Trans News Worldwide

[smalltownguy]

April 25,2018

Trans show part of Fashion Week

A transgender-themed show will be part of Chicago Fashion Week, which is taking place through April 30.
Among the events is "Trans, Media and Fashion," which will take place Sunday, April 29, 4-8 p.m., at EvolveHer, 358 W. Ontario St. The show will feature designs by Angela Wang.

Some of the other events include "Student Showcasing Fashion Installation" ( April 25 ), which Tony Long will host; and the "Ready to Wear Show," ( April 28 ), which will be held at Baderbrau, 2515 S. Wabash Ave.

See http://www.fashionbarchicago.com/pag...-registration/ for more information. Tickets can be purchased at Eventbrite.

[smalltownguy]

April 25,2018

Trans author/activist Reyna Ortiz talks work, new publishing company

Reyna Ortiz

Ever since the release of trans activist Reyna Ortiz's book, T: Stands for Truth: In search of the Queen, last fall, her life has been a whirlwind of new experiences. Ortiz—who was born in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood and raised in Cicero, Illinois—has been advocating for the trans community since she was a teenager.
"There have been so many great things that have happened since the release of my book," said Ortiz. "The one thing that stands out the most is the acknowledgement of my experiences. The majority of people have no idea the life lived by a trans person, especially a trans woman of color. So it is really great when I see people coming to an understanding of not only the complications but the beauty as well."

One of the things Ortiz has done in recent months is start her own publishing company, Trans Fusions Publishing.

"I learned so much about the process of publishing when my book was being put together," said Ortiz. "Having my own company has given me the ability to publish other stories of trans identified people. I am working with other trans people who are willing to share their stories, artwork, poetry or anything else they find important about their experiences. If they are willing to do the work, so am I."

Ortiz explained that it is time to document trans history through personal stories from wide variety of people in the trans community. She said there are only a small number of positive influences that that trans community has to hold onto because most of the community's history "has been swept under the rug, dismissed or straight up stolen."

Not only has Ortiz published a book, but she is also Chicago House's Trans Life Center's TransSafe coordinator and the Task Force Prevention and Community Services' trans resource navigator and drop-in manager.

Ortiz explained that her position running Chicago House's Trans Life Center "with staff who are equally dedicated is community-building at its finest. Finding trans-identified people all throughout the city and being able to connect them to a space that you know is going to handle business is refreshing. Connecting a participant to housing, legal, medical and employment in a simplistic way can be life-changing. Trust is important within our community. Participants need to trust you in order to be able to do this work successfully."

When Ortiz is not working at Chicago House she can be found at Task Force Prevention and Community Services or what the youth call "The Vogue School" helping young people at the drop-in space which is "one of my favorite places to be and so much fun."

"The energy of the youth and their love for Vogue is glorious," said Ortiz. "These young people know that they can come to me with an issue and I will try my absolute best to help them work through it. I connect youth to medical appointments, housing resources, employment services and the newly created free legal clinic. Working with trans/gender nonconforming youth is the most fulfilling part of my work. We learn so much from each other and they give me such a different perspective on life. I am so proud of their courage, strength, resourcefulness and resilience."

In terms of Ortiz's journey since high school, she noted that this year will mark 20 years since graduation. Since that time, Ortiz explained that she has learned "lots of life lessons including learning from my mistakes." She noted that everyone's life should be in transition "spiritually, emotionally, physically and intellectually to keep evolving, learning and for self-growth" and that is how she has navigated her entire adult life.

Over the past two plus decades, Ortiz was also named her high school's prom queen, featured on NPR's StoryCorps and co-founded Trans Women in Real Life.

Ortiz will also be reading from her book at Chicago House's annual Spring Brunch & Fashion Show ( which has the theme "Revive! Rally on the Runway" )at her favorite library, the Harold Washington Library. She said guests should expect "great energy and a festive time."

"I am so excited for the future of my community," said Ortiz. "The trans community is reclaiming itself and taking responsibility for ourselves. We have lots of work to be done and we also understand that it is time to move forward. My story, our story is about perseverance."

