A question of relationships: Pink with pride at Chula

[paragraph exceerpted from a much longer piece on gay acceptance at Chulalongkorn University]

Meanwhile, on the banks of the Chao Phya, Chula's counterpart Thammasat University recently made a big buzz in some newspapers. From now on, male students who prefer to do so will be allowed to dress in female uniforms. Now that's progress: I was sure this news would come as a big relief for many transsexual or transvestite students to be themselves, right down to their appearance.

Group gains ground, still faces misconceptions

When area transgender people visited Pennsylvania state legislators, most politicians were respectful and understanding, Mara Keisling said. But one legislator moved to the other side of the room. Another hid in a closet, she said.

While misunderstandings and even violence against transgender people persist, they've gained important ground in Pennsylvania and around the country this year.

Transgender is an umbrella term, including everyone from cross-dressers and female impersonators to transsexuals who change their sex from male to female, or female to male, according to the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition.

While 25 transgender people were killed in hate crimes in the past year and a federal judge ruled in September that a married trucker could be fired for wearing women's clothes while off duty, transgender-rights advocates also won an unprecedented series of political victories.

The governing councils of 14 cities and counties -- including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and New York -- voted to include
transgender people among the groups protected by local nondiscrimination laws. No more than six jurisdictions had done so in any previous year, according to the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition.

Forty-four cities, seven counties and two states -- Minnesota and Rhode Island-- now have explicit civil-rights protections for transgender people in
housing, employment and other areas, according to the coalition.

Earlier this month, Gov. Mark Schweiker signed a hate crime bill into law that makes Pennsylvania one of 28 states offering transgender people such
protection.

Pennsylvania has more jurisdictions with transgender-inclusive anti-discrimination laws than any other state, said Keisling, 43, of
Harrisburg, a male-to-female transsexual who co-chairs the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition.

Harrisburg "has had one on the books since 1983, whereas Philadelphia just got them this past spring," she said.

Pennsylvania's hate crimes laws are among the most inclusive in the country, said Chris Poorman, 53, a Lower Swatara Twp. male-to-female transsexual. "Gov. Schweiker has a nice, big political feather in his cap. I'm very happy that he signed it. ... It's been a long time coming."

"Legislation like this really has three purposes," Keisling said. "One is what is apparent in the law, which is to prosecute people for committing hate crimes. Secondly, it's very important as an educational tool to let the public
and would-be offenders know it's not OK to hurt people just because you don't like who they are.

"And third, the laws are meant to empower victims who now are being told: 'You'll be taken seriously if you come forward.'"

Nate, 30, a Landisburg female-to-male transsexual who didn't want his last name used, wonders how the law will be implemented, and whether authorities recognize hate crimes when they happen.

"They happen across the nation every day. ... If the law is implemented and taken seriously by the authorities, then it might diminish the occurrence of hate crimes," he said.

It was vital that the law include transgender people, said the Rev. Eva O'Diam, pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of the Spirit in Harrisburg, which has some transgender members.

"For so long the gay and lesbian community and the transgender community have been at odds with each other. In part because, the two communities don't really know each other and don't understand each other," O'Diam said.

"I think that transgenders are probably at greater risk as far as hate crimes than even gay and lesbian people," said O'Diam.

"I walk in public with our transgendered folks and I go out to eat with them. I remember hearing names called at them, just as they're walking down the street, minding their own business... If hateful things can be told to people on the street in broad daylight, what's going to happen at night?"

Many people still harbor misconceptions and fear about transgenders, said several people interviewed. Keisling told of visiting the offices of one lawmaker who, arriving in his office to find two transgenders and two
representatives of the gay/lesbian community awaiting him, walked into a closet and stayed there until they left.

While the process of getting a law passed has educated some people, acceptance is a long-term goal, they said.

"I don't think gays and lesbians are even at that point yet," Poorman said. "In the city of Harrisburg that whole class of people [gays, lesbians and transgender people] is tolerated, but not accepted."

Nate, however, said the new law shows people are becoming more accepting. "If that were not true, there would have been an outcry and a protest. I haven't seen any of that, so that's encouraging."

