Take a moment and remember the riots, Compton’s Cafe, and the trans women, drag queens, butch lesbians and leatherpeople who weren’t afraid to fight back 

 Dallas filmmaker Israel Luna’s latest effort,Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives, has made headlines and stirred controversy across the country, from the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in May, to the Seattle International Film Festival last weekend, with a stop in betweenat Fort Worth’s Q Cinema Film Festival earlier this month.

 Pakistan's transgender people are ready to play a greater role in mainstream society. How far are we willing to bend our perceptions of...

 Many transgender people, me included, bristle at the notion that we are mentally ill. 

When the Santa Fe New Mexican reported the arrest of 60-year-old Randey Michelle "Mikeh" Gordon for impersonating a police officer and illegally pulling over another vehicle, they opted for the headline "Transsexual faces charges of police impersonation." 

 Juliet Jacques was born a boy, but always knew that something wasn't quite right. In the first of a series of columns charting her gender reassignment process, she describes how she gradually came to terms with her true identity

 As a child, Reuben Zellman found life anything but cut-and-dry.

 I'm really moved by [Liu Zhu's] honesty and courage. Under all the pressure, he's just being himself, and he's not afraid of being seen as 'alien' by the society. That's real confidence.

 People of faith are called to address issues of violence, especially as it pertains to those who are homosexual, bisexual or transgender.

 For most nine year olds, life centers around toys, recess, and ice cream sundaes.

 Take a moment and remember the riots, Compton’s Cafe, and the trans women, drag queens, butch lesbians and leatherpeople who weren’t afraid to fight back 

 Pakistan's transgender people are ready to play a greater role in mainstream society. How far are we willing to bend our perceptions of...

 Juliet Jacques was born a boy, but always knew that something wasn't quite right. In the first of a series of columns charting her gender reassignment process, she describes how she gradually came to terms with her true identity

 As a child, Reuben Zellman found life anything but cut-and-dry.

 I'm really moved by [Liu Zhu's] honesty and courage. Under all the pressure, he's just being himself, and he's not afraid of being seen as 'alien' by the society. That's real confidence.

 People of faith are called to address issues of violence, especially as it pertains to those who are homosexual, bisexual or transgender.

 For most nine year olds, life centers around toys, recess, and ice cream sundaes.

State Senator Mark Leno encouraged Summit participants to stay engaged in politics at the end of Sunday's Advocacy Day training.

 Part Two of an Interview with Genia Stevens of SistersTalk Radio

Let me be blunt. I am a virgin. Ok, now that everyone’s passed the gasping and horror over the idea that, at 35, I have never had sex, let me explain why.

Porn star, singer, songwriter, author, and founder of Stop The Hate in a recent interview

 ORONO, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Though Claire Folsom lives life as a woman, she was born male.

 Man said before marriage he just liked woman's clothes

 Autumn Sandeen First Class Petty Officer who retired in 2000 from the U.S. Navy after twenty years of service, was one of the protesters arrested at last week's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" action in front of the White House. In her own words she explains the slurs she endured.

 His body was male, while the mind was female. She wanted me calling her Nangi (sister). 

 The term 'transsexual' (third gender or she-male as they are locally known) is often mistaken for homosexuality in the Arab world and is considered highly sinful in Islam. 

 Sutherland, 23, is a University of Montana student. She's a painter and a carpenter, an artist and an athlete. She's a student of computer science. The reason you're meeting her, though, is because she's a transgender woman.

 Prominent activist Laxmi Tripathi suffers the very discrimination that she fights.  

 David Waters was shocked to find out that his mother had given up a baby, born before her marriage. But there were more shocks to come

 Law students, legal rights activists, government officials, and interested individuals from around the globe gathered at Harvard Law School for the fifth annual Harvard Lambda Legal Advocacy Conference, “Diverse Sexualities/Disparate Laws: Sexual Minorities, the State, and International Law.”

 When Times sportswriter Mike Penner announced he'd become Christine Daniels, he sought joy and fulfillment.  After a year of accolades and ordeals he returned as Mike. But his struggles continued.  

 Teraina forced to hand over running of workshop due to boycott

Last month, D.C. police released a report breaking down every hate crime reported in D.C. [PDF] over the past five years.

 Vidari DeGuzman was a New York City teenager searching for acceptance when he first came to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a service organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths.

 Norrie was once ‘may well be’, but is now definitely ‘not specified’. Norrie tells The Scavenger hir story of androgyny and journey to being issued what is believed to be the world's first 'sex not specified' legal document equivalent to a birth certificate by the NSW government.

 Cheryl Ann Costa is and has been many things — an airman, submarine sailor, coast-to-coast talk radio host, television show co-host, playwright, author, filmmaker, coven priest, co-owner of a fabric shop and an engineer at a major Fortune 500 company.

 Two women can’t legally marry in Pennsylvania. But Patti Wallech and Julia Martin Wallech did.

 COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Alex Roberson is a senior at Wasson High School. He "came out" two years ago, when he was 16, as "trans" or transgender.

 Eunuchs, hermaphrodites, MSM (men who have sex with men), along with the LGBT group (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) are all labeled as ‘transgender’ by the generally confused public, especially in ‘conservative’ societies.

It has been discovered that post-operative transsexuals, prior to 1991, reveal a rate of serious regrets of less than 1% for transsexual men and less than 2% for transsexual women while studies published after 1991 have reported a decrease in the rates for both, likely due to improved psychological and surgical treatments and increasing acceptance from society. 

 New civil rights for Pakistan's long-oppressed 'wedding dancers' offer hope of a better life 

 Pumped up .. and ball-gowned too, my day as a cross -dresser in A.C. 

 HAVANA, Jan 25, 2010 (IPS) - It was as if she had only closed her eyes for a moment. When Wendy Iriepa came round after surgery over a year ago, she tried to get up as if nothing had happened, but a nurse gently pushed her back into bed. "All done?" she asked, and the nurse replied, "Yes."

 Katherine used to be Miguel. Olin had a girl’s name. And in October, Robert Ira Schnur, 70, became Roberta Iris Schnur, a Manhattan retiree with magenta lipstick and, she noted the other day, chipped silver nail polish.

 It is almost midnight, and the dressing room at San Antonio's storied gay club the Saint on North Main Avenue is abuzz with chatter and preparation for its weekly drag show.

 While on the surface, sexually progressive America would probably not pay particular attention to the girlie duo of Chloe and her ‘wife’ Rene Prince, an Ohio couple who go through a typical American way of life, juggling professional and personal lives while trying to bring up their two kids, the twist in the tale steps in when confronted with the fact that attractive blonde Chloe was in fact, born a man.

Whether the country's first cross-dressing mayor got a slap on the wrist for inappropriate clothing, breaking ground on new development projects or calling for avacuations due an explotion, there was nothing dull about her first year.  Here is a recap. 

 A former legislative editor for the Georgia House of Representatives is suing her former employers after she was fired for announcing her intent to transition from a man to a woman.

 There are some trans people who don’t do anything to modify their bodies and still identify as trans. There are many ways to go about transitioning, and everyone is different, but I knew I was done with my breasts.

 Interview with Julie Nemecek, a lobbyist with Michigan Equality (an LGBT Interest Group), was conducted on October 28 in the Burger King at 505 E Saginaw St, Lansing, MI.

 For some transsexuals, it is easier to have their sex reassigned but it is almost impossible to change their gender and photograph from male to female in their identification papers.

 BEIRUT — They remain anonymous, but their voices are out in force and bold print: a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women have braved law and social taboo in Lebanon with a little pink-and-white book.

 When it comes to sex, whether it refers to gender or sexual intercourse, Korea, built upon Confucianist ideals, has stayed very conservative.

 Britain's first transsexual is, in a new exhibition, again challenging ideas about gender, identity and DNA. 

 The new face of transgender, Chaz Bono, is making the media rounds to help clear up any confusion about his recent sex change.  Today he spoke withGood Morning America.

 When Adrianna King was turned out of her home, she went north in search of acceptance.