To purchase tickets for the Sunday, May 6 Chicago House event ( 12:00-3:30 p.m. ), visit www.chicagohouse.org/buy-tickets/. To read more about Ortiz, visit http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/l...een/60911.html .

[smalltownguy]

May 6, 2018

Transgender Texas mayor loses election bid for full term

NEW HOPE, Texas (AP) — The mayor of a small Texas town who came out as transgender after being appointed to the job has lost her election bid for a full two-year term.

The Dallas Morning News reports that New Hope Mayor Jess Herbst was running to become the first openly transgender elected official in Texas. Election results show she finished third Saturday in the four-person race, with 53 votes. The winner received 95.

Herbst became mayor in May 2016 when her predecessor died. At the time, she was an alderman and went by the name Jeff. She publicly came out as transgender during a council meeting last year.

Herbst says she was proud of the election turnout in New Hope, which has fewer than 500 registered voters.

Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com

[smalltownguy]

May 7, 2018

Chelsea Manning: Insurgent bid for US Senate is genuine



NORTH BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - Chelsea Manning is no longer living as a transgender woman in a male military prison, serving the lengthiest sentence ever for revealing U.S. government secrets. She's free to grow out her hair, travel the world, and spend time with whomever she likes.

But a year since former President Barack Obama commuted Manning's 35-year sentence, America's most famous convicted leaker isn't taking an extended vacation. Far from it: The Oklahoma native has decided to make an unlikely bid for the U.S. Senate in her adopted state of Maryland.

Manning, 30, filed to run in January and has been registered to vote in Maryland since August. She lives in North Bethesda, not far from where she stayed with an aunt while awaiting trial. Her aim is to unseat Sen. Ben Cardin, a 74-year-old Maryland Democrat who is seeking his third Senate term and previously served 10 terms in the U.S. House.

Manning, who also has become an internationally recognized transgender activist, said she's motivated by a desire to fight what she sees as a shadowy surveillance state and a rising tide of nightmarish repression.

"The rise of authoritarianism is encroaching in every aspect of life, whether it's government or corporate or technological," Manning told The Associated Press during an interview at her home in an upscale apartment tower. On the walls of her barely furnished living room hang Obama's commutation order, and photos of U.S. anarchist Emma Goldman and British playwright Oscar Wilde.

Manning's longshot campaign for the June 26 primary would appear to be one of the more unorthodox U.S. Senate bids in recent memory, and the candidate is operating well outside the party's playbook. She says she doesn't, in fact, even consider herself a Democrat, but is motivated by a desire to shake up establishment Democrats who are "caving in" to President Donald Trump's administration. She vows she won't run as an independent if her primary bid fails.

She's certainly got an eye-catching platform: Close prisons and free inmates; eliminate national borders; restructure the criminal justice system; provide universal health care and basic income. The top of her agenda? Abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency created in 2003 that Manning asserts is preparing for an "ethnic cleansing."

Manning ticks off life experiences she believes would make her an effective senator: a stint being homeless in Chicago, her wartime experiences as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq - even her seven years in prison. She asserts she's got a "bigger vision" than establishment politicians.

But political analysts suspect the convicted felon is not running to win.

"Manning is running as a protest candidate, which has a long lineage in American history, to shine light on American empire," said Daniel Schlozman, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. "That's a very different goal, with a very different campaign, than if she wanted to beat Ben Cardin."

Manning's insurgent candidacy thus far has been a decidedly stripped-down affair, with few appearances and a campaign website that just went up. In recent days, she approached an anti-fracking rally in Baltimore almost furtively, keeping to herself for much of the demonstration. But when it was her turn to address the small group, her celebrity status was evident. People who never met her called her by her first name and eagerly took photos.

Manning has acknowledged leaking more than 700,000 military and State Department documents to anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks in 2010. She said her motivation was a desire to spark debate about U.S. foreign policy, and she has been portrayed as both a hero and a traitor.

