[Europe]
LGBT Europeans must be ‘tough and tougher’ for equal rights
Michael Cashman, Co-President of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights, speaks to GSN about the next European country to legalize gay marriage, gay rights in the European Union versus the United States and the economic benefits of LGBT rights

[France]
‘Sexual identity’ added to discrimination law in unanimous French Senate vote
The new Socialist president and assembly of France passed an amendment to the equalities law late last month adding language to include “sexual identity” as a grounds for legally prohibited “discrimination.” Before the unanimous vote, one Socialist senator said that the change came in response to lobbying from “transgender” people.

[UK]
Sean Bean Dresses in Drag for New Role — And Keeps the Shoes
Hunky British actor Sean Bean (from Game Of Thrones and Lord Of The Rings fame) has donned drag for his newest role, as a Tracie in the the BBC's upcoming series Accused.
It's not clear if Bean's character is a transgender woman or a mere crossdresser, but we do know that Bean plays English teacher named Simon who also has a femme alterego named Tracie.

[France]
Queer Canadian couple attacked in Paris
Two Canadians are in a French hospital after being targeted in an attack that has been described as transphobic and homophobic.

[Lebanon]
Doctors ban anal exam used to charge men with homosexuality
The Order of Physicians issued a circular Tuesday telling doctors they will face disciplinary measures if they carry out anal examinations ordered by the judiciary intended to provide evidence of homosexuality.

[Uganda]
Arrests, harassment mar Uganda's first Pride event
Against all odds 100 LGBT Ugandans celebrated the country's inaugural pride event last weekend amidst arrests and police harassment.
At the Botanical Gardens along Lake Victoria in Entebbe, pride organizers hosted a party, Pride Parade along the beach, and a film festival August 4-5.
Maurice Tomlinson, an LGBT activist in Jamaica, was the Pride grand marshal.

[Malaysia]
Life of transgender matriarch celebrated in Malaysia
Transgender ‘Mother Theresa’ of Kuala Lumpur dies aged 68
Colourful send-off for ‘Asha Amma’

[USA]
What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?
The night before Susan and Rob allowed their son to go to preschool in a dress, they sent an e-mail to parents of his classmates. Alex, they wrote, “has been gender-fluid for as long as we can remember, and at the moment he is equally passionate about and identified with soccer players and princesses, superheroes and ballerinas (not to mention lava and unicorns, dinosaurs and glitter rainbows).” They explained that Alex had recently become inconsolable about his parents’ ban on wearing dresses beyond dress-up time. After consulting their pediatrician, a psychologist and parents of other gender-nonconforming children, they concluded that “the important thing was to teach him not to be ashamed of who he feels he is.” Thus, the purple-pink-and-yellow-striped dress he would be wearing that next morning. For good measure, their e-mail included a link to information on gender-variant children.
[Commentary] About That Boy Who Likes To Wear A Dress

[USA]
Let's Be Clear: Transgender Discrimination IS Sex Discrimination
Recently, the ACLU and numerous allied coalition partners wrote to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to request that HHS issue guidance to make clear that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination applies to discrimination based on gender identity and sex stereotypes. The fact that someone is transgender or does not conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity should never be a barrier to accessing health care services.

[USA]
US: Trans man’s doctor ‘failed to tell him he had cancer’
A New York transgender man has revealed that his doctor didn’t tell him he had breast cancer because he was confused by his patient’s transgender status.
Jay Kallio, transgender New Yorker, says he was not informed he had breast cancer by his bewildered physician

[USA]
How Norman Spack transformed the way we treat transgender children
A t 20, Norman Spack learned the power of hormones. By adjusting the prolactin and thyroid levels of tadpoles, Spack found he could prompt metamorphosis; he watched from a bench in his research lab as they grew legs and their gills were absorbed and replaced with lungs.
Forty years later, a patient named Mark walked into Spack's adolescent medicine clinic in Chestnut Hill and told Spack he wanted to change. He was male, he told Spack, but his body was a woman's.

