ARGENTINA: DEMAND INMEDIATE RELEASE OF TRANS ACTIVIST JAILED FOR PROTESTING AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY


Amancay Diana Sacayan is a trans activist who has been very active in protesting police brutality in Buenos Aires province and also in social justice issues for a number of years. On July 10, 2004, she and her sister, Johana, were arrested. Police officers told them that the Deputy Commissioner at Police Station 4 wanted "to see them". As both trans women had been arrested and harassed by officers from that Station many times, they refused to go. Then, police officers employed unnecessary force to take both trans women to the police station. First, they were charged with "prostitution" and days later with "resistance to authorities, injuries and damages". Johana was released on October 28, 2004 but Diana is still being held in jail.

Many activists believe that the real reason for the arrest is Diana's involvement in denouncing police brutality against transvestites in the area where she lives. Diana has met with government officers on several occasions and has provided them with documentation to support her claims.


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NCLR - QUICK STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO MOVE YOUR SCHOOL
BEYOND THE BINARY


Unfortunately, many transgender and other gender non-conforming students face harassment, discrimination, and even violence on a daily basis. Your school does not have to be that way. By taking some basic actions, students, school staff, and community activists can greatly reduce discrimination and harassment against transgender and gender non-conforming students.

Who are transgender and gender non-conforming students?

The term "transgender youth" can be used as an umbrella term for all students whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth and/or whose gender expression is non-stereotypical. Some transgender students transition or change from one gender to another. Transition often means changing the way you dress, selecting a new name, and sometimes getting help from a doctor to change your body. Students who are gender non-conforming are those whose gender expression (or outward appearance) does not follow traditional gender roles, including, boys who are perceived as effeminate, girls who are perceived as masculine or "tom boys," and students who are androgynous.

What Kinds of Discrimination and Harassment Do Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students Face?

In addition to the typical challenges students face in school, transgender and gender non-conforming students often face slurs, bullying, harassment, and assaults by fellow students and even by teachers. Restrooms are a common place where transgender and gender non-conforming students experience discrimination and harassment. In addition, transgender students who change their name as a part of their transition some times have trouble getting people at school to use the correct name and pronoun. Finally, some transgender students find that they are criticized or punished for the clothes they wear, even when they are complying with the school’s dress code.


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Remembering
Nancy Nangeroni


For the sixth year, the international transgender community will observe a Transgender Day of Remembrance, with this Saturday (the 20th) being the official observance day.

In cities and towns and on college campuses literally around the world, relatively small groups of people will gather to comunally make their personal remembrances. I write "small" because in all but major cities the gatherings will be attended by fewer than a hundred people. Most will be attended by a mere handful, and the largest will not come close to a thousand.

And yet, the effect of these modest gatherings is immeasurably large. Not unlike the demonstration in Falls City, Nebraska in mid 1995, at which about 30 transgender activists challenged the routine acceptance of violence against gender "outlaws". Atttending that demonstration was Kimberleigh Pierce, who went on to direct the momentous film "Boys Don't Cry", which forever changed the way that those who saw it view transpersons and the nearly routine violence against them.


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Transgender Twins
Identical Female Twins Become Sister and Brother
By Alan B. Goldberg


 Thirty-five years ago, near Anchorage, Alaska, Juanita and Liana Barbachano were born identical twins. Today, the twin sisters are now sister and brother.

Liana Hoemke is married and a devout Mormon, home-schooling her eight children in rural Texas. Juanita Barbachano is now Juan Barbachano and living near their childhood home in Palmer, Alaska.

How could identical twin girls, conceived from the same fertilized cell, sharing the same DNA, turn out to be so different? This sort of case is as rare as one in 12 million, according to some experts. The compelling and often painful journey of Juanita to Juan raises profound questions about what determines human identity: nature or nurture?



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Dr Sony a.k.a the devil a.k.a evil himself! Doctor Sony Or Doctor Ramirez

Thinking about a sex change or gender reassignment? Doctor Ramirez or Doctor Sony as he is sometimes known, is the worst.

I arrived at the Sony clinic on the 15/ 08/ 04 to undergoe gender reassignment surgery. My initial feelings were that the procedure would be successful. Unfortunately I soon began to see things that made me feel uncomfortable. One of the clinic nurses placed myself and a friend in a room with only one bed. The clinic had promised to accommodate my friend during my stay there, to help overcome any language problems. We were provided with a single bed and a very uncomfortable leather sofa.


