[UK]
What will hate crime legislation mean for you?
New legislation that will protect queer people in Scotland will pass into law next month, making Scotland the first country in Europe to implement hate crime law which covers transphobic hate crime.

[Belgium] [Science/Medicine]
Glottoplasty for Male-to-Female Transsexualism: Voice Results
Objectives
The aim of this study was to evaluate the objective voice results of Wendler's glottoplasty in male-to-female transsexuals(...)
Conclusion
Wendler's glottoplasty can contribute to feminize the voice.

[Turkey]
Turkey urged to prevent attacks on trans people
Human rights activists have called on Turkey to do more to prevent violence against trans people.
According to Human Rights Watch, eight trans people have been murdered in Istanbul and Ankara since November 2008 and two trans women have been killed this month.
Activists urge Turkey to protect trans citizens
[Commentary] Government says no gays in our families

[Uganda] [Blog/Commentary]
The Ugandan Death Bill
See previous posts on the subject. Under section 18, being Transsexual is a "related offence" too.

[Pakistán]
Tras fallo histórico de Corte personas transexuales Pakistán comienzan ingresar en trabajos
Vestida de mujer y con un aro en la nariz, Shahzadi se acomoda el velo sobre su cabeza mientras ingresa al Consejo del Cantón de Clifton, una oficina estatal de Pakistán que la contrató tras un fallo histórico de la Corte Suprema de Justicia que reconoció la igualdad ante la ley de las personas transgénero y/o transexuales.

[Thailand]
Over 100 Arrested
On February 25, 2010 at 1a.m, Pattaya Police plus Police volunteers went to wipe out a group of lay boys and illegal prostitutes along Pattaya beach. The operation was made to create safety to tourists and also to protect and reduce the crime scene.
There are many complaints from foreign tourists that a group of lady boys and prostitutes offered sexual service along to tourists along the beach without any fear of law and this cause bad image to tourism of Pattaya. After their sexual service had been purchased, some of those plied their customers with sleeping pills or anesthetic and then making a robbery. For lady boys most of them liked to pickpocket tourists and cause nuisance to tourists.

[Japan]
Saitama public school board conducts Japan's first survey of transgendered students
More than 10 children in Saitama Prefecture's public schools have Gender Identity Disorder, a recent survey of students in primary school through high school revealed Thursday.

[Japan]
Gender Identity Disorder girl allowed to attend school as boy
A teenager diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) has been allowed to attend her school as a boy from April.
The 13-year-old girl, who has felt uncomfortable with her gender since around 2 years old, will attend her public junior high school in Kagoshima as a boy from the new school year.

[Australia] [Arts/Dance]
The Arts Centre Presents Shanghai Beauty
Chinese dancer Jin Xing is no stranger to big audiences. Recognised as China's number one dancer and the director of the first independent dance group in China, she has danced her way across Asia, America and Europe.

[Australia]
Sydney Mardi Gras to showcase history
Excerpt: For the first time a transsexual - model and performer Amanda Lepore - will lead the parade.

[USA]
Baby Dee (1953 - ) musician
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Baby Dee started as a street musician in New York while studying Gregorian chant and Renaissance music. On teachers advice Dee learned to play organ and got a job in a church. However Dee felt a need to stop pretending to be a man, and transitioned to female. However she found this emotionally devastating as she was a constant object of staring and commentary. She left the church work and returned to street performance, and emphasized her appearance to give people something to look at. She worked in side shows on Coney Island as a bilateral hermaphrodite, and in circuses. She also played a harp while riding a tricycle through downtown Manhattan in a catsuit. (Photo)

[USA]
Prodigal Sons -- Film Review
Homegrown documentaries dealing with gender issues and family dysfunction by now are a dime a dozen, but Kimberly Reed's "Prodigal Sons" is definitely unique. Depicting the transgender woman filmmaker's return to her Montana hometown for her 20th high school reunion, the film delivers a midway narrative revelation so unexpected and bizarre that one is tempted to doubt its veracity.
“Prodigal Sons’” Kim Reed: From Footballer to Female Filmmaker
Film Review: Prodigal Sons
Kimberly Reed: Golden Boy Makes Good

[CA, USA]
Police search for suspects in hate crime pipe attack
The San Francisco Police Department released images and information Friday in an effort to identify two suspects in a Jan. 31, 2010 attack that authorities are describing as a hate-crime assault on a transgender female and a male friend.

[CT, USA]
Transgender filmmaker brings her story to CCSU
How does a mother handle it when her son says he’d rather be her daughter? How does a wife react when her husband wants to be a woman?
Vancouver filmmaker Gwen Haworth — born Steven Haworth — addressed those questions in her documentary film “She’s a Boy I Knew,” screened Wednesday night at Central Connecticut State University.

[IL, USA]
Federal Housing Agency Studies Discrimination Against LGBT Communities
The federal housing department is on a nationwide tour as it prepares to do its first-ever study on housing discrimination against gays and lesbians. Chicago is the first stop.

[KY, USA]
Supporters of fairness bills rally in Capitol
A rally in the Capitol rotunda on Wednesday called for an end to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Kentuckians.

[ME, USA]
Transgender guidelines stir controversy
A draft of guidelines from the Maine Human Rights Commission that would inform schools and colleges of the rights of transgender students in Maine has sparked some debate about possible unintended consequences the guidelines could have on University of Maine athletics.

[NJ, USA]
Transsexual snared in West New York's drive against prostitution, sparked by community complaints
Coy S. Gordon expected it to be a normal night of work - a transsexual sex romp with a "john" for anywhere from $100 to $180. But Gordon got more than she bargained for one night last week.
Gordon, 42, was arrested by a West New York undercover cop.

[TX, USA]
DART asked to add trans protections
LGBT leaders also call for investigation of agency’s involvement in employee’s gender-marker case.

[TX/USA]
San Antonio police officer charged with sexually assaulting transgender man
A San Antonio Police officer was arrested and is accused of sexually assaulting a transgender man.
The man claims officer Craig Nash picked him just south of Downtown early Thursday morning, handcuffed him, and told him to lay down in the back seat of a patrol car. He told investigators Nash then drove to a nearby location, un-handcuffed him, and sexually assaulted him.
SAPD cop accused in rape of man

[Guyana] [Blog/Commentary]
Cross-dressing in Guyana: Is the Supreme Court Courageous?
In recent times, it seems that those occasions when a 40th anniversary is celebrated, that as a milestone event, it has taken on a greater significance beyond, as the saying goes, “life begins at 40.” The Indian High Court ruled in its landmark decision in June 2009 that being homosexual is not a crime and that the law, Section 337, imposed by the British in 1861 during colonial rule, was itself antithetical to the Indian Constitution. Around the world, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community was celebrating and commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which occurred in Greenwich Village in New York City.
[Letters to the Editor] Nothing ‘historic’ about cross-dressing motion

[Colombia]
Prejuicios contra la diversidad sexual todavía persisten en Medellín
A pesar de las políticas públicas y los esfuerzos de las autoridades el reproche social contra la comunidad LGBT continúa.
"La discriminación con la población LGBT es permanente. Por ejemplo, nosotros no podemos donar sangre. Cómo es posible que en una carencia permanente de plasma, nosotros no podamos contribuir con ello", dice Juan Guillermo Ospina, comunicador social, diseñador gráfico y defensor incansable por el respeto de su comunidad.

[Venezuela]
Defensoría del Pueblo prometió atender demandas de asociaciones civiles sexodiversas
La defensora del pueblo, Gabriela Ramírez, realizó una mesa de trabajo con representantes de asociaciones civiles sexodiversas, integradas por miembros de la comunidad de gays, lesbianas, transexuales y bisexuales (LGBT) del país.

[Chile]
Distribuyen afiches contra las minorías sexuales en Puerto Montt
En el centro de la ciudad, evangélicos difunden carteles donde sostienen que la promoción del respeto a la diversidad sexual llevará a los jóvenes a un “”despeñadero”, por ser la homosexualidad y la transexualidad “indignas formas de vida y una desviación”. Estudiantes de Puerto Montt expresaron preocupación al Movilh.
"Transexualidad y homosexualidad son indignas, desviación y zoofilias": ladran evangélicos de Chile
Movimiento homosexual de Chile denuncia campaña contra minorías sexuales en Puerto Montt

Comunicado de imprensa 24-02-2010

PANTERAS ROSA - FRENTE DE COMBATE À LESBIGAYTRANSFOBIA

Quatro anos depois do assassinato da transsexual Gisberta Salce Júnior
Tudo na mesma.

