This site is the most comprehensive on the web devoted to trans history and biography. Well over 1800 persons worthy of note, both famous and obscure, are discussed in detail, and many more are mentioned in passing.

There is a detailed Index arranged by vocation, doctor, activist group etc. There is also a Place Index arranged by City etc. This is still evolving.

In addition to this most articles have one or more labels at the bottom. Click one to go to similar persons. There is a full list of labels at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. There is also a search box at the top left. Enjoy exploring!

22 December 2012

Some Events of the Year 2012: Part 5 -- Political, Celebrities, Sports, Festivals.

Part 1: Organizations, Equal marriage.
Part 2: Other Legislation.
Part 3: Persons.
Part 4: Spouses, Family, Kids.
Part 5: Political, Celebrities, Sports, Festivals.
Part 6: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Imprisonment, Nemeses, Internet.
Part 7: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Obituaries.
Part 11: Bookshops, Archives, Books.

Political Candidates 

 

National 

 

Diane Abbot MP, Shadow Health Minister, spoke too quickly when she suggested that 17 breast reductions on boys aged 10-19 “must be something to do with this country’s obesity epidemic".

US Vice President Joe Biden speaks out against Transgender discrimination.

Brigitte Goldberg, president of Trans-Europe, ran for French President as the candidate of Avenir-2012.

Anna Grodzka opened her Parliamentary office, was awarded the Okulary równości prize.

Provincial

 

Janice Covington, North Carolina, elected Democratic delegate.

Stacie Laughton, elected to Hew Hampshire House, later revealed to have a conviction for credit card fraud. Video.

Nok Yonlada (more) elected in Nan province, Thailand.

Cities, towns and regions

 

 Adela Hernandez elected to municipal government Caibarien, Villa Clara, Cuba.

Diana Sanchez Barrios candidate for Mexico City Federal District assembly.


Gina Duncan for Orange County Commission, Florida.


Mel Wymore candidate for New York City Council in 2013.

Sarah Brown, Liberal Democrat Councillor in Cambridge spoke up for Out4Marriage campaign. She and her wife were obliged to surrender their marriage and instead have a civil partnership. IOS Pink List, 34.

Stu Rasmussen won a fifth term as mayor of Silverton, Oregon.


-----------------

And special mention of Jean Wyllys, Brazil's first openly gay MP. There was a record number of over 150 openly GLBT candidates in this year's Brazilian municipal elections.

Celebrities



Bill O'Reilly of Fox News defended Jenna Talackova, but criticized Glee for featuring a trans teenager.

Bruce Jenner said to be a transvestite.

Bülent Ersoy claimed that she had once met the iconic left-wing activist Deniz Gezmis. His lawyer denounced her for saying it, "he was against such people of lower morals". The press was critical of such 'traditionalism' on the left. The lawyer then apologized by identifying with the Raoul character in The Kiss of the Spider Woman, who likewise was initially intolerant of the queer character.

Camille Paglia: “I identify strongly with drag queens and transsexuals, particularly as they were in the '60s. They were fierce and powerful. They were street warriors,” she says. “Some might have had bits and pieces of surgery. But the focus now is on 'transgender,’ which has gotten rigidly ideological. ... My point is that the transgender movement’s focus on manipulating the physical, through surgery, is too often a way of avoiding introspection. We have an obligation as human beings to engage in self-examination – to seek self-understanding, apart from the social and the physical. Youth are falling into a trap of thinking that sex change will solve their deeper problems – their spiritual problems. But it can’t.”

Chaz Bono, was honoured with the trophies for outstanding documentary programme, and the Stephen F. Kolzak award at the 23rd annual Media Awards by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Bono did fundraising for Democratic candidates, but also for Republican Mary Bono Mack, his step mother.

David O. Russell, film director, was reported for fondling the breasts of his trans niece. However no charges were filed.




Janet Jackson announced that she will be the executive producer of a documentary film on trans lives.

John Travolta. The National Enquirer published photos purporting to be Travolta in drag in 1997.

Jonathan Ross, on his ITV show 21 January made a silly joke about Thai Airlines trans stewardesses, and apologized on Twitter.



Madonna: Nine anti-gay activists from the Trade Union of Russian Citizens claimed that she 'brutally violated' a city law that imposes fines for spreading homosexual 'propaganda' during a concert in St Petersberg. The judge threw out the case after being shown footage of the concert. 'How many families split up because one of the couple is gay?' asked Judge Vitaly Barkovsky. 'And how many because of alcoholism? How many lawsuits have you filed against alcohol companies?'

Rodrigo Lopes previously of Big Brother is now Rebekah.


Stephen Beatty may be having second thoughts. Made a video.


Sports

 

The IOC announced that women who test in the male range for testosterone, and whose bodies respond to the hormone, may not be eligible to compete as females.

The third Olympics since the Stockholm Consensus on Sex Reassignment in Sports. However almost no trans athletes qualified.

The first comprehensive history of Sports, Gender and Trans, in 3 parts by Zagria.

Pablo S. Torre & David Epstein. “The Transgender Athlete”. SI Vault, May 28, 2012. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1198744/index.htm.

Tranny Olympics, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, Tower Hamlets, London, 4 August, and Berlin.

Drag Queen Olympics, Amsterdam.  Video.


Brooke Fantelli, off-road racer, was doing a photo shoot in the California desert when a Bureau of Land Management ranger checked papers, took offence that Fantelli was trans and ended up tasering her in the groin. She has now filed a federal lawsuit.

Caster Semenya led South African team in the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Gabrielle Ludwig, 50, 6'8", has returned to playing basketball.

