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Showing posts from 2006

N.J. outlaws gender-based discrimination

Written by National Center for Transgender Equality; Empire State Pride Agenda Friday, 15 December 2006 New Jersey has made a historic stride forward in protecting the civil rights of transgender people. New Jersey’s Senate passed bill S362 on Monday, Dec. 11, by a vote of 31-5. The Assembly version, A930, passed New Jersey’s lower house by a vote of 69-5, now goes to Governor Jon S. Corzine, who is expected to sign the bill into law. Once signed, New Jersey will become the ninth state in the country to make discriminatory practices based on gender identity or expression illegal. New Jersey joins California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico and Rhode Island in legislating statewide transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination protections. These state-level laws in addition similar transgender-inclusive protections in the District of Columbia and in over 80 cities and counties now protect one-third of the US population based on gender identity or expression. “The legislation

Murders of Gender Non-Conforming Youth

Murders of Gender Non-Conforming Youth Documented in New Report, December 14, 2006 OIA Newswire Mike Williams WASHINGTON, D.C. -– Over the past 10 years, more than 50 young people aged 30 and under were violently murdered by assailants who targeted them because they did not fit stereotypes for masculinity or femininity. The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) today released the groundbreaking human rights report "50 Under 30: Masculinity and the War on America's Youth" documenting this tide of murderous violence and the key demographics of its victims and their assailants. The report reveals a unique vulnerability at the intersection of age, race, and gender non- conformity that makes a fatal assault exponentially more likely. "While many youth who don't fit gender stereotypes for masculinity or femininity face harassment or bullying, when it comes to gender-based murder the victims are specific and consistent," said Riki Wilchins, GenderPAC Executi

Vive la Deviance!

Recently I read of an incident that is tragic, but in many way, in my opinion at least, is very illustrative of what is wrong with the contemporary American male gender role, particularly in its southern variant. The episode occurred in Lexington, SC following the University of South Carolina's recent defeat of archrival Clemson University in their annual gridiron showdown. Two friends--let's call them Junior and Bud--got together for an all-American day of red blooded guy fun. The morning involved deer hunting and the afternoon was spent in pre-game preparations, mainly drinking beer. At gametime, Junior--a die hard USC fan who never attended the school--and his buddy Bud--an equally fanatic Clemson backer, made a $20 wager on the outcome. And they settled in to view the gridiron classic in the comfort of Bud's abode. The hard fought game resulted in USC's 31-28 victory which prompted Junior to request Bud to pay his debt. Bud refused craftily arguing that since his be

Where's the Line?

One of our dear sisters the other night raised the controversial topics of trans autoerotica and narcissism, so maybe it's a good time to delve into these issues. Narcissism often manifests when an individual tries too hard to convince themself of their worth, because they do not feel that way naturally. In the case of a translady, narcissism can also be symptomatic of good old fashion Gender Euphoria... sheer joy overflowing from an inner wellspring that has been pent up so long. People in a state of gender euphoria tend to be a bit (or a lot) self-absorbed, so overwhelmed with delight and enchanted by their own girlish appearance, that nothing else seems to matter to them. Autoerotica occurs when sexual fulfillment is sought through solitary fantasy role play. I must ask, what is so dirty or wrong about that? How many people have erotic enjoyments on their own? Probably the majority of creative, verile human beings are autoerotic to some extent. Those who attempt to path

Historic First Win for Openly Transgender Candidate in Hawaii

November 8, 2006 Kim Coco Iwamoto Wins State-Level Board of Education Seat Iwamoto is the First Openly Transgender Person Elected to a State-Level Office in the US (Washington, DC) — Yesterday's mid-term elections marked a historic first in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) movement for equality and civic engagement. With a comfortable victory garnering 81,532 votes, attorney Kim Coco Iwamoto was elected to Hawaii's state-level Board of Education (Oahu-at-Large), a non-partisan office. Ms. Iwamoto, an openly transgender woman, is a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality's (NCTE) Board of Advisors. Iwamoto holds a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico School of Law, is a volunteer guardian ad litem for the First Circuit Family Court, and is a frequent speaker at high schools and colleges on civil rights issues and community service. "This is a truly historic win and marks an important first in the American political landscape, s

The Entrance of DJ MsDD

Yes tis true. DJ MsDD is now making her entrance into the beautiful universe of Gender Evolve. A media personality, such as I am (thanks to the webcast medium and to the Boston PHOENIX, my hosts), has a professional obligation to make a splashy entrance; this is mine. Please enjoy... The link I've provided is to my MySpace page. There you'll find THA MUZIK that keeps me radiant and a large number of friends of MOI. Just about all of us belong to HOUSE NATION, dedicated to the workd wide house music movement. It's a club moment, is house; as DJ Rooster & Peralta's song "Pornokopia" puts it, "...stsarts to rock at a club about twelve o'clock." We work the graveyard shift! In the deep dark we shine with a dusky sexy light, we house music people. Many of us are trannys -- have been ever since house music began, in Chicago in the 1980s, very much as a gay Black male's thing (though always with a significant cast of gorgeous GG's, mostly Bl

