[Spain]
Protesting transsexual found dead in Sevilla

Firemen in Sevilla have found the body of a transsexual in the city murdered in her home. F.P. was in the process of changing sex from a man to a woman and had been demonstrating almost every day outside the courts in Sevilla claiming a 'police mafia' in the city. The protest consisted of F.P. always wearing the same white skirt, and a t-shirt with messages against the police.

[China/Thailand]
Television programme calls transgender people "human monsters"

Television watchdogs were investigating after transgender people were described as "human monsters" in a Chinese language television programme, a media report said Sunday.

[Thailand]
Thai teens seeking sex changes grapple with new rules

Valee Pancharoen watched her son transform as he became a teenager, first painting his nails, then wearing a wig and, finally, the dresses he had been wearing for years but hiding from his parents.

[Malaysia]
M'sian activist: Transgender lot needs help as they can't get jobs

The Government's offer of welfare aid to homosexuals should be extended to the Mak Nyah (transgender) instead.

Pink Triangle Foundation programme director Raymond Tai said most homosexuals were "well-to-do" as they were employed just like "normal people" and would only face discrimination if they were open about their status.

[USA] [Blog/Commentary]
Gender-change Surgery: medical care or cosmetic surgery?
Tip of the hat to Paul Caron's TaxProf blog for pointing out the AP story on an upcoming Tax Court case to determine the validity of the IRS position that sex-change surgery is a choice, like cosmetic surgery, rather than a deductible medical expense like psychiatric care or diabetes treatment.

[USA] [News/Religion]
'Uncensored Bible' - And Now For Something Different

Most believers would say the Bible is the Word of God, or at least a divinely inspired book written by divinely inspired men.

But what if the Bible had been mistranslated, or censored to remove the tawdry bits about pimps, cross-dressers or a, ahem, Brazilian wax as punishment?

That's what biblical scholars John Kaltner and Stephen L. McKenzie of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., were wondering, and they set out to investigate a handful of unorthodox interpretations of Old Testament tales.

[HI,USA]
File describes slaying and suspect’s capture

Witnesses were key in foiling the escape of the suspect in a fatal stabbing in Makiki Thursday evening, court documents show. Prosecutors charged Joel Chris Allen, of Nuuanu, yesterday with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of 35-year-old Jason Namauu of Maui.