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sorry no tolerance for gays and lesbians
By Jabu D (Activatewits Deputy President)

One would expect to find people who can use their reasoning capacity to the fullest and understand the meaning of tolerance. However, that is not the case at Wits University. The gay bashing of the LGBT members prove how far away we are from realising the value of tolerance. The Sebesong Le Kgorong at this very university posted messages inviting participants to the discussion of Dirty Gay and Lesbians Lifestyle. The SLK introduced themselves as moral regeneration group and their intention is to create the platform for short storytelling, jokes, and discuss issues affecting them in the hope that they will be able to influence others. And their joke of the day was Dirty Gay and Lesbian Lifestyle -(bashing). The posters stated it aloud by statements like Gay and Lesbian recruitment agency, could you afford to risk your negative status and risk being HIV positive? And are you still going to have sex tonight?


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Mandate is clear: beat back Bush/Kerry attacks
By LeiLani Dowell


If ever there were an example of the capitalist media as an instrument of the state, this year's post-election coverage, with special emphasis on same-sex marriage, speaks volumes. In a clear attempt to demoralize progressives, especially the lesbian, gay, bi and trans movement, the media are accusing this movement of paving the way for George W. Bush's victory in the presidential election.

For example, a Nov. 7 article by the Asso ciated Press, headlined, "Election devastates gay community," tells of Democratic politicians wagging their fingers at the movement for fighting for same-sex marriage "too fast, too soon." The AP goes so far as to suggest that LGBT people across the country are planning some sort of mass exodus from the United States.

Exit polls, the media claim, overwhelmingly show that "moral values" won the vote for Bush, with same-sex marriage as the main issue. On its face this argument makes little sense, considering that John Kerry opposed same-sex marriage too, and never took a stand against discrimination. At first Kerry said that states should be able to decide the issue for themselves. Then he endor sed an attempted ban on same-sex marriage in his home state of Mas sachusetts, the one state where same-sex marriage has become a hard-won reality.

But what does it mean that voters in 11 states voted for initiatives against same-sex marriage? When polls suggest that the major ity of the people favor equality for LGBT people, what does it mean that laws were passed in some states that even deny civil unions and domestic partnership benefits?


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Jamaica: Police Violence Fuels AIDS Epidemic


Widespread violence and discrimination against gay men and people living with HIV/AIDS in Jamaica is undermining government measures to combat the country’s fast-growing epidemic, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The 79-page report, “ Hated to Death: Homophobia, Violence, and Jamaica’s HIV/AIDS Epidemic ,” documents extensive police persecution of people suspected of homosexual conduct, as well as sex workers and people living with HIV/AIDS. Gay men and people living with HIV/AIDS face serious violence, and are often forced to abandon their homes and communities. Health workers often provide them with inadequate healthcare or deny them treatment altogether.  
 
Many people in Jamaica still believe that HIV is transmitted by air or casual contact. Widespread homophobia and discrimination are effectively undermining the government response to HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said.  



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Standing up for their rights: Coalition of African Lesbians formed in Windhoek
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) congratulates African activists on the formation of the Coalition of African Lesbians.


Standing up for their rights: Coalition of African Lesbians formed in Windhoek
By Musa Ngubane and Liz Frank:

Women from 14 African countries gathered in Namibia’s capital Windhoek in the last week of August 2004 to develop the African Lesbian Alliance, which was renamed the Coalition of African Lesbians at the meeting. Hosted by the rainbow project together with Sister Namibia, 25 representatives of lesbian organisations and a number of individual women from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia spent a fruitful week developing the vision, objectives and structure of the organisation


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IGLHRC Joins WLUML in Calling for the Release of Iranian Human Rights Defender
IGLHRC joins Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) in calling for the immediate release of Ms. Mahboobeh Abbasgholizadeh. IGLHRC will continue to support WLUML in their advocacy efforts to ensure her unconditional release and safety.


Summary from Women Living Under Muslim Laws:

WLUML is deeply concerned about the arrest of Ms. Mahboobeh Abbasgholizadeh on November 1, 2004 on the orders of Tehran's General Prosecutor, Saeid Mortazavi (who ordered the arrest of the Canadian woman journalist who died in prison). This seems to be part of an
escalating campaign to repress civil society groups and human rights activists in Iran. Even after 10 days of being arrested and held incommunicado, no formal charges have been brought against Mahboobeh, nor has permission been granted to any lawyer or family member to see her.


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Gay teacher files bias complaint
By: Bill Bittar, Associate Editor 11/19/2004


A Mill Hill Elementary School teacher has filed a Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities complaint against Superintendent of Schools Ann Clark, alleging that he was discriminated against for his sexual orientation.

In a sworn affidavit filed Nov. 1, Larry Zankel, who is openly gay, said a written warning was placed in his personnel file two years ago because of a discussion regarding the "diversity of the family structure" he held in his classroom Jan. 15, 2002.

He has been working to have the warning removed from his file ever since.

"I have been verbally requesting that they remove the warning letter from my personnel file," Zankel wrote in the CHRO complaint, "because I was only following [the district's] policy on diversity."