Known as Bradley Manning at the time of her arrest, she came out as transgender after her 2013 court-martial. She was barred from growing her hair long in prison, and was approved for hormone therapy only after litigation. She spent long stints in solitary confinement, and twice tried to kill herself.

The Pentagon, which has repeatedly declined to discuss Manning's treatment in military prison, is also staying mum about her political ambitions. Democratic Party officials say they have no comment, citing a policy not to weigh in on primaries. Republican operatives are quiet.

In Maryland, a blue state that's home to tens of thousands of federal employees and defense contractors, it appears Manning's main supporters are independents or anti-politics, making them unlikely to coalesce politically. She recently reported contributions of $72,000 on this year's first quarterly finance statement, compared with Cardin's $336,000.

The candidate has barely made an effort at tapping sources of grassroots enthusiasm outside of activism circles. And it's easy to find progressive Democrats who feel her candidacy is just a vehicle to boost her profile.

"It feels to me almost like it's part of a book tour - that this is her moment after being released from prison," said Dana Beyer, a transgender woman who leads the Gender Rights Maryland nonprofit and is a Democratic candidate for state senate. "I don't think this is a serious effort."

Manning is indeed working on a book about her dramatic life. For now, she says she supports herself with income from speaking engagements. She's spoken at various U.S. colleges and is due to take the stage at a Montreal conference later this month.

Last week, she appeared at a tech conference in Germany's capital of Berlin, arriving to cheers from the audience of several thousand people. She told attendees she's still struggling to adjust to life after prison and hasn't gotten used to her celebrity status yet.

"There's been a kind of cult of personality that is really intimidating and that is overwhelming for me," she said in Berlin.

At her Maryland apartment, Manning told the AP she occasionally wakes up panicked that she's back in the cage in Kuwait where she was first jailed, or incarcerated at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia, where a U.N. official concluded she'd been subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." She works hard to overcome anxiety, centering herself with yoga, breathing exercises, and reading.

"I've been out for almost a year now and it's becoming increasingly clear to me just how deep the wounds are," she said in her Spartan living room.

Asked how she would define success, Manning responded with passionate intensity: "Success for me is survival."

[smalltownguy]

May 7, 2018

“We want to bring good stories to people”: TV writer Joan Rater on trans inclusivity in the media



For many viewers, movies and television shows are a reflection of the lives they live. One aspect of entertainment, however, is noticeably homogenous: the gender identity of characters. Unlike real-life cities and towns, the fictional worlds of movies seem to be populated almost solely by cisgender characters.

Joan Rater is one of the many people who have noticed this lack of diversity. For Rater — who has worked as a television writer on “Grey’s Anatomy” and created the show “Doubt” with her husband, Tony Phelan — the absence of transgender characters in media has personal significance. Rater’s son, Tom, is a transgender boy, and supporting him through his coming out experience and transitioning process has made her aware of the challenges the transgender community faces.

Last Thursday at 7:00 P.M. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Newark (UUFN), Rater delivered a talk on her reflections and acceptance of her son’s transitioning process and the need for trans visibility in the media. This talk was one of many that Rater has delivered, as she visits various churches, community centers and venues across the country, with the goal of increasing trans acceptance.

“We do a lot of social justice outreach within the community, so I was happy when this opportunity came up,” Karen Barker, a member of the UUFN who invited Rater to speak, says. “I feel like this program may be able to help parents as well as young people.”

Rater began her talk with an introduction of her son and his transitioning process. She discussed how it positively impacted him, explaining how after he got his top surgery — a surgery that removes breasts — he felt much happier and more confident. Rater also discussed Tom’s involvement in acting, including his role on the show “The Fosters”.

Her recollections of her son’s transitioning process resonated with Angel Partie, an audience member who transitioned six years ago and a professor of communications and writing at Wilmington University.

“I liked when she talked about how her son didn’t really have an explanation for why he thought something was wrong with him,” Partie says. “I’d felt that way when I was a teenager. I was like, ‘I don’t know where I stand in terms of everything!’”

