Trans News Worldwide

[smalltownguy]

August 15th 2018

The Latest: Transgender candidate nominated for Vt. governor

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on primaries in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin (all times local):

9:15 p.m.

A former utility executive from Vermont has become the first transgender candidate to win a major political party's nomination for governor.

Christine Hallquist defeated three other Democrats en route to victory in Tuesday's primary.

The former CEO of the Vermont Electric Cooperative says she's running because she feels she has the best plan to help Vermont residents get higher-paying jobs, provide health care for their families and better educate their children.

The 62-year-old Hallquist is part of a wave of LGBTQ candidates seeking higher office across the U.S.

Hallquist is being supported by The Victory Fund, a political action committee that backs LGBTQ candidates across the country. The committed labeled her a "game changer."

___

9:10 p.m.

Vermont's Republican Gov. Phil Scott has won his party's nomination to run for a second term as the state's top executive.

Scott angered many people in the GOP base for supporting a series of gun restrictions but on Tuesday defeated Springfield businessman Keith Stern, a perennial candidate who described himself as a conservative Republican and campaigned on financial issues.

Scott based his first term as governor on the premise of making the state more affordable by helping to balance the budget without raising taxes or fees. He supported gun restrictions after what law enforcement authorities said was a narrowly averted school shooting.

Scott lost some voters with his gun stance but was supported by others who favored the restrictions.

___

9:05 p.m.

Democratic Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin is advancing to the November general election after facing no opposition from her own party.

She faces a tough re-election bid against one of two loyalists to President Donald Trump who are seeking to run against her. Baldwin is the only Democrat in a statewide office of importance in Wisconsin, and outside groups have already spent millions on television ads attacking her.

Baldwin's campaign has played up her work on moderate and core Wisconsin issues, including her buy-America plan that Trump supports and her work with Republican Sen. John McCain on lowering drug costs.

The Republicans battling to run against her are political outsider Kevin Nicholson and state Sen. Leah Vukmir. Polls show their race to be very close.

___

9 p.m.

Polls have closed for primary elections in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Polling places across the two states shut their doors at 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. Local election officials are now counting the votes. Results will trickle in over the coming hours.

Primaries in both states included races for governor and Senate, and both Senate seats were on Minnesota's ballot because of a special election to finish Al Franken's term.

Key House races included the Wisconsin primary for the seat that currently belongs to House Speaker Paul Ryan and a Minnesota seat being vacated by Democrat Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to serve in Congress. Ellison is running for state attorney general amid domestic abuse allegations from an ex-girlfriend. He denies them.

___

8:40 p.m.

Small-business owner Matthew Corey has won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Connecticut and will face an uphill battle against Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy.

In Tuesday's primary the Manchester Republican defeated Dominic Rapini, a national accounts manager for Apple computers.

Corey is a U.S. Navy veteran and owner of a Hartford pub and a window-washing business. He earlier unsuccessfully challenged Democratic U.S. Rep. John Larson.

Corey has called for more investment in small businesses in low-income communities. He's also supportive of apprenticeship programs, corporate tax reform and a tax credit for home school parents.

As of July 25, records show Corey had raised about $31,000 in campaign funds compared with nearly $13.5 million for Murphy.

There was no primary on the Democratic side.

___

8:30 p.m.

Businessman Ned Lamont has won the Democratic nomination for Connecticut governor, defeating Bridgeport mayor and ex-convict Joe Ganim.

Lamont's victory comes 12 years after he defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in a Democratic showdown, only to lose the general election when Lieberman ran as an independent. That race was seen as part of a national referendum on the Iraq War.

Lamont has said he'll "save Connecticut" from President Donald Trump's policies, whether it's the weakening of environmental standards or abortion access.

Lamont says he'll bring a businessman's approach to solving the state's fiscal woes. He supports unions and a higher minimum wage.

Ganim was elected Bridgeport mayor in 2015 despite serving seven years in prison for public corruption.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy decided against running for a third term.