 After 17 years with the Dallas Police Department, Officer Joseph Grabowski showed up at work one day sporting makeup, a feminine hairstyle and a new first name: Deborah.

 A small but growing number of people are identifying themselves as transgender.  Richard/ Renee Ramsey is likely the oldest to make the surgical switch.  

 Transsexuals in the Gulf call Bahraini lawyer Fawziya Janahi "guardian angel". She is the Arab world's only female lawyer who takes up cases on behalf of clients who want to change their sex.

 MILLIONAIRE entrepreneur Stephanie Booth had to overcome some remarkable challenges to build her string of successful businesses.

Katie Price has always known how to make a spectacle of herself - and today was certainly no exception. 

 My fascination with the transgender lifestyle began long before I fully understood what being transgender really meant.

 One mom shares her journey of becoming a mother ... and the woman she always knew she should be.

 The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a report into the experiences of trans people.

  Early on, l knew my son Michael was different. While my three other sons begged me to buy them G.I. Joe figurines and were obsessed with football, Michael preferred playing with My Little Pony and taking tap dance lessons.

 Since last year’s merge with TransAction Student Network, Queer Student Union has expanded both its membership and diversity. Still, some issues in the transgender community are beyond reach of a student organization.

 "There were a lot of things that got in the way of me realizing what I was."After growing up a “typical boy,” marrying “the one” and fathering two children, Monica Helms finally acted on a lifelong desire to become a woman.

 Vanessa Van Durme was – is – Belgium’s first transsexual. In 1975, at a time when most people were consolidating the sexual ‘freedoms’ of the sixties, Van Durme travelled to Casablanca, where she had a sex change operation.

 THEY live on the fringes, shunning attention, like this Singaporean transsexual.

 East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer's apparent transgender life has been exposed days before a primary election is to be held, the Cleveland Leader reported.

 Transgender paster comes out to congregation with surprising reaction

 She’s big, she’s bold, and she may as well have brass balls. And you might as well get used to her because she isn’t going away.

 RACHEL Fleetwood is 75 years old, lives in a Sheffield nursing home - and is most likely Britain's oldest transsexual.

 Anne Faith Beon was born practically with axle grease on her hands -- pumping gas as a child, working on car engines and driving hot rods in the beachfront blue-collar community where she was raised.

 KUALA LUMPUR — With her tight jeans, elaborate make-up and flowing hair, Tasha looks for all the world like a striking young woman. But her all-important Malaysian ID card declares she is a Muslim man.

 Hell is what most Arabs think of when the word “transsexual” comes into any conversation since many mistake it with homosexuality, which is a sin in Islam. 

 Last week, we talked about trans man visibility and role models. Diego Sanchez is one of many trans men whose visibility and achievements are providing a model for others.

 More transgender teens are coming out than ever before – and at increasingly earlier ages. But even as resources for families grow, parents struggle with being supportive while coping with their own conflicting emotions

 As soon as he raises the topic of gay rights to his conservative clergyman friend one day at lunch, he knows it’s a mistake.

 Robert Eads was visiting friends in the late 1990s when he woke up in a pool of blood. His terrified hosts quickly began calling hospitals, clinics, and private physicians, explaining that Robert was a partially-transitioned female-to-male transsexual and demanding an immediate appointment.

 'Gharam' means passion in Arabic and Gharam is what this young Kuwaiti male- to-female transsexual likes to be called. The first impression you get when sitting with Gharam is confusion. 

 AT FIRST they thought she must be on steroids. Surely there could be no other explanation for such a suspiciously stellar rise in performance, one that saw her knock more than 16.5 seconds off her time from the same meeting a year before.  But then a routine drugs test dispelled that notion, and deepened the mystery of the girl who had come from nowhere.

 A strange story of a transgirl and Vodou

 Amber Hartwig finally broke down and told her family back in Iowa about the cross dressing.

 To say that Mercedes Newbiggin is "in the news" is a little bit of an understatement.

 The first time I met Angelica I didn’t know how to address him, as a man or a woman. 

Indri has known for a while now that he should have been born a girl. He wears women’s underwear, he feels comfortable in his favorite shade of lipstick, and if he looks at himself in the mirror without a wig, something just isn’t right.

 Two minutes before I picked up the phone to call Suzy Wedge, the mastermind behind a local and very hip surf-rock band, a man accosted her while she walked down the street. Threats of violence followed before he got back into his car, filled with his laughing entourage, and sped off.

 NORTHERN blokes are going nuts for transsexual pop babe Kim Petras.

 Nicole wanted to be a lawyer but instead, at the age of 23, is "on the stroll" on Calvert and on East 21st streets, at 1 a.m. this past Saturday, searching for the next trick. "She" is a "he," working the Old Goucher neighborhood in Lower Charles Village, an area notorious fo

 Recently Chastity Bono announced she was having surgery to become a man. A transgender center in Montgomery County is busier than ever. Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl has the exclusive story of one of the oldest patients to make the switch.

 Some time ago, my mother wrote a piece about what life is like living through the transition of her son to her daughter. I will begin posting her story in increments. There will be several parts to this story.

Advocate/Actress Addams & Jer Ber Jones Bring Their Show to San Francisco. Bay Windows sits for a one on one interview with Calpernia. 

 Rose Venkatesan opens the country's eyes to a community it has typecast and reviled

Swathi and Sneha were men who became women in the hope of finding male lovers. They've now found each other and want to marry

 From London to Calcutta, Spain to Vienna, photos from LGBT Pride

 JUNE is going to go down in the history of Tamil Nadu as a progressive and poignant period thanks to pride taking centre stage on June 28.

 AT 3 pm on Sunday evening five members of the LGBT community arrived at the Triumph of Labour statue at the Marina, to participate in Chennai’s first-ever gay pride march. 

 A new drive to contain the spread of HIV/Aids in Laos is forcing officials to recognise a marginalised group - transgender men known as "katheoy". The BBC's Jill McGivering went to meet some of them in the capital, Vientiane

Henry Joseph Madden was a good student and track team member in high school, but he had a secret: He sometimes wore his mother's pantyhose and underwear under his clothes.

 A FILM telling the true story of an Irish transgender person was presented with a human rights film award in Dublin last night.

Hey guys—ever feel awkward walking into the Harvard College Women’s Center with a not-so-femme phallus? Just tuck it in!

 I came across this video the other day, and thought you might like it.  

 LIKE many young Victorian males, Will loves his footy. He dreams of joining the thousands of men who lace up their boots every weekend and play in amateur competitions. He's just like them in every way but one — he was born female.

Darlene Fike shifts in a chocolate brown recliner seated on a heating pad in a small two-story apartment near the University of Memphis and recounts her life. It hasn't been long since the last remnants of Darlene's manhood were surgically removed, and she's sore.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sydney Dupree came to Los Angeles because, as a young male-to-female transsexual, she found Memphis hostile. She came to the transgender job fair because jobs are hard for her to find, even in Los Angeles.

SPOKANE -- Few in today's society understand the reasons behind someone's desire to live as the opposite sex. For Gianni Giuliani it's been a lifetime battle.

 He's quite the celebrity in Nashville's bar scene, but you wouldn't know George if he strutted right past you in slacks and one of the four men's shirts he owns. In fact, you wouldn't know him as a man at all, unless maybe he showed a little leg.

 Two former patients of Australia's controversial sex-change clinic say misdiagnosis and wrongful surgery destroyed their lives.

 RACHEL and Kimberley Rae say they owe their lives to Dr Trudy Kennedy and the gender dysphoria clinic she worked at. Theirs is an unlikely love story.

 SEX swap soldier Jan Hamilton is joining Scotland's biggest police force.

Tony Ferraiolo will never forget his first day back at work after surgery. The 46-year-old supervisor's knees trembled as he entered the windowless headquarters of Madison Co., a switch and sensor manufacturer in Branford, Conn.

 PAYETTE, Idaho - Catherine Carlson threads through the discount store, her hiking boots clopping against the linoleum. She is numb to the shoppers who glance curiously as she plucks a pair of long underwear from a sales rack.

