The Week In Transgenderism 7/27/15

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Andreja

Andreja Pejic has added another line to her resume. Along with “big time trans fashion model,” “face of Make Up Forever” and several other achievements she can now claim to be a “pal of Taylor Swift.” Pejic and Victoria’s Secret model Lily Donaldson joined Taylor Swift on stage during her Chicago show to dance to the song Style. See the story and photos from the night at ETonline

While many Americans assume that LGBTQ people are protected under the law this is not the case in every area of the country. Some states and cities have protections in place by there are 37 states with no legal protections for LGBTQ people in school and 31 states that have no legal protections for those people in the workplace. Congressional Democrats have introduced the most expansive LGBTQ civil right bill ever in an attempt to provide protections nationwide. Read about it on Vox.com.

The Affordable Care Act was supposed to guarantee health coverage for everyone with no company being able to deny coverage based on gender or health history. For trans people that hasn’t completely worked out. Like all major programs, often fine tuning is needed to get the bugs out. The bug that is keeping trans people from getting healthcare is the practice of insurance companies applying specific codes to services and procedures based on the sex of the plan subscriber. When you are between sexes you are forced to choose a sex and you only get services provided to that sex. Learn more on how it affect trans healthcare on the PBS website.

Love her or hate her, that Caitlyn Jenner is helping people. While she worries that she will let the trans community down by not being a good role model she is helping all trans people who are still in the closet. That awkward conversation you fear when you try to come out to friends and family can now begin with the words, “Hey, what about that Caitlyn Jenner?” But worry about how she will do as a spokesperson and role model is keeping Caitlyn up at night. Watch a video on the USA Today website.

In more Caitlyn news, we learn that Ms. Jenner had a religious naming ceremony at her Malibu home. Guests gathered by her swimming pool, all dressed like Caitlyn in white (except Boy George, always the rebel, who  wore all black) and witnessed the ceremony. No Kardashians were present. Candice Cayne, reputed to be Caitlyn’s current squeeze, was on hand. Read more and see a lot of blurry pictures taken through a telephoto lens in the Daily Mail.

Caitlyn on stage.

In even more Caitlyn news — that girl has been getting out and about. She came out on stage before a Boy George concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and got a standing ovation when people recognized her. Why was she there? To start the show by introducing Boy George. See photos in US Weekly.

Last fall a modeling agency in Thailand became the first modeling agency to have a trans model division. This summer they are opening an all-trans office in Los Angeles. The L.A. operation is called Apple Modeling Agency, L.A. It’s already got six models signed, and it’s not even open yet. Read more on the Elle magazine website.

Model Carmen Carrera.

Speaking of models. More and more trans models are entering the fashion biz and they’re getting more press. All of them are beautiful, poised, and professional, but all models, if they want to get anywhere in the business need to be those things. What makes trans models more in demand? Read about 8 trans models who are doing major things and see if you can determine what makes them the “it” girls of the moment. The story is in Allure.

There is an uptick in trans people who wish to become Jews. There is a process that gentiles who wish to enter the Jewish faith must go through. Essentially it mirrors the process of growing up in the faith. So what’s the problem? How do you circumcise a trans man? Who will be witnesses at the ritual bath (the mikvah) and… Oy! So many questions. Fortunately the rabbis are willing, in the more liberal variety of the faith, to find answers to these problems. Learn more in Religion News.

The Polish Member of Parliament Anna Grodzka introduced a bill in 2012 that would expand the legal recognition that trans people in that country have enjoyed since the 1960s by providing the expanded right to get new official documentation such as birth certificates and other papers without undergoing surgery. The bill passed the lower house of parliament last week and after confirmation by the senate it will become law next year. Get more information from The News.

Conchita Wurst

Conchita Wurst learned two things recently. First of all her name has a special meaning in Latin America. It seems that Conchita is a nickname for the women’s reproductive part that the Brits call the fanny. Which isn’t what we call it in the U.S.A. But enough of that confusion. The second thing she’s learned is that she is the ambassador and headline act at the Feast Festival in Adelaide, Australia. Get the whole story and a video from Conchita (or is that Fanny?) on the News.Com.Au website.