Keelin Godsey failed to qualify for Olympic trials in the women's hammer throw.

Lindsey Walker, 26, 7’0”, basketball player, has contacted Guinness Book of Records re being world’s tallest transsexual.

Pinki Pranmonik (more) golf medalist arrested after her wife claimed that she is a man.

Sasha Hostyn, 18, dominated in Starcraft 2 championship in Toronto, winning $15,000.

Thai boxer Usanakorn Kokietgym accused of having too much testosterone.





Festivals

 

Koovagam (more)

Festival Waria Berbudaya in Jakarta was cancelled after the Islamic Defenders Front turned up to the event and demanded the organizers shut it down.

21 December 2012

Some Events of the Year 2012: Part 4–Spouses, Family, Kids

Part 1: Organizations, Equal marriage.
Part 2: Other Legislation.
Part 3: Persons.
Part 4: Spouses, Family, Kids.
Part 5: Political, Celebrities, Sports, Festivals.
Part 6: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Imprisonment,Nemeses, Internet.
Part 7: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Obituaries.
Part 11: Bookshops, Archives, Books.


Spouses and Family

 

(Again we have several female spouses and lovers of trans men and trans women. But where are the male spouses and lovers?)

Jayne Watson and her wife renewed their vows.

Marco & Sadie
"Transgender Families: When My Husband Became a Woman". The Dr Oz Show, March 29, 2012. www.doctoroz.com/episode/transgender-families-when-my-husband-became-woman?video=12791.

Trans & Intersex Kids

 

Amber, 12, on puberty blockers.

Danann Tyler is in the documentary Trans.

Drew-Ashlyn Cunningham, of My Transsexual Summer, spoke at Kingston University, London, in favour of puberty blockers.

13-year-old Franziska was born with ambiguous genitals, XY but made a girl.

Livvy, Worcester. Her mother organized a petition to send to the Press Association re avoiding terms which leave emotional scars.

Mary Moss, Glen Falls, New York, mother of a trans son, spoke at her local TDOR.

Mason Pierce, California, in transitions.

Riley, 15 Sydney.

Tyler, "Transgender at 5". The Washington Post, May 19, 2012.

Zach Avery, 5, diagnosed by Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, her primary school was praised by Ofsted for how it handled her case.

A mother talks about her intersex child: "My child is boy and girl."
"Transgender Kids". Parenting, SMH.tv, 20120124.

"Becoming Me". In the Life, 31 Mar 2012. Full Episode. Newsarticle.

"Transgender childhood". Dateline NBC, July 8th 2012. Website.
  • Rachel Pepper (ed). Transitions of the Heart: Stories of Love, Struggle and Acceptance by Mothers of Transgender and Gender Variant Children. Berkeley, CA: Cleis Press, 2012.

19 December 2012

Some Events of the Year 2012: Part 3–Persons

Part 1: Organizations, Equal marriage.
Part 2: Other Legislation.
Part 3: Persons.
Part 4: Spouses, Family, Kids.
Part 5: Political, Celebrities, Sports, Festivals.
Part 6: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Imprisonment,Nemeses, Internet.
Part 7: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Obituaries.
Part 11: Bookshops, Archives, Books.

Persons

This is a general persons section. In additional there are sections below on transkids, trans and families, celebrities, show biz, political, sports, inmates, schools and universities, and doctors.

++ added later

Africa: 

 

Cleo K., Uganda, wrote an open letter to Parliament on her Facebook account.

Jacqui Louw, Durbanville, Cape Town, obtained court ruling from Home Affairs that her Identity Document should be altered.

Shafieka, Cape Flats, Capetown, Muslim mother of a 9-year-old boy had surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital.

Tiwonge Chimbalanga, of Malawi, now in South Africa, spoke out about her and her partner's arrest 2 years ago.

Wilson in Uganda.

Americas:

 

Alice Miller, CIA, academic at Stanford.

Arin Andrews and Katie Hill, Tulsa, are a couple.

Ashley Ackley, who served with the US army in Iraq, was rejected when applied to join the Minnesota National Guard.

Barbra Siperstein, New Jersey activist.

Beth Scott, New Jersey, sued and obtained insurance coverage for a mammogram.

Bianca Feliciano settled for $10,000 and a pledge that the town of Cicero, near Chicago will adopt a policy to deal with trans people respectfully.

Brittany Novotny, attorney, selected by Oklahoma Magazine in its 40 under 40 series.

Bryn Kelly, New York, hairdresser, writer.

Charles Poulson, Iowa, graphic design, completing transition.

Chrissy Polis, Baltimore, a year after the beating.

Christie Ann Harvey, Oklahoma, obliged to go to appeal court to get her name changed.

Christine Radtke, Minnesota, sued her husband's health plan which had denied her benefits arguing that her marriage was same-sex. However Chief U.S. District Judge ruled that she was a woman under Minnesota law.

Colleen Francis, legally female, has created an understandable fuss at Evergreen College, Washington State, by using the sauna in the women's section of the gymnasium and exposing herself.
 
Connor Ferguson, Trenton, Ontario, was voted prom queen.

Dana Beyer, Maryland activist.

David Weekley, preacher at United Methodist Church, Oregon.

Dia Dipasupil has become a New York paparazzo.

Diane Wells, New York hereditary millionaire disturbs neighbors with her smoking and won't pay for repairs/ maintenance.

Domaine Javier, from California, was denied entry at Vancouver Airport because of an "m" on her passport and a dated photograph.

Eden Lane, television broadcaster, Colorado.

Gunner Scott, Boston, elected to Board of Corporators of Eastern Bank.