Completam-se amanhã quatro anos desde que foi encontrado o corpo de Gisberta, transsexual, toxicodependente, seropositiva, prostituta e imigrante brasileira, que sucumbiu a três dias de tortura e sevícias sexuais e posterior afogamento, ao ser lançada a um poço por um bando de rapazes no Porto. Ficou até hoje na memória colectiva um crime que "chocou o País". E, no entanto, parece não ser verdade: um país chocado, é um País que reage e previne. E não foi assim.

O problema está em que o referido "choque" não se estendeu à perda de uma vida, à exclusão social extrema em que esta vítima mortal estava encurralada, e sobre a qual, um ano depois, praticamente nenhuma intervenção teve lugar, e nada de concreto se alterou. O País pode acertar os relógios e continuar a contar os dias até à próxima Gisberta, talvez menos mediática mas nem por isso menos certa, como comprovou o assassinato, e posterior abadono num contentor de lixo, dois anos depois, de uma mulher transexual, desta vez em Lisboa, um caso ainda hoje por solucionar.

Quatro anos depois, a protecção legal de pessoas como Gisberta continua inexistente, e as condições de marginalização de grande parte da população transsexual continuam intocadas porque os decisores políticos e o Estado continuam a fugir às suas responsabilidades. Reivindicações como:

- a inclusão da proibição de discriminação em função da Identidade de Género no artigo 13º da CRP

- uma Lei de Identidade de Género que permita às pessoas trans alterar os seus documentos de acordo com o género assumido, melhorando amplamente as suas oportunidades de acesso ao emprego

- a retirada da transexualidade da lista de doenças mentais sem perda do direito à comparticipaçã o estatal e aos tratamentos no Sistema Nacional de Saúde, à semelhança do que acaba de ser aprovado em França...

, são direitos básicos que continuam sem eco junto dos partidos políticos

Por outro lado, num país campeão da violência sobre menores, o sistema de "guarda e protecção de menores" continua sem medidas de reforma para que seja mais do que um armazém de crianças e jovens, das quais metade entregues a instituições religiosas, sem contexto emocional ou educativo e onde se misturam crianças protegidas das suas famílias com outras institucionalizadas por cometerem crimes.

Nada se fez para limitar o impacto da exclusão social da maioria da população transsexual. A primeira violência de que esta é vítima, é institucional e legal.

Numa altura em que se o país ainda debate o casamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo, lembremos que em Portugal ainda estamos na fase de debater medidas que poderiam significar a diferença entre a vida e a morte.

E, no entanto, mesmo que prejudicados/ as pela inacção dos responsáveis políticos, e pelo preconceito e pela violência, não somos vítimas, mas sim pessoas, que exigem plenos direitos e o direito a uma vida digna - o direito a viver - e não admitem esperar pelos ritmos lentos da mudança de mentalidades na classe política para exigir o respeito pelos Direitos Humanos para todos e todas.

PANTERAS ROSA - FRENTE DE COMBATE À LESBIGAYTRANSFOBIA
www.panterasrosa. com
www.panterasrosa. blogspot. com

[Portugal]
Gisberta/assassinato: Quatro anos depois protecção legal "continua inexistente" - Panteras Rosa
Quatro anos depois do assassinato da transsexual Gisberta Salce Júnior está "tudo na mesma" e a protecção legal "continua inexistente", denuncia a associação Panteras Rosa.
Em comunicado, as Panteras Rosa-Frente de Combate à Lesbigaytransfobia referem que "um ano depois" do crime "praticamente nenhuma intervenção teve lugar, e nada de concreto se alterou".
Quatro anos depois protecção legal "continua inexistente"
Transexual assassinada há 4 anos: «Está tudo na mesma»
Transexual assassinada há 4 anos: «Está tudo na mesma»
Quatro anos depois de homicídio de Gisberta, protecção legal "continua inexistente"


Quatro anos depois de Gisberta, transexual feminina assassinada no Porto depois de ter sido torturada barbaramente durante três dias, e dois anos depois de Luna, transexual feminina assassinada e abandonada num contentor de lixo em Lisboa, as marcas do tempo deixam a sua marca.

Salvo por um comunicado de imprensa emitido pelas Panteras Rosa, o esquecimento por estes dois casos é flagrante, tanto pela parte das associações e/ou grupos, como pelos partidos políticos, e pela comunidade transexual portuguesa (in)existente.

Da parte das associações, nada de anormal este tipo de atitudes. A transexualidade continua a ser considerada como "bastarda", sendo que as reivindicações da comunidade ou são ignoradas ou são mescladas com certas teorias queer que pouco ou nada têm a ver com os integrantes da comunidade (in)existente.

Da parte dos partidos, excluindo os dominados pela igreja católica, temos um PS, claramente centro-direita mas afirmando-se de esquerda (em relação aos que se situam à sua direita, diria eu) que no seu programa de governo com que ganhou as últimas eleições, fala na situação da identidade de género de um modo geral, não especificando nada de concreto, o que implica que qualquer coisa cabe lá dentro. Não se tendo manifestado na altura, mantém a mesma postura, ou seja, o vazio.

Da parte do PCP, idem, nada fez e nada faz.

Do Bloco de Esquerda já é diferente. O que mais mencionou o caso na altura, o que promoveu uma audição parlamentar sobre a transexualidade, quando da recente visita de Carla Antonelli a Portugal e de ter sido recebida pelos deputados Miguel Vale de Almeida (PS) e José Soeiro (BE), fez saber pelo seu dirigente Francisco Louçã que uma lei de identidade de género não era uma prioridade do BE, ao contrário, por exemplo, do casamento entre pessoas do mesmo sexo.

E porquê esta comparação? Porque, ao contrário de Gisberta e de Luna que foram assassinadas por serem quem eram (claramente no caso de Gisberta, mais duvidoso no caso de Luna, mas até ao momento sem informação em contrário), não se conhecem nenhuns casos de pessoas homossexuais que tenham sido assassinadas por não poderem casar.

Mais, também não se conhece nenhum caso de nenhuma pessoa homossexual que se tenha suicidado por não se poder casar, enquanto que pessoas transexuais que se suicidam por o serem são inúmeros os casos (mesmo em Portugal em que estes casos são camuflados, não os associando à transexualidade).

Curiosa esta posição do Bloco. Na minha opinião pessoal, somente o poder dos votos pode servir como desculpa.

Quanto à comunidade, que dizer? Fiz uma proposta para se fazer uma acção de homenagem a Gisberta e a Luna ao GRIT, em que apresentei ideoas de acções e onde desafiei os integrantes para apresentarem outras propostas, outras ideias, sensivelmente há um mês atrás. Uma resposta obtive, sem nada de concreto.

Apresentei ao mesmo GRIT outra iniciativa para que se debatessem as propostas existentes e se unificasse tudo numa única proposta de lei de identidade de género comum a toda a comunidade. Além de uma disponibilidade de quem se encontra presentemente à frente para o fazer, nada foi feito, nada foi opinado, nada foi dito.

O GRIT, além de encontros lúdicos entre transexuais realizados uma vez por mês, onde se partilham vivências, e de iniciativas como a do debate de 11 de Fevereiro, onde se tentou demonstrar que a comunidade (in)existente em Portugal é maioritariamente composta por invisiveis (claro que não se baseando em nenhum estudo existente porque simplesmente NÃO EXISTE) e que a maioria não se interessa por activismo. Se bem que não concorde em absoluto com a primeira opinião, a segunda tenho de concordar com ela.

E eu pergunto-me que pensariam Gisberta e Luna por pertencerem a uma comunidade que as renega, uma comunidade em que pessoas envergonhadas por serem quem são, como se a transexualidade fosse um crime ou uma ofensa tal que as pessoas se escondem como ratos a fugirem de gatos? Gisberta e Luna, que se assumiram e com tenacidade e intrepidez, enfrentando cara a cara as adversidades que a vida e a transfobia lhes ofereceu?