___

8:05 p.m.

Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders has won Vermont's Democratic Senate primary but is expected to turn down the nomination and support the state's Democratic candidates, as is his practice.

In Tuesday's balloting, Sanders defeated little-known candidate Folasade Adeluola (foh-LAH'-shah-day ah-DAY'-loo-hoh-lah), who says she believes Vermont needs a full-time senator.

Sanders is thought to be considering a presidential run in 2020. He already is on Vermont's November ballot as an independent.

Under Vermont law he cannot appear on the November ballot as both a Democrat and an independent.

In his U.S. Senate races, in 2012 and 2006 he declined the nomination but accepted the formal endorsement of the state's Democratic Party.

Four little-known candidates were seeking the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

___

8 p.m.

Sen. Chris Murphy is advancing to the November election after sailing through the primaries without facing a challenger from his Democratic Party.

The first-term senator from Connecticut will face the winner of a two-man Republican primary featuring small-business owner Matthew Corey and Apple computer executive Dominic Rapini.

Polls in the state closed at 8 p.m. Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin are also holding primaries Tuesday.

Murphy's campaign has raised about $13.5 million, an amount that far exceeds the fundraising of each of his GOP rivals.

Murphy was first elected in 2012 and became a prominent advocate for gun control following the shooting massacre that year at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown that killed 20 first-graders and six educators. He has gained a higher profile lately through his outspoken criticism of the policies of President Donald Trump.

___

7:30 p.m.

Early figures show voter turnout in Connecticut's primaries is low despite the large number of candidates vying to become their party's nominee in November.

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill says turnout was around 15 to 16 percent with 153 of Connecticut's 169 towns reporting as of about 3 p.m. Tuesday. That figure doesn't include the major cities.

Merrill says she ultimately expects about 20 to 25 percent of the state's roughly 1.2 million registered Democrats and Republicans will vote, similar to past primaries. Polls close at 8 p.m.

Unaffiliated voters are not able to vote in Connecticut's primaries.

The Republican primary for governor is expected to be particularly close, given that five candidates are vying for the nomination. Merrill predicts the winner could take as few as 20,000 votes.

___

7 p.m.

The polls have closed in Vermont, where voters were picking nominees for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House.

Vermont and three other states, Connecticut, Minnesota and Wisconsin, are holding primaries Tuesday.

In Vermont, Republican Gov. Phil Scott is facing a challenge from Springfield businessman Keith Stern.

Four Democrats are seeking the party's nomination to run for governor. They include a former utility executive who, if elected, would become the nation's first transgender governor, and a 14-year-old boy who is taking advantage of a quirk in state law that does not require gubernatorial candidates to be registered voters.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is appearing on the Democratic ballot, even though he's already registered to run in November as an independent.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter Welch is also facing a primary challenge.

___

5:20 p.m.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission says no major problems have been reported across the state as voters cast their ballots in the primary.

The commission says statewide turnout figures for Tuesday's elections are not available yet.

Wisconsin is among four states holding primaries Tuesday. Connecticut, Minnesota and Vermont are the others.

In Milwaukee, the Journal Sentinel reports that election officials are projecting turnout to be 25 to 30 percent of the city's registered voters, which is about 75,000 people. The turnout is about 10,000 more than the 2014 gubernatorial primary.

Democratic voters are choosing among eight candidates to challenge Gov. Scott Walker in November. Republican voters are deciding between Leah Vukmir and Kevin Nicholson to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

___

2:25 a.m.

Democrats are fighting to beat back Republican gains across the Midwest as the 2018 primary season roars through Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Tuesday's primary contests for governor, the Senate and the House will test the strength of President Donald Trump's fiery coalition against the energy of the Democratic resistance among working-class voters.

Meanwhile, accusations of domestic violence involving the Democratic National Committee's deputy chairman, congressman and attorney general candidate Keith Ellison, could undermine the "blue wave" in Minnesota.

In all, four states including Vermont and Connecticut will host elections on Tuesday as the 2018 primary season nears its final chapter.

