?

[USA] [Blog/Commentary]
Chronic Indifference: HIV/AIDS Services for Incarcerated Immigrants

Victoria Arellano -- the trans woman with HIV who died in July after being denied decent medical care in an immigration detention facility for men -- was not an anomaly. On Friday, Human Rights Watch released a 73-page report on treatment of immigrant detainees with HIV/AIDS.

[USA]
Jodie Foster comes out... finally

After guarding her private life fiercely for 15 years, Hollywood actress Jodie Foster has publicly acknowledged her lesbian partner.

[CA,USA]
A Revitalized Resource

Take a step into TRANS: THRIVE's drop-in center on the second floor of 815 Hyde Street, and it feels immediately like a home away from home, with couches, books, a shower and friendly people around every corner.

[DC,USA] [News/Commentary]
HIV/AIDS epidemic as bad in D.C. as Africa

HIV INFECTION rates for Washington, D.C., residents rank between those for the Republic of Congo and Rwanda. That's the horrifying calculation of a new study released by the District's HIV/AIDS Administration.

[OK,USA]
Sometimes You Can't Go Home Again

Homelessness among homosexual and transgendered teens is a problem under the radar for most

[IN,USA] [Press Release]
Lambda Legal Challenges Denial of Rights of Feminine Gay Male Student to Wear Dress to Prom

In court papers filed today in the Northern District Court of Indiana, Lambda Legal says that West Side High School violated Kevin "K.K." Logan's First Amendment rights when it barred him from his prom for wearing a dress.