Gisberta e Luna, além de serem transexuais, eram trabalhadoras do sexo. Não por escolha própria, mas porque, por serem transexuais, lhes foram negadas as hipóteses de poderem ter outro tipo de trabalho. Ou se prostituíam, ou faziam shows de travestismo, ou eram protagonistas de strips. Ou tudo junto. A sociedade, sempre tão lesta em criticar e apontar, ao mesmo tempo forçou estas mulheres a este tipo de vida. Sou a favor das trabalhadoras do sexo desde que por decisão própria. mas por exclusão, sou contra.

Nunca me prostotuí. E no entanto sinto-me muito mais próxima destas duas vítimas do que das outras pessoas transexuais que se sentem incomodadas por sempre se ter associado a transexualidade à prostituição (korror) mas que nada fazem para demonstrar que uma pessoa transexual é tão válida como outra pessoa qualquer.

Como cantou Sérgio Godinho há muitos anos atrás "Mais vale ser um cão raivoso..."
E tinha razão. Como homenagem final a estas duas vítimas, além da que iniciei há uns tempos atrás no meu Facebook no album de fotos "Memórias" que visa não só estas duas mas todas as vítimas de que tiver conhecimento, fica aqui a letra desta música que tão bem explana o que é ser-se assumida, activista e, no fundo, ser-se humana

Mais vale ser um cão raivoso
do que um carneiro
a dizer que sim ao pastor
o dia inteiro
e a dar-lhe de lã e da carne e da vida
e do traseiro
mais vale ser diferente do carneiro
um cão raivoso que sabe onde ferra
olhos atentos e patas na terra.

Viva o cão raivoso
tem o pelo eriçado
seu dente é guloso
e o seu faro ajustado
Cão raivoso, cão raivoso, cuidado.

Mais vale ser um cão raivoso
que um caranguejo
que avança e recua e depois
solta um bocejo
e que quando fala só se houve a garganta
no gargarejo
mais vale não ser como o caranguejo
um cão raivoso que sabe onde ferra
olhos atentos e patas na terra.

Viva o cão raivoso
tem o pelo eriçado
seu dente é guloso
e o seu faro ajustado
Cão raivoso, cão raivoso, cuidado.

Mais vale ser um cão raivoso
que uma sardinha
metida, entalada na lata
educadinha
pronta a ser comida, engolida, digerida
e cagadinha
Mais vale ser diferente da sardinha
um cão raivoso que sabe onde ferra
ferra fascistas e chama-lhe um figo
olhos atentos e patas na terra.

Viva o cão raivoso
tem o pelo eriçado
seu dente é guloso
e o seu faro ajustado
Cão raivoso, cão raivoso, cuidado.

Mais vale ser um cão raivoso
dentes à mostra
estar sempre pronto a morder
e a dar resposta
a toda e qualquer podridão escondida
dentro da crosta
dentro da crosta das belas ideias
gato escondido de rabo de fora
dentro da crosta das belas ideias
gato escondido de rabo de fora.

[Ireland] [News/Health/Science]
Estrogen protects against cardiovascular disease
UCD researchers led by Conway Fellow, Professor Therese Kinsella have shown that estrogen can protect against cardiovascular disease by impacting the levels of a key protein called prostacyclin receptor. The findings are published today in the Journal of Molecular Biology.

[Sweden]
Swedish church group offers choice of three genders
Sensus, a Swedish church-backed study association, has adopted a new policy to allow prospective employees to classify their gender in three ways: Female, Male or Other.

[Pakistan]
Transgenders Make Their Presence Felt at the Workplace
Dressed in women’s attire and a nose-pin errantly positioned on one nostril, 38-year-old Shahzadi adjusts her ‘dupatta’ (scarf) over her head as she enters the office of Cantonment Board Clifton, a provincial government bureau that recently hired her.
(Photo: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS - Riffi Khan(left)and community leader Bindya Rana (right) enjoying a light moment.)

[Thailand]
Everything you always wanted to know about sex... changes
A Bangkok sexual reassignment surgeon shares the graphic details behind these complex procedures

[Singapore]
'I was not his lover'
He stayed the night on several occasions between 2007 and 2008, and he slept in the same bed as Mr Abdul Khalid Othman. But Astro Jakaria, who is accused of murdering the transvestite, insisted yesterday in court that he was not the latter's lover.

[New Zealand/Australia]
Aroha honour sees Carmen visit NZ again
Trans-Tasman transgender legend Carmen Rupe is to visit New Zealand again – this time to pick up the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the Aroha Festival.

[Australia]
Sydney Mardi Gras photo exhibition on transgender people opens
YOU can find out more about drag queens in a free photographic exhibition, Take A Drag, at Sydney's Seymour Centre.
Photographer Cynthia Sciberra's collection of portraits taken in Bali from 2005-2009 is an intimate, colourful and theatrical photographic exhibition.
(Photo: Hero by photographer Cynthia Sciberra)

[Canada]
Cops nab transgendered parolee in connection with robbery
Police say a transgendered person out on parole is in custody after a suspect described as “a man dressed up as a woman,” held up a Revelstoke, B.C. bank.

[USA]
Gay Discrimination Bill Will Stifle Free Speech, Advance 'Homosexual Agenda,' Critics Say
A bill in Congress that would prohibit discrimination in public schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity could stifle free speech and even lead to "homosexual indoctrination" in the nation's classrooms, critics say.

[USA]
Transsexual Lesbian Takes Hollywood!
Prodigal Sons is just another documentary by a transsexual lesbian from Helena, Montana, who's working out delayed issues with her adopted brother, a bitter but sometimes appealing guy who flies into rages because of an old head injury but calms down on learning that his grandparents were movie legends Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth.
Prodigal Sons opens (Photo: Kimberly Reed)

[USA]
Heroes, Pioneers and Trailblazers 2010 Honoree: Sandra Usi Ramirez
They make a difference in our lives. Some are well-known activists in San Diego's LGBT community and others are working tirelessly outside the spotlight.
Ten key players in the LGBT community will be honored Feb. 26 at a Heroes, Pioneers and Trailblazers gala at The Center that is sponsored by Lambda Archives of San Diego (LASD).
In the days leading up to the gala, SDGLN will profile each of these individuals and provide our readers with an inside peak at what this award means to each honoree.
(Photo: Sandra Ramirez)

[IL, USA]
Surviving as a Hemingway
Excerpt: Gloria Hemingway, a transgender woman, died in 2001 at a detention center in Florida, facing charges for indecent exposure. Gregory Hemingway, a doctor, had been married four times and was the father of eight. He had undergone sex reassignment surgery at age 64, six years before he died of heart disease.

[MO, USA]
MSSU students protest language of harassment policy
Students are protesting at Missouri Southern State University demanding more rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender peers.

[Guyana]
Seis mujeres transexuales reclaman ante la Corte Suprema de Guyana poder vestir de acuerdo a su identidad de género
Un grupo de seis mujeres transexuales de Guyana han solicitado a la Corte Suprema del país que acabe con la prohibición de vestir de acuerdo a su verdadera identidad de género. Las mujeres fueron detenidas hace ahora un año por vestir como tales cuando su sexo “legal” es masculino. “Fue una de las experiencias más humillantes de mi vida”, cuenta una de ellas.
Guyana Group Fights Transphobic Laws
Call to end cross-dressing ban
Transgender Group Seeks End to Guyana Dress Code Laws
Exigen a Guyana que derogue Ley que penaliza a transexuales por vestir acorde a su genero

[Argentina]
Centros de Salud de Santa Fe, Argentina, deberán de respetar nombres de transexuales
La norma establece que los trabajadores de los hospitales y centros de salud deben designar a las personas travestis y transexuales que asistan como pacientes por el nombre que ellas elijan.

[España]
Todo lo no dicho sobre asesinato de Roberto, hombre transexual "Brandon Teena español"
Hay cosas que dan vergüenza ajena, y a veces hasta propia. La agonía y martirio que sufrió Roberto hasta su muerte, es muy difícil de plasmar en palabras. Javier V. -Fundador del Colectivo El Hombre Transexual de Madrid- ha querido redactar para el Diario Digital Transexual a modo de homenaje y denuncia publica, lo que fue la vida y hasta angustia final de este hombre transexual. Sin duda alguna el "Brandon Teena español". No necesitamos irnos a Estados Unidos para tener referencias de las barbaries en crímenes de odio. Tenemos un referente español en una mujer transexual, el desgraciado caso de Sonia Rescalvo, en Barcelona, que cada año recordamos.