Democrats appear particularly motivated in Wisconsin, where eight candidates want the chance to take on Republican Gov. Scott Walker. In Minnesota, former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants his job back.

[smalltownguy]

August 17, 2018

‘I Don’t Feel Safe Living Here.’ After Threats From Parents, a Transgender Girl's Family Is Moving. Again.

For the second time in less than two years, Brandy Rose is planning to move her family to a new town, saying she no longer feels safe in Achille, Oklahoma because of violent threats against her transgender daughter, Maddie.

The Achille school district shut down for two days this week after adults in a parent Facebook group threatened the 12-year-old for using the girls’ bathroom at school. The incident renewed concerns that had driven the family from Sherman, Texas, where Maddie experienced “horrendous” school bullying after she transitioned. Some students had forced Maddie into the boys’ bathroom and taunted her to commit suicide, Rose said.

The move to Achille in 2017 was supposed to give Maddie a “fresh start.” Now the family is moving again — this time to Houston, seeking a “a more open, diverse community for people like my daughter” — as Rose fears for Maddie’s safety in the small town where she became the center of a firestorm this week.

Rose also worries that Maddie’s classmates, most of whom did not know that she was transgender until this controversy erupted, might now begin to bully her.

“I don’t feel safe living here anymore. I can’t drop my daughter off at the movies anymore,” Rose tells TIME. “What if someone recognizes her in the Walmart parking lot? She won’t even sleep in her bed anymore.”

Rose initially avoided sharing details about the threats with Maddie, talking to her generally about staying safe and being aware of her surroundings. But Maddie was taking selfies with her mother’s phone on Saturday, when she discovered screenshots of some of the Facebook posts, in which adults had referred to her as “this thing” and a “half baked maggot,” threatening to “make him a female” with a “good sharp knife.”

“She looked at me and said, ‘Mom, is this what you were talking about? Are these about me?’ And she was mortified. She didn’t understand. She had no idea that people felt that way about her,” Rose says. “I didn’t even know how to have the conversation. I stumbled over my words. It was hard to get them out. I just wanted to hold her while she cried.”

“When she saw the screenshots in my phone, her exact words were, ‘You’ve ruined school for me,'” Rose says. “She didn’t want to go back to school at first.”

Maddie returned to school on Wednesday, when the district reopened after shutting down on Monday and Tuesday amid concerns about protests. As a precaution, more police officers were stationed at the school, and a hall monitor followed Maddie around to make sure there weren’t any problems.

The incident is the latest example of a national fight over transgender rights, particularly in schools, where bathrooms have become a battleground for the estimated 150,000 American teenagers who identify as transgender, according to a 2017 report by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Gavin Grimm became a national leader on the issue when his 2015 complaint over his right to use the boys’ bathroom at his Virginia school reached the Supreme Court, which then decided not to hear the case. In May, a federal judge denied the school board’s motion to dismiss the suit.

Achille Public Schools Superintendent Rick Beene says the first day back at school on Wednesday went well and the district might hold trainings on transgender issues for teachers and staff this year. But he says he worries less about addressing the issue with students than he does with parents, including those behind the threatening Facebook posts.

“Kids are so innocent,” he says. “Really, kids almost have to be taught hatred. It’s just not a natural process.”

Beene says he understands the family’s decision to move. “I would wish this family the very best,” he says. “What I wouldn’t want is for them to leave our school or community thinking they’re not welcome by the majority.”

A GoFundMe campaign launched to help the family move to Houston, where they have relatives, had raised more than $16,000 as of Friday morning, solidifying their decision to leave. Rose hopes that Maddie might have access to more resources there and might not be the only transgender student at a school in one of the largest districts in the country.

“It’s frustrating to have to pick up and move all over again. It makes me feel horrible because when we moved here, I promised my kids, ‘We’re not going to move again for a very long time,'” Rose says. “But we’ve got to do what’s best for the whole family in the long run.”

