Groups help transgender, HIV+ voters
by Christopher Curtis
PlanetOut Network


With Election Day less than a week away, LGBT-friendly organizations are trying to protect the voting rights of those in the community who could face intimidating obstacles while trying to cast their ballots.

On Wednesday, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) released a guide, "Overcoming Voting Obstacles: Resources for Transgender People." The guide covers the most common issues transgender voters face: identification documents that don't match their new names, ID photos that do not match their gender expression, and discrimination at the polls.

"This is a very significant election to trans people, and it is important that every qualified voter be allowed to vote. Our new guide is meant to help people advocate for themselves at their polling place," said Mara Keisling, NCTE executive director, in a prepared statement.

"Transgender people have as much right to vote as anyone else, and our votes are vital this election," Keisling added. "Bring appropriate ID and if anyone tells you that you can't vote for any reason, ask for a provisional ballot and immediately call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) for assistance."


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Transgender Awareness Project Moving Into Schools
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor


(CNSNews.com) - A transgender advocacy group announced it is teaming up with two homosexual advocacy groups to raise awareness about violence against transgender people -- and to move the issue into America's public schools.

The 6th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance will be held on November 20th, 2004, "to honor those who might otherwise have been missed by the media, as well as to draw attention to this continuing problem," said the event's organizer announced.

Gwendolyn Ann Smith, founder of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, said the event continues to grow; and this year, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Educators Network (GLSEN) and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network are joining the Transgender Day of Remembrance as sponsors.

"I am very excited to work with GLSEN and the GSA Network, as they will help this event make it into middle and high schools," Smith said in a press release


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Con gripes state stalling sex change
By J.M. Lawrence


Aconvicted killer who sued to get a sex change operation says state prison officials are ignoring a 2002 federal court order to make him a woman.

     Michelle Lynne Kosilek, whose name was Bob when he strangled his wife, Cheryl, in 1990, gets female hormones, but has yet to get laser hair removal, a nose job, voice alteration and other surgeries approved by doctors for severe ``gender identity disorder.''

     ``Plaintiff has completed the recommended year of living as female, with no adverse effect, medical or social,'' Kosilek, 55, said in new court papers. ``Without judicial intervention, this delay and plaintiff's suffering will continue indefinitely.''

     Two years ago, U.S. District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf found the Department of Correction failed to properly treat the demons that compelled Kosilek to attempt self-castration with a shoestring and suicide.


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Transsexual aiming to be one of the girls
By Claire Middleton 


Mianne Bagger today begins her attempt to become the first transsexual golfer to win playing privileges on the Robe di Kappa women's European Tour.

Bagger, who started life as a man but had a sex-change operation, is teeing up alongside 133 other women in an effort to claim one of 30 Tour cards up for grabs


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An interview with Jennifer Finney Boylan
by Gwen Park


For Jennifer Finney Boylan and her family, the biggest event of the last five years was not, as you or I might have guessed, her gender transition, but the death of her sister-in-law. It's one of the stories Boylan left out of "She's Not There," her memoir about life, love and coming into one's own. Make that best-selling memoir, for, as unlikely as it might seem, a book by a trans author did make the best-seller list. Boylan chatted with us recently about her book and gender


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Manhood questioned in Kentucky U.S. Senate campaign
By John Cheves
HERALD-LEADER FRANKFORT BUREAU


OWENSBORO -A top state Republican called Demo-cratic U.S. Senate candidate Dan Mongiardo "limp-wristed," and another GOP state legislator said she questions whether "the word 'man' applies to him" in speeches during Sen. Jim Bunning's campaign bus tour yesterday.


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Latino AIDS project to hold summit and health fair October 28 in Bronx, N.Y.

The Somos Project of the Latino Commission on AIDS is holding a Latino and Latina leadership summit meeting and health fair October 28 in Bronx, N.Y. The event will be held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Bronx Lesbian and Gay Health Resource Consortium, 448 E. 149th St. The summit meeting will focus on developing an action plan to fight discrimination against Latino gay people, which can cause depression, anxiety, stress, and frequently leads to higher risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, event organizers say. The health fair will include information on HIV treatment, education, treatment adherence, counseling, and referrals. For more information, go online to:


www.latinoaids.org


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Eminem Video


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Howard wins Senate control
By Myles Wearring


Prime Minister John Howard will have control of the Senate after the National Party was today declared the winner of Queensland's last Senate seat. ......

......Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby co-convenor Rob McGrory said it was unlikely there would be any positive reforms under the new Howard government and is concerned of further attacks to LGBT rights.

Rodney Croome recently told Sydney Star Observer the government already has a number of anti-gay policies up their sleeve. He expects the Coalition to move swiftly to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to allow states to block single and lesbian women from accessing artificial reproductive technology. It will also re-introduce its ban on same-sex couple overseas adoption and re-consider overriding same-sex couple adoption in the ACT, Croome said.
The government will also consider banning marriage between transgender couples, Croome predicted.

Further down the track they may also consider amending the federal constitution to ban same-sex marriages and all partnership registers. He said Howard will attempt to water down and even eliminate federal unfair dismissal laws, including provisions protecting employees from discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.