To Keisling, who is helping establish a transgender-rights center in Washington, Pennsylvania's law is a huge step.

"This is the first time ever that the state Legislature recognized us as valued citizens," she said.


DIANA FISHLOCK/Patriot-News
255-8251 or
dfishlock@patriot-news.com

Full Story

[This message was edited by daddy on 04-01-03 at 08:55 PM.]

Miss Transvestite contest names winner

The winner of the Miss Transvestite contest has been named as 21-year-old Thotsaphon Yonganukul... this contest is given kudos abroad but of course not here in USA.... come on Donald Trump put ya $ on this one.... she is beautiful...

.....She's gourgeous! Where and when was this contest?

I bet it's a Place called Pattaya, Thailand.

Transsexuals win legal right to wed
By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 07/07/2003)


Transsexuals will have the legal right to marry and have their gender changed on their birth certificate under new laws.

In a Bill to be brought forward by the Constitutional Affairs Department in the next fortnight, employers will not be able to demand to know a person's sexual history.

The legislation will also state that anyone who is medically recognised as a transsexual should be treated as the sex they have become.

A Government spokesman said ministers were complying with the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2002 the court ruled that the Government's failure to recognise people who had changed sex breached the European Convention of Human Rights, which has now been incorporated into British law.

Under the new law, insurance companies must treat transsexuals as members of the gender of their choice and the Government must allow men who have changed their sex to female to claim state pensions at 60.

There are an estimated 5,000 transsexuals in Britain. A transsexual will be defined as someone who has lived successfully in their acquired gender for at least two years. They may have had medical treatments to modify their sex but the Government will not require surgery as proof that a person is transsexual.

For Immediate Release: Dated October 8, 2003
From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Contact Email: ntacmedia@aol.com
media@ntac.org

Website: http://www.ntac.org

Family And City Remember Gwen Araujo
Murders of Transgenders Continue Unabated

A year can pass by in a seeming heartbeat. For family members of a slain child, though, a year can seem an eternity. On the first anniversary of her Gwen Araujo's murder, Sylvia Guerrero sat with approximately fifty family members in the front row of the Newark Memorial High School auditorium during a memorial to her daughter.

On October 3, 2002, people she knew slowly and brutally murdered 17-year-old Gwen Araujo. Gwen was murdered at a party after young men with whom she had previously had sex discovered that she was anatomically male. One confessed killer and three accused killers are in jail. Trial is currently scheduled for March 15, 2004.

The shocking news of Araujo's murder and the discovery of her body in a shallow grave weeks later made national headlines. A year has passed and there is not yet closure for family, friends, the town, or the transgender community. "It's still fresh in our heads, almost like it [happened] yesterday," said Imelda Guerrero, Araujo's aunt.

Shocking as it was and as widespread the story, the murder of transgendered people continues at an escalating pace in the U.S. and around the world.

About 150 people gathered on Saturday, October 4th, for a mix of music, poetry, and speeches centering on the loss of Gwen Araujo and on the senseless killing that continues unabated. Several of Gwen's friends attended the memorial alongside government representatives, transgender activists, and other Newark citizens, including members of the anti-hate group "Not in Newark," formed after her death.

Speakers included Newark Councilman Al Nagy, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation regional representative Monica Taher, past Chairman of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) Yoseñio Lewis, Remembering Our Dead founder Gwen Smith, and Gwen Araujo's mother Sylvia Guerrero.

Gwen's mother recalled the brutality of her death and the terrible pictures she was shown. "I look forward to the day that there are no more labels," Sylvia Guerrero said at the memorial. "We're all human. We all bleed the same blood."

The loss has been hard on Guerrero and has cost her her job, a relationship, and her peace of mind as well as the son she now considers a daughter. Besides being a grieving mother, Guerrero, a lifetime member of NTAC, has become an ardent transgender advocate.

Councilman Nagy said the city of Newark is using the terrible experience to help the city heal and grow. Using the butterfly symbolism so important to Gwen Araujo, he described the city's efforts to foster an evolving appreciation of one another. One of these efforts is the city's work with Not in Newark members to frame several proposals pertaining to improved understanding and protection of sexual and gender minorities.