[España]
Nueva novela Sánchez Vidal profundiza en las vicisitudes de un hermafrodita
En la obra, Sánchez Vidal reconstruye de una forma narrativa una historia, perfectamente documentada, que transcurre hacia 1587, al final del reinado de Felipe II y que gracias al proceso inquisitorial abierto contra el protagonista se conserva en el Archivo Histórico Nacional.
Sánchez Vidal apela al Humanismo como el gran motor de la dignidad

[UK]
School skirts may violate equality
Making girls wear skirts as part of their school uniform is “potentially unlawful”, equality bureaucrats have said.
[Commentary] Gymslip hysteria shows the age of satire is dead

[Francia]
Una transexual, primera mujer en formar parte de la principal organización masónica francesa
Interesante entrevista la que publica hoy el diario Público a Olivia Chaumont, la primera mujer en formar parte de la principal organización masónica de Francia, el Gran Oriente de Francia (GODF), hasta ahora vetada a las mujeres. Chaumont, de hecho, ingresó oficialmente con hombre. Sin embargo es una mujer transexual, y tras su proceso de reasignación la organización ha decidido mantenerla como miembro.
"¡Soy una hermana entre 50.000 hermanos!"
Una mujer transexual ingresa por primera vez en 250 años en el Grupo Mason de Francia

[Macedonia]
Macedonian Parliament Debates Proposed Anti-Gay Discrimination Law with Euro MP
Ulrike Lunacek, the MEP who is co-president of the European Parliament’s all-party ‘Intergroup’ for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, today told Macedonian politicians that there was no opting-out from fundamental human rights as Macedonia continues the process of accession to the European Union

[Africa]
Religion, politics and Africa's homophobia
Since a Ugandan MP proposed the death penalty for some gay people, homophobia has been on the rise in other parts of Africa.
Earlier this month, US President Barack Obama's criticism of the Ugandan proposals led to huge anti-gay rallies in neighbouring Kenya.

[Guyana]
Transgender Men Seek End to Guyana Dress Code Laws
A group of transgender men in Guyana have asked the country's Supreme Court to strike down laws that leave them open to arrest following a police crackdown on male cross-dressers.
Historic constitutional motion filed against cross-dressing law
Marking World Day of Social Justice, Transgender citizens, supported by SASOD, move to the courts to challenge Guyana’s law against ‘cross-dressing’

[Malawi]
El Tribunal Constitucional de Malawi rechaza hacerse cargo del caso de la pareja encarcelada por celebrar una boda
Malas noticias para Steven Monjenza y Tiwonge Chimbalanga, la joven pareja que está siendo juzgada en Malawi bajo la acusación de homosexualidad. El Tribunal Constitucional del país ha rechazado la posibilidad de pronunciarse sobre el caso, cuya sentencia se conocerá el próximo 22 de marzo. Los dos jóvenes, que fueron detenidos a finales de diciembre tras celebrar una ceremonia tradicional de boda, se enfrentan a una posible pena de 14 años de cárcel.
Malawi court dismisses gay couple's appeal case

[Pakistan]
Plea seeking sex-change permission dismissed
The Lahore High Court Monday dismissed the petition of a man who wanted permission for undergoing surgery to change his sex from male to female.
Petitioner Sami Saleem, 30, pleaded he was suffering from gender identity disorder and doctors had suggested him a sex-change operation in order to become a woman.

[China]
20-year-old man eager for sex change: 'Even if I die from it'
With brown-dyed hair, miniskirt, black silk stockings and tender voice, a 20-year-old Jiangxi man Liu Jun is always considered as a girl. He said he is eager for sex change surgery but still can’t pay for it.
“I've known for years I'm a woman - I think and act like a woman, not a man. I want to accept sex change surgery and be a complete woman; even if I die on the operating table.” Liu Jun told Xiamen news media.
(Photo: The 20-year-old Jiangxi man Liu Jun in Xiamen)

[Indonesia]
Gay, transvestite couple chosen as AIDS envoys
A gay man and a transvestite were chosen as envoys for AIDS treatment in Bali during a contest organized by Gaya Dewata Foundation on Saturday.
Surya Tan and Ella Wasabi were crowned as the Raka and Rai couple during the contest, in which 12 couples of gay men and transvestites competed.

[Australia/Germany] [News/Film]
Australian films win Berlin plaudits
An australian short film about a cross-dressing boy who wins a holiday resort beauty competition won the Crystal Bear for best short film in the Berlin Film Festival's children's section, Generation K-plus. A jury of children described Hannah Hilliard's Franswa Sharl as ''non-stop fun … for a moment we forgot the world around us''.
(Photo: Callan McAuliffe in a scene from Hannah Hilliard's Franswa Sharl.)

[Australia] [News/Film]
The Brisbane Queer Film Festival
Proving that all the best festivals have longevity, the 11th Annual Brisbane Queer Film Festival steps confidently into its second decade this year, bringing you the most incredible selection of queer films and documentaries from around the globe this April.
(Photo: Legendary drag queen Candy Darling in the film Women in Revolt.)
From the Brisbane Queer Film Festival website ...

DOCUMENTARIES

--
Prodigal Sons
Sun 11 Apr 10

Documentary

A unique story that confronts issues of sibling rivalry, nature versus nurture, and self-reinvention, Prodigal Sons shows that transformation can happen when you least expect it.

Marc feels cheated by life. Adopted as an infant, he was held back in preschool, didn’t graduate from high school, and suffered a head injury at age 21. In contrast, his sister Kim’s life always seemed easy: high school class president, valedictorian, voted most likely to succeed—not to mention captain of the football team. Maybe it wasn’t so easy: Kim also used to be Marc’s younger brother.

This sibling bond is the fascinating heart of this documentary, which chronicles a year in the life of their family and travels from Montana to Croatia, from high school reunion to jail cell.

They are orbited by a colourful, articulate cast, including prison chaplains, rugged farmers, and intrigued classmates. Carol, the resilient mother who accepts her children’s surprises with grace and optimism, provides a strong backbone for the family.

Official Selection Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2009
Official Selection Outfest, The 27th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film
Festival 2009

Director Kimberly Reed
Country USA
Year 2008
Duration 86mins

Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling
Sat 17 Apr 10

Documentary

He dreamed of being a Hollywood star…what she became was a legend.

This marvellous tribute to a brief, extraordinary life shows how Candy Darling, iconic and glamorous Warhol Superstar, went from suburban Long Island roots to starring in Warhol Factory films and inspiring the classic Lou Reed song Walk on the Wild Side.

In this in-depth homage, Candy is immortalised in rare archival footage, while Julie Newmar, Tennessee Williams and John Waters share insights and divulge classic Candy moments. Candy’s dearest friend Jeremiah Newton's continued devotion to her drives this documentary, which serves as a love letter to Candy and her unrealised dreams. Thirty years after she’s gone, this film brings Candy’s world back to us.

World Premiere 60th Berlin International Film Festival 2010

Director James Rasin
Country USA
Year 2009
Duration 82mins

The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela
Sun 18 Apr 10

Documentary/Drama

A ‘lady-boy’ blessed with extraordinary beauty and grace, Raquela Rios heads from the streets of the Philippines to the world of the Internet.

Raquela makes her living by walking the streets and serving a clientele with exotic tastes. However this self-proclaimed queen dreams of bigger and better things. So when she’s recruited to join the lucrative world of Internet porn, Raquela dives in headfirst.

As Raquela’s online popularity skyrockets, she’s soon off living a life of odd adventures and finally fulfills a lifelong dream to see Paris. And once the site’s New York-based owner takes a shine to her and visits her in the City of Light, Raquela may even find true love.

Part fact and part fairytale, this dazzling docudrama blends gritty verite and fictional flights of fancy to chronicle this truly transtastic character’s life.