[CA, USA]
Drag is out at Holy Redeemer
A local gay recovery group will not be holding its annual fall fundraiser in the social hall of the Castro neighborhood's Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church after officials said that no drag queens would be allowed.

[CA, USA]
Trans man raises money for a new van for disabled son
It's often said that there is no greater love than that of a parent. Lou Vaile, who is raising his disabled son Jack, mirrors that phrase perfectly. He would do anything in the world for his son, including campaigning online to raise the money needed for a new van to take his son where he needs to go.

[IL, USA]
Anti-gay group warns parents to remove kids from classrooms led by LGBT teachers
The anti-gay Christian group Illinois Family Institute has launched another campaign against LGBT Americans, telling parents to remove their children from classrooms led by any teacher who is gay or lesbian, or is a faculty sponsor of a gay-straight alliance, or who has utilized LGBT-inclusive textbooks, or offers a “safe” haven for LGBT students in their classrooms.

[IL, USA]
Illinois City Settles Historic Transgender Lawsuit
The city of Cicero, Ill. has settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by a transgender Latino woman who had been illegally searched and harassed by the city's police offers. Bianca Feliciano alleged in her suit, according to ChicagoPride, that Cicero police officers verbally abused, harassed, and taunted her on the basis of her gender-identity on February 6, 2011, when she and another trans woman were walking down a street in Cicero. She says officers wrongfully accused them of engaging in sex work and after seeing her identification with her female gender and name, the officers "claimed that if Feliciano was properly disciplined and punished she would not be the way she is right now. The officers also insulted her by denying her gender-identity, stating 'You are not female, you have a dick between your legs,' and threatened her with jail claiming she was committing an act of fraud because her ID said she was female."
Transgender woman reaches settlement with Cicero

[MI, USA]
Struggles, Pride and Support all shared at Trans Pride
Bonnie Gibson doesn't usually "do the whole group thing," but she did make the trek across the border from London, Ontario to attend her first Transgender Pride in the Park, which took place Aug. 4th at Geary Park in Ferndale.
She was among 118 individuals who gathered under the pavilion to share food and mingle with transgendered people and allies.

[Chile]
Movimiento chileno neonazi anunció su disolución tras denuncias del Movilh
El Frente de Orden Nacional subió a su sitio web un comunicado con sus razones.
La entidad adelantó acciones legales contra ex miembro que entregó información a la entidad.
Grupo chileno neonazi se autodisuelve y se despide con un “Heil Hilter”

[Chile]
Ministerio de Salud emite nueva circular no patologizante para el respeto de las personas trans
Tras reuniones y propuestas de activistas de la Organización de Transexuales por la Dignidad de la Diversidad y la Comisión Trans de Fundación Iguales, el Ministerio de Salud emitió una nueva circular denominada Circular 21 que reitera las instrucciones para la atención de salud de las personas Trans en la red asistencial, esta vez no refriéndose a nosotr*s como personas con un trastorno sexual de origen desconocido como había ocurrido en la Circular 34.

[Peru]
Justicia peruana admite cambio de nombre de transexual en documento oficial
Una sala judicial civil de Lima admitió el cambio de nombre en el documento de identidad de un excantante de rock que nació hombre pero ahora se identifica como mujer, en un caso considerado inédito en Perú, según explicó este miércoles el magistrado.
El caso de Fiorella Cava pone en primer plano de la actualidad el derecho a la identidad de las personas transexuales

[Argentina]
En Jujuy “ni médicos ni enfermeros están capacitados para tratar a una mujer trans, y no hacen nada para revertir esta situación”
En una entrevista con nuestro medio, Ailen Nahir Chambi, delegada en Jujuy de la Asociación de Travestís, Transexuales y Transgéneros de la Argentina (ATTTA), se refirió a la discriminación que sufren las personas trans de Jujuy indicando que en el sistema sanitario es uno de los lugares donde más se los discrimina.