Gwen Smith reminded the audience that at least 29 transgendered people have been murdered in the year since Araujo's death, 14 of them in the United States.

"These are far more than numbers," Smith said in her address, "these were human beings, like you or me, killed for no better reason than the flawed opinions and ethics of their murderers. These were sons and daughters, sisters and brothers. These were friends and lovers, people whom others held dear."

In a verse from a poem he wrote in memory of three slain transsexual teens - Gwen Araujo, Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis - Yoseñio Lewis reminded us that their deaths must not be in vain.

"Oh but my sisters you live on," he said, "Your journey has but taken another form. Your 17, 18 and 19 year old voices resonate in the hearts of those much older than you. Your courage and joy inspire a woman's bravery that humbles this man."

"If anything, it is important to remember that Gwen was someone's daughter, someone's sister," says Ethan St. Pierre of the Remembering Our Dead project and member of the NTAC board of directors. "When we remember her, we also speak out for all the daughters, sisters, sons, brothers -- and all others."

The large extended family and strong family ties are what Imelda Guerrero credited with helping the family cope with Araujo's death. "I've had shoulders to cry on, and then it would be their turn to cry on my shoulder," she reported.

"There is progress being made," Guerrero added during a phone interview after the memorial. "We've gone a long way, but the fight isn't over."

Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a §501(c)(4) civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination.

My Goodness!! I am definitely in love.

Miss Trans from Thailand is pulse pounding!! Finally, someone to think off while I dose off to sleep.

Bravo to the Turner Prize board... who recently appointed a lesser known ceramicist for their prestigious award. Grayson Perry, a 42yr old TV from Essex (London) stepped up to receive his prize at the Tate gallery in a garish patterned satin knee length dress, bless 'im! ... he is best known for his classically shaped vases painted with provocative images on - one an Alice in Wonderland look-alike stares out at the viewer saying "fuck off you middle class tourist"
Well done Grayson! Bravo to the normally snooty Turner Prize board! only in Blighty kids!

July 19, 2004
From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
http://www.ntac.org


Transgender Delegation Readies for Democratic National Convention

In a historic first, the Democratic National Convention will see transgender participation like never before. For the first time ever, there will be more than a solitary transgendered delegate in national political process. No less than five delegates, and two committee members will be attending the Convention on July 26-29, 2004 in Boston - four of whom are current or former board members of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC).

Over 4,353 delegates and alternates from every state and territory to nominate the next President of the United States. While five delegates works out to only 0.11% of the total delegation, the transgender community sees this as a momentous accomplishment, and an exciting milestone.

The first publicized transgender delegate to attend a national convention was Jane Fee, a Minnesota delegate who attended the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Karen Keren was the very first transgender delegate, attending the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston. Curiously, the press avoided reporting on this.

Keisling and Helms were not available to comment, but the other delegation members offered their thoughts on the upcoming event:

This year will see five delegates from four states: Kathy Padilla from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Barbra 'Babs' Casbar from suburban northern New Jersey, and Monica Helms from Atlanta, Georgia will join the two transgendered delegates from Texas, Christina Ocasio from Austin and Vanessa Edwards Foster from Houston.

Joining the delegation will be two national committee members: Melissa Sklarz from New York City, who will sit on the Rules Committee, and Mara Keisling, Exec. Dir. of the National Center for Transgender Equality, who will serve on the LGBT Steering Committee.

"This is a watershed event, openly transgender people being accepted as leaders in the largest and oldest political party in the country," said Kathy Padilla, a former charter board member of NTAC. "It's an affirmation of the value of a very disadvantaged people and will effect inclusion in proposed federal civil rights legislation."

Christina Ocasio, a board officer of the Travis County Stonewall Democrats in Austin, and a self-described "young transwoman, commented, "it is important that we start to show our faces in politics and activism." She added "transgendered people can be professionals with stable jobs, mortgage payments, car notes, paying taxes and children. In other words normal in most aspects of life." One of the key issues that Ocasio hopes to ensure is "the ability to keep working and being a productive member of our great society.