English, Icelandic, Cebuano and Thai with subtitles

Winner Teddy Award for Best Feature Film, Berlin International Film
Festival 2008
Official Selection Vancover Queer Film Festival 2010

Director Olaf de Fleur Johannesson
Country Iceland and Philippines
Year 2007
Duration 80mins

[Australia] [Blog/Science/Commentary]
Another Part of the Puzzle
Disorders of sex development expose transcriptional autonomy of genetic sex and androgen-programmed hormonal sex in human blood leukocytes. by Holterhus PM, Bebermeier JH, Werner R, Demeter J, Richter-Unruh A, Cario G, Appari M, Siebert R, Riepe F, Brooks JD, Hiort O. BMC Genomics. 2009 Jul 1;10:292.

[Canada] [Blog/Commentary]
Karen Selick: The human rights set-up
One of the most preposterous cases in the field of so-called human rights law in recent years has quietly evaporated into the ether, leaving a relieved but nevertheless injured victim.
The victim is John Fulton, owner of the Downtown Health Club for Women in St. Catharines, Ont. In 2006, an individual dressed as a woman visited the club and applied for membership. The person then told Fulton, “I’m really a guy” — a man planning to have a sex-change operation.

[USA]
Withers: A new trans ‘zine enters the market
The media world is melting faster than a witch soaked in water, but it doesn’t mean their isn’t a market for the tried and true. Remember back in the day when ‘zines were sold and mailed everywhere? Those heady times have returned with Original Plumbing. Amos Mac, the publication’s editor-in-chief, says OP’s aim is “to shoot true diversity in the FTM community; in size, age, body, surgery, hormone use and non use, because it is our belief that surgery and hormones don’t necessarily make the man.” After the jump there are photos of models in OP’s winter edition (it’s all about hair), and an interview with Mac (pictured above). Go to the site and give it some love. You’ll have a good time.


[USA] [Blog/Television]
Dr. Oz Introduces Daytime Audiences to Blossoming, Confident Transgender Kids
Most of Oprah's proteges annoy us, particularly those that rhyme with Fockter Dill. Now, Dr. Oz just might be on that list, but last week he introduced living room Americans to a little word called "transgender," and in a not terribly exploitative way! Even when dealing with transgender kids!

[MA, USA]
Transgender group, restaurant agree to mediation
Members of a local transgender social club and Capone's Italian American restaurant last night agreed to attempt to resolve their differences before a mediator.

[NJ, USA]
Suit claims police harassed transgender Newarker
A transgender Newark resident has filed a lawsuit that alleges harassment by police officers.
Transgender woman sues N.J. police department for harassment

[Puerto Rico]
La comunidad gay se muestra satisfecha por el juicio por el brutal asesinato de un joven homosexual
La comunidad gay puertorriqueña está satisfecha por el inicio el próximo marzo del juicio contra el presunto asesino del joven homosexual Jorge Steven López, cuyo cuerpo fue decapitado y descuartizado el pasado noviembre.
Causa para juicio por asesinato en primer grado por la muerte de Jorge Steven López

[Latin America]
Derechos gays en Latinoamérica: ¿Realidad o espejismo?
Nueva legislación en Argentina y México alienta a la comunidad GLBTI de Latinoamérica a creer que la reivindicación de sus derechos civiles está por hacerse realidad en el subcontinente.

[Peru]
Gays y trabajadoras sexuales se reúnen en Iquitos
Líderes y activistas de la comunidad lébisca, gay, trans, bisexuales y trabajadoras sexuales de tres regiones amazónicas se reunirán en Iquitos para analizar temas referidos a los principales obstáculos y oportunidades que se presentan en el marco de la lucha por el respeto a sus derechos.

Press Release: World Day of Social Justice

Marking World Day of Social Justice, Transgender citizens, supported by SASOD, move to the courts to challenge Guyana’s law against ‘cross-dressing’

Long misunderstood and seen as legitimate targets for discrimination and abuse, transgender citizens used the occasion of the international commemoration of World Day of Social Justice to file a motion against Guyana’s law criminalizing ‘cross-dressing.’ On Friday, February 19, 2010, the notice of motion was filed before the Supreme Court of Judicature for redress claiming, among other relief, to have section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:02, invalidated as irrational, discriminatory, undemocratic, contrary to the rule of law and unconstitutional. The law makes an offence of “being a man, in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose, appears in female attire, or being a woman, in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose, appears in male attire.”

February 20, 2010, marks the second annual commemoration of World Day of Social Justice, which recognizes, in the words of United Nations General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/62/10), that “social development and social justice cannot be attained… in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.” In his message to mark the day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon explained that “social justice is based on the values of fairness, equality, respect for diversity, access to social protection, and the application of human rights in all spheres of life.”

The day was chosen to address an act of social injustice against one of Guyana’s most marginalised social groups which took place last year. Transgender persons refer to people whose gender identity and/or expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth, including cross-dressers, female or male impersonators, pre-operative, post-operative or non-operative transsexuals. Trans people may define themselves as female-to-male (FtM, assigned a female biological sex at birth but who have a predominantly male gender identity) or male-to-female (MtF, assigned a male biological sex at birth but who have a predominantly female gender identity); others consider themselves as falling outside binary concepts of gender or sex.

In a series of crackdowns last year between February 6 and 7, the Guyana police arrested a number of male-to-female transgender persons (MtF Trans) and charged them for ‘cross-dressing’ under the archaic Colonial section 153(1)(xlvii) statute. Unrepresented and completely unaware of their rights, the defendants were detained in police custody over the week-end and then hustled through the legal system. When they appeared before Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson on February 9, 2009, they were further ridiculed and told that they are men not women, before being fined by the learned Chief Magistrate. Seon Clarke, also known as Falatama, one of the persons arrested, said: “It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I felt like I was less than human.” The motion also pleads that the Chief Magistrate was improperly influenced by irrelevant considerations, discriminated against the MtF Trans on the basis of religion, and violated a fundamental norm of Guyana as a secular state. Vigorous and wide-ranging calls within and out of Guyana for the repeal of these discriminatory laws which facilitate such injustices have been ignored by the government.

Since then, SASOD has forged partnerships with human rights interests in the local and regional arenas who have been working collectively and consistently on a voluntary basis over the past year to assist this marginalized group to obtain access to justice for the atrocities endured at the instance of the law enforcement authorities. The 2009 ‘cross-dressing’ crackdowns and prosecutions provided clear illustrations of how discriminatory laws are facilitating grave human rights’ abuses, in spite of the existence of an entrenched regime of human rights protection in the Guyana constitution. Leading the research initiatives to support strategic-impact, human-rights litigation in the region, Tracy Robinson of the University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project (U-RAP) based at the Cave Hill campus’ law faculty in Barbados described the arrests and prosecutions as “an unfortunate embodiment of the patriarchal use of coercive state power for no clear or rational purpose,” highlighting the need for law reform to ensure social justice and gender equity in Guyana and across the region.

SASOD has mobilized support from local and regional human rights attorneys to provide representation in what amounts to a ground-breaking constitutional case. According to Dr. Arif Bulkan, also of U-RAP and one of Guyanese attorneys involved in the litigation, “unless the wide-ranging constitutional reforms conducted in 2001 and 2003 are to be dismissed as pure window-dressing, then the emphasis placed on non-discrimination during that process should guide the High Court to interpret the expanded equality rights generously in order to protect one of our society’s most marginalised groups.”

Veronica Cenac, a St. Lucian attorney who serves as the human rights focal point on the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition board of governors, lauded SASOD for spearheading the case. “For way too long, we have allowed abuses against the most affected populations to go unchallenged,” she said, quoting the closing words of the UN Secretary-General’s message: “Lack of social justice anywhere is an affront to us all.”