 David Hoyle tosses his head back and regards his reflection. His outfit - leather miniskirt, fishnet top and cut-off leather jacket (plus red dog collar) - pleases him, with its whiff of Nancy Spungen

 Like almost every woman, Fiordaliza Pichardo just wanted to look beautiful, so a few years ago, she began getting silicone injections from a woman she met through a friend in order to plump up her thighs and derriere.

 KALAMAZOO -- For almost all of his life, Bill Hunter was not comfortable with himself. From the time he was a child, says the lifelong Kalamazoo area resident, he was profoundly aware that he was not meant to be in the body he was born with. For more than 40 years, Hunter knew he was meant to be a woman. Today he is.

I’m just a boring accountant," Joanne Herman told an aide to state Rep. Brian Wallace during the transgender lobbying day on April 7. Herman was one of hundreds who turned up at the State House to muster support for the transgender rights bill.

 More than three years ago cinematographer/director PJ Raval heard about a small town in Colorado that was "the sex change capital of America." Intrigued, he contacted the doctor, herself a transsexual woman, and began a conversation that resulted in a two-and-a-half year film project, Trinidad. 

For years, Maurice Pepper had a secret he couldn't reveal, even to his wife. It wasn't until she was taken into care that he made a life-changing decision

 DUNNELLON - Inside the halls of any typical American public high school, the outfit would hardly be construed as outlandish: a V-neck T-shirt, blue jeans and high-heeled boots, accentuated by earrings and a necklace.

 A transsexual truck driver who was victimised when she started dressing as a woman has made a heartfelt plea: "Don't call me the tranny trucker!"

I am so upset. The reporter from the San Diego Reader, Ernie Grimm, contacted me a few weeks ago to ask if I would do a television interview with him when the story came out on the cover of the reader about my performance Becoming Dragon. 

 I AM in my late 40s, and am married but have no children. Though I am male, I have had this feeling from the time I was a teenager that I am a woman caught in a man’s body. I have not seen a doctor regarding this feeling but I have confided with my wife and a female friend. They are very understanding about my situation.

 Isis King made headlines as the first transgender contestant to compete on America's Next Top Model. She didn't win the prize, but she served as an inspiration to many.

I’m Sei. For those who read my coming out piece on this blog entitled The Longest Road, you know that I’m both transsexual and lesbian. Beginning this week and for as long as I can write them, I will be exploring and explaining the world of transsexuality here, and especially focusing in on that place where it intersects the lesbian world.

 There is something shocking about seeing yourself as your mother, peering out of a national daily.

"They don't have the right to vote or own property; rarely marry and have great difficulty getting crucial documents such as passports and driving licences, which would mean they have an official identity. "They cannot be admitted to hospital, schools and colleges." 

 My name is Priya and I am 30 years old. I was born a male, but have always felt I was a woman from the time I was a kid.

When you get right to it, underneth all our differences, we're all human and share in that experience.  

HOUSTON—Sgt. Julia Oliver serves and protects the public.  She’s been called an excellent police officer, but she’s also been called other, less-flattering things.

This week we asked the man, woman in the street what they thought about the cross-dressing charges that were brought against seven men last week.

The conclusion to The Little Sissy - Part I

WHEN sports journalist Gerry Greenberg married his wife Lynn in 1969, he was a self-confessed rugby-loving macho man. Forty years on, they are preparing to celebrate their ruby wedding anniversary – but theirs will be a celebration with a difference.

Puberty is hard. Body changes and raging hormones can make it a confusing time for everybody. But as a pre-teen girl struggling with gender identity disorder, puberty for Julien Davis was more than just confusing.

An upfront and close look at living transgender from several true life cases.

Lynn Conway is one of the trans community's great heroes. An inventor and computer chip researcher, in the late '60s she was fired from her job at IBM when she began to transition from a man to a woman

Jude Law has often been accused of being too pretty for certain roles (except as that creepy killer photographer in Road to Perdition), so he's apparently decided to take those lemons and make a big ol' pitcher of cross-dressing lemonade.

The Tiwi Islands in Northern Territory is home to one of Australia’s most inspiring drag performers. Crystal Love, also known as Crystal Johnson Kerinaiua, has performed all over the country delivering inspirational shows whilst tirelessly educating people on gay, bi and transgender issues.

I don't usually speak openly about silicone injections because honestly I never thought it was anyone's business what I may have or not have had done to my body to physically transform myself to who I am today. But ...

For James Huff, 19, stocking produce at the grocery store where he works isn't a bad gig because he rarely has to deal with customers. But when he mans a cash register, awkward interactions aren't uncommon. “Sometimes people aren’t really sure what I am,” James said.

For centuries, it has been a bustling little community that always boasted a warm welcome for unexpected visitors.  Queen Victoria stayed here once on her way to the south coast from London, and Lord Nelson is said to have spent a comfortable night at the local coaching inn with Lady Hamilton.

Ally Week, hosted by the Sexual Minorities and Student Supporters club, or SMASS, lasted from Saturday the 17th to Saturday the 24th. The seven days were devoted to awareness and defense of sexual minorities. The purpose of Ally Week is to remind students and faculty to be supportive of gender expression and to eliminate judgment. Throughout the entire week, in the dining hall, members of SMASS encouraged the Choate community to sign a banner pledging to be an “ally” of sexual min

On January 24, 2009, the Platform of LGBTT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestites and Transsexuals) Rights of Turkey issued a detailed report about LGBTT Rights Situation in Turkey during the year of 2008

Socrates, a transvestite and English teacher Kindel Launer have one thing in common: Palo Alto High School junior Avi Arfin.

How many sexes and genders are there?  So many more than you think; chromosomes don't come in just male and female, and Santhi has been victimized because of what nature provided her. 

The nominees for Grand Marshal of the Pride Parade were announced recently and Houston Police Officer Julia Christina Oliver is among the women named. That couldn't have happened two years ago when Oliver was still a male.

It was hailed as a first for a major adult talent agency in the industry, when L.A. Direct Models signed its first Transsexual performer; Kimber James.

DENISE MOSSE can hardly bring herself to look at the black and white snaps from her childhood.

Katelynn, the first transgender person to be a cast member on the MTV reality show "The Real World," gives what's being billed as an exclusive interview.

SITTING alone in an empty hotel lobby, as still and noble as a Roman statue, is Antony Hegarty. At first I walk right past him, which seems ridiculous considering he is the only person in the room. And also he's Antony Hegarty. A one-off talent, a transgender torch singer who warbles like Nina Simone, a gentle giant from Chichester with a shock of black hair and a smock who Lou Reed has described as an "angel".

In this overview of changing gender, it's not just about changing your outer gender presentation; but also the documents.

Kate Craig-Wood, 31, is the managing director of her own IT consulting firm, who transitioned in 2005 and never looked back, but never hides either.  Below she tells her story.

When I decided to transition I didn’t have the option of melting into society, which is what a lot of transgender people do. I had a family to support, and responsibilities to honour. Since I couldn’t disappear, I decided to make my visibility useful by writing my book Katherine’s Diary. I relaunched it last year.

The naked body of Amanda Lepore, the world's self proclaimed #1 transsexual, is about as good of a metaphor for change as any so it was suiting that the first sight of 2009 that the crowd at The Raleigh's Burlesque New Years saw was Ms. Lepore clad only in balloons as hostess Susanne Bartsch popped them.

All Katelynn Cusanelli was trying to do was give a friend a ride to Miami. But that ride began a journey that continued on to a reality show in New York City and, if Cusanelli has her way, will end in a happy and uplifting place.

TEHRAN  - After waiting nearly 30 years, Sogand finally became the person she dreamt of.

“I am shocked more women are not complaining about this,” three-time world champion Sean “The Beast” Fister said. “It’s not an apples-to-apples deal. Men and women are different.”

Before the 2006-07 school year, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association had never fielded a question about transgender athletes. That year, they received four inquiries about whether teenagers with non-traditional gender identities could compete for their schools.