Holly Ryan, Newton, Massachusetts, appointed to town's Human Rights Committee.

Jay Kallio, New York, not told by his doctor that he had cancer and was denied treatment.

James Wilson, Massachusetts, charged with travelling across state lines for the purpose of coercing or enticing a minor to have sexual intercourse.

Jaslisa Griffin. Her boyfriend was attacked by a man who made homophobic comments after she used the women's toilets in a Manhatten McDonald's.

Jennifer McCreath, Newfoundland, delayed 90 minutes at US customs in Toronto, and had to pay $80 for having to change flights, because she has a M in her passport. After 'gender expression was removed from the Federal Trans rights Bill, she launched Trans Canadians Against Bill C-279. "If "gender expression" is not included, the bill should be thrown out completely".

Jessiah MacDonald charged $3,400 for hysterectomy in that Nova Scotia health insurance does not cover gender surgery.

Joy Ladin transitioned, marriage fell apart. Joy and wife Christine Benvenuto both wrote books telling it as they saw it. Ladin's friends objected to Benvenuto's account. Both books shortlisted for Lamda Literary Awards.

Kaitlyn Bogas, celebrity chef, Vancouver, lost her career by transitioning, is now head chef at a fishing lodge.

Kara Hayes (more), Ohio, has spent $70,000 to transition and to look like Britney Spears.

Kelly Worrall, Burnaby, BC, EA Sports video games, transitioned.

K.L. Successfully sued Alaska's Department of Motor Vehicles to change its policy requiring drivers to undergo complete gender-reassignment surgery to change the sex on their license.

++Kristin Paget, security specialist, ex-Windows, now at Apple.

Kylar Broadus, Missouri attorney, testified to US Congress re ENDA about how he was harassed out of his job.

Lana Moore, firefighter in transition.

Lance Hicks, Detroit activist.

Linda Martinez, Guatemala, is a male schoolteacher by day and a female sex worker at night.

Mandi McKee, Tampa, Florida, was a cis man until took anti-baldness medicine, Propecia. She is suing Merck, and appeared on Anderson Cooper's talk show. Video. The National Center for Transgender Equality condemned the appearance.

Maria Chico, California, meets her father after 30 years.

W Meredith Bacon, professor at University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Mia Macy, denied employment at the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Mia Tu Mutch, San Francisco, honored for willingness to testify.

Monica Helms, Arizona, trans-military activist.

Nikki Araguz sentenced to 50 days for stealing a Rolox watch.

Nina Arsenault, and Barbie, both Toronto, in the news because previously short-term lovers of Luka Magnotta, who was accused of murder and fled to Germany.

Nong Ariyaphon Southiphong/Andy South (more) reality show contestant now living as female.

Paula Witherspoon, Dallas, at hospital with her husband, ticketed for 'lewd purpose' for using washroom in the intended fashion.

Riki Wilchins ponders the new transsexuals. ++Response.

Ronaldo Silva, Brazilian inmate attempted to escape in really bad drag.

Seamus Johnston and his wife Katherine Anne McCloskey, University of Pittsburgh, investigated re bomb threats.

Sean Chase, probably New York, wanted for mortgage scams.

Scout proposed to his girlfriend at US White House LGBT Pride Month event. Followed by hate emails.

Stevie Crecelius
, Denver, ex-cop in transition.

Tamsyn Waterhouse three-year campaign to remove extra psychological testing in US for trans pilots but not other pilots.

Tatiana Pineros, 34, head of Bogata's social welfare agency, with a $360 million budget and 2,000 employeees.

Tegan Marie Smith, was taken off her flight at Dallas airport, on a nominal charge of drinking, and interrogated about why she is trans.

Temmie Breslauer, New York, arrested in a subway station for illegally using her dad's discount card. Unlike other such miscreants she was asked about her genitals and chained to a fence for 28 hours. She is now suing.

Thomas Beatie, Arizona, mother of 3, cannot divorce his wife of 10 years because Arizona does not recognize 'same-sex marriage'.

Trevor MacDonald, 27, Winnipeg, has been nursing his infant son for 16 months, but was told by La Leche League Canada (LLLC) that he cannot lead support circles or serve as a breastfeeding coach because he identifies as a man, which goes against the organization's definition of motherhood.

Victoria Cruz, New York, awarded Justice Department's National Crime Victim Service Award.

Walt Heyer, changeback who would abolish the option of transition for all, was able to use the new California law removing the proof of surgery, to get his birth certificate returned to male.

Wayne Alan Cunningham, Nova Scotia, charged with confinement and assault, on the run, and later found dead in Ontario.

XY: successfully applied to have the gender designation on the birth certificate changeds.

Mother in Goiania, Goiás, Brazil, raised her daughter as a boy for two years before being found out.

Asia:

 

Yuki Anma, Nagoya, has opened a group, a hotline and a dining bar.

Bharathi, 25, is now an Evangelical Church of India pastor in Chennai.

C., Hong Kong, sued Christian Zheng Sheng College for delaying her transition by 10 years.

D.K. Mersin, Turkey, has requested to the Directorate of Religious Affairs that she return to being a man.

Evie, Obama’s nanny while in Indonesia, 1969-71.

Fettan Ceyda, policeman in Istanbul, dishonourably discharged after being caught as trans prostitute.

Gabriel Paolo Diño elected chair of student council, University of the Philipines.

Qian Jinfan, (more) 84, calligrapher, in transition.

Leona Lo complained to bus company SBS transit after one of their drivers shouted ‘Ah Kua and adopted a woman’s gait as he “sashayed” past me’. The bus company announced that the bus driver ‘is deeply apologetic and we will be taking disciplinary action against him’.

