[Cinema]
Trinta anos depois do primeiro filme da série - ‘Alien’ vai voltar em prequela
Não é provável que Sigourney Weaver vá participar na prequela de ‘Alien’ – embora a actriz tenha já manifestado o seu desejo de regressar. Mas é certo e sabido que, 30 anos depois do filme com que Ridley Scott iniciou uma das sagas mais rentáveis da história do cinema, o ‘bichinho’ vai voltar e agora vamos ficar a conhecer as origens de uma espécie tão mortífera.

[UK] [PR]
UK Trans Survey on Domestic Violence - Closes 1st Sept

[Turkey]
Amnesty International Report: No Improvements in Turkey Including LGBT Issues
In its annual report, Amnesty International cites in Turkey discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity persisted, as did allegations of violence by law enforcement officials against transgender people.

[Philippines] [Commentary]
When She Becomes A He (On Why It Was Granted)
Several months ago we printed an article concerning the failed attempt of a male petitioner to change the entry of his name and sex from male to female in order to reflect the result of a sex reassignment surgery. The Supreme Court in the case Rommel Jacinto Dantes Silverio vs. Republic, G.R. No. 174689, October 22, 2007, held that there is no such special law in the Philippines governing sex reassignment and its effects. It was emphasized that under the Civil Register Law, a birth certificate is a historical record of the facts as they existed at the time of birth. Thus, the sex of a person is determined at birth, visually done by the birth attendant (the physician or midwife) by examining the genitals of the infant. Considering that there is no law legally recognizing sex reassignment, the determination of a person's sex made at the time of his or her birth, if not attended by error, is immutable. The words “male” and “female” in everyday understanding do not include persons who have undergone sex reassignment. Furthermore, “words that are employed in a statute which had at the time a well-known meaning are presumed to have been used in that sense unless the context compels to the contrary.” Since the statutory language of the Civil Register Law was enacted in the early 1900s and remains unchanged, it cannot be argued that the term “sex” as used then is something alterable through surgery or something that allows a post-operative male-to-female transsexual to be included in the category “female.”

[Australia]
Change of direction, new love
RACHEL and Kimberley Rae say they owe their lives to Dr Trudy Kennedy and the gender dysphoria clinic she worked at. Theirs is an unlikely love story.
Born male, they both longed to be female, knowing from the age of five they weren't like other little boys. In adulthood the decision to "stop living a lie" brought them together.

[USA] [Blog/Commentary]
Stop Sexualizing Us!
For decades, the general public, and especially the media, have had a lurid fascination with trans people’s bodies and sexualities. From talk shows like Jerry Springer, to reality shows like There’s Something About Miriam, novels like Myra Breckinridge, and the countless movies that portray trans women almost exclusively as either sex workers, sexual predators and sexual deviants. This hypersexualization of transgenderism predominantly targets trans women and others on the trans feminine spectrum—because in a world where women are routinely objectified, and where a woman’s worth is often judged based on her sexual appeal, it is no surprise that many people presume that those of us who were assigned a male sex at birth, but who identify as women and/or dress in a feminine manner, must do so for primarily sexual reasons.

[IL, USA]
Alexandra Billings named Grand Marshal for Chicago Pride Parade
Excerpt: This year's parade commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion where gays, lesbians, bisexuals and especially the transgender community fought back at a police raid. "It is especially fitting that Alexandra, a transgender woman, be Grand Marshal," said parade organizers.

[USA] [News/Commentary]
The absence of trans men in pornography
A few months ago some friends and I ventured into Good Vibrations in the Mission on a quest for some good porn. I was interested in seeing some “straight” FtM porn—i.e. a movie with a trans man having sex with a woman—but to my chagrin there wasn’t much of that genre to be found. Why not?
There seems to be a plethora of porn with trans women (MtF) and cis-men, often referred to as Shemale Porn, where straight men get “tricked.” Porn star, Wendy Williams talked to San Francisco Bay Guardian about her fanbase being largely made up of straight men and why she believes there’s a lack of FtM porn out there—commenting that FtMs still have “a female brain” while she still has a “male brain”—this is problematic to me on many levels and I do not agree with her in the slightest. In Julia Serano’s book Whipping Girl she suggests that trans men are less visible because they pose a threat to cisexual men. I can’t help but wonder if this is really why trans men are rarely seen in porn—especially “straight” porn.