Gender Recognition Act gives transsexuals early access to pensions

PersonnelToday.com 09 November 2006 13:13 This article first appeared in Personnel Today magazine. Some 122 transsexuals in the U.K are set to cash in five years early on state pensions after being classified as women under the Gender Recognition Act. The Department for Work and Pensions confirmed yesterday that the transsexuals, who were formerly men, had been granted pensions after being officially recognised as women since April 2005 when the Gender Recognition Act was implemented. They will now qualify for a state pension at the age of 60 rather than 65, receiving almost £22,000 in additional pension funds. Men who changed gender before the Act was introduced and are now over the age of 65 will not be eligible for backdated pension payments. More than 1,500 transsexuals have been certified as women under the new Gender Recognition Panel, which requires evidence from a doctor or psychologist, over the past 18 months. Georgina Fuller www.PersonnelToday.com Thursday, 09 November 2006

Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are: Counseling the Closeted

The cry of the childhood game of Hide 'n Seek could well be the motto of modern transgendria. You need to be OUT in order to further the community and being in the closet means you are fearful and ashamed. Only by being public and loud and proud can we throw off societal shackles and loose the chains of oppression. So don't let others do your part, sisters, join the crusade. The closet's for hangin' clothes not for hidin' souls! Say AMEN, sister! Well, ummm, maybe. I agree that if TGs of all varieties simply hid everything about their identities we would remain forever downtrodden. But that's just obvious on the face of it. What the aforementioned--and fairly common--attitude neglects is the very personal and subjective nature of "coming out." The difficulty factor isn't the same for everyone due to differing circumstances and the fact that the need to be "out" differs depending on individual goals, hopes and dreams. Now if you see

N.Y. Plans to Make Gender Personal Choice

New York Times, November 7, 2006 N.Y. Plans to Make Gender Personal Choice By DAMIEN CAVE Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery. Under the rule being considered by the city’s Board of Health, which is likely to be adopted soon, people born in the city would be able to change the documented sex on their birth certificates by providing affidavits from a doctor and a mental health professional laying out why their patients should be considered members of the opposite sex, and asserting that their proposed change would be permanent. Applicants would have to have changed their name and shown that they had lived in their adopted gender for at least two years, but there would be no explicit medical requirements. "Surgery versus nonsurgery can be arbitrary," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner. &

The Rainbow Between

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A dear transgender friend confided in me about steps she is taking to become more feminine in appearance, including a planned first visit to the doctor to inquire about hormone therapy. She asked my opinion whether it's ok to be on female hormones without knowing for sure whether to live full time as a woman. Here's what I told her, plus a bit more... While no one but you can say what's right for you, I think being true to yourself is step #1. Not everyone else will agree with your decisions, yet you are the only person who must live within your skin, so you are the only person who can decide what makes you happy. Don't let anyone tell you this is selfish, because it's not. Once you are happy within yourself, you will overflow with positive energy which benefits everyone else around you. As the happiest person you can be, you will bring forth joy and harmony to others. My opinion is that gender is not binary, not just male OR female. The rainbow in-between the two g

Victims Or Villains?

(Reprinted from briannaaustin.com) Too many times the TG community gets dumped on. Whether it is by an internally frustrated homophobic alpha male, a catty gay man, a mean spirited Lesbian woman or just a clueless tourist, the community does endure more than it’s share of crap. But, are we perpetual victims? Do we need to be? This past September there was quite an incident at East of Eighth, a neighborhood bar & restaurant at 254 West 23rd Street in New York City. I know the place quite well. I used to co/own, promote and host a trans-party there once a month. We would convert the upstairs restaurant into a trans-party that usually drew between 100 – 160 people on the 2nd Saturday of each month. The party often spilled into the down stairs bar where Jack was pouring drinks, and it was a great time. My friends and I would go to the downstairs bar every week, usually Friday and/or Saturday to start off our evening, before heading into the night for clubs unknown. We liked the staf

Leslie Feinberg continues to break gender barriers

By Jillian A. Bogater Originally printed 10/26/2006 (Issue 1443 - Between The Lines News) "Trans Gender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come" by Leslie Feinberg It was during the Stonewall riots of 1969 that acclaimed author and trans activist Leslie Feinberg came out. During this time of war and unemployment, Feinberg began a long journey as a warrior in identity politics. Some 36 years later, the country's political and economic climate is similar, and Feinberg is still on the front lines fighting for freedom of gender expression. Feinberg straddles the lines of defined gender - preferring to use neutral pronouns such as hir and sie - and has dedicated hir life to challenging transgender bias. Feinberg will talk about hir new novel "Drag King Dreams" and address the struggle for trans liberation in an era of war, racism and reaction tonight at Wayne State University. At a recent talk at the Workers World Party office in Detroit, Feinberg spoke about gend