After sharing her personal memories, Rater discussed the impact of prejudice toward transgender individuals and their invisibility in the media. With her latest show, “Doubt” — a law drama on air for one season that starred transgender actress Laverne Cox in the role of an attorney named Cameron — Rater intended to amend that. She explained that she and her husband hoped audience members would fall in love with Cox’s character, helping increase transgender acceptance.

Many of the older audience members, who transitioned during the early or late 2000s, say that at that time, characters like Cameron were completely absent from their televisions.

“Trans didn’t really have a presence for me,” Partie says. “I turned to Youtube where there were young trans guys who were telling their stories and being open. It was a lot of self research.”

However, during “Doubt”’s test screenings, prejudices toward the transgender community were exposed. Test audiences were given dials that they were instructed to turn whenever they disliked a part of the show. According to Rater, test audiences responded negatively toward Cameron, even before Cameron had a chance to speak. When questioned as to why they didn’t like the character, many audience members could not provide a legitimate reason.

According to the American National Election Studies (ANES) 2016 Pilot Study, this reception is reflective of America’s feelings toward the transgender community. The study asked participants to rank their feelings toward transgender people, with 0 being negative and 100 being positive.

According to Free Roath, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, the study found that many of the responses ranked feelings being clustered around the 50 mark, indicating lukewarm feelings. These findings and Rater’s experience illustrate how inclusion of the trans community has not been fully achieved.

Still, Rater believes in the power of film to eliminate prejudice and told audiences she will continue to push for more roles for transgender actors.

“There’s a lot of power coming into someone’s home on a television,” Rater says. “People get to feel very close with the characters of the TV shows they like and they identify with them. There’s huge power in bringing relevant, truthful stories to people’s homes.”

[smalltownguy]

8 May, 2018

Kanye West is a race traitor, declares Atlantic columnist Ta-Nehisi Coates



Kanye West is abandoning his black roots by embracing President Donald Trump and “white freedom,” says author and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates, the latest celebrity piling onto the rapper over his political views.
In a 5,000-word essay in The Atlantic magazine, the author of ‘We Were Eight Years in Power’ argues that many African-Americans, including himself, had considered West a “god” akin to Michael Jackson.

“The rule of Donald Trump is predicated on the infliction of maximum misery on West’s most ardent parishioners, the portions of America, the muck, that made the god Kanye possible,” Coates wrote. “But for black artists who rise to the heights of Jackson and West, the weight is more, because they come from communities in desperate need of champions.”

Two weeks ago, West set Twitter on fire by posting a photo of an autographed Make America Great Again hat and calling Trump a “brother” who shared his “dragon energy.” He refused to walk back his comments in the face of a backlash from many black celebrities, saying instead that he was a free thinker who refused to live in the “prison” prescribed by others.

“[Kanye] is, indeed, championing a kind of freedom — a white freedom, freedom without consequence, freedom without criticism, freedom to be proud and ignorant... the freedom of rape buttons, pussy grabbers... the freedom of suburbs drawn with red lines, the white freedom of Calabasas,” Coates wrote, referring to the California hometown of West’s wife, Kim Kardashian.

Incidentally, Kardashian’s stepfather became one of the most recognizable transgender people in the world, Caitlyn Jenner – and just so happens to share West’s newfound conservative brand of politics.

This did not prevent Coates from accusing West of betraying the “young people among the despised classes of America... the children parted from their parents at the border, the women warring to control the reproductive organs of their own bodies, the transgender soldier fighting for his job.”

This brand of identity politics was at the heart of Coates’ widely publicized online spat with popular intellectual Cornel West in 2017, a row which would ultimately see Coates withdraw from Twitter and delete his account altogether, despite having over 1.25 million followers.

Kanye West has over 28 million followers on Twitter. It appeared that he lost about 10 million of them on the day he came out as a Trump supporter, but Twitter dismissed those reports as a glitch. A Detroit radio station did ban his songs from being played, however, while a number of black celebrities have sought to distance themselves from West for siding with the “oppressor.”