 In the December 5, 2008 edition of The New York Times, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty published a full page advertisement that makes inaccurate and unsubstantiated claims about supposed “violence and intimidation” against religious groups by “mobs” since the passage of Proposition 8.  

 Never pretend that you are not what you are.' I'm very open and, as a result, I'm not embarrassed or scared any more, Sahara says.  

Dr. Renée Richards became famous after sex-change surgery and a legal fight to play in the U.S. Open. But a great love affair with a man has eluded her. A 2 hour interview, prompted by Dr. Richards’s new memoir, “No Way Renée,” provides an intimate look into her life now. 

 The following article is based on a speech given at the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance in Canberra. 

 The following article is based on a speech given at the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance in Canberra. 

That's one way to sidestep discrimination

 BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― If all humans are created equal, then why do only two Maryland jurisdictions have laws to protect a group that includes hundreds of Marylanders?  It's a statewide conflict over transgender discrimination. 

Since he could speak, Brandon, now 8, has insisted that he was meant to be a girl. This summer, his parents decided to let him grow up as one. His case, and a rising number of others like it, illuminates a heated scientific debate about the nature of gender—and raises troubling questions about whether the limits of child indulgence have stretched too far.

 “I left in 1999 and went illegally first to Mexico and then to the US. I was in the closet when I left and the economic situation was bad. I was begging for food in Mexico. Eventually I ended up in Dallas, homeless and living in the Salvation Army’s shelter.

One woman’s successful lawsuit against the Library of Congress could spell more legal victories for transgender employees across the country.

A man with salt-and-pepper hair and a black jacket pauses outside the lit-up windows of the Cornerstone Café. It’s after eight on a Thursday night in the final days of October. I see him peer through the glass, then watch as he reads the signs posted on the door: “Café Closed,” “TransAction Meeting here!” Lights from the Fernwood Inn and the Belfry Theater illuminate this junction of Fernwood square. The clatter-crash of a kitchen next door drifts i

They are not welcome in restaurants; auto drivers dont take them; passengers refuse to sit near them in buses; walking down the street is tough; getting a passport or opening a bank account is almost impossible and they are randomly picked up by the police and beaten mercilessly. Their crime not fitting into the gender roles society has determined.

After years of living in shame and torment, Cindy Thai Tai underwent sex reassignment surgery and says she’s never felt happier.

She took America by storm as the first trangeder model to compete on America's Next Top Model. But what do you know about Isis King?

The student newspaper of Yasheva University conducted an interview with a transsexual living within the orthodox Jewish community. 

Three courageous ‘girls’ talk sexual ambiguity with Lin Sampson, explaining life before and after realization.

A DEGREE from Curtin University, Western Australia, and a regional management position in a large logistics organisation. And, she's a transsexual!

Prejudices compound the struggle to find employment

Jahn Kirchoff calls to check in, and the voice on the phone is startling. It has dropped considerably in just a couple of weeks. No way it sounds like a woman's voice anymore.

One of my sons wears high heels. And, so whip me, Dr. Laura, I let him. A lot.

To put it bluntly, the military uniform once so proudly worn by Captain Ian Hamilton no longer fits. It is packed away, out of sight, in a wardrobe, along with the paratrooper's red beret, and the medals of service which document how he served in every major conflict of the past 20 years. Why he can no longer wear it  -  and, moreover, who is to blame for that fact  -  is a matter of much controversy.

A hometown visit brings back the struggles of growing up black and transgender.

The Brunners redefine same sex marriage, because when they originally got married they were man and wife. Now they are wife and wife.

The story of William, who at the age of three began battling the establishment.

"Well-known among fellow cabin crew members as "Nicky", Kiranunt enjoys walking up and down the aisle with baskets of snacks for passengers who are unaware that this flight attendant, wearing make-up and in a full air stewardess's uniform, was not born a woman."

I had always thought that to advance in my career I just needed to be very good at my job — that I would be judged on the merits of my work. At the age of 40, however, I learned how very wrong I was.

Workplace inequity takes teacher from Michigan campus to national stage.

In the spring of 1995, Hoboken motorcycle police officer John Aiello told his superiors that when he returned from his leave, it would be as a woman named Janet.

Imagine waking up every day and feeling like you were in the wrong body.

Boys have penis', girls don't

Minneapolis, Minn. — When Barbara Satin first started going out as a woman, it wasn't just different, it was dangerous.

I came across this article with a crossdresser named Kate as she sat down for an interview with the Cambridge Evening News

In this excerpt from the book, "Norma's Voice," available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com (and, I believe the British amazon site too), a married cross-dresser and his wife go shopping.

How Noel became Noeleena, the story of the 60-year-old married builder who had gender reassignment surgery, is at heart about how important it is to assert our true identity.

Are we as a community the victims we claim to be? 

Sometimes I find that humor can be the best solution

 I wrote this story several years ago and it was originally published in the "Femme Mirror" the TRIESS bi-monthly magazine.  

 This is an exerpt from my TG novel "Door to Door."

A recently returned Vietnam veteran learns the consequences of failure to fully disclose.

New Serious Transgender Suspense Novel IT KNOWS YOU BY NO OTHER NAME by Dan McNayavailable from AMAZON.COM

An overbearing boyfriend is tamed by his girlfriends girlfriend.

An innocent ride home has a cost, and a reward.

Then the doorbell rang. My fear escalated and my heart was about to rip through my blouse and I felt sweat trickle down my back to the top of my pantyhose. What was my stepfather doing? I wondered as he stepped into the hallway and pulled open the door.

A simple lap dance can change everything

During his vacation Aaron decides to get implants, without much forethought

  Darkness falls, time stands still,

Love is a simple thing, really

Why should the girl inisde have to hide to conform to anothers point of view?

Tyranny, humanity, insanity

As I remove her face from mine I struggle for understanding.

Life inhales and exhales such confusion

We've all said I Love You, but let's look at it from a different perspective

In the Great Hall Of Life, we are all particpants.

While Awaiting the end of the world

 Dallas filmmaker Israel Luna’s latest effort,Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives, has made headlines and stirred controversy across the country, from the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in May, to the Seattle International Film Festival last weekend, with a stop in betweenat Fort Worth’s Q Cinema Film Festival earlier this month.

 Many transgender people, me included, bristle at the notion that we are mentally ill. 

When the Santa Fe New Mexican reported the arrest of 60-year-old Randey Michelle "Mikeh" Gordon for impersonating a police officer and illegally pulling over another vehicle, they opted for the headline "Transsexual faces charges of police impersonation." 

 Although the National Health Service in Great Britain has paid for gender reassignment surgery for transsexuals since 1999, at a cost of approximately £10,000 per procedure, precisely how much masculinization or feminization should be funded by the taxpayers remains a matter of ongoing controversy. 

 Indiana's own Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Merrillville), like other House Democrats who spent much political capital on the health care reform vote, is hoping for a softball legislative schedule so he can focus on his top priority, re-election. However, a bill -- pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- that would give transgender individuals the same legal status as minorities will prove to make this election cycle anything but easy.

A great challenge for Pakistan has been crafting a sense of shared identity.

 Althea didn't seem to us a viable candidate for state representative in the city of Boston; her minority status was a lot to overcome.

  What will it take to transition California into a state where all gender identities and expressions are valued and respected? 

 Americans all over the country are out of work, with many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people — transgender Americans in particular — facing tough times because of workplace bias. Thankfully, our nation is on the cusp of seriously addressing this injustice: The House is forecasted to soon consider the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

 DEAR ABBY: I think my husband may be a cross-dresser. Last night while “Roland” and I were cuddling in bed, I felt his legs and they were smoother than mine. I asked him why he keeps shaving his legs and stomach, and then it dawned on me. Roland has sent me e-mails hinting about dressing up.

 The writer projects his negative opinion with HRC and transgender rights

 Fox “news” media knows that “real Americans” are concerned about how the evil, librul gay agenda is threatening America’s bathrooms. 

