[Brasil]

Atriz global é transexual em Se Nada Mais Der Certo, que estreia nesta sexta
O filme "Se nada mais der certo", de José Eduardo Belmonte, estreia nesta sexta, 14, mostrando um trio de jovens envolvidos em um série de golpes. Um dos personagens é Marcim, transexual underground interpretado por Caroline Abras (foto), atualmente no ar na novela "Paraíso" na pele de Jacira.

[España]
La familia de un menor pide a un juez que pueda cambiar de sexo

Desde pequeño se sentía una niña atrapada en un cuerpo de niño. Hoy está decidido: quiere ser mujer; y sus padres le apoyan. Es el caso de un joven barcelonés de 16 años que podría convertirse en el primer menor sometido a una operación de cambio de sexo en España. El chico lleva ya varios años en tratamiento psiquiátrico y sometido a terapia hormonal.

[Germany]
Hermaphrodite wins damage claim over removal of reproductive organs
A surgeon was ordered to pay 100,000 euros (141,500 dollars) in compensation on Wednesday for performing an operation converting a hermaphrodite into a man without consent more than 30 years ago.

[Islandia]

Uno de cada cuatro habitantes de Islandia participó en la marcha del Orgullo LGTB de Reikiavik
Alrededor de 80.000 personas participaron el sábado en la marcha del Orgullo LGTB de Reikiavik, la capital de Islandia, caracterizada por un colorido ambiente festivo y una destacada participación de personas LGTB junto a sus familias y amigos. Cifra significativa si tenemos en cuenta que el país cuenta con unos 320.000 habitantes.

[Pakistan]
Eunuchs hope for benefits after registration
Khushdil Khan alias Firdaus — a eunuch who visited the school for the visually handicapped in Nanakpura to provide his details to social welfare officials — is hopeful that the recently started registration process will help him seek a respectable place in the society.

[Malaysia] [Blog/People/Commentary]
Hermaphrodite or not, does it matter?

There has been so many unfortunate events and death this year. MJ, Farah Fawcett and our very own local Yasmin Ahmad. All of the deaths makes me realize that Death with be delivered to your doorsteps and you will die without fail if you are meant to die. It does not matter if you’re young or old-when it’s time for you to go, you’ll go. I suppose, what matters most is living your life to the fullest, making your own history and legacy so that you will not be forgotten when you die.

[Indonesia]
RIGHTS-ASIA: Transgenders Assert Identity At AIDS Meet
"There has been so much confusion going around transgenders. We are not MSMs [men who have sex with men] and don’t lump us under the transvestite [category either] because we have different needs," declared Kartini Slemeh at the 9th International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) here.

[Canada] [Commentary]
Lu's women-born-women policy
If someone opened up a posh health centre in a poor neighbourhood, I’d be wary but hopeful.
If they installed heavy security to keep out queers, I’d be angry.
But if someone tried to tell me this fusion of gentrification and rigid gender roles was “feminism in action,” I’d look around for Sacha Baron Cohen because clearly this would be the next sequel to Borat and Brüno.

[Canada]
Prisoner demands free sex-change operation from Corrections Canada
A female inmate serving time in a B.C. men's prison is demanding Corrections Canada approve her sex-change operation -- and pay for it.

[Canada]
Residents stand down on tranny stroll
At the behest of Toronto police and the 519 Community Centre, residents who live around Homewood Ave and Maitland Pl — near Toronto’s bustling tranny hooker stroll — have agreed to stop late-night street protests against the sex workers who ply their trade in the neighbourhood.

[Canada]
Over half a million revel in the heat of Pride
“I guess Mother Nature was a drag queen and she’s looking down on us today because it is absolutely beautiful out here,” drag entertainer Symone said. “I think it’s our biggest Pride ever! The floats were amazing and people have been so receptive,” she added.
(Janet Rerecich photo - The Dykes on Bikes roared their way into the hearts of the many-person deep crowds lining West End streets for Vancouver's 31st annual Pride parade. Over half a million people are estimated to have thronged the parade route.)

[Canada] [Film/Events]
Queer film festival a celebration of diversity
To paraphrase a popular saying, sometimes you can judge a guide by its cover.
In the case of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival Guide, the hot-pink cover emblazoned with a rainbow-striped ice pop really does communicate the festival's diversity. It also sets a fun, slightly naughty tone from the start.

[USA]
Employment Gay-Rights Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, was introduced in the U.S. Senate on Aug. 5.

[USA] [Blog/Commentary]
Should the State Have to Pay for a Trans Inmate's Hair Removal Procedures?
Michelle Kosilek is currently serving a life sentence for murder. Prison time, it turns out, really gets in the way of moving ahead with your MTF transitioning plans.

[USA] [Blog/Commentary]
How I Found Out I Was Sexist

I wrote this piece for On the Issues magazine, and it's since been picked up by Bilerico and by AlterNet, so I thought I'd post it here, too.

It's been a surprise to find out what a sexist I really am. I've been calling myself a feminist for two decades, and surely was one for the two decades before that.

I'm a woman who found myself with a female husband - the man I married is trans and currently transitioning to living as female in the world. She has been doing so socially for some time and only now has decided to make it official with a name change and all the legal ballyhoo. I've been surprised by a lot of aspects of this process, not least of which is our relationship surviving it.

[CA, USA]
Sparks switches city roles
Having resigned this week from the city's Police Commission due to her becoming executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, Theresa Sparks is switching roles from being an outsider at City Hall to being part of Mayor Gavin Newsom's administration.
At 5:30 p.m. last Friday August 7, Newsom swore in Sparks, 60, to her new job, which pays $167,596 a year. She is believed to be the city's first transgender department head.
(Photo: Rick Gerharter - Theresa Sparks is the city's new HRC executive director.)

[MO,USA]
Woman pleads to pre-sex change charge
A lawyer says he will seek probation for a St. Louis-area woman who admitted possessing a hand grenade back when she was still a man.
Rachel Amratiel pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges of possession of an unregistered live grenade stemming from a 2007 domestic dispute that took place prior to her sex change.

[AR, USA]
They loved Lucie
At the center of a tabloid-style news story was a daughter and friend.
There are some things we need to get out of the way, up front.
First: When she died on July 11, Lucie Hamilton was a woman, but not in the biological sense. 
A little over twenty years ago, she was born as a little boy named David. At age 10 or 11, David came out to his mother as gay. Sometime between junior and senior high school, he told her that he believed he was transgender — essentially a girl trapped in a boy's skin — and that he wanted to live his life someday as a woman.
(Photo: Lucie - Karen Thompson (center) surrounded by photos of her child.)

[Venezuela]
Grupos gays exigiran sus derechos en Venezuela

Este jueves, once colectivos que promueven la diversidad sexual marcharan hasta a la Asamblea Nacional de Venezuela, en Caracas, para pedir "el reconocimiento pleno de nuestros derechos a la igualdad, equidad y libertad, sin excusas, sin retardos, en todas las leyes venezolanas".

[Argentina]
Grave denuncia de gays y travestis del penal de Marcos Paz

Una carta colectiva con un desesperado pedido de ayuda salió del penal de Marcos Paz con destino al centro de denuncias del INADI, que coordina Alba Rueda, la primera transexual en ser reconocida por el Estado como empleada publica.