[smalltownguy]

31 August 2018

16 States Ask SCOTUS for Protection Against “Transgender”

You’re certainly free to fire an employee if he insists on coming to work in a thong bikini. But if he’s a man dressing as a woman, then your freedom of association and business’s well being are expected to take a back seat to the transgender agenda. This double standard has worsened in recent times, but not everyone is taking it lying down. As the Christian Post reports:

A group of 16 states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to protect a Christian-owned funeral home that has been sued for firing a transgender worker for wearing women's clothing.

Three Republican governors have joined 13 Republican state attorneys general in signing an amicus brief calling on the nation's highest court to hear the case of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes.

More specifically, the government leaders are calling on the court to rule that the federal Title VII civil rights law does not extend sex discrimination protections to cover gender identity.

The owner of the Michigan funeral parlor chain Tom Rost appealed to the Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC] earlier this year.

The federal entity sued the Michigan funeral home chain on behalf of former transgender employee Aimee Stephens (formerly known as William Anthony Beasley Stephens) in 2014.

The appeals court's ruling not only struck down a lower court ruling that Rost could claim protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, it was also the first time a federal appeals court had interpreted transgender bias as a form of sex discrimination, according to Bloomberg.

The signatories to the brief are, WND.com informs, “attorneys generals [sic] from Texas, Nebraska, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. It was also signed by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Maine Gov. Paul LePage and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant.”

In reality, it’s tragic that only 16 states signed the filing, as the EEOC and Sixth Circuit rulings are the epitome of bureaucratic and judicial trampling of law. As WND relates on the substance of the brief, “The text, structure, and history of Title VII ... demonstrate Congress’s unambiguous intent to prohibit invidious discrimination on the basis of ‘sex,’ not ‘gender identity,’ the attorneys general say.”

“The term ‘gender identity’ does not appear in the text of Title VII or in the regulations accompanying Title VII. In fact, ‘gender identity’ is a wholly different concept from ‘sex,’ and not a subset or reasonable interpretation of the term ‘sex’ in Title VII,” the site continues.

This is not opinion but fact. When Title VII was written in 1964, the term “gender’s” use was almost exclusively confined to grammar. Its widely understood definition was what’s found in my 1972-edition American Heritage School Dictionary: “In grammar, any one of a number of categories, such as masculine, feminine, and neuter, into which words are divided.” That’s it. Nothing more.

There was no reference to “gender” as a human quality because the term was rarely if ever applied to people. I can attest to this, too. I don’t remember as a child or young teen ever seeing or hearing about humans having “gender”; on forms and elsewhere, we’d be asked only about our “sex.”

This didn’t even begin to change until after Title VII was crafted. As I wrote in 2016 in “Sex Vs. Gender. Yes, There is a Difference!”: The new usage’s popularization likely began with “discredited quack psychologist Dr. John Money. In 1966, he originated the debunked ‘gender neutrality’ theory and appears to have been the first person to popularize the application of ‘gender’ to people. Even so, such usage of the term didn’t really catch on until the last 20 or 25 years.”

The kicker here is that even the sexual devolutionaries — the activists seeking court rulings such as the one in question — take pains to emphasize that “gender” and “sex” are not synonymous. As the quite politically correct World Health Organization once explained,” Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.”

And Boundless Psychology instructs in no uncertain terms, “A person’s sex, as determined by their biology, does not always correspond with their gender [delusion]. Therefore, the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are not interchangeable.”

But this didn’t matter to the Obama administration, whose officials started misrepresenting Title VII and behaving as if the terms were. And is this a surprise? If Truth can be “relative,” as the Left insists, why can’t words and law?

If employers may no longer establish dress codes — at least where they would conflict with the leftist agenda or the latest psychological problem redefined as a “lifestyle” — where does it end? So-called “transgender” people are said to have “gender dysphoria.” Yet psychologists also define “species dysphoria,” which likewise involves strong and persistent feelings that you’re not what your biology reflects; in this case, that you’re an animal stuck in a human body.