While Coates’ essay was praised in liberal circles, with many fawning over the piece in carbon-copy tweets, the conservative movement’s most vocal advocates on Twitter did not share that point of view.

Some argued that the praise was for Coates’ prose, not his point, arguing that it was merely a racially-charged case of style over substance.

[smalltownguy]

9 May 2018

Make all public toilets gender-neutral, says Germaine Greer on C4

Author of The Female Eunuch was speaking during debate about gender and trans rights

Feminist academic Germaine Greer raised issues about gender self-identification. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Germaine Greer has called for all public toilets to be made gender-neutral, saying the current division into gents and ladies is outdated.

“Just dump the whole thing,” said the feminist academic. “You can actually sort out toilets in a more sensible way so that people have access to the bits they need and they don’t have to be bothered by the bits they don’t need. In our houses where we live our toilets are not gendered. I think that should just be now universal.”

Greer made the comments during the Channel 4 programme Genderquake: The Debate, which aired on Tuesday night. The programme, a spin-off from a week-long series of programmes about gender and trans rights, featured the academic debate with a panel including former Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner.

Gender-neutral toilets has become a regular topic of discussion in relation to transgender rights but Greer, who has become a target for some activists after she said transgender women are “not real women”, used the live debate to say she had little time for that argument.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “I don’t understand why in England in particular defecation is thought of as a sexual activity. I don’t get it.”

Greer went on to raise concerns about the decision to allow runner Caster Semenya to run in women’s races and raised issues about gender self-identification: “Being without a penis doesn’t make you a woman any more than being without a womb makes you a man.”

The programme had faced criticism from some trans activists before broadcast, who raised concerns it could question the existence of transgender individuals.

Jenner, the former US Olympic gold medalist and trans activist, said she was concerned about the suicide rate among transgender people and called for the public to be less hateful in online discussions surrounding gender: “What we say, our words, make a difference.”

She also told the audience that she was disappointed with Donald Trump’s record on trans rights: “I don’t know if the evangelical Christian right has got to him. He has done a terrible job when it comes to trans issues in the US. He’s set our community back by 20 years.”

After the show panel member Ash Sarkar praised the diversity of the programme but raised concerns about the audience, who repeatedly heckled members of the panel during the debate.

“There was very poor vetting, there should have been ground rules laid out for the audience about what was acceptable,” Sarkar said.

“The floor manager came up to me in the break and said to me that if they heckled again they would be removed then that didn’t happen.

“Channel 4 worked incredibly hard to have diversity on the panel and that’s phenomenal and to be celebrated.

“There was a lack of preparation for just how hostile [radical feminists] are.”

Sarkar also raised concerns about the treatment of former Labour party adviser Munroe Bergdorf.

“If someone had called me a Paki they would have removed them, why not for someone yelling at Munroe that they’ve got a dick?”

[smalltownguy]

May 8, 2018

NA passes bill aimed at ensuring rights of transgender persons

Attachment 1073633

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Tuesday passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018 aimed at ensuring rights of transgender persons with majority vote.

Syed Naveed Qamar of Pakistan People Party Parliamentarian (PPPP) piloted the bill to provide for protection, relief and rehabilitation of rights of the transgender persons and their welfare and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto [the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018 in the House.

Under the proposed law, the Transgender persons will be able to register to obtain a driver’s licence and passport. They will have the option to get their gender changed in National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) records.

Harassment of transgenders will also be prohibited in and outside their homes. They will not be discriminated against by educational institutions, employers, in trade and health services, and when using public transport and buying or selling or renting property.

The government will establish a safe house for transgenders and provide them medical and educational facilities and psychological counselling. Separate rooms will be established at jails where transgenders could be detained.

In addition to all basic rights, they will be entitled to inherit property.

The government will take steps to ensure employment opportunities for transgenders and they will have the right to vote in all national, provincial and local government elections and they will not be discriminated against in their pursuit of a public office.