Ramona, Philippines, interviewed.

Sittichai ‘Pond’ Suafug and Benhamaporn ‘Ben’ Rotjutakul are a couple, and able to legally marry in Thailand.

Swati Barua, Mombai, obtained court intervention as her parents threatened doctors and the doctors therefore require a court order.

W., Hong Kong has won the permission to lodge a final appeal against the law that bars her from marrying her boyfriend.

Yuval Topper, 24, gave birth in Tel Aviv.

Man, Osaka, registered as male under 2004 law, sued to be recognised as his wife's son's legal father.

Man with moustache in UAE arrested in drag in women-only park.

Two siblings (more) in Yunnan both had surgery with Dr Zhao Yede to become male.

Europe:

 

Alex Kaminsky, (more) Berlin, in transition, supported by mother, but absent father requested that she be committed to Berlin's Charité hospital. The Kammergericht court ruled in his favour. Over 10,000 signed a petition in protest.

Angel Jordon, Carlisle, caught buying drugs.

Alexandra Svobodova, fake gyencologist, arrested, Bechyne, Czechia.

April Ashley, MBE for services to transgender equality, to be focus of the Homotopia exhibition in Liverpool.

Ashlyn Parram, Boston, Lincs, used Equality Laws to sit exams in girls’ uniform.

Cambell Kenneford, 16 Leighton Buzzard, is transitioning.

Charlotte Goiar, 39, won a ruling in the High Court that Galacian Health Service should pay for her to have genital surgery.

Connor McCormack/Aaron Lampard, Guildford, convicted of fraud and sexual assault.

Crystal Warren on front page of The Sun after admitting to sex with over 1,000 men.

David Mossey, 51, Plymouth, starting transition.

Diana, of the London Rollergirls was featured in a new video by the Pet Shop Boys.

Fernanda, a Guatemalan asylum seeker in Denmark, was placed in the men’s wing and raped, She fled and ended up in a brothel in Jutland, where she was found in a police raid, She was sheduled to be deported back to Guatemala, but her case was reopened at the last moment.

Foxy Roxy, ex RAF, gets 8 months for keeping a brothel.

Frances Harris 71 convicted of fraud, gets 15-month suspended sentence.


Gareth Williams, (more) the dead spy and maybe transvestite found in a sports bag. Inquest held, but questions not answered.

Gary Norton, Coventry, 75, ex-RAF, after 23 years as a woman, is attempting to return to being a man.

Georgia Ziadie caused a rumpus with her new book on the Windsors, wherein she suggests that Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and her brother David were born to the family cook.

Giovanna Del Nord assaulted in a pub in Leicester.

Jane Fae, journalist. Featured in BBC documentary. Interview.

Jenny-Anne Bishop & Elen Heart two transitions, a marriage and a civil union.
Julia Griffiths.

Juliet Jacques completed transition, completed her Transgender Journey blog series in the Guardian (longlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2011), has a column in the New Stateman.

Karen Gale, forced out of the Metropolitan Police 27 years for wanting to transition is returning as a Special Constable.

Katharina, Germany, qualified IT specialist, cannot get IT work and is obliged to do sex work.

Lita. Deported from Sweden to Russia.

Luke Anderson winner of Big Brother contest.

Malene Lang Hansen, Copenhagen, was winning a pub competition for enhanced breasts when in the last few days a new women (who seems to be a stock photo) suddenly appeared and went into the lead. The apparent winner has never appeared in reality.

Monica (more), Antwerp, admitted being trans after 19 years of marriage and her husband is trying to have the marriage annulled.

Paul is said to be the UK’s first known male mother. His husband separated, after media hunt to find him. The Sun set up a special hot line phone number. Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton tabled an Early Day Motion at Parliament condemning the media’s attempts to discover his identity.

Paula Johnson, 63, has completed transition.

Paris Lees (includes interview audio) "has quickly established herself as an art reviewer and commentator on issues of diversity. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian and the Independent, in Attitude magazine, and in Pink News. She has regular columns in Gay Times and Diva. She has appeared on Radio One and BBC TV ... and acted as a consultant on several programmes about trans people. Most notably, she launched a unique magazine, META, earlier this year". Videos. Interview wuth Pink News.

Ria Cooper, transitioned socially in 2011 at age 17, has now decided to change back before surgery.

Roz Kaveney, Guardian blog. IOS Pink List, 65, first novel: Rhapsody of Blood.

Ruth Rose, Sussex, ex-RAF, surgery at 80.

Saralee Fisher, Tyneside, previously convicted of indecency, let off group therapy after transition.

Sandy Manley, 52, Southport, Lancashire, is transitioning.

Stephen George, then a woman in Broadmoor psychiatric prison, was one of the many abused by Jimmy Saville.

Italian police arrested 28 members of a prostitution ring that had brought trans women from Brazil and other South American countries.

Oceania: 

 

Annabell Quor, 74 Otago, guilty of leaving her dog to die of heat stroke in car.

Aram Hosie and his wife Senator Louise Pratt.

Cate McGregor, Lieutenant Colonel, Order of Australia, senior political strategist, cricketer. Will continue in her job.

Heather Stokes, Adelaide, respected criminal barrister, reappeared in court after transition.

Josie Emery, 65, author of The real possibility of joy : a personal journey from man to woman.

Stephanie Dixon, 43, New Zealand having birth certificate problems.