So will employers, at some point in the future, be forced to let people thus deluded come to work naked? Animals don’t wear clothes, after all.

Obviously, many businesses’ customers (those of a daycare center, for instance) could be alienated by a cross-dressing worker. Why should employers have to endure lost business to advance a leftist agenda?

It used to be that the kind of childish denial of reality exhibited by leftists was once confined to fiction. But now read the following, from Through the Looking-Glass, and see if it sounds familiar: “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.’”

The scary thing is that our Alice in Wonderland leftists, who want everything to be relative (to themselves), are using their imaginations to become masters of us.

[smalltownguy]

28th August 2018

Vanesa Campos: Five charged with murdering Paris transgender sex worker

Peruvian national shot dead in park in latest in string of prostitute killings

Five people have been charged with the murder of transgender prostitute in Paris who was thought to have been attempting to stop a gang from robbing one of her clients.

Vanesa Campos was shot dead on the night of 16-17 August in the city’s Bois de Boulogne, an area regularly frequented by sex workers and their customers.

The 36-year-old, who had immigrated to France from Peru two years prior, was reportedly set upon by a group of men armed with knives and firearms.

Local media reports said Ms Campos had been attempting to prevent one of her clients from being mugged before she was fatally shot in the chest.

On Monday, Paris prosecutors said five men had been charged in connection with her killing, according to the AFP news agency.

Ms Campos’ murder has sparked outrage among LGBT+ campaigners, who have claimed France’s media all but ignored her death until recently.

Protesters had held a march through the park on Friday, calling for her killers to be brought to justice.

The case has also drawn attention to the plight of sex workers and their customers in the French capital, who are targeted for robberies by criminal gangs stalking parks late at night.

“We are all Vanesa,” trans rights activist Clemence Zamora Cruz told LCI.


Vanesa Campos: Five charged with murdering Paris transgender sex worker

Trans rights campaigners have previously called for Ms Campos' killers to be brought to justice
Trans rights campaigners have previously called for Ms Campos' killers to be brought to justice

On Monday, Paris prosecutors said five men had been charged in connection with her killing, according to the AFP news agency.

Ms Campos’ murder has sparked outrage among LGBT+ campaigners, who have claimed France’s media all but ignored her death until recently.


Protesters had held a march through the park on Friday, calling for her killers to be brought to justice.

The case has also drawn attention to the plight of sex workers and their customers in the French capital, who are targeted for robberies by criminal gangs stalking parks late at night.

“We are all Vanesa,” trans rights activist Clemence Zamora Cruz told LCI.

“Given the precariousness of the situation, how can we think that criminals are not tempted to attack people in our community?”

At least 12 prostitutes are thought to have been killed in the Bois de Boulogne in recent years, according to Le Parisien.

In a statement regarding Ms Campos’ death, France’s gender equality secretary Marlene Schiappa said her ministry would work to fight transphobia, and violence against migrants and trans people.

“All women must be protected from gender-based and sexual violence, all of which must be condemned,” she added.

[smalltownguy]

28th Aug 2018

Update and Correction to : Vanesa Campos: Five charged with murdering Paris transgender sex worker

Peruvian national shot dead in park in latest in string of prostitute killings



Five people have been charged with the murder of transgender prostitute in Paris who was thought to have been attempting to stop a gang from robbing one of her clients.

Vanesa Campos was shot dead on the night of 16-17 August in the city’s Bois de Boulogne, an area regularly frequented by sex workers and their customers.

The 36-year-old, who had immigrated to France from Peru two years prior, was reportedly set upon by a group of men armed with knives and firearms.

Local media reports said Ms Campos had been attempting to prevent one of her clients from being mugged before she was fatally shot in the chest.

On Monday, Paris prosecutors said five men had been charged in connection with her killing, according to the AFP news agency.

Ms Campos’ murder has sparked outrage among LGBT+ campaigners, who have claimed France’s media all but ignored her death until recently.