 The part of the transgender population wishing to transition genders can be subject to some of the most rigorous pre-qualification requirements of any medical procedure. A Boston organization thinks there's a better way.

 Ash Yezuita would like to wash her hands in peace.

 One might have thought that in a time when Felicity Huffman can win an Academy Award for playing a transgender woman (and Hilary Swank can win one for portraying a trans man), Eddie Izzard can sell out stadiums while wearing makeup and heels and

 After almost half a century living as a male,Joanne Herman transitioned in 2002 to live as a female in order to resolve a gender incongruity she had felt for as long as she remembers. 

 By now, the story of Constance McMillen is well known. If you missed coverage (a good deal of it by AlterNet), Adam Weinstein over at Mother Jones has a good summary today .

 All the advertising I have seen for the 2010 census has a unified message: We must all participate so we can count. However, some of us will be participating in this census, but will not be accurately counted .

 Unitarian Universalists in Mississippi endorse safe schools for all of our children regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression.

 President Barack Obama today signed into law an historic bill designed to increase access to health care throughout the United States.

 A Victoria University academic believes teaching primary school children about the world's main religions will promote understanding and tolerance, and prepare kids for an increasingly diverse 21st century. Has anyone else spotted the irony?

 I've increasingly been seeing and hearing the word "transgendered," and I have cringed every time. What's wrong with the seemingly subtle difference between saying "transgendered" and "transgender?" Actually, a lot.

 VH1, the Viacom network responsible for the exploitation of D-list has-beens and the word "Love," this month premieres Transform Me, a television makeover show. Featuring three transgender makeover-ers.

 Very little in life came easily for the British comedian and actor Eddie Izzard. 

 Generations of schoolchildren — nerdy ones, shy ones, fat ones and ones who were simply different — are all too familiar with the gut-wrenching fear that a trip to a school bathroom or locker room can invoke.

 Cross-dressing lawsuit more than just about clothes

With no input from Sarah Palin (as far as we know), the American Psychiatric Assn., in its newDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, has replaced the term "mental retardation" with "intellectual disability." Whether this will stop schoolyard taunts of “retard”

 In mid-February, the American Psychiatric Association released the latest proposed changes to its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), considered the “Bible” used by mental health professionals in diagnosing patients. In addition to providing a guide for mental health diagnosis, the DSM is crucial in helping third-party payers (insurance companies) determine what they will cover under health insurance policies.

 Valentine's Day this year found me dreaming about my upcoming wedding. What's different about a transgender wedding? Nothing, if I have my way.

It's not like women, every time they get together to crown someone Miss USA or Miss America or Miss Childish Bigot From California, have to defend their right to competition based on pretty faces and smoking bods .

 About a year ago, I was the subject of a character assassination.   This is probably something we all have some familiarity with to some extent I would think.  

 I think one thing many will agree upon is the critical need for change — personally, publicly, politically and socially.

 The level of data collection mandated by the REAL ID Act of 2007 should raise concern for all American citizens who enjoy their privacy, because it mandates unprecedented levels of data collection and an equally unprecedented level of nationwide access to that data (EPIC, 2007, 14). 

 I don't much care for Julie Bindel, unlike Beatrix Campbell, who defended her on this site yesterday. That does not mean I don't admire her.

 Tall and slim with natural blond hair, the young lady walking by us exuded a confidence that belied the struggles she must have gone through to be where she was. I gestured toward her. "No matter what I do, I'll never be able to look like that," I complained.

 Last Thursday, hundreds of transgender Massachusetts residents gathered in the State House to lobby (yet again) for the right to stand under the state's hate crime and nondiscrimination umbrella. Currently, a range of person-flavors are covered—including race, religion, age, nationality, disability, sex and sexual orientation—but not transgender identity.

A response to Cothran and his recent post mocking the notion of transgender, and mocking the transgendered.

 Beauty pageants have been used to celebrate women for decades. Sure, their roots were less than balanced, but many modern pageants promote self-esteem, personal achievements and world-view thinking. Pageants have also substantially broadened their contestant base: seniors, children, plus size, and, finally, transsexuals.

 Transgender children are some of the most vulnerable students in America’s schools. Nobody knows how many there are, and very few educators know what to do with them.

 "I was really worried about coming out as transgender to anyone else because I knew there weren’t any policies. I was so afraid that my school would ban me from my sport and that was the only thing I had at the time. I finally decided to come out my senior year of college because I was going down a slippery slope and I didn't think I could pul

 Xeni asked me to give a brief analysis of her earlier post on the International Olympic Committee's decision regarding sex tests for athletes like South African sprinter Caster Semenya. Caster is one of the millions of people in the world who challenge our simplistic male/female sex binary by their very existence.

 Transgender activist Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi talks about Super Queen, her multi-city beauty contest, which seeks to bring the Kinnar community to the public eye

 "Being first sucks." That's what Amanda Simpson, one of the country's first two openly transgender presidential appointees, told ABC News. 

No, not the actual people, but the term itself. It's fallen as out of favor as stiletto heels at an office picnic, and I'm pretty sure I know why.

 The new year has ushered in two measures of fairness for transgender people. 

 Many people in the media and in government have been advocating full-body scanners in the wake of the failed Christmas Day attack by so-called Underwear Bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. In recent weeks Canada has quickly moved towards introducing the scanners, along with the U.S., U.K., Nigerian, and Dutch governments.

 Tony Perkins, the endearing don't-I-look-like-a-choirboy? president of Family Research Council is sizzling over ENDA - the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

 Toronto is a lovely and tolerant city full of amazing resources for LGBT people and their allies. My many visits resulted in nothing but the fondest of memories

 The American Psychiatric Association thinks so, or is history repeating itself?

 There’s a certain amount of brouhaha amongst some evangelical Republicans over a minor presidential appointment in the Commerce Department.

On 11 September 2009, America woke up to watch helplessly as 2,900 of its citizens lost their lives as a result of a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda.

 SOMETIME last month, a parcel was delivered to my doorstep. Inside was a box full of goodies for my baby, with a few handmade embellishments personalising the package. I was gob smacked. The parcel was from a woman I’ve never met, a woman with whom I’ve had intermittent contact over email while we worked on a project together. She’d sent the parcel all the way from Germany.

 The thing that separates a great drag show from a mediocre one is simple: attention to detail.

 In the past decade lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people have made rapid progress in winning and securing equal rights. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C. now give same-sex couples at least some of the same rights afforded to heterosexual married couples. Even more states offer nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or both. Polling data show that the general public has increasingly positive views of LGBT people and are becoming m

 A debate is raging in the psychiatric community about the appropriateness of Gender Identity Disorder as a designated illness

 So one of your long-term employees, Bob, comes into your office and tells you that he no longer identifies with the sex assigned to him at birth and that in two weeks he will begin the process of “transitioning” from male to female. 

 A little over a year after deciding not to go through with a sex change, LA Times sports columnist Mike Penner killed himself. Jacob Bernstein on the pain of his final days.

 There’s been a lot of ink spent in the off-campus press on the recent gender-neutral housing proposal, but most of it has ignored one targeted community: trans students. But gender-neutral housing is just one of seve

Runnin with RuPaul, Tranimals, Squeaky and Fadedra 

 I'M emotionally disturbed by the public response towards the marriage of Fatine Min Baharin with Ian Young.

 Wikipedia describes transgender as a person who may act, feel, think, or look different from the gender that he or she was born with while a transsexual is someone with a mind that is literally, physically, trapped in a body of the opposite sex.

On Saturday, Nov. 28, Los Angeles Times sportswriter Mike Penner was found dead in his Los Angeles home, the victim of an apparent suicide. Penner had been covering the sports beat for theLA Times since 1983. But the writer’s public profile skyrocketed in April of 2007, when he came out as transgender, began living publicly as a woman, and changed his byline to Christine D

 This past weekend I attended Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) events in Sacramento and Stockton and participated in two web-based memorials. Each year I am moved to tears listening to the manner in which humans are subjected to violent murder based on their perceived gender identity. This year was no different except the list of dead went up from 29 human souls murdered last year to 119 human souls this year.

