US School Board member: trans students should be ‘castrated’ before being allowed to use restrooms

Some states in the United States have implemented laws to address school bullying. Law prohibits bullying of students based on sexual orientation and gender identity Law prohibits bullying of students based on sexual orientation only School regulation or ethical code for teachers that address bullying of students based on sexual orientation Law prohibits bullying in school but lists no specific categories of protection No statewide law that specifically prohibits bullying in schools (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ashlee Kelly | Gay Star News | November 24, 2013

A Colorado school board member has sparked controversy in the her local community after refusing to recognize the rights of transgender students, saying they shouldn’t be allowed access to facilities which match their gender unless they have undergone surgery.

Katherine Svenson, of the Delta County School Board, publicly stated in October that she doesn’t support the rights of trans people to use restrooms that match their gender identity.

Speaking at a meeting in October, Svenson handed out an issue of the Education Reporter which covered the recently passed laws in California and Massachusetts, saying ‘I just want to empathize: not in this district. Not until the plumbing’s changed. There would have to be castration in order to pass something like that around here.

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Our Transgender Heroes: Remembering Those Who Have Paved The Way

Graham Gremore | Queerty | November 20, 2013

Today is national Transgender  Day of Remembrance, which allows an opportunity for communities to come  together and mark the passing of transgender  individuals — or those  perceived to be transgender — who have been murdered because of hate.

To honor the lives of transgender and gender nonconforming people, we’ve  compiled a list of a few well-known transgender heroes, both alive and dead, who  have helped pave the way for awareness of trans issues and bring about  change.

Christine Jorgensen

Christine Jorgensen was an American trans woman and the first person to  become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery in  1951. After her surgery she became an outspoken advocate for transgender  people.

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Californian conservatives plan to attack new trans law through ballot

English: A ballot box Italiano: Urna elettorale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ashlee Kelly | Gay Star News | September 15, 2013

Californian conservatives are aiming to repeal a recent law protecting transgender students in the state by taking the issue to the ballot box.

The recent bill, which is known as AB1226 will take effect on 1 January, will allow students in California to use facilities such as bathrooms and changing rooms which match the gender they identify with.

Whilst the bill has received praise from LGBT groups, conservatives have expressed outrage at the law which they believe will ‘confuse’ children.

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Intersex Man Discovered He Had Kallmann’s Syndrome From High School Physical (VIDEO)

This is a Symbol for Gender “Intersex”, which does imply infinite Possibilities/Variety of anatomical Appearance and Gender/sexual Identity. It was originally designed by Maya Posch and has been changed a little by Marcus Werthmann to look more similar to the other Symbols, which Marcus Werthmann did use for a Project. In Accordance with Maya Posch, this Picture of the changed Version is now released by Marcus Werthmann, mentioning her Name to fit the choosen Creative Commons Licence. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Huffington Post | August 29, 2013

Germany will soon be the first European country to recognize babies born with ambiguous genitalia as a third gender, allowing parents to choose a baby’s sex later in life. HuffPost Live’s Nancy Redd hosted a discussion about what this change will mean for intersex parents and children.

Guest Nicky Chaleunphone, an EMT and firefighter who was born with Kallmann’s syndrome, said he believed his childhood would have been different if this choice existed during his formative years.

“Back then in the 1980s, intersex kids never had a choice,” he said. “Their choice was taken away from them.”

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Chelsea Manning and the Military’s Coming Transgender Revolution

The transgender pride flag (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kristin Beck | Guardian UK | Reader Supported News | August 26, 2013

I struggled in secret with my transgender status for 20 years of service. But Manning’s case will force the US military to change.

I served in the US military for 20 years. I knew I was transgender from an early age.

Due to family, society and then, later, military pressure and expectations, I kept my feelings to myself. It was difficult, but for 40-plus years, I lived as a fully-functioning male in life and the military. I had my share of issues because of my internal struggle. There were some unintended consequences because of my struggle, but my gender did not make me into anything that I was not.

Gender is something you are born with and it is not a simple binary model, as many people wish it were. Being transgender, or outside of the pure male or female construct, is a way of life; it is a human condition that has been with us since the beginning of time.