Protesters had held a march through the park on Friday, calling for her killers to be brought to justice.

The case has also drawn attention to the plight of sex workers and their customers in the French capital, who are targeted for robberies by criminal gangs stalking parks late at night.

“We are all Vanesa,” trans rights activist Clemence Zamora Cruz told LCI.

“Given the precariousness of the situation, how can we think that criminals are not tempted to attack people in our community?”

At least 12 prostitutes are thought to have been killed in the Bois de Boulogne in recent years, according to Le Parisien.

In a statement regarding Ms Campos’ death, France’s gender equality secretary Marlene Schiappa said her ministry would work to fight transphobia, and violence against migrants and trans people.

“All women must be protected from gender-based and sexual violence, all of which must be condemned,” she added.

[smalltownguy]

31 August 2018

High-flying lawyer undergoes her THIRD gender re-assignment surgery to become a woman for the second time - after going back to being a man to re-connect with her children

Samantha Kane, 58, said she had 'no choice' but transition back to a woman
The lawyer and author, from west London, had been living as Charles for 13 years
She has spent over £150,000 on gender re-assignment operations over the years

A high-flying transgender lawyer has revealed how she has undergone a gender re-assignment operation for the third time - after going back to being a man in a bid to reconnect with her children.

Samantha Kane, from west London, explained how she felt she 'had no choice' but to transition back to a woman again, following two previous sex changes, and now feels like her 'true self' again.

The lawyer and author, who was born Sam Hashimi in Baghdad, Iraq, first underwent gender reassignment surgery back in 1997, becoming Samantha.

But in 2004, she decided she wanted to go back to being a man, undergoing another operation to become Charles, having become estranged from her son and daughter following her first sex change.

Earlier this year, Samantha, 58, underwent surgery to become a woman again, spending a total of over £150,000 on gender re-assignment operations over the years.


High-flying lawyer Samantha Kane (above, as she is today) has revealed why she underwent gender re-assignment surgery for the third time to transition to a woman

Speaking to FEMAIL, Samantha admitted that her decision to transition back to a man had been largely influenced by a desire to see her children, who she became estranged from after divorcing first wife Trudi in the early 1990s.

'I couldn't see my children for around 10 years, I started missing them so much,' she explained. 'My children grew up not really knowing me. It was so difficult.

'Eventually, I thought, maybe I could get back what I love if I changed back, and became a man again. That's really the reason [I did it].'

However, Samantha said that within a year of living as a Charles, she began to realise that she had made a mistake in transitioning back to a man - particularly as the gender reassignment surgery hadn't gone as expected.


Samantha had been living as Charles Kane (above, pictured at home in London in 200 since 2004. She explained how she had decided to go back to being a man in a bid to re-connect with her children, who she became estranged from after becoming Samantha for the first time

'In the first year, I had regrets - what they claimed the operation would achieve, they never achieved anyway,' she said.

'Turning a man who was born a man into a woman, and then approximating back to what it was like being a male will never work - that was really part of it.'

At the time, Charles was engaged to a woman named Victoria, but the relationship quickly broke down.

'I was feeling uncomfortable. I was in a relationship with a woman and it was expected of me to be all male really,' Samantha explained.

'As Charles, I wasn't 100 per cent accepted. I was having these regrets of changing back.'


Samantha underwent her first sex change in 1997, when she went from being Sam to Samantha. She is pictured here in Monaco in 2001

However, Samantha explained how she didn't want to transition back to a woman straight away - in part, due to her high-flying career as a barrister.

'I went through all this trouble to be Charles, and one had to make the best out of it I suppose,' she said.

'I'm a lawyer, and thought people wouldn't understand me changing back. At the Bar, people have to adopt more tradition roles. Chopping and changing is frowned on.'

But Samantha explained how re-connecting with her adult son eventually helped her decide to transition back to a woman.

'I saw him shortly before his wedding, and he told me he was getting married, and he invited to me to his wedding. That was really nice,' she said.