Anyone found guilty of forcing a transgender person to beg will be sentenced to six months in prison and served a fine of Rs50,000.

The Senate has already passed the bill.

[smalltownguy]

10 MAY 2018

This Canadian Province Will Allow Nonbinary People to Apply For Gender Neutral Birth Certificates

Ontario is the latest municipality to allow transgender and gender nonconforming people to apply for gender-neutral birth certificates.

As the Canadian province announced Monday, trans individuals will have two options: to apply for a nonbinary “X” (instead of the traditional “M” and “F”) or to have a gender designation removed entirely. The change is intended to “recognize and respect all transgender and nonbinary people in Ontario and give all Ontarians access to identification that matches their gender identity,” officials say.

The policy was announced after genderqueer filmmaker Joshua M. Ferguson—who uses “they” pronouns—requested a gender-neutral birth certificate in May 2017.

When their application stalled, Ferguson filed a complaint through the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario claiming their civil rights were being violated. The parties reached resolution last month, and the 35-year-old finally received corrected documents in the mail last week.

Ferguson claimed the milestone doesn’t just recognize their year-long struggle to have their identity affirmed. For trans people subject to frequent discrimination due to misgendering, the policy could also “save lives.”

“A birth certificate is the most vital form of ID for personhood,” they said in a statement. “Being officially counted and recognized is empowering.”

Ferguson is the second Canadian to be issued a nonbinary certificate following Gemma Hickey of St. Johns. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador announced in December 2017 that Hickey, who runs a local nonprofit for survivors of sexual abuse in religious institutions, would be permitted to list “X” on their birth documents.

Hickey claimed at the time that their home province had proven itself “a leader in terms of human rights.”

Although the Canadian government has yet to rollout a nonbinary marker on birth certificates, authorities have claimed federal agencies are working toward a third option on passports. Ontario, meanwhile, allows a gender-neutral designation on driver’s licenses and health ID cards as of last year.

To date, just three states in the U.S.—along with the District of Columbia—allow nonbinary options for residents on identity documents: California, Oregon, and Washington.

Research shows these updates can have profound impacts on the lives and wellbeing of trans individuals. When interviewed about a landmark trans birth certificate bill in Colorado earlier this year, National Center for Trans Equality spokesperson Jay Wu said that trans people who show documents which don’t match their gender identity are often “verbally harassed, denied benefits or service, asked to leave, or assaulted.”

Ferguson called Ontario’s decision to join the growing list of states and municipalities fighting to ensure trans identities are respected a “victory for our community.”

“This moment not only reaffirms who we are, and our protection under the law in Ontario and in Canada, but it's a relief because we are counted,” they told the CBC earlier this week. “That's quite an incredible feeling, because it makes it clear that we exist.”

Ferguson hoped the news encourages other provinces in Canada to follow suit.

[smalltownguy]

May 11, 2018

Kerala witnesses first transgender marriage

Ishan is a Muslim and Surya is an upper caste Hindu. Both took the vow as per the Special Marriage Act, in the presence of their family members and well-wishers from the transgender community.

Surya is a TV actor and member of the State Board for Transgender Justice. Ishan is a member of Oasis, a self-help group for transgenders.

IT WAS a historic moment for the transgender community in Kerala as a transman and transwoman tied the knot in Thiruvananthapuram Thursday. Ishan (33), who underwent female to male surgery, married Surya (31), who has undergone male to female surgery. This is the first time a transwoman and transman enter into married life in Kerala.

Ishan is a Muslim and Surya is an upper caste Hindu. Both took the vow as per the Special Marriage Act, in the presence of their family members and well-wishers from the transgender community. Surya is a TV actor and member of the State Board for Transgender Justice. Ishan is a member of Oasis, a self-help group for transgenders.

“It is a dream come true for us. We are happy that we can also lead a married life. Our marriage would be an inspiration for others who want to become part of the mainstream society. We are not worried about criticism from certain quarters against our marriage. We will prove the critics wrong by leading a normal married life,” Ishan said.