Restroom Madness

In a recent article in Newsday , a writer asks advise on how to deal with a male-to-female transsexual that is in transition at work. The writer, a man, was taken back and uncomfortable when "Karen" exited the men's room. I had to laugh because usualy the yells are from TSs using the ladies room, as if transwomen were somehow invading and violating holy ground. We've all been reading about such confrontations nationwide. Why "Karen" was in the men's room is any one's guess; perhaps it was company policy, perhaps being known at work previously as a man she was trying not to intrude into the ladies room until her transition was complete. But it does make one wonder what the eventual solution will be. Perhaps if we all just start peeing in the hallways the "normal" people will allow us to finally use a restroom without screaming foul. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: "Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced Monday that it has reach

How Carly Fiorina lost her gender groove

Click here for Carly Fiorina's own comments about being publicly fired from her position as CEO of Hewlett Packard Maureen Dowd, New York Times October 15, 2006 CARLY Fiorina prided herself on being adept at succeeding in a man's world without whining about sexism. In her new memoir, "Tough Choices," the expelled CEO of Hewlett-Packard - the first female head of a Fortune 20 company - describes how she insisted on going along to a business meeting at a Washington strip club when she started out as an ambitious young woman at AT&T. "I was scared to death," she writes, adding that she wore her most conservative dress-for-success business suit and little bow tie, carried her briefcase like "a shield of honor" and repeated the mantra, "I am a professional woman," even when her cabdriver asked her if she was the new act for the club, where babes in see-through negligees danced on tables. "In a show of empathy that brings tears to my e

Spain moving from macho to gender equality

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By Molly Moore, The Washington Post MADRID — When María Teresa Fernández de la Vega graduated from law school in the 1970s, Spanish law banned her — and any other woman — from becoming a judge, serving as a witness in court or opening a bank account. Today, the angular, outspoken 57-year-old is Spain's first female vice president, helping orchestrate a cultural revolution in the boardrooms and living rooms of the country that coined the word machismo — male chauvinism — five centuries ago. "We have a prime minister who not only says he's a feminist — he acts like a feminist," Fernández said. "In two-and-one-half years, we have done more than has ever been done in such a short time in Spain." Her Socialist government is requiring political parties to allot 40 percent of their candidate lists to women and is telling big companies to give women 40 percent of the seats on corporate boards. Half of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríquez Zapatero's Cabinet members

Ambigendering Aristotle

One of the eternally recurring themes for the ambigendered (sorry, my term. It is intended to replace "transvestite" or "crossdresser" and refers to those who desire to and are, to a greater or lesser degree, skilled at presenting themselves as the opposite gender), is the idea of "moving forward." We all experience frustration when we perceive that we are not progressing towards our goal, or worse, that further progress is not possible. And what is the goal of the ambigendered male: to occasionally experience femininity as fully and completely as possible. Let me make an argument which was recently inspired by reviewing Aristotelian philosophy.The first premise is that our desired goal is impossible to reach. We transsomethings, by definition, cannot fully experience life as a woman. Certainly, we can attain some level of feminine experiences with varying degrees of success (and indeed those varying levels of success often cause frustration for many). Mor

Top 11 Misconceptions About Crossdressers

by Ellen Sherman Every Fall, several hundred traditional husbands, fathers and businessmen come together in Provincetown for Fantasia Fair with parties, seminars and workshops exploring the thorny issue of how to buy the right wig and hide a 5 o'clock shadow with the foundation and blush-on. Heterosexual married men from suburbia with families who cross-dress? What's going on? Apparently a much more common practice than most people would imagine. It's estimated that at least %1 of the male population crossdresses. And even as we approach the 21st Century, the idea of a heterosexual man in heels is still more than a little threatening. And confusing even for the crossdressers themselves. As JoAnn Roberts, founder of Renaissance, a Delaware Valley crossdressing support group of over 400 said" I knew growing up that I wasn't gay and I was heterosexual. I thought I might be crazy, but I knew I wasn't gay." Crossdressing is a subject that's been universally

TG/TS Film Resource

Just a quick note to pass along a reference for anyone seeking interesting films on trangender issues (as well as many other documentaries). Their titles include "Col. Jin Xing: China's Most Emblematic Transsexual", "Juchitan Queer Paradise", "The Remarkable Story of John/Joan", "Adventures in the Gender Trade", "Metamorphosis" and "Paradise Bent". Filmakers Library can be located at www.filmakers.com .