 I may have a bit of the Alberta rube in me, but hey, I knew what the Kinks were singing about when they sang Lola. Or so I thought, up until about age 19 or 20.

 Held on the 20th of November every year, this day is set to commemorate transgenders who have been killed due to discrimination, prejudice and hatred towards the community. It is also to raise awareness and act against the violence, brutality and murder of gender variant or non-gender conforming individuals within the LGBT community worldwide.

 BROOKSVILLE - Will Tampa's decision Thursday to broaden its policy on discrimination to include transgendered individuals lead to a review of personnel procedures for Hernando County, the city of Brooksville and the school district?

 As a queer-person-of-color-identified student at the University of Colorado, I have a good idea of what it means to be on the fringe of society and all the hardships that go along with it. But when you add not conforming to heteronormative ideals of gender identity and gender expression as it relates to the transgender community, those hardships are only made worse and more numerous.

 HONG KONG - In the biggest challenge yet to traditional Chinese values about sex in this city of 7 million people, a male-to-female transsexual is suing the government for the right to marry her male partner. Moreover, because the plaintiff makes such a compelling case, traditionalists find themselves on the legal defensive. 

 This was the best legislative year in Dover that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Delawareans have ever seen. 

 High school is a tricky time for many teenagers, with the simple act of what to wear becoming a huge dilemma. Does this skirt look right, a girl might wonder to herself before school. But what about when a boy wonders the same question? 

 As members of the House debate whether the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is something this country needs to keep queers safe in the workplace, should they also, by the end of all of this, issue strict directions on what employers need to do about the signs they hang on bathroom doors?

 There was a good Sunday New York Times story on the growing tension between gender-bender high school students and traditional dress codes. The story made brief reference to the recent North Cobb High case involving student Jonathan Escobar.

 On Tuesday, voters in Maine approved a bill establishing second class citizenship for millions of American citizens by a slim margin. Despite the tireless work of organizers, fundraisers and the amazing turn-out by the supporters of equality, in the end, discrimination won over fairness. We see across the country voters choosing to create two types of citizenship: the folks we’re comfortable with get first tier, and those we aren’t comfortable with get second tier.

 Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics about America’s LGBT Families

 RIP John Kenley. Anorak’s Man In LA remembers the cross-dressing, hermaphroditic theatre star being ignored by the big media:

 Tis the season for trick-or-treating, candy chomping and costume wearing. And if you’re not a fan of those, at the very least, you can curl up your couch and enjoy a cult classic, such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

 The RULES presented at some schools makes the whole idea of Halloween moot. . 

Honoring Queer Relationships and the Gender Variant Body at the End of Life

 As has been true nation-wide, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues have been receiving greater attention and inspiring more awareness at Emory than at any time in the past. 

 Move over Usain Bolt. Bring on a new superstar, the most talked about runner this past summer, a female. Or is she?

 A frequently asked question: If you were always male inside, why did you have to “learn” male behaviors when you transitioned? Wouldn’t that just come naturally?

 The first article in this series took a general look at the growing problem of violence against transgendered persons, both in the U.S. and abroad. In the second part, Joe Erbentraut looks at how the media and even many gay organizations ignore or downplay these crimes and what is being done to remedy that. 

 October 11 will be a day to march--in Washington, D.C., and cities around the country to demand full LGBT equality, and nothing less. Now, activists across the country are taking a stand nationally, and setting their sites high--equal rights in all 50 states, backed up by the authority of the federal government. SocialistWorker.org asked some of the people building this demonstration--both veterans of the movement and those new to activism--to give us their reasons for marchin

 A majority – 51 percent – of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers continue to hide their identity from most or all co-workers, according to a new report released today from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation that examines the real-life experiences of LGBT workers.

 President Barack Obama’s own equivocation these last months shows the limitations of an electoral strategy – and the importance of struggle.  He is the first president to publicly utter the word transgender and to honor the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots last June. Yet his Justice Department first insultingly upheld and then opposed DOMA

 The nation's oldest and largest organization of endocrinologists has recommended that physicians treating children with gender identity disorder intervene to delay puberty at its first signs and wait until a child is at least 16 before offering hormonal therapy that would begin his or her gender transition.

 When a transsexual person comes out, the non-trans people around him or her always have a bottomless well of questions — and this is not necessarily bad.

 Many of my students joke about the "gender police."

 Wyatt T. Walker wrote in a December 1967 Negro Digest article, “Rob a people of their sense of history and you take away hope.”

 What does Chaz Bono teach us about transgender folks?

 One of the ongoing arguments in the transgender community that’s guaranteed to generate heated debate one way or the other is the stealth vs out one.

 Kenya’s own Janeth Jepkosgei lost the recent 800 metres race at the World Championships in Berlin to Caster Semenya of South Africa. Kenyans seem to be waiting for the answer to the question, “Is Miss Caster Semenya a woman?” 

 A lot of people who are trans experience body dysmorphia,” says Max, from across a table in one of Wellington’s finest bagel establishments. “I don’t personally feel that. Perhaps that has a lot to do with both my politics and the fact that I have been able to access transitional therapies easily.”

 The idea of transgender Christianity shocks people on both sides of the divide: conservative religious reject any kind of gender variance and the LGBT community can be suspicious of organized religion. In all of this, trans-Christians are forging a new spirituality.

A colleague recently was asking me about the current status of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, as it has been come to be known, with the Obama Administration.  As we we’re discussing the pros and cons of that policy and the reform that hopefully will ensue, the question of Transgendered in the military came to focus.

 Some non-trans people wonder if transgender and transsexual people want to do away with or change the concept of gender as it is recognized by mainstream U.S. culture.

 Also found under the Transgender Umbrella—besides Transsexuals—are Genderqueers

 Sherry Wolf reports on the latest version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

 My husband and I have always been open to experimentation, so when he suggested I “make him up” I applied eye shadow, mascara, lip gloss and got him to wear some lingerie.

When you hear the term 'LGBT family' you may have many things come to mind as to what this term means to you or you may not have any clue what it actually incorporates.

 A transition from male to female or female to male is a process that takes place over a period of time — in some cases, several years.

 I am learning disabled. Being learning disabled is something that most people try to hide from, or they get exceptions from in school. They get laughed at for being ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’. The reality is that being learning disabled is not something that I have ever been all that ashamed of. In truth, it agrivates (aggrivates) me every time someone uses my disability to

 You will often hear transsexual people speak of their transition from male to female or from female to male. But what does this mean, exactly? And why do some people use different terms to reflect this transition?

 I AM 40 and have been married for 10 years to a beautiful woman. I like my wife to be sexy and I always buy her sexy lingerie. However, she doesn’t like to wear them. Instead, I wear them. My wife knows about this but pretends she doesn’t. Perhaps, she just doesn’t want to talk about it.

 We have already discussed the meaning of transgender(ed) and the difference between transgender(ed) and transsexual. Today’s 101 deals more with word usage than word meaning — but usage can be just as important, if not more so.

 Some Jackson fans will probably be upset with Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson, the new book by journalist Ian Halperin that is out today. 

New coverage of murders unsettling for some in the transgender community.

 Lateisha Green was not from Colorado, but as the first state to convict the murderer of a trans person of committing a hate crime, Green’s murder should concern us as well.

 There are not many of us, male or female, who are blessed with the facial beauty of a Jaye Davidson (Dil in Neil Jordan's The Crying Game). As a woman Jaye was good-looking, but as a man he was beautiful -- the same face, of course, but our perception of that face on the body of a man was different. We assign a h

 " You are setting him up to fail" was the last thing I heard before my throat began to tighten and my eyes flooded with tears. How could my own family say such things to me? "I will not listen to you!" sputtered out of my mouth as I frantically searched for the button to drop the call. Did that just happen?

 In the process of trying to dedicate Stonewall to the transsexuals, cross-dressers, butch women and transgendered of the community, I utilized the word ‘tranny’ in the title, thereby offending one of my transgendered readers.