[UK]
Man pleads not guilty to murder of trans woman
Leo Fyle, 21, of Laleham Road, Catford, appeared via videolink at the Old Bailey today to plead not guilty to Ms Lauren's murder on November 5th 2009.
Man pleads not guilty to murder of Destiny Lauren in Kentish Town

[UK]
Schools should not force girls to wear skirts - it discriminates against transsexuals, warns watchdog
Schools which force girls to wear skirts may be breaking the law - because the policy apparently discriminates against transsexuals.
Official guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission says the dress code may breach the rights of girls who feel compelled to live as boys.
Harriet Harman plays down skirt ban in schools
Harperson's plan to ban school skirts
Minister plays down schools ban on skirts
Statement: new trans guidance for public authorities does not ban skirts

[France]
Kiss-in contre l’homophobie: aucun incident à Saint-Michel, des lesbiennes et des trans’ agressé-e-s à Notre-Dame
Tout s’est bien passé… ou presque. Près de la fontaine Saint-Michel, plusieurs dizaines de personnes se sont rassemblées ce dimanche 14 février à 14h, à l’appel des organisateurs du kiss-in contre l’homophobie et on a pu voir une bonne trentaine de couples s’embrasser. Les militants extrémistes catholiques, qui avaient menacé de s’en prendre à celles et ceux qui s’embrasseraient – même après l’annulation du kiss-in devant Notre-Dame – ne se sont pas montrés
Violences LGBTphobes sur le parvis de Notre Dame, l’Inter-LGBT appelle les pouvoirs publics à la fermeté

[Itália]
Mujer transexual cantante soprano consigue entrar famoso conservatorio después de lucha
Cuando la mujer transexual, Emily De Salvo, foto, fue a una audición a una de las escuelas de música más prestigiosas de Italia, ésta fue rechazada porque el director no sabía si ponerlo entre los registros masculinos o femeninos.

[Turkey]
Finals of the Turkish pressers
For Immediate Release

Turkey: Stop Violence Against Transgender People
Multiple Murders Highlight Inadequate State Protection

(Ankara, February 22, 2010) – The recent murders of two transgender women in Turkey highlight an ongoing pattern of violence and the urgent need for stronger protection measures by the government, four Turkish and international human rights organizations said today in a letter to Turkish authorities.

The groups called on Turkey to remedy the conditions that place transgender people at risk from acts of violence by enacting anti-discrimination protections, instituting programs to combat prejudice and hatred, and repealing laws that provide an opportunity for police to harass stigmatized groups. The letter was sent by Pembe Hayat “Pink Life,” Human Rights Watch, the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe), and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).

“Protecting people and preventing violence means more than investigating after the fact,” said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch. “Without meaningful government action to affirm their rights and ensure their safety, transgender people in Turkey will continue to live in fear.”

Since November 2008, at least eight transgender people have been murdered in Istanbul and Ankara. The most recent killing was of a transgender woman called Aycan Yener on Feburary 16, 2010, in the Fatih area of Istanbul. Yener, whose legal given name was Feyzi, was killed in her apartment. Her throat was slit, and she was stabbed 17 times. Assailants also stabbed her roommate, Seyhan Özmemiş, 32, who survived. According to Turkish media, witnesses reportedly observed three people fleeing the scene, but no one has been arrested.

On February 8, Derya Y., a 35-year-old transgender woman, was killed in her home in the Altındağ district of Antalya. Police found Derya Y. in her bedroom with her throat cut and multiple knife stab wounds to her face and body.

The targeted killings of transgender women are part of a broader pattern of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Turkey. According to Turkish media, the police found 56-year-old Şinasi Halimoğlu, a gay man, dead on his bed on January 28 with multiple knife wounds to his back and neck.

In the wake of the killings, the police have made efforts to investigate and resolve these crimes. In two of the earlier cases, suspects were caught and prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison, and in two other cases suspects are in pre-trial detention. The remaining murders are being investigated. However, little has been done to protect LGBT people in Turkey, especially transgender people, from future acts of violence, the groups said.

In the letter, the organizations recommended:

Enacting anti-discrimination legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity as a legal protection;
Disaggregate statistics on violence figures that show violence against LGBT people; and
Instituting consistent communication between the police and LGBT rights groups.

“All citizens of Turkey, including transgender citizens, are entitled to live without fear of murder or persecution,” said Hossein Alizadeh, coordinator of IGLHRC’s Middle East and North Africa program. “The homophobic killings need to stop, and for this we need the Turkish government to take concrete action to protect transgender people.”

European bodies have called on Turkey, a member of the Council of Europe, and on other states to protect LGBT people from violence. The European Union, to which Turkey is seeking admission, adopted a progress report this month, reminding the Turkish government of the need to safeguard all minorities, including LGBT people. Similarly, in 2009, the commissioner for human rights in the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, urged all member States to enact legislation that would protect transgender people from attacks and violence.

“The Turkish government should stop ignoring demands by Pembe Hayat and other LGBT’s in Turkey to take measures to stop ongoing transgender killings,” said Kemal Ördek, member of Pink Life. “The Constitution and the Penal Code need to guarantee equality and non-discrimination. The Government in turn needs to stop hate murders against transgender people and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Human rights groups like Pembe Hayat have documented a long history of police abuse in Turkey, as well as violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity by state and private actors. In 2008, Human Rights Watch issued reports on violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and on police violence, including harassment and abuse against transgender people in Istanbul.

ILGA-Europe will visit Turkey in April to assess Turkey’s compliance with its European and international human rights obligations toward LGBT people and to document the violence, discrimination, and other obstacles they face in Turkey. The organization has asked the authorities to discuss proposed measures to address the human rights concerns of the Turkish LGBT population.

“Turkey is witnessing ongoing violence and hate against LGBT people,” said Silvan Agius, ILGA-Europe’s senior policy officer responsible for transgender equality. “The Turkish government’s response needs to address the problems at their roots by tackling the severe stigma against LGBT people, social exclusion and poverty on the one hand, and the culture of gender stereotypes that is driving the violence and hate on the other.”

For more information, please contact:
In Ankara, Kemal Ördek, Pembe Hayat LGBTT Solidarity Association (Turkish, English):
+90-554-465-57-29
In Brussels, Juris Lavrikovs, the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Trans and Intersex Association (English, Russian, Latvian): +32-2-609-54-16
In New York, Juliana Cano Nieto, Human Rights Watch (English, Spanish): +1-212-216-1233
In New York, Hossein Alizadeh, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (English, Persian): +1-212-430-6016
Rights groups slam murders of transsexuals

[Guyana]
Transgender men seek end to Guyana dress code laws
A group of transgender men in Guyana have asked the country's Supreme Court to strike down laws that leave them open to arrest following a police crackdown on male cross-dressers.

[Malawi]

Malawi couple denied trial in constitutional court

Two gay men in Malawi have been denied the chance to have their case heard in a constitutional court.

[Uganda]
Ugandan UUs oppose anti-homosexuality bill
Unitarian Universalists mobilize opposition to legislation that could make homosexuality a capital crime.

[India]
Transgender beauty pageant concludes in Mumbai
In a unique beauty contest in Mumbai, eighteen transgendered models walked the ramp at the grand finale of India’s first transgender beauty pageant.
The contest titled, ‘Super Queen’ was organised by Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi, a known transgendered person and activist.
The auditions for the contest took place in 10 cities.
Mujeres transexuales de la India celebran su primer concurso nacional de belleza (Foto)

[Indonesia]
Gay Pageant Held in Bali
At the Raka Rai Contest held in Sanur, Bali, Surya won the Raka title from the gay group while Ella Agatha was chosen as the rai from the Rai group.
The participants were motivated to join the competition because they wanted to lift the position of their groups among the society and empower them so they would no longer be considered the refuse of the society.
“The winning has automatically made us HIV/AIDS Ambassadors for Bali. Our job is to educate people about the disease,” Ella, who is working at a beauty salon, told VIVAnews on Saturday, February 20. (Photo)

[Canada/USA]
Deaf Trans Conference
The Ontario Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf (ORAD) and The Trans Program at The 519 Church Street Community Centre are hosting the first-ever Deaf Trans Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from March 12 to 13, 2010.

[USA] [Commentary]
Sorry John/Jane Ozimek but 'Transgender' Men Are Not Women
Excerpt: If "transgender realignment" can be a fake solution for individuals, it is also a fake phenomenon for society. And this is the second issue. A man cannot 'become' a woman. He can live 'as' a woman and - happily in our liberal democracies - he is free to do so. But a woman is not a man who takes female hormones and has surgery to remove his male genitals. He remains a man, surgically and chemically altered. Ozimek may demand that Andrea and Rafe call him 'Jane' or 'mummy'. That's a matter for him and his family. But he shouldn't demand that others call him Jane or agree that he's 'become' a woman. Society may be politically correct to to the nth degree - but a woman simply isn't a man with bits chopped off and hormones added.