DNC Rules Committee member, Melissa Sklarz, said that the transgender community "ponder[s] our place in an uncaring cultural environment that know us only from tabloid news and television and wonder how many more deaths we will suffer until our needs are taken seriously. [In] spite of insurmountable obstacles put in our [way], our numbers only grow larger, and we will not go away."

Babs Casbar, an NTAC board member, noted the "honor" of being selected a delegate to the convention, and the "singular significance that I am part of the first transgender caucus of the Democratic Convention, ever!" She added, "our first goal is to be recognized as our own community by the Democratic National Committee. We must be our own advocates!" Casbar also commented that in this election season, "being recognized as an American Veteran is an additional honor and responsibility that I also carry with Pride."

"We are not simply a rare anomaly this year, we're taking a more proportionately representative part of the political process," said NTAC Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster. "This is the beginning of a political coming-of-age for the transgender community - and one that was long overdue. We're finally doing what other segments of American society have done before us." Foster, a co-founder of NTAC, noted that "there is still a quite a way to go before we can say we're considered equals. But we've taken the next step, a very important step, in affecting our community's destiny for the better."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pretty,

Has there been any feedback from trangendered participants as to how well they felt they were listened to, integrated, etc.?

Thank You Chi Chi for taking the time to post that info. I didn't know such an organization existed that was working with the VA on TG education/rights and services. Although I am a veteran, I'm not sure whether I want to join TAVA or not, at least at this time, but I'm glad to know that they exist. Thanks.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Stacy Amber,

Just got a copy of MAXIM mag Singapore issue.. cover story is "WHY TRANNIES ARE SO HOT!"... real positive article in it! Only in Asia huh... amazing..

DANNY: GOING BLIND IS A DRAG
Jan 15 2005
Star struggles to apply make-up
By John Dingwall

DRAG queen Danny La Rue shocked his fans yesterday by revealing he is going blind.
But the veteran performer said the biggest problem he had was putting on his heavy make-up.
And Danny pledged he would keep on performing as long as he was able.

Now 77, he is suffering from a rare medical condition, macular degeneration, which destroys the sight from the centre of the eyes.
Danny has a special TV system to magnify his script because he can no longer read his lines.

He is spending his 52nd year in panto - playing Cinderella's Fairy Godmother in Cardiff.
Danny made his announcement as he thanked the Cardiff Institute for the Blind for helping him get through the panto.He said: 'I'm slowly losing my sight. The Institute have been marvellous in their help for me 'It's made such a difference to me. It's meant I've been able to learn my lines really quickly.'Now I'm the only one in the company who doesn't need a script in rehearsals.'

Insitute director Richard Evans praised Danny's efforts in struggling on with the show despite his problems. He said: 'People like Danny highlight the positive side of sight loss. He has a serious condition but doesn't let it affect his work'The more people like him we can get the better - he helps show others they can still try to lead a normal life.'

Irish-born Danny, real name Daniel Carrol, first donned wig and make-up in a Royal Navy concert party in World War II He made history on the stage with Hello Dolly by becoming the first man to play a female lead in a major production.

He often worked with Ronnie Corbett early in his career and went on to be one of Britain's highest paid entertainers.

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well hello Dolly... I want that full ensemble in the picture... just in black

it is wonderful and inspiring that he is not letting this set him back

it is all fuel... keep it moving

STEWART: 'I ONCE PULLED A TRANSVESTITE'
ROD STEWART once took a "gorgeous" woman back to his hotel room, before realising his guest was actually a man at the critical moment.

The MAGGIE MAY rocker, who claims he was the victim of a practical joke, was on tour in Australia when he inadvertently chatted up the transvestite.

Stewart says, "We were all in a bar and there was this gorgeous bird. I thought, 'Why aren't any of the guys near her?'

"They'd set me up. So I took her back to my hotel, put my hand down there and there's the old meat and two veg.

"I thought I was very good. I said, 'Look, I'm going to go to bed - you get that side and be gone in the morning."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Miss Understood,