 We have always known mankind to kill what it felt threatened by, to evaluate what it deemed dangerous and rid itself of the threat that comes along with it. 

 A young women contacted me through my website www.weddingsbythebay.net, asking to get married. She and her soon to be husband, Dave, wanted a nice beach wedding in Monterey, California. 

 Last Sunday, June 28, Chicago’s 40th annual Gay Pride Parade stepped off at Belmont and Halstead, marched north to Broadway, then took a sharp turn south, and ended up on Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park. That’s a long walk, but probably necessary in order to accommodate the 450,000 onlookers who lined the route. The parade outdrew Taste of Chicago that day! Not bad. Kudos to the organizers.

 The Human Rights Commission in Maine has been getting it right lately when it comes to protecting trans people in that state. Back in May they found that a trans woman banned from using the restroom in a Denny’s had indeed been d

 How Gender and Sexuality Don't Add Up to Equal Pay

 President Barack Obama is quietly preparing to release new guidelines that would bar workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees. 

 Criminal Charges for Choice of Clothing Violate Rights to Privacy and Free Expression

Tracing the modern transgender rights movement from its beginnings in the dress code reform of the 1800s up through Stonewall to today, when Texas A&M has honored trans advocate Phyllis Frye

Crossdressers are probably as misunderstood in our society as are transsexuals. But crossdressers are nottranssexuals, nor are they drag queens.

 Reincarnation: A Romantic Notion

 In her own words, a transgender teen talks candidly about acceptance and tolerance.

 May was an historic month for the transgendered around the world.

Honduras should act to end an epidemic of violence against transgender people by investigating, prosecuting, and convicting those responsible, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today

Honduras should act to end an epidemic of violence against transgender people by investigating, prosecuting, and convicting those responsible, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today

 "Hello. I'm Matt Kailey, and I'm a transsexual."  No, that’s not how I introduce myself.

As a transwoman, where do I fit in to the whole “marriage” paradigm?  I identify as a  heterosexual female, I have a body that is anatomically female, but presumably (I say presumably, because honestly I don’t think I’ve ever had a test to check my chromosomes) I have an XY chromosomal makeup.

 On April 22, Allen Andrade, an unemployed 32-year-old who had spent time in prison for a string of non-violent crimes, was convicted of first-degree murder for beating to death eighteen-year-old Angie Zapata of Greeley. 

 This is a much-revised version of an essay that first appeared in "The Weekly News" (TWN), South Florida's gay community newspaper. I also wrote about the Stonewall Riots in "Youth, Education, and Sexualities: An International Encyclopedia," edited by James T. Sears (Greenwood Press, 2005).

 A transgender woman barred from using a Denny's restroom consistent with her gender identity was likely the victim of illegal discrimination under Maine law, an investigation by the state’s human rights commission concluded this week.

 How does being trans fit into the same sex marriage rules, or lack of them? 

 Military veteran Diane Schroer’s recent legal victory highlights the challenges faced by the transgendered, both during and after serving their country with honor.

You say that there are “differing opinions within the [transsexual (TS)] community on disclosure,” but then you go on to give only one, in which you end up confirming the letter-writer’s date’s opinion that the guy is a transphobic jerk. This doesn’t seem fair.

 As I stood in a queue at the local corner-shop, I heard a high-pitched voice beside me at knee height, “Boys, boys, girls, boys, girls, boys”. Looking down, I noticed a small boy looking at a string of babies’ dummies and labelling them “boys” and “girls” according to their colour

 "While long-term trends clearly favor equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans, we must continue to shift public sentiment and public policy in a progressive direction. And I am hoping your local clergy will lead the way."

The redhead in the brown T-shirt and strappy sandals doesn't want to give her name because at work — she's a mechanic — they think she's a guy. 

 To hear opponents of the transgender rights bill describe the legislation, one might think it would unleash full-scale anarchy on the Commonwealth. 

Thursday I met with the psychiatrist who oversaw my transition and a few months of my re-transition. It was interesting–very brief, and anticlimactic; at this point, I’m not really in transition in either direction

 I have no rights. I have no right to freedom from discrimination. I have no right to secure employment. I have no right to a safe place to live. I don’t even have the right to go to the washroom in peace. It’s amazing that I can sit here in the 21st century, in Canada, and be able to say that.

BANGALORE: They are excluded from the so-called mainstream, associated with AIDS and sometimes portrayed as clowns and criminals. In reality, transgenders are among the most marginalized minorities in the world. 

 In the reunion show of Ru Pauls Drag Race, one contestant, identified as a gender fuck (the last word being bleeped out), and she and Nina Flowers challenged some people’s concepts of drag and drag queens.

 Transsexuals are convinced that they were born in the body of the opposite gender and would do almost anything to change that fact. 

 Etiology - The science of assigning causes. What causes transsexuality? People have been arguing over that little drama for decades. 

 A transsexual woman was attacked and beaten in Eskisehir. A transsexual woman was found her head cut in Bursa. A man has been killed by his friend on the claim that he asked for sexual intercourse. 

In a Europe with a full spectrum of languages, traditions and ethnic identities, in a place where we can travel freely, sexual identities remain black and white. In an age in which flexibility and individuality have become buzzwords it is astounding that 'man' and 'woman' are immobile categories to which we attribute certain characteristics.

What are you a boy or a girl? How many times have transgender individuals been asked this question? Personally I've heard it more than few times in my life.

My transgender friends in Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) met with me for coffee one night in Makati and told me they want to write a rejoinder to my column about our common friend, BB Gandanghari. I was glad to listen to them and learn more about the transgender experience. 

 I have something of a secret. While I have stated that I am lesbian, the reality is probably closer to that I was more bisexual than strictly lesbian. The reality is a lot more complex than it might seem.

 (New York, March 13, 2009) – The killing of Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender human rights activist, on March 10, 2009, shows a continuing climate of violence based on gender identity that authorities should urgently take steps to combat, 

 Transgender activists are concerned about media representations of a man who underwent gender reassignment surgery but is now suing psychiatrists at the Monash Medical Centre.

Delving into the often tumultuous worlds of transgender youth

 In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins that Title VII – the main federal anti-discrimination statute -- prohibits employer

 An Ontario human rights case involving a pre-op transgender man seeking access to a women-only gym is just one more listing in the catalogue of human-rights commission absurdities accumulated over the last 40 years.

 The most difficult thing for any transwoman is finding clothes that fit. Most women’s clothing is designed around a woman who is, typically, around 5′5 to 5′7. I, for example, am 5′11, and I am lucky. My frame is built like any woman’s but grown from 5′5 to 5′11. 

The day Mike Penner left the Los Angeles Times made the news. The longtime sportswriter wrote the article himself, a personal essay explaining that he was taking some time off and, upon his return, he would be known from then on as Christine Daniels.

This is a ‘duh’ statement…. Transsexuality is different than homosexuality. I know, that really is a no brainer. A transsexual is an individual who seeks to alter their body’s exterior sex in order to match their gender. But ...

Ever since 1513, when the Conquistador Vasco Nuñez de Balboa decided to set his dogs on 40 Quarequa indigenous people for engaging in transvestism and homosexual acts, Colombia´s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) sector has had a stressful relationship with the dominant society.

The greatest good that has come from Sen. Chris Buttars speaking openly, honestly and without filter, is that he has been exposed for who he is. Time and time again he proves how he feels about people who are not white and not Mormon. He has proven in words and in deed that he is a bigot.

A in depth look at the needs of transgender people in Santa Barbara, California, and whether those needs are being met.

There is a story often read in woman’s studies programs called “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story” by Lois Gould. In it, a child named X is raised in a gender-neutral household. Neither X nor anybody else is privy to X’s biological sex and X is never assigned a gender.

Guyana has become an international laughing stock for the recent conviction and fine by our Acting Chief Magistrate on February 9, of seven Guyanese citizens for what is commonly called ‘cross-dressing.’