[AL, USA]
Vigil honors victims of hate crimes, presses for legislation
Dozens gathered Sunday on the steps of the state Capitol to remember a Sylacauga man murdered 11 years ago and to press for a hate crimes bill protecting people attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender.

[KS/MO, USA]
EQUAL Empowerment Summit 2010
The EQUAL Empowerment Summit is an exciting day-long event for Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs), queer youth and straight allies, and educators across the Kansas City metro area.

[PA, USA]
Announcing the Keystone Conference 2010: A Celebration of Gender Diversity
Welcome to the Second Annual Keystone Conference, "A Celebration of Gender Diversity," hosted by TransCentralPA in the capitol city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania! You are in store for an informative, inspirational and joyous time among members and supporters of the Transgender community at the lovely Sheraton Harrisburg-Hershey Hotel.

[SD, USA] [Blog/News]
South Dakota Equality Summit 2010
The South Dakota Equality Summit 2010 was held on Wednesday Feb 17th at the state capitol Pierre. This was the 2nd annual summit on LGBT equality to be held here in SD. The summit had 35 to 40 LGBT people and allies in attendance and was about double of number that was at the 2009 summit. It started at 12 noon and ran until 7:45 pm. Speakers included representatives from nine organizations and groups: the ACLU, Equality South Dakota, The Centers for Equality, The Black Hills Center for Equality, PFLAG, EQSD PAC, The 10% Society and The Dakota T-Girls.

[Puerto Rico]
Causa para juicio por asesinato en primer grado por la muerte de Jorge Steven López
El juez Roberto Angleró, del Tribunal de Caguas, encontró causa para juicio contra Juan “Casper” Martínez Matos por asesinato en primer grado y tres violaciones a la Ley de Armas por la muerte del joven homosexual Jorge Steven López Mercado.

[España]
Transexuales de Andalucía ofrece su sede para exponer obra vetada Granada Circus Christi

Si no es en Granada, será en Sevilla, pero Circus Christi volverá a ser expuesta. La Asociación de Transexuales de Andalucía (ATA) ha puesto a disposición de Bayona su sede en pleno centro de Sevilla. “La muestra no puede estar clausurada por el chantaje de unos integristas”, explicó Mar Cambrollé, presidenta de ATA.

[Italy]
Transsexual singer wins top music school place after switching his voice from baritone to a soprano

When transsexual opera singer Emily De Salvo first applied to one of Italy’s most prestigious music schools, he was rejected as the board was unsure whether to place him among the male or female singers.
This week, after three years’ studying with baritone Maurizio Picconi and soprano Amelia Felle, the 29-year-old has won a place at Bari’s Tito Schipa Conservatory after changing his voice.
De Salvo, formerly Stefano, who has yet to make his gender change complete with surgery, convinced the jury he can handle both sides of the opera spectrum - from male baritones to female sopranos. (Photo)

[Germany] [Blog/News/Film]
Berlin’s Gay Movie Awards: The Kids Are All Right, The Mouth Of The Wolf

Excerpt: The best documentary was Pietro Marcello’s La bocca del lupo / The Mouth of the Wolf, described by Neil Young in The Auteurs as an "impressionistic documentary-fiction hybrid of the kind I usually have limited patience with, but which here works beautifully from beginning to end." Set in the Genoa waterfront, The Mouth of the Wolf chronicles the relationship between a macho ex-con and his lover, a transsexual former junkie. Their relationship is related by way of extracts from their love letters.

Vida mujer transexual musa Warhol –Candy Darling- obtiene buenas criticas Festival Berlín

[Turkey]
Nakka! seeks to end discrimination for transsexuals and gays

While activities are continuing at full pace at the !f AFM International Film Festival, ‘Nakka!’ one of the events that helped kick off events on Feb. 11, has many talking.

[India]
India's 'third sex' win a measure of public acceptance But despite a beauty pageant and changes to the law, the hijras still fear harassment and abuse

Miss Mumbai has big brown eyes, long lustrous hair, and an unusually strong jaw. Her lips are stained with a dark red lipstick, her gaze frequently drifts to her reflection, captured in a grubby mirror above the cracked sink. Like most beauty queens on the eve of a big competition, she is worrying about her weight, her outfit and that all-important runway walk. Today she will compete for the title of "Super Queen" in India's first transgender beauty pageant; an event seen by some as a sign that the marginalised "third gender" group – eunuchs, transsexuals and transvestites – is finally being welcomed into mainstream society.

(Photo: Atul Loke/Panos - Hijras in India are now allowed to give their gender as 'other' on ballot forms)

[China]
Lesbianas, gays, transexuales y bisexuales obligados a ocultar su identidad en China

Luchan a diario contra las tradiciones, la discriminación y la censura del Gobierno. Los homosexuales y transexuales del país más poblado del mundo comienzan a reivindicar su identidad

[USA]
Frank Says House Passage Of ENDA Likely
According to Rep.Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the passage of theEmployment Non-Discrimination Act in the House is all but a done deal, but its success in the Senate is not so sure.

[Puerto Rico]

Samantha Love pide a los ‘Ñeta’ que asesino confeso de Jorge Steven no reciba privilegios
La transexual Samantha Love reclamó hoy que Juan "Casper" Martínez Matos, imputado por el asesinato del joven homosexual Jorge Steven López Mercado, reciba una dura condena, porque "ese hombre tiene que pagar".

[México]
Cambio de nombre y sexo en México DF; un derecho inalcanzable por alto coste económico
El cambio de nombre por reasignación de sexo es un proceso legal y administrativo inalcanzable para la mayoría de los solicitantes, quienes deben esperar, al menos, seis meses. Los costos del trámite rondan los 70 mil pesos y el proceso se encuentra a expensas del criterio moral de algunos funcionarios. Este derecho, incorporado al Código Civil del Distrito Federal en enero de 2009, se gestó desde la comunidad transexual para combatir la discriminación y concitó el apoyo de defensores de los derechos humanos, sociólogos, antropólogos, médicos, abogados, incluso diputados locales

[Argentina]
Transexuales reclaman acceso a salud, trabajo e inclusión social en Río Cuarto, Argentina
Realizan el primer Congreso Regional en esa localidad. Analizan la situación de los transexuales en cuanto a salud, trabajo y políticas sociales.

(Foto: la representa de la asociación local Eliana Alcaraz)

[Brazil]
Brazil: Carnival, a Complex Annual Revolution for Women, Gays
Excerpt: There is a growing explicit presence of transsexuals at carnival, who have gone beyond simply coming out in public and have earned legitimacy for the defence of their rights. Recently their struggle has become more politicised: one of their demands, for example, is the right to separate bathrooms, said Correa.

[UK]
The devoted fiancee who's sticking by her man, the father of her son, despite the fact he wants to become a woman
Until six weeks ago, Andrea Fletcher was the partner of respected writer and journalist John Ozimek. She was the mother of their five-year-old son Rafe and very much looking forward to, one day, becoming his wife.
She has wanted to marry him ever since their first date seven years ago, walking along the pebbled beach at Aldeburgh in Suffolk, wrapped up against the cold and eating chips, and it is not difficult to understand why she fell for the Oxford graduate and former IT and marketing consultant.
A quick look at John Ozimek's photograph shows a handsome, seemingly confident, middle-aged man whose image sits perfectly with his intelligent essays on political and sexual liberty, censorship and data protection, which are regularly published on a broadsheet newspaper website.
(Photo: Still in love: Jane and Andrea are handling the challenges of the sex change one step at a time.)

[Italy]
Singer can take both sexes' roles
A trainee opera singer has combined a sex change with a dramatic extension in her vocal range to gain admission into one of Italy's most prestigious music schools.
Emily De Salvo, formerly Stefano, was denied a place at the Tito Schipa Conservatory in Lecce three years ago when the admissions panel was not sure whether to place her among the male or female singers.

[Germany] [News/Film]
“Kids Are All Right” Wins Berlin’s Teddy Award
Excerpt: The documentary prize went to sole non-American winner of the night, Italian Pietro Marcello’s “La bocca del lupo.” The film was described by Thompson on Hollywood as “a strange, poetic little film that begins and ends with silent found footage of long-ago Genova, dreamily spends time in a rather disreputable bar, and achieves nirvana during a long sequence where the love story between a Sicilian tough guy and a deep-voiced transsexual that began in prison is laid out for us in their own words.”