Samantha was born Sam Hashimi in Baghdad, Iraq. He explained how he married first wife Trudi (pictured together in 1990) in a bid to 'conform', with the pair having two children together

'He said, "I don't mind who you are. I love you whether you are a male or a female. If it makes you be happier to be a female, then so be it."

'That's what encouraged me to change back basically. He's very supportive.'

Samantha began dressing as a woman in March last year, and airier this year had gender re-assignment surgery and breast implants fitted.

The lawyer says that since the operation in January she now finally feels like herself again, after all these years.

'I feel a lot better in myself now. I came to the conclusion that you have no choice,' Samantha said. 'I am so much happier to be my true self as a woman.


Samantha (pictured at home in her study as she is today) underwent gender re-assignment surgery for the third time earlier this year to become a woman

'I always knew I was in the wrong body, even when I was really, really young, five or six-years-old.

'But I grew up in Baghdad in the '60s and the '70s, so who would hear of anything about being transgender or having surgery?

'So I buried it, and I thought I have to be conventional. I met a woman who I got on well with, and I got married and had children.'

Samantha says she feels that being a women is easier nowadays, compared to when she first transitioned back in the 1990s.

'When I transitioned to a woman in 1997, things were really difficult for women generally,' she said.


Samantha (left in 2001) underwent her first gender reassignment surgery in 1997, in order to become Samantha for the first time. However, she decided to transition to a man in 2004 (right), as she thought it would help her re-connect with her children

'Now, it's not as bad for women. You get more equal opportunities at work. I haven't noticed as much discrimination against women as there used to be.'

However, she explained how she has found the recent conversations around transgender women troubling.

'Before my surgery it was quite difficult, because there was all this debate about what is the difference between transgender females and real females, and whether transgender women are accepted as real women,' she explained.

'But I felt I had no choice [but go ahead with the operation], because I knew it was what would make me happy and make me complete as a woman.

'I had to go ahead with it at all costs, essentially.'


Samantha (pictured in 1998 following her first gender reassignment operation) explained how she became estranged from her two children after divorcing his wife Trudi, following his decision to transition to a woman

Following her gender reassignment surgery, Samantha says she has been getting a lot of interest in the romance department - although she wants to enjoy being single for now.

'I want to enjoy being single for a while, and not to rush. Rushing into relationships is quite difficult for someone who doesn't even have my history.

'I'm probably one of a handful of people in the whole world who has had a sex transition three times.

'You need someone with a pHD to understand what I've gone through,' she explained.

'But one should always be open to love. I could love a man, I could love a woman, as long as there feels like there's a connection - that's what I'm looking for.'

[smalltownguy]

5th September 2018

Transgender woman’s bank account frozen because she ‘sounds like a man’

A TRANSGENDER woman says she was left “humiliated and embarrassed” when her bank froze her account because she “sounds like a man”

Distraught Sophia Reis, 47, from Carlton, Nottingham, is calling on Santander to be more considerate towards trans clients.

Previously known as Sergio, Sophia says she registered her identity change with the bank but was later put through a traumatic ordeal over the phone.

She told the Nottingham Post: “They said my voice did not match my profile because it sounded like a man on the phone and not a woman.

"I was crying my eyes out and I am not that type of person at all.

“I am a very courteous person and I am outgoing but to feel that way when all I asked was for my money to be transferred...I feel mistreated."

A spokeswoman for Santander said: "We have apologised to Miss Reis for the experience she had when using our telephone banking service and offered her a gesture of goodwill.

"It was certainly not our intention to cause any offence, and our service was not as good as it should have been.

"When verifying customers are who they say they are we have to balance our duty to protect the security of their accounts.


HUMILIATED: Sophia said she was distraught after Santander froze her bank account

"If a customer rings up with their banking credentials they should be able to pass security with no problems.

"Santander works closely with LGBT+ colleagues and charities to identify the barriers that are in place to access our services.

"We want all of our customers to be treated equally and fairly."