In the January 27 issue of The Beacon, we ran what has become, a rather controversial opinion article, “The Angry Rant: Celebrating cultural absurdities.” In it, Beacon columnist Tim Seigfried focused briefly on Thomas Beatie, also known by the wider media as “the Pregnant Man,” and offered his trademark satiric take on American culture, this time focused on the transgender community.

While passing a transgender civil rights bill remains the top priority among the state’s LGBT advocacy organizations, there are a handful of other LGBT-related bills that advocates will be pushing this session, on topics ranging from bullying prevention to LGBT elder issues to pension benefits to codifying the Goodridge decision into the Massachusetts General Laws.

In this article the author discusses the social, legal, health and religious anti-transgender motivated oppression in Kenya, and which can be used to formulate policies that create understanding and tolerance of transgender individuals, punish those who perpetrate violence and discrimination on transgender people.

Katherine Dedyna writes about British Columbians living with gender identity disorder who continue to face expensive surgery and long stays at a private Montreal clinic now that plans for a publicly funded sexual reassignment clinic on the West Coast have collapsed.

APPLETON — A transgendered person who sued a downtown nightclub this past week for discrimination said she is pushing the lawsuit to set an example.

"In 38 years, I've only once dressed in drag .... I never found drag queens at gay bars or transgender people weird or threatening. To anyone paying attention, it is clear that we live in a world of infinite and wondrous natural diversity. There is an obvious spectrum of human possibility that is in front of our eyes. Yet, supposedly educated people still act surprised and unnerved that transgender Americans exist.."

I first read "Making History" by Eric Marcus in the 90s when I came out. I was a teenager and didn't know enough to be able to compare the gay rights movement between now and then. So, I'm re-reading the revised edition from 2002 "Making Gay History" and it's striking me that I haven't even gotten to 1961 and the problems within the gay rights movement and the differen

If Hollywood made a movie of the last Congress on GLBT issues, "The Pragmatist vs. the Idealist" would someday play at a theater near you.

Suddenly Fem (www.CrossDresser.com), the leading global crossdressing superstore, believes that some of the best male companions aren’t manly men or macho types.

HERE'S a real gem to finish off 2008 - Pope Benedict XVI thinks saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

Divide and conquer was a war strategy used by Julius Caesar. The Gulls were worthy adversaries but Caesar was able to overcome them by stirring up conflict between the Gallic tribes and getting the tribes to fight amongst themselves. The once fierce warriors became easy prey and were ultimately defeated.

My path to being queer was in many ways extremely similar to the cisgendered women I've spoken to (cisgendered means those of you who aren't transsexuals. It's a mouthful, sure, but so was heterosexual when it started being used). I'd spent a number of years dating men, and was in a long-term relationship with a man when I realized the people I kept falling in love with were women.

When Elliot Kukla, a Reform rabbi, came out as transgender six months before his ordination in 2006, he never imagined how openly the Jewish community would be addressing transgender issues just three years later.

This year has had some amazing high points and, unfortunately, some low points, such as the economy, that many of us have never experienced before. Should I give the good news first or end this column on a positive note? I’ll start off with the bad.

Last night, we met the first transgender person (that we know of) in the Terminator universe. We asked transgender activist and author Kate Bornstein for her opinion of the episode.

 For most people, sexuality is a pretty basic thing. You're attracted to men, you're attracted to women or you're attracted to men and women. However, gender doesn't matter to me. I'm all right with blurring or even completely ignoring gender lines, as long as I find the person attractive.

Last week, seemingly against the odds, Vladimir Luxuria won the Italian reality-tv game show L’Isola dei Famosi (a type of ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’). What makes her victory worth discussing - outside of the tv pundity columns - is that she is a) transgender, and b) a former member of parliament for the Rifondazione Comunista  party.

Transgender topics are not exclusive to Yale, but have been on Ivy tables as early as the fall of 1982, when homophobic hate crimes peaked at UPenn.

While the causes of gender identity disorders are still disputed, one thing is certain – these patients need care and compassion, rather than discrimination. One view of GID

 For a lucky few, the road to self-discovery is short and simple. Their identity is easily negotiated, and their struggle is ended. For most, finding identity is a tumultuous endeavor – navigating through doubt and vulnerability into some understanding of who we are. But for a tormented multitude, discovering identity is a journey filled with hardship.

 It is common for people to feel stress at work, either from personal or work-related issues. Ten percent of the corporate population is gay, lesbian, and transsexual (GL&T). This group often faces more stress than most because they frequently have to conceal their sexual preference. This additional stress to one's job can lead to a bad working climate. 

 In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from its list of diagnostic criteria for mental illnesses, in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DMS), the standard guide for identifying mental disorders in both the U.S. and Canada. This was a major early victory for LGBTQ rights. However, despite this, two particularly troubling diagnoses remain: Transvestic Fetishism (TF) and Gender Identity Disorder (GID).

 Feminist movement could benefit from an alliance with trans men

It's not news that women often make less money than men, even if they are working the same job, but also that that men who become women make less money than men.

Transgender people and their experiences have a lot to teach the workplace.

As students begin to settle in a routine at Columbia—finding their place in campus activities, learning the bureaucracy of the system, and slowly becoming caffeine addicts—a small group of students begins to question where it belongs.

For some years I have grappled with disclosure issues in relation to friends, lovers and potential dates.

If an Orthodox Jewish transsexual desires to transition, which will set him on a course of taking hormones and finally having SRS [Sex Reassignment Surgery], is this permitted per halakha?

An American student from Texas explains her experience in Thailand; the introduction to ladyboys, the reaction of it by her and the way in which it was revealed.

Transgender identities cross a fluid spectrum, causing confusion for some, freedom for others

As a volunteer for Changing Attitudes at the Lambeth Conference I found myself in an opportune position to reflect from a translesbian (i.e. a transsexual woman who identifies as a lesbian not to be confused with above or beyond “lesbians,” or a transgender man) standpoint on the Anglican Communion and attempts to exclude the LGBTI.

. . . I was 19 the summer I graduated. Free from studies, living at home, taking time off before job hunting, I was keen to explore the gay scene.

"Our lack of knowledge makes us reject and disqualify what we don’t understand, and we do it from a hegemonic position which we think entitles us to look down upon and feel above what’s different. We are thus prone to humiliate, mistreat, blackball and discriminate against people," says JR, Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX).

By  Natacha Kennedy - With a labor government that has a good record of passing laws supporting minority and disadvantaged groups, including legislation prohibiting discrimination against people on the grounds of age, race and sexual orientation, it comes as a surprise to find a Labour government deliberately intending to exclude one specific minority group from the provisions of the Single

Try for a moment to imagine an America where equal opportunity really does mean everyone — even people who are transgender.

I was assigned female at birth but it wasn’t until I was 13 or 14 years old that I experienced a very strong sense of dislocation. I was deeply depressed, but I honestly didn’t have words for any of it.

I was assigned female at birth but it wasn’t until I was 13 or 14 years old that I experienced a very strong sense of dislocation. I was deeply depressed, but I honestly didn’t have words for any of it.

Sometimes, the biggest mistakes come from the most intelligent of individuals.

Michelle E. Brown has not talked directly about herrelationship with the Human Rights Campaign Board of Governors since the ENDA controversy began. Her resignation from the HRC Board of Governors "was not a protest but a conscious decision," she said.

Reponding to a letter directed to her that said,  "When you heal your early emotional wounds, you will be able to assess present danger more realistically and respond to it more effectively," and later said, "homosexual and transgender feelings are symptoms of emotional disorders...."

The idea that a transsexual-in-progress can't be a victim of sexual discrimination is bogus. If there's a group more vulnerable than women in the workplace, it's women who used to be men and men who used to be women.

Can one keep their faith during transition?

Many years ago, Johnny Carson, being the recipient of a Sally Fields practical joke, looked at her and said, “You really aren’t normal are you?” To which she playfully responded, “Well Johnny, I guess normal is as normal does!” It was a cute punch line, and yet beneath the surface made a larger statement.