[Norway] [News/Health/Commentary]
SM and fetish off the Norwegian sick list
The Norwegian Directorate of Health announced February 1, 2010, that the diagnoses of Fetishism, Fetishistic transvestism, Sadomasochism, Multiple disorders of sexual preference and dual-role transvestism, have been repealed from Norway’s official list of medical diagnoses by 1.02.10.

[Russia]
Transsexual Muscovite Confused during Passport Exchange procedure
A standard passport-exchange procedure, which a male resident of the Moscow region had to have upon reaching 45 years of age, had a very unusual ending. Both employees of the migration service and police officers were surprised to find out that the male applicant was actually a female, Pravda.Ru reports with reference to a press service of a local department of the Internal Affairs Directorate.

[Kenya]
False Gay Marriage Rumor Sparks Kenyan Riots
In the coastal town of Mtwapa in Kenya’s Kilifi district, media hysteria and outrage by clerics over a non-existent gay wedding whipped up mob violence that began on February 12, unleashing a house-to-house witch hunt by anti-gay vigilantes, street attacks targeting gay men, the sacking of an AIDS-fighting medical center, and a widening wave of ultra-homophobic national media coverage.

[Uganda]
Fear grows among Uganda’s gay community over death penalty draft law
There was a time in Kampala when gay men would meet for furtive one-night stands, even if they were prevented from forming lasting relationships in a country where homophobia is rife.
“You would just have sex, then disappear. We were secretive out of fear,” said Peter, 39. At one point, things had begun changing for the better. “You could know where a guy lived and hung out; you could start to form relationships, something more permanent,” he said. “Then along comes this Bill that wants to kill us.”
The pastor using pornography to fan the flames of gay hate in Uganda

[South Africa]
Semenya to skip major race
South Africa's women's 800-metre world champion Caster Semenya, the subject of an investigation into her gender, will skip the first major domestic race starting this week, a spokeswoman said.

[India]
Mangalore: Panel to recommend BC status for transsexuals
In what could be a landmark move, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes plans to recommend the inclusion of transsexuals or “hijras” in the list of Backward Classes in the State.

[South Korea]
Harisu is charged with promoting pornography?
Veteran singer, Lee Kwang Pil (44) has filed a charge with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against transsexual celebrity, Harisu (35) for promoting pornography through her photo exhibition, and violating the Youth Protection Act. (Top photo)

[New Zealand]
"Community is important" stresses Awards winner
A sense of community is important to glbt people, according to Thomas Hamilton, the transgender Executive Director of Rainbow Youth, who was tonight honoured at Auckland's inaugural OurFest community awards.

[Australia]
Sex change murderer denied parole over hitchhiker death
Sex change killer Maddison Hall was today forced to listen to a plea from the mother of her victim before losing her latest bid for freedom.

[Canada]
Women-only pharmacy reverses policy excluding trans women
North America's first women-only pharmacy has quietly reversed its controversial "women born women" policy to allow transsexual women through its doors.

[USA] [Commentary]
Is the APA Playing Politics With Sexual Disorder Definition?
Excerpt: Dr. George Rekers, a professor of neuropsychiatry and behavioral science at the University of South Carolina medical school, told CitizenLink.com that, like its earlier decision to delete homosexuality from its list of sexual disorders, the APA is once again caving in to political pressure. “I think they are bowing to activist groups to downplay the actual psychopathology involved by just calling it gender incongruence,” he said. “They don’t want to go back to put homosexuality as the disorder. Now it looks like they’re backpedaling on Gender Identity Disorder.”
[Commentary] Prescriptions for Psychiatric Trouble

[USA]
Rep. Frank: ENDA on Track in House
Massachusetts representative Barney Frank said the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is on track in the House of Representatives in an interview with DC Agenda Thursday.

[USA] [Commentary]
Confronting discrimination on two fronts is daunting
This column is dedicated to black and African-American lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and allied leaders past and present, who have made an extraordinary difference in our world.
Like most mainstream narratives, the ordinary stories and lives of LGBT Americans are more often than not told and depicted through the lens of racism. February is Black History Month, celebrated annually since 1926.

[USA]
Exclusive Interview: Kennidi Monroe
Kennidi Monroe is a singer, talk show hostesss, pageant owner, writer and a powerful voice in the transgender community. She started her career in Houston, Texas in the club scene at the tender age of 19 and has since become one of the most recognizable faces on the LGBT circuit. How did she do it all and get where she is today? Ladies and gentlemen...meet Kennidi Monroe. (Photo)

[USA] [Blog/Commentary]
Trans Bathroom Scare Smear used against Gay Gainesville, FL Candidate
Our readers may remember last year's battle in Gainesville, Florida where anti-LGBT forces came together to try to repeal Gainesville's Human Rights Ordinance, which included sexual orientation and gender identity & expression.The fierce battle at the ballot box included tons of odious transphobic statements, mailers, and commercials, yet the anti-LGBT forces were defeated, thanks in large part to the great campaign run by the equality advocates in Gainesville.

[USA]
Slaying of King may lead to a new law
Two years after he was gunned down in an Oxnard classroom, 15-year-old Larry King’s tragic death could lead to a new federal law to protect gay and lesbian students from harassment.

[USA] [Video]

Transgender Children on the Dr. Oz Show (2/18/2010)

[TX, USA]
DART accused of transphobia
DART stands accused of bigotry and transphobia after attorneys for the local transit agency intervened in family court last year to challenge a gender-marker change granted to an employee.
According to court records, a transgender DART employee obtained a court order in February 2009 directing all state agencies to correct their records by changing her gender-marker from male to female, including on her birth certificate

[CO, USA]
Transgender teen talks about life in school
Alex Roberson is a senior at Wasson High School. He "came out" two years ago, when he was 16, as "trans" or transgender.
He said it was not and has not been easy. (Photo)

[NJ, USA]
N.J. Trans Woman Sues Cops for Harassment
A transgender woman is suing the Newark, N.J., Police Department,claiming false arrest and harassment.

[NY, USA]
Judge Allows Testimony in Transgender Case
A magistrate judge in Manhattan refused to block a law professor's testimony in the case of a transgender lesbian who was arrested at the Republican National Convention and claims New York City's law enforcement officers "subject transgender individuals to invasive, overly intrusive searches in order to ascertain their genital status."

[Colombia]
Comunidad gay de Tunja volvió a ser blanco de improperios y amenazas de muerte
'En las narices' de los detectives del DAS de Tunja, cerca de 50 gays fueron atacados.
Recibieron improperios y amenazas por parte de un grupo de jóvenes que portaban armas blancas.
Un nuevo hecho de intolerancia con la comunidad Lgbt (lesbianas, gays, bisexuales y transgeneristas) se protagonizó en las calles de Tunja.

[Colombia]
Lanzan 'Observatorio de los derechos de la diversidad sexual' en Cartagena
El martes 23 de febrero a las 7 p.m. en el Centro de la Cooperación Española, la Corporación Caribe Afirmativo lanzará el 'Observatorio de derechos humanos de la diversidad sexual e identidades de género', en el cual un grupo de investigadores, docentes y activistas de la ciudad, tienen como propósito, entre muchos otros, documentar casos concretos de abusos en contra de la población LGBT (lesbianas, gays, transgeneristas y bisexuales) de Cartagena. La entrada al lanzamiento es libre.
Lanzarán en Cartagena el Observatorio de derechos humanos de la diversidad sexual

[Argentina]
Enojo de los gays por dichos de una reina
El famoso travesti "Turca" y el empresario Tito Bustos salieron al cruce de la tunuyanina Ana Sofía Ponce, que consideró que no hay que mezclar la Vendimia Gay con la Fiesta Nacional.

Bienvenidos al primer culebrón vendimial de 2010. Ana Sofía Ponce, reina de Tunuyán, declaró a Diario UNO que “la Vendimia Gay no tiene nada que ver con la tradición” y desató fuertes críticas de dos reconocidas personalidades de la comunidad homosexual: el empresario Tito Bustos y la Turca, famosa actriz travesti.

(Foto: La Turca. “No está preparada para representar a todos los mendocinos”, disparó la actriz.)