Gender Myths: Let Science Decide

Studies Say Women Are Safer, Men More Reckless By JOHN STOSSEL and GAIL DEUTSCH Sept. 28, 2006 — ABC 20/20 News People joke about the differences between men and women: Men don't listen. Women can't read maps. Men snore more. Women are less likely to have affairs. But are men and women really different or are those statements myths? It turns out that science says men and women are different. At the University of Rochester, students were blindfolded and then led through a maze of tunnels that run underneath the campus. The experimenter stayed behind them and guided them with a tap on the shoulder so they wouldn't run into anyone. When the women were asked where a college building was, they rarely knew. Men, however, have a better sense of spatial relations, according to the experiment. Most knew roughly where they were. In contrast, at York University in Toronto, students were asked to wait in a cluttered room. After two minutes, the experimenter moved them to another room a

State of Mind

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Gender identity is a state of mind. If one has it internalized there is not, at least in principle, any assimilation issue vis-a-vis the exterior world. The reality and the world are in essence what oneself makes of it from his/her interior world. Thus, each person can live different experiences even in a same place and time. A state of mind is what turns out after a series of experiencies and challenges which goes by the discovery, then the rediscovery (re-establishment) and finally, the trascendence (let go) of the social canons in respect to sex and gender. Summarizing, it is a state of mind which, if we achieve it (working it enough), very well can become the state of mind of our environ. This would mean that we find ourselves highly conscious of who we are, what are we doing here and where we are heading.

What is Feminine?

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We often make reference to "feminine", an energy that many of us admire and/or aspire to on a daily basis. What I am pondering at the moment is - what does it mean to be feminine? How do we define femininity? Although there are some basic generalizations about the term, beyond that there is tremendous diversity of what is deemed feminine. If we set aside the notion that only biologic women can be feminine, if we separate physical from gender and say that both males and females can possess femininity, I query what is this coveted quality we aspire to? What is feminine, and how does our self expression change when we become more feminine? Focusing on the positive aspects of femininity, I'd like to give a few ideas of my own, a non-exhaustive list of what I deem to be feminine characteristics and how we show them, and hopefully get some feedback from you reading this. I think transgendered women, be they part time or full time, have an abundance of inner feminine. Many have

Babies in womb exposed to 'gender-bending' chemicals

By EMILY COOK, The Daily Mail Babies are being exposed to "gender-bending" chemical pesticides before they are even born, disturbing new evidence has showed. Tests on blood taken from the placentas of pregnant women revealed up to fifteen different types of pesticide, the research found. Worryingly, the chemicals were found in every single one of the 308 women tested. The findings will fuel concern about the chemicals, known as hormone disruptors or EDCs - endocrine-disrupting chemicals. High levels of exposure have been linked to reproductive abnormalities - so-called gender-bending - because they upset the hormonal development of the embryo. The effects are already being seen in nature where some species of fish and animals with deformed sex organs have been found. Scientists blame agricultural pesticides and other hazardous chemicals such as those found in flame retardants which have leaked into the environment. Last year a similar report by WWF-UK and Greenpeace found tha

Effluent tipping scales on fish gender

A landmark study has found that wastewater from sewage-treatment plants in Boulder and Denver is causing gender deformities in suckers living downstream. By Katy Human Denver Post Staff WriterDenverPost.com Wastewater pouring from sewage-treatment plants in Boulder and Denver is bending the gender of fish living downstream, a new study has found. Some of these strangely sexed sucker fish have male and female organs, and others have sexual deformities, according to a study by University of Colorado researchers. "It's sort of a sentinel for us," said David Norris, a CU biologist and an author of the report. "Every major city in the Western U.S. is looking at it." The paper, published this month in the journal Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, is the first peer-reviewed study documenting the reproductive problems of fish downstream from Colorado wastewater-treatment plants. Similarly odd fish have been found in England and in the Potomac River in Washington,

What keeps you from being Happy?

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Please help others gain the same knowledge you are about to read by reposting. Please do not keep this to yourself. PLEASE try not to put your names on this so others will feel free to repost it. The author is not as important as the message! Thank you! What prevents us from being happy? I believe the answer is quite simple. Every person on this planet who is not happy are all suffering from one emotion. It is the cause of all wars, racism, crime, and hate. What a powerful emotion it must be to be responsible for all of that negativity. That emotion is fear and it is affecting you in ways you may not even be aware of at the moment. Fear of failure, fear of being alone, and fear of what people will think. Have you stopped and looked at the people you are afraid might judge you? Are their lives in a place where you would like to someday be? If not, then why are you concerned with their opinion? They will judge you out of envy and ignorance. They see you succeed and they want that for th