[smalltownguy]

4-SEP-2018

NYU researchers identify tool to help transgender women have a more authentic voice

New York University researchers have identified visual-acoustic biofeedback as a new tool to assist in voice modification therapy for transgender women.

The research, which appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Voice, identifies a new avenue for this technology as a tool to help trans women find a voice that matches their gender identity.

"Our voices are so much a part of who we are," said Deanna Kawitzky, the study's lead author, who conducted the research as a student in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at NYU Steinhardt's School of Culture, Education and Human Development. "For transgender women, it can be really challenging to find a voice that matches how they choose to present their gender identity. This study suggests that biofeedback may be used as a tool to help trans women achieve a voice they are comfortable with. Biofeedback has not been used in this way before, and we're excited to have identified a new direction for transgender voice therapy research."

Understanding Biofeedback

In biofeedback, bodily functions are electronically monitored and visually displayed to help someone achieve more voluntary control of that function. Although usually used to measure functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, or skin temperature, biofeedback can also be used to visualize speech and has thus become a tool for individuals seeking to change their voice or articulation patterns.

How it Works

In visual-acoustic biofeedback, the learner speaks into a microphone and views a real-time representation of the acoustic signal of speech on a monitor--in this case, the resonant frequencies of the vocal tract. These frequencies signal the differences between sounds, such as "ah" versus "ee," but also differ across male and female speakers. In the present study, transgender female participants were provided with targets representing resonant frequencies that are typical for cisgender female speakers. They produced words while viewing the biofeedback display and were encouraged to adjust their speech until their resonant frequencies lined up with these targets. Participants were able to make a significant shift in their resonant frequencies in response to the biofeedback targets. In addition, words that were produced with higher resonant frequencies were rated "more feminine" by blinded listeners.

This research was conducted in the the Biofeedback Intervention Technology for Speech Lab (BITS Lab). The lab is led by the study's co-author and NYU Steinhardt Associate Professor of Communicative Sciences and Disorders Tara McAllister.

"Many people want to change the way they speak--whether they have a speech disorder, or speak English as a second language, or are seeking to achieve speech that better matches their gender identity," said McAllister. "However, our speech patterns are deeply ingrained over years of experience, so change can be extremely difficult. Research in BITs lab aims to understand how technology can help people make these changes in a quick and lasting way."

The research offers a preliminary suggestion that biofeedback could also be a useful tool in voice modification therapy for trans men and the trans community more generally.


About NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

Located in the heart of New York City's Greenwich Village, NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice.

[smalltownguy]

6 September 2018

Transgender inmate admits Wakefield jail sex offences

A transgender prisoner has admitted sexually assaulting inmates at a women's jail.

Karen White, 51, who was born male but now identifies as a woman, has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual touching at New Hall Prison, Wakefield.

The offences took place between September and November last year. She has since been moved to a male prison.

Details emerged when White appeared at Leeds Crown Court to admit to a rape committed outside prison.

White previously admitted two further rapes, which also happened outside jail.

White will be sentenced for all offences on 11 October.

[smalltownguy]

September 07, 2018

Transgender woman says she killed man in self-defense after road rage in Turkey’s west


Yıldırım (L) was charged with killing Can Görkem Bayraktar.

A transgender woman who was arrested for killing a man after a road rage incident in western Turkey has claimed she had killed him in self-defense.

Derya Yıldırım was arrested over the death of Can Görkem Bayraktar after the two argued in traffic over who should yield in Bursa on April 23.

The prosecutor indicted Yıldırım of following Bayraktar to his home before fatally stabbing him.

Local media reported on Sept. 7 that Yıldırım cited self-defense in the latest hearing of the case in the 5th Heavy Penal Court in Bursa.

She told the court that she was the one who was followed by Bayraktar, claiming that the man attacked with a knife and she only defended herself.

The judge adjourned the hearing to listen to more witnesses.

Yıldırım, who was accused in the past of killing her boyfriend, could be jailed for life, if convicted.