18 December 2012

Some Events of the year 2012: Part 2–Other Legislation


Part 1: Organizations, Equal marriage.
Part 2: Other Legislation.
Part 3: Persons.
Part 4: Spouses, Family, Kids.
Part 5: Political, Celebrities, Sports, Festivals.
Part 6: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Imprisonment, Nemeses, Internet.
Part 7: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Obituaries.
Part 11: Bookshops, Archives, Books.

Other Legislation, Litigation, other government and corporate actions, etc


++ added later

International

 


The Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed resolution A/C.3/67/L.36 condemning extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The vote reversed the events of 2010 when the same body voted to strip the resolution of reference to "sexual orientation." The UNGA also expanded upon its commitment to the universality of human rights by including "gender identity" for the first time in the resolution’s history.

United Nations ambassadors for South Africa and Brazil have demanded more action and discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity as part as universal human rights standards, and to combat hate crimes. Strong pro LGBT statements were also delivered by Norway, the Council of Europe, and civil society including a joint statement by ILGA-Europe, COC Netherlands and ARC and other organizations.

The G8 foreign ministers "reaffirmed that human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all individuals, male and female, including lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals. These individuals often face death, violence, harassment and discrimination because of their sexual orientation in many countries around the world”. However “the Russian Federation disassociates itself from this language given the absence of any explicit definition or provision relating to such a group or such persons as separate rights holders under international human rights law”.

Africa:

 

South Africa: National House of Traditional Leaders have asked for the Parliament to delete the clause in the constitution that guarantees equal rights for gay and trans people. The ruling African National Congress was quick to distance itself from this request.

Americas:

 

Alaska:
new Department of Motor Vehicles regulation made it easier for transgender citizens to change their sex identifier on state ID cards.
Proposition 5, which would expand the anti-discrimination laws in Anchorage, Alaska, to include sexual orientation and gender identity failed to gather enough votes to pass (see Adverts in Part 8).

Argentina: Gender Identity Law passed 55-0 by senate. Approval by doctors or judges, or surgery, is not required. Hormones and surgery are now on demand and included in standard public and private health care – therefore no extra charge. Legal guardians cannot deny a change for those under 18. President Fernandez personally delivered the first batch of new identity cards.

British Columbia: Ministry of Health has announced that it will now fund penis-construction surgery for a limited number of transgender men (5) annually under the province’s Medical Services Plan.

California:
The Gender Nondiscrimination Act – added gender identity and expression to list of protected classes.
The Vital Statistics Modernization Act – eases the process of getting a revised birth certificate. Surgery or any one specific treatment not required. If name and gender changed at same time, publication in a newspaper no longer required.
Therapy now banned that seeks: "to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex". Comment. However three providers of such therapy may continue while they appeal.
Los Angeles Police Department announced a separate holding facility for trans prisoners.
San Francisco: gender surgery now included in city subsidized health services for uninsured residents.
Canada: regulatory change to revisions to Aeronautics Act. Sec 5.2(1) An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if .... (c) the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents. 

Chile: announced that gender surgery will soon be available under its public health system, the Fonasa. The cost of the operations will depend on the patient's income bracket, with the poorest citizens able to get sex-reassignment surgeries for free. However bills to permit changes of legal name and gender have been stuck in Congress since 2008.

Colombia:
anti-discrimination law, which includes protections for members of the LGBTI community, was signed into law December 2011.
Bogotá''s local government launched Gender Diversity Week to raises awareness of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Illinois: town of Cicero settled a lawsuit for $10,000 and has pledged to adopt a policy for dealing respectfully with transgender people.

Manitoba: added 'gender identity' and 'social disadvantage' to the Human Rights law.

Montana: Helena added a public nudity exemption to the city's LGBT non-discrimination ordinance.
 "However in any place of public accommodation where users ordinarily appear in the nude, users may be required to use the facilities designated for their anatomical sex regardless of their gender identity. Such requirements shall not constitute discrimination."

Massachusetts:
Transgender Equal Rights Bill – but public accommodation excluded.
Maryland: Howard and Baltimore counties passed gender identity and expression legislation.

New Jersey: 4 gay men who paid thousands of dollars for 'conversion therapy' only to be told that the lack of change in their sexual feelings was their own fault are, with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center, suing Jonah (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing). --- Jonah also 'counselled' trans persons of whom the best known is Josef Kirchner.

New York:
Patricia Harrington & Joann Prinzivalli sued New York State because it won’t reissue birth certificates without proof of surgery.
Louis Birney, 69, applied for a revised birth certificate supplying a surgeon's letter. He was asked for more details plus a psychiatric evaluation. He won a ruling in Manhattan Supreme Court that this was an invasion of privacy.
Ida Hammer and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund threatened to sue MVP Health Care and then it agreed to pre-authorize genital surgery.
The lower house passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act for the 5th time. The senate has consistently failed to pass the Act.
Nova Scotia: The New Democrat government added 'gender identity' and 'gender expression' to the Human Rights law.

Oklahoma: District Judge Bill Graves has denied requested name changes by trans women as being "made for a fraudulent purpose". One of these requests was later accepted by the Appeal Court.

Ontario:
Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled in April that genital surgery as a requirement for changing gender on a birth certificate is discriminatory.
New rules published in October require only a signed declaration and a note from a doctor or psychologist, and that the applicant must be 18 years of age or more.
Toby's bill:
added 'gender identity' and 'gender expression' to the Human Rights law. Named in commemoration of Toby Dancer.
Trans women in Toronto complain that being stopped by police as if they were prostitutes.
Toronto District School Board issued new guidelines to accommodate “transgender and gender non-conforming students and staff”. This includes confidentiality, washroom choice, pronouns – and that dress codes should be flexible to that students are not forced to choose a gender. The CAMH Gender Clinic is commendably absent from the list of local resources.
Passed an anti-bullying act which mandates that students be allowed to form Gay-Straight Alliances in schools, including those run by the Catholic Church.
Pennsylvania: new state-issued voter identification card does not include a gender marker.

Porto Alegre first Brazilian State to issue revised ID for trans.

Rio de Janeiro State:
introduced a new policy that trans persons may identify themselves with their preferred names when they report crimes to the police.
São Paulo:
A campaign to combat homophobia. “See beyond prejudice. Respect differences". All 58 underground stations are covered with bright posters that have pictures of transgender women with the tile: “Look, Look again, and see beyond prejudice. I am trans, I have the right to be who I am.”
Washington, DC: TransRespect campaign on bus shelters.

Wisconsin Inmate Sex Change Prevention Act struck down by US Supreme Court.

US:
Federal Aviation Administration removed extra testing for trans pilots.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement – new standards to protect the health and safety of transgender detainees.
Department of Veterans Affairs. Transgender veterans will now be able to change the gender marker on their medical records by simply providing a physician’s letter confirming gender reassignment.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission established that 14th Amendment protects transgender government employees from discrimination.
Health and Human Services clarified that provisions in the Affordable Care Act prohibiting sex discrimination in health insurance do apply to transgender people.
Citizen and Immigration Services: "will now issue immigration documents that reflect an individual's gender identity, so long as the individual presents "an amended birth certificate, passport, or court order recognizing their new gender; or medical certification of the change in gender from a licensed physician." and "will also approve green-card petitions by American citizens or permanent residents for their spouses if a petitioner establishes that the transgender individual has legally changed their gender and subsequently married an individual of the other gender; that the marriage is recognized as a heterosexual marriage under the law where the union took place; and that the law where the marriage took place does not bar unions between transgender individuals and persons of the other gender".
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined that job bias against employees on the basis of gender identity amounts to sex discrimination under existing law.
US Episcopalian Church will now ordain trans priests.

Asia:

 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders signed a declaration of human rights which omits sexual orientation and gender identity.

India:
At the end of the public hearing, a jury headed by former Delhi High Court Chief Justice A.P. Shah, recommended the government recognise the transgender community on the basis of their sexual orientation and start welfare schemes for them as a matter of right. He also recommended that every State Government, like Tamil Nadu, form a Transgender Welfare Board and Transgender Commission to protect the human rights of the marginalised community.
Karnataka Chief Minister promised a separate welfare board for trans community.
The Election Commission of India has made voting easier by allowing a voter registration form to be signed by a guru (eg a hijra guru) rather than the parents who no longer recognize their child.
Maharashtra State announced that transgenders and commercial sex workers will help draft the state's women policy.
Iraq:
In February there were continuous reports of militia targeting youths which focus on attacks, kidnapping, torture and murder of ‘emo’ youth and individuals perceived as gay, lesbian or trans. GayAsylumUK has confirmed that the US-backed Iraqi authorities actively conspire in this, arresting LGBT people and handing them over to the militiamen who kill them. The Netherlands is granting asylum to GLBT Iraqis.
Kuwait;
Human Rights Watch report on Kuwait.
Malaysia:
4 make-up artists challenged Section 66 of the Syariah Criminal (Negeri Sembilan) Enactment, which bars Muslim men from dressing or posing as women, which they argued is unconstitutional. (more). The judge said that they are born male, they are still male .. and cross dressing is condemned in Islam. He also said that the PT Foundation which supports trans people should work with religious authorities to ensure that they get counselling. (more)
Pakistan:
Following the orders of the Supreme Court, the Sindh Election Commission on Tuesday convened a meeting with representatives of the transgender community at the commission’s provincial head office in Karachi to ensure that the names of their community members are entered in the voters list ahead of the upcoming elections. The trans representatives were to say whether a name is entered in the male or in the female column.
Japan:
The youngest age at which hormone treatment for people with gender identity disorder can begin was lowered from 18 to 15 by the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Thai Air: first trans stewardess, but airline in financial trouble 10 months later.

Europe:

 

EU Parliament:
Called on the European Commission and the World Health Organization to withdraw gender identity disorders from the list of mental and behavioural disorders while ensuring a non-pathologizing re-coding in the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), and regretted that among others the “right of access to preventive health care and to benefit from medical treatment” is not upheld in all EU countries.
officially acknowledged discrimination on grounds of gender identity, called for accessible gender reassignment procedures, and insisted future EU gender equality initiatives should address issues linked to gender identity and gender reassignment.
The LGBT Intergroup and the European Greens in the EU Parliament held a seminar on “Trans and Intersex People: Challenges for EU Law” on September 26th 2012 at the European Parliament with the presentation of a new Thematic Study on Trans and Intersex Discrimination.
Designated Commissioner for Health and Consumer Rights, Tonio Borg, promised in a letter to European Parliamentarians to work to stop the assumption that transgender people are considered mentally ill, and that he would respect the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, however left and green MEPs remain wary given his conservative past.
European Court of Justice declared that Article 5 of the Gender Goods and Services Directive (2004/113/EC) is void, and from 21/12/2012 all insurance rates will be unisex, which will end all problems resulting from gender changes.
Adopted its annual enlargement progress reports for Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. All the resolutions recommended greater protection for gay, bi and transgender citizens in the potential new member states.
England & Wales:
Re-organization of NHS: the commission of gender identity clinics on a national basis will remove the regional variations in accessibility. However may mean a reduction in the currently better areas, and new Clinical Commissioning Groups are being set up without apparently including the doctors experienced with trans people, and without seeking input from trans organizations.
Finland:
H v. Finland went to the European Court of Human Rights which ruled that laws which made the marriage of a post-operative transsexual invalid if she officially registered her new gender did not violate her rights under the European Convention, as the reason was that H's wife would not consent to changing the marriage into a civil partnership.
France:
the Senate added 'sexual identity', not 'gender identity' to the list of protections in Article 225-1 of the penal code. The Association national transgenre (ANT) is concerned that the term is not currently defined in law and will be open to France’s judges to interpret it.
Germany:
Federal Social Court in Kassel ruled that trans women have a legal right to breast enlargement operations when hormone therapy fails to give them a feminine shape, if her new breasts have not yet reached the size of a bra's A-cup .
Lithuania: a bill before Parliament to ban Gender Reassignment.

Malta: added sexual orientation and gender identity to its hate crime laws.

Montenegro: healthcare now covers 80% of therapy, hormones and surgery for trans persons.

Netherlands: surgery and sterilization before change of birth certificate no longer required.

Scotland:
New guidelines issued to health boards: the one-year real-life experience retained, but health boards to pay for electrolysis, hormones drugs given earlier, and breast removals earlier.
Sweden:
announced that they will not modernise a law from the 1970s which makes sterilisation compulsory for transgender people before the state will recognise their gender identity. Later Christian Democrats reversed. ++The requirement for sterilization was finally dropped in December (up till now Swedish law has required that any frozen sperm or eggs must be destroyed for a legal gender change).
61-year-old man attempted to rape a trans woman who turned out to be pre-op. He was acquitted because the rape was ‘impossible’ but the appeals court reversed this and he was sentenced to 15 months and to pay 40,000 kronor compensation.
Ukraine:
a bill before Parliament to prohibit any public dissemination of information relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Oceania:

 

New Zealand: persons can now change the gender on their passports through a statutory declaration and without having to change their birth certificates or citizenship documents. The third gender X may be chosen.

17 December 2012

Some Events of the year 2012: Part 1 - Organizations, Equal marriage

Some events of 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

This is just some of what happened in 2012.

Part 1: Organizations, Equal marriage,
Part 2: Other Legislation.
Part 3: Persons.
Part 4: Spouses, Family, Kids.
Part 5: Political, Celebrities, Sports, Festivals.
Part 6: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Imprisonment, Nemeses, Internet.
Part 7: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Obituaries
Part 11: Bookshops, Archives, Books.

Organizations

 

 International:

 


Global Action for Trans* Equality (GATE) 20 experts from most parts of the world met at the Dutch Ministry for Education, Culture and Science in The Hague on November 16-18 to discuss alternative models for trans* health classifications.

STP2012. In October 2012 more than 100 actions for trans depathologization took place in 50 cities worldwide, organized by over 80 activist groups and organizations, within the STP 2012 Call for Action.

Second International Intersex Forum, December, Stockholm, as part of the International Lesbian and Gay Association conference, demanded the ending of genital surgeries to 'normalize' and selective abortion on the grounds of intersex and ensuring 'the personal, free, prior and fully informed' consent of the intersex person before medical procedures. The forum sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling for the UN to adopt intersex rights as part of their human rights work. The letter described human rights violations suffered by Indian gold-medal winning athlete Pink Pramanik who was accused of being a man.

A short history of (Harry) Benjamin Syndrome – by Zagria. The one and only history of this movement.

Americas:

 

APA: “Report of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder” www.springerlink.com/content/65145105t4000220/?MUD=MP.

Angels of Change. Annual Calendar Release and Runway Show benefits the Division of Adolescent Medicine of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Transgender Services 

Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists: Transgender Committee. Jack Pula, chairperson, would like to create a network of psychiatrists and residents of all gender identities who are interested in changing the curricula of medical schools and residency programs nationwide to include training in transgender issues.

Beca Trans, Peru ahs been started by The Homosexual Movement of Lima (MHOL), AIDS group Vía Libre and the Runa Institute of Gender Studies and Development (RUNA) to offer 45 transgender women the opportunity to complete their studies.

Chicago House has unveiled a new nine-bedroom facility to house transgender people on Chicago's North Side.

Cybele Matraeum in upstate New York lost its appeal for tax exemption as a religious organization, which is a big set-back for Pagan religious rights.

Gender Pac – a history by Pauline Park.

3 Louisiana Girl Scouts dissolved themselves because a Colorado troop accepted a trans girl. The National organization remains neutral.

Human Rights Campaign:
Revised its Corporate Equality Index to require equal health care for for trans employees and provide for gender surgery.
Chose Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein as its first national corporate spokesman for same-sex marriage. This shows that it is ethically neutral on big questions.
Visibility Award given to Lana Wachowski. Video.
Donated $250 to Chicago's Center on Halstead for its TDOR events. In response June Latrobe who has organized the Center's TDOR events for several years resigned in protest given HRC's past exclusion of trans concerns.
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) has launched the Transgender On-campus Nondiscrimination Information (TONI) Project.

National Workshop on Gender Creative Kids, organized by Kimberley Manning, Elizabeth Meyer & Annie Pullen Sansfaçon.

Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project gathered a petition with 1,700 signatures that Nova Scotia Human Rights Act should include gender identity and gender expression. This was acted on immediately by the New Democrat government.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and OutServe merged in November and chose Allyson Robinson as their new leader.

Straight Spouse Network. "personal, confidential support and information to heterosexual spouses/partners, current or former, of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender mates and mixed-orientation or transgender/nontransgender couples for constructively resolving coming-out problems". Newsarticle.

Transgender Law Center celebrates 10 years of achievements.