The idea that a hormone imbalance creates a trans person has been around for many years. The belief that a “hormone bath” occurs with too much of one or the other hormones while a baby is still in the womb was a handy explanation of why we are trans. But it may not be true. A recent study has found that the hormones of children from the age of 12 to 14 who identified as having gender issues were the same as non-trans kids of their age. But then, this study did not look at the hormone levels the children were exposed to in the womb. Learn more on the Live Science website.

Talulah-Eve Brown

One of the contestants in the new trans beauty pageant in the U.K., Miss Transgender U.K., made the news last week when she announce that she had the foresight to have her sperm frozen so it she wants to have a child after her reassignment surgery she will be able to have one with a genetic link to her. Read about Talulah-Eve Brown in the Burton Mail.

This past weekend leader of black activist groups from around the country gathered in Cleveland, Ohio to further the creation of a modern day civil rights movement. Part of the focus of the event was on the plight of trans women of color who are all too often victims of violence. A trans woman named Elle Hearns was one of the conference organizers. Read more about it in LGBTQ Nation.

Two trans people who have been campaigning for trans rights have written a kids book titled Are you a boy or are you a girl? They were tired of books in which the gender of the main character is already set when you first pick it up. Their book, aimed at pre-schoolers to seven-year-olds, allows the reader to decide the gender of the main character. Learn more in The Independent.

Charlotte, North Carolina was in TWIT awhile back for voting down a proposed ordinance that would allow trans people to use the restroom of their choice. But after that no vote one of the trans women who was denied access to the government center lady’s room was told by the city manager that she could use any facility in a city owned building that was consistent with her gender. Seeing this as a way around getting official government rules she went straight to the owners of Charlotte’s biggest sport venues and asked them to put the same policy in place. All of them, including the Charlotte Motor Speedway got back to her and said it was okay with them. Read all about it in The Advocate.

Jayne County

Jayne County is still rocking after all these years. The first transsexual punk rock icon turned 69 this year and she is basically retired from the stage but she appeared with a band called the Electrick Queers in an Atlanta nightclub doing a benefit show for a friend of hers who was injured in a biking accident. Even though you missed the show you might want to know what she had to say in her interview with Creative Loafing.

TWITs

It’s bad enough living in Ukraine since there’s that war with Russia thing going on, but it’s even harder for trans people to live in that country. When it comes to recognition of transgenderism Ukraine is a lot like Russia. In other words they prefer not to recognize it but if they must then the steps to get treatment are pretty restricted. One trans person there says that you have to basically lie to the commission that decides if you can transition. Also you have to put up with Russian style abuse from your fellow citizens. A TWIT Award for Ukraine’s policies on trans people and a TWIT to the anti-LGBT thugs. Learn more in the Kyiv Post.

Last Thursday around 2 in the morning a person wearing a dress and cardigan sweater was stabbed to death in Fresno, California. The victim’s legal name, found in their purse, was Kenton Haggard. According to reports in the press the victim’s family said that Haggard had started dressing in women’s clothing in the past six months and was a meth addict. The police started their report on the stabbing by referring to the victim as a woman but by the end of the report were calling Haggard a man. Local trans activists are up in arms that Haggard was referred to as a male. Our TWIT Award goes to the activists for going off on the police at the beginning of an investigation. A mini TWIT goes to the department spokesman for mixing genders in his report. The police’s primary job is to find the killer, not cater to politically correct expectations from the community. Read the initial media report in The Fresno Bee.

Was that taking trans sensitivity too far? Yes. But they’re not the only ones. Glasgow, Scotland’s Free Pride event issued a ban on drag performers. No drag queens in the Pride Parade? WTF? It seems some people, who took it too far, felt that the drag performers were turning gender identity into a joke and their presence would make “…those who were transgender or questioning their gender uncomfortable.” After a world wide outcry which reminded organizers that the drag queens were among those who threw the first brick at Stonewall drag queens were invited back to the parade. A TWIT Award to those who took it too far. Respect is wonderful but it goes both ways. Give the queens the respect they deserve for being who they are. Get the whole story in The Daily Beast.

Tags: Andreja Pejic, Boy George, Caitlyn Jenner, Conchita Wurst, crossdressing, drag, featured, news, Transgender, TWIT

Category: Transgender Community News