NY: Mel Wymore: Community Activist and Trans Man Looking for Authentic Solutions

The transgender pride flag (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PAUL SCHINDLER | Gay City News | August 7, 2013

It would hardly be surprising if, borrowing a page from many gay and lesbian political candidates before him, Mel Wymore, who is running for an open City Council seat on the Upper West Side, insisted that he is not the transgender candidate in the September 10 Democratic primary, but rather the candidate who happens to be transgender.

After all, he has served on Community Board 7 continuously since 1996, two years as chair, a leadership role that enabled him to help craft an agreement with a developer that delivered 600 units of affordable housing, a new school, and nearly $20 million for parks.

Since 1998, he’s been a board member, and for a time the chair, of the PTA at the prestigious Ethical Culture Fieldston School on Central Park West.

And he’s helped found a variety of neighborhood civic organizations — including ones delivering food to residents of a single-room-occupancy hotel, creating accessibility solutions for people living with disabilities, and minimizing the carbon footprint of institutions in that part of Manhattan.

Germany will soon be the first European country to have three gender options on a birth certificate

Germany (Photo credit: sanctumsolitude)

James Withers | Gay Star News | August 17, 2013

Come fall, Germany will be the first European country to offer three options on a child’s birth certificate.

The change, as reported by Spiegel Online International, will be available on 1 November. Birth certificates will have three options: the traditional ‘male’ and ‘female’ and a ‘blank’ option.

The additional choice permits children born with both male and female traits to choose a gender later in life. It also allows people to keep their gender unidentified.

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Taiwanese genderqueer couple fight to have marriage reinstated

Fridae (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

News Editor | Fridae | July 21, 2013

Jiyi Wu (吳芷儀) and Abbygail Wu (吳伊婷), who are both transgender women and describe themselves as a genderqueer couple, are fighting to have their marriage reinstated after the country’s Ministry of the Interior (MOI) earlier this year stripped the pair of their legally married status.

It is a case that has brought transgender and same-sex marriage issues back into the spotlight in Taiwan as the government is being accused of human rights violations after the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) declared the marriage of a transgender couple to be illegitimate although at the time of marriage they were legally male and female.

Born male, 29-year-old Jiyi Wu began hormone treatment in 2007 and completed male-to-female sex reassignment surgery last July. While still legally male, she applied to marry longtime partner Abbygail Wu (吳伊婷), a transgender person who had already changed her legal status from man to woman.

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(A) Male, (B) Female, (C) Both, (D) Neither

the gender binary in vegan shoes (Photo credit: moirabot)

Scout, Ph.D. | Huffington Post | July 23, 2013

Feminists taught me to throw out the gender binary, but neither beast nor fowl, those who move beyond the gender binary have a difficult road in a binary world.

Do you want to know the truth? I feel deeply male, yet I’d never want to be just a man. I am deeply proud of being assigned and raised female yet prefer not to be referred to as “she.” Like I was taught by the ardent lesbian separatists of the late ’70s, I like to think there are more than two choices. Male? Female? Not enough.

Unfortunately, the promise of a world with more than two choices hasn’t materialized quite as dreamed in the last 35 years. Approximately 20 years ago I was introduced to the new term “transgender.” Here was a word that had hopes of uniting the many different flavors of gender-variant people: drag queens, transsexuals, stone butches, cross dressers, and more. It had a second meaning too: It was supposed to indicate those people whose inner compass for their true gender came to rest somewhere other than the two check boxes of “male” or “female.” Both? Neither? No need to limit yourself anymore.

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Gender discrimination to be removed from Medicare

Dan Harrison | The Age | July 24, 2013

Gina Wilson, president of Organistion Intersex International Australia, has  welcomed moves to remove gender discrimination from Medicare. Photo: Dean  Sewell

Gender discrimination will be removed from Medicare, Health Minister Tanya  Plibersek will announce on Wednesday, meaning transgender and intersex people  will not have to disclose or explain their gender in order to receive medical  treatment.

Currently, some Medicare services are only available to men or women. Ms  Plibersek said this had caused discrimination against some people who had been  forced to have discussions about their gender identity in order to access a  service or claim a rebate for one at a Medicare office.

”For example, someone who has a uterus may actually identify their gender as  male. Under current arrangements, some Medicare covered medical procedures  involving the uterus are described as ‘female’ or for ‘women’,” Ms Plibersek  said.

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