TS-Si, the one-time HBS site that later renounced the label but retained a separatist tilt, has closed.

Toronto Trans March again defied Pride Toronto and took an unauthorized march.

Asia:

Nepal's Blue Diamond Society was defamed on Sagarmatha TV’s Khoj Khabar programme.

GANDA (Gender and Development Advocates) Filipinas founded.

Sukkur, Pakistan: trans women led by Sanam Fakir joined the protests against US drone strikes.

Turkey.
Istanbul’s Trans Pride March was supposed to start at 5pm, an hour after another march by right-wing groups in the same square to protest about the attacks by the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) on Turkish soldiers. The fascists were still there and threw bottles and sticks. The police went in between the two groups and stopped the attack. The Trans Pride March, the finale of Turkey’s Trans Pride Week, started after the altercation and continued along Isitklal Street without any more problems.

ICS, Vietnam:
short film about trans women in Vietnam made by LGBT rights organization ICS has been watched over 200,000 times on YouTube. 'We decided to name it "Pêdê" - the word that society still uses to stigmatize transgender people - as a way to have a closer look at a familiar yet taboo topic,' Video.

Europe:


Association national transgenre (France) Boycotted a meeting with the Minister for Women’s Rights following a dispute over payment of expenses to enable the group's provincial members to attend.

Beaumont Society.
While the other UK trans organizations said nothing, Joanna Darrell of the BS did confirm to the Sunday Times that a pregnant trans man had contacted them.
Was contacted in advance about the Paddy Power advert.
Fourth European Transgender Council held in Dublin.
Organized by TGEU, TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) and other local groups, and was attended by Over 250 activists and delegates from almost 40 countries. However delegates were verbally harassed and physically attacked in the streets.
Greek Transgendered Support Association
denounced the Greek Delegation to the UN for claiming that Greek legislation prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity, when it does not do so.
Homotopia, Liverpool, July 2012 until December 2014,
will feature workshops and opportunities for members of the transgender community to share their own experience, culminating in a major exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool.
TGEU Steering Committee
met with representatives of the EU Commission, 2-8 May in Brussels, and with the Regional Office for Europe of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – (OHCHR). .
TGEU
noted, on the occasion of the International Action Day on Trans Depathologization, that Transgender Identities are still regarded as mental disorders in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) of the World Health Organization. TGEU calls for a depathologization of trans identities and demands a change into a non-pathological category to guaranty full access to trans-related health care and recognition of identities.
Trans Media Watch:
referred Paddy Power advert to Clearcast.
gave evidence at the Leveson enquiry into invasions of privacy by the media in the UK.
Turkey:
Omar Kuddos was prompted by the murder of Seçil Anne of Antalya to sponsor a petition to the President that he should address the ongoing 'honour killings' of gay and trans persons.

Oceania


Queer Avengers, Wellington, glitterbombed Germain Greer, and protested other transphobics.

Equal marriage & civil unions

 

This issue is important for trans people, especially in the US where upon widowhood or divorce, a trans person often finds that s/he has no legal standing, and in Europe where existing marriages are required to be converted to civil unions when one party transitions.

------------
Trudy Ring. “Marriage Equality is a Trans Issue, Too”. The Advocate, January 09 2012. www.advocate.com/print-issue/advance/2012/01/09/marriage-equality-trans-issue-too.

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Americas

Alagoas: first Brazilian state to recognize same-sex marriages.

Bahia: recognition of same-sex marriage from November 2012.

Brazil: the human rights committee in Brazil’s Senate approved a change in the law to say a civil union is between two people, without saying they have to be opposite genders. (This is being achieved despite President Dilma Rousseff's continuing refusal to meet with GLBT organizations.)

California: four years after Proposition 8 removing equal marriage rights, the issue is still before the courts.

Non-residents married in Canada informed that that cannot divorce if they cannot do so where they live. This was admitted to be a loophole, and was fixed.

Colombia:
bill to legalize same-sex marriage passed the first of four votes.
Cuba: Bill to permit same-sex marriage before Parliament, but not passed.

Maine citizen's initiative petition for equal marriage passed.

Maryland referendum for equal marriage passed.

Mexico: the Supreme Court struck down Oaxaca'a law that denied same-sex marriage as discriminatory. This was based on the American Convention on Human Rights which has legal force in many Latin American countries.

Netherlands' Caribbean municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba have a new law permitting same-sex couples to marry.

New Jersey – equal marriage ballot proposed.

Uruguay – lower house of congress voted for marriage equality.

Washington State referendum for equal marriage passed.

Asia

Israel: A bill to legalize same-sex and interfaith civil marriages was defeated in the Knesset 39-11, but divorce granted to a same-sex couple who married abroad.

Europe

Denmark: the Folketing passed new laws to permit same-sex marriage and church weddings.

Jersey’s civil partnership law with provisions for religious ceremonies finally came into effect.

France: President Hollande has promised a bill in 2013. Large demonstrations pro and con.

Germany's ruling CDU rejected gay tax equality, but the issue will be decided by a court next year.

Hungary: new constitution restricts marriage to heterosexuals, and removed all protections for GLBT persons.

UK.
Government has asked judges to write the equal marriage law, the definition of consummation is proved to be a problem, and it has been announced that non-consummation will not be a grounds for same-sex divorce.

PM Cameron has announced that those churches, other than the Churches of England and Wales, that wish to conduct gay marriage will be allowed to do so.

In server contrast to the Simmons marriage blessing in 1969 , the Church of England of today has wholehearted rejected the proposal for equal marriage.

Oceania

New